I'll get into that in a moment, first, here's the list:
Now, I'd like to break down the different elements of the list:
Rear Guard:
Pocket Prescience Herald - At 45 points, the bog standard Herald of Tzeentch is a deceivingly good buy. At 45 points you get a model that shoots like a marine (BS 4), comes with a mastery level, and gets access to Divination. He also re-rolls failed saves of 1, so he is perfectly at home behind an Aegis Defense Line. This is actually the first list I've made that featured a fortification, I recently bought the Imperial Strongpoint, and now have 2 Bastions and 3 ADL's to distribute among my armies. So, I will plan to setup an objective or two behind my Aegis, and plop my 135 point unit of horrors and a Herald behind it.
This allows the herald to prescience a unit every turn it gets its spell off (Daemon of Tzeentch makes this pretty reliable), plus fire a quadgun. With BS4 this guy shoots like a Rifleman Dread, and can offer some anti-air, although its only really effective against the lower AV flyers.
Cultists - What more do I need to say, 50 points, scoring, aegis. Put em together and you have 10 tough to move bodies that can hold a second objective behind my ADL.
Havocs - These guys are such a deal. 115 points and you get 8 S7 shots at BS4. Perfect for dinging transports, plus the perfect target for my prescience herald. Suddenly a 115 point unit shoots like 2 Rifleman Dreads. If not, its still effective. When prescienced, it can serve as moderately effective anti-air.
Middle Guard:
Sorcerer - This BAMF has 3 mastery levels, and no mark, enabling him to customize his loadout each game. I like the flexibility of the random powers, even if they aren't perfect. Generally he will ride with the CSM, but I can also stick him in a unit of Plague Marines, giving him the benefit of high toughness wounds. He takes a Force Axe so he can deal with anything. I skimped a little bit and bough him the aura of dark Glory because I had to shave somewhere, and honestly his main role is spell casting, not smashy smashy.
Chaos Space Marines - These guys are decent for their points, although not perfect. I take them with ccw/bp in case they get into a fight with a weak unit and need the 10-15 attacks. I gave the Champion a plasma pistol instead of a combi plasma because I always save my combi until I get into 12" range, and wanted the option to shoot more than once. Its not ideal, but what can you do. It also gives me at least 1 AP2 shot going into a charge.
Plague Marines - 3 units of the toughest bastards in the galaxy and are a good scoring core, each comes with a Champion carrying a power axe. Two take plasma guns to lay down anti tank and anti-elite infantry fire, the other takes meltaguns and seeks out the toughest nut to crack. I will probably deploy in a way that both melta units can do their business.
Plague Marines - 3 units of the toughest bastards in the galaxy and are a good scoring core, each comes with a Champion carrying a power axe. Two take plasma guns to lay down anti tank and anti-elite infantry fire, the other takes meltaguns and seeks out the toughest nut to crack. I will probably deploy in a way that both melta units can do their business.
Vanguard:
Chaos Lord - The beatstick. T6, total bruiser, 4++, and fast as all getup. He rides with the bike squad and is designed to deliver a delicious dose of death to anything that defies me. Also I like alteration.
Bike Squad - 5 T5 chaps, fast, 2 meltaguns, good enough for govt work. Really, would it be a Red Corsairs list without maxed out fast attack? The Champion here is to tank challenges so my Lord can bash units. I may switch him to a power axe depending on play testing
Heldrakes - The star of the codex, I run 1 with the baleflamer and 1 with the autocannon. I know its not that popular, but hit it with prescience from the Tzeentch Herald and you've got that thing spitting flyer death.
So, that's the breakdown, overall I'm somewhat happy with the list. I think it offers a bit more damage output than the version I took, and the prescience herald is easily worth the minimal 135 point allies tax.
The only thing I would do with the list is try to buff my fast elements, having a unit of Hounds from the Daemons book would be another vanguard unit that can draw early fire and take pressure off my scoring units. Unfortunately I don't know where to cut, most likely the CSM. That would get me to 9 puppies, and a 10th could be bought with a 5 point cut elsewhere. I will probably start buying models for this unit just in case I want to playtest it.
Thoughts on CSM with Chaos Daemon allies?
Thoughts on CSM with Chaos Daemon allies?