Chaos – Lessons Learned

So, after a couple of weeks of really studying the new Chaos Space Marines Codex and dreaming up units and combos, I finally got a chance to play with the new codex for the first time this weekend.  All I can say is wow...
So, first off, let me say, I felt a little bad as I screwed up several things, especially as it pertained to my winged Daemon Prince of Nurgle.  I guess that's what happens when you recycle old lists...I left the Prince in an entry that showed FNP, so I did not even bat an eyelash about him having FNP considering he was Nurgle.  My mistake and it would have led to a slightly different outcome, but as this was a test game for me anyways, the out come didn't much matter to me.

Regardless, despite some HORRIBLE rolls and luck in the first three turns, I was incredibly impressed with the performance of this army.  I won't give a full battle report, but I will give some assessments.

First with the HQ.  I took a Khorne Lord on a bike with the Axe of Blinding Fury.  While he under-performed thanks to some really bad armor saves and then rolling a 1 for the Daemon Weapon, I was still very impressed with his potential.  He still got a good number of attacks against a Dread Knight, and wounded 3 times (my opponent made 7 out of 8 5+ invulnerable saves, and said Dread Knight should have died, but instead he lived and proceeded to kill my Lord).  The way I see it, this was absolute worst case for this lord and I would highly recommend this lord to anyone contemplating him, regardless of his performance in this game.  I invested some points into the lord, but his killing potential was immense.  I also took a full unit of chaos spawn to accompany the lord, and I must say, that while they failed to hurt the Dread Knight, they still performed admirably and held the Dread for 3 turns.  My other HQ was a Nurgle Prince with wings.  Once again luck was against me and he got grounded immediately (and took a wound from limited snap fire), but he then proceeded to tear apart my opponent's Terminator Inquisitor and 2 Grey Knight Squads.  He also put 3 wounds on a Dread Knight.  It was also at this point where I screwed up with his rules and he should have died in the first round of combat with the Dread Knights, but as it was he stayed and cost my opponent a Dread Knight.  However, regardless of this SNAFU, I must say this guy was amazing, although he is definitely not made to take on 2 Dreads at once.  He makes for an awesome unit to take on any enemy infantry and honestly any units that do not have the ability to cause Strength 10 attacks will die against him.

On the troops, I took 2 smaller units of Berserkers, 2 units of CSM with meltas and plasma (one also had a Lascannon), and a group of cultists.  The cultists performed incredibly well as bubble wrap and as the distraction unit they were meant to be and I would take them any time.  The regular marines were also admirable performers and did what they needed to do.  However, my Berserkers were underwhelming at best.  I personally think that they need a boost and if they are going against Grey Knights, they are simply not going to cut it in assault...this is especially problematic as they have no shooting ability to speak of.  So, I believe in future lists, I will not be fielding these guys...or if I do it will be a larger tarpit unit for dealing with Dreads and such and tying them up for a while.  I think in my next game I will see how Chosen do with a mark of Khorne and geared for assault.

To round out my army, I took a Heldrake and a Hellbrute.  Both did fairly well, although the Heldrake takes the MVP title.  The Heldrake is simply amazing and killed 3 Grey Knight units.  The Hellbrute also took out a squad with the help of a minimal bare bones Plague Marine squad.  These plague marines were also decent in helping to soak up attacks and keep the Dread in the fight.

So, at the end of the day, this list tabled my opponent on turn 6.  Now, the Prince was way off, but as I discovered, I also had payed for a second Heldrake and boons of chaos (which I forgot about).  So, I think the results would have been very similar regardless (Not to mention even average die rolls early on would have made a world of difference).  Going forward, I am already working on a more competitive list and we'll see how it does.  But, I am definitely leaning toward 3 Heldrakes (one with cannon instead of flamer) and dual princes along with regular CSM, cultists and maybe a Maulerfiend/Forgefiend and Chosen as support.