Chaos Space Marines- The Finalized List & More

Death to the False Emperor!

Well, my journey down the road to damnation is nearly complete. My final Chaos Marine squad is drying at home on my painting table, along with my third Chaos Lord. This Lord is the one that's going to stick, honest! His weapon loadout is much more sensible than previously- the Murder Sword is only good for a highly mobile army, and on a Lord with no jump pack that's just not going to...

...fly?

It's pretty hard to get at the target of said sword when the target is just camping in his deployment zone directing missile launchers all day.

Tomorrow I'll varnish my dudes and I'll put them up here for all to see. Today it's just a bit of reflection on the current state of my army.

I'm okay with where my army is sitting right now. It performs admirably on the table (against Demitra any way) and it has a fair amount of flexibility. I'd like to get it out of the house to take on something other than a still-evolving Dark Angels list, but of course, like any modern GW army, the minis don't fit in my figure case. Normally I'd just say "whatever" and grab a pistol case for them from Wal-Mart, but again, like any modern GW army, they have all these little fiddly spiky bits all over the place.

Note the fiddly spiky bits.

 These little hoo-has will gladly snap off at a thought, so I don't dare put them in something as rough on them as a pistol case. Thus my dilemma. Do I toss them all in a box and sort them out when I get to my FNSLGS (they're varnished, so I don't really worry about their paint jobs)? Do I try to find some Battlefoam to hold them? Do I just sit at home with them until who knows when?

Right now I have opted for the last option.

This irks me a touch because word has it that there is a 40k night out at Huzzah Hobbies, and now that my eyes are fully healed and I can drive at night I'd like to get out of the apartment and play a game or ten against some new people. Maybe, dare I say it, try out a local tournament? That is assuming they hold them with any regularity, and on a day I don't work. These are both mysteries to me as I haven't headed out that way in months.

These thoughts, along with the new 40k arms race with Demitra, have caused me to totally rethink my approach to my army since I first started it. Initially I was aiming to make a somewhat effective army by building up from the base of two Dark Vengance boxed sets. I'll make what has been a long story short- it can't be done. The Chaos Lord is improperly equipped to deal with, well, anything. The Chosen are over equipped. Cultists have to be taken in large groups and hidden away to be effective- a role in which they go to ground behind cover and basically babysit an objective while they (hopefully) are ignored in favor of bigger threats. And Helbrutes? Well, this edition there is not really any amount of conversion and weapon swapping that can make them effective.They're slow, their armor is mediocre, and they have 3 hull points. Basically this is their time on the table in a nutshell;

*Rawr!!!*
*Dakka dakka dakka*
*Pew pew pew*
*Ka-splosion!*
*Waste of 105 points*

This has led me to hone and refine my product. My army has become leaner, meaner, and much more shooty. Gone are the days of the Mark of Khorne and Veterans of the Long War.  Gone is all the extraneous point-sinking gobbledy-gook that once cluttered up my roster. Now it's lean, mean, and (thusfar) devastating on the table.

It's an old picture, but bear with me here.

Now, I say again my test runs have been against Demitra's unfinished Dark Angels army, so once I get it out in the real world it may perform a bit differently than it has at home. It's getting to the point where I'll need to head out to a FLGS to try it out soon as Demitra has become a bit flustered with this army and so I've decided to shelf it until he's willing to try his luck at it again. He hasn't actually said that he's not willing to play against it, but I can tell (rather plainly) that he just doesn't care to play against this army. Thusly this week we played Dust Warfare. I think it may be time for a break from 40k.

I'm not trying to paint Demitra in a negative light here- I'm just saying that the point of us getting together every Tuesday morning is to have fun. If that's not the order of the day for him as well, then there's really no point to the event.

So, what is this horror-inducing army?

HQ
Sorcerer (warlord) w/ +2 Mastery (telepathy), Sigil of Corruption- 135 pts.
Chaos Lord w/ lightning claw, melta bombs, Aura of Dark Glory, The Burning Brand of Skalathrax- 130 pts.

TROOPS
19 Chaos Cultists w/ 2 flamers; Cultist Champion (20 miniatures)- 100 pts.
9 Chaos Space Marines w/ 2 plasma guns; Aspiring Champion w/ power sword, melta bombs (10 miniatures)- 190 pts.
9 Chaos Space Marines w/ 2 plasma guns; Aspiring Champion w/ power sword, melta bombs (10 miniatures)- 190 pts.
9 Chaos Space Marines w/ 2 plasma guns; Aspiring Champion w/ power sword, melta bombs (10 miniatures)- 190 pts.
9 Chaos Space Marines w/ 2 plasma guns; Aspiring Champion w/ power sword, melta bombs (10 miniatures)- 190 pts.

FAST ATTACK
Heldrake w/ baleflamer- 170 pts.
Heldrake w/ baleflamer- 170 pts.

HEAVY SUPPORT
4 Havocs w/ 4 autocannons; Aspiring Champion (5 miniatures)- 115 pts. 
4 Havocs w/ 4 autocannons; Aspiring Champion (5 miniatures)- 115 pts.
4 Havocs w/ 4 lascannons; Aspiring Champion (5 miniatures)- 155 pts.

TOTAL
1,850 points (tournament standard) 

Aren't they cute together?

 Now, admittedly the Heldrakes are the workhorses of my army. They swoop in, Vector Strike something, frequently light that target up with their Baleflamers, and then fly around making a mockery of Strength 7 anti-aircraft weapons. They're great! It takes just a touch of forethought to use them- just a touch as they can switch into Hover Mode and spin around to face any direction they want to. Being in Hover Mode is not ideal, as then ground weaponry hits you normally, but the option is there.

Plus, unlike the rest of humanity (it seems) I actually like the model.

I've found that in the environment they exist Havocs are superior to Obliterators. Obliterators are a valid target for anti-tank weaponry, whereas Havocs are just more Space Marines. They also offer more shots, and they're cheap as sin! Just 115 points for 8 Strength 7 shots! With that volume they can even harass flyers as they Zoom along!

Uh-oh...

Now, my days of air superiority may be limited. It appears as though Demitra (and likely the rest of the world) will be picking up the new Firestorm Redoubt. Four twin-linked lascannons with Skyfire (and maybe Interceptor) will likely make a mass of a Heldrake as it enters the board. I incorrectly made the assertion that this was to be an "Apocalypse only" piece of scenery. Upon reading the piece's description it appears I was dead wrong. Oops...

For now however I'll be content to rule the skies. I have plans for this terrifying little piece of terrain- most of them either ignore cover or just pump a huge volume of shots into the emplacement, but those plans will have to wait until (if?) Demitra grabs one of these suckers.

Back to the ol' painting table tomorrow though, as Demitra just gave me a great idea as to which miniatures to use to fill out my Chaos Cultist squad without having to order a whole box of them from GW just for one mini. Fans of old-school GW will likely be amused by the solution, but you'll just have to wait to see what it is for a few more days.

Marines and Chaos Lord tomorrow.
I promise.