Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Chaos Space Marines (section)

===Melee Weapons===
Nothing too unique here. These are for Aspiring Champion models in pretty much any of the squads that have champs and any models who say they can take wargear from this list. Take note: Terminator Champions have to take wargear from the Terminator weapons list (which ends up costing a lot more.) 

You can replace either the model's bolt pistol or CCW with one of theses, or replace BOTH the pistol and the CCW with two. So you can have two fists or two chain axes for that awesome factor you were aiming for. Knock yourself out. 

* '''Power Weapons''': There are four flavors to enjoy: sword, maul, axe, and lance. 
**The sword is AP3, but is otherwise a standard melee weapon (importantly, it doesn't mess with your initiative). However, since it's the same price as the lightning claws, you probably want to take that instead, as those bad boys come with Shred (allowing you to reroll To Wound), but unlike the claw it isn't a specialist weapon.
**The maul adds +2S and AP4, meaning it's a fair bit nicer than the chainaxe, albeit at a slightly higher price. It also comes with Concussive; enemies that take a wound from it are knocked down to I1 for the next turn.   These are good for monstrous creature hunting and killing Necrons and Tau.
**The axe adds +1S and AP2, but it's Unwieldy (which brings you down to I1); in other words, it's a weaker power fist. Only take one if you can't afford a fist, or want the extra attack.
**Lastly, the children of the Dark Gods get their hands on the (all-new this edition) power lance, which is AP3 and +1S on the charge, and AP4/model's strength otherwise. It's fairly decent (especially combined with a Dirge Caster-carrying Rhino), but good luck finding one. It literally can't be found on any Chaos sprues, so if you want to use it you'll have to improvise.
* '''Lightning Claws''': You get AP3 and Shred (which lets you reroll To Wound). If you're taking one claw, you should take a second one or a power fist, since both claw and fist are now Specialist Weapons and thus you [[Awesome|get +1A when taken together]]. The lightning claw is almost always superior to the power sword, especially so if the bearer has 3+ attacks. The only potential downside is that you won't get the extra attack from having a melee weapon and a pistol, but seeing as how lightning claws are particularly good against tougher opponents (and you should be slaughtering low-Toughness models anyway), you should probably just take these.
* '''Chain Axe''': It's a basic melee weapon, except it has AP 4. Berzerker squads get these for only 3 points per model, instead of 8. Note that they aren't good enough to chop up Marines; you need ''real'' power weapons for that, so don't rely too heavily on these, especially given that power weapons are only a few points more.
* '''Plague Knife''': The other cult weapon. Poisoned CCWs that Plague Marines get as stock wargear.
* '''Power Fist''': Just the same as any other codex: double the strength, but I1. If you're stuck but you want to spend <i>some</i> points on melee weapons, this is a good choice. Also, as stated above, both these and the Lightning Claws are Specialist Weapons, so you get +1A if you have one of each.