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

===Countering these cons===

*Don't try to play CSM like loyalists. Chaos Space Marines lack a lot of the same bonuses that Loyalists get, point-for-point, and they lack the same degree of fire support, transports, or speed. If you try to just emulate them, you're going to have a hard time doing so. Luckily, you don't have to - you have the option to take hordes of cultists, monstrous daemon princes and FUCKING DRAGONS to go with your bolter-lugging meatheads.
*The rules that you can find in supplements (like Traitor Legions and Traitor's Hate) are nearly mandatory if you want to level the playing field somewhat. They give CSM armies an opportunity to employ some ''really'' game-changing playlists, that have potential to make a regular CSM army competitive while at the same time keeping true to the fluff. In most cases, said formations go a long way towards fixing the fundamental flaws of the Codex, even if it's arguable whether or not they always succeed. DEFINITELY check them out in the tactics section below!
*Cult units have Fearless and give you better mileage, if you have the points. You can also make them Troops (Plague and Noise Marines, for example, are awesome, if a bit situational).
*While nowhere near as good as ATSKNF, VotLW is decent. Don't forget that it gives you hatred against all the other non-spiky marines. Traitor Legions should be mentioned here, as it almost universally allows AND forces CSMs to take VOTLW for free if they meet the criteria to be part of that legion - which is a nice bonus.
**FW threw you a bone in the form of an updated Renegades and Heretics list that are Battle Brothers with you. They have good artillery and meatshields for said artillery, but fall short in most other areas.
*Allies give you some breathing room when building an army. You are the only army that is Blood Brothers with Daemons, Renegade Knights and KDK, AND has  access to Necrons and Orks as allies of convenience (in fact, you are the *only* army that treats Orks as anything better than Desperate) is pretty cool. KDK
*The spell familiar, which in 6th edition was practically useless, got a huge boost with 7th edition psychic rules. As a piece of wargear that can be taken by any psyker that isn't Ahriman, Typhus or a T-Sons Aspiring Sorcerer and allows you to re-roll failed psychic tests, it makes CSM psykers some of the most reliable in the game.