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

====Core (1+)====
*'''Black Legion Warband -''' One Chaos Lord, 0-1 Sorcerer, 2-5 units of Chosen or Chaos Space Marines in any combination, 1-3 units of Terminators or Possessed in any combination, 1-3 units of Raptors, Bikes, or Warp Talons in any combination, 1-3 units of Havocs or Helbrutes in any combination. This is the core formation for the Speartip. Units in this formation roll twice when rolling for boons and can take either one or both of the results. Additionally, any time an enemy unit is completely destroyed by a unit in this formation in a phase, all of the other units in the formation can re-roll to hit and to wound rolls of 1 for the rest of the phase (note that this just means when a unit is finally completely removed from the table, per the rulebook definition of "completely destroyed"). The bonus roll on the boon table will often be irrelevant, but the other bonus is kind of cool.
**'''NOTE:''' Unlike the other legions this uses the Black Legion Warband and not the "normal" one. That means that a Black Legion Speartip doesn't have a single Objective Secured unit since it can't take a Chaos Warband as an auxiliary either. This is a big disadvantage over other demi-company type formations. However given that this is meant to be a speartip formation, ergo you want to be the aggressor, losing objective secured isn't as big of a hindrance as you may think.
**'''Alternate Opinion''': This formation is actually pretty good. The key is to activate units in the right order to get the sweet Preferred Enemy for all the army; simply destroying a transport with some Autocannon Havocs can make your Plasma Chosen so much better. Or your suicide terminators popping a tank making your Chaos Lord on Steed outflanking with plasma Raptors ready to ruin the day. Or both! In general if you like to play with special weapons, this formation can help you a lot. Also, remember that without objective secured, Havocs are just CSM with more weapons. Use them if you feel the need for ablative wounds and feel free to go heavy on special weapons.
*'''The Hounds of Abaddon -''' This is a pretty solid formation. You take 1 Chaos Lord, 1-3 units of Berzerkers, 1-3 units of Chaos Space Marines, and 1-3 units of Bikes/Raptors/Warp Talons. The entire formation gets the Mark of Khorne for free; this means you can have 13-point Marines with Leadership 10, Hatred(Everything), and Rage...not bad at all! Once per game, you can declare a massed assault with this formation to run and charge in the same turn. As if that's not enough, any time you roll an 8 or more for charge distance with a unit in this formation, that unit gets +1 Strength until the end of the Assault phase, and this is where the formation can snow-ball into something truly frightening; the Icon of Wrath is highly recommended for units in this formation, as not only would the re-rolls help you maximize the chances of getting 8, but the Furious Charge would stack on top; a unit of 5 regular Marines from this formation would cost 100 points in exchange for making 20 S5 attacks on the charge, with a good chance of those attacks being S6 instead. Note that this can give a Lord with AoBF strength 8 on the charge, allowing him to ID.
**''Interesting obeservation:'' This formation has a few interesting quirks. Both lords and champions can have S10 powerfists, and considering they have rage means that a champion with LC/PF has 5 attacks of either strength 10 AP2 or S6 AP3, shred. And since they have hatred, they have the equivalent of WS5, meaning these champions are essentially budget chaos lords. A termielord with Lc/chainfist has 6 S10 AP2 armourbane attacks. So for only 2 points more you can give your lord a better Gorefather that doesn't take up a relic slot.And technically, these csm can be better chosen. With the savings you could buy them CCW weapons. What you get is 17 point chosen that trade 3 special weapons for +1-2 strength and re-rollable charges. And run & charge once per game.