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

===The Min-Max Section===
*'''Cabalstar''' - The Cabalstar is one of the more common builds if you're trying to build Chaos with a degree of competitive viability. Simply put, you're taking the Cyclopia Cabal for multiple Sorcerers, and you're looking for a suitable unit to make a Deathstar out of; add supporting fire support and objective-grabbing units to flavor, be they Bikers, Cultists, or whatnot. While you "could" experiment with making a Cabalstar out of other units, deathstars work best when they bring their own mobility, and thus the two notable units used for stars are:
**'''[[Chaos Spawn|You-know-whats]]:''' You get 3 high-toughness wounds for a reasonable price, but lack any Invulnerable Save, and lack raw damage. That said, if you're giving one Sorcerer the Black Mace, chances are that Sorcerer is also rolling Biomancy in order to fish for Iron Arm; if you get Endurance, the things-that-must-not-be-named become that much tougher against many things.
**'''Flesh Hounds:''' The more popular option for running a Cabalstar, though if you're using Chaos Marines as your primary, this would effectively eat up three detachments, which would limit your options depending on if you're playing in certain tournament formats. Because Daemonkin Flesh Hounds do NOT have Daemonic Instability, there's nothing preventing you from joining Sorcerers to them. Ironically enough, Sanctic Daemonology is a good discipline to use on these guys; Hammerhand makes them that much deadlier and capable of grinding down more enemies due to weight of attacks, while Sanctuary improves their armor save while being stackable with Cursed Earth. The best thing though is that because the Flesh Hounds are Beasts, they're immune to the "Difficult and Dangerous Terrain" side effects of Sanctuary. Gate of Infinity gives them a "get out of jail free" card against certain problem units as well. Or you can just take an Alpha Legion Lord with the Mindveil and you will be able to move in and out of combat better than the White Scars!
* '''[[Dark Mechanicus]]''' - Other than the Maulerfiend and certain Forgeworld units, most Chaos Walkers are slow and don't have good alternate deployment options (most of your Dreadnought Chassis models can take Dreadclaws as DTs). They do provide unique fire support vectors and the potential for a lot of long-term damage over the course of a game, so if you do want to give them a go, you better go "All In." That said, there are several formations that cater to playing a Walker-heavy army in different ways; all three Helbrute Dataslate formations have their use, 
**'''Fast Builds:''' If you're looking for something more aggressive and "In Your Face", then you're probably playing Daemonkin instead. That said, even for such an army it probably pays to have fire support or "more maulerfiends" so it still helps to bring either Warpsmith formation (the Black Legion one or the other one). If you're using Forgefiends as fire support, having extra turns of Daemonforge will generally carry you farther than said Forgefiends getting Blood For The Blood God. 
**'''Attrition Builds:''' A "simple" build for 1850 points is: One Helcult with two units of 35 Cultists and a Helbrute, a Warpack with Warpsmith Tax, Helbrute, 3 Forgefiends and a Defiler (Alpha Beast), and a Forgehost with 3 Soulgrinders of Slaanesh (two with Torrent, and one with Bombardment). The Helcult gives you unconditionally fearless bodies to screen with or edge around for objectives with (it may help to keep the second unit in reserve), the Forgefiends give you "solid-strength" shooting for blowing through Knights/Void Shields/etc, and the rest of the Walkers provide a mix of fire support and speed to play the objectives game. 
**'''Experiment''' - The Mayhem Pack can be cute for certain "beta-strike" lists. Forgeworld gives more options of course, with the Plague Hulk being a "discount Soulgrinder", and the Blood Slaughterer allowing you some board control shenanigans with moving enemy units around. Malefic Daemonology can help, as the difference between a 5++ and a 4++ adds up across multiple vehicles, while the Void Shield can provide some protection. Remember that nothing is so tough that it cannot be killed by a D-weapon, Haywire, or Assaults, and plan accordingly.

*'''Using Infiltration/Outflank''' - Both Ahriman and Huron have Master of Deception, so you're guaranteed to have at least one unit of Infiltrators in your army. Unlike Marines, you don't get Scouts or Scout Bikers, and the trait itself is strictly inferior to the Master Of Ambush Strategic Trait in the core rulebook, but you can at least guarantee that you'll get this power. If you don't take marks you can go Alpha Legion, making your Chosen troops and giving Chosen, CSM, and Cultists Infiltrate. And then there is Cypher and his infiltrating Chosen. For best utility, take two detachments, one for Chosen and one for infiltrating specialists. While Infiltration can be used both offensively (reposition your Havocs in a better firing position, place Obliterators in Multimelta range, outflank Chosen Rhinos, etc) and defensively (lay out a unit of Cultists to deny Scout Moves versus White Scars/Ravenwing Bikers, grant Outflank as partial defense against Skyhammers or other Alpha-strikes), you don't have the redundancy or reliability (since you could always end up only infiltrating one special unit anyway) to make a "pure" infiltration army, and any army that includes an Inquisitor with two Servo-Skulls can shut down Infiltration hard. Consider Infiltration more of a Bonus than something you build your army around.

*'''Mass Deep Strike''' - Technically, a build like this is possible, either with Purge, Formations or even through a CAD. The problem of course is that you don't get equipment that allows you to reduce Scatters, and the only reserve manipulations you have on-hand are through Fortifications. One thing you "could" do if you were feeling cheeky would be to run mass solo-Obliterators/Mutilators (either through Purge or the Cult of Destruction) with some optional form of aerial support, akin to a Chaos Lictorshame. However, you don't get the ignore cover shenanigans of that army as a whole, or the maneuverability needed for objectives play. The Terminator Annihilation Force and Raptor Talon both offer you ways to help your Strike go off more effectively however; the former letting you "beat" Interceptor, the latter letting you tie up trouble screening units from the first turn onward. Daemon allies are the most obvious pairing, as Icons can help mitigate scatter for your Obliterators while Cursed Earth prevents it entirely! However, Necrons also provide their own tools as well; a Necron CAD can provide aerial support/obsec troops at a critical location with Nightscythe Immortals, can back up your Obliterators by running solo Heavy Destroyers (in both Fast Attack **and** Heavy Support, mind you), and three of their Elite choices also have Deep Strike. Flayed Ones are your cheap ones, Praetorians are your "Special Weapon Team/melee anchor", but the real funky combo comes with Deathmarks. Since you're Allies of Convenience with Necrons, your units are enemy units to your Necrons, so anytime you manage to Deep Strike a Terminator or other unit in, you can use Ethereal Interception to have your Deathmarks immediately follow suit. They won't be able to shoot at the end of that movement phase, but they can still shoot in your Shooting phase, so if you '''really''' need that Wraithknight dead...

*'''Mechanized''' - The Loyalists have more and better mechanized formations; the Battle Company, Ironwolves, Lucifer Armored Task Force, and many others provide significant buffs or discounts that mean in a straight-up armored slugfest, you will be outnumbered and outgunned. The only "tank" formation that Chaos gets on the other hand is the Fist of the Gods which gives...6+ Invulnerable Saves. Moreso than the other ways to build a Chaos army, this one relies heavily on Formations, Forgeworld, and/or allies to pull its weight across.
**'''Mass AV 11''' - There are two ways to go about this. The non-Forgeworld way is to take a Chaos Warband, and the minimum number of Marines needed; Chosen are your Elites and Havocs are your Heavy Supports. Mount them up, and give each team either two Specials or a Special and matching Combi-weapon. Universal Obsec helps in this regard. The Forgeworld way is to run a Purge detachment and use Chosen as your mandatory Elites. You don't get Razorbacks but you can do Havoc Launchers in a pinch. Add an alternate source of AV 11 to your mix: Ork CADs give you mass Looted Wagons (even with reliability issues, 67 points for an AP 3 pieplate can add some crowd control), or Junkas if you're using Forgeworld. If you prefer a more "melee-MSU" approach and prefer the Rhinos to be support-pieces, the Seeker Calvacade lets you bring a lot of solo Seeker Chariots on the cheap. 
**'''Heavy Armor''' - Fist of the Gods gives underwhelming bonuses and saddles you with a Warpsmith tax, but is one way to take "more armor" without having to pay the requirements for a second CAD. Purge does its thing of course. Another thing to note is that most Forgeworld vehicles of this class are just plain better than the codex options available; sure, you can squadron Predators or Vindicators, but you're putting too many points in single units when that happens, and make it easier to be focus-fired. The Deimos Predator makes a scary support-piece provided you can protect it, the Sicaran is an all-around brutal vehicle, and the Relic Predator Infernus can be a source of cheap Plasma blasts that don't Gets Hot. Orks "can" up your overall resilience since Kustom Forcefields do work on enemy units, but another option is running Necrons, either with CAD tax or even just taking the Annihilation Nexus (with Doomsday Ark tax); two Sicarans and two Annihilation Barges are capable of a surprisingly respectable amount of fast-moving twin-linked S7 firepower. 

* '''Aerial Warfare''' - Other than the iconic Heldrake, Chaos does have other fliers. The Daemon Prince sacrifices durability and raw killing power for the ability to engage in close combats or combo with psychic utility (though remains very overcosted), and Forgeworld adds its share of fliers. The Hellblade is a dirt-cheap fighter for the firepower it brings, while the Chaos Fire Raptor is one of a small number of Forgeworld vehicles that is flat-out better than its Imperial equivalent.

[[Category:Warhammer 40000 Tactics(7E)]]
[[Category:Warhammer Tactics/Old]]

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