Editing Warhammer 40,000/6th Edition Tactics/Chaos Space Marines (section)

===Fast Attack===

*'''Chaos Bikers''' - Chaos Bikes had always been iffy, from their inception back in 3rd, but not anymore! 6th edition improves on them considerably. They can boost their number of attacks with Mark of Khorne, become even tougher (frighteningly so) with Mark of Nurgle, or just be a pain in the ass with the Mark of Slaanesh. Though, Tzeench mark now isn't so useful, because all bikes have their 5+ jink save by default. They're great for rapid assaults, perfect when you need to deliver a Power Fist directly to an enemy's [[Anal Circumference|rear armor]]. With the release of 6th Edition, Bikers with the Mark of Nurgle are Toughness 6, not Toughness 4(6). ''Toughness 6''. Let that settle in for a moment. Now add in the Bonus charging attack at Initiative 10 they get on the charge that hits before anyone else does. Yeah, feels nice, doesn't it? (Keep in mind these attacks will be str: 4 ap: -)
**'''Alternative opinion:''': In large groups, using Mark of Slaanesh and Icon of Excess (which gives Feel no Pain) actually outperforms Mark of Nurgle, and is slightly cheaper too. Yeah, T6 is great, but T5 is already nice, hitting before most MEQ do and an extra 5+ save if you fail your armour save or get hit by something with AP3, that's just great. This actually makes them more dangerous ''and'' more resilient at the same time. Just be careful with your icon bearer.

*'''Chaos Raptors''' - Chaos' Assault Marines. Reasonably priced. Icons and double-special weapons make them respectable. The one of the best out of your FA options. Icon of Slaanesh makes for three I5 attacks each (on the charge), Icon of Khorne gives 4 I4, Icon of Nurgle makes them T5 (and thus harder to kill), and Tzeentch gives them Invulnerable saves; they'll be in close combat, where said save matters most. Whilst Slaanesh and Khorne are easily the best (and cheapest) options, the other two are good too. Flamers are excellent for softening up infantry before a charge and for dealing with [[Imperial Guard|cover-camping shits]], and Meltaguns will take care of any tank-related problems you have AND they still get to keep their pistols and chainswords, unlike their lesser Loyalist counterparts! Don't take a Plasma Gun unless you absolutely KNOW you're going to be occupying buildings or defensible terrain - both of which make doing so worth it; Plasma Guns are moderately expensive and you can't shoot them and charge on the same turn (and for a mobile assault unit that's a pretty nasty drawback). Plasma pistols are a more balanced choice, though their range can be a serious issue. A solid unit, through and through; you can't really go wrong with Raptors. Fortunately with 6th Edition these guys can pull Hammer of Wrath - an initiative 10 bonus attack on the charge. Not too shabby.
**'''New Codex Note:''' Give these guys Mark of Slaanesh and Icon of Excess then go tell the Blood Angels that their Assault Squads+Sanguinary Priests can eat a dick.
**'''New Codex Note:''' Get a unit of 10 of these guys, give them Mark of Khorne, Veterans of the Long War (if you are facing Spehss Muhreens or Gay Knights, otherwise forget it), and the Icon of Wrath. Tool them with special weapons as you see fit, and give lightning claws or lightning claw+power fist to the champ. The regular guys will dish out 36 S5 I4 attacks on the charge, (and don't forget those 10 juicy S4 I10 HoW attacks) plus re-rolling the charge distance (only if you don't use jump packs for movement in the movement phase, bullshit you have the icon you can ALWAYS re-roll the charge distance, don't make Khorne angry)(simply put, it is either you walk 6" and jump into assault or move 12" and eschew HoW strikes, rerolling the charge anyway), and the champ will give you 5 S5 I4 VP3 attacks. Essentially you are getting a unit of jump pack zerks. This unit is the bane of hordes (with twin flamers) or space marines and vehicles (with twin meltas) or can handle both, and with Veterans of the Long War it will almost certainly wipe out a unit of 10 loyalist marines due to the rerolls (only in close combat, imagine with pistol and melta shots...). One especially effective tactic with this squad is to use Huron to infiltrate them 18 inches from your opponent's Rhino/Chimera/etc, then on turn one move them up 12" to get in melta range, pop their transport with double melta (plus a combi-melta if you're feeling extra ballsy), and then proceed to beat the living fuck out of the disembarking passengers with Obliterator plasma cannons, making the return fire you'll receive fairly minimal. Next turn swoop in and decimate any remaining marines on the charge. For added lulz, attach a jump pack equipped Sorcerer (not marked, of course), roll on Biomancy. If you are lucky and roll a 3, you can give these guys Relentless and FnP; laugh as the enemy tries to bring down your 3+ FnP 4A on the charge death machines.

*'''Warp Talons:''' Take everything you like about Raptors (but take away ALL THE FUCKING GRENADES! I mean what the hell Phil?!) and turn it up a few notches and TA-DA! 30 pts. a pop gets you a a pair of lightning claws, the daemon special rule and when you deep strike with these guys, you can blind everyone within 6". What this effectively means is that most things will hit you on a 6 at range or a 5 in close combat making them [[Rape|easy, defenseless pickings]]. These guys are your first wave, coupled with Oblits for fire support and Maulers for hard targets. IC a Slaanesh Jump Pack Lord for Fearless and extra killiness. 
**'''Alternative opinion:''': Blinding a 3-dudes [[Tau|XV-88 Apocalypse squad]](can't be done anymore since all Tau suits get immunity to Blind from their Wargear) and giving a turn to your machines (especially Fiends, Hellbrutes and Defilers) to shoot and [[RIP AND TEAR|get to CqC]] could be worth the risk, you can shred the armored weeaboo next turn. Unless you took the Dimensional Key and manage to activate it, you have a reasonable risk for a bad scatter dice roll, and kissing your nasty melee unit goodbye. Vanguard Veterans suck, people (save in the case of Blood Angels, for whom they are just on the edge of hilariously awesome). You can also hop-scotch them over terrain for a turn-2 assault with your Initiative 5 (Mark of Slaneesh) or [[RAGE]]-fueled (Mark of Khorne) lightning claws. Beware that this will make them a huge fire magnet for a relatively fragile unit with only 3+/5++, so keep them screened by cover or friendly vehicles on their first turn. Or you can crap them the Mark of Tzeentch to have a 4+ inv. to be more confident about anti-MEQ weaponry. Not definitive, but nice.
**'''Alternative opinion #2:''': Deep Striking these guys is a bad option. Like, Michael Jackson Pepsi commercial bad. Yeah, the warpflame can be nice--IF IT WORKS. Remember, most boards are going to have you against I 4 (dem Marine), so it's a 1-4 shot of them passing the test. It's too risky to rely on the Blind to take care of getting shot the fuck to bits. Also, these things Deep Striking at vulnerable bits makes people shift fire to end your panty raid nice and quick. Unless you're diverting fire (and who wants to pay so much for a diversion--just use a distraction Mutilator instead). What I've found works to lulz-worthiness is giving them to Slaanesh with a Sorcerer with a Jet pack. Take at least one power from Slaanesh (all are great), and then Biomancy it up with what is left. These guys will tear up damn near anything they run into. OR...
**'''Alternative opinion #3:''': Be a real dick. Infiltrate a Landraider with armor popping Termies (take combi meltas) and, if you can, infiltrate the Talons as well. Pop all the metal boxes first turn with melta fire and lascannons and [[RIP AND TEAR]] through the resulting sea of flesh. Of course, this makes taking Ahriman or Huron a necessity to pull it off.

*'''[[Chaos Spawn|The Unnameable Beasts]]''' : According to legend, during a dark, terrifying time not so long ago, these were but a sick joke; no one took [[Chaos Spawn|that which must never be named]], not even in funny lists, not even for flavor nor fluff. No sane person took them; they were easily the worst unit in all of 40k, which is a hell of an accomplishment, considering [[Pyrovore]]s existed back then too.. '''Not anymore!''' Chaos Spawn are now the workhorse of any assault based Chaos Space Marine army- OH MY GODS NO PL- BJADKJFOASIHDOLADMFNCAOSJ. Anyways, Run them forward ahead of your Rhinos and tag team them with your Maulerfiends. If even a single Spawn makes it into combat then they've served a very important purpose: tying up the enemy while your assaulting units hop out of their rhinos. They will also divert fire away from your Rhinos because the opponent is left with selecting 1 of 2 bad choices: either shoot the spawn to prevent his units from being tied up in combat or shoot the rhinos and hope they get disabled while still getting assaulted by the Spawn. Spawn now get access to a similar mutation ability to Possessed. Spawn also lost slow & purposeful but they eat up a slot now. Unless, that is, one of your dudes gets mutated into one. This isn't as bad as it sounds, as long as it's not a major loss and the resulting Spawn is within combat range. Their new stats make them excellent suicide melee units if one is to suddenly pop into existence, and can hopefully make back a few of the points lost by whatever 'spawned them. But being a Daemon Prince is like, 40,000x better.
**'''Alternative opinion:''' The new buffs of rage, a ten point price drop, the minor but useful random ability at the start of each fight sub-phase, the ability to take marks (36 points for a t6 w3 unit) and the fact that you can now control the damn things mean they can actually be useful when used to escort ICs across the board, such as a bloodcrusher mounted lord with the axe of blind rape or if you don't mind wasting their movement, Typhus (who becomes t6 and can use the destroyer hive without wiping out his own unit). Another effective tactic includes Ork Allies with Doc Grotsnik granting Cybork Bodies(5++) to Spawn with Marks of Tzeentch for 4++ saves. 

*'''Heldrake:''' Here be dragons! First thing to note about this is that it's a flyer, which you need now. Second, no - the rumours were wrong, it cannot troll a dreadknight effectively or at all. What it can do is Strafing Run with a Hades Autocannon (R36" S8 AP4 Heavy 4 pinning) or drop a S6 AP3 torrent. However, it's prized ability is the vector striking at S7 against land or air targets - yowza! A good move will have you wiping your opponent's aircraft and troops off the field. For even more fun, you can use its Daemon Forge ability once per battle to reroll your wounds/pens! Careful though - this bird is thin skinned even though it has a 5++, is a flyer and It Will Not Die; a good penetrating hit will drop it right out of the fucking sky. Still, arguably the cheese unit of the entire book - sailing carelessly through air, your opponent's army it shall RIP AND TEAR... ahem, take two and take Baleflamers.
**'''FAQ Update:''' Brothers! The Lord Phil Kelly has blessed us once again! As of January 13, the Heldrake has transcended from being a cheese machine to being a rape train. Vector strikes ignore cover and hit at AP3, meaning those Loyalist corpsefuckers can meet their False Emprah, and the Heldrake's weapons are counted as being turrets: Measure from the base and in any direction you fuckin' want.

*'''Chaos Storm Eagle (Forge World):''' 20 pts. cheaper than a loyalist Storm Eagle, still a fast attack, can't take a Typhoon Missile Launcher instead of its Heavy Bolter, but ''can'' upgrade to a Reaper Autocannon for free. It also loses the Power of the Machine Spirit rule, like every other Chaos unit, but everything else is otherwise the same. You can buy Possession for this thing, which is recommended.  Take a full squad of marines, cult marines or termies and away you go! Alternatively, put Kharn and some 'zerkers in this, watch your opponent cry.

*'''Hellblade (Forge World):''' Was Chaos' own Supersonic Flyer long before the Helldrake was on the scene, comes with two AND ONLY TWO EVER reaper autocannons, which is nice because it's only BS3. Can be possessed for +20 points bringing the whole thing in at 135 points. If you can't fit raptors, havocs or drakes into your list, you could always settle for one of these in your fast attack slots, but don't expect it to survive: AV10 all around and only 2 hull points makes it thin skinned, although it gets 4+ evade. With 6th ed, it's a full-fledged flyer, allowing it to hate on heavy infantry and light vehicles with impunity, while its high volume of decent strength shots make it deadly against other flyers. Be warned, even a Fighta-Bommer's defensive big shootas or a fucking Pintle mounted Stormbolter can blow this thing out of the sky due to it's shitty armour.  

*'''Hell Talon (Forge World):''' Oh, you thought 'Blood Slaughterer' was a stupid name? A fighter bomber (flyer) with Supersonic, 4 hull points and Strafing Run - which makes it fucking awesome! With its single autocannon it can put holes in heavy infantry, light vehicles, and aircraft, with its bombs it can blow apart blobs in a glorious inferno, and with its twin linked lascannon it can put holes in enemy tanks, making Mech Guard and Nidzilla cry. Another nice feature is that if the enemy army is light in MEQ units, you can swap out the autocannon for a havoc launcher instead to really get some pie plate hate on things.

*'''Dreadclaw Assault Pod (Forge World):''' The Chaos Space Marine version of the loyalist drop pod, the Dreadclaw has the nifty advantage of NOT being immobile (it's a deep-striking flyer with hover) and it's an assault vehicle with better armour than a rhino. Unfortunately, it eats a fast attack slot but it can deep strike 10 marines, 5 termies (though they can already do it just fine without) or a dreadnought. Note that as it is a deep striking flyer, all shots trying to hit it will do so on FUCKING 6s! Watch as they soak up the firepower of whole armies. Take with 'zerkers in mind.
**'''Note:''' <strike> Forge World no longer sells these, claiming there's a new sculpt coming... sometime... In the meantime, either get a used one, or mod one out of a pussy Loyalist Drop Pod. </strike> NOPE the models are back!

*'''Blight Drone (Forge World):''' Possessed hovering flyer with a BS2, 5+ invulnerable save, reaper autocannon and a mawcannon (without tongue). At 125 pts., It can be fielded so long as your army has a squad of Plague Marines. Pretty decent armour for a cheap flyer, but it will also explode when wrecked so be sure you get this thing as close to the enemy as possible! They can be taken in squads of 1-3 too.