Editing Warhammer 40,000/5th Edition Tactics/Chaos Space Marines (section)

===Heavy Support===
*'''[[Defiler]]''' - So here's this giant enemy crab-Dreadnought. Your Swiss-army vehicle; can do anything to some degree or another - and do it well. Has better hand-to-hand capability than a Dreadnought (boasting both more attacks and '''Fleet'''), better shooting than a Dreadnought (with access to more long-range weaponry, including a Battle Cannon) and it comes Possessed by default. This unit is amazingly flexible; you can have it shoot off plenty of firepower when stationary (It has a Reaper Autocannon, Battle Cannon, and Heavy Flamer by default), can be upgraded to be even more shooty (You can replace the Reaper Autocannon with a Twin-Linked Lascannon or Twin-Linked Heavy Bolter, and the Heavy Flamer can be replaced with a Havoc Launcher). If you want to go shooty, you can fire your arm-guns OR your Battle Cannon. It's Ordnance and even bound Daemons can't handle firing Ordnance as well as a Heavy Flamer. You can go the full Monty for the Assault route, and replace the Autocannon and Flamer for Close-Combat weapons, giving +1 attack each. With its ability to fire off tons of firepower OR rush forward and [[FATAL|rape]] things with its giant crab-claws, this thing is as versatile as units come. Its main drawbacks are that its melee and firing accuracy are average (BS/WS/I3) meaning that Power Fists smack you around and all the other Dreadnoughts except Orks go before you, and they can buy two Deff Dreads to your one Defiler. It's also an extremely large vehicle, and one that will attract a lot of enemy fire, causing enemies to put a lot of resources into [[Meme|attacking its weak point for massive damage]].


*'''Havocs''' - The cheapest choice, but the worst one. They're the exact same as your Chaos Space Marine troops, except they can take '''4''' special/heavy weapons at any squad size. Unlike Devastators, you can take special weapons instead of heavies, and at the same cost as generic CSMs - up to four regardless of squad size. These can be used for <strike>relatively cheap</strike> horrendously expensive tank-, MEQ- or horde-hunting units depending on special weapon of choice, and you gain the advantage of being able to move and fire. Chosen can do this too, and they're only paying three points for Infiltrate, Outflank and LD10, as well as being able to take 5 Special Weapons per squad instead of 4. As far as Marks go, avoid Slaanesh and Khorne; those two only really benefit melee units, and generally speaking Havocs aren't supposed to be in melee. Chaos Glory is cheap and gives them a morale boost (useful if they take lots of return fire), but Nurgle and Tzeentch tend to be best, because they give them some much-needed staying power. Mark of Nurgle + good piece of cover = pain in the ass to kill. A havoc squad with four autocannons is pretty much your best bet against forgeworld aircraft in apocalypse games bar hell blade interceptors and hell talon fighter bombers since the Chaos Gods in all their infinite wisdom never gave their servants a single fucking dedicated ground based anti-aircraft unit.  


*'''Land Raider''' - It's the classic [[Land Raider]] pattern (aka, schizophrenic). The Chaos one is slightly <strike>more</strike>less useful than the Loyalist version because Gav decided to knock off the Machine Spirit for a 20pt discount. Fuck you, Gav. It usually serves one of two major roles - as a heavy offensive vehicle (it's expensive but dear Tzeentch does it get the job done whilst being a giant fire magnet in the process) and to [[FATAL|insert your huge, nasty, pulsating close combat squad deep into the soft moist folds of your opposition]]. If you use it for the latter, load it up with Extra Armor, and keep it rolling forward. <s>Never, never take Daemonic Possession - paying points to give your big ass tank a debuff is retarded. You'll miss the BS4 more than missing one turn of firing from a Crew Shaken.</s> Don't be such a pussy - ALL the guns on that bitch are twin-linked! Slam a Havoc Launcher on that bitch and start dropping templates. It's also possible to combine the two roles, by having it transport a Havoc Squad or the like and/or acting as a mobile strongpoint in defense.


*'''Obliterators''' - A long time Chaos army favorite with plenty of [[Dakka]] fitted in a small, deadly package. Formerly the Techmarines of their chapters, Obliterators have contracted a warp-contagion that sears their flesh to their armor and causes their weaponry, likewise, to be subsumed. In time they have become enormous [[Awesome|arcano-cyborgs]], not quite marine, not quite machine, not quite daemon. They're tough as hell and can take phenomenal punishment. For 75 points, you get a model with 2 wounds, a 2+ armor save, 5+ invulnerable save, Fearless, and the ability to Deep Strike. Suffice to say, they can find a role in damned near any army, since they can soak up damage and demolish squads in pretty short order. Timing is everything with an Obliterator drop, and you need to know when to drop them to deal with a problem unit, be it a cover-camping squad of Fire Warriors or a big squad of [[Indrick Boreale|Space Marine]] tacticals. Getting them into heavy cover basically turns them into a strongpoint. They're also decent in assaults, but make sure you keep them away from faster units with power weapons (Howling Banshees come to mind), as Obliterators use Power Fists, ergo giving them Initiative 1. You likewise want to avoid getting them [[Tarpit|tarpitted]], because they will lose their purpose for the bulk of the game because it takes them forever to kill anything not a vehicle or small squad in close-combat.

The Oblit's list of usable weaponry(They all come in a single model):
**Lascannon
**Plasma Cannon
**Multi-Melta
**Twin-linked Flamer
**Twin-linked Plasma Gun
**Twin-linked Melta gun
**Power Fist


*'''Chaos [[Predator Tank|Predator]]''' - Pretty much the same as the loyalist version except the Chaos version gets the traditional Chaos-only upgrades. In addition, Gav slapped on an extra 15pts over the Loyalists for no reason. Fuck you Gav. The Predator is a good overall vehicle, whose main drawback is that it's not quite the all-in-one package as some of the other heavy support choices Chaos can field - and those slots are absolutely critical. That said, the Predator is mighty cost-effective and can be extremely solid on both offense and defense. The preferred loadout is a Predator Destructor (Autocannon turret) with Lascannon Sponsons and a Havoc Launcher - hell of a solid offensive vehicle for 150 points that can handle most situations as-needed. Still, it fights for the slot against stiff competition from the [[Defiler]], which fills several of the same roles for about the same cost. On the other hand, the Predator is a hell of a lot more durable. If all else fails, you can get a no-frills Autocannon/Heavy Bolter Pred for 100 points, which is pretty damned efficient. Overall, it's one of the better choices available to Chaos as far as close support goes, but it does use up an all-too-precious heavy support slot in an army that needs to make use of every single one they've got. 


*'''Chaos [[Vindicator]]''' - No longer is the Chaos Vindicator the sole property of the Iron Warriors! Dozer Blade included, but no Siege Shield option. Better than the loyalist version for several reasons, not the least of which is that it <strike>can mount a Havoc Launcher so it can fire whilst moving in to close the gaps between the enemy</strike> it's moving 12" every turn until it's in range, and Daemonic Possession helps with this. and its Demolisher Cannon, which will basically win back its points the second it fires. Heavy front armor and intense firepower means that this thing will draw huge amounts of abuse. If you throw Daemonic Possession on this thing, you will have a field day watching players [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|go to obscene lengths to kill/get away from it]].