A couple weeks ago I started talking about building a CSM army around close combat and started a unit analysis. Keep in mind that many of these choices are generally not seen as competitive, due to either a high points cost, or them taking up a slot that may be better used on another unit (Heldrakes). This is the sequel to that post. Chaos Space Marines 2: Chaos Harder
We've already talked about Spawn, Daemon Princes, and Kharn and Friends in the last post so now I'd like to move onto an often overlooked unit. Raptors. While these guys aren't spectacular, a big squad (10 or more) with Mark of Slaanesh and the Icon of Excess can be fairly potent. I like to give mine a couple Meltaguns, and Melta Bombs on the Champion so that they can threaten vehicles as well as infantry. MoS tends to work well on them as striking first can really be invaluable, especially when your squad has been whittled down a bit from taking a turn or two of fire, and the FnP from the Icon can really boost their survivability as well. The main problems that I've run into with Raptors is that they take up a Fast Attack slot, which competes with Heldrakes and Spawn, as well as still being relatively easy to kill. These things make it essential that you have something else jumping up the board with them that can better take the hits. Spawn, a Land Raider full of guys or more Raptors all could do this job fairly well. Target saturation is very key when running Raptors.
Our next contender is an old favorite of many, and most long time Chaos players will already have some of these guys in their army. Obliterators. Now while they're not a melee unit by any means, having some fire support is always a good thing, and you won't get the versatility that Obliterators offer anywhere else. I've been toying with the idea of deep striking them to come in turn 2 or 3 with their meltas and popping some vehicles, or blasting away at shooty infantry units hiding in the back with their plasmas or assault cannons. If you do this, they will attract quite a bit of fire, as nobody likes to have Obliterators running around their backfield, but if they're shooting at your Oblits, that means that something else is probably making it closer without taking fire, so they are a good distraction as well. Mark of Nurgle is pretty much essential on Oblits to give them Toughness 5 and keep them from being punked by stray Lascannon shots and the like.
I'm going to briefly go over our next fire support unit, because I think that by now everyone knows how stupidly potent they can be. Heldrakes. A turreted, torrent flamer with 6 strength and AP 3 is really nasty, and coupled with its good armour for a flyer, ability to hover, invulnerable save, vector strike, and it will not die, a Heldrake or two will really put the hurt on anything short of a 2+ save. The main downside to them is that they have to start in reserve and can be unreliable, and that many of your other fast choices also come from your Fast Attack slot.
Now that we've gone over the units that I like for a melee list in this edition, lets go over how to put them together into a list. The main thing we want, as I've said before, is Target Saturation. Have so many threats that you're opponent won't be able to effectively deal with all of them. This can be difficult, as many of these choices are quite expensive, which means that cultists are probably going to be your best bet for troops, since they're super cheap. The next thing to remember is that without some line of sight blocking terrain, a close combat army is going to have a tough time getting into combat against most opponents, but if even a unit or two of most of these things can make it in, a gunline style army is likely going to fold pretty hard.
The other thing to consider is the option of Daemon Allies. Regular readers may have read my battle reports featuring a Khorne themed list sporting a Bloodthirster with some Bloodletters alongside these other things we've talked about, just for some extra fast moving punch. Daemons tend to be nasty in combat, and come with the added flexibility of having the option to deep strike as well, so they really are worth a look.
Anyways, thanks everyone for reading my ramblings on this subject, and please feel free to leave comments and let me know if I've missed anything important (and relevant) about the subject.
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