Topic: New Chaos Player - Army Critique

[noki42]

I'm a new Chaos player and would appreciate any comments on my new army.  It's at 1002 points, 1000 seems to be where the newer players start playing at my local game store.

Chaos Lord
     mark of chaos undivided
     combi-melta
     power fist
     daemonic resilience
     daemonic essence
     spiky bits

Khorne Berzerkers - 8
     mark of khorne
     feel no pain
     khornate chain-axes

Chaos Marines - 10
     bolters - 8
     lascannon
     flamer
     chain swords
     aspiring champion
          spiky bits
          daemonic resilience
          dark blade
     rhino
          parasitic possession

Chaos Marines - 10
     bolters - 8
     lascannon
     flamer
     chain swords

Chaos Marine Bikers - 3
     bolt pistols - 2
     chain sword

Defiler
     living vehicle
     parasitic possession

Dreadnought
     twin-linked lascannon
     parasitic possession




     

[MysticArcher]

1000 points is a good starting point (it's actually the only point value my group plays)

your list needs work though:

your hq needs better weapons, a power weapon and pistol preferrably (to take advantage of his higher initiative). Also he absolutely needs demonic aura, an invulnerable save is a requirement, simple as that

also berserkers are cool, but they can't buy the feel no pain ability

and why flamer + lascannon on your troops, that combination doesn't really work. If you want to tank hunt take a plasma gun and a lascannon/missile launcher/autocannon depending on the armor you expect

also why the dark blade for an aspiring champ? why not for your hq?

also, how many marines in each squad? particularly the bikes and berserkers, you have 2 heavy supports and bikes in 1000 points, which means you're probably skimping on troops, which is a bad plan

[noki42]

Thanks for your input, I just have a couple follow-up answers and questions.

I never really thought about daemonic aura, so thanks for mentioning it.  As for a power weapon, isn't that the same as a power fist?  And I thought the combi-melta was a pistol?  And I did not give my lord a dark blade because I thought the power fist was a close combat weapon, and I thought you could only have one for some reason.

Why can't berzerkers buy "feel no pain"?

As for the troops, I thought the flamer would be good for dealing with mobs of oncoming troops, like a swarm of tyranids.  And I have the lascannon for tanks and such.  There are 10 marines in each of the two squads, 8 berzerkers, and 3 bikers.  As for the number of heavy support versus troops, I was debating whether to get rid of the dreadnought and add more troops, but I am not sure which would be better.

[MysticArcher]

the power fist has some special rules, as listed in the BGB (big grey book, the main rule book) the big reason not to take one is you strike last with it, which is a waste of your higher than average initiative

the combi melta is a boltgun (not pistol) with a one shot melta part, so it doesn't give you an extra attack for having 2 close combat weapons

feel no pain isn't a squad upgrade, it's an upgrade for characters/champions of khorne, so the whole squad can't have it

the problem with flamer + lascannon is you only use one or the other most of the time, if you use the flamer you're porbably moving to charge and that means the lascannon can't fire

and if you hunt tanks the flamer won't help

which is why if you want the flamer you should probably use 2. If you use the lascannon you should probably use a plasma gun, which is effective against vehicles and power armor like the lascannon. The idea is the special and heavy weapons should complement each other strengths

3 bikes isn't many, and they don't seem to serve any purpose. Bikes usually are for: zooming forward and summoning demons and/or toting melta guns and hunting tanks and/or delivering a tooled up champion to close combat (usually not the primary goal)

but you have neither demons nor melta guns so the bikes don't help. You might consider dropping them, or going for melta guns on them

[Beero]

In my opinion your three bikes are just a  distraction to your opponent and a not a very efficient use of points, i would suggest splitting your points between your HQ and heavy support.