This may come across as a whine thread, but I'm actually hoping for you guys to prove me wrong. That over the years you've found that it's really not that bad.
But boy does the Chaos codex stink.
Everything we share with normal Space Marines is just worse. Either it costs more points for no reason whatsoever, or we lose all kinds of interesting little rules and options. That's already pretty discouraging for a new Chaos player, but you tell yourself that it's probably compensated by the Chaos-specific stuff in the list. And this is somewhat true: Thousand Sons and Plague Marines are very powerful and efficient Troops.
Now here's the problem: what if you want to play a specific Legion that wouldn't use those two Troops? How on earth do you make an effective Word Bearer army, for example? You'll just be playing Space Marines, only less. I'm not a tournament player or anything, but knowing my troops are weaker/more expensive for no reason at all kind of takes the fun out of it for me.
Perhaps someone could convince me Lesser Daemons are better than they look on paper? That would be something.
- Word Bearer who already lost his faith
Why must this conversation be brought up every month or so? The codex has been out for three years now...
I wish to say first off, that comparing Chaos Space Marines, to Space Marines is incorrect. You should never directly compare army books. It's the same as having a Tau army, and saying how come Eldar get assault troops with 3+ saves, and the Tau don't. It's taking everything out of context. The armies should be thought of as completely different animals, as thats how they are internally balanced and created.
Needless to say, that Chaos marines are not Space Marines.
It is fair to say, that THe legions do not have strict guidelines anymore. This is not so say that the armies are no longer there. Word Bearers can complete the theme with lesser Daemons, and Possessed, without using cult troops. As much as legions like World Eaters can create a themed list by limiting themselves in what units they choose. Nothing is forced upon you, which is a good thing.
Chaos is also an army which has the most diverse amount of troops choices, and an army which can have a lot of relatively cheap troops (and cheap monstrous Creatures) assault on the turn they deepstrike. Sure, Greater Daemons and Lesser Daemons may not be the most powerful units in the game, but they don't need to be. I'd much rather take something which is good and cheap and lets me take more of other things, then a couple heavy hitters that eat up all my points.
Lesser Daemons in particular come in their own assisting assaults. Charging in with a squad of marines is okay, but adding a unit of 10-15 lesser Damons as well can add at least 30 extra S4 attacks. This is awesome. The are also easy to get in small units as well, in order to camp on objectives, while your more expensive cult or combat troops engage the enemy in combat.
Greater Daemons are just pure awesome in a can. Such impressive stats, hardly any real cost and can assault the turn they come in. Fantastic.
On the subject of chaos space marines, we have the units which are geared to take on any role. With both rifles, as well as pistols and close combat weapons our troops can be effective at what ever you need them to do. They do make up for this, for having to real strength in any one area, but combat is a natural home for them. Our squads are very expensive in relationship to other armies troops, mainly as we have a lot of awesome upgrades like Icons, as well as Special Weapons and Squad Champions. I find a Chaos space marine unit easily runs between 200-300pts for me, but they are dead hard and worth it (I also take the Bile upgrade and Icon of Slaanesh, making all my marines super hard).
I don't think complaining abut the codex is doing anything at all constructive. The better thing to do is explore the choices you have available and enjoy what you have.