Chaos Marines: New List for the New Meta, UPDATED!

Now it's time to apply what I learned at the BAO.  While I really enjoyed using the Brass Scorpion, I found that it was very reliant on getting 6's at the right time, and when that didn't happen, it was curtains.  What I did learn from the event though is that in 7th edition, speed can be killer.  The game feels so shooting dominant, but I discovered that Chaos actually does have the tools to get into combat quick enough to devastate a gunline army, on top of that, people have to choose if they want to go second and having an advantage in the mission, or going first for a chance to shoot at you a bit.  I found that in either case, it works to the faster army's advantage. So with all that said, here's what I'm thinking moving foward:

Chaos Lord: Daemonheart, Mark of Khorne, Juggernaut of Khorne, power fist, lightning claw: 180

5 Chaos Marines: Plasma gun, in rhino: 125 5 Chaos Marines: Plasma gun, in rhino: 125 5 Chaos Marines: Plasma gun, in rhino: 125

5 Chaos Spawn: Mark of Nurgle: 180 5 Chaos Spawn: 150 9 Chaos Bikers: 2 meltaguns, Mark of Khorne, Icon of Wrath, champion with power weapon: 263

Maulerfiend: lasher tendrils: 135 Maulerfiend: magma-cutters: 125 Maulerfiend: magma-cutters: 125

Helbrute Mayhem Pack: Helbrute: multi-melta, thunder hammer: 105 Helbrute: multi-melta, thunder hammer: 105 Helbrute: multi-melta, thunder hammer: 105

Total: 1848

So here's the break down of what I took and why:

Chaos Lord

Originally, I was going to go for a standard Juggerlord with Axe of Blind Fury, as it always does wonderfully at cutting out huge swathes of the enemy army, but I figured that the added durability of the Daemonheart would make getting Warlord slightly more difficult to accomplish.  Plus hey, as Crimson Slaughter now all my guys cause fear!

Chaos Marines

Usually I run 2x10 Chaos Marines in rhinos with double plasma, this time I opted to split them up to cover more ground, 3 obsec units plus 3 obsec rhinos can really make sure that back/midfield objectives are well secured.

Chaos Spawn

One unit with Nurgle, one unit without.  Aside from saving points and that I only have 6 toads, I have found that sometimes my Khorne lord is left without a unit to join as one of his bodyguard units gets obliterated by enemy fire.

Chaos Bikes

A nearly full unit of 9-bikes is where my Juggerlord will probably be stuck.  With him towards the rear of the unit, they can jink for a 4+ cover when the incoming fire is too much, plus the Icon of Wrath it makes up for the Chaos Lord losing fleet by joining the unit.

Maulerfiends

When you're making a fast list, how can you say no to Maulerfiends?  They're so cheap for what they do and I was more than impressed by their improved survivability this edition has given them, now they actually live long enough that IWND is helpful!  When rushing down the enemy throat turn 1 with 10 spawn, 9 bikes, a juggerlord and 3 maulers, the extra weight they bring really helps absorb some higher strength firepower that might be taking down spawn.

EDIT: I've changed the list slightly to give one Lasher Tendrils, aside from being WYSIWYG of what I've got painted, it's actually quite nice against Carnifexes, Knights and Stompas (all of which I face on a regular basis), so I've opted to put one back in for now.

Helbrute Mayhem Pack

This is the ace up my sleeve.  Three deep striking Helbrutes with multi-meltas and thunder hammers.  When you're facing enemy super heavies, the more multi-meltas the merrier, and when worried about enemy Monstrous or Gargantuan Creatures, the Thunderhammer can really help augment the damage dealt by the Maulers.  Since you can choose the order of operations for all the rolls that happen at the beginning of the turn, you can roll on the crazed table before deep striking them.  If they get a 1, then you know you want them within 12", similarly, if you get a 3, you'll also want them within 12" so that they can shoot.  Between their crazed table shrugging off shaken/stunned results and IWND, they're actually surprisingly hard to stop for their points.

Bringing it all Together

Combined, this army really just rushes down the enemy throat, plus if the 'Brutes come in turn 2, your opponent will really be in for a shock.  Even though a majority of the units are only AV12, the amount of armour and high toughness models in their grill turn 1, will really make it hard for the enemy to prioritize targets.

I'm hoping to go against some Grey Knights with a Lancer tomorrow with this list, so I'll let you know how it does!

Post Game Update!

So I had my game last night against Will and his Grey Knights.  Aside from a few critical errors that I made (like forgetting that the Dreadknight was a character, so there went the Warlord and forgetting he had a Vindicator, which fed him 6 bikes in one shot), I think that the list did quite well, despite ending in a draw.  Having so many fast threats really cause a problem and overwhelmed my opponents army and the deep striking Helbrutes with multi-meltas proved to be devastating when they obliterated the Knight Lancer.  I think that I'll keep this list around for a while longer and get some more games in, but my gut feeling is that it's going to do quite well in the long haul.