What to do with with a box of CMS terminatorss , any recomendations.

[Hunter]

i got a box of CMS termise for my birthday but am a little perplexed on how to best use them.

beyond basic build my big question is are Cult terminators worth it and in what configuration.

Currently i have 3 Nergul termis with 2 chainfists/1 power w / 1 combi plasma /2 combi melta , all 3 are conversions and i use them as escorts for Typhus.

Most of my chaos is Nergul but i have been expanding in to Khorn territory .
Note i have plenty of leftover lightning claws from my "loyalist" kits

so what do you veterans recommend ?

[Sly]

Best use of Chaos Termies, if you have some putty skills and leftover weapon bits, is to enlarge them a bit, add weapons growing out of them, and run them as Obliterators.

[Hunter]

Best use of Chaos Termies, if you have some putty skills and leftover weapon bits, is to enlarge them a bit, add weapons growing out of them, and run them as Obliterators.

actually that's what i did with the termies from dark vengeance

[Power Klawz]

Khorne termies with some lightning claws will rip and tear MEQ very nicely. Off the top of my head I can't really think of a better way to mulch space marines. (or anything else that isn't a vehicle or sporting a 2+ save.) The icon of wrath makes this endeavor almost laughably easy. 5 str 5, ap3 attacks that reroll misses (if you picked up vets) and reroll wounds on the charge will make short work of anything in power armor or lighter. Rerolling charge distances will make this scenario all the more likely. The only problem with this setup is that chaos termies don't come pre-packaged with lightning claws.

Nurgle will end up being the most survivable against massed infantry fire. If you're facing bolter or lasgun spam, or basically anything that isn't ap2 or over strength 7, (which is to say, anything that isn't plasma) Nurgle will offer you the most longevity. Their icon is of dubious use, but against massed gunline infantry that isn't fearless (i.e. guard, tau, some eldar and dark eldar builds) it might theoretically be of use... maybe.

Tzeentch will produce termies that are most survivable against the kinds of weapons you'd stereotypically employ against terminators. (high strength, ap2 weapons.) This would be pretty cool if it weren't for the fact that loyalists get stormshields. *sadface* Their icon makes them marginally better at mowing down infantry. Probably your best combo for shooty chaos terminators who want to take battlecannons to the face.

Slaanesh is kind of weird. Its ok for smashing up MEQ before they get a chance to hit back so long as you're using non-axe power weapons or lightning claws. I don't think it works out being as beneficial as Khorne for that purpose though, and using it to get the jump on enemy terminators will ultimately end up futile since you don't have access to ap2 at initiative. The one saving graces of the mark of Slaanesh is access to the banner of excess, which grants you feel no pain and might end up making your drug addicted terminators a good balance of killy and survivable, but I doubt it evens out in the end.

Non-cult terminators with barebones options can actually end up being a bit of a bargain if used properly. No icons, no marks, no Vets and no expensive weapon options can get you a decent supporting unit that can deep strike in behind something nasty and make it go away with a round of combi-weapon fire, then go about hacking things apart with various power weapons if the enemy doesn't decide to blast them from orbit. If you can work some scatter mojo (or somehow get the dimensional key activated before your termies roll enough to deploy from reserves) you can plop a 3 strong melta-combi unit within 6 inches of something nasty and laugh as a 200+ point metal box goes up in flames from your 100 point termicide unit.

[Caitsidhe]

From a competitive standpoint, the only time I use Terminators is as minimum sized deep striking suicide squads. Give them all combi-meltas and Power Axes and at MOST the Mark of Nurgle. The use for these things is to drop in on annoying vehicles and crack them or disrupt and harass Aegis Defense lines. Since you decide the order of your arriving reserves you throw them in first to draw fire from the Quad Gun or destroy it. This runs you around a 100-112 points if I recall.

Is it great? No. It serves a specific purpose. You will likely crack the can you have to crack or kill the Quad Gun. Your opponent will have to dedicate something of import to killing them. Three Mark of Nurgle Terminators behind the lines can do a hell of a lot of disruption of a gun line. They are a tactical option and if you don't have this option covered by something else... they work pretty well. You can put MORE of them of course... go up to five... stick a Heavy Flamer in there too. It really depends on just how much you want to invest against the diminishing returns. The main problem is many people get attached to the Terminators and next thing you know an overpriced Land Raider is out there to deliver them.

The key to using any mode is applying it to the right job. It is sad to say but the best use of CSM Terminators is as suicide squads in my experience. They do it VERY well.

[WarlordEXE]

As Caitsidhe put it, termi-cide. 3 models, minimum to no upgrades, and take 3 combi's of what ever most effective against your local metal. If everyone is MEQ with few vehicles (or maybe the rest of your list has good anti meq), then combi-plasma. I personally take them with combi meltas just to make sure i've craked open those few vehicles that troll my dice (im looking at you silly tau disruption pods and landraiders).

[Lunar Camel]

I agree with Power Klawz. Give them all a pair of lightning claws.
Mark of Khorne gives them rage and Counter-attack.
Mark of Nurgle gives them +1 Toughness.
Mark of Tzeentch have +1 to their invulnerable save.
Mark of Slaanesh has +1 initiative (which is what I run).

Any of these combinations will shred your opponents. Expect them to draw a lot of fire though.

[Power Klawz]

Also I think it really depends on the size of the game. If you're playing 1500 or under then you're probably going to want to go with a paired down termicide unit if you're using terminators at all. Right around 2k is when things get interesting and you can start taking tooled up terminators. Plopping 4 of the savages into a land raider with a Lord is going to set you back at least 600 warp pesos, but man if you get it to work its pretty much what chaos is all about.

I will say that no matter how many points you throw into chaos terminators, chances are there is a loyalist terminator unit out there that will still pee in in your cheerios. Vanilla hammernators are more survivable than anything you can throw at them, Deathwing Knights will laugh in your face (well they'll probably only chant in an eerie monotone voice in your face, but its the same effect.) Wolfguard will actually laugh in your face and Paladins probably won't even notice you long enough to laugh in your face.

What this means is... don't try for a fair fight. You're great evil baddies from the dawn of the Imperium, prey on the weak.

[Hunter]

Also I think it really depends on the size of the game. If you're playing 1500 or under then you're probably going to want to go with a paired down termicide unit if you're using terminators at all. Right around 2k is when things get interesting and you can start taking tooled up terminators. Plopping 4 of the savages into a land raider with a Lord is going to set you back at least 600 warp pesos, but man if you get it to work its pretty much what chaos is all about.

I will say that no matter how many points you throw into chaos terminators, chances are there is a loyalist terminator unit out there that will still pee in in your cheerios. Vanilla hammernators are more survivable than anything you can throw at them, Deathwing Knights will laugh in your face (well they'll probably only chant in an eerie monotone voice in your face, but its the same effect.) Wolfguard will actually laugh in your face and Paladins probably won't even notice you long enough to laugh in your face.

What this means is... don't try for a fair fight. You're great evil baddies from the dawn of the Imperium, prey on the weak.

the good news is am unlikely to meet those at my gaming club in large numbers.

oddly nobody has mentioned terminator heavy weapons , are they worth it ?

so far i have a trio of nurg termiside converted from dark vengeance minis , am strongly considering doing korn wolverine stile build , just wondering how many model strong should the unit be.

[Power Klawz]

I'm trying to remember off the top of my head what heavy weapons chaos terminators have access to. (I don't have the codex with me at the moment.)

I know they have heavy flamers and reaper autocannons. They're distributed at the same rate as vanilla termies (1 per 5) and they do pretty much the same job. Depending on your target I'd say take one if you can afford it. Being relentless and all you can go ahead and unload on whatever it is you're planning to rend to pieces. I guess I just neglected to mention heavy weapons because generally speaking you don't use them for close combat, and if chaos terminators aren't in close combat then I'm pretty sad.

I think it was heavy flamer, reaper autocannon and plasma cannon. Pretty sure they don't get missile launchers or assault cannons, but someone with the 'dex could probably verify that. heavy flamers are aces at burning things out of cover and do a pretty good job against lower armored horde type armies. Autocannons kill most things very well and everything at least moderately well (except land raiders) Plasma cannons are pretty great at trolling other terminators, but only if you can catch them right after deep striking when they're all bunched up.

EDIT: So it turns out the only "heavy" weapons that chaos terminators have access to are reaper autocannons and heavy flamers, no plasma cannons.

Looking at every option available for terminators, the only one that isn't related to either assault or within-12-inches shooting (leading up to an assault) is the autocannon, which is a bit of an odd duck but I suppose its there to give the possibility of long range vehicle threat, which otherwise chaos termies do not have at all. (Can also double as an impromptu flakk cannon if you've got nothing better to shoot at/nothing in assault range since its twin linked and fires twice, and has a chance of penetrating 10/11/12 armor.)