Should I join Chaos..?

[Merellin]

So.. I have been considering playing a Chaos army for some time now, I think it would be fun to have a army of each of the three groups (Imperial, Xenos and Chaos) I got two Imperial armies, And two Xenos armies. So why not add some chaos to that..? And then a friend sugested I start Chaos too (Rather then try to work more on my Tau that everyone hates facing..) so I startyed looking into it more.. I was thinking Chaos Marines, With some Chaos Daemon allies.. Are Chaos Marines fun? Should I go standard, Or Crimson Slaughter or Black Legion..? Should I give in to the tempation of Heresy?

[Cactus]

I recently went Chaos myself for the first time, however, I picked Daemons.

They play (and paint) very differently from my IG and SM armies so it was a welcome change of pace. However, I just can't get into my army and root for them. Chaos is evil and I kind of secretly hope my Imperial opponents win.

[DrBored]

I've been a Chaos player for a good long while, and the things that you will have to be careful of asking for advice for them on the Internet are falling into these traps:

1. Becoming jaded that Space Marines will always be more updated and have different toys that Chaos Marine players feel entitled to.
2. Only playing Nurgle just because people on the Internet tell you that those units are better.
3. Becoming convinced that one or two certain playstyles are going to be effective.
4. Becoming jaded that we don't have representative rules for the various Chaos Legions.

Just take note of the above, and try to do the following:

1. Play the army that you find pleasing, both by playstyle and aesthetic. If you want to go competitive, you can feel free to do that too.
2. Remember that we don't, and won't, have Chaos Legion rules, but that doesn't mean you can't play that force. Paint, build, and convert your army to whatever Legion, Warband, or Deity you like.
---(In my opinion, Chaos is the MOST convertible army in the 40k universe. You can go as wild or as basic as you like, and there's really no wrong way to go about it).

Now, THAT said, there are some great things about Chaos. We've got a LOT of variety, and with TWO whole Supplements, we're a little ahead of the game.

So, should you? In my opinion, yes. Chaos is great. We've got cult troops that are very varied, we've got options that nobody else has, and we've got a flyer that everyone hates, but really is truly that good. The aesthetic of Chaos Marines is the coolest in my humble opinion, and you can tailor your lists in many different ways with how many different options you have, from big beefy tanks to tons and tons of footsloggers. It's really up to you. With Chaos Daemons as allies, Helbrute and Be'Lakor Dataslates, and two supplements, you can really create a force that represents what YOU want in an army. You can even ally with IG and a few others if you like!

Yes. Fall to the Dark Gods already.

[Power Klawz]

I recently started a rather aimless but fun collection of CSM after expanding on the dark vengeance set. The thing that hooked me was the aesthetic of the DV minis. I'm a sucker for awesome (subjective) looking minis and the ornately baroque look of the chosen and helbrute in that set really grabbed my attention. With the release of the recent multi-part plastic helbrute kit I am hopeful that at least some of the models will get a much needed update in the near future. If they release a plastic chosen kit to the standard of the DV aesthetic and all the army list options I will probably go all in.

I find CSM very fun to play with in casual games, even with my "bought what looks cool, winning be damned!" collection of dysfunctional misfits. There are a few decent builds in the book for competitive play and if you mix in daemons or other allies it gets more interesting, but for sheer joy of modeling and converting I think Chaos takes the cake.

I've decided to go with a crimson slaughter list because I really like the paint scheme and they have some nifty special rules and items (like the balestar of mannon that gives your sorcs Divination, ERMAHGERD) I plan to go mainly unmarked with a focus on blasting things with plasma, of the regular and ecto varieties. With more helbrutes than is advisable because they look sweet as... well hell.

[Gleipnir]

I also recommend adding a Chaos army to your collection, between a Dark Vengeance set and a a Chaos Force set, you already have a pretty substantial starting army, I personally am leaning towards painting mine as a Crimson Slaughter force simply because I had a few of the older battleforces that included Khorne Berserkers and Possessed and I like the artifact rules, just need to grab one of the new Chaos attack forces and a Sorcerer and Dark Apostle and I think I'll be set with a nice double force org army albeit with only 1 Heldrake, so more for fun than competitive play.

[Merellin]

Well, I'v enver been a big win at all cost type player. My first army was Tau, Back in 5'th edition when they where realy bad. And I still loved them. Though I do like it if I can win ocasionaly, Or atleast have a good match and not get totaly stomped. (Like, Getting whiped off the table without managing to kill a single enemy model generally aint fun..) I do like the looks of most Chaos Marine models (Yes, Even the Lord of Skulls. I think it looks awesome and fits perfectly into the look and feel of Warhammer 40k. Over the top crazy, grimdark and slightly silly.) I dont know if I'l use any Heldrakes and if I do I'l use at most one.. I dont like being so overpowerd that my friends wont like the match.. I only play for fun, Cassual matches against friends. ^_^

I wont be using any dataslates (Dont have any laptop or ipad or android pad or printer or anything such so no way to bring them to the club.) I'm considering going with Crimson Slaughter, I like their paint scheme. ^_^ (And I promise to do my best to actualy paint this army.. XD)

Hmm.. I wonder if the Lord of Skulls is hard to assemble.. I'm rather bad at assembly (Cant handle my necron vehicles.. Gotta ask friends to help me..) so if it is hard to assemble I'd have to try and convince a friend to assemble it for me.. And that isent very easy with such a big model.. XD

[GrauGeist]

Yes, do it! You could go cheap into CSM using the starter models - good stuff there!

FWIW, my primary 40k armies are: Eldar, Imperial Guard, and Chaos Marines. I fell they give good variety, even without using Space Marine, Inquisition or Sisters Allies. Not too many things to keep track of, nor to spread yourself too thin.

[DWest]

I dont know if I'l use any Heldrakes and if I do I'l use at most one..

The Heldrake is a perfect "stress test" for your dedication to the Dark Gods-- if you can paint all that wing webbing without hurling the beast across the room, you can handle anything the army will pull on you!

[Sly]

Chaos is a solid Codex, more than you will usually hear admitted on the internet. Its main problem is more with a lack of deployment options, making games repetitive, rather than with an inability to compete.

I would go Crimson Slaughter over the others, they just seem to have some more fun builds than the basic book and Black Legion, but neither of the supplements is a major departure from the basic Codex.

If you want to take it competitive, I suggest using Tau rules for allies, but using conversions for a Dark Mechanicus-themed allied detachment. They're actually a reasonable fit for how to represent a real Dark Mechanicus allied force, and also their strengths fit perfectly with Chaos (the Mechanicus units sit back and shoot, the Chaos marines/cultists charge forward).

[DarkLink]

2. Only playing Nurgle just because people on the Internet tell you that those units are better.

That's because Khorne Berzerkers, Thousand Sons, and Noise Marines are all generally terrible if you play in anything more competitive than the kiddy pool. But then again, basically all the CSM troops are terrible. Luckily they have some good units in other slots.