Chaos Marines: Is that all there is?

OK, so I gave Khurdur over at B&C some advice on his CSM list and he posted back:

is that all there is to chaos space marines- daemon princes, berzerkers, plague marines and as many obliterators you can fit?

My immediate thought was that he had forgotten Termicide, but then I started thinking about why the answer to his question was basically yes. Let's look at the roles each of these fills in a CSM army and why each outperforms the competition.

Daemon Princes: There's really one choice that makes a top level CSM build work here, and it's the Lash Prince. One of the main functions of any DP in a top level CSM build is to jack PM or Zerk squads out of long meatgrinder combats, and the Lash Prince seems to lose out to its competition, the MoN Warptime Prince, in this slot. I'll explain why it doesn't in a sec, but the real reason that the Lash Prince is superior is its synergystic effect on the whole list.

Yes, the much maligned CHEEZE!! Uberpower Fzorgle HURRR itself-Lash of Submission. Lash provides three main functions-grouping squads for blast templates, controlling enemy assault specialists, and dragging stuff into multicharge range for a squad of zerks. Lash's power is such that it's why the Lash Prince actually outperforms the MoN Prince in the "jack out of combat" role-fewer things make it into combat with increased efficiency Obliterator Plasma Cannons from grouping, and that large boy mob that'd bog a PM squad down for the rest of the game can be shoved back and Rhino blocked until you can deal with it. Hence, combats go faster even before the Prince joins in.

Now why Daemon Prince over Chaos Lord or Sorcerer? Well, the Lord can't have Warptime and is MUCH weaker in general (no eternal warrior, T4 base), so he can't match up in survivability or HtH power. Furthermore, an infantry-mashing lord with MoK, Claws, Combi, and Wings is 5 points more than the DP without the synergy boost to the rest of the list. An MoN, Wings, Daemon Weapon, and Combi Lord is even worse in terms of the points gap.

The Sorcerer isn't much better. A Lash/Wings Sorcerer, while he can hide in a Rhino, can only fire safely if his ride moves less than 6". And once he's out in the open, without eternal warrior, both he (and his attendant Plague Marine squad) are going to be atomised. So when the Sorcerer dies, you lose a Rhino for blocking/tank shocking off objectives, your Lash, your reasonably killy HQ, 2 meltas, a Powerfist, and a scoring unit. As opposed to losing just a Lash and a pretty killy HQ when the Prince goes under.

Plague Marines: Plague Marines really compete mainly with the amazing basic Chaos Space Marines for space in your army. So what do the PMs do better? Well, the PMs have a huge survivability advantage in the form of T5, FNP, and blight grenades. A squad of 7 PMs will survive more small arms (non armor ignoring) fire than 10 CSM, and if they get hit by something that wipes them, you can be pretty certain it would have wiped the CSM as well. What PMs do for a top level CSM list is tie down elements of the opposing army. If you have a squad riding around in your face popping off Melta at you, are you going to shoot/charge them or focus on the Obliterators? The choice gives your opponent both the opportunity to make a mistake and to tie up one of his units for a long time. While the PMs are grinding through combat (which they'll win, with a well-timed DP assist, against almost any other unit in the game), the other elements of the list can take care of the scary units in an opponent's army.

Khorne Berzerkers: Berzerkers are great in and of themselves: a scoring unit that'll beat the crap out of other army's assault specialists. They compete with Possessed (unreliable and still worse if they don't get Furious Charge or Power Weapons) and big HtH termie squads (that need a Land Raider to even see HtH), so they're our best assault unit. Are they really needed in a top level CSM list, though?

Maybe. What Berzerkers provide is an uber jack out of combat. Need that PM squad back NEXT TURN? Berzerkers. The other thing Berzerkers can do is help with enemy assault units. If there's something on the other side of the table that can reliably beat through PMs, hit it with the Zerks. If they don't kill it, they'll at least weaken it significantly. They'll also chew straight through hordes. But are they vital when you already have DPs to jack you out, Lash for assault control, and Oblits+Lash for anti-horde? Not vital, but they can be nice to have.

Obliterators: Obliterators are a godsend, and are what really kicks this list up to top tables. A 2+/5++ and 2 wounds each mean that in cover, these guys aren't going anywhere fast. A wide variety of weapons mean that Oblits can do it all and do it well. Lascannons can open transports for lashing the contents, plasma cannons can rip through anything from Terminators to Boyz after it's been clumped, TL plasma guns give them defense against DS/outflanking units, and TL meltas make the suicide-droppable. They compete with Defilers for Heavy slots and win because Defiler's can't do anti-transport or anti-terminator. Furthermore, you'll never lose an Oblit squad to a single Heavy Bolter shooting them from behind (happened to a Defiler of mine, ugh).

Now the question is composition. How many Oblits do you take? Well, at 1500, 4 leaves you enough room for a workable rest of a list. At 1750, you can take 6. At 2000, 8. Anything higher is 9 and more troops.

Now is Lash/PM/Zerk/Oblit the best build out of CSM? Yes. It has the few bad matchups and will tear through armies like Orks really effectively. There are two other builds that work pretty well out of CSM, though, and so my next two posts will talk about Chaoszilla and Raider Rush respectively.