Goatboy’s Warhammer 40K: Chaos Space Marines: Ranking the Legions
Goatboy here and I love me some Chaos. Let’s see who the best CSM Legions really are from the new shiny codex.
CSMs are one of the few armies I have multiple versions of because I can’t help just making more versions of the same spike armored jerks. Today let’s look at the rankings of the most competitive legions. We’ll go from the Most-Likely to be seen at an event down to Super-Fan. Most of the Legions have some use due to the fact the CSM rules are not too bad. But there are a few that have a much bigger hill to climb to get to the winner’s circle.
Time to start with the Tournament staple Legions. These are the ones you should expect to see on the table top due to a mixture of powerful rules and strong secondary options. I feel there are 3 that should stand out over the others with two being stronger than the third. I love the last one though. So while it might not be nearly as robust as the other two it should be something to think about as they are extremely fast. This is important as the Chaos Space Marines are a much more assault based force that needs to get there and start chopping.
Best Competitive Options: Word Bearers, Black Legion, and Red Corsairs
1) Word Bearers
The top Legion I feel right now is the Word Bearers. You mix 2 very powerful abilities – FNP versus Mortal wounds and army wide reroll to hits in close combat – that are always relevant. On top of that they have a large amount of powerful Warlord traits that range from CP regeneration, creating a Daemonkin character, and even another form of Feel No Pain. Then to top it all you also have one of the better secondary’s in the game. A lot of Chaos Space Marines’ issues is the loss of Stranglehold. So the Word Bearers having a good replacement that doesn’t hit Banners is important. This Legion is going to the cornerstone of the Possessed/Daemonkin assault based lists will see coming for the competitive scene.
2) Black Legion
Black Legion follows next as while they don’t have the slam dunk Secondary they do have one of the best characters in the game. Abaddon is amazing as he does so many different things and is a beat stick. This mixed with a powerful Legion trait that gives a lot of the army a 2+ to hit and you have something to work with. They also get an amazing Relic that gives Characters and CORE units Objective secured. This lets you have some beefy Terminators, Chosen, or just an objective controlling lord of the Disco. This army also lets you stack Warlord traits, which can be powerful. Black Legion can be shooty or punchy depending on the style you want to play. So be on the look out to see a fat based and angry terminator lord running around the table top.
3) Red Corsairs
I know I have a soft spot for the Red Corsairs but I think their trait rules are extremely powerful. The ability to Advance and charge with your entire army is a beefy ability on an army full of Assault jerks. We all know how the Land Raider is a lot better so imagine a turn of these big tanks moving forward and then a plethora of Khorne crazy Legionaires busting out to punch you in the face from 9+ inches away. Waves of Possessed are going to be key plus all the other funky options like your Maulerfiends, Heldrakes, and even Chaos Bikers. Heck the fire and fade ability for your biker army might mean a unit of 9 will be mandatory in the army. You can move up, utilize a strat to shoot normal, assault, and then run away behind a wall.
Completely Serviceable Legions: Creations of Bile, Iron Warriors, Emperor’s Children, World Eaters
4) Creations of Bile
Creations of Bile are very close to being very competitive as their legion trait is powerful. +1 Strength and movement on an assault army is nothing to sneeze at plus the ability to fight on death is very powerful. They also have a Secondary that is very-doable in a very assault based army. This is a powerful combination that mixed with the sheer amount of strong assault elements in the army. Don’t sleep on this army – it will hit you like a freight train and then steal all your candy.
5) Iron Warriors
Iron Warriors are an interesting lot as their legion traits changed. Overall if you want to do a shooty army this is the Legion to pick. Ignoring cover is very powerful especially with the Legions reliance on powerful weapons on very few units. This is also one of the armies that really amps up the powerful nature of the new Chaos Land Raider by giving them some powerful ignore damage options. I like the Iron Warriors and when thinking about playing 2 big Super Heavy monsters this is one of the Legions I want to think about. I just wish their Secondary was better.
6) Emperor’s Children
Emperor’s Children do have one of the better troop options in the game with the Noise Marines. The fact that this Cult troop gets Legion traits is powerful as well as the ability to “guarantee” some charges with a few select strats. They also have a doable secondary that isn’t some kind of weird Shadow objective. I think if GW had released new Noise Marines we would see more of this army as it feels almost there. I like the idea of throwing ten Noise Marines in a Dreadclaw as they can quickly come out and pour a large amount of damage into a unit.
7) World Eaters
The World Eaters White Dwarf update is an interesting one. It feels like a very safe fail safe before their real codex comes out so it isn’t terrible. They can come in with a ton of damage and while it isn’t the fastest it does have the best “terminator” unit for the CSM army. I really just want to see what Angron is going to do an how the rest of the book actually works out. It is still the army a lot of players want to have especially in the Pre Heresy colors of White, Blue, and blood. I expect to see a lot of these cross over Horus Heresy armies come out as that game starts to sink its teeth into th competitive scene.
Super Fan Armies – Night Lords and Alpha Legion
8) Night Lords
The Night Lords feel like a Legion from a different game where Leadership is scary and units get run down all day. I love the look of the army but they really should have some updated things like a Jump Pack Chaos Lord and other Leadership based things. It almost feels like an army waiting on 10th or wishing for the Horus Heresy. So much is placed upon an option people sorta ignore most games. The Leadership focus makes it hard to feel like their rules are valid. They still look neat so yeah will see an army or two but it just doesn’t have the punch other legions have.
9) Alpha Legion
Oh how the mighty have fallen as the Alpha Legion are just not nearly as cool as they once were. Maybe its because Hail of Doom just shreads them. Maybe its due to not having an exciting Secondary. Maybe its because they are supposed to be a Insurgent army but you can’t have that many Cultists? I feel like this could have been a lot cooler of a set up with the ability to “build” your own Alpha legion set of traits or some other kind of customization before the game begins. Here is the army of sneaky gits and it just doesn’t feel sneaky enough. I think too much of its options are hungry for CP so losing so many leaves you feeling flat footed.
Overall the CSM is an interesting book that will probably struggle in the scoring side of things due to a lot of Secondaries that are just not worth it. The loss of Stranglehold is huge for the army as it was designed as a very aggressive assault based list that shouldn’t be trying to “sabotage” an objective or corrupt another one. This is why the Legions that have secondary’s based on what they want to do already will be better. We will see as the book starts to be played more heavily in the coming weeks.
For the Warmaster!
