Warhammer 40K: CSM & Cult Legion Army Points – How Strong is Chaos in 11th Edition?
40K 11th Edition points are here, so let’s take a look at the five Chaos Marine armies to see just powerful they are.
It’s a wild time if you got your 3 Defilers built and ready for 40K these last two months. I’ve got tips for new players, but the best advice to tell folks is always – if the unit is too good – don’t invest a ton of time trying to get 3 of them! I think all the Chaos Armies (except maybe Thousand Sons) are really paying for the Defiler tax and how it dominated the last 2 months of 10th Edition. I don’t think it is all a bad time for the Chaos armies but it is going to be a bit to figure out where things stand and most likely see some point shifts to help some of those armies out.
Thousand Sons – BIG WINNERS!
On the Chaos side of things the big winner is of course the Thousand Sons. That army is just built to wreck things with so many Psychic weapons that ignore cover, big crunchy creatures to hold down the fort, powerful damage dealers amongst all their units, and just a pile of good rules. This is the army that doesn’t need the Defiler as it has so many other good things like autocannon Forgefiends, mean as heck Terminators, and a good mixture of options to do just about any mission. TSons can do movement, do a ton of damage, and just hold things real well so this army is a winner for sure – especially since other Chaos Armies needed the Defilers to help things out. Magnus is smiling!
Death Guard – SOLID & RELIABLE
Along this same line is the Death Guard are also fine. Did the Defiler help them out? Sure it did but they have so many other options that it doesn’t really matter. They have amazing tanks, daemon engines, tough Terminators, valuable characters, great move blocking chaff, and a strong Battleline unit. Are they as amazing as Thousand Sons? No but I think the army is still going to work as it did before. They have taken a decent amount of hits lately and still they keep chugging along and rewarding consistent play. The army is a lot more forgiving to play than a lot of other options too. Mortarion is pleased.
Emperor’s Children – About Average
I think Emperor’s Children did get hurt by the Defiler but overall they seem ok. They are going to be very fast and have ways to get you just about anywhere. Their default unit – the Noise Marines do not care about cover and the only thing really keeping them down is trying to kill vehicles at times. I think one Defiler is perfectly fine for them and it helps crack things and allows the other parts of their army to get close. It is wild how fast Fulgrim is going to be right now especially with the ability to get a -2 to be hit with Cover and his default -1 to be hit. He might just make a spectacular comeback – especially if he is a nice “bullet” magnet to allow the rest of the army to get into place. It is sad to see your Daemon Princes get more expensive past the 2nd one but is probably for the best. I do wonder if a big brutish EC army could happen with a ton of the fast options available to get there. Fulgrim can still get it done.
World Eaters – An Uphill Climb
I think the World Eaters are in a weird place. The terrain isn’t as forgiving for them to stage as much and their shooting is a heck of a lot worse. The Daemon Engine Detachment allows you to get one to activate well and the point increases on the Defiler is a hard thing to deal with. The Forgefiends themselves are still too expensive so really it is going to be an uphill battle for them. They do have Purge the Foe for the Berserker Warband and I am sad to think that is still the best option. I will probably still be playing them pretty heavily as it could be fun with Angron back in the mix and maybe even the Terminator option to allow for another “blessings” roll to try and get old Angron back out of phase. I will probably still play with 2 Defilers as I love the punch ability they have with a Baleflamer as I look towards bullying the enemy and using a Bullet magnet or two to try and let my other options get the job done. Angron has some heavy lifting to do.
Chaos Space Marines – NERFED
Finally we have the CSM side of things and they took a really big hit. A lot of the other things besides Defilers took a smack and it’s going to be a weird game for them. They rose so high in late 10th, and now have to figure out other options to show up on the table. They are still very squishy and it is pretty annoying to see Chosen also hit with the points nerf like the Defiler. I know the unit is good but it is more a glue piece that isn’t going to be wrecking you just by themselves. They also have a crap ton of 3DP costing detachments that sort of limit them with all the other options available. I have been wanting to see if I can make an all 3-wound army to capitalize on Bile and Abaddons 4+ invulnerable save aura. I think we could do some fun things with the Corsairs Raiders to create a very rough Jail build that gets there, has units get close, and maybe locks them down quickly. It is something to think about as I play the game of Army building on my phone. Abaddon has a killer hangover…
Chaos Daemons – Randomly Good?!
Finally with have the Chaos Daemons who I feel made out pretty well. They have a ton of 2DP detachments with the Shadow Legion being one of them. I always think that one has legs to do some goofy things and I wonder if you mix that with the Cavalcade of Chaos to get those Juggers doing some terrible things to the enemy. I just always worry the daemons are going to go away in the future or just get locked into the codexes instead of having their own. I hope we leave them as a “gateway” army with free online rules, glue that can stitch into other armies, and lets you dabble in Age of Sigmar if you want too. It is too good to give up if I were GW but we’ll just have to see. Be’lakor is back on top!
All Hail the Primordial Annihilator!
