Armies in 5th: Chaos Space Marines Part 2: Anti-tank

Last article we covered how the limited mobility of Chaos compared to other armies affects their whole army construct. Specifically, this lack of mobility exemplifies the general lack of firepower the Chaos army can put out compared to other armies and the relatively uselessness of their Fast Attack choices. However, other armies still can be as limited in mobility as Chaos (I.e. IG w/o Fast Attack) and still be more competitive even taking into account their better ranged firepower. This article therefore looks at Chaos’ ability to counter opposing mech armies.

One of the best ways to counter mech armies is with melta weapons. MM weapons on fast skimmers are your best bet but Chaos doesn’t have any of those and unfortunately, their only MM is available on their Dreadnought. A solid platform but not always reliable in what you want it to do. So Chaos have to ‘resort’ to meltaguns. Not a bad thing as quite a few other armies have very few platforms for long-ranged MM type guns (hell, only Tau w/Railguns and SM variants come to mind really). However, most armies can get cheap melta they can sacrifice. Whether its super-cost efficient or there are a bunch of them running around, Chaos cannot do this without sacrificing their midfield presence (I.e. CSM, Plague Marines, etc.).

A lot of players advocate small Terminator Squads with combi-meltas as sacrificial melta but these squads are quite expensive for that they do (noticing a trend?) and don’t provide to the army as a whole. Other sacrificial melta squads like meltavets, ISTs, Celestians, Speeders, Piranhas, etc. benefit the army in other ways either through their transports or utilities such as blocking. They are therefore useful against any lists whilst Termicide squads are not. They also eat up your Elite slots where Chosen or Dreadnoughts are much better choices.

Both of these squads are more capable of providing to the Chaos army at all times but neither of them can be classified as sacrificial melta. Much like Chaos Bikers and Raptors or BA ASM and SW Grey Hunters, Chosen are too expensive and valuable to the army to be considered sacrificial melta. They are certainly preferable to lose compared to your CSM/Plague Marines but Dreadnoughts are able to provide that mobile MM on the advance. CSM are also poor sacrificial melta needing to take 10 guys to get 2 guns and being Troops. Plague Marines are in the same boat in relation to the Troops aspect but can take 2 guns at smaller squad sizes. However, they are very expensive and are much better at sitting on objectives. So what then do Chaos do about anti-tank? Whilst they can take melta styled weapons in their Elites and Troops which are effective, they are still at a disadvantage compared to other armies.

This is where Chaos Heavy Support really shines. Whilst Predators are very similar to SM variants (and we are not doubting the efficacy of ACLC Preds I hope), Obliterators are perhaps one of the best units in the game even when over-costed a wee bit. Being able to throw about 2-3 weapon for whatever the job requires is fantastic and although you pay for it, the unit is worth it and shores up some of the deficiencies of the Chaos codex, specifically long-ranged anti-tank. Combining Oblits with meltaguns/MM in Elites & Troops allows Chaos to deal with mech, if at a higher point cost comparatively.

Although Chaos doesn’t have effective sacrifical melta or great ranged anti-tank, they are a solid midfield force with their Elites and Troops. Whilst they are still paying a premium for this compared to other armies and because of their limited ranged firepower & mobility in comparison, they still suffer against optimised mobile and shooty lists but are very capable of dealing with sub-optimal lists.

Next article will look at the utility the HQ choices provide for Chaos with a brief touch on their special characters which can be of use (I.e. Kharn).