It’s preorder weekend for the Chaos Space Marines and it’s time to grab one (or more) of the two big battleforce boxes! Either Veterans of the Long War or Dread Talons. But what comes after that? Let’s see what’s available and what would be the best way to expand your army after these big boxes.
Veterans of the Long War battle force box contents
In this box we’ve got:
- 1 Chaos lord on foot
- 5 Possessed
- 5 Chosen
- 10 Chaos Terminators
- 10 Chaos Space Marines
- 5 Chaos Space Marines transfer sheets
That really is an incredible starting point if you want to go for a melee and infantry heavy list. Some might even say it’s too much infantry and too many heavy melee options in one box, but I think it’s a great set to start your army with.
Most likely you can attach your lord to the chosen and the regular legionnaires, but not any of the other units.
Expanding your army from the Veterans of the Long War box set
Once you have this big battle force box, the next box should be the new combat patrol to round out your army a bit.
You will get:
- 1 Master of Possession
- 5 Possessed
- 10 Chaos Space Marines
- 10 Chaos Cultists
The 5 possessed in the Combat Patrol box are particularly interesting. Combined with the 5 from the battle force and the Master of Possession you will have a good block of 10 fast heavy-hitters.
You then still have the 10 Chaos Terminators that can act as an unmovable object in the centre of the table and you have a good base of an army to work with.
The cultists are great for holding the home objective and 10 more chaos marines are never bad.
From here I would suggest adding a Chaos Rhino or two to transport your guys in. You will need that for your legionnaires for sure, but the Chosen will probably want a ride as well. I’m not sure the possessed will be able to ride the Rhino, I haven’t seen the codex yet, after all.
Then I would consider adding some daemon engines to get a bit tougher shooty stuff in your army. A box of two Obliterators with the Venomcrawler would be a good addition, maybe two of those to really make sure you can obliterate a particularly nasty target.
From there, it’s a bit up to you what you like to play with. More infantry? Then maybe the Dread Talons battleforce might be a good addition as well!
Exanding from the Dread Talons battleforce
In the Dread Talons battleforce you get:
- 1 Daemon Prince (with or without wings, both options are available)
- 1 Chaos Lord with jump pack
- 10 Raptors (or Warp Talons if you want the shooty guys)
- 1 Dark Commune
- 10 Cultists
- 1 unit of Accursed Cultists
- 5 Chaos Space Marines transfer sheets
This box is a bit weird and feels far less powerful than the Veterans of the Long War box. It seems to be more focused on cultists, rather than space marines.
Expanding your army from the Dread Talons battleforce
If you go for this box, I think the best way to expand it is to also get a Veterans of the Long War battleforce. Really, just get both of them and you have a good starting base of an army that you can play with.
I don’t know the points yet, but these two boxes combined would be over 1500 points, so you can play a decent game already.
Combining this with the Combat Patrol is possible too, but then I would get 2 boxes of Combat Patrol. That way you get 10 possessed, with a master of possession to lead them. 20 more cultists, which this battleforce seems to go for. And 20 legionnaires. The additional Master of Possessions can be proxied for a Chaos Lord (with or without jumppack) or kitbash it into something else.
Then again, a couple of Chaos Rhinos to transport your guys in. You will definitely need this with all the powerful indirect fire and 3 inch deepstriking that is currently the meta.
And again, what’s missing in this combination is some more heavy shooting. Obliterators, Havocs, maybe a Hellbrute, it depends a little on what you like and what the actual datasheets will be.
To recap what to get next
Veterans of the Long War + Combat Patrol + 1 or 2 Chaos Rhinos + Big shooty things like obliterators, forgefiends, hellbrutes or maybe havocs.
Dread Talons battleforce + Veterans of the Long War + 2 Combat Patrols + 1 or 2 Chaos Rhinos + Big shooty things.
What are you going for?
