So you missed out on the big battleforce boxes at release of the new codex and got yourself a Combat Patrol instead. Let’s see how you can grow your army from there.
What is in the new Chaos Marines Combat Patrol?
First up, what do you get with the new combat patrol is:
- 1 Master of Possession
- 5 Possessed
- 10 Legionaires
- 10 Cultists
That is a really good base to start a new Chaos Marines army. Here is what I think you should get next:
Get a second combat patrol box
Yeah, really. Make the 5 man possessed unit into a 10 man with a second box and you will have all the cultists and legionnaires you will ever need. It’s a great jumping off point to get to 1500 points and then 2000 points later. Get your Chaos Marines Combat Patrol on warhammer.com.
The extra Master of Possession is not that interesting, but with his pose, you could definitely kitbash him into a chaos lord with jump pack. Or just proxy him as a regular chaos lord attached to the legionaires.
Now that you have legionnaires, you will need to protect them on the battlefield and to make sure they get into combat you need a Rhino, or maybe 2.
Rhinos are always good in practically any army, so even if you want to later play Thousand Sons, Death Guard or World Eaters, having the rhinos is always a good thing.
Next steps in building a new Chaos Marines army
You need to decide which detachment(s) you would like to run. Or what original Chaos legion you would like to mimic. Ask yourself what you would like to do:
- Are you going melee?
- Are you going shooting?
- Are you going for vehicles?
Those are basically the three options you have. Depending on your answer here are three directions to go in.
How to build a melee Chaos Marines army from the Combat Patrol?
First of all, get 2 combat patrols. With the 10 possessed you already have a good brick of infantry that can hit hard. You now have the choice between:
- Terminators
- Chosen
- Raptors
- More possessed
It depends on your play style, because all four of these options are viable, but play very differently. It could also depend on which legion you would like to run as.
Terminators are very tough and slow. Good for putting in the middle of the table while your possessed are going hunting to destroy enemy units. They also can’t fit with 10 man in a transport.
Chosen are more flexible than terminators and can ride a transport with no problem. They are not as tough as Terminators though.
Raptors are a completely different unit. With their jump packs they are very fast, they can deepstrike too, but they are relatively weak. These are perfect for the Night Lords legion of course.
More possessed is definitely a good option as well. A second 10 man brick to slam into your opponents lines sounds like a fun way to play. I wouldn’t get 2 more combat patrols though, you probably don’t need more cultists and legionnaires and if you already had 2 you already have 2 Masters of Possession. Just get 2 separate boxes of possessed instead.
Then you’ll need some characters to go with these units. Depending on what you pick you will need a different lord. Abaddon is always a good option to go with terminators or chosen.
How to build a shooting army from the Chaos Marines Combat Patrol?
To be honest, if you want a shooting Chaos Army, the combat patrol might not be that good an option to start from. Just a single box maybe to get you started with the playing some combat patrol games, but relatively soon you will want to play with different stuff instead.
You can go infantry or vehicle heavy with a shooting army. But you have more options if you go with vehicles and daemon engines.
For infantry you could get 10 Terminators. These have some shooting power, but most of all, they can sit on an objective wherever you like and keep the enemy melee away from your shooting units.
The cultists and legionnaires from the combat patrol can function as screening units as well. Throw them into the meat grinder so your shooting units can keep blasting.
Havocs are a good infantry heavy weapons team with plenty of shooting options.
Of course Obliterators can’t be left out. They are still a devastating unit to play with and can delete enemies without too much trouble. You can’t buy these separately though, they have to be bought in combination with a venomcrawler. That’s not necessarily bad, but if you don’t use it you are essentially paying a tax to play with Obliterators.
Then we get to the tanks and daemon engines. You have the choice of:
- Predator tanks
- Forgefiends
- Heldrakes
- Venomcrawlers
- Hellbrutes/dreadnoughts
- Land Raiders
Out of these, the land raider might be an odd one, because it’s not just a shooting platform. It’s a transport, but it does have some firepower built in as well.
The Predator tanks are pretty self explanatory with their ranged options, so are the Forgefiends and Heldrakes in case you want a flyer.
Venomcrawlers are a bit of a combination of shooting and melee.
The Hellbrute or other dreadnought proxies could be good shooting platforms, but they are terribly slow and overcosted at the moment of writing. I can’t recommend them.
You can add some Chaos Knights to the army as well if you want more firepower!
How to build a vehicle heavy army from the Chaos Marines Combat Patrol?
Ok, if you got the combat patrol as a starting box to play the game type combat that’s great. But it definitely is the wrong box to start a vehicle heavy army.
If you want a vehicle and daemon engine heavy army, I would just start with that. Figure out what you want to play with. Forgefiends, tanks, hellbrutes, warpspiders etc. Then go from there.
After the vehicles, consider getting:
- Vashtor the Arkifane
- A Lord Discordant
- Warpsmiths
- Terminators for melee line of defense
- Cultists for screening
- Some nurglings for actions
Don’t forget that you can add Choas Knights to your army. A couple of war dogs wouldn’t go amiss in a vehicle heavy chaos marines army.
Units every Chaos Marines player should consider
Nurglings. Let’s start with those. One or two units of 3 Nurglings will get you infiltration and deepstrike for only 40 points per unit. They are perfect for doing actions, but remember, they are OC 0 so they can’t take an objective for you. Nurglings can be found here.
Rhinos. If you have infantry, you will want rhinos to transport them. Without it, your legionnaires, but also your heavier infantry will get shot off the board before they can do anything. Free walking legionnaires are any Imperial Guard player’s dream. Get your Rhino here.
Perhaps Abaddon. It looks like you can make a list without him, but he is an absolute beast and crucial in several good lists. You might be able to leave him out of a vehicle heavy list, but even then he’s a decent option to go with a brick of terminators. Abaddon is here.
