Warhammer 40K: Chaos Space Marine Combat Patrol Next Steps
So you want to start a Chaos Space Marine army and want a Combat Patrol — what’s next? We’re here to help.
The Chaos Space Marine Codex is coming soon and with that a new Combat Patrol Box. We covered how the box stacks up price-wise but let’s talk about where to go next. Let’s assume you’re starting from nothing and snagged a Combat patrol. Where do you go from there? Let’s get into it!
First up, let’s see what’s in the box and how many points you’re going to end up with.
Dark Apostle w/ 2 Dark Disciples – 95 points
10 Heretic Astartes – 180 points + Wargear
5 Havocs – 125 + Wargear
Helbrute – 105 + Wargear
Total Points: 505 + Wargear
Now, you might be asking “where are you getting these points from?” The answer is the new Points Update.
We know the base cost of the box in points is 505 points. That’s before we add any wargear and any 40k player will tell you that you can spend a LOT of points in wargear. We’re going to leave that out for now. So keep that in mind as we go through the rest of the additions.
Chaos Combat Patrol Next Steps
From here on out you’ve got options. SO MANY OPTIONS. Now, we’re assuming that you’re starting with nothing in your collection which means you’re going to want a good base-line of units to choose from. So it’s a good idea to add some army staples to your list. There’s a couple of ways to do this.
You could purchase another Combat Patrol. That would net you another 10 Chaos Marines, 5 Havocs, another Helbrute, and Dark Apostle Squad. And, as we’ve seen, that’s another 505 points minimum. That’s not a bad idea! It’s also at a bit of a discount, too.
But really, you’re looking at adding another Troop, Elite, Heavy Support, and an HQ option. Another Squad of Chaos Marines starts at 180 points for 10. And having more of them is always useful.
For another Elites, the Chaos Terminators are a good option. They offer a lot of tactical flexibility and are pretty tough — regardless of what Chaos God or Traitor Legion you’re swearing loyalty to. Plus they clock in at 33 points per model before Wargear. A minimum sized squad is 5 so that’s 165 points before wargear.
For an HQ option, The Lord Discordant is a really good choice. It’s a cool model and it a great “bully” unit on the tabletop. He also clocks in at 175 points which is kind of a steal.
With those additions we’re at 520 points before Wargear. With the one Combat Patrol that’s a total of 1025 points before wargear. Now, with all those Marines, you might want some transports. A CSM Rhino is going to be 80 points base and we’ll toss in a pair for the two units of Chaos Marines running around. That’s another 160 points before Wargear.
You may also want one for the Havocs — but we’ll put a pin in that for now.
From here you’ve got a little over 800 points left to work with and we still need to budget for Wargear. You’ve got a couple of Troops to grab objectives, you’ve got some Elites to offer up some support, and a few heavy lifters. It’s a solid core to build from. This is really where you’re own personal preferences would take over.
Assuming we’re avoiding any Cult Troops because we’re not playing Death Guard/Thousand Son/Emperor’s Children/World Eaters, we need to stick to the meat and potatoes in this army. We could go with actual Cultists who are getting some buffs. That’s not a bad idea. But maybe you’re sticking with the Chaos Space Marine Theme.
Abaddon is sounding pretty good these days. That’s 300 points right there! Or maybe you want to go with a Red Corsairs list so Huron Blackheart is a good call, too — he’s 140 points. But his model is uh…dated.
Let’s pretend you’re going with Abaddon (which you could swap out for a Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour and maybe another 5 Terminators instead). That’s 500-ish points before wargear.
Realistically, we need to save around 2-300 points for Wargear. So to play it safe, we’re going to just add another unit. You could go with more Chaos Marines but we’re going to mix it up with a “weird” option to expand our collection. A Venomcrawler, Obliterators, or Possessed could all be fun. I don’t think those are bad options for a brand new army.
If you’re sticking with the “meat and potatoes” approach and don’t want another unit of Chaos Marines with a Rhino (which, again, not a bad call) how about Warp Talons? Or Raptors?
Both have a minimum size of 5 which comes out to 140 or 105 before wargear. You could also fill those squads out to 10 and then have room left over for wargear for the rest of the army. Hopefully.
That should get your Chaos Army around the 2000 point ballpark. Again, you’ve got options and depending on your playstyle you might end up swapping out units or changing up the theme. But, with these suggestions, you should have a good core to work with and experiment with.
Once the Chaos Codex drops, you’ll want to do some more digging through the rules to see what appeals to you. Maybe you’re not a “meat and potatoes” player and you want to hyper specialize on, I dunno, Elites. Or maybe you want a bunch of Daemon Engines smashing around — you do you! That’s the fun of the hobby side of things. And Chaos Marines are a great army to collect for that very reason.
What would you add to the Combat Patrol to get to 2000 points? Let us know in the comments!
