Goatboy’s Grimdark Armylist – Abbadon’s MSU Cult!
Goatboy here again to talk about a CSM armylist that may thrive in the meta. Abaddon approves!
This army list has me thinking of ways that Imperial Knights and GSC could be defeated. I don’t know if it can stop the current “Kings of 40K” Aeldari – but it is something to really think about. Fundamentally, I don’t believe in the whole – “if you can’t beat ‘em join them” type of mentality. I would rather play lists and armies I want to play and try to get better, than army-hop constantly.
Thus, leading me back to my nonstop love of Chaos things and trying to figure out a way to get it to work. I think the best Chaos based army right now is probably Thousand Sons just due to the nature of how it works. It can throw out a ton of damage, has combos, and then has some movement tricks.
But I don’t want to play Thousand Sons. I don’t want to paint a metric ton of gold trim armor and a bunch of other blue nonsense. The only time I want to paint it is for a client who is currently up next once I finish up some Guard.
This leads me to to other directions for a Chaos army and thus this hot mess of CSM board control I present in front of you. Let’s get the list out of the way and then why I think it might work.
Abaddon’s Cult! MSU 4 Dayz!
Chaos Space Marines
Slaves to Darkness
Strike Force (2000 Points)
CHARACTERS
Abaddon the Despoiler (280 Points)
• Warlord
• 1x Drach’nyen
1x Talon of Horus
BATTLELINE
Cultist Mob (55 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Khorne
• 1x Cultist Champion
• 1x Autopistol
1x Brutal assault weapon
• 9x Chaos Cultist
• 9x Autopistol
9x Brutal assault weapon
Cultist Mob (55 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Khorne
• 1x Cultist Champion
• 1x Autopistol
1x Brutal assault weapon
• 9x Chaos Cultist
• 9x Autopistol
9x Brutal assault weapon
Cultist Mob (55 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Khorne
• 1x Cultist Champion
• 1x Autopistol
1x Brutal assault weapon
• 9x Chaos Cultist
• 9x Autopistol
9x Brutal assault weapon
Cultist Mob (55 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Khorne
• 1x Cultist Champion
• 1x Autopistol
1x Brutal assault weapon
• 9x Chaos Cultist
• 9x Autopistol
9x Brutal assault weapon
OTHER DATASHEETS
Accursed Cultists (95 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Khorne
• 5x Mutant
• 5x Blasphemous appendages
• 3x Torment
• 3x Hideous mutations
Accursed Cultists (95 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Khorne
• 5x Mutant
• 5x Blasphemous appendages
• 3x Torment
• 3x Hideous mutations
Accursed Cultists (95 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Khorne
• 5x Mutant
• 5x Blasphemous appendages
• 3x Torment
• 3x Hideous mutations
Chaos Terminator Squad (195 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Chaos Undivided
• 1x Terminator Champion
• 1x Chainfist
1x Combi-weapon
• 4x Chaos Terminator
• 1x Accursed weapon
4x Combi-weapon
3x Power fist
Chosen (115 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Khorne
• 1x Chosen Champion
• 1x Accursed weapon
1x Bolt pistol
1x Boltgun
• 4x Chosen
• 4x Accursed weapon
2x Bolt pistol
4x Boltgun
1x Chaos Icon
2x Combi-weapon
Chosen (115 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Khorne
• 1x Chosen Champion
• 1x Accursed weapon
1x Bolt pistol
1x Boltgun
• 4x Chosen
• 4x Accursed weapon
2x Bolt pistol
4x Boltgun
1x Chaos Icon
2x Combi-weapon
Chosen (115 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Khorne
• 1x Chosen Champion
• 1x Accursed weapon
1x Bolt pistol
1x Boltgun
• 4x Chosen
• 4x Accursed weapon
2x Bolt pistol
4x Boltgun
1x Chaos Icon
2x Combi-weapon
Possessed (145 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Khorne
• 1x Possessed Champion
• 1x Hideous mutations
• 4x Possessed
• 4x Hideous mutations
Possessed (145 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Khorne
• 1x Possessed Champion
• 1x Hideous mutations
• 4x Possessed
• 4x Hideous mutations
Possessed (145 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Khorne
• 1x Possessed Champion
• 1x Hideous mutations
• 4x Possessed
• 4x Hideous mutations
Raptors (95 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Khorne
• 1x Raptor Champion
• 1x Accursed weapon
1x Bolt pistol
• 4x Raptor
• 4x Astartes chainsword
4x Bolt pistol
Warp Talons (130 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Khorne
• 1x Warp Talon Champion
• 1x Warp claws
• 4x Warp Talon
• 4x Warp claws
2000 Points
Using the Chaos Cult
As you can see this is a pretty simple list of Abbadon running around with all his CSM maniacs. The idea here is to abuse his ability to allow rerolls and Mark of Khorne abilities to allow Lethal hits on 5+ in close combat. You add a ton of bodies and you get a big swirl of nonsense that is coming at you, moving fast, and can hurt just about anything.
You know what Knights don’t like? A ton of small units that take a bit more than average amount of fire power to remove. Now take a ton of them, mix them up with a crazy leader you can’t target (Mark of Nurgle baby!), and have a bunch of decent attacks and you get something scary.
Plus it is a ton of bodies that cover the table leaving not a ton of space for GSC to show up and try to earn points. It also is all MSU with a few things with a ton of wounds so “investing” in damaging a unit that needs a bit more work to do lets things like Overwatch and other options feel like they are not nearly as good as before. This army will push forward, get close, and start the punching.
The 2 Jump units are there to allow for a little bit of deep strike nonsense to land in their back field, give you some movement, and they punch ok with Mark of Khorne running around. Heck Abbadon starts off giving everyone a 4+ invulnerable save letting your poor cultists survive. I love how nutty the army looks and gives you the real lost and the damned style of feel with it.
Death to the False Emperor!
