Warhammer 40K: CSM Detachments That Will Rule 10th Edition
Goatboy here, to talk about which CSM Deatchments from the brand new codex are going to dominate in the 40K 10th Edition Meta.
Chaos Space Marines are roaring out of the gates onto the 40K landscape and preparing to do battle with ancient robots, crazy mad Orks, and the Chapters of the False Emperor. Currently the 40K meta is in a pretty good place. We see a lot of faction lists winning and with the new codexes we are seeing a lot more variety in general. This is probably one of the best places we have seen 40K at in a long time. It isn’t perfect but that is ok. Heck, most other competitive games with more than two factions are not perfect, either.
Right now it appears the Chaos Marines codex is most likely going to throw out two strong different builds with two other fringe ideas dependent on what type of event you are going to go to. I can see a weaker detachment being very strong in a Team environment as well which is a good thing too. It feels like the codex can do things like it used to as well as do new things that are interesting and shifts in play style.
Renegade Raiders FTW
We all know the current “best” detachment right now looks to be the Renegade Raiders. It does a lot of things this game seems to push for with always being able to move, shift, and do damage. On top of all of that it can still bully and assault its way out of things as needed. This is a good thing in the new environment of “heavier” terrain we are seeing. It is the army I will probably test first as again I am a Red Corsair player at heart and letting me move all the time is a powerful thing. Plus all its extra rules just seem to work due to the current need of units to hold objectives and be useful.
As Renegade Raiders doesn’t have nearly the explosive shooting ability of the other ones I don’t see it working like old Chaos Space Marines where they violently removed units with powerful shooting. I can see it doing a lot of push movement to bring space with specific units countering punching as needed. Things like Abaddon and his Chosen buddies rushing out of a Land Raider or a Chosne/Legionnaire combo to help clear things out.
Deceptors Love Team Play
On the other side of things we have something like the Deceptors detachment option which appears to be a powerful choice in the team environment we see played all over. It is a board control army that will shove a ton of models all over the tabletop and cause a lot of havoc for players to try and chew through. While yes they might win in the end – this army will overload the Primary and maybe even go into a Locked in Secondary role to push the score and let them guarantee some points for the team. I always think this style of list isn’t how I like to play personally, but it will show up. Expect it.
Pactbound Zealots & Soulforged Warpack Do Damage!
The Pactbound Zealots feel like the most explosive of lists with a high cap for damage that we are used to in the current CSM builds. These can range from heavy tank variants that try to murder you with bullets all the way to crazy little Rhino builds holding two units of Legionnaires carrying a heavy weapon. Fun stuff like Mark of Tzeentch rhinos that carry two Heavy Bolters that can stack both Sustained and Lethal Hits on 5 seem powerful. Just the ability to “gain” critical hits on a 5+ seems strong with things that can stack up the rules. A Helbrute running around can easily power up Nurgle options and just let a unit murder things.
Finally I bet will see a Soulforged Warpack do some work too. I don’t think we’ll see it all set up with Daemon Engines but most likely will be a mix using some powerful rules to power up some Shooting Phases. I would love to see a pile of Maulerfiends and friends show up but I don’t know if it will truly be worth it. I do think we could see some way to power up Command Points and you start creating Daemon Engines each turn – things like Vindicators and other fun things.
CSM Codex Verdict?
Overall I think the book will be a contender for the finals in a lot of events. I don’t think it is a broken set of rules where we would need to see adjustments. I think it will compete and feel like an army should. It gives you a lot of options, lets you play the game in all phases, and feels good. That is really where the CSM codex shines in just feeling like the army should work and work well. Even the detachments that feel not as good as others should still work because all the datasheets feel right and useful most of the time.
What do you think? Are we going to see a wave of Chaos Space Marines armies at the top like we did for a few months? Is it going to be another hot Chaos Space Marine summer?
