1505 point CSM Slaanesh list

[jhussey]

Here's the list I'm going to run against my friends Tau tomorrow. I'm trying a few new things based on our last encounter. Let me know what you guys think.

HQ
Sorcerer with Lvl 3 mastery, mark of Slaanesh, Sigil (4+ invul save), Force sword, bolt pistol. Steed of Slaanesh.

Troops
10 CSM plasma gun x2, mark of Slaanesh, Icon of Excess, plasma pistol and power sword of Aspiring champion

10 CSM with bolt pistols and CC weapons, mark of slaanesh, Icon of Excess, plasma pistol and power sword on Aspiring Champ all in a rhino

Elite
5 Terminators with reaper autocannon, lightning claws x3 power axe x2, combi melta x2 combi bolter x3. Mark of Slaanesh (kind of wasted here but it's a theme!)

Heavy
Forgefiend with ectoplasma cannon x3

5 Havocs x2 heavy bolter, lascannon, missle launcher with all 3 missles, mark of slaanesh, icon of excess. CC weapon and bolt pistol on AC

Fast attack
5 Warp Talons AC with gift of mutation x2

this list totals 1505 points

[ZergLord]

Exactly 1505 points, eh?

Your list is a mixed bag. Some good stuff, some bad, some downright abysmal. So let's start from the top.

First off, Veterans of the Long Wa is a must-have because most of CSM stuff doesn't have Fearless, so Ld 10 is very important. And it's cheap.

You've put many things on the Sorcerer and yet you didn't give him his most important piece of wargear: Spell Familiar. It's an auto take on any Sorc. I'm not sure why you gave him Sigil and the Steed, it's not needed.

CSM should always have bolters AND CC weapons, because without one or the other they're crippled in one aspect.

Please do yourself a favour and never, ever take Plasma Pistols. They're too expensive for a short ranged weapon that can kill the bearer. Combi-plasma or melta are way better.

Only one vehicle in the army, that's no good. You either take at least 3 Rhinos or you don't take them at all.

Your Terminators' wargear setup is random, and they will not be very effective. I don't recommend Lightning Claws since they're only AP3 and Termies don't have frag grenades.
In my experience, the best way of building your Terminators is to give them all Combi-Plasma + CC weapon of your choice. Funny thing is that this is the place where a Slaanesh banner could be very useful and yet you didn't give it to them?

Forgefiend has a short range and can glance himself to death. Just to let you know.

You never ever build Havocs the way GW wants you to build (one of each weapon) because they end up ineffective as hell. Pick one weapon and multiply it by 4. Drop Icon of Excess since it won't make this squad much more survivable. Or just pass it to the Terminators.

Drop gifts of mutation from the Warp Talons AC. They're already very expensive.

[jhussey]

Well I'm running into a few issues with my gaming club not allowing proxies, so since I only have one rhino that's why. I only have the kitted Havocs, so again that's why. This is a new army I'm still working on building and I have to deal with what I have at the time since again, not allowed to proxy. The Termies had the Icon of Excess, but I needed to shave the 40 points and in a previous post it was recommeded that the Havocs get FnP incase they are being shot to death. I'm not sure why the spell familiar is an auto take? I've seen this debated many times before with no clear definition as to why. The sorcerer is already at LD10 so is the familiar that useful on the chance you roll a 11 or 12? Is it more to save you against a PoW? Ok I agree with the dropping GoM on the WT.

[ZergLord]

I don't know about you but Spell Familiar saved me numerous times. The re-roll is priceless. Sorcs do have LD10 but there's still a chance that they'll fail and it could happen when you least expect it. And sometimes they'll be forced to do a psy test with some kind of penalty, so SF can help in those situations.

The Termies had the Icon of Excess, but I needed to shave the 40 points and in a previous post it was recommeded that the Havocs get FnP incase they are being shot to death.

If the opponent wants your 5-man havoc unit dead, then he'll make them dead with or without the FNP icon. If you want your havoc squads to be more survivable then add more bodies, 3-5 extra guys. But generally it's better to have 2-3 units of Havocs with 5 guys each than one bigger unit.

[jhussey]

Cool thanks for the tips man. I appreciate it. I'll make some changes and see about giving the Termies FnP and taking it from the Havocs. My next few purchases are more rhinos (whenever my store get's them), troops, and throwing in more havocs for good measure.

[jhussey]

This list proved very fun and it won. I did change a few things. I put the Icon of Excess on the termies, who lived the whole game. Removed it from the Havocs who survived 4 rounds, though I lost the missile launcher in round 2. Never took spell familiar and didn't need it. Definately need more Rhinos though. Just waiting for my local store to get some in. The Forgefiend was the star of the show though. Those blast templates made things messy for the Tau and It Will Not Die was a nice helper. Managed to roll 5 or 6 on all but 1 round of it. Terminators did awesome as well. The Reaper Autocannon made a mess of things and when they got into CC range the LCs and Power Axes performed nicely. Warp Talons made me proud too. Deep striking and not scattering (thank you dice gods) hitting 4 units of fire warriors and pathfinders(?) with Warp Flame. Helped my termies termies in the assault phase and my one set of CC CSM. Then the Warp Talons were able to assault in the following turn and WOW they hurt fish people bad hehe. Over all I was quite pleased with this list. A few more tweaks here and there, some noise marines and more rhinos and I think it's going to be a fun time. I have to say I was over all disappointed with my sorcerer's performace. Seems I had better use of my HQ when I had my Termie Lord. Oh and for only 5 points, I thought it would be a waste, but the Dirge Caster was awesome for slowing down the Tau's special over watch rules.....until the rhino went boom in turn 4...

[ZergLord]

I'm glad it worked for you. I don't want to be a party pooper but you should play against other people to make sure that the list is truly good.

[jhussey]

I play for fun. I use units I like for that reason. I have never played in a tournament in my 20+ years and I dont plan on it. It's just a fun way to kill a few hours with friends. I appreciate the input though, and I am aware that posting on a forum like this brings out the die hards, but again thank you.

[ZergLord]

I never said anything about tournaments. Even if you play friendly games it could happen that your list works well only against certain opponents.