Chaos list advice

[pw]

I've decided to take the plunge and get hold of a Chaos army (it's out with the Lizardmen before they've really seen the paintbrush and in with something new!). This is my army (and shopping) list:

General 125
2 Heroes 160
Wizard on Dragon 190
2 Knights 400
3 Warriors 450
4 Marauders 240
2 Marauder Horse 180
2 Chariots 190
1 Harpies 65

What do you hardened WM players think? Too light on Knights? It seems to have a reasonable break point and a decent number of hard-hitting units but I'm not entirely sure about the usefulness of the marauder horse - I could turn these into another knight and some hounds or a chariot, hounds and some magic toys...

Any suggestions?

[captPiett]

Looks pretty good to me. Since the warriors and marauders are both core units, you may want to get the same numbers of each, on the off chance you'd have a 4k battle sometime in the future. Is that shopping list of units based upon an army list you've considered? If not, you may want to look at how you would construct 1k, 1.5k, and 2k lists and *then* make a shopping list...
As to specific units, don't underestimate the importance of light cavalry. Keep the marauders because they're useful for harassment duties (the enemy can't ignore cavalry, even light, completely) and to bolster your breakpoint (one of chaos's two weaknesses, IMO, the other being lack of shooting units). Knights are very nice, but really expensive, and you also have chariots in there for offensive power.
Speaking of light cav, do get some hounds. Very nice ablative shield for your other, more important cav. Much lower down on your priority list should be (IMO) dragons and magic items. Those are things to buy only with leftover points with few exceptions (eg orb of majesty or a dispelling item). I'd get a spawn or two for flavor purposes, although they can be point sinks.

[pw]

It's based on the idea of making a 2000 pt list. I hadn't thought about writing lower points lists, thanks for the idea. Given that I've tended to play 1500 and 1700 games it really makes sense. I'll give it a go and make sure that the figures will cover them. Maybe I ought to add a unit of hounds on to my shopping list just to be safe, and for spawn I've got a couple of fen beasts that would fit the bill nicely.

Cheers - P.

[CT Yankee]

Nice list.  I'd recommend,though, that you drop one of the Marauder Horse and instead take two units of Hounds (which helps your break point), a Dispel Scroll and a Sword of Might for your Dragon rider.  I'd also consider swapping one of the Heroes for a second Sorceror - in which case you'd have to leave the Sword of Might at home.  I usually use one Hero and two Sorcerors in my Chaos army and it works out fine, command-wise.  It's worth the inconvenience to have two tries at Rage of Chaos once you get into contact.

[jchaos79]

yep I see the potential of the hounds, but I didnt dare to recomend you the change because all my hounds still unpainted and I never used them in battles.

I could see that are a good unit to raise breakpoint and to face horde brigades or eliminate an injured unit. But again I have little experience with the list you show, mine have spawns, chaos warriors, trolls and sometimes ogredragons.

[captPiett]

Oh yeah, I forgot the dragon ogres! Good catch jchaos...
Another potential point sink, but they are almost unstoppable if you get them into combat. If you're shopping, my advice would be to get a unit of those to have some options.
A warning about the hounds though: they disappear in action very quickly. So if you want light cavalry that can stick around a bit longer, don't drop the marauder horse completely. Dropping one of the marauder foot would yield enough points for 2 units of hounds, IIRC.

[CT Yankee]

....Dropping one of the marauder foot would yield enough points for 2 units of hounds, IIRC.

Good point.  Keep the Marauder Horse, drop one Marauder, add one Hound, and upgrade one Hero to a Sorceror with a Dispel Scroll.

Dragon Ogres ARE a good unit - you get what you pay for.

[Lex]

Remember that there IS the option to go Chaos Horde..... 

[jchaos79]

Remember that there IS the option to go Chaos Horde..... 

I do not get you Lex, do you mean playing chaos as skellies or goblins? using lots of hounds and marauders?

[Guthwine]

Our chaos players in the group, usually dont take more than one unit of chaos knights even in 2000 point games. They are really powerful but 2 units of chariots will do the same if not more damage.

Hounds are almost a must for every chaos army, just too cheap not to have. Also combined with the chaos spell (the one that adds attacks) they can also be really hard hitting for a 30 points unit.

You could also drop one unit of warriors for another 2 units of marauders or a little more cavalry.

But I think your list is pretty solid without any changes. If you think it fits your playstyle you should definately play it like that.

[pw]

Thanks for all of the ideas so far. I have to agree that hounds sound like a very good cheap bet (like my halberdiers they can always concentrate on not dying as their main tactic). I think I'll add a couple of hound units to the shopping list which will give a little flexibility in terms of what they swap in for - maybe more, the idea of having four units is pretty tempting.

[Lex]

Remember that there IS the option to go Chaos Horde..... 

I do not get you Lex, do you mean playing chaos as skellies or goblins? using lots of hounds and marauders?

No, I meant using a chaos list that is devoid of cavalry, just using infantry and monsters you can field a substantialy sized force. The Dutch player that won the 1st Dutch open a couple of years ago fielded such an army and manages it real succefully. You can baldly go where even Dwarfs try to hole up and dig them out....   

[David Wasilewski]

The strategy I have found to be the most successful with chaos, regardless of the size of the game, is to field a 50/50 balanced spend on "heavies" (consisting of chaos wariors, chaos knights, chariots, trolls and dragon ogres) and "lights" (consisting of marauder infantry and marauder cavalry and chaos hounds). The aim of the game is to get the heavies into combat whilst only using the lights to protect your own flanks, threaten enemy flanks, be a second line, a reserve force to prevent flyers from exploiting the rear of the heavies etc. Basically the heavies are really hard to kill and will hopefully smash up enough of the enemy to break them before he can get in amongst your more vulnerable lights. Your break point will be higher than the total number of heavies in your army so you can be pretty agressive with these!

e.g. 2K might consist of 2 Chaos warrior, 2 chaos knight and 3 chariot as the heavies
and 4 marauder foot, 4 marauder cavalry and 4 chaos hounds as the lights.
Throw in some characters to lead the heavies and you are up to 2K.

It's not a foolproof strategy but I win 2 out of 3 games with Chaos, regardless of opponents, unlike some of the other army lists where I lose more often.

dave