Starting a CSM army, help needed

[J00bert]

hey all, im pretty new to 40k. and i recently bought the CSM codex for my first amy.and i will buy the basic battleforce soon. so i have a few dumb questions, any help is appreciated.

1)any suggestions for how i should equip my army?

2)I'm either going to follow nurgle or khorne, anyone with some expierience in either would be appreciated.

3) i had this idea, what if i painted my entire army the same scheme but i bought 2 different icon bearers(nurgle and khorne), and painted them the same as well, would i be able to switch between the 2, when i play different games?

4)I will be normally playing against Tau,orks, and tyranids. any strategies??

5) i'll probably kick myself in the forehead for asking this but i couldnt find the tables for the khorne berserkers in the codex, should i consider them chaos space marines or what?

thanks again for the help

[Brother Wolf]

Read the rules...

Read the codex...

Read the rules again...

Read the codex again...

Find some friends who play or head to the local shop and observe a few games...

They are your models and you can paint them however you wish. If you plan on playing in tournaments or in the public arena, then you will, however, need to be certain that your opponent can easily recognize what he's fighting. Chaos and Eldar armies tend NOT to have a unified color scheme. If you play a Chaos undivided force, (you will have to if you plan on bringing Khorne AND Nurgle), then it is totally acceptible to have your Khorne berzerkers and their icon bearer painted one way and the Nurgle plague marines and icon bearer painted another. Remember, however, that Berzerkers and Plague Marines are considered elites unless the general has the same chaos mark.

Read the rules...

Read the codex...

[J00bert]

uhh. ok. i've red through my codex and the new rulebook a few times and i have some ideas, but any help would be appreciated, im not planning on playing in tournies or anything just with friends and at our GW shop. but you didnt get my icon question, what if i wanted my entire army to be able to have nurgles gitfs and such but then in a different game i switched him out for khorne so i could use all of his gifts. is that legal?

[BillyBob]

TO be honest with you, it'd be kinda hard to get away with that. Your nurgle marines have to look like they're rotting. And your Berzerkers look like they're insane....
Your color scheme can't be disputed. But I think he's right in saying that it'd be a good idea to play an undivided force with a squad or two of each.
If you don't want undivided, I suggest playing only one or the other. decide what you want. Either the mobility and assault of Berzerkers, or a line of tough nurgle marines walking up the field. :bandit:

[Brother Wolf]

Among friends, you can use salt shakers for models for all anyone would care, so do what you like. However, it's nice to know exactly what you're getting in to. Just model up an icon bearer using Khorne, (since you said you were buying a battleforce and it comes w/ a squad of generic CSM and a squad of Khorne-holes). Focus you first army on undivided and Khorne since that's what you'll have the models for. Model sub, saying the Khornies are Nurgle instead for a game or two to decide if you like them. Nothing says you can't have both except the size of your wallet...

FYI- My Emperor's Children force has a basic icon bearer in each unit, a personal icon on the Lord and Lt. and I keep a chosen icon bearer around carrying my Rapturous Standard just in canse I want to you the big banner rules. Icons are free and you should always model an icon bearer in each unit. Always.

[beensalad]

thats a lot of banners how many demons do u have?

[Brother Wolf]

6 units and 2 characters, 8 icons in the force total. I might only bring 4 units & 1-2 characters in a typical game. I have enough daemons to make 3 units of 6 or 2 units of 12 & 6. I also keep a Greater Daemon around for kicks. I may, (MAY!!!), be adding some steeds.

The reason for having so many icons is not because of how many I summon, but because of how I choose to use Daemons. SOmetimes they are an augmentation to my strik force. Sometimes they are my reserves I keep ready to pounce on an unsupecting enemy. Trust me, if the enemy is eyeballing your advance force assuming you are going to call down the thunder with them, he might not think you'll do it when he attacks your havocs in the rear. An extra 12 attacks w/ Daemonic Talons is sure to ruin his plans when he strikes your havocs...

[cfoley]

Interesting point, Brother Armand, but would an army of salt shakers actually be cheaper than an army of miniatures?

[ShortStroke]

I don't play CSM (going to collect Emperor's Children over the summer) but why do some specific legion's troops count as elite and others don't? Atleast in the store... Emperor's Children are under Elite, but Iron Warriors is under Troops. And Plauge Marines are Elite and Night Lords aren't (those helmets are way cool).

[BillyBob]

Because of their marks
For example, Iron Warirors, Night bringers, World Bearers, black Legion, etc. are all under "chaos undivided" They are the most basic troops. However, they do not worship any chaos gods in perticular. However, Death guars, Emperor's Children, World Eaters and Thousand son marines worship certain dieties which give them better abilities in their respective feilds. You can add them, but due to their special abilities, they are considered elites.
I hope that cleared up things a little

[cfoley]

If a unit has a Mark of Chaos then it counts as an Elite choice unless it has the same mark as the Chaos Lord, in which case it is a Troops choice. So if your lord has the Mark of undivided then squads with the mark of Chaos Undivided are troops. If your lord has the mark of nurgle then squads with the mark of nurgle are troops. And so on...

[Brother Wolf]

Well, you could get this spice rack from Target for about $50.

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=2-3/qid=1107456991/ref=sr_2_3/601-6460704-8574519?%5Fencoding=UTF8&asin=B00029R8UY

It has 18 pieces, so that's about $2.78/model. A box of Emp Children is 8 pieces for $35, or $4.38/model. Of course, a box of plastic Cadians is only abotu $2/model, so I guess it depends on which army you collect.

And you could always go to Denny's an steal some shakers. Or maybe the hot sauce packets from Taco Bell vs the Mustard, Mayo & Ketchup from MacDonalds eh? "Eeek, a squad of Fire Sauce, run for your lives!!!!"