Brand new Player Seeking Advice

[EchoHavoc]

Hi guys,

I'm completely new to AoS and I'd love some advice. After going into my local GW store I have decided (after a long chat with the store Manager) that Chaos is for me.

My local scene is (I think) pretty competitive, by that I mean the guys at the store (from watching our local gaming nights) aren't afraid to bring the cheese/filth, they are all decent generals and all attend regular events, meaning they want competitive practice games. kunnin ruk, clan Skryre, Kurnoth Hunters and death spam is common place (I don't actually know how 'hardcore' those armies are, but they all seem rather nasty). 

I'd like to point out that I in no way, shape or form want to netlist or just bring the most ridiculous army available. I'm just after advice on whats good for Chaos. Mostly as a starting point, because I don't want to get destroyed everytime I play.

Aside from playing at my local store I'd also very much like to get into the tournament scene for AoS. Therefore, I'll be building a 2000 point army. 

The issue I'm facing is that I have absolutely no idea, what works and what synergies well together. I'm sat with the generals handbook in front of me and still have no idea what to actually buy. I think I'll be going with a mixture of Khorne, Slaves to Darkness and Rats. I like the idea of bodies to take objectives but want to be able to pack a punch.

Any advice on starting a Chaos army would be much appreciated.

[Broken Netcode]

I was in your exact position about 2 weeks ago! Always loved chaos but never managed to be the bad guy in 8ed. What I did was buy a Get Started box for Slaves to Darkness, a Warshrine and 10 Chosen. Since then ive bought some warhounds, a Bloodsecrator, a Hellcannon and a Khorne lord on Juggernaut. If you have friends that like stormcast, maybe split the starter box. That has some great models for bloodbound for price. The great thing about StD is that you can give all models any mark, so that they work with the respective subfaction (give chaos warriors khorne, the get bonuses from khorne bloodbound units such as the bloodsecrator etc.). If you want to go into a whole new world of pain, look at Forge World for Sayl the Faithless, one of the most OP models we have. What ive done to make my lists competitive is have 10 chosen acompanied by a khorne lord on juggernaut, a bloodsecrator planting his banner and a warshrine all marked with khorne. On average those chosen when in combat will wipe out anything you can think of no questions asked. Hellcannons are very OP too when paired with a sorceror lord, its an easy 2d6 mortal wounds! If youre playing gunlines like kurnoth hunters maybe try adding in some marauders with Wulfric the Wanderer who lets you deploy all 40max of a unit of marauders on any edge of the table on turn 1 and then charge. Hope this helps!

[GRex]

Remember Slaves to Darkness units can be given marks. For instance Chaos Marauders can be given marks of Nurgle. They will gain all Nurgle synergies from Daemons of Nurgle, Rotbringers, and Clan Pestilens. The same can be done with Khorne. You can give Warrioirs of Chaos mark of Khorne and a Bloodsecrator can boost them.

I like using Nurgle and Khorne as an example because they also have great Start Collecting boxes. Pair up a Daemon selection with Slaves to Darkness or Khorne Bloodbound/Clan Pestilens and you have a very good foundation for an army.

[Stauderpower]

Coming at this from a tournament side, you have to decide what kind of army you want to play. If you want to be aggressive with a lot of buffs then go khorne with bloodsecrators and all that goodness. Plague bearers and all nurgle units are usually pretty good tanky units, and arguably have the best battleline unit with plague bearers. You can use clanrats for bodies to hold objectives but they are fragile and will run away a lot due to low bravery. A skaven warlord can make them decent but it depends on how much you want to invest in them. If you want to go with a very alpha strike playstyle the skrye battalion or sayl the faithless are good choices. Another good alpha strike combo is the "bloodletter bomb" basically you use a Bloodstoker to whip the letters, then use the wrath of khorne Bloodthirster let them run and charge, you can even use sayl I think as well, to give them a turn one charge which can be devastating. For shooting the best choice is honestly warp lightning cannons, since the crew cannot be killed. You can either go with one of these strategies and build your list completely around them, or mix and match for a more balanced approach. Either option is good, but it just depends on how you want to play the game, which is one of the great things about AOS, there's very few net lists that are dominating the scene right now.