Chaos Space Mainres - Where Are All The Toys

Something that hasn't set right with me is the lack of weapon and war gear options that Chaos Space Marines have. When you compare them to the Loyalist Space Marines you see quite a few options are missing - no troop access to Multi Meltas or Plasma Cannons, no Assault Cannon, no Thunderhammer, no Stormshield, no Iron Halo (you can kind of get one of these with the mark of Tzeentch), WAY fewer HQ options (Chaos Space Marines have three - Daemon Prince, Lord, and Sorcerer. Loyalists get 7), fewer vehicle options (we get the Defiler, they get Land Speeders, Land Speeder Storms, Razorbacks, 2 more Land Raiders, the Thunderfire Cannon, Whirlwind, Iron Clad Dreadnoughts, and Venerable Dreadnoughts - hardly a fair trade.)

Herp Derp!

I will say that Chaos Space Marines do have a few things going for them - the Cult Troops are some of the stoutest units in the game and Obliterators are HUGE. But this just doesn't compare. We have no options that move anything around the Force Organization Chart or anything that gives us Army Wide Special Rules.

Where does this leave the Chaos Space Marines? Kind of in an odd place. Other armies need revamping worse - Dark Eldar, Necrons, Daemon Hunters, Witch Hunters, Black Templars (they are still stout, just old), and Dark Angels all desperately need a Codex update. And since the Eldar and Tau came out before the Chaos Space Marines they will probably get an update before the Chaos Space Marines get their due. So how far out is an update?

Right now the next two Warhammer 40k armies to get re-done are looking to be Dark Eldar and Daemon Hunters. One of these armies is expected in August, the next in January. Since systems trade off months we can expect about four Warhammer 40k Releases in a year (if we are lucky). Since Chaos Space Marines are 6th in line after Dark Eldar and Daemonhunters, we are looking at a speculative release date of mid-year 2012. Bleh.

So what can Chaos Space Marine players do until then? Focus on what we DO have - great Troops selections, a super potent HQ (Daemon Prince), high density of special weapons, and cheap throw-away units (Termicide, Raptor-Melta Squads.)