The 2012 Chaos Space Marine Codex has added a few new options to the Fast Attack section. This means that you have plenty of choices. This is good as the Chaos army does tend to like fighting close up, and the faster you can get there the better!
The Fast Attack units are getting more important with the 7th Edition of the 40k rules. The Maelstrom of War missions and the tactical objectives are forcing armies to move around the table a whole lot more during the game. This means that the army with fast, hard hitting units will prevail over gun line armies that ruled the roost in the 5th and 6th edition of Warhammer 40k. If you have not considered adding fast units to your army before, then now is the time to start!
Chaos Bikers
The Chaos Space Marine Bikers are very similar to their Imperial Space Marine brethren. By that I mean that they are small unit that can move around the game table quickly if they have the space to move.
Two Chaos Bikers can take special weapons. This means that the Chaos Space Marine Bikers are useful to attack weak spots in your opponents lines and disrupt his plans. The special weapons are useful to hit a hole in weak rear armour on most tanks and for punching a hole in monstrous creatures too.
Big Units
Unlike the Imperial Space Marine Bikers, the Chaos Space Marine Bikers can come in larger packs of up to 10 in a unit. A unit this big really adds up. Over 200 points for a basic unit. To spend this much for a biker, you will need a very good reason.
Marks of Chaos
The Chaos Space Marine Bikers can take Marks of Chaos. These are reasonable priced e except for the Mark of Nurgle. For this you will pay a premium, but it does make the Chaos Space Marine Bikers T6, or tough enough to need 6’s to wound up from most bolsters and lasguns. I. It also means that the Nurgle Chaos Space Marine Bikers can not be instantly killed by S10 weapons.
Chaos Spawn
Chaos Spawn are Chaos Space Marines that have been warped beyond all recognition. The Chaos Spawn are so warped that the are now use the beasts special rule rather than moving like regular troops. This means that they can cover twice the distance that foot troops do over open ground, and move through difficult terrain quickly. This means that Chaos Spawn are good for games on smaller tables ( ie the standard 6 foot by 4 foot sized tables or smaller ).
If you are playing on a large table, say in a game using the Apocalypse rules, then you may want to load the Chaos Spawn in to a Chaos Space Marine Land Raider. However remember that the Chaos Spawn take up extra room up in a vehicle so you can not have full sized units.
Strength and Weapons
Well the are easy, The Chaos Spawn just use teeth and claws. However the chaotic nature of the Chaos Spawn means that there are two dice rolls two see if the attacks are modified and how many attacks you get. This random element means that it will be difficult to accurately work out how many enemy models that the Chaos Spawn will kill each turn. This means that you may need to tackle smaller units with your Chaos Spawn than you may otherwise do.
Another use for the Chaos Spawn is as a ‘speed bump’ . By that I mean rushing in to assault a larger unit to slow it down so you can get other units in to assault on your own terms.
Spawn and Overwatch
By default the Chaos spawn do not have an armour save. This means that things can get messy quickly if you charge massed ranks of infantry. If possible look for smaller units that have become separated form other units. These will give you a fighting chance to get in to assault.
Chaos Raptor Tactics
Chaos Raptors are the jump pack troops of the Chaos army. As usual with jump pack troops, they are armed with short range bolt pistols and close combat weapons, however there are a number of weapon and Chaos gift upgrades. These upgrades do add usefulness to the Raptors so I highly recommend that you have a careful look at these upgrades.
One change with the 7th edition of the 40k rules is that the Maelstrom of War missions and the tactical objectives are forcing armies to move around the game table more. This is a role that the fast attack units like the Chaos Raptors excel in.
Chaos Warp Talon Tactics
The Warp Talons are Raptors that have become possessed Chaos Space Marines with jump packs. The possession grants the Warp Talons the Daemonic special rules and an option to take two mutations for the champion, however there seems too few improvements over the Chaos Raptor to warrant the 13 points per model point cost hike. If I am wrong, let me know!