Chaos has the problem of no good missile troops, so you have to hit hard and you have to hit fast, taking advantage of the fact that Chaos has some of the best HtH troops there are. Use formations that exploit this. Chaos is one of the few armies where I would use the Weighted Line or the Center Presented deployment (the Big Arrowhead line). With the Weighted Line, use Chaos Knights and Minotaurs or Chaos Warriors as your main strike force on one flank of your line, anchor the other flank with more Chaos Warriors, and deploy your Beastmen between them (I find the best weapon for Beastmen is the halberd), give them light armour and a shield so that they will survive to get in HtH. Things like Chaos Hounds are good for protecting your flanks, Harpies make good harrassment troops, and if you can afford them, Dragon Ogres can be added to the weighted end of your line. Centaurs are the only decent missile troops you have, but they are exspensive. Of the Daemons, I think that Flesh Hounds and the Flamers of Tzeentch are probably the most useful, followed by PlagueBearers, and Nurglings can be useful as screens, because of their 3 wounds for only 30 points, and they cause fear, and have a Daemonic save, they can really tie up the enemy for a while. I do not usually use the Greater Daemons, as I feel the points are better spent otherwise, but of the Greater Dameons I lean toward the Lord of Change as being the most useful for its points cost.
You *must* get into HtH early in order to have any chance of winning, and you must break your opponent's line and get into his rear areas, or you must roll up his flank, you cannot give him a chance to cut your troops down with missile fire and artillery, and speaking of artillery, a cheap flying monster or Harpies are good for getting rid of them. This is one of the armies that needs its characters and their extra fighting abilities to win, use your characters wisely. The special characters are very, very high in points, but one or two can be a focal point for your attack.
Always, I repeat, *always* give any unit that can have one a magic standard, especially your Chaos Knights and Chaos Warriors. For the Chaos Knights, I choose a Khorne banner, likewise the Chaos Warriors, but that is a subjective choice, made because my style of fighting with a Chaos army is to attack with a hard rush of troops. Hope this is of some help, the formations are posted elsewhere in this section.
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