Daemons Tactica

[PyroSikTh]

Thought Daemons could do with a Tactica. We may or may not have had one in the past, I can't remember, but here's my version at least. This is my first Tactica I've ever written (I usually get people to debate in the hope someone will do it for me), so be nice. Most of it is based on my experiences as a player, but the units I haven't really tried are based almost entirely on theory and what's on paper in front of me. Hopefully this'll be a good starting point for new players, but may or may not give some of you veterans something to think about. So without further ado, let's get on with it.

First an overview of the army.
Daemons are one of the most unique armies in 40k, no denying that. For one thing, they never deploy normally. Ever. Unlike every other army, you don't have the option to footslog it across the board, which is just as well seeing as Daemons aren't particularly fast, nor do they have any transports. Instead they deepstrike onto the board. This is a double edged sword, on one hand, it gets straight up there from turn 1, mitigating the need for transports or speed. However, on the other hand, it means you're staring the enemy in the face, and there's not a lot you can do about it. What else makes Daemons unique? Well the whole army is fearless and immune to Instant Death, both of which are fairly necessary if you're standing around for a turn doing nothing. The last way they are unique is in how drastically different each and every unit is. This is thanks to the four Chaos Gods, that most Daemons fall under. As such, the best Daemon armies will take a dash of each and every God, each one covering the others weaknesses with it's own strengths. Sometimes, though, it's just fun fielding just one God, and it wreaks of fluffiness, but don't expect to win much, especially when starting out. It can take a lot of finesse to win with Mono-God armies and they can be very hit or miss.

Khorne is the Blood God. He desires slaughter above all else. His units are geared towards Close Combat, with pretty much every one having Power Weapons. He also hates Psykers, so a fair few units can get a 2+ Invulnerable save against any and all psychic abilities. Nice.
Nurgle is the God of Disease and Decay. He's the tough cookie. His units are geared towards surviving, so Nurglings aside, there is no Nurgle unit with a Toughness lower than 5, and they all have Feel No Pain which just adds insult to injury.
Slaanesh is the God of Desire and Pleasure. Slaaneshi units are all about striking hard and fast, not dissimilar to Eldar and Dark Eldar (which is quite fitting when you think about it). Most (if not all) Slaaneshi units have Fleet and Rending, so not only can they travel long distances, but they also pack a punch once they get there. Slaanesh also has various other perks like moving enemy units around, reducing attacks etc.
Tzeentch is the God of Change. Tzeentch is where the vast majority of your shooting comes from. His units will strike the enemy from afar, and may even be able to target more than one of their units in the same turn.

Let's get a bit more specific about those army rules.

Daemon. This applies to all units with the Daemon special rule (which is everything in the codex, even the Soulgrinder). With this special rule comes 4 other rules.
The first being Fearless. This means Daemons never have to take a Morale Test and automatically pass it. Downside being that they have to take No Retreat wounds if they lose combat.
The second is Eternal Warrior. This makes everything in the codex immune to Instant Death. This is very handy on units like Bloodcrushers and Fiends who have more than one wound, but is also pretty handy on the Greater Daemons and Daemon Princes, as you don't want them disappearing in a hurry.
The third is Daemonic Rivalry, which just means that a Herald of Khorne can't lead a unit of Horrors for example. Not anything you should be worried about.
The last is Daemonic Assault. This is what makes Daemons completely different to every other army in the game, and is both their saving grace and their downfall. You must split your army into 2 equal halves (based on units, not points), pick which one comes on on Turn 1, and then roll a D6 to see if the Gods agree or not. This is the real turn off, as it means half your army will have to endure your opponents entire army. Couple this with not really being able to do much after you Deepstrike and you can see why people find it hard to think of Daemons as a competitive army.
There are two major ways to try and combat this. The first is to split your waves as evenly as possible. Think of each half as it's own army. Make sure each half can take on infantry and vehicles, has some combat and some shooting, has some big targets as well as little targets etc. etc. This is my favoured method as it means there is no "Wrong" half to come in. Whatever the Gods choose, the half you want to come down first turn has come down. Win-Win! The other option is to go all or nothing. What I mean by this is put all of something into one half and all of the opposite in the other. For example, all troops in one half and all Monstrous Creatures in the other, or all shooting in one half and all combat in the other etc. etc. This works well as no matter which half you come in, you've concentrated one thing entirely, which trumps your opponents balanced list in the early game, which is crucial. For example, if you come down with only big Monstrous Creatures and Soulgrinders on Turn 1, then your opponent's small-arms fire has nothing to aim at, whereas if you come down with just units and small targets, the opponent has wasted potential in his high-powered weaponry. There's nothing for them to target.

[PyroSikTh]

So with the basics out of the way, let's get a bit more specific. I'll now go through each option in the codex and give you pros and cons, and then whether I think they're worth taking. I won't list potential loadouts, as I really don't have the desire to go and work out some good loadouts for every single unit, and because the loadout depends entirely on what the rest of your army looks like.

HQ
Firstly we have the Greater Daemons. These are the massive Monstrous Creatures for each God.

Keeper of Secrets
This is the Slaanesh Greater Daemon. Taking from the blurb above for each God, you can see it reflected in the Keeper's Initiative of 10 and Fleet special rule. This Daemons is FAST. It will get the charge, and it will go first in assault. That much is guaranteed. It also has Strength and Toughness 6, which is fairly standard for a Greater Daemon, and on it's own is pretty damn good. S6 means it will tear up pretty much anything from infantry to vehicles (particularly with 2D6 penetration from being a Monstrous Creature). It's T6, coupled with it's 4+ Invulnerable save, means it'll survive pretty much anything heading it's way. The downside? It's pretty expensive, coming in at 200pts basic. You're probably going to want to add a few extra gifts to that as well, upping the cost even further.

Great Unclean One
This is the Nurgle Greater Daemon, my personal favourite. This one isn't as obvious when it comes to figuring out which God it's from, seeing as it has the standard Invulnerable save and Toughness as all the other Greater Daemons, making it just as survivable...BUT WAIT, it also has an extra wound, and Feel No Pain, and it's by far the cheapest Greater Daemon of the lot, starting in at 160pts basic. It also comes with the nifty ability to wound on a 2+ no matter what. It gets even better when you consider it's poisoned, and not a lot has a Toughness above 6, so that's re-rollable 2s to wound against pretty much anything. He can also be given some nifty gifts as well, but I wouldn't overload on those, otherwise he starts reaching the point costs of the other Greater Daemons. So what's the downside to this bargain? I2 and Slow and Purposeful. In the complete opposite direction to the Keeper, this thing is extremely slow. You'll be lucky if you can get a 12" charge (spanning over both Movement and Assault phases, usually you can move 6" and then assault 6". Just thought I'd clarify that) with him, and then once you're there, chances are you'll be going last. Not good. Still the best choice in my opinion though thanks to the cheap, cheap point cost.

Bloodthirster
This is the Khorne Greater Daemon. He's designed for crashing and smashing anything that gets in his way. The Bloodthirster is a real beast. So what sets him apart? He's stronger than the other Greater Daemons, hits more accurately with a WS of 10, and has more attacks. If that wasn't enough, he also has Daemonic Flight as standard, meaning he's faster than the Keeper of Secrets. As if that wasn't all enough, he's also got Furious Charge and an Iron Hide. These means, as if he wasn't hitting extremely hard as it is, on his charge (which he will get), he's striking at S8, I6. That means he's stronger than most as well as faster than most. This beast can squash Space Marine Captains before they even get a chance. Iron Hide also makes him very sturdy against small-arms fire, granting him a respectable armour save. The downside? Well you didn't think you were going to get him cheap did you? 250pts basic. That's a hell of a lot of points. He'll be a huge fire magnet in your army and once he's gone, that's a large portion of your army gone just like that.

Lord of Change
This is the Tzeentch Greater Daemon. This one is the least obvious to tell what he's supposed to do. He has standard Strength and Toughness, Wounds, Initiative. The only glaring thing on his stats is the 3+ Invulnerable save, meaning he'll shrug off anything and everything that comes his way. He can obviously hold his own in combat, but he's no monster like the Bloodthirster. Where his perks lie is in his rules and options. He comes as standard with Daemonic Gaze and Bolt of Tzeentch, which are two very respectable shooting attacks. The Bolt in particular will be most useful as Daemon armies tend to lack in Anti-vehicle weaponry all round, and the Bolt is where most of it will lie. Bad points? First it's cost. It takes up as much of your army as a Bloodthirster, but you'll want a few gifts attached, making him almost 300pts. What do you get for it? A Dualist. He's fairly average in combat, and fairly average in shooting, and a master of neither. If you want some good shooting ability, go for Heralds of Tzeentch and/or Flamers of Tzeentch, if want Combat ability, go for anything from Slaanesh or Khorne, and if you want Survivability, go for Nurgle. The worst Greater Daemon choice in my opinion.

Next up we have the Heralds. Unfortunately these don't have fancy names, so it's fairly obvious who belongs to who. The biggest perk of all of these guys is that they're cheap (most expensive being the Khorne one at 70pts) and you can take 2 of them for each HQ slot, meaning you can take up to 4 of these guys. As a rule, only the Tzeentchian one is worth bothering with, but I'll go through each one lightly in case any pique your interest...

First up we have the Herald of Khorne. This is the most expensive Herald at 70pts basic. He comes with some respectable stats and rules that reflect the Khorne way of life. He has Furious Charge enabling him to strike at S5, I6 on the charge, and he has a Hellblade, which will tear up anything without an invulnerable save. He also has some nice options like a Juggernaut, making him the perfect accompaniment to your Bloodcrushers, but that's the only instance I'd consider taking one.

Next up is the Herald of Nurgle. This one is basically just a Plaguebearer with an extra attack and extra wound, but for over 3 times the cost. The only thing worth noting on this one is that he's the only herald that can't take a Chariot, because Nurgle is slow and has no need for fast chariots. Bit of an odd decision I think, as Nurgle does have Chariots, but oh well. Not a lot you can do about that.

Slaanesh follows. Again, same story as the Herald of Nurgle, this is basically just a Daemonette with a couple of stat increases. The only reason you'd take a Herald of Slaanesh is to spam Pavane of Slaanesh and really piss off your opponent, which it will do.

The Herald of Tzeentch is where the gold lies. Remember what I said about the Lord of Change just being fairly average for shooting? Well here's your answer. For almost a third of the cost, you can get something almost as tough, faster, equal shooting ability, and you can take 2 of them per HQ slot. Now with this one I will list a loadout as it's one of the best loadouts I've come across in the codex.
Herald of Tzeentch - Chariot of Tzeentch, We Are Legion, Master of Sorcery, Bolt of Tzeentch - 110pts
This beast counts as being on a jetbike, and so can Turbo-Boost up to 24" making it one of the fastest things in the codex. We Are Legion and Master of Sorcery means it can shoot two different weapons at two different enemies. You fire Bolt of Tzeentch at a vehicle in the hope of popping it (I've had it one-shot a Land Raider before, crazy game), and then Daemonic Gaze at a unit of Infantry. Run this Herald with at least one more identical Herald and the world is your oyster. The kicker? Two of these guys still come in cheaper than the Lord of Change with twice the firepower.


Elites
Now we move to the Elites section of the Codex. This is where we have our best and most competitive units.

Fiends of Slaanesh
This is one of those units. Mostly looked over upon initial release, these guys have begun to shine in recent time, and it's easy to see why. They have 5 attacks each at S5. If that wasn't enough, those attacks are Rending. But how will you get into combat? Well it's not hard when you're Beasts with a 12" Assault. These guys are fast and hit really hard, as well as being moderately survivable with 2 wounds each. If they find themselves in a combat they don't like, they even have Hit and Run. These guys are supreme, and certainly one of our shining stars. Not a bad word to say about these guys.

Flamers of Tzeentch
These are highly underrated. If you go around, say, Warseer, you'll find a lot of people nay-saying Flamers, and I honestly don't know why. They're Jump Infantry so are fairly fast. You can deepstrike them far away and then move into range for the kill. It also means that if an enemy is closing in, all you have to do is hop away and shoot them from afar with Daemonic Gaze. However, my favourite tactic is as a suicide squad. This tactic is very hit or miss, but when it hits, it really hits. Flamers come as standard with a template weapon that kills on a 4+. Yes, kills not wounds. No Armour or Cover saves can be taken at all. As an added bonus, this Template weapon also Glances vehicles on a 4+. Win-Win. Anyway, I like 2 squads of about 4 of these guys, as they're quite expensive. Deepstrike them as close to an enemy unit as you dare, and get your horde of dice ready to do some murdering. I guarantee not a lot will be left. This works better against low-model count/heavy infantry units like Terminators as you can end up rolling 20 dice against 5 guys.

Bloodcrushers of Khorne
This is another one of those competitive units. If you're making a competitive list, chances are these guys are in your list. These, much like the Fiends, both hit hard and can take a lot in return. Even better, these are the Daemons version of Nob Bikers or Thunderwolf Cavalry. Take a unit of 4, give one Fury of Khorne, one of them an Icon and one of them an Instrument and play havoc with wound allocation. That's one of their toughest aspects, but then they also have a 3+ armour save and T5. These guys can take a lot. Team them up with Fateweaver (who I'll get to later) and they get even tougher with re-rollable saves. But that's enough on their toughness, let's talk about their killing potential. They each come with a Hellblade and Furious Charge added to their S5 (making them S6, I5 Power Weapons on the charge), with a very nice amount of attacks to go with it. However, there is a downside to all this carnage; they're slow. Not as you might expect, they're merely infantry, rather than Beasts, so they only get the 6" move and 6" assault, which is good, but not great. So many times have my Bloodcrushers been beaten to the chase by Daemon Princes and Flamers and ended up not doing anything the whole game.

Beasts of Nurgle
...And this is where it all goes downhill. Nurgle isn't very good off at the moment anyway, but then we don't even have an Elites choice. Even if you go Mono-Nurgle, you won't want these guys. They have random attacks, which is great if you roll 6s, but not so great if you roll 1s. Their attacks are poisoned, which is cool, but isn't saying a lot when Plaguebearers also have Poisoned weapons. They're also only a measly T5, which is pretty good...but so are Plaguebearers. In fact, the only thing that makes these guys tougher than Plaguebearers is their second wound, but at 35pts a pop, is it really worth it? No, not at all. Beasts of Nurgle are Daemons answer to the Pyrovore; and extremely lackluster unit in a slot filled with exceptional units. There is a plus side if you play Mono-Nurgle and a lot of Planetstrike though (lots of ifs). Take a few squads of 5. They come in at 175pts, which is as much as 10 Plaguebearers with an Icon. They're equally as survivable, but with some good rolls can lay down a lot more hurt. They average out at about 22-23 attacks on the charge compared to the Plaguebearers 20, which isn't a lot, but as you can deepstrike and charge in the same turn in Planetstrike, those extra 2-3 attacks can be a godsend. Other than that, you'll be taking the charges which is even better off; 17-18 attacks compared to 10.

[PyroSikTh]

I've introduced you to the butter, but now lets get to the bread of the army;

Troops
These are ones who should make the bulk of your army. They're the ones who ultimately win you games by capturing objectives, so these guys shouldn't just be looked over or added in just because you "have to have Troops". To be honest, after looking through them, you won't feel that way anyway, as they all bring something fantastic to the table.

Bloodletters
These are the front-line infantry of Khorne. Much like everything else Khorne, they excel in combat, tearing enemies limb from limb. As with everything else, they come with Hellblades and Furious Charge, so they pack one hell of a punch. There isn't much else scarier than Troops with S5 Power Weapons. There isn't really anything to say on these guys that hasn't already been said about the Bloodcrushers and Bloodthirster. They're combat beasts, nothing more, nothing less. Where they don't compare is survivability. All they have is a standard T4 and a 5+ Invulnerable save. Invulnerable or not, it's still a 5+ save, so don't expect to be saving a lot of them from the wounds they get. These guys need to be run in large squads really. I wouldn't advise any less than 12. They get absolutely mowed down by the usual anti-infantry like Flamers and Bolters, so you need a fair number to ensure you still have enough attacks in combat once you've been whittled down in the shooting phase.

Daemonettes
These are the front-line troops of Slaanesh. Again, much like everything else Slaanesh, they excel in speed and hitting hard. They have Fleet and Rending as standard, and more attacks than any other Troop choice. However, they're even less survivable than Bloodletters with only T3. Whereas Bloodletters are the charge into your face and kill stuff unit, Daemonettes are more finesse and require a bit more skill. With their large amount of Rending attacks, Daemonettes are better looked at as anti-horde. They can take out a lot more light-infantry like Guardsmen and Guardians where using Bloodletters feels like wasted potential. Daemonettes need to be run in large squads even more so than Bloodletters as they're a lot more susceptible to that first onslaught of shooting from your opponent. I'd advise squad sizes of at least 14, if not more.

Plaguebearers
These are front-line scorers of Nurgle. This is where the "competitive" option lies as Plaguebearers are undoubtedly the toughest Troops choice in the game. T5, Feel No Pain, 5+ Invulnerable save and Eternal Warrior makes them a thorn in anyone's side. Place your objectives deep in cover and deepstrike your Plaguebearers on or near them. Then Go to Ground for a lovely 3+ cover save. This makes them tougher than Plague Marines (as Plague Marines still lose their FNP from S8 weaponry, but Plaguebearers don't), but at almost 10pts cheaper per model, which means you even have numbers on your side. Most of the internet will tell you you only need 5 of these guys per squad, and about 3 squads, but I disagree. I've found 5 per squad to be not enough. They're impervious to shooting certainly, but once they get assaulted (and they will get assaulted) they fall like flies. I'd advise around 6 or 7 per squad. 8 is probably getting a bit too expensive. I'd also give them an Instrument if you can find the points. Plaguebearers don't have much punch at all, which means they will probably never win combat. The Instrument changes those inevitable draws into wins, which can force the opponent to take a morale test and hopefully flee.

Horrors
These are the back-line from Tzeentch. I say back-line because you don't want these guys too far forward. They're only T3, so they die fairly easily despite the 4+ invulnerable save. They are the best way to cram in more Bolts of Tzeentch though, so they are well worth the investment. I tend to take a couple squads of 5 with Bolt of Tzeentch and deep strike them about 24" away from a vehicle you want to pop the turn you come down. After that you can use your massed attacks from Warpfire to swamp the opponent in wounds. Just don't expect these guys to live to the end of the game.

Nurglings
These are probably the weakest of all the Troop choices, which I guess fits in quite nicely with their equivalents of the other Gods from Fast Attack (Nurgle don't believe in Fast Attack). They can be pretty handy though, especially in mono-Nurgle lists. They have 3 wounds each, which is gold coupled with Eternal Warrior. They make the perfect tarpit/speedbump unit and can be a right pain for anyone. Their downside is that they're not scoring, take up a valuable Troops slot, and cost almost as much as a Daemonette each.


Fast Attack
This FOC slot is fairly lackluster. There isn't really anything fancy in here at all, but I'll cover them all somewhat.

Flesh Hounds
These are the hunters of Khorne. There's some really nice stories in the codex of them hunting members of the Imperium down for weeks without stopping, which is pretty awesome. Unfortunately this wasn't really translated to the rules much at all. They have exactly the same stats as Lesser Daemons in the CSM codex, which are average at best. They have the fairly mandatory Furious Charge which gives them S5, I5 on the charge, which isn't so bad, but they're lacking the Power Weapons that everyone else Khorne has. It's not all bad though; they're Beasts, which makes them the fastest unit available to Khorne and pretty much assures they'll get the charge. They also get Blessing of the Blood God, which is a nice gift, but not all that useful on 1 wound models. It does make them pretty much immune to any and all Psychic abilities though, which makes them perfect for hunting down those pesky new Grey Knights. They'd be good in a Mono-Khorne army, but other than that you're better off going with Fiends.

Seekers
These are the cavalry of Slaanesh...and the only Cavalry in the book. They're also the only Fast Attack choice worth thinking about. They're easy to compare to Flesh Hounds, so that's exactly what I'll do. They're just as fast, but a bit less survivable. Instead of Furious Charge, they get Rending and Grenades, which is a much better trade-off in my opinion. They're assured to cause some damage, especially with double the amount of attacks. With Grenades and I6, they're also almost guaranteed to go first, even if they charge a unit hiding in cover. This makes them great at flushing annoying units that just hide in cover all game. They can also be given a Chaos Icon, which, coupled with their speed, makes them the perfect vessel for making sure the rest of your army gets exactly where you want it.

Screamers
The sky-sharks of Tzeentch. These guys are the fastest of the lot, being Jetbikes (hello 24" turbo-boost). Unfortunately that's the only thing in their favour. They're the only Tzeentch unit without any ranged weaponry. Instead they get Warp Jaws. This was fantastic when the codex first came out, as it made them the most reliable anti-tank platform in the codex. However, once 5th Ed. dropped, bringing in the change to hitting vehicles in combat, their use dropped. Those Warp Jaws suddenly required 6s to hit, which aren't good odds, and at 16pts each you're not even going to be rolling lots of dice. These guys are best left at home as they're near useless these days.

Furies
The most underwhelming on paper, probably in the entire codex. These are also easily comparable to Flesh Hounds, so again that's exactly what I'll do. They cost exactly the same, but they have less Initiative and less Weapon Skill, they don't have any psychic defense, or Furious Charge. Instead they trade all that in to be Jump Infantry. Worth it? No not really, you're better off just getting Flesh Hounds, and they're underwhelming as it is. With a sub-par statline and 0 special rules, these guys have never been popular, and with good reason.


Heavy Support
We only have two options here, but that's okay because they're both pretty good.

Soulgrinder
First up is our only vehicle. I used to bash on these guys, because they are the only vehicle - a lucky shot can easily take them out. You have to take either 2 or 3 of them just like with any army with vehicles. One vehicle will attract all the anti-tank firepower, which means it won't last long. Soulgrinders make up for it though by being fairly tough. They have 13/13/11, they're walkers and they're subject to the Daemon special rule. So what does that mean? Well the highest armour value is 14, so 13 is pretty good. Also a rear armour of 11 is higher than most rear armours out there. Being a Walker means you can't really beat these guys in combat easily; just like Dreadnoughts, if they assault you and you don't have any high-powered combat gear or Melta/Krak Grenades, you may as well just give up. Being a Daemon means they get an additional bonus of survivability - these guys cannot be stalled. They are completely immune to Shaken and Stunned results. That makes them pretty tough cookies.
What about their damage output? Well if you want range, but no Tzeentch, these are your go-to. They come as standard with 2 killer weapons. Both are obviously geared towards anti-infantry, which is a bit of a downside, but they both decimate large hordes. However they really start to shine with the options available to them. Phlegm is, in my opinion, what you take this guy for. 36" Battlecannon? Yes please! This thing will kill Hordes, Marnes and light vehicles with ease, bonus is you don't have to get that close either. There's also the option for Tongue. This thing is tempting I must admit, being S10 and AP1, this is probably the best anti-tank weapon in the codex. However the Soulgrinder is only BS 3, which means that single shot needs to be hitting on 4s. Not terrible by any means, but worth an extra 25pts and sacrifice of that gorgeous Battlecannon shot? Probably not.
With the ranged options out of the way, let's talk about their combat potential. First off they have Fleet, which means they're fast, and will mostly likely get the charge off. Once it charges in, it has 2 Dreadnought Close Combat Weapons and 5 attacks. He may only be striking at I3, but he can take quite a beating so that's not much of a problem. The idea is to charge the right units - weak units and units with no hidden Power Fists or Melta Bombs. He can take a lot of punishment, but don't be silly with him.

Daemon Prince
These guys occupy the other Heavy Slot. On first glance, they're extremely cheap, but consider you'll probably want a fair amount of upgrades, which really ups his cost. He's fairly similar to the CSM Daemon Prince; costs a little bit more for the equivalent, but also comes with the Daemonic Assault rule, and a million and one options to create a truly unique Prince (or 3). Something worth noting is that this Daemon Prince doesn't come with a 3+ armour save, so you'll need to give him Iron Hide if you want that (I'd advise it pretty much all the time, unless you don't mind your Prince being cheap and fragile). You can also give him Unholy Might for +1S, an Instrument of Chaos or Daemonic Flight. The first two aren't really much use as the Prince is already killy enough. Flight is debatable though. As anti-tank can be short in a Daemon army, a lot of people like to run their Princes with flight so they can keep up with the vehicles they're bashing. However for 60pts, I tend to not think it's worth it. Some clever playing can save those 60pts for something more worth while (like 4 Plaguebearers for example).
You can also give the Prince a mark of Chaos. These are Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh and Tzeentch. They give a bonus to the Prince's statline as well as unlocking a slew of god-specific Gifts that I'll talk about in the next section. I5 and 4 attacks is usually adequate, so I find Nurgle and Tzeentch to be the best marks to give. With Mark of Nurgle, you get an additional toughness boosting you to Greater Daemon level toughness (just with less wounds and a not-as-good save). It also unlocks the best set of Gifts in my opinion. Wounding on re-rollable 2s most the time is gold, as is negating your opponent their charge bonus. Tzeentch is a good mark to have if you don't want Iron Hide, as it boosts your Invulnerable save to 4+, which isn't too shabby. The Tzeentch gifts aren't too great (apart from Bolt of Tzeentch of course), but the perk of this is that you can take two shooting abilities (3 if you include Bolt of Tzeentch), which means your Prince is more shooting-based than combat-based.
Apart from the God-Specific gifts, there's the shooting abilities. You have Daemonic Gaze which makes great use of that BS5, Breath of Chaos (which is what makes Flamers amazing), and Boon of Mutation (Gift of Chaos in the CSM codex), which is fun when it works, but isn't exactly a reliable ability, especially for the points.

[PyroSikTh]

Reserved for Gifts

[PyroSikTh]

Reserved for Special Characters

[edmundblack]

I've had it one-shot a Land Raider before, crazy game

Wasn't it just ...

Looking good so far, look forward to reading the rest of it.

One slight thing, which I've no doubt you've more than likely picked up upon already - formatting. Some bold headings, underlines and things like that to separate parts out wouldn't go amiss I think. Would make it easier to read.

[PyroSikTh]

One slight thing, which I've no doubt you've more than likely picked up upon already - formatting. Some bold headings, underlines and things like that to separate parts out wouldn't go amiss I think. Would make it easier to read.

I'll get to that eventually. I'm just getting it all written out first. It's quite a mammoth task and there's still a lot of cleaning up to be done on what I've written so far.

[edmundblack]

I can sympathise, trust me. I can't think of a better person to write it though, so I look forward to reading the rest.

[Andy]

If I may - would be cool to see this as a full Article once it's all complete.

[PyroSikTh]

Troops added.

[t0k0l0v3r]

loving the tactica. I've now been reminded about fiends of slaanesh... i might have to play with a few.

[MalkThe2nd]

I can kinda see why Flamers are looked down upon though. Most people are pretty much set on Daemons having two "comp" builds and both of these fill Elite with either Fiends or Bloodcrushers.

While Flamers can be very destructive it's quite easy for something to go wrong. They could drop a turn you have no juicy targets, or a slight scatter can render them DOA as they're very easy to shoot off the board. In a book that already has trouble in a comp setting this can be crippling. Now I do have fun using them, but I've seem them fail just as many times as they've succeeded.

[edmundblack]

I've seem them fail just as many times as they've succeeded.

That's the Daemon Codex's subtitle isn't it?

[PyroSikTh]

While Flamers can be very destructive it's quite easy for something to go wrong. They could drop a turn you have no juicy targets, or a slight scatter can render them DOA as they're very easy to shoot off the board.

That's all in the skill of the player. My Flamers have turned up when there's no juicy targets, which is where their Jump Infantry comes in handy. Deepstrike them back out of the way and move in. As for the scattering, that's where thoughtful placement comes in. I've seen plenty of videos of Daemons players, and their placement just completely baffles me. It's as if they don't anticipate scattering at all.

[MalkThe2nd]

But proper placement only goes so far. There's no way you can anticipate the direction of your scatter and just being that close opens up mishap. (7"-8" Template with an average 7" scatter) Placing them out of LOS only helps against some armies. Fast movers will re-position, armies with better DS than us land next to them, Astral Aim and Hive Guard ignore LOS completely...

I'd just much rather have a unit that performs not quite as well all the time, than an awesome unit that only whoops ass some games.

[PyroSikTh]

True enough point, but I did say they were hit and miss

[t0k0l0v3r]

bring 27 in one game, (3 units of nine) and you have a decent chance of succeeding (like killing a squad of 3 carnifexes in one go)

[PyroSikTh]

Fast Attack done. This is the part I don't really know much about, so please feel free to correct me and debate.

[Baragash]

Special Characters?

Also may as well cover FW add ons in a separate section near the end

[PyroSikTh]

Special Characters?

Reserved for Special Characters

Also may as well cover FW add ons in a separate section near the end

I've been thinking of that, but I don't have all the rules for the extra FW gubbins, and I thought I'd just keep it to what's in the codex. If demand is high though, I'm sure I can rustle up something for what I do know.