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I'm a longtime player of two other armies, that i know how to tune very well for comp, ard boyziness, and any mixture of the two. However, I've recently set myself a challange to buy, assemble, and paint a Daemons army for an upcoming tournament that includes comp.

I am going to have fun playing a new army i and many others rarely see. I will not be dissapointed if i lose. I know the list can be more efficient and 'better' and am not really concerned about it, what i'm really after is an army that will be semi fun or at least interesting to play against, has a theme, and wont bomb comp scores.

Unfortunately i know very little about daemon cheese/power levels and compiness. Please let me know on a 1-10 scale what you'd score the comp of the list and why, and if theres some little tweak that you think might make ME have more fun (not get stomped) without changing the whole list around, please feel free to suggest it.

1849 - Skarbrands host - a themed list of a host of Daemons that signal Skarbrand is not far.....

1 Skarbrand

5 Bloodcrushers with Banner

13 Bloodletters with banner
13 Bloodletters with banner
9 Bloodletters with instrument
9 Bloodletters with instrument

12 Flesh Hounds

1 Daemon Prince - wings, armor, might, breath of chaos
1 Soul Grinder - tounge


I could maybe drop a hound or two, combine the two smaller letter squads into one medium one, and use the points for some warp jaw goodness. Likewise i could trade the breath for gaze if shooting more when i landed would be a good idea. or maybe throw in a herald/skulltaker

Anyways let me know what you think, and thanks!

1 Skarbrand

5 Bloodcrushers with Banner

13 Bloodletters with banner
13 Bloodletters with banner
9 Bloodletters with instrument
9 Bloodletters with instrument

12 Flesh Hounds

1 Daemon Prince - wings, armor, might, breath of chaos
1 Soul Grinder - tounge

The main problem here is that you have one unit that can pop tanks are range. Other than that you are relying on very slow units to reach CC. I have always found daemons appealing and when I first made a list for them it was mono Khorne...it got face stomped. There was no way to catch fast vehicles and really if the opponents vehicles aren't fast you still have to strike in, get shot, charge tank, blow it up, get shot again, maybe get charged. That is so unreliable. Bloodletters seem ok, but they are easily countered.

The first thing you have to do is decide where you are going to get your ranged anti tank. In a mechanized world you have to have at least enough to pop transports. There are only a few options in the entire codex: Soul Grinders, Heralds of Tzeench, or Daemon Princes of Tzeench. The Heralds of Tzeench are a great buy and you can grab the chariot, bolts, and we are legion for around 110 points. The DP's are more expensive with MoT and bolt but can double duty in CC. If you are against having anything Tzeench you can go soul grinders.

I don't have alot of experience with the Soul Grinder but here is a recent BoLS article on them: http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/09/40k-warmasters-corner-soulgrinder.html
This should give you some great information on the unit. Generally speaking, you take one Grinder, you take 3 grinders.

Other than that, you need to decide if you want to stay mono god. It is a major hinderence. I would try to keep to 2 if you want to remain fluffy. Generally speaking, only Nurgle (maybe Tzeench) can run competitive mono god lists. I don't love the idea of all 4 factions working together, but the codex explains some reasons for this. I have recently started a Tzeench/Slaneesh list and it has started off positively for me.

Daemons shouldn't get comped at all; they are playing with a very old codex.

The 'fluff' value of an army can be explained in a one paragraph story, so I don't see an issue. The 40k universe is supposed to span countless systems and battles; obviously every combination of army composition has existed somewhere.

The army you posted above has a lot of glaring weaknesses, so if that is how comp is decided it looks good to go.

IMO, I think your list is very fluffy and has good comp. Making a mono god demon list really tends to gimp you, so I can’t see how anyone would give you bad comp. Be sure to use lots of RAAAAWWWR noises in assault

As far as tweeking your list, Soul Grinders only ever work in pairs. One will get destroyed on turn 1 as certain as the fireworks at Disney World. So I say either go two grinders or two princes. Also, the instrument is not needed as few things survive more than one assault phase with Bloodletters.

Amusingly, Skarbrand works best with an otherwise mono-Slaanesh force.

Consider the primary impact Skarbrand has on the battlefield - everything re-rolls it's failed hit rolls. This means you can easily find that your own forces are on the receiving end of that 'benefit'. The obvious work-around is to have your forces strike first as often as possible. This is where Slaaneshi units, with their excellent Initiative stats, come into play.

It is actually pretty fluffy too - Skarbrand has been exiled from Khorne's ranks, and as such is a wild card in the Daemon realms now. It is fitting that the other, perhaps smarter, Gods are abusing his power for thheir own ends.

Amusingly, Skarbrand works best with an otherwise mono-Slaanesh force.

Consider the primary impact Skarbrand has on the battlefield - everything re-rolls it's failed hit rolls. This means you can easily find that your own forces are on the receiving end of that 'benefit'. The obvious work-around is to have your forces strike first as often as possible. This is where Slaaneshi units, with their excellent Initiative stats, come into play.

It is actually pretty fluffy too - Skarbrand has been exiled from Khorne's ranks, and as such is a wild card in the Daemon realms now. It is fitting that the other, perhaps smarter, Gods are abusing his power for thheir own ends.

Very true. If you are not getting the charge with Bloodletters, I4 opponents are re rolling hits against you too. At the cushy I6 of Slaneesh you don't have to worry as much.

While very true, I did do my research and realize that if skarbrand is used at all competitively, hes used with slannesh. Likewise, people either overload monsterous creatures or soul grinders, not both, and instruments never really have an effect. Also, people usually kit out as many Bloodcrushers differently as possible, and often hide a herald on a crusher somewhere, and the upgraded fleshhound is often well worth it, and demon princes are often better either more bare or with Marks. And crushers work really well with fateweaver.

I thank you all for the helpful advice i will heed in competitive environments in the future.

What I'm looking for now are ways to slightly tweak the list above for efficiency while still fielding diverse units focused on skarbrand and bloodletters, without dipping into other gods. Such as: would loosing some troops for screamers help, or would rending be better? (screamers are primal enough where i don't consider them "other gods") would giving the prince khornes shooting attack give me at least SOME chance of flying over and popping a light tank from the rear, than charging inside, or will they be so far away i'm better running or taking the breath or gaze? Are there any deployment/force splitting tips you'd give to someone using a force similar to the above?

Again, I'm not looking to dominate my opponents, I know it's a weaker list, I'm just trying to put up a decent fight and yes, make lots of RWAR noises.



Thanks guys