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Okay they are random. But hypothetically you take a group of seven with some crusaders to absorb shots. Is that the best number to take. What atre my odds to get a lot of dakka out of these guys. How would you play them? On foot or mounted? With Crusades on foot they are fairly durable but can they shoot enough? Mounted you will have five fire points but they may end up with assault characteristics. Someone mathhammer this out for me?

......no

*edit* i zoned out and forgot they just got a new 'dex... apologies... are they viable now?

1-in-3 chance to have some sort of shooting attack each turn, the rest of the (randomly changing) abilities more or less close-combat-oriented? I dunno, looks iffy...though they're somewhere around the cost of a Fire Warrior now, so maybe...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
You know, viability aside I'd really like to see some sort of Imperial Hypocrisy army sometime. The Special Character who uses all the xeno weapons, Chimeras full of Daemonhosts, maybe some Jokaero...

so...not sure what you are asking for, so I will just say what I think of Daemonhosts.

Each turn you roll on their chart of abilities. 1/6 chance to get each ability.

1) FNP
2) Power Weapon
3) Fleet and INT 10
4) S6
5) S4 AP3 Small blast
6) S8 AP-

2, 3, and 4 are all mostly useless as they only have 1 attack at WS3 so there is about a 50% chance you will get something that is not much help. You squad might deal a little more damage in combat, but not enough to be worth it.

1 is always good for the most part. Also, since they are T4 it means that you need S8+ to ignore the FNP. 17% Chance to get this one.

5 and 6 are both decent shooting options.One is good for blasting MEQ, the other is kinda multi-purpose. 33% chance to get these.

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These guys really do not have any place in a "competitive" setting. They are simply not good enough for their points. There are a lot of other super good Henchmen, so you should not waste your points on these guys.


Uses for them, if you really want to take them.

1) Have them Guard a squad of shooty Henchmen. 3x warriors with Melta/Plasma or Servitors or Jokaero or some mix. Then add enough daemon hosts to get Average toughness of 4. 5+ INV save, average Toughness 4, maybe you get a decent buff every now and again, but do not count on it. Depending on the type of unit you have, it could be meched up or not.

2) Because you have a themed list.

That is it really. the only consistent benefit they bring to the table is T4 and a 5++. Relying on any of their powers is just going to make you sad.

Heh, thanks svendrex, for providing some more insight. I was trying to keep rules things vague to avoid breaking forum rules.

Nightbringer's Chosen wrote:
You know, viability aside I'd really like to see some sort of Imperial Hypocrisy army sometime. The Special Character who uses all the xeno weapons, Chimeras full of Daemonhosts, maybe some Jokaero...

There is a precedent for having a "radical inquisitor" army from the previous book. ie. an Inquisitor who uses all of the naughty things to fight Chaos.

It is the list I am currently working on building.

Counts as Coteaz
Alpha Legion Sorcerer that counts as GK librarian
Vindicare
Dark Mechanicus Magos that counts as a Techmarine
Human Obliterators that count as jokaero
Daemonhosts
Summoned Techno-Daemons that count as Dreadknights

Honestly I know they get only 1 attack. But they will likely have Coteaz with them for+1 str regardless. So they are decent in assault if not overwhelming on the charge. Their shooting attacks are pretty decent for their cost.

As for competitive play - well I'm thinking they can go in my foot list to wrap my purifiers until they hit mid table. I'll probably take seven with four crusaders to soak hits and for 130 points it is not a bad deal.

I think the blast weapon is their best rolled ability. The s8 is not terrible, but there are better ways to get s8 shots, with better BS, and twin linked, more range, ap4, and--aw heck just take Psyriflemen is what im saying!

But as svendrex said I think their best strategic use is getting a t4 majority if that is the metagame you are going for, while also getting an ok 5++ save to boot. Consider their random power as only a bonus, but in no way consider the 'host because of their bonus. It is too random to build a strategy around.

Now, if we acknowledge that we are only really buying them for t4, what kind of squad do we put them in? Well, 2 jokero and 2 'host is not terrible when put in a chimera. You can shoot all the weapons the host gets as well as the jokero's, some of the jokero's benefits actually benefit the 'host (rending and range), and if the chimera blows up your majority t4 helps mitigate losing the jokero's. Plus, jokero+damonichost=2 wound obliterator, just with 2 small bases instead of 1 termie base!

Besides Jokero's there is a CC unit, like 3 DCA and 3 Hosts in a las/plas razorback. The razorback shoots well, 3 DCA on the charge deliver quite a lot of pain, and for the cost of 2 crusaders you get 3 hosts, which if they roll FNP are pretty much just as survivable. If your main opponent is something like wolves, with their counterattack nonsense, then this unit is pretty decent. 12 attacks at init 6 should kill 4 of the wolves before they swing, and with majority t4 they need 13 or more attacks to have a real chance of allocating any damage to the DCA. With 3 cursaders instead they only need 10 attacks to start hitting the DCA.

Versus bolterfire:
3 DCA and 3 hosts versus 3 DCA and 3 Crusaders

a common 10 man tac squad with 18 total bolter shots (sarge pistol and missile pistol, we will ignore the special weapon for now.)

18 bolter shots is 12 hits, and versus the mixed host unit is 6 wounds. 1 DCA and 1 host should survive. Versus the crusaders, those 12 hits are 8 wounds. 1 DCA still survives, and 1.33 crusaders survive. So Hosts protect the DCA about the same as Crusaders versus s4 shots, but hosts are cheaper.

Edit: As a side note, why are the CC henchmen so cheap? DCA are just MEAN, and the Crusaders toting around storm shields can just bounce so many attacks. All for 15 points! Besides ork hordes not much can outfight these guys.