Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So what would you take in your HS choices for chaos demons any combination is possible so your thoughts

Rovian

Overall, Soul Grinders are probably "better" from a cost/reward standpoint. They bring a lot to the table in terms of heavy armor and killing potential, as well as shooting, which is something daemons lack terribly.

That said, it's the only vehicle in your army. That means that it has a giant neon sign over its head saying "ANTI-TANK WEAPONS LOOK OVER HERE!" In other words, you're going to draw a lot of heavy weapon attention to a Soul Grinder (especially since they're huge), which means they might not last too long (I usually make a point to kill them the turn they arrive).

If that's something you worry about, Daemon Princes are a solid support choice, but are truly a "support" unit. They are applied best (in my experience) when herding enemy forces into your main army, or wreaking havoc on enemy flanks.

Just my 2 cents

So soulgrinder maybe 2 soulgrinders and 1 prince?

I usually run 2 Grinders and 1 DP. My general feeling is that SG's should be used in pairs because that is the only armor in the army. If my opponent has any anti tank, and i only have 1 SG i can easily guess what that Railgun/Lascannon is going to shoot at on the first turn. Plus if they blow it up early on and i only had 1 I really didn't get to play with it equaling less fun for me. That's just how i see it anyways.

So maybe 2-3 Dp's but never 1 soulgrinder

Chamleoneyes wrote:I usually run 2 Grinders and 1 DP. My general feeling is that SG's should be used in pairs because that is the only armor in the army.

For any given Daemon army, I think this is the best generic advice. However for some builds out there (Tallyman, Fateweaver, Skarbrand) I feel that Daemon Princes are superior. In lower point games, I find the Soulgrinder to be a better overall choice just because you can spend less and get more, even from a naked one.

I run 2-3 princes (Tzeentch), and I've only just started with daemons, its been working well for me. I'm not shooting down the idea of soulgrinders- I just don't have them, nor the spare cash to afford them. But, I agree with the above logic- never one soulgrinder. 2+ is the magic number, like CSM's defiler. My other line of thought was that I can put the only vehicles in my codex into my armies, or I could go the monstrous creature route. I've found that anti-tank weapons are pretty much the same against the big gribblies (hit on X, wound on 2+(maybe 3+!), save on 4++), but come in all kinds of flavour- all kinds of different costed and different ranged weapons. If you have access to meltaguns, your probably going to take some in a TAC list, but against daemons MC's, its like a krak missile to them (hits on X, wounds on 2+, saved on 4++), but its range is 12", and it gets no "I'm a melta weapon I'm here to eat all your armour" bonus, and the ML has a krak range of 48". Our old friend the lascannon- its like a ML against big gribblies, (hits on X, wounds on 2+, saved on a 4++) it just costs more But, against a soulgrinder... theres a world of difference between that krak missile and that short ranged meltagun. So running daemon princes has worked well for me, probably because I like 2 GD's as well, lots of big targets

I find that Chaos Defilers are great for HS, and the Daemon Prince is great for deep-striking and causing oodles of mayhem

But, take my opinion with a grain of salt, I play Tau

mega_bassist wrote:I find that Chaos Defilers are great for HS, and the Daemon Prince is great for deep-striking and causing oodles of mayhem

But, take my opinion with a grain of salt, I play Tau

What do defilers have to do with daemons or are you saying soulgrinders are a great for HS, and the daemon prince is great for deep-striking (well...it kind of... has to...) and causing oodles of mayhem. Which is a great thing to do to your enemy, causing oodles of mayhem. So you're saying they are both great? But not to take your opinion too seriously because you don't play daemons?


riiiiiiiiiiiight.

Soulgrinders definatly need to be taken in pairs. Mainly because they are big targets. But my experince with the Daemon Prince is that you really have to know what you wanna do with it when you equip it, and you really wanna keep them on the edge, they can't take on a dedicated cc unit expect to win.

That being said, I normally take a pair of soulgrinders, mainly because at my FLGS people have a supreme fear of them for some reason and will fire almost everything they have into the second it appears, which is great cover for my bloodletters and daemonettes to sneak in and kill stuff.

mega_bassist wrote:I find that Chaos Defilers are great for HS, and the Daemon Prince is great for deep-striking and causing oodles of mayhem

But, take my opinion with a grain of salt, I play Tau

I'll take it with 10 pounds of salt as I cant get a defiler but I really like the other comments how do you run your demon princes as to expensive you could just take a bloodthirster

The "best" loadout for a Daemon Prince is usually the Nurgle, Wings, Iron Hide, Flies and Noxious Touch as this gives you fast, mobile, durable unit that wounds everything on 2's and has offensive/defensive grenade as you're almost as tough as a Bloodthirster.

Because you can get a max of 2 bloodthirsters, as they are HQ choices, DP's are a HS choice. Also DP's, whilst you can make them as expensive or more so than a greater daemon, don't cut the mustard for the price tag attached. Keep them cheep, painful and cheerful. Tzeentch prince with bolt and gaze is like 150/155ish? great for marines, a monsterous creature that can shoot up transports, shoot up marines with absolute glee, and beat down vehicles and non-dedicated CC units into the dirt.

rovian wrote:

mega_bassist wrote:I find that Chaos Defilers are great for HS, and the Daemon Prince is great for deep-striking and causing oodles of mayhem

But, take my opinion with a grain of salt, I play Tau

I'll take it with 10 pounds of salt as I cant get a defiler but I really like the other comments how do you run your demon princes as to expensive you could just take a bloodthirster

Heh...I didn't see that you were playing Daemons only...now I feel slowed

1 other minor thing, princes are a must if you end up using fateweaver. Their durability grows incredibly when they can re-roll those 3+/5++ saves

What about bloodthirster or DP of khorne unholy might and its pretty generic for at least 2 soulgrinders

I'm not a fan of khorne princes. No shooting attacks for a model with BS5, in exchange for +1A, just ain't worth it. You could get deathstrike, but your passing up goodness like breath, gaze and boon.

Princes are much more flexible, in that you can build them to do what you like. They have a smaller footprint, so they are easier to Deep Strike. Their shooting isn't as good as Soul Grinders-especially v hordes-and they can come out very expensive if you're not careful Grinders have better shooting and are cheaper, but have a much bigger footprint and are magnets for anti-tank weapons.

Really then you need to think about what you want to do with your HS choices, and also what you opponants are likely to bring to the table. Usually, I bring a pair of 'Grinders, but thats because they work for me. I've had some issues when more experienced players have deployed in such a way to make it hard for me to DS my Grinders, and with people who bring a lot of anti tank. This is mitigated somewhat by having two targets.

I use Princes if I decide to run an Epidemus list. I personally think Prince, MoN, Iron Hide and Gaze is a pretty decent loadout for a CC Prince, and MoT, Bolt, Gaze,Legion for a shooty one. Wings are brilliant, but can double the price of the Prince....it's your choice ultimately. Out of the other two, I prefer Slaanesh over Khorne...I just think they bring more to the table.