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I need help with my chaos army. I have in my thousand point army: three units of ten Bloodletters with chaos icons and instruments of chaos, Skulltaker, and a Bloodthirster with unholy strength, blessing of the blood god, and an instrument of chaos. I usually play in team matches; but whenever I come out of deep strike my unit gets massacred in the enemy shooting phase. This usually reduces one of my ten man squads to only three guys. Is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening every time I play?

At 1000 points, try spliting your ten man units to five. It give you more units comming in, and the ones that survive can charge the following turn. Have your partner hammer units that can pound your daemons. It may give you a better chance.

We've also been struggling with how to properly get bloodletters into the game without them being slaughtered the turn they arrive.

So far the best we've come up with is to drop them in behind cover of some sort (like a LOS blocking building) then bring them around on their next turn. It essentially means wasting the turn the arrive; but they can't do anything other than run that turn anyway. It also means we are pretty limited on where on the battlefield they can drop; but keeping them alive that first round is pretty important.

One idea that I'm starting to toy with is teaming 10 pink horrors up with a group of 5 bloodletters. I know, you can't join them as a single unit... The tactic is to pray that the pink horrors arrive first and let them shoot. When the bloodletters come in, drop them behind the pink horrors.

Maybe 2 units of 10 horrors with 2 units of 5 bloodletters supporting them. This should run somewhere around 600pts and give your group great shooting capability with close combat support. Add your skulltaker and bloodthirster and you are back in the 1000 pt neighborhood.

Put a unit of 20 letters and Skulltaker in the second half.Put a unit of ten and the Bloodthirster in the first.If all goes right,then drop the 10 man unit in,with the Bloodthirster close by.If your opponent is smart,then he will blow up the ten man squad,to deny your icons.But this leaves ther big MC in the way.If he tries to blow up the BT,then Icon in the big squad and charge with the first,10 man unit.If luck is on your side,the BT should still be alive.

Losing 7 letters to enemy fire is a good amount of bolter equivalent shots. With a 5+ it takes 10 wounds from 20 hits requiring 30 BS4 shots to put down that pain, with a 4+ it takes 42 shots. To get that kind of shooting in your opponent is going to need to dismount from his vehicles which should mean absolute death from the ensuing assault. Even 3 letters can take down 10 MEQ...

As for strategy - I usually DS in or near cover so I get a 4+ save and go to ground in cases where enemy fire is truly withering (this is an aspect really underused by Daemon players imo.

Leave those icons and instruments at home as well, they are wasted on letter.

I've heard the idea of using Flesh Hounds to hold down shootier units to stop them shooting you. I'm not sure I haven't tried it myself, but it's an option?

There's a reason we don't see many bloodletters in lists atm, theyre far too fragile. They're CC killy, but noone wants them to get there in the first place and a 5++ doesnt get too far vs a couple flamers or a squad of rapid firig bolters.

Try going with smaller units 7ish to keep the killy feel, however making the opponent think more about which to shoot.

Another thought might be to run other troop choices ( for scoring) and more killy elsewhere ( bloodcrushers) etc

If your aim to is have them survive, then try....
....DSing them near cover, then running
.....putting them in second wave and using shooting units to soften them up first
...using Plaguebearers as meat shields
...using slightly smaller/ more numerous units

What you need to remember is that you only really need 3-5 to survive shooting, so heavy casulaties are not too bad. Quite often, it's worth using them as a bullet magnet. Bloodletters are fragile, but still a "must kill" unit-so they can draw fire from other, arguably more effective ones (like Horrors or Fiends)...

Drk_Oblitr8r wrote:I've heard the idea of using Flesh Hounds to hold down shootier units to stop them shooting you. I'm not sure I haven't tried it myself, but it's an option?

Thats how it works in WHFB, but I guess it works in 40k too.

Drk_Oblitr8r wrote:I've heard the idea of using Flesh Hounds to hold down shootier units to stop them shooting you. I'm not sure I haven't tried it myself, but it's an option?

I try and use my own Fleshhounds in this way. It seems to work, but they can die really fast in CC against MEQ.

That said, the strategy of tying up shooty units with beasts/cavalry seems solid...personally, I'm doubling down on it by putting together a full unit of Fiends. With I5, W2 and H&R, I figure they'll be a significantly sturdier than the 'hounds while serving a similar purpose.