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So I am new to 40k and looking to eventually play at a competitive level.

I'm torn between space marines and Daemons.

I was just wondering if they are still competitive.

I was thinking about a 1850 list like this that I saw on the Internet.

How does it work?

Fatweaver
T Herold on Disc
T Herold on Disc
Nurgle Herold
Nurgle Herold
Plaugebringer
10x pink horrors
10x pink horror
8 plauge Drones
8x screamers
8x Screamers

And maybe a assassin

Daemons are a top tier army without a doubt, meaning that yes they are still competitive. Cheap troops that are really good at holding objectives and can summon more daemons really easily (Pink Horrors), access to a classic death-star build that isn't necessarily seen too often anymore (a big unit of Screamers backed by Heralds of Tzeentch), incredible combinations with the Grimoire of True Names and super units such as the Brass Scorpion to make an unstoppable onslaught, dominating the psychic phase (Tzeentch daemons) and just flooding the board with free reinforcments, etc.

7th Edition buffed Daemons because of the Daemonology disciplines, a Tzeentch Daemon army can easily double its starting number of models in the space of a few turns with just half decent rolls. Fateweaver is one of the most powerful HQ models in the game; keep him flying around in the air, casting powers and saving your army from bad Warp Storm Table rolls. Speaking of the Warp Storm, a free shooting phase that can potentially do heaps of damage to your opponent is always fun! Need I mention Flesh Hounds and Soul Grinders, some of the best units in the game of their respective unit types?

As for your army list, you've got a couple of the key points; Fateweaver, Pink Horrors, Tzeentch Heralds, etc. I'm wondering what the point of the Nurgle Heralds is given that they can't join the Plague Drones without slowing them down and can't be mixed into non-Nurgle units. Screamers are good on their own or with the Tzeentch Heralds, you should definitely consider getting the Grimoire of True Names somewhere in your list, it is just a ridiculous item when combined with Fateweaver's re-roll and the Daemonology power Cursed Earth to practically guarantee a 2+ re-rollable invulnerable save on a Tzeentch unit of your choice.

Daemons are very much a competitive army but they wouldn't be my first recommendation to someone learning 40k. Many Daemon lists require a certain amount of finesse to operate effectively. In particular the list you posted is pretty much a straight copy and paste of a recent tournament list played by a very experienced Daemon player, and would be hard to work with for a beginner.

I'm not trying to put you off as I personally think Daemons are great fun to play, but my point is don't be too disheartened if at first you don't have a great deal of success whilst learning the nuances of the codex. The only way to get experience though is to practice so if you do side with Daemons then have fun and good luck!

Caederes wrote:
I'm wondering what the point of the Nurgle Heralds is given that they can't join the Plague Drones without slowing them down and can't be mixed into non-Nurgle units.

You use them to hand out FNP and fish for endurance rolling biomancy and content yourself with enfeeble if you don't get endurance. You attached them to the plague drones despite slowing them down since the plague drone models are large and 2" coherency is a thing. They'll get into combat turn 2/3 and slingshot the heralds into combat anyway. Drone bus is the general name, and combining a drone bus and a screamerstar with fatey is one of the lists that has done extremely well over the last maybe 6 months or more. The list that the OP posted is a fairly straight copy of that, though I doubt he'll get as much as what he listed in there if he wants enough screamers and plague drones to achieve anything.

Daemons can still run rampant, but as always, there's an element of chance unlike something like ravenwing, who simply get a 2+ re-roll save, but then you can't take the daemons 2++ away like you can with ignores cover vs ravenwing.

Competative daemons aren't an army for someone new, and even then, you'll need at least some idea about wheat you need to summon and when, along with when to charge, when to hold and how to bait dispel dice since sometimes a summon is more critical than cursed earth. The ability to deal with getting your stuff sniped out when you don't get first turn is also interesting, especially vs tau since they can intercept you if you start in reserves, so deciding on threat dilution and deployment requires a bit more thought than some armies. You also have about a billion powers to remember, and it's not always the easiest to do after you've summoned 4 units of horrors, a pair of heralds and a lord of change in a ddition to the 9 powers that fateweaver knows, the 8-10 powers your heralds know, the 4 powers your original horrors know and then any other interactions with which spells have already been cast and what's a priority this turn.

@Drasius
I know of the tactic but the way the list is written implies the Heralds don't have any psychic powers or upgrades, and in that case they are basically pointless as bare-bones they don't offer anything to the Plague Drones other than slowing them down.

I saw the list and it has some of the models I thought were cool,
And of course after reading some other forums.
I honestly like daemons because well.. I think the models are cool.

I feel as a new player I will get spanked regardless, and maybe starting with them well atleast give me a head start with learning.
But I appreciate all the info.

You just happen to write a list that you think is cool that has the exact models of a tournament winning list that consists solely of 2 gods who hate each other?

Yeah, right.

If you've already got 4k of crons and 2k of 'nids, you're not that new. If you like daemons and want to play a powerful list that's fine, but don't bs about why you want to play it. At the end of the day, until you know how and why a list works, and more specifically, how it fits with your playstyle and the tweaks you need to make to have the list work for you, then the latest and greatest netlist won't be what gets you victory (unless it's thundercav where you just charge everything and win).

Is it really so hard to say "I saw this list and I thinks it's rad, can someone please explain a bit more about how it plays?"

 Drasius wrote:
You just happen to write a list that you think is cool that has the exact models of a tournament winning list that consists solely of 2 gods who hate each other?

Yeah, right.

If you've already got 4k of crons and 2k of 'nids, you're not that new. If you like daemons and want to play a powerful list that's fine, but don't bs about why you want to play it. At the end of the day, until you know how and why a list works, and more specifically, how it fits with your playstyle and the tweaks you need to make to have the list work for you, then the latest and greatest netlist won't be what gets you victory (unless it's thundercav where you just charge everything and win).

Is it really so hard to say "I saw this list and I thinks it's rad, can someone please explain a bit more about how it plays?"

retweeted for truth.

Additionally, if you think the models are cool, buy some, paint some, play. You either play face smash win, or rule of cool. If you play rule of cool, then it shouldn't matter.

But what I am interpreting for your post is that you want a slick beat stick army and you want our validation that yes, demons are fun and yes they will beat face. Your post has been approved, good luck.

I honestly just painted the armys, and got rid of them. I did state that I did read about the army online. I just was wondering of the list was still competitive. I also do indeed enjoy the models.