Warwick Kinrade
Mesa, Arizona
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Hello, in the wake of the Demon Codex I've had to make huge changes to my Chaos Army as The Changeling has been nerfed. Previously I ran 15 Obliterators with a lot of Cultists and Character support but now that army no longer works and it's back to the drawing board. Right now I'm experimenting with a list that gives up less ITC Secondaries (my previous one gave up The Reaper and Headhunter without too much trouble) while also running a soft skew. Here's what I have, some points are based on leaked entries from Codex: Demons. Also I'm working on the assumption that Plagueburst Crawlers do NOT break a Demons Detachment, I have not seen the wording on this.
Fortification Detachment
Feculent Gnarlmaw
Spearhead Detachment - Alpha Legion
Chaos Lord w/ Combi-Bolter & MoN
11 Cultists w/ Autoguns & MoN
3 Obliterators w/ MoN
3 Obliterators w/ MoN
3 Obliterators w/ MoN
3 Obliterators w/ MoN
Spearhead Detachment - Nurgle Demons
Epidemius
Poxbringer w/ Fleshy Abundance
3 Nurglings
3 Nurglings
3 Nurglings
Plagueburst Crawler w/ 2 Plaguespitters, Heavy Slugger
Plagueburst Crawler w/ 2 Plaguespitters, Heavy Slugger
Plagueburst Crawler w/ 2 Plaguespitters, Heavy Slugger
Plagueburst Crawler w/ 2 Plaguespitters, Heavy Slugger
Plagueburst Crawler w/ 2 Plaguespitters, Heavy Slugger
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Overview
I have tested a version of this army with two less tanks, more Psykers, and more Characters overall. In that version I was using Slimux to place the Gnarlmaw, however he's just too expensive from the leaks I've seen and doesn't add enough to the army unless you're also playing Beasts of Nurgle. If there's an FAQ where he drops trees for free then that would change things but I don't see that in the cards. There is also someone in my meta who plays the more "pure" version of this army with all PBCs (10) and some Character support, however I believe this list is better as it has the Obliterators to take out targets that the tanks can struggle with, it doesn't surrender Headhunter, and it has more of a Scenario game. This is all game theory though.
The idea is ot Deep Strike all the Obliterators along with the Gnarlmaw, this gives them a 0+ Armor Save and the ability to Fall Back and still shoot. This removes a lot of common predators in the meta such as Dark Reapers from being able to do much to them and chaff units cannot tie them down. On the other side of the list is the Plagueburst Crawlers who can play differently depending on what I'm up against. The ability to stay back and shell or get aggressive and flame things down is much appreciated in this army, they can also wall off Objectives just by virtue of having a vehicle footprint.
Finally I have some Nurglings and Cultists. The Cultists are just for sitting on a back Objective, often that will be Epidemius' job but in some Missions/Deployments there are two in the backfield. Nurglings can get mid-field Objectives but prmarily scalpel out an area for me to drop the Gnarlmaw and Obliterators, otherwise I can be walled out by Scouts, Rangers, Sentinels, etc. In a pinch they can also just deploy on the line and go for a first turn charge into vehicles or other units that I don't want to deal with just yet. My Character support is limited but plays an important role, I have a Chaos Lord to re-roll shots for the Obliterators which will help me get the Tally to 2, from that point on he can go hide somewhere and not give up points. Epidemius doesn't do a ton for the Obliterators, although permanent re-roll 1's and +1 Toughness are nice, but he does everything for the PBCs. In my experience it's not hard to kill two units against most armies with 12 Obliterators, however even if I can't a few tanks should get me there. The Poxbringer used to give +1 Strength, which I'm not sure about anymore but I would still love to have for the Flamers, but he's mostly a cheap HQ that can heal the tanks/Obliterators and provide a Deny the Witch.
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Weaknesses
First off this army is extremely, extremely low on Command Points. I start with 5 and have to use one to Deep Strike the Gnarlmaw, at least in most games. There aren't many big Strategems to use, nothing Morale related, I'm unlikely to do much Charging, etc. Usually I assume it will be re-rolls for Obliterator profiles and sometimes the Demon Strategem for 2d3 MW on Perils. Still, it's just not a lot to work with. Another problem is melee armies, while I can avoid being tied up I don't avoid being punched in the face and losing units. Fortunately there aren't many melee armies around and those that do exist are with slow or rely heavily on Deep Strike. I can wall out Deep Strike very easily with the tanks and chaff, slow armies are going to have to deal with the Crawlers and their flamers over and over again before they make much headway.
Missions are certainly something I'm worried about, however it depends on what kind of army my opponent has. If they're more straight forward I can put Characters on Objectives and not worry while I play a mid-field game, however if there are a lot of Fliers or Deep Strike then this plan will backfire quickly. Nurglings and Cultists are also fine at holding Objectives but are fairly squishy so they rely on abusing LoS. This means I'll have to very carefully judge placement of units to not give up too many kills and know when to pull back as I start taking mid-field control, assuming that works out of course. I wish I had more access to Deny the Witch and the excellent Nurgle Lore but I'm not sure how much of a weakness that is.
Finally any army that's just loaded with anti-Tank can be a problem but such lists are very rare as Infantry is more the name of the metagame and anti-tank is more costly. I'm also decent on Secondaries, I give up Big Game Hunter (although it's not the easiest to get in the world) and Old School is on the table but that's really it.
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Strengths
Offensively this list has few if any weaknesses, the Flamers/Heavy Slugger/Obliterators can chunk hordes and the Mortar/Obliterators are good enough to handle large targets. Being able to ignore LoS also means I can finish off small units that try to hide, good for Scenario play, and also shut down armies that try to use a similar tactic to me of hiding Scouts/Cultists/Horrors/Rippers/etc. on Objectives. The list is also very durable, which fits my playstyle well, meaning my healing and powering up as the game goes on won't be endangered as much by Alpha Strike armies. Because the list has so few models it's very quick to play which means I'll usually get the full 6 Turns in tournament play (a big deal for me), my previous list had between 90-120 Infantry which really slowed my play down.
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Variation
One option is to run two less PBCs and convert the Demon Spearhead into a Battalion, this would give me +2 CPs and also let me add another Herald plus likely go back up to 15 Obliterators, however it weakens my Infantry game and probably makes Epidemius no longer worth running. That would provide 115pts, +2 if I drop the Combi-Bolter on the Lord, +4-44 if I trim/drop the Cultists (they still have a use though). Unfortunately that would leave me without re-rolls for the tanks which also makes them less attractive, shoe-horning a DG Lord in prevents me from Deep Striking the tree and also costs my the Locus of Virulence which has a good amount of kick to it.
A problem with the list is that the Gnarlmaws are Fortifications which need their own Detachment, giving nothing back. I think this is one of the reasons Slimux might have some pull since he just makes them off Reserve Points, however he just costs so much and gives so little unless you run Beasts of Nurgle. There may be some kind of list where I could run those in a Deep Strike setup with the re-roll charges, however their profile is just not that sexy barring any of the other Herald variants impacting them. I can Deep Strike 4 of them for 1 CP, with a Charge Re-roll, but no AP and random Attacks isn't great for what's supposed to be a chaff clearer. If I were to go that route I'd scrap all the Tanks but probably keep Epidemius, all his benefits are great for those models. They're also fairly cheap but I'd be short on shooting, long on Psychic. It also gives up Gangbusters very easily unless they're in duo or singles but then delivering them is a nightmare. *sigh*
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Anyways that's what I have going on in the lab, I'd love to get some feedback on what I have and future idea. This list is in the SUPER Alpha stages so anything goes.
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