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Suppose you are building a 2000 point army obviously, you wont know who are what your going to play against. I`d like to peer into your thinking about various list building things. I`d like to - as much as possible- keep this more at a codex level then merely focusing solely on Khorne for example. So, a competitive list to the extent the codex or index allows.


In terms of HQ choices, what do you generally think of as "must include" for each god? Would fate-weaver and rotgus be examples of must includes for tzeentch and nurgle armies respectively? Elaborate a little as to why? for example, I think the fateweaver gives you d3 extra command points amongst other things? Rotgus has his smellly benefits too

In terms of troop choices, how do you guys approach the idea of min/max squads ?

why would you choose to have reinforcement points for summoning vs not?

Do you build the army around the HQ, or the HQ around the army? (this perhaps is which came first- a gun line or Robute question i guess)

Daemons are an oddity when it comes to troops. Very few armies pretty much INSIST that you go full sized squads, but generally it's more favorable to go full for any of the 4 god's infantry. For each god, here is my top pick for which HQ is the best.

Khorne: Herald on Blood Throne. Best bang for your buck, and absolutely HURTS.

Tzeetch: Lord of Change. With the impossible cloak, this thing is going to stay around FAR longer than it used to, and pump out plenty of psychic powers.

Slaanesh: Although i'd ignore this god altogether because GW wants you to from the looks of it, Masque of Slaanesh is just the best. Its ability to give +1 to hit to any units that target a unit beside her make her a nasty option.

And finally, Nurgle. I actually think Rotigus is fairly underwhelming, however the actual generic Great Unclean One is fantastic now. Very hard to kill for its points, so you get those buffs nearly all game. Highly worth it.

As previously mentioned 30 size troops are basically a must. Min size units really are only good for claiming objectives.

While you can deep strike a unit of 20 troops for 1 CP as soon as you lose one model to overwatch you lose the group size >20 ability. There is also the very real chance you will fail your charge even with an instrument upgrade as you will still need at best an 8+. Dropping that close to an enemy unit and failing the charge in rapid fire range is not great.

Pink Horrors can get by with deep striking 20 because they don’t need to worry about overwatch or charge rolls to inflict wounds the turn they drop in. 60 S3 shots is nothing to sneeze at. Herald gets them to S4.

It is more economical to deep strike 3 units of 20 + 1 herald for 4CP than 2 units of 3 for 4CP but dropping 20 size units hasn’t worked well for me.

The generic herald benefit for most cases the best character buff you can give your army. As it gets Pink Horrors & Daemonettes to S4 and Plaguebearers & Bloodletters to S5. The named heralds also give good buffs but are often not psykers. Heralds are more useful hanging in the back and providing the buff rather than fighting.

Daemon princes are good but honestly most codices give a high strength high ap high damage artifact weapon that will demolish a Daemon Prince in close combat. They aren’t good at character hunting rather just killing rank and file troops. Non Tzeetch Daemon Princes are also a 3+/5++ in a game with a lot of other characters rocking a 4++ or even 3++.

I personally don’t like any of the greater daemons. As they are targetable characters they die pretty easy as your army won’t have a lot of alternative targets for your opponent’s anti-tank weapons. For the point cost you can take multiple daemon princes or heralds, which will do more damage.

I play Slaanesh daemons so I don’t have the luxury of using the daemon summoning ability. My characters rarely sit still for a round.

None of the daemon characters are a rock to center your army around like Rowboat. They are buff machines like Ork characters. Most of my lists will have half dozen HQs just to provide buffs for the rest of my units.
I would avoid Slaanesh stuff for the time being it is the weakest of the 4 gods. I think Khorne deep strike bombs may be the hidden gem of the codex.

Masque of Slaanesh with the warlord trait is just crazy good. If your looking for a cheap killing machine this would be it, but don't send it against any old thing, it still can go splat pretty easily.

Lord of change with impossible robe is the only greater deamon I would currently run in a semi competitive game system. It really is a bullet magnet, but it's pretty tough and can take it fore the most part. Especially since you can deep strike it, little chance of it getting killed before you have a chance to do anything with it.

Skulltaker is also a bad ass, some don't think he is needed over a regular khorn Herald but bloodletters are already str 5 when they charge or get charged, so what's better? Str 6 attacks or str 5 attacks with +1 to hit? He is no slouch vs enemy charecters either.

For elites it depends on what you already have, but I love taking 3 squads of 3 flamers teams. They are quick, cheap, and effective. Troops it's dealers choice, in my soup army I always take a squad of 30 bloodletters, a squad of 25 demonettes, and a squad of 20 pink horrors.

Fast attack I have had some luck with furies. Take small squads of them, dedicated to nurgle, and you got 5++/5+++ flying annoyances that can protect your flanks from actual threats. Only last a turn normally, but that's all you should need.

Finally heavy. Can't help much here other than to say soul grinders are OK with the mark of tzeench or nurgle, but I would rather take 3 khorne cannons.

From the consensus on the daemons thread. You want multiple waves of troops. Pinkies to clear out the shielding flakk units and pepper others. Then Bloodletter bomb to kill what is behind them. Nurgling battalion for objectives and deep strike denial.

For bloodletter bombs, the banner of blood is a must, as it gives you 3d6 on the charge and with a herald nearby, you can reroll that. Also, bloodletters' 20+ bonus is good but not vital, as their natural boosts on the charge are usually enough to get the job done.