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The Tzeentch Herald on a Chariot is probably one of the niftiest units in the Chaos Daemons codex. BS4, T4, W5, and a 4++ save means that its amazingly resilient, and moving as a jetbike lets it turbo-boost and ignore terrain.

It has a variety of upgrades available: the no-brainer one is master of sorcery, for 5 points, which lets the herald use two powers/turn. Some advocate We Are Legion, for the ability to split fire, although I'm not totally sold on it. Seems like one of those "If I Have Points To Spare" upgrades instead of a "You're A Moron If You Don't Take It" upgrades.

Boon is obviously garbage, as is Soul Devourer (yes, let me give my S3 <S4 on the charge> WS2 model a power weapon, because we want him to be in assault...not.)

The big question is Bolt of Tzeentch v Breath of Chaos. Bolt obviously gives superior anti-tank...but can you ever have enough Breaths in a Daemon army? Breath "wastes" the model's BS4...but having Breath on a jetbike is just tasty.

Breath...because flame templates are just that good in 5th. Not to mention you can still use the breath to bust vehicles if you have to. It gives the model alot more utility than 1 S8 shot. I don't remember if the bolt is AP1 or not, but if it is only AP2, then definetely breath all the way.

I think everything the Herald can get is good in some way.

Here are the combos I've tested and enjoyed:

1) Breath of Chaos, Soul Devourer. Fry 'em, charge 'em. Against most troops, you hit on a 4+ and go first (I5). So you don't hit on 3+, so what? Against everyone, every little bit of extra CC 'oomph' you can add in helps. Especially with plaguebearers, who don't die to much but also don't do diddly. Don't go charging him in alone, yes? No herald does well going in alone. They need support. He isn't perfect by any means, but it is viable.

2) Gaze (free), Flamer, Master of Sorcery. Run up, flame a squad. Shoot it with Gaze too. It all adds up. Thing to remember is, if your herald doesn't have soul devourer, you better keep him out of combat or give him boon--else he's tied up and useless.

3) Boon, Bolt of Change, Master of Sorcery. Tie up a MC in combat with another unit. Boon it with multiple heralds. I've killed Tyrants and enemy characters that way, it's not like they can do anything to me. You can also fry MC not in combat (or vehicles) with bolt. Makes for a flexible unit, and one I've found is a good complement.

4) This is the one I'm gravitating towards, Boon, Soul Devourer, and Breath of Chaos. Why?

Soul devourer so I can charge with 4 Heralds wherever I need to while my crushers play catch up. Having a 18" charge range (and flamers to keep people worried) is worth it. Being able to reposition your heralds at game end for objective contesting is also worth it.

Breath of Chaos because I want it for frying enemies--it's primary use is to touch an enemy tank and accidentally fry some infantry.

Boon. Simple, you have no real answer to:

Anyone running a 2+ or 3+ invulnerable save.
Nightbringer is a nightmare. So is Deceiver.
Warboss + Nobs, only crushers and grinders can deal with them. Everyone else? Dead. Boon out the painboy and warboss, and suddenly life sucks for them.

Is it easy? Obviously needing a 6 (except those pesky new marines with storm shields) it isn't easy. It does give you flexibility--MC are a serious threat to non-crusher/grinder/MC units in your army, and this gives you options.

Is it really worth 30 points though? I think only at 2000 and above. If however you end up playing Vulkan and his Thunder Hammer army, you'll take boon. They are incredibly dangerous to a demon army.

If Bolt was S9 (it IS AP1) I'd recommend it, but it isn't so I don't.

Personally I'm probably going to settle on Soul Devourer, Master of Sorcery, Breath/Gaze, and Chariot.

For 120 points, it's a really useful unit. It lacks a small amount of flexibility, but against the majority (by far) of armies it won't let you down.

See, I personally prefer Bolt, Master of Sorcery, and We Are Legion. I use the bolt to take out light transports so that my daemons can then assault the squishy guys inside. Here, WAL is key, as then I'm not wasting my other 3 shots. This may also be because I don't usually invest in a lot of small Horror units with Bolt.

Against AV 11 and 12, S8 is usually good enough, and the AP1 helps. Against heavier tanks, I'm usually smashing them up in CC with MCs, or I can shoot at back armor.

tzeentchling wrote:See, I personally prefer Bolt, Master of Sorcery, and We Are Legion. I use the bolt to take out light transports so that my daemons can then assault the squishy guys inside. Here, WAL is key, as then I'm not wasting my other 3 shots. This may also be because I don't usually invest in a lot of small Horror units with Bolt.

Against AV 11 and 12, S8 is usually good enough, and the AP1 helps. Against heavier tanks, I'm usually smashing them up in CC with MCs, or I can shoot at back armor.

Which light transport can't your demons kill in CC?

I've learned that only Immolator armies (which can move 12" and fire to deadly effect) are really scary for Demon armies to deal with.

The standard vehicle horde? It's not that bad really.

Unless it's 5 or 6 LR. Then there's trouble.

It's the land raiders you should be worried about.

At least if you glance them with flamers (alot more likely than hitting them with bolt) they won't unload everything on you.

It's not about not being able to kill transports in cc. Most of mine can. The problem is that then, everyone pops out and rapid-fires the squad/MC that wrecked the vehicle back to the warp on their turn. If I can pop the vehicles through shooting, then I have a better chance of being able to charge the guys inside that had to pile out.

I've never had to play against the 5LR army with my daemons, as it's not popular (at least not yet) in my area. And I'm not going to bring my daemons to a tournament, so I'm not too worried about it. Using Breath against LRs is nearly a last resort in any case.

Hmmm you get rapid fired to death when using crushers?

Interesting.

I use breath on land raiders whenever I don't want them shooting at me, most of the time I'll get the result I want.

I have not run this yet, but was leaning towards Bolt/Gaze/Master of Sorc and just sitting back picking units out and moving out of CC range when needed.
The breath/Boon/SD option sounds fun too.

Now if only they sold the models for this guy on a chariot.

I haven't used Crushers yet, as I lack the money. Gonna proxy them tonight, actually (using oop-Fiends). I use daemonettes, bloodletters, and MCs - hence my problems.

Yeah, I've been playing mostly mixed-daemons lately, mainly due to the fact that I have all the models already and don't want to put more money into building an army. I play with what I have, and it seems to do reasonably well. Admittedly, they are my fun army and not necessarily my most competitive army, though so far my opponent's learning curves have been steep. Plus my dice seem to like it when I play with daemons.

Against a strong, very-competitive listed player, I'd probably lose. It wouldn't be a blowout, because I'm a good tactician and my dice tend to favor me. But I'll readily admit my daemons can't hold up to some of the uber armies out there. Hence, the playing for fun bit.

@newsun: I am gonna convert something up. Not sure what yet, but when I do I'll put it in the P&M section. I'm glad there isn't a official model, gives me permission to do what I want (which is something that will look cool).

@tzeentchling: Yes, demonettes and bloodletters are indeed 'fail' units. :(

Truth to tell, I moved most of them over to my Fantasy army. 12 Bloodletters and 12 Daemonettes make nice counter-charge units, but that still gives me 12 more daemonettes, plus 10 to convert into Seekers.

Also, the Crushers did decently tonight, but were indeed rapid-fired to death (against Sisters). Though that was more due to the fact that over half the time I was rolling 1s and 2s throughout the entire game. My thirster went 5 combat rounds with a sisters squad, without wiping them out, with them only going invulnerable once. It was one of those kinds of games. Next time I won't brag about how much my dice love my daemons!