WARNING: This Tactica article is based on the old Daemon book. It is outdated and less-than-helpful. Use these tactics at your own risk! *Disclaimer added by Elric Greywolf
25 Aug 2013
Posted on 8/25/08 by Somnicide
I would like for this document to be a good "entry" point into the Daemonic army for Warhammer 40K. I will cover each unit in detail talking about their battlefield roles, pros and cons. Another great resource is, of course, well written battle reports. I highly recommend Redrivertears battle reports which are located on Warseer - his posts will give you a good idea of how they play. I recommend starting with #8 as that is the first 5th edition list if you are just looking for the nitty gritty of how the army plays but there is a storyline thread that begins with the first one - so if you have the time, they are all worth reading.
If you prefer not to stray from dakka, you can check out my own battle reports here.
Tinfoil has a very unique looking daemon army (basically possessed IG with a painful amount of awesome greenstuff work) his project log is here at dakka http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/211100.page and he has some great batreps about the evolution of his army and play style at warseer http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3037587.
Overview
The Daemonic army is unique in Warhammer 40K in a few notable ways. First up, you will not deploy anything on the table at the start of the game. Everything enters play via deepstrike - even the vehicles. Another feature of the Daemons is that all of their saving throws listed in the book are invulnerable. A few have armor in addition but that is the exception rather than the rule. Because they are all invulnerable, they tend to be a bit lower than you might have hoped. The plus side of that is that you will always get your armor save (barring a couple of exceptions - namely some Inquisition units and the dread C'Tan). Another thing that is worth mentioning is that the entire army is fearless. The 5th edition mechanics for fearless mean that it is great for shooting and less so for close combat. Each point you lose combat by will require you to make a save and, as mentioned above, these saves are not typically great. Fortunately, close combat is solely decided by wounds caused so it has been my experience that our extra killy units can perform well even with reduced numbers.
One final point that I cannot stress enough is that having units of each of the chaos gods in the same army is perfectly acceptable. The only limitation is that independent characters may only join units of the same god (so no Herald of Khorne leading a unit of plaguebearers, for instance). Mixed armies are okay. An Eldar player can include aspect warriors from the various temples in a single list - try and think of Chaos Daemons in the same way. You are certainly free to respect the older background, but do not be artificially constrained by it. Conversely, it is fun to make mono lists too, and for the most part any of them can be competitive if a bit limited. You can win, you just won't have as many tools.
Now, with that out of the way, let's take a look at the units available.
Units
The only rule on taking multiples is if a unit is marked as "unique". There are a number of HQ unique units as well as, interestingly, troops choices with unique upgrades. They will be marked as such below. As a rule of thumb, if it is named, it is unique.
Another thing, AVOID GREY KNIGHTS AT ALL COSTS
HQ
The Daemonic general has no shortage of HQs available to lead the deamonic incursion into real space. There are two main "types". The Greater Daemon and the Herald. Heralds are much less powerful but are 2 for 1 slot and make a decent upgrade in most cases and can help out the units to which they are attached. There are no limitations on greater daemons, so if you want 2 Bloodthirsters, go for it. One word of warning - bodies are expensive in a daemon list and it is easy to get too many big things and then lose the game for want of troops choices. Then again, it is fun absolutely smashing your opponent apart.
Bloodthirster
It is hard not to wince when looking at one of these on the table. That alone is a good reason to bring one of these close combat beasts. They are one of the few units with an armor save and as an interesting option can purchase a minor ranged attack. Their wings make them one of the quickest daemon princes. This allows you to bring them into play a bit further than you might with other daemons thus reducing the chance of taking rapid fire shooting. If they want to move towards you to shoot, let 'em. There are a few other options you can buy them but really, they don't need much and already pretty pricy. If you are considering any of the upgrades, look first to the strength - it will help with vehicles.
Great Unclean One (GUO)
What's not to love about one of Papa Nurgle's greater daemons? Well, aside from being slow. Really slow. That is kind of the theme running through the Nurgle units. Nearly everything is Slow and Purposeful. As a monstrous creature the GUO gets Move Through Cover for free and that extra dice helps him get where he is needed but you will often need to play a bit more risky with his initial deployment as he is the slowest of all the greater daemons even without Slow and Purposeful. That being said, this guy can take a massive amount of damage. Don't sweat rapid fire too much as the weapons that rapid fire are typically Str4 or less which don't do much to him. Follow that up with Feel No Pain against all but a handful of weapons and many times your opponent will choose a softer target and just try to avoid the jolly guy which isn't super easy with Run (yes, Slow and Purposeful units can run). I do like most of the upgrades available to the GUO - he is cheap to start with and all of them are reasonable. Cloud of Flies will take away attacks coming in, Aura of Decay will do a little bit of damage to hordes - I think those are the top choice for me.
Keeper of Secrets (KoS)
Keeper of Secrets by Redbeard
This is the avatar of slaanesh (though the name makes one think more of Tzeentch, at least in my opinion) this greater daemon is fast thanks to fleet and it will not get bogged down with large fearless units like can happen to the Bloodthirster thanks to Hit and Run. I am of the opinion that this model should just be about 255 and come with all the options - they are all that great. Pavane allows you to move an enemy unit - this takes the place of running so you will have to consider using it carefully. That being said, a KoS and Bloodthirster combination is brutal - you are effectively giving the Bloodthirster fleet by pulling a unit d6" towards him! Don't underestimate the Keeper's killiness though - mine has outperformed the Bloodthirster on more than one occasion.
Lord of Change (LoC)
I find that there is little that a Lord of Change can do which cannot be done by heralds on chariots. The LoC is better in close combat by virtue of being a monstrous creature, but if you do that you are wasting his prodigious sorcerous shooting abilities (though don't forget that he can use gift of chaos in close combat). He is fairly survivable with a decent toughness and a 3+ Invulnerable save, but he can still be felled by light weapons. That being said, I would (and do) definitely include one in an all Tzeentch list just because that is cool.
There are also a few greater daemon special characters - one for each God except Slaanesh.
Skarbrand, the Exiled One - UNIQUE
Basically a really angry bloodthirster who traded his wings in on fleet. He has a special rule that makes every one around him really mad, too. Everyone in range of his special ability must reroll all misses in close combat. Many people see that and automatically discount him for boosting the opponent. Like anything in the daemon list, you look for the synergy. Ironically, the best synergy here is with the follower of Slaanesh. Many attacks, high initiative and rending make Skarbrand worth taking a look at. The high initiative of Slaanesh (as opposed to bloodletter who will be going simultaneously with marines) helps to mitigate the number of rerolls your opponent gets plus all the extra hits give you more chance for rending. Overall though, unless you are building a list specifically around him I would say give him a pass. Modeling him is pretty easy - just build a Bloodthirster without wings and find another axe for his off hand.
Kugath the Plaguefather - UNIQUE
Kugath is basically a Great Unclean One on a palanquin. He has a ton of wounds and is very difficult to kill but there is a high price tag with him. In addition to the basic GUO kit (all the nurgle upgrades bar Cloud of Flies) he has a couple of unique abilities. One, he can create new bases of nurglings. One per turn out to a medium range. This ability is really good for objectives missions - you can challenge out of blue. It isn't much of a liability in kill points missions since you may create the bases - in Annihilate, you are better off not doing them. His other big ability is that he has the only real native Nurgle shooting. He basically throws and explosive nurgling and checks out the damage it causes. The damage is not too shabby, either - basically an AP2 poisoned large blast template. The odd thing about him is that his high strength, decent number of attacks (same as a Bloodthirster) and noxious touch meaning he wounds on a two or rerolls if he already does that mean you kind of want him in close combat but his shooting has excellent potential. This schizophrenia combined with his ability to turn the cheapest greater daemon into the most expensive means that I would suggest a pass, unless you are doing an all Nurgle list (without or especially with Epidemius).
Fateweaver - UNIQUE
Fateweaver is kind of a red herring unit. Something that seems great is to pack everything around him and reroll saves. That can be decent, but it also puts your typically slow units in a very small area.
Fatecrusher lists had their best days back in 2009 but can still be pretty brutal depending on your meta. I like to take him but not build around him. He gets all of the powers at a pretty good discount and he is still a monstrous flying creature. He is a bit expensive but that has been my most success with him.
Another idea would be to combine him with Slaanesh - their innate speed helps counter his major flaw which I listed above and he gives the traditionally fragile Slaanesh forces a bit more hardiness. If you know (or even think) that your opponent will have Nullzone I would recommend a pass. Losing the rerolls on him combined with his leadership test just makes him a huge liability which, for me at least, pulls him out of the serious competitive lists.
Heralds
Think of Heralds as super veteran sergeants and you won't be far off the mark. For the most part, they do what the basic troop does only better and with access to a few of the chaos god's tricks. Heralds work best in smaller games where a Greater Daemon might be a bit over the top or when you are looking at building that horde daemon list that we all dream of from time to time. They are also decent if you get an attack of conscience at running two bloodthirsters against your friends all infantry Imperial Guard army. As with greater daemons there are both generic and unique versions. Slaanesh got to join this party with the Masque.
Herald of Khorne
Heralds of Khorne are easily a match for the independent characters of most other armies. Mount them on a juggernaut and they are truly scary - most other people will try and avoid them. The juggernaut doesn't give you any extra speed, but it does finely tune what is already and absolute killing machine by adding to the Str, Tough, Wound, attack and armor save for under 40 points. The extra armor helps out since you can toss the occasional wound that the unit receives on him and keep one of the bloodletters or crushers alive a little longer. You can upgrade him to have a little bit of shooting (basically a plasma pistol minus the extra attack), extra strength, rending and virtual immunity to force weapon and psychic attacks. Rending may seem redundant with the power weapon he gets for free but it will be your only hope if you end up in close combat with a high toughness creature or medium armor value walker. It's pretty cheap so I would probably recommend it - it is cheaper than the +1 to strength and could be the difference between collecting skulls and scratching paint.
Another upgrade available is the chariot which is cheaper than the juggernaut with slightly improved stats. The downside is that you lose independent character status meaning that you can't join a unit, although you do gain +1 wound compared to the juggernaut, +2 overall. A good consideration if you are trying an MSU (multiple small units) type of daemon strategy, but beyond that I would suggest a pass. As Redrivertears points out, you basically get a non-winged daemon prince for 85 points and that is a pretty decent reason.
Herald of Nurgle
Like the Herald of Khorne, the Herald of Nurgle can take a cheap mount upgrade (Palanquin of Nurgle) that doesn't affect its speed. Like Khorne, you should probably take it just because it is such a bargain (and can look pretty cool). It basically gives you an extra wound and an extra attack. Most of the upgrades available are worth considering - they are pretty cheap and can go a long way in helping you do your job. Cloud of Flies should be considered mandatory - for 5 meager points you are reducing the number of attacks coming your way when you get charged (and being slow and purposeful, believe me, you will be getting charged!) Aura of Decay does weak hits to all enemy models within 6" as a ranged attack you can use even if in close combat. It is kind of expensive and will not really do much damage - I consider it filler - if you have an extra 15 points, go for it, but don't expect it to do much. Finally you can get the Breath of Chaos. A poisoned template attack that ignores both armor and cover save. Seems really good on paper, but it is very expensive and super situational. If you are going to be in range of a charge you might use it but really, that is only once per game and there are other options at getting that shot that are much better (Flamer of Tzeentch come to mind). That being said, if you know ahead of time that your opponent will be bringing an elite army comprised primarily of high toughness and/or high armor save models it is worth a second glance, otherwise I say skip it.
Herald of Slaanesh
The Herald of Slaanesh finally gives us a mount that lets us move quicker. I suppose that is fitting since Slaanesh is kind of the speed game. It is fairly cheap and gives you an extra attack and allows you to move as cavalry (giving you fleet - which you already have - and a 12" charge). The extra range is a good thing and allows you to keep up with the Seekers of Slaanesh which have the potential to be absolutely game-winning. Remember that in 5th edition I don't believe you can charge something different that the unit is charging (joining and leaving squads seems to only happen in the movement phase now and is pretty much an automatic thing) but with clever movement you can set up and charge of opportunity. There is also a chariot available but I suggest passing for the same reason as the Khorne one.
Upgrades available are a hit and run ability (which doesn't affect the unit making it practically useless 90% of the time), Transfixing Gaze which can take away one attack from a model in base to base, potentially keeping you alive a bit longer - this one is cheap, and the ability to remove a power fist attack is pretty good - but I like it better on the KoS. Pavane of Slaanesh which allows you to move a unit that is up to 18" away 1d6". This looks good until you consider, if you are shooting at something, you are not fleeting and probably not shooting. Charging is the lifeblood of a Slaanesh army. Also, this ability is NOT cheap. There is no reason to pull an enemy unit out of cover - the Slaaneshi units already have both types of grenades and when you win combat you will probably want to be in cover anyway. Gaze of Chaos is another shooting attack that I don't really like for the same reason. With Slaanesh you should be running or in close combat. Shooting gets you killed. The other option is Unholy Might which gives you +1 Str - raising you up to the level of a Space Marine. It is cheap enough I would probably always include it - otherwise you might get stuck in a combat with something you can't really hurt (you could only glance a dreadnought without it, for instance).
Slaanesh can also take a chariot that gives a pretty good list of stat upgrades and makes them move as cavalry but removes the IC status. You end up with a pretty goodly amount of wounds, but are still only T4 with 4+ armor save. The cavalry helps them out by letting them be a bit further away and hopefully out of rapid fire range, but I still think that the other options are better.
Herald of Tzeentch
Kit one with Bolt of Tzeentch (basically a single Exorcist missile), We Are Legion (shoot at multiple targets) and Master of Sorcery (shoot more than one weapon) and these guys shoot like a madmen at multiple targets for a very low price, you can get three of these guys for less than a Lord of Change. Seems like it might be a decent supplement for an assault based army (if you have the slots) to deal with fast moving vehicles. Put them on a chariot and they have insane mobility, a ton of wounds with a 4+ invulnerable save and furious assault. These are by far my favorite Heralds.
Unique Heralds
Skulltaker - UNIQUE
Bane of most other ICs as well as a solid answer to such beasts as Wraithlords and Carnies (out of synapse) and even Nightbringer. 4+ rending and causing instant death is pretty awesome. Unfortunately, he has to compete for his slot with a Bloodthirster and that alone makes it tough to bring him.
Epidemius - UNIQUE
I have to confess my longstanding and abiding love of Papa Nurgle. Whether or not to bring Epidemius is pretty much a no brainer. If you are bringing a mononurgle list then absolutely, if not then definitely not. You do need to have realistic expectations of the Tallyman of Nurgle. He'll basically make lackluster units mediocre. Accept the fact that you are playing an army that wins through attrition - the Tallyman just helps it not take as long. The problem is that he becomes so clutch that it is easy to devote too much energy in protecting him for fear of losing the army buffs he gives (based on kills, Plagueswords wound on a 3+, all Nurgle models wound on a 2+, FNP on a 3+ and finally all Nurgle units ignore armor saves). You can't really win a game playing on the defense (at least with Daemons). Yes, your nurglings could potentially have 3 power weapon attacks that wound on 2s unfortunately, your plaguebearers will still only have 1 attack and WS3. That being said, if you are playing mono Nurgle, he is a great addition.
The Masque - UNIQUE
The Masque is Slaanesh's herald. She can pavane (move d6") 3 of the enemies units any way she wants. Pretty awesome. She is not an IC and so can't hide anywhere. Not so good. She has a 3+ invulnerable. Not so bad. She has a 3 toughness. Okay, I am not going to say worthless, but very very situational. She is too expensive to kamakazi with but is basically impossible to protect. She works decently in an army with a ton of khorne models (effectively giving 3 of them fleet) or a ton of daemonettes, but really, you have to work hard to get her to do much of anything other die horribly.
The Blue Scribes - UNIQUE
The blue scribes are best used for determining which spells match your individual play style and then buying a cheaper herald. They know every "spell" in the daemon book of all the different chaos powers and that is kind of fun. There are some weird timing issues with with using their abilities and hammering those out can slow down a game play.
Troops
The Troops choices in most armies are the generalists who leave the more specialized jobs to the other force org slots. The Daemons are different in that we have no true generalists and specialize even more than the Eldar. That is both our strength and weakness and understanding how to use these specialists and the synergy that they bring is the difference between victory and defeat on the battlefield.
Bloodletters of Khorne
While more sturdy than daemonettes, they are still pretty fragile. Their speed is average (I would say slow, but that would be taking away from what makes the plaguebearers so loveable.) Because of that you need to make sure and take enough of them to soak up some shooting. And they will be shot. A lot. Considering that it is not outside of the realm of possibilty for 4 or 5 to break most standard units on the charge - high weapon skill, 3 S5 I5 power weapon attacks will do that! On the charge, they will happily much Marines Upgrade options are a icon which is pretty pricy, an instrument which will allow you to win a tie (you won't see a lot of these with this unit, though - it does give you a cheap way of "doubling" wounds on an individual model and you can give one model rending. Rending may seem superfluous, it isn't. It will give you a little bit of extra punch vs vehicles and will give you at least something that can hurt a dreadnought or killa kan.
Daemonettes of Slaanesh
Deamonettes by Redbeard
Daemonettes are really really fragile. Like guardsman fragile. On the plus side they are cheap and fast as befits something that follows the Dark Prince. Their high number of attacks and low cost just screams "SLAM ME" er, sorry, "SPAM ME". They have fleet and rending and a lot of attacks at high initiative. Don't take less than 12 and they will probably impress you. Take any fewer and they will just disappear. The come with offensive/defensive grenades for free and the only upgrades to them are the instrument and icon. They can give one model transfixing gaze to take one attack away from the enemy. It is more than half the cost of a whole extra daemonette so I am not really sold on it, but it is a good points filler.
Pink Horrors of Tzeentch
The only troops choice with any kind of shooting. They have a decent rate of fire (3), an average BS and decent strength (4). Additionally, they can take an anti tank weapon for low enough that you probably always should. They have a good invulnerable save which helps make up for a low toughness. You want to keep this things out of close combat, though, as they have low strength and WS. In addition to an 24" exorcist missile they can take the icon and instrument upgrades. They are also a bit pricy per model, but as the only shooting available they are worth a look. Also, they are less overtly threatening than Bloodletters or Daemonettes so will probably be pretty far down on the opponent's target priority list. You can also upgrade one model in one unit to the Changeling. It is super cheap and has huge potential but is not likely to actually do anything. Basically it allows you to force an enemy in line of sight to make a leadership test and if they fail you get to choose what they shoot at and they have to shoot everything at it. Note that the rules are unclear if this is a once a phase thing or everytime the Changeling has LOS so clear it up with your opponent first. Overall, a great choice, and a good solution to keeping Grey Knights away from squishing the other daemons.
Plaguebearers of Nurgle
These lads are the tarpit unit of the list. They are great for holding objectives. They have a high toughness combined with the daemonic invulnerable save and feel no pain. They have a decent strength but low initiative and only a single attack. But against most other units they will just keep taking the punches and stick around for more. They are the dread of high toughness troops with the entire unit being poisoned and thus never needing more than 4 to wound and since their strength is above average they will be rerolling failed to wound rolls against toughness 4 or lower. You can upgrade one to have noxious touch, which wounds on a 2+ but the opponent still gets the armor save (similar to having a warlock in a unit). They also have the ubiquitous icon and instrument.
Nurglings
The final troops choice available is also a Nurgle unit. It is an odd unit in that it is a troop choice but is not scoring. It is Nurgle but isn't really very tough. It is also the fastest pure Nurgle unit available (it moves as infantry and is not slow and purposeful). However, they bring a decent number of wounds and attacks and is pretty cheap. They are daemonic so benefit from the daemonic invulnerable save and are also immune to instant death. A few of these are great at holding up enemies for a turn or two, especially high strength low number of attacks units. Also, you can spread them out with a run and give a cover save to the units behind them and they themselves can go to ground which, combined with being small, will give them a pretty respectable cover save - especially if they are in area terrain. While they can't claim objectives, they can still contest and combined with an easy 2+ cover save they are worth considering in a second wave to babysit distant objectives. Also, Epidemius can make them brutal.
Elites
Bloodcrushers of Khorne
These are Bloodletters mounted on juggernauts. Scary? Oh yeah. They have a good toughness, multiple wounds, 3 power weapon attacks, Furious Charge that lets them wound marines on a 2 when they charge and a space marine's armor save in addition to the daemonic invulnerable save. They are a little bit pricy and one very real consideration is that they are mounted on 60mm bases making large units difficult to place. They only move as infantry so are a bit slow but will draw a ton of fire. As far as upgrades, they are the same as the Bloodletters. It is worth reiterating that while the rending attack may seem a bit of overkill with the power weapons you won't want to be caught in a combat with a unit you can't hurt. A mainstay in an all Khorne list and worth considering against most opponents. A decent choice, but as you will see, the competition for the Elites slot is very tight.
Fiends of Slaanesh
These are probably my personal favorite choice for elites (though not necessarily the best - see Flamers). They are crazy fast thanks to being beasts (fleet + 12" charge) and have a brutal 5 rending attacks base - 6 on the charge and can Hit and Run. Oh and did I mention that they are fairly cheap? You can upgrade one to have +1 strength but I like this unit like a missile. Just point and it will destroy whatever it is charging at and itself as well.
Flamers of Tzeentch
Flamers are another great choice for the elites slot - quite possibly the best. The minimum sized unit will cost you 105 points but will lay out the hurt with 3 "poisoned" flamer templates that ignore armor saves and glance vehicles half the time. Glancing isn't as good as it once was (no way you are going to destroy the tank) but it is nice to stop a pie plate or scatterlaser War Walker. They are cheap enough that you can use them in a suicide fashion by shooting for a close deepstrike and letting loose with all 3 templates on a target (be careful with spiral placement, it can be done!) They are also jump packs so if you prefer a more conservative game you can deep strike them back a bit further, use their other shooting (same as the horrors) and then try and set up the next turn flamer templates. It really doesn't matter which way you bring them in - after your opponents see you use them once they will be a very high priority target.
Beasts of Nurgle
I really want to like these guys. Like Plaguebearers, they have a high toughness, feel no pain and are slow and purposeful. Unfortunately the number of poisoned attacks that they have is random. They can't really threaten vehicles (unlike all 3 other choices) as they will only ever glance at best. They are resilient, but point for point, you are better off with more plaguebearers at the cost. That being said, if your dice are hot, they can get 6 poisoned attacks each and that is nothing to scoff at. You can upgrade one model to always wound on a 2+ but if you are running these guys, it is likely because you are doing a mono Nurgle list and you will get that soon enough anyway, thanks to Epidemius.
Fast Attack
Thanks to Evil The White for his contribution to the Fast Attack section.
Overview by ETW
Daemon fast attack is best used to support other units in the army and to help them do their job. Mostly, their function is to catch units moving away from your main host and to pin them down so your combat units can engage them. However, since most players have to go for objectives early on, this is rarely needed, so fast attack is rarely used by most daemon players.
Flesh Hounds of Khorne
These are great in a themed, non-competitive list. In an all Khorne list they suffer a bit in that they are the only non-power weapons in the list and so basically you have to take out killy stuff to include them. They are not any more survivable than Bloodletters other than by virtue of the space you can create by deepstriking them in a bit further. As mentioned above, they are good for pinning something in fast in place (as long as it has a weapon skill). A decent counter to bikes if they are trying to shoot you at range, but if you are doing a mixed gods list, there are far better options in the fast attack area (Seekers of Slaanesh). They are fairly cheap points wise for the daemon list, but not so much that you can fit them in with some leftover points. On the plus side, these are some of the few models that virtually every edition of them has looked really good. For what it is worth, I wanted to include some of these guys in my GT army because I like the models and if the GT was 1850 like it used to be there would be a unit of them in it but in trimming the fat, they were the first to go.
As far as upgrades, you can give one rending and upgrade a different one to a unique model named Karanak that is a really good looking model, but a bit expensive points wise. It does give you move through cover for the unit he joins, but again, unless going for a themed, non-competitive list, I would probably not recommend spending the points. Besides, they don't have grenades, so if you charge anything using that ability the opponent will get first attack
Seekers of Slaanesh
Seekers cost a few more points than flesh hounds but are worth it. They have a lower strength and toughness than their khornate competition, but they more than make up for it with much higher initiative and 2 more attacks. Oh, and did I mention rending? These things are great both in themed Slaanesh lists and mixed lists. The high number of rending attacks (which make them a decent threat vs both MEQs and hordes) and long threat range make them one of the best overall choices in the Daemon codex. You can upgrade this unit to carry an icon, but I wouldn't recommend it in most cases.
Screamers of Tzeentch
Thanks to Warmaster for this excellent contribution -
Screamers are the red-headed step children of the red-headed Fast Attack section of the Daemons codex. They do however provide something very important to Daemon Armies in the current mech heavy environment. This is speed and melta-bombs.
With the introduction of a possible 9 av14 tanks in guard armies, or the triple land raider list or even just someone fielding 15 chimera equivalents the anti-tank busting abilities of the Daemon codex are being put to the test. To destroy a land raider reliable requires soul grinders/daemon princes, greater daemons or, you guessed it, screamers. One advantage screamer's have over daemon princes, greater daemons, and soul grinders, is the ability to actually hide behind the hull of the vehicle they killed. The other good advantage is that a lot of the time whatever was in the vehicle you just destroyed is going to decimate your unit, would you rather lose 80pts worth of screamers or 160pts worth of big nasty daemon.
There is a plethora of strength 5 hand to hand attacks that can take out av10 rear armor vehicles, the issue there is getting your squad into attack range. This is also hampered by your opponent rev'ing the engine and running 12 making it much harder to take out his 35pt troop transport. Why not just take fiends or flesh hounds or seekers then? The answer there is that they can't handle the land raider above and the demolisher chassis get pretty tough with their rear armor of 11, and the fact they can't even touch a drop pod with it's all around 12's.(except for Fiends who can and often do, but then they aren't killing other things). The other problem is one of speed if you are within that 19-24 inch charge range all is great but if you are outside it, you aren't moving any faster than an infantry model. The other is because of tank shock. So you ran up and shook my vehcile, next turn I tank shock you, unload and kill your unit, or just ignore you and keep moving. Most people will think twice before tank shocking a melta bomb armed screamer.
On first glance, and probably the second and third, screamers are just not that impressive looking. They move like jetbikes which means they can't spread the turn they land, they are only weapon skill 3, they only have a single attack, strengh and toughness are okay, and their 4+ invul is nice but not spectacular, and of course they come with melta bombs. On the plus side they aren't the most expensive unit in the world.
So what does a unit of screamers provide? Not much is the actual answer. But taken in a large enough amount they give you both anti-tank ability and board control. The biggest thing here is to not take 1 unit of 9, you are better off with multiple units. My current preferred squad size is 4-5 with a full 3 squads.
Why 5 screamers? 5 screamers have a large enough footprint that they can block all access points on a vehicle except for open topped ones, and the valkryie. So you guessed it they can block all the access hatch's on a raider, or a rhino, or anything in between. 4 can cover most of it but something can still get out.
Why not a big squad of 9? When you get tank shocked only one model per unit can attack the tank so if you interleave units you can get multiple melta bomb hits on vehicles.
Initial board control
Okay so now that I've subscribed to your philosophy and gotten the screamers how do I use them? Against heavily mechanized armies, I will usually put the screamers in my first wave. I however do not put them within assault range on the first turn unless I have some good los blocking terrain to limit fire or I'm relying on target saturation to make sure some of them survive. Otherwise I drop them further back and rely on turbo-boosting up the field on the second turn. This is a good way to gain board control against a rapid-fire mechanized opponent. By dropping 26 inch's back he can't move 12, dismount the squad and rapid fire you away. However you are limiting him to about 8 inch's of forward movement otherwise he enter's your screamers charge range. This does not work so well against dire avenger's, and noise marines, just as fair warning.
My opponent is smart and moves his vehicles over 6 so I need 6's to hit.
If it's a fire-support vehicle then your screamers are already doing their job, limiting shots coming back at you. This is true even when forcing someone to move their vehicle so that you need the 4+ to hit. Predators, leman russ's with sponsons, falcons, land raiders all of them lose effectiveness if they move. Take your chances at a 6 and block available routes if possible, forcing your opponent to sit still on their next turn to shoot you or let you get the free tank shock (a note here, sometimes it is worth it to skip the chance at the 6 and turbo-boost an inch away to get the 3+ cover save).
If it's a troop transport then park your screamers right in front of it, forcing your opponent to tank shock you or get out and shoot you. If his squad gets out where it's at and shoots you they've done their job getting the unit out of the transport (another reason why 4-5 is better than 9, you lose less points with this tactic). This enables your infantry eating daemons a chance to get at the juicy tender inside of the troop transport.
What about skimmers?
Screamers can't movement interdict skimmers very well. You are either going to take a chance at a 6 or you want to plant the screamers about 10 inch's away from the skimmer.
What if my opponent doesn't have any vehicles?
Then you just wasted all those points, don't blame me! Just kidding. Screamers are great for movement interdiction on horde armies. Boost them up 24 inch's away and land them 1" away from your opponents mob, you just wasted about 6-9 inch's of their movement allowing you to focus on a different part of the army. Screamers are also great fun against things like boom-fex's, wraithlords, dreadnaughts, avatars, usually locking one down for a couple of turns. Just turbo-boost and surround them forcing them to charge you to get out.
Missions:
Kill Points hurt the msu nature of the screamers. But with their turbo-boost and range, you can play keep away with them almost the entire game if you feel they are a detriment. In objective missions they allow you to actually do last turn objective contestation like the sneaky eldar and tau! It's also fun to ring your own objective to help prevent the aforementioned eldar and tau players doing the same to you.
Wrap Up:
Because of their speed I love using screamers to block exit hatch's. Especially true against eldar and imperial guard with their single access hatch to the rear. I also touched on movement interdiction. Blocking off previously guaranteed assaults on precious units is especially frustrating for an opponent. Last turn objective grabs and forcing tank shocks also really make your opponent think.
Furies
Basically a bargain basement assault marine. A small number of these guys isn't really going to do anything, if you get a lot of them, though, they can throw a whole lot of mud and hope that some of it sticks. They are pretty cheap so if you wanted to you could spam these guys. They can use their speed to harass the enemy but in an assault against dedicated assault troops they will die horribly. I would have to say that this unit is probably a pass.
Heavy Support
Thanks again to Evil the White for doing a lot of my work for me ;-)
Overview
The heavy support section of each army normally consists of gun-vehicles and heavy weapon troops. Most races are able to take or leave heavy support due to heavy and special weapons in their infantry squads, specialist weapon squads or extra equipment on transports, fast attack and elites. Daemons are one of the armies that really cannot be without heavy support, due to the huge lack of anti-tank options in the other squads. Greater daemons (except maybe a LoC) are more suitable for mowing down infantry than killing tanks, and the rending upgrades are really just for the odd walker that will pop up every now and again. Therefore, it falls on the damon heavy support to really take out the tanks.
Daemon heavy support is best taken in pairs or threes. As any IG player can tell you, one tank is a threat that gets knocked out right away, two is solid for most of the game and three is either overkill or a good start (depending on how treadheady you are). For the daemonic general it is also useful tactically but giving you the option of splitting them up to make sure you get a heavy hitter in the first wave or if you want to risk it and force your opponent to either spread his fire out or accept that he will just have to suck it up. I especially like pairing a Soul Grinder with a Bloodthirster or Keeper of Secrets - most opponents will not be able to choose which to shoot at. As you can see heavy support is the workhorse of the daemon list.
Soul Grinder
Our only vehicle option, the soul grinder is a very good one. High armor value and the ability to ignore 2/3 of the glancing hits it receives make this baby an absolute beast. Add in to option to get what is effectively a non-ordnance battle cannon and/or railgun and it almost feels like a no brainer to bring along. Oh yeah, it also has fleet and two dreadnought close combat weapons and a 6 shot storm bolter. PLUS the model is probably one of the most awesome looking ones in the game. It is huge and intimidating and the "maw" weapons have a really high mount on them giving you LOS over a lot of things, thus possibly reducing cover saves (the head is almost like being on the third floor of a building). As a daemon, it starts off the table and deepstrikes in virtually guaranteeing you at least one round of shooting. It is also not terribly expensive, coming in at under 200 points fully kitted out or 150 well prepared.
Okay, with all this raving, what about the down sides? Well, it has a big footprint so has a chance of being immobilized on the turn it comes in just by ending up in some kind of terrain. Also, it is a vehicle, so potentially it can be destroyed with a single shot and the size of themodel makes it fairly difficult to get a cover save. It has the BS of a guardsman so the antitank tongue upgrade will only hit half the time and most of the shooting is fairly short ranged. Additionally, I think if you want to include one, you should probably include a second otherwise your opponent can devote all of its shooting on one and likely destroy it. The other heavy support choice, the daemon prince is also a really solid choice.
Daemon Prince
This is the probably the most difficult of all units to write up. Whereas virtually every other choice in the list is a specialist with relatively few upgrades, daemon princes are insanely customizable. I am going to break them down further by god as each may be marked (this is not mandatory). For what it is worth, they are an absolute bargain at their starting cost and there is some value of shock troops by spending less than 100 points for a 4 wound monstrous creature with 4-5 attacks at a high weapon skill and initiative and a 5+ Invulnerable save. That being said, it is also incredibly easy to get these suckers costing as much or more than a greater daemon.
Undivided
There are no marks available exclusively to undivided. With one real exception, anything can get one or more of the following upgrades.
Daemonic Flight let your daemon prince fly but with a hefty price tag - almost double the base cost! The benefits of flying cannot be discounted, however. One of the best things it does for you is allow you to try and come in a bit further away and still be secure that you will get to combat. It is also great in a nurgle list as it will help at least one of your models be able to deal with slippery units like transports and bikes.
Next up is Iron Hide. This is pretty straightforward as it gives you the armor of a Space Marine. Combine that with a decent to high toughness, multiple wounds and immunity to instant death and you have a very survivable high threat model.
Unholy Might gives you a boost to your strength - effectively allowing you to wound marines one a 2+. This is also good for helping you crack open vehicles in close combat (though with 5th edition always having you hit the rear armor value it isn't necessary unless you are expecting to face a lot of dreadnoughts or Land Raiders). The extra strength doesn't really help out at all against wraithlords as you still need 6s to wound. It is also pretty pricy for what it does.
Instrument of chaos allows you to win drawn combats. It is cheap but odds are high that you will not be drawing too many combats - you will either win by a couple of lose by a couple. If you have a few points left at the end of list design consider adding it but it should be the last thing you consider.
One of the following shooting attacks are available to anyone not bearing the mark of Khorne. Tzeentch can take two. Daemon princes are actually great at shooting with their above average ballistic skill.
Gaze of Chaos
A shorter ranged heavy bolter that ignores Space Marine armor has a place in just about any army. It is a bit pricy, but not too bad. I always add this to my Tzeentch princes and it is a consideration in all others. It basically comes down to if you want a shooting phase or if you are just viewing that as your run phase. The extra range offered by wings makes it worthwhile, but then the points factor really starts to come in to play - those two upgrades alone have doubled the cost of your daemon prince.
Breath of Chaos
Very nasty, as mentioned above. That being said, I don't really like including it on daemon princes for the following reasons. It is a template weapon so you need to be within 8" to shoot it off. That means you are likely also in charge range. Your daemon prince is pretty nasty in close combat so you probably will just want to charge in anyway so any shooting might keep you out of range. It also encourages you to try and deepstrike in really close to get off the shot - the prince is a little too expensive to suicide in this way unless that is all you have him do. Flamers of Tzeentch are MUCH better in that role so it doesn't really make sense. It is also expensive for something you might get off only once in a game.
Boon of Chaos
Good for sniping out nasty things like power fists and independent characters. It is pretty expensive and very short ranged. It requires a toughness check, but a 6 is always a failure so you can, very occasionally, get lucky and take out things like wraithlords and tyranid monstrous creatures. It MAY create a chaos spawn (if you have a model handy or choose to) so it can be a nasty trick if you are just out of range to contest an objective. It is just a little too pricy, though, for my taste.
That wraps up all of the undivided gifts so let's take a look at the marks and god specific gifts available - most of which are the same as under the appropriate greater daemons.
Mark of Khorne
Second cheapest of the marks, it gives an extra attack and disallows the shooting choices above. It also give the ability to buy the Khorne specific marks.
Blessing of the Blood God
A 2+ save vs force weapons and wounds taken by psychic attacks. This ability is just meh. You are already immune to instant death, so the biggest threat of the force weapon is already removed. If you play against a warp time sorcerer or librarian it could have value and against an Eldar opponent it is awesome against mind war. It will not protect you from lash as that power does no wounds and the Blessing is strictly a save.
Death Strike
Plasma pistol that doesn't give an extra attack. I am just meh on it. If you have a few extra points at the end of the game you can look at getting it, but otherwise I always skip it. Sure, it could help against some transports, but overall I have better places to spend my points.
Mark of Slaanesh
This is the cheapest mark available and it just adds one to your initiative. That is nice in that it allows you to go before most space marine characters but that is about it. The true value is in the access that it gives you to the marked abilities.
Aura of Acquiescence
Offensive AND defensive grenades for dirt cheap. I consider this a must have.
Soporific Musk
Hit and run. It is reasonably priced and I really like the ability to not get bogged down in a drawn out close combat. Additionally it can help you get extra movement towards an objective late in the game - I have done this a couple of times to turn a loss into a draw or a draw into a win. If it were a tiny bit cheaper I would always include it so I guess that means it is priced appopriately ;-)
Pavane of Slaanesh
This is a great power, especially on a unit like the daemon prince that doesn't have fleet. It effectively allows you to fleet a unit towards you potentially into charge range. Even better is that you can give one of your already fast slaanesh units even extra speed (a potential 30" charge for the seekers or fiends!) Also good late game in the ability to pull a unit off of an objective. It is pricy but the effect on game play is huge.
Transfixing Gaze
The ability to take away one attack from any model in base to base. Obviously best if you can end up in base to base with the units power fist. It is fairly cheap and you can take one attack from anywhere so it is decent. This is one of the first powers that I end up cutting when I am looking for points. Basically that means that, to me, it is good enough to include in a list, but not so great as to be required in it.
Mark of Nurgle
An extra point of toughness is always welcome as a defensive measure. Bolters and basic marines now need a 6 to wound you. It does not grant feel no pain, unfortunately. It is also the best (only) way to get any measure of speed in an all Nurgle list and is a great way to add to the tally quickly if running Epidemius.
Cloud of Flies
Offensive AND defensive grenades for dirt cheap. Like the Aura above, this is, to my mind, a must have.
Aura of Decay
A low strength short ranged shooting attack that can be used in close combat. I always add this this out of hope. In reality it doesn't usually do much and is a bit more pricy than I would like. However, in an Epidemius list you are often counting on your daemon princes to raise the tally so every little bit helps.
Noxious Touch
This lets you wound on a 2+. It is okay, but if you are doing an Epidemius list you will get that soon enough. If not, and you know you will be facing very high toughness then it might be worth it. The point of strength from Unholy Might may be more useful overall.
Mark of Tzeentch
Improve your daemonic save by 1. Now you can ignore fully half of the wounds that come your way! Not to mention if you want a gun platform daemon prince, this is the way to go. Another thing to consider is that you can skip the iron hide upgrade and still have a pretty survivable model. It's not cheap, but it is worth it.
Bolt of Tzeentch
Decent (but not great) anti-tank. It can destroy any vehicle in the game and that is a bit of a plus. Also there is no armor save allowed. This and Gaze of Chaos combined are my usual Tzeentch prince. 4 shots hitting on 2s and wounding on 2s or 3s that deny MEQs their armor saves is always nice.
Master of Sorcery
Lets you fire a third ranged weapon (remember as an MC you can already fire 2). I don't typically get this because there are only 2 long range shooting attacks anyway.
Soul Devourer
Close combat attack that can force wounded models to take a leadership test or die. Not too good when you consider most of the multiwound models in the game have a high leadership (9 or 10) and any one wound models that take a wound will already be dead. Also, it is instant death so daemons and tyranids in synapse are immune to it.
Acknowledgments (alphabetically)
Thanks to the following contributors from Warseer for helping to work on the units and tactics.
Da Black Gobbo
Deetwo
Evil The White
Redrivertears
Reece
Tinfoil (both here at Dakka and over at Warseer)
Sample Army Lists
1000 points
Here is a sample 1000 points that is fairly well rounded and will give you an idea of how the list plays. I also stuck to models that are currently readily available.
HQ
Bloodthirster
Troops
10 Plaguebearers (Icon, Musician)
10 Plaguebearers (Icon, Musician)
5 Horrors (Bolt of Tzeentch, Musician, Changeling)
Elite
4 Fiends of Slaanesh
Heavy
Soulgrinder (Phlegm)
Total Cost - 995
2000 points
Great Unclean One
Bloodthirster
12 Plaguebearers (Icon)
12 Plaguebearers (Icon)
5 Horrors (Bolt, Changeling)
5 Horrors (Bolt)
3 Flamers (Bolt)
3 Flamers (Bolt)
6 Fiends (Unholy Might)
5 Screamers (Unholy Might)
Daemon Prince (Mark of Tzeentch, Bolt, Gaze)
2x Soul Grinders (Phlegm)
Tactics