Musings From An Arse Whuppin'

Got my butt kicked by Deathwing last night.  A buddy was testing his Throne of Skulls list, which is a 1500 point version of the list he used when I defeated him in this battle report.   I wanted to not play my usual stuff and see how other things do against assault terminators, so I tossed together a list with 2 Grinders, 5 Crushers plus Skulltaker, 14 Seekers, some Screamers and Daemonettes.  I also brought the Masque for some reason I couldn't figure out once we'd started the game because I had no Flamers.  I really have no idea what that was all about.

I have at certain points before the change to Look Out Sir claimed that Skulltaker helps against terminators thanks to his rendiness and wound allocation.  Well, wound allocation don't work no more and storm shields go a long way to taking care of his 5 rending attacks.  Skully lost a challenge to a TH/SS Sergeant.  Anyway, don't run Crushers against terminators.  I would have been better off with Fiends, or definitely Flamers.  Also, Screamers struggle against assault terminators as well because of the 3++ save.  Despite AP2 and S5, the WS3 keeps them from being stellar against dedicated assault units.  You figure half their attacks will hit, 2/3 of the hits will wound T4, that means a single forced save per Screamer in a round of combat where they didn't charge.

I cannot believe how often I roll no 6s despite tossing 10+ dice.  Seekers are still my favorite unit in the book, but rending is not to be relied upon, and they just don't cut the mustard.

Anyway, I got tabled.  Daemons really aren't all that hot in assault anymore.  Our best stuff is not as good as the best stuff in many other armies.  In 5th, I would have run 16 Bloodcrushers and walked over that army.  Now I have to blast them with Flamers because I don't have anything to beat assault terminators straight up.  The 10 Seekers and 5 Screamers I had left when I charged struggled to put a dent in their numbers.

All of this is a long way of musing that the Fatescreamer with a side Flamers list is pretty much what you gotta run to compete until the new codex comes out if you want to win with regularity.  I'm betting most of you already had this figured out, anyway.

Daemon-Killer Spotlight: Canoptek Wraiths

Tactics with Daemons is supposed to be the primary focus of this blog and I recently realized I haven't posted much on that front in awhile.  So, I decided to start a new bit where we take a look at certain units that just seem tailor-made to kill Daemons with the greatest of ease.  I begin with a look at Necron Wraiths.

Clocking in at the same cost as Flamers before they were made good, these guys normally don't present that big a problem.  However, most players add whip coils for an extra ten points, which makes any model in BTB with them at the start of the combat I1.  That makes them a big problem.

Wraiths are kind of like Tesla cannons in assault.  With 4 S6 rending attacks, S6 Hammer of Wrath (if they walk and don't jump in the movement phase), WS4, W2 and a 3++ save, these are just plain mean to your army.  They're going to be hitting you first pretty much all the time, and they'll wound anything in your army on a 4+ or better.

So how the heck do you deal with that?  There are a few ways, but none of them are what I'd call extremely effective.  A unit of these things is not going to go away quickly, so just accept that they're going to cause you some trouble.

The first thing to remember is that only models in BTB at the beginning of combat are at I1.  If you can charge them with Fiends from a great distance such that only one model reaches BTB, but the others can pile in at I5, you can hit them first.  Due to the random nature of charges, that is not a reliable way to do it because if you roll 12", you can't hold back.

Because they are so flimsy, Fiends and Seekers are poor candidates for the job because even though they have a bunch of attacks, many of them will be at I1, and therefore dead thanks to low T and low saves.  Even if 6 Fiends got the charge on Wraiths without whip coils, they would only kill two on average with their 36 attacks before getting hammered.

Bloodcrushers can beat Wraiths if backed up by Fateweaver.  With WS5, S5 and a 3+/5++, they are beefy enough to weather the storm and hit back.  However, if Fateweaver isn't there, they will probably lose eventually due to the fact that they'll be losing models before the other side.  Skulltaker is especially useful if any of his instant death attacks get through.

Screamers have absolutely no prayer.  Keep them as far away as possible.

Most armies deal with Wraiths the way they deal with Daemons, and that is lots and lots of dakka.  Well, you ain't got lots and lots of it, but you have some.  Flamers are your best buds against these guys, but it's going to take more than one squad to weaken them quickly.  9 Flamers shooting warpfire will cause 3 wounds on average.  9 Flamers shooting breath on overwatch will also cause but 3 wounds.  Wraiths do not fear charging Flamers unlike everything else in the game.

The very best way to deal with Wraiths is to Pavane them into a bunch and hit them with several unit's worth of breath.  It takes 12 unsaved wounds to remove 6 Wraiths, and 36 wounds to cause 12.  That means 72 hits from breath to do the job.  A full 9 Flamers shooting at those 6 Wraiths will cause an average of 9 wounds, leaving not enough alive to pose a huge threat any longer.  I usually don't run my Flamers in squads that big, but you see the sheer amount of hate you must send at these things to deal with them.

Yet another way to whittle them down is with phlegm.  Any failed wounds mean instant death.

I once tried to tarpit them with Fateweaver.  It did not work.  Only Fatecrusher can beat them toe-to-toe. A Great Unclean One backed up by Fateweaver could tarpit them, or pretty much anything else.

Finally, you can try to use your FMCs to block them from charging your ground based units.  Tricky, but doable.  The more turns of shooting you can buy yourself, the better off you'll be.

In short, stay away as long as you can.  Pour as much focused firepower into them as possible before they reach you, and try to force them into a matchup that favors you.  Like I said in my article on beating Necrons, pretty much everything in the entire army is great at killing Daemons.

(If anyone would like to request a unit for this section, please email me.)

So Which Would You Pick?

I think by now we know 90% of the secrets in the Chaos Space Marines codex.  Other than the wargear section, I've found the rules and points for just about everything on the various forums and blogs.  Now, wargear is a critical piece of the puzzle considering that you have to pick an HQ, but I'm not expecting anything earth-shattering.  All of the weapons in the book are listed in the summary photo floating around, so it isn't as if there's a Conversion Beamer type weapon for the Warp Smith that we haven't heard about.  To be honest, I think the CSM might be better in melee than Daemons what with the Maulerfiend, Warp Talons and the Mutilators.  I don't melee much these days anyway as you can tell by my lists.

The choice of allies is between Chaos Space Marines and Imperial Guard.  CSM brings Havocs, quality troops and psychic powers to buff the army.  IG offers the Vendetta, the Hydra and lots of help with scoring.  I haven't made up my mind yet.  I really want to pick CSM, but I think IG is a better fit for me based on what I know of the CSM dex because the Heldrake looks to be a total bust in the AA department.  So let's open the floor.  Which of the two armies would you choose?

Taking Daemons as Allies

I got some emails from readers back when I was doing my review of Imperial Guard as allies about taking Daemons as an allied force.  Admittedly, I don't play other armies, but I have an idea what I'd take.

The biggest problem you'll run into taking Daemon allies is that you have to take an HQ, and there is no standout choice for you like Fateweaver.  Fateweaver costs too many points, doesn't protect your army, and you'd have to take a lot of Daemons to make him worth it.  So many, in fact, that you'd might as well be playing Daemons in the first place.

So what do you take?  Well, I'd never take allies below 1500 points anyway, so I'll cut it off there.  At 1500 or higher, I would pick either The Masque, The Blue Scribes, Epidemius, Skulltaker on a Juggernaut, a Tzeentch Chariot with Breath of Chaos and Master of Sorcery, or a Lord of Change.  Each of these are situationally useful depending on what your build is.

Epidemius is a no-brainer in a Plague Marine army.  If I were running IG with a leaf blower template heavy build, the Masque might intrigue me.  The Scribes are a great choice if you want to take Flamers.  Skulltaker is the pick if you want a Bloodcrusher beatstick.  The Chariot is cheapish, fast and useful for anti-infantry if you need a throwaway HQ choice.  The Lord of Change brings anti-air and other flying monstrous creature goodness.  Maybe Skarbrand might be useful in an assault-oriented Dark Eldar army...

The next problem you face is troops.  Well there aren't any good picks, so take your favorite.  I like Daemonettes, and I also think they're the best of a bad lot for the nonce, so I'd take 5 'nettes and move on.  Think of them as upfield scoring if your force is static.  Keep them safely hidden, though.

If you are running Orks, Tau or Dark Eldar, you should take 3 Nurglings.  You get a cheap tarpit that wouldn't score anyway.  Or maybe you're playing IG and don't need help with scoring anyway.  Buy the cheap speedbump.

Once you have the mandatory stuff out of the way, you get to pick what you want.  The question you must ask yourself is what job do you want your Daemons to do for you?  Daemons are designed as the 12" and in army because it has very little power beyond that range comparatively speaking.  The next question is would some other army do that job better?  Maybe you want a close combat unit to protect your shooty IG army.  Do you want Bloodcrushers for that, or could Assault Terminators do the job just as well, while giving you all the good stuff Space Marines bring to the table?

Only Skarbrand and Epidemius can buff your army, so unless you are building a list around one of those two, you take Daemons because you want to harness the raw power they bring to the table.  If you're playing Tau, I'm betting you want anti-infantry since I've found yours to be somewhat lacking compared to your superb anti-tank.  If you have Dark Eldar, you might want anti-tank since Dark Lances only go so far.

Well, since I can't anticipate what you want out the army, I'll just tell you that the best overall unit in the Daemon codex is Screamers.  They are just super versatile for their points.  I'd place them on par with Psyflemen in terms of how good they are.  Take 6-9 and you won't be disappointed.  Every single vehicle I have ever charged with them has exploded.  Even the Annihilation Barge I charged with the last remaining Screamer in my army blew up.  If I were playing Dark Eldar, I'd be very interested in Screamers to supplement my anti-armor.  They may be the most reliable anti-tank unit in the game.  Like Fire Dragons on jetbikes.

A single Screamer typically means one wound in close combat against anything with T4/I4 or lower and no invulnerable save.  That's a good ratio.  Their slashing attacks are great against Eldar and hordes, and while they aren't superb in close combat thanks to WS3, they are good.  They really have more to offer than anything else in the army.  The list of things they fear is short.  Like Canoptek Wraiths, Grey Knights with Force Halberds and not much else. 

Even more potent are Flamers.  They aren't as reliable as Screamers because they can't turboboost, but once they reach a target, it usually dies.  You want at least 6 in the squad.  The more you have, the better chance you have of glancing vehicles to death.  Their ability to dust infantry squads is legendary.

If you want something close-combat oriented, I strongly recommend Fiends.  They don't perform that well against MEQ because rending is fickle, but they have Hit and Run and muchos attacks, and are almost as fast as Screamers.  I find they perform best supporting charges alongside something with AP2 attacks.

I can't recommend Bloodcrushers as allies at this time.  Most of the armies that can take them can find superior close combat units elsewhere.  Based on what I've seen of the new CSM codex, they'll have better stuff than Bloodcrushers at their disposal.  I'd rather ally with Necrons to get Canoptek Wraiths and a Doom Scythe.  Right now, they're too slow, they die too easily, and they're too expensive to be restricted to AP3 while crawling around.  Wait until they become cavalry and get power axes.  Then watch out as the kings of melee return to claim the throne.

I also can't recommend flying monstrous creatures too heavily.  They're fun, they're intimidating, they're occasionally awesome.  You could run four in a CSM army, if you took a Greater Daemon and a Prince, but I don't like the combination of T5 and 4 wounds.  Even T6 and 4 wounds dies super easy.  Tzeentch Princes do bring skyfire bolts of Tzeentch, but if anti-air is your concern, there isn't a single Daemon ally out there that doesn't have better choices for the role.

Soul Grinders are an odd fish.  Like the Daemon Prince, they are occasionally awesome.  Dark Eldar could make use of their anti-tank smashiness.  If I were playing Dark Eldar, a Soul Grinder and some Screamers plus a Lord of Change backing up my Venoms sounds better than a sharp stick in the eye. 

All that said, I think every army has much better ally options than Daemons.  I think Tau are better off with Space Marines, Tau or Eldar.  Orks, Chaos Space Marines and IG are better off with Necrons or each other.  I do like the idea of Screamers in a Dark Eldar army.  If you can't find what you're looking for with your Eldar buddies, consider bringing some Daemon beat sticks along.

Some CSM Pics You May Not Have Seen

I found a few shots of the Chaos Space Marines codex that aren't on Natfka or Dakkadakka that I can find.

Here are some for the vehicle rules, for example:

It is likely that the Heldrake has the Daemonforge special rule that the Forgefiend has, which lets it reroll rolls to penetrate armor once per game.  You'd just better hope all your shots don't miss on the turn you declare.  Even with the Daemonforge rule, I don't see how the Heldrake is supposed to live up to billing as a dedicated flyer killer.  Especially for 170 points.  As always, I reserve my judgment until I've seen the entire thing.

The rest of the pictures are here.

Chaos Space Marine Anti-Air Options

I think the coolest thing about the CSM army is that you can build it any way you want.  You want a horde, you got it.  You want a super-elite army?  It's yours.  Mech heavy?  No prob.  Mix of Space Marines, Cultists and Daemons.  Sure thing!  But when it comes to flyer defense, the book seems a bit lacking from what we've seen.

Granted, I have not yet read the book, but from all indications, the two anti-air units are the Heldrake and the Havocs with flak missiles.  Flying Tzeentch Daemon Princes can get Doombolt, but it will cost you like 300 points to make sure you get it, so you'd might as well take your own Tzeentch Prince.  If you're lucky enough to roll the meltagun power on the Pyromancy table, you've got something.  Hoping for good luck is not a valid tactic until Turn 5 or later.

Havocs are the only thing in the CSM codex that have Flak missiles, making them a pretty clear-cut candidate for an allied Heavy Support choice.  It's 75 points for the squad and you figure it's probably 10 for the missile launcher and another ten for Flaks.  So a squad of 5 with four missile launchers comes to 155 points.

Flak missiles are S7, AP4.  So you're buying a 155 point Quad Gun that isn't twin-linked.  Of course, you still have Krak and Frag missiles, so you're paying for versatility.  Still, 4 S7 shots is not likely to kill a flyer in a single turn.

The Heldrake has a single Hades Autocannon, which is S8, AP4 and BS3. It is also unlikely to kill a flyer in a single turn.  The Vendetta is a better anti-air platform by leaps and bounds.  It's also a better anti-tank platform.  The Heldrake is better anti-infantry with that torrent flamer thing it has, but I've got that base covered.

The Havocs and the Heldrake combined can do the job.  Add a Quad Gun and Fateweaver and you have adequate anti-air, I suppose.  For a princely sum of points...  Compare Flak Havocs and a Heldrake vs. a Hydra and a Vendetta.

Another more subtle anti-air option is Cultists.  You can take 70 of them as allies.  That's plenty to clog up the board and deny flyers a place to move.  Tyranid players use this technique to deal with them.  Technically, this still isn't as good as Imperial Guard because you can take two entire infantry platoons with tons of scoring units that don't all get swept the instant they get charged by a tactical squad.  The horde technique does not fit my play style anyway, and the thought of painting up 70 cultists is not my idea of a good time.

So we don't know all the secrets of the CSM codex yet, but what we do know suggests that if anti-flyer is your biggest concern, your best bet is elsewhere.  You would choose CSM for other neat stuff like psychic buffs for your army.

1850 Points Tournament-Winning List

I placed best overall at the tournament I'd been prepping for the past month or so.  I played Space Wolves, Blood Angels and Grey Knights at 1850.  I tabled Wolves and Blood Angels.  The Grey Knight player had an excellent list with lots of dakka that probably would have beaten me in an ordinary mission because things really went poorly in the first couple of turns, but the mission for that game was a meat grinder mission with kill points as the primary objective.  Anything that wasn't a vehicle was allowed to come in the following turn off of any table edge.  Talk about an unlosable situation for an army as potent as Daemons.  Good and bad luck with mission, board and opponent is all part of tournaments.

That mission was lots of fun.  When Fateweaver died the turn he came in to a failed leadership test, I just shrugged my shoulders because the next turn he flew 24" into the board center and started raising hell.  I was actually deep striking my Daemonettes right into the center of his Warp Quake to force a mishap and place them back in reserve so I didn't give up easy kill points.  Once I killed off his Psyflemen and Razorbacks, he was outgunned, because my entire army kept coming back on while only about half of his did.  You can imagine what 6 Flamers can do if they can jump in 12" from any board edge.

The Final score was like 20-12 on kill points and we didn't even finish because there was no way he could catch up.  Just wanton slaughter.  If we hadn't called it at turn 4.5 the kill tally could easily have climed into the 30s.  If I took enough pictures of the game, maybe I'll batrep it.

The other two missions were variations on The Relic and The Scouring with some weird secondary objectives like marching your infantry across the board and off your opponent's table edge.

Anyway, here's the list:

Fateweaver
Lord of Change, Breath of Chaos, Master of Sorcery
6 Flamers
6 Flamers
6 Flamers
5 Daemonettes
5 Daemonettes
5 Daemonettes
5 Daemonettes
6 Screamers
6 Screamers
Daemon Prince, Mark of Tzeentch, Bolt of Tzeentch, Daemonic Gaze, Master of Sorcery

1847

Imperial Guard Allies: Sample Lists

Eyes Front!

Now that we've looked at the options available to us, we can start to explore what a competitive Daemon/IG list might look like.  My focus is always going to be on help with scoring, help with flyers, and killing light armor at range.  So here are a couple ways I would run IG.

List the First:

Daemons

Fateweaver
5 Daemonettes
5 Daemonettes
6 Flamers
6 Flamers
6 Screamers
6 Screamers
6 Screamers

1199

Imperial Guard

Company Command Squad, Camo Cloaks, Autocannon
Infantry Platoon:
   Platoon Command Squad, Autocannon, Sniper Rifle
   Infantry Squad
   Infantry Squad
   Heavy Weapons Squad, 3 Autocannons
   Heavy Weapons Squad, 3 Autocannons
   Heavy Weapons Squad, 3 Autocannons
Vendetta
Hydra Flak Tank, Camo Netting

675

Fortification

Chaos Bastion, Quad Gun

125


1999

Everything deploys except the Vendetta.  I'd like to stick an Infantry Squad in there, but it the platoon must deploy as a unit, so you can't split it up.  If you want troops in the Vendetta, drop a Heavy Weapons Squad and buy some Veterans.  Actually, that's not a bad idea...

To deploy, you first place an objective as far in the corner as possible, then place the Bastion a few inches in front of it with the door facing neither toward, nor away from the objective.  This way, the units inside can disembark 6" either toward the objective or toward midfield.

Deploy the CCS on top of the Bastion with a 2+ cover save.  Deploy the PCS inside the Bastion.  They can give orders from there.  The PCS shoots the Autocannon, Heavy Bolter and Shiper Rifle.  The CCS shoots the quad gun.  The 3 Autocannon teams go around on the side of the Bastion opposite your table edge to receive orders, and so that they don't run off the board if they fail a morale check.  Place the two Infantry Squads forward to make a dash for midfield objectives.  The Hydra goes behind the bastion just enough to get 25% obscuration.  If you're going second, you could deploy the Heavy Weapons squads behind the bastion to keep them alive.  You sacrifice a turn of shooting, but that might be worth it if it gets you three or four more seeing as how they're not dead and stuff.

This list gives you strong anti-air, lots of anti-infantry, plenty of anti-armor, good assault capability, 8 scoring units and speed.  If this were a pure Daemon list, that 775 points would have to go to a Lord of Change and a Daemon Prince to get more skyfire plus more Daemonettes so that I have all my bases covered.  This is much more robust in all facets by comparison.

List the Second:

Daemons

Fateweaver
5 Daemonettes
5 Daemonettes
5 Daemonettes
6 Flamers
6 Flamers
5 Flamers
6 Screamers
6 Screamers

1211

Imperial Guard

Primaris Psyker
Vendetta
Veteran Squad, Bolt Pistol, 3 Grenade Launchers

287

1498

The bummer here is that I have to take an HQ, and only the Primaris is somewhat useful with minimum IG allies and no fortifications.  Plus, I have to deploy either the Primaris or the Veterans.  I'd rather put them all in the Vendetta.  So you take a Primaris and hide him on your deployment.  You can pick his discipline depending on what your opponent has.  Hopefully, he does something useful.  I gave the Vets Grenade Launchers because I don't want them close to the enemy, and GLs give them decent mid-range punch on the cheap.  My anti-air consists of Fateweaver, the Vendetta and maybe the Primaris, which isn't as much as I'd like, but it's tough to squeeze more in at 1500 without sacrificing a lot of punch.

Other than that, it's pretty standard Daemon fare.  Fateweaver, plus a mix of Flamers and Screamers to suit your preference.  I have all my bases covered and I've stuck to my principles of at least 1 troop choice per 500 points plus one.

I'm looking forward to seeing what Chaos Space Marines bring to the table.  As it is, I think IG plugs the holes in the army quite well.

Foreshadowing the Daemon Codex from the New White Dwarf

Natfka has photos of the new White Dwarf that has as lot of stuff about the new CSM wargear, psychic powers, gifts and other special rules.  Of particular interest are the changes that may portend what's coming for Daemons.  Here are some I noticed:

Doombolt is no longer a S4 Daemonic Gaze.  It replaces Bolt of Change.  It is now 18" with the Beam, and Detonate special rules.  Detonate makes the vehicle explode 2d6".  Whoopee doo!  Frankly, I'd usually rather that not happen because my Daemons are usually pretty nearby.  Anyway, Beam is a witchfire special rule only, and I don't think Daemons will get psychic powers, so it's tough to say what they'll change about Bolt of Tzeentch based on this entry.

Juggernauts now change the unit type of the IC to cavalry.  If my Crushers become cavalry, they will see use in a lot more games.  It counters the loss of wound allocation.  Just give me some power axes.

Tzeentch discs are jetbikes.  This makes sense since chariots are going to become vehicles.  Your disc heralds will be jetbikers instead of jump infantry.  Get ready to take your converted Tzeentch chariots apart.

Steed of Slaanesh grants +3 to run moves in addition to being cavalry.  It also grants acute senses and outflank.  I'd be pleasantly surprised if Seekers could outflank, but I don't think that will happen.

Icons of Slaanesh grant feel no pain.  It makes sense, but I wonder if Daemonettes will get to benefit.

Boon of Mutation is a pyschic blessing now.  Hard to say what that might mean for us.  Will Daemons get a table to roll on?  Again, I doubt it.

In other news, Daemon Princes get access to Biomancy, Telepathy and Pyromancy.  Biomancy and Telepathy are both very useful for Daemons with Blessings and Maledictions galore.  Invisibility in particular is nasty.

Slaanesh Daemon Princes get rending as one of the benefits of taking the mark.  This makes no sense to me as MCs are already AP2.  Are CSM DPs not monstrous creatures?  If I smash and roll a 6, I'm already penetrating anything in the game...  Dunno what that's all about.

Allied Codex Review: Imperial Guard Heavy Support

Greetings, friends and neighbors!  Today we come to the end of our look at the Imperial Guard codex as an allied force to your friendly terrors of the warp.  There's a lot of stuff in the Heavy Support section.  You may select but one.

Leman Russ Squadron

Leman Russes come in seven flavors.  Of the seven, none seems better to me than the regular Russ.  You can sit two or three of em behind an Aegis next to a Comm Relay and lob S8 ordnance templates 72" across the board.  Give them camo cloaks if you really don't want them to die.  I wouldn't because they're totally expendable.  The downside to vehicles is that they neither score, nor deny, so they'd might as well sit back and beat face while being nigh impossible to kill.  If you take a shorter-ranged version like a Demolisher, make sure you give it a dozer blade so it doesn't immobilize itself when it hits a puddle, which is always hilarious.

Hydra Flak Tank Battery

Fun Fact: The Russian AA Tank Also Does Not Have The Interceptor Special Rule

On the one hand, it has Skyfire, so it can kill flyers and skimmers.  But what if your opponent don't got flyers and skimmers?  Nobody can figure out why they didn't give it interceptor.  The Russians have a tracked AA gun called the ZSU-23 Shilka that shoots aircraft with radar guidance, but has to aim at ground targets manually.  I'm sure that's the reason.  You try aiming that thing at a moving target with a crank before you take an RPG to the face.  Yep, that must be the reason...

Anyway, it still has four twin-linked shots, which should cause an S7 hit here or there against ground targets.  I'm very ambivalent about these.  On the one hand, I think they're the most useful Heavy Support choice for Daemons if your opponent has the stuff they're designed to kill.  On the other hand, they aren't always going to be useful.  Plus, they're flimsy.

You can counter the flimsiness by giving it camo netting and deploying it behind a Bastion.  Now it has a 2+ cover save because fortifications grant a 3+ and you only need 25% obscuration to get it.  You're going to need it too or the Necron Air Force will blow it up when it comes in.

If your opponent has no flyers or skimmers, use it as mobile cover and tank shock stuff if you can.  Since it can only fire Snapshots at ground targets you can move it 12" and not give a hoot.  

I say one or two is an ok choice as support for your army, but only after you've taken a Vendetta and a Quad gun and feel like you still don't have enough anti-air.  

Ordnance Battery

As with Leman Russes, these should go behind an Aegis.  The entire squadron can take camo netting for 30 points, which gives em a 3+ cover save.  Not too shabby.  The trouble is that all four have "features" that make them tricky to use.  

I like the Medusa because they can mess with your opponent's deployment.  With two or three S10 AP2 Ordnance cannons deployed in the center of your deployment zone, your opponent will want to set up outside of their 36" threat radius.  If they do, that gives you a whole bunch of space to deep strike.  The downside is that it is a direct fire weapon.  No Barrage.  380 points gets you two Medusae with camo netting behind an Aegis with a Comm Relay.  This should clear you a landing zone.

I like the Basilisk for the same reason,  If you set it up in the corner, your opponent will want to deploy inside 36", giving you room to deep strike on their flank or even behind them in diagonal or short table edge deployments.  You can catch them in a classic pincer maneuver!  The downside is that once they're inside 36", they will probably never go outside 36", so you just wasted a buncha points on a tank with a heavy bolter.  Maybe that's worth it to squish the enemy together.  If they don't, they get to take S9 AP2 pie plates to the jimmy.  375 points for two Basilisks with camo netting behind a Bastion with a Comm Relay.  Because they have indirect fire, hiding behind a Bastion is a good move so you can get a 2+ cover save with camo netting.  Place an objective exactly 6" from both board edges in the corner.  Place the Bastion in front of it.  Deploy the Basilisks behind the Bastion with the objective in between them and your opponent will never get near it, never kill your Basilisks, and be forced into a tighter group.

Update: A friendly reader points out that indirect fire weapons may fire inside their minimum range.  They just scatter the full distance if they do.  Basilisks all the way!

I don't like the Collossus or the Griffon because they're weak sauce against tanks and transports, which is what I'd like dead in the shooting phase.

There are strategies to be developed around the Medusa or the Basilisk.  They are worth pondering for inclusion in your force.

Manticore Rocket Launcher

S10 is good but AP 4 is not.  Ordnance and Barrage D3 is good for glancing hits.  24" minimum range is no problem.  It's an anti-horde weapon with some anti-armor utility.  It needs to be behind a Bastion or an Aegis.  With mandatory camo netting, it's 190 points, which is quite a bit, but it is potentially as devastating as an Ordnance Battery for less.  I think AP4 is a deal killer for me.  I want stuff that kills flyers and/or tanks.

Deathstrike Missile Launcher

190 points for this plus camo netting might get you one very big shot that will hit late in the game,when most of your army is supposed to be all up in your opponent's grill.  So, if you're looking to bake your own army for an outrageous price, this is your model!

Allied Codex Review: Imperial Guard Fast Attack

Gee whiz, I wonder what Slaede will recommend in this section?  I mean, you only get to pick one thing.  Well, you took the trouble to come here so you'd might as well read it.  If you don't want to, I understand.  Look, there's an ad in the corner!  Perhaps you should click that on your way out...

Scout Sentinels

I have trouble getting past BS3.  40 points for outflanking autocannons is decent.  I just don't see what three of these bring to the army that I can't do better with Daemon stuff.  I can get a whole many lot of heavy weapons from Infantry Platoons.

Armoured Sentinels

I have trouble getting past BS3.  Though three lascannons hidden behind an Aegis with Camo netting sounds like a decent solution to the survivability problem your allies face if you don't go first.  Wait, that costs 240 points for three of them?  They have BS3?  Bollocks...  

What's fast about these anyway?  Should be Elites like certain other AV12 walkers...  Someone should tell GW.

Rough Riders

Along with Ogryns, these are my favorite units in the codex.  I almost picked IG as my main army because I loved the idea of dudes riding around on horses with spears in a game with laser guns. Instead I picked nekkid ladies on purple horsies.  I do not regret what I did.  Anyway, what the hell do you need these guys for?

Hellhound Squadron

Know what Hellhounds and Bane Wolves are great at killing?  Daemons.  Take them if you're fighting Daemons.  Otherwise, you have the template thingy covered with your own stuff.

A couple Devil Dogs are likely to frag some tanks, but they'll probably die fast.  Maybe run them in support of a Seeker Cavalcade and some Soul Grinders, and a Leman Russ to play a Daemon/Guard armored company.  Hell on wheels!  Sounds kind of fun.  If I felt like painting all that up for giggles, I'd do it!

Valkyries

It's the anti-personnel flyer.  You can kill mans no prob.

Vendettas

It fills a hole in your army, it kills tanks, it transports troops, it's cheap for what it does.  If only you could take more than one squadron.  If you're taking IG, it's probably because you want one of these. It's hard to blame you.

Allied Codex Review: Imperial Guard Elites

The Elites section of the Imperial Guard codex is considered the weak spot of the army.  Whereas most other codices put the good stuff in this section, the IG Elites is chock full of oddball choices that don't fit well in the other sections.  But, just because it isn't popular, doesn't mean there might not be something here we can use.  Or does it?

WHO CAN KNOW!!!!?

Ogryns

I like Ogryns, but they cost the same as Bloodcrushers and are not as good.  They have 3 wounds and a S5 Assault 3 gun that can theoretically help you shoot down Night Scythes.  That's about it.

Ratlings

The nerf to cover saves limits the places you can safely put them.   But they have Infiltrate, Pinning and Rending and Precision Shots on a 6, so they can theoretically wreak some havoc for 100 points.  Just don't expect them to stick around long with LD 6 and T2.

Psyker Battle Squad

Weaken Resolve makes those few armies that actually have to take Fear checks against you unlikely to pass them.  If you're like me, you forget the Fear rule even exists almost all the time because almost everybody ignores it anyway.  It is well-documented the damage Weaken Resolve plus a Primaris with Telepathy can do, but that isn't always easy to pull off.

Soulstorm is quite powerful with good range, and can maybe kill transports if you're lucky, but random AP on the attack means you're most likely to just remove a hull point and stun the vehicle, though this is an acceptable outcome.

You could pay 165 points for ten in a Chimera, or you could get a Leman Russ Demolisher for the same price, which is more durable, more powerful and more reliable, and still not a great choice for a Daemon army.  I say they don't do anything the Daemon army can't do just fine already.

Storm Troopers

Same cost as a Space Marine, eh?  They don't score, you say?  Hrmm....  They do come with a lot of dirty tricks, including Infiltrate, but the one that might interest you is Airborne Assault, which lets them reroll the scatter dice on the deep strike.  Give them two meltaguns and you just might be able to drop them next to that Doomsday Ark you can't reach, but would like dead and do some spot removal.

Guardsman Marbo

Another spot remover.  Actually, for a mere 65 points, why not?  I can think of many times I wished I could deep strike some nasty on a dime and kill something the turn it arrives.  Think of all the dead Paladins!  With BS5, Marbo's demolition charge isn't likely to scatter too far off the target, so it's mostly reliable.  If your enemy has castled up in the corner, he can make them regret their dearth of manliness.  If he hits the right target, he can ensure Fateweaver survives the entire game.  Plus, he's a denial unit that can force your opponent to waste firepower on him.  I'd buy that for a dollar!

I Put the Image At The End Of The Post Instead Of The Top Today!

Allied Codex Review: Imperial Guard Troops

Troops are one of the big selling points of taking allies because Daemon troops all have glaring problems.  The good news is, IG has some pretty ok troops for pretty cheap.  They add up fast, though.

Infantry Platoons

The big selling point of the Infantry Platoon is that it lets you get multiple scoring units with a single Force Org chart selection.  This is something the current CSM codex does not offer, and the rumors about the upcoming CSM codex make it sound as though that won't change.  A Platoon Command Squad and an Infantry Squad are mandatory, and give you three scoring units right off the bat.  The tradeoff is that none of those three units are a whole heck of a lot better than 3 squads of Daemonettes before you take upgrades.  5 Daemonettes are Fearless and easily hidden.  10 puny humans are neither, and so are prone to running away.

One solution to this problem is to put your mans in a Chimera.  This gives them an extra layer of protection and allows them to sit back in their metal bawks and wait for turn 5 to get out and claim an objective, or for their bawks to get blowed up, or push up the battlefield so they can do more than backfield scoring.  This has its own problems because Chimeras aren't exactly cheap, and they're going to draw all the anti-tank firepower, which will take them out very quickly unless you take lots of them.  An Infantry Squad in a Chimera is 105 points.  Put your Platoon Command Squad and both Infantry Squads in Chimeras and you're at 295 points of dead weight that does little but score, much like your own troops.  Even with upgrades, those three squads won't bring much punch to your army.  280 points gets you 4 squads of Daemonettes.

Another solution I like better is to get some Heavy Weapons teams for long range fire support, run the Infantry Platoons forward and hope for the best.  75 points gets you 3 Autocannons that can also score.  Quite a deal.  A CCS can make them twin-linked with Bring It Down! which is even better.  405 points gets you a CCS, PCS, two Infantry Squads and three Heavy Weapons Teams with Autocannons.  That's six scoring units.  Buy yourself a Bastion with a Quad Gun, put the CCS on the roof, the PCS in the building on the Heavy Bolter with its own Autocannon, put the Heavy Weapons Squads around the tower to receive orders and run your Infantry squads toward midfield objectives and you have a pretty solid anti-transport firebase that can contribute to flyer defense and help scoring.  It will set you back 540 points.

OR... You could take a Lord Commissar, blob the two Infantry Squads together, and run them forward as a stubborn LD10 tarpit to soak up some firepower and hold baddies in combat until your Daemons can arrive to crush the enemy.  Lots of ways to go here.

IG works because they can take lots of stuff and whittle away at the enemy in mutual support.  If you take lots of stuff, you are taking away from your Daemons.  Daemons work by getting in the enemy's face as fast as possible while being better model-for-model than the other army.  The two strategies are quite different, so you have to think very carefully about what you want your allies to accomplish.

One thing I'm not super keen on is Special Weapons Squads.  BS 3 in combination with short range is kind of pointless when Daemons are already the short range army.  Look for long range anti-transport and anti-flyer.

Veterans

If you're trying to do IG allies on the cheap, perhaps to get access to a Vendetta, for example, Veterans are the second cheapest way to do it.  I say second cheapest because you will probably want to buy them upgrades, which will make them cost more than the Penal Legion Squad.  They have BS4 and three of them can take melta or plasma guns.  Grav Chute them out a Vendetta and they're like Daemon troops that shoot well.

That's probably how I'd run them.  You could also stick them in a Bastion with an Autocannon and have them run out on turn 5 to go get a backfield objective.  I would not put them in a Chimera because it's expensive, and if you're going that route, you need many Chimeras, which means you need an Infantry Platoon.

Give them camo cloaks and they can go to ground on objectives like a boss.

Penal Legion

Warrior Woman of the Last Chancers

The cheapest option available to you.  Easily the worst troops in the IG Codex, but they do bring something to your army that you might be able to use, which is the ability to outflank.  It's not great, but it lets them come in safely and head towards an objective, or threaten Devastators with getting tarpitted by a stubborn unit if not dealt with. Desperadoes gives them a 1 in 3 chance of being Fleet, which is good in combination with Outflank.  Just the same, I think the other two choices add a hell of a lot more to the army.  I'd take 5 Daemonettes before I took Penal Legion.  10 points cheaper.  Can go more or less where I need them.  Fearless, Fleet and easy to hide.

Allied Codex Review: Imperial Guard HQ

With CSM preorders less than a week away, it is worth taking a look at the other codex from which Daemons are allowed to take useful allies.  Once the CSM dex comes out, we can do the same thing with their codex to see what the pros and cons of each codex are.  These reviews will be totally Daemon-centric.  I do not care how good or bad the unit is as it pertains to its own codex.  I only care about what it brings to the Daemon army.  We shall begin with the HQ choices for Imperial Guard.

Company Command Squad

A very solid choice for an HQ because they are cheap, the Officer brings orders, and they can man a Quad Gun.  I personally like the idea of putting them atop a Chaos Bastion with a quad gun and camo cloaks (3+ cover save) for 195 points.  And why not give them an extra Autocannon for 205?

The loss of the Astropath for our reserve rolls is a big hit, but the CCS still has value because it contributes to anti-air, though 205 points is still pretty expensive.  Nonetheless, the Bastion has other uses that we'll explore in future articles.

The CCS is at its best when surrounded by an Infantry Platoon that it can order around.  This provides you with lots of scoring, but adds up quick, and I like my Daemon armies as Daemony as possible.

Lord Commissar

One of the things I don't think has been explored at all is blob Guard combined with Daemons.  I think the reason for this is because Blob guard with other stuff is way better.  See Tony Kopach's Space Wolf list.  Blob guard is where you take a bunch of infantry platoon squads and stick em together in one big unit so they become a big horde of mans.  Without Space Marine allies for "ATSKNF" to keep you from getting wiped in assault, you would need a Lord Commissar as your allied HQ to run blog guard with a Daemon List.  Without psychic powers to buff the blob, I think it's kind of weak, so I'd be reluctant to try this.

Another use for him is once again, atop the Bastion in a squad of Veterans with Camo Cloaks.  He is BS 5, so he choots da Quad Gun and never misses.  The squad isn't going anywhere thanks to Aura of Discipline.  They can leave the Bastion late in the game to go claim an objective.

A LC on a Bastion with a Quad Gun, surrounded by Veterans sporting Camo Cloaks and an Autocannon is 305 points.  Still seems a bit steep.

Primaris Psyker

Lightning Arc is ok, but not super duper.  Nightshroud is poop.  Telepathy and Telekinesis are the two rulebook disciplines that you will find the most useful.  I am partial to Telekinesis because I might get Objuration Mechanicum or Crush, which can harm flyers.  Gate of Infinity is useful for porting Veterans to objectives.  You're used to deep striking.  In an IG list, Telepathy is better because IG does not have the same problems Daemons do.  If you could use Invisibility, it would be another story.  I say go Telekinesis.

If you want to do IG allies on the cheap without taking a Bastion, take a Primaris with Veterans in a Vendetta.  Grav chute them onto an objective and see what he can do with Telekinesis.  270 points before Vet upgrades.  You get scoring and a top notch flyer, plus your very own Psychic Friend.  You'd have to deploy either the vets or the psyker unless you take something else.

Would You Like To Be My Psychic Friend?

Techpriest Engineseers

Don't count as the mandatory HQ.  Poop.

Ministorum Priest

Maybe worth it if you're doing blob Guard, bur probably not because it's 40 sodding points.

Lord Castellan Creed

If you need his extra orders, why aren't you playing IG with Daemon allies?  You could give scout to a Leman Russ for lulz.  Keep your allied HQ cheap.

Color Sergeant Kell

Pointless.

Colonel Straken

In an army of assault specialists, it seems daft to take an allied HQ that makes a bad army in assault merely decent.  He can crack tanks, which is cool.  Maybe drop him out of a Vendetta and give his squad some meltaguns?  Nah.  I got Screamers for that mess.

Nork Deddog

110 points for a bodyguard for your allied HQ?  Scoff!

Commissar Yarrick

He's a beast with Blob Guard, but dang is he pricy.  I'm not 100% sure, but I believe I am correct that you could allocate all the wounds the unit suffers in close combat to him, force your enemy to reroll them, then Look Out Sir! them all.  Correct me if I am wrong.  Still too many points for my blood.

Stacking Waves in 6th Edition

Stacked Waves End Games Fast

With Bloodcrushers getting a nerf bat up the tailpipe, daemon players like me are turning to more potent, yet flimsy options to build competitive lists.  Certainly, Flamers and Screamers are the best units in the codex, and devastating offensive powerhouses, but T4 and a 5+ (or 4+) save only go so far, even with Fateweaver around.

I have found that the key to really kicking your opponent's butt is overwhelming them with so many targets that they can't get rid of enough to keep half their army from vanishing in the following turn.  The best way to do this is to stack your first wave with all the killy stuff, but this carries with it the 33% chance that you'll get the wrong wave of nothing but weenies.  In 5th, I never stacked waves, but I'm exploring the idea now because you can make it work.  Here's how I's thinking about doing this.

My armies usually end up being 11-13 units at 2k points.  If stacking, wave 1 is Fateweaver, Flamers, Screamers, Daemon Princes and whatever else I can get in there.  Wave two is nothing but troops and a Tzeentch Chariot with an icon.  Possibly two Tzeentch chariots.  On top of this, I will also take either an Aegis Defense line or a Bastion with a Comm Relay.

If I get the wrong wave, I drop troops near the Relay until one or two units is close enough to get within 2" for the reroll.  Failing that, one of the chariots turboboosts over to it.  If the troops reach the Comm Relay, the two chariots turboboost their icons to safe spots  where my army will be able to drop the powerhouse wave on turn 2 in total safety right in my opponent's face.

So it's like getting your preferred wave, just on turn 2 instead of 1.  I like Daemonettes as troops for this because they are likely to drop far away from objectives, but are fast enough to get across the board.

This technique will work even better with allies deployed in the Aegis.  You give up the firepower of the quad gun, but I feel it's worth the trade because the Comm Relay can be used not only to get your good stuff in, but also to keep your troops out for a couple extra turns.  If I get my preferred wave, I can  bring in my Chariots, and send them toward safe objectives, while keeping my troops out.  It's like having your own Night Scythe.  Using this setup you could drop your troops off the chariot icons right onto objectives on turn 3 or 4 while your heavy hitters tear the enemy apart.  On top of this, the Comm Relay is indestructible, unlike the Quad Gun.

Now that Look Out, Sir is but a fond memory, we have to explore other tactics for keeping the army alive.  This, I think is the best you can do at this time to stack the deck in your favor.  It won't work on an open board with nothing to hide behind, but it's not like there's much you can do besides gamble in that kind of situation anyway.  If I were faced with an open board, I'd stack my waves and try to overwhelm the foe on turn 1 and 2 anyway because there's nowhere to hide and no reason to be anywhere but right in my opponent's face.

I'll be trying this out in the coming weeks.  Fortunately, my Blue Scribes conversion works perfectly well as a Chariot because I took my other one apart to get a now-useless Disc Herald and an extra Screamer.  I didn't expect GW would completely rewrite the rules less than two months after releasing the friggin' rulebook.  They have some unimaginative playtesters at GW because we all figured that LOS stuff out within the first week of 6th.  I imagine Tzeentch Chariots will be vehicles in a few months anyway, so no great loss.

Sample List

Wave 1

Fateweaver
6 Screamers
6 Screamers
6 Flamers
6 Flamers
6 Flamers
Daemon Prince, Tzeentch, Bolt, MoS, Gaze

Wave 2

Tzeentch Herald, Chariot, Breath, Icon, MoS
Tzeentch Herald, Chariot, Breath, Icon, MoS
6 Daemonettes
6 Daemonettes
6 Daemonettes
5 Plaguebearers
5 Plaguebearers

Aegis Defense Line, Comm Relay

1999

So, how you like my wave stacking idea????

Brainstorming Possible Uses For Seeker Chariots

Howdy, sports fans!

I was trying to come up with good strategies for Seeker Chariots.  I came up with two strategies.  Are they good???  You make the call!

Consider the following:

Seeker Cavalcade, 3 Seeker Chariots
2 Soul Grinders
Fateweaver

773

What this gives you is a moving cover save for your Soul Grinder that is rerollable.  Thanks to the 25% obscuration rule, the Seeker Chariots can draw a lot of the heavier firepower away from the Grinders while granting them a 5+ save they don't have.  With Fateweaver around, this setup is fairly durable.  The problem I see is deep striking all those models without a mishap.  If you can pull this off within12-18" of enemy lines, they have some big problems.

This might be a better idea when the next codex comes out and the other gods get vehicle chariots as well.  It depends how powerful they are.  I imagine the Khorne chariot will be quite stout.

Idea number two:

Herald of Slaanesh, Seeker Chariot, Icon
Fateweaver
Seeker Cavalcade, 3 Seeker Chariots

558

Actually, there's no reason you couldn't combine this with Soul Grinders as well.  The theory here is you drop the cavalcade first to draw fire.  Then you drop the Herald in Chariot and move them all flat out toward the foe.  You hope that Fateweaver keeps the Herald alive long enough to call down the rest of your army off the icon so you can overwhelm your opponent.

Now, I'm not about to rush out and buy 4 Seeker Chariots to try this out, but if anyone has 'em, maybe you'll give them a try and let us know how it went.

Any other ideas out there?  Smashing them into the enemy doesn't count as an idea.

Wound Allocation With Look Out Sir, Redux

In this article I explained how to keep using Look Out Sir to Keep your Flamers alive.  As it turns out, I am completely wrong.

Amon points out that if the closest model cannot be determined, you do it at random, and that model remains the closest model until it is slain or the wound pool is depleted.  (Rulebook page 15).

This means that if you deep strike your Herald in front, you could look out sir everything, but once the closest of the 7 Flamers around him is determined randomly, that one has to take all the wounds until it dies.  Then the next one determined at random has to take all the wounds.  You absolutely cannot spread them around.

So, forget about using Look Out Sir as a tactic for anything other than keeping your IC alive.  It is completely gone.  I shall miss you, Tzeentch Herald.  Blue Scribes are still ok.

Thanks to Amon for setting me straight.

Slashing Attacks No Longer Hit Flyers (or do they?)

Per the rulebook FAQ (Abridged, emphasis mine):

Q:  How to maelstroms, novas and beams -- OR INDEED ANY WEAPON THAT DOESN'T NEED TO ROLL TO HIT OR HITS AUTOMATICALLY -- interact with Zooming Flyers and Swooping FMCs?

A: ANY attacks that use blast markers...or otherwise DON'T ROLL TO HIT CANNOT HIT THEM.

I never actually got to use it.  Nevertheless, Slashing Attacks are attacks that do not roll to hit/hit automatically, therefore they cannot hit flyers or swooping FMCs.

BUT WAIT!

 Q: Can a Swooping Flying Monstrous Creature make a Vector Strike against a Zooming Flyer?

A: Yes

WTF?

My take, Vector Strike is the only exception to this rule.  Why?  Because there is no transitive property from Vector Strike to Slashing Attacks.  Even though Vector Strikes hit automatically, the FAQs say they can still hit flyers.  Slashing attacks also hit automatically, but are not given an exception.  The first question is clearly referring to shooting attacks, which the Slashing attack is not, but the wording is such that it make slashing a flyer illegal.  Yet nearly identical Vector Strikes are allowed...

So this isn't clear cut, but I think my interpretation is the correct one.

Revisiting HQ Choices Post FAQ

Now that you have to be super gimmicky to abuse Look Out Sir and the army suddenly has skyfire, it is worth having a look at HQ choices in the new normal.  Several readers have pointed out in my Night Scythe math exercise that two Daemon Princes plus Fateweaver might not be the best option. The fact is, I hadn't completely thought it through at that early stage and I just wanted to see what three Bolts could do, but the nice thing about blogging is that you can improve your ideas with feedback.  Read on, and I shall 'splain what we're talking about.

Previously, I had considered Fateweaver, Skulltaker, The Blue Scribes and a Disc Herald to be the most worthy HQ choices.  Without Look Out Sir, Skulltaker and his posse take a pretty big hit on my usability meter.  That leaves Fatey, the Scribes and the Herald as solid choices, but there is a new worthy choice to be found: yon Lord of Change, because heaven forbid anything non-Tzeentch should be as good as the Tzeentch thing in the same slot.  Thank goodness I like Tzeentch or I'd be most unhappy.

At high points totals, the nerf to Look Out, Sir, combined with the increased firepower you'll be taking seriously devalues the Herald with Flamers combo, possibly so much so that it's better to just take more Flamers.  I learned this firsthand this past Friday when I took on the Necron player I beat a couple weeks back at 1850.  After tabling him at 1500 points, I explained to him exactly how to build a list to beat my Daemons, so he did, and he did.

I took a scaled up version of what I usually take except no Fateweaver because I consider him mean for friendly games now.  He showed up with two Triarch Stalkers, four Ghost arks, two Annihilation Barges, Wraiths and a Monolith.  I was soundly trounced.  When you get trounced, you re-evaluate.  Kudos to my opponent for handing me my ass.  Two things came from this fight.  First, I was reminded why we always take Fateweaver against well-constructed armies, especially when there isn't any terrain to block line of sight.  Second, I found that the Scribes and Tzeralds were mostly useless with so much dakka on the board.

The Scribes, and especially the Tzerald were totally ineffective at 1850.  Without Fateweaver rerolls and with the inability to spread wounds around like you could before, they were not a good use of points.  They worked well against the Deathwing at 2000 points, but the Deathwing doesn't shoot that well.  It's not like melee-heavy armies are hard for us to beat anyway.  In this edition, a good army is a shooty army.

Combine the questionable effectiveness of Tzeralds in larger games with the addition of skyfire and it makes the Lord of Change with Master of Sorcery an attractive option to run next to Fateweaver.  At 260 points, it is more powerful and more durable than a properly-kitted Tzeentch Prince for only a slightly higher cost.  You can even add Breath of Chaos if you have spare points.

Taking a Lord of Change is a points-saver if you build your armies like I do because I get back the 195 points I would have spent on the two Heralds, and don't have to buy an extra Daemon Prince.  So instead of 425 points I would spend on a Prince, Scribes and a Herald, I only spend 260.  I can spend those 165 points on other stuff.  That's 6 Screamers and a Plaguebeaerer, or 7 Flamers.  A good trade.

Is this the death knell for the Blue Scribes and Tzerald?  Nah.  They're still almost as good as they were at 1500 points and below.  The Scribes only ever protect their unit on the drop for me anyway. At 1500, I think Fateweaver, the Herald and the Scribes is still a viable way to go.  However, the Lord of Change can also work at 1500 giving you two powerful skyfire models without having to spend 200+ points on a Daemon Prince in addition to two extra HQs.

Below 1500, Scribes and Tzeralds are the way to go.

So here's the preliminary rundown of what I'm planning to take to an upcoming tournament at 1850:

Fateweaver

Lord of Change, Master of Sorcery

6 Screamers

6 Screamers

6 Flamers

6 Flamers

6 Flamers

5 Daemonettes

5 Daemonettes

5 Daemonettes

5 Plaguebearers

Daemon Prince, Bolt, Master of Sorcery, Gaze, Mark of Tzeentch, Flight

1822

I'm debating what to do with the last 28 points.  With the models I own, I can change the Plaguebearers into Daemonettes and give Breath of Chaos to the Lord of Change, or I can add two more Daemonettes to the list.  Leaning heavily towards Breath right now.  Suddenly, Daemons are kind of a shooty army.

Let's poll the audience.  How would you change that list?

The Dragon Flyer

The Faeit rumors for the Dragon flyer, and I believe them, are thus:

12/12/10, BS3, Strafing Run (BS4 at ground targets), 2 Butcher Cannons and Vector Strikes at S10.

For those who haven't read the Forge World rules for the hilariously overpriced Chaos Decimator, the Butcher Cannon is:

S8, AP4, Heavy 4, R 36"

Snootchie bootchies!

For 170 points (the rumored cost) this is gooder than a Daemon Prince for the flyer and transport-popping job I need it to do.  If I take a squad of Marines for extra troopiness and some sort of cheap HQ I'd rather not waste points on, this is all to the good.  I'll figure out something for that HQ to do.  Maybe I'll just take him as a Daemon Prince.  We shall see.

My Dragon shall have an Alpha Legion paint scheme.  I like Alpha Legion.

How Many Night Scythes Can Three Bolts of Tzeentch Kill Per Turn?

So say I take 2 Tzeentch Princes and Fateweaver like a sensible fellow.  I get 3 skyfire bolts per turn under typical conditions.  Let us consider how many blow'd-up Night Scythes I can produce after I have shotted them thrice.  I use Scythes because AV10 flyers are easy to kill, and AV12 Flyers are either not numerous (Storm Ravens) or not super dangerous to Daemons (Vendettas [Does anyone take Valkyries anymore???  {I wouldn't...}]).

Well, I have an 83% chance to hit, a 50% chance to penetrate and a 50% chance to destroy it with that hit.  With 3 shots, That works out to .62 dead Night Scythes per turn from penetrating hits, and 1.67 lost hull points.  That's assuming they don't evade, which they will, so it's about a third worse than that.

You fail me yet again, Bolt of Tzeentch...  *mutters something about 35 sodding points*

I'm not sure how many dead Night Scythes per game that works out to, but it could be anywhere from zero to five, I suppose.  Making them jink is ok, though.  It's kind of like stunning vehicles in 5th edition.  A flyer that only shoots snapshots is a good'un.

We must not forget that MCs can do more than Bolt in the anti-air department.  Bolt is merely the trump card.  Add Daemonic Gaze to the Princes and you get yourself an extra 1.25 glancing hits before jinks, which is almost one dead Scythe per turn from glances alone.  Add 9 S5 vector strikes and you get 1.5 more glances, so now you're over 1 dead Scythe per turn.  You have to take Master of Sorcery to use all three attacks.  Add Unholy Might to your Princes and you get 2.5 glances per turn including Fateweaver still at S5.  Now we're getting 'spensive, so pick either Might or Gaze.  I'd pick Gaze for extra pew pew pew.  If you want both AND Bolt, I've got this thing called a Lord of Change that might interest you.

Now, Daemon Princes bring more to the board than skyfire, which is the saving grace of the unit.  Certainly flying Princes with bolt and gaze are Venom smashers extraordinaire, but I think the army could still use just a wee bit more help in the anti-air department because this is only so-so anti-air for the points.  We're still in better shape than the Nids.  One, two or even four flyers is manageable.  Hopefully, the Necron Air Force falls out of fashion.

Remember, that if you choose to skyfire, you can only fire snapshots at ground targets and vice-versa, so watch what you're doing with Fateweaver.  If you shoot Bolt at the flyer and Breath at the infantry in the same phase, you are cheating!  

Cheater cheater pants on fire!

Skyshield Landing Pads and Daemons

Daemon players have pondered using a Skyshield Landing Pad since the BYB first got released.  Obviously, the ability to DS without scatter on your turn and a 4+ invulnerable save on your opponent's ain't too bad.  Of course, ours is a short range army with very few units of much use beyond 12" so about the only thing I could figure being useful on the thing is Soul Grinders, since they can shoot 24-36" with Fateweaver granting them rerollable saves they wouldn't otherwise have.  Here's what that looks like all loaded up:

So you can get all four models on there, but you have absolutely no room to move or rotate them.  Probably best just to use two plus Fateweaver.  This setup will allow you to reach 36" from the platform with Phlegm and 24" with Bolt of Tzeentch.  Here's what that looks like:

Each of those squares is 24"x24" for scale, so you can Phlegm the vast majority of the board if you do this.  It's a very durable firebase, but it costs 728 points for two Phlegm Grinders on a platform plus Fateweaver, which is quite a lot.  2 phlegm shots plus Bolt and Gaze is ok, but it isn't 728 points powerful.  You need to be in your opponent's face, not sitting back. Fateweaver can arrive swooping first turn, but if he wants to stick around the Grinders, he has to glide, leaving himself exposed.  On the other hand, he could swoop forward 12" on his second turn and still be close enough to protect the Grinders for the second turn.

This would be much better if you could take some CSM vehicles and deploy them on it so they can get Fateweaver's reroll, but since they put the kibosh on that, it's not as great as it could be.  If Soul Grinders were on par with Psyflemen in terms of shootiness, I'd seriously consider this tactic.

Per the rules, your enemy can't deploy infiltrators on top of the pad, but they can deploy them in BTB contact with them, which is good enough to control the panels and there goes your safe landing.  If they go first, they can get to it pretty easy since you probably want it close to the center of the board.

My sense on this is that it simply isn't that useful until/unless Soul Grinders get better at shooting stuff.  But the way things are changing, this might be good in the not too distant future.  We shall see.

Chaos Space Marine Daemon Princes Fly Now

A CSM DP of Tzeentch with Bolt of Change costs a mere 175 points and has a 3+ armor save and S6. However, it is subject to the normal rules for deployment and cannot get a reroll from Fateweaver.  Also, since he is only Mastery Level 1, he can't shoot more than one psychic attack in a single turn, so adding Wind of Chaos is kind of a waste.  He can, however, vector strike at S6 and still use Bolt of Change, which requires a psychic test with everything that entails.

There is some give and take.  Something to ponder for cheaper anti-air in the last few remaining weeks before they almost certainly get their points cost jacked up.

The New Daemon Prince You'll See In Every Daemon Army

Daemonic Flight Mark of Tzeentch, Bolt of Tzeentch, Breath of Chaos, Master of Sorcery - 240 points

Master of Sorcery is optional, but lets you vector strike and shoot both attacks for 10 points.  You take two plus Fateweaver at 2k points and you're all set.  I may not even bother with allies now.  Flying Tzeentch Princes are denial units with skyfire and huge versatility.  Way better than flyers.  Amazing how quickly things are changing for the Daemon army.

New Chaos Daemons FAQ

Here it is:

https://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m2570038a_Chaos_Daemons_v1.1.pdf

The biggest change is the Fateweaver no longer grants his bubble to anyone but Daemons.  They also changed Soul Devourer to remove all the power maul nonsense.  It's AP3, S as user now.

As for Deep Striking off a CSM icon, it says if the icon says "All friendly units" then you can do it.  However, my recollection of the CSM book is that their icons refer specifically to summoned Daemons and CSM Terminators.

Oh, and Look Out Sir just took it in the shorts.  More on that as I read the rulebook FAQ.

Update:  OK, so things I see from reviewing the FAQ:

Look Out Sir is always resolved on the closest model to the character.  It is now much less useful for wound allocation in normal game scenarios, however you can still use the same wound allocation shennanigans on the turn you deep strike since many models will be in BTB with your character.  It's a nerf, but not super tragic.  I thought it was dumb the way it worked anyway.  However, I think Fatecrusher is even closer to being dead and buried.

Difficult Terrain checks must only be taken on the assault if the model that must move by the most direct route has to go through terrain.  If he has a straight shot, then no terrain check is made, but you will still fight at I1 if any of the other models traverse difficult terrain to get there.

The Astropath, etc, no longer works for allies (ie: you).

Flying MCs do indeed lose Hard to Hit if grounded.  NOVA had ruled that they were still Hard to Hit until GW cleared it up.

Feel No Pain is not allowed against ID attacks, so your Plaguebearers don't get the save against S10.

If you wipe out an enemy unit in an assault with two or more enemy units, excess wounds caused on that unit do not count to combat resolution, so plan your attacks carefully.

Excess wounds from challenges do not spill over.  I never thought they did, but I wasn't sure.

You can try to deep strike on top of battlements at great risk if you're feeling froggy.

FLYING MCs HAVE SKYFIRE NOW!!!  Our problems are solved.

See anything I missed?

Share Your Thoughts: 6th Edition Army Build Changes

It feels like 6th has been out a lot longer than it has.  I already have trouble remembering 5th edition rules.  What isn't immediately apparent is how the metagame will shift with the new rules system.  Already, we are seeing nasty builds like the Necron air force, the Harliestar/Dark Harliestar and blob guard becoming popular.

Tony Kopach just won NOVA with no vehicles in his list whatsoever.  Not only that, but his anti-tank firepower was not exactly what I would call robust, per se, but this may have more to do with the format than anything.  Nonetheless, people take notice of this sort of thing.

I wonder if since vehicles can't score, deny or claim linebreaker if they're eventually going to be considered choices that must justify their presence in the list with their awesomeness. Lookin' at you, Night Scythe.

Anyway, I'm wondering what you fine folks have seen as far as changes to your local metagame to adapt to the new rules.  What's getting popular, what's falling out of fashion?  In my area, people are adapting to the 6th edition rules pretty slowly, so I don't see a lot of changes so far, though I can tell from the boards that they are out there.  Allies are definitely getting popular.  So what have you seen?  Any nasty combos that haven't made the interwebs yet?  Anything particularly nasty your daemons can't whoop aside from flyer spam?  I like to be prepared for anything.

Protip: How to Shoot Boon Of Mutation at a Single Model Twice

The Blue Scribes are the one unit in the codex that can potentially shoot  any shooting attack twice in the same turn.  It's only a 50/50 shot, but half the time is still pretty good.  Boon of Mutation is particularly useful for taking out nasties like Kaldor Draigo, Mephiston, Fateweaver, etc... because Eternal Warrior does not provide defense against it.

To shoot Boon twice, your target for both shots must be an individual model, so either an IC on his own or an MC.  Boon is one of two shooting attacks that can be fired at units that are in combat.  The other is Aura of Decay.  If you want to get this off twice at the same target while it is in combat, you declare Boon and Aura at the model.  Otherwise you can select any secondary shot that you feel has the highest odds of landing a wound on the model.

If both shots hit, suddenly, Draigo's chances of dying go from 1 in 6 to 1 in 3.  Asdrubael Vect will almost certainly die, even if he's got a Fortuned Shadow field.

If you target Boon and, say, Breath of Chaos at the unit with a character in it and roll double Boon, you can pick the model who takes it if you get a 6. (I think...  The wording on Precision Shots talks only about wound allocation.)

It's not to be relied upon, but sometimes you don't have anything better for the Scribes to do.

Protip: Slashing Attack Boomerang

There is no rule that says you have to turboboost in a straight line.  So, let's say you've dropped Fateweaver and some Screamers, if you can do it in less than 24", you can pass each model in the squad over an enemy model, and then dart them back into Fateweaver's bubble, or behind a wall. 12" forward and 12" straight back  is a 100% legal move.  You get your attacks, you get your jink save and you get to safety.  Take advantage whenever possible.  Use it to get first blood if you can.

Try to deep strike Fateweaver 18" from the enemy, then drop the Screamers halfway in between.  This should provide a relatively safe Deep Strike and allow your Screamers to dash forward and back.

Daemons Place Second at NOVA Open

Congratulations to Nick Nanavati, who placed a close second to Tony Kopach's Space Wolves at this year's NOVA open.  His list was something fairly close to this:

HQ
fateweaver 333

Elites
6 Flamers of Tzeentch- pyrocaster 143

6 Flamers of Tzeentch- pyrocaster 143
6 Flamers of Tzeentch- pyrocaster 143

Troops
5 Plaguebearers- icon 100

5 Plaguebearers- icon 100

5 Plaguebearers 75

5 Plaguebearers 75

Fast Attack
5 Screamers of Tzeentch 125

5 Screamers of Tzeentch 125

5 Screamers of Tzeentch 125

Heavy Support

Demon Prince- Wings, Iron Hide, Unholy Might, Breath of Chaos, Slanesh, Aura of Acquiesece, Soporific Musk 255

Demon Prince- Wings, Iron Hide, Unholy Might, Breath of Chaos, Slanesh, Aura of Acquiesece, Soporific Musk 255

1997

Not too much different than what I'd bring, cept I'd have Daemonettes instead of Plaguebearers and Bloodcrushers instead of those Daemon Princes.  I get that he chose them for hit and run assault smashiness, but 5 attacks is 5 attacks.  Nevertheless, the core is exactly what I advocate here.

Had Kopach not rolled the perfect psychic power for this game (blob guard with a 4+/5+), Nanavati may well have won.

Our local Grand Tournaments roll around in February and May.  Hopefully I'll be able to dodge Night Scythe spam and do well when the time comes.

Battle Report: Applied Tactics With Daemons

So, yesterday we discussed rules of thumb for Daemon army construction.  Now let's talk about how to use your forces on the tabletop.  I'll show you how we apply certain principles on the battlefield to get the most out of your army in a battle report vs. Necrons.

I consider Necrons to be one of the more difficult armies for Daemons to beat thanks to their excellent firepower, but I gave you a guide to beating them here.  Let's see if I can back it up.

Once upon a time, I flew bombers for the Air Force.  I didn't enjoy it, so I stopped.  Back in officer training they taught us about the tenets of airpower.  As I see it, several of these tenets apply to the Daemon army.  These are:

Flexibility

Priority

Synergistic Effects

Concentration

Balance

Flexibility is just that.  You want your forces to be flexible in their application.  No one-trick ponies.  You apply this tenet when you build your list.  Your army must be able to counter any threat.  Units that are good against many kinds of targets are better than specialists.

Priority is knowing which units in your opponent's army present the greatest threat so that you know what to target first.  In order to apply this, you need to know every unit in every codex.  I've read them all.  I don't know every statline or points cost, but for every army out there, I know the most dangerous units they have, what I should use to kill them, and what I should keep away from them.  I also know most every dirty trick each army has, because they all have some.  If you want to win, you have to learn every single codex.  Read them at your FLGS when you aren't playing.

Synergistic Effects is making your units work together to make them more effective than they are individually.  This would be like having the Blue Scribes Pavane a unit in between your Flamers and a Rhino so the Flamers can hit both the unit and the Rhino so that the unit inside the Rhino has to get out and be charged by Bloodcrushers.

Concentration is super important when playing Daemons.  I don't like to send my units in onesy-twosy as I did against Dark Angels a couple days ago.  In that game, I was unable to marhal my heavy hitters together for one big strike, so I lost.  I prefer to hit my opponent with as much as I can all at once so that when the dust clears, there isn't enough stuff left to punch back very hard.  If you go in piecemeal, you get picked apart.

Balance is weighing risk vs. reward, and knowing how much force should be brought to bear at any one time.  Charging a squad of Tacticals with Bloodcrushers and Screamers is very poor balance, as is charging them with Seekers unsupported as I did vs. the Dark Angels.

So, enough military drivel.  Let's get into the battle report.  The game is Crusade.  5 objectives with Vanguard Strike deployment.  Here's my list:

Fateweaver

The Blue Scribes

Tzeentch Herald, Disc

8 Flamers, Pyrocaster (Scribes here.)

8 Flamers (Tzerald here)

6 Daemonettes

5 Daemonettes

5 Daemonettes

5 Plaguebearers

6 Screamers

6 Screamers

1500

Necrons:

Orikan, The Diviner

2 Triarch Stalkers

C'tan Shard, Writhing Worldscape, Gaze of Death

1 Annihilation Barge

2 Doomsday Arks

4 Squads of 6 Warriors

Writhing Worldscape makes all difficult terrain dangerous, and all dangerous terrain cause a wound on a 1 or a 2.  Orikan makes all terrain difficult on the first turn.  Since I had to deep strike in, I treat all difficult terrain as dangerous, so I'm going to take it in the shorts on the drop.  On top of this, if I turboboost my Screamers, they have to take two dangerous terrain tests because they technically start and finish their move in difficult terrain, which counts as dangerous.  Very disheartening...  Ah well.  I win the roll and choose to go second.

So we set up the terrain.  As always, I place objectives close together and behind LOS-blocking terrain.  I place the dilapidated bastion in the board center to give me a safe place to drop.

Necron Deployment/Turn 1

He deploys holding two objectives.  We roll for mysterious objectives and he gets a Skyfire Nexus right smack dab in the middle of his deployment zone.  Super!  As you can see in the photo, everything in the photo is in mutual support.  I probably would have put the C'Tan in front and the Doomsday Ark on the right farther back with the left one.  I can't deep strike anywhere near this because of all the terrain and mutual support, but that's alright.  Oh, the Soul Grinders are the Triarch Stalkers.  He forgot his so I lent him suitable proxies.

During his first turn, he scooted one unit of Warriors up a bit and claimed a third objective in those ruins on the right behind the bastion.
 

Daemon Turn 1

Ok, so there is a whole lot of long ranged firepower in mutual support all concentrated on his side of the board.  If I try to take this on with just one unit of Flamers and one unit of Screamers at a time, I'll get annihilated.  I need to hit it hard.  On top of this, I have to worry about Writhing Worldscape.  Now, I don't normally stack my waves, but part of playing Daemons is knowing when to take risks, so I run a gambit.  Remember, you can wait until the start of your first turn to split your waves, which you always should.  I decided to make my preferred wave everything but troops, and my non-preferred wave all four units of troops.

If I got my preferred wave, which was the likely outcome, I'd be in position to hit him hard turn two.  If I got the troops, I could drop them way out of range and out of sight.  They could soak up the damage from the Writhing Worldscape/Orikan combo.  Then the rest of my good stuff could come in safely and just strike later in the game.  Since the game is objectives and I only have to hold one and contest the others, I can afford to lose almost all of my troops except for one or two models and still have a strong chance to win the game.

Anyway, I rolled a 6 and got the good stuff.  Time to apply synergistic effects.  Fateweaver deep strikes first in swoop mode so he doesn't have to take a terrain check.  He lands behind the bastion, and out of range of everything except the Annihilation Barge.  So far, so good.

Next is the Blue Scribes and their Flamers.  I place them within 6" of Fateweaver, but they get a lucky scatter toward the Necron Warriors in the ruins.  They're out of the bubble, but in position to get first blood.  I dropped the second squad of Flamers next, which landed between Fateweaver and the bastion.  Then I dropped the Screamers behind Fatey, but within the 6".  Fortunately, they both landed in the bubble, so they made most of their saves.  After seeing how not-that-scary the dangerous terrain tests were, I turboboosted the Screamers up into position to move up and charge in turn 2.  This forced two dangerous terrain checks on each squad that wounded on 1s and 2s, but Fateweaver mitigated this to great effect with the rerolls.  All told, I think the Screamers suffered a single wound from terrain despite testing 6 times.  Finally, I flew Fateweaver four inches forward.

The Blue Scribes and their squad wiped out the Necron warriors with Breath and Warpfire netting me First Blood.

Looks like from the photo, I took one or two wounds from Writhing Worldscape.  There is a reason I did not list C'tan shards as things to be worried about in the Necron army.  Now I had to see how vicious the Necron firepower would be.

 This Went About As Well As You could Hope For

Necron Turn 2

My opponent smartly moves his Annihilation Barge back just far enough to be within 3" of the Skyfire Nexus objective, and just within range of Fatweaver.  This was the only thing that could hit him, but he made all of his saves and did not get grounded.  The Triarch Stalkers hit the left Screamers with a Heat Ray and the Scribes squad with the Particle Shredder, marking them both for twin-linked nastiness.  I was worried about the Scribes's unit because they were out of the bubble, and had a couple of Doomsday Arks that could do some unpleasant things to them.  However, one of them shot at my right squad of Screamers instead, which scattered right onto the other unit of Flamers.

All in all, I took 5 or 6 wounds from shooting thanks to rerolls, and didn't lose a single model.

Astute Players Can Tell That The Game Is Over At This Point

Daemon Turn 2

One unit of Daemonettes and the Plaguebearers come in.  I place the Plaguebearers within 10" of the objective behind the bastion and they scatter 9" directly away from it.  It will take them the entire game to get back.   This is why I don't like them despite their durability.  I shall say nothing more about my troops in this game because it does not matter.  Orikan's terrain hijinks wear off so open terrain is open terrain now.

Ok, so have a look at that picture of the situation up there.  I have my my forces read to hit the foe with Concentration.  Let's apply the principles of Priority and Balance.  I have 5 attacking units on the board, and the Scribes can split off and form a 6th.  Within range are an Annihilation barge, 2 Triarch Stalkers and a Doomsday Ark.  Can I kill them all?  What if I can't?  What needs to die first?  The biggest threats are the Triarch Stalkers because they have flamer weapons and can give his whole army twin-linked.  Next is the Annihilation Barge because it is fast enough to stay away, and can shoot lots of dakka at my troops.  The Doomsday Ark is low priority because I can shrug off one more round of S10 hits thanks to being Daemony.

The Flamers at the bottom right can only reach the Triarch Stalker, so they jump toward him.  The Scribes leave the squad and land on the ruins, taking a wound from dangerous terrain.  The other Flamers can only reach the Annihilation Barge, so they jump that way.  I can only get 5 into template range.  The odds are good that I can kill it, but I might not, so I put my 6 screamers on the right smack dab in the middle of the Ark, the Barge and the Stalker.  They can charge the Stalker or the Barge if either survives the Flamers, Fateweaver and the Scribes, or if shooting gets the job done, they can wipe out the Ark.

The Screamers on the left move up to charge the other Triarch Stalker.  Fateweaver moves up to keep both Screamer squads and the Flamers in his bubble, and to do clean up shooting in case any of my primary targets survive.

Shooting went perfectly.  The Flamers killed the Stalker and the Barge.  Fateweaver shot at Orikan's squad since he had no better targets.  The Screamers assaulted the Triarch Stalker and the Ark, blowing both of them up.

I have just destroyed 595 points of the Necron army.  More than a third of his force.  Factoring in the 6 Warriors I killed first turn, close to half his army is dead and I have not lost a single model.  He no longer has enough stuff to pose a significant threat to my army.  This is how you apply Concentration of force.

These Are The Kinds Of Turns You Love To Have, Then Feel Guilty About...

Necron Turn 3

A few Daemons die to shooting.  The C'Tan Shard charges my Screamers.  The C'tan shard is a low priority target with a short threat range.  I am content to let him munch my Screamers at this point.

Daemon Turn 3

The Screamers fly toward the last Doomsday Ark and eat it.    The Scribes Pavane Orikan's squad, which gets vaporized by the Flamers.  Orikan fails his reanimation protocols.  The other Flamers do the same to his 3rd squad of Warriors.  Fateweaver flies over to the last Warrior squad in the ruins and kills all but one.  3 get back up.

 Things Is Lookin' Shady For Our Necron Heros

Necron Turn 4

The C'tan Shard kills all but one Screamer, leaving hm locked in combat, and preventing me from tabling him on my turn.  Ah well.

There Shall Be No Tabling Today!

Daemon Turn 4

Since it's an objective game, and most of my troops have closed in on 4 of the 5 objectives by now, I decide to charge the C'tan with all of my Flamers, forcing me to lookup their stats because I didn't remember what their S, A and WS stats are!  That was a bad idea because they hit on 5s and wound on 6s, and every turn, the Shard gets to cause an S3 hit on everything within a large blast radius of him and regain wounds.  In about ten turns, my Flamers are dead meat unless Fateweaver and the Scribes can turn him into Chaos Spawn first.  He's tied up for the rest of the game regardless.  Lesson learned on C'tan Shards: if they have Gaze of Death, don't charge them with anything but Crushers.

 

We Called The Game At This Point

This is an improved version of the list I used to win that tournament a couple weeks ago.  This is how I run the army.  Though I technically didn't table my opponent in this game, he was wiped out in four turns for all intents and purposes, as I have done to everyone else who has played against this list.  This is the seventh person in a row to get utterly smashed by this combination.  I really don't fear anything except flyer spam, warp quake spam and terrible luck when I field this.

So, there you go.  How to build and run a killer Daemon list in two easy blog posts.  

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