Recently, I played a daemons army against a Space Marine army in a friendly clash. The battle was annihilation with pitched battle setup. I wanted to share a few thoughts and lessons learnt arising from the 1500 pts battle.
Rough Force Composition Overview:
I was playing a mixed daemons list (a few proxies were used and a few unpainted models), as follows:
Great Unclean One (Breath of Chaos, Cloud of Flies); Herald of Khorne (Juggernaut mounted, Death Strike); 14 Bloodletters; 10 Plaguebearers (Icon, Instrument); 12 Horrors (The Changeling, Icon, Instrument, Bolt of Tzeentch); 5 Screamers (Unholy Might); Daemon Prince (Iron Hide, Daemonic Flight); Daemon Prince (Iron Hide, Gaze); Daemon Prince (Iron Hide, Gaze).
My opponent was using the new Marine codex with approximately the following:
2 drop pods with sternguard veterans and marines, Lysander, Pedro, Scouts (snipers), predator (autocannon with heavy bolters), Iron-clad Dreadnought, and two large tactical squads (flamers, missile launchers).
Outcomes and thoughts:
The entire squad of bloodletters died from rapid fire before getting in to combat - apart from the herald. The herald was worth its weight in gold though (especially since the juggernaut grants iron hide regardless). Daemons need to be taken in large packs if they've only got a 5+ save! But also, I've come around to thinking that a large squad of bloodcrushers will be good. The only problem in reality is the cost of getting hold of so many - therefore that's going to remain a dream.
The plaguebearers weren't so good. With only 1 attack, they didn't do so well. But predictably, they hung around until the bitter end. I think I'm only ever going to take small squads of these guys again, perhaps with an icon in for summoning and drop them on top of objectives.
The horrors were great! But they need to be positioned wisely and avoid being charged. If you take them in large squads with all options and keep them away from close combat, you'll not be disappointed.
The screamers are incredible against armour. They're good in multiple small squads and similarly good in one large mob.
Great Unclean Ones with Breath of Chaos is an under-rated combo. It worked remarkably well! Aside, I probably had too many HQs in this particular army though. Just like the plaguebearers, the Great Unclean One stays around for a long time. The slow and purposeful rule is not a big drawback at all.
Daemon Princes are good, but I don't know whether I should be taking 3 of them again in the future. I'm reserving judgement on daemon princes versus soul grinders.
Overall, I'm slowly coming round to thinking that Khorne + Tzeentch might be an optimal and semi-fluffy stratagem if you're not playing a pure Epidemius list.
Rough Force Composition Overview:
I was playing a mixed daemons list (a few proxies were used and a few unpainted models), as follows:
Great Unclean One (Breath of Chaos, Cloud of Flies); Herald of Khorne (Juggernaut mounted, Death Strike); 14 Bloodletters; 10 Plaguebearers (Icon, Instrument); 12 Horrors (The Changeling, Icon, Instrument, Bolt of Tzeentch); 5 Screamers (Unholy Might); Daemon Prince (Iron Hide, Daemonic Flight); Daemon Prince (Iron Hide, Gaze); Daemon Prince (Iron Hide, Gaze).
My opponent was using the new Marine codex with approximately the following:
2 drop pods with sternguard veterans and marines, Lysander, Pedro, Scouts (snipers), predator (autocannon with heavy bolters), Iron-clad Dreadnought, and two large tactical squads (flamers, missile launchers).
Outcomes and thoughts:
The entire squad of bloodletters died from rapid fire before getting in to combat - apart from the herald. The herald was worth its weight in gold though (especially since the juggernaut grants iron hide regardless). Daemons need to be taken in large packs if they've only got a 5+ save! But also, I've come around to thinking that a large squad of bloodcrushers will be good. The only problem in reality is the cost of getting hold of so many - therefore that's going to remain a dream.
The plaguebearers weren't so good. With only 1 attack, they didn't do so well. But predictably, they hung around until the bitter end. I think I'm only ever going to take small squads of these guys again, perhaps with an icon in for summoning and drop them on top of objectives.
The horrors were great! But they need to be positioned wisely and avoid being charged. If you take them in large squads with all options and keep them away from close combat, you'll not be disappointed.
The screamers are incredible against armour. They're good in multiple small squads and similarly good in one large mob.
Great Unclean Ones with Breath of Chaos is an under-rated combo. It worked remarkably well! Aside, I probably had too many HQs in this particular army though. Just like the plaguebearers, the Great Unclean One stays around for a long time. The slow and purposeful rule is not a big drawback at all.
Daemon Princes are good, but I don't know whether I should be taking 3 of them again in the future. I'm reserving judgement on daemon princes versus soul grinders.
Overall, I'm slowly coming round to thinking that Khorne + Tzeentch might be an optimal and semi-fluffy stratagem if you're not playing a pure Epidemius list.
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