2000pts Chaos Daemons

[zspud]

40K Army: Chaos Daemons

Hi Everyone,

At the moment I'm only really playing against my brother who collects Grey Knights and I think this is the best list I could put together using the models I've already got. Feel free to make suggestions though:

HQ
Herald of Tzeentch in Chariot with Master of Sorcery and Bolt of Tzeentch
Herald of Tzeentch in Chariot with Master of Sorcery and Bolt of Tzeentch

Elite
6 Fiends
3 Flamers
3 Flamers

Troops
10 Bloodletters with Instrument
10 Bloodletters with Instrument
8 Plaguebearers
7 Plaguebearers
5 Pink Horrors with The Changelling
5 Pink Horrors

Fast Attack
7 Seekers with Icon
7 Seekers with Icon

Heavy Support
Soulgrinder with Phlegm
Soulgrinder with Phlegm

2000pts exactly

[youngsamwise]

If these are the models you have available, I would start playing 1500 pt games. Seriously, that would improve your army quite a bit. As you go up in pts, you really need a great theme with synergy or alot of heavy duty monstrous creatures.

As to specifics about your list:

1. Too many troops. Three or four tops, and you can get by with two if you only run plaguebearers.
2. Drop the instruments on bloodletters altogether and combine them into one larger unit (12-16)
3. Reduce plaguebearer units to 5x. This is the first step in accepting they do nothing but hold objectives and are so good at it you don't need more than five in the unit.
4. Pink horrors work two ways: large units (9+) for weight of fire or 5x with a bolt.
5. Give those heralds We Are Legion. They are the only unit that gets WAL for 10 pts. If tzeentch princes and lords of change could take WAL for 10 pts. I would do it every single time.
6. Combine the seekers into one larger unit. Personally, I absolutely LOVE two units of seekers, but that is in order to get two Transfixing Gazes, and I still run the units at 9x-12x.
7. Give those fiends an unholy might upgrade. Wound allocation is quite helpful for 10 pts.
8. Personally, not a fan of two flamer units. They are a suicide unit and really hard to use vs. GK due to Warp Quake.

So my advice is to play 1500 pts by figuring out which troops you like. For example:

Tzeentch Herald w/ chariot, WAL, MOS, bolt
Tzeentch Herald w/ chariot, WAL, MOS, bolt
14x bloodletters
5x horrors w/bolt
5x horrors w/bolt and changeling
14x seekers w/transfixing gaze
3x flamers
6x fiends w/unholy might
Soul Grinder /phlegm
Soul Grinder /phlegm

As for what to get next, I would advise looking at a Bloodthirster with Unholy might and blessing of the blood god. All around great unit, best land raider killer in the book, and of particular importance for matches vs. Grey Knights. Army-wide force weapons? How about a 2++ save on your T6 4W monster. Not to mention that WS10 means they need fives to hit (yes...with rerolls...sigh) and wings means he can stay out of warp quake range.

[zspud]

Are Daemons not immune to instant death so don't need to worry about Force Weapons? I've got a KoS, LoC and 2 DPs could I use them to any kind of effect?

[oCoYoRoAoKo]

Are Daemons not immune to instant death so don't need to worry about Force Weapons? I've got a KoS, LoC and 2 DPs could I use them to any kind of effect?

This is very useful information. Onto my suggestions (apart from playing 1500 points, which would give you quite a nice force). Im largely going from memory at the moment so a bit of tweaking to unit sizes may be required for points costs:

HQ
Keeper of Secrets with Sporific Musk and Unholy Might
(a real powerhouse in combat. I currently use one in my 1500 point list and it never fails to dissapoint)

Herald of Tzeentch in Chariot with Master of Sorcery and Bolt of Tzeentch
Herald of Tzeentch in Chariot with Master of Sorcery and Bolt of Tzeentch
(No changes here)

Elite
6 Fiends, one with unholy Might
(added unholy might for some minimal wounds allocation and the additional S6 rending hits vs vehicles)

3 Flamers
3 Flamers
(Normally i would go for bloodcrushers, but units of 3 flamers are ok, if a little unpredictable for my liking)

Troops
5 Plaguebearers
5 Plaguebearers
5 Plaguebearers
5 Pink Horrors with The Changelling and Bolt
5 Pink Horrors and Bolt
15 Bloodletters
(big overhaul here. the plaguebearers work fine as objective grabbers in 5 man units. The horrors, if taken in small units should always have bolt, and the Bloodletters have been combined into one big unit to ensure that at least a few see combat. Just watch out for bad scatters because that footprint is huuuge)

Fast Attack
x Seekers
(cant remember how much these cost so just fill out your remaining points with them)

Heavy Support
Tzeentch Daemon Prince with Bolt
Tzeentch Daemon Prince with Bolt
(I find Princes more useful then Grinders. Tzeentch princes have a solid shooting attack, and are no slouch in combat either).

For your waves you have 15 units so you can split into waves of 8/7. I would put the Keeper, Princes, Heralds, Flamers and Fiends in wave 1 and the rest in wave 2 - if you havent guessed, im a fan of the all-or-nothing approach.

[zspud]

Thanks both of you that's helpful stuff. I bought this army years ago when I didn't really play much so now I come to make a vaguely competative list, I've got lots of pretty pink daemonettes and stuff that I 'liked the look of' at the time but not a lot to make a decent list with. I'm even using Spawn as Fiends! Anyway I'll take onboard all your comments although oCoYoToAoKo I personally like to split my force fairly evenly as I don't trust that 3+ roll!

[youngsamwise]

Are Daemons not immune to instant death so don't need to worry about Force Weapons? I've got a KoS, LoC and 2 DPs could I use them to any kind of effect?

Yes, Daemons are immune to Instant Death. However, Grey Knights have a rule simliar to Soul Devourer that allows them it remove from play a daemon that fails its save. Regardless, the point of blessing of the blood god is that the bloodthirster's save improves from a 4++ save vs. force weapons to a 2++ save vs. force weapons. Obviously that makes for a significant improvement and is well worth the five point investment.

[jay1234]

i like it, daemons are very hard hitting

[Infiltraitor]

I find I like this list more then I want to admit. Not being a fan of KOS, I still find myself wanting to give this a go. Thematic wise, how do you find Daemonettes will do in place of Blood letters and is there a reason as to why there aren't wings on the princes?