Monday, May 28, 2012

Chaos Daemons Review part IX, Heavy Support

Chaos Daemons Review Part IX, Heavy Support.

Soul Grinder: Usable.
I3. What the... GW, NON-LOYALISTS WALKERS CAN BE I4!
ahem. Anyways.
Besides the fact that they might get murdered by basic Dreadnoughts, they are pretty good. 




They’re 135 pts, and like all walkers, can destroy elite infantry that isn’t equipped to deal with them. You have to be very careful about who you pick fights with: it’s very rock-paper-scissors. The SG is Scissors, MC’s and I4 walkers are Rock, and any sort of infantry(PF or not) is Paper. (rock and paper don’t work, but bear with me) Watch out for melta, Phelgm it before it kills you.
Upgrades: Phelgm is a good choice, it lets you keep doing damage if you’re immobilized (and is the longest-ranged weapon in the book). It can wipe out an entire SM squad if it hits, and along with Flamers, can seriously punish disembarked units, or units that just finished combats. Tongue is meh, if it hits it can do damage, but it only hits 50% of the time. I usually can find better places for 25pts, but it can be helpful.
Note, this is our only vehicle: be careful about only bringing 1 or 2, as they are a prime target for enemy anti-tank.

Daemon Prince.
There’s really 5 different Daemon Princes, for each mark and unmarked. We’ll do each separately. For all of them, you need to be very, very careful not to sink too many points into any of them, it’s easy to spend too much. As a rule, keep them at or under 160 pts, ALWAYS. I’m going to go over the Unmarked upgrades here, as any of them can get it.
Daemonic Flight is REALLY expensive: I would advise against it almost every time, but it can be useful. Iron Hide is necessary, you want it to live. Instrument is occasionally helpful, this is one of the best places for it. Unholy Might is really helpful, IF you’re kitting it out for CC.
Daemonic Gaze makes good use of BS5, and helps threaten at range until you get close. Breath is also useful, but you’ll usually only fire it once or twice, and it is pretty expensive. Boon is bad.

Unmarked: Usable.
He’s a pretty good CC MC, put him in your second wave and drop him wherever you need a little CC boost. Nice and cheap, and disposable.

Khorne: Bad.
+1 attack is hardly with 15 pts, and it blocks you from getting shooting attacks. Blessing of the Blood God is overpriced, and Death Strike... it’s ok, but it’s on a bad model. Give Khorne a pass.

Slaanesh: Good.
+1 Initiative is good, and a good buy for 10 pts. Aura of Acquiescence is auto-buy, Soporific Musk is worth considering if you don’t want to be bogged down in combat (but you’ll be killing things in combat anyways...), Transfixing gaze isn’t a good ability, Pavane might have been good, but is horribly overpriced.
A better, barely more expensive CC beast than the Unmarked: try it out if you like.

Nurgle: Good.
Nurgle is pretty expensive, but T6 is a pretty big deal, and helps a LOT. You might consider losing Iron Hide, if you’re pressed for points: but the save sure is nice. Always take Cloud of Flies and Noxious Touch, they are hugely underpriced by someone who normally plays fantasy. Skip Aura of Decay. This guy is better at CC than a Khorne DP, funny enough.
In an Epidemius list: Vital!
Give it Wings for your only reliable anti-tank, and in other combats, the high initiative will be much appreciated.

Tzeentch: Very good!
I use these a lot: with the 4++, Iron Hide becomes largely unnecessary, AND we can get 2 unaligned shooting attacks! Master of Sorcery is only necessary if you get 3 ranged attacks, as MC’s can fire 2 ranged attacks. Soul devourer... it is kind of cheap, and if someone fails a Ld test... could be useful. If you got 10 pts left over, it’s not a bad option. Bolt of Tzeentch... get it. YES it’s expensive BUT it’s a BS5 Bolt of Tzeentch!
Tzeentch Princes are also useful as backup CC units: a lot of people don’t expect your guy who’s hanging back and killing tanks to be a CC monster! He sees CC in almost every battle I play, so I usually give him Unholy Might.

That’s all the units! Next, is general tactics and lists.