The Voice does Deamons. (Like Debbie does Dallas but with more lost innocence)

I've been a bit quiet of late I know. I'm sorry. Responsibilities and all the grown up stuff :(

I even didn't have enough time to do my knee jerk codex review for Tau ( basically - avoid Vespid everything else is OP - the Codex rocks! Tau WILL be on the top tables). But I have been beavering away with what small spare time I do have in getting some Vassal games in with my Deamons and getting the army built and painted.

Deamons, I feel, have some how been passed over as not being a truly competitive army. Maybe i'm wrong, but I haven't seen much of a "Buzz" the same way as I've seen with the tau book. This suits me just fine. I love coming up with left field lists that catch the unwary by surprise with codex's that people underestimate.

So what have I been doing with the book. Well for all the claims that Deamons would be a "horde army" due to the cheap troops me as well as a few others on the interwebs have really cottoned on to the big gribblys.  6th  was very good to flyers and flying Monstrous Creatures (MC's) in general so I've really been focusing on that. Not solely as your see from some of my lists, but while the getting is good for flying Mc's in general then it would be rude not to hammer people hard with them, because frankly deamons do them so well.

My initial gripe with the book is now also one of the things I kinda of have a love hate relationship with...the random gifts and randomness in general.  The gifts and powers available are on the whole great. Whats doubly great is that playing my army is slightly different each time, meaning differing combos of powers and interactions. This makes the army fun and challenging and kind of hard to plan against too...so if you know what your doing then you can really put the boot in...because if i don't know what my tactics are going to be before a game then I sure as hell sure that my opponent doesn't either. Literally the amount of permutations is eye boggling....

                                           Yes this actually my child. Lily, meet the geeks


So the problem with this is that you don't really get "used" to your army, practice helps to recognize good combos as they come up and you do get some choice by swapping from primaris abilities, but you can never get to that point where you know your list backwards and forwards...the chances of having the same powers and same gifts on the same models ever are slim...at least the way I've built my list.  Going for much more of the horde approach would reduce this but my list is very character heavy.


For Example this has been my go to list of late.


Bloodthirster, 2 greater gifts - 290
Keeper of Secrets, level 3, 2 greater gifts - 260

10 Plague Bearers, champ - 95
10 Horrors - 90
10 Horrors - 90
Aegis Line , Quad Gun - 100

Deamon Prince of Slannesh, Armour, flight, level 2, 2 greater gifts - 305
Deamon Prince of Slannesh, Armour, flight, level 2, 2 greater gifts - 305
Deamon Prince of Slannesh, Armour, flight, level 2, 1 greater and 1 exalted gift - 315


Looks a bit like goatboys huh? Well I came up with it first :P .


Key things in the list?:

• The Deamon princes will always, always, always swap one greater gift for the Slannesh  "0" Gift, the lash of despair. This is your primary dakka to the list as well as anti flyer firepower as its on a Flying Mc.
• The exalted gift is almost always swapped for the portaglyph for added scoring and the psychic levels are mostly Telepathy with only the portaglyph Prince rolling on Biomancy as he has no chance of getting a defensive gift like the others, however if i really need to shut down an gun line army (like Tau) he'll go telepathy just to increase the chances of Hallucinate, Puppet Master, Terrify and Dominate. These powers are key - hell even the primaris power works a treat on the low Ld little fish men. Most of the time however he'll be looking for Iron arm and/or Endurance to keep him ticking over like the rest of them (but i'll live if he got enfeeble too)
• The Bloodthirster is your primary beatstick and warlord - your looking for defensive gifts but if all else fails then you take the Blade of Blood and wail on units when you get there. By making him the warlord as well you can increase the chance of making him beefier with insta death attacks or hatred.
• The keeper is an odd one - hes needed to unlock the Slannesh Princes but he himself is not as resilience by nature of not being a flyer. This is why he is not the warlord (too easy to squish comparatively) and why hes almost always level 3 in telepathy...he needs Invisibility to really go vs all those guns. I used to run him cheap but since going balls out with the telepathy deck his survivability has gone up a lot and is usually able to wreck a bit of face himself as well as dishing out some nice interference with his powers.
• The aegis is for the scorers to hide behind and the Plague bearer champ is because I had 5 points and it gives precision shots to the quad gun....why not. I've gone for a mix of bearers and horrors as they are both resilient but for different reasons and it covers my bases a bit.  The same goes for any troops that come out the glyph: Plague bearers if your going to hunker down or horrors if your want to shoot back or there is lots of ignore cover in the opposing army (cos then shrouding don't mean jack). The horrors usually pray for the beam power so they can get some sniping done in game.

So that's the list i'm running. Resilient M'cs rushing forward that shoot and shut down key units (wraiths DO NOT like the terrify power for example :) )while scorers hold the back and middle field. The glyph gets dropped off near objectives and in cover if possible.

Sounds simple? Try keeping track of 21 different random power/gift rolls each game :/ lol

But this was all pre tau thinking? With the ability to ignore cover everywhere and the sheer mass of guns and their total lack of any combat...does the deamon list need a rethink?
Im debating this as a counter -  what do you think?

Keeper of Secrets, level 3, 2 greater gifts - 260
Slannesh herald, steed, loci of bequiling, greater gift - 110
Slannesh herald, steed, exalted gift - 90

20 Deamonettes, allures - 185
20 Deamonettes, allures - 185
10 Plague Bearers, champ - 95

Deamon Prince of Slannesh, Armour, flight, level 2, 2 greater gifts - 305
Deamon Prince of Slannesh, Armour, flight, level 2, 2 greater gifts - 305
Deamon Prince of Slannesh, Armour, flight, level 2, 1 greater and 1 exalted gift - 315

So i drop the Thirster mainly and get...what?

Well you get 2 horde scoring units that can outflank rerolling the side they turn up. One has a gift that gets swapped for a Grimore giving a unit a 3++ save (probably). That unit has a character that cant be refused a challenge with her rerolling AP 2 weapon....perfect for getting into and killing those  tau characters iridium armor or not.

Its a big investment and I foresee having to use my usual shut down tactics (dominate, terrify, hallucinate) on key units that can do the most damage to the deamonettes on the turn they arrive. With this and application of Invisibility and the Grimore (maybe even endurance) they should weather the worst of the firepower and then steam in to the squishy tau insides. With Tau as they are and the large footprint the age old multicharge might be in order too to tie down as much as possible. I don't want to win combat by too much and then get shot again next turn do i?

Fool proof? Hardly, but do you think it would give Tau pause for thought? Not even care? or is the deamon codex maybe, just maybe, laughing all the way to the top tables now ? :)


Till next time

G