Chaos Daemon/Chaos Space Marine List: Can't Beat Em? Join Em!

Note - I have not read today's FAQ release. Thus there could be errors in this article.

On Monday I posted a video of my Nidzilla army getting trashed by a Chaos Daemon flying circus. Yesterday I talked about how I would take down Daemon lists in the future. Today I practice the old phrase, “If you can’t beat them, join them!”

There is a little more than that though. A) In 5^th I played full reserve Tyranids, so I have an affinity for deep strike armies that get in your opponent’s face. B) I love converting. With my DE, all of my wracks were built from random bits I got online (Empire, Skaven, Ork, High Elves, Warriors of Chaos, etc), not to mention my tervigons which frequently draw the question of whether they are a new forgeworld unit. Converting is something I truly enjoy. I believe Daemons have more conversion potential than any other army made by GW. For this reason I firmly believe one day I will have a fully converted daemon army.

Those facts said, Daemons are also really powerful right now. Both 6^th edition and the White Dwarf update gave the Chaos Daemons a huge boost. That naturally does provide some incentive to play around with the new possibilities. Jim who is known as Jy2 on Dakka came up with a strategy called Maximum Threat Overload with his Necrons. His theory, which won him the first GT of 6^th edition, was that if you put enough fast threats on the table your opponent could not afford to take out your low quality/low volume troops due to the damage you could potentially deal if your other units where not dealt with. I wanted to try a list that does this more effectively than my bugs. Two caveats; A) I have never played chaos and could fully be off on everything I say, and B) the only Daemon lists I know is the Daemon/IG build used by Hulksmash and Jeff/Pat’s (11^th Company) flying circus lists. Any semblance to other builds people are purporting is purely coincidence. Oh and C) there may be spam ahead ;).

3 Herald of Tzeentch (Discs)

9 Flamers

9 Flamers

9 Flamers

5 Plaguebearers

5 Plaguebearers

8 Screamers

8 Screamers

Daemon Prince (Lash/Mark of Slaanesh/Wings)

6 Chaos Space Marines (Icon of Chaos Glory)

3 Obliterators

The idea started out as utilizing Pavane of Slaanesh and Lash of Submission in conjunction with flamers. It shifted first due to the fact that Pavane only has a D6 possible range, and second from a tactic that Hulksmash discussed on his blog. The tactic is the same as any Look Out Sir application, but I feel it is extra effective with Daemons. I went away from heralds of Slaanesh so I could put the Heralds of Tzeentch with the flamers. Because they are multiwound models with eternal warrior I can use the 65 point character to bounce wounds from model to model, effectively requiring me to fail 10 saves before I start losing models, models which have a flame template which wounds on a 4+ with no saves, or can take a hull point away on a 4+. If the unit is assaulted, they will average 9 armor ignoring wounds from their wall of death.

Screamers have S5 AP2 attacks in close combat, so they must be taken out before they can charge in. Considering they are jetbikes, this will be quite a challenge between their speed and cover save. Plaguebearers are what they are; cheap T5 FNP scoring models. If they are getting shot then the rest of my models are that much safer. I had considered adding an icon to a unit in case I do not get my preferred wave, but between not having the plaguebearers far enough forward to get use out of the icon and the fact that 25 points is a lot when deep strikes are not as risky as they once were.

The Daemon Prince is in the list because he provides lash. While more expensive than a sorcerer, the 30 point difference gets me greater maneuverability, +2WS, +2S, +1T, +1W, and +1A. In my opinion that is fully worth it, taking the unit from a one trick pony to a legitimate threat on the battlefield. Obliterators serve two roles. First, the flamers are not yet on the table (getting the wrong wave for example), then lash can provide them with a tasty target for their plasma cannon. They also can be key players in the anti tank department with their lascannons. With the rather straightforward nature of the daemons, the versatility of these blokes is great. Add in some CSM for scoring duties and an icon to help keep them on the table and you have a nice little allies contingent.

When the new CSM book drops it will be interesting to see how things would change up in the allies. If rumors are to be believed, I could easily see myself dropping the 6 marines for 30 cultists. My one worry here is that the Daemon Prince will see a huge increase in points, or even more problematic for the essence of the list is that lash would be fundamentally changed.

I feel the list would struggle against several things. Full flier lists could be an issue, though I feel that hybrid flier lists shouldn’t be too much trouble. The biggest challenge will be lists with tons of dakka. Hulksmash has a list that is massed Grey Knight Strike Squads, putting out unbelievable fire power. Their shooting ability, along with the power that is warp quake could pose a big issue as well.

What are your thoughts on the build?

Oh, and for those who are curious...my Dark Vengeance set still has not arrived.