The Daemonic Legion

Hi and welcome to The Daemonic Legions! This forum is dedicated to the coolest army in all of Warhammer. The history of all daemon armies is a long and storied one. The power of the daemons have waxed and wanned throughout the history of Games Workshop and luckily now is a time of the waxing power the Legion! With the release of the Hordes of Chaos, the Legion saw a serious reduction in power and effectiveness. Crippling instability, ward saves negated by magic, and lowered leadership made the Legion unstable at the best of times. With the advent of the Storm of Chaos and with Be'Lakor free to roam the Old World, the Legion has grown both in strength and diversity. Units missing in the Hordes of Chaos, namely daemonic cavelry, were restored. New units like the Daemonic Herald and Daemonic Chariots were introducted giving the Legion much more flexibility.

What are these lists I speak of? Where can I find all this extra crunchy gaming goodness you ask? Games Workshop actually provided a downloadable list free *gasp* on their website. Click HERE to download this list for yourself and start making armies! You can also find this list and more in the new book by Games Workshop called "The Storm of Chaos". Are these lists valid after the Storm of Chaos campaign is over? You bet your touchas they are! GW has also provided a Q&A found HERE that may well answer any questions you have about the list.

    Khorne units are simply beatsticks in hand to hand. It's what they do. And why do they rock? Besides a high WS and high S they also have frenzy. Frenzy is the epitome of the double edged sword. But the doubled edged weapon does the most damage does it not? Let's talk about how to best use this to our advantage to crush the enemy and to avoid the tricks of the cunning opponent .

First of all class, open your WHFB rulebooks to page 84. Know these rules and know them well. The main points of frenzy are-(Please don't roll your eyes at me. If everyone knew and remembered these and I never had to explain it during a game....)

Frenzied troops are not affected by other psychology. This includes panic tests (so important), fear, terror, ect.
You cannot flee as a charge reaction. Well, as a daemon, you are Immune to Psychology and you couldn't do that in the first place.
Each frenzied trooper gets an extra attack (does not apply to mounts).
You must charge the enemy if they are in charge range. (much more on this later)
You must persue fleeing enemy troops.
You must always overrun the enemy if possible.
As soon as it is determined that the frenzied troops have lost the combat, they lose their frenzy. One point of interest. Even if you lose to an outnumbering unit of fear causing troops like undead, you do not autobreak. You are still immune to psychology by virtue of being a daemon and don't fear nuttin'.

The bonuses are that you gain an extra attack and are immune to psychology (would be a bonus if you weren't already a daemon).
The rest are liabilities at times. Let's talk about the big one. The rule that says you must charge the enemy if possilbe. If there is an enemy unit within your charge move and within the charge arc, you must charge. Let's say you are borderline on your charge move. You want to go get them, but they might be out of range. If they are, you fail your charge and take it in the teeth next turn. Frenzy is a great thing here! Don't declare a charge during that part of the phase. Once charges have been declared, measure to see if any enemy are within succesful charge distance. If the are, you go get 'em. If they aren't, you are not required to charge. What a beautiful thing. This is an automatic charge and doesn't require you to declare it beforehand. With this knowledge, you'll never misjudge a charge again and end up right in front of the enemy. A major point to note, is that if multiple eligible units within charge reach, you may decide which unit to charge. You are not bound to charge the closest unit.

Now for the liabilities. I am so sick and tired of people bashing on Khorne becuase "they suck, anyone would just bait them and lead them around the battlefield". Well if you let them, maybe they will. You may see some crafty generals try and get your unit to turn slightly to the side and offer its flank so it can chase down a bait unit. Then you get smacked.(Had it happen to me ) Whaddya do? Khorne is all about the offense. Be offensive about it! Flesh Hounds are a must IMO. These crazy mutts love nothing better than to chow down on a bait unit or two. Keep them at your sides rather than ranging ahead of the main army on their own. Besides guarding your flanks and making bait units run for their lives, they are also good bait units themselves. Flesh Hounds as bait? You bet. A unit of 5 will run you 80 points and believe me, in a Khorne list, that is a bargain. Often you are faced with an enemy who has a big hammer unit (knights of some flavor usually). I will run a unit of 5 hounds in front of my main block of 'letters. Run them 6-7" in front of that block. Because of their speed they can often threaten to get the charge on even cavelry. Without the charge, the enemy won't be able to use such bonuses as their lances. Faced with a charge or be charged situation, they will often charge, hoping to overrun into your block behind and keep you from having a chance at charging them and tying up their unit (Hounds with their high WS and daemonic save have lasted suprisingly long against terrible odds for me). If you've spaced them out an ideal 7" then you give yourself the best chance of a big fat prize landing in front of you if they fail to roll well on their overrun. If they do charge and break through and hit your block, that's OK. It's now your turn. You should be keeping another unit next to you as a supporting unit and this is where you bring the hurt. Hit their flank, take their ranks, then take their skulls. Let's see the setup below. H= Flesh Hound B= Bloodletters, S= support unit, E= enemy unit.

EEEEEEE
EEEEEEE



HHHHH
l
l
6-7"
l
l
BBBBB
BBBBB SSSS
BBBBB SSSS
BBBBB SSSS


Hopefully you can see what I'm talking about. The flesh hound bait has helped me take apart many a unit of enemy heavy cav.

Another liability is that you must over-run your enemy if you destroy them in the first turn. Be careful of wiley generals who will try and sneak a unit behind your lines to charge you in the rear with a weak unit and then force your to over-run backwards! This is a very dangerous situation when you have an undead general summoning units all around you. A trailing unit of Flesh Hounds is a great answer to this threat. *(With the new 7th ed. rules it is important to note that units receiving a charge no longer get to overrun if they destroy the charing unit. That effectively nullifies this tactic against you.)

Another major point is your Daemon Prince or Exalted Daemon. These big bad boys fly. That's great. Except if you set up with him right on the edge of your deployment zone, as soon as the enemy moves out, you've got to ditch the support of your own army and run to your enemies waiting arms. Not even a tooled up Daemon Prince is going to fare well against even the most lowly of ranked up troops on his own. Your enemy will start with 3 ranks, a banner, and an outnumbering bonus. You're in the hole by 5 points already! You have to kill 6 guys to win the combat (5 kills just ties and if they have a musician, you lose the tie and have to take a poof test not to mention if you *gasp* take a wound). 6 wounds from you is just not gonna happen. Moral of the story is, your big guy needs to be supported or used as support (and what a support he is!). Don't be hanging him out there right on the edge chomping at the bit to get over the board and get stuck in. Repeat after me. "I will never leave Jojo the Daemon Prince out on his own without support". Very good. There are a few things that can be done concerning deployment and facing. You can deploy your general in woods at the beginning if he is just absolutely going to be baited on the first turn. Until he leaves the woods, he must use his ground movement which will generally keep him under control until you let him out. Also, be very aware of your facing. Your characters do not have 360 degree line of sight. Khorne characters can use this to their advantage by carefully choosing the direction your general faces when deployed or after landing. This does not mean that I advocate the heinous practice of turning the back of your character to the enemy! You can be very tactful about it and careful in the facing of your general. You may even want to lay out a 90 degree arc before the game for your general so you are comfortable and familiar with his charge arc. Just be aware that this is one way to help you control your big flying monstrosity until it is time to unleash him.

When using Frenzy, it usually becomes a test of who knows how to control frenzy better; you or your opponent. Make sure it's you! Hopefully this helps you understand little more about the double edged sword of Frenzy.

*article contributed by Trogdor*

My hope was to make this brief, but I don’t think I accomplished that goal. I hope this is useful for a vast amount of people both beginners and veterans. I have set this up in 3 parts. The first part being an overview of each troop type and character available in a tzeentch daemon army. The second part being an overview of the tzeentch magic lore. The third part being some useful tactics that I have picked up playing my tzeentch daemonic army. Keep in mind this is all my own opinion, feel free to disagree with anything that I write here. Enjoy!

Lord of Change
- The LoC is by far the best character available to Tzeentch daemon armies. I would even venture to say that the LoC is the best greater daemon available (I’m sure people will disagree). The key to the LoC is the versatility that he provides. The ability to fly, cause terror, cast spells and is rock hard in close combat make the LoC a force to be reckoned with. In 2000 pt games I usually always take a Lord of change as my general. If I take the LoC in a 2000 pt game I will not take any other characters.

Pros
- Fly, Terror, Gifts, Wounds, Unit strength 6, Large Target

Cons
- Large target, all eggs in one basket, huge investment

- Lots of people will argue and tell you that a daemon prince is a better general for tzeentch daemon armies. IMO, the LoC is a much better choice. Compare the stat line of a LoC and a daemon prince and you will notice the LoC has +1S +1T, +2 I, +2 W and -2 WS. Do not worry about the lack of WS. The only time that will effect you is if your LoC is fighting a character, if that is the case you are using the LoC completely wrong. The LoC should be using his 20” movement to set up and make flank charges. The LoC has US 6 and the ability to negate ranks; this is the best feature as you can easily break big units of ranked infantry or cavalry with ease. So in conclusion if you have the points take a LoC in any games 2000 pts or more.

Daemon Princes
- The DP costs 450 pts without any gifts, which is very expensive for the abilities and stats you get. For the DP to be at least a little effective you need to spend at least 50 points on a couple of gifts.

Pros
- Fly, Terror, Cheaper then a LoC, WS 8, not a large target

Cons
- Not a large target, only 4 wounds, only US 3

- The only time I will take a DP is if I am short on points in a 2000pt game and cannot squeeze in a LoC. The only other time I will take one is in games 3000pts or more where I will take both a LoC and a DP. The biggest problem for me with a DP is not being able to negate ranks. The only way the DP is successful is if I can combine charges or chase after smaller units (war machines, skirmishers, etc). Spending 500 pts on model to chase down smaller units and to combine charges is not very effective way to spend a quarter of your points. In conclusion leave the DP at home and spend the extra 150 odd points to pick up a LoC, unless of course you are playing 3000pt games and want both a LoC and a DP. If you need to engage the enemy and prefer to take the fight to them rather than play a "non-engagement" style of army you do have the option of tooling up a pretty nasty hand to hand monster capable of leading a flying circus.

Exalted Daemon
- The ED is a cheaper version of the Daemon Prince. For 305 pts you get a very effective combat character with the ability to cast spells (level 2).

Pros
- Fly, Terror, Cheap, good combat stats, level 2

Cons
- US 3, 3 wounds, only 4 attacks, LD 9

- The ED is a very effective general in games under 2000pts. In smaller games a flying, terror causing creature can be a game breaker. If used effectively you should be able to cause at least a few units to fail a terror check. Protect this model at all costs as it does not have many wounds. The ED is also effective in 3000pt games teamed up with a LoC.
Overall the ED is a very effective model and I use it a lot more then a Daemon Prince.

Daemonic Herald
- The cheapest daemon character available, but cannot be your general. A base point cost of 195 pts.

Pros
- Ability to take icon, cheap, level 2, can join units, able to ride on disc or chariot, more magic for the Legion

Cons
- Only 2 wounds, not the greatest combat ability

- The daemonic herald may not be a very good choice for a tzeentch army. You are much better off taking an exalted daemon for the ability to fly and cause terror. At first glance the daemonic herald looks to have some attractive options such as riding in a chariot/disc or carrying an icon. All of these options are overpriced and not very effective in my opinion. A tzeentch army is never going to have enough units or big enough units to make the icon worth while or to get some use out of a magic banner. I know many players like to put there daemonic herald in a chariot, this may seem like a good idea, but it immediately makes the chariot almost 400 pts. This is not a very cost effective way of using the herald. The chariot on it’s own should be good enough as you can set up flank charges with it’s incredible movement and when it hits it hits very hard. In conclusion I will never take a Herald except possibly in very large games.

Horrors
- Horrors should form the backbone of any tzeentch daemon army. The majority of players out there laugh at a statement like that as they look at the horrors goblin like stat line, but Horrors definitely are a great troop choice and are more then capable of holding their own.

Pros
- Bound magic, champions (level 1), ward save, fear, sweet looking models, underestimated by most players

Cons
- goblin like stats

- I see a large variety in the way people use their horror units. I see units of varying sizes anywhere from 10 up to units of 25. I am a firm believer in the multiple small unit (MSU) tactics for elite style armies and I play my Horrors using this theory. After tons of play testing I have found units of 12 horrors with a champion are the most successful way to run a unit. This leaves the unit fairly cheap and expendable if needed. For 12 Horrors and a champ the unit comes in at 229 points. This allows me to take as a minimum 3 units of 12 horrors with a champ in my 2000 pt armies.

- This is the most efficient way to play units of horrors as it allows you to get more bound spells off, take more champions and to spread your points out so you don’t have huge units worth tons of points.

- Horror champs are a must for any daemon army! I always take 3 one for each unit of horrors in my 2000pt army. These champs feed dice for your lord of change allowing him to cast at least 3 spells per turn. As an added benefit they are level 1 wizard and can cast spells themselves. Unfortunately though only 2 spells in the tzeentch list are worth taking for horror champs, they are red fire and orange fire. Yellow fire is the most useless spell in the list as it only effects the caster and all the others are way to hard to cast on 2 dice.

- Horror bound spells are an extra bonus and add a lot more fire power to your army. I always try to make the spells sound vicious to draw as much dispel dice as possible from my opponent. I always hope my opponent will try to dispel these bound spells so my LoC can get off more of his more devastating spells (like indigo). Fire of Tzeentch is a good spell at the start of the game as you should always be within 24” to use it. Coruscation of energy is by far the best bound spell and you should use it whenever you possible can. Uncontrollable mutations should only be used against enemies with a high armour save such as knights or heavily armoured dwarves.

Flamers
- Units of flamers are very effective, but cost a large amount of points. Flamers are a great troop choice as they hit very hard both in the shooting phase and in hand to hand combat.

Pros
- Hit hard, 2 S4 attacks, fast, skirmishers (and therefore effective against enemy skirmishers), fear, flames of tzeentch, T4

Cons
- Lots of points, WS 2, I find my opponent is always trying to target these guys

- I always take at least 2 units of flamers in my 2000pt list. I always use my flamers to protect the flanks of my horror units. They are very effective at scaring opponents from trying to get close to my horrors. If my horror units get into combat towards the end of the game I will throw what is left of my flamers into a flank. Remember even though they don’t cancel ranks you still get the +1 combat resolution for having a flank if you have US 5 or more.

Screamers
- Screamers are a very fast and versatile unit. Every army should have at least one unit of 3-5 screamers.

Pros
- 2 wounds, fly, fear, slashing attack, S4 T4 A2, very versatile unit

Cons
- No cons for these guys, every army should have at least one unit.

- Screamers are very good at chasing down smaller units and killing war machine crews. Also another good tip is to fly over enemy magic users outside of units and get some auto hits on them. Screamers are also very good at combing charges and breaking units. I find a unit of 5 screamers can even break fully ranked infantry units if you can get a rear charge off. They can usually kill enough models to break the unit, plus they get the +2 for charging in the rear. So the bottom line is you should always have at least one unit of these guys in your army as they are a great support unit and can do many things for you.

Changebringers

Pros
- Float, flamer hits, US2, good profile, draw missile fire and spells, high toughness

Cons
- Expensive, can't negate ranks becuase of being a flying unit

- These guys don’t make much sense to me. You can get 3 flamers for almost the same cost as one changebringer. The 3 flamers may not be as fast, but they are more effective then a single changebringer. A unit of 3 is good for hitting a flank and racking up some extra combat resolution. That is really the only use I have for these guys. I am not the type of player to move within shooting range and then fly away and try to get into shooting range again. Tzeentch armies are already frustrating enough for opponents. No point making it worse by taking some of these guys. So in conclusion lots of people use these guys and think they are great, I on the other hand have not had much success with them and would rather have a chariot and more flamers instead of paying the 220 points for three of these. I will however continue to play test these guys; I believe they would be more effective in larger games. Their high toughness is a definite bonus though since most everything else in the Tzeentch army is very fragile.

Tzeentch Chariot
- After Horrors this is by far my favorite unit in a tzeentch army. These chariots hit incredibly hard and are extremely and difficult for opponents to deal with.

Pros
- 5+ save plus ward save, very fast, hard hitting, able to set up flank and rear charges, hard for opponent to deal with.

Cons
- US 3 don’t really get a chance to use flamer missile attacks.

- Tzeentch chariots are by far one of the hard hitting units in the army. Combine a charge with either a LoC or a unit of screamers and you will destroy a ton of units. Always deploy last and place in a good spot as you can always charge on the first turn if you think you can break a unit. These chariots are a bargain for only 140 pts; I always have at least 1 in a 2000pt list.

Lore of Tzeentch
- Let me first start by saying that the Tzeentch lore is different then any other type of lore. If you don’t like a spell you rolled you cannot drop it and take the first spell in the list. You can however drop anyone spell for Red fire of alteration. Here is my personal break down of the lore.

Red Fire of alteration
- This spell is not overly effective but it has its uses. The range of 30” is very good and usually means you can hit most things on the table. I usually never take this spell on my LoC, but I will take it for my horror champs. The horror champs usually stay back and can blast away with this spell. Keep in mind I will hardly ever try to cast this unless I have two extra dice kicking around that I can not use. I have very bad luck with this spell, whenever I roll a 6 I usually follow it up with a 1.

Orange Fire
- This is a pretty good spell and easy to cast. If my horror champs roll this spell I will usually keep it. My LoC like to cast this spell at the end of the phase and if he is in combat. Do not cast this unless you are in combat or you know you will be in combat next turn.

Yellow Fire
- The most useless spell in the whole lore. I hate this spell so much I do not even want to talk about it. But I will mention briefly why it disgusts me so much. When daemonic Legions came out this spell did not do anything as the daemons ward saves were already 5+. So GW put out a FAQ stating that the spell is to be treated exactly like diabolical splendor. So I was ok with this as I figured units were still affected and could be given a 4+ save. Then I re-read the rules for diabolical splendor and was shocked to find out that it only affects the caster. So basically this spell is useless for horror champs and pretty useless for the LoC. I’d much rather have orange fire as a remains in play then yellow.

Green Fire
- This is by far one of the best spells in the list. This spell is very effective as you do not need line of sight and can target any unit within 24”. So the LoC should be able to fly around and pick on some nice big units. This spell is very effective against models with the killing blow or models with S4 and T3. If I am playing an undead army or another daemon army I always drop this spell as it doesn’t affect immune to psychology units. Remember though if playing vampire counts ghouls are not immune to psychology and can be target by this spell.

Blue Fire
- Another effective spell to use. The random strength is usually pretty good as you can never get lower then S2. I usually get S4 or S5 with this spell with can make it pretty devastating. The opponent never knows if they should dispel this one or not as its effects are pretty random (2d6, then SD6 +1). Remember this is a magic missile and you need line of sight.

Indigo Fire
- This is by far the most effective spell in the lore and the most fun to play. Pick a nice big unit within 18” and cast away. Expect your opponent to save some dispel scrolls or dice for this one though. I cast this spell on a unit of 45 goblins once and killed 16 models giving me a nice big unit of horrors. Remember you do not need line of sight for this one either. I usually throw 4 dice at this spell with my LoC as I like to get it off as much as I can.

Violet Fire
- This is a very difficult spell to get off and hard to get within 6” to use. Also if you get into range and have a chance to use it most models will be alright as now a day most characters are at least LD9. This spell can be very effective in small games as most heroes/generals will be LD7 or LD8. The majority of the time this spell is not worth casting. Save your dice for indigo, blue, green and orange fire.
Tactics

Tactic # 1 Lord of change gifts
Very obvious, but if you take a Lord of change always try to use his spell destroyer within the first 2 turns of the game. Make sure you pick the opponents best spell to destroy (such as Gorks warpath or vanhels). Always save your tzeentch will re-roll. So you get two chances to destroy the spell on a 4+. This will usually surprise your opponent.

Tactic # 2 – using horror units
If you have the first turn always move your horror units up about 4” assuming you are approximately 24” away from your opponent to start the game. Always make sure you are within range to use the fire of tzeentch bound spell at the start of the game. Depending on how fast the enemy is, try and move your horror units up the board at a fairly fast rate early on the game. Get within 12 inches of infantry units to use your bound 12” range bound spell. Once the opponent moves up, take your next turn and move your horrors back and again use the 12” bound spell. Hopefully not much will be left of the enemy unit when they finally get to charge in.

*atricle contributed by Time of Madness*

     After playing around with wood elves for a good long time when I finally switched over I wanted an army that played somewhat like them. Somewhat in that they had to be fast, hit at least as hard if not harder and be just as fragile as a consequence. Slaanesh daemons are/were the perfect answer to this. Infact at least three quaters of all slaanesh daemonic players I've talked to are orginally elven players or elven players at heart.

Meanwhile let's not kid ourselves, the only reason any of us plays slaanesh is we're speed junkies. Do not be ashamed of this, revel in it. Revel in the fact that if all goes to play games are usually over barring the mop up by turn 3, turn 4 at the latest. I do

Thus with why one obviously wants to play slaanesh we can get right down to the meat of the list and tactics. After lots and lots of play testing there is really only two ways to play slaanesh daemons, though both have subtle variations, and realisticly one needs to choose one of the two dark paths before laying out all the money to play the wrong style.

Down the Dark Path Number One:
This is the method that relies on numbers in combat (to a point anyways) and thus is infantry based. In my opinion slaanesh daemons are one of the few armies that can pull this off effectively due to the fact that the infantry is faster than average and the support of the infantry is blindingly fast as well. As we all know the movement phase wins the game.

In this army typically a bunch of choices are made for you already. IE the first thing you need is a solid center (solid for non-nurlge daemons anyways) and this will be composed at least two blocks of daemonettes and very often 3. Usually these blocks will be run 16 or 18 strong with a standard and a musician. The size of the unit depends on how you want the infantry to preform. 6x3 gives you slaanesh's magic number (which will surely make him/her happy) as well as give you fairly good killing power. If you instead choose to run 16 strong they'll be in a 4x4 formation and chances are you'll be a player who feels the extra dices of killing power is not worth the loss of a rank bonus. I may point out at this point you might as well bite the bullet and go for the killing power. Why? because against anything barring knights and armoured tanks (IE iron breakers and chosen warriors) your likely going to get that extra wound to make up for the loss of a rank. Also if you run 4x4 after you lose a single model you lose that third rank bonus anyways. I also know what else said players are thinking. Your now going to ask why can't I run 4x4 and as soon as a lose a model or two reform them. Well the answer is you could, for a great deal of wasted time and more exposure to your easy to kill units (I'm refering to the result of open missile on said units). Why in a fragile and fast army are you going to sit there and lose time and the intiative of the game? As soon as you do that your reacting to your opponent instead of making him react to you which is excatly what you need to do should you want to win with slaanesh IMO.

At this point I'd also like to explain the command structureof daemonette units and why I never take champions. Frankly it all comes down to for the cost of another daemonette I'd take that rather than a champion. You don't need to accept challanges and the only instances in which you would (like a ridden monster) that's what your prince is suppose to be taking care of. It's really that simple for me.

Thus your first real choice is how strong of a center you want, IE 2 or 3 units of daemonettes. The second choice by way of playing with infantry is made for you. You will need a herald for those combats in which you lose by a single pip and thus have a chance to go pop. Personally any chance to go pop is not one I'm willing to risk so if I can't ensure I'm winning combats I want to know I can survive losing a round or two. So a herald with the mark of slaanesh and the BSB is a must. Sometimes I'll add on spell breaker so I can outfit my prince the way I want instead of the way I need.

Next you need to figure out your support units for the daemonettes. Each infantry unit needs at least one supporting unit or character is the golden rule. Now since our characters are not really fighters (heralds) or are off doing more important things (princes) every one of your daemonette units is going to require support. Now the descion becomes what type of support. Personally I'd go with a single unit of pleasure seekers and two units of mounted daemonettes with a chariot and at this point I'm not really going to explain my choices for this army like I should do. Instead I'm going to leave you hanging until my unit evaluation so you can choose what you want to fulfil the support roles depending on your playing style. The same infact goes with characters.

Thus the overall tactics of such a style is too run your daemonette units up as fast as possible and engage in combat. By that time your support units should have eliminated missile threats and should be coming back to help out your combat blocks for quick combats. Also with the herald don't be afraid to sit and accept a charge if it means your support can charge in next turn rather than charing in and having to go 2 combat rounds before your support comes in.

Down The Dark Path Number Two:
Now this is the path I play and it's based on our extremely fast "support" troops, which are frankly what wins the battles anyways. Thus in this style foot daemonettes are used for a couple of reasons. The first is too take up the true core spots, the second is too be bait. If you lucky then a third reason is to mop up but usually mine are dead by the time there's stuff to mop up.

Right. So speed it is then. Your first choice you need to make is how character heavy you want to be. This will decided on if you want to take 3 units of foot daemonettes or two. If you choose to play with a prince and an exalted (NOTE: A prince is required to play slaanesh properly. Ignore this advaice at your own peril) then you'll only be taking two such units are you won't have the points to go for three non true core units, thus why spend points on models that aren't needed for your zooming tactics.

Personally I find a single prince good enough but some people seriously depend on their characters. If any event my recommendation is fore three foot units of 10 models. Don't bother with any command, said units are there to be a distraction and die not to kill things.

Support choices really come down to three things. Mtd ettes, Seekers and Chariots and frankly there's no need to choose since you'll be using all of them. 2 chariots,2 units of seekers and 3 of mtd ettes is what I've found to be the best set up but I could see dropping a chariot for another unit of seekers. I frankly have no idea WHY you would do it, but the point is that you could should you want to.

This army is like elves, easy and fun to play once you know what to do but incredibly frustrating until you do. Picking targets and combinding charges is an art, one you'll have to master to use this successfully. The army pics it's self so instead of rambling on any more about this I'll just jump to the troop section.

Troop Overview

Daemonettes:
Ah the blessed little nymph's that make up the true core of our list. Useful blighters and then again they aren't. Daemonettes are the epitome of the rest of the army. Fast, graceful, fragile and unequipped with can openers.

Like elves they excel at killing low to mid toughness troops with no to little armour (think elves, Orcs, skaven, Zombies) and are the daemons counter to the horde army assuming you can keep them from getting flanked. Rear charges are fine though as it usually means you get more kills than the rear bonus provided. They can hold their own but don't expect them to take a charge or charge knights or grave guard and the like and win. They will usually be pounded back into the warp in short order. This is why I'm leary of taking a foot heavy daemonette army as many armies these days have lots of cav attachted and your prince can't be everywhere.

Pros:
Fast Infantry, lots of S4 attacks, Ward Save, Allure
Cons:
No toughness, shot down easily, cannot be counted on against any elite troop, loads of points for a decent size

Mounted Daemonettes
Ahhhh my favorite troop type. Before the daemonic legion lists I was known to take armies of 6 or 7 units of these plus a prince and an exalted. It didn't do well but was a blast to play with and against heh. Instead of curb my enthusiasm of these puppies and only take 3 such units. m10 with fast cav is brilliant. It allows you to remove a great lot of missile units which are a huge threat to the rest of your army. I use them as missile unit and warmachine killers. If they're still alive after than then use them for rear charges but don't try and set up flank charges with them unless there's nothing else for them to do. Also keep in mind how brilliant they are at hunting down lone wizards and such.

Pros:
Blinding Speed, enough attacks to down other light units, fast cav
Cons:
Easy to kill with missle/magic fire

Pleasure Seekers
Frankly I can't get enough of these guys just like Mtd daemonettes. They can't do as much but what they do, they're better at. What do they do? They flank charge people and brilliantly too. With US3 per model it allows you to start off with a mear unit of 3 and be confinded when they hit combat they'll still remove ranks. Also because they aren't fast cav they are better at doing flank charges since they can't dipsy doole through your opponents lines, espcially with that big base size.

In a pinch they can go after missile units as well however only do this if you've got a straight line to the target. If there's any march blocks or things in the way your unlikely to get there with all the huge wheelings you'll have to do.

Lastly delight in their T4 unlike the res of your army barring characters

Pro's:
Fast, US3, T4
Con's:
Base size, lack of fast cav

Chariots of Slaanesh
Only foot Daemonettes are slower than these (I make that classification because the chariots while moving the same speed charge farther), however nothing else packs the same punch. These beauties usually get more kills than my prince if I hit the right target. They're basiclly a guided ballistic missle. Pick you target and bam!, it's either fled or is dead. Really what is there to say. A 20" charge with S5 sums it up right there.

Pro's:
Huge charge range, S5, Ward save (for cannons)
Con's:
Easy to shoot down like everything else, hard to keep up with a support army

A future installment will cover characters and magic.

*article contributed by Ratrek*

    I have been playing a Nurgle Daemon list for the past 2 years on the Oz tourney circuit, in friendlies and recently in the USA at SAWS Challnge and LAGT. To date, I have had some pretty good success. Even under the 'old' Hordes of Chaos (HoC) list, all-daemon armies are not necessarily the "challenging" (read "useless garbage") that people initially thought they might be when the HoC book first came out. Under the 'new' Storm of Chaos (SoC) "daemonic legion" lists, Nurgle daemons are a tuly potent force!

My usual 2000pt list contains:

1x Great Unclean One (GUO)
1x Herald w Mark of Nurgle, Greater Icon
16x Plaguebearers w Full Command (unholy icon)
12x Plaguebearers w Full Command
11x Plaguebearers w Champ, Mus. (Herald in this unit)
3x Plagueriders
2x Nurglings
2x Nurglings
2x Nurglings

at 2250pts I add another unit of 12x Plaguebearers w F/C

at 2500pts I add another unit of 12x Plaguebearers w F/C and another unit of 3x Plagueriders

In larger games, depending on available points I also use one or both of: Exalted Daemon (Mark of Nurgle), Stream of Corruption (SoC), Diabolic Splendour, and another 12x PB.

Overview

Nurgle Daemons are not the most attractive of the Daemon armies to play, since they have a number of inherent weaknesses. Their troop types are limited to slow (M4), low-attack (1A), high-points-cost foot troops with no command (barring Plaguebearers). This basically leads to a lack of ability to generate decent Combat Resolution (CR) in 'one-on-one' matchups with enemy units. The Nurgle Daemon general therefore needs to be cunning and "think smart" in his deployment and tactics. This is a fantastic challenge that I personally enjoy.

To get around the core troops' lack of speed, I go with a large number of small sized units, typically formed up four wide and three deep. As you can see from the list above, most of my units are only 12 strong. The reason for this is to give the army more tactical flexibility despite its low movement rate. With more units they can spread out and cover more ground. They can also try to get around the flanks of key enemy units, getting the all-important cancellation of rank and flank bonus. You must play with the outlook that PB units are never going to win on Combat Resolution – they have too few attacks (only 4 in the front rank, or 5 with a champ), will nearly always be outnumbered due to high points cost and only ever have a maximum rank bonus of +2 (or +3 at most). They REALLY need to try and get other supporting units into the enemy flank to cancel their opponent’s ranks and get the +1 Combat Resolution bonus for flanking.

Troops

Plaguebearers are the core and mainstay ofthe army, which is handy since they are very solid, resilient troops that can persevere for a surprisingly long time. They have T4, Cloud of Flies (CoF) (-1 to hit), and a 5+ ward save. This means that even good quality troops find it hard to hit them, and then they are tough to wound because of their high toughness and unmodified ward. PB therefore find large ranked units difficult opponents, but are more effective against smaller units (like knights) that rely on a high number of wounds to generate CR.

Nurglings are so useful that I consider at least one unit of them to be a must in any Nurgle army. Preferably tke several, since you might as well make the most o being the only army eligible to take multiple swarm units. Nurglings are skirmishing swarms, and everyone knows how useful they can be. They do however differ slightly from other swarms in that they have less wounds and attacks (W4, A4) and suffer daemonic instability which means they are not quite as good at "bogging" opponents. However they do cause fear and have a daemonic ward save, which in many circumstances makes them better than other swarms. If you choose the right roles and targets for these guys, they are worth their weight in gold. Against other skirmishers, war machines and weak units they are excellent. IMO their best role however is in supporting PB units by charging into the flanks of opponents, giving an additional US16, 16 attacks and the +1 flank bonus (for my unit of 4 bases). This can swing the combat in many circumstances.

Plagueriders are an awesome unit. They offer mny advantages to the nurgle daemon army. First of all, they are the quickest things in the army! With a speedy (!) move of 6" (12" march / charge) they can really take the fight to the enemy much quicker (50% quicker in fact) than the rest o your troops. They are also very hard hitters, wih d6+2 *poison* S4 attacks each turn. A unit of 3 or 4 deals out some serious hurt to opponents. They have so much more strike power than single attack PBs that I think they are essential. They are also unbelievably resilient. With WS4, T5, W3, Cloud of Flies an a 5+ ward save they are very hard to get rid of - espcially when the general and herald are close by.

Chariots are similar to Plaguriders. The put out almost as much damage, but I never take them due to the inherent weaknesses of chariots not being able to march and being vulnerable to S7+ hits.

Characters

The GUO is awesome!! This guy can take on units by himself and win. Make sure, however, that you pick your targets wisely – the last thing you want is to narrowly lose on CR and fail a daemonic instability test resulting in the loss of your 600pt general. (a tip from bitter experience – although the odds are against it, every greater daemon I’ve ever seen that has had to take an instability test WILL fail it.) The fact that the GUO is slow (M4) normally means wise opponents will try to avoid combat with him. Your task as the Nurgle player is to make sure they can’t do this!!

I usually (about 3/4 of the time) deploy the GUO in my largest PB unit in a central position on my battleline. This gives him the most scope to be supported both by his own unit and other flanking units. Since he is central, he is also free to move in a number of directions to meet the greatest threat (or do the most damage). To defeat your army, the enemy generally needs to come to you, so with the GUO in the centre they either have to come at him, or you can move him to one flank if they are trying to avoid contact. He also has the option to move (or charge) out of the unit if there is a reason to do so, which gives some added flexibility. The GUO in a unit gives an additional 6x S6 attacks, and often a higher US and full rank bonus. Defensively, both the GUO and PB are –1 to hits against them and have high Toughness, so should not suffer many wounds. This situation gives the Nurgle daemons the best chance they are ever going to have to win in hand to hand combat. Try and set this situation up whenever possible!

The GUO can alternately be deployed alone in amongst your units to effectively give you another manoeuver unit. He has US10, A6, and can break ranks. He is therefore particularly effective when charging into the flanks of units engaged to the front by the PB units. He also has the Stream of Corruption which can be a nice bonus at times, but due to his limited mobility is far more limited in its use than when used by an ED.

A Herald is IMO essential. Even in 2000pt games I take one. He actually adds some punch to one of your units (WS6, S5, T4, W3), but his main role is to carry the Greater Icon of Chaos and allow rerolls. These ppreserve your units and make sure the army doesn't crumble when things start to go wrong. The rerolls mean you can take less units because they will stick around, so you don't need extra units to provide redundancy. A tip on rerolls though: never reroll an instability test you have passed just to reduce wounds - you will always fail, so just take the wounds and thank Nurgle you are still alive.

When the flying Exalted Daemon is included, he makes a potent long range strike force. The ED is best not used in H2H, but in a more harassing role. Unless going into combat with a ranked unit in support, he should never expect to take on an enemy ranked unit and win. I have learned over and over from bitter experience just not to try it! When equipped with SoC (flame template, S3, -2 AS), the ED is able to very effectively whittle down units of T3 troops with the SoC template, while remaining out of their charge arcs. On top of all this, he stops marches and causes terror too! Once the enemy unit is whittled down, he can charge in and finish off the survivors in the subsequent turn. Some of the most vulnerable troops to target with this are small cavalry units, T3 skirmishers and low-Ld critters like gobbos.

I never use a Daemon Prince. A GUO is heavy hitting and resilient in combat and can fight by himself. An ED can fly around, cause terror and annoy and whittle the enemy. A Daemon Prince is really not able to fight like a GD and is too expensive just to be used in the same role as the ED. He is really a 'half-measure' or 'compromise' and I really think its better to decide how you want your army to fight and choose either the GUO or ED as a 'specialist' in whichever role you opt for.

Tactics

The general tactics I’ve found to be best are to try and 'weather the storm', and then counter-attack. PBs are good defensive troops to do the 'weathering' and PRs are good hard hitting faster troops to do the counter attacking. As I’ve said earlier, the army is slow so it's not going to be particularly effective on the offensive. Defensive tactics are likely to be better - let your opponent come to you, whilst making subtle shifts in positioning, and trying to put supporting units like Nurglings, PRs and secondary PB units in suitable positions to flank charge his units when they do hit your battleline. This is easier said than done, but with practice it's not impossible to do.

Generally I keep my deployment compact, so that they are harder to outflank and the units can support each other. I often deploy them on one flank and echelon the line back to assist in this by securing both ends of the battleline with the table edge. This has the advantages of securing the flanks and against large armies does not allow them to use their weight of numbers. Your opponent’s units will often get in each other’s way and cannot coordinate their attack.

Plagueriders and chariots do give some options for the attack against defensive or timid opponents, or in scenarios that require this kind of thing. Supported by following PB's and screening nurglings, this approach can be very effective.

Nurglings make perfect march-blockers to delay the enemy's key units whilst you attack elsewhere. They also deal with enemy skirmishers, difficult terrain and war machines very well.

Nurgle magic

Nurgle magic deserves a mention, since both the GUO and ED in the army are casters. The Nurgle spell deck has a number of good spells for both spoiling and attacking enemy units (great names too!!). The spells are useful, but should definitely not be relied upon – they should be treated as a ‘bonus’ if they come off. The best spells I’ve found are “boils”, and “pestilence” (keeps on going in both your own and your opponent’s magic phases, but is not “remain in play” - so can be recast!!). These spells are particularly potent against high-points-value, small units of high-armour-save and low-toughness troops. I have literally wiped out units of High Elf, Dark Elf, Brettonian and Empire Knights in a turn or two with these spells. Even Chaos Knights and Lizardman Cold One riders are vulnerable to these spells, although their higher toughness limits the effectiveness somewhat.

Other spells can also be effective on occasion (and against some armies). When used in combination, “Scabs” (reduce T by –1 for entire game ) followed by “Buboes” (failed T test = a wound) can take down even the toughest characters over a few turns. “Buboes” is of course fantastic against low toughness characters like Elves and Goblins, since it also ignores armour saves and can target characters in units. “Poxes” (reduce target unit WS, BS, S and Ld by –1) can be a great support spell. It is useful to cast on a target unit just as your units charge into combat (or his are about to charge you!). It is useful for reducing H2H abilities of units, but also enemy missile troops and skirmishers, and also ‘Ld-vulnerable’ troops like O&G and Skaven (as well as helping to whittle down VC units just a little quicker). “Afflictions” is a good spoiling spell, since it can be cast on any unit on the battlefield, reducing their movement by half, or limiting them to ground movement if they are fliers. This can dramatically limit the speed and flexibility of some of your opponent’s best units and help to keep them out of the battle while you try to win elsewhere.

Hope these words are useful for someone. The daemonic minions of the lord of Pestilence are well worth giving a try. Challenging, but rewarding – and the rewards of father Nurgle are rich indeed …

*Article contributed by Byshe the Putrid*

    Undivided daemonic legions are one of the most enjoyable and effective options as you have an opportunity to really utilize the breadth of units available to the DL. In careful combination these abilities can be very effective - in non careful combination you can easily design an army that is well. . . less than effective.

The most important issues
1) Spreading yourself too thin (by taking too many diverse units) is rarely effective
2) Specials and rares are some of the most effective parts of the DL - in most cases it's quite useful to take them.
3) Consider the strengths and weaknesses of each faction carefully when combining them.

Spreading your army too thin

This is the most common mistake for beginning undivided players. I know when I started I wanted to have a little bit of everything in my army. It took some playing and advice from board members to realize it wasn't very functional.

In 2,000 points its almost always best to stick to 2 chaos powers. You can design a playable army with more factions but it's difficult to create an effective one. At higher points you can consider more diversification, or with experience you can include small units of other powers to fulfill limited roles.

Our units are expensive and are often at their best in larger or multiple units or in combination with their specials or rare. Which brings me to the next point -

Specials, Rares and non-true core are very important

This is more true for some of the chaos powers and army builds than others, but for most DL armies specials and rares are the most effective portions of the army. The speed of slaanesh and tzeentch, resilience for Khorne and the hitting power for Nurgle are best found in the specials and rares. For example to make the best use of adding a slaanesh faction to your list you'll generally need the pleasure seekers and chariots. It is quite true that some lists devoted to a single chaos power can do quite well with no specials or rare choices but that is because they can concentrate on one strength in overwhelming fashion (examples include a khornate legion with only blood letters or a tzeentch legion with many units of spell casting horrors backed by a greater daemon.)

Remember your non true core, special and rare choices need to match your core choices. If you really like blood crushers but your true core only includes one blood letter unit you'll be limited in your choices.

If you are designing an undivided legion concentrating on just a few powers will allow you to buy specials and rares that fulfill your particular army's needs. When you've determined the powers you would like to pick (and their core troops) you'll have a better idea what specials or rares you'd like to add.


Think about maximizing strengths and negating weaknesses

Each army has it's own strengths - some of these are at their best when complemented by something quite different, others by more of the same.

For example to make use of units of horrors with champs you really need to generate enough casting dice to use up your opponents dispell capability. Adding a single unit of horrors to an army without other casting ability won't really allow you to cast anything succesfully. This is an example where "more of the same" e.g. spell casters are useful.

Alternatively - some forces are best supported by something a bit different. Nurgle plaguebearers are excellent anvil units, however they lack in hitting power and speed. Adding components such as khorne or slaanesh or furies would help maximize the strengths of the plaguebearers.

Of course when considering this you have to remember to focus your chaos power selections, and select which specials and rares you think would best support your strategy.

In summary

Remember the three points:

1) Concentrate your selections
2) Specials and rares are usually the DL's heart
3) Maximize some strengths and minimize weaknesses

-Gary N