I’ve been thinking about playing a Daemon army in 40K for quite some time, entirely because I want an army that’s all about the assault. I’ve got two armies that are primarily about shooting, and was ready to start up a Tyranid army… until 5th came out and made that army much more about shooting as well. I’ve settled on doing an all-Khorne Daemon army because there’s no way it’s not going to be about running at the other guy and stabbing him repeatedly.
I played a game against a friend’s Daemonhunters army on Tuesday, using a lot of proxies (Tactical Marines became Bloodletters, Dreadnoughts became Bloodcrushers, etc.). It went very poorly for him, but I think that’s more because of his list hasn’t really been updated since 4th edition than my tactical superiority.
The list I ran was (going from memory, I’ll correct it when I have the printed list handy):
- Bloodthirster
- Herald of Khorne – Iron Hide, Fury of Khorne
- Herald of Khorne – Iron Hide
- Bloodcrushers x4
- Bloodletters x7 – Icon
- Bloodletters x7 – Icon
- Bloodletters x8 – Icon
- Bloodletters x8
- Bloodletters x8
- Fleshhounds x8
- Soul Grinder – Tongue
- Soul Grinder – Tongue
It became immediately clear that I need to play this army very, very differently than the way I’m used to playing. I tend to be a somewhat defensive player, and I simply cannot do that with this list. I need to drop in as close as I can and run towards them as fast as I can. Anything less is asking to failure.
I also got a bit of a feel for some weaknesses in the list. By focusing on Khorne alone, I’m positioned to do very well against Marines… but I expect I might have some trouble with Ork hordes, and I’m very, very weak on the anti-tank that’s the new Imperial Guard codex is going to make more essential than ever.
Also, I’m not terribly mobile. Sure, everything comes in via Deep Strike, but that’s it. Mechanized anything, especially Tau and Eldar are going to give me fits.
With that in mind, I’ve shifted things a bit.
The Bloodthirster is a big deal, not because he’ll chew through infantry, but because his high strength and Monstrous Creature anti-armor abilities are one of my few anti-armor options and his wings make him much more mobile than the rest of my army. I’d like to include a second, but I expect that would elicit groans… plus, I can get a Winged Daemon Prince for considerably less.
Flesh Hounds are fast, and that’s something I’d been overlooking. They’re not as good as Bloodletters, but they’ll get across the board much more quickly.
The Soul Grinders are essential. They’re very hard to kill, extremely effective in combat, and represent some more anti-armor that I need.
I’m likely to try to play this army proxied for a few more games to see if I’m on the right track with it. I’m not in a huge hurry to buy up the minis just yet: I’ll be slogging through painting miniatures for War of the Ring for several more months, but I’m pretty confident that this’ll be on the buying (then assembling and painting) queue immediately after that.
The list I’ll try next time:
Initial Wave
- Bloodthirster
- Bloodcrushers x4
- Bloodletters x8 – Icon
- Bloodletters x8 – Icon
- Flesh Hounds x8
- Soul Grinder – Tongue
Reserves Wave
- Daemon Prince – Flight, Iron Hide, Unholy Might
- Bloodletters x8 – Icon
- Bloodletters x8
- Flesh Hounds x8
- Soul Grinder – Tongue