Goatboy’s Monday – Thoughts on Daemons + Adepticon List!
Goatboy here again and I know a lot of writers have given their thoughts on Daemons – but here’s MINE!
I have been enjoying playing the army and feel that it’s random nature and constant evolution during the game makes it an enjoyable army. I think some things are pretty bonkers power wise and feel that it is a great spoiler army for any competitive environment. I plan on taking it to Adepticon and while my list isn’t as tuned as I would like I still think it has a chance versus a lot of the field.
So with that in mind I want to go over some of the stuff I have found to be interesting. I know my style of lists don’t work for everyone. I have a particular play style that emphasizes aggression and board control so I enjoy fast lists that still assault. I know the internet poopoos trying to kill someone with their fists but I think there is still merit in it.
Right now I have really been enjoying the Bloodthirster and the Keeper of Secrets. The Daemon book really pushes the psychic limit so I am always looking at the Keeper of Secrets and a few DP’s to throw out some mind bullets, bugs, and removing that pesky bit of fearless. The Thirter is my swiss army knife of pain as he can easily kill most things he touches. I usually gift him with a Greater Gift and an Exalted Gift. The Portalglyph is very powerful and should get used in most Daemon lists. If you get lucky and roll the 1 then you basically get 40 more points of wargear for free. The evolving nature of the gifts really helps as well as the mixing of high level Psykers makes the Daemon army an unpredictable foe for any seasoned player.
To round out my pseudo HQ’s I usually take 2 – 3 Daemon Princes right now. I am on the fence with the Soul Grinders as I think the ability to get more Psykers is very powerful. I have had a few games where the strategic use of Hallucination has won me the game. If you go this route you will end up having minimum troop choices but that’s where the Portalglyph comes in handy. I usually run 2 Princes with the Mark of Slaanesh and 2 Greater Gifts. They have wings and armor and are usually designed to hurt flyers with their Lashes of Despair (Greater Gift Weapon). If I have the points I make them Psykers and try to get Iron Arm.
I find it interesting that the Daemon Book changed how they forced you to take a Discipline of your God if you are Marked that way. It is an interesting choice that I think speaks to the power of the book. If Nids could take more Psyker discipline options they would be a very mean book indeed. Here is hoping their next iteration brings back the horror from deep space.
From here we go to the troop choices and I feel the pain a lot of other bloggers have felt with the Pink Horrors. The dreams of rolling 4d6 dice get shatter when you throw the spell and someone rolls a 6+, let alone a 4+ if they happen to be Daemons and have a Level 2 Psyker in the unit. I have gone back to only having 10 as it lessens the blow to the ego if you get Denied. I like Horrors coming out of the portal as they are deadly till they are dead and only making 1 or 2 is pretty neat. Plus you get to roll for their power and have a 50% chance to get the Beam. That power isn’t terrible to hit vehicles, terminators, and other mean options in your opponents army. My default troop choice is two squads of Plague Bearers who are basically stronger Cultists covered in flies.
I haven’t really cared too much about the Warp Storm table. In fact the worst roll is the 4 – as the -1 Inv save is brutal for the army to handle. I did lose a DP to the 3 when his brain exploded due to seeing under the skirt of Slaanesh. I haven’t had the chance to blow up a Psyker with an 11 but I am sure I will hit that at some point and make Eldrad cry. I do think the Warp Storm table has more benefit as it allows you to hit some things well enough. Instability is pretty mean at times but for the most part with large units it just doesn’t matter that much. The ability to go to ground is extremely powerful. I have tested the Grimoire a bit as well but it really takes a specific build to get it to work well. It does bear testing in the super Dog list that is brewing in my head. That list will be for Alamo later this year.
I built up a squad of the Plague Drones and have found them to be pretty interesting. They are a fast, tie up unit that could easily help some of the 40 Khorne dog armies survive some overwatch nonsense and get into business. They have enough wounds, are pretty tough, and with an endurance on them will hit things pretty hard. You can upgrade one of them to have a really nice Aether Blade to get some armor punching power. I like how they can survive power fists and still keep on ticking. They are designed to die turn 3-4 and leave your other big hitters around to punch things or at least keep the opponent from running to an objective or two. I think the Flesh Hounds are extremely powerful and have some ideas for future lists locally. I really don’t want to fly with too many models so thus the low model count nonsense I am bringing for Chicago.
Speaking of Chicago and Adepticon I expect a lot of fliers. The lack of FW and Tau leaves me to believe we will see those lists come out in droves just like Grey Knights did last year. I expect them to do alright as a hot rolling opponent will blow up those expensive fliers pretty quickly so it makes those types of lists hard to survive the later rounds. I still feel the Horde/Flyer combos to be strong but the fact we are placing terrain mixed with a large amount of setup time to get the game started means those horde armies won’t be finishing their games. I made a few “character” cards for my Daemon MC’s to make rolling easier. I listed everything I need for them with their picture to ensure I don’t get mixed up. It helps that all my MC’s look different in order to make it easy for myself and my opponent to remember the mind bullets, gifts, and other options they have.
For those interested – here is the list I plan on bringing to the event. Will see if I can win a few games with my Monster beats.
Goatboy’s Adepticon 2013 List-O-DOOM!
HQ: Bloodthirster, Exalted Gift, Greater Gift
HQ: Keeper of Secrets, Greater Gifts X 2, Lvl 3 Psyker
Troops: Plaguebearers X 10
Troops: Plaguebearers X 10
FA: Plague Drones X 5, Plague Ridden, Lesser Gift
Heavy: Daemon Prince, MoS, Greater Gift X 2, Lvl 3 Psyker
Heavy: Daemon Prince, MoS, Wings, Armor, Greater Gift X 2, Lvl 2 Psyker
Heavy: Daemon Prince, MoS, Wings, Armor, Greater Gift X 2, Lvl 2 Psyker
It is small, fits on a tiny display board, and was easy to fly with. I doubt I will win with it but I will have more then enough time to shop around, draw on stuff, and hang out. This is looking like my last year if the family starts up so I want this Adepticon to be as much fun as I can. Stop on by, see the crazy conversions, and check out how I am doing next week. After that I want to look at some Tau combos and see if I can get my buddy excited enough to kick my butt in 40k.
Do you think my list can go all the way in Chicago? What should I watch out for?
