Goatboy’s Warhammer 40K Hot Mess: Daemon Princes Need Help
Goatboy here to talk about the Chaos Daemon Prince in 10th Edition. What can we do to make all of these eternal villains things awesome?
We got a very awesome new Daemon Prince model but their rules feel kind of lackluster don’t they, regardless of if they are Chaos Daemons, CSMs, or the others? The only one that seems to have a sweet set of rules is a combo herald piece that happens to be the cheapest option out of them – as well as having a way to hide in a unit as well.
Daemon Princes are one of those models that can bring a rush of memories for older players. These were the mortal champions that the Chaos Gods loved enough to gift them with Daemonhood. A rush of power, stature, and the ability to live forever in the shadow of your chosen Chaos God. Sure you got a bunch of weird spikes, look crazy, and probably can’t eat hamburgers anymore but hey – it isn’t all bad right? So why aren’t they as cool as the fluff talks about?
Daemon Princes Cost Too Much!
Daemon princes just seem to cost to many points for a model that can’t really hide. It becomes an issue to invest a “squad” sized amount of points into a single model that can’t really escape your opponent’s damage. Then you add in the fact that a lot of their abilities are not designed to be beat sticks and instead are built to “help” your army out with a special aura. Investing so many points in a lynchpin style piece that can easily get murdered across the table is a hard pill to swallow. There is no way a Daemon Prince “earns” enough points as is. As a “support” piece it gets harder to justify including in your list for such a high point cost.
Except Syll’esske
Of course this all doesn’t matter compared to the best one – Syll’esske. A 120 point Daemon Prince model that can join units, hits like a truck, and then come back alive when it dies. Really all those abilities are pretty cool but the point cost is so low that you wonder why all The other Daemon Princes are not costed close to the same even though this lovely dancer hits so much harder in combat with its creepy axe of doom.
This means each Daemon Prince should be at most 150 points. Heck I would go even lower for most of them because while they have a good aura – they just don’t kill enough most of the time. This makes their cost hard to really justify. While Daemon Princes they are “good on paper” they just dont live up to their cost when things like a unit of Chosen just do so much more for you and cost less.
Buff Daemon Prince Rules!
If you have a flying Daemon Prince you should make him the combat monster he is. Heck Gw should roll with the idea that charging makes them better. Do things like give them a plethora of weapon rules if they charge in. Give them some other crazy abilities too like Daemon Prince Tank Shock, or other funky charge-based bonuses. Really make them into a murder ball option for each of the armies.
For World Eaters make him double his attacks if he charges in. For Thousand Sons give him some kind of cool mortal wound option due to casting a cool spell on himself. For Death Guard let him charge units in and mark them with his gross bile as he closes in. Having one with wings should mean something other than – “I guess I have my old model with wings so have to use him that way.”
Then on the walking ones create some ways to protect them. They don’t need to join units. But for example, you could grant thems things like if Infantry is around him they get Lone Operative rules. Do small things like this as most of the time these Princes are designed to help their friends who happen to be Infantry. Make them useful and let them stay alive a bit longer. These walking Daemon Princes are set up to be “benefit” monsters and not smash your face in monsters.
Make Daemon Princes Unique Per Chaos God!
All of this stuff can also let them become unique things too for each of the Chaos books. You can tweak it where the guns are completely different for each of their arms. Let their axe/sword be something different too. I love how the Soul Grinders have unique weapons based on their marks and let the Daemon Princes have it too.
Heck let their Marks effect specific marked units near them too. I don’t need them to make their Dark Pacts better but let them do something if they are surrounded by their Marked friends. Heck you might give the whole Lone Operative option for them only if they have matching Chaos god followers around them. Let them be truly unique options in their army that is important as someone who has truly given their life to a Chaos God and become the puppet to their whims.
I love the new Daemon Prince model and think they should have really amp’d it up more to make things cool as hell. It should be an awesome model on the tabletop and something you get scared of when it gets near your units or it is surround by their friends. That ability to be scary is something these models rules are missing.
All Hail the Primordial Annihilator!
