Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Old/Warscrolls Compendium/Daemons

Same shit from Fantasy and 40K, just in a new setting

Daemons of Chaos Warscrolls

Forenote: The following section will be arranged with similar units and formations being grouped together for easier reading.

This is by no means a complete guide. Also due to the relatively recent release of Age of Sigmar, most of this is based on theory. Take everything with a grain of salt.

Icon Bearers: Your bread and butter. If you roll a 1 on Battleshock, you gain models back instead of losing any. D6 for weak units and D3 for strong ones. Combine this with the fact that almost all Daemons have Bravery 10 and you can see where this is going. Even if you only lose a single model, always roll battleshock, because you might just get more back than you lost.

Musicians: Nearby enemy units must reroll Battleshock tests of 1, good for making sure someone runs away and even better for denying other Daemon players their Icon Bearers' bullshit bonus.

Khorne

Heroes

Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage: Wields the biggest axe you've ever seen. Sure he only Hits on 4+ cause it's so big, but he gets to reroll 1s is he charged, so it's not too bad. Besides, it's not like you've got much to complain when you get four swings that Wound on 2+, have a Rend of -2 and inflict D6 damage per hit. In fact, the axe is so goddamn big that enemy units within 8" suffer a bunch of Mortal Wounds whenever you roll a 6 To Wound. His Command Ability also lets Khorne Daemons reroll their charge distances. Doesn't sound like much, but it can win you the game.

Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury: Almost as dangerous at range as he is in combat. The lash draws Monsters and Heroes closer so he can hit them with his axe and he has an 8" aura in which enemy units have to roll a D6 in each of your Hero Phases. On a 6, they take a Mortal Wound and half their Move value. Combine with his Command Ability that doubles Pile In-movement for Khorne Daemons and his lash and you can easily decide where the fighting is going to go.

Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster: This one is just plain bullshit. His Hellfire Breath and the flail both deal good damage at range and the axe is the same the Unfettered Fury gets. Can also reroll To Hit against Heroes and Monsters and practically guarantee a charge for a Khorne Daemon unit.

Herald: As Choppy as can be expected off most hero's the Herald comes with a bit of a meh worthy weapon. at 4 attacks,3+/3+/-1/1 the blade of blood isnt going to win any "best weapon evah" awards and with a fairly average statline, neither is the herald for the "best hero evah" Like All bloodletters or khorne equivilents though your big bloodletter comes with the decapitating strike ability, meanign they might just mortal wound their way to victory. These guys are very tag team with the rest of the khorne units in your army, letting you fight two combats for the price of one!

Nurgle

Plaguebearrer heroes are the keys to make a Nurgle army works since they buff almost every unit.

Named Characters

Epidemius: A boosted herald that give benefits to every Nurgle unit on the battlefield based on the number of models slain. Keep it hidden.

Heroes

Great Unclean One: Your greater daemon and the only choice you have to evoke other units. Your standard general on bigger games (90+ wounds). Don't let his meh Wound-count of 10 fool you, the GUO is still one of the toughest fuckers around. He has the same basically-40k's-Feel-no-Pain rule of a 5+ save after his save but for him, if he rolls a 6 and is in melee, he actually inflicts Mortal Wounds. He also has a regeneration of D3 Wounds per turn, has a strong though short-ranged shooting attack and a melee profile worthy of a monster, but what really makes him shine is his unique spell, a 14" line that damages enemy units under it and heals Nurgle units under it. It can't resurrect, but is perfectly able to make the obscenely tough Plague Drones even harder to remove.

Herald of Nurgle: Your gamechanger. You will need at least two of these to sheperd your units properly. Is oddly choppier than a Herald of Khorne is ever going to be and can heal himself. If you play any Nurgle daemons, at least have one of these guys in reserve so that you can summon him if need be. Beasts of Nurgle especially turn from okay to murder on no legs if a Herald is around.

Troops

Plaguebearers of Nurgle: Basic Nurgle troop. Really hard to kill but not so good in melee (average of 0,33 damages). Take 20 to 30 in every unit to make them harder to be hit.

Plague Drones of Nurgle: Your flyers. Their 8" movement sounds promising, but since they are almost the only Nurgle unit with a missile weapon, they will rarely run, so the movement evens out. The missile weapon is rather meh, but combined with the 5(!) assured attacks per Plague Drones, it adds up. They also hold the distinction of being ridiculously tough to kill, especially with a Banner or two. Make sure to keep a Herald close to them for those bonus Mortal Wounds.

Nurglings: These things are weak: no save but they heal every wounded model at the end of the turn. Yes, the opponent either does 4 Wounds on them or it was for naught. They also have 5 attacks with bad Hit and Wound rolls, but if you manage to inflict a wound they could do D3 mortal wounds after a 5+ roll. Also, they cannot be summoned, except by Morbidex Twiceborn. So, you have a unit that deals very little actual damage, but is amazing at making the opponent dedicate unreasonable amounts of resources to removing them, because shockingly, their 5" move makes them rather fast for Nurgle.

Beasts of Nurgle: With an average of 1,82 damage per round, the beast of Nurgle isn't very damaging and it's 5" movement is piss-poor as well. Why would you even take them? Because they can run and charge and even flee and charge, will not ever be charged because they basically make Deadly Terrain for enemies who charge them. Also, with a Herald closeby, they will deal quite a bit more damage.

Tzeentch

Heroes

Kairos fateweaver: A good hero choice if you already have another that you are using for their command ability (because he doesn't have one). Old Fateweaver can can get any dice roll to anything you want once per game. Casts 2 spells per turn and changes the lowest dice roll to match the highest one. He will likely get off any spell you are shooting for. If you are good at spelling don't forget to spell your spells backwards for an extra +2 Gift of Change does an incredible amount of mortal wounds so aim for that being one if you are within range. No shooting but not bad in CC.

Lord of change: Has a lovely command ability if you've got lots of of tzeentch daemon wizards and is an actually very powerful caster by himself, since you need to roll fucking awfully to screw up casting rolls with him.

The changeling: A fun little hero unit. Can deploy on you opponent's side of the board and can't be targeted by anything until he is revealed by another hero coming within 3" of him or you personally using an ability. Until then he can half the movement on a single unit within 9" every turn. Good on certain occasions like when your enemy brings a few fast units to keep you from moving up the board or getting close to artillery. Bring for fun not for game breaking madness.

Herald of tzeentch: Has a pretty cool combination of tricks going for him. He has a unique spell with a casting value of 9, which is pretty fucking high. Also, once per game, he can cast with 3 dice instead of two, making 9 much more reachable. Also, if he casts with a value of 9 or more (no matter which spell) he can cast another one. Basically once per game you can cast twice unless you roll real bad. Keep in mind that casting with three dice, adding Chaos Familiars and a Lord of Change can mean that once per game you can summon anything including the way overpowered Soul Grinder.

Herald of tzeentch on disk: Oddly the disc is disturbingly powerful in melee. However, the Herald on it wants absolutely nothing to do with melee. Ultimately, the Herald on Disc is a confused beast, best left alone.

Herald of Tzeentch on Burning Chariot: When deciding how to build the model, do consider that this unit doesn't get the magical flames shooting attack that other heralds get, or the blue horrors close combat attacks that the exalted flamer gets. In other words, if you build this version, you can use the Blue Horrors to increase your Pink Horror units and use the Exalted Flamer by himself.

The Blue Scribes: Now a very powerful caster. They can automatically cast anything on 2+ with 1 D6 and to unbind their attempt, you need a 9 or more. This allows you to cast any overpowered summoning spell with umpunity. Don't want to be a jerk? No problem, their signature spell makes it easier for other Tzeentch Wizards to cast.

Troops

Pink Horrors: One of the best infantry units in the game. Not only do they shoot pretty well and on a surprisingly high range, each unit also counts as a Wizard, so they can either shoot some Mortal Wounds at stuff their normal attacks can't get through, increase their save to 4+ or summon some more bullshit.

Exalted flamer: Has twice the wounds and twice the attacks of a normal flamer, and that's basically it. I'd just take two normal flamers and put this chap on the chariot for the extra stuff that can do.

Flamer: Pretty bloody great. Die very easily, so keep them in cover, but their ranged flame attack is possibly the best thing tzeentch daemons can bring you, massed shots (10 from 3 of them) causing D3 wounds on anything that gets through is awesome. Bonus flaming is nice too - remember "healing" in AoS only affects models that are still alive, if flaming one-wound stuff it doesn't mean models get up again if you roll a one afterward. In summary using a wound-based comp system (or no comp system) you'd be a fool not to bring at least three of these. Also, remember the awful Locus of Transmogrification? It's been buffed to hell and back and given to these guys. If they lose models while close to a Herald of Tzeentch, they have a chance of the Flamer simply splitting into two new and fully healed Flamers.

Screamer: A bit pillow-fisted overall. Three of them won't do much, they want to be in bigger units to achieve anything (even lone wizards might not die quickly to them otherwise) and you're unlikely to put plenty of wounds on monsters even with the D3 thing. Do remember you can do the slashing fins attack if you "retreat" from a combat they're not going to win by flying over the unit they were fighting.

Exalted Flamer on Burning Chariot: Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. Has the potential of inflicting 46 Wounds per round, if you do it just right. It can damage units it flies over, has the same powerful missile weapon as the standard Exalted Flamer and a bunch of melee attacks, including the two Screamers, who make 6 attacks, each of which deals D3 damage whilst targetting a Monster. None of these have Rend, but whatever. Take a couple and dominate the game. However, these things are pretty fragile, not that this means anything when you have a goddamn 14" Flying Move stat.

Battalion

Daemon cohort of Tzeentch: Could be fairly nasty. Extra spells means you could reliably be casting arcane bolt and mystic shield with every unit (including your three horrors) every turn. Having most of your army with +1 saves while throwing multiple sets of D3 mortal wounds across the field, plus normal shooting, could be nasty. You'll probably want to borrow some speedbumps from somewhere to keep enemy units at arm's length.Lord of Change probably best for his command ability giving a bonus to cast.

Slaanesh

Troops

Daemonettes: These ladies are potentially one of the most deastating melee infantry units in the game. Sure, they only Hit and Wound on 4+, but each girl attacks twice, has -1 Rend on those strikes and any 6+ To Hit makes another attack (new attacks can generate new attacks). Get twenty or more in a unit and any 5+ To Hit makes a new attack instead. Combine that with 6" movement, the ability to Run and Charge and a 5+ save (which is pretty decent for what is effectively mass infantry) and you have a truly nightmarish unit. Slaanesh's dead? Fuck that noise.

Seekers of Slaanesh: Pretty much a Daemonette turned up to 11 but without the bonus for bigger units. 2 Wounds, 4(!) attacks, two of which have the same awesome rules as the on-foot version, 14" movement and you run +2D6 and can charge afterwards. Yes, these ladies have a potential 38" charge range.

Fiends of Slaanesh: Surprisingly not overpowered, but they can be useful if you support them right. They have 4 Wounds each and inflict a -1 To Hit penalty on enemies in melee, but they pretty much need a Herald along for some rerolls of 1s To Hit themselves to do any real damage.

Seeker Chariot: Oddly fragile for a Chariot, with 6 Wounds and a 5+ save, but pretty strong in melee nevertheless. Each Chariot sports 9 attacks, five of which can make more like the Daemonettes can and when they charge, you roll a D6 for every enemy model within 1" of your Chariot. On 4+, the model's unit takes a Mortal Wound. Unfortunately, unless your opponent is into crescent-moon formations, this won't ever affect more than three models. Either way, keep them in cover and charge exposed, tender rears.

Exalted Seeker Chariot: Basically a normal Seeker Chariot+1, with 9 Wounds and 17 freaking attacks, 9 of which can generate new ones. So, they are better on a Wound-to-Damage basis, proving that Wound-count-balancing is stupid.

Hellflayer: A Seeker Chariot with a new special rule. They also inflict Mortal Wounds on stuff they charged, but if you scored at least one, you get to reroll To Hit for everything but the horsies (read: for everything that generates new attacks). Always build/play them like this, because you win quite a nice rule and two more attacks and lose nothing over a Seeker Chariot except some speed.

Army Building

Nurgle

At 30 wounds you should go for something easy and straightforward:

-1 Herald of Nurgle

-10 Plaguebearers of Nurgle

-3 Plague Drones of Nurgle

At 60 wounds it's time to expand your Plaguebearer unit to make the army work well.

-1 Herald of Nurgle

-28 Plaguebearers of Nurgle

-3 Plague Drones of Nurgle

-3 Nurglings

To go at 90 wounds you can add a Great Unclean One, a Beast of Nurgle, Epidemius and other 7 plaguebearers.

External links

Rules are here [1]