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.

Bloodsecrator: Due to the unit key wording it clearly states any model with Khorne keyword is effected when he place's his banner giving all Khorne keyword units within range +1 attacks to there melee weapons so what is said below keep in mind to add 1 attack if you plan on using this model.

Khorne

Named Characters

Skarbrand: After his brief absence from the Warscrolls because he didn't have a model, he got a model and now is playable here too. And he is A MONSTER. Let's start with the point that, while most Monsters have some stats getting worse as they suffer wounds, his actually improve. His first particular rule is Skarbrand's Rage, which allows him to activate up to 5 effects each turn depending on how many wounds he suffered: the available abilities include allowing him to reroll failed charge, hit, wound or Total Carnage (see below) rolls or use his special attack known as the Roar of Total Rage (which makes you roll a number of dice equivalent to the number of Rage abilities available in this turn, dealing mortal wounds on a 4+ to a unit within 8"). It should also be noted that, completely ignoring his damage chart, Skarbrand's Rage is always at maximum if he didn't get to fight last turn. Talking about his axes, Slaughter deals 4 to 8 attacks depending on how many wounds he suffered, each dealing 3 wounds, while Carnage has the Total Carnage ability instead of a Wound roll: If you roll high enough (starting at 5+ and going all the way up to 1+ when he's close to death) a single enemy model loses 8 Wounds (overkill does not spill over to the rest of its unit sadly) and even if your roll fails you deal a mortal wound. All in all, Skarbrand is a big honking distraction. The opponent cannot ignore him, as he can rip anything in the game a dozen new assholes, but he cannot comfortably shoot him either, as, if the shooting fails to kill Skarbrand, he'll be that much stronger once he gets into melee. It's easy to focus on Skarbrand and forget the rest of your army, for either player, so if you use him, make sure he doesn't distract you as bad as he does your opponent.

Skulltaker: Rerollable 4+ save, rerolls every hit and wound roll against heroes and his melee weapon deals mortal wounds if you get a 6 to hit.

Karanak: Actually not an hero. When he is placed you choose an enemy hero: he always rerolls every failed hit and wound roll against him and as soon as Karanak and his prey are wihin 8" from eachother he istantly summons an unit of 5 Flesh Hounds. He can also unbind spells and when he does it the caster suffers d3 mortal wounds.

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: All heralds of Khorne come as standard with decapitating blow making any attack hit roll of 6+ a mortal wound instead of rolling for a normal wound this is due to Khorne weapon blade of blood or hellblade the heralds of Khorne comes in 3 flavours below I will explain there benefits and weaknesses.

On foot (Bloodmaster): Strength is he gains the ability to make a unit of bloodletters within 8" that is in combat to do its pile in of 3" and attack if it has not done so in the phase basically you gain 2 activations rather then 1 for the phase also smaller footprint then the other two. Weakness lower wounds/movement and attacks then the other two.

On Juggernaut (Skullmaster): Strength is if he charge's into combat he comes in like a wrecking ball when rolling 4+ you do d3 mortal wounds and get to reroll all failed hits also his speed moving faster then the one on foot. Weakness is like his strength unless he charge's into combat the phase before those bonus's are gone till he can charge into combat becoming a over-glorified skullcrusher of Khorne.

On a Blood Throne: Strength is every attack does -1 rend and if he gets into combat every time he wounds a enemy with the maw he gains a possible of d3 wounds based on the damage result very durable as he also has the highest wounds then the other two. Weakness biggest footprint so many enemy's can get into him with so many attacks.

Troops

Flesh hounds: with 2 wounds and fast with a movement of 8" with re-rolling to charge's with 4 attacks a unit of 10 of these can ruin any target that does not have good saves but the thing that makes these guys so criminal is they can stop enemy casting spells having 10+ gains +1 to the result of unbinding and being near a blood letter hero they can reroll failed unbinding results.

Bloodletters: these are your rank and file units for Khorne with a standard stat line but what makes these guys deadly is any roll of 6 to hit is a mortal wound rather then normal damage great if your dealing with hero's but that also hints there hero killers due to there choice of banner. The blood soaked banner every time you kill a enemy hero with this unit gains 1+ to its charge rolls for the rest of the game and this is stacking. Unless you wish to reinforce your units due to there poor saves you will loose bloodletters so unless there immune to battleshock test some how with the Gore-drenched icon every result of 1 on battleshock the unit gains D6 bloodletters.

Taking a unit of 20+ and you make them hit at 3+ wound at +3 and with a bloodletter hero they can reroll results of 1 to hit and to make things more deadly with a hornblower force a enemy who is not immune to battleshock to reroll there battleshock success.

Bloodcrushers: Bloodletters on mounts all coming with the same rules as bloodletters minus the +20 rule and the d6 models for the gore banner but they get a icon to give them d3 bloodcrushers when rolling 1 on battleshock the thing these guys get is because of the mount that if they charge into combat they do on a roll of a dice of 4+ d3 mortal wounds if they have a bloodletter hero with them they get reroll all failed hits if they charged that turn.

Skullcannon: this is a confused unit designed for melee...? apparently GW needed to make a cannon hits in melee and this confused guy does it well with a shooting attack of +3 to hit if its target is more then 10+ models it has a 2+ to hit it has a -2 rend with d6 damage but what makes this even more scary is its melee rule Grind their Bones, Seize their Skulls ability for if it cause's any wounds with its maw attack it can then make a additional shot after the result at the end combat phase as a shooting attack to any target. Khorne clearly does not understand the concept of a cannon.

Formations

Blood Host of Khorne: A Bloodthirster takes 7+ units between every Khorne Daemon unit that is not another Bloodthirster. In every turn d3 units (d6 if the formation haves 16+ units in total) that are within 3" from an enemy can pileup and attack during Hero Phase.

Nurgle

Daemon Heroes of Nurgle are the key to make a Nurgle army works since they buff almost every unit.

Named Characters

Epidemius: A Herald of Nurgle +1, with two more wounds and a Nurgling base's worth of extra attacks. Doesn't sound like much until you get to his Nurgle's Tallyman ability and realize he's the best force multiplier in the game. You keep a tally of how many models your Nurgle models killed and as it rises, they get bonuses. How's that so great? Because it doesn't specify Nurgle Daemons, just Nurgle. So this guy buffs your Plague Monks, your Blightkings, Glottkin, the Maggoth Riders, Plague Drones, you name it. And since Nurgle has even a few fast hard hitters like Daemon Princes, those bonuses should start adding up fast.

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. Also his command ability gives every Nurgle Daemon in play an extra melee attack if that unit rolled a 7 when charging. NICE.

Herald of Nurgle: Your gamechanger. 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 Daemon Heroe of Nurgle is nearby.

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. Repeat 1 in save rolls with Daemon Heroes of Nurgle nearby.

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 Daemon Heroe of Nurgle 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. 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. It's the only troop that doesn't get any buff close to a Daemon Hero of 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 Daemon Hero of Nurgle closeby, they will deal quite a bit more damage.

Formation

Tallyband of Nurgle: A Great Unclean One takes 6+ units of Nurgle Daemons that are not other Great Unclean Ones. Every unit within 21" from the Great Unclean One restores D3 wounds/models if Plaguebearers in each turn (D6 if the formation includes 14+ units).

Tzeentch

Named Characters

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. 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.

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.

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.

Heroes

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.

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 Disc: 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.

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.

Flamers: Pretty bloody great. They 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.

Formations

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 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.

Changehost of Tzeentch: A Lord of Change takes 9+ units between every Tzeentch Daemon unit that is not another Lord of Change. In each hero phase two units within 27" from the Lord of Change can teleport in eachother's place. You can do it twice if the formation includes 9+ units, and three times if there are 18+ units.

Slaanesh

Named Characters

Masque of Slaanesh: Rerolls every failed hit roll if the opponent haves the same move as her, and also rerolls every wound roll if the opponent's move is less than her. Everyone within 12" from her gets his movement halved, and at the beginning of combat phase you roll a d6 and if the opponent's hit roll matches your result the attack fails, which can be amazing (if you roll a 5 or a 6) or utterly pointless (hello, one.).

• Stupid tactic: use her as a suicide bomber while you position your other units, especially if the enemy lacks ranged attacks. Once she's next to your opponent they will turn into slugs for at least one turn and will have the choice between spending a turn shooting and charging your very killy dancer, possibly bringing them into position for your countercharge, or ignoring her and remaining slugs for at least one more turn. This is very much hit-or-miss however as not rolling a 4, 5 or 6 for her special rule may very well doom her. Don't expect her to survive the game if you play her that way anyway.

Heroes

Keeper of Secrets: Haves this interesting ability where he can give 6 extra attacks to an enemy hero, but as soon as that hero rolls a 1 to hit he dies. Always rerolls every 1 to wound, his spell haves you roll 2d6 and every unit within 6 with a bravery inferior to the result suffers d3 mortal wound, which can range from amazing to absolutely useless depending on what you are facing, and his command ability allows a Slaanesh Daemon unit within 12" to pileup and attack twice in that turn. Although he is decently killy, you really want to keep him safe-ish and use him as a support character - his speed of 14" at max wounds means he can keep up even with your fastest units and always position himself where he will activate the locus on the most units, and his command ability turns your already amazing melee units into utter ridiculousness that will end up destroying almost any opponent from sheer number of attacks alone.

Herald of Slaanesh: Gets an extra attack for every 6 to hit and rerolls her save. That's it. Generally the most useful hero to activate regular daemonettes' locus as she moves at the same speed. Can take a Steed.

• You really shouldn't bother with the steed to support Seekers, because it only gives her a 12" move and doesn't grant her the seekers' 2D6-run-then-charge meaning that she'll struggle to keep up with them and that they'll get even farther if they get the locus. A herald on either kind of chariot is much better at supporting seekers. The better use of the seeker on herald is to make her mobile enough to activate the locus on several units at once, a role at which she is decent, but far from as much as a keeper of secrets.

Herald of Slaanesh on Seeker Chariot: It's like a regular Seeker Chariot, but gives enemy heroes -1 to their hit rolls in melee. No longer has 1 wound less than regular seeker chariots in Grand Alliance: Chaos! So do as with the exalted version and always say you have a herald on it because you're a jerk that way. As with regular chariots, the exalted version is largely superior, but don't feel bad for using one as unlike the regular one, they do a few things better (like supporting seekers thanks to their guaranteed 6" run).

Herald of Slaanesh on Exalted Seeker Chariot: See above, but add "Exalted". There is absolutely no reason to not say you have a herald on the chariot if you're not using a point system (to activate more locuses on your other daemons), but doing so too much may get you flagged as a That Guy.

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, a decent 5+ save and the ability to force enemies to re-roll all to hit rolls of 6 against them if they are within 6" of a Slaanesh Daemon Hero and you have a truly nightmarish unit. Blobs of 25-30 will utterly anhihilate anything that comes into contact with them, and they have the means to get there. Slaanesh's dead? Fuck that noise.

• The locus makes you that much tougher and is activated if at least one model in the unit is within 6" of a valid Hero. If they're not being led by a footslogging herald, keep your blobs spread out.

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" 40" charge range, as they also get +1" on both their run and charge rolls as long as they are close to a slaanesh daemon hero (make them move along a herald on chariot for that).

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 Hero along for some rerolls of 1s To Hit themselves to do any real damage. Can also function as a screen for your keeper of secrets while you make as much use as possible of your command ability. There's only one different model still on sale meaning units will end up looking very samey if you didn't already own some and they're fuckingly expensive for what they are, though.

Seeker Chariot: Oddly fragile for a Chariot, with 6 Wounds and a 5+ save, but pretty strong in melee nevertheless. Each Chariot always runs 6", 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. Remember that they're a lot bigger than Seeker chariots too, so are likely to affect more models with their 1" range impact hits.

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 always running 6".

• These chariots are much wider than they're long, meaning good placement will net you a bunch more impact hits than a Seeker chariot. This can, however, screw you up if you like tables with crowded terrain.

Neutral

Named Characters

Be'lakor, Chaos Daemon Prince: You want a Daemon Prince who's actually decent with magic? You always thought Be'lakor was the greatest? Well, good for you, because he's very playable this time around. He can cast two spells per turn, though his unique spell is somewhat underwhelming, only causing an enemy unit to reroll successful To Wound rolls in combat. His 4+ save is never influenced by enemy Rend and he is pretty scary in combat with his Blade of Shadows. He also has a high flying Move characteristic and can heal himself if units around him fail Battleshock tests.

Heroes

Daemon Prince: Being you can leave this guy without being a daemon of you gain the Cursed Soul-eater abilty this is A Daemon Prince that is not dedicated to one of the Chaos Gods heals 1 wound at the end of any combat phase in which it killed any models. If it killed any Heroes or Monsters, it heals D3 wounds instead.

Same layout as the other chaos gods daemon prince is you can choose to give him a axe or a sword.

Troops

Furies: If an enemy unit within 12" fails a Battleshock test, on a 4+ that unit loses an extra model.

Soul Grinder: Can shoot and run in the same turn. Packs tons of damage, but his Hellforged Claw haves a nifty ability: When he hits a monster, before the wound rolls you and your opponent choose a number on a dice and reveal it at the same time. If both players chose the same number, the Soul Grinder deals 6 mortal wounds instead of attacking regularly.

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.

Malal

Yes it is possible to now do a malal army in age of sigmar due to daemon prince can now come without being attached to a chaos god and Furies don't need to take a daemon type also due to not being forced to take one set army you may include units from the other factions in the game.

External links

Rules are here [1]