Warhammer Army Project/Daemons of Chaos
Daemons of Chaos: Warhammer Army Project, 9th Edition Tactica[edit]
Created by Mathias Eliasson, this project was a homebrew attempt at giving many of the nations and factions that never got Armybooks of their own (and those left behind and never got one in 8th Edition) such a thing.
It should also be noted that Eliasson is constantly updating his work, so don't expect this page to stay current forever. If anyone wishes to actually update this page and the items that need it, later on, go ahead.
Why Play WAP Daemons of Chaos[edit]
Pros[edit]
- Play the biggest big bads in the game.
- Get the giants super fighters as Lords
- you love the unflappability of undead while leadership is not a useless stat as they use it to will themselves to stay tangible despite overwhelming odds.
- Prefer the Idea that each unit was designed to be good at one specific role rather than also fiddling with unit upgrades when it comes to listing building.
Cons[edit]
- Daemons of alternate factions now treat each other less like allies, which will ruin things for coordinating multi-god armies. Just like their mortal kindred.
- Magic took a hard whack by god-aligned casters being banned from taking non-god lores.
- when compared to their mortal followers, the foot troops are more like durable and specialized elves than unkillable masters of war (not a knock on them, but don't think being a deamon equates to strongest, The Mortal Chosen of Chaos sharpen their teeth on them).
- More yet limited equipment list, get cool abilities, but can't wear the generic ward talismans, or use the dispel scrolls.
Factions[edit]
units are divided between the 4 chaos gods or are undivided. This creates factions with their own combat specializations and Philosophy to wage war, Which enriches your options when mixed. The following is a summary of each God specific faction:
- Khorne: The most straightforward being the god most focused marshal might. Filled with hate and shuns all that's spellcasting. Their martial skill allows them to cut through tougher enemies like dwarfs. Khorne's perform their best on the first turn, though they still fight well even if they don't get it, with their good stats and prevalence of killing blow. Unlike mortals, the Daemons do have a clear enough mind by default to follow commands and employ flanking tactics. They even bring cannons (though begrudgingly in lore). Behind Nurgle, Khorne is the second toughest of the gods, with them all having at least T4 and Natural Armour(6+) to minimize attacks from mass chaff and arrow spam. (Khorne is more focused on killing higher-priced stuff than cheap in the least amount of swings. That extra roll is handy against enemies with no AP). They are the most resistant to spell casting, even more so with the buffs in 9th to Magic Resistance and Dispelling attempts for armies with no wizards.
- Nurgle: His daemons act like jovial zombies as they invite others to join the family with their infectious diseases. They are about resilience and slowly out-grinding the enemy with poisons. Nurgle is a more ponderous army (at least slow by deamon standard, moving human and ogre speeds). The order in Combat is tanking the enemy's swings before hitting back. Not as slow or chunky as their mortal champions, but the Pleugebearers' Default Durability is still comparable to Dwarf Warriors. In addition, Regeneration and boost in toughness is a thing Nurgle can give out. They operate as your chaff wall and outgrind the average humanoid enemies, with poison being effective against units with low armor, tons of passive damage, and Toughness save based abilities on your characters. Your Troops exist to hold your targets in place, to them inject them with Nurgle's Rot.
- Slaanesh: the minions of the lord of Depravity and Perfection are the most fragile in this book but also the lithest. They play like Elven infantry (though they are 1" faster on movement). Being glass cannons, Their big meaty claws can rip up most linemen, hopefully reducing the number of Daemonettes that bite the dust in retaliation. Having only an average Strength but great Weapon Skill and a high number of attacks with AP (-1 armour piercing is always a good thing to have to dent that armour). Also, like elves, Slaanesh daemons prefer speed and flank attacks, with 10" being the fastest land speed any unit can have in the game, Being in the enemy's face by the first turn. Slightly less fast are the Slaanesh's Chariots, which are all similar except for buying them in increasingly tighter unit allowance Cattorgyr to make them bigger. Thus, providing a cheaper package of Slaanesh in a mixed deamon army.
- Tzeentch: Embodies his spheres of magic, Mutations, and Birds. Outside the skullcannon, Tzeentch brings the dakka. Lots of flyers and lots of D6 dice rolls for attack strength. Outside of Screamers, he doesn't have the strongest melee daemons and can take a few more hits than Slaanesh, but makes up for it by shooting gouts of fire. The main upgrade to give your characters and main troops, Horrors, boosts their magic output. You're getting more channel dice than the other gods by Reroll 1s on the dice and Horrors being wizards. Tzeentch units are best at mid-range raining firey death, with the Screamers and his chariot making content flyovers.
Notable Changes from 8e[edit]
Pros[edit]
- Daemons characters can take Magic Weapons from the BRB.
- get those new Aos units and characters.
- your Characters are now cheapers
- can now use lords in 1000 point games.
- Minor buff of all Khorn daemons get Natural Armour (6+).
- with average armor save in 9th increases, Slaanesh gets one more Armour Piercing.
Cons[edit]
- only unmarked Daemon Princes and TZEENTCH character with MASTER OF SORCERY can take lores from the core book
- no longer any level 2 herald wizards except Tzeentch. if you want your 4th spell in the lore of Slaanesh or Nurgle, you have to buy the greater deamon.
Special Rules[edit]
- Daemonic: Your core rule. Every unit in your army comes stock with Magical Attacks(for all attacks), Fear, Immunity (Psychology, Poisoned Attacks), and a 5++ Ward Save.
- Daemonic Instability: However, they are far from invincible. Instead of a break test, they must test for instability, a special test where you roll 2d6 and deal a number of wounds equal to the difference between this roll and the unit's Leadership score (rolling a double 1 has any wounds the unit suffers that turn undone, while a double 6 outright kills the unit without question).
- Alignment: Each of the 4 gods (Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch, and Slaanesh) all grant their respective daemons a unique trait as well as Hatred for their opposite number.
- Daemons of Khorne: Grants Strength Bonus(1) on a turn where they charge, Magic Resistance (1), and Hatred (Daemons of Slaanesh)
- Daemons of Nurgle: Enemy models suffer -1 to WS while in base contact with Daemons of Nurgle and Hatred (Daemons of Tzeentch)
- Daemons of Tzeentch: Grants a re-roll of channeling and ward save results of 1 and Hatred (Daemons of Nurgle)
- Daemons of Slaanesh: Grants Armour Piercing (2) and Hatred (Daemons of Khorne)
- Reign of Chaos: The RANDOM* party that has become synonymous with Chaos. Has been rebalanced to be more often beneficial when a hindrance (both sides' daemons will be affected). Rolling the god smiting will hit all your enemies but will hit friendlies that worship the opposing god, so a reason not to run too many gods in an army. When rolling for Winds of Magic, take the total (or divide the roll by the number of dice pairs when playing in 4000+ point games) then read here:
- 2-The Winds Recede: Your army tests Instability. If you have a re-roll, use it now.
- 3 - Punished by the Gods: A random character with Daemonic Instability must test Leadership, losing a wound for each point this test is failed by.
- 4 - Chaotic Ebb: All models with Daemonic Instability are reduced (down to 6++ Ward for the majority). Reroll is possible.
- 5 - Storm of Fire: Roll a d6 for each unengaged enemy and friendly Nurgle unit on board. On a 6, they're targeted by a scattering S4 flaming magical blast.
- 6 - Rot, Glorious Rot: Roll a d6 for each unengaged enemy and friendly Tzeentch unit on board. On a 6, they take d6+3 S3 magical hits that ignore armour.
- 7 - Eye of the Storm: Nothing. Proceed as normal.
- 8 - The Dark Prince Thirsts: Roll a d6 for each unengaged enemy and friendly Khorne unit on board. On a 6, they must test Leadership on 3d6 and must take a wound for each point it is failed by, no armor saves allowed.
- 9 - Khorne's Wrath: Roll a d6 for each unengaged enemy and friendly Slaanesh unit on board. On a 6, they're targeted by a magical S3(9) Stone Thrower shot with 3d6" scatter, which just might harm yourself as well.
- 10 - Chaotic Surge: All models with Daemonic Instability get a 6++ Ward Save, which can stack with your own to make it a 4++ save. You want this one.
- 11 - Daemonic Possession: One random enemy wizard without Daemonic Instability must test Leadership. If they fail, they die and you get to place a naked Herald (if available) in their place. With how good most Wizards are at Leadership, don't expect much unless your enemy's army is known for crap Leadership.
- 12 - Summoned from Beyond: Summon a pack of d6+3 lesser daemons with a front rank of 5+ models. Congrats, you now have a mob of disposable minions who won't even award VP for dying!
- Allies rules: to make it easier to reference, daemons treat units from a different god as suspicious Allies, causing them to not benefit from most leadership and magic support. Also, the opposites Khorn and Slaanesh, and, Nurgle and Tzeentch, treat each other as Desperate allies, causing them to also consider them expendable and enemies for abilities and spells. This encourages you to pick one god to make up the majority of your front lines while your free to take other units that don't need to stand near your generals like flankers and artillery.
Magic[edit]
Considering the fractious nature of Chaos, you get one discipline for each of the gods (sans Khorne because he hates wizards, but Be'lakor has his own lore)
<tabs> <tab name="Lore of Tzeentch"> Attribute: Fires of Change: Whenever you successfully cast a damaging spell, pick a unit of Screamers or Horrors within 12". Roll a d6 for every wound this spell inflicted, on a 5+ a Horror is restored and on a 6+ a Screamer is restored.
- Signature: Blue Fire of Tzeentch: (6/9) d6 flaming Sd6+1 hits. Yeah, see that randomized strength? That's why this sucks. Sure, you'll never have to deal with useless S1 fire and may roll a 4, 5, or 6, but that doesn't mean that your fire's actually going to hurt those monsters.
- Pandemonium: (7/14) Treason of Tzeentch under a new name. Forces the enemy to take their lowest leadership value, ignoring all Inspiring Presence and Hold Your Ground. If you're looking to begin a domino reaction by forcing a unit to break with their shit Ld of 6, then you've got a way. But Shadows and Death have similar spells and don't demand you to buy a mark. Or be Archaon, Galrauch, or Vilitch.
- Pink Fire of Tzeentch: (8) Shoots out a flamer template and hits anyone under it with a Sd6+1 flaming hit, making it just as bad, if not worse, than Blue Fire.
- Bolt of Change: (8) A powerful, single-shot magic missile that acts as a bolt thrower shot, penetrating ranks and causing multiple wounds. Has a respectable if random strength, and can chew up a unit of monstrous things. With Warpflame being no more, you can actually make use of this one without worrying about it backfiring.
- Glean Magic: (8) Another awful spell because there is so much that can go wrong with it. If cast, you duel an enemy wizard by rolling a D6 and adding your respective wizard levels. If you win, he loses a wizard level, eats an S4 flaming hit, and you steal one of his spells. It can screw up your opponent if you steal the right spell, but the spell you nick is (say it with me) random. Also, the caster has to have a high wizard level if he wants a chance at winning the duel. Note that this spell can be hilarious against VC. Lick up tears as you pluck away Invocations from his supporting necromancers. Emphasis on 'can be.' You've gotta get the spell off, hope it isn't dispelled, win the wizard duel, and be lucky enough to get Invocation as the random spell you steal.
- Treason of Tzeentch: (14) Now a somewhat different spell! Now you can make an entire unit hit itself, though it's not factoring anything that falls into effect during the first round of combat and fails against steeds, characters, and those immune to psychology. Sure, it can wipe out a unit of greatswords or dual-wielders, but it's meaningless against spears, lances, and bows.
- Infernal Gateway: (16) A bigger version of the signature spell of the lore. If you roll 11 or 12 for the strength, it’s Strength 10 and does 3D6 hits. Far too unreliable and not quite as threatening as its previous version, where it could nuke a unit on a lucky roll.
</tab> <tab name="Lore of Nurgle"> Attribute: Children of Nurgle: Whenever you successfully cast a damaging spell, pick a unit of Nurglings or Plaguebearers within 12". Roll a d6 for every wound this spell inflicted, on a 5+ a Plaguebearer is restored and on a 6+ a Nurgling swarm is restored.
- Signature: Stream of Corruption: (7) a breath weapon that forces Toughness tests or takes save-ignoring wounds. It will melt down mobs of light or mid infantry all the same.
- Miasma of Pestilence: (5/10) A simple augment spell that nerfs any and all enemy units in base contact with the target. Considering the loss to Initiative Nurgle-marked models have, this will knock enemies down to your level. You can boost the spell to cause a debuff of D3, but it’s often not worth going that far unless you really need to land your combat hits.
- Blades of Putrefaction: (8) Makes the unit's attacks poisoned or makes the poison attacks auto wound on hit rolls of 6. Considering how melee-centric you are, you'll be bound to push some wounds in there.
- Curse of the Leper: (10/13) Either add +d3 to a friendly unit's Toughness or robs an enemy unit of d3 Toughness. Either way is helpful, but since Stream of Corruption, Rancid Visitations, and Plague Wind rely on your targets failing their Toughness tests, this is a good spell to open a magic phase with if you’re heavy on the Nurgle theme.
- Rancid Visitations: (10) This is a potentially powerful magic missile. After causing its hits, it can potentially carry on going if the target fails its Toughness test. Of course, this combos with Curse of the Leper to cause the most amount of damage possible. Makes Elves cry if you get it past their Wizards. Cast it on a block of spearelves and enjoy drinking your opponent's tears.
- Fleshy Abundance: (11/14) Nurgle’s final augment spell suffers an increase in difficulty and a reduction in effect from the last WoC book, granting 5+ regeneration to a unit for a turn. Regen is back to being a ward save but it allows you to stack up to a 3+ ward on your Nurgle daemons.
- Plague Wind: (15/25) Nurgle’s final spell is one of those wacky vortexes. It can go Night Goblin Fanatic through your own army if you’re unlucky, but WoC can at least withstand this one if it goes wrong. Plague Wind forces toughness tests on its victims and inflicts armour-ignoring wounds on those that fail. Get in close and fire it off into a horde for maximum carnage, but Plague Wind is overshadowed by the utility of the rest of the lore.
</tab> <tab name="Lore of Slaanesh"> Attribute: Born of Damnation Whenever you successfully cast a damaging spell, pick a unit of Daemonettes or Fiends within 12". Roll a d6 for every wound this spell inflicted, on a 5+ a Daemonette is restored and on a 6+ a Fiend is restored.
- Signature: Lash of Slaanesh: (6) Draws a line from the caster, and anybody under that line takes a S4 hit with armour piercing 1. Awkward to use and unlikely to affect many models, this is a rather flimsy signature spell compensated by the addition that makes a unit who suffers casualties incapable of movement. Thus does an awkward magic missile turn into a means of locking up a unit from fleeing or charging.
- Acquiescence: (7/10) Useful in and out of combat, this hex spell gives the target Always Strikes Last and Random Movement (d6"). Easily stalls an impending charge, and can severely nerf enemy units in combat, as well as being easy to cast.
- Pavane of Slaanesh: (8) This spell targets a single enemy model and forces them into a LD test on a 3D6. If they fail, they take a wound with no armour saves. Good for attacking enemy characters and sniping unit champions, but you might wonder why WoC have this spell when they're so geared towards challenges. Well, this spell allows you to kill a unit champion outside of combat, thus stopping the Eye of the Gods rule forcing your Chaos Lord into a challenge with some single wound sergeant when you’d rather he go rampaging through the unit, or having that chump accept a challenge instead of the character you want to kill, so it’s more useful than it looks.
- Hysterical Frenzy: (8) Like Curse of the Leper, Hysterical Frenzy can be cast on your unit or an enemy unit, granting Frenzy and a small number of hits at the end of each magic phase. The hits the spell causes really shouldn’t bother a WoC unit, so you can Frenzy up non-Khorne units. Hysterical Frenzy stacks with existing Frenzy too. So why would you want to give Frenzy to an enemy unit? Firstly, it can force a unit into charging you, great for pulling in units of shooting guys that would rather stay out of combat. Cast it on a war machine crew for Maximum Fun. Secondly, D6 S3 hits might not sound like much, but they will cause trouble for small flimsy units like the average fast cavalry or skirmisher unit. Note that because the hits are not melee attacks, they will roll to wound against a War Machine's Toughness, not the Toughness of its crew. Unfortunately, since these hits are caused after the spell is cast, this spell does not count towards the Lore Attribute.
- Slicing Shards: (10) Slicing Shards functions in the same way as Rancid Visitations. The target takes a few S4 Piercing 1 hits, then has to pass a LD test or take some more. Not quite so effective as Visitations as the target will likely have their General and/or Battle Standard nearby, but this spell combo with Phantasmagoria below or Tzeentch's Pandemonium. Catch a unit of zombies or other undead away from their general and laugh as he loses that meat block until he manages a roll of double ones.
- Phantasmagoria: (10/20) Essentially inflicts a unit with the opposite of the Cold-Blooded rule. They roll an extra D6 when taking LD tests, discarding the lowest dice. Very helpful at breaking enemy units, this spell can be boosted so it hits all enemy units within a certain distance of the caster. As the Lore of Slaanesh is Leadership focused, consider using this spell first to get the most out of your spells. Actual Cold-Blooded units (aka Lizardmen) will be rolling 4D6 for their LD tests and discarding both the highest dice and the lowest dice if they're affected by this spell.
- Cacaphonic Choir: (15/18) Holy shit this is powerful. A hex spell, the Choir can cause quite a lot of damage even when the caster is in combat. It causes a bunch of hits that wound on a 4+, regardless of toughness, and ignore armour saves. On top of that, the target is slapped with Acquiescence’s effects too! Bliss in Torment gets the most use out of this spell, and if you’re feeling really mean you can boost the Choir to hit all enemy units in range as well. It can often finish a game by itself and will totally cripple units hit by it. Get it on a Prince, fly him in there, and start yelling.
</tab> </tabs>
Equipment[edit]
Daemonic Loci[edit]
These are the special buffs your Heralds can equip to augment their units.
<tabs> <tab name="Khorne">
- Abjuration: 20pts. Magic Resist (2) is just the thing you need to make an expensive unit unappetizing for wizards (Result will vary with arrows and cannons).
- Fury: 40pts. Frenzy. Extra attacks are what you need if you ever intend on having Bloodletters do any heavy work.
- Wrath: 40pts. Hatred gives a slight guarantee that your first round will make a mark. Fury is better unless you have other ways to gain more attacks.
</tab> <tab name="Tzeentch">
- Transmogrification: 25pts. Your Pink Horrors can now re-roll their split tests, in the event that you really need to drown the enemy in Horrors.
- Change: 25pts. Your Herald and any attached unit roll d6 for their strength. On the plus side, you have a 50% chance of being a little more dangerous than before. On the downside, you have a 33% chance to be even more useless than before, and besides, why are you using a Herald of Tzeentch for combat?
- Conjuration: 40pts. Your herald and his unit add +1 to the strength of their spells. This will add more consistency to unreliable Tzeentch magic with spell wounding on 4+ and 3+.
</tab> <tab name="Nurgle">
- Virulence: 25pts. You regain the old-school Poisoned Attacks rule. Auto Wound on a 6+ hit roll. Cheaper offense loci and poison immunity don't negate it.
- Fecundity: 25pts. Your unit gains a 6+ Regen, giving extra protection stacking up for a 4++ ward.
- Contagion: 50pts. When your unit rolls a 6+ to hit, the enemy takes an immediate extra S4 hit. Take a more offensive route for your walls.
</tab> <tab name="Slaanesh">
- Grace: 20pts. All LoS, Dangerous Terrain and Characteristic tests (that aren't Leadership, sorry brah) are automatically passed. Well, hoo-frickin-rah. Lets your Steeds run over any terrain unmolested and prevent your blinged Heros from getting crushed by cannons.
- Swiftness: 50pts. ASF is something you want, and you want it three seconds ago. Now that it's out of Elf's hands, you can now guarantee someone's day getting ruined by a tide of armour-mulching re-rollable hits.
- Beguilement: 50pts. The other side of the Swiftness coin. Enemies in base contact now suffer ASL, and with the new re-roll rule, you're guaranteeing that they'll be helpless against you.
</tab> </tabs>
Daemonic Gifts[edit]
Gone are the random-ass tables of 8E. Now you can buy the gifts you want for your HQs, though they can't be used on more than one model and they compete with magic items.
<tabs> <tab name="General">
- Chaos Disruption: 30pts. -1 to hit with missiles, which every single one of your monsters needs, and can even help a Herald stuck in a group.
- Daemonic Arrogance: 30pts. Stubborn is pretty useful if you're trying to keep your boss in a fight. Sadly, no unit joins in on this.
- Soul hunger: 30pts. Hatred on steroids, your first round now allows to a re-roll on hit and wound rolls against non-Animated Constructs.
- Ward of Chaos: 30pts. The alternative to Chaos Disruption, grants a 3++ Ward against missiles, though this is only for the model who bought it. It cannot be combined with Diabolic Splendour. Not like a Daemon Prince or Greater Daemon.
- Radiance of Dark Glory: 25pts. Friendly like-aligned Daemons suffer one less wound from Instability, which can occasionally help, especially on a support HQ.
- Massive Stature: 20pts. An extra wound will always be welcome.
- Withering Gaze: 20pts. A quick-to-fire S6 missile? That's pretty awesome.
- Diabolic Splendour: 15pts. Reroll failed ward saves. Since most daemons only have a ward save for protection, you'll need the tougher daemons to make that work. The 15-point price tag just guarantees it.
</tab> <tab name="Khorne">
- Dark Insanity: 55pts. 2d6+2 Attacks. Fortunately, this is pretty decent as the Princes/Thirsters have a good chance of getting more attacks. It is pretty expensive though.
- Awesome Strength: 50pts. Makes Heralds hit like Bloodthirsters and makes Bloodthirsters hit like ultra-roid-raging armour-busters. In all honesty, though, the jump from S6 to S9 will only matter when fighting monsters or war machines. Shame it's using up the Herald's entire magic item allowance.
- Spell Destroyer: 25 points lets you get a chance to dispel any spell targeting your model and then remove the spell from the caster's memory.
- Spell Breaker: 25pts. Essentially gives the Khorne boys a dispel scroll.
- Immortal Fury: 25pts. Perpetual hatred with the caveat of always pursuing an enemy. For 25 points, that doesn't sound too shabby.
- Battlemaster: 25pts. A flat +1 to hit in cc will never not help, especially since this isn't basing itself on WS or anything.
- Might of Khorne: 20pts. Another monster-killer in the form of HKB.
</tab> <tab name="Tzeentch">
- Tzeentch's Will: 60pts. Considering how many d6s you'll be chucking with a Prince/LoC, having the ability to re-roll one of them sounds nice. But for 60 points...well, maybe a bit less.
- Twinned Heads: 55pts. +2 to all casting for being a faker Fateweaver? For 55 points? Really? Maybe if the daemons of Tzeentch also have Master of Sorcery, but otherwise this is an overpriced guarantor of casting random-ass spells.
- Power Vortex: 30pts. You can add a die in your power pool for a rather decent price.
- Master of Sorcery: 30pts. You know how your HQs are all trapped in Tzeentch Lore? For 30pts, this becomes your escape hatch. Not only are you a Loremaster, but you're a Loremaster in any CRB lore you want or in Tzeentch lore.
- Dark Magister: 25pts. Your first miscast is nullified. Hooray.
- Iridescent Corona: 20pts. Anyone in b2b with your boy takes an instant S3 flaming hit. Don't expect it to count for much, but that's one thing you made without worrying about rolling WS.
- Flames of Tzeentch: 20pts. You can now spit out like a flamer, which isn't too shabby all things considered.
- All-Seeing Eye: 15 points lets you see all the magic items & assassins one unit within 24" has.
</tab> <tab name="Nurgle">
- Stream of Bile: 30pts. An S4 breath weapon. a Crowed clearer. If a wizard, having Stream of Corruption, your front-facing is dangerous to any nearby unit with the threat of double breath attacks.
- Nurgle's Rot: 25pts. Anyone in b2b with this model (unless Nurgle Daemon or animated construct) takes an S2 hit that bypasses armour. Don't expect this to do much in a challenge, but it might do the trick against mobs.
- Pestilent Mucus: 25pts. If wounded in cc, anyone in b2b that isn't a Nurgle Daemon or animated construct must test toughness or take an instant wound.
- Nurgling Infestation: 25pts. GUO only. This lets your fatasses heal Nurgling mobs within range, but this sadly won't help him in combat.
- Noxious Vapours: 25pts. Anyone in b2b that isn't a Nurgle Daemon or animated construct takes ASL. Well, that's how you settle a fight.
- Trappings of Nurgle: 15pts. Gain Natural Armour(5+). giving Nurgle Heros an armour save in addition to wards makes them more resistant to small weapons attacks.
- Slime Trail: 10pts. Protects the unit from any bonuses given for flanking or rear attacks. For 10 points, it's practically a steal.
</tab> <tab name="Slaanesh">
- Spirit Swallower: 50pts. Allows the ability to recover lost Wounds for each wound dealt in cc against non-Animated Constructs. Is this good? Fairly so. Is it worth a Herald's allowance? Less so.
- Temptator: 30pts. Anyone in b2b with the model gets to test Psychology or else allows you to target whoever you want in priority removal of a, particularly annoying banner.
- Siren Song: 25pts. An enemy unit must test psychology in order to charge them.
- Soporific Musk: 25pts. Hijack the fiend's debuff aura.
- Unnatural Swiftness: 25pts. More ASF? Well, if you don't grab the locus for it, you can take this.
- Allure of Slaanesh: 20pts. 5 points less than Temptator, and the difference is that the enemy unit must test Psychology or be utterly helpless, which is actually better.
- Enrapturing Gaze: 20pts. An enemy unit in b2b must use their own Leadership, thus robbing any Inspiring Presence or any BSB. Save it for the armies where such things really matter.
- Tormentor: 20pts. Doubles each wound dealt for the sake of Combat Resolution, this letting you end fights faster and get to the chasing.
</tab> </tabs>
Hellforged Artefacts[edit]
<tabs> <tab name="Khorne">
- Axe of Khorne: For 30 points, an extra 1-3 attacks does seem alright, if a bit limiting...
- Armour of Khorne: 25pts. Medium armour that nullifies magical weapons definitely is worth looking into, especially when up against folks like Karl "hammer-like there's no tomorrow" Franz.
- Icon of Endless War: 25pts. Your Khorne units add +d3" to the charge, which is nice, though a Banner of Swiftness does provide more than just a charge, but they can be stacked on a Herald.
</tab> <tab name="Tzeentch">
- Staff of Change: 50pts. Your LoC can throw some pain with this. If thrown against some light-armor mobs, you can then see that model explode and deal more damage to the guy's mates. As for the Herald, reconsider. He shouldn't be fighting. You can make it work on a prince of Tzeentch or Lord of Change especially if they have the lore of beasts.
- Daemonic Robes: 20pts. Your wearer will never be wounded on anything less than a 3+, which can work together with some other protection to flat-out laugh at guns and cannons.
- Banner of Change: 25pts. Your unit gains a bound PL5 spell that deals 3d6 S3 hits to an enemy in b2b, adding to the flood of hits the Horror Mob inflicts.
</tab> <tab name="Nurgle">
- Balesword: 25pts. While Poisoned Attacks is rather redundant on Heralds and Great Unclean Ones, dealing d3 wounds at 25 points is a good deal.
- Plague Flail: 25pts. The issue with a flail is that it's only strong on the charge or charged. Therefore, a flail that only gives a chance of an extra wound if wounded by what is effectively a CCW after the first turn is a hard pill to swallow when the Balesword exists. But +2 strength for a turn is very killy for a poisonous attack.
- Icon of Eternal Virulence: 25pts. Every roll of 6 to wound makes an extra wound for Combat Resolution, which might let you overwhelm a unit.
</tab> <tab name="Slaanesh">
- Lash of Despair: 25pts. It provides a ranged attack that deals d6 wounds and is quick to fire. brutal on Keeper of Secrets.
- Witstealer Sword: 25pts. Another pass test (Initiative this time) or take another wound without armour. With your access to Initiative shenanigans, it's not shabby.
- Banner of Ecstasy: 25pts. Grants stubborn. Maks your Chainsword not Shader so easily.
</tab> </tabs>
Expansion Magic Items[edit]
Magic Weapons
- The Eternal Blade: 65pts. Adds +1d3 WS, S, I, and A to the bearer each turn. Sounds nice, but this sucks up the majority of your magic item allotment, which means your lord will only be useful in combat.
Enchanted Items
- The Portalglyph: 25pts. Grants you the ability to deep-strike a unit of daemons. However, the bearer has to first place it within 12" of themselves and scatter 3d6" (and if they die, it's immediately placed with a 6d6" scatter). After that, the army in reserve can pop in at the end of any movement phase, free to move but not march.
- Rock of Inevitability: 25pts. Let's you place a single auto-fab setpiece. After dropping one wall of chaos-stuff, every turn requires you to roll a d6: a 1-3 is just nothing, a 4 or 5 sets up another wall, and a 6 drops a tower. Now, why would you want this? Because any units from the Forces of Order take a -2 to Initiative whenever they're within 6" of the bearer.
Magic Standared
- Standard of Chaos Glory: 60pts. Lets those within 12" roll 3d6 and drop the highest for Instability, which is critical for keeping your armies in place.
- Banner of Infernal Fire: 35pts. A standard with a bound PL5 spell. This spell deals d6 flaming S5 hits to all units within 6", regardless of engagement.
- Great Icon of Despair: 40pts. All who see the icon suffer -1 to Leadership. Honestly kinda meh, especially since it doesn't affect those with Immunity to Psychology.
- Banner of Unholy Victory: 40pts. The bearer's unit gains a +d3 to combat resolution, no strings attached.
- Great Standard of Sundering: 50pts. This is the anti-mage standard. Not only does it inflict a -2 penalty to casting rolls for one roll you determine (critical for nerfing any magic-dependent builds), but it also forces miscasts for Lore of Light spells if the casting roll is double 1s or 2s.
God Spacific[edit]
Khorne
- Firestorm Blade: 25pts. Bit of a niche, it lets the bearer re-roll to wound and grants flaming attacks. More of interest on a Herald.
- Blade of Blood: 15pts. The bearer gets +1 to Strength and Killing Blow. Not too bad for the cost.
- Skull Totem: 25pts. The bearer's unit marches at triple their movement speed. DAMN THESE BOYS FAST.
Tzeentch
- The Chromatic Tome: 25pts. Lets you and your enemy re-roll their Winds of Magic Die. Sure, it might screw you over, but sometimes you just wanna stop a bad Chaos Storm from brewing and Tzeench focused list wants to always have lots of power dice.
- Wand of Whimsy: 30pts. Any time the bearer casts or dispels, roll a d6; on a 5+, the bearer adds +1 to S and A for the rest of the game. If you really want a murderous magical Prince or lord of change, this is your pick.
- Icon of Sorcery: 25pts. The bearer adds +1 to their casting attempts. Shame that Tzeentch lore just...isn't that desirable.
Nurgle
- Staff of Nurgle: 35pts. PL5 bound item with Rancid Visitations from the lore of Nurgle. With the nerf to heralds and only getting Lv2 through a GUO, the staff has gone greatly up in usefulness.
- Standard of Sweeping Decay: 25pts. Lets the attached unit re-roll to wound, which is very handy.
Slaanesh
- Etherblade: 25pts. Ignore armor and reroll enemy ward saves. Pretty damn vicious, but it bites into half the Herald's magic item allotment.
- Torment Blade: 5pts. If the bearer deals any unsaved wounds against an enemy in combat, the enemy must test Leadership or else be forbidden from attacking. Jeez, this thing is ruthless.
- Siren Standard: 25pts. Forces any enemies charged by the bearer's unit to only react by Holding. Pretty useful for both Khorne and Slaanesh.
Unit Analysis[edit]
Lords & Heroes[edit]
One thing you should notice is that Daemons are expensive. This is because many have monster stats builtin from the start. The lord allowance is fairly tight, so you can't fit a greater deamon in a smaller battle with less than 2000 funds, and that's only enough to buy one or two cheaper items for them
Named Characters[edit]
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- Be'lakor the Dark Master: 520 pts. The First Daemon Prince has a bit of a change. He has grown in size. While he's still really good at resisting shooting and morale-breaking, while his blade can chop through armour like it's nothing, what's changed is his magic. See, he now has Loremaster in his own lore of not-quite Shadow that's a mix between blasting and debuffing. Especially handy is the spell that instantly forces a panic check, which he can then milk for some extra channeling die.
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- Skarbrand, the Exiled One 510 pts. for the angriest sonuva bitch of a Bloodthirster ever! He also has three stats maxed out to WS10 I9 while bypassing armour and getting +1A with his axes. He also has S5 breath weapon while bestowing friendly and non-friendly units with hatred and is frenzied himself. Keep in mind that, unlike other bloodthirsters, Skarbrand does not fly so that he will attract all sorts of fire without fail.
- Mazarall The Butcher: 430pts. A Demon Prince of Khorne Lord that's more like a lesser Bloodthirster (same price too). He is more defensible with light armour, shield MR(3), while offensively has Impact hits(D3) and fires S4 multishot(D6). in addition, at the start of combat, he gives a lesser Aura of Fury to only one unit. He permanently gains +1 attack on a roll of 6 for each model killed at its end. Alternative pick if you want your Khornenate leader to play more defensive, then go the normal aggressive with a naked Bloodthirster of the same price.
- Skaarac The Bloodborn: 280pts. Similar in power to a Demon Prince of Khorne that is also a monster. 12" aura of Khorne Daemons re-roll failed charges and -1 for wizard casting. For offense, in addition to stomps, he makes 6 S6 attacks that have a 1/6 chance to heal for each wound inflicted, a Breath attack that ignores armour, and he will explode on death. Overall, a walking machine of death is expected of all Daemonic heroes of Khorn.
- Skulltaker: 215 pts. RAPE INCARNATE! Essentially a herald of Khorne with a Lesser Locus, a WS and I of 9, flaming attacks, magic resistance, a 3+ natural armour save, and heroic killing blow in duels (which you will throw him in because he can't refuse any)! Great for hiding in a unit of Bloodletters or Bloodcrushers - watch out for those always strikes first characters and dragonhelm/dragon armour. They can still fuck him up.
- Karanak, Hound of Vengeance: 230pts. Born & bred to rape wizards. Can nominate one character before battle to re-roll to hit and wound against with his 4 S5 I6 attacks at WS7. His special toy is a brass collar (see Flesh Hounds) that causes a S10 hit against any wizard within 12" before they get bent over by their miscast roll. He also gives his unit frenzy. However, you're going to pay for all of this since Karanak costs twice what you would pay for a bare-bones generic herald. Is he worth it? Ask yourself two questions: is your opponent undead, or does he have pointed ears? If you answered yes to either laugh as Karanak takes a chunk out of Teclis'/vampire general's/hierophant's crotch.
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- Kairos Fateweaver: 445 pts. for one of the greatest magic users in the game - seriously, even compared to Slann! He's a level 4 wizard that knows no less than 15 spells that you may CHOOSE, not roll for. YOU CHOOSE which spells you want before the game begins. You get 4 from Life, Metal, Light, and Heavens; 4 from Death, Beasts, Shadow, and fire; and all spells from Lore of Tzeentch. The only problem is you have to choose each turn which set you're using, though you always have Tzeentch. His stat line is god-awful for his cost, apart from a 4++ ward save (coupled with a spell or two from the Lore of Life, this can make him extremely hard to kill), but you're taking this guy for the magic phase rape.
- Amon 'Chakai: 600pts. Named Lord of Change. Level 4 loremaster of Tzeentch or any Core Lores. Why you take him is his The Hand of Destiny ability which causes all Melee or Shooting attacks against a chosen model to auto-hit. Sentences to death the most important character and monsters that don't have absurd layers of defense.
- The Blue Scribes: 80pts. A tougher herald that randomly generates bound spells from any core lore you pick. Cheap but Not worth it for a proper game.
- The Changeling: 155pts. A special character that can shore up the lack of close combat ability in a squad of horrors. A herald with -1A and Van Horstman's Speculum, he copies the stats (WS, S, T, I and A but not wounds, so be careful) of an enemy in base contact/a challenge, which sounds cool, but that's before remembering his little two Wounds. With the Locus of Transmogrification, you have a chance of being stronger than the model you're imitating, and while the shapeshifting offsets the risk of being useless that turn, you're still not getting any better rules, and your Horrors will still hate you for rolling like shit.
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- Ku'gath, the Plaguefather: 510 pts. for a nigh-indestructible monstrous, stone-thrower with S5 ignores armour, and a misfire means no shots that turn. He also rides a Palanquin of Nurglings, but the cool feature is, again, the fact that he hurls Nurglings fit to burst from sucking his fatass off! It can effectively neutralize war machines that would otherwise be shooting at him.
- Rotigus: 600pts. A named Great Unclean one. He is a 3 Nurgle wizard lord with a propensity to inflict mass damage to all enemies near his massive girth. He gets an additional 5+ Regen that inflicts wound with each successful save on top of being an already tanky Unclean one. He shoots all enemies with 6" with D3 S4 hits and Knows a bound spell that inflicts D6 Str 3 hits that ignore armour to D6 enemy units within 24". Don't forget the Extreme Contagion that comes with every Great Unclean one. He is running into combat, casting spells of plague and defenses bolstering as his bloat gradually disintegrates nearby enemy.
- Epidemius: 225pts. The Nurgle version of Skulltaker, with T5, virulence locus, gives continuous buffs to Nurgle units in your army. Pretty sweet if you have the points to spare and essential if playing an all-Nurgle army. You may want to think about buying the Kazyk the Befouled model to use instead of the Epidemius one. It looks better and, even though it's Forgeworld, is actually cheaper than the GW Epi model!
- Horticulous Slimux: 320pts. Your slug-rider Herald works more as a buff node for your Nurgle hordes. Not only does he have the fecundity locus, but he also gives a 6+ regen to units within 8" as compensation for being unable to join any unit and places a venom thicket within 3" of him. He's also good with Beasts, letting them re-roll charges and 1s to hit while within 8" of him.
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- Shalaxi Helbane: 555 pts. Though titanic, Shalaxi is the best challenger you have in your army. Thanks to its buckler, it has a demented M10 and MR(1). In combat, it not only possesses HKB, but it forces enemies in close combat to take -1 attack on top of Sensual Barrage and forces enemies to accept any challenges issued or take hits for being cowards. And if anyone tries charging Shalaxi? Well, that HKB weapon is a spear, so hello, surprise stabbing! Shalaxi challenging you is a death sentence, so keep those Skavenslaves and Gobbos handy.
- N'Kari: 630 pts. The original named Keeper of secrets, if not only mentioned in passing, getting upstaged by a Slaanesh Herald, and only got the spotlight by being in TWW3. Given the modern keeper took powers from thier kit, N'Kari is armed with the Witstealer Sword and some gifts, with the standout being them having +1 to hit enemies in CC.
- Synessa: 495pts. Port from AOS, one of the twin chosen children of Slaanesh. Stated like a Monsterous Daemon Prince, Synessa is The Voice of Slaanesh, a caster lord that all that see them may use her Leadership if Friendly (mainly only fellow Slaanesh) or hex all regardless of range if they are enemies. Being a level 4 lore master makes this a deadly combo, and her unique Whispers of Doubt makes characters +1 to hit in melee if they fail the leadership test. The Staff of Slaanesh is a bound spell that will waste 2d6 low armor chumps. Synessa is a powerful support piece but only has a -1 to hit, daemon saves, and demi-monster stats for protection, so it is better to use that fly to keep them behind a massive mountain and ensure Acquiescence goes off when they're not.
- Azazel: 425pts. a Demon Prince of Slaanesh. A flyer that has Terror special rule and inflicts an -1 penalty to Leadership to combo with that maneuverability, and characters are more likely to fail Pavane of Slaanesh and Temptator. He could do solo flanking with his Ward(+4) and Soporific Musk for additional protection. Offensive with Temptator and a sword that ignores Ignores Armour Saves. He is the lord you could send in solo to proc routs with a few kills with his sword quickly.
- Dexcessa: 395pts. The dancer of the AOS twins is about rushing into favorable battles. a Daemon Prince with only -1 to hit for protection. They fly into favorable combat matchups, making +1 more attacks each consecutive round of close combat she is committed to, and able to make a Random Move(3d6) disengage before rolling break tests in case they don't want to stay in that one or wish to leapfrog to a different one.
- Syll'Esske: 350pts. Oh dear, jeez, look at an absolute monster. Though relatively fragile at T5 and 4 Wounds, they dish out an absolute flurry of pain. The two are mobile with the ability to re-roll charge and pursuit rolls. They allow friendly Slaanesh daemons within 18" to re-roll 1s to hit and force one enemy character to roll psychology or be barred from sharing Leadership, which can cripple certain armies. And then there's combat, where Syll robs an attack from enemies in b2b and strikes at S4, while Esske hauls his greatweapon that re-rolls to hit for each hit Syll scores, and then auto-wounds, ignoring both Toughness and Armor. If you grab this pair, keep them as far away from any artillery as possible or hide behind a Great Unclean One.
- The Masque of Slaanesh: 180 pts. Although better than her 40K incarnation, she can now join units. She is pretty good in close combat with her unnatural reflexes(Ward(3+)) and awesome at disrupting units with her eternal dance: Causing one unit to at the start of cc to lose -1 attack, -D3 Initiative, -D3 Leadership.
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Generic Characters[edit]
- Bloodthirster: 430pts. You know him. You love him. Khorne's greater daemon retains his throne as one of the most killest characters in the game (and lacks the End Times/AoS Subcategorization). On top of the usual daemon awesomeness, he comes with two hand weapons (which you can swap out for a Great Weapon and retain a good enough Initiative to rival Elves), medium armour, can fly, has magic resistance (2), and WS9 BS5, I8, on top of letting Khorne Daemons within 12" fight in an extra rank and re-roll 1s to wound. Like the last edition, this guy is susceptible to shooting, given that he will attract ALL war machines and generally ranged attacks from your opponent because if he doesn't, he has to face a fucking Bloodthirster in close combat and get raped. This guy is also the only greater daemon that can't use magic, which has the strange ability to make him potentially cheapest of the lot - you don't even have to buy this guy much. Still, if you must, you can purchase up to 100 points worth of Daemonic Gifts, keeping him just 590 points when fully loaded out.
- Lord of Change: 430pts. Tzeentch's big bad spellcaster. Not as physically imposing as the other Greater Daemons (having less weapon skill, Initiative, or attacks); however, what he lacks in combat prowess, he makes up in magic and trickery. He is the cheapest by far to raise to level 4, starting with a base level 2. That said, however, he is trapped with the Daemon Lore of Tzeentch unless you get MASTER OF SORCERY. He's no combat beast, but he has an aura that makes anyone within 8" that isn't a Tzeentch Daemon or Animated Construct take -1 to WS and BS, making him a mobile debuff. Fly around, cast spells, and charge at the right target and at the right time, just like the scheming Tzeentch-playing bastard that you are.
- Keeper of Secrets: 430pts. Probably one of the best choices here, with solid magic ability excellent close combat skills. Again, the change to Gifts has significantly changed how you use this guy, no more crazy gift combos, but still very good for tearing through infantry or kitted out to be a fairly efficient character killer. With an aura robbing enemies (that aren't Slaanesh daemons or animated constructs) -1 Initiative and WS, they're also an amplifier to the horde. As is the norm for monsters, expect your opponent to fire everything they have, so pray for some good rolls on the gift table. One thing to note is that with some fairly jammy rolling, you could end up with things like +1W, no armour saves against his/her/its attacks, regen 1W at the end of the phase when you cause wounds in melee, 2+ armour save (that cannot be improved) or +2 attacks thanks to the Daemonic gifts table. Stick him behind something with many Wounds (Beasts of Nurgle, anyone?) and have some Toughness test FUN.
- Great Unclean One: 430pts. He's fat, ugly, and slow. He also has 6 wounds at T7. It also throws down with 5 S6 poisoned attacks and the option to dual wield. The Lore of Nurgle is pretty slick for shredding low T/S units, while his aura allows him to punch through armour (not against Animated Constructs and Nurgle Daemons) on a 5+ to wound. 460pts does make him more viable for smaller games though, for an extra 75 points, he could end up with 2 of the daemonic gifts listed in the keeper of secrets analysis. Of all the GD, he's probably the most well-rounded option as he can hold his own in combat fairly well (WS7 and T7). Coupled with some luck on the Daemonic Gifts chart, you will have a nigh unkillable wizard.
- Daemon Prince: 240pts. The other generic lord-level unit. Cheapest by far, clocking in at a basic 270 pts. Unlike WoC, you can actually have an Undivided Prince and thus grab the Fire/Metal/Shadow/Death lore for your army. They can now be pumped to a LvL 4 wizard and take 5+ armour and wings in addition to their Gift allocation (150 for Khorne princes, 100 for others). Slap wings on 'em and go eat some wizards/warmachines, overall an excellent choice.
- Gaunt Summoner of Tzeentch: 245pts. Coming outta that other game is a slightly more durable Lord-level Herald on a Disc with a save-or-die melee weapon on half of his attacks. Don't bother with combat, though. He's only as strong as a state trooper. He is, however, an infantry-sized level 3/4 Tzeentch wizard with a special spell that instantly restores 1d6 Horrors or Flamers. Now that he can be dismounted, he can actually join a pack of horrors and shoot with glee as he hides behind those doubled bodies.
- Infernal Enrapturess: 195pts. Another AoS port over that, for some reason, is a Lord-level Daemonette. It has plenty of things to provide between blasting wizards letting Slaanesh daemons re-roll their Wards. A versatile shooting weapon between short-range spam and long-range pain, and the ability to hide in a unit, but the lack of a Locus or any mount makes this more like a Lords choice you take if you intend to spend everything on your heralds.
- Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch: 70/140pts. You know that humble Burning Chariot in the rare slot? Well, what if I told you there's a way to take it in a less limited selection slot, and you could put it in a unit of skirmishers? Then my friend you are in luck. I know Madness, but when your friends use Banner of the World Dragon, you are free to punish them with this not-war machine hero. There is no guarantee you will have friends left, but at least you killed those elves really well in that one game.
Heralds: Your generic hero choices come in 4 flavors below. Note, all the heralds have access to abilities called "Loci," which makes them share their special power with a unit of troops of that Chaos god, but these Loci are no longer free. They can also ride mounts or chariots of their gods.
- Herald of Khorne: 110pts. Close combat is awesome! WS7, S5, and lots of killing blow attacks! His locus powers are either Magic Resist 3 (20 pts), Frenzy (40 pts), or Hatred (40 pts) granted to the Khorne unit he is in. It can also take 50 pts of gifts. You can also put him on a Juggernaut or chariot.
- Herald of Tzeentch: 100pts. Magic awesome!? Not much of a stat line, but he comes as a level 1 wizard, upgradeable to lv2, and can re-roll ward saves and channeling rolls of 1. He has 3 loci: d3+1 blue horror counters (25), random strength each turn (25) (that just sounds like a bad idea), or +1 strength to spells cast by the Herald and the unit he joins (40). You could instead put him on a Disc or Chariot of Tzeentch for a wizard Lv2+ moblie magic supporter, else Not much point taking them without some pink horrors to keep him safe.
- Even if not running many Tzeentch units, they are also the cheapest way to get a core book lore with the restriction of magic. Will run your 130pts for a lv1 wizard, though non of the other gods' minions can benefit from his augment spells.
- Herald of Nurgle: 110pts. Still T5, still tougher and stronger than your average Plaguebearer. Can ride a Palanquin, giving him a 50mm base footprint and 4 Wounds! Herald can get very expensive very fast, though, especially if you load him out with the 50 points of Daemonic Gifts and buy casting options for him. The curse of the leaper spell allows you to increase a unit's T by D3 and watch your opponent cry at your unit of 30 T7, 4+ ward plague bearers thanks to Regen save from the regen Locus.
- Alternative take: Consider Fencer's Blades! 10 WS and +1 attack combined with -1 WS means most rank and file shit will hit You at 6'.
- Herald of Slaanesh: 100pts. A very cost-effective herald comes with a pretty kickin' rad stat line with armor piercing. Its three loci are: auto-pass dangerous terrain, Look Out, Sir!, and all stat tests except Ld (20), Always Strikes First (50)<--YOU WANT THIS, or go the opposite and make all in b2b ASL (50). It can be mounted on a steed, seeker chariot, or exalted seeker chariot of Slaanesh. They can also be upgraded to Lv1 wizards with access to the lore of Slaanesh. It might be worth it since all the daemon lore attributes let you add your fragile models back to a unit.
Mounts[edit]
- Juggernaut of Khorne: big mount that deals as much damage another hero
- Blood Throne of Khorne: The only way you can get this thing in. But is it worth it? It's a T5 chariot granting +2 more wounds, a 3+ Sv, has a crew of two Bloodletters, and the Blood Throne itself can attack (and heal itself if it causes wounds on impact hits!) However, the model looks like a cover from a Lady Gaga album, and I'm left wondering what happened to Doomrider. Build your GW kit to make a Skull Cannon instead, and BAM! Free Herald of Khorne in the box! The throne does let all Khornate units within 6" benefit from the Herald's locus, but if your opponent has any brain cells, he'll aim everything he has at it turn 1. It might be useful if you bring something else that is a bigger fire magnet *cough* Bloodthirster *cough*. *NOTE* you could take 4 of these in place of a Bloodthirster but that is a bit of an iffy idea.
- Alternative Take : NOT AS SHIT as You might think, dear Readers. It has a nice armor save; fielding a Herald with it provides him with a 2+ Save, which is awesome, considering most daemons are fucking naked. The Greater Locus of Fury should be Your ONLY choice here. It boosts up Bloodletters to a level of medium usefulness and proves a good shooting magnet. The 5+ Ward Save is really handy here. Remember that You can park this guy near a unit or 2 of Letters and push the lane heavily. Most opponents will try to avoid them due to the Killing Blow. NOT AS BAD. Still, the model blows.
- Palanquin of Nurgle: meant to give your Nurgle Herald more attacks and wound rather than speed.
- Plague Toad of Nurgle: let your Nurgle Herald ride with the Pox Riders and give them a Locus.
- Disc of Tzeentch: let your Tzeentch Herald fly around for an opportune place to lay down magic and a point more T.
- Burning Chariot of Tzeentch: lets you buy the version in the rare section using the character allowance or gives a Tzeentch Herald more attacks and survivability.
- Steed of Slaanesh: Fast mover, lets HS ride with seekers.
- Exalted Seeker Chariot: A bigger, badder seeker chariot. Watch as it turns any small block of infantry (less than 30) into little more than a speed bump with 2d6+1 impact hits, 10 armour piercing attacks from the crew, and 4 poisoned attacks from those ugly fuckers in the front, all striking before anything slower than those pointy-eared bastards. They also gain Blood Throne's ability to let other Sleenash within 6" benefit from the Herald's locus.
Core Units[edit]
Bloodletters and Horrors, Daemonettes, and Plaguebearers are 12pts each.
- Bloodletters of Khorne: The hard-hitting attacker. Natural Armour (6+), Magic Resistance(1), Killing Blow, M5", WS5, I4, S4 (5 if you charge). Despite this, they're toughness 3, so they will take a lot of wounds in return. Only possessing 1 attack does no service to them as in CC; they will trade one-for-one at best. You should have buffs on them, often taking the role of elite killers or so your frontline doesn't all die due to magic. Bloodletters are not for chaff on chaff; they should be chasing more expensive things like greatswords and bodyguard units.
- They need a Herald to help them. Throne provides additional defense and turns a Locus into auras to effect more Bloodletter units. AND YES. They need the Frenzy Locus to do anything against numbers. With Support, Even Circle knights and Chaos Warriors will be Cut in twain.
- Pink Horrors of Tzeentch: The magical Lines. A unit of Pink Horrors is a level 1 wizard that takes its one spell from the Daemon Lore of Tzeentch. Best taken in minimum 10-man units because while they do get a bonus to cast based on their rank bonus, they will know only one spell, and it's from the lore of Tzeentch. You could take one or two minimum-sized units to fill your core requirement, all the while benefiting from their ability to channel dice. One other thing to note is that Horrors do not roll on the miscast table when they miscast (but they still take the damage). Returning this edition is their ability to split into two Blue Horrors upon dying, though they also have a chance of just exploding in their enemy's faces.
- Daemonettes of Slaanesh: Overwhelm with a flurry of attacks. 12pts for M of 6, WS, and I of 5 and 2 attacks base with Armour Piercing make for some good fun in small units. You can put the flaming banner on a unit of Daemonettes to give them flaming attacks. Kitted out this way, they are not bad at hunting Regenerating units (i.e., Trolls). Their best use is chaff clearing, easily cleaving through a spearman or clan rat.
- Alternative approach: Large blocks, backed up with the ASF Locus. They are cheap and have many attacks. 5+ Ward Save means they won't die like shit all the time. Two blocks of 25 or 30 are not AS expensive as You might think :)
- Plaguebearers of Nurgle: Bricks coated in poison. They have poisoned attacks and a crippling initiative of 2 but can be a very daunting prospect when marched in a horde with a Strength and Toughness of 4. They can tie something up for a good while in a horde, then smack them around with poison (they wound creatures better than Bloodletters, but less good against High Armor).
- being a Nurgle deamon has been nerfed, going from a good -1 modifier to hit them to a more complicated and situational -1 WS. Meaning Plaguebearer gets +1 to hit WS3 and 2 enemies, and enemies with WS2, 4, and 7 are -1 to hit you. May get more mileage when combined with Miasma of Pestilence spell and some Slaanesh units.
- PLAY THEM WITH EPIDEMIUS AND WAIT FOR YOUR POINTY-EARED OPPONENT TO SOB BEFORE YOUR S5 T5 HORDE OF UNPARALLELED "FUN"
- Furies: Shoved into the Core slot, but can no longer take marks. Now we just have a fast Warmachine-hunting unit. With the addition of Expendable, you now have even less reason not to screen with these. They can be Fragile with Ld 2, resulting in most of a small unit dying to Daemonic Instability.
- Flesh Hounds of Khorne: Your vanguard force. Collars give Magic Resistance (3) total, with M8 and a fistful of high initiative/strength attacks, being faster Bloodletters with 2 attacks. Practically they are your lance cavalry, able to shred other light lancers and other medium armored units. Not a bad choice.
- Nurglings: A blob of roadblocks. An M4 Swam with a lot of wounds. It's best to tie up things, screen, and hope a bad Instability roll doesn't kill them all. Fun pitting them against 20-30 zombies.
- Daemon of Nurgle rule mainly gives them the help at making WS3 units (most common of units) hit them on 4s instead of 3s.
- Plague Toads: For 31 points, you get an expendable Monstrous Beast of Nurgle. They have a 5++ ward save and Poisoned Attacks, and they move further than Plaguebearers (6" is Daemonette speed). Unlike their cousins, they have initiative 1, and only have 3 attacks to hit with. The second rank can make their full attacks. All in all, they work out to about the same value as 5pts cheaper than 3 Plaguebearers but with higher movement, lower WS and initiative, and two supporting attacks. You should play them slightly differently to Nurgle to take proper advantage, letting you field a relatively quick Nurgle army when combined with other choices.
- Seekers of Slaanesh: Daemonettes on Steeds of Slaanesh with a bit of a buff. M10" Fast Cav and the Steeds have Poisoned attacks. But Fiends of Slaanesh still get the job done better. Still, not bad if you're playing on a budget and filling Core, as they're roughly a third the cost of a Fiend. 9 of them and a herald can be rather fun.
- Screamers of Tzeentch: Screamers are a unit designed to pester and harass. With the ability to fly, and a formidable amount of attacks and S/T 4, you can easily wipe flak away. Still, the beauty of this unit is its ability to inflict reliable damage without a chance of any returning to it. You may elect a single unit the screamers have moved over, and for every screamer in the unit, you will inflict D3 S4 attacks that hit on a 4+. It might not seem great, but they sure soften up special units between 10 and 20. When in CC with a monster, they deal d3 wounds per hit; bear in mind they get 2 CC attacks each, so say bye to that rare monster your enemy invested 200+ points in.
Special Units[edit]
- Bloodcrushers of Khorne: Your heaviest calvery next to Plague Drones. They dropped in price to 60ppm and a point of strength: Bloodletters will only be hitting at S4 after the first CC round, along with the usual Khorne swag in Magic Resistance and stuff. However, they did gain an extra wound and Natural Armour (5+) in the trade-off, and on the first CC round (you should be the one to instigate it), they get that lost 5S back. 60 points a model for Strength 4, Toughness 4, wound 3, and 3 additional S5 attacks from the mount. A minimum size unit produces 12 attacks (3 S5 with killing blow and 9 S6) + 3 impact hits. They are killy, but they are best suited to take out other expensive things for what you pay for.
- Do consider adding a Herald of Khorne with Greater Locus of Fury. It dramatically increases their damage potential! (Both the mount and the rider gain +1 attack). Add a Banner of Swiftness, and you get a nice, hard-hitting unit with a DECENT number of attacks (2 per rider, 4 per mount). Sadly, it's quite expensive. Nevertheless, I would strongly recommend NOT using this unit without a Herald backup.
- Pox Riders of Nurgle: Turn Frogs into knights. For 4 points more than a regular Plague Toads, you get what equals out to one more attack and impact hit in a much more contested slot. In addition, you can give the Toads a magic standard. If your use these, have a magic standard and play them as aggressively as Nurglely possible.
- Protip: Like any Monstrous Cavalry, If your anything bigger than a min sized unit, forming into additional ranks wise as the Toad mounts deal most of the killing power and they can't make supporting attacks.
- Seeker Chariots of Slaanesh: 80pts. A scythed chariot with a skimpy armor save is bolstered by the standard daemon ward save. Crewed by 2 Daemonettes and pulled by 2 Steeds of Slaanesh. For more info, look at the Daemonettes and Seekers entries above, then add D6+1 S4 attacks. Charge to delete that empire spear wall.
- Flamers of Tzeentch: Flamers are an oddity in the case that they fulfill a similar role to outriders in the empire book, namely maneuvering to a position on the flank of a unit and pestering that unit until it devotes time and effort into chasing your flamers. Why do I come to this conclusion? Well, you will be paying a premium for flamers, 32 points each. While there are several special rules tied to them (I will address them later), they are still only T4 with a 5++ ward save, making them comparable to a slightly roasted marshmallow. In addition, their primary form of attack has a moderately short range of 18" and multiple shots (D6). However, with a movement value of 6", it is reasonably easy to get into a unit's flank and stay out of combat. From there, you can get as close as possible without fear of receiving a charge. If your opponent ignores them for some reason, you can remain stationary next turn, allowing you to deliver a pretty formidable broadside. Luckily, Flamers come with one critical special rule to achieve this, Skirmishers. This rule enables the unit to twist and wriggle its way through small gaps, reform to face a new direction, and still move to reduce the number of hits from ranged attacks that will inevitably come the Flamers' way.
- Bloodbeasts of Khorne: 60ppm. With Flesh Hounds moved to core, there's now an imbalance in the Specials slot Khorn Warbeasts department. These... things are the answer. The Bloodbeast is if you took a Bloodcrusher and swapped the shock calvery with a reliable meatwall with toughness 5. Unlike Nurgle's beast, yours wins in the reliable offense department and edges out in speed by only 1", but loses in the defense department. Needing +1 on your ward save is much better than having a 6+ in natural given how common armor piercing is in 9th's meta.
- Alterative: They want to be the model meatwall if running alongside a blood throne. They will also produce the highest Armor pricing attacks a unit in this Chaos army can produce, being strength 6 on the charge thanks to the mark and not being mounted. It's still a question over running Bloodcrushers over them that boils to the question of using standards and how aggressive your using them if you want to pay less than 180 points for a unit or want a unit of +3x+2 dimension so to maximize supporting attacks.
- Beasts of Nurgle:55pts. It went from above average to unkillable, back to Still hard to kill for Nurgle. have D3+1 random attacks, 4 wounds, Ward(4) because regen, Slime trail, Poison, and Attention Seeker, they can take challenges and give them. Take em home in boxes, take em home in cases. IF YOUR TZEENTCH OVERLORDS TRY TO STOP YOU, JUST THROW IT IN THEIR FACES!
- Fiends of Slaanesh: 55ppm. Wanna run down your opponent's army on a flank charge? Bring some Fiends! S/T4 with 3 armour piercing attacks at I6 and a move of 10. Oh, and they come stock with Soporific Musk. Use these creepy fuckers to flank and break basic and armoured infantry regiments with ease.
- Firewyrms of Tzeentch: 55ppm. To complete the symmetry, they are the Monstrous Beasts for Tzeentch, being like the unnamable child of Tzeentch from other chaos books except for also being Daemonic and has more Fire. It acts as an in-between a Fiend and a Flammer but can be faster and/or fire off more attacks than both depending on the dice. They get 3d6" movement and d6 attacks at I3 and a ranged attack that deals 2d6 flaming S4 shots.
Rare Units[edit]
- Skull Cannon of Khorne: 240pts. YES PLEASE. Daemons get a cannon mounted on a chariot, and Ogres wish they had something this cool. T5, Flaming S10 Cannonball and now also normal grapeshot, and the chariot itself can attack and heal itself (like the Blood Throne), and IT CAN MOVE AND FIRE. Take two, and wonder what that Hell Pit Abomination was over there before it exploded. Be careful if you take a Skull cannon rather than a Blood throne because the herald of Khorne model doesn't fit onto a standard daemon base. (It fits perfectly on juggernaut...)
- Plague Drones of Nurgle: These guys are even bigger bastards than Pox Riders and the Beasts of Nurgle. Another 15 for a total of 50 points a model give you Flying(6) Pox Riders with +1 toughness for an enduring 5. That's right, FLYING MONSTROUS CAVALRY. I've seen people divided over whether or not the model looks good, but what more do you want from a Rare unit? It's Plaguebearers riding flies from your sister's worst nightmares. The unit can also be armed with Death Heads, which can be Thrown with Quick to Fire and kill monstrous infantry like ogres.
- Hellflayer of Slaanesh: 100pts. upgrade the Seeker chariot for 20 points by putting an additional Daemonette on it while also empowering the queen/king bitch by granting bonus attacks equal to the amount of roadkill made by the impact hits. Let Delete That Elite spear wall.
- Burning Chariot of Tzeentch: 140pts. Like the Skull Cannon, the Burning Chariot is another form of war machine mounted upon "wheels" and permitted to move freely; in this case, the wheels are circling air currents as the burning chariot can fly. Of immediate note is its maneuverability, as while it does have the flying rule, it is a chariot, so it only maneuvers using wheeling. It is a flyer with screamers as steeds when fleeing or fleeing pursuing you must use their movement value of 1". However, it can still move over units and objects, and its primary form of attack makes up for its weaknesses. The Burning Chariot has 2 flavors, it can either elect to fire as a fire thrower with an S of D6 (pink fire/raspberry ripple) or fire as a cannon's grapeshot with a range of 12" BS4 and an S of D6+3 (blue fire/blueberry burst), these two options allow the chariot to tackle any form of unit in the game, and the ability to fly allows the Burning Chariot to get into a suitable range to maximize the damage inflicted, thus eliminating the primary weakness of all fire throwers and grape shots. In addition, when combat is joined, the chariot is perfectly capable of charging into the rear of a unit and causing considerable damage, as not only is the chariot Scythed at S4, but the crew and steeds have 9 S4 I4 attacks between them with the screamers at WS3 and the flamer at WS4, thus allowing the chariot to contribute to any combat easily. However, the Burning Chariot is incredibly fragile, especially considering it costs 140 Pts. At T4 and 4 wounds, any concentrated fire is a serious concern; thus, positioning is crucial when using one.
- Contorted Epitome: 175pts. A fabulous-ass Warshrine for the Dark Prince. This thing is a treasure if you intend to dominate the Magic phase as it grants a die for casting and a bound spell that lets your forces re-roll to hit the target. The thing also has a Ward save that improves by 1 point for every point of strength an attack has over S3 and has Acquiescence as a bound spell. Have it accompany a pack of Daemonettes and watch while the enemy gets torn apart by them and a pack of Seekers charging the flank.
- Soul Grinder: This is the only place in the entire book where you'll have artillery support outside of the Skull Cannon, and stone-throwers aren't bad to have if you're trying to clear out specific targets in the backfield or just looking to get a couple of shots off before combat (remember you can move and shoot). It does compete with all of the other cool choices in the Rare Units, though it could find a home depending on what you pick up. While it can certainly work in CC, especially since it can force an enemy model to roll I or get smacked around like a total bitch, you want that artillery.
- Harvester Cannon: 250pts. The default Grapeshot, when you wanna mulch mobs.
- Baleful Torrent: 275pts. Fire thrower, your big bad blaster if you just hate the BS3.
- Warp Gaze: 265pts. Bolt Thrower. Pretty mean now that the days of wide units with ranks longer than file are gone.
- Daemonbane Claw: +25pts. If you just HATE that HQ or Monster, just grab 'em and slap them with a single S10 attack with d6 wounds.
Building Your Army[edit]
The Daemons battle force is a good place to start, otherwise, start with a Herald and a block or two core. Bloodletters and Plaguebearers are good starts, expand with a Prince or a greater daemon, and some supporting units like Daemonettes, Horrors, or special/rare choices.
Army Composition[edit]
Your core can vary, with Bloodletters being 13 points each you want to put them in fights that they will win, so like every other army don't have them try to toe-off with warriors because of their OP units of characters. Daemonettes are pretty good when used as redirecting units so a few small units may not be a bad idea. Nurgle plague bearers are hit and miss, like Bloodletters their really hard-hitting, and like to stay around, it's a good unit to hold flanks. finally, for core there are pink horrors, which are OK, but get worse if you don't have many magic dice, it is, however possible to run say a 10 man unit or 2, with 2 LVL 2 heralds of Tzeentch nearby because the daemon magic lore attributes add daemons to nearby units of the god that the lore is for, but you get an extra horror on a 4+ instead of a 5+ like the other 2 core that can be bolstered like that, so you can have an ever-growing unit if you keep magic pressure on your opponent. You also want to sneak Heralds into these units plus a special standard, though that last one is superfluous.
Take Flamers Beasts and Khannons or you're doing it wrong and either a Daemon Prince or a Greater Daemon (a KOS or LOC is recommended).
A good goal is to build towards one or two gods at first, and add to your collection over time because every god by itself is fairly reliable (Nurgle is arguably the best) when you mix two or more your army will quickly become a honed daemon death machine.
Tactics Magic[edit]
your mortal follower gets the same god exclusive lore except the Lore Attribute is replaced with one that has a chance to add a Model to a Common unit for each unsaved wound.
- Tzeentch: to balance out being how good you are at magic, you get a heavily RNG lore. Unlike other god lores, you have the option to trade it for a core lore.
- This becomes more important if your using lots of Horrors and Screamers. Lore of Tzeentch actually looks slightly better when you keep in mind that Blue, Pink Fire, and Bolt of Change is actually designed to be cast on mass by Horrors instead of herald for purposes of ranged attacks and having the units grow ever bigger (yes Horrors also get the Lore Attribute).
- Glean Magic is also an ok spell, not constant, but will reduce what your enemy can cast and have better spells to spend dice on.
- Nurgle: Though the power of Diseases, your Daemons becomes harder to kill, Enemy toughness gets lowered and they now have to roll it to not die. Nerfed my not working on Animated Constructs.
- Slaanesh: Inflict pain, and mess with enemy movement. Hysterical Frenzy will grant Deamonetts 3 attacks each but has a chance to kill one or two.
Daemon Prince and Master of Sorcery: With allied Daemons only able to lean their god's lores, an unallied Prince or Tzeentchin with the Master of Sorcery power is the only one that can know core lore. The Prince can get Fire, Metal, Death, and Shadow. Unfortunately for Tzeentchins, with other gods being Suspicious Allies, you can't give them buffs that affect "Friendly" units(which is all of them). you can blast Nurgle units with magic missiles because they count as "enemies.
- Fire: better blaster then Tzeentch lore. Flaming Sword of Rhuin makes you better at wounding, especially on Sleenshi units and Tzeentch fire attacks.
- Metal: You have no Armour so no discount on augments, but still many good things, +1 to hit on attacks and AP, lowering enemy armour saves (all gods benefit), giving Natural Armour (5+) (you don't have an armour save to start with so now you are tanker). There is also an anti-armor and sniper spell.
- Life: make Tzeentch units tanker, and tanking lv3 for Regrowth will keep your expensive units in the fit despite your enemy's best efforts. (most Tzeentch unit have 2 wounds) Horrors are a hassle to kill when they have a 50% chance of exploding or turning into 2 blues when slain and then D6+1 pinks get revived next turn.
- Beasts: you get a Bolt thrower. Turing Screamer into a monster killer when they have S5. You can turn a Lord of Change or Tzeentch Prince into a Tank and justify magic weapons( ie. Staff of Change) with The Savage Beast of Horros and Pann's Impenetrable Pelt giving +3 Strength, Toughness, and attacks.
- Heavens: another better Tzeentch-est lore. A hex that makes an enemy worse and slower than Nurgle, Move enemies around and ignoring amour saves.
- Light: Counter to other Daemons and Undead. give a Tzeentch unit ASF (not very useful except against slow armies), Auto-pass a foreseen bad break test, and stops an enemy with low Strength form doing anything.
- Shadow: your Wizards are moving very fast (a lot of extra fly moves on units that already fly). Lots of Hex Debuffs to make your side more durable. The Withering makes your Deamonettes' job a piece of cake. Pit of Shades is an out to dangerous low initiative units (Nurgle beware).
- Death: Character sniping from Spirit Leech, The Caress of Laniph, and The Fate of Bjuna, and lowers enemy leadership. Generates dice when inflicting wounds. Effective at making headless chickens run. Pares well with Deamonetts or Bloodchrusher when they start causing break tests.
Tactics[edit]
COME AT ME, BRO![edit]
Whether you plan on fielding a mono-god army will severely affect how you build your army. Mono-god armies can work very well. Mixed armies will take some time to find your way of using them. In my experience, an all Nurgle army can be almost indestructible, especially with Epidemius giving the whole army continuous buffs. Taking a horde of about 30-50 plague bearers (390-650pts) with a herald with the 5+ poison locus can make this a very daunting prospect. In addition, fielding a unit of 6 Beasts of Nurgle (easily possible in 1000pts) can make for a beastly 6d3+12 attacks unit; 2 of these can get your opponent to instantly give up (even before the game has begun, in my case).
If you take a greater daemon, then you should, if you can, make them at least level 2. I personally wouldn't bother fielding a greater daemon in anything under 2000 points, daemon princes, however, act as a fairly kickass replacement in 1600 battles. The named greater daemons are good, but they tend to be a bit pricy. You should really always be taking a herald and more than often give them some loci or another, just for the added kick.
Daemon Horde[edit]
Take a core unit 10 wide and 4-5 deep (40-50 models for 480-600 pts.!) and load with one herald. Tactics differ depending on the core choice:
- Bloodletters: Insert Herald with gifts, an icon, and standard and/or Skulltaker. March out into the middle of the board and be sure to get the charge for the extra S p. Be sure to support the flanks (preferably with BoNs), or your shit will get fucked up. Watch the fuck out for Chariots and Monstrous anything.
- Plaguebearers: 30 of these badasses, a level 1 herald hopefully with the curse of the leper and the greater locus and *BAM* your unit is tough as nails. Poisoned makes them cause a whole lot of pain for anything tougher than them.
- Horrors: Insert a Herald with Master of Sorcery and/or standard. I usually start with a unit of ten w/ herald, and as they cause unsaved wounds (made easy because of the exulted locus giving +1 S to their spells), they gain more daemons at the expense of the enemies dead.
- Daemonettes: can work well with a unit of 10-20 running 12" ahead and tying up or Even killing any enemy vanguard; however, if you do this, it's properly not worth adding the herald if you do that.
Lists[edit]
As a Daemon player myself(call this guy Steve), I have played many a game. I started off using mixed God lists that fell on their face- no no no, they didn't fall, they were testing gravity. After this, I decided to try a mono-god list centered around Nurgle. I have not lost a game since. I have found that if you just get the minimum requirement or so of core, say a horde of 30-50 Plaguebearers (390-650pts), then beef out the rest of your army with special and rare choices, you're pretty much set (that being said - don't skimp on core...a big enough unit with a herald with a locus can still make it a munchy munchy unit). As for a general, a Great Unclean One with Lv4 Wiz is a solid choice. Epidemius is a must for this army as his constant buffs can make a Nurgle oriented list almost invincible (Remember - you only need to cause 28 unsaved wounds to be able to get all the buffs ((7=+1S)(14=+1T)(21=killing blow)(28=re-roll failed ward saves)). Stick him in a big horde of Plaguebearers, giving them 5+ poison and you'll do fine. Taking a couple of units of 5 or six Beasts of Nurgle can cripple almost any unit your opponent sends your way - they work especially well on the extreme flanks of your army; plant a skull cannon next to them and the field should be yours.
Or you could be that just as planned that guy like me(This is Jacob) and use The End Times list and take half your army as greater demons. It will half your army size, but for me, it works well, a Bloodthirster and Lord of change can just fly around and screw over your opponents plans as they either focus that big ass rapelord or the annoying troll laughing at his misfortune. In my list, I also forgo the special unit and just line up a chariot and cannon gunline to not only give support to your core but also give your opponent too many targets to focus on.
Or you could have even more fun like myself (Let's call me Theo) and play Legions of Chaos, allowing you to replace your measly T3 Bloodletters with UNKILLABLE VIKINGS, whilst still playing all the fun daemon stuff (Epidemius, Skulltaker, et al.). This leaves you with a core with FUNCTIONING ARMOUR SAVES (They actually exist) and special and rare choices that'll leave your opponent bricking themself.
External Links[edit]
Warhammer Army Project Tactics Articles | |
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General Tactics | |
Forces of Order | |
Forces of Destruction | |
Unaligned |