The most fundamental aspect of the Chaos Demon codex has got
to be the special rules that binds everything in the army to one God or
another. Each God comes with their own special rule that defines the
characteristic and play style of their demons, and in 600 points nothing is
more important than making sure you've got the right units in the right place.
Firstly, all four of the Special Rules contain the 'Daemon'
Special rule, which grants every model in the codex a 5++ save, and Fear (when
you can remember to use it). Another special rule to which is codex wide is
Daemonic Instability. This rule means that whenever a unit loses a combat, the
units in that combat must take a Leadership test, which doesn't seem to harsh
until you remember that most of our units are Leadership 7-ish. The upside to
this rule is that we gain a special sort of fearless, as in we pass Morale,
Pinning and Fear checks automatically, which is actually better than Fearless
as this cannot be removed by pesky powers or anything else.
The first of the actual Special Rules is the Daemon of
Khorne special rule. Now, the Blood God has seen fit to grant his minions
Furious Charge, which means a wonderful +1 Strength on the charge, which allows
all of his already high-strength minions to become more hard hitting. He has
also allowed his Chariots to resolve their Hammer of Wrath at Strength 7
instead, which seems nice until you realise that he has two chariots, one of
which you don't really want in assault. And the signature, but largely
irrelevant, spite with his rival Slaanesh has allowed his minions to gain the
Hatred (Daemons of Slaanesh) special rule. Overall, Khorne's rule definitely
show you where his minions should be, up in the fray, charging screaming 'BLOOD
FOR THE BLOOD GOD.'
The next of the rules is the Daemon of Tzeentch special
rule, which gives the compulsory Daemon, and Hatred (Daemons of Nurgle) special
rules, and also +3 Ld for Psychic tests. It's a wonderful rule if you're a Pink
Horror, but it is largely irrelevant when you are a Lord of Change. Luckily,
most armies don't use a Lord of Change in 600 points, so this aspect of the
rule is more beneficial at this level of play. And then comes the wonderful
part of this rule. In addition to your 5++ save, you can reroll rolls of a '1'
on ANY save. Armour, Cover, Invun, all are slightly better due to this rule.
It's sometimes worth it just to roll a '1' on an important save, and then as
your opponent saves 'Failed' you can say the timeless line: 'Nope, Daemon of
Tzeentch', and then reroll it to a pass. All in all, Tzeentch's rules make it
clear where their expertise lies, which is in the Psychic attacks, which lies
mostly in shooting and buffing, so the Daemons of Tzeentch are surprisingly
versatile, but in these low points values you really want to keep back your
Horrors for shooting, and potentially use Heralds to buff some other units.
Daemon of Nurgle is next on the list, and it could not paint
a clearer picture of where these units are meant to be. With Shrouded, Slow and
Purposeful, and Defensive Grenades, these units are designed to sit there,
preferably on objectives, and wait to be assaulted, potentially moving closer
to enemies at a very, very slow rate. They do also have the compulsory Hatred (Daemon
of Tzeentch), but as always, this can largely be ignored. They have two main
areas where they shine with a slightly sickly light: In cover, on objectives,
Shrouded giving them an easy 3+ cover save (which can often be 2+), or
tar-pitting down any unit that strays too close to your deployment zone, as Linebreaker
can often make all the difference to the winner in close games. Largely, for
these low points values of 600, you want them to be your immortal objectives
holders, as nothing else in the codex is quite so good at holding them down.
Finally, the Daemons of Slaanesh. The classic Daemon and
Hatred (Daemon of Khorne) special rules are accompanied by wonderful Fleet,
Rending and +3” run movement (+6” if Cavalry!) which with fleet allows them to
get where they want to go, and fast. They want to assault, and they will
assault, and wonderfully quickly. In low points values, these Daemons allow you
to pick a target, kill that target quickly, and then die due to their fragile
nature. Overall, they want to be in the same position as Khorne's dogs, but
they'll get there faster, kill their target faster and die faster. Speed is the
name of the game with this special rule.
So, there you have it. Four very distinct special rules,
with four very distinct positions. Use Khorne to kill in assault, use Slaanesh
for speed, utilize Nurgle's survivability to hold down your objectives, and use
Tzeentch's Psychic mastery for shooting, and wherever else it's needed.
Overall, the Daemons codex is very versatile, but in low points values you want
to make sure that you keep the right stuff in the right place, and a large
combination can often bring great success. So, I hope that's given you a nice
quick view of the Daemons codex's compatibility with low points values, and
I'll provide an in-depth view of the Warp Storm table and the rewards and
powers in the next article.
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