Chaos SM Mixed with Daemons

Good afternoon all.

Anyone who follows this blog knows lately I've been playing Chaos SM mixed with Daemons (and sometimes orks!).

With the latest book having invalidated my previous CSM / DM list, I've been searching for a new variant to fill the void.

My thoughts have gone a couple different directions on this. I looked at running full on slaneshy allies as my friend Eric is examining. I don't like this option as much because while they hit VERY hard, they are a complete glass cannon and won't sustain themselves very well vs. torrent of fire unless your dice are insanely hot at 5+ saves. Additionally, their punch can easily be negated by standing in terrain and forcing them to strike at I1. Skull cannons help remedy this a bit, but you can't assume it'll always live to let you get that vital strike off. It's a good option though, and one to seriously consider.

My initial thoughts, which I keep returning to, are plague drones with a nurgle herald. This lets me have another unit that moves fast like spawn, and and has a 5+, 5+ if I take the FNP upgrade. I can also pay a few points extra to get some instant death hotness which is useful. I know they can't sweep, but if I combo them with spawn or a maulerfiend, they'll allow me to get sweeping action off.

Their real drawback, is no running in the shooting phase.


My thoughts are currently looking like this....

		1846
Typhus		230
Juggy lord		180	(sigil, meltabomb, juggy, axe of blind fury)
Cultists		50
Cultists		50
Cultists		50
Spawn		180
Spawn		150
Dragon		170
Maulerfiend		135
Oblit		76
Herald of Nurgle		45
Palequin		40
FNP		25
Greater Reward		20
Lesser Reward		10
Bloodletters		100
Plague Drones		126
2 extra drones		84
Skull Cannon		125

Is it a good list? Arguably no. It needs a lot of improvement. There are some things in it that work, and some that dont. /Sigh, I may have to give up either Typhus or the Juggy lord to make it a better list. Both of which I am really loathe to do. The single oblit and single maulerfiend are kind of random, I could probably focus that a little better, dropping the maulerfiend maybe for a second oblit and using points to upgrade something else. Plaguedrones are not yet tested, so we'll see what goes on there... This is also light on scoring units, I'd feel a lot better if I could get a second daemon troop choice. These are nice because cultists can hold backfield, while daemons deepstrike into my opponents zones to hold that area. They are fearless so they won't run off on me, and they can hit pretty hard if needed.

Skull cannon may be an unnecessary addition to this list. Going to see how that pan's out, then probably drop it.


In other news, having digested the Daemon book fully. I can say without any doubts, that this it is an excellent book and I expect it to make itself felt at the tournament scene very soon. It's not the slam you in the face powerhouse that GK or Wraithspam were. But it's up there.

My previous post didn't really touch on slaneshy stuff. I know its the internets new baby at the moment. I see for all the obvious reasons why seekers are so good. I'm not sold on daemonnettes. It depends on your matchup way to much I feel. Anyone who spams lots of solid S4 shooting is going to have a field day mowing that army down to size, while standing in cover loling. So we'll have to see how that pans out. I could be wrong, but I see it as short lived. Even if you stood behind an Aegis defense line, it makes those daemons I1, assaulting over it.

Skull cannons are going to be a necessity for that list variant to remedy that situation.


The other option is to turn back to using my orks as allies. If I did this, I would probably drop the second squad of 20 boyz, make the Meganobz troops, and use the associated 120 points to buy a second maulerfiend, cut some other upgrades, and get an oblit as well.

Things to consider...