Icons

[Brother Pariah]

I'm building a Daemonic force using mostly Horrors and Bloodletters as troops. The Horrors will (hopefully) drop first with icons. Is it worth putting icons in the Bloodletters' units, in case my drop doesn't go as planned, or is this a waste of points? Thanks!

[eyescrossed]

You'll only need 1-2 Icon per wave, so I'd give 2 units of Horrors Icons, and 1 in a Bloodletter unit if it doesn't go as planned.

It's also good to put them in Bloodcrusher units - they're really survivable.

[Captain Malachi]

Actually, most armies only need two icons max, so one in each wave basically. If you split it up into Khorne units in one wave and horrors in another, put one in each type. But a better way to split your force would be too have a unit of horrors with icon in each wave.

[OwlandMoonGuy]

The # of icons goes hand-in-hand with your stomach for risky game play. Think of it this way:

 

Each icon creates a kind of, “beachhead” from which you can easily shore up forces from reserves. In the Capture & Control mission two icons are ideal. You can create a beachhead toward your enemy’s objective while placing one to defend your own. In the other two missions it’s a bit trickier but I think you can see the application.

 

So it all depends on how risky you like to play your deamons. Just taking icons is a risk in itself as they may not get used every game and therefore could represent 25 pts each of pure useless waste in your list.

 

I drift between 2-3 icons in lists of 1,500 pts & above. I find myself using less of them as I get more comfortable with the army.

 

Just my 2c, -OMG

[Seahawk]

As they are the only ones modeled as such, only my plaguebearers and daemonettes have icons. However, for you I'd give the icons (2 max) to the horrors. People freak out so much over your 5+ save bloodletters that they typically don't survive (well, mine don't anyways). At least the horrors get a 4+ and are underestimated.

[Raptor1313]

I'm not one for Icons. I'd rather have more bodies than Icons. Each Icon is 1.5ish bodies I could use.

 

Icons can, as others have pointed, end up as waste.

 

Icons ALSO tell the enemy where you might be bringing in your troops.

 

Icons ALSO have to be in the right place, at the right time.

 

If I were going to bring Icons, I'd take plaguebearers for the durability. Bloodletters and Daemonettes scream I WILL END YOU IN CC and thus tend to attract a lot of gunfire.

 

I'd maybe think about them in heralds if I wanted to try something new, but that only helps durability and not the time/place issues.

 

Ultimately, bodies are always useful, and the icon deep-strikes in itself, eating an average of a 7" scatter 66% of the time in a direction that is, frankly, unpredictable.

 

I mean, when you get down to it, the icon doesn't really DO that much for predictability.

 

The one thing I'd really consider Icons for is bringing down huge units, like Bloodcrushers and Soul Grinders. I'd be using it solely to keep them from eating difficult terrain (For the Grinders) and/or mishap rolls.

[Ian Hockert]

As I play my Daemon army more, I tend to find Icons to be a waste. The biggest problem with Icons in my opinion is that they don't help with the first turn drop. My deep striking typically goes poorly on the first turn or not at all which makes Icons points better spent on other stuff.