Daemons in the darkness

[Morollan]

I'm going to be fighting against Chaos Daemons in a Night Fight mission (from Battle Missions book). It's going to be 1500 points and I'm likely to be facing mainly Khorne and Nurgle daemons, although my opponent does like his Flamers of Tzeentch too! I have a nasty feeling that this is going to be a tough battle for me so is anyone able to offer any suggestions, either for army choice or tactics?

 

For those who don't know the mission, it's basically controlling objectives to win but the Night Fighting rules apply, I deploy randomly and the Daemons always get the first turn!

[thor1234]

funny enough, the first battle i played with the new codex was precisley this mission at 1500 points, i abso;utley masacared my opponent, this was the list and tactics I used:

 

The Sanguinor (Target was Keeper of Secrets)

 

1 Sanguinary Priest W/ Jump Pack

 

Tactical Squad W/Meltagun/Missile Launcher & Rhino

Tactical Squad W/Meltagun, Multi-melta & Rhino

RAS W/2flamers, Power Weapon

8 DC W/JP 2 power fists

 

Predator W/Lacannons

 

the Priest goes with RAS, Keep the the Sanguinor Near them (turn them into cheaper VV) those flamers wont know what him em with that FNP neither will nurgle daemons, if you can avoid it, don't charge the khorne Daemons but rapid fire them to death with Bolters (stay in rhinos until the bloodletters land then get out and fire away! the daemons 'Lack' of long range anti-tank capability means you can drice round all day and stay out of danger!

 

Hope this Helps!

[Leonaides]

also- dreadnoughts do well against most demons. Esp plaguebearers- think about a bloodclaw furioso, maybe 2? Or a dc version if you've taken dc squad...

[Morollan]

Thanks guys. I'll have a think about list and tacs and will post back here when I have something in mind.

[Morollan]

Well, I fought the battle tonight and got a draw out of it, which I was quite pleased with. List I ran was:

 

HQ

Reclusiarch

 

Elites

Sanguinary Priest with Power Weapon and JP

 

Troops

5-man Tactical Squad in Las/Plas Razorback

 

11 Death Company in Land Raider Redeemer (with Reclusiarch)

 

10-man Assault Squad in Rhino, 2 x Plasma Gun, Sergeant with Power Weapon

 

7-man Assault Squad with JPs, Meltagun and Serg with Power Fist and Plas Pistol

 

Heavy Support

Vindicator

 

I was fighting against 2 units of plaguebearers, 2 units of bloodletters, a great unclean one, a daemon prince of khorne, some horrors and some flamers plus a soulgrinder.

 

Ended up with 1 objective each and 1 uncontested for a draw. Could have gone either way with some pivotal moments being:

Loss of my vindicator before it could even fire a shot

His soulgrinder deep striking in difficult terrain and becoming immobilised

His daemon prince shooting my JP assault squad before assaulting and killing the only model within 6"

My DC being forced to assault a soulgrinder that they couldn't damage after the first turn (no more Furious Charge) effectively taking them out of the battle (I realised after that I didn't technically have to assault it as Rage USR doesn't require you to assault)

 

I'm definitely taking a couple of fists or thunder hammers for the DC in future though. Do not want to end up in that situation again.

[thundrchickn]

I've played multiple games against demons over the last month and my assault cannon spam list )razorbacks/baal preds) has decimated them repeatedly. Use the speed and firepower to shoot the snot out of the big hitters and them overwhelm his troop choices with everything for the win. If something if being very resistant to leaving an objective or dieing, you can tank shock them off any objective.

[Amsoly]

Don't DC have frag and krak nades? I'm not sure of the soul grinders armor but if it's 10 rear your dc could be have used the krak grenades for a str 6 attack!

[Jakobus]

I thought that since the Soul Grinder is a walker, to use grenades / Melta bombs you first have to hit on a 6 and then that will be against the front armour, in this case AV13. So the DC was :cuss

[Amsoly]

I believe that's only when a walker isn't immobilized. When it is I *think* you attack rear armor

[Somar]

a couple of PFs in the DC are great, on the charge that is like 6 TL las cannon shots (if you have a chappy)

that sorts out most armor (and works well against living things too)

[Frustrashun]

When fighting an immobilized walker all attacks go against the rear armor (the walker no longer has the mobility to pivot and turn its torso to present only its front armor to attackers). Unfortunately, the rear armor on a Soulgrinder is 11, which DC without PF or TH have no chance of even glancing. They could glance on the charge, but the best result they could get is an immobilized, which the Soulgrinder already was. Most other results on the glancing table would be ignored as the Soulgrinder has Daemonic Possession (ignore all shaken and stunned results). Even if all the Soulgrinder's weapons were destroyed on the charge, the DC would be locked in combat with a vehicle that they couldn't destroy, but which has a very good chance of killing one or two DC per round. DC DO have frag and krak grenades though, and with an immobilized walker they would get auto hits on the rear armor. That may have allowed your DC to destroy the Soulgrinder and move on to more important matters.

 

11 DC in a unit is overkill, unless you want an all DC list. 6 - 8 DC is all you need in a unit, just make sure to arm them well (TH, PF Infernus) so they can handle all potentialities. Otherwise it's an extremely expensive unit that could get locked in combat with a unit they can't destroy (good luck dealing with a walker or a Wraith Lord), winding up as a colossal waste of points.

[ps209]

I often fight this kind of army my brother is the spawn of chaos! litteraly! lol best way to defeat them is get rid of all power weapons, fist etc etc they get an invunerable save no mater what. I use an assult cannon heavy army, one on redeemer one on dread two in terminatours or i drop terminatours and have sternguard with H/bolters. All you got to do is kill em before they see the whites of your eyes. Once in combat there is little that can compete with slanesh in CC a 15 strong squad of deamonets will kill a whole squad of Assault marines before they hit back (Rending claws).

 

Kill em keep moving avoid them mop them up kill em some more

[Morollan]

Curses! Forgot about the Krak grenades. Would have given me 1 attack each at d6+6 penetration against AV 11 rear armour. Probably wouldn't have made much of a difference as it was towards the end of the game. I'll try a smaller unit next time but give them a thunder hammer and power fist to take care of any pesky vehicles or high toughness units.

 

To be honest, I really should have read up on the rules for walkers during the game as there are a number of points that I missed that could have changed the result. Oh well, I'll know for next time!

[thor1234]

shame you forgot those grenades!

 

Most other results on the glancing table would be ignored as the Soulgrinder has Daemonic Possession (ignore all shaken and stunned results). Even if all the Soulgrinder's weapons were destroyed on the charge, the DC would be locked in combat with a vehicle that they couldn't destroy

 

actuall that is not true, if the vehicle has not weapons and is imobilised it becomes aa wreck as if you rolled a 5 of the damage table.......

no more soulgrinder!

[Devilmixer]

When fighting an immobilized walker all attacks go against the rear armor (the walker no longer has the mobility to pivot and turn its torso to present only its front armor to attackers). Unfortunately, the rear armor on a Soulgrinder is 11, which DC without PF or TH have no chance of even glancing. They could glance on the charge, but the best result they could get is an immobilized, which the Soulgrinder already was. Most other results on the glancing table would be ignored as the Soulgrinder has Daemonic Possession (ignore all shaken and stunned results). Even if all the Soulgrinder's weapons were destroyed on the charge, the DC would be locked in combat with a vehicle that they couldn't destroy, but which has a very good chance of killing one or two DC per round. DC DO have frag and krak grenades though, and with an immobilized walker they would get auto hits on the rear armor. That may have allowed your DC to destroy the Soulgrinder and move on to more important matters.

 

if you roll immobilized or weapon destroyed, and the taget has no weapons left and is already immobilized, doesnt it get destroyed as if you rolled a 5?????

[Morollan]

If I recall correctly, both close combat arms had been destroyed by the time it got to strike back but it still had a couple of ranged weapons left. If I'd destroyed those with the krak grenades then it would have been wrecked as it was already immoblised.

[SamaNagol]

Put everything in vehicles and drive 12" whilst shooting and laughing.