How do you kill Daemons?

[Wakim]

I play mechanised BA and I've had a problem with chaos lately.

 

So far i've had a single draw vs daemons, rest of the time I either massacre them or get slaughtered in return.

 

Lots of rending, initative 6, templates that ignore cover and armor....

 

How do you deal with Fiends? Or Bloodcrushers?

 

How do you even deploy against this army?

[Brother Ambroz]

Deploy in cover if you can. Setup so your shooty units have a large field of fire. Whenever possible, charge the Khorne units and don't allow them to charge you. If you stay in cover the Slanneshi units will lose their high I. Templates are your friend for the troop units, they massacre large units of letters, horrors and daemonettes.

 

Hope that helps a bit.

[HERO]

I play a hybrid list so I never have any problems with Daemons.

 

But I have seen heavy Mech fair badly simply because Mech excels at killing elite units, and not horde (which Daemons can be).

 

Personally, I prefer bringing down immense numbers onto them and forcing a lot of saves. This includes mass bolter fire, or a combo-charge with multiple units. I deploy my guys close to eachother and let my long range weather their numbers down until I'm ready to commit. I would rather sacrifice a Predator and have him sit in front of Blood Crushers (forcing him to go around it) and buy my guys another round to get into position.

 

The key to beating Daemon is forcing a lot of wounds. Las/Plas does not do this enough imo.

[SamaNagol]

Mech BA should tear up Daemons. They don't have a lot of stuff that can touch your vehicles as long as you keep moving. Just work through their army from the ranged stuff up through to the assault stuff last.

 

And Mephiston eats Daemon Princes.

[breng77]

If you stay in cover the Slanneshi units will lose their high I.

 

Depends on the unit, many slaanesh units have Grenades.

[Atlantic]

Mephiston is the man for Daemon Princes. Assault cannons would probably be pretty useful as well.

 

Thankfully, all daemon armies seem to be pretty rare (at least where I play). The forced division and deep strike deployment really gives you a chance to pound half of the army in t 1.

[WeaponAdept]

How do you kill Daemons?

Shoot them in the face.

[HERO]

Mephiston is the man for Daemon Princes. Assault cannons would probably be pretty useful as well.

 

Thankfully, all daemon armies seem to be pretty rare (at least where I play). The forced division and deep strike deployment really gives you a chance to pound half of the army in t 1.

 

Except for DPs with Blessing of the Blood God.

 

And don't fight Skulltaker with Mephiston, ever. You auto-lose.

[SamaNagol]

I assume Blessing means they cannot be affected by psychic powers?

 

Because none of Mephiston's powers actually work on Daemons anyway

[HERO]

I assume Blessing means they cannot be affected by psychic powers?

 

Because none of Mephiston's powers actually work on Daemons anyway

 

Blessing gives the Daemon a 2+ invulnerable vs. Force Weapons (which Mephiston carries).

 

Skulltaker also kills him on a 4+ with Instant Death.

 

Just a very bad matchup.

[Vilicate]

They're not too bad to fight; honestly the toughest match-up for me was/is the Fatecrusher build. Fateweaver is a nightmare for me to get rid of, though the last time I played against him a Dreadnought did very well at tying him up.

[Brother Ambroz]

If you stay in cover the Slanneshi units will lose their high I.

 

Depends on the unit, many slaanesh units have Grenades.

 

 

True but those you should be trying to shoot up as much as possible anyway.

[AbusePuppy]

1. Deploy to deny them easy deep strike locations. This generally means "castling" in between areas of terrain, especially impassible terrain; so that they can't easily arrive near you. They can go for risky DS attempts, but 2/3 of those will fail, so most of the time the dice will bear you out.

 

2. Use your maneuverability. Most Daemons only move 6" and charge 6", whereas our normal troops are either mechanized or move 12". Engage them where you want to and make sure your vehicles are always moving 7" or more to they can't easily be hit.

 

3. Cover is your friend. Not only does it force Dangerous Terrain tests on their flying models, the majority of their units also lack grenades and thus strike at I1 when charging into cover. Even the Slaaneshi models which do have grenades almost all lack Move Through Cover, so there is an excellent change they will fail charges if attempting them from significant distances, and every failed charge is another turn for you to do as you please.

 

4. Choose your battles. If you're playing a short-ranged/melee list (like Jumpers), make sure that YOU are the one making charges and choosing where they happen, not him. Learn to use sacrificial screening units to allow your heavy hitters to do as they please. If you are mechanized, use his weakness to tanks against him; keep a "wall" of expendable transports between your valuable units and him, and make sure that wall is moving 7"+. Focus your firepower on his important units (Icons, fliers, etc) and targets of opportunity; know what is dangerous to your list and what can be ignored or tied up for a turn.

 

5. Daemons hate making saves. All those 5++ saves look really scary until you realize they don't actually pass them very often because hey, it's just a 5++ and very few of them have an armor save. Torrent-of-fire weapons are extremely effective against Daemons, so units like Dakka Preds, Baal Preds, and TLAC Razorbacks all work extremely well against them- as do melee units like Assault Marines, assuming you strike first. Their models tend to be comparatively expensive and not all that survivable if you aren't using low-ROF/low-AP guns.

 

Daemons are a very easy army to beat once you understand how to play against them; they have very few options and basically just run forward and try to punch you. Flamers of Tzeentch (the templates that ignore armor saves) were mentioned, but remember several things about them: because they use templates, getting a shot with them the turn they arrive is difficult (so you usually have a turn to shoot them first); they are incredibly expensive and come in small units; and, like all Tzeentch units, they sacrifice the one strength of Daemons (good melee) for some okay shooting. A single Assault Squad should be more than capable of beating them to death with their fists, and a few LasPlas or Baals can easily gun them down. Daemons do have some dirty tricks, but for the most part they are a fairly clumsy force.

[Jorre]

One of my regular opponents plays demons and I hardly ever loose to them with mech.

 

You should either reserve your whole army so he cant attack with his first turn deep strike or castle your entire army into a small area. Make sure you leave room to move out though you dont want to be stuck in a corner surrounded by demons.

 

I prefer the castling approach as it allows you to bring all your guns to bear on anything that deep strikes to close. Also castling makes it very risky for him to deep strike aggresivly especially if there is some impassable terrain around as well. He will either have to risk a mishap or deploy a fair distance away giving you more time to shoot him down.

 

Mephiston is a great choice against Soul grinders/demon princes and lesser demons, he can kill greater demons but due to their 4++ he will take alot of damage in return and probably will die especially if unsupported. Definetly avoid a Keeper of secrets or skull taker!

 

Oh and if he takes that stupid bird guy that gives him rerolled invuls try to spilt his forces up by deploying in 2 spots, that way he has to move out of the reroll bubble to deal with all your forces!

 

Oh and as a space marine flamers are your worst nightmare! make sure you take there out asap or they will destroy you!

 

Good luck

[BigBaals]

Daemons are my other army.

 

Field a ton of Mech and destory anything that can take out your mech. Small squads of Pink Horrors with Bolt, Tzeetch Heralds with Bolt, Daemon Princes, other Greater Daemons. Mech is absolutely the hardest thing for me to overcome, but Daemons have there ways at dealing with it too. Massed infantry vs. Daemons is going to be a loss most of the time as a BA player. Almost everything in the Daemon book can slaughter infantry en mass.

 

Every entry in the Daemon codex, minus the Daemon Prince, is very specialized. That makes it easy for you to tell what role that unit will play - thus making target priority easier for you. Here's a sample of my 2k Daemons. I'll give a brief breakdown of some of the major units you'll see -

 

Bloodletters - all power weapon, toughness 4, furious charge - NO GRENADES. It's up to you if you want to charge them, they'll go at Init 1 if you're in cover.

Bloodcrushers - Slow unit, 2 wounds each, toughness 5, Furious Charge - NO GRENADES. Again, cover is your friend. Think Attack Bikes that hit hard in CC. Aim some bigger guns at them and hope Fateweaver isn't around

Fiends - 6 attacks on the charge, EACH - NO GRENADES, Init 5 - they're going to hit you first, with lots of rending attacks. Shoot them the best you can. Remember, they are Calvary so they move 6, fleet, then assault 12"!!! They can effectively take out armor and infantry. Kill them with shooting.

Flamers - on a 4+ you die / it's glanced. Suicide units of 3 are most common. Deploy appropriately but remember that they can't be everywhere at once. They are jump infantry, and they will more than likely put a hurting on you when they come down baring a mishap. Kill them immediately. My squad of 3 combined with Masque took out 8 of 10 Assault Termies in one game. Nasty creatures.

Daemon Prince - big and scary, figure out what type they are. Nurgle is close combat, usually with a 3+/5++, T6, Wings, Grenades, and wounds on a 2+ from poison attacks. Shoot him with big guns before he hits your lines. Tzeetch princes are the 4++ shooty type that will Assault 3 AP2 ST5 shoot you with Gaze and ST8 AP1 you with Bolt. They are T5 with a 4++, of course all variants are MCs. Watch out! Shoot em!

 

 

I generally bring something like this:

 

Keeper of Secrets

Masque

 

Fiends x6

Fiends x6

Flamers x3

 

Daemonettes x15

Pink Horror x5 w/ Bolt (x3 or 4 squads)

 

Prince x3 - all Nurgle (T6), 3+ save, Wings (flight), Poisoned wounds 2+, Grenades

 

 

I do incredibly well with it but if the Fiends have to assault into cover it sucks. Watch your back for the Horror's ST8 AP1 bolt, and do your best to gun down Princes.

 

That's the best I've got for you! Deployment is key. I disagree with reserving everything personally, then it comes in piecemeal if your running mech. Work the Daemon army to your advantage. It is comming in piecemeal after turn 1 due to Daemonic Assault. Identify exactly what role every unit has and destory it accordingly. Sometimes you might have to feed a unit to the Princes/Fiends to slow them down.

[SamaNagol]

TL Heavy Flamer Razorbacks are godlike against Daemons as well.

 

Move 12. Re-roll S5 wounds. Watch them fail 5++ saves. Watch them flail at you helplessly in combat needing 6s to hit.

 

Rinse and repeat.

[BigBaals]

Something I didn't mention, mostly because I refuse to field him, is Fateweaver.

 

If you can kill the jerk, the rest of the army will probably fall apart. He's 333 points of re-rolling save goodness with lots of shooting. Close Combat is actually fairly effective against him, but there's a 99% chance he's surrounded by the rest of the Daemon army (which is obviously excellent in CC) so that they also receive the re-roll to saves. Shooting him - not so effective. Hopefully he'll fail his leadership and vanish, perhaps he'll mishap. A lot of Daemon players that run Fate-Chicken will give up the moment they loose Fate-Chicken.