Yes, Daemons! Well ... not quite ... we are going to talk about the Codex CSM Greater Daemon and the Lesser Daemons in this article.
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First, before I talk about either of these units I want you to do three things for me, whether you play CSM or against CSM, if you run daemons or not, just do these three things for me:
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READ PAGE 61 of the CSM Codex!, READ PAGE 61 of the CSM Codex! READ PAGE 61 of the CSM Codex!.
Trust me, it needs to be said as many people do not understand the way either Daemon choice works. With that being said, let's move on to Lesser Daemons!
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Bringing Lesser Daemons to the Fight: The Lesser Daemons are a unit that many people have mixed feelings about. I think they are pretty useful, but your army has to be built to accomidate their use. First and foremost, you will need icons in your army. This can be done cheaply with cult troops for 5 points a model or can be done with regular CSM with the Icon of Chaos Glory (Which they should have anyway).
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This is important because if there are no icons on the board when they become available, the unit is destroyed: That's right, they have to DS within 6" of an icon, so having a few icons in your army is a must(depending on how many units of LDs you are taking and what you want to do with them).
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What do my Daemons Do For Me? Your Lesser Daemons can work in both offensive and defensive set-ups. In the offense, LDs work very well as you can roll forward with your rhinos and hopefully get them in when you want them and assault the enemy from their deep strike (yes they can, read page 61!) They will have 3 attacks on the charge and can deepstrike up to 6" from the vehicle. But what if my vehicle gets blown up? Still good, as now they can hopefully turn up to deep strike and assault approaching enemy so you can get your charge in from your troop unit (works well with armies of Rhino mounted Berzerkers!). Beware, the enemy can mow down LDs most of the time, but if you use tandem tactics like this, then they will have to choose between killing your squad or the daemons (the easy kill or the tough guys) Either way, they are going to get beat down. This also works well with Plague Marine Squads and adds to their survivability very well.
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In the defense, daemons work pretty well to hold onto objectives while your troops (who are better in a fist fight, move on to take care of would-be attackers and to consolidate onto enemy held objectives. This can be a very annoying tactic to play against as you have to get his troops off those objectives, but his real troops are moving around the board attacking you and keeping you from holding them. The fact that a player who employs this with multiple units of daemons also makes more targets, thus making it harder to clean all the objective in a 5 turn game. It also works in tak and hold missions because the enemy can assault in and even beat a squad of daemons, only to get charge by another squad ... and maybe he will still win, but then he gets attacked by another squad of daemons, see where this is going?
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The key thing to remember in each situation is that your Lesser Daemons are not very tough and can get killed if not employed correctly. In kill point missions, you need to use mutual support and be careful to make the best use of them with the offensive tactics discussed earlier.
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Greater Daemon Tactics: The Greater Daemon can be a pretty nasty unit to drop on the enemy, but comes at a price. The Daemon is deceptively priced at 100 points, but never forget that he also comes at the cost of am aspiring champion, who is a minimum 30 point model even at the cheapest possible option.
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The Greater Daemon can be employed both offensively and defensively just like his little cousins. In the offense, there are a few tactics to employ:
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The first one most people think of is the daemon bomb, where a unit of bikers boost across the board to deliver the Greater Daemon unto the enemy. The problems here lie in that the biker champ is expensive. The bikers themselves are not cheap and to kit the unit out for other purposes behind enemy lines is even more expensive. The most damning thing about it is that the greater daemon will be at the mercy of a full army while yours is still coming up, denying your 100 and something point bugger his propper mutual support. The gem of this tactic however, is that it takes the enemy's attention away from your daemon princes, obliterators and your other nasty units.
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Another offensive means of getting the daemon to grips with the enemy is with your troops performing a rhino rush up the board. If he comes early, then he can stay behind the rhino way. If he comes on time, he can hold a unit in combat while your troops set up to assault from non-moving rhinos the next turn and if you are using true mutual support, then you will have daemon princes coming up to assault/lash ect.
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The greater daemon also works out well in defense as his toughness 6 is great for holding his ground and his invul will help him against half the shots that can actually hurt him. The best thing about having him on the objective is that you won't have to use your daemon princes to guard your back objectives, they can run forward and do what they do best (sidtract the enemy and assault his lines).
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Overall, the Lesser and Greater Daemons have their own merits. I could take or leave the greater deamon. I think I have enough monsterous creatures and I use my army in a way that doesn't fit the greater daemon so much. That being said, he can be handy, but you have to be mindful of what you are doing so as not to waste him. The lesser daemons I see as being a bit more useful for their points and many opponents underestimate their ability to deliver a nasty charge! The ability to hold objective also makes spamming small numbers of them fun for you (not for the enemy) and allows you to get your real force to the fight.
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I suggest you playtest them and give them a shot. Try the tactics and come up with your own opinion. I like them! Let me hear what you think!
Ols school here and I have been busy. Afew Magnetized Land Speeders today, a couple rhinos, a couple drop pods and a little free hand cherry-popping! I decided I wanted my Angels of Absolution to be a little art-happy and while my first real freehand is far from a work of art, I am hoping it works to help liven-up these loyalists! I am trying some very basic versions of a MASTERPEICE tutorial I found here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/240985.page
The good news is that the doors are completely removable, so if they suck, they dissapear and the rhino becomes a razorback!
Now, the rhino/razor is a bit of a work in progress so it is far from finished, but I was thinking of doing a little more freehand on the side. The way I pulled the whole reaper thing off was that I drew the image on with a pencil, then painted the backround colors on first. Basically, I made a blob of black shaped like my reaper and some baby blue wings. Then I added the grey details and spent some time with white and black making a skull and wings.
I also have been working on magnetizing my speeders as my C: SM lists either call for Typhoons or MM/HF Speeders, while my all-troop Ravenwing list calls for HB/AC Speeders and while I may have a healthy mini budget, I refuse to own like 20 speeders!
Here is the next rhino to recieve the grafitti treatment. Let me know if you think I should keep up the good work or stop ruining my models with fingerpainting!
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