New Daemons in 40k Follow-up: Complete with rules, pics, prices and video

Old School here with a massive post meant to cover everything you need to know on the new Daemons as we can get it from the other side of the pond. First, I will cover the photos, then the prices, then the rules, then the video and then I will wrap up with a few thoughts. Here we go:

This chariot is insane and with the Chaos Space Marine book in the works, I know a few rhinos that could use that choppy little add on! The chariot itself looks delicate, but it is Slaanesh, the rules below make it pretty interesting to say the least!

I love all the whip bits that are going to come out of this!

This isn't a bad way to get those extra fiends and such for your units as well as some herald converting bits and CSM conversion bits for noise marines (which is what I am excited about).

I am glad they got their model ... not much to say about the scribes as I have never even seen them on the table, even coming from Michigan, the land of the Daemon players.

These guys are pretty cool and from the rules listed below got a giant point reduction, which is exactly what they needed.

Finally, real nurgling bases! I like that they all look like Great Unclean Ones.

Plastic Plaguebearers are soooooooooo late! At least they are relatively cheap though.

These bad boys are making it into my Chaos Marine lists as allies! They got a little more of an edge at killing vehicles and aren't as good at killing MCs, but they got a major boost for all around killing.


Alright, here are the prices from Kroothawk at Dakka:

New Models (all released 4th August):  

Plaguebearers of Nurgle (Plastic) 29.00 USD (10 Man box)
Screamers of Tzeentch (Plastic) 29.75 USD (3 figures)
Flamers of tzeentch (Plastic) 20.00 USD (3 Figures)
Seeker Chariot of Slaanesh (Plastic) 29.75 USD (1 Model)
Nurglings (Plastic) 25.00 USD (3 figures) They are indeed 3 nurgling piles, not 3 single nurglings
The Blue Scribes (resin) 40.00 USD 

Limited Release:
Exalted Seeker Chariot of Slaanesh 59.50 USD  

Repackaged:
Soul Grinder 66.00 USD
Finecast Recasts:
Kairos Fateweaver: $57.75
Keeper of Secrets: $57.75
Flesh Hounds of Khorne: $49.50
Karanak: $22.25
Epidemus: $49.50
Herald of Khorne on Juggernaut: $40.00
Fiend of Slaanesh 1: $24.75
Fiend of Slaanesh 2: $24.75
Fiend of Slaanesh 3: $24.75
The Masque: $16.00
Beast of Nurgle: $24.75 

Here is a little something I found on 40k Daemons a UK blog that you ought to check out, the video is also the 40k Daemons blog:

So what have we got here?

Screamers
Screamers now cost 9 more points per model and have two wounds, 3 attacks at S5 AP2 with armourbane.  Better against most vehicles.  Probably a bit worse against Land Raiders, but I haven't done the math yet.
Update:  A single screamer has a 21% chance to blow up a Land Raider under the new rules and a 19% chance to do it under the current rules.  Pretty much unchanged.

They also get a slashing attack that works like a vector strike if they turboboost.  It's d3 S4 AP- hits which stinks, but it does say that hits are resolved from where they end their move, which kind of gives you a clue about how you should resolve vector strikes.
Screamers are now terminator killers in addition to anti-armor thanks to 4 S5 AP2 attacks on the charge at I4.  They lost their 4+ save, which is now 5+.

Hellflayer
The new fast attack choice.  You can only have a squad of one (LOLwhut?!).  It costs 10 points more than a naked Herald.  It's a non-skimmer chariot that is fast and open-topped with AV 11 (Immune to bolters) and two hull points.  Its Hammer of Wrath attacks are S4 AP- rending and it deals an extra D6 HOW attacks for each hull point it has left, (so 2D6 HOW attacks at full HP.).  Terrible!

Soulscent allows the Alluress to take a few more swings for each unsaved wound caused by the HOW attacks before she almost certainly dies.  This makes it worth 20 points more than aSeeker Chariot?

It is Fast and Fleet so it can move 12" after deep striking and reroll the charge move.
This is a disappointing unit.  Why only one per squad?  If you have a few points left over for a bugsmasher I guess you could field this.

Seeker Chariots and Exalted Seeker Chariots
Ok so these come in a squadron of 1-3 and have Fleshshredder but not Soulscent.  They are on friggin huge bases so you'd better have a lot of space to deep strike them.
The exalted chariot has 4 HP so can do 4D6 HOW hits.  A squadron could do up to 12D6 HOW hits for 270 points.  Which gets you about 7 rending hits plus 36 S4 hits on average.  This will kill most anything that is not flying or a Land Raider or Draigowing.  It had better, too because those Alluresses will not survive combat. 

So here's the question.  A Herald of Slaanesh can take a Seeker Chariot.  Can it join a squadron of Seeker Chariots?  It seems like they should be able to, but I can't find a clear answer in the rulebook. 

Here's the next question.  The Alluress dies if the Chariot is blowed up, but does the Herald?  I'm inclined to say no because it's an IC and would probably be allowed to get off just like the Necron barge Lord.  

I have been looking for an HQ choice to bridge the gap between 2k point games and 1500 and below since Heralds are all flawed and GDs are too expensive.  A Herald on a Seeker Chariot may be the answer. 

Flamers
HEY! GW realized these guys were horrible so they made them somewhat better.  The cost is dropped 12 points (I think that's a 3, not a 5), they have 2 wounds and I4.  You can now take a 5 point upgrade character who is there for Look Out Sir! and not for the extra attack on his profile.
Oh and you can't take Bolt of Tzeentch anymore (Sob!)
It is now a viable strategy to run a Herald on a disk with this unit for LoS wound allocation.  In fact, it's a better idea than a Tzerald on a chariot.  They may just survive long enough to reach spitting distance.
Oh, by the way, the save is 5+ now.
I think they're still not as good as Fiends, but definitely much improved.

Alright, I am a CSM player with quite a bit of Daemon models and while I may not be 100% behind fielding an army of just daemons, I do like the idea of fielding the Chariot units, screamers and flamers in lists (especially screamers). I like the plastics as they will make conversions in the Chaos Marines projects I am likely to start as soon as my necrons are finished.

Overall, I am excited about this as I am sure most fans of Chaos are and I am actually looking forward to the next White Dwarf!

Let's hear what you think about the models, rules and overall changes.