Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Daemons of the Ruinstorm (30k)

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Although Word Bearers used to be able to take Codex: Daemons as an allied detachment for some time, ForgeWorld has finally put together an army list for the warp-gribblies. This is meant to replace the one from the 7th ed Codex, but some confusion remains in the air since the rules of the Word Bearers have not been updated after the release of Book 8: Malevolence.

Why play Daemons[edit]

As many players who are familiar with Daemons would come to expect; you start almost entirely in reserve, you get lots of multi-wound models with invulnerable saves everywhere, a strong presence in the psychic phase, and every unit (bar one exception) causes Fear, which means significantly more in a 30k environment when many more models are susceptible to it and may have lower leadership scores.

Thankfully, gone are the days of Chaos = LOLRANDUMB so you do not need to roll on tables simply to see what you have access to, nor do you roll on random tables every turn to see if stuff blows up. Instead you get Tides of Madness which is a very clear sliding scale of buff > debuff as the game progresses. Your own Perils of the Warp table has been condensed to merely three options to reduce table clutter (and the results are actually quite balanced). Even your deployment rules does away with universal scatter and potential mishaps, instead you simply "walk on" from any of the markers that you placed on the table and gain some benefits for sticking close to it.

Daemons of the Ruinstorm might well be the most customizable list in all of 30k, while Militia and Cults has more options than you for your overarching theme of your whole army, each of your units is practically a blank canvas for you to pick and choose from a broad list of options, allowing you to design them to do whatever task you need them to.

There are drawbacks to this level of customization: Most units can only take a couple of Emanations/Gifts/Rewards, so basically you are designing your units for specific roles. It is difficult to make jack-of-all-trades units (You want Flying Infantry with Power Armour and Rending close combat attacks? Better forget Assault Grenades) so you need to be quite savvy with what you intend your units to actually do, and piling on the same upgrades to every unit is just a recipe for disaster. Additionally, the same book where the army list was presented also offered a whole range of psyarkana wargear, many of which are specifically designed to screw you over.

Finally, they are explicitly made to support just about every possible model that could be described as "demonic" or "monstrous", so the sky's the limit as far as modeling them is concerned. For allies purposes, they count as Agents of the Warmaster, making half of the Word Bearers rules redundant in the process.

Special Rules[edit]

Force Organization Charts for the Age of Darkness[edit]

Crusade Force Organization Chart

Pretty balanced. This is the one that most players think of when building their army lists and will be using most of the time.

  • Compulsory: 1 HQ, 2 Troops
    • Optional: +2 HQ, +4 Troops, +4 Elites, +3 Fast Attack, +3 Heavy Support, +1 Fortification, +1 Lord of War
  • Allied Detachment available
  • Compulsory: 1 HQ, 1 Troops
    • Optional: +1 Troops, +1 Elites, +1 Fast Attacks, +1 Heavy Support

Optional Force Organization Charts

Most 30k players will presumably be most familiar with Space Marine armies. In their cases they lose the ability to use a Rite of War the moment they decide to select an alternative FOC, so they tend to get forgotten about and utterly neglected when it comes to army selection. With Daemons of the Ruinstorm this is not the case. You do not lose anything by switching to a different chart, and with your rather slim selection of choices on the whole you should look at the alternatives any chance you get.

Onslaught Force Organization Chart

Extra Heavy Support you say? Extra Lords of War you say? This gives you the opportunity to terrify your opponent when a gang of T8 death machines all turn up on his doorstep that are immune to T4 or below. The trade off is the loss of some troops choices, but you weren't looking to claim objectives, right? With fewer compulsory troops taxes you can skip the Lesser Daemons and move immediately to the Possessed chaff and save points for the big beasties you really want to take. You also go second, so you give the opponent the ability to mess with your warp markers before you have the chance to do anything about it.

  • Compulsory: 1HQ, 1 Troops, 1 Heavy Support
    • Optional: +1HQ, +3 Troops, +4 Elites, +2 Fast Attack, +3 Heavy Support, +2 Lords of War
  • Can't take Fortification or Allies
  • Rolling Thunder: You always go second, unless you can seize the initiative. But you don't really care, you've brought your steam rollers to this fight.

Castellan Force Organization Chart

Daemons with castles? Um... not really. This army really depends upon being aggressive, and having fortifications in your deployment zone won't do you any good unless there are objectives that your opponent really needs to wrestle from you. However the compulsory troops tax means that a lot has to be spent on Lesser Daemons and Beasts before you can deploy anything on the table to actually fortify your battlements.

  • Compulsory: 1HQ, 3 Troops, 1 Fortification
    • Optional: +1HQ, +3 Troops, +2 Elites, +1 Fast Attack, +3 Heavy Support, +3 Fortification, +1 Lord of War
  • Allied Detachment available
    • Compulsory: 1HQ, 1 Troops
    • Optional: +1 Troops, +1 Elites, +1 Fast Attacks, +1 Heavy Support

Leviathan Force Organization Chart

This could be hilarious... you get ONE UBER DAEMON with a warlord trait, with the ability to add... TWO UBER DAEMONS. All of the traditional rules apply to the primary detachment, so you still get an Aetheric Dominion as well as three Warp Markers. If you don't get first turn you can play the shell game while your opponent has to guess where the big beastie wil come from. Unfortunately an allied detachment has to be a different faction to the primary detachment, so you can't just add in more optional daemons (unless you summon them via conjuration powers). Best saved for smaller games where you get to be That Guy and spend 600+ points on one unit, while your opponent has to spend point taxes on Troops units that literally cannot hurt you (like tactical marines). Expect lots of Rage and nobody to play you ever again.

  • Compulsory: 1 Leviathan Lord of War
    • Optional: +2 Lords of War
  • Allied Detachment (Optional)
    • Compulsory: 1HQ, 1 Troops
    • Optional: +1 Troops, +1 Elites, +1 Fast Attacks, +1 Heavy Support.
  • Can't take Fortifications
  • The Leviathan Lord of War: What it says on the tin. He is now your Warlord, is scoring and gains the following Warlord Trait.
  • Legendary Destroyer: The Warlord may fire Overwatch with weapons that AREN'T Primary Weapon or Blast (this is lost on Gargantuan Creatures). May Overwatch at different targets, but a single weapon may only Overwatch once per turn (YMMV) Gains Monster Hunter, Tank Hunter and makes enemies take Fear tests on 3D6 and pick the two highest, now we're talking!.

Army Wide[edit]

Daemon of the Ruinstorm: Start off pretty basic. Fear (with immunity to Fear), 5++ invulnerable save, ability to auto-pass regroup and pinning checks, but can never fail morale if they're outmatched. If they ever fall back, they instead suffer Perils which is on a unique table for them:

  • On a 1, they go WS/BS/I 1, take d3 automatic wounds with no saves, and lose all Warp Charges if casting.
  • On a 2-5, just suffer d3 automatic wounds without saves and both sides get d3+1 warp charges if casting.
  • On a 6, add +1 to WS/BS/I and you gain d3 charges.

Parting the Veil: All your daemons are in reserve and instead you place 5" circular markers (3 for a main army, 1 for an allied detachment) in a clear space 6" from the edges and 12" from other warp markers and objectives. These things do have a use, though, in that they block all infiltrators within 12", count as impassable terrain and give grant a cover save from shooting as if it was an intervening model. All Daemon models must start the game in reserve, and can only be deployed from a warp marker (if there is no space to deploy them, they stay in reserve). On turn 1 units arrive on a 3+, but for the duration of the game you apply no reserve modifiers at all, ever. In addition: All Daemons of the Ruinstorm can re-roll their invulnerable saves if they are within 6" of a warp rift, including your opponents warp rifts.

Tides of Madness: The strength and toughness of these units are subject to how long the battle has lasted. While they're stronger for the first two turns, after turn four they start getting weaker and weaker. Remember that this applies to all shooting attacks as well, since they depend on the user. Make sure you take advantage of the early bonus, since it's effectively a -1 to wound your units when they arrive, so they are a little bit safer. By the time the game gets to turn seven and a -2 penalty, there aught to be a an apparent winner by that point anyway. It just means you are less likely to steal the game back.

Malefic Daemonology - The Evolution of Hell: If you happen to use the Malefic Daemonology discipline to summon daemons units from this list onto the tabletop, none of the above rules apply. Instead they get the generic Daemon and Fearless rules and are never subject to an Aetheric Dominion. The use of this tactics page is still relevant because a summoned unit can take one Emanation for free when it arrives, and mostly functions the same way as their primary counterpart.

  • This even applies where they are summoned onto a tabletop that already has Daemons of the Ruinstorm in the army. Daemons of the Ruinstorm generally don't have access to Daemonology powers, but this applies where you might have summoners in a different detachment. So you could conceivably have conjured units be more powerful than their counterparts at the end of the game when the Tides of Madness kicks in.

Aetheric Dominion[edit]

First things first, you may take a Aetheric Dominion, which basically means which mysterious intelligence your army is representing, there are six. Each gives you access to specific tools, warlord traits, and a new primary objective you can select instead of the normal ones for the scenario. There is no absolute requirement that you take the new objective as in some cases your army selection may favour a different play style, or render some objectives too difficult to achieve.

Resplendent Terror: Your generalist dominion, this lets you select anything from any other dominion, but without any further benefit.

  • Objective: grants 1 VP whenever you destroy an enemy unit or make an enemy unit flee the battlefield.
  • This objective is quite easy to obtain unless you are the unluckiest person alive and can't destroy units. Points will be scored naturally as the game progresses so you just focus on choosing appropriate targets and rolling dice.

Crimson Fury: You give Rage to your Infantry, Beast, and Cavalry units and Rampage to your Monstrous and Gargantuan Creatures. All units must Declare a charge if they are within 12" of an enemy unit at the start of the Assault phase. Any models can get the Brass Collar emanation.

  • Objective: gives 1 VP for any unit killed in combat (friend or foe), be it from combat, overwatch, or sweeping.
  • Again, an easy objective especially because you can score points by losing. However be aware of especially shooty armies who refuse to get close to you; or going too heavily with your own ranged weapons and accidentally destroying a target you'd rather have destroyed in melee.

Maddening Swarms: Your units can all take an extra emanation and have access to the Warp Scions emanation. All units capable of manifesting psychic powers but chose not to do so must roll an extra D6 when taking morale or leadership checks for the rest of the turn.

  • Objective: gives you 1 VP for every unit you kill with a psychic power, netting a +1 bonus if the power used up 4+ power points.
  • This objective can be quite difficult to make work for you, as it really forces you to invest in witchfires rather than any other kind of buff/debuff powers which are probably better for you overall.
  • If you can resist the urge to go all out with psykers, the extra emanation on every unit allows you to really tailor them to fit your needs better than any other. Then just play the mission normally.

Creeping Scourge: Your Infantry, Beast, and Cavalry units get Feel no Pain (5+), while your Monstrous and Gargantuan units gain It Will Not Die instead. All units must roll an extra d6 when sweeping or running and pick the lowest. Everyone has access to Miasma of Rot.

  • Objective: nets you 2 VP at the end of the game for each table quarter that has a warp rift with no enemies within 6" of it, but a friendly daemon is within 6". This includes enemy warp rifts in a daemon mirror match.
  • Never forget the reroll granted by warp rifts. A rerollable 5+ will block about 55% of wounds, on top of getting Feel No Pain. You will need some units to sit on the rifts for the duration of the game but they will effectively become immovable objects.

Lurid Onslaught: Your entire army gets Hit and Run, but now the only cover they will ever benefit from is from Jink. All units can buy Stupefying Musk.

  • Objective: you score 1 VP for every failed morale check (including Fear and Pinning checks, but not regroup checks) but if any unit ever passes by rolling a double 1 you lose d3 VP.
  • Remember that ALL daemons cause Fear? It is possible to rack up multiple VPs from the same unit each turn through successive Pinning > Shooting Morale, > Fear > Combat Morale checks. This might be unlikely, but you have LOTS of avenues for scoring points. However it depends on who your opponent is: Against low Ld Auxilia this will be a winner, but against Talons of the Emperor or certain flavours of Space Marine, you are probably going to want to skip this objective and play the mission normally.

Mirror of Hate: Your entire army now hates daemons and psykers and will never ally with anyone.

  • Objective: gives you +1 VP for every daemon or psyker unit you kill, but you lose 1 VP for every daemon or psyker unit you lose. If, at the end of this whole mess, your total score is 0 VP, you're considered the winner. Because Nihilism.
  • If it wasn't already obvious, this entire Aetheric Dominion really requires you to know your opponent in advance, otherwise the benefits are lost. Even against psyker heavy armies like Thousand Sons where you actually do get your Hatred, it is worth considering whether there are enough units where you can realistically generate a positive score at the end of the game. Otherwise the objective should be just skipped and the mission played normally.
  • Bear in mind that Possessed are neither daemons, nor do they give victory points out under any circumstances. It is possible to play an army heavy on mortal troops that cannot generate a high negative VP score, but that requires a level of planning that even Tzeentch might be scratching his head at.

Emanations of Horror[edit]

Because of how 'new' and undocumented daemons were in this age, you have the free reign to build whatever weirdass monstrosities you want using a list of mutations familiar to 4E Tyranids players rather than the gifts of 6/7E Daemons.

  • Miasma of Rot (Creeping Scourge): Any models in base contact or engaged with a unit with this rule take -1 to their Toughness (or -1 to the AV on all sides if facing a vehicle).
    • The toughness penalty is not cumulative, and does NOT affect Instant Death thresholds. Still a good buy though, as in many cases it provides a +1 to wound bonus against the standard fare.
  • Brass Collars (Crimson Fury): Adamantium Will and a 3+ Save. By the Gods, they've done it...they brought back the 3E Bloodletters...sorta. Objectively better than Warp-Scaled Hide and frequently cheaper.
  • Stupefying Musk (Lurid Onslaught): Any model charged by or engaged with a unit using this rule must test Morale each fight phase or have their Initiative reduced by 1, which is not devastating, but can be useful.
  • Warp Scions (Maddening Swarms): Only available to your lower units, but it gives them Brotherhood of Psykers at PL1 and access to either Smite, Flame Breath, Assail, or Psychic Shriek.

Melee Attacks

  • Crushing Claws: Give your models the Rending in close combat
  • Flensing Talons: Your models can buy Shred for cheaper than they can buy the more prevalent Rending.
  • Horned Crown: Grants Hammer of Wrath, and ups it to d3 hits if the unit already has it.
  • Sundering Fangs: Any model in this unit can give up their attacks to make one big blow at initiative 1 with double their strength (max 10) with Sunder.
    • It's worth mentioning that even though this is available to Monstrous Creatures, there is no point in buying it for them. The Smash rule they have already allows them to double their strength for a single attack, with penetration rerolls, all without reducing their initiative.

Ranged Attacks

  • Bone Shard Harpoons: Cheap ranged attacks. S:User and AP4 with Pinning.
    • Highly recommended for Lurid Onslaught armies, since every failed pinning check is an extra VP, and a unit can take multiple pinning tests per turn until they actually fail.
  • Corrosive Vomit: Every one per three models can make an S:User AP5 template attack with Soul Blaze. One per three models means you can now have an entire mob of daemons just laying down the mother of all overwatches against biker gangs. The models chosen to do the shooting may be changed each time the unit it selected to fire.
  • Flaming Ichor: Another shooting attack for every one in five models, now in diet phosphex flavor. 12" S:User AP5 assault 1 small blast with Soul Blaze and Crawling Fire. It's hardly going to wipe out any number of legionaries in an instant, but it's a dogged persistent thing.
  • Rift Barb: A single model in the unit gets a 12" S+2 AP3 shot with Armourbane in case you don't like contending with tanks or dreads up close.
    • Save it for characters, or small units, as otherwise you are paying a lot of points for only one model's benefit.
  • Spine Volley: The cheap shooting attack. At S-1 AP5 and Assault 2, you're essentially rapid firing warp bolters for first few turns.

Other

  • Daemonic Wings: Your infantry models are now jump infantry models. Be aware that your monstrous creatures become Jump MC, not Flying MC.
  • Ephemeral Terror: Super cheap. Your unit now suffers no penalties to Initiative when charging through terrain, but returns to base initiative afterwards.
  • Lord of Sorcery: Only available to Daemon Lords, Greater Daemons, and Chosen. Two levels can be purchased for Greater Daemon and Chosen and access to any discipline that isn't Daemonology. A Daemon Lord can than buy as many level as it wants. The rules state that powers may be "selected" instead of "generated", so it could be argued that you can choose your powers instead of rolling for them on the tables, but it is likely that this is just another mistake in book 8 and choosing your powers instantly puts you in that guy territory, so apply caution.
  • Molten Blood: We've seen similar rules here: unsaved wounds deal an S:User AP- hit upon those who inflict it. If you're going to take this,save it for the Monstrous/Gargantuan Creatures rather than your mook units.
  • Shroud of Darkness: Anyone charging your unit can't get an extra attack. While the big leagues won't be too broken up by this, the smaller ones will hurt hard.
  • Quicksilver Speed: Units gain Fleet and Move through Cover. Can be useful on basic troops, but full use is wasted on over half the army list.
  • Warp-Scaled Hide: A 3+ save for the other daemons, but considerably more expensive for the non-mook daemons.

Warlord Traits[edit]

  • Resplendent Terror: May generate Warlord Trait from any of the other Aetheric Dominion tables.
  • Crimson Fury
    • Skull Keeper: Your warlord gains a 6" bubble that increases fight resolutions by D3 for friendly daemons within. Ka'bandha has this.
    • Aegis of Rage: Your warlord gains the ability to Deny the Witch any power that targets your warlord or any friendly unit within 12", as if they were a psyker of a higher mastery level than the caster.
    • Path of Blood: When your warlord charges, they roll a number of dice equal to their Attack value and choose the two highest.
  • Creeping Scourge
    • Blight Walker: Your warlord and any friendly ruinstorm units within 6" always roll a 6 on Dangerous and Difficult terrain tests.
    • Monolith of Rot: May re-roll all failed FNP and IWND.
    • Pestilent Cloud: 3" bubble that deals D6 S2 AP- hits to all non-ruinstorm units at the end of the Fight sub-phase. Easily the weakest of this bunch.
  • Lurid Onslaught:
    • Inhuman Grace: Warlord's initiative increases to be equal to the a faster opponent's in a challenge.
    • Flickering Gait: Warlord and any friendly ruinstorm units within 6" always max their run roll.
    • Loping Charge Warlord and any friendly ruinstorm units within 6" add +1 to their charge rolls. Makes charge range 13" for these units.
  • Maddening Swarms:
    • Font of Madness: Warlord creates +1 Warp Charge. If they aren't a psyker than they produce D3 warp charges, but you wouldn't have a non-psyker Warlord, would you?
    • Aetheric Lightning Rod: Your Warlord gains +1 Attack for each unit within 6" that has the Psyker special rule in the Assault phase. At minimum this is +1 Attack.
    • Oracle of Chaos: If your Warlord is alive and on the battlefield, friendly units can re-roll Reserve rolls, as well as table edge rolls for Outflank.
  • Mirror of Hate
    • The All is One: Your Warlord can gain the WS and/or Initiative of any Psyker or Daemon they are in a challenge with.
    • Avatar of Hatred: Warlord has perma-Hatred for daemons and psykers.
    • Inimitable Recursion: Your Warlord is given another shot to live upon death. On a roll of a 6 on a D6, they are fully healed and shunted back to Ongoing reserves; this ability can trigger multiple times in a game, causing you to give up Slay the Warlord each time.

Unit Analysis[edit]

HQ[edit]

Ruinstorm Daemon Lord: Hardcapped at 0-1, the Daemon Lord is the equivalent of a Praetor for your forces who is always the Warlord when chosen. These guys are the equivalents to your greater daemons as an MC with Strength 8 and WS 6/BS 5 for a good all-rounder. Of course, his vital importance allows him to drop in guaranteed on the first turn. You must roll normally if you wait until Turn 2+. The Daemon Lord can bring a group of special Daemon Brutes who can take shots for the Daemon Lord like the true bodyguard they are. Your lord can forgo his retinue for the ability to soar among the clouds. Flying Monstrous Creatures are one of your few ways to deal with Flyers. A Daemon Lord can select from up to three emanations and has NO hardcap on Lord of Sorcery levels. Select Biomancy powers and you can easily have a S10 T9 A8 whirlwind of carnage for starters.

  • Although a Flying Monstrous Creature is not permitted to take a Brute retinue, this restriction does not apply if Wings are taken as an emanation. Allowing a Jump Monstrous Creature to take a retinue of Jump Pack Brutes.
  • Having a Brute retinue also allows an Independent Character to be attached to the unit in the form of a Chosen. This can give your Monstrous Creature Preferred Enemy and the possibility of an extra psyker granting stacking buffs to the squad and back to the Daemon Lord in turn.

Ruinstorm Greater Daemon: These represent your normal greater daemons, we all know and love. They can select up to three emanations.

  • The issue here is that you aleady have multiple ways to get Monstrous Creatures in your army and only one way to get Independent Characters. Your first choice of Monstrous Creature should always be a Daemon Lord or special character as yoir centerpiece, leaving you only two more HQ slots in a regular FOC. If you were going to take a monstrous creature with wings then a Shrike would save you the HQ slot for more Chosen to attach to squads and provide buffs.

Ruinstorm Daemon Chosen: These are your Heralds. Your only Independent Character capable of joining other units and with certain powers can make a unit that is very hard to remove. At the start of the game, they can select a Preferred Enemy of choice which will then confer on the squad, so be sure and chose emanations for everyone that fits them best. The Chosen can take three emanations of his own and is one of few units that can be a full blown psyker.

  • While it might seem counter intuitive, it might be best to take emanation options that don't turn Chosen into death machines. A single Chosen is actually weaker than a Daemon Brute, so they aren't exactly centrepiece units, you have Monstrous Creatures for that. Being a psyker is obviously your first choice, but a spare ranged attack would also not go amiss.
  • Aim for psychic disciplines that buff the squad they are attached to, such as Biomancy (Endurance) or Divination (Forewarning). When coupled with Preferred Enemy your Chosen can be more useful as a force multiplier compared to an expensive Greater Daemon who will be more inclined to buff themselves or just shooting MIND-BULLETS as opposed to enhancing their friends.
  • Do note that thanks to the wording, they can choose to have Terminal Lucidity Injectors, but can't qualify for any other psyarkana due to not being Legiones Astartes or being able to swap wargear.

Special Characters[edit]

Ka'bandha, Daemon General of Signus: Ka'bandha costs over twice as much as a generic Daemon Lord, but for that you get WS9, T7, 8W, I6, 7 Attacks, and a 3+ save, as well as Sunder and It Will Not Die. His Emanations are preset as Horned Crown, Brass Collar, and Molten Blood. He adds +1 to the number of attacks he and allied models within 12" make from Rampage and also gets 4++ when in a challenge, and just in case something survived combat with him in a previous assault he can place a Hellstorm template that hits anything that it covers with S6 AP- attacks equal to the number of wounds he scored in that last fight sub-phase.

  • If an enemy army includes Sanguinius, Ka'bandha gains Preferred Enemy and Hatred against him and gains a new Secondary Objective; if Ka'bandha defeats Sanguinius in a challenge he gains 2 VP, but loses 1 VP if Sanguinius defeats him. More thematic than anything else, but it's something to take note of.

Samus Unbound, Daemon Prince of the Ruinstorm:

Cor'Bax Utterblight Unbound, Daemon Prince of the Ruinstorm:

Elite[edit]

Ruinstorm Daemon Brutes: Your ONLY option. While not quite as strong as a Greater Daemon, these guys are still plenty strong for Infantry and possess three wounds each. In addition, you can buy up to three of these guys to act as a bodyguard for your footslogging Daemon Lord, giving a massive wall of bodies. Can guarantee to materialize in the mortal realm on the first turn. Up to two Emanation options.

  • The auto arrive turn one cannot be overstated enough. In an army where you will pretty much be deploying nothing on the board, these guys stop you losing turn one right off the bat due to bad dice rolls or oppression from afar. Even though they start the game with Toughness 7, give them Warp Scaled Hides or Brass Collars for the 3+ save right away, just do it. These guys are basically Castellax without the guns. Taking a couple of units of these with a 3+ and Rending gives you some really durable units turn one that can crump mortals pretty reliably. Other emanations are good, but you really want that armour save if you can, otherwise you're at the mercy of autocannons and heavy bolters which are a lot more common than you think.

Troops[edit]

Ruinstorm Lesser Daemons: Your basic foot infantry, starting at 60 points for five daemons with two wounds and two attacks with fours in the rest for 12 points each, while this seems cheap for a pretty good stat line buying emanations can rack up the points really quickly. A squad of 10 is 5 points cheaper than a 10 man tactical squad, and at 20 daemons, they only cost 15 points more than the equivalent in tacticals. The differences are that these have +1 attack, +1 wound, a 5+ invulnerable save and a 4+ save... Adding the usual brass collars/warp scaled hide and flensing talons, a squad of 20 costs 400 points, but is comparable to a squad of 20 terminators, as their 2 wounds roughly makes up for the terminator's improved armour save, however these get S5 and T5 for the first two turns, making them one of the most effective deathstars in the game and an unbelievable troops choice!

Ruinstorm Daemon Beasts: Despite having better statlines compared to Lesser Daemons, they only come in squads of 3-10 and have the same number of wounds and attacks with fewer available models, it's only a +1 Strength/Toughness difference so don't really expect them to mulch their way through big units or create tarpits as the game progresses. The fact they are Beast-type units means you now have a fast moving choice which can be useful even if you're not using one of your weird objectives since they can happily deny an objective. It also allows you to set them up as troubleshooters that are able to react quickly and get where they need to be for a counter charge. Because of the inherent rules of Beasts, the Quicksilver Speed emanation is completely redundant on this unit.

  • Giving your beasts Rending and 3+ saves is a good shout if you don't have anything more specific planned for them, as heavy bolter fire will delete these guys without a decent save.
  • Sundering Fangs might be a more focused choice, as you are only losing one attack each to effectively gain a S10 attack that rerolls armour penetration until turn 5, turning them into fast moving tank hunters. Against anything else, their higher toughness should also help them weather the first strike to ensure they actually get a chance to attack.

Ruinstorm Daemon Swarms: Adorable little balls of demonic goodness, with four wounds a base, these guys are great for tarpits and holding backfield objectives if you are crazy enough to play the objectives like a real astartes! Beware when it gets to the later turns of the game as these guys getting ID'd by bolter fire is funny for approximately 0.12seconds then it becomes soul draining.

  • Don't try to get these guys into combat, you don't really have the stats to seriously take on anything, spending more points on it would probably not help you as much as you think; you only get one choice of emanation so you should make it count. That time you got six Rending attacks for each model might be funny, but realistically your squad is going to get squished in short order and other units can throw out more/better attacks with more bodies. With fewer models at least their emanations don't cost so much. Take 3+ armour to keep them standing where possible, or daemonic wings to help them move around.
  • With only Strength 2 these units will dissolve automatically at turn 7 due to the Tides of Madness rule. This is worth bearing in mind for objectives and victory points purposes.
  • They probably work best in Maddening Swarm Dominions, as the extra emanation and the ability to become psykers turns what is essentially a throwaway unit into something with a lot more bite.

Ruinstorm Possessed: Your choice of auxilia or legionaries hosting neverborn with no mixing between the choices. Throw them in as disposable chaff: they are only Support Units, they don't benefit from any Aetheric Dominion, they will never score (irrelevant if you are using special objectives) and they are barred from joining Independent Characters. Despite all of that, they are your only unit in the whole army that has ranged weapons by default and they have a rather nice variety of options, including being your only venue for melta, plasma, and Fists/Thunder Hammers (for legionaries), so they are going to be your only troops choice that can realistically deal with vehicles. Your enemy scores nothing from killing them, and having them allows you to have a presence on the board until your daemonic legions enter the field. They can also deny objectives too, so bear that in mind.

  • Deploying normally also makes them useful for defending Warp rifts if you decided to set them up in your own deployment zone.
  • While they appear equivalent to Auxilia/Legionaries, try not to think of them that way. They all lost a point of Initiative in the act of possession, so most instances they will be striking last in close combat. They don't have any other supporting benefits such as Provenances or Legiones Astartes, no access to transports or any cool wargear to enhance them in any particular way means they will perform below your expectations. They do have all Ld9 at least, so are competent enough to be trusted to hold a position, but they are probably going to swept up in the first combat they lose. It is best to think of them as classic skirmisher units: get them into a position your enemy wants and harass them with a few shots, forcing the other player to deal with them. A couple of turns shooting/assaulting a unit that gives him no victory points is another couple of turns your own Daemons have to get into a better position for a charge.
  • Ask yourself if you even really need to spend the points on Space Marines when you could just have more disposable men, or another squad, for the same cost as the upgrade. Get them into a position with cover and lascannons or plasma will treat them all the same way in the end.

Fast Attack[edit]

  • Ruinstorm Daemon Cavalry: They cost the same as Daemon Beasts but have a weaker statline, dropping -1 S/T in order to gain an extra attack. Could be good when coupled with a certain Emanations and Dominions as the extra attacks are more likely to trigger Rending. They already have Hammer of Wrath, so a good candidate for Horned Crown for extra hits (but remember Hammer of Wrath doesn't benefit from any other special rules like Rending) Contend with a Flying Monstrous Creature in the limited FA slots.
  • Ruinstorm Daemon Shrike: Very similar to Daemon Princes of old, minus psychic shenanigans, the Shrike is a flying monstrous creature that will be in your opponents backfield in no time. Vector Strikes coupled with Rift Barbs is one of the few sources of anti-air you can muster. Can select from two of the emanations.

Heavy Support[edit]

Greater Ruinstorm Daemon Beast: A cheap MC that has +1 Strength over a HQ Greater Daemon, but are otherwise inferior in every other respect. Greater Daemons even use the second tier of emanation upgrades where Greater Beasts use the third, meaning that most (but not all) upgrades are more expensive for these Heavy Support choices, and they can never take wings... However, Daemon Beasts are cheaper per model and can be taken in squads, allowing you to have lots of big monsters in your army if you choose and nothing quite puts a scare on as as much as a squad of big beasts barreling down on something.

  • Great Beasts get three emanations, but any option you buy has to be applied to each member of the unit, and these guys use the most expensive tier of pricing. So even though you can have three of these for the same price as a Behemoth below, you have to then pay three times the cost for each upgrade. Remember all the rules that come stock on Monstrous Creatures and that they are affected by the Aetheric Dominion of the army, so realistically they have all the tools you will ever need right there.
  • Consider carefully whether your upgrades will actually give you any significant benefit before spending on them: Shred and Rending are largely lost on models that already ID marines on 2+ that ignore armour; and with Initiative 3 they aren't usually going to be striking first, even if they took Ephemeral Terror (Assault Grenades) so don't waste your points.
  • S8 means Rift Barbs are S10 if you feel you need some ranged anti-tank, though bearing in mind that if you take them in a squad, that costs 45 points for only one shot, since only one model is allowed to fire. As an alternative: while Spine Volleys are generally the worst ranged option in the army on other units, when taken here it becomes several shots at S7-8 depending on the turn.

Ruinstorm Daemon Behemoth: A monstrosity that is between a monstrous creature and a gargantuan one; as such it already has many of the tools you already want it to have to do its job, such as AP2 attacks that cause Instant Death (most of the time). T7 and W10, you are immune to bolter fire for the first two turns of the game (thanks to the T+1 coming from the Tides of Madness), along with a rule that normally belongs to Gargantuan creatures, the Behemoth is the only non-character MC that won't get gibbed by Instant Death so this bad boy won't be leaving the game for a while. At I2 you get to strike before those Power Fists and Thunder Hammers that might actually threaten you, so you only really need to worry about Primarchs and their equivalents, and how you fare against things like Lascannons and Melta. This all means that you can relax when it comes to choosing your Emanations rather than trying too hard thinking about how to customise them.

  • As a single model with a base S8, it means that the Behemoth is probably one of the better candidates for the Rift Barb emanation. Capable of firing off a S10 Armourbane shot before you follow it up with a charge (and you will be in charge range).
  • Consider Molten Blood as one of your emanations. For every wound this bad boy takes you will cause an automatic hit S8 hit. Yes, the enemy still gets his save, but that is instant death for Space Marines up until the 5th turn of the game. The fact you have ten wounds means there are a lot of chances for the enemy to fail their saves and fall down dead.
  • Spending on the 3+ save probably depends on whether you want to splurge on the points. It's practically impossible to tarpit you for the first two turns, and anything that has a good chance of actually hurting you will probably be ignoring a basic armour save anyway.

Lord of War[edit]

Ruinstorm Arch Daemon: And here they are. The real motherfuckers. The Exalted Greater Daemons. 10 wounds, S9/T8, and 6 attacks on a gargantuan creature with an innate 4+/5++ save for prices beyond most Primarchs at 600 points. Unlike the other daemons, these monstrosities get their own list of emanations to buy up to three of. Your Arch Daemon can also change it's type from Gargantuan Creature to the even more impressive Flying Gargantuan Creature for only a modest a lot amount of points. No more do you have to worry about being the focus of your enemies armies, while you move towards their line. And don't forget some of your your gargantuan creature rules : smash giving you AP2, FNP 5+, fearless, fear...

  • Super-duper ultimate emanations of the dead :
    • Lord of Chaos: Increasing this daemons invulnerable save to 4++ to shooting and 3++ in combat. More reason for primarchs to run away from you.
      • Always take this, seriously this is your go-to upgrade.
    • Reaper of Souls: Trade your attacks for a number of attacks equal to any one enemy unit you are in combat at half strength. Coupled with your stomps you aren't getting tarpitted.
    • Breaker of Titans: The gargantuan equivalent of a titan-stomp. Halve the number of attacks they have to slap the targets with Destroyer hits. Do save this to crush titans (of course) and annoying primarchs.
    • Font of the Warp: Gain Psyker ML4 and adding your current remaining wounds to your warp pool instead of your psyker level. Still can't use Daemonolgy powers though. This is the single most expensive upgrade available at 100 points.
    • Wound in Reality: Self-Destruct mode activate! If Beyond Death prevents your daemon from dying, this is how they die in the most spectacular way possible. Like Catastrophic Damage bad.
    • Beyond Death: You get a security policy for your big bad daemon dying like a bitch. Upon dying, you have a 50% chance of recovering d6 wounds. This is plenty expensive, but it means that this thing can hang around for a little longer to kill.
    • Torrent of Unreality: Your first shooting power grants an S6 AP4 Hellstorm attack with Soul Blaze. It'll cook hordes of auxilia, and it's still able to safely harm legionaries.
    • Warp Burst: Your second shooting attack gives an S8 AP4 assault 1 massive blast. While legionaries can save on this, it's pretty much overkill on them.
    • Rend Time and Space: You can place another rift marker within 6" of the table edges and 2" from the model, giving you a possible means to deploy from the middle or from enemy territory. Be wary though, you can't be engaged when doing this and it only happens at the end of your turn.
      • This can be used to gain an additional VP for Creeping Scourge objective.
      • Even if you have nothing left in reserves, remember that Warp Markers grant rerolls to invulnerable saves, meaning you have effectively thrown down a sanctuary for your remaining units. Combo with Lord of Chaos and when this goes down at the end of your turn you will have made yourself practically invincible.
    • Warp-forged Plate: Gain equivalent to artificer armor.

Models[edit]

At the time of release of Book 8 Malevolence, many models from the classic Citadel and Forge World ranges were variously compatible or incompatible with the base size chart given for Daemons of the Ruinstorm. The base size chart helps to encourage but also standardize custom modeling to keep things reasonable while still allowing plenty of (if not complete) freedom. However, it also makes things tricky for people with existing Citadel and Forge World Daemons-range models who want to get representations of their choice of units on the table as quickly and easily as possible.

So here is an (incomplete) table of compatible models. Expect this to be a controversial list and subject to a lot of revision; but remember that these are almost entirely opinions, and not authoritative. Many players will create all kinds of interesting conversions, and many opponents will not very strictly care about exact base sizes. Conversely, some players may find, for example, Beastmen/Lizardmen/Skaven/Ghoul models to better represent Militia and Cults forces, and not be appropriate models for representing Daemons lists (unmodified); similarly, Chaos Space Marine Daemon Engines may not be appreciated without extensive conversion work.

Unit Appropriate Daemons-range models on the correct base Appropriate Daemons-range models needing a different base to the one they come with Potentially appropriate models from other ranges

(that may or may not need rebasing and/or conversion)

Unique Units
  • Samus
  • Cor’bax Utterblight
Ruinstorm Daemon Lord (130 mm)
  • Daemon Primarch Magnus (don't question it)
  • Daemon Primarch Mortarion (don't question it)
  • Buebolos (Tamurkhan)
  • Warpfire Dragon
  • Carmine Dragon
  • Skaarac
  • Dragon
  • Black Dragon
  • Morathi
  • Treelord
  • Alarielle
  • Verminlord
  • Balrog
  • Kings of War Archfiend of the Abyss
Ruinstorm Greater Daemon (130 mm)
  • Great Unclean One (Greater Daemon of Nurgle)
  • Keeper of Secrets (Greater Daemon of Slaanesh)
  • Bloodthirster (Greater Daemon of Khorne)
  • Skarbrand
  • Lord of Change
  • Kairos Fateweaver
  • Mazarall the Butcher
Ruinstorm Daemon Chosen (32 mm)
  • Herald of Slaanesh
  • Poxbringer (Herald of Nurgle)
  • Sloppity Bilepiper
  • Changecaster (Herald of Tzeentch)
  • Bloodmaster (Herald of Khorne) [Plastic]
  • Skulltaker
  • The Masque
  • Infernal Enrapturess
  • Spoilpox Scrivener
  • Herald of Nurgle (Mamon)
  • Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch
  • The Changeling
  • Branchwych
  • Kings of War Abyssal Champion
  • Kings of War Mau`Ti-Bu-Su
  • Kings of War Seductress
  • Kings of War Banshee
  • Kings of War Shade
  • Deadzone/Warpath 1st Gen Mutant
Ruinstorm Daemon Brute (50 mm)
  • Plague Ogryns
  • Chaos Spawn
  • FW Daemon Brutes
  • Daemon Prince (Metal/Finecast)
  • Daemon Prince of Nurgle
  • Decimator
  • Be’lakor
  • Uraka The Warfiend
  • Mamon Transfigured
  • Epidemius
  • K'Daai Fireborn
  • Plague Ogres
  • Bile Trolls
  • Skin Wolves
  • Dragon Ogres
  • Kroxigor
  • Drycha Hamadreth
  • Kurnoth Hunters
  • Crypt Horrors
  • Trolls
  • Aberrants
  • Dwellers in the Dark
  • Kings of War Lesser Obsidian Golems
  • Kings of War Molochs
  • Kings of War Efreet
  • Kings of War Despoiler
  • Kings of War Warlock
  • Kings of War Nightstalker Butchers
  • Deadzone/Warpath Abberations
Ruinstorm Lesser Daemons (32 mm)
  • Bloodletters of Khorne
  • Plaguebearers of Nurgle
  • Pink Horrors of Tzeentch
  • Flamers of Tzeentch
  • Daemonettes of Slaanesh
  • Blue Horrors of Tzeentch
  • Brimstone Horrors of Tzeentch
  • Furies
  • Dryads
  • Tree-Revenants
  • Spite-Revenants
  • Ripperdactyls
  • Witch Elves
  • Kings of War Lower Abyssals
  • Kings of War Succubi
  • Kings of War Gargoyles
  • Kings of War Tortured Souls
  • Kings of War Nightstalker Spectres/Scarecrows
  • Kings of War Nightstalker Reapers
  • Kings of War Nightstalker Phantoms
  • Kings of War Nightstalker Horrors
Ruinstorm Possessed (Auxiliary)
  • Traitor Guardsman (Blackstone Fortress)
  • Traitor Guardsman (Forge World Cadian Upgrade)
  • Any Guardsman
  • Chaos Cultists
  • Poxwalkers
  • Deadzone/Warpath 3rd Gen Troopers
Ruinstorm Possessed (Solar Auxilia/Legionary)
  • Any Space Marine models
Ruinstorm Daemon Beasts (40 mm)
  • Gellerpox Nightmare Hulks
  • Beasts of Nurgle
  • Fiends of Slaanesh
  • Chaos Spawn
  • Chaos Warhounds
  • Melusai
  • Fimir
  • Juggernauts of Khorne
  • Khinerai
  • Bullgors
  • Rat Ogres
  • Dire Wolves
  • Kings of War Hellhounds
  • Kings of War Nightstalker Shadowhounds
  • Deadzone/Warpath 2nd Gen Mutants
Ruinstorm Daemon Swarms (40 mm)
  • Nurglings
  • Rat Swarms
  • Kings of War Nightstalker Needlefangs
Ruinstorm Daemon Cavalry (70×25 mm Oval Bases)
  • Seekers of Slaanesh
  • Bull Centaur Renders
  • Wolf Rats
  • Cold Ones
  • Varanguard
  • Chaos Knights
  • Centigors
  • Fangmora Eels
  • Dracolines
  • Kings of War Abyssal Horsemen
  • Kings of War Hellequins
Ruinstorm Daemon Shrikes (60 mm)
  • Daemon Prince (Plastic)
  • Greater Blight Drone of Nurgle
  • Plague Drones of Nurgle
  • Screamers of Tzeentch
  • Chimera
  • Cockatrice
  • Morghast
  • Phoenix
  • Kings of War Nightstalker Mind-Screech
Ruinstorm Greater Daemon Beasts (100 mm)
  • Gigantic Chaos Spawn
  • Spined Chaos Beast
  • Mutalith Vortex Beast/Slaughterbrute
  • Horticulous Slimux
  • Forgefiend
  • Maulerfiend
  • Brood Horror
  • Warpgnaw Verminlord
  • Troggoth Hag
  • Maggoth
  • Jabberslythe
  • Cygor/Ghorgon
  • Manticore
  • Hydra
  • Magmadroth
  • Bastiladon
  • Carnosaur
  • Troglodon
  • Leviadon
  • Allopex
  • Giant
  • Dread Abyssal
  • Stonehorn/Thundertusk
  • Arachnarok Spider
  • Kings of War Greater Obsidian Golem
  • Kings of War Great Winged Halfbreed
  • Kings of War Nightstalker Terror
  • Kings of War Nightstalker Fiends
Ruinstorm Daemon Behemoth (170×105 mm Oval Base)
  • Soul Grinder
  • Plague Hulk of Nurgle
  • Kytan
  • Defiler
  • Cinderbreath (Drazhoath the Ashen)
  • Magma Dragon
  • Basilisk
  • Merwyrm
  • Dread Maw
  • Dread Saurian
  • Shar'tor the Executioner
  • Glottkin
  • Stardrake
  • Cauldron of Blood
  • Hell Pit Abomination
  • Zombie Dragon
  • Kings of War Abyssal Chroneas
  • Kings of War Nightstalker Shadowhulk
Ruinstorm Arch-daemon
  • An’ggrath The Unbound Exalted Greater Daemon Lord of Khorne
  • Scabeiathrax The Bloated Exalted Greater Daemon Lord of Nurgle
  • Aetaos’rau’keres Exalted Greater Daemon Lord of Tzeentch
  • Zarakynel Exalted Greater Daemon Lord of Slaanesh
  • Lord of Skulls
  • Skalok
  • Dorghar

Other Citadel/Forge World Daemons-range models with no obvious category:

  • Flesh Hounds of Khorne
  • Karanak
  • Bloodcrushers of Khorne
  • Blood Slaughterer of Khorne
  • Plague Toad of Nurgle
  • Blood Throne of Khorne
  • Skull Cannon of Khorne
    • Could possibly be a Greater Daemon Beast with Rift Barb
  • Skullmaster
  • Brass Scorpion of Khorne
  • Cannon of Khorne (Armorcast)
  • Blood Cauldron of Khorne (Armorcast)
  • Exalted Seeker Chariot of Slaanesh
  • Seeker Chariot of Slaanesh
  • Hellflayer of Slaanesh
  • Fluxmaster
  • Fateskimmer
  • Burning Chariot of Tzeentch
  • Feculent Gnarlmaw - Warp Rift
  • The Blue Scribes

Threats and Counters[edit]

It should be noted that the Daemons of the Ruinstorm list was designed with several weaknesses in mind, and it's your job to find ways of working around them. For starters let's go over the single biggest threat:

WATCH THE FUCK OUT FOR INSTANT DEATH WEAPONRY.[edit]

This needs to be stated, then restated, then carved into your skin next to the Hexagrammic Wards. Why is this so much of an issue for you, even moreso than armies like Talons of the Emperor? Simple, it's because the Custodes do not have their stats degrade over the course of the battle, and it's much harder to stack these effects on them. Starting off with cheap troops that are S5, T5 and 2 Wounds sounds awesome, but when they're going to start getting hit by power fists or similar weaponry in turn 3, or instantly killed by quad-mortars spamming out shatter shells it's going to be significantly less so. Daemon Swarms have this same problem but in a much worse way, that being as soon as turn 5 hits you can lose the entire unit because bolter fire will instantly kill them (this can also happen turn 3 if they're anywhere near Sisters of Silence, or if you're up against Solar Auxilia using Blast-chargers). Most importantly, any kind of Dreadnought with a fist will fuck your day up royally.

Now with that in mind, maybe you're thinking you're going to go for the tougher models then, the ones who are T6 base, so even when turn 5 rolls around they'll still be T5, sounds good right? Well hold on a second, because something a lot of armies can take is Melta Bombs. They don't seem too bad at first because they're going to only cause one wound and the models with them can only make one attack after you've made yours, what if your opponent is taking Rad Grenades or has either allied in or is playing Mechanicum? All of a sudden that 160+ point T5 model is going to become T4, and they'll go up instantly to a single successful Melta bomb or Power Fist (naturally this also gets a lot worse if your opponent is using Custodes). This can even happen as early as turn 3 if you're playing against an army that has at least two of the following: Sisters of Silence, Rad Grenades, Rad Furnaces, a Psyker who rolled up Enfeeble.

As a whole Melta Bombs and Krak Grenades are going to be a great threat because of the sheer number of them the enemy can use against you in melee, especially since even the Krak Grenades are going to outright ignore your native save, forcing you to rely on that 5++. Because of this, don't write off options like Daemon Brutes just because you can take Greater Daemons, Daemon Shrikes or Greater Ruinstorm Daemon Beasts. A unit of Daemon Brutes might just be infantry (and therefore won't ignore saves unless you want to try using Crushing Claws), but they're going to be so much harder to kill compared to the others as your opponent cannot choose to use Krak Grenades/Melta Bombs against them.

As a rule, anything that can ID you from afar needs to go immediately. Adrathic Weapons? Get those involved in combat as soon as possible, preferably by charging them with one of your troops and then a monster so that the monster doesn't die to lucky overwatch fire. Vindicators? Throw Rift Barbs at them immediately. Even shit that carries anything with the Psi-shock rule needs to go if you've bought mastery levels for your Daemons, because you're going to find those 6-10 wounds evaporating really fucking quickly. If you're up against Sisters of Silence or those new Destroyer Squads who can spam this shit then taking Font of the Warp for your Arch-Daemon is the equivalent of pissing 700+ points away (on top of losing your Lord of War).

So what else can you do about it? Fortunately for you, there are options. The first is to consider whether or not you really want your Daemon Lords to be flying solo. On the one hand, flying Monstrous Creatures are great and have a lot of additional survivability thanks to everything without Skyfire being forced to snap shot them. On the other hand, Skyfire's a thing, as are grounding tests, as is the fact that you have to use up an entire turn to change your flight mode and the fact that your stats are only going to get worse. Because of this, if you want a mobile but survivable Daemon Lord who you plan to get into combat, consider getting a few Daemonic Brutes to go with him and giving them all Daemonic Wings (yes you're just a jump unit).

Another thing you can do, if you're not against somebody ready to spam out Psi-shock, is buy several mastery levels for your Daemon Lord and pick Endurance. Giving your Daemons Eternal Warrior takes away the biggest downside of using them and the Feel No Pain's going to help a lot with the saves the Krak Grenades are going to force on your monsters. You can also buy Warp-scaled Hide or Brass Collars (even if you're not up against any Psykers, because it's cheaper than Warp-scaled Hide) purely because saving a wound on a 3+ is much more likely than it is on a 5+.

Another option is to invest in Possessed. They're your only real choice for ranged AP2 (discounting allies and psychic powers like Smite), they're cheap, and you can put a ton of models in the unit which translates to a shitload of bodies on the table. Try to go up to Legionairies if you can or get them some sort of cover, just so that the whole squad doesn't evaporate when a Volkite weapon looks at them funny. The fact that they don't have their stats degrade over time is also a plus.

Finally your last option for dealing with ID weaponry, is to ally in something else that can take care of them for you. Enemy Vindicator? Get Laser Destroyers or squads with Tempest Grenades. Sagittarum Guard? Get your own Vindicator. Worried that your decreased stats will take away from your ability to hold objectives? Get Troops from somewhere else and charge on ahead. Failing this you can also try to mitigate how much your troops get shot by adding in something much more immediately threatening, like a Thanatar or a unit of Castellax. Hell, if you're playing a large points game your could even go in with the big boy. Also make sure to never forget that you're technically Sworn Brothers with all Traitors, which means that you can buff them with Warlord Traits and Daemon Chosen. Plasma Support squads are going to be much more deadly for your opponent if you can re-roll Get's Hot and failed wound rolls, while also providing the ranged AP2 your list lacks. Word Bearers in particular are a good choice since they have access to Malefic Daemonology.

Deployment[edit]

While the ability to place your "board edges" on the tabletop in advance gives you the reliability to arrive exactly where you want, this is not the same freedom as Deep Striking anywhere on the board. It means that your opponent can see exactly where you are going to arrive too and start preparing:

  1. DO NOT place all your warp markers deep inside the enemy deployment zone surrounded by his men. The LAST thing you want is the enemy to fully encircle your warp markers and prevent your units from arriving... congratulations you just lost the game. Leave yourself a "out" either by placing a marker a bit further away in a safer zone, or give yourself a little bit of extra buffer room with each marker. Consider the table, and consider the objectives in play, even if you aren't the one abiding by them since you'll want to cover the bases and deny victory points at the very least. In any case, it might be prudent to place just one marker deep in the enemy deployment zone to force your opponent's hand and redirect units towards it, expecting to be struck in the back, while your real plan is to deploy from the remaining two.
  2. So all your melee deathstar units arrived on time and exactly where you wanted them to be? congratulations, your turn is over; your units cannot charge the same turn they arrive, so you do not roll to-hit, do not roll to-wound, and do not pass GO for $200. As much as it might be tempting to pile on with the melee emanations , it doesn't always help them when they are getting shot at by a player who has a free turn to deal with them. Relying on a Run move might not always be the best option either, as you lose the aura of rerolling saves the instant your models move outside of 6" of the warp marker. This is something you are ALWAYS going to have to deal with, so there is no escaping the fact that you are probably going to lose some models before you get the chance to use them. Just invest in at least some ranged attacks or psychic powers to give you something to do for those critical first turns while your Daemons get themselves into position.
  3. Use Possessed. You might want to ignore them because they are crap and this is supposed to be a DAEMONS army. However, you can deploy them normally, they all come with guns, and without upgrades they cost 5 points each. Unless you are playing against Imperial Militia and Cults with Conscripted Levies, you can almost guarantee that they will be cheaper than the unit that is used to kill them. Their whole purpose is to give your opponent something to deal with while you get your Daemons onto the table. Be bold and throw them into stupid situations, the more irresistible the better. While it might not be a great idea to overspend, you can make them Astartes or give them bigger guns, and this only adds to the threat and the amount of attention they need to take from your opponent. Every shot they take is one less directed at something that actually counts and everything that they manage to kill by themselves is a bonus.


Warhammer 30,000 Tactics Articles
General Tactics
Legiones Astartes
Mechanicum
Imperial Army
Agents of the Emperor
Agents of the Warmaster
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