Hello again fellow Dark Apostles, my last review (seen here) was focused on individual unit

evaluations and conceptual changes to Daemons as a whole; but it didn’t touch on the “meat” of
list building. This document, however, is entirely dedicated to list brewing and examining
Daemon builds, including mono-god, allied, and mixed forces. Are you as excited as I am?

Since I had so many different ideas I was trying during my playtesting, it became very hard to
nail it down to just a handful of lists; eventually, I settled on these 10. My disclaimer is that not
all of them are “top tier”, but every single one of them has merit and a solid gameplan in mind.
You might be surprised by a few of these, and if you want to skip ahead to the “one list to rule
them all”, jump forward to my Classic Daemon Castle.

Want more content like this in the future? I just started a Youtube channel! Uploads pending, but
if you are looking for more competitive Daemons/Chaos content (or just 40k content in general),
make sure to give me a follow and become one of the First Among Traitors!

Click here to check out the page!

Table of Contents:

• What am I looking for in a list?

• Khorne
o Brass Stampede
o The Blood Council

• Tzeentch
o Scream-star Reloaded
o Schemes of Prospero

• Nurgle
o Green Deluge
o Blight Bell

• Slaanesh
o Twisted Sisters Horde
o WordKeepers

• Undivided
o Classic Daemon Castle
o Monster Mash
What am I looking for in a list?

9th Edition is unsurprisingly very focused on board control and strategic planning. Since the
games are shorter, and the table is smaller, you have far less time to recover after a mistake.
On top of this, in the current iteration of 9th as of 8/20/2020, having the first turn absolutely
swings the game massively in the favor of the person who is “on the play”. So when I am
designing these lists I consider the following questions:

- How do I win? What piece or board position do I need to protect and

what kinds of threat do I need to mitigate?

- What do I expect to play? Often it helps me to picture a winning game

and a losing game for each of my most anticipated matchups. Tool what
you do to what you will play.

- What missions and secondaries do I like, which do I avoid, and how

easy are these points for me to score? This defines the kinds of roles
you need to fill with your models, how you play, and what areas you need
to polish up on to tighten your game.

- Is my strategy flexible? It isn’t always bad to be a one-trick-pony, but

you have to ask yourself “is this a good enough trick?”. Sometimes your
build will outright lose to certain matchups and the win percentage can
feel almost insurmountable if your opponent is competent. However, a
“jack of all trades” build has the advantages of being flexible and the
disadvantages of “trying to do too much”. After each game, evaluate what
you have and if it preformed how you’d expect, sometimes Mathammer
and Tablehammer disagree.

- Is this list fun? Perhaps the most overlooked category of them all in a
competitive setting. But I assure you, if you do not like what you are
playing, it makes your games at tournament far more taxing and hampers
your ability to play consistently at top performance. It will also inevitably
lead to burnout. I personally really enjoy high Actions-Per-Minute lists with
lots of rules interactions and models; stationary gunlines absolutely bore
me to death. If you are building a list that you don’t enjoy to play, it is
better to cast that rot off before Nurgle takes his wicked toll.

With these questions in mind, LETS CHECK OUT SOME LISTS!

 Battalion Detachment 0CP (Chaos - Daemons) [106 PL, -4CP, 1,997pts], Rewards
of Chaos (1 Relic) [-1CP]

Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage [250pts, -1CP]: Blood-drinker Talisman, Oblivious to

Pain, Blood-blessed, Warlord

Skullmaster [95pts]: The Crimson Crown

Skulltaker [90pts]

Bloodletters X 10, [90pts]: Instrument of Chaos

Bloodletters X 10, [90pts]: Instrument of Chaos

Bloodletters X 20, [185pts, -1CP]: Banner of Blood, Instrument of Chaos

Bloodcrushers X 10, [475pts, -1CP]: Banner of Blood, Instrument of Chaos

Flesh Hounds X 7, [154pts]: Gore Hound

Flesh Hounds X 7, [154pts]: Gore Hound

Flesh Hounds X 8 [144pts]

Skull Cannon [90pts]

Skull Cannon [90pts]

Skull Cannon [90pts]

 Brass Stampede Overview
So diving into our first list, we start this review off with a unique take on Mono-Khorne in 9th. This
list is built around its namesake stratagem “Brass Stampede” and is tooled to be a supportive
(and flavorful) cradle for your Bloodcrushers.
It wins by controlling and contesting early objectives and using your two main Bombs (the 20
bloodletters and 10 Bloodcrushers) to pry open your enemy’s line and disrupt their scoring.
Secondaries to Consider
All Purge the Enemy objectives, Abhor the Witch, Thin Their Ranks, Engage on All Fronts
or Linebreaker, and Repair Teleport Homer. There are also a number of mission specific
secondaries which are quite tempting with the right board. Essentially, your goal is to run at
things and kill things, which is very on brand for Khorne.
Unit Evaluation
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage: A pricy but valuable distraction that uses Bloodblessed in
combination with his FNP Warlord Trait and Blood-drinker Talisman relic to bullet sponge an
extraordinary amount of firepower. This build is incredibly threatening for lists with scout style
units or opponent’s who rush the mid-field objectives early; as your Warlord will happily clear out
the chaff for much-appreciated wound regeneration with his sweeping blows. You can’t really
ignore this raidboss either, since he hits like a truck made out of smaller -angrier- trucks.
Skullmaster: Armed with the Crimson crown relic, this character is here to amp up your
Bloodcrusher Bomb’s output the turn they drop.
Skullmaster: His aura is fantastic for both the smaller units of bloodletters and the larger
Bloodcrusher Bomb, helping to increase their hits by a significant margin.
Bloodletters: Obviously here to help fill our detachment, but these troops still do a lot of heavy
lifting for the mono-khorne approach in 9th. You can field the smaller units of 10 on some missions
to save CP and hold certain objectives, or you can drop them in alongside Skulltaker for an
attempted charge or to complete secondaries like Linebreaker and Repair Teleport Homer.
Bloodcrushers: The centerpiece of this list and the MVP if played correctly, check out my 9th
edition faction review for some of my strategy regarding using these units to their fullest potential.
The basic is to set up your army for an absolutely devastating Brass Stampede on turn 2.
Flesh Hounds: Perfectly sized at 8 dogs a brood, these units are still quick and relatively tanky,
helping you secure the mid field early and gobble up any light infantry that might be in their way.
They also are a decent counterpick for Warpcraft secondaries, if your opponent happens to go
for those, since they can deny psychic tests.
Skull Cannon: An awkward unit but still quite good at bonking light vehicles or killing a few
heavy infantries. They help anchor our deployment zone, sit on objectives, and can screen out
deepstrikers. Don’t feel like you need to push them up the table or even make them shoot, its an
entirely valid play to hide one or two of them in the corners to harvest some VP from hidden
objectives safely.
Playtest score: W4 – L2
 Battalion Detachment 0CP (Chaos - Daemons) [75 PL, -7CP, 1,275pts] , Rewards
of Chaos (1 Relic) [-1CP]

Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage [250pts, -1CP]: Blood-blessed, Blood-drinker Talisman,

Oblivious to Pain, Warlord

Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster [230pts, -1CP]: Unrivalled Battle-lust

Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury [240pts, -1CP]: Exalted Bloodthirster

Bloodletters x 20 [185pts, -1CP]: Banner of Blood, Instrument of Chaos

Bloodletters x 20 [185pts, -1CP]: Banner of Blood, Instrument of Chaos

Bloodletters x 20 [185pts, -1CP]: Banner of Blood, Instrument of Chaos

Spearhead Detachment -3CP (Chaos - Daemons) [33 PL, -725pts]

Daemon Prince of Chaos with Wings [195pts]: Skullreaver

Daemon Prince of Chaos with Wings [200pts]: Malefic talons

Giant Chaos Spawn [150pts]

Skull Cannon [5 PL, 90pts]

Skull Cannon [5 PL, 90pts]

 The Blood Council Overview
So you want to run three bloodthirsters huh? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Obviously this
build is a little bit less… flexible? Than the first list one, but it is very, very fun to play.
It wins by absolutely slaughtering everything by the end of turn three and claiming all the
objectives your enemy’s mangled corpses leave laying around. Pretty straight forward.
Secondaries to Consider
All Purge the Enemy objectives, Abhor the Witch, Thin Their Ranks, Engage on All Fronts
and Linebreaker. You want to hit them hard on turn 2 and stop them from ever recovering.
Unit Evaluation
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage: Same as with our previous build, but with the extra important
role as bodyguard for the Daemon Princes until the Bloodletter Bombs come down the following
turn.
Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster: Your character hunter and deepstrike threat of the three,
thankfully the fly keyword still lets him hop over his smaller Bloodletter friends to get where he
needs to go.
Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury: Give him the Armour of Scorn if you want to dump the CP,
I prefer him as is though, and I always roll for two random rewards and hope for something good.
If the Blood Council was a boy band, he would be the daring bad-boy of the bunch.
Bloodletters: In this list the Bloodletters are the true heavy lifters and game winning threats, the
Blood council is just a fun backup that makes plenty of space for your real Bombs. Plant these
where you need to claim an objective and lock down anyone that would contest you for it in melee.
This is a true multiple-threat-overload approach to the game.
The Daemon Princes: The skullreaver DP needs no explanation. The Malefic talons on the
other ought to be swapped for what you plan to do with the DP. In my case, I chose the Malefic
talons to help me blender through primaris marines, but a Sword or Axe outperforms them in
most other instances. Put both of these characters next to the Insensate Rage BT and use him
as a big bodyguard while they advance up the table and prepare for the turn 2 charge.
Giant Chaos Spawn: Just one of my favorite for-fun units in the game, I couldn’t resist adding
one to the spearhead detachment. It also gets pretty out of control, since your opponent will be
focused on blasting down your other big bois first.
Skull Cannon: Essentially the same as with the Brass Stampede. Park on objectives and dome
people with skulls!
Playtest score: W1 – L1
 Battalion Detachment 0CP (Chaos - Daemons) [99 PL, -2CP,
1,799pts], Rewards of Chaos (1 Relic) [-1CP].

Lord of Change [270pts, -1CP]: Exalted Lord of Change, Incorporeal

Form, The Impossible Robe, Warlord

Lord of Change [275pts, -1CP]: Warpfire Blade, Aura of Mutability,

Fluxmaster [105pts]

Pink Horrors X 10, [80pts]

Pink Horrors X 10, [80pts]

Pink Horrors X 10, [80pts]

Flamers X 9, [207pts]

Screamers X 9, [234pts]

Screamers X 9, [234pts]

Screamers X 9, [234pts]

Summoning points: 201

 Screamstar Reloaded Overview
Gotta go fast! This is a hyper-mobile speedster list that maximizes the use of the Tzeentch Loci
and has a multitude of strong threats.
Battlefield Supremacy, Warpcraft, and Shadow Operations are all very nice with this build.
Unit Evaluation
*Pay close attention to this double lord of change loadout, previewed in my faction review,
it will be seen several more times moving forward.*
T-Posing Utility Chicken / Hybrid Psychic Super Soaker: One of the best Bullet Sponges in
the entire game and an amazing source of both positional utility and offensive psychic threat. I
like to roll for this LoC’s Exalted Rewards and I always take Bolt of Change and Infernal
Gateway, in case I roll Lord of Flux as one of my results. Park this somewhere to soak up their
fire and punish them with your psychic phase, or an annoying charge, if they try to ignore it.
UItra Mega Combat Chicken: My all-time favorite way to run the LoC. This threat is a mixed bag
of necessary utility spells like Gaze of Fate or Flickering Flames and CC threat thanks to the
blade relic. Generally speaking, you can hide this bird from the best guns your opponent has until
it makes the turn 2 charge, but thanks to Aura of Mutability, it is still absurdly survivable against
even the most aggressive Admech and Space Marine gunlines.
Fluxmaster: Mobile, great for warpcraft secondaries, can take Boon of Change, and is one of
the best units to glide alongside your Screamers. The strength bump his aura provides is -very-
important for this list due to the S4 breaking point your Flamers and Screamers have.
Pink Horrors: A very point effective infantry troop choice that will happily anchor your
deployment and hold your crucial back-line objectives while the rest of your list moves forward.
Flamers: My initial build had 30 Flamers and 10 screamers, which in many regards
outperformed this version of the list; but after some theory crafting, I decided that a single bomb
of them was plenty. Deepstrike these, cast Flickering Flames, position your herald nearby, and
spend the 1CP for Flames of Mutation to turn this squad into a mobile bunker buster.
Screamers of Tzeentch: In the dark, old era of formations and busted psychic powers,
Screamers used to be the king of the Tzeentchian jank and the undisputed Daemon masters of
the Death-star strategy. 8th edition has shown our poor manta rays that fate is a fickle thing, and
their fall from grace was astronomical. But, as luck would have it, fortune again smiles upon
these fast and furious speedsters. In part due to their new Engine War stratagem, but mostly
due to the strategic value of fast, somewhat lethal, objective grabbers in 9th. Naturally
screamers benefit greatly from the Tzeentch Loci, the Boon of Change power, Herald Buffs,
and smaller board sizes. The blistering speed of these units is not to be underestimated either,
you can easily jump them between obscuring cover to obscuring cover until they choose to
expose themselves for a charge. This isn’t really enough to push them over-the-top, but it is
enough to make them viable, particularly against the white-scar/salamander space marines and
harlequin matchups.
Playtest score: W3 – L1
 Battalion Detachment 0CP (Chaos - Daemons) [51 PL, -2CP, 890pts]

Lord of Change [270pts, -1CP]: Exalted Lord of Change, Incorporeal

Form, The Impossible Robe, Warlord

Lord of Change [275pts, -1CP]: Warpfire Blade, Aura of Mutability

Fluxmaster [105pts]

Pink Horrors X 10, [80pts]

Pink Horrors X 10, [80pts]

Pink Horrors X 10, [80pts]

Patrol Detachment -2CP (Chaos - Thousand Sons) [58 PL, -1CP,

965pts]

Daemon Prince of Tzeentch with Wings [200pts, -1CP]: talons, Magister:

High Magister.

Rubric Marines X 20. [360pts]

Scarab Occult Terminators X 10 [405pts]: 2x Hellfyre Missile Rack

Summoning points: 145

 Schemes of Prospero Overview
A Tzeentch board control list with alot of neat tricks and a ton of serious bite. I haven’t lost with
this yet in five intensely competitive games with my playtesting group, saying this is “meta” is
not an overstatement, you could easily top an RT with this build. Choose a Cult that fits your
personal preferences, but I recommend the cult of Duplicity, Time, or Schemes.
Battlefield Supremacy, Warpcraft, and Shadow Operations are all very nice. I’ve had a great
deal of success with Engage on All Fronts and Raise the Banners High.
Unit Evaluation
Fluxmaster: Helps complete Warpcraft secondaries and summon in whatever you need to
stabilize your board state in the later turns. Can also portal around for some CP if you really need
to.
Daemon Prince of Tzeentch: The Thousand Sons have the best Daemon Prince available:
thanks to its broad access of disciplines, cross-codex synergies, and ability to cast two psychic
powers per phase. For 1CP, we also grant this fella a warlord trait (and I usually go for “High
Magister”, in order to cast more reliably). Make sure he knows Glamour of Tzeentch and
Prescience, so that it can priority cast these on your…
Rubric Marines: The all-star that not only makes this list possible, it makes it viable. Rubrics
are just as tanky as any MEQ, but that definitely is not why you are bringing them (and with
Blast Rules in mind, you need a REALLY GOOD reason to want a giant unit of these). You bring
them because of their amazing Risen Rubricae stratagem. It allows you to set them up during
deployment anywhere on the battlefield that is more than 9" away from the enemy deployment
zone. So… Nurglings in power armor? Yes please! Not only do they scout up exactly where you
want them, they have tremendous firepower if you are on-the-play: crank out the bolter damage
with Veterans of the Long War and Infernal Fusillade for a maximum of 76 (!!!) bolter shots
with +1 to wound. Get the DP in range and pull off a Prescience cast and they pretty much
never miss. Make sure the Rubric sorcerer knows Weaver of Fates since you can stack this
invul save up to a staggering 3++ in combination with one of their other stratagems. So yeah,
they kill things and hold stuff.
Scarab Occult Terminators: These essentially serve as a second wave unit to reinforce your
mid-field board position once the Rubrics are diminished. Situationally, they even can be fielded
during regular deployment against hordes or jumped in turn one if you are the Cult of Duplicity
or happen to have a Dark Matter Crystal on your DP. They luckily avoid the biggest downsides
of the new Blast Rules and are quite a heavy hitter, which they would need to be to justify their
sky-high point cost! Make sure the Rubric sorcerer knows Weaver of Fates (or grab something
else if you plan to dump the CP on the +1 invul strat).

Playtest score: W5 – L0
 Battalion Detachment 0CP (Chaos - Daemons) [73 PL, 1,491pts, -2CP], Rewards of
Chaos (1 Relic) [-1CP]

Daemon Prince of Chaos with Wings [200pts]: Horn of Nurgle's Rot, Malefic talon,
Virulent Touch, Warlord

Poxbringer [75pts]: Corruption

Nurglings X 5, [6 PL, 90pts]

Nurglings X 5, [6 PL, 90pts]

Plaguebearers X 25, [259pts]: Daemonic Icon, Instrument of Chaos

Plaguebearers X 25, [259pts]: Daemonic Icon, Instrument of Chaos

Plaguebearers X 25, [259pts], -1CP]: Instrument of Chaos, Plague Banner

Plaguebearers X 25, [259pts], -1CP]: Instrument of Chaos, Plague Banner

Patrol Detachment -2CP (Chaos - Daemons) [16 PL, 280pts]

Spoilpox Scrivener [100pts]

Nurglings X 5, [90pts]

Nurglings X 5, [90pts]

Fortification Network 0CP (Chaos - Daemons) [3 PL, 95pts]

Feculent Gnarlmaw [95pts]

Summoning points: 134

 Green Deluge Overview
I think some people have deceived themselves into thinking horde isn’t a viable strategy. I’ve
been adamant that horde has remained mostly intact, and with the advent of the GT mission
packet, we now see an entire meta which panders to survivable, Infantry-based, board control
armies… Not many do this better than Papa Nurgle and his boys.
Battlefield Supremacy and Shadow Operations are the core two secondary categories you
are expecting (and often needing) to high score in order for this list to be successful. Warpcraft
and some mission specific secondaries are both appealing. Notably, Deploy Scramblers,
Engage on All Fronts and Raise the Banners High were pretty easy for this list to
accomplish.
Unit Evaluation
Nurglings do exactly what you’d expect, help you score early and slow down your opponents
so that you stay ahead of them going into the later turns
Plaguebearers are very serviceable/survivable for their cost. They also don’t mind giving up
their turns to raise a few banners or deploy some scramblers, if that’s what is needed of them.
So how do you support this list and make sure that it gets into the later stages of the game?
Since you have almost no obvious threat saturation, your opponents -might- rip a hole right
through your game-plan if equipped with enough firepower. Well the first thing to do is get some
supporting characters that enable your core “objective doers”. In this list, those take the form of
the Poxbringer, DP, and Scrivener.
This cabal mixes crucial utilities, like the scrivener’s bonus move, and the psychic output of the
herald + DP, with some seriously force enhancing melee options from their combined auras
(you can also summon a bilepiper for his… Bilepie?). This in effect, splits your list into 3 clear
parts:
1) The scouting Nurglings which absorb firepower and lock things down.
2) The two walking Plaguebearer units by the gnarlmaw which can survive long enough to
perform some actions while protecting their characters.
3) And two Plaguebearer Bombs that you drop in to draw attention and put a dent in your
opponent’s annoying things.
This third category of deepstriking Plaguebearer threats is the most difficult to get right.
Dropping both bombs turn two is very tempting and often correct, but as soon as they hit the
table your only real threat is established and the opponent doesn’t have to play as reserved with
their own positioning. On top of this, those Bombs don’t actually do much unless you can get
them in the aura range of their supporting characters, which can be difficult sometimes due to
terrain. But if the pieces fall into place, and you are meticulous with your board management,
you can lock the entire game down by turn three, which is essentially your goal. This list does
secondaries very easily and ought to max score (or near max score) them each game. The
biggest challenge really is managing your time and use of strategic resources, knowing when to
do things like toss your DP in and start printing more Plaguebearers, or when to sit back and
just deny some objectives with bulky OBSEC troops.
Playtest score: W3 – L1
 Battalion Detachment 0CP (Chaos - Daemons) [895pts, -1CP]
Great Unclean One [17 PL, -1CP, 280pts]: Doomsday bell, Plague flail, Warlord,
Revoltingly Resilient, The Endless Gift.
Poxbringer [75pts]

Nurglings X 5, [6 PL, 90pts]

Nurglings X 5, [6 PL, 90pts]
Nurglings X 5, [6 PL, 90pts]
Nurglings X 5, [6 PL, 90pts]
Nurglings X 5, [6 PL, 90pts]
Nurglings X 5, [6 PL, 90pts]

Outrider Detachment -3CP (Chaos - Death Guard) [72 PL, -2CP, 1,105pts], Gifts of
Decay (1 Relic) [-1CP]
Daemon Prince of Nurgle with Wings [200pts, -1CP]: Revoltingly Resilient, Hellforged
Blade, Plague Spewer, The Suppurating Plate

Myphitic Blight-haulers X 3 [300pts]

Myphitic Blight-haulers X 3 [300pts]
Myphitic Blight-haulers X 3 [300pts]
 Blight Bell Overview
This list Features Deathguard and the infamous Blight Bell Combo. The centerpiece to this
strategy is its mechanized namesake (the Deathguard Blight Hauler) and the GUO that travel
along with them. In practical gameplay, this list works like an aggressive mechanized infantry
list: you are not afraid to charge things with your tanks and you ought to be shoving them up the
board to protect the midfield objective markers. Essentially, this is a modified version of a
classic Daemon Castle that features some heavy armor to backup your wall of Nurglings.
Battlefield Supremacy and Warpcraft are your obvious takes, after that, it gets alittle bit more
difficult to choose. If you are interested in doing Shadow Operations, consider cutting down on
a few Nurgling squads (but don’t go below 15 bases total!) and picking up some poxwalker in
your DG detachment or summoning points, player choice.
Unit Evaluation
Great Unclean One: For those unfamiliar, most Nurgle Chaos Daemon buffs and auras apply
to DG Daemons thanks to the <Nurgle> keyword they share. So your Loci of Nurgle helps
things like the Blight Hauler and so do your Nurgle Discipline Psychic Powers. The true hilarity
of this is the fact that a GUO’s Doomsday Bell can resurrect some fallen Blight Haulers at FULL
WOUNDS at the start of each turn on a 4+. Which forces your opponent to take some serious
risks and often prompts them into making targeting errors. Because of this, enemy anti-armor
feels pretty priced into shooting the GUO, which thanks to Warp Surge, The Endless Gift,
Miasma, Fleshy Abundance, and Revolting Resilience: he can sap up whatever gets thrown
his way for at least a couple turns.
Nurglings: The sheer volume of Nurglings ought to be enough to slow things down and clog
things up so that your Blight Haulers can castle up on the center of the table.
Daemon Prince of Nurgle with Wings: Insanely valuable at its cost, this DP has wicked
melee, decent shooting, unrelenting survivability, and strong force amplification. Thanks to the
Suppurating Plate, this character even serves as an anti-horde tool. Glide him along with the
GUO and haulers until he is needed elsewhere.
Blight Haulers: Very efficient at their current point total, these machines don’t mind getting up
close and personal and nuking opposing tanks along the way. As vehicles they are able to shoot
while engaged, which is stellar, and they have access to some pretty strong stratagems now. So
yeah, make them VROOM up into the midfield and castle up with their Big Bell Boi; but don’t be
afraid to split them up if your mission calls for it.
*I am still experimenting with this list and will probably make adjustments to it as things develop,
but the core of it remains very strong, now on to optimization!*
Playtest score: W2 – L0
 Battalion Detachment 0CP (Chaos - Daemons) [101 PL, -3CP, 2,000pts]

Syll'Esske [230pts]: Warlord

Contorted Epitome [210pts]: The Forbidden Gem

The Masque of Slaanesh [85pts]

Daemonettes X 25 [200pts, 12 PL]: Daemonic Icon, Instrument of Chaos

Daemonettes X 25 [200pts, 12 PL]: Daemonic Icon, Instrument of Chaos

Daemonettes X 25 [200pts, 12 PL]: Daemonic Icon, Instrument of Chaos

Daemonettes X 20 [165pts, 8 PL, -1CP]: Instrument of Chaos, Rapturous Standard

Daemonettes X 20 [165pts, 8 PL, -1CP]: Instrument of Chaos, Rapturous Standard

Daemonettes X 20 [165pts, 8 PL, -1CP]: Instrument of Chaos, Rapturous Standard

Seekers X 10 [190pts, 8 PL]: Instrument of Chaos

Seekers X 10 [190pts, 8 PL]: Instrument of Chaos

 Twisted Sisters Horde Overview
On paper, this seems like I just brought a bunch of Daemonettes for some casual Slaanesh
brand “fun”, which is only partially true. I also brought them because the bulk of this list is made
up of one of the Daemon units who BEST benefitted from the changes to morale. My final list
has gone through several iterations, with me adding and removing Keepers many times, but I
wanted to focus on Daemonnette horde in its “purest” (if the word can ever be attached to
something Slaanesh) form. This is that.
In many ways similar to the Green Deluge, you are looking for Battlefield Supremacy and
Shadow Operations as your go-tos. You can reasonably kill some stuff and do some mission
specific secondaries, but the standard Warpcraft is hard to accomplish with this list.
Syll'Esske: An absurd stats brick of melee awesomeness if they ever arrive, Syll'Esske makes
this list both possible AND good, all by their self (selves?). They are your key force amplifier,
due in part to their morale rerolls, but mostly because of the necessary Herald and DP boosts.
Launch them up the board and protect them with Daemonettes blobs. They obliterate just about
everything they happen to touch fondle.
Contorted Epitome: The enabler for your Seekers and the character tasked with the essential
service of keeping the enemy locked up in your hordes. Obviously, being stuck in combat
synergizes quite well with the Masque to drastically increase your Daemonettes’ survivability.
The Epitome is also a magnificent psychic battery, ensuring that your key powers (like fight
twice) are manifested when they need to be.
Masque of Slaanesh: Pretty cheap for what she does, the Masque increases the survivability
and deadliness of your Daemonettes, but also can go on a against enemy
characters when requested.
Daemonettes: Agile, objective secured, infantry hordes are some of the best “objective-doers”
in the game currently. Daemonettes Check all the basic boxes for getting your primary points
and secondaries points done, they also help to protect their key force amplification characters.
Additionally, they are fast threats that can quickly swarm up the table to blitz through medium
infantry and light armor; you can even drown some of the most survivable models in the game
thanks to the sheer weight of attacks they provide. The small base size of these models means
that they might even be able to tuck behind cover, which can seriously swing games. The
squads with the Rapturous Standard usually start in deepstrike, but can situationally be
deployed (like against other board control horde lists).
Seekers: A double melee tarpit with an absurd turn 1 threat range, just make sure you keep it in
range of a Loci (if possible). Drive your sexy ant-eaters right into your opponent’s front line and
stall them out while scoring your linebreaker points right away.

Playtest score: W1 – L0 (this iteration) / W2 – L1 (Keeper Build)

 Patrol Detachment -2CP (Chaos - Daemons) [42 PL, -3CP, 830pts], Rewards of Chaos (1
Relic) [-1CP]

Keeper of Secrets [230pts, -1CP]: Living whip, Quicksilver Reflexes

Keeper of Secrets [230pts, -1CP]: Living whip, Blessing of the Dark Prince

Daemonettes X 20 [150pts, 8 PL]: Instrument of Chaos

Daemonettes X 20 [150pts, 8 PL]: Instrument of Chaos

Daemonettes X 10 [70pts, 4 PL]

Vanguard Detachment -3CP (Chaos - Chaos Space Marines) [60 PL, -2CP, 1,169pts]

Legion: Word Bearers, Gifts of Chaos (1 Relic) [-1CP]

*Everything has a Mark of Slaanesh*

Daemon Prince of Slaanesh with Wings [200pts]: The Rapacious Talons, Master of the Union,
Warlord.

Dark Apostle [80pts, -1CP]: Apostle of the Dark Council, Benediction of Darkness, Soultearer
Portent

Greater Possessed X 2 [130pts, 8 PL]

Possessed X 10 [200pts, 10 PL]

Possessed X 10 [200pts, 10 PL]

Possessed X 10 [200pts, 10 PL]

Chaos Rhino [81pts, 4 PL]: Combi-bolter, Combi-bolter

Chaos Rhino [78pts, 4 PL]: Combi-bolter

 WordKeepers Overview
Some CSM players out there might be surprised to see so many units of possessed, as
opposed to the more classic Possessed Bomb strategy, and on top of that, it’s a Word Bearer
list! Why? Because the Word Bearers actually have a number of good tricks up their sleeves
and are particularly adept at enabling smaller units of possessed!
Engage on all Fronts and Shadow Operations are both considerable, but you can also go for
more kill-oriented objectives such as Grind Them Down if you wish (and play accordingly). The
trick is to be maximizing the use of your terrain to your advantage, and protecting your scoring
pieces until it’s showtime.
Unit Evaluation
Keeper of Secrets: These are excellent, high-yield threats that force your opponents into
making some tough targeting decisions right away. You can even hide them if you are lucky with
obscuring! They are fairly tanky, but expose them as little as possible before they can charge.
Daemon Prince of Slaanesh: Armed with the unbelievably strong Rapacious Talons relic, this
Daemon prince is a bomb in its own right. Gliding along with your possessed and keepers, like
all Slaanesh Daemons, it benefits from the Loci your Chaos Daemon Detachment provides. This
is effectively a 30” threat range on turn 1 (before Warptime!). On top of this, you are granting
cross-faction rerolls of 1 to hit! The DP also fills the role of sorcerer, which is crucial; since we
are gunning to cast Warptime on either a squad of possessed or this DP each turn; this is
where some of our WB tricks come into play, the stratagem Malevolent Covenant guarantees
our cast will be successful and that our Warptime cannot he denied. The Warlord trait choice is
a fun area for experimentation, but I went with Master of the Union to amp up damage output.
Dark Apostle: The WB have the best Apostles in the game, thanks to their Dark Council
stratagem. We use this one how you’d expect, to beef up our possessed or DP in terms of both
survivability and combat potential.
Greater Possessed: Wonderful little blenders that can keep up with the rest of your daemons
and clear chaff like nobody’s business.
Possessed: Due to the limitations placed on modifier stacking, this unit is no longer the
monster death star it once was. But that’s not really how this list plans to use them. Possessed
are fast, survivable, elite infantry and can put the hurt on almost anything you throw them at.
Because of their speed and ability to Advance and Charge when within range of your
Slaanesh Loci, they can contest mid field objectives easily by the end of the first battle round.
As an added bonus, the WB have the Revered Hosts stratagem, which amplifies the damage
of a possessed unit by 1, now that is a serious MEQ blender!
Rhino: one of your units of possessed will want to start on the table next to the Apostle, this will
set them up for a strong turn 1 charge along with your Keepers. The other two units will want to
camp it out in the Rhino and stay safe until you’re sure you can either hide them from shooting
or get them into melee. This usually works well since your opponent will be distracted by many
of the other threats you are presenting. After deploying their payload, your rhinos serve as
speedy backline objective campers.
Playtest score: W2 – L0
 Battalion Detachment (Chaos - Daemons) [ -5CP, 1,337pts], Rewards of Chaos (2
Relics) [-3CP]

Lord of Change [270pts, -1CP]: Exalted Lord of Change, Incorporeal Form, The Impossible
Robe, Warlord

Lord of Change [275pts, -1CP]: Baleful sword, Exalted Lord of Change, Warpfire Blade

Contorted Epitome [210]

Nurglings X 9, [162pts]

Nurglings X 5, [90pts]

Nurglings X 5, [90pts]

Pink Horrors X 10, [80pts]

Pink Horrors X 10, [80pts]

Pink Horrors X 10, [80pts]

Patrol Detachment -2CP (Chaos - Daemons) [ -2CP, 380pts],

Chaos Allegiance: Khorne

Daemon Prince of Chaos with Wings [195pts]: Skullreaver

Bloodletters X 20 [185pts, 8 PL, -1CP]: Banner of Blood, Instrument of Chaos

Summoning points: 283

 Classic Daemon Castle Overview
If you have read my faction review, you may remember me ranting in length about this Daemon
list archetype. If you haven’t given that a read, I highly encourage that you do (or at least check
out my section on the LoC and Nurglings). Because, this build, or a variation of its core strategy,

Battlefield Supremacy, Warpcraft, and Shadow Operations are all good takes. Since your
plan is to just castle up in the mid-field anyhow. I’ve been gushing about just how tactically
rewarding this is to play, and how much the new missions pander to this playstyle, for long
enough, so here is my TL;DR summary of the Daemon Castle.
Unit Evaluation
LoC: T-pose on the middle of the table with your robed LoC, while your bladed one gets up-
close-and-personal with the enemy’s objective grabbers.
Contorted Epitome: An optional, but powerful, addition to this list which offers you more
positional and psychic utility. You may choose to exchange this option for a Bloodthirster with
the Bloodblessed exalted reward if you are looking for more raw power. I still favor this choice
simply due to the unique targeting denial she offers through her “no fallback” aura.
Nurglings: A deployable wall of move-blocking bodies that stymie the opposition’s flow towards
the crucial mid-field objectives, buying you exactly enough time to castle up and start printing
VP. One of these units is at max starting size, which gives you the option to pop their recursion
strat or use a Warp Surge to try and ensure their survival. This list unfortunately lacks Miasma
of Pestilence (but still has access to a “-1 to hit” power through the Epitome), so consider that if
you are building your own Daemon Castle.
Pink Horrors: I have been so impressed by this unit’s ability to camp, score, and stick around.
You may want to summon more of these or split them to keep the ones you do have healthy.
You can also opt to deepstrike a squad or two if you want Linebreaker or Repair Teleport
Homer over other Battlefield Supremacy and Shadow Operations missions.
Skullreaver Prince: An exceptional answer to most Heavy Armor and a solid force amplification
character for your Bloodletter Bomb. Just make sure to protect him while he sets himself up for
a key charge around turn two.
Bloodletter Bomb: Despite the changes to fighting distance, the Bloodletter Bomb remains a
worthwhile investment if you want things to die. It also is a magnificent distraction to slow things
down after the Nurglings get squished.

Playtest score: W4 – L0
 Battalion Detachment 0CP (Chaos - Daemons) [46 PL, -2CP, 920pts], Chaos
Allegiance: Slaanesh

Keeper of Secrets [240pts, -1CP]: Exalted Keeper of Secrets, Shining aegis, Soulstealer,
Warlord

Keeper of Secrets [230pts, -1CP]: Exalted Keeper of Secrets, Living whip

Shalaxi Helbane [240pts]: Living whip

Daemonettes X 10, [70pts]:

Daemonettes X 10, [70pts]:

Daemonettes X 10, [70pts]:

Battalion Detachment -3CP (Chaos - Daemons) [69 PL, -2CP, 1,080pts], Chaos
Allegiance: Nurgle

Great Unclean One [270pts, -1CP]: Bilesword, Exalted Great Unclean One, Plague flail

Great Unclean One [270pts, -1CP]: Bilesword, Exalted Great Unclean One, Plague flail

Rotigus [270pts]

Nurglings X 5, [90pts]

Nurglings X 5, [90pts]

Nurglings X 5, [90pts]
 Monster Mash Overview

the base size of the Great Unclean One is a hefty 5” across. Why does that
matter? Because if you set your GUO so that its center is over the center of an objective
marker, your opponent can literally not contest that objective unless they engage you in melee.
Which is pretty hilarious, and even more hilarious if the GUO is Rotigus, one of my favorite
non-Scabby Daemons (I have a thing for them, okay?). So I built a list around it, a true to form
MONSTER MASH!

Oh? Are you charging me?

Unit Evaluation
Keepers of Secrets and Shalaxie: You need stuff to draw the attention of the opponent and
lock them up while your GUOs advance up to the mid-field objectives. These fine young ladies
do an excellent job of distracting AND murdering!
GUO and Rotigus: Armed as aggressively as possible and ready to start slapping stuff, these
big bois are fantastic at surviving through shooting and bonking objective grabbers
Things that aren’t monster: Are here to enable the monsters and give you time to get them in
position. I mean, it wouldn’t be the monster mash if it wasn’t about the monster, would it?
Playtest score: W1 – L0