u/litlw

Hey all. This is a follow up to my previous post asking for thoughts on my list.

First off - I only got to play against a Tyranids monster mash list - but it was against one of the two top players in our group. It was a super tight but I pulled through with a 6 point lead. I took Purge the Foe and he took Take and Hold.

Anyways, here's my thoughts on the daemon units that shined:

MVP - 3x Skullcrushers

These guys did SO MUCH.

The three man group used the deep strike turn 1 strat from Cavalcade and put pressure on my opponent's home objective - which would set the theme for the fight. My opponent panicked and suddenly had to commit units away from midline or rear field support into dealing with my bloodcrusher surprise.

His panic response was to overwatch my crushers, which meant I could safely throw my Bloodthirster and 6x Bloodcrusher spearhead into his center field. He was talking about wanting to overwatch the bloodthirster, but ultimately the threat to his home objective was too great. (The skullcrushers did survive until turn 3)

Underperformed - Be'lakor and Lord of Change

So what went wrong? Not enough space for their bases. A Tyrannofex and a Neurolictor was sitting just outside the center objective, waiting to overwatch. During the skullcrusher ploy, the Bloodthirster, Bloodcrushers, and Rendmaster moved in to do some hurt.

Be'lakor didn't have any space to go, and so kind of did nothing (until bottom of turn 3 when he and the bloodthirster annihilated the Norn Emissary)

LoC didn't have much to shoot - as most of my opponents models were directly behind terrain footprints.

Honourable Mentions

Fade Bloodthirster + 6 Crushers + Skullmaster - A wrecking ball if ever there was one.

Burning Chariot - Surprisingly good unit. Solid shooting. Solid melee. A little squishy, so don't charge in alone.

Cultists - Who doesn't love 50 point action monkeys

Beast of Nurgle - What a unit. Even in melee it holds its own.

What I would have done differently

I would have swapped plaguebearers for another pack of cultists. As a Purge army, home objective is rarely valuable beyond the base strategy of "don't get surrounded".

For LoC, I need some more games to determine if it's still the massive gun platform that it was in 10th. I am not so sure right now. Would it have been better to bring Havocs and another burning chariot?

For Be'lakor, I need to throw him into the middle as if he was a lamb to slaughter. If I give the alpha strike to the bloodcrushers, i only have space for the bloodthirster OR Be'lakor. And in my scenario with the neurolictor applying -1 to hit everywhere, the Bloodthirster with the +1 to hit aura was the right call. Alternatively, maybe keep Be'lakor in reserves until a pocket opens up.

What would you have done differently?

Hey all, running a home tournament soon against Necrons, Orks, and Tyranids and wanted some community eyes on this list before I lock it in.

The core concept is Shadow Legion + Cavalcade of Chaos, built around the Bloodthirster Fade to Darkness assassination loop backed by two Skullmaster-led Bloodcrusher units with Soul-Shattering Charge. The Lord of Change and Burning Chariot give me Tzeentch shooting synergy with Penumbral Puppetry making both units extremely hard to shoot off the table.

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+ FACTION KEYWORD: Chaos - Chaos Daemons

+ DETACHMENT: Cavalcade of Chaos, Shadow Legion (Unholy Avalanche)

+ TOTAL ARMY POINTS: 2000pts

+

+ WARLORD: Char1: Be'lakor

+ ENHANCEMENT: Fade to Darkness (on Char2: Bloodthirster)

& Malice Made Manifest (on Char5: Skullmaster)

+ NUMBER OF UNITS: 14

+ SECONDARY: - Bring It Down: (2x4) + (1x6) - Assassination: 6 Characters

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

CHARACTER

Be'lakor (390 pts)

• 1x Betraying Shades

• 1x The Blade of Shadows

• Warlord

Bloodthirster (350 pts)

• 1x Hellfire breath

• 1x Great axe of Khorne

• Fade to Darkness (+30 pts)

Lord of Change (300 pts)

• 1x Bolt of Change

• 1x Staff of Tzeentch

• 1x Rod of sorcery

Rendmaster on Blood Throne (150 pts)

• 1x Attendant's hellblades

• 1x Blade of blood

Skullmaster (110 pts)

• 1x Blade of blood

• 1x Juggernaut's bladed horn

• Malice Made Manifest (+25 pts)

Skullmaster (85 pts)

• 1x Blade of blood

• 1x Juggernaut's bladed horn

OTHER DATASHEETS

Beasts of Nurgle (70 pts)

• 1x Beast of Nurgle

• 1x Putrid appendages

Beasts of Nurgle (70 pts)

• 1x Beast of Nurgle

• 1x Putrid appendages

Bloodcrushers (105 pts)

• 1x Bloodhunter

• 1x Hellblade

• 1x Juggernaut's bladed horn

• 2x Bloodcrusher

• 2x Hellblade

• 2x Juggernaut's bladed horn

• Instrument of Chaos, Daemonic Icon, Soul-shattering Charge

Bloodcrushers (105 pts)

• 1x Bloodhunter

• 1x Hellblade

• 1x Juggernaut's bladed horn

• 2x Bloodcrusher

• 2x Hellblade

• 2x Juggernaut's bladed horn

• Instrument of Chaos, Daemonic Icon, Soul-shattering Charge

Burning Chariot (115 pts)

• 1x Fires of Tzeentch

• 1x Flamer mouths

• 1x Screamer bites

ALLIED UNITS

Cultist Mob (50 pts)

• 1x Cultist Champion

• 1x Brutal assault weapon

• 1x Autopistol

• 9x Cultist

• 9x Autopistol

• 9x Brutal assault weapon

Cultist Mob (50 pts)

• 1x Cultist Champion

• 1x Brutal assault weapon

• 1x Autopistol

• 9x Cultist

• 9x Autopistol

• 9x Brutal assault weapon

Cultist Mob (50 pts)

• 1x Cultist Champion

• 1x Brutal assault weapon

• 1x Autopistol

• 9x Cultist

• 9x Autopistol

• 9x Brutal assault weapon

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Would love feedback specifically on:

• The Bloodthirster Fade to Darkness loop — am I missing anything about the consolidation mechanic?
• Matchup concerns against Tyranids and Orks specifically (I have a decent read on the Necron game)
• Whether the secondary profile is too generous given six characters and three Monster/Vehicle brackets

I ran my first game of 11th AND first game of Daemons since 7th. It's been forever since I played my blood boys and it felt great. Challenge: I was playing against Necrons.

Disclaimer - I wasn't super confident of the points total after all the changes, and had not yet seen the 11th edition tab in New Recruit. I ended up shooting for under 2000 pts and being 35 points under.

Anyways, Here's my list:

Chaos - Chaos Daemons - Blood Legion, Cavalcade of Chaos

Be'lakor (390pts)

Skarbrand (315pts)

Bloodthirster (320pts)

Rendmaster on Blood Throne (150pts)

10x Bloodletters (110pts)

10x Bloodletters (110pts)

3x Bloodcrushers (95pts)

3x Bloodcrushers (95pts)

Skull Cannon (90pts)

Beasts of Nurgle (70pts)

Beasts of Nurgle (70pts)

5x Flesh Hounds (75pts)

5x Flesh Hounds (75pts)

Here's my opponent's list:

(i have asked him to send it to me, i will update it when he does, for now here's what I think he had)

Xenos - Necrons - Cursed Legion, Hand of the Dynasty

C'tan Shard of the Nightbringer (360pts)

Chronomancer (95pts)

Overlord (90pts)

Plasmancer (55pts)

Skorpekh Lord (90pts)

10x Immortals (140pts)

10x Immortals (140pts)

20x Necron Warriors (190pts)

5x Flayed Ones (55pts)

5x Flayed Ones (55pts)

3x Ophydian Destroyers (80pts): Unit Composition: Plasmacyte

6x Skorpekh Destroyers (170pts): 2x Unit Composition: Plasmacyte

3x Lokhust Heavy Destroyers (150pts)

Canoptek Doomstalker (140pts)

Doomsday Ark (200pts)

How the game went:

We both took Purge the Foe, so we had Meatgrinder. He went first, I went second.

I started out with good deployment, everything in cover (or in Belakor's shadow) and moved up tentatively. I am very familiar with Necron shooting. I kept the rendmaster in reserves because I was scared he would die before his ability got used.

Turn 1 we were close. both picking up secondaries without serious casualties. He couldn't shoot me cause of cover, and I couldn't shoot him cause Skull Cannon would then be exposed.

Turn 2, he pulled way ahead. He wiped out a squad of Bloodletters with Nightbringer and claimed center. He also wiped my flesh hounds. I did a surge move but fell a little short of engagement range (they weren't in any better place before the surge so whatever). In my turn 2, Belakor ran up the field to tie up his Skorpekh and ophydians. My bloodthirster and Bloodcrushers rushed into the nightbringer. A deepstrike Rendmaster buffed the nightbringer fight, and the two units brought down the nightbringer with like 2 wounds remaining on the bloodthirster. Where was skarbrand? he didn't have the movement to get in there.

Despite the joy of annihilating the Nightbringer, I was 7 points behind end of turn 2

Turn 3 is when I pulled it together. His Skorpekh and Ophydians were tied up, though he still managed to get many secondaries. I wiped five more units of his army on my turn. This was the round that the second batch of bloodletters went sicko mode. It was disgusting, like 30 points of damage (I remember because he had to roll 30 FNP's). Terrifying. Anyways, we called it because it was getting late and this was ultimately a friendly game.

End score: 39 to 41 - winner: Necrons

My thoughts:

Flesh Hounds are amazing, i want more, i want a million. Did they die too soon? sure. Was I mad? no. Best doggos.

Skull cannon is... meh. It shoots, its got a sort-of-tank profile. it misses on melee. Battleshocks never worked in the match. Necrons passed every test.

Rendmaster is my boy! Do i need 2 of these? I feel like I need 2 of these.

Beasts of Nurgle - their ability scared my necron opponent enough that he never shot at nor charged my beasts. So they were happy action monkeys.

Bloodthirster vs Skarbrand is an interesting thing to look at. I genuinely think Skarbrand would have been the better call against the Nightbringer, but he just wasn't fast enough and the center objective was basically walled off. Skarbrand would have had to walk an extra 6 inches to make the charge. Still, the Bloodthirster doing a sweep with Rendmaster's buff and Skarbrand's buff and his own buff was good. 320 points worth of good? I really don't know.

Bloodletters in a combo are spectacular, but they really do die too easily. I feel like this is the unit where you want a couple in reserves to rapid ingress turns 2 and 3 so they can lay down a pile of hurt before being annihilated. If I dropped the bloodthirster, I would have one more unit of bloodletters

Bloodcrushers are my fave. The T7, 4 wounds and 4++ is a great statline. I had mine in groups of 3 and cohesion was no problem. Someone posted in this subreddit about the challenge of 6 or 7 keeping cohesion and I can totally see it. But the idea of 3 + a skullmaster is very enticing. A bunch of bloodcrushers with mobile for 1 cp gave my opponent the shivers several times in this game.

My questions for you:

- would you have taken shadow legion instead of blood legion?

- How do you feel about Bloodthirsters? Are they worth 320 in a list already carrying Skarbrand?

- Am I a fool for taking a skull cannon?