By Simon Marshall
All i mages, except the one above, are copyright of Games Workshop - used without permission

Greetings.
Never before has there been an army book purely dedicated to the foul Daemons of Chaos.

Matt Ward headed up this great project with an amazing team of artists and writers.
With two Warhammer army books and numerous other projects under his belt Matt had the experience needed to do the daemons justice. I’m sure you’ll agree he did a fine job.

The book is filled to the brim with a great mix of new and old inspirational artwork by the likes of Adrian Smith, John Blanch, Alex Boyd, Paul Dainton, Mark Gibbons & Ian Miller. There’s also heaps of great background information on the birth of Chaos into the warhammer world, as well as evocative stories on the four main powers of Chaos.
These demonic writings have flown from the hands of people like Dave Andrews, Neil Hodgson, Mark Jones & Chad Mierzwa.

The Warhammer Armies: Daemons of Chaos Army book is divided into four main sections, each of which deals with different aspects of the army.

Scions of the Dark Gods
Here you will find all that you could want to know about the Daemons of Chaos and their dark masters. Stories of anarchy unleashed, reason collapsed and carnage untold visited upon the Warhammer world.

The Daemonic Legions
Here are the rules for the Daemonic servants of the four Chaos Gods; from mighty gore drenched Bloodthirsters to slime covered Nurglings. This section also details the most infamous Daemons, such as Kairos Fateweaver and Scarbrand the exiled one.

Colours of Chaos
This area showcases glorious paint schemes dedicated to the Daemons of Chaos, as well as providing a guide to conversion ideas and banner designs.

Daemons of Chaos Army List
Here you’ll find the point’s vales, options and upgrades for your demonic legions of doom.

This book provides a fresh start for the hordes of daemons scrabbling to be unleased upon the battlefield.

At first glance it looks very familiar to the Storm of Chaos list but the GW team have tweaked it enough as to give these beasties some new tricks up their scaly sleaves.
That’s not to say they are now über powerful daemons of destruction. They’ve balanced all these new doodads by toning them down through things like their “toughness” and “saves”. Before you go screaming bloodletter murder, all Daemons have been given a ward save and their instability rule now reads more like the undead rule with a leadership test.
They’re immune to fear instead of all psychology and all their attacks still count as magical. The big difference is that a basic daemon doesn’t cause fear.

Here’s a brief look at each unit type

(Lords & Heroes)

Greater Daemons all have the same strength and toughness, though these can be modified with the addition of certain daemonic gifts, and they’re all terrifying monsters.
Bloodthirsters have a stat line that would have Sigmar quaking in his boots. This bad boy can swing axes with the best of them and if you’re willing to sell your soul and not take that unit of Blood Crushers then he’ll be swinging that axe with the force of ten stampeding Squiggoths. All I’ll say is that this guy is Nasty.
The Keeper of Secrets is definitely designed for combat. It’ll even give a High Elf Lord a run for his money in the “who strikes first” stakes. But their gifts and spells are where things get interesting. In the right circumstances it’s possible to wipe out a unit in a single turn of magic or force a unit into combat that’ll favour your side.
The Lord of Change would definitely be one of the best (Non-Special Character) spell casters in the game. Of course you’d expect nothing less of a greater daemon of Tzeentch.
He’s no slouch in close combat either but is still not as powerful as another Lord level character tooled up for combat. These guys know all Tzeentch spells but you have to fork out more points if you want a level 4 spell caster. There are not as many exciting gifts for Tzeentch as Khorne or Slaanesh but I haven’t tried every combination.
The Great Unclean One’s amount of damage that it can take is simply scary. Not too great in close combat but he can be given some really great gifts to put up his snot crusted sleaves.
While not as tough or strong as a Greater Daemon, these Daemon Princes have something that the Greater Daemons don’t, Flexibility. While you won’t be able to make him as kick ass as a Bloodthirster or as Magical as a Lord of Change, they do have some good customization options. And they’re much cheaper in comparison.
These Heralds are hero level daemons that can be made into the army standard bearer and/or placed into their kin’s unit to give them additional bonuses. They have decent stat lines of their type, but the bonuses will be through what they bring to the party.

(Core Units)

With respectable weapon skill, strength and killing blow a Bloodletter unit can dish out some serious damage. Not as many attacks as a unit of daemonettes and they no longer have a normal save but they’re well worth the points when you factor in the magic resistance.
Pink Horrors of Tzeentch would have to be the games first unit based magic user(s). Though they don’t roll or choose spells they do have access to the shooting spells in the Tzeentch list. The bigger the unit is, the higher their magic level and more spells they can cast. Though these humorous daemons may suck at close combat you can include one unit with the Changeling special character. He’s effectively a pink horror that has the ability to mirror your opponent’s model in; weapon skill, strength, attacks and toughness while in base to base combat.
The lustful Daemonettes are second to none when it comes down to a good quick slap fight. They dish out an amazing amount of attacks for a core choice unit. But their major weakness is their low strength. They may have armour piercing claws, but if the armour is hiding anything tougher than pasty human flesh or delicate elf skin I’m afraid your going to need a bit of luck to do the damage. It’s only when you place a herald or have a trick or too hidden somewhere, do the sultry seducers of slaanesh actually show their stuff against tough armies.
Plaguebearer puss bags may not look like they can do too much in combat, but they’re tougher than the other core daemon choices and have better strength than the daemonettes. The real bonuses will again come from having that herald or trick up their sleaves to give the enemy a nasty surprise. These daemons do however have poisoned attacks.
Chaos Furies are a great addition to any army. While not the best in combat, they should make light work in taking out cannon crew or the like. They’re a flying unit, making them skirmishers so they’re ideal for slipping behind enemy lines.

(Special Units)

The gore drenched Flesh Hounds of Khorne are as well skilled and strong in combat as their Bloodletting kin. Though they may not have Killing blow they make up for it in having more attacks and an additional wound, not to mention their magic resistance of three.
One unit per army can also field Karanak Hound of Vengence. This old blood hound is an assassin in wolfs clothing. With double the attacks of a standard flesh hound he counts as a character for challenge purposes and gets re-rolls to hit and wound against a pre-determined foe.
Though the Screamers of Tzeentch aren’t much in close combat they still fill the roll of anti cannon crew admirably. Their real potential is felt in the movement phase with their slashing attacks. The slashing attacks are much stronger than the last incarnation, and can hit more units.The unit can potentially zigzag over the battlefield to inflict massive damage to many units in a single turn.
The mischievous Nurglings are just as nasty as their last incarnation if not nastier.
They loose the “Plague of flies” special rule just like all the Nurgle daemons, but gain bonuses like poisoned attacks as well as the “scout” rule.
The saucy Seekers of Slaanesh are very close to what they were during the storm of chaos campaign. The Seductresses are now equipped with up to date weaponry from the daemonic armoury. What’s exciting now is they count as fast cavalry.

(Rare Units)

Bloodcrushers of Khorne have been made meaner since Storm of Chaos. The juggernaut increases the strength and attacks of the bloodletter clinging to its back as well as being a nasty combat monster itself. And its Iron Hide is the only way for a unit level daemon to get an armour save better than its ward save in the new book.
Flamers of Tzeentch have had a complete overhaul. They’re now an antonymous skirmishing unit (like Storm of Chaos) with great flaming shooting attacks. Their flames of Tzeentch attack has the potential of doing six strength four attacks that can be shot at a charging unit without the -1 for a stand and shoot reaction. The only downfall of these bizarre fugal flamers is their low weapon skill and numbers. It seems a shame to have such good strength only to miss with each swipe.
The cankerous Beasts of Nurgle are definitely one of the toughest units in the game, after the great unclean one of course. Their regenerative power on top of a great toughness characteristic makes for a beast that’s going to be a pain to get rid of. I’d suggest using numbers to try to get a good combat resolution score for instability.
The sordid Fiends of Slaanesh are fast decent combatants, but I can see their roll being more of a supporting one. Their soporific musk makes it harder for the enemy to get away to fight another day.

There are also nine special daemonic characters with abilities that range from; giving “everyone” (including your opponent’s army) hatred, to a spell caster with access to 14 spells.
Some of these I’ve already mentioned so I’ll say no more. If you want more details you’ll have to buy the book.

Conclusion

Whether you’re a veteran Chaos player with a few daemons, or are after a new army to start. A Daemons of Chaos Army could be for you. There’s some awesome new plastic and metal miniatures released at the same time as the two Daemon books, with more releases in store for the future.
And for those interested in both Warhammer fantasy and 40,000 you’ll be buying two armies in one. What more could you ask for?

I believe Matt and the GW guys and gals have done a great job with the new book. I’m sure you’ll come to the same conclusion once you’ve read it and seen how varied and beautiful the daemonic legions can be.

So concludes this sojourn into the Daemonic Realm of Chaos.
May the Dark Gods visit great gifts upon you and ruination against your foe.