Anyone know good chaos daemon tactics?

[Anaximander]

This is an army I rarely see or hear of, and have put one together. Having played a couple of 1500pt games I am looking for some good tactics. I am not interested in "play another army" as advice, because I fancy this one!

Currently I use:

1st half ( hopefully )
10 plaguebearers with icon
10 bloodletters
3 bloodcrushers
5 seekers of slaanesh + icon
daemon prince, wings, bolt + mark of tzeentch, iron hide

2nd half
bloodthirster with death strike,
10 plaguebearers+ icon
10 daemonettes
4 fiends of slaanesh

A monster in each half to provide mobile anti tank, and a plaguebearer icon squad to sit on objectives and/or home in the rest of the army. I have balanced the halves, because each game so far I got the wrong half down first.

So far the monsters have acted as bullet sponges, dropping dead but saving the rest of the army. The daemonettes and seekers have also died, but taken lots of enemy infantry with them. The bloodcrushers have been slow but rock hard and deadly. I could do with more speed and firepower.

How would you modify the list? What tactics would you use?

[DaveLL]

This is an army I rarely see or hear of, and have put one together. Having played a couple of 1500pt games I am looking for some good tactics. I am not interested in "play another army" as advice, because I fancy this one!

Currently I use:

1st half ( hopefully )
10 plaguebearers with icon
10 bloodletters
3 bloodcrushers
5 seekers of slaanesh + icon
daemon prince, wings, bolt + mark of tzeentch, iron hide

2nd half
bloodthirster with death strike,
10 plaguebearers+ icon
10 daemonettes
4 fiends of slaanesh

A monster in each half to provide mobile anti tank, and a plaguebearer icon squad to sit on objectives and/or home in the rest of the army. I have balanced the halves, because each game so far I got the wrong half down first.

So far the monsters have acted as bullet sponges, dropping dead but saving the rest of the army. The daemonettes and seekers have also died, but taken lots of enemy infantry with them. The bloodcrushers have been slow but rock hard and deadly. I could do with more speed and firepower.

How would you modify the list? What tactics would you use?

Balancing lists doesn't necessarily imply that you have to spread everything evenly. Specifically, I'd suggest putting multiple MCs in the same wave, and maybe both the crushers and fiends in the other. That would help confuse your opponent's target priority.

I'm honestly a little surprised that you're doing well with a unit of 10 'nettes. Don't get me wrong, I love the paintjob on my 'nettes, but I stopped using them a while ago; 10 of them is just enough to draw fire without providing staying power.

Your DP is expensive. I'd take off the wings and hide, and add a second DP with MoT and Bolt. Not as quick, true, but there would be two of them for only slightly more points than the one bloated monster you had before.

For speed and firepower, you could always go with the tried and true Tzeentch herald on a chariot with Bolt. They're also absurdly difficult to kill for their points value.

I don't run plaguebearers myself. However, numerous people have mentioned that 10 of them is too many, and that a squad of 5 is perfectly fine for holding an objective. Take that for what it's worth; I'd at least try splitting them.

[acuk]

A friend of mine has in my oppinion, god a good list, basicly 6 units of small troops, plages and horrors, for objective grabbig or harrasment, then 2-3 dp's with bolt, 2 Tzeentch herald's on a chariot with Bolt, the big deamon with the bird wings and a staff, i can never remember his name, blood crushers and fiends, all mixed in to what ever points we are playing.

All the troops go in the second wave and the rest go into the first, the idea being to overwhelm the oponent with hard to take out scary stuff, then trickle in the troops to claim the objectives.

If the second wave comes first then things dont go so well but in his words deamons are a win big loose big army so you might as well just go for it, im not saying this is the best way to play but it has been alot of fun to play against.

[eagleboy7259]

Currently I use:

1st half ( hopefully )
10 plaguebearers with icon
10 bloodletters
3 bloodcrushers
5 seekers of slaanesh + icon
daemon prince, wings, bolt + mark of tzeentch, iron hide

2nd half
bloodthirster with death strike,
10 plaguebearers+ icon
10 daemonettes
4 fiends of slaanesh

Usually at 1500pts you want to try and cram in as many big monsters into the army as possible, 2x Greater Demons and 3x Soul Grinders or Demon Princes. Seekers and Demonettes are just too fragile to survive getting shot up in the drop. The Seekers would work, but you'd have to make the unit 15x stong. The plaguebearers would probably better in two groups of 5-7, they're good at being tough, but not much else as they die in combat to anyone thanks to the crutch of being fearless. I'd get rid of the Death Strike on the BT, it's very much overcosted. Instead give him Unholy Might to get his S8 so he can instant kill characters, and for 5pts give him Blessing of the Blood God so psychic powers won't bug him.

Many people will tell you to spam T. Heralds, please don't. You can get multiple bolts into your army using Horrors, they work as the perfect harrassment units, especially since they can kill whole squads of orks, 'nids, or guard in a single round of shooting if you don't have any tanks. You can also get some ranged shooting in with Grinders or Princes (MoT and Bolt is fine).

[Anaximander]

Some interesting thoughts - thanks for your comments.

I was already half way to deciding 10 plaguebearers was too many. About 8 seems right. I have one squad in each half because I use them as icon bearers. I aim to drop the first squad quite close to the enemy to use as a homing beacon for the 2nd wave. I fear that less than 8 might not be enough to survive the first round, especially if my opponent knows why they are there! This is why I put a squad in each half, to ensure I always get one.

I find 10 daemonettes provides a one-shot weapon. I drop them close enough to get a charge next turn. So far they have lost around 1/2 the squad before they get the charge. The remainder is just enough to get the job done, but after that they are a spent force. I would like to boost the squad to 16.

I am loth to take the wings off the daemon prince, because they are essential on larger boards. I suppose the theory is that two walking will cover as much as one flying. I will give it a try.

What do people think of pink horrors? Are they any good? The range of their weapon means they risk getting charged a turn after shooting, and their CC stats are poor. Even a squad of fire warriors will give them a hard time in CC!!