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It is time to review the Daemons of the Ruinous powers in Warhammer 40,000!

My name is Zak Ludick and I play 40k, a strategy Boardgame that is now 40 years old and has an upcoming new edition (10th) coming out in June.

There are previews for the different factions and in this post I will explore the rules that we know so far and I give my thoughts on them.

Let's get into it!

Army Rule

Right, this rule is for any Chaos Daemon army. There are quite a few synergestic rules here.

Firstup is The Shadow of Chaos.
Simply put, your deployment zone is in the Shadow. No Man's land or your opponent's deployment can also become under the Shadow once you control at least half the Objectives.

Daemonic Manifestation.

While under the Shadow, should you take a Battle-Shock test - because your unit is below half strength, you add 1 to the result and should you pass, regain D3 wounds. Battle line Daemons regain D3 models instead.

Daemonic Terror

The inverse. While enemy units are under the Shadow, should they take a Battle-shock test, do so at -1 and if you fail, lose D3 Mortal Wounds!

This already means that Chaos Daemon players will seek to control the board an in doing so at break-neck speed, secure their resilience on the board as well as the dealing of additional damage.

Detachment Rule

This rule is for a Detachment called a Daemonic Incursion. This allows units to Deepstrike inside the Shadow 6" away from an enemy instead of 9" away.

Another Army Rule

ANOTHER Army-wide Daemon rule details how you can use Chaos Daemons in your other Chaos armies. The amount of Daemons you may use depends on the points limit of the game.

Additionally, you may only use specific Daemons with certain Chaos Space Marine armies. It is all obvious. World Eaters worship Khorne and you can only add Khorne Daemons to their army this way.

Unit Preview - Keeper of Secrets

First unit to be showcased is the Greater Daemon of Slaanesh - the Keeper of Secrets.

This thing has Psychic shooting attacks and a Whip, a boat load of close combat attacks to boot. Instead of needing to choose a profile with which to hit, the lighter attacks have the Extra Attacks rule, which means they get used at the same time as other strikes.

The Daemon does not have much in the way of Armor but has a 4+ Invulnerable save and 5+ Feel No Pain.

Other survivability buffs include the Daemon going up to Toughness 10 with 18 wounds and giving a -1 to Hit in close combat against foes.

Unit Preview - Be'Lakor

And then there is Be'Lakor, the unaligned Daemon Prince. He has a better armor Save than the Keeper, also has T10 W18 and a 4+ Invulnerable save.

He has fewer attacks but they hit harder than the Keeper. He also throws the Shadow of Chaos out around himself and I assume this means that Be'lakor is always in range of the Shadow then!

He has a boat-load of rules on his own, something that I am certain I should be covering in an article all on its own once the rest of the faction's rules are up.

Know your enemy, I say.

Weapon Highlights

Highlighted then is a Bileblade, a Nurgle weapon, but also showing off a Universal Special Rules called Extra Attacks for melee. This means you strike with your main weapon and then get additional attacks with this weapon as well. Neat.

The Bileblade has got Lethal Hits as well, meaning Critical Hits cause wounds automatically. 3 Attacks at S6 Ap -2 and D2... nasty...

They then show us the weapons that Skarbrand, the Exiled Khorne Daemon will be wielding. Massive amounts of Sweep attacks or plenty High damage Strike attacks. We will need to see the rest of him too. Basically most things he charges into will die.

Stratagem Highlight

Finally Corrupt Realspace. A Stratagem for the Daemonic Incursion. You put it on an Objective that you have taken and make it "sticky" meaning you will continue to own it until someone takes it away even after you move away from it. Additionally, it casts the Shadow of Chaos around it as well.

Right, that's it for Chaos Daemons for now.

Thank you for reading this post!

Cheers!
@zakludick

Hive South Africa