Grotmas is a spiritual time, a time to give thanks to your patron deity, whoever or whatever they may be. So whether you’re eating too much, fighting with family, feeling sick from all the food, or covered in, like, 87 iridescent new eyes, we’ve got a Chaos Daemon Detachment for you! Give thanks for: the Legion of Excess, Plague Legion, Blood Legion and Scintillating Legion.
Chaos Daemons do not share the agendas of mortals, striking whenever opportunity arises within the unfathomable confines of the Warp, to wreak havoc and sow despair upon whichever unfortunate foe contests them. As is often the case with daemons, however, working in an orderly and cooperative manner isn’t high on their list of priorities, so to further their patron’s goals, some greater daemons will rally their minions and puncture into realspace with violent intent or a grander plan in mind.
The Legion of Excess is only one facet of Slaanesh’s will, offering great rewards to those willing to take risks through the Seductive Gambit Detachment rule. You give up the opportunity to Fight First after making a charge for re-rolls to Hit and Wound, daring your opponent to make their attacks matter before doom surely befalls them.
They have access to Stratagems in every phase of the battle, highlights of which include Phantasmal Longing, allowing movement through terrain features, and Sensory Excruciation, which causes Battle-shock tests for all units on the battlefield within your army’s Shadow of Chaos (including your own!). You always have ways to heal your units while revelling in the despair of your opponents… as long as you are favoured by the Dark Prince of course.
The Plague Legion brings the torturous body horror of Nurgle – their uncanny anatomy (infects the psyche and the souls of those enemies who get too close, breaking apart unassailable might in a barrage of mental and physical onslaughts. Their Detachment rule, Melancholic Miasma, reflects this well, giving all Legiones Daemonica Nurgle units a plague aura that forces enemy units to suffer a Battle-shock test, inflicting Mortal Wounds through the Shadow of Chaos.
Their Enhancements encourage a steady advance, empowering those within range of the monstrously bloated Great Unclean Ones. The Font of Spores improves the Armour Penetration characteristic of their weapons, and even outright destroys enemies who stray too close to the fecund nightmare who bears the Cankerblight Enhancement. Nurgle daemons gain speed with the Murkshadows Stratagem, while should their numbers begin to fall, life can be born anew with Foetid Resurgence, restarting the cycle of suffering once more.
Never to be outdone, Khorne’s Blood Legion is desperate to enact vengeance, using their Murdercall Detachment rule to surge into combat. Their Enhancements encourage destruction and bloodshed in every way, sometimes to themselves (Khorne cares not, after all…)
Should a Khornate monster fall in battle, it will drag foolish opponents down with it using the Gateway Unto Damnation Enhancement triggering an empowered (and very likely) Deadly Demise! Similarly, Bloodletters have been blessed in brass and can use the Sheathed in Brass Stratagem to laugh off withering hails of boltgun fire with a (albeit temporary) 3+ Save characteristic and return some festive skull hurling to batter cowards into pulp from afar.
The maddening machinations of Tzeentch often require odd sacrifices to achieve long-term success. The Fates in Flux Detachment rule will have you and your opponent trading resources, which can be used in strange and wondrous ways, and mastering the fraying weave will surely bring the greatest successes (or the most pained defeats), but you can always rest knowing that it was just as planned.
Never wanting to play fairly, Tzeentch daemon monsters can cheat the most basic of rules, using the Infernal Puppeteer Enhancement to channel through a lesser daemon (and measure range and line of sight to and from for their ranged attacks). Never picking a fair fight, should your Tzeentchian nightmares be caught in combat, you can use the Flickering Reality Stratagem to roll a D6 and simply prevent all unmodified Hit rolls of that number, potentially even removing the chance of Critical Hit effects should Tzeentch deem it necessary.
Great gifts indeed from the big four. Tomorrow we return with another true meaning of Grotmas: profit, as embodied by the Leagues of Votann!
