Wormhole Daemons Tactics

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Wormhole Daemons
Setting: Grimdark Future
Games: Grimdark Future,
Grimdark Future: Firefight
Species: Daemons
Version: v2.50

Note: as v2.50 is in constant development the following might not be accurate.

Why Play Wormhole Daemons

The wormhole daemons are really four smaller armies fit into one group. All of them have their own unique rules, you'll notice that all of them have a generally similar pattern of things.

Pros:

  • Incredibly powerful heroes with a decent amount of customization
  • Your army lists are rather simplistic since you have four of them under the same banner
  • Each army list comes with their own specialty
  • Ambush/Scout all over the place

Cons:

  • Your strong heroes are costly
  • No synergy between your different daemons
  • No transportation, so your forces need to use Ambush or get shot back to hell
  • Unless using an Ascended Daemon Champion, buying the Daemon Champions ranged weapons robs them of all melee ability.

Universal Special Rules

  • Daemon: A rule given to all of your units, this gives you an option between either Ambush or Scout. Both of these options are very powerful, as Scout allows you to set up your battle lines closer to the foes.

Daemons of War

The Daemons of War are bluntly simple with their passions: ripping things up in close quarters. Your army is Furious as par for the course, and you have beasts that are even Fast on top of that. While you have no spells, you still have the means to block spells if you pay for it.

Special Rules

  • Banner of War: Attached units get Impact(1).
  • Gift of War: Attached units get +1 to hit in melee.
  • Resistance: Grants a +2 bonus to block spells.
  • Symbol of War(X): Once per activation, before attacking, roll X d6; For each 4+, an enemy unit within 18" takes 3 AP(2) hits. This gives you enough to bloody an elite unit or tank.

Units

Heroes

  • Avatar of War: Avatar daemons are no joke to be around, and War's is no different. Fear, Furious and Flying make for a sinister combination and it has Tough 18 to guarantee its survival.
    • Melee: Its base Exalted Fire Axes are already a monstrosity of a weapon, able to carve holes in near anything, and you can trade either for an Exalted Fire Hammer, sacrificing attacks for crowd-busting. The Exalted Flame Gauntlets provide you with AP(4) if you find yourself frequently facing high defense units that don't necessarily have too many Tough - after all, you have A9. Your most costly option is an Exalted Flame Spear, sacrificing attacks for AP(4) Deadly(3) - the thing made to puncture vehicles and titans.
    • Shooting: While normally the Avatar of War has no shooting, you can replace a weapon for an Exalted War Whip for some measure of shooting. While not very long-ranged, it's still a barrage of attacks at AP(2), capable of ripping apart mobs before charging. You also have the option for a Symbol of War, a costly means for out-of-turn damage that doesn't count as shooting.
  • Ascended Harbinger of War: The Harbinger daemon is essentially a diet Avatar daemon - for war's instance this means no flying (by default; you can buy this back), fewer attacks with all weapons despite otherwise being the same and being only Tough 6. This makes for a better place for a Symbol of War, though you will still stand out as a target.
  • Champion of War: Essentially an elite Blood Warrior, but you still have the same weapons as the other heroes (though at the fewest attacks of all) and maintain the option for a Symbol of War. That said, you are still a murder machine, though now you should consider hiding in a unit since you're at Tough(3) on a 4+ defense.
    • Mounts: The champion can take a mount, either a very tanky and charge-friendly Great Beast or a beefier Throne of Blood that confers a frenzy of AP(2) attacks and Fear - the option comes down to what you plan on accompanying.
  • Cerberus Hound: Your elite blood hound has a frenzy of attacks plus Fear and a 3+ quality and 4+ defense. This dog's not just a gimmick either - it's also got anti-psych collars for Resistance. If you're not facing wizards though, it's kind of a waste and you'd be better served by the spiked collars for Impact(3).

Infantry

  • War Furies: Your cheapest but also your least impressive with 5+ to quality and defense. Fortunately, they still get AP(2) on their claws and Flying so they can make for a good kamikaze unit to distract enemies.
  • Blood Warriors: Your basic infantry has Furious and AP(2) on their attacks, making them very keen on ripping apart most infantry. Grab a command group and they get Fear while a Banner of War gives Impact(1). You can also give the unit a different set of weapons, be it a second CCW, Rending or AP(4). These guys benefit more than any other from exploiting Ambush, since they have no other means of getting close and will die if they get hit. It might help to consider merging units in those instances, especially if you use them to hide a Champion.
  • Blood Hounds: Blood hounds are a bit more aggressive in combat with 3+ quality. While Fast, you'll notice that they trade potency for weight of attacks as they only get AP(1) on their bites. You can buy the pack Resistance or Impact(1) depending on what exactly you plan on doing with them.
  • Beast Riders: The beasts give blood warriors a lot: Tough(3) on a 3+ defense, Fast, Impact(3) and another set of attacks. However, they are incredibly expensive at 230 points. If you plan on bringing them, then you'd best know where to throw them and make sure that absolutely nothing stops them from their goal.

Vehicles & Monsters

  • Cannon Chariot: This is a piece or artillery with serious bite. Not only is this cannon able of flattening any squad it hits, but it can also fight back if it's in melee - hell, you might even want to charge just to make use of Furious.
  • Soul Daemon of War: This is a Soul daemon meant to take on other tanks as it has a better AP than the Soul Daemons of other gods, and you are absolutely paying through the nose for it. You can trade off the melee weapon for a War Sword, giving a flurry of attacks at AP(2), while the War Cannon can be changed out for a Heavy War Cannon with AP(4).

Daemons of Change

The Daemons of Change are more defensive than most. The entire army has Stealth across the board. The daemons of change are also very focused on casting, as all the heroes have some manner of Psychic potential. The minions, on the other hand, present the only venue of infantry-based shooting available to the entire army.

Special Rules

  • Banner of Change: Attached units get AP(+1) when fighting in melee.
  • Gift of Change: Enemy units over 18” away get -1 to hit rolls when shooting against the hero and its unit.
  • Split: Whenever a Change Horror is killed you may replace it with 2 Lesser Horrors. Note that you may only start assigning wounds to Lesser Horrors once all Change Horrors in the unit have been killed.
    • Split Again: Whenever a Lesser Horror is killed you may replace it with 1 Changeling. Note that you may only start assigning wounds to Changelings once all Lesser Horrors in the unit have been killed.
  • Symbol of Change(X): Once per activation, roll X d6; for each 4+, an enemy model within 18" takes a lone AP(3) Deadly(3) hit, giving a very potent ding on any heavies.
  • Warp: When an enemy rolls to block hits from a weapon with this rule, any unmodified rolls of 1 deal an additional hit.

Psychic Spells

  • Blaze (4+): Target enemy unit within 6” takes 3 hits with AP(2).
  • Breath of Change (4+): 2 friendly units within 6" get +1 next time they Advance, or +2" next time get they Charge/Rush. giving you the means to control the flow of battle a bit.
  • Inferno (5+): Target an enemy unit within 6" roll as many dice as models in that unit, the unit takes a hit for each 3+ rolled. Melt enemy horde units.
  • Steal Power (5+): 2 enemy unit within 18" takes -1 to hit next time they shoot. which can help since you have more squishy models.
  • Bolt of Change (6+): Enemy unit within 6" take an AP(4) hit with Deadly(6). Rest assured that whoever you target, they will DIE.
  • Loyalty (6+): Friendly unit within 12" gets Regeneration next time it takes wounds. a great save.

Units

Heroes

  • Avatar of Change: The avatar is the emphasis of everything Change is. Max psychic casting, Stealth, flight, Tough(18), a smattering of Warp weapons and incredible stats in combat. Fortunately, Stealth helps mitigate some of the walking target appeal and casting Loyalty on it can also help provide an additional layer of meat.
    • Melee: The stock Exalted Power Staffs give a bunch of Rending attacks, either of which you can exchange for an Exalted Power Hammer for a few less attacks with Blast(3) to handle mobs. The Exalted Power Gauntlets provide AP(3) if you intend on fighting monsters. Exalted Power Spears for also sacrifice attacks but have a powerful AP(3) and Deadly (3) to stand a chance against titans.
    • Shooting: You can also buy an Exalted Magic Bolt in place of a weapon if you want some form of shooting, giving a flurry of AP(1) attacks for a decent price. While the Symbol of Change is also available for off-combat shooting, the price and single shot does hamper its uses.
  • Harbinger of Change: A lesser hero in almost any way except for base stats, though this means that you aren't spending so much for max casting when Psychic(1) may suffice. You can also buy back Flying and Psychic(2) if you feel it necessary. For most games, this may likely be your go-to hero as it hits that happy medium between cost and effectiveness.
  • Champion of Change: An elite Change Warrior toting scaled-down versions of weapons from the other heroes. Alongside those weapons, it also has the option to take a Symbol of Change that auto-triggers on a 1+ and Psychic(1).
    • Mounts: For mounts, the champion can ride a Disc of Change for Fast and Strider, incredibly helpful for support casting and comes with some extra Tough. If you intend on actually last in a fight, you can instead go for a Screecher Chariot for a mobile bundle of attacks on a tankier frame without sacrificing maneuverability.

Infantry

  • Change Furies: Your cheapest chaff, given only weapons with Warp and either Rending or AP(1). While they can't shoot like Change and colored Warriors can, they do come with Flying, giving them the ability to outmaneuver enemies.
  • Change Warriors: Your basic infantry are the only ones out of the entire army to have a stock shooting weapon, though it's pretty meager. Their CCWs are also rather meager at only a Warp attack that hits on a 4+. Also unique among them is their ability to gain Psychic(1), giving you an extra venue of casting. You can buy a Command Group for Fear, and then complement it with a Banner of Change to make their melee attacks AP(1). If you're planning on extra melee, you're likely to buy them extra Hand Weapons, though you could also buy them Halberds for Rending or a Great Weapons for AP(2).
  • Change Horrors: Essentially change warriors with a ramped-up price tag but no upgrades. Why is that, you ask? Well they have a secret rule that means that if any models die, they become...
    • Lesser Change Horrors: Two of these guys. Note that these guys likely wouldn't carry any upgrades over and are weaker, but they're protected by the pink warriors until they're all gone. If these guys bite it, then they turn into...
      • Changelings: This. There is no unit more pathetic as they, for they will immediately die if hit by anything with only a 6+ defense to save them. You can try to use them to hit back anything while protected by the blues, but by this point the unit's lost.
  • Screechers: These guys are very mobile with Fast and Strider while Tough(3) lets them take a blow before they can close in to attack. Their role is to pretty much tie up units so that your others can focus their fire at others, but they can also be the retinue for a disc-riding Champion.
  • Scorchers: Pretty much the upgrade to Change Warriors. Each of them has three Rending attacks but have no AP in melee. While they're capable of fighting up close with three attacks hitting on a 4+ and Tough(3), that shooting's what they are best at.
  • Great Scorcher: A bigger Scorcher with double the Tough and double the shots and at a slightly longer range. Fear makes it a little better at supporting mobs, but its melee value is just as weak as the other Flame Daemons.

Vehicles & Monsters

  • Screecher Chariot: Essentially what happens when you put an Great Scorcher onto a vehicle. This allows the daemon to cover more ground with Fast and Strider and it gets a bunch of extra melee attacks as well. As a bonus, their flames manage to get AP(1) but no Rending.
  • Soul Daemon of Change: The Soul daemon gives you a much beefier monster that can stand strong. Its Power Claw gives you something good for ripping open tanks and elites, which you can replace for a Power Blade if you want more attacks better suited for hordes of infantry. The Change Cannon lets you blast infantry and you can make it a Heavy Change Cannon so you can blow up tanks. Considering that Warp relies more on massed rolls for effectiveness, the Change Cannon is the most effective gun to equip while your choice of melee weapon depends more on how much you can afford.

Daemons of Plague

The Daemons of Plague are a thematic opposite to the Disciples of Change. Where Change focuses on avoiding getting hit at all with Stealth spam, Plague focuses on taking all blows with Regeneration being freely available while being able to give it back with Poison. This does come at a cost however, as Regeneration makes all units that take it very expensive and AP is not as prevalent as it is with War or Change.

Special Rules

  • Banner of Plague: Attached units get Rending in melee.
  • Gift of Plague: Attached units get +1 to Regeneration rolls.
  • Slime Trap: Enemy units that fight in melee against this unit count as having the Slow special rule for the rest of the game.
  • Symbol of Plague(X): Once per activation, roll X d6; for each 4+, an enemy unit within 18" must take a Dangerous Terrain test. This isn't quite as dangerous, so you're less inclined to hesitate on slapping it on your greater daemon.

Psychic Spells

  • Blessed Virus (4+): Two friendly units within 6" gets Stealth the next time they get shot at. Now you have protection before AND after you get shot.
  • Muscular Atrophy (4+): Target enemy unit within 6" roll a number of dice equal to the number of models in the unit, dealing a hit for each 4+. Melts hordes good.
  • Plague Curse (5+): Enemy unit within 6" takes an AP(4) Deadly(3) hit, making it a good sniping power.
  • Putrefaction (5+): Two friendly units within 6" gets +2 to the AP of all melee weapons for the next fight phase, making them super dangerous on heavy armor.
  • Pestilence (6+): 2 enemy units within 6" suffers -3" next time they Advance, or -6" next time they Charge/Rush. Very useful against melee armies because you will have no way to counter their speed.
  • Rot Wave (6+): Enemy unit within 6" takes five AP(2) hits, making this better for most small units.

Units

Heroes

  • Avatar of Plague: Your behemoth of an avatar has Regeneration, which makes them nigh-invulnerable when combined with its 2+ save and Tough(18), meaning any focus-fire strategies will need to throw everything at it for a kill. Helping matters is also its ability to cast with Psychic(2) - the Plague spells grant a nice mix of support and damage.
    • Melee: For offense, it carries not only Psychic(2) but also two Exalted Plague Swords, whose every swing carries the risk of Poison as well as Rending. If you want crowd control, you can instead swap in the Exalted Plague Hammer that adds Blast(3) to crush hordes for free. Exalted Plague Gauntlets give you AP(2) for more guaranteed AP. Last is the Exalted Plague Spear with AP(2) and Deadly(3) on top of poison, only useful against titans.
    • Shooting: You can replace a weapon for an Exalted Plague Sling for a flood of poisoned shots. On top of that is the costly Symbol of Plague, giving you on-demand dangerous terrain checks for a few more kills, and the psychic spells.
  • Ascended Harbinger of Plague: Though diminished in power, the ascended harbinger remains just as dangerous with poisoned weaponry. You can get all the same weapons as well as Flying and access to Psychic(2), though no cheaper Psychic(1).
  • Champion of Plague: Weaker than the other heroes, but still retains the loadout and capacity to be Psychic. Also helpful is the option for Plague Sling without losing anything and auto-guaranteed Symbol of Plague.
    • Mounts: For mounts, the champion has the Throne of Plague for some extra Tough and attacks and the Giant Snail, a beefier option that makes the champion Slow but also spread it to any foes that fight it in melee.

Infantry

  • Plague Furies: While slightly more expensive than the Plague Warriors, they exchange their quality and defense for more attacks (still toting Poison) and Flying so they can show up anywhere.
  • Plague Warriors: These daemons have Regeneration, so they're more than capable of taking the same abuse any of their colleagues can and then some. The banner of plague grants Rending, which goes well with the Fear given by a command group. Its base weapons are decent enough with Poison, though like other warriors you can upgrade them for a second, a version with Rending or a version with AP 2.
  • Plague Swarms: The swarms are weak but give you more attacks and Tough 3. This makes them a little better suited for tying up distraction units.
  • Plague Fly Riders: Your Plague Warriors now have Strider to become more mobile and an extra three attacks with AP(1) from the fly's stinger. Your options are cut pretty short in return, only getting the ability to add Poison to those new stinger attacks and a ranged Poison attack.
  • Plague Beast: Essentially a slab of well-guarded meat. Not only is this thing Tough(6) with Regeneration. That aside, it's not much more than a giant distraction made to hassle whatever it faces.

Monsters

  • Soul Daemon of Plague: What you should really be bringing if you want a monster that can hurt things. As per course, both its basic weapons have Poison and the daemon has Regeneration. The Plague Sword can be replaced for a Heavy Plague Gauntlet adding AP(2) at the cost of attacks. The Plague Cannon can meanwhile be upgraded to have AP(2).

Daemons of Lust

Lust is all about speed. Your units have some form of Fast to allow them to cover ground quickly and a lot of attacks if you can trigger Overload. They'll need those attacks because they lack any special defenses or much AP. Their melee game contrasts with War because Lust focuses more on risking critical hits whereas War is about making simple hits that cut down enemies while laughing at their armor.

Special Rules

  • Banner of Lust: Attached units count as having the Strider special rule.
  • Gift of Lust: Attached units move +2” on Advance and +4” on Rush/Charge.
  • Magic Absorption: Grants +2 to blocking enemy spells.
  • Overload: The general rule for the army, any unmodified 6s to hit score two extra hits. These hits can't generate new hits.
  • Song of Banishment: Once per activation, before attacking, one enemy unit within 18” must take a Dangerous Terrain test.
  • Song of Summoning: When this model is activated you may place a unit of 5 Lust Warriors fully within 6” of this unit.
  • Symbol of Lust(X): Once per activation, roll X dice; on a 4+, two enemy units within 12” take three hits each. This isn't quite as powerful as the other symbols, but it gives you more firepower since it hits more units.
  • Very Fast: Fast +1. The unit adds +4" to Advance moves and +8" to Rush and Charge moves.
    • Speed Boost: What lets them go from Fast to Super Fast.

Psychic Spells

  • Acquiescence (4+): Two enemy unit within 12" get -1 to hit next time they shoot. Important since most of your army is only protected by a mere 4+ save for the most part.
  • Seizure (4+): Enemy unit within 6" takes an AP(2) Deadly(3) hit. Another psychic sniping spell that can handle most heroes.
  • Pain (5+): Enemy unit within 12" takes two AP(4) hits. Not much, but it can soften up a bigger unit.
  • Pleasure (5+): Two friendly unit within 12" gets +1 to defense next time they take hits. Awesome.
  • Ecstasy (6+): Friendly unit within 12" gets Impact(1) the next time they charge. Will see a lot of use with the amount of cavalry you have.
  • Overload (6+): Target enemy unit within 6" roll a number of dice equal to the number of models in the unit, dealing a hit for each 2+. Melts hordes good.

Units

Heroes

  • Avatar of Lust: If ever you needed to find out what a rocket-powered blender would look like, then the Avatar of Lust would be an excellent guess. Though it lacks Flying, Fast is a good alternative in helping go wherever you need.
    • Melee: On top of being fast and Psychic(2), this thing has nine Rending attacks using its default Exalted Ritual Blades, but triggering Rending will also ramp that number of attacks by a good margin. You can swap either for an Exalted Ritual Hammer to make half your attacks in exchange for Blast(3). The Exalted Ritual Gauntlets provide you a more reliable AP(2) attack to fight monsters. Instead, you could buy an Exalted Ritual Spear for a few tank-crushing blows at AP(2) Deadly(3).
    • Shooting: In addition to Psychic(2) and the optional Symbol of Lust, you can also replace a weapon for an Exalted Crossbow for a barrage of shots, though no AP.
  • Ascended Harbinger of Lust: Slightly fewer attacks, but you're still getting something that will drown the enemy in dice with a few lucky rolls. Alongside the Symbol of Lust and Psychic(2), the daemon Harbinger can also gain Flying despite the Avatar being unable to do so - it's pretty neat to make them even more mobile.
  • Champion of Lust: The Lust Warrior that thinks it's a daemon champion. That's not a knock, as it's still got plenty of blows and all the upgrades available to the other mounts. Symbol of Lust is especially handy on this, as it auto-triggers and is most effective on infantry
    • Mounts: The champion also has three different mounts: a Lust Beast provides access to Very Fast for a cheap price point. The Razor-Flail Chariot provides a speed boost and a defense boost, but its selling point is the insane amount of Impact hits it makes. The Bonded Harbinger of Lust turns the Champion into a literal tank with an AP(2) axe and serious buff to defense.
  • Infernal Harpist: This champion only carries a harp, giving plenty of attacks at a decent range but harried by Indirect and a lack of Fast. Though it lacks any other powers or weapons, you can buy it from two special rules: the absurdly costly Song of Summoning (Lets you summon a unit of Lust Warriors every turn) or Song of Banishment (Forces enemies to test for difficult terrain). Whichever rule you pick depends on where you plan to keep this harpist.
  • Sacred Mirror: What you have here is essentially a psychic turret. This is your cheapest Psychic(2) hero and it comes with some lethal mid-range shooting as well. Not only can it cast, but it's also a very powerful spell-blocker with Magic Absorption giving a +2 to block rolls. While not Fast, it remains a pretty powerful strongpoint for your forces.

Infantry

  • Lust Furies: Flimsy, but swift chaff with Flying to complement Fast. The number of attacks also offsets its 5+ quality somewhat. Probably the best benefactors of Overload since they have so many attacks to attempt triggering on.
  • Lust Warriors: Your infantry comes with Overload, an appreciable benefit alongside Fast. The Banner of Lust grants Strider, giving the warriors even more mobility. As with other warriors, you can still grab a Command Group for Fear (in case you wanted to weight combat resolution harder in your favor) and replace the CCWs with either Dual Hand Weapons, Halberds with Rending or Great Weapons with AP(2).
  • Lust Beast Riders: Lust warriors are already wicked fast, so the fact that they can ride beasts with Very Fast and Impact(1) just makes them even more blinding. These will absolutely be the first to the fray and the first to demolish, especially if you sprung for Fear by buying a Command Group.
  • Lust Fiends: Essentially beefier beasts. While they're just Fast instead of Very Fast, they have Tough(6), Impact(6) and 6 attacks so they're better suited for more drawn-out combat. That said, they're more prone to getting shot up at the outset.

Vehicles & Monsters

  • Razor-Flail Chariot: An engine of mass ruination if there ever was any. This armored behemoth has a staggering Impact(9) and 8 normal attacks (plus two poisoned ones). Since it has Tough(6) and 3+ defense, it's rather well protected but it is a very visible but very nimble target.
  • Soul Daemon of Lust: You've got a mobile weapons platform that can also fight back. Both the Lust Sword and Lust Cannon give you a bunch of attacks. The Lust Sword can be exchanged for a Heavy Lust Sword to get AP(2) attacks, while upgrading the Lust Cannon to a Heavy Lust Cannon makes the gun AP(2).

List Building & Tactics

General Advice

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Tactics

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See Also

Wormhole Daemons
Overview - Tactics - Firefight Tactics - Miniatures - Quickplay Armies - Firefight Quickplay Armies
Grimdark Future tactics
List Building - Strategy - Special Rules
Alien Hives - Battle Brothers - Blessed Sisters - Custodian Brothers - DAO Union - Dark Elf Raiders - Dwarf Guilds
Elven Jesters - Eternal Dynasty - Havoc Brothers - High Elf Fleets - Human Defense Force
Human Inquisition - Infected Colonies - Jackals - Machine Cult - Orc Marauders - Prime Brothers - Ratmen Clans
Rebel Guerrillas - Robot Legions - Saurian Starhost - Soul-Snatcher Cults - Titan Lords - Wormhole Daemons
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