I've never used daemonic characters for exactly the reasons you've just mentioned. They are incredibly expensive and surprisingly vulnerable. On your third point though, to be fair, most characters can't take on whole units by themselves, the game's designed that way. So that's not a disadvantage specific to daemons, but obviously mortal heroes can easily fit into their units.

In a mortal army, I'd only use a daemonic character in games of 2500 points or more because of their great cost. I suspect Tzeentch Daemonic characters would be brilliant for rampaging around the board, blasting off spells, causing terror and wiping out small units, skirmishers and artillery crews!

 

Just came back from a game where I test-played an exalted daemon for the first time! And I gotta say that he did better than expected! :yes:

I was facing dwarves (1000 pts), using alot of infantry and only a single artillerypiece - an organgun. Myself, I had alot of fast units:

1) The daemon of course :w00t:
2) Furies
3) Chariot
4) Warhounds
5) Marauder Horsemen

And a large unit of marauders for backup. I managed to swarm the dwarfs pretty quick, and a few terrortest and impacts hits later the only dwarves still standing were his slayers.

The only thing my exalted daemon managed to kill were a few crossbowmen, but the presence of him really changed the game. He scared the organguns crewmen off the table, sent some clansmen running for a turn and really kept the dwarfplayer busy regarding keeping his lines tight and adjusting line of sight.

Without him I don't think it would have worked, and still I didn't face an army with low leadership or a lot of skirmishers (where he would have worked even better).

All in all my view of daemonic characters have really changed. Let's see after a few more games (ordering one today!).

 

good work! Maybe I will giv him a try some day...

On the other hand, I gotta think that scaring DWARFS involves some sort of luck...

 

at like 3500 (bigger points games, which we rarely play here) i often squeeze in a demon, can really add that little extra to your army, alternatively it can just get magicked to death straight away, but thats a risk you take isnt it.

 

...On the other hand, I gotta think that scaring DWARFS involves some sort of luck..

Sure they have high leadership but eventually they'll miss one of them. They have to take a terrortest for each unit (about 4-5 of them), then feartests for being charged/charging him.

I mean .. they're meant to miss at least one of them! In my case it was the organgun crew who missed a terrortest and a unit of dwarfs missing a feartest when trying to charge him.

Gotta love the guy! :w00t:

 

Personally I have never used one. However I have seen them being used badly, and being used exceptionally well.

There was one player ( on my side) that was so scared of losing his instability test that he kept his daemon safe behind some rocks and od nothing with him for the entire game.

That is 300 points of high quality killing machine, sitting there doing nothing. (This annoyed me as my undead needed to kill something and his daemon could have won us the game)
Instability is quite a put off. But most armies have a disadvantage (the three that I played did. Orcs- Animosity. Undead- Well, that just explains itself)

Each army however counter acts this with something good.

The good use of the daemon that I saw was unfortunately being used aginst me. The opposing player had put a slanesh daemons prince in with his unit of Slanesh daemonettes.

He massacred me with that one unit basically. Like the undead you need to work your characters and your units together with Daemons. The units can hold themselves (more than I can say for some of my **** troops However the characters can't. Just because he's got weapon skill 8 and a lovely magic item, it doesnt gain any benefit if he vanishes.

Also that unit of excellet Daemons is going to be nigh on invincible if a Daemon is sitting there with them.


However if I had to take A Daemon it wouldn't be a Daemon prince. It would probably be an exalted. There is too many points to spend on something which can be matched (roughly) to a chaos Lords.