Rocky Mountain Daemons: My Run with Shadow Legion at the Rocky Mountain Open

As a poker player, I have a lot of experience bluffing. A good bluff has multiple parts. It has to be timed well. It has to tell a consistent story. It has to be believable.

You know what was a really unsuccessful bluff I tried recently? Telling people I was unsure what army I was going to bring to last week’s Rocky Mountain Open. Of course it was going to be the new Shadow Legion detachment!

I had recently taken a “Disciples Of Be’lakor” homebrew to a GT when the faction literally didn’t even have rules support. How could I resist running Disciples Of Be’lakor once they had actual 10th Edition rules?

So to absolutely no one’s surprise, I found myself running the new Shadow Legion at RMO last weekend. Along the way, I had a ton of fun, and uppy downied a Bloodthirster more times than I can count. Let’s dive into it.

My Results

I always like to spoil the tournament results near the start of the article so people know what to expect.

I finished 8th out of 226 people, going 5-1 (WWWLWW). If you don’t mind, let me phrase it a different way: I went 5-0 against the armies that weren’t More Dakka.

Let me phrase it an event more important way: I had 6 great games against opponents I would happily play again. The Colorado area (in particular FIght Club) has done an excellent job placing a focus on sportsmanship and playing the right way, and I continue to have overwhelmingly positive experiences.

If you were on the fence about attending RMO and couldn’t make it, I hope you come roll dice with us next year or at another Colorado GT!

My one request for future FLG events: The last rounded ended at 7PM. The awards ceremony didn’t start until almost 8:30PM. I was completely collapsing by that point, and just really wanted to get out of there. Can we please start the Awards ceremony sooner so people can get out of there? I know some players had quite a drive to get to RMO, and leaving at 7:30 vs 8:30 can be a huge difference. Despite this one complaint, I still want to give congrats to FLG for putting together a great event overall!

My Shadow Legion List

Alright, let’s jump into what you’re really here for. I got some jokes/compliments about the list title, so I’ll also throw it into this article for good fun.

• Be’lakor, First-Damned, The Dark Master, and The First Prince
• Bloodthirster
  • Enhancement: Fade To Darkness
• Fateskimmer
  • Enhancement: Leaping Shadow
• Rendmaster
• Rendmaster
• 10 Bloodletters
• 10 Bloodletters
• 6 Nurglings
• 3 Nurglings
• Beast of Nurgle
• 6 Screamers
• 5 Flesh Hounds
• 5 Flesh Hounds
• 5 Flesh Hounds
• 10 Cultists
• 10 Cultists

I got literally 0 reps in with this list before the event, but as someone who had played Daemons for a long time, I had a good feeling that the pieces would fit together well. The core concept of the list was:

1. Flesh Hounds are really good, so I’ll bring 3 units.
2. The Bloodthirster with Fade To Darkness is insanely good, so I’ll bring him.
3. I’ve now got 4 Khorne units, so why not bring a Rendmaster to buff their damage?
4. If I’m bringing a Rendmaster, I should bring at least one unit of Bloodletters because they hit very hard with the buffs I have access to.
5. I’ve now got 6 Khorne units… let’s add 1 more Rendmaster.
6. I’ve got 2 Rendmasters… how can I not bring a second unit of Bloodletters?

Honestly I could have kept going further down the Khorne rabbit hole, but I think I struck a really good balance in this list between bringing a heavy Khorne damage core, but also having plenty of screens and mission play.

Units I Was Most Impressed By

My main MVP was Rendmasters. They are an absolutely incredible unit. If GW hadn’t just recently squatted all the Slaanesh chariots, I would recommend everyone run out and grab some. But with the future of Daemon chariot variants unclear, I would recommend proxying them or trying them out on TTS rather than buying the physical model if you don’t already have it. And if you do already own Rendmasters, like many long-time Daemon players? Go nuts. I do want to give a quick thank you to FLG for approving my usage of Skull Cannons as Rendmasters ahead of time.

They’re such a fun unit to use, because at first they seem like just a buff piece for other units. Then the Rendmasters actually get into combat for the first time, apply their buffs to their own targets, and suddenly they’re ripping huge chunks out of an opponent’s army by themselves. And at T9/9 wounds, they require a real commitment to put down once they’ve begun their rampage.

On a similar note, Bloodletters are so good now! Moving 8″ base with access to advance and charge made an absolutely huge difference. Access to +1 to Hit from the Bloodthirster, Lance, +1AP, and up to 2 stacks of Rendmaster buffs meant that Bloodletters could do real work.

One day, I hope we get Bloodletters that actually just do damage by themselves. In the meantime, I’ll take Bloodletters that move really fast and hit really hard with buffs. The fact they’ve become more reasonably priced for a 20OC Battleline unit over time also definitely helps.

The Beast Of Nurgle was also elite. He almost always started on the board, because the 6″ Scout move is incredibly useful on him. You can include between 1 and 6 of these guys in every single list.

Units I Was Disappointed By

Nothing actually straight up disappointed me. This was a very good and well-rounded list.

The only unit that felt a bit awkward to use was the Fateskimmer/Screamer bomb. I don’t think its the right choice for Leaping Shadows. They always traded down. The 9″ Scout also made their durability wasted. The Fateskimmer bomb is very durable, and if it’s exposed at the same time as other resources, opponents won’t have the resources to deal with everything. -1 to Hit and a 4+ invuln is a powerful combo. The issue is that when they Scout 9″ and charge something turn 1, they’re in front of the opponent’s entire army. The Fateskimmer bomb is definitely not durable enough to take the damage of the opponent’s entire army wth nowhere else to point their guns.

I would have greatly preferred to put Leaping Shadows on an AC/DC unit, I just don’t have the models and was too busy to cram hobbying time in before the event.

Other Shadow Legion Archetypes I Want to Try

The great thing about Shadow Legion is it is insanely flexible! There is really no wrong way to build this detachment.

Here are all of the Shadow Legion archetypes I want to try:

• Khorne Heavy, so basically the list above
• AC/DC spam (2-3 units of AC/DC are just incredible in Shadow Legion)
• Small stuff spam with no Be’lakor that just prints points and shuts the opponent’s movement down.
• Tzeentch spam with 3x Flamer+Exalted Flamer bombs
• “Old school” Disciples Of Be’lakor with Chaos Knight allies
• “Big stuff” spam focusing on Greater Daemons
• CSM heavy, with ChosenLords, LegioLords, Terminator Sorcerer, Havocs, Possessed, etc

So… basically everything possible. I’ve got a bunch of Shadow Legion lists in my phone that I constantly keep tweaking. As always, too many fun Chaos archetypes to try, not enough time!

Which is why you should reach out to me for some personalized Warphammer coaching! Of my Daemons clients, I have one Plague Legion client and one Shadow Legion client, and we’re still just scratching the surface of everything possible with Daemons. I would love to work with you to develop a list specific to your playstyle and collection and then help you develop a strong thought process that helps you feel confident and win games at the table. By doing detailed breakdowns of games you have played yourself, I can also help you identify mistakes you’re making that are holding you back that you don’t even realize are mistakes, or even conscious decisions at all.

If interested, please reach out to me at Mike_All_In on discord or WarphammerOfficial@gmail.com.

Look forward to talking with you soon!

Thoughts On More Dakka

Let’s just address the orky elephant in the room: More Dakka. I genuinely don’t want to make this article to focus on More Dakka because I’m already so tired of hearing about it… but we all know someone will ask me about it if I don’t bring it up first, so here it goes.

First for some context, for anyone new to Warphammer. I’ve always focused on running fun/unique lists over optimized lists. I am no stranger to uphill battles. I would rather risk going 0-6 with a Warphammer Chaos Brew(TM) like “3 Land Raiders full of Traitor Guardsmen” than guarantee going 6-0 with an Ultramarines netlist. Many people say stuff like this but don’t actually mean it. I really mean it, and have demonstrated that for 5+ years at this point. I’m honestly sometimes even delusionally optimistic. I feel that if I have an army I feel confident with, I can take on anyone on any army. That isn’t always true! But it is true way more than it is not. Hell, when index Eldar were running all over the game, I was joking about how I loved it because it just meant more Eldar souls for my Slaanesh units to feast on.

Basically, people can trust that I’m not someone who just throws my hands up and gives up whenever there is a really strong army. Quite the opposite! As a result, when I do act the opposite of how I normally do, I hope it holds real meaning. So here are my honest thoughts about More Dakka:

More Dakka needs to be banned immediately, everywhere. End of story.

It bums me out to say this! I genuinely wish I could say something along the lines of “More Dakka is strong but not OP, there have been plenty of strong armies, just adapt instead of complaining” and get positive engagement from the vocal group of online “players” who don’t actually play, but are very active online always telling people about balance and how to play.

That would be easy. It would also be dishonest, and I promised to always share my honest thoughts with people here at Warphammer. Between my own understanding of the game, my experience against More Dakka, and talking to a lot of the best players in the world and seeing the results of their practice games with or against More Dakka, I can come to no other conclusion.

I’m not going to attend any more events that allow More Dakka. I don’t say that with any snark, or disrespect to any TO’s that allow More Dakka. You can run events however you want! Hell, a TO could run an event that only allows More Dakka. All the power to them. But much like TO’s are free to make any choices they wish, players are free to choose to do something else with their weekend.

I actually have to give credit to my friends at Stat Check: They were immediately on the ball about More Dakka needing to be banned. Innes and Curie come out and said right away that you can’t have competitive Singles events until More Dakka gets nerfed. That take has aged very well.

But Mike, Where Do You Draw The Line? Do You Ban Ynnari Next?

The only armies I would ban are More Dakka and Imperial Guard. Banning More Dakka would be for balance reasons. Banning Imperial Guard* would just be a little treat to myself.

*Guard players, I promise I’m kidding. My trash talk about Guard is 95% joking, and I actually think your army is pretty cool.

In all seriousness, let’s make an important point. You don’t have to know exactly where a line is to know that something is across the line.

BUT MIKE, THE DATA! WE NEED THE DATA!

If you want me and other players to spend my free time contributing to your data, you’re welcome to pay for my ticket and travel costs. If you’re serious about the increasing the sample size of Daemons vs More Dakka stats, paypal me $500 to cover plane tickets, hotel costs, a tournament ticket, and food for a weekend and I’ll find an event running More Dakka next weekend and attend.

In the meantime, please don’t expect people to care about internet viewers the following week than the experience of the people actually attending the event. TO’s should also prioritize the experience of their paying attendees over all else.

Let’s focus on the positives from here on out, and get on to the actual games!

Round 1: Joseph’s Kauyon T’au (W, 94-45)

Joseph’s List: Cadre Fireblade, Cadre Fireblade with Through Unity Devastation, Shadowsun, Coldstar Commander with Exemplar of Kauyon, Darkstrider, Ethereal with Redeploy, 2×10 Breachers, 2x Devilfish, 2×1 Broadsides with Heavy Rail Rifles, 2x Ghostkeels, Sunforged Crisis Suits, Pathfinders, 2x Stealth Suits, Hammerhead with Rail Rifle, Sky Ray

Joseph was a gem of an opponent. This was his first tournament ever! Let’s show him respect for jumping right into the deep end with a Major. Once he mentioned it was his first tournament, I tried to do everything I could to help reassure him and make sure he had a good experience.

In terms of the actual game, Joseph honestly played a very solid game. The main piece of advice I would give him is to have made more usage of Strat Reserves. Against a Daemons list with Be’lakor’s aura, you’re not going to get cross-board shots with units like Hammerheads and Broadsides, so start at least some in Strat Reserves so you can end up in better positions and draw out screens.

On a related note: I’ve always been a Broadside hater (as in I think it’s a mediocre unit that I’m relieved to see in an opponent’s list). On turn 3, my nearly full health Bloodthirster was going on a rampage. Joseph just had a single Broadside available to reinforce that flank. He guided it with some Stealth Suits. He rolled 2 shots. A 5 and a 6, so 4 hits. He rolled 3 6’s to wound and a single wound. I failed the save, and my Bloodthirster ended up getting one-shotted by a single Broadside. I hope that Broadside got a fresh coat of paint when he got home!

Round 2: Bryan’s Combined Arms Guard (W, 89-44)

Bryan’s List: Gaunt’s Ghosts, 2x Rogal Dorn Tank Commanders, Krieg Command Squad, Tech Priest Enginseer, Cadians, Catachans, 20 Kriegers, 2x Taurox, 2×10 Kasrkin, Krieg Flamer Squad, 2x Leman Russ Exterminators, Leman Russ Vanquisher, Scout Sentinel

Bryan is always a lovely opponent! This is now the 3rd time we’ve played, and although I won all 3 games, I genuinely think all 3 times were pretty tough matchups for the list Bryan brought. He has good instincts and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he won our next game.

This game was all about the power of moveblocking and jailing the opponent. I really thought I wanted to go second. It turns out that after I went first, because we were playing corners deployment (Search And Destroy), I could completely lock Joseph in his deployment zone with Nurglings, the Fateskimmer brick, and Flesh Hounds. Bryan made some smart choices, but ultimately he couldn’t break out of his deployment zone to hold objectives until the game was effectively over. Guard also continue to be extremely vulnerable to getting tagged, and my fast melee units made life extremely difficult for Bryan’s tanks.

Round 3: Steven’s Lions of the Emperor Custodes (W, 73-56)

Steven’s List: 3x Shield Captains in Allarus Armour (1 with Fierce Conquerer, 1 with Admonimortis), Captain on Jet Bike, 2×6 Allarus Custodians, 3 Allarus Custodians, 3x Aquilon Custodians, Callidus Assassin

Note: This game was played on Wargames Live’s Patreon stream if you want to watch.

Steven Crawley is someone I’ve seen put up lots of top finishes, and I was definitely excited to play a game with one of the stronger opponents in the field. I hadn’t faced the new Lions detachment yet but it seemed really cool. After seeing it in action, I can confirm that initial impression of it was correct. We are both deepstrike heavy armies that can keep teleporting all over the board once we are down, which always makes for fun gameplay. I was impressed by how the units performed and how Steven played them, and I walked away thinking something I almost never think: This is a Custodes list I would actually want to play myself.

My main advantage this game was going second. Whomever went second was going to get a huge bounty of VP on the bottom of turn 5, and I was very fortunate that it was me getting those free VP. That meant I simply had “not lose” rather than play to win, and I did exactly that. This game was all about tempo, with my Daemons feeding out just enough to moveblock and deny points every turn. The teleporting Bloodthirster was key for that gameplan, as he could pick off stragglers every turn or harass objectives without ever staying on the board for a brutal Allarus Terminator counterpunch. And make no mistake: Into an army where all the toughest units are Character units, Allarus Terminators do brilliant work.

I reached into the Daemons toolbox for a few cool plays this game. One cheeky one was using Heroic Intervention to give a unit of Allarus -1 to Hit after charging and to base certain models so they couldn’t pile-in and fight more valuable units. But the most important had to be using Shade Path to give -2″ to charge to a unit of Allarus that teleported to try to prevent me scoring a ton of points at the end of the game by charging my Bloodthirster. They had a 9″ charge with a CP to reroll if they failed the first attempt. Normally, that is a roughly 50/50 chance. But with 2CP banked up, I turned that 9″ charge into an 11″ charge. The Allarus Terminators rolled exactly a 9 on their two attempts, meaning that Shade Path literally made the difference between them charging or not twice in a row.

Steven actually finished 2 spots ahead of me in the final standings, so congrats to him on a great run!

Round 4: Michael Mann’s More Dakka Orks (L, 95-50)

Michael’s List: Pain

I want to tell a funny story about this game. Joe from Wargames Live, one of my favorite people in all of 40K, came up to me before the game. He said he wanted to have me on the main stream. We talked briefly about how I thought this game would go. As badly as I wanted to play on the main stream (and feel all the love from Warphammer fans watching), I couldn’t lie to Joe.

I told him this would be a complete non-game, and I recommended he choose another game for his stream. I haven’t watched the RMO Day 2 stream yet, but I heard that the game played on stream Round 4 was just an awful game and really bad display of sportsmanship. Sorry Joe for turning down the stream. Michael and I might have played a hopeless game but we would have done our best to make it entertaining for anyone watching!

My entire army simply evaporated this game. There really isn’t much more to say. This is the most hopeless game I’ve played in 10th Edition.

I tried to play my best and took the game seriously. That’s what is so frustrating about all the dumb comments I see online about, “People are just whining and giving up, give it time for players to adapt”. I DM’ed one of my friends who is one of the strongest players in the world for detailed advice the morning of the matchup and spent a while planning my approach. I played my best and tried to take advantage of any limitations in their rules. I genuinely can’t think of anything I would have done differently. The sheer mathematical output of all of their weapons just shredded everything in my list. I honestly felt a bit bad for playing this game out because it was obvious I could have just conceded turn 2.

Michael was a friendly opponent, and as expected we had a fun game with plenty of laughs and a relaxed atmosphere. But make no mistake: Any fun had this game was because Michael and I both enjoy rolling dice and hanging out, not because of the game being played.

Congrats to Michael on finishing 3rd overall, one of the 3 completely undefeated More Dakka players that made up the entire RMO podium! I also want to give congrats to Zach Point for winning. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Zach as an opponent. I’m not going to judge someone for running a busted army at a competitive event, and encourage everyone to congratulate the winners. If you have any frustration save it for GW, not the players.

Round 5: Ross’s Ynnari (W, 80-79)

Ross’s List: Autarch, Autarch Wayleaper, Yncarne, 2×10 Storm Guardians, 3×5 Dark Reapers, 2×5 Fire Dragons, 2×10 Howling Banshees, 5 Rangers, 5 Striking Scorpions, Warlock Skyrunner, 6x Winriders, 2×5 Warp Spiders

What a game!

I can’t give Ross enough credit for both a high level of skill as a player and being a very easy opponent. He was a lovely guy, and I wish this game was on stream because it would have been the game of the entire weekend.

This game was Purge The Foe, and unfortunately I went first. Ross had enough Indirect Fire from the Dark Reapers to pick up a Cultist unit a turn which helps a lot on Purge. So I was forced to play a very, very dumb game: Castle up so that literally every unit in my army trails to within 6″ of Be’lakor so he can’t chip me down with easy Dark Reaper kills. Purge The Foe is a silly mission in a silly game.

The dice swings were wild this game. At one point, my Bloodthirster charged some bikers and willingly took a heroic intervention from a Howling Banshees brick with Fights First. It’s a medium volume of medium volume 2 damage attacks with some 3 damage attacks sprinkled in. I positioned some other units so that it was very difficult to get many Banshees in. After the pile-in, only 4 models were fighting the Bloodthirster. Everything was going according to plan. I thought I had baited Ross with the Bloodthirster charge, because once those Banshees had heroiced into the Thirster they couldn’t intervene into some Flesh Hounds charging some Dark Reapers.

I still think my decision to bait the heroic from the Banshees had merit, but make no mistake: Once the dust had settled, it was Ross who had baited me. After the dice were rolled, I took 17 damage and almost got my Bloodthirster one-shotted by 4 Howling Banshee models! Ross rolled a bit hot on the wound rolls and I just failed literally every single save I was handed besides 1. 4++ invulns giveth, and they taketh away.

Later on in the game, I had a Rendmaster go sicko mode. With 3 wounds left, he was charged by a 3-damage character. I was given 2 saves to make. I failed one, and CP re-rolled the failure into a success. The Rendmaster swung back, killed the character, and rolled a 6 on his heal to go right up to full. That Rendmaster got charged by the Yncarne a turn later and took 0 damage.

That’s why I always tell people not to overreact to dice swings. It happens in both directions. It might not come back your away right away, but just keep playing. Sometime in that game or the next (or 5 games from now), you’ll get your spike.

I remember in my turn 5 taking a look at the remaining Secondaries, how many points I could score, and thinking about the maximum points Ross would score. Most of Ross’s surviving units were in one corner of his DZ, and Ross had 2 Dark Reapers and half of a Storm Guardian together on an objective in my side. If I killed the 2 Dark Reapers on an objective, then I would be up 26 points. If he got 16 points on Primary, he had to score 10 Secondary points to tie and 11 Secondary points to win. I looked at his secondaries and realized his highest scoring Secondaries left were Area Denial, Containment, and Secure. Everything else was 4 points or less, so as long as I prevented Ross from scoring 2 of those 3 Secondaries I was guaranteed to win. A Cultists unit with 4 surviving members used Grenades to barely kill the 2 Dark Reapers, and then I charged them into the Storm Guardians to prevent them from doing actions. Most of the Storm Guardians couldn’t pile-in to fight the Cultists because they would have to pile in some nearby Flesh Hounds. When 2 Cultists survived the clapback, I knew I had won the game because Ross had no one in position to score Area Denial and those Storm Guardians couldn’t do Containment, maxing that at 3. Ross ended up drawing the highest scoring combo left (Secure+Storm for 9), but it was just a point short of a tie.

This game is also a great example of why I love WTC scoring. In everything besides the result, this game was a complete tie. I don’t think I outplayed him, and I don’t think he outplayed me. It’s frankly a bit of a bummer that Ross had to leave this game as the “loser” on the scoreboard, because there really were 2 winners.

Round 6: Mike’s Liberator Assault Group Blood Angels (W, 96-56)

List: Astrorath, Captain in Terminator Armour with Speed of the Primarch, 2x Captains with Jump Packs, Mephiston, Dante, Lieutenant with Combi-weapons, 5 Intercessors, 10 Death Company with Jump Packs, 6 Sanguinary Guard, 3 Sanguinary Guard, 3 Sanguinary Guard, 5 Scouts, 10 Terminators

Note: This game was played on Wargames Live’s Patreon stream if you want to watch.

Mike was a friendly opponent, and I loved the raw aggression of his list. This list is what Blood Angels are all about. Mike just brought some very angry melee guys that just want to punch your army in the face, with a big Terminator brick that wants to punch you in the face first even if you’re the one charging them.

One of the big mistakes players make when facing fast melee units, particularly fast melee units, is assuming that the enemy will be able to get wherever they want. Sometimes that is true, but most of the time you have a lot more agency than you realize. The trick is to block spots where his models can land, and spread models out in ways that even if they make a really long charge, most of the models in the unit have to pile-in and fight trash instead of your main units. The screenshot below does a good example of showing what I’m talking about. The Beast, Nurglings, Cultists, and Flesh Hounds are making it nearly impossible to charge Be’lakor despite the fact he looks tantalizingly in reach to an army full of advancing and charging Jump Pack units.

Mike had some really cruddy dice, and he earned my respect by continuing to battle hard despite them. There is one key moment that really swung the game. I had a Rendmaster’d unit of Bloodletters go into a Sanguinary Guard squad, and paid the 1CP for Lance to get around their -1 to Wound. I handed Mike 6 saves, which is a very reasonable amount of saves considering my buffs and his -1 to Hit and -1 to Wound. Mike proceeded to fail 5 out of 6 invulns, and his Sanguinary Guard brick basically just evaporated.

Final Thoughts

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: It really is a great time to be playing Daemons. Interested in joining the best Chaos focused Discord out there? Come join the Warphammer community today! https://discord.gg/vJxurd3E

I also want to use this section to give congratulations to a few other people who attended RMO:

• Brandon Roddy, our local organizer who finished in 5th with Ultramarines Vanguard, an army everyone said was dead
• Joseph Reichmann, my T’au opponent who attended RMO as his first tournament and ended up winning a game at their first tournament! By winning a game at his first tournament, he is now off to a better start in competitive 40K than I had.
• In no particular order, Justin Serrano, Matt Murrell, Kevin Morrison, Beau Sheidenberger, and Colin Williamson for high finishes with cool Chaos lists!
• FLG for putting together a great event overall.

As always, have fun, stay safe, and the may the Dark Gods bless your rolls!