Thane's Games

15mm Demon Army
by Thane Morgan

This is my 15mm army, mostly using the Thane's Games line of figures plus a few larger figures from Reaper.

It is a very large force, about 12,000 points strong. It features a horde of 100 Imps and a very heavy knight force of 40 Demon Knights and 40 Demon Knight Cavalry.

The bases were painted to match my Hellcape terrain, though a few older creatures still have the green bases. The big guy is Abyst from Reaper's Court of Abyst set, as is the demon queen opposite him.

Infantry

The imp horde is often a core of the demon forces I play. 50 imps in a unit is an almost irresistible target for many player's archers, and painting them glowy red with big toothy smiles also helps convey "shoot me" to the opponent. With a 2 fixed armor save and fearlessness for 13 points each I don't mind if they all die, so long as it takes a while. They are just imps, after all. Shoot at them all day, if it keeps the enemy from shooting higher value targets. If they don't get shot at, they can either inflict a harsh morale penalty in RaF, or get a nice Fire Breath enchantment to become a bit more threatening. This is a unit made for Aura of Chaos.

The Demon Knights are HARD to kill. Armor 4 fixed means shrugging off a majority of enemy hits, and their skill three magical strike gives them a pretty good punch.

Ice Demons are a great offensive troop against most armies. With two skill 3 eldritch attacks, they can ignore heavy armor and rack up the kills. However, with only one wound each they are prime targets for enemy archers. They are exceptionally powerful when they skirmish around an enemy unit that is already engaged by another demon unit, and I like to use them to assist demon knight units that way.

Howlers are practically cavalry, with two wounds each and a 12" move. They are excellent shock troops to disrupt the enemy's battle line, or for flanking an enemy unit to force a test or add a morale penalty. Though they have a very strong attack, it is still just a single attack per model, so they typically do not do as much damage as cavalry unless they skirmish.

I'm missing a good image of the Fire Demons. These are very effective though expensive missile troops - they can be treated much like javelin-wielders, but with higher skill and better range. They are also powerful in combat, with two attacks each and an armor 3 fixed. They are total arrow magnets though because they only have one wound and are almost elite - be very careful with them.

Cavalry

Demon Knight Cavalry are as heavy a non-elite unit as you will find, and naturally are very expensive to field. They are very hard, with two wounds each and an armor of 4 fixed. They have very strong attacks, so have little trouble breaking most enemy units.

I usually field them in groups of 10 with a Prince on a Nightmare to lead them (using the same model but painted differently). Though they can be fielded in larger groups, I often find a lot of their power is wasted that way either because there are a lot of troops that aren't engaged in combat or a lot are dying in the morale phase. Since even a 16 man unit with a prince leader is approaching 1000 points, it is a lot of eggs in one basket. I like the flexibility of having a good number of units, and you don't get a lot of units when they cost 1000 points each.

Large Infantry

The Chain Demons are as unpleasant as they sound. Their hooked chains count as long weapons, and with 4 per figure the number of attacks can be outrageous. A two deep unit in RaF puts out 4 attacks per base frontage, which can simply shred most lightly armored enemies. Then they inflict a massive morale penalty for being base 4 in the morale phase on top of the casualties they cause. I typically run them in units of 6 or 10, often with a Cacodemon leading them.

They are far from invincible though, because their attacks are of average skill and their foot speed is still only 6", so the enemy usualy has a lot of time to try to line up the fight like he wants, or just take the battle away from them. Most opponents greatly fear the melee power of a unit of chain demons (and rightfully so), so they are prime targets for archery, magic and especially multiwound artillery attacks.

Barons are an unusal troop, because they have a pretty good natural ranged attack as well as being very nasty in melee. They are expensive (87 points each), so a unit of them will often not look like much of a missile threat, but with skill 3 attacks an opponent will often be surprised by taking a morale test from missile casualties. Throwing as they charge into combat also can help push the enemy morale down towards snake-eyes.

I like to run them in a unit of 8 or 10 without a leader - their morale is very good so they don't really need it.

The other thing I like to do with them is run two or three as a bodyguard unit for a spell-casting Cacodemon. This has turned out to be a very versatile and survivable tactic, as the cacodemon gets a lot of freedom to move around the battlefield without worrying too much about getting charged by an enemy flyer, ambushed by infiltrators, or generally shot at - the bodyguard will die first in most cases.

The Titan

This is Abyst from Reaper Miniatures. I usually play him as a Titan with Fire Magic. He rarely gets into combat, as everything avoids him like the plague. He is also an archer magnet, so care must be taken where he is placed.

Monsters

This is another Reaper Miniature, the Chimera. It is a very strange creature to use, as it is not as tough or as strong as a dragon, but in certain circumstances it is incredibly dangerous. Its ramming attack is punishing for single large monsters, but it also has a small sweep attack from the lion's roar that makes it very effective against light infantry. It can also breathe fire, but it is a weaker attack than a real dragon.

The Manticores are a nice thematic flyer for the army, and are very tough to boot. Though their armor is weak, they have 5 wounds each and are fearless. The Manticores shoot tail spikes which can rip up lightly armored enemies, while Manticora have a very dangerous scorpion stinger that is frightening for multiwound opponents. The are expensive elite flyers, but I've rarely been displeased with their performance in either form.