Games Workshop has revealed some of the Warhammer 40k 10th edition rules for Chaos Daemons. The latest ‘Faction Focus’ article on the Warhammer Community website shows off ‘The Shadow of Chaos’, an ability that heals daemons and harms their enemies when they take Battle-shock tests, amongst other faction rules and new unit datasheets.
With Warhammer 40k 10th edition set to release some time this Summer, Games Workshop has been revealing snippets from the free ‘Index’ army rules that will replace the Warhammer 40k Codex army lists when the new edition launches. The latest Warhammer 40k faction to get the rundown is the Chaos Daemons, with an article posted on Tuesday.
Chaos Daemons army rules
The WarCom article reveals several Chaos Daemon army rules that will appear in 10th edition:
Shadow of Chaos
The new Shadow of Chaos rule reflects the reality warping impact that Chaos Daemons exert over a battlefield. The Shadow of Chaos covers the Daemon players’ deployment zone, and if they control at least half of the objectives in another zone – such as their opponents’ deployment zone, or no-man’s land – it will creep into that area as well.
While a Daemon unit is under the Shadow of Chaos it gets +1 to Battle-shock tests and can heal D3 wounds whenever it passes a test, or D3 models if it’s a Battleline unit. Non-Daemons under the Shadow will instead suffer -1 to Battle-shock tests and lose D3 wounds whenever they fail.
The article also reveals a new Stratagem, ‘Corrupt Realspace’, which plays into this system. For 1CP the Daemon player can ‘corrupt’ an Objective that they currently control. Until their opponent claims it, they count as being in control of that Objective even if they don’t have any models adjacent to it, and it projects the Shadow of Chaos in an aura 6” around it.
Daemonic Pact
You can add a small number of Chaos Daemons to any other Chaos aligned army via the Daemonic Pact special rule. There are some restrictions on this: none of the models can be the army Warlord, or select any enhancements. If your army is aligned to a particular Warhammer 40k Chaos god, such as the Nurgle aligned Death Guard or Khorne aligned World Eaters, you’re restricted to taking Daemons aligned to the same god. There’s also a points limit on how many Daemons you can bring.
| Battle Size | Daemonic Pact point limit |
| Incursion | 250 points |
| Strike Force | 500 points |
| Onslaught | 750 points |
Daemonic Incursion detachment
The WarCom article reveals the new Daemonic Incursion detachment. In 10th edition 40k ‘Detachments’ are like subfactions, granting a specific ability and suite of Stratagems and Enhancements. Daemonic Incursion grants the Warp Rift ability: when Daemon units deploy via Deep Strike, they can deploy anywhere that’s at least 6” away from the enemy. That’ll make it fiendishly hard to screen out Daemonic deep strikers from landing in your backfield.
Chaos Daemons 10th edition Datasheets
The WarCom article shows datasheets (or at least, snippets from them) for Daemons affiliated with most of the Chaos powers, though poor Tzeentch gets left on the bench. The reveal includes the full the ‘sheets for Slaanesh’s Keeper of Secrets and the independent Greater Daemon Be’lakor.
With Toughness 10, 18 wounds, a 4+ invulnerable save, a 5+ Feel No Pain when equipped with a Shining Aegis, and inflicting -1 to enemy attacks, the Keeper of Secrets looks seriously durable. Be’lakor is a walking locus for the Shadow of Chaos, and has a choice of three aura abilities that can cloak him and surrounding units from enemy shooting, shatter enemy nerve, or bolster the morale of nearby Daemons.
The article also reveals the Bileblade weapon for the Great Unclean One, along with a new Warhammer 40k weapon ability, ‘Extra Attacks’, which just means that the bearer can use that weapon in addition to the single weapon they are normally allowed to fight with.
Meanwhile, the axes Carnage and Slaughter for Khorne’s disgraced ex-champion Skarbrand have delightfully simple stats – a choice of eight devastating strikes or sixteen, weaker sweeps.
We’ve already seen 10th edition previews for Necrons, Tyranids, Imperial Guard, Chaos Space Marines, and Space Marines, and WarCom says that Adepta Sororitas are next on the list.