Hi, everyone. Chandler here with some input on what is sure to become one of the hottest lists of Newhammer; Tzeentch Flying Circus. In 7th edition I wrote about the Rehati War Sect build, and fortunately, with Newhammer, you can replicate this army only now, it’s even better than before. So, get those demon princes off the shelves, the flying circus has returned. Behold the Crimson King and his flying carnival of death!
First, let’s take a look at the list itself:
2000 Tzeentch Flying Circus
++Supreme Command Detachment++
LOW:
Magnus – 415
HQ:
CSM Daemon Prince, Tzeentch, Wings, Malefic Talonsx2, Warp Bolter – 189
(Smite, Warptime)
CSM Daemon Prince, Tzeentch, Wings, Hellforged Sword, Warp Bolter – 221
(Smite, Infernal Gaze)
Lord of Change with Rod of Sorcery – 350
(Smite, Boon of Change, Bolt of Change)
++Battalion Detachment++
HQ:
The Changeling -100
(Smite, Treason)
Herald on Disc w/ staff of change – 104
(Smite, Boon of Change, Bolt of Change)
Troops:
Horrors 5 pink, 10 brimstone – 70
Horrors 5 pink, 10 brimstone – 70
Horrors 5 pink, 10 brimstone – 70
Fast:
Screamers x3 – 93
Screamers x3 – 93
Heavy:
Burning Chariot – 98
Burning Chariot – 98
Total – 1971
7 Command Points
As you can see, it’s full of big nasty fliers, and enough Tzeentch goodness to blow your opponents away in the Psychic phase. Detachment and army building is streamlined and simplified, with only requiring that all units throughout the army share a single faction keyword. In this case, they all share two being Chaos and Tzeentch.
The Supreme Command Detachment gives you +1 command point and allows you to take up to 5 HQ choices 0-1 elite and 0-1 Lords of War. This is your “Rehati” detachment essentially. Only now it’s even better because you can throw the Lord of Change in the mix! In this list we are using Chaos Space Marines demon princes with Mark of Tzeentch (turning them into psykers naturally.) These work better than their Chaos Daemon counterparts because they have both the Character keywords and only 8 wounds, meaning that they cannot be targeted by shooting attacks unless they are the closest enemy model. This is huge as it allows them to fly around and blast things, or engage light tanks and troops.
Chaos Space Marine Demon Princes are incredibly nasty, especially with malefic talons, as they are rocking an incredible amount of attacks hitting on 2s and re-rolling 1s due to their Prince of Chaos rule. This also works for the Screamers that will be running out front of them in this list as well because they have the Daemon keyword and are devoted to Tzeentch. The idea here being to move the screamers out front to provide a wall, and blast things with Smite, which is particularly nasty, while preparing to engage their choice of targets on the board. One of them should have Warptime, just in case you really need to scoot across the board to engage an enemy, while the other has Infernal Gaze for a little more mortal wound action. And that really is the key to this entire army; mortal wound batteries.
Magnus is amazing in 8th edition. His ability to allow Thousand Sons models within 9″ to re-roll invulnerable saves of 1s will help keep those demon princes alive as they zoom across the board. His close combat attacks are quite devastating coming in at STR 16 with -4 AP and 3 damage each with 2s to hit re-rolling 1s. He is one of the most brutal close combat units in the game. And should he get engaged in combat with an enemy you’d rather not fight, on your turn you can fall back and continue on blasting things with his psychic attacks. His ability to blow things away with Smite is brutal. He adds +2 to his psychic and deny the witch tests to start, which means you only need to roll a 8 or higher on the test to sling out 2d6 mortal wounds! He is not unkillable by any stretch, but with 18 wounds and a 4++ re-rolling 1s on invulnerable saves, he can soak some damage up.
Then there is the Lord of Change with his Rod of Sorcery. This extends his Smite range to 30″ which is huge. With his movement, there simply is no escaping his power and because he can also add +2 to his psychic tests like Magnus, on a 9 or higher he’s tossing out d6 mortal wounds to the enemy from long range. He’s not a bad combatant either if worse comes to worse. Like Magnus, however, he has a lot of wounds which means no hiding him from enemy shooting but with a 4++ save and 16 wounds he can hang in there for a while.
Next we move onto the Battalion Detachment. The Changeling is a fantastic HQ for any Tzeentch army. Any time an enemy targets a Tzeentch Daemon unit within 9″ of him they suffer a -1 to hit modifier. That is fantastic as he can provide that aura for most of your horrors and your chariots in the first turn. The Herald here runs along with one of the Princes and the screamer escorts to provide them with a +1 to their strength as well as being able to cast Boon on them making them even nastier. On top of that the Staff of Change upgrade increases the range of the Herald’s Smite power from 18″ to 24″ making him much more flexible. He can only cast a single power each turn, and Smite is usually his best option with the Staff.
The horrors in the list serve as cheap troops with 15 of them per squad, all with a 4++ save, it makes them incredibly difficult to remove, especially with the Changeling’s aura. And even though they are only using one dice to do so, they are still capable of using Smite, and Pink Horrors shooting is not terrible either. The Brimstone horrors are here to allocate wounds to in order to keep the Pinks alive.
Lastly, we have the Burning Chariots. These things have a great movement, and some nasty shooting as well. And if they get charged, the Exalted Flamer can use his Pink fire of Tzeentch in the shooting phase with d6 shots, STR 5 and -2AP auto-hitting it’s pretty brutal not to mention the free extra attacks from the chariot’s screamers. They also have good mid-range firepower to lay down some damage on tanks as well.
This army is all about moving up the board and laying down massive amounts of mortal wounds and positioning the demon princes to chew through troops. As you move upfield you focus down big targets with Smite and engage the troops with the demon princes to wipe them out. The army also comes with 7 command points, which is fantastic as it gives you the option for those critical re-rolls for a psychic test or to interrupt a charging attack to swing with some of the big heavy hitters. Expect to see lists like these creep into the top tier in Newhammer.
Want to see more tactics articles and batreps about the new edition? Check out our 8th Edition article archive to help get a leg up on the competition!
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