Chumby's Definitive Daemon Discourse: Fast Attack

Not a single dime from you jerks.  Well fine, I'll post it today.

It's an Attack!  That's Fast!  Who knew?

Fast Attack is just that, the speedy stuff in the Codex.  Typically, Fast Attack choices fill more supporting roles as mobile, hard-hitting and fragile units.  They may not be the strongest, toughest, or most points efficient, but they are still important for closing with the enemy quickly and delivering a good punch, creating an opening for your bigger and nastier units to push through.  Sending Fast Attack off unsupported is usually going to be a suicide run, so they work best in tandem with ranged support, tough beaters, scoring units, and the like. 

In a quirky, combat based army like Daemons, Fast Attack choices should be handy for getting to grips with the enemy quickly and either killing them outright or at least holding them up long enough for your slower and killier units to jump in and finish the job.  Lucky you, Fiends combine the best of both worlds here, being blindingly fast, very potent in assault, and a bit more sturdy than your average Fast Attack unit.  Unlucky you, Daemon Fast Attack is probably the least competitive slot in the book with 1 obvious pick and the rest that range from situational to outright suck.

Flesh Hounds
AKA Khorne Dogs.  S4, I4, 2A, Furious Charge, and Beasts.  Nifty.  They are as tough as Bloodletters, but unlike Bloodletters they are actually capable of getting a charge off.  Unlike every other Khorne unit, these pups don't ignore armor, which they make up for in sheer speed and number of attacks.  It's hard to argue with 30 S5 I5 attacks with a 24" threat range for only 150 points.  That's gonna tear up most infantry and is capable of dragging down 2+ saves, MCs and most vehicles (AV10 rear).  In truth, Khorne Dogs are much closer to Fiends than Bloodletters or Bloodcrushers; as a result, they fill very similar roles.  I would always take Fiends over Hounds because of 2 wounds vs 1 (it takes 2 failed saves to lose 5 attacks, or 1 failed save to lose 2), rending, and Hit & Run.  However, if you run out of Fiend slots, Flesh Hounds are a good substitute. 

Karanak
This is an upgrade to one of your Khorne Dog units, and he's a very good one.  Lots of high S rending attacks is handy, but the real benefit is Move Through Cover.  Now your dogs can go pretty much anywhere without getting bogged down.  A must have.

Seekers of Slaanesh
Daemonettes with cav movement and an extra attack.  They aren't too shabby, but still suffer from S3/T3.  The boost to movement helps them get into combat faster, and grenades combined with I6 pretty much ensures they will be going first.  Buckets of rending attacks are great, S3 is not.  They have a tougher time with AV10 than Flesh Hounds, but do perform better against AV11 and 12, for what it's worth.  They're also better against most MCs and tougher opponents.  Of the two, I prefer Flesh Hounds for the reliable S and T, but Seekers are a close second.  If you hadn't already guessed, in an army that is full of combat units and always deep strikes, mobility and anti-vehicle is important.  The more the better.

Screamers
Jetbikes with melta bombs strapped to their heads?  What's not to like?  A lot, actually.  But Chumby, you say, this looks like the perfect unit.  It's mobile and effective against tanks, moreso than Fiends for sure.  Ah yes, but look beyond the stats.  Screamers have melta bombs, but melta bombs only get 1 attack per model.  On a vehicle moving 6.1" and up, your chances of hitting are severely reduced.  Screamers are also expensive and fragile.  They are also hyper specialized, to the point where they can do nothing but go after armor.  Unlike Screamers, Fiends, Seekers, Flesh Hounds, and the like are not just around to pop tanks.  They have duality of purpose, they're effective against a wide variety of targets and don't end up useless against a foot army.  Sure they can tie stuff down, but Screamers aren't very tough and typically run in small units, leaving them as poor tarpits.  It's a great idea in theory, but they just don't stack up as you'd like.  If they always hit on a 4+ or had slashing attacks like in Fantasy, then we'd have something.

Furies
Man, these guys took a nerfbat for no reason.  You're basically looking at a Lesser Daemon from the CSM book that swaps "assault upon arrival" for wings.  They don't kill much, don't live long, and what benefits they do have are overshadowed by Flesh Hounds, who can go faster, hit harder, and cost the same amount of points.  Unless you want a lot of flyers, leave these poor schmucks in your Fantasy army (where they rule).

Ok, that's Fast Attack.  Though this entire slot is overshadowed by the awesome that is Fiends, you can get some mileage out of here.  All that's left is Heavy Support, and we'll see were it goes from there.

Remember to tip your waittresses.  And no loitering after the show.  You don't have to go home but you can't stay here.