Daemons
Daemons are not true flesh and blood; they are formed from the substance of Chaos itself. Whilst this grants them considerable power it also means that they struggle to maintain their presence in the real universe. They need to be summoned from the Warp in order to take part in battles and, unless they are conjured onto a world where there is an adequate degree of belief in the Chaos gods, their physical forms will eventually become unstable and will disorporate, returning the Daemon to the Warp.
Chaos Icons
Chaos Space Marines march to battle under the icons of their Gods. Summoned Daemons may only break into the real universe in proximity to a unit carrying an Icon. Icons in vehicles cannot be used to summon Daemons. If Daemons cannot materialise because there is no available Icon, continue to roll in subsequent turns.
Any unit that bears a Mark of Chaos may have a basic Icon at no additional points cost. Any Lord's retinue or independent unit of Chosen can select a special Icon from the Armoury list at the points cost indicated.
Any Chaos Space Marine model in the unit may carry its Icon, which should be shown on the model. If not carried by the unit Champion, treat Unit Icon bearers as heavy weapon troopers for casualty removal purposes.
Daemon Summoning
Apart from Daemon Princes and Nurglings, all Daemons must be summoned onto the battlefield. The Daemon units will start in reserve irrespective of whether the Reserves special rule is used in the mission being played.
Starting with the second game turn roll a D6 for each Daemonic unit at the start of the Chaos turn. If you roll equal to or greater than the number shown, the unit becomes available.
| Turn | 2 | 3 | 4+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| D6 | 4+ | 3+ | 2+ |
When a Daemon unit becomes available place the large Ordnance blast marker in contact with a model carrying a Chaos Icon. Roll the Scatter dice; do not move the template if a 'HIT' is rolled, otherwise move it 2D6" in the direction of the arrow. The Daemons are then deployed on the area covered by the marker. Daemons will only manifest next to an Icon of Chaos Undivided or an Icon belonging to a squad with the same Mark as the Daemons themselves. Thus a unit of Bloodletters of Khorne could only appear next to an Icon-bearing unit with the Mark of Chaos Undivided or the Mark of Khorne. Once they have arrived the Daemons can move and assault as normal. When placing Daemons on the Ordnance template, models which cannot be placed on the table or more than 1" from an enemy model are destroyed.
Daemonic Instability
Daemons are summoned from the Warp and in extremis will return there. In any circumstance where a Daemon unit (not including Greater Daemons or Possessed Chaos Marines) should take a Morale check they instead take an Instability Test. This is performed exactly like a Morale check, but if it is failed the Daemons do not flee but instead suffer one wound (with no saving throw possible) for each point they failed the Instability test by. For example, a unit of Plaguebearers (Ld 8) loses a round of close combat and is outnumbered (-1 Ld modifier). They take a Morale check and roll a 9, thus suffer two wounds. Daemon units cannot be led in the normal sense, consequently they cannot be joined by independent characters and always use their own Leadership for all tests. Similarly they do not benefit from re-rolls or Fearlessness conferred by wargear, vehicle upgrades or skills. A Demagogue's rantings, for example, are unlikely to influence Daemons of the Warp.
Errata — Chapter Approved: Codex: Chaos Space Marines Q&A (v3.0): Summoning rolls are made at the same time as other Reserves arrival rolls, and all such rolls are completed before any reserve units are placed on the table — so Daemons can only be summoned to Icons belonging to units that were already on the table at the start of that turn, not to a unit that is itself arriving from Reserves or Deep Strike that same turn. Furies are aligned with Chaos Undivided and can only be summoned to an Icon of Chaos Undivided, never to a god-specific Icon.