The Daemon prince is among the most expensive of the HQ choices, perhaps only bested by a tooled up Tzeentch Sorcerer, but you definitely get more bang for your buck with a Daemon Prince. Your basic profile is much better than the Chaos Lord or the Chaos Sorcerer and you get all the advantages of being a monstrous creature. With a Daemon Prince, the main tactic you will use depends on which mark of chaos you give him (if any) and which psychic powers you give him (if any).

Equipping the Daemon Prince isn’t as daunting as equipping a Chaos Lord or Sorcerer because there are far less options. In fact there are only three things you need to consider while equipping your Daemon Prince; whether to give him wings, which Mark of Chaos to give him (if any) and which psychic power to give him (if any).

Considering whether to give your Daemon Prince wings is very simple. You simply always take wings. A Daemon Prince will attract a lot of fire from the enemy, they will do anything to shoot you down before getting into close combat so taking wings is necessary to give him some more speed.

Choosing a Mark of Chaos requires more thought than choosing whether to have wings or not. The Mark of Khorne, while great on a Chaos Lord, is somewhat less appealing on the Daemon Prince. If you choose to give your Daemon Prince a Mark of Chaos, there are four to choose from; Khorne, Slaanesh, Nurgle and Tzeentch.

The Mark of Khorne will give you another attack but negates your ability to take a psychic power. This keeps him cheap but probably less effective than the other marks could make him.

The Mark of Slaanesh I find more appealing than the Mark of Khorne. It gives you +1 initiative and allows you to take a psychic power, notably Lash of Submission, which is widely considered the best psychic power in the game as it allows you to move your opponents units. Alternatively you could give him a different psychic power, which will be discussed later on, or no psychic power.

The Mark of Nurgle, along with the Mark of Tzeentch, is the most expensive mark. It will increase your toughness which is useful, but not as useful as it is on a Lord or Sorcerer because the Daemon Prince already has a relatively high toughness. The Mark of Nurgle allows you to take the psychic power Nurgle’s Rot, which is excellent at dealing with horde armies. Alternatively you could give him a different psychic power or no power at all.

The Mark of Tzeentch is a very effective mark because is increases your invulnerable save to 4+. It also allows you to choose two psychic powers rather than just one. This isn’t recommended because psychic powers are expensive and one is usually enough anyway. The Mark of Tzeentch allows you to take the psychic power Bolt of Change. This is a mediocre power intended primarily for tank hunting which isn’t a good roll for the Daemon Prince.

Having no Mark of Chaos is perfectly acceptable as well, it will keep him cheap and you can still take a psychic power, although not one of the three detailed above.

Now that you have selected a mark, the last thing to worry about is whether to equip your Daemon Prince with a psychic power. Not including the psychic powers described in the marks section, the available powers are Doombolt, Warptime, Wind of Chaos and Gift of Chaos.

Doombolt is the cheapest power you can choose and gives you a little firepower, nothing that great and by far not the best power you can choose for the Daemon Prince.

Warptime is the power that every Daemon Prince should have. It greatly boosts your close combat power by allowing you to re roll any failed to hit or to wound rolls.

Wind of Chaos is an expensive power that is good at taking on any type of infantry and to cause minor damage to vehicles. This isn’t a bad choice but I don’t see it as being as useful as Warptime because you want to maximize your time spent in close combat so you shouldn’t have many opportunities to use this power.

Gift of Chaos is the most hilarious psychic power in the entire game. While it is highly unlikely that it will work, it will turn any non vehicle model into a Chaos Spawn instantly without any way of stopping it.

Ok, now that you have your Daemon Prince equipped it’s time to talk about tactics. You absolutely must get him into close combat as soon as possible to avoid being shot down. By turn two or three you should be in combat. Make sure to hop behind cover (not into it because this will force you to take a dangerous terrain test because you took wings) to get the cover save from being behind it and to try and hide completely, although this is difficult because after all, it is a monstrous creature. Make sure you have a supporting unit as well. Although this isn’t necessarily required, it is highly recommended. Any standard troop choice should do well enough as a support unit. Try to never leave combat as this will open up the opportunity for you to be shot at which is your main weakness. This is why taking a shooting power is next to useless. Try to wipe out an enemy unit on your opponent’s turn so that you don’t find yourself out in the open. If you do wipe out an enemy squad on your turn, consolidate into a position that will give you the most protection from heavy weapons fire.

Remember that this is only one way to use your Daemon Prince. There are many other tactics to use as well, some even may focus around shooting instead of combat. Make sure to adopt the tactic that is best suited to defeating your opponent which is not necessarily the tactic you are best at. Just be sure to learn from your mistakes and follow the golden rule, to have fun!