New Army Secrets? Wrath of the Daemonkin!

By Horton Doughton | May 10th, 2015 | Categories: Daemonkin, Tactics, Warhammer Army Lists

daemons walpaper

Codex Khorne Daemonkin is here. Take closer look the the codex, tactics, and it’s place in 40k Today.

Detailed unit reviews of this codex have been done, and many people seem to think that the Daemonkin are nothing special. After all, it is just a bunch of Mark of Khorne CSM and Khorne Daemons, right? Wrong! While these unit have all been seen before, Daemonkin really brings them together and lets them function in a unique and very fluffy way. Is this is the perfect army? Can it table everything? Not at all, but it can build a force that is “All In” extremely fluffy and an absolute blast to play. The main rule that lets all this happen is the big special rule of the Codex:

BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!

This is a masterfully done rule that can turn even a crushing defeat into a really fun game. With the destruction of enemy or friendly units, you get blood points that you can cash in for various rewards. I simply love this. Have a bad turn 1? Those Pesky Eldar Jetbikes manage to do a number on you? Fear not! Blood has been spilled for Khorne and your army shall be rewarded. With that said, it is important to understand that playing Khorne Daemonkin is not for the feint of heart. Win or lose, it takes ridiculously high casualties. I have gotten in several games now and they have all ended with at least 90% of my force offered up to Khorne. But let me tell you, what great games!

Blood for the Blood God makes killling and getting killed much more fun for Daemonkin, and the rewards you get through bloodtithe points can really be game changers. People like to write off the CSM units in the book as garbage, especially possessed, but when backed by the blood tithe these units can really shine. +1 attack, Feel No Pain, and furious charge can all do a lot to augment these units. Possessed in a Slaughtercult have a particular advantage here, as they can choose to benefit from 2 bloodtithe results. When a unit of possessed has +1 attack, and FNP, then suddenly they are much more deadly.

NO RETREAT! NO SURRENDER!

Khorne Daemonkin is an army that can do something a lot of armies in 40k can’t do: Use 100% of its points for offense. When built right, it needs no little units to hang back, no quick objective takers, it can truly go “all in” and go for broke as it charges the enemy. This is what makes it very interesting when compared to an army designed to try and do Daemon summoning. While very effective, Daemon summoning requires units that are dedicated just to generating psychic dice, and that do not contribute to the army’s offensive output. Daemonkin however, can go all into offense and still consistently make 1 unit a turn.(in a lot of matchups)

So, what makes a winning Daemonkin list? You have to play to the strengths of the army, and those are Blood Points, and ridiculous offense. You need lots of units to raise the blood tithe by either killing or getting killed, and they ALL need to be able to threaten the enemy on turn 2.

Enough talk, Lets make some Lists!

For the sake of simplicity, the lists presented here will be pure Khorne Daemonkin. There are some pretty awesome combos that can be done with Daemonkin/CSM/Daemons, but pure daemonkin is still a solid choice, and may even be better since every unit benefits from Blood for the Blood God.

The Red Wave!

Slaughtercult
Khorne Lord, Juggernaut, Goredrinker, Aura of Dark Glory
8 Bloodletters
8 Bloodletters
5 posessed
1 Spawn
1 Spawn

Gorepack
5 Hounds
5 Hounds
5 Hounds
3 Bikes, 2 melta
3 Bikes, 2 melta

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Throw caution to the wind and begin the unstoppable Red Wave! Your threat count in this list is out of control, and so is are you blood points once they get going. Knights/wraithknights would be tough, but everything else better watch out. The Hounds are coming!

The Iron Onslaught!

Slaughtercult
Herald of Khorne, Loci of Warth
8 Bloodletters
8 Bloodletters
5 posessed

Warengine
Soul Grinder, Flamer
Soul Grinder, Flamer
Soul Grinder, Flamer

CAD
Herald of Khorne, Loci of Wrath
8 Cultists
8 Cultists
Land Raider
Land Raider
Heldrake
Heldrake

This list brings the daemon engines out to play. Worried about Jetbikes? This will laugh them off! Your bloodletters and Heralds go into the Land Raiders for some serious counter assault, and your mechanized monsters march up the field! This amount of armor could really cause problems for a lot of lists, and you have enough guns to play this as a shooty list. The Slaughtecult can really shine here, and can add some incredible benefits to your bloodletters. Imagine bloodletters picking up rage, and +1 attack, as well as getting to re-roll to hit with the attached heralds. That means each bloodletter unit would get 4 S5 AP3 attacks on the charge that re-roll to hit. Multiple Wraithknights would be bad for this army, as there is not much you could do against a ton of Ranged D, but you could probably deal with 1.