With the Daughters of Khaine book out now let’s look at building a 2,000 point army. Come see a complete breakdown where to start with this bloodthirsty army.
The Daughters of Khaine are out and these models look amazing. They might fight for the side of Order, but clearly, the bathing in blood, sacrifices, and tribute to a dead god of murder says they generally do their own thing. It all starts with the high oracle herself Morathi, so this army is built around her being your general.
Coming in just under 500 points she is a quarter of your army in herself, but she packs a punch. By taking all Daughters of Khaine units you gain the following abilities: Each time a model suffers a wound or mortal wound on a 6+ it is ignored. Then a blood rights table where every turn they get cumulative abilities.
Round 1 is re-roll run rolls of 1, Round 2 is re-roll rolls of 1 when charging, Round 3 is re-roll hit rolls of 1 and Avatar of Khaine are always animated, Round 4 re-roll wound rolls of 1, and finally, Round 5 is re-roll save rolls of 1 and units are immune to battleshock.
- Morathi, the High Oracle of Khaine (480 points): Leader 1 of 6
Morathi (Not transformed): Move 6, Save 4+, 9 Bravery, 6 wounds. She has a heartrender attack: Range 2, 3 attacks, hitting and wounding on a 3+, with -1 rend for D3 damage. Then a bladed wings attack: Range 2, 6 attacks, hitting and wounding on a 3+, with -1 rend, for 1 damage. She cannot be healed but cannot suffer more than 3 wounds in any one turn. Subtract 1 to hit rolls that target her. She adds 1 to her casting and unbind rolls and doubles the range of her spells. She can cast and unbind 3 spells in her turn, with her unique spell being Arnzipals Black Horror which casts on a 7 and has range 18. If successful you roll a D6 on a 1 it takes 1 mortal wound, on a 2-3 it takes D3 mortal wounds, and on a 4+ takes D6 mortal wounds. Her command ability lets you pick two friend Daughters of Khaine units within 14″ (not herself) and can either attack as if it were their shooting phase or pile in and attack as if attack phase. Finally, she can either choose to transform in her hero phase or if she has taken damage you roll a D6, if it’s less then the number of wounds she has taken she transforms.
Morathi (Transformed): Move (fly) damage table (14 down to 6), Save 4+, Bravery 9, 12 Wounds. Her missile attack is Gaze of Morathi: Range 6, 1 attack, hitting on a 2+, if it hits pick a model and roll a D6 if it exceeds the models wound characteristic it is slain. She has heartrender: Range 2, damage table attacks (6 down to 2), hitting and wounding on a 3+, with -2 rend, for 3 damage. Crown of serpents attack: Range 1, 5 attacks, hitting and wounding on a 3+, for 1 damage. Then an envenomed tail attack: Range 3, 1 attack, hitting and wounding on a 3+, with -2 rend, for damage table damage (6 down to D3). She can cast and unbind 1 spell in her turn, with her unique spell being Arnzipals Black Horror which casts on a 7 and has range 18. If successful you roll a D6 on a 1 it takes 1 mortal wound, on a 2-3 it takes D3 mortal wounds, and on a 4+ takes D6 mortal wounds. Finally, she can only take 3 wounds every turn any additional wounds are negated.
*Note, when Morathi Transforms she loses her command ability and can only cast and unbind 1 spell a turn rather than 3.
After Morathi we are going to back her up with 3 units of witch elves for your battle line troop.
- 10 Witch Aelves (100 points): Battleline 1 of 3
- 10 Witch Aelves (100 points): Battleline 2 of 3
- 10 Witch Aelves (100 points): Battleline 3 of 3
Witch Aelves: Move 6, Save 6+, 7 Bravery, 1 Wound. They have a knife attack: Range 1, 2 attacks (3 if using paired knives), hitting on a 3+, wounding on a 4+, for 1 damage. If they are within 8 inches of any friendly Daughters of Khaine Heroes add 1 to the knife attacks. Instead of duel wielding knives you can have them use a bucker which gives them a 5+ save and if you make a save roll of 6+ they deal a mortal wound. Finally, the leader is a hag with +1 to hit rolls, the hornblower lets them charge and run in the same turn, and the standard bearer lets them roll 2 dice in the battleshock test and discard the highest.
This puts you at 780 points and gives you your general who is also a fantastic spell caster and when she transforms a heavy hitter in combat. Now we are going to focus on the rest of your leaders and animating the two Avatars of Khaine. We are going to overload with Hag Queens because hopefully Morathi is still in Wizard form and can do the unbinding.
- Avatar of Khaine (180 points): Behemoth 1 of 4
- Avatar of Khaine (180 points): Behemoth 2 of 4
- Hag Queen on Cauldron of Blood (300 points): Leader 2 of 6, Behemoth 3 of 4
- Hag Queen (60 points): Leader 3 of 6
- Hag Queen (60 points): Leader 4 of 6
- Hag Queen (60 points): Leader 5 of 6
- Hag Queen (60 points): Leader 6 of 6
Avatar of Khaine: Move 9, Save 4+, 10 Bravery, 9 Wounds. Has Torrent of Burning Blood Attack: Range 10, 6 attacks, hitting and wounding on a 3+, with -1 rend, for 1 damage. Then a sword attack: Range 2, 4 attacks, hitting and wounding on a 3+, with -2 rend, for 3 damage. The Avatar of Khaine cannot do anything unless a friendly Daughters of Khaine priest (hag queen) uses a prayer to animate him. It adds 1 to the bravery of all Daughters of Khaine units within 7 inches.
Hag Queen: Move 6, Save 5+, 8 Bravery, 5 Wounds. Has a Blade of Khaine: Range 1, 4 attacks, 3+ to hit, 4+ to wound, with -1 rend for 1 damage. She can use one of two players (3 if you include an Avatar of Khaine) where they are successful on a 3+. The first is one that changes her blades damage from 1 to D3 and the other one is one where you pick a unit within 3 inches and hide a dice in one hand if your opponent chooses the hand with the dice they take D3 mortal wounds. Finally, in your hero phase, she can pick a friendly Daughters of Khaine unit within 3 inches and they can re-roll all failed wound rolls and is immune to battle shock tests.
Hag Queen on Cauldron of Blood: Move damage table (6 down to 2), 5+ Save, 8 Bravery, 13 Wounds. Has Torrent of Burning Blood Attack: Range 10, 6 attacks, hitting and wounding on a 3+, with -1 rend, for 1 damage. Then a sword attack: Range 2, 4 attacks, hitting and wounding on a 3+, with -2 rend, for 3 damage. (Note these two attacks do not happen unless you use a Wrath of Khaine prayer on this unit). Then has Witch Aelves Knives: Range 1, damage table attack (8 down to 4), hitting on a 3+, wounding on a 4+, for 1 damage. Then a blade of Khaine: Range 1, 4 attacks, 3+ to hit, 4+ to wound, with -1 rend for 1 damage. It has a bloodshield that has damage table range (18 down to 2) that adds 1 to saving throws for friendly Daughters of Khaine. Then they have bladed impact which on a successful charge this unit deals D3 mortal wound on a 2+. They also add 1 to the bravery of all Daughters of Khaine units within 7, and this unit can use prayers on a 3+. The first prayer changes her blades damage from 1 to D3, the second one is one where you pick a unit within 3 inches and hide a dice in one hand if your opponent chooses the hand with the dice they take D3 mortal wounds, and the third animates the Avatar of Khaine. Finally, in your hero phase, she can pick a friendly Daughters of Khaine unit within 3 inches and they can re-roll all failed wound rolls and is immune to battle shock tests.
This puts us at 1680 and basically fills out all our leader troops, however, one thing this army is lacking is some mobility. So to finish off this unit we are going to add a unit of Doomfire Warlocks to add bit more magic in your hero phase.
- 10 Doomfire Warlocks (320 points): No unit type
Doomfire Warlocks: Move 14, Save 5+, 6 Bravery, 2 Wounds. They have a crossbow attack: Range 10, 2 attacks, hitting and wounding on a 4+, for 1 damage. Then they have a scimitar attack: Range 1, 2 attacks, hitting and wounding on a 4+, with -1 rend, for 1 damage. Finally, the horse attack: Range 1, 2 attacks, hitting on a 4+, wounding on a 5+, for 1 damage. The leader of this unit adds 1 to his hit rolls for his crossbow and scimitar, and if the unit has 10 or more models add 1 to their casting and unbinding rolls. Finally, they can cast and unbind 1 spell a turn with their unique spell being Doomfire, with a casting value of 6 and range 18. It deals 6 mortal wounds if there are 10 or more Doomfire warlocks, D6 mortal wounding if 5-9 Doomfire warlocks and D3 mortal wounds if less than 5.
Total 2000 points.
Loadouts: The only unit to choose in this army is the Witch Aelves and I like going with the extra attacks from the duel knives. Though if you are playing a scenario where you need to hold objectives then going with the bucklers is a solid option for the bonus to save. I like to give one of my Hag Queen’s the Iron Circlet, letting her re-roll 1’s for her prayers. For bonus spells, I would give Morathi the Mindrazor spell which works perfectly on the Avatars of Khaine. Then the bonus prayers you are getting 5 of the 6 so you can pick any of them that you want and cast them however these 6 prayers follow the rule of 1, unlike the ones tied to their warscrolls.
Tactics: Let’s start with your main goal, getting those two Avatar of Khaine units on foot animated and moving forward. The one on the Cauldron of Blood will still move even if not animated so you do not need to worry about it until the Cauldron is close enough for combat. Try screening with your Witch Aaelves as well in front of your hag queens and Morathi, while they will die quickly you need to get those avatars into combat while protecting your priestesses. Morathi herself I would keep as a spell caster until you absolutely need her for her close combat. Though once she suffers 3 wounds I would for sure, use her transformation when I could to make sure she is not killed before she can transform. Finally, use your Doomfire Warlocks to use their mobility to capture objectives and snipe smaller heroes with their spell and crossbows.
There you have it the evilest of the good guys unless bathing in blood and worshiping the dead god of murder is the new honorable thing to do. Anyways this is a fun list that revolves around animating giant statues, but there are a ton of ways to play this army, so it is a great one to begin collecting.
Check out more “newbie” tips for the Hobby
