The days are getting longer, the weather is getting warmer. You know what they say about Spring, “April crimson rain brings May skulls to claim”.
As I went through new Blades of Khorne Battletome, I could not get away from a Bloodthirster heavy list maxing out your behemoths using 1 of each to go along with a sweet battalion that would take in all four. Let’s see what this will look like along with the new special rules that come with the revamped army.
Special Rules:
Blood Tithe Points: You gain a blood tithe point every time any unit is removed from the battlefield. There are two tables in the new book for you to spend Blood Tithe points on. One which does a variety of effects from an auto dispel to adding attacks to all Khorne units. The other table is a summoning table, where you spend something like 2 points for 5 bloodletters to 8 points for a bloodthirster. Once you choose one though you use all your blood tithe points even if what you choose costs less than the number you have.
Unique Artifacts, Command Traits, Prayers, and you can choose a “slaughterhost”.
Locus of Fury: You can re-roll hit rolls of 1 for attacks made by Khorne Daemons while they are wholly within 12” of any friendly Khorne Daemon Heros, or wholly within 16” of any friendly Khorne Greater Daemons.
Skull Alter: A zero costing scenery piece that lets you re-roll prayers and judgments for Khorne Priests within 8” of it. It also subtracts 1 from casting rolls for wizards while they are within 16” of it.
The Greater Daemons:
- Skarbrand 400 points: Leader 1 of 6, Behemoth 1 of 4
- Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage 280 points: Leader 2 of 6, Behemoth 2 of 4
- Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury 300 points: Leader 3 of 6, Behemoth 3 of 4
- Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster 320 Points: Leader 4 of 6, Behemoth 4 of 4
- Tyrants of Blood 140 points, Battalion
Total 1440 Points.
Skarbrand: Move 8”, 4+ Save, 10 Bravery, 14 Wounds.
He has a missile weapon Roar of Total Rage: Range 8”, roll a number of dice based on damage table (1 up to 5), and for each 4+ that unit suffers a mortal wound. Then two weapons with Slaughter and Carnage. Slaughter: Range 2”, Damage Table (5 up to 9) Attacks, Hitting on a 4+, Wounding on a 3+, with -2 Rend, for 3 Damage. Carnage: Range 2”, 1 Attacks, roll a dice and on a Damage Table (5+, down to 1+) roll it deals 8 mortal wounds, on a 6 it deals 16 mortal wounds. You can re-roll charge rolls for this model. From the second battle round if he did not attack in at least 1 combat round in the previous phase he uses the damage table as if he has taken 13 wounds.
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage: Move Damage Table 10” down to 6” (fly), 4+ Save, 10 Bravery, 14 Wounds
He carries a Mighty Axe of Khorne: Range 2”, Damage Table (5 down to 3) Attacks, Hitting on a 4+, Wounding on a 2+, with -2 Rend, for D6 Damage. If an unmodified wound roll is a 6 each enemy within 6” of this model suffers a Damage Table (4 down to 1) number of mortal wounds. When this model charges you can re-roll hit rolls of 1. His command ability is Bloodthirsty Charge: Charge Phase, range wholly within 16”, friendly Khorne Daemon units, can re-roll charge rolls.
Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury: Move Damage Table 10” down to 6” (fly), 4+ Save, 10 Bravery, 14 Wounds
His missile weapon is the Lash of Khorne: Range 12”, Damage Table (4 down to 2) Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on a 3+, with -1 Rend, for D3 Damage. Then his melee weapon is a Mighty Axe of Khrone: Range 2”, 6 Attacks, Hitting on a 3+, Damage Table (2+ up to 4+) Wounding, with -2 Rend, for D3 Damage. At the start of the enemy movement phase pick 1 enemy unit within 3” of this model, that unit cannot retreat in that phase. Roll a dice for every enemy unit within 8” of this model, on a 5+ it suffers 1 mortal wound. His command ability is Rejoice in Slaughter: Used start of combat phase, range wholly within 16”, all friendly Khorne Daemon units, allows those models the ability to pile in 6” rather than 3”.
Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster: Move Damage Table 10” down to 6” (fly), 4+ Save, 10 Bravery, 14 Wounds
He has two missile weapons with the hellfire breath and the bloodflail. Hellfire breath: Range 8”, 1 Attack, on a 2+ a unit takes D3 mortal wounds. Bloodflail: Range 12”, 1 Attack, Hitting and Wounding on a 3+, with -1 Rend, for Damage Table (6 down to D3) Damage. Then his melee weapon is the Mighty Axe of Khorne: Range 2”, 6 Attacks, Hitting on a 3+, Wounding Damage Table (2+ up to 4+), with -2 Rend, for D3 Damage. This model can re-roll hit rolls for attacks that target a hero or monster and can unbind 1 spell with a +2 to the roll. He can also attempt to dispel 1 endless spell. His command ability is Lord of the Blood Hunt: Start of the combat phase, Khorne Daemon wholly within 16” and they can re-roll hit rolls until the end of the phase.
Tyrants of Blood: 3- 8 Bloodthirsters
After a model from this battalion fights in the combat phase for the first time, you can pick another model from the same battalion that has not yet fought yet and is within 3” of the enemy can immediately pile in and attack.
The Mortals:
- Slaughterpriest 100 points: Leader 5 of 6
- Slaughterpriest 100 points: Leader 6 of 6
- 10 Bloodreavers 70 points: Battleline 1 of 3
- 10 Bloodreavers 70 points: Battleline 2 of 3
- 10 Bloodreavers 70 points: Battleline 3 of 3
- Wrath-Axe 60 points: Judgement
- Hexgorger Skulls 40 points: Judgement
- 1 Command Points 50 points: No Unit Type
- Skull Alter 0 points: Scenery
Total 2000
Slaughterpriest: Move 6”, 5+ Save, 8 Bravery, 6 Wounds
Armed with either a Bloodbathed Axe or a Hackblade and Wrath-Hammer, the axe is: Range 2”, 3 Attacks, Hitting on a 4+, Wounding on a 3+, for 2 Damage. The Hackblade: Range 1”, 3 Attacks, Hitting on a 3+, Wounding on a 4+, for 1 Damage. Wrath-Hammer: Range 3”, D3 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on a 4+, for 1 Damage.
Bloodreavers: Move 6”, 6+ Save, 5 Bravery, 1 Wounds
Armed either with raver blades or meat ripper axes, the blades are Range 1”, 1 Attack, Hitting on a 4+ (re-rolling 1’s), Wounding on a 4+, for 1 Damage. Axes: Range 1”, 1 Attack, Hitting and Wounding on a 4+, with -1 Rend, for 1 Damage. If this unit is wholly within 16” of Khrone Totems add 1 to their attacks. The leader gets 1 extra attack, the banner adds 1 to the bravery, and 1 hornblower adds 1 to run and charge rolls.
Wrath – Axe:
A 5+ Judgement is set up wholly within 8” of the Khorne Priest, then makes an 8” move and can fly. Any units if moved across suffer D3 mortal wounds on a 2+, and then 1 enemy unit within 3” of it after its move suffers D6 mortal wounds on a 2+. Subtract 1 from hit rolls for attacks made by non-Khorne units within 3” of this model.
Hexgorger Skulls:
A 3+ Judgement, is set up wholly within 6” of each other and wholly within 8” of the Khorne Priest, then makes an 8” move and can fly. Subtract 2 from Wizards casting rolls if they are within 12” of this model, also if the casting roll is an unmodified 8 it is not successful and all wizards within 12” of this model suffer D6 mortal wounds.
Loadouts:
For my Slaughterhost, I am going to choose the Bloodlords and make my general the Bloodthirster of Unfettered Rage. This gives him the command ability that adds 4 to his move. Then I will also give him the Halo of Blood which lets him strike at the beginning of the combat phase. You also gain the command ability First in His Sight which you can use at the start of the hero phase and heals 1 wound to each friendly Bloodlords Daemon wholly within 16”. Finally, you get to re-roll wound rolls of 1 for attacks that target hero or monsters. Then on the Wrath of Khrone Bloodthirster, I am going to give him the Kartoth the Bloodhunger artifact, giving you more chances to swing at the start of the combat phase. I would give one of your priests Blood Sacrifice and the other Resanguination. Finally, I would give the blood reavers reaper axes because those models are way cheaper real money wise than the meatripper axes.
Tactics:
Your goal is to get the bloodthirsters in combat ASAP, with getting Skarbrand into combat the next turn so that he is fighting at the best damage table for the rest of the game. If you can get your general in along with at least one more the battalion is going to let you swing with both before your opponent goes. If you have them all in, you can swing with your general and one other like Skarbrand first, and then on a 4+ the Wrath of Khorne one also gets to swing before your opponent can do anything. You should have one of your priests casting blood sacrifice on a unit of blood reavers every turn to accumulate blood tithe points.
While the other 2 units can hold objectives or run out to be speed bumps. Use the summoning table to your advantage because while summoning another bloodthirster is cool more models claim objectives which wins you games. The Judgements gives you some range and makes the magic heavy armies pause when casting spells, and the wrath axe can provide some defense as well as mortal wound output. Finally, the extra command point is there to give you another shot at a re-roll of a charge, or you can burn it to get a 6 on a run for Skarbrand to set him up for a turn 2 charge.
There you have it. If you ever wanted to use one of every Khorne Greater Daemon this is your chance to do so! It might even be competitive if you can manage to kill your opponent quickly and summon models to claim objectives.
