Khorne Daemonkin: Speed Kills?

[Erik Setzer]

I've been toying with an idea for my Khorne Daemonkin... Here's a rough outline of a 2000 point list:

Lord on Juggernaut, tooled up
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage
6 Bloodcrushers, full command
16 Bloodletters, full command
8 Berzerkers, chainaxes
8 Cultists
8 Cultists
5 Chaos Spawn
5 Flesh Hounds
Maulerfiend
Maulerfiend
Soul Grinder

The Lord would run along with the Bloodcrushers. The Bloodcrushers, Spawn, Hounds, Maulerfiends, and Bloodthirster all move 12" a turn, with minimal or no penalty from difficult terrain to slow them down. Cultists are sacrificial lambs who could possibly hold objectives (this all fits into a CAD), Bloodletters can hold an objective or rip apart Marine units in combat, Berzerkers are a sturdy unit who can rip up anything short of power armour in combat. Soul Grinder is some fire support that also lends some punch in combat.

The basic idea would be to rush the enemy with as much as possible, getting into combat on the 2nd turn unless something awful happens, and overwhelm them with too many fast-moving and scary targets. There's units that can deal with power armor, units that can take apart tanks... Really the only thing that could cause serious concern is a flyer, and the Soul Grinder has a three-shot S7 anti-air gun and the Bloodthirster can try for a Vector Strike (though that's not really that effective).

It might not be a tournament winning list, but I think it could have a decent shot against a lot of armies. Thoughts? Suggestions? Criticism?

I'd love to get more comments before I drop any money on this. To make this list, I just need another box of Bloodcrushers (already in the plans) and a couple Maulerfiends. (I should probably get one for my Iron Warriors, too, since it is meant for assaulting fortifications.)

[Denzark]

I'd try for a slaughter cult if I were you, the extra blood tithe is worth it.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

Just give the Khorne Lord the Axe and nothing else, get to 8 Blood Tithe points and spawn two Bloodthirsters. 135 for 500 is pretty sweet imo.

[daboarder]

Just give the Khorne Lord the Axe and nothing else, get to 8 Blood Tithe points and spawn two Bloodthirsters. 135 for 500 is pretty sweet imo.

those blood thirsters cant do anything until the third turn after they are summoned though

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

Why?

[daboarder]

Why?

Its the way the Rules for FMC work, when they are summoned they MUST be in swoop mode and because they Deepstrike they cannot change mode that turn.

Then next turn they are allowed to change into glide mode, but because they changed mode they are not allowed to assault that turn, and apart from a 2 shot gun thats all a bloodthirster really does.

Then thrid turn AFTER summoning they are finally allowed to charge something, assuming the game hasn't ended


the only real practical way to use hte tokens is to summon lesser daemons and boost the army as a whole.

I've heard the dog horde backed by chaos lords and cultist fodder is particularly mean.

[Nogle]

guess not putting wings on one of my daemon princes paid off ;)

[daboarder]

guess not putting wings on one of my daemon princes paid off ;)

well to be fair, as far as I am aware the summoned/ascended Daemon prince cant have wings so is never a FMC.

[Nogle]

rule in the codex say it has wings if your model has wings

[daboarder]

rule in the codex say it has wings if your model has wings

huh, thats new, good choice then

[Erik Setzer]

I'd try for a slaughter cult if I were you, the extra blood tithe is worth it.

The extra point *is* nice, but at that point I have to give up the Flesh Hounds and Bloodcrushers. I can't afford (money or points) two units of six Bloodcrushers (three seems too small to be effective) plus a unit of Terminators; and then a unit of Bikers plus another unit of Flesh Hounds. So at that point the Bloodcrushers and Flesh Hounds get nixed, because they can't fit into the limiting organization of the Blood Host Detachment.

Slaughter Cult is just a formation within that Detachment, it just gives the boon to the units within that formation. It's nice, but in this army, the idea is to get stuck in fact and hit hard quickly. I've played with the Slaughter Cult and Blood Host Detachment, and it did make for a nice mix, but I want to try a different angle.

In case you're wondering, that particular army was:

Lord on Juggernaut with the +1 tithe point axe
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage
8 Possessed
8 Berzerkers with 1 plasma pistol, champion with lightning claw
8 Berzerkers with 1 plasma pistol, champion with lightning claw
16 Bloodletters with command
8 Bloodletters with command
Defiler
Defiler
Soul Grinder

Played against a Horus Heresy Death Guard army. Got lucky with the big guns not able to hurt all my big targets fast enough, and I got stuck into combat with the Lord, Possessed, and Bloodthirster fast, while smashing Marines with the three AP3 big blasts, before assaulting with all the other units and just kind of having my way with everything except the tooled up command squad (which finally died, but heck, I got some nice points out of it killing my weaker units). That game was pretty fun, with the points and boons piling up and just enjoying the slaughter even as my own units died.

[Theik]

Its the way the Rules for FMC work, when they are summoned they MUST be in swoop mode and because they Deepstrike they cannot change mode that turn.

Then next turn they are allowed to change into glide mode, but because they changed mode they are not allowed to assault that turn, and apart from a 2 shot gun thats all a bloodthirster really does.

Then thrid turn AFTER summoning they are finally allowed to charge something, assuming the game hasn't ended


the only real practical way to use hte tokens is to summon lesser daemons and boost the army as a whole.

I've heard the dog horde backed by chaos lords and cultist fodder is particularly mean.

I think you missed the discussion where the reasoning is along the lines of:

Demon is summoned at the very start of your turn, before the movement phase.
You can decide to switch modes in the movement phase, which is not actually a form of moving, so can be done after deep striking from being summoned.

So at best it's useless in the term you summon it.

[Erik Setzer]

I think you missed the discussion where the reasoning is along the lines of:

Demon is summoned at the very start of your turn, before the movement phase.
You can decide to switch modes in the movement phase, which is not actually a form of moving, so can be done after deep striking from being summoned.

So at best it's useless in the term you summon it.

But all Deep Strikes happen at the start of your turn, before the Movement phase. So that would mean any FMC arriving via Deep Strike could change to Gliding in the turn it arrives, if you use that interpretation of the rules. Though, given that it can't move any more, I'm not sure if it gets to do an action it would normally take in the Movement Phase.

[Nogle]

I need something official before I start buying $115 bloodthirsters. If it takes 3 turns to summon then charge, I'm not buying any for summoning, just one with the big D axe. If its 2 turns I might need 3. answer could save me $230. stinks that the other 3 greater daemons can impact the game as soon as they drop, we might just have 2 turns of whips.

[The_Gonk]

Have you been having fun with this? I'm considering picking some up and would like to hear.

[Erik Setzer]

Haven't had a chance to try the speedy list (need more money), but I've played and seen some games played with the Khorne Daemonkin, and it's been pretty fun. Might not always be the hottest list around, but it should put up a good showing for itself, and it's pretty fun even when your guys are dying, because you can turn around and buff the surviving guys or summon more stuff. I'd avoid Deep Striking stuff, though, because the army is almost entirely close combat, and aside from taking a while to appear from reserves, you can't charge on the turn you Deep Strike anyway. Meanwhile, with a nice run move on the first turn, you have a reasonable chance to charge on the second turn if you started on the table.

[The_Gonk]

Haven't had a chance to try the speedy list (need more money), but I've played and seen some games played with the Khorne Daemonkin, and it's been pretty fun. Might not always be the hottest list around, but it should put up a good showing for itself, and it's pretty fun even when your guys are dying, because you can turn around and buff the surviving guys or summon more stuff. I'd avoid Deep Striking stuff, though, because the army is almost entirely close combat, and aside from taking a while to appear from reserves, you can't charge on the turn you Deep Strike anyway. Meanwhile, with a nice run move on the first turn, you have a reasonable chance to charge on the second turn if you started on the table.

It sounds a lot of fun and I love the theme. I'm a little concerned it might not have legs as it's possibly a bit one-trick strategy wise.

The hobby potential though....!

[Erik Setzer]

It sounds a lot of fun and I love the theme. I'm a little concerned it might not have legs as it's possibly a bit one-trick strategy wise.

The hobby potential though....!

Well, you *can* bring some firepower to the army, in the form of Defilers and Soul Grinders (and even Helbrutes, to a lesser degree, or Skull Cannons, which also pair well with charging units, if you want to fire a massive blast that close to your own guys), so it's not entirely one-trick. It's just that, well, thematically, you *should* be charging forward to try to tear people apart. Which the aforementioned models also do rather well.