My first 1000pt Khorne Daemonkin game!

So, last night I fielded 2 Bloodthirsters, 2 Soul Grinders with Phlegm, and 2 squads of Bloodletters (each with a Bloodreaper). I went up against an Eldar army: an Avatar, a Farseer, a Wraithlord, a squad of Dire Avengers, a squad of Jetbikes with a Warlock, a squad of Swooping Hawks, and a Wave Serpent.

The centre of the table was dominated by a ruined church on my right flank, with a few towers on the left. There were ruins in our deployment zones as well.

The Eldar deployed first, mostly opposite the left/centre but with the Hawks and Jetbikes on my right. I put my Soulgrinders, the Warlord Thirster, and 1 squad of Letters on the left/centre, the other Thirster off on the right. This was a mistake, I should have kept them together. But it was hard, with all the ruins in my deployment zone.

Basically I ploughed forward, shooting off Phlegm (which scattered wildly and did nothing). The pointy ears blasted away, knocking off some wounds & hull points from Thirsters and Grinders. The Thirster on the right was whittled away by the hawks and jetbikes, never reaching them before falling. The second Letters squad appeared over on the right by the Jetbikes, but was blown away by them.

On the left a Soulgrinder charged the Avatar, and got smashed out of existence in return. The Avatar then charged the other Soulgrinder. My Thirster piled into his Avatar to save the Grinder, whilst the Letters moshed into the Dire Avengers, both with the Blood Tithe giving them Rage. The Letters did well, leaving only 1 Avenger standing; and the Avatar & Thirster began knocking each other about. Because the Thirster had to challenge the Avatar, the Grinder did nothing (whoops).

Then the Avatar turned invisible, the Wraithlord charged the Letters, and the Farseer & Swooping Hawks charged the Grinder. My Thirster suddenly found it very hard to hit the Avatar, my Soul Grinder was going down, and my Letters were fighting someone that they couldn't hurt and couldn't run away from...

At this point the Blood Tithe began to be useful. I managed to get enough points to bring in a new Bloodletter pack, who promptly Mishapped and were placed by my opponent into a shooting alley. And were blown apart. Killing them and the Wraithlord finishing my other squad got me enough Tithes to bring in a new new Bloodletter pack, who again mishapped into the shooting alley.

And then my Warlord Thirster finally fell, with enough wounds on him to carry over into the Grinder. I was deaded.

Khorne was pleased! Lots of blood!

I made mistakes. I shouldn't have left a Thirster all on his own on the right flank. I should have sent the Thirster against the Wraithlord, not the Avatar as that left my Grinder useless. But hey, it's one of my first games since 5th ed, I'm still getting back into the swing of things.

In the future, I want to have more people with 3+ saves. My daemons disappeared scarily fast when he started shooting, especially with the Warlock using Sanctic powers to reduce my invulnerable save. The Slaughtercult formation giving me more Blood Tithe points would be very good as well, that's one to look into. And some small sacrificial squads, there to win Blood Tithe by dying.

Possible 1,500pts:
Slaughtercult
Bloodthirster: 250pts
Possessed: 150pts
Chaos Marines: 130pts
Chaos Marines: 130pts
Cultists: 58pts
Spawn: 38pts
Lord of Slaughter
Bloodthirster: 250pts
War Engines
Soul Grinder, Phelgm: 165pts
Soul Grinder, Phelgm: 165pts
Soul Grinder, Phelgm: 165pts

Khorne Daemonkin thoughts & sample lists

So, Codex: Khorne Daemonkin? I love it! Basically, it contains every unit that I wanted to use from Codex: Chaos Daemons. Plus lots of other units from Chaos Space Marines. What's not to like? When you look at it from the perspective of a Khorne Daemon player, these are the key changes:

• Daemonic Instability is replaced by Fearless.
• There's no Warp Storm table. This is a bit of a pity, I did like the fun randomness, even if it bit me as often as it helped me.
• You can't buy Daemonic Rewards any more. Again, this codex is about making a more predictable and less random army.
• No Daemonic Rewards means no Grimoire, no Portaglyph! I didn't use them, but I know people who did will be sad.
• If a character is in close combat, they must challenge. This is nice and fluffy.
• Now a big addition... Blood Tithes. For every unit you kill, for every unit you loose, for every character you kill in challenges, and for every character of yours who dies (possibly just in challenges), you get a Blood Tithe point. And points mean prizes - this system is about giving you the ability to get some nasty special rules, and to summon!
• As with regular summoning, note that it's stupid summoning Bloodthirsters or winged Daemon Princes late in the game. They arrive from Deep Strike, so are flying high. In the turn after they arrive they can come down low, but can't charge until 2 turns after they arrive. So if you're summoning, summon infantry. Non-flying Daemon Princes are good, but I think that Bloodcrushers will be my favourites (especially as they come with a champ, instrument, and the banner of more reliable charge range).
• And the other big addition: we now have access to loads of CSM options in our army. Cultists for lower cost troops, lots of 3+ saves, daemon engines like Maulerfiends, and transport vehicles. Heralds with loci can join these guys, so a massive mob of Cultists with a locus is a possibility, as are Berserkers or Possessed with a locus.
• Bloodletter minimum squad size is down to 8, so they're 80 pts base not 100. It's not a massive change, but I like it.
• Instead of going CAD or Unbound there are formations, including the Formation of Formations which if you follow that gives you a free Blood Tithe point each turn. Nice. This also gives you the option of taking 8 war engines in a bound army. 8 Soulgrinders!
• We have 2 new types of Bloodthirster! Obviously Chaos Daemons get these now too, thanks to the White Dwarf, but thought I'd mention them.
• We have 6 new mission objectives. They mostly revolve around killing stuff, so play to our strengths!

So, that's the key things. The best way to make an army, particularly at higher points costs, will definitely be to use the uberformation. Sadly that requires Possessed, and I haven't build any of them yet. So today's 1000pts list is instead using the CAD:
HQ: Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury - 250pts
HQ: Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury - 250pts
Troops: 8 Bloodletters, champ - 85pts
Troops: 8 Bloodletters, champ - 85pts
Heavy: Soulgrinder, big gun - 165pts
Heavy: Soulgrinder, big gun - 165pts

The Soulgrinders will blow stuff up to gain Blood Tithes and hopefully draw some fire. The Bloodthirsters will hurry forward to reap some skulls. The Bloodletters will run around picking up objectives.

Note that this list wouldn't work with Chaos Daemons, I'm utilising the smaller cheaper Bloodletter squads of this new codex.

Quite frankly, even if I'd made my Possessed I'm not sure that I'd want to swap a Soulgrinder for Possessed and 1 more Blood Tithe point a turn. But to expand to 1,500pts I'll definitely do that, maybe something like:
The above list - 1000pts
Possessed - 150pts
Soulgrinder, big gun - 165pts
Soulgrinder, big gun - 165pts
A few upgrades to Possessed or Bloodletters - 20pts

Or maybe switch a Soulgrinder for some Cultists and/or Spawn, cheap units that will give me Blood Tithe points when they die?

Lots of Red: 1st Painting Batch Done!

The first batch of painting is done and (finally!) photographed. Sorry the photos aren't very good, my camera is rubbish and my house is dark...

Djymikh the Debaser is a patron of Hans Kho'ren of the World Eaters. When Hans Kho'ren's Skull Takers were recruited by Angron for the attack on Armageddon, Ymmikh accompanied them, eager to shed blood in Khorne's name.

Bunankh the Deranger is the beast that broke the mind of the Red Cardinal of Iddesleigh. The Blood Cardinal, plagued by visions of a grinning daemon torturing him to death whilst his entire world burnt, lead the horrific Crusade of Peace in order to root out the evil which he believed must lurk in the populace of Iddesleigh. The innocent agri-worlders were entirely wiped out, a task started by the Blood Cardinal's fanatical followers and finished by Unnakh himself once enough blood had been shed to allow him to enter the physical world. The Red Cardinal was the last person on the world to die, impaled on the spire of his cathedral by the mocking Bunankh. Now he seeks to destroy Armageddon as he did Iddesleigh...

The Bone Collectors. Once mortal champions of Khorne, they walk the fine line between Spawnhood and Daemon Princedom: vastly mutated beyond their mortal bodies, but only just maintaining control over their form and mind. They spend their lives shedding blood and collecting kills for Khorne: to keep him smiling upon them; to persuade him to not smite them into Spawn; and possibly to convince him to bless them as Daemon Princes.

I love the way that characters in Black Crusade have to balance their infamy vs their corruption, that whole idea seems a wonderfully Realm of Chaos vibe. These are my counts-as Bloodcrushers

This particular group of Bloodletters were all created from the blood shed in fights between Space Marines, between those who should be brothers. They first emerged in the Horus Heresy, as Angron purged his legion on Istvaan III, and have followed his career ever since - from Ultramar to Terra to the Eye of Terror. Now that Angron has descended from the Devourer of Stars to destroy Armageddon and its Space Wolf defenders, they pull themselves out of the Immaterium once more, formed from the blood of Astartes of both sides.

Mankind has always told tales of horrors lurking the shadows, violent man-shaped beasts waiting to emerge and devour. From beyond the circle of light cast by flickering campfires to under the beds and in the cupboards of brightly-lit hab-blocks, people have always stared fearfully into the dark. And with good reason, for in the liminal shadows these bestial Bloodletters wait...

Born long ago in a terrible crusade between two armies of heavily armoured knights, both believing that they fought for the One True God, these Bloodletters have always flocked to violence and sought to use mankind's violent urges to create rents in reality.

So along with 3 Soul Grinders (using my Daemon-Knights models) this is 1,500pts of Chaos Daemons! Next step: 4 more small-sized Bloodthirsters (who, like these 2, will be used in games either as Bloodthirsters or as Daemon Princes), and then I'll have my birthday and with that extra cash I'm going to get the new Bloodthirster and bits for more Bloodthirsters in his scale. And also, with Khorne Daemonkin now released, I quite want to build some Chaos Space Marines and some Cultists...

The 1st War for Armageddon begins: 2 skirmish battle reports

War first came to Armageddon in a spate of urban unrest, riots, and uprisings. The fires of rebellion burnt bright across Armageddon Prime and Secundus. Whilst the hives were burning, in the Equatorial Jungle a series of small skirmishes occured that the Imperium never even knew about.
Deep in the jungle lies an ancient pyramid, the tip of a Necron stasis tomb. The Necrontyr of old despised the powers and creatures of the warp, and it was they who built the Cadian Pylons to stop the Eye of Terror from consuming the galaxy. On Armageddon, a small force of Bloodletters was sent to ensure the Necron pyramid would not be activated, in order to prevent them from resisting Angron's arrival. However, the first of the Necron forces were already rising, and a desperate clash ensued...

These were combat patrol games with 500pts, no: saves of 2+ or 3++, 3+ wounds, over 33 armour, fliers. Armies of 1-2 Troops, 0-1 of every other slot. Troops have ObSec. Games last 4 turns, at the end of which the guys holding the objective in the middle of the board win. Games end if a Warlord dies.

I was running a single big blob of 19 Bloodthirsters with a Banner of Blood, led by 3 Heralds with an Exalted Locus and a bunch of rewards. My ancient foe had a Lord with 5 Lychguard, 5 Immortals with Tesla Carbines, and 10 Warriors. The board was small, with a ruin in each corner and a central ruined tower.

I went first, set up centrally. My opponent put the Warriors and Immortals in his two corner ruins, up high to look down on me with disdain, and his Lord & Guard centrally.

My Khornate hoard surged forwards, towards the Immortals and away from the Warriors. Slaanesh smiled at the battle, an utterly pleasurable surge of current claiming the life of one Immortal but ignoring my troops. Then the Necrons fired, taking out a handful of my Bloodletters. Second turn began, and my hoard was getting close enough to reach the Immortals if I rolled well for the charge distance. Khorne saw the battle, anticipating the blood soon to be split, and threw a skull from his throne down from the heavens at the Necron Lord & Lychguard unit. I centered the barrage over the Lord, it didn't scatter, he died. Game over in less than 2 turns, thanks to an utterly jammy roll on the Warp Storm Table.

It felt a bit unfulfilling? So we did it again.

Again, I was going first and the deployment didn't change that much. My hoard surged forwards towards the Immortal side and away from those nasty rapid-firing Warriors. Nurgle rusted up a couple of his robots, and then he retaliated by a horribly effective shooting phase. Turn 2 I hurried forwards, seeing his Lord and Lychguard within charge range, and smashed into them.
The glorious charge was rather disappointing, even with Hatred I rolled badly. I killed 2 Lychguard, their T5 meaning that my Bloodletters found it just too hard to hurt them (yes, I forgot I had Furious Charge. Sigh.) In his turn, the Warriors joined the mass combat whilst the Immortals ignored me and trundled towards the Objective. The rest of the game consisted of that one massive combat, basically. My guys managed to kill off the Lychguard in my turn 3, and wound the Lord in his turn 3. The Bloodletters were all dead by this point, and my Heralds dropped one after another. We came into Turn 4 with my Warlord Herald my sole remaining guy, vs his Lord and 10 Warriors. His Warlord on 1 wound, me fine. I issued a challenge, and he declined. I shouldn't have done that! I took my anger out by killing a Warrior or 2, but then they attacked. 2 Wounds. Thankfully I had rolled FnP 4+ as a Greater Reward, and made it through to his Turn 4 on 1 wound. The Immortals were firmly uncontested on the Objective, so if I didn't kill his Lord then he'd won... Thankfully I did.
Khorne had triumphed, with the Lord dead the other Necrons mysteriously disappeared. Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows, which is good because securing the ruins had led to the death of my entire force...

What did I learn?

• I have Furious Charge. I should remember to use it.
• I think I prefer 1 Greater Reward and 1 Lesser Reward to 1 Exalted Reward. I tried a mixture of Rewards on my Heralds, and wasn't that impressed with the Exalted Reward.
• Having 2 troops would have let me reroll my Warlord trait. This would have been very useful, as I kept rolling the trait that gives you Hatred (when my Warlord already had the bloody Locus that does that).
• This was my first game of 7th. I learnt useful stuff about how to take off casualties and stuff, and how Look Out Sir works, which I will remember for next time. The Heralds should make sure that they have a nice buffer of Bloodletters protecting them.

500pt Bloodletter force

Painting is proceeding slowly, but tonight my half-finished Bloodletters are going for a little skirmish - my first game with Daemons... It's a Combat Patrol themed event, 500pts, no 2+ / 3++ saves, no models with 3 wounds or more, no named characters, no fliers, no vehicles with more than 33 armour. 1-2 Troops, 0-1 of everything else. For Khorne that leaves Bloodletters, foot Heralds, and Flesh Hounds. And I don't have any Hounds...

Games last 4 turns or until a Warlord dies. Either with a single central objective or kill points.

So this is my list:
Herald of Khorne- Warlord, 1 Lesser Reward, 1 Greater Reward, Exalted Locus = 110pts
Herald of Khorne- 1 Lesser Reward, 1 Greater Reward = 85pts
Herald of Khorne- 1 Exalted Reward = 85pts
19 Bloodletters- 1 Instrument, 1 Banner of Blood= 220pts

The plan is to put everything together and charge :D Not the most in-depth plan, it must be admitted.

Converted Bloodletters

To use my Bloodthirsters outside of an Unbound game, I'll need some troops. I want them to have more of a mini-Bloodthirster feel than the normal Bloodletters, more like the previous version of Bloodletters. And the best way to do that seemed to be Beastman Gors.

To tie in with my Bloodthirsters, I've given them all helmets. One batch with Chaos Space Marine helmets, one with Chaos Warriors. I went for the horned helmets throughout, a theme that's looking like it will run all the way through the army.

1,500pt Khornate Army Lists

So, I'm making Bloodthirsters. But how to use them in games? I've been looking at 1,500 pts lists:

The Unbound List (6 Bloodthirsters!)
Skarbrand
Bloodthirster with Greater Reward
4 x Bloodthirsters

The 2-Detachment List (4 Bloodthirsters plus Khorney backup)
4 Bloodthirsters
4 x 10 Bloodletters
100 pts of upgrades, probably mostly Greater Rewards.

The Daemon Prince List (5 Monstrous Creatures plus Khorney backup)
2 Bloodthirsters
2 x 10 Bloodletters
3 Flying Khorne Daemon Princes
140 pts free to buy more stuff, so that's lots of Greater Rewards.

The Soul Grinder List (2 Bloodthirsters, 3 Grinders plus lots of Khorney backup)
2 Bloodthirsters
2 x 10 Bloodletters
3 Bloodcrushers
3 Soulgrinders with weapon upgrades
170 pts left over now to buy more upgrades.

I think that my first list will be that final one, using my Daemon-Knights as Soulgrinders.
The Bloodcrushers will be represented by lesser Daemon Princes, rather than actual cavalry. Probably based on the Crypt Horror / Vargheist models. I can then also test them out on the penultimate list as well, if I fancy it.
The 'Bloodletters' will be based on Beastman Gors, they look more like mini-Bloodthirsters than the current Bloodletter models.