Half way to completing the Cruor!

The Daemon-Primarch Angron was accompanied to Armageddon by 12 Bloodthirster bodyguards, the Cruor Praetoria. I've now completed 6 of them, half way there! (Although the next 6 will all be of the bigger size, and I haven't made Angron either, so really I'm much less than half way there. Ah well.) I'm quite tempted to field the 6 of these as a 1,500pts Khorne Daemonkin Unbound force...

Dzamhes the Decapitator has merged with his weapons to such an extent that it is hard to tell where he ends and they begin. He wields his brutal sword and whip with expert skill, leaving a trail of dead behind him as he chases the next hero whose tale he will end.

Gotfrith the Deflagrated faced one of the founders of the Grey Knights during the Horus Heresy, who cast him back into the warp using sorcerous flames that stripped the flesh from his bones. Despite being rebuilt in brass and iron he has never fully recovered, and his wings remain in tatters. He has nurtured his hatred over the millennia, and now his loathing of all living things is a potent force that fills all in his vicinity.

I love the Morghast wings, and as soon as GW released them I wanted to use them to make Skarbrand. Very happy with how it worked out.

Vizekh Sorceror-Bane has always been a foe of those who delve too deep into occult lore. He lurks in the warp, waiting for a psyker to get too greedy, to attempt to use a spell beyond their ability to control, poised to consume their souls.

Putokh the Disemboweler has spent the aeons of waiting in the Warp well, crafting himself a fearsome body in Khorne's Brass Foundries. Now when he emerges into realspace he soars high above the battlefield, before diving into combat feet-first, chain-claws revving, and tears his apart enemies before they have a chance to defend themselves.

Next up I want to make some Chaos Space Marines to round out my Daemonkin, the Skull Takers of Hans Kho'ren.

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...

Counts-as Bloodcrushers

My initial 1,500pts force is going to feature 2 units of Bloodletters, 2 Bloodthirsters, 3 Soul Grinders (using my Daemon-Knights models) and a unit of Bloodcrushers. So here are the Bloodcrushers, and I have a valid army!

The key theme in this army is Bloodthirsters, and I wanted my Bloodcrushers to fit in with that. So I've gone for a more upright bestial feel rather than the traditional Bloodletters-on-Juggers, using Vampire Counts Vargheists as the core. They're still around the same size as Bloodcrushers, and I think that their statline looks appropriate, so hopefully no-one will complain.

Everyone in the army has horned helmets - for these guys, I've gone with Epic Warlord heads and horns that were originally spikes on a Tyranid Trygon (I used the Trygon tail on one of my Daemon-Knights). I've also given them a bit of armour, shoulder plates and bionic jaws from an old Ork Boys sprue.

The core of the models is the Vampire Counts Vargheist/Crypt Horror kit - I've used the Vargheist hairy backs and the Crypt Horror arms (with some hands swapped for Ogre Bull hands). I now also have a pile of spare wings, which I'm sure will come in handy later...

And one last shot, all the Khorne models that I've made this week! It's been a productive one :) I still need to base them before painting begins, but then we're ready to roll.

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.