Khorne Daemonkin: Unusual List Ideas
On the surface, Khorne Daemonkin seem like a pretty straightforward army... Run up the board, beat some face in. Take as many units that want to get in combat and move 12" a turn and you're not far away from an effective army. But what if you want to mix it up a bit? Tried an armoured spearhead, or even more unusual, a shooty Khorne army? The other day, when I boxed up all my non-KDK playable units, I realized just how many models I had that I could use, but never thought to! So lets look at some crazy KDK armies.
Hellforged Hunting Pack
Greater Brass Scorpion of Khorne: 700
Heldrake: 170
Soulgrinder: Baleful Torrent: 155
Blood Slaughterer: Impaler: 135 Blood Slaughterer: Impaler: 135 Blood Slaughterer: Impaler: 135
Maulerfiend: lasher tendrils: 140 Maulerfiend: lasher tendrils: 140 Maulerfiend: lasher tendrils: 140
Total: 1850
It doesn't take much effort to realize just how crazy this kind of army is. Using only a formation found in Blood Oath, you end up with an army of nothing but vehicles. The formation gives Daemon of Khorne to all units (which they all have already) as well as Rage, making their charges a bit extra deadly. Additionally, if the Brass Scorpion makes a successful charge, every other model in the army may re-roll failed charges, and if any of the models die, every other model in the formation permanently gains +1A, so after losing 3 models, each other model in the army will have +3 attacks.
The Heldrake is nice to get to units that you don't want to commit a combat unit to engage, and while the Blood Slaughters may not be the ideal unit, their ability to drag enemies into base contact the turn they deep strike is pretty ugly. If you wanted to go more competitive, dropping a couple of them for more Maulerfiends or Soulgrinders isn't a bad idea. Unfortunately in this list, only the Heldrake, Grinder and Maulers are generating Blood Tithe, though supposedly FW is writing an FAQ for their units to be allowed to gain Blood for the Blood God, so keep your eyes out for that!
Blood and Iron
Combined Arms Detachment:
Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour: Goredrinker, power sword, sigil of corruption: 170
8 Bloodletters: 80 8 Bloodletters: 80
Maulerfiend: lasher tendrils: 140 Maulerfiend: lasher tendrils: 140 Maulerfiend: lasher tendrils: 140
Chaos Knight Errant of Khorne: dirge caster: 425
Brazen Onslaught:
4 Chaos Terminators: 4x pair lightning claws: 163 Land Raider: extra armour: 240
3 Bloodcrushers: 135 3 Bloodcrushers: 135
Total: 1848
While this does look a bit more like a standard KDK army, it is going to play a bit different. Starting on the board with a fistfull of Maulerfiends, a Land Raider, and Knight Errant, forces your opponent to face down a wall of armour, which will hopefully be too much for your opponents guns to stop. Once the Terminators and Errant make it into combat range, you'll be racking up Blood Tithe in no time, which you can use to summon more units dedicated to claiming objectives across the board. The Blood Crushers can start either in reserve, or on the board, depending on cover and deep strike, but keep in mind that they'll potentially be targets to any weapons not powerful enough to harm the vehicles on the board.
Bloody Rainmakers
The Purge Detachment (Renegades of Vraks):
Renegade Command Squad: Ordnance Tyrant with refractor field: 90
4 Field Artillery Battery: thudd guns, militia training: 130 4 Field Artillery Battery: thudd guns, militia training: 130
4 Strike Battery: wyverns: 220 3 Chaos Spawn: 55 3 Chaos Spawn: 55 3 Chaos Spawn: 55
Combined Arms Detachment (Khorne Daemonkin):
Herald of Khorne: 55 Herald of Khorne: 55
8 Bloodletters: 80 8 Bloodletters: 80
Maulerfiend: lasher tendrils: 140 Maulerfiend: lasher tendrils: 140 Maulerfiend: lasher tendrils: 140
Knight Errant of Khorne: dirge caster: 425
Total: 1850
While technically the Ordnance Tyrant must be the Warlord of the army, a majorty of the points are spent on Khorne Daemonkin units, so I still count it. The Heralds join the Field Artillery batteries, allowing them to generate Blood Tithe with ranged attacks. The general strategy is that the Maulers, Spawn and Errant rush forward to engage in combat, while you callously shell them after the enemy is forced to clump up in melee. The Maulers and Errant really don't care about any of the attacks you'll be landing in melee, and the Spawn are so cheap that it's no big deal to sacrifice them in the process. It's beardy as hell, but Khorne cares not!
I'm still sure there are a variety of other ways to play Khorne Daemonkin, though obviously there will always be a combat element. Using Heralds mixed into more effective shooting squads though is an interesting concept, as it allows you to generate Blood Tithe quicker early in the game. I frequently find myself with a deluge of Blood Tithe on turn 3, but wishing I had enough to get FNP up on turn 1 or two, so perhaps a more balanced approach to Khorne is worth investigating a bit more.
PS - I'm still looking for an effective Khorne horde list, if you've had any luck with one, I'd love to hear it! The Charnel Cohort and Bloodied Horde seem good starts, but having to have that much of your army in reserves seems a bit risky.