Khorne Daemonkin – The New Chaos Hotness (?)
Everyone is waiting for the newest 40K codex to drop. But can it really hang with the “big boys”?
Okay let’s first start off with a compilation of all the leaked rumors…
ARMY RULES
Blood For the Blood God
Blood Tithe Points are generated each time the following occurs:
– A unit with Blood for the Blood God is completely destroyed, or destroys and enemy unit.
– A character with Blood for the Blood God is killed, or kills an enemy character in a challenge.
Maximum number of points is 8, and are spent for rewards off the table below at the start of the Daemonkin player turn. Blood Tithe Points may be rebuilt up to the maximum during the battle.
Blood Tithe Chart:
1: Infernal Contempt: Friendly units with Blood for the Blood God have Adamantium Will this turn.
2: Insatiable Bloodlust: Friendly units with Blood for the Blood God have Furious Charge, Rage this turn.
3: Unstoppable Ferocity: Friendly units with Blood for the Blood God have Feel No Pain this turn.
4: Apocalyptic Fury: Friendly units with Blood for the Blood God have +1A this turn.
5: Daemontide: 5 Fleshhounds or 8 Bloodletters are summoned within 12″ of any friendly Blood for the Blood God unit.
6: Harbingers of Blood and Brass: 1 Skullcannon or 3 Bloodcrushers are summoned within 12″ of any friendly Blood for the Blood God unit.
7: Dark Apotheosis: Pick a non daemon friendly character with Blood for the Blood God and make a Ld test.
– passed: replace model with DAemon Prince w/ Warpforged armor, retaining all artefacts & Warlord trait (if model was Warlord).
– failed: replace model with spawn
8: Fury Unbound: Pick a non daemon friendly character with Blood for the Blood God and make a Ld test.
– passed: replace model with Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury, retaining Warlord trait (if model was Warlord).
– failed: model is killed
Khorne Daemons:
Daemon, Furious Charge, Hatred (daemons of Slaanesh)
Chariots have S7 Hammer of Wrath attacks
Mark of Khorne:
Rage, Counter-Attack
Skulls for the Skull Throne:
Must always issue and accept challenges if possible. You may choose the order if multiple models have the option to challenge.
WARLORD TRAITS
1 – Warlord and friendlies within 12″ with the Blood for the Blood God rules reroll failed charges.
2 – Warlord has Zealot
3 – Warlord has +1A
4 – Warlord gains a bonus Blood Tithe point when he kills enemy characters in a challenge.
5 – Warlord has Preferred Enemy
6 – Warlord auto passes Leadership if he uses Fury Unbound, or Dark Apotheosis on the Blood tithe chart.
ALLIES / ALLIANCES
Battle Brothers: CSM, Chaos Daemons
Allies of Convenience: Necrons, Orks
Desperate Allies: Tau, Dark Eldar
Come the Apoc: Everyone else
More information…
Rules for all three new Bloodthirsters are in this book.
The Lord of Skulls is available as a Lord of War choice.
Juggernauts are available as wargear (Gifts of Khorne).
Some Daemons saw a drop in points and various squads are fielded eight per unit (the infernal number of Khorne).
Daemons included in this book are not subject to instability and instead are fearless (HUGE since CSM characters can join daemonic units).
DETACHMENTS – FORMATIONS
And finally the special detachment for the army which is similar to the Necron Decurion detachment – the Daemonkin Blood Host detachment consists of several unique formations…
1 CORE choice is mandatory. Each CORE gives you access to 1 COMMAND and 1-8 AUXILIARY choices in any combo.
Command Benefits:
Blood Frenzy: 1 Free Blood Tithe point generated each turn.
Chosen of Khorne: If detachment is your primary, reroll Codex Daemonkin Warlord Traits.
CORE CHOICES
Slaughtercult 1+
1 Chaos Lord, Daemon Prince, Herald, Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury
2-8 Chaos Space Marines, Berserkers, or Bloodletters
1-4 Possessed CSM
0-2 Chaos Spawn
0-2 Chaos Cultists
COMMAND CHOICES
Lord of Slaughter (0-1 per Slaughtercult)
1 Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury
1 Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage
1 Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster OR 1 Lord of Skulls
AUXILIARY CHOICES
Brazen Onslaught
1-4 Chaos Terminators
2-4 Bloodcrushers
Khorne’s Bloodstorm
2-4 Raptors
1-4 Warp Talons
0-1 Heldrake
Gorepack
2-4 Chaos Bikers
1-4 Flesh Hounds
Charnel Cohort
1 Daemon Prince, Herald
2-8 Bloodletters
1-4 Flesh Hounds
1-4 Bloodcrushers
0-4 Skull Cannons
War Engine
1 Helbrute, Defiler, Soulgrinder, Forgefiend, Maulerfiend, Lord of Skulls
Preliminary Review
So one of the big questions is did GW finally do Chaos Space Marines the justice they deserve. It’s hard to definitely say yes or no at this point. Competitive gamers are obviously looking for an army that can go head to head with the likes of Eldar, Tau, Necrons and Space Marines. From what I’ve seen so far it definitely sparks my interest and makes me want to break my Berserkers and Khorne daemons again.
At first glance the special detachment with its unique formations isn’t pulling me. I think I’ll probably start off with a standard battle forged combined arms detachment to break in the new codex. Obviously the combinations are endless and I’m focused on a fast assault based army featuring a Chaos Lord and Herald both mounted on juggernaughts attached to either a big squad of Bloodcrushers or Fleshound supported by Berzerkers mounted in land raiders. That’s what the Blood God is all about after all. To be honest None of the special rules for any of the new formations really leapt out at me besides the Blood Tithe.
I know the Lord of War (i.e., Lord of Skulls) is not all that popular for various reasons (and there’s not much new in that regard) but I’m thinking the fire support alone could be worthwhile. If it’s possible to field the Greater Brass Scorpion (not sure) that will be my go to Lord of War.
I had a lot of success in tournaments back in fifth edition with a pure Chaos daemon army. The ability to now attach a Chaos Lord to a daemonic unit is the most exciting thing for me so far.
Conclusion
Only time will tell if the Daemonkin can stand up to the likes of Eldar Serpent spam. Interestedly enough I don’t think there is a place for the Betrayer using this codex but in a way that makes sense as he tends to be a loner at times. You can definitely design some great HQ using the Khornate wargear and artefacts available so I’m not too worried in that regard. It will definitely be a fun army to play as it brings a lot of new exciting opportunity to the table if you do like Khorne, it’s something for sure.
Give it a chance first before letting the internet convince you it’s not competitive or whatever else people will find to criticize. I have pretty much everything I need to field the army I want to play.
Do you think Codex Daemonkin has the chops to be a competitive contender codex?
