40K Tactica: Bloodthirster Revisited
There’s a recent Bloodthirster who can bring the serious hurt AND go first. Take a look at your red winged nightmare!
Hi guys, Dean from Blog for The Blood God here with an update / revision to my original Tactica: The Bloodthirster
Tactica: The Bloodthirster Revisited
Thanks to the release of Warzone Fenris – Curse of The Wolfen, Bloodthirsters have some shiny new toys and tricks up thier sleeves, one of these tricks may have solved on of the bloodthirsters biggest weaknesses…
Almost everybody agrees that when it comes to Bloodthirsters, the Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage is the biggest baddest mother around, he puts out 8 attacks on the charge with WS 10 all of which land at Strength D. This usually results in anywhere from 10 – 20 wounds / hull points inflicted often denying Invulnerable saves, making him a great counter to Super Heavies and Elite units.
However this bloodthirster has 1 key weakness, and it is a weakness that is easy to exploit… he must always strike and pile in at initiative 1. This means units like Imperial knights, wraithknights and Elite Characters have a very real chance to drop him before he gets to strike. So with that in mind I present an alternative that could very well become the new star player for team Bloodthirster.
Skullreaver Bloodthirster
The Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster or Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury upgraded with the Skullreaver (artefact from the Curse of The Wulfen)
This Bloodthirster strikes at initiative 9, which few units in the game surpass. This means you will almost always strike first. This Bloodthirster will also strike with 8 attacks at weapon skill 10, and thanks to the Skullreaver any roll of 6 to hit will strike at Strength D.
This means you still have the capacity to tear through vehicles but on top of that you now have a huge advantage against Elite characters and units! With the Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster you also get Hatred (characters) meaning you get to re-roll all misses in the first round of combat, with 8 attacks you will likely roll one 6 and miss about 3 attacks, giving you 50% chance of rolling another 6.
Having playtested the crud out of this I have found you very rarely roll less than two 6s meaning two of your 8 attacks are coming in at strength D, which when you include all of the additional attacks this is more than enough to drop most units… but wait it gets better!
A very popular counter tactic against Wrath of Khorne bloodthirsters is to accept the challenge with a character that has a solid invulnerable save or even just a multi wound character and tank the wounds, but since you choose which order to allocate wounds you can force your opponent to take the Strength D wounds on his tank character and then have all of the Strength 7 Ap2 wounds spill onto the unit before any of them get to make attacks!
If you do not have the points for the Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster this loadout works similarly well on the Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury, losing Hatred does mean you will likely only roll a single 6 each phase but it does come in 50pts cheaper.. so you get what you pay for.
Mathhammer Time!
With all of that said, lets consult the Math hammer gods to see how big of a difference this new loadout has when compared to the fan favourite Insensate Rage…
Mathhammer has the average damage output of an Insensate Rage Bloodthirster something like this: 8 attacks > 6 Hits > 1 roll of 6 (6+D6 wounds) and 4 rolls of 2-5 (D3 Wounds) = 6+D6+4D3 = 17 wounds/hull points…. with a maximum of 8 models removed as casualties.
this applies to any unit / vehicle as the Strength D attacks do not roll against tougness / armour value, so to get a comparison lets try the Skullreaver weilding Bloodthirster against a few different targets…
VS Tougnesss 5 or Lower
8 attacks > 6 hits > 1 at Strength D, 5 at S7 Ap2 = 5 wounds…. which would be the same as the Insensate Rage Bloodthirster only this guy goes first
VS Wraithknight
8 attacks > 6 hits > 1 at Strength D, 5 at S7 Ap2 = approx 4 wounds with a 1/6 chance of inflicting 6+D6 wounds… this one is hard to call who is superior choice, Insensate rage will kill the wraithknight outright on average BUT the wraithknight strikes first and has a very real chance of killing you first or taking you down with him via stomps. I am leaning towards the Fury bloodthirster as the superior choice here
VS Imperial Knight
8 attacks > 6 hits > 1 at Strength D, 5 at S7 Ap2 = Approximately 3 Hull points with a 1/6 chance of killing the Imperial Knight outright but i think you are better off with the Insensate Rage Bloodthirster here as he usually survives the first round against a knight and almost always kills it in return.
VS Av10 (average vehicle rear)
8 attacks > 6 hits > 1 at Strength D, 5 at S7 Ap2 = approximately 6 hull points with a 1/6 chance of inflicting 6+D6 Hull Points… while the Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage puts out significantly more damage here its 17 hull points is serious overkill on anything other than a titan, both units are perfectly capable of dropping most vehicles in a single charge
VS Av12 (walkers or heavy vehicles)
8 attacks > 6 hits > 1 at Strength D, 5 at S7 Ap2 = approx 3 Hull points removed…. risky as it might nit be enough to kill, however going first means if you do kill your opponents you will walk away unscathed.
So what do you guys think? Do we have a new King amongst the ranks of the blood god? Or does Mr Insensate rage hold his title as supreme bloodthirster!
Also do not forget to check me out on facebook over at Blog for the Blood God for the latest on everything Khorne! I also have a Youtube Channel with everything from Battle Reports to Painting Tutorials and Early Unboxing and product reviews.
Thanks for tuning in, Stay Bloody everyone!
