Hey everyone, it’s Adam from TheDiceAbide.com! Today we’re going to talk about my favorite faction in all of 40k (at the moment), Khorne Daemonkin. More specifically though, the implements they’ll soon be using to bash your opponent’s brains in.
There is nothing more dear to a Khorne warrior’s heart than his chain axe… and, there’s nothing closer to his enemies heart either! The wargear of the Khorne Daemonkin army is ruthlessly brutal, made for snuffing the life out of an enemy combatant, as spectacularly bloody as possible. Today, it is no surprise that we’re going to be going over the Wargear and Relics unique to these maniacal Khorne worshipers.
Wargear
First lets talk about some of the basic gear that makes the army interesting. Much of this is only available to a Chaos Lord, so unless stated otherwise, we can assume that’s the model the comments are in reference to.
Axe of Khorne – Aside from relics, this is the only melee option that isn’t a standard, out of the rulebook weapon. What used to be only available to Chaos Daemons is now available to nearly every Aspiring Champion in the KDK army, as well as the Chaos Lord. It’s as expensive as a power fist, but gives you an AP2 melee weapon that strikes at initiative, and as an added bonus causes Instant Death on a 6 to wound! Really not a bad weapon at all, perhaps a bit steep on most unit champions, but really not bad on a Chaos Lord. Since it is a Specialist Weapon, you will need to pair it with a power fist, lightning claw, or specialist weapon relic to gain a bonus attack.
Chaos Bike – The first of 3 mount options to carry your lord into battle. For a modest cost, you will be giving your Chaos Lord a lovely T5, a twin-linked bolter, and obviously the ability to move across the board at blinding speed. Of all the mount options, this is the fastest due to the ability to Turbo Boost, and has the added bonus of being able to Jink for a 4+ cover save. Really never a bad choice, great for accompanying Flesh Hounds, Juggernauts, and Chaos Spawn.
Jump Pack – Soaring through the air with a rocket strapped to your back never seems like a bad way to deliver an axe to the face, though unfortunately is outclassed in nearly every way by the humble bike. The advantages to a Jump Pack are few, but they do give you the ability to deep strike (with Warp Talons or Raptors probably, but possibly other Daemon units), and you can land on top of buildings and other areas inaccessible to bikes.
Juggernaut of Khorne – The third and most grandiose, your very own Juggernaut of Khorne to stride into battle with! This monstrous mount makes your character even more deadly in combat, while making him far more difficult to kill, granting your lord +1 T, +1W, and +1A. On top of all that, it turns him into a Cavalry unit, allowing him to move 12″ per turn, and gains Fleet! What’s not to love? With the Juggernaut as an option, it’s hard to even consider the others, though perhaps if you’re really on a budget.
Terminator Armour – Instead of being mounted on a glorious Juggernaut of Khorne, or speeding into battle on a bike, you can have your lord decked to the teeth in Terminator Armour. Giving your lord a 2+ armour save with 5+ invulnerable save is pretty nice, and it also allows you to Deep Strike, but unfortunately, it does prevent you from performing Sweeping Advances. As much as I want to love Terminator Armour, unless I’m running a Land Raider to deliver him and his buddies into melee, I just think it’s too slow to keep up with the rest of the Khorne Daemonkin army.
Sigil of Corruption – When it comes to keeping your Chaos Lord alive, you don’t have a ton of options, Terminator Armour is nice, but it means you’ll be on foot. Since there is no other way to increase your armour save, you might want to boost your Invulnerable instead. For a standard 25 points, your lord will sport a 4+ invulnerable save, which isn’t bad. A must-have on most Chaos Lords, though you can consider skipping it on a bike, since you can get that 4+ jink anyhow.
Aura of Dark Glory – For the budget minded, you can forgo the 4+ invulnerable for a 5+, while not as effective as the Sigil, it’s quite a bit cheaper, and better than nothing!
Collar of Khorne – Previously only available to Chaos Daemons, now your characters can be upgraded to gain a bit of protection from the will of Khorne. The collar gives you +2 to your Deny the Witch attempts to any power that would affect the model, and that is cumulative with Adamantium Will which you can gain through Blood Tithe. It’s a cute little option that might be worth it if you know you’re fighting a lot of enemy psykers.
Combat Familiar – For a few points you get 2 more S4 AP- attacks… Not that great, not that expensive, though honestly, I’d rather spend my points elsewhere.
Ichor Blood – Another flavorful wargear item, when you suffer one (or more) unsaved wounds in melee, you cause a single S3 Ap4 hit back per wound you suffered. This really isn’t going to kill anyone, and requires you dying to use it! At best a Chaos Lord on Juggernaut is going to cause 4x S3 Ap4 hits to a unit in it’s lifetime.
Icon of Wrath – Available to nearly all Khorne marine units, the Icon of Wrath is an expensive bit of wargear, but it has some nifty effects. First of all, it gives you +1 to your combat result in melee, which can push a draw into a win, a narrow loss into a draw, or make a victory even more likely to force the opponent to flee. Furthermore, it gives the unit Furious Charge, and allows you to re-roll failed charges! Because of it’s price and ability to be sniped, I think it’s only really viable in bigger units, though in those bigger units, it’s definitely a consideration.
Banner of Blood – Khorne Daemons (specifically Bloodletters and Bloodcrushers) are able to carry this banner into battle. Once per game it allows the unit to charge 6+D6″, instead of 2D6″. On top of that, it acts like a homing beacon for other Daemon units. Starting a unit ofBloodcrushers on the board with this banner can ensure the safe arrival of Daemon units from your second turn reserves, but it is pretty cost prohibitive to bother taking it on every unit.
Instrument of Chaos – Kind of a weird piece of wargear, it’s not terribly expensive and if you plan out your army with it, it can be really helpful. When a unit with the Instrument of Chaos arrives from Deep Strike Reserves, you can choose another unit of Daemons in reserves that haven’t made a reserves roll, and that unit also automatically arrives from Reserves, no roll required. Using this you can create a bit of a daemon bomb, rushing Bloodcrushers up the board, the having a wave of daemons arrive safely without scattering.
Daemonic Possession – As a vehicle upgrade, Daemonic Possession is kind of expensive for what it does. First, it will lower the vehicle’s BS to 3, but in return it will have two effects. The vehicle now ignores Crew Shaken and Crew Stunned on a 2+, not bad for making sure the vehicle is fully effective each turn. The second effect is a bit more iffy, each time a unit embarks on the vehicle roll a dice, on a 1, a single randomly selected model is slain and the vehicle recovers a HP if it has suffered damage. Due to it being a random model, I can’t see using this, the last thing you want to lose is your champion or even a Chaos Lord to your own damn vehicle wanting a snack!
Artefacts of Slaughter
What army is complete anymore without it’s own set of Relics! As to be expected, most of the relics for Khorne Daemonkin are used in melee, but they have a couple other interesting options as well. I really like all the relics and think that they all have their place in an army.
Goredrinker – This weapon has the stats of a standard Power Axe (+1 S, Ap2, Unwieldy), but with the added Blood Feast rule. Keeping a tally of wounds caused by the model with the Goredrinker, the model wielding it will gain added bonuses, which are all cumulative:
- 1-2 – Bearer gains +1 Strength.
- 3-4: Bearer gains Rampage.
- 5-7: Double the bearers Strength (S10!).
- 8+: All melee attacks cause Instant Death.
It’s not an unreasonably priced weapon and can be combined with a pistol for +1 attack. If you can get into combat early and start piling in wounds, you are going to get very powerful fast, those last few wounds are even quicker to get thanks to Rampage gained after only inflicting 3. This weapon is always a nice option and truly terrifying if you’re facing down any Monstrous or even Gargantuan creatures.
The Blood-Forged Armour – For a hefty sum of points you can give your Chaos Lord or Daemon Prince a 3+ armour save, Eternal Warrior and Feel No Pain. Unfortunately, on a Chaos Lord, I find that really, you’re spending those points mostly on Eternal Warrior, as you already have a 3+ armour save and will often have Feel No Pain up from Blood Tithe. On a Daemon Prince it is only a 30 point upgrade over the Warp-forged armour that you’ll probably be taking anyhow, which makes it far more economical. Overall, I’m not entirely convinced it’s worth missing out on the other relics in favour of this armour, If it was 20-3o points and didn’t include the 3+ armour I’d consider it, but paying twice for armour I already have doesn’t sit well with me. Oh well, more points to spend on choppy stuff!
The Brazen Rune – This relic grants the bearer Adamantium Will (which you can combine with a Collar of Khorne). Additionally, once per game, at the star of your opponent’s Psychic phase, you can unleash the power of the Rune. For the rest of the phase, any enemy psykers within 24″ will perils on any double when manifesting warp charges. If you’re facing psychic heavy armies, this can really cause major problems. The downside is that at the end of that phase, the relic is destroyed and the bearer loses Adamantium Will… a small price to pay in the right situation.
The Blade of Endless Bloodshed – Another magic weapon for spilling blood! This weapon has the stats of a standard power sword (User’s Strength, Ap3), but causes Quentin Tarantino style fountains of blood to spill from the enemy when you poke them. Khorne is so delighted in the copious bloodshed that at the end of any round of combat where the bearer caused any casualties, you will gain a point of Blood Tithe! Fantastic! This weapon is terribly fun and really makes getting Feel No Pain on turn 2 a real option. Probably my favorite of the relic weapons, though I actually wish it was a Specialist weapon so that I could pair it with a power fist for an extra attack, instead it’s probably left best with a spare Power Axe to get a bit of Strength or AP2 when you need it.
The Skull-Helm of Khorne – Who doesn’t love a skull hat? The effects of this magic hat are pretty simple, each time you roll a 6 to-hit in melee, you get a bonus attack, though the bonus attacks cannot generate yet another attack. Not a bad option if you’re running a lord with standard weapons like powerfists, lightning claws or Axes of Khorne, and it’s not very expensive either.
Kor’lath, the Axe of Ruin – The final, and possibly cheesiest Relic weapon. What’e better than an Axe of Khorne (which it shares a stat-line with)? An Axe of Khorne with the trapped essence of a Bloodthirster, that’s what! During the game, the model will behave much like a regular Axe of Khorne wielding madman, though when he is finally slain, you get to summon a Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury within 6″ of him! At the end of each turn that Bloodthirster will suffer D3 wounds (which you can take Invulnerable saves against), but hey, free Bloodthirster! If you want to get dirty with this weapon, you can sacrifice the model carrying it to summon a Bloodthirster, now you get two of them! If you want to lose friends, you can take it one step further, sacrifice the model to summon a Daemon Prince. Since he is removed as a casualty to summon the prince, it will trigger the effect of the weapon, but the new Daemon Prince gets all the relics of it’s previous owner, so now when the Daemon Prince bites the dust, it will summon the Bloodthirster for a second time! This weapon is a bit expensive, but you’ll save those points not buying survival gear for the wielder, and it’s always great for a laugh!
If you made it this far, Khorne is pleased with your devotion! Melee is what defines the KDK army, so picking the best weapons for the job is always important, since you wont have many relics in your army, it’s worth experimenting with each of them to find your favorite, they’re all great choices!
As always, share your thoughts in the comments section! And remember, Frontline Gaming sells Games Workshop product at up to 25% off, every day.