Khorne Daemonkin Review: Heavy Support: Forgefiend

Scuba Steve’s KDK Forgefiend tactica!

There is nothing more awesome than a smoke belching, gun toting, brass covered, hulking war machine… Really… it’s the reason we play this game… the girls… (kidding!). It’s for the incredible visuals, unbelievable upsets, and… let’s face it… Reece’s sexy voice. There are few models that look as stunning and powerful in the Chaos line than the Forgefiend. Today, I am going to talk about how you can take your Forgefiend off the shelf, put him on the table-top, and make an honest go of it in a Khorne Daemonkid Army. As always, for more great articles, check out Tactics Corner!

In the Forges of Chaos… A Beast Awakens…

Alright, so today we are going to dive right in to a comprehensive review of the Khorne aemonkin Forgefiend. You don’t see this model too much, which I think is sad, it’s an absolutely stunning miniature with some pretty cool abilities. So, I have devised a simple strategy that you can try at home or at the next RTT to amp up your game with the Forgefiend! As I do with all of my articles, I think it is best to simply break everything down and go step-by-step through the few options it has and how it is to best incorporate it into your army.

Wargear:

• Two Hades Autocannons (Essentially a short range autocannon on crack)
• Daemonic Possession (Reduces it’s ballistic skill to 3, BUT… it ignores Crew Shaken/Stunned on a 2+ – reasonable trade off)

Special Rules:

• Blood for the Blood God (This is the bread and butter of KDK, incredibly good)
• Daemon of Khorne (You likely won’t use this very much, you don’t want to charge with a Forgefiend and you won’t be playing many Daemons of Slaanesh)
• Fleet (A little bit confusing why is has this, but the Maulerfiend gets it… so why not…0
• It Will Not Die (Oh yeah… that’s the good stuff right there, if your opponent doesn’t rip this thing down in a single turn, it’ll just keep coming back)
• Daemonforge (Once per game, it essentially gains Tank Hunter and Shred)

Options:

• Ectoplasma Cannons (Plasma Cannons… but with one higher strength… super awesome!)

Alright, not a whole lot to work with, but enough for us to get a good handle on a few different ways to play a Forgefiend. Let’s now take each of these options and divide them into two categories “Good” and “Just Okay”, this will help us understand what abilities to focus on when we want to play a Forgefiend.

• Two Hades Autocannons (Good): These bad boys are awesome, you can go all cowboy up someone’s nose with two P-shooters like these. A total of eight Str 8 AP 4 Shots and a 36″ range… definitely not bad! You can rip apart vehicles, shred up some units, you can even instant death a lot of characters with a gun like this. Problem… it’s only AP 4, Marines still give you the big ol’ middle finger as they roll their armor save. Probably best to go vehicle hunting with this particular set up, rarely many saves to make, str 8 will pop most transport vehicles, and then your infantry can rock the guys that spill out.
• Ectoplasma Cannons (Good): These things are straight up bad ass (and you can give him a third one, with is really cool). They are a strength 8 AP 2 blast template that has the Gets Hot Special Rule. The nice thing about it being a Template is that the diminished BS from the possession doesn’t particularly hinder it. Depending on what you shoot at, you’ll hit something… #ihadmyeyesclosedthewholetime. You’ll blow away any infantry squad in the game with 2-3 str 8, AP 2 templates. They do get hot… so there is a risk/reward thing going on here, but I have found a way to mitigate that, it’s at the end of the article, so read on!
• Daemonic Possesion (Good): The best thing about this whole deal is that you ignore crew shaken/stunned on a 2+; no Snap Firing for you!! This makes taking the Ectoplasma Cannons much less of a risk and more a reward.
• Daemon of Khorne/Fleet (Just Okay): So, these abilities will rarely come into play, because the Forgefiend is basically a big firing platform and it cannot move 12″ (like its Maulerfiend counterpart) it’s best to keep these abilities on the back-burner for now. However, it is worth mentioning that Fleet can be occasionally useful when you need to make a run move onto an objective, or charge a unit out of desperation, etc…
• It Will Not Die (Good): This is awesome, every turn you get to roll to see if it regains Hull Points, who wouldn’t want that?! If it get’s a few HP stripped from it, this is a quick and easy way to keep the motors running until the final turns of the game, when you need the most fire power.
• Daemonforge (Good): We have all been there… looking at an enemy model thinking to yourself… “Well damn… that thing needs to die this turn, or I lose this thing”… THAT is the time you use your Daemonforge special rule. Once per game, this model essentially gains Tank Hunter and Shred. There is a downside, the fiend has to roll a d6, on the result of a 1, it takes a Hull Point – not a bad trade off, at all. Additionally, if you’re being bothered by a Void Shield Generator, this re-roll for armor penetration works on the Projected Shields.
• Blood for the Blood God (Good): I don’t think there is much need to go into detail on this special ability. This model will be killing something per round (hopefully) and awarding you and your family many Blood Tithe Points!

Forge Me Some Narrative!

So, how should we run this thing in your list? You could definitely run him in a Blood Host Detachment; he can be selected as an auxiliary option (War Engine) for the Multi-Formation Detachment and would work nicely as some ranged firepower to back up your faster moving Daemons. The strategy I have devised, however, has the Forgefiend nestled in a Combined Arms Detachment, I have titled this particular strategy the WALL OF DEATH!

The key to this particular strategy lies in an Aegis Defense Line; one of the issues with a Forge Fiend is that it is a shooting unit that has been punished with a lower Ballistic Skill. So, we need to augment that… Ammo Dump time! An Ammo Dump allows models within 3″ of it to re-roll To Hit rolls of 1 in the Shooting phase. The Forgefiend now becomes much more dangerous, the ability to re-roll ones gives you a whole lot more reliability. However, the true power comes from building the Forgefiend with three Ectoplasma Cannons. With the Ammo Dump allowing you to re-roll ones, no longer are you a slave to those pesky Gets Hot! rolls (This should function in a similar manor to Commander Pask and an Executioner Leman Russ). Now, all you need to do is sit behind your Aegis (which will give you a 4+ cover save) and shoot your enemy full of holes, protected from their return fire with your cover save and augmenting your shooting attacks to be ultimately more effective.

Also, if you combo this with the +1 invulnerable save to Khorne Daemons relic, you can have some fun with a 4++!

Forge Me Something Cheaper!

This all sounds great… however… the base cost of this bad boy is 180pts!! What the hell is that?! 180 points is really, really steep… A Soul Griner (135 base) is a much better choice if you’re building your list economically. No matter how look at it… this thing is so many points that it can very easily become a liability. This is the reason I suggest running him behind the Aegis, not only can he be parked back there on an objective, but the 4+ cover can really help protect your high point investment. Additionally, there isn’t really much support for them outside the Auxillery choice in the Blood Host Detachment and taking them in a Combined Arms Detachment. What I would love to see is a Formation of them with some crazy rules! Special Rules like “Preferred Enemy” go a long way with units like this, so it doesn’t have to be huge bonuses.

Forge Me Something Awesome!

As I do with all of my articles, I leave you with a challenge. I challenge you to find a way to make the Forgefiend awesome! I’ve given you a way to get him on the table effectively, so now we will see what you come up with! Try the WALL OF DEATH strategy or experiment with your own! Post anything you discover in the comments below, I look forward to hearing what you come up with!

Scuba Steve, Signing Out and as always, Frontline Gaming sells Games Workshop product at up to 25% off retail, every day!

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