Monday, August 15, 2016

Blood For the Blood God!


In the past, I have been hesitant to ally an army to my daemonkin.  Non-Daemonkin units don't generate blood tithe points.  To get around this issue, you can attach a daemonkin character to any unit that is a battlebrother, and they will gain the ability to generate blood tithe points with their kills.


One fact that people overlook is that a unit only needs a single model with the Blood for the Blood God rule in order to generate blood tithe points.  This means that a character from a Khorne Daemonkin detachment can attach themselves to another unit to gain blood tithe points from that unit's kills.

As of now, the only allied choices that would be eligible are Chaos Space Marines, Black Legion, Crimson Slaughter, and Renegades.  Daemons are out because of the Daemonic Instability rule.  Characters with a mark from a chaos god cannot join units with a different mark, but there is no rule preventing a herald of Khorne from joining a squad with any kind of mark.  This leads to some interesting combinations.

Whenever I ally two armies, I always ask, "What roll needs to be filled?"  In the case of Khorne Daemonkin the answer is almost always long range shooting.  Most of the units that are going to be the biggest benefit to a daemonkin army are going to be able to threaten an enemy from afar and potentially break open transports before your main force hits them in close combat.


Obliterators:
One of the biggest weaknesses of Obliterators is their leadership.  Mine tend to run away at the drop of a hat.  Attaching a herald will not only allow them to gain blood tithe points for their kills, but it will also make the squad fearless.  In return, the Herald gains a few 2+ save bodes to soak up some shots and a majority toughness of 4 (or 5).  The unit will still be allowed to deep strike, and since everyone is a daemon, any instruments on your other squads can help the obliterators and herald come in more reliably.

Havocs:
Havocs are not as popular as Obliterators, but they can still provide some effective long range shooting.



Renegade blob squads:
Cheap troops in need of fearless, but these squads are a bit unreliable at hitting the broad side of a barn.  They also don't get enough heavy weapons to generate too many kills.  If you want some lascannons or autocannons, then I would grab the havocs or support squads instead.

Renegade Support Squads:
Lots of heavy weapons, but no buffer wounds.  Probably a better location for a herald than a blob squad, but also more likely to die.

Renegade Field Artillery Battery:
Mortars are fun, and they can be hidden out of line of sight.  Daemonkin don't lack in the department of killing infantry, but being able to threaten units out of line of sight at long range is important as well.  These guys do great work and are a good choice.

Renegade Rapier Laser Destroyer Battery:
By far my favorite unit in a renegade army.  These are dirt cheap and have a habit of destroying multiple vehicles per game.  This is also one of the best compliments to a daemonkin army that lacks serious anti tank firepower.


Daemonkin are a fun army, and they have a way of sharing that fun with their friends.  Every army has weaknesses, and using allies can help alleviate some of these issues.  With a bit of planning, you can ensure that your most potent allied units have the opportunity to generate blood tithe points the the rest of your daemonkin force.

12 comments:

  1. It might fulfill the long range shooting gap like you focused on, but it would be pretty funny to see a Herald mixed in with 50 mutant rabble. 205 points for a fearless blob of 50 guys. Could tack on 10 more pts for a 6+ paper save and maybe even take a Chaos Covenant.

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    1. I have always wanted to make a horde army work, but I haven't managed to make it happen.

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    2. Horde armies are tough because you need the right balance of horde bodies with powerful backline. I could think of something like this in a 1500pt game (although your opponent might hate you for the Knights):
      Khorne Daemonkin
      Herald
      Herald
      Bloodletters x 8
      Bloodletters x 8
      Renegade Knights
      Knight (sword/thermal cannon)
      Knight (sword/gatling cannon)
      Renegades
      Command Squad (arch-demagogue w/ tzeentch covenant)
      Renegade mutants x 35 (sub-flak, champ w/ melta)
      Renegade mutants x 35 (sub-flak, champ w/ melta)
      Rapier Laser Destroyers x 3 (milita, extra crewmen x 3)
      Field Artillery Battery x 3 (extra crewmen x 3)

      You've got 70 fearless bodies to clog up most of the field, a couple 'letter squads for deep strike objective takes, two Renegade Knights for the big guns, and some artillery to back them up. The tzeentch covenant on the arch-demagogue is so you can stick him with the laser battery and use them as pseudo anti-air because of the BS2 twin-linked. It's not really a true horde army because you've got almost half the list in two knights, but I feel like there are a decent number of bodies.

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  2. The Renegade endless hoard detachment from the Vraks book is your solution to a functional hoard army. Master of the hoard devotion lets renegade infantry platoons that are 15+ in size that die go into ongoing reserves on a 5+ roll. The detachment improves this roll to 2+ and gives the unit outflank and a 2d6 keep the highest run on the turn they arrive. The detachment requires 4 troop choices so if you go with the 15 man minimum platoon units that is 180 gun toting infantry that keep coming back. The downside is you are restricted to a single hvy support slot and fast attack slot so you are a little constrained on the 'strong backline' requirement mentioned in the previous comments. Still, that is ALOT of bodies to shoot through and they just keep coming back :P

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    1. Oh, and cover saves taken from being obscured by your own infantry are improved to 3+. I forgot about that rule.

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    2. The only big downsize I see to this army is the leadership. I'd take the vox casters to try to maximize your LD values because units falling back don't come back until they are dead and if they outflank deep into enemy territory then they got a long hike to your table edge before they can get back into reservers :(

      Another option is plague zombie spam. Renegades appear to be able to spam them in the vraks book with just a arch demagogue with a nurgle covanent. Necrosius's warlord trait lets you take the amazing fearless FNP(4+) plague zombies in a CSM army for the non-compulsory troop choices.

      They can size 50 man units and at 3pts a piece they are pretty freaking awesome. Slow and purposeful is a problem so you may need some transports to help get them downfield but 4+ FNP and fearless means you got a resilient hoard blob. Even at WS 2 they can still dish out some wounds in assault if taken in numbers.

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    3. I think Renegades are probably the best option for a horde army. You could bubble wrap a knight very well. Ally in some obliterators some other fire support and this might actually work.

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    4. Nice thing about Renegades is they have a plethora of cheap, effective backline support themselves. You can easily fit 100+ bodies of mutants/zombies/standard troops and then back them up with multiple squads of artillery/tanks. Grab template/blast tanks and leave them at BS2 and you can fit in a lot more vehicles than Guard could.

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  3. Vox casters and Chaos Icons are practically required to keep your blobs in place, but they work very well.

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    1. Oh yeah, I forgot about the icons :) Auto passing 1 failed test a turn is pretty awesome :P

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  4. I had no idea you could attach a character and empower the unit to gain blood points! Holly !)$&!@(&! AWESOME tip!

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