AoS 2 - Blades of Khorne Discussion

[Battlefury]

12 hours ago, Sleboda said:

=> Skarbrand was killed by the Carnosaur in round one. I have not had much trouble handling this guy before with my Tomb Kings, Skaven, Sylvaneth, Daughters, and even with the demons before. He just charged in and, with all the re-rolls from various sources and other special effects, ate him before I got to swing (he also had the cloak on him that lets him not get attacked in combat until after he has himself attacked - an item I will be adding to a bloodthirster at some point as getting at least one swing in before getting OTK'd is vital I believe).

The Fury one was blasted into oblivion by the Bastilladon's space lizard laser gun, also in turn 1.

I've used Wrath before, and will again, but I only have three bloodthirsters at this moment, and one is Skarbrand, so even if my opponent is willing to let me use one as a different one as we are building our armies, I still can't use both Wrath and Fury at the same time, and Rage is an auto-include for me. I am ordering another one today.

=> My goal is to win. Let me be clear: Be default playing AoS (or other games) has fun as objective #1, but since we are playing a game, rather than, say, going to a movie, the objective of the activity is important and games are, by definition, different from movies as in one you are competing to achieve victory and in the other you are being passively entertained.  Both are fun, both are (can be) done with the same friend, but one of them is a competition and the other is not.

So, not to derail, but yeah, winning.

I clearly see what you mean, and you're just right.

The BTs are just a very unreliable weapon in our arsenal of random damage values.
I have experienced, that the BTs do everything right, or straight out nothing. There is nothin within between that, really.
They are easy targets and therefore easy to destroy. Being buffed by Priests might have an effect, but they will be bracketed soon enough to become kind of redundant.

I have had games,w here the BT of Insensate Rage did like 5 damage.

The army ist just too random! It really sucks, but I don't want to scrath your play fun here.
If you want to win, then you should play another army IMO.

Orientate at the tiers, several armies are in:

S Tier ( broken ) :
FEC, Skaventide

Tier 1 S (  not quiet broken, but strong ) :
Daughters of Khaine

Tier 1 ( competetive) :Idoneth Deepkin, Legions of N., Slaanesh, Stormcast Eternals

Tier2 ( non competetive ) : Nurgle, Fyreslayers, Tzeentch, Khorne, Sylvaneth, Gloomspite Gitz, Beasts of Chaos, Nighthaunt, Legion of Azgorh, Bonesplitterzs
 

Start at 20:18 minutes to see the tiers.
IMO he made good points.

[RussianBot454]

14 hours ago, Darksteve said:

Personally I would drop gyrestrike for amberglaive as IR already has 2+ to wound and the +1" reach has been nice for me. Then I'd probably drop both units of warriors and the bleeding icon for 1x dogs and Karnak. Karnack doesnt vount as a leader and effectively is 40 points once he free summons dogs. The dogs imo are better at screening than warriors as they are faster and give you all the denys you want.

Amberglaive, that's the one I meant!

I could try that, but I don't know if Karanak would work in a larger game with arguably less models. I know the threat saturation is pretty high at this point but I do need boots on the ground for early objectives . I love that he summons more woofers though - IF my opponent lets it happen.

I honestly just took the warriors to hold objectives as they've got a 4+ save and cause some serious harm to larger units. Don't know if a unit of 10 is better, or more tithe? That's the stuff I need to practice!

Also, which slaughter host would be better? I can't decide between the Reapers or Bloodlords!

[Sleboda]

2 hours ago, Battlefury said:

The army ist just too random! It really sucks, but I don't want to scrath your play fun here.
If you want to win, then you should play another army IMO.

Well, yeah. I totally get ya. Too random. Sadly this is my hobby project until August. Gotta stick with my sad, sad demons for a bit.

 

They are just awful. Folks bitching about Slaanesh not having mortals need to STFU ... SFTU ... S S S STFU. That army is 100% or more better.

Edited June 6, 2019 by Sleboda

[whispersofblood]

On 6/5/2019 at 8:07 PM, Sleboda said:

My list (about the 20th variation so far):

Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage- General - Command Trait : Mage Eater - Artefact : Skullshard Mantle

Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (300)  Artefact : Hellfire Blade

Skarbrand

Slaughterpriest - Blood Blessing : Blood Sacrifice

Bloodsecrator

5 x Flesh Hounds

5 x Flesh Hounds

10 x Bloodletters  Gore Drenched Icon

6 x Bloodcrushers

Tyrants of Blood

Hexgorger Skulls

This is my third game with skulls.  They have yet to make any impact on the battle.

This would be my suggested Khorne list if you wanted to be mostly Daemon based.

Bloodlords

Blood Hunt

WoKBT (general) w/ either Gryphfeather charm, or Blade of Symmetry 

1x Bloodmaster

1x Bloodmaster w/ Halo of Blood

1x Slaughter priest w/ Killing Frenzy

Tzaangor Shaman

4x 5 Flesh Hounds

6 Bloodcrushers

3 Bloodcrushers

Karanak

Endless Spells

Wildfire Taurus

Judgements

Hexgorgers

 

The general idea here is to use the flesh hounds, to control the movement phase, and the wildfire taurus to control priority rolls. Bloodstokers are key to make sure that when you create the right gaps and mismatches your units will have the movement and reliablity to actually get there consistently. 

Wildfire Taurus lets you play in the activation wars and is key in making your opponent seriously consider his turn rather than just taking the double and running through you.

Edited June 7, 2019 by whispersofblood

[Smooth criminal]

On 6/5/2019 at 11:31 AM, Sleboda said:

I could really use advice on making Bloodthirsters useful. So far, my six bloodcrushers have been my most consistent unit, with the Bloodthirsters being a massive waste of points almost every game.

I think you just roll with tyrant list having some very bad matchups and hope to not play against them. You can protect 1 thirster with doppelganer or ragged cloak, you can't protect all three, especially if one is Skarbrand.

Technically you can do 1 strike first artifact, 1 cloak, 1 4+ strike first (or just hide him)  and then you're set against melee at least. Opposing cloak/strike first still wrecks you on opponent's turn, but that's the game now, the guy with the turn does monster smash first, it's not like they can stop you on your turn either. The only doable thing here is to go 2 drop (tyrants+something, pilgrims/dark feast for priest probably) and give turn 1 to opponent so you can smash him first. And then double turn to repeat.

That's it, that's the plan to win: go second, roll double turn, hope they can't shoot to punish you for it.

Actually since we're all in on going second plan now  maybe it's worth it to ditch tyrants and play the 1 drop demon battalion. You can pick fight order with UF's ability anyway on your turn (and give our guys strike first stuff). No priests in that case though.

Edited June 6, 2019 by Smooth criminal

[Battlefury]

Battletome is out now for a while.

Does anyone right now have any solid experience, in how to actually win?
And by winning I mean not struggling to at least have that 1 victory point, that lead to a victory.

Does anyone also have experience in how it went for them vs tier 1 armies?

[Kramer]

9 hours ago, Sleboda said:

 

They are just awful. Folks bitching about Slaanesh not having mortals need to STFU ... SFTU ... S S S STFU. That army is 100% or more better.

Still no cool mortal models though.. 

[Sleboda]

6 hours ago, Smooth criminal said:

you can do 1 strike first artifact,

There's one of those available? 

[Smooth criminal]

There's a strike first artifact in Bloodlords host.

 

Anyway. How about this:

Reapers host

Karanak

2x5 doggos

1x10 letters

1x6 bloodcrushers

Boundless hunt battalion

2x thirsters with artifacts

1x skarbrand

Tyrants battalion

Exactly 2k pts. 3 drops.

The idea is that you can teleport Karanak with a unit of doggos and/or letters turn 1 in 9-12" of his prey and try to pull a charge with free rerolls. If Karanak makes it he can summon 1 additional doggo unit. At worst you're limiting opponent's move phase, at best Karanak can kill something with double tap and doggos bog down something else in combat.

While that is happening you get thirsters in position. The crushers and Skarbrand are heavy hitters against big bricks.

Technically you can get Bloodlords host instead and give one thirster +8" move (trait+artifact) with charge reroll and have him join the alpha, but double tap is probably better.

[Darksteve]

1 hour ago, Smooth criminal said:

There's a strike first artifact in Bloodlords host.

 

Anyway. How about this:

Reapers host

Karanak

2x5 doggos

1x10 letters

1x6 bloodcrushers

Boundless hunt battalion

2x thirsters with artifacts

1x skarbrand

Tyrants battalion

Exactly 2k pts. 3 drops.

The idea is that you can teleport Karanak with a unit of doggos and/or letters turn 1 in 9-12" of his prey and try to pull a charge with free rerolls. If Karanak makes it he can summon 1 additional doggo unit. At worst you're limiting opponent's move phase, at best Karanak can kill something with double tap and doggos bog down something else in combat.

While that is happening you get thirsters in position. The crushers and Skarbrand are heavy hitters against big bricks.

Technically you can get Bloodlords host instead and give one thirster +8" move (trait+artifact) with charge reroll and have him join the alpha, but double tap is probably better.

Forgive my ignorance but how do you teleport karnack and another unit?

[Agent of Chaos]

So much Tyrants talk! You guys know there are other options right?! 😉 OK maybe not for super competitive play but still...

Tomorrow I am trying out a near all daemon Reapers of Vengeance Blood Host list for the first time in a casual 2000 point game against Tzeentch. 

At 180 points its definitely a hefty battalion but it means I'll have 3 drops and a good chance of choosing who goes first. The reroll charge bonus is useless for hounds and letters, might come into play for the bloodcrushers but will give both bloodthirsters free reroll charges all game so that could be worth something in addition to the extra artifact and CP. I've gone with Crimson Crown on the Wraith of Khorne as I figure his command ability will always be useful and CP are gold in this list. He will also take Mage Eater for 2 x unbinds at +2 😃

The bloodsecrator (with Skullshard Mantle to avoid magic sniping) will sit in the middle of the letters all game so can hopefully keep them all within 8" of him to use Leave None Alive, combined with the 6" pile in from the Unfettered Fury Thirster they will hopefully get some work done which is the main crux of the list. 

Giving very serious thought to the Priest taking Blood Sacrifice instead of Killing Frenzy as I feel it will be useful more often. I guess one of the hound units would have to take the mortal wounds but at least they wont run away like the Blood Reavers usually do!

The plan is to flood the board with hounds and juggers, capturing objectives and harassing any heroes/small units I can isolate while the thirsters and letters control the middle and wreck face. I'm looking forward to seeing how they do!

Allegiance: Khorne
- Slaughterhost: Reapers of Vengeance

Leaders
Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster (320)
- General
- Trait: Mage Eater 
- Artefact: The Crimson Crown 
Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (300)
Skullmaster, Herald of Khorne (120)
Slaughterpriest (100)
- Blood Blessing: Killing Frenzy / Blood Sacrifice ???
Bloodsecrator (140)
- Artefact: Skullshard Mantle 

Battleline
30 x Bloodletters (300)
5 x Flesh Hounds (100)
5 x Flesh Hounds (100)
5 x Flesh Hounds (100)
5 x Flesh Hounds (100)

Other Units

3 x Bloodcrushers (140)

Battalions
Blood Host (180)

Total: 2000 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 1

 

Edited June 7, 2019 by Agent of Chaos

[jazman84]

6 hours ago, Battlefury said:

Battletome is out now for a while.

Does anyone right now have any solid experience, in how to actually win?
And by winning I mean not struggling to at least have that 1 victory point, that lead to a victory.

Does anyone also have experience in how it went for them vs tier 1 armies?

There are some batreps a few pages back where a user has done very well with Mortals and 10man Skullreaper units.

[TheArborealWalrus]

Alright, so we're doing a builder league type thing (no buy in though) with that new campaign book and I decided to play daemons to give the local newbies a kinder gentler khorne and … man. Daemons only is difficult. Probably not news to most (and a little too defeatist for my own preferences) but here's been my observations. : Played 3 games at 750pts and won 1.  We're not allowed named characters (we're building OUR guys' stories) so there goes the low tier fighters of Karnak and Skulltaker, which left me feeling like only the thirsters were left to crush our enemies and as everyone has been saying, between their squishy nature and random damage, (5 d6 damage netted me 9 wounds (oof) and next 3 d6 got 15. Random whackyness!) the thirsters can be unreliable. Plus I only have one. I tried out blood letters, bloodcrushers, and flesh hounds and really only felt some use out of the hounds. Letters biggest problem was unsurprisingly the base size/range and pts cost. I might try larger unit of them next. See if that helps. The crushers just didn't have the punch to do much of anything. The best they did for me was win a grind match against 10 zombie dogs(over 3 turns). In lager games they might make an excellent chaff wall, or in larger units, battering ram. We'll see. The hounds mostly served as unbinds and chaff, which they did admirably, but a beat stick they are not. They'll beat things like min units of ungors and such, but if they weren't so pretty I'd probably look elsewhere for my battleline. Also I'd have to allow myself outside of daemons, but details, details. I shall continue experimenting lads.

18 hours ago, whispersofblood said:

2x Bloodstoker

 I'd love to be wrong, but alas I believe the stokers only work on mortal units. *shakes fist angrily at sky* 

15 hours ago, Smooth criminal said:

you can't protect all three, especially if one is Skarbrand

I'm not overly familiar with the tyrants game plan, (beyond it's useful ability) but could reavers perhaps serve as cheap chaff in an attempt to protect all 3? Maybe a stoker or 2 to make them keep up? Otherwise it seems like an impossible task to keep them sufficiently screened. And shooting of course just doesn't care about our screens. I haven't played with the points values yet to see what's possible. I might take a look at it later.

On ‎6‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 12:07 PM, Sleboda said:

Skarbrand was killed by the Carnosaur in round one. I have not had much trouble handling this guy before with my Tomb Kings, Skaven, Sylvaneth, Daughters, and even with the demons before. He just charged in and, with all the re-rolls from various sources and other special effects, ate him before I got to swing (he also had the cloak on him that lets him not get attacked in combat until after he has himself attacked - an item I will be adding to a bloodthirster at some point as getting at least one swing in before getting OTK'd is vital I believe).

The Fury one was blasted into oblivion by the Bastilladon's space lizard laser gun, also in turn 1.

Fighting lizards is hard as Khorne. Made even harder if you're using daemons as a primary component to your list. Between the ridiculously powerful summoning and the constant teleports we will have a tough fight on our hands. We don't have any local (2nd edition) seraphon players so all of this is just theory crafting but … What you do depends on their army composition (and yours, as always). If they're focusing on bastilidons (and that reroll save battalion) I'd say that speed and mortal wounds are your only hope. You've got to catch them and drop the pain. That 4++ against mortals doesn't benefit from the reroll. Other than that, bastilidons seem to be an hard one to beat outside of luck. With that deep strike battalion castling is once again your friend, but even one bastilidon can kill a bloodthirster a turn. It's one of our weaker match ups, but they don't really have much in the way of staying power. Their infantry is generally weaker than ours and has lower wound counts (per model) so you might be able to just smash through if you're fast enough. Killing the slaan always helps, although he hits surprisingly hard in melee. Carnasaurs  are very hit or miss in my experience. They look scary, but they either murder, or miss everything. They're much like thirsters in that regard. Blood warriors + goretide could work well, but if the thirsters are the game plan it's going to be a rough ride.

10 hours ago, Battlefury said:

Does anyone also have experience in how it went for them vs tier 1 armies?

I fought the courts 2 weeks ago. I'll lay that out in more detail, and My slaanesh buddy and I have been wanting to get a daughters vs Khorne battle in 2nd edition for quite a while. I'll try to push that ahead of the other games for ya'll. 

This is my best recommendation for fighting all of these melee death star armies: Castling. I know it's not glorious or honourable, but putting a wall of chaff makes them have to think about how to get to your tender bits. My experience with people playing "good armies" is that they tend to run on autopilot. They just smash their big murder stick into you and expect you to break. Overconfidence is a dangerous weapon. I know about it and I've still done it myself (reapers vs kurnoths). It's more common than you might think. Offer bait to draw them in and then strike. I feel that Khorne is a very strong beta strike army (I believe that's the term). We don't have any local stormcast players, so I can't offer insights into them, but this has worked against all of the tier 1 and s tier armies I've fought so far. Nagash I rarely fight, but I imagine it would mean aggressive castling(build on their front lawn!). In theory it should still work fine. Holding back doesn't quite work as well on skaven though. You've got to throw your brick at their walls as fast as possible (in my experience) to get at the nasty stuff. Sacrificing a hammer to their reprisals to do it is more than worth it. Unless they change objective scoring in GH19 you'll lose on objectives if you don't (once again in my experience) start thinning the swarm quickly.

If your chaff game is on point, it doesn't matter what the opponent is using, it's fighting what you want it to fight. I feel this also works for the activation wars. You don't have to charge the always strikes first nasty, and it's own ability is it's downfall against the chaff, it has to kill them, revealing itself to the hammer. (which is where the double pile in nonsense comes in, but I'll find a solution for that eventually) Mind you, we CAN participate directly in the activation wars, but that's only with bloodthirsters (and a battalion) who are squishy and a bit unreliable. So I'd say not to bother. But that's just me. ( we also have blood tithe to occasionally surprise our foes in the activation wars)

To be fair though, the ol' bait tactic shouldn't work on vets unless you put something sufficiently meaty for them out there. Make it look important to your plans or something. Not quite sure what we'd use, but my slaanesh buddy is using 10 chaos knights for such a purpose in his army. I haven't fought his current iteration yet though.

Battle report: Battle for the pass.

Terrain: (Think long ways) Center: my side had a forest and the altar(on the left of the forest) while his had his throne and a building. Left: a ruins section near the objective but otherwise empty. Right: Another ruin by the objective with not much besides that. Felt barren to me, but there it was.

The armies:

Spoiler

 

FEC 2,000pts blisterkin

-Deadwatch Battalion

Crypt Infernal courtier - general + artifact (don't remember what)

3x6 crypt flayers

- Crypt Infernal courtier

- Abhorent regent - fly/run and charge spell + magic buff artifact 

- Abhorent regent - go faster spell

- 10 ghouls

 

Khorne: 2,000pts  skullfiends tribe

- Slaughterborn battalion:

exalted deathbringer with spear + mark of the destroyer

3x5 skullreapers

3x5 bloodwarriors

- Bloodthirster of insensate rage - general + crowncleaver

- Bloodsecrator

- 2x slaughterpriests - killing frenzy and bronzed flesh

- 2x5 wrathmongers

 

Report:

Spoiler

 

Setup: The left consisted of bloodwarriors in front with reapers sandwiched between them and one of thee wrathmongers. The thirster sat close enough to threaten if anyone managed to lay enough smackdown on the reapers. Secrator and priests sat in the center near the altar, with a blood warrior and skullreaper unit holding the back against surprise ghoul summons. On the right was the same formation as on the left, but with the deathbringer in the front near the warriors. My opponent set up his regents near the throne with the ghouls as bodyguards while the 3 units of flayers set up on the line with the courtiers on the  ends.

The Battle:

My opponent chose for me to go first so I tried to buff the thirster but failed. Otherwise I only moved up just enough to get 1 model within the 6" to grab the 2 mid field objectives. The reasoning behind this was that I knew he was fast and would let the score run away with him if I didn't start scoring early. I didn't know exactly how fast though. ... (*foreshadowing*) His turn he buffed one of the units with d3 additional attacks (rolled a 1 for it) and moved all the flayers 14" to be up to  my front line. I think they were all 6" or so away. He then summoned a vargulf on each side and screamed at my units. The left lost a skull reaper and 3 blood warriors while the right took 1 wound on the warriors. Then he charged. The center and left hand units went for my  castle with the thirster. The right chose not to complete their charge while the characters failed theirs(those big bases were difficult for him to maneuver). Unfortunately for him he charged out of his 12" bubble of doom that lets him pile in twice and gives him a 6++. His first unit managed to kill a skull reaper and wound a blood warrior (bad dice rolls=no mortal wounds) In response the blood thirster did 18 wounds onto the second unit of flayers (2" range helped) killing 4 & 1/2. The second flayer unit did 2 wounds to the priest that they caught and the reapers killed a couple of flayers. I used a command point on the warriors in an attempt  to shield the reapers.

Turn 2: My opponent won the roll off and chose to go first. He cast the goblet and everything else was out of range of spells. The left most flayer unit was completely healed and 1 was added to the 2nd. The 3rd flayer unit on the right made for the center of the table to reinforce their kin. Screams did 1 mortal to the reapers and finished the wounded warrior on the right (bad round of dice). Then we had charges. The vargulf made it to the priest with killing frenzy and the general made it to the blood warriors while the last flayer unit made a dangerous charge that left them split in half over the wrathmongers and more than an inch away from their squad mates. I advised against it, but he really wanted to reach my thirster. So the fresh unit attacks, but can only get two in range of the thirster while the rest have to attack the mongers. after the 2 pile ins 3 mongers are down, the thirster lost 4 wounds and the flayers are still split. He wasn't concerned, saying that they'd lose at least 3 to the attacks back. I went with the thirster and finished the small unit of flayers in an attempt to save the priest. I think I got 1 explosion.  Net results: the  blood warriors, reaper, and priest were slain with 2 wounds done on the vargulf. In battleshock the 3 flayers poofed away out of coherency. My turn the remaining priest failed to cast anything and I used the blood tithe to finish the other half of the unit of flayers. The right castle moved in to finish the remaining flayers and heroes ( the regents were still well out of range), leaving the warriors on the objective while the rear guard closed in as well.  Charges had the rear skull reapers failed to make it into the flayers and the other unit got both vargulfs who had regrouped in the center. In total we killed both vargulfs and the thirster left one flayer on 1 wound whilst taking 3 more in return.

Turn 3: My opponent won the roll off and respawned the entire unit of flayers and the goblet healed (I had forgotten to dispel it) the flayer and the heroes. I used my blood tithe to pull the thirster out of combat in a bid to save him. The fly spell was cast on the ghouls who were then teleported to the right hand middle objective with a regent who got + 7" of movement.  The flayers and heroes then made a desperate bid to take my home base, but couldn't get close enough because of their large bases, forcing an 8" charge. He forgot to scream and then rolled an 10 for his charge. He caught the thirster but couldn't quite make it to my home objective. Long story short, thirster dies, but the blood warriors survive (surprisingly) and the reapers caught in the middle killed the heroes he charged in. At which point he conceded.

He was up 15 to 11 but most of his army was down and out. If his combats hadn't been unspectacular it would have been a different story. Or perhaps I overestimate flayers. The Thirster was definitely MVP, getting lots of high damage rolls and good hit ratios. Wiped out 2 flayer units basically by himself. Haven't faced them often enough yet to get a full idea of how to fight them, but the courts seem dangerous. (the s tier army is dangerous? Impossible!)) That their ranges are 12" seems like they have to be in the danger zone though. Either from our "assassins" or better yet, priests. If he hadn't of whiffed it my priest probably could have killed one or more infernals. Without their heroes FEC is not nearly as scary.

 

 

Edited June 7, 2019 by TheArborealWalrus

[MortalRealmMike]

I am new to posting on this forum, but I have been using it as a tool to become a better player.  

I have had a lot of success at 1500 points in my local meta against Shooty Stormcast, Nighthaunt Hordes, Nagash. Snowball Beastclaw, Flesheater, mixed order, and Idoneth Deepkin.  I know it's a limited meta, but I thought I would share nonetheless.  Here is the list I use...

Reapers - Shyish

General WOK Thirster

Mageater - Ethreal Amulet or Ragged Cloak

 

Exalted Deathbringer

Spear - Skullshard

 

Slaughterpriest

Bronze Flesh

 

Battle line

10 Bloodwarriors 

Fists

5 Bloodwarriors 

5 Bloodwarriors 

 

Other

5 skullreapers

5 skullreapers

Slaughterborn

 

Comes to 1440 which gets me a triumph, extra command point, and the army is only 3 drops.  Screening with the small warrior units with counter charges by skullreapers works wonders for me. Bronze flesh goes on 10 man to hold an objective.  With the battalion, it very difficult to shift this unit off its said objective.I completely shut down the magic phase with my bloodthirster and good placement of the skull altar.  2 unbinding attempts at +2 and - 1 to cast is where it's at.  Ethereal amulet or ragged cloak, good deployment of the army, and if I'm lucky... reroll saves triumph,  keeps  the bloodthirster alive for him to do what he needs to.  I find we can often take the enemies punch and deliver an even more devastating counter punch.   Skullreapers are absolutely amazing for this.  Bloodwarriors are good with fists and no respite to punish the enemy for even attacking them.  Dont be afraid to use the bloodtithe for summoning either.  I've won several games summoning a unit of 5 dogs off the altar to take an enemy objective when the rest of his army is committed to my advancing force.  My army is very command point hungry as the bloodthirster wants to fight twice and reroll to hits, so I've even used the bloodtith for the extra command point.   The ragged cloak is amazing against ballista ******, and it gives you a psychological factor in determining the enemies setup.  I cant say it enough... skullreapers skullreapers skullreapers.   They are the backbone of this force and one of our best tools available.  At 2k I'd take 2 more squads to fit in the battalion and a bloodsecrator to give them more attacks.  I've won 9 games straight with this variation and I'm looking forward to taking even more skulls in the name of the bloodgod!!

 

 

[MortalRealmMike]

My Bloodthirster 

[fwlr]

1 minute ago, MortalRealmMike said:

My Bloodthirster 

Dayummmmmm man

That is one conversion. What did you use?

Awesome!

[MortalRealmMike]

2 minutes ago, fwlr said:

Dayummmmmm man

That is one conversion. What did you use?

Awesome!

It's a Creature Caster model... the Lady of Stife.  I put her on the oval Bloodthirster base and I added the axe and whip from the WOK Bloodthirster.   Thanks though... i appreciate the compliment.  Her name is Purgatory.  

[Battlefury]

Awesome conversion there, mate!

[Sleboda]

15 hours ago, MortalRealmMike said:

Her name is Purgatory.  

When I saw the picture, I wondered. She's always been a favorite of mine. Nice job.

[Sleboda]

On 6/6/2019 at 5:48 PM, Smooth criminal said:

There's a strike first artifact in Bloodlords host.

The idea is that you can teleport Karanak with a unit of doggos and/or letters turn 1 in 9-12" of his prey and try to pull a charge with free rerolls. 

=> I had dismissed Bloodlords entirely. Thanks for pointing that option out again. With the Go First + Tyrants, a large issue of mine is mitigated.

On 6/6/2019 at 7:05 PM, Darksteve said:

Forgive my ignorance but how do you teleport karnack and another unit?

=> I'm curious about that one as well.

On 6/6/2019 at 7:19 PM, Agent of Chaos said:

 I've gone with Crimson Crown on the Wraith of Khorne as I figure his command ability will always be useful and CP are gold in this list. He will also take Mage Eater for 2 x unbinds at +2 

Giving very serious thought to the Priest taking Blood Sacrifice instead of Killing Frenzy as I feel it will be useful more often. I guess one of the hound units would have to take the mortal wounds but at least they wont run away like the Blood Reavers usually do!

The plan is to flood the board with hounds and juggers, capturing objectives 

=> Are you sure you'll get two unbinds? The way it reads is noticably different from other abilities granting unbinds. Those usually reference "if the model can already unbind, they get another" or something to that effect. In this case, both the built in Wrath unbind and the host unbind state the model may unbind ONE spell, not one additional spell. I don't think you get two. I've been having to make a different guy my General, just to avoid this waste.

=> Blood Sacrifice is the only way I use mine when taking a single priest, and it usually either goes on himself or a hound unit. Getting the Tithe rolling early feels important to me.

=> Good on you for remembering objectives in your plan. Too often people build lists or plans that don't factor them in sufficiently.

 

On 6/7/2019 at 12:32 AM, TheArborealWalrus said:

. With that deep strike battalion castling is once again your friend, but even one bastilidon can kill a bloodthirster a turn. 

This is my best recommendation for fighting all of these melee death star armies: Castling.

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=> The advice is appreciated, but I can't see myself doing that because of how games tend to revolve around objectives. How do you win when castling in battleplans where you need to capture them?

 

Edit: One more thing that has been in my mind-

There is a peculiar wording on the artefacts in the hosts. It says the first artefact must be X. Odd. I don't recall any rules about sequencing of artefact assignment. I've been taking it to mean it has to go on the General (admittedly, a made up thing, but I'm not sure what it could mean otherwise). Anyone have a clue as to what the importance of that phrasing might be?

Edited June 8, 2019 by Sleboda

[AresX8]

@Sleboda

Yes, Mage Eater was errataed to allow 2 unbinds:

"Page 80 – Mage Eater Add the following to the end of the rule: ‘If this general can already unbind spells, they can attempt to unbind 1 extra spell in the enemy hero phase (only the first unbinding roll in the phase can inflict mortal wounds).’"

First entry: https://www.warhammer-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/age_of_sigmar_blades_of_khorne_errata_en.pdf

[Sleboda]

Aha! Thanks @AresX8

[whispersofblood]

2 hours ago, Sleboda said:

Edit: One more thing that has been in my mind-

There is a peculiar wording on the artefacts in the hosts. It says the first artefact must be X. Odd. I don't recall any rules about sequencing of artefact assignment. I've been taking it to mean it has to go on the General (admittedly, a made up thing, but I'm not sure what it could mean otherwise). Anyone for a clue as to what the importance of that phrasing might be?

Its so you can't avoid taking the artefact by first taking any other artefact. 

[kenshin620]

2 hours ago, Sleboda said:

There is a peculiar wording on the artefacts in the hosts. It says the first artefact must be X. Odd. I don't recall any rules about sequencing of artefact assignment. I've been taking it to mean it has to go on the General (admittedly, a made up thing, but I'm not sure what it could mean otherwise). Anyone for a clue as to what the importance of that phrasing might be?

 

15 minutes ago, whispersofblood said:

Its so you can't avoid taking the artefact by first taking any other artefact. 

 

Yea it's basically a "Tax". So if you had Zero Battalions, the only Item you can take is the Forced Item.

 

[TheArborealWalrus]

3 hours ago, Sleboda said:

The advice is appreciated, but I can't see myself doing that because of how games tend to revolve around objectives. How do you win when castling in battleplans where you need to capture them?

Castling to me is not a static tactic, it's a formational thing. Keeping the walls up while I move in. (Although this strategy is more accurately called bivouacking) In addition, when there are multiple objectives I can form multiple castles(bivouacs) to go after each one. Admittedly with my current list the 3rd castle would be the least powerful, so against scary teleports (idoneth, stormcast, ect) I wouldn't typically bother, better to sacrifice an objective for a turn or two to crush their piecemeal army. This thinking was initially my downfall when we were practicing for the last tournament because of the 2 hour time limit, but with less models it has done better. (you can't afford to do so against skaven and other super hordes though) 2 times did I win the later game but lose to the time limit while we were practicing. Ended up 2nd when the real deal happened though. I was using a minotaur list at the time. Had a couple of free movers to grab objectives in that list, but overall I was still castling(bivouacking). Scorched earth and other battleplans with 5 + objectives are rather challenging for my type of list, especially with all the teleportation abilities running around. These scenarios definitely reward armies that don't have/ need any buffs. Don't have any hard and fast rules for that though, it's situational on who you're fighting and how they teleport.

I often do it like how I did in the FEC game. Put my foot in the door and wait to see who gets the turn. Against fellow slow movers I'll be sitting on that hairy edge of being able to be charged, and unless I hid the fast ones were going to catch me anyways. It also puts pressure on the enemy to come to me and prevent me from stacking points, which is exactly what I want. Maximum buffs with enemies to use them on.

Having a central castle with lots of free agents could be a nice variation of the theme, it's just that I feel like Khorne doesn't have any units besides maybe skullreapers that don't need the support to do well on their own. I was using bestigors in that minotaur list and they did alright. Maybe use ally points on it? *shrug* 

Theoretical "Free Agents": 

Spoiler

 

Skullreapers - heavy infantry speed (slow), deadly, immune to battleshock, high pts, good survivability

Marauder horsemen - fast, shooting attack, poor combat punch. Excellent distraction, poor survivability, okay pts

Bestigors - reasonably fast (run+charge), decent combat punch, can sweep off plebs, low survivability, reasonable pts, allies without formation

Flesh hounds - reasonably fast(reroll charge), unbind, okay combat punch, poor survivability, reasonable pts, high bravery

Chaos knights - reasonably fast, decent combat punch, can beat plebs, good survivability, fairly high pts, -1 to enemy bravery

Dragon ogres - reasonably fast, good survivability, okay combat punch, fairly high pts, allies without formation

Bloodcrushers - reasonably fast, good survivability, poor combat punch, okay pts, high bravery

Skullcrushers - reasonably fast, excellent survivability, okay combat punch, high pts

Centigors - very fast (14", run+charge), okay survivability, poor/okay combat punch, low bravery, okay pts

Any other suggestions?

 

T.L.D.R. : Castling is formational, not a movement strategy.

3 hours ago, Sleboda said:

Anyone for a clue as to what the importance of that phrasing might be?

It's just there to force you to take it even if you don't have formations. If they phrased it like "you must take x artifact if you are skull host Y" then some pedantic fool would argue that you can only take x and someone would want multiples of x and blah blah… They thought they were clarifying.

 

 

Edited June 8, 2019 by TheArborealWalrus