Tactics and Strategy: Khorne Daemonkin

I've been toying with Khorne Daemonkin for a few months off and on and slowly building up my force.  I have a long way to go yet but I'm getting there. I have had time to practice quite a few games with my existing Chaos units as I have a lot of CSM and a few daemons units and I've found the army fits my play style very well.

Khorne Daemonkin makes you believe in the assault phase again. More than that, however, at least for me, Khorne Daemonkin is just downright fun to play.  The games are usually challenging and bloody every time.  I have found that with every game I play, whether I win or lose, I have had an absolute blast playing this army.  And I fully believe it is possible to build a competitive list with Khorne Daemonkin that is both exciting to play with and against, and also more than capable of winning on the battlefield.




Most people think playing Khorne is pretty simple.  Charge straight at the enemy and kill all the things! Blood for the Blood God!! And sure, that is definitely one way to play them, however the key to winning consistently with the army is knowing how to use the units and special rules to your advantage.  It starts in list building.  I'll go over a simple yet highly effective Khorne Daemonkin list I've been working on for 1500 points.

++1500 Khorne Daemonkin++
+++Combined Arms Detachment+++

++HQ++
Chaos Lord in Terminator armor w/ Kor'lath the Axe of Ruin, Lightning Claw - 192 points

++Elites++
Chaos Terminators x3 Combi-meltas x3, Powerfist x2, Power axe champion - 135 points

++Troops++
Chaos Cultists x8 - 58 points
Chaos Cultists x8 - 58 points

++Fast Attack++
Chaos Spawn - 32 points
Flesh Hounds x10 - 160 points
Heldrake w/Baleflamer - 170 points

+++Blood Host Detachment+++
++Slaughtercult++

++HQ++
Juggerlord w/ Goredrinker, sigil of corruption - 175 points

Chaos Spawn - 32 points

Possessed x5 w/ Rhino - 185 points

Bloodletters x8 w/ Bloodreaper -85 points
Bloodletters x8 w/ Bloodreaper -85 points

+++Auxiliary+++
War Engine

Maulerfiend - 130 points

Total: 1497 points

I have found this list to be quite versatile in what it can do.  The idea here is to camp on backfield objectives with the cultists with objective secured.  Back them up with Possessed and the maulerfiend.  Turn 1 you're scouting the hounds. Whether you go first is irrelevant really.  Scout them so you can have room to maneuver your other units if need be.  Don't bother hiding the 2 spawn units.  These are simply throw away points for blood tithe, and if they kill something before they go, then all the better.  Your opponent is probably going to realize your'e just using them for quick and easy blood tithe points to speed up summoning in that blood thirster or demon prince and he is likely just going to ignore them until you manage to get them into assault where he has to engage them.  That's fine because if your opponent ignores them then you have 12" moving objective snatchers who also can run with fleet every turn.  Win win I say.

The great thing about this list is that you are still getting the free blood tithe point every turn for having a blood host detachment, while still being able to field good units like fleshhounds and heldrake without having to pay a tax.

Terminators and the bloodletters I almost always keep in deep strike reserve.  Obviously with the combi-meltas on the terminators they are designed to deep strike into the heart of the enemy and take down heavy armored targets.  Putting the terminator lord with the suicide squad has 2 reactions. First, your opponent will try his best to ignore them because he doesn't want to kill your terminator lord and give you a free bloodthrister (due to the relic) and if he does ignore the unit, they still have lots of ap 2 weapons to swing when they charge the turn after they arrive.  Bloodletters on the other hand, serve the purpose of deep striking in on objectives or either near the enemy forcing them to deal with them.

Send the fleshhounds and juggerlord after soft targets at first. Many people run drop pod style lists these days and those suicide targets are perfect to build up your goredrinker until you have to face something really nasty with him.

By the Emperor, they're everywhere!

If at all possible, you want to summon a demon prince as soon as you can using your terminator lord.  The new demon prince keeps the Kor'lath axe and when he dies, he then becomes a bloodthrister further making it harder for your opponent to accomplish slay the warlord and also giving you nearly 300 points in free beatstick units.  And with the ITC ruling now that you can choose to enter them in swoop OR glide modes, it makes a big difference.  Try your best to time it so that your terminator lord/demon prince dies on your opponent's turn, as he is immediately replaced with a bloodthrister which you can place in glide.  That means you can assault on your following turn and a surprise bloodthirster assaulting out of the blue is a huge distraction for your opponent.

Possessed make great counter-assault threats for your backfield campers.  Hide them behind the rhino in a position that makes your opponent risk mishapping to get to them out of a pod.  Most people will play this conservatively, and if they go after your cultists, then you can then smash the possessed down their throats.

Gaining access to multiple rewards can be a big bonus as well through the blood host detachment.  I particularly enjoy spending the 4 points to give all the units in my army +1 attack then taking the Feel No Pain lesser blood tithe for my Slaughtercult.  Possessed with 5 attacks each at STR 6 on the charge and Feel No Pain is going to be enough to make your opponent pucker a bit and think twice about dropping in near those cultists.

The list is versatile enough to deal with a multiple variety of common threats and the summoning and deep striking units all over the battlefield to grab objectives goes a long way in the game.  The concept is running confusion.  Multiple threats for counter-charges, etc.  Before your opponent knows it he's enveloped in a tide of units he just can't seem to find answers for.

All in all, it's a fun yet somewhat chaotic army to play, but you can control the chaos to an extent.  Do not be afraid to spend those blood tithe points and in fact, you should be spending them every turn if you have at least 3 to spend.  Don't worry, they'll jump back up to 6 or 7 and maybe 8 before you know it.

Khorne Daemonkin are a fast, hard hitting and deadly army.  They give you the flexibility to throw multiple threats at your opponents if the list is managed right, especially the blood tithe points.  So get out there and get some skulls for the skull throne!