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Hello , I am building on a chaos daemons army , hopefully to end up looking like this...

1 - Skulltaker - got

10 - bloodletters - got
10 - bloodletters - got

1 - Bloodthirster - got

3 - Bloodcrushers - Including 1 herald - havent got yet.

I have had a few battles and found a HUGE issue with this army , In my opponents shooting phase , especialy Imp gaurd , when I deploy my first squad of bloodletters they get shot up like hell. I am trying to deep strike them so that next turn when the other squad deepstrikes in it will not scatter due to the "chaos icon" rule. that is all I have been playing so far 500 points 2 squads of bloodletters and a skulltaker , ( I know obviously there going to get shot up and I should probably go to cover but , most of the time cover is far away from them and it forces me to run out into the open most of the time)

what do you recomend I do to stop this happeneing? what tacticts shall I take with the bloodthirster and crushers that I will be getting? I just need a good tactic to stick with in a game , because at the moment turn 1 2 are hell for me , its only the following turns that I manage to lock intocombat and (actually do pretty well , hitting down a 10 man squad or 2.)

I chose this army because I love armys based on one thing (in this case , charging and killing in assault phase)

I really do not like to merge (or is it murge?) things like tzeench and nurgle into khorne , even if it does help. I really just want an all red army if you know what I mean.

anyways thanks guys for reading , please comment I will listen to all of you and reply.

Moving to tactics

I would say use the bloodthirster as cover if you cant find any cover close enough and the same goes for the bloodcrushers. Let those guys take the punishment your troops will do more damage if they are equipped with PWs esp. skulltaker.


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I would say use the bloodthirster as cover if you cant find any cover close enough and the same goes for the bloodcrushers. Let those guys take the punishment your troops will do more damage if they are equipped with PWs esp. skulltaker.


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Sorry double post also remeber you cant deepstrike off banners on turn 1


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Sorry double post. Remeber you cant deepstrike off banners on turn 1.


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Stop mocking me.

Use the bloodcrushers as a shield (and terrain for the initial drop). Game play setting up with the intent of hitting in a wave formation. Its better to drop them behind things then drop them close. Bloodthirster is a shield as well but most effective against vehicles and heavy troop formations.

Does your list permit soulgrinders or demon princes (I am not a DP fan)? Khornezilla might be something to your style of play-but don't buy anything unless you playtest it thoroughly.

Frazzled wrote:Use the bloodcrushers as a shield (and terrain for the initial drop). Game play setting up with the intent of hitting in a wave formation. Its better to drop them behind things then drop them close. Bloodthirster is a shield as well but most effective against vehicles and heavy troop formations.

Does your list permit soulgrinders or demon princes (I am not a DP fan)? Khornezilla might be something to your style of play-but don't buy anything unless you playtest it thoroughly.

Ok I will definatly use the bigger and more scarier threat to the enemy as a shield , then they will be so worked up about killing them that they won't have any time for the bloodletters nice , thats good. I could put the bloodcrushers on one side (avoiding tons of lasguns and bolter shots) and the bloodthirster aswell on the other side. but alowing them to get close before th bloodletters get in range and try for a charge. and yeah the thirster is a beast towards vehicles (its a beast anyways but hey) good point. I will definatly get him to take out some tansk so the bloodletters have a safe charge.

Well I don't really have anough money for a soulgrinder (let alone 2 or 3) and I am not really a demon prince fan atall , the model looks terrible in my eyes , doesn't go with the khorne feel (I am a perfectionist I am sorry if this sounds a bit strange)

and yeah I have done alot of play testing today , I new from the start I wanted the bloodthirster , I love how the model looks along with its characteristic and backround , I havent got the bloodcrushers yet , I will do more playtesting with them , today I played a game were there was like a squad of necrons firing at them , thats 20 shots of badass (like a stress test to see how long they would last) and they wre damn good , with there 3+ armor save , and 5 toughness. once they survived 1 wound each , they charged and then the necrons were screwed because hitting on 4+ then wounding on 5+ (I get 3+ save) was just horrible for them.


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Vindicator#9 wrote:I would say use the bloodthirster as cover if you cant find any cover close enough and the same goes for the bloodcrushers. Let those guys take the punishment your troops will do more damage if they are equipped with PWs esp. skulltaker.

yeah ok , so...

Bloodthirster - Go out there and shield , use 12" movement , and just scare them , forcing them to fire all there shots at him , hopefully not AP4? or I don't know does Ironhide count as being the alltoggether armor save? I dunno but he isnt going to go down without a fight , with 4 wounds toughness 6.

bloodcrushers + herald on juggernaught - Sheild take hits , and try to stay alive to get juggernaught in there , at this point they have 2 things to wory about (big scary demon and these guys) can they take objectives aswell? (sorry if this is a newbie question)

Bloodletters + Skulltaker (attatched to one squad to avoid dieing) - hiding behind other models , and terrain trying not to end up in open fire , but still moving fast! not slowing down to hide that much I would think , the juggs and crushers and thirster cant really hold longer can they?

I think thats it , maybe later on after this , I will expand to 1500 getting soultaker or some hounds.

is this ok? anything else to say? thanks

I think the problem you're running into is that bloodletters are simply a bad unit. You're paying space marine points for a unit that dies like an ork. I played my Eldar against my friend's all-khorne army, and they bloodletters never survived the turn they dropped, unless they were too far from my units to be a threat, then I just didn't shoot them until they were close enough.

They're not fast, they're not durable, they're only killy, and hence easily avoided and shot up.

I play multiple bloodletter squads becasue thats why I made the list frankly (non gaming efficiency reasons) but Willys pretty spot on. Get them into HTH with a MEQ unit or MC and they are lethal, but its really really hard to get them there for the points they cost.

willydstyle wrote:I think the problem you're running into is that bloodletters are simply a bad unit. You're paying space marine points for a unit that dies like an ork. I played my Eldar against my friend's all-khorne army, and they bloodletters never survived the turn they dropped, unless they were too far from my units to be a threat, then I just didn't shoot them until they were close enough.

They're not fast, they're not durable, they're only killy, and hence easily avoided and shot up.

So what do you surgest? (other than obviously starting a new army etc)

Well, either you continue to play a "fluffy" khorne list, and just realize that it's not going to be super competitive, or you mix in some plague bearers.

Frazzled wrote:I play multiple bloodletter squads becasue thats why I made the list frankly (non gaming efficiency reasons) but Willys pretty spot on. Get them into HTH with a MEQ unit or MC and they are lethal, but its really really hard to get them there for the points they cost.

So what would you surgest? Is the shielding technique a good idea?

The "shielding" technique is not a good idea, because essentially all it does is keep your bloodletters out of close combat that much longer (by dropping them farther away from the enemy, behind other units) and essentially just improves their invulnerable from 5+ to 4+... not as big of an improvement as many people might believe.

It doesn't hurt. You're still at a disadvantage overall but people really focus on the BCs, and with good reason. I do well with wave attacks that really hit in turn 3, but I have two soulgrinders. I usually use the BL's at this point as objective keepers and grabbers in later turns if can. But I freely admit am a mediocre player. I've seen some lists batted about maxing the BCs with minimal BL squads for same but you're constrained by economics. I would try different strategies and proxies to see what works best for you with your budget.

willydstyle wrote:Well, either you continue to play a "fluffy" khorne list, and just realize that it's not going to be super competitive, or you mix in some plague bearers.

It can be competative , I won quite alot of times with just 500 point list against 500 point guard , and I really don't want to result in mixing. :/


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Frazzled wrote:It doesn't hurt. You're still at a disadvantage overall but people really focus on the BCs, and with good reason. I do well with wave attacks that really hit in turn 3, but I have two soulgrinders. I usually use the BL's at this point as objective keepers and grabbers in later turns if can. But I freely admit am a mediocre player. I've seen some lists batted about maxing the BCs with minimal BL squads for same but you're constrained by economics. I would try different strategies and proxies to see what works best for you with your budget.

yeah I was thinking about the objective side of things , I would have to catch objectives aswell not just charge.
Yeah I'm going to try out some flesh hounds and a kranak proxy , and proxy some soulgrinders and see how they go down. cheers dude , I will tell ya how everything goes.

Please do.

"1 - Skulltaker - got

10 - bloodletters - got
10 - bloodletters - got

1 - Bloodthirster - In the mail should arive by friday.

3 - Bloodcrushers - Including 1 herald - havent got yet. "

Wow.. Tough assignment winning with an all Khorne list IMO.

Maybe build a chariot for your taker? That would add some speed to go along with your thirster.

I've found that bloodletters are almost too killy. When I get them into assault, they usually massacre and are left out in the open to be shot at during my opponent's turn. Maybe run 3 or 4 groups of 8?

Adding 2 grinders and painting them in Khorne colors would do wonders for your army. I play in a very casual setting and I have found that the grinders are huge fire magnets. Time spent by your opponent shooting at your grinders is time not spent shooting at your more fragile units. You'll also get some anti-vehicle with the grinders. I hear you on the money thing though.. I got one of mine for Valentines day.. LOL. Hey whatever.

If you decide to consider non-Khorne units, let me know.

I run my Khorne Daemons as a Khornezilla list. Three Princes, two Bloodthirsters, and fill as much of my points limit as I can with Bloodcrushers and I take MSU of Bloodletters. Nobody likes having five MCs and a lot of S5 power weapons banging on their Marines.

Cheese Elemental wrote:I run my Khorne Daemons as a Khornezilla list. Three Princes, two Bloodthirsters, and fill as much of my points limit as I can with Bloodcrushers and I take MSU of Bloodletters. Nobody likes having five MCs and a lot of S5 power weapons banging on their Marines.

How does that work for you Cheesy? Whats the win/loss factor like incomparison with different opponents?

It's a mixed bag, to say the least. I don't do so well against horde armies, like Ork Dakka hordes or Infantry IG, because they can just tie up my MCs for the whole game with Commissars and Priests and sometimes even bring them down in CC with sheer weight of numbers.

However, I find it a lot easier against MEQ armies because of all the power weapons, which negate an MEQ's greatest strength. I've learned that Bloodcrushers shouldn't even try going near TH/SS Termies though, because they still get their 3+ invulnerable save and wound the 'Crushers very easily. Vulkan lists are also a pain to deal with, due to those TH/SS Termies and melta spam denying my armour saves. Invulnerables only go so far...

Mech Guard, one of the most competitive armies at the moment, haven't been too much of a problem, but they aren't pushovers either. They're fast enough to avoid my MCs and tend to dance around taking potshots with multi-lasers most of the game while Russes hide in cover and blast away. However, should one of my MCs reach said Russes, they're gone. Especially if it happens to be a Bloodthirster...

I've yet to play Tau or Dark Eldar with them, but I'd imagine Tau would be an absolute pushover and DE will be hard to catch if they're in Raiders.

I'd proffer DE would be vicious with all the dark lances, and their ICs are tough in CC.

Tau used to be effective. COuld still be, have to see them in V5.

I'm generally smashing into a mech IG list hard by turn 3. They are much more effective now with plasma flinger tank (finally soemthing designed with an eye to take down MCs) but a very fun matchup there.

Playtesting Hounds is something I'd surely recommend, as it both sticks to the theme, and gives you greater mobility.

Elessar wrote:Playtesting Hounds is something I'd surely recommend, as it both sticks to the theme, and gives you greater mobility.

Yeah dude , they could work well with my bloodthirster (moving at the same speed , do they?) I think they do , thats good , 5 or 7 hounds and a kranak (or w/e its called heh)

I have noticed that these (bt and hounds) get into combat VERY quickly , 12+ movement , running 1 - 6 , assault 6+ that a max of 24"!!!

ty for the comment im gonna proxy them for now see how it goes , Ive been to busy today , got the bloodthirster and nearly finished , added a nice funky looking base , might upload a picture or two.

mgraham wrote:"1 - Skulltaker - got

10 - bloodletters - got
10 - bloodletters - got

1 - Bloodthirster - In the mail should arive by friday.

3 - Bloodcrushers - Including 1 herald - havent got yet. "

Wow.. Tough assignment winning with an all Khorne list IMO.

Maybe build a chariot for your taker? That would add some speed to go along with your thirster.

I've found that bloodletters are almost too killy. When I get them into assault, they usually massacre and are left out in the open to be shot at during my opponent's turn. Maybe run 3 or 4 groups of 8?

Adding 2 grinders and painting them in Khorne colors would do wonders for your army. I play in a very casual setting and I have found that the grinders are huge fire magnets. Time spent by your opponent shooting at your grinders is time not spent shooting at your more fragile units. You'll also get some anti-vehicle with the grinders. I hear you on the money thing though.. I got one of mine for Valentines day.. LOL. Hey whatever.

If you decide to consider non-Khorne units, let me know.

WOAH , all this time ive been thinking that I have to have 10 bloodletters in 1 squad , after reading that and checking in my codex your right! I will definatly try that out when i next to have a game thanks man! (I only have 20 though , I could only have 4 groups of 5 bloodletters , that gives me alot of field control actually. hmm :S what do you think? 2 of 6 and 1 of 8? the one with the icon rule?)

yeah , later on to get up to 2000 point I will DEFINATLY get grinders. and for now its all khorne for me , even if tzench does look SOOO tempting with there screemers in random colors haha.