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I run a pretty assault heavy daemon army. I run large units of Fleshhounds....screamer....seekers....DPs..... you get the point. However, I do not have any bloodcrushers in my army. Are they worth the points (and $$) ?? Can they be effective these days or am I better off using more Fleshhounds?

I've just started giving them a try as well. 'Just add more Hounds' is fine and all, but I personally like diversity. That leaves you less vulnerable to that one nemesis. For instance Hounds are impotent against Wraithknights. Having Bloodcrushers with an Axe of Khorne around for a (counter)charge can be a lifesaver.

One of my current 1850 (Highlander-)lists using Bloodcrushers:

CAD
Fateweaver
Herald of Tzeentch, ML3, Disc, Grimnoire
Karanak
3 Bloodcrushers, Hunter, Axe of Khorne
10 Pink Horrors
3 Nurglings
8 Screamers
13 Fleshhounds
AD
Be'lakor
10 Cultists
5 Spawn, MoN

Of course - as always with Daemons - you are dependant on buffs like Shrouding, Invisibility, Grimnoire, Enhance and Cursed Earth in order to stand a chance against competitive lists. But if all comes together a list like the one above has potential and Bloodcrushers have a place in it IMO. Unbuffed and unsupported they can fall flat on their faces very fast however.

Looking forward to hearing about your experiences with Bloodcrushers.

Cilithan

They do not compare favourably to hounds. A unit of hounds with a herald of khorne can do anything a bloodcrusher squad can do and more.

 Big Blind Bill wrote:
They do not compare favourably to hounds. A unit of hounds with a herald of khorne can do anything a bloodcrusher squad can do and more.

Yep. The kicker for me is that you have to bring Karanak to give them scout, whereas for the same points , you can bring hounds with a Khorne herald which are more durable and can do more damage. Hounds are just better

I like crushers there ap 3 s6 (which has helped me many many times and is a big draw the diffrence between wounding a marine on 2 over 4 or a wraith construct on 4 over 6 is huge) on the charge and a lesser gift on the boss for tye chance of id, sure they cost but when they hit not much is going to get up again, dogs are all well and good but the lack of ap in cc i've found dosnt help. They will tie up a unit but not reliable kill it. There both fast units and dogs get scout but for me crushers are better.

Oh there also elite so if your inclined take both.

It isn't that they're bad per sé, it is simply they require more investment than other units in the book to be considered good.

I play them, from time to time, and stuck with a Herald they hit like a truck, and thanks to the AP3 they don't get bogged down against MEQ like Hounds can if things don't go your way, but 9 times out of 10, whatever BCS can do, other units do better, more efficiently or with greater flexibility.

If they'd got to retain even one of either T5 or the 3+ from the last book, the discussion would be a lot more complex, but for now they're waiting in the edition/codex merry go round to stop at their point on the shelf.

Blood-crushers can be good but they need help. You gotta throw something on them to get them through the first few turns before assault. Grimoire or psychic powers, just something.

 Azreal13 wrote:
It isn't that they're bad per sé, it is simply they require more investment than other units in the book to be considered good.

I play them, from time to time, and stuck with a Herald they hit like a truck, and thanks to the AP3 they don't get bogged down against MEQ like Hounds can if things don't go your way, but 9 times out of 10, whatever BCS can do, other units do better, more efficiently or with greater flexibility.

If they'd got to retain even one of either T5 or the 3+ from the last book, the discussion would be a lot more complex, but for now they're waiting in the edition/codex merry go round to stop at their point on the shelf.

Yeah being T4 just seems off for what they are. I mean being armored daemon constructs you'd think they'd be tougher than hounds. And have some sort of armor save (that's not a paltry 6+). I mean Plague Drones are T5 and are kind of in the same boat. I know Nurgle gets tougher everything but shoo, it just seems off for Bloodcrushers

But they are tougher then hounds! They have 3 wounds instead of 2. Clearly worth being double the price

The one benefit that bloodcrushers have is that their champ is a cheap herald in combat. This benefit is almost entirely negated by their need to take karnatak to get scout on them.

I have found that they are essentially a more condensed version of hounds. They kill elites a little better, they can stuff more killing ability and wounds into a smaller board space, etc. Thus if you want to condense 2-3 khorne hounds into one unit you take blood crushers. Mostly this is disadvantageous. There is however one advantage I found which is that if you layer buffs such as taking the +1 invulnerable save to khorne daemons legacy of ruin, put the grimoire on the unit and then use Be'Lakor to put invisibility on either the tank (a sicaran is usually best) or the blood crushers you will essentially own the middle board...however you bleed points like blood to do so. The models themselves are still worth having though as they make nice units to conjure if you need AP3 or their relatively high strength on the charge.

They are tied for the worst unit in game with Pyrovores.

 Lord Commissar wrote:
They are tied for the worst unit in game with Pyrovores.

Aww isn't that a little harsh? I wouldn't even say they are the worst unit in the codex.

Seeker chariots hold that honour imo.