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Hi guys, I’m looking at starting KDK aiming for a tourney at my FLGS after summer (2000pts). I haven’t got any models at all yet so am completely flexible on what to get, but I also can’t afford to just buy everything and try it all out so want to try and hash out a list before starting to buy and paint. I’m not aiming for a WAAC list (I’m leaving my Eldar to build these guys…) but I don’t want to miss something and come up against any “auto-lose” match ups. So far I’ve come up with this and still have a few Qs about it:

Blood Host formation

Slaughtercult:
Herald – Juggernaut, Brazen Rune, Hatred Locus (140)
3 x 8 Bloodletters (240)
Possessed w/Rhino – combi-melta on the Rhino (195)
2 single spawn (64)

Gorepack
4 x 5 Dogs (320)
3 x 3 Bikes – 2 meltas, combi-melta, melta bombs (333)
8 Bikes – Icon, AspChamp w/Power Axe (221)

War Engines
3 Phlegm-Grinders (495)


I’m old school for no justifiable reason so would like to keep this to pure KDK rather than allying in. The plan is to have a serious threat on turn 2 with all the dogs charging and the meltas on the bikes and backing that up in turn 3 with the big bike squad and hopefully the deep striking ‘Letters. The Rhino and Spawn are cheap, fast objective grabbers/Tithe points and the Possessed will walk up and draw fire/mop up things that try to sneak behind me. Blood Tithe I plan on almost exclusively using army-buffs but might take a Skull Cannon if the situation calls for it. The Grinders I like, but are also the thing I’m least sure about. Also just realised that there are no champions in the 'Letters to help with Tithe generation.

I went for the Herald over the Lord as a cheaper HQ and then will run him with the bikes so that they get 4 S5 Hatred attacks on the charge as well as the Shred-HoW. I know this is against the normal run of Lord+Dogs but this trades Scout and extra wounds for T5, 3+/4+jink saves and frag grenades. As well as Counter Attack and bolters for overwatch if I mess up and get charged. Does this sound a viable alternative or just so much worse it’s not worth considering?

I have very few ways to deal with flyers, but I plan on just ignoring them and winning with objectives on the ground.

I’m not sure on whether the meltas will be enough to deal with lots of armour or transport spam. I had initially dismissed Warp Gaze as an option on the Grinders due to only being Heavy 1 at BS3, but maybe it has a role in popping armour with it allowing the Harvester Cannon to not need snap shots. Though if I’m taking the Grinders for transport popping then maybe freeing a few points for Hades wielding Forgefiends might be better? I also considered trying to give one the torrent and Warp Sword then Deep Strike it in. I also don’t like the idea of BS3 pie plates when my boys are going to be in the danger zone.

I’m also slightly worried about Super-Heavies and GMCs (though the meltas would help a bit). I’d considered Maulerfiends with tendrils to help protect them in combat but I’m not sure where the best place to get them in would be. I don’t like the all-eggs-in-one-initiative-one-basket approach with the D-Thirster but maybe running him alongside some Maulerfiends is the only approach.

If you made it to the end of that mini-essay then thanks, I owe you a cookie.

Tl;dr – is that army list any good? And no cookie for you.

you should run lord on juggernaut for T5 and the axe that turns him into a bloodthirster when he dies so your opponent has to deal with that in addition to everything else.

The list seems a bit distracted. If your going for an objective grabby army, I would transition it into a CAD, so you can get objective secured on your troops. If you take this route, keeping the gorepack of course, I would drop the eight man bike squad and replace it with two other biker squads suited out with special weapons. This way you still get the speed of the gorepack, and don't have to pay the possessed tax. Possible drop some soulgrinders for some heldrakes. Paying for the bloodreaper upgrade is generally a good idea, just for the extra blood tithe. Also change the herald to a juggerlord. You could fill in the rest of the points with small cultist squads.

If your going for a more straight assault army, I would drop some of the grinders, the 8 man bike squad and the bloodletters. They're all solid, but there are better options. Personally, I would take bezerkers in a rhino. With ws 5 and furious charge they'll destroy almost any unit they come in contact with. Again, replace the herald with a juggerlord and slap him in a flesh hound squad. In this case, keep the bloodhost formation, just to generate some bloodtither more quickly.

Also of note, possessed cannot take combi-melta's.

Assault is the main aim I'm going for, but I want to keep in mind that I still need to hit objectives to win games which is why I popped the spawn in there. If they die quickly then I get cheap Tithe points to make everything else's assault better.

The Letters are there to ensure that I have in tact units getting into the enemy's face. I agree that they don't hit as hard as bezerkers, but I can get twice as many for the points. (Also, on paper I prefer standard CSMs to bezerkers as they can take an Icon for Furious Charge and still be cheaper than bezerkers. Is the WS5 more useful in practice than on paper).

The Grinders I agree don't seem to really have a place and I think I've put them in purely because I like them rather than for doing a good job here. What would you suggest swapping them for? Maulerfiends? Beefing up the Slaughtercult (which will all get the second Tithe bonus)? Another Gorepack?

With the Axe of Ruin; we don't play ITC rules and have summoned flyers come in zooming, so I don't think it would be too effective with a few turns of flapping around getting shot and hemorrhaging wounds before getting stuck in.

Thanks for the input

PS the combi-melta is on the Rhino, not the Possessed. That wasn't exactly clear so I've edited the original list now.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
After a bit of thinking I've realised that I definitely don't like the Grinders. They give an easy target to enemy's big guns and replacing them with Maulerfiends or a Thirster leaves the same problem. So with the aim of keeping the focus on assaulting hard and also having tools to hurt GMCs, how does this rough idea sound? Should hopefully leave a fair chunk of enemy's firepower relatively useless.

4 biker squads with meltas and bombs
6 hound squads (4 to be MSU and 2 to escort Lords)
2 Slaughtercults with min Letters and rhinos for the Possessed.
2 Lords tooled up to compete with big gribblies

Double Blood Host lets me get a second Lord to lay on hurt. CAD may have less tax than a second Slaughtercult but this way both Lords can benefit from the extra Tithe benefit and I'll be racking up Tithe points to be able to regularly take whichever buff I want.

Double Bloodhost is a fantastic idea. You'll be producing a huge number of blood tithe per turn, allowing you to give your army some really good boosts. The amount of speedy units you have is fantastic. I would recommend deep striking in the bloodletters, possibly giving them some instruments so they all come in at once if you have the points. Overall however looks pretty good.