In our Detachment Focus series we take a deep dive into an army’s Detachments, covering what’s in them, how they play, and how they’ll fit into the broader meta and your games. In this Detachment Focus we’re looking at the Khorne Daemonkin from the World Eaters.
Seventh edition lovers rejoice: The Khorne Daemonkin are back. After a few years in the wilderness, you can once again run a true mixed Khorne force with both World Eaters and Daemons, and they even have Blood Tithe points again. If you want to combine Khorne Daemons and World Eaters, this is the Detachment for you.
Detachment Overview
Like Emperor’s Children and Death Guard, the World Eaters have datasheets for Chaos Daemons in their Codex. These can only be taken with a single Detachment – the Khorne Daemonkin. This Detachment lets you combine the two unit groups, adding a way to buff Daemons and combine them with your mortal servants of Chaos in more interesting ways.
The Video Version
If you’d like to watch a video version of this Detachment Focus, we’ve got you covered here:
Detachment Rule: Blood Tithe
Each time a BLOOD LEGIONS or WORLD EATERS unit from your army destroys an enemy unit, you can roll a D6 and on a 3+ you get a Blood Tithe point, abbreviated as BTP. At the start of your Command phase you can spend these on a list of buffs with different costs, as follows:
- Enraged Abjuration (2 BTP) – BLOOD LEGIONS and WORLD EATERS models from your army get a 5+ Feel No Pain against Psychic attacks and mortal wounds
- Daemonic Rage (3 BTP) – BLOOD LEGIONS units get LANCE on their melee weapons
- Boon of Blood (4 BTP) – BLOOD LEGIONS units from your army get a 4+ invulnerable save
- Might of Khorne (5 BTP) – BLOOD LEGIONS units from your army gain the Blessings of Khorne ability
What are BLOOD LEGIONS units? Similarly to the other Cult Legion books, there are a number of Daemons units included in the codex which have the BLOOD LEGIONS keyword. Ordinarily you cannot include these in your army, but in the Khorne Daemonkin Detachment you can, to a maximum of 1000pts in a Strike Force game. No BLOOD LEGIONS model can be your WARLORD.
Apart from Enraged Abjuration, the Detachment rule only works for your Daemons, powering them up as your army kills things. Note that there’s no rider on gaining BTP for melee, so shooting will work just as well. There’s a few different ways to gain BTP automatically or more reliably, which you will need to get it rolling in some games. The buffs gained are pretty good, but not the main reason to run the Detachment. The big problem here is that getting points requires rolling a 3+ and that’s after you kill an enemy unit. This means it’s too easy to just not get points you need early. That big payoff you’re looking for is Born in Blood, but if you can get to Might of Khorne that’s not bad, either.
Enhancements
- Icon of War – WORLD EATERS model only. Friendly BLOOD LEGIONS units within 6” get the Blessings of Khorne ability, and if they have Might of Khorne already, you can re-roll Battle-shock tests for them. Being able to reliably give your Daemons the Blessings rule is pretty helpful, especially when Might of Khorne costs a full 5 BTP.
- Blood-Forged Armour – BLOOD LEGIONS or WORLD EATERS model only. The bearer gets a 2+ Save and you automatically gain 1 BTP if they are destroyed. 2+ save Bloodthirster is good times for everyone.
- Disciple of Khorne – LORD ON JUGGERNAUGHT model only. You can attach the bearer to a BLOODCRUSHERS or FLESH HOUNDS unit, and he gains Deep Strike and replaces his WORLD EATERS keyword with BLOOD LEGIONS. The attraction of a Juggernaut Lord leading a brick of Bloodcrushers is very high, though also having him walk some dogs which allows him to uppy-downy for free is quite good fun too.
- Blade of Endless Bloodshed – WORLD EATERS model only. The bearer’s melee weapons get +1 Strength, Attacks, and Damage, and each time the bearer’s unit destroys an enemy unit in melee, you automatically get 1 BTP. Being better at killing stuff and better at making your Detachment rule work is good stuff.
These are all at least interesting, but let’s face it, if you’re playing this Detachment you’re doing it so you can put a Disciple of Khorne in there with his avalanche of massive lads to back him up.
Stratagems
- Summoned by Slaughter (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Used in any phase when the last model in a unit is destroyed. You can pick one BLOODLETTERS unit in reserves and set it up anywhere on the battlefield wholly within 9” of that destroyed model and not within Engagement Range of enemy units, once per battle round. This is going to lead to some fantastically funny moments when an enemy destroys a chaff unit and finds Bloodletters suddenly stealing an objective or charge-blocking them, and with Murder-Call you can repeat the trick if your Bloodletters survive long enough.
- Daemonic Fury (Battle Tactic, 1 CP) – At the start of your Fight phase, you can pick a BLOOD LEGIONS unit within 6” of a WORLD EATERS unit, and until the end of the turn that WORLD EATERS unit has LANCE. If Daemonic Rage is active, they also get TWIN-LINKED.
- A Worthy Skull (Epic Deed, 1 CP) – Used in the Fight phase, just after a BLOOD LEGIONS or WORLD EATERS unit from your army has fought and destroyed one or more CHARACTER or MONSTER models. You gain d3 BTP and can immediately spend any BTP you have on a single Blood Tithe ability. Note that this doesn’t replace the BTP you would normally roll for, so it can be up to 4 points in a go. Handy for getting abilities going, especially in early turns where you may not have accumulated enough in your own Command phase to activate anything yet.
- Blessing of Burning Blood (Battle Tactic, 1 CP) – Used in your opponent’s Shooting phase or the Fight phase. Pick one BLOOD LEGIONS unit within 6” of a WORLD EATERS unit that was targeted by enemy attacks; the models in that WORLD EATERS unit get a 5+ invulnerable save, or a 4+ if the Boon of Blood is active. Potentially clutch for saving a unit of Berzerkers from high-AP attacks, particularly if you’re able to get that 4+.
- Daemontide (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Used in your Command phase. Pick one BLOOD LEGIONS unit within 6” of a WORLD EATERS unit; that BLOOD LEGIONS unit can regenerate one destroyed MOUNTED model, d3 destroyed BEAST models, or d6 destroyed INFANTRY models with their full wounds remaining. Note that you cannot return destroyed CHARACTER models. Very cool if someone swings and misses at one of your units of Daemons.
- Murder-Call (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Used at the end of your opponent’s Fight phase; one BLOOD LEGIONS from your army which is not in Engagement Range can be put back into Strategic Reserves. Useful generally, and handy in particular for recycling Bloodletters for Summoned by Slaughter.
Overall this is a good Stratagem set that emphasises having a good mix of Daemons and World Eaters units on the table. Note that there seems to be a word error on Daemonic Fury; the Stratagem is coloured green (which normally indicates it can be used in either player’s turn) but it specifies the start of your Fight phase. You don’t necessarily want to put LANCE on something in your opponent’s turn anyway, unless you managed to pull off a Heroic Intervention or are after TWIN-LINKED, but just be aware that you actually can’t per the Stratagem text. This one may change, but don’t necessarily assume it will.
Playing This Detachment
This is one of the most interesting Detachments in the game, letting you combine units in ways we don’t often see. The most notable example here is the Disciple of Khorne Enhancement, which lets a Lord on Juggernaut join a unit of Bloodcrushers or Flesh Hounds. Of course, this causes a bit of a debate: Does his unit get Blessings of Khorne? As a faction ability, Blessings of the Blood God stays on his Datasheet even if you remove his Faction keyword and replace it with BLOOD LEGIONS, so at the very least he’d still get it. But there are no rules for how to handle faction abilities spreading to units. After much back and forth, we came to a consensus in the Goonhammer offices that a unit joined by the Lord of Juggernaut does in fact gain the Blessings of the Blood God, but it will need an FAQ or errata item to address it.
As long as that’s the case, however, you should be running a Juggernaut Lord attached to a unit of Bloodcrushers. The ability to go through walls with the Juggalord really improves Bloodcrushers, and while they never punch up as well as you’d like, being able to get Lance and twin-linked on them helps a lot. This is also a Detachment that wants multiple units of Bloodletters, which at 90 points are costed reasonably enough that you can stomach 3 units of them. You’ll want units that can die to bring those in, and so taking 2-3 units of Jakhals might also be the play. From there it’s a game of taking the best Datasheets available, and that means having a couple of units of Flesh Hounds, Forgefiends, and potentially Skarbrand.
Strengths
- Melee buffs. Daemonic Fury is one hell of a Stratagem, and being able to get [LANCE] and [TWIN-LINKED] on your weapons in melee is huge.
- Movement. One of the key advantages to this Detachment is the uppy-downy effects you get, with Flesh Hounds and Blood Letters. And being able to dump a Bloodletters unit anywhere on the table after your unit dies is one of the coolest tricks in the game.
- Uppy-Downy. This is the only Detachment in World Eaters that gives you access to uppy-downy effects, which are some of the most powerful effects in the game.
Weaknesses
- Durability. Bloodcrushers and Bloodletters are just not that durable, and struggle to punch up into bigger threats.
- Blood Tithe Points. Only getting your points on a 3+ sucks. It makes them too unreliable to plan around and really holds this Detachment.
- Synergy. Most of what’s in this Detachment is geared toward buffing Daemons, who have surprisingly little synergy with World Eaters.
A Sample List
Here’s a list put together by Gunum, which features a legal list in that it actually includes a World Eaters Warlord – note that the Lord on Juggernaut cannot be your Warlord once he takes the Disciple of Khorne Enhancement. Whoops!
Sample List - Click to Expand
The idea here is to pressure the opponent early with Bloodcrushers and Maulerfiends, with support from the Forgefiends. Hold the Bloodletters in Reserves and use them to replace dead units and cause a ruckus.
Final Thoughts
As someone who had a Khorne Daemonkin army in seventh edition it’s great to see them back in tenth, even if the Detachment rule leaves a bit to be desired. The Stratagems and Enhancements here are incredibly cool, and while I don’t think this is the strongest way to run the army, players should be able to find some combos and builds here that are fun and flavorful.
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