Many thanks to Games Workshop for providing us with an advanced preview copy of the new Blades of Khorne Battletome for us to review.
Blood. Skulls. Etcetera. If any of these concepts excite you I’m happy to report the new Blades of Khorne Battletome is here. There are a lot of changes here, including a potential change to the overall competitive playstyle Khorne has had for a while. So pull up your skull chair to your blood desk and read on. (If you’re interested in sky dwarves instead, we’ve got a review of that book here.
Changes from the Faction Pack
Battle Traits
In short, there’s a lot. To start, the Battle Traits section is completely different. First is the all new addition of the Blood-Drenched ability. When at least half of all the units in both armies have died you can use this ability. As a cost, you can’t boost the saves of your units for the rest of the game, but in exchange you get:
- Bloodbound units get Crit (Mortal) on their Blood-Hungry weapons (more on this in a bit but that’s most of them).
- Non-Monster Daemon units get +1 rend to their Blood-Hungry Weapons (including companion weapons).
- Monster Daemon units get +1 damage to their Blood-Hungry weapons.
This is a nice buff and a neat representation of your dudes going berserk as the battle goes on, and if you need to play conservatively you can always not use this ability.
Next up, Blood Tithe has gotten a full rework. You still get one whenever something dies, but you now can only spend them at the start of any turn once per Battle Round. Blood Tithe abilities are also now permanent buffs instead of one off tricks. The downside is you can only access the abilities by unlocking previous ones in the tree illustrated below.
The biggest change is probably the change to Murderlust. This was once the marque ability to the Blades of Khorne gameplan, allowing you to lock units down with out of sequence moves. Now it lets you reroll a dice on a charge in exchange for D3 mortal wounds. Definitely less impactful, but its also free and starts unlocked.
From there, your early picks are largely based around “does this other army rely heavily on having wizards/priests”. If the answer is yes, take Divine Scorn, which allows you to remove power levels from casters, and Murder the Mystic after that, which lets you banish up to four Manifestations in your hero phase. If the answer is no, go for Punish the Pacifist, which lets you ping mortals on everything out of combat, and either Glorious Combat or Naught for protection from shooting or Revel in Battle for protection from weapon abilities when your dudes get charged.
Your capstone abilities, which each cost 4 points, are Slaughter Triumphant which gives your units +1 attacks on the charge or Cleave Wide the Grin of Khorne which gives everything in the army +1 to hit. This all provides a nifty little tool box which asks you to get about 7 Blood Tithe points to hit the ends of the tree and more if you want to explore your other options. Obviously the question is “Is this better than it was before?” and the answer is a complex “Well its certainly different”. The army has less abilities to lock down your opponent using movement and much fewer point and click responses to various problems, but these new abilities let you mold your army into an efficient and specialized murder machine depending on what army you’re facing.
Battle Formations
Brass Stampede gets a change to instead add X to charge rolls for all your units where X is the number of Cavalry units or Monsters who charged this turn and are wholly within 12″ of the charging unit. This is kind of a lot of hoops to jump through, but with the easy charges you can get with Skarbrand this could be a cute way to make things more consistent.
Murderhost also gets a change. Instead of the ward you get after fighting, you instead get to move Daemons who fought D6″ at the end of the turn. No you cannot use this to go into combat, stop looking for your Murderlust replacement, its not here.
Heroic Traits
All of these are different. Magical Scorn gives Priests and Wizards -1 to their chant/cast rolls while they’re within 12″ of this unit. Frenzied Taskmaster lets you pick a nearby unit and move an extra D6″ at the cost of a number of mortal wounds equal to the roll. No this still won’t get you into combat. Lastly Skull Collector gives you a permanent +1 to your attacks for every hero you help kill. I really really like this one, but Frenzied Taskmaster is probably your best bet.
Artefacts of Power
Halo of Blood is out and Butcher’s Blade is in. This lets you do an extra D3 mortals on a 2+ to everything you hurt during the turn. This is probably not as good as the Collar of Contempt or Ar’Gath the King of Blades.
Prayer Lore
There are two new Prayers available in exchange for Unholy Flames and Witchbane Curse. Your unlimited prayer, Uncontrollable Rage, now lets you enable Blood-Drenched early and if you chant this on an 8+ you can control the rage a little and ignore the effect on your saves. This is a fantastic prayer since it enables you to get access to some very strong abilities early.
Lastly there’s Final Act of Violence which gives a unit the ability to roll a die, or two dice if you chant it on an 8+, and do a mortal wound on a 5+ whenever a model in combat dies.
Warscroll Changes
Daemon Monsters
Skarbrand has only some very minor changes, gaining Blood Hungry on the Slaughter profile and the Skarbrand’s Rage ability changing to granting the Blood-Drenched ability when he is wounded/not fighting. So extra damage rather than attacks, then; still the murder machine you need it to be!
Small changes for the Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster, which also gained Blood Hungry. Its Commander of Tyrants ability now affects ANY non-unique Daemon unit, but you only get to pick one instead of three. This obviously makes it more versatile, but less useful in a Bloodthirster spam army. It also gained a passive that grants +1 to hit vs Hero targets, in case 3+ wasn’t good enough.
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage only gained Blood Hungry.
Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury gained Blood Hungry and its Beckon the Hunt ability must now be declared in the movement phase, instead of the charge phase.
Daemon Heroes
ALL non-companion melee weapons are Blood Hungry.
Skulltaker loses his Crit (Mortal) in line with the new Blood Hungry rules (don’t worry he gets it once half of everything is dead). He also swaps his Blood Tithe farming for some pretty damn hot hero-hunting powers. Both are end of turn. First up is Eternal Duel, which fully heals Skulltaker each time he kills an enemy hero. The second is Drawn by Blood, which allows you to teleport Skulltaker into combat with an enemy hero that has used a fight ability that turn. This will let you lock stuff down once per game with the right set up. It’s only once per game though so you’ll have to be choosy
Herald of Khorne on Bloodthrone lost its amazing ability to bring back Daemon units (BOO) in exchange for two new abilities: Offering of Blood inflicts 3 unwardable damage points to a nearby unit in exchange for gaining +1 power level for the turn, and Bloodmarked gives it a 4+ ward vs spells and manifestations. This seems like a straight downgrade to me, although the prayers in the book are good. It did drop -40 points to compensate though, which may be fair. The Herald is randomly one of the few units to retain an inherent Crit (Mortal).
Karanak got better at hunting its Quarry and is therefore now your second hero-hunting daemon hero; very thematic. The Quarry is now selected in the Movement Phase, so you can pick a new one each turn, and rather than move towards them Karanak (and a unit of flesh hounds) can now redeploy anywhere outside of 6” of the quarry, as long as they’re also more than 9” from other units. This makes Karanak and a unit of hounds amazing Battle Tactic tools and gives them a great way to harass backline characters that are left undefended.
Daemon Units
All non-companion melee weapons are Blood Hungry.
Bloodletters no longer regain models in combat, which is a shame! Instead they have a combat ability that lets them move 3” in combat. Super pile-in anyone?
Bloodcrushers are faster at move 10” and the juggernauts gained Anti-Cavalry on their attacks. Their Slaughterous Charge ability is gone, replaced with Crushing Onslaught. This no longer does mortals, instead on a charge roll of 8+ they can move through enemy models on the charge, and if they cross any cavalry, those units can’t pile in this turn. I think this is a good trade and shutting down pile-ins is a win, though situational here.
Only change on the Skullcannon is going from d3 to flat 2 on the damage for the ranged attack; flat damage tends to be better.
Fleshhounds lost Anti-Wizard and their bonus to charge rolls in exchange for debuffing enemy wizards and priests within 12”, who fail prayers and miscast on 1s AND 2s. This doesn’t seem like a great swap to me, but given that these puppies can now pop about the place with Karanak and end within 6” of their chosen quarry, I guess they’re okay for doing that — but only that.
Bloodbound Heroes
Gorechosen replaced with Bloodbound across the board.
All non-companion weapons are Blood Hungry.
Skarr Bloodwrath and the Khorne Lord on Juggernaut are not in the book but seem to still be in the army until next year as per their battle profiles. In addition, all the Deathbringers have been consolidated into one Deathbringer warscroll.
The new Deathbringer is the only new unit in the book. This is a 6 health hero with a 3+, a pretty stabby D3 profile with Crit (2 hits), can negate commands within 8” on a 5+ and kills a model from every unit he’s in combat with if he exceeds their health on 2d6. This is a really solid character and will likely see a good amount of play.
Slaughterpriest was an auto include in many lists due to its Blood Sacrifice ability to farm blood tithe points. This has been replaced with gaining Ritual Points which makes sense given the new system. This comes with a -30 point reduction, though, which helps sweeten the bloody pill! Interestingly this villain can now sacrifice Enemy units as well as friendly, so you’ve got a better reason to get them stuck in now!
Minor changes to the Mighty Lord of Khorne, who sadly is not just the Scourge of Ghyran version. Their Bring Me Their Skull ability now only works on heroes, whilst Lord of the Bloodbound now adds +1 to wound instead of charge.
The Realmgore Ritualists‘ Desecrating Blood Runes now affects wound rolls, rather than to hit rolls because you can get that buff from your Battle Traits now.
The Skullgrinder got a real glow up! Their Bone-Crushing Strikes is now a combat phase ability that makes an enemy unit strike last if you can roll under their Control Score on a d6. It now works on all units and is just much better!
Credit: @badusernametag
Bloodbound Units
All non-companion weapons are Blood Hungry.
Blood Warriors were simplified for the better. Their No Respite ability now grants a flat 5+ Ward if contesting an objective you do NOT control. Note that you check objective control at the end of the turn, so you can charge everyone onto the point and still benefit from this in the same turn.
Mighty Skullcrushers are now faster at movement 10”.
Wrathmongers‘ Bloodfury ability has been reworked to force enemies to hit nearby allies or themselves at the end of the turn. This can be really strong if you can make it happen on large single model threats.
Skullreapers get a minor glow up, now gaining +8 Control score by just being in combat. Whilst their Daemonforged Weapons got from Crit (mortal) to Crit (2 hits).
Armies of Renown
Okay now THIS SLAPS my goons. Someone went thematically heavy here and it’s pretty great. You’ve got two Armies of Renown and they’re both just groups of slap happy characters.
The first is my personal fave, the Gorechosen Champions. This Army is made up of all the Bloodbound heroes and nothing else. They can all join each others’ regiments. Some serious seven samurai energy here and I’m down for it!
There are various abilities jammed in to make this feasible and on paper it looks like it must just work. Legendary Slayers gives all your Champions Crit (Mortal), whilst The Red God’s Eye gives them all the 4+ Ward and Hate-Fuelled Killers stops damage that would kill them on a 5+, every time! You’ve even got a Heroic Trait here which grants a model +20 Control Score! This looks really fun and might just give you the tools to make it work, though I do think you’d struggle with maneuverability and control. It looks like a blast though if you have the models for it, not to mention easy to travel with.
Following this, the Baleful Lords are a predictable, but no less cool for that, gang of Bloodthristers on the rampage! This isn’t subtle or complex, but might be great fun to play. Born of Butchery gives you a chance to resurrect a Bloodthirster each turn and First in His Sight lets you heal one each turn also. They all get a 3+ shrug vs spells to boot. I think my favourite ability here is the Crown of the Slaughterborn artifact, which prevents ANY enemy unit within 12” healing or having models returned to them.
My issue with the Baleful Lords is that they’re still all costed at just over 400 points, so you can’t fit in five and will always have a good 250+ points spare in a 2000 point army. In addition, these rules don’t quite make up for not having the standard abilities of the army. If you wanted to run all thirsters, just use the base rules.
Both of these Armies are incredibly thematic and will look great on the table. I think the Gorechosen could work, but would need some really careful play, whilst the Bloodthirsters just need to BELLOW AND CHARGE!?!
Regiments of Renown
Two here, both fun! In The Exiled One, Skarbrand can join any Chaos faction army. Great! He gains a Combat Phase ability that means he must attack a visible friendly unit in his combat range if he is not in combat with the enemy. This is extremely thematic and to be honest is pretty easy to swerve if you don’t want it tearing your units apart. Need a beatstick? Here they are!
The second is The Red Revelation warband containing:
- Slaughterpriest
- 10 Bloodreavers
- 5 Skullreapers
The priest gets a prayer which gives a unit Ward (5+) in combat. Additionally they have an end of turn ability called Glimpse the God. This gives a unit +2 attacks for the rest of the battle if it:
- Destroys a unit, and
- No other friendly unit outside this RoR damaged that unit this turn.
It’s a little convoluted, but quite good if you get it on the Skullreapers. This might be a little bloody punch to drop into a Tzeentch army or such for a touch more hitting power.
Spearhead
The Blades also get a new Spearhead, which is standard for new tomes now and fun for those of us who like a fast and punchy little wargame! Great.
This book’s offering is the Fangs of the Blood God. This grabbed my attention when it was previewed, as thematically it looks spot on. Was interested to see if it had any meat to it, or teeth…
It contains:
- Karanak
- 5 Flesh Hounds
- 5 Flesh Hounds
- 8 Claws of Karanak
The Battle Traits are a Quarry mechanic that interacts with a few other abilities but doesn’t do a lot. Primarily just letting Karanak move d6” in the movement phase as long as he moves closer to the target hero. The other is Blood-Drenched which triggers in the end phase and grants Crit (Mortal) to any unit that has done damage that turn for the rest of the game. Pretty neat!
Regiment Ability choices are Scent of Blood, +1 to hit a unit that has been damaged this phase, or Savagery Upon Savagery, which is +1 attack vs a unit with more attacks. The former will almost always be preferable, as all these units have a high number of attacks. Though remember you pick these AFTER you know your opponents warband!
The Enhancements are a mixed bag, but my favorite is definitely Evasive Hunter, which is -1 to be hit and wounded for Karanak vs shooting attacks. Against a ranged Warband this might just keep your squishy general alive! The only one that interacts with the quarry Battle Trait is Killing Pounce, which is a 3d6 charge against the quarry. This is cool, but i don’t know how often it’ll be useful on the small Spearhead board.
Now when I first saw this warband it looked like it would be pretty squishy and I wasn’t wrong! With the best save being a 5+/6++ you’re gonna need to do some work to keep anything alive. Karanak is a centre point, but I don’t think their 7 wounds will last long. I’d love to say the Fangs are a glass cannon, but honestly they don’t hit hard either. Only Karanak has rend (and Anti-hero +1 rend), and weight of attacks only goes so far in AoS. Now in principle the Blood-Drenched Battle Trait makes them punchier, but you have to survive to get use out of that. Also while the Fangs look quick they don’t have a movement over 8”. Now ALL your units (other than Karanak) are Reinforcements, which I think you’re really going to need! Just a shame that the Blood Drenched trait won’t stick on those new units.
Not really sure there’s much bite to these doggies. I have all the models already and it’s a really cool theme, so I’m going to give it go. But this might be more wet pooch than hot dog.
Final Thoughts
While the list of changes for this book isn’t particularly long, there are massive changes to the ways Khorne players will approach the army. Like you’d expect you’re still looking to kill as much as possible, but the nuance is now in combat as opposed to in movement, which makes more sense for the boys in red. Is the army better off? Honestly its hard to say, there’s a lot to like here but they lost out on one of their strongest abilities. That said it definitely aligns much better with what you’d expect from a Khorne army now, and there’s a lot to be said for that.
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