And here it is... With multiples of most units, all but one character sculpt (not counting named ones like Valkia, Skyla and so on), and at least one of every Bloodbound unit available in painted form, I'm comfortable fielding these red-clad rage monsters in any event that comes my way. I'm not saying I'll do well, but... At least I can put down a table-top ready army!
Characters are the lifeblood of an army for me. They will be the deciding factor in what I collect and how big an army will go. The Mighty Lord of Khorne is the current high commander of my army, with eight (suitable number, yes?) of his greatest champions at his side! While I have doubles of the Bloodsecrator, as any self respecting Khorne player should, the only model I am missing from the character range is the Deathbringer with Spear; one of the coolest Chaos models ever put to plastic! I will also eventually add a Khorne Lord on Juggernaut when time allows!
Two of my favourite units in the army would be Skullreapers and the Warshrine! Both are fantastic models and very imposing on the table. Both also fit the theme of the army incredibly well! I imagine Skullreapers acting as the absolute elite bodyguard of their Lord, forming the spearhead of any assault; because after all, the Lord and his retinue don't become the favoured of Khorne by letting others harvest skulls and spill blood for them. They get their hands dirty!
I'm extremely happy with how this force has turned out in finished form. It's by no means going to win Best Painted, as I've used quite basic techniques, but it's uniform and looks like a cohesive force. The simple basing, the red armour and the flashes of bleach-white bone informs at a glance that the army is a single entity!
So, now that I'm "finished" (despite having five Khorgoraths and about sixty Reavers in a box somewhere), what's next? Well, Pestilens will be my next Sigmar army, but I've only just started on the first twenty monks and I'm already prepared to slam my head in a door. I've set the bar extraordinarily high for myself.
Do a test model, I said. Use plenty of advanced techniques and colour schemes, I said.
BIG mistake. In my 1000 point entry level list, I have 60 monks... In the lowest points bracket...
What have I done.
The other project I'm going to be working on is my Grey Knights! I'm painfully aware of my own lack of attention given to 40k, and with the release of Gathering Storm Pt. 3, including a brand spanking new GL character and perhaps some juicy rules in the book, I think it's time to dive back in.
I'll be pretty transparent with you; this will be primarily a painting project and perhaps a few casual games until 8th Edition 40k (or the equivalent) arrives on the scene. While I've only been out of 40k for a very short time (Age of Sigmar got me in its grip pretty convincingly!), so much has happened and so many books and units have arrived, that it's a little daunting diving back in.
But I love my Grey Knights, and I do love 40k! So, I'll absolutely be jumping back in. For those of you craving some 40k content, it is well and truly incoming!
In the meantime, Bloodbound will be attending a few tournaments, the first of which is a 1250 point tournament at Games Workshop Chermside. It's a bit of a left-field tournament, as the main prize is Players Choice. As game results aren't the primary goal, and the event itself is not ranked, I decided away from some janky sorcerous combos (very un-Khorne-like), and stuck to straight Khorne. I'm treating this event as an opportunity to try out some new units and practice with my army. So, without further ado, let's take a look at what I'm taking!
Heroes were first on the menu, and while I have always leant heavily upon the Mighty Lord, I was taking some heavy cues from a gaming role model of mine, Russ from the FaceHammer Podcast (current #1 player in the U.K. and a supremely skilled Bloodbound warlord). You'll notice that my list uses one of his very efficient lists as its framework, and while I like coming up with my own combos, I think that this event is the perfect place to field a list that has combos and synergies that I can try out with no ramifications if I make mistakes or miss certain things.
I'm not going into this event to win it. I'm going in for experience and the opportunity to crush out four games in a day.
The mantle of General was taken up by an Aspiring Deathbringer, for his great command ability and his price tag (only 80 points!). He was supported by two Bloodsecrators (because Khorne!) and a Skullgrinder! The Skullgrinder and Deathbringer are both new to my collection, and I'm very interested to see how they fair! The Skullgrinder (with a Chaos Runeblade and just a ton of extra attacks from buffs and auras) will hopefully be able to mash everything he touches to a bloody pulp with his flaming anvil, and will (with some luck and Favour of Khorne) empower those around him to new feats of slaughter!
Battleline was next. My go to these days are ten-man units of Blood Warriors! These maniacs are off the chain, and so difficult to deal with in combat thanks to their No Respite pile in! It gives me a ton of wounds with great armour and several mechanics that make them a nightmare to kill. I also included twenty Bloodreavers for screening, objective camping or clogging up choke points with bodies!
This left me with only a couple of hundred points to play with, but it was the perfect amount to slot in five Wrathmongers (a must have in every Bloodbound list), and five Skullreapers, giving me some lethal threats!
Now, as you can probably already guess, this army does one thing and it does it bloody well (no pun intended).
Let's break it down! I've spread out the units in the photo below to help differentiate all the armoured red guys, but in game, this formation will be much more compact!
This will be my standard deployment. Obviously against certain opponents, this will change but I'll touch on that in a moment.
The centre of my frontline is a spearhead of Skullreapers, flanked on either side by Blood Warriors. Casualties on the blood warriors will typically be taken from the middle, opening a lane for the Reapers to pile in! In the V of Reapers, stands my Deathbringer with his 6" +1 Attack command ability aura, tagging all units in the formation. Inside one of the Blood Warrior units, the Skullgrinder will lurk in the second rank. With his large reach on the anvil, he can easily splat an unsuspecting hero over the heads of his comrades. The Wrathmongers act as a gap-stop, counter-charging any units that look poised to break through my lines, as well as handing out their own +1 attack aura, sitting back far enough so as not to buff enemy models on my front line. Lastly, the two Bloodsecrators sit back, adding another two +1 attack auras and making my whole force immune to Battleshock. This frees up my general's command ability, and means none of my troops are going down without a fight.
This formation is horrifically powerful if it reaches combat (crucial word being "if"), as Wrathmongers, Blood Warriors and Skullreapers all have terrifying mechanics triggered if they are killed in close combat. There's no easy way to bring them down face to face. And if I get all my combos and auras off, then my rank and file Blood Warriors will be up to six attacks each!!
The Bloodreavers will either be screens for my front line, to avoid any nasty charges on my important units, or they will bubble wrap my Bloodsecrators, acting as a shield against flankers.
Now, I know for a fact that Skarbrand and Archaon will be in this tournament, in which case, the Wrathmongers will play a much more significant role in leading the offensive.
My perfect match up would be another combat army, because there are few that can out-perform Bloodbound when it comes to slaughtering wholesale. I think that the worst match ups for me are armies wth a serious shooting phase. Stormcast with their new snipers, Freeguild gun lines, Wanderers with their Arcane Bodkins; all will pose a serious challenge, as I will have to either race across the board as quickly as possible to put an axe into them, or play the scenario with complete and utter dedication and hope I survive long enough to secure victory! In those matchups, I think it is Compulsary for me to take Cunning Deceiver as my Command Trait to try and mitigate damage on turn one, allowing me to close the gap at pace and without suffering crippling casualties.
Either way, I can't wait to roll dice and reap skulls! What do you think of the list? This will be my first tournament in a while, and I'm chomping at the bit to get some games in!
Thanks for reading!
Gabe
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