Bloodthirster
Bloodthirsters are the greater daemons of Khorne. They're fuckhueg daemons with wings who carry a giant axe into battle that's capable of hacking platoons of soldiers into mincemeat in a moment's notice. They are also filled with rage and generally considered the most dangerous entity in Warhammer 40,000 that isn't a god or comparable to an Imperial war titan. Yes, you read that right. In all the grimdark violence of 40k, a Bloodthirster is the single most dangerous being to walk the galaxy. That is how fucking dangerous these things are. In Warhammer Fantasy they are somewhat less impressive, as the scale of the game puts Chaos on a much lower pedestal than in 40k. Regardless, a Bloodthirster is still nothing to take lightly.
To be fair, a Bloodthirster is the Blood God's avatar of his rage, it will maim, kill, burn, split open, break the back of their opponent, drink the blood from their hearts, mutilate, anything that would sate their never-ending battle lust and to glorify Khorne. They are capable of killing virtually anything with their massive axe and strength and they are nearly impossible to stop without at least bringing something the size of a baneblade with similar firepower or the Daemonhunters.
In The End Times, Bloodthirsters underwent a similar treatment to Verminlords in that they got split into several varieties; the Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (eighth host, the weakest of them all... if you can call WS10, S6, I9 and A6 [+1 for wielding two hand weapons) weak), the Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (6th legion, monster-killers, so you're paying +100pts over the Unfettered Fury for a greatweapon and Heroic Killing Blow) and the Wrath of Khorne (third legion, 550 points by is Stubborn, has Magic Resistance 3, has a S5 Flaming breath weapon, Relentless Hunter [Hatred: Characters, adds +3" to charge if charging a character or unit with a character), and wields the Wrathaxe & Bloodflail combo (+2 Strength in first round, +1 attack in all rounds).
Notable Bloodthirsters
- An'ggrath: Khorne's most favored Bloodthirster, created to replaced Skarbrand. A Greater Daemon for Apocalypse made to rape anything that he gets into melee with. But his fluff sucks as two of the three mentions of him in fluff are of him losing once to Lorgar, the weakest primarch (but still a primarch so it could happen) and an Inquisitor Lord, a badass one (who called him a slave and told him to beg Khorne for mercy when he next saw him), but still! And he only get a kill a few Grey Knights before getting sent back.
- Daemon of Tartarus: A Bloodthirster sealed in the Maledictum artifact by the Eldar of Craftworld Ulthwé. SSSIIINNNDDDRRRIII Myr attempted to use it to achieve Daemon Princehood, but was thwarted by Gabriel Angelos, who destroyed the Maledictum and ended up releasing it. Later spent several years working with Azariah Kyras in trying to destroy Subsector Aurelia in a mass sacrifice to Khorne. Began merging with Kyras on Cyrene, where it was bombarded from orbit by the Blood Ravens. Or the Imperial Guard. Or the Eldar of Ulthwe. Look, we're still not sure who did it, but we know it's dead. Or at least banned for some centuries (the daemon, not Kyras). Actually, not much is known about him period, he only has one speaking role, during which for a daemon of Khorne, he seems rather calm and polite.
- Ka'Bandha: The Greatest of Khorne's servants. he who broke Sanguinius's legs at Signus Prime. Sanguinius later payed him back during the Siege of Terra (if you don't count the time he got payback on Signus Prime) by breaking Ka'Bandha's spine over his knee. He may or may not be the cause of the Black Rage. Reappeared to troll the Blood Angels in M41. Actually, every time he goes up against them he embarrasses himself. The Sanguinor once bodyslammed him from orbit. In war hammer fantasy he is the greatest of khornes huntsmen, and comes across as possibly the strongest being in the setting who isn't a god. So powerful in fact, that he took on ALL the incarnates at once, and still kept going. He even kills caradryan, incarnate of fire, and has the wind of fire unleashed into his flesh. and he still keeps going. The only incarnates who can match him in strength were Nagash, who fought him to a standstill, and Sigmar, who is a literal god so of course he ended up winning that fight.
- Skarbrand: Once the greatest servant of Khorne, until Tzeentch tricked him into even greater acts of wanton destruction to the point he challenged Khorne himself as he was so angry. Khorne was so pissed that he throttled the emotions out of him, except for rage and threw him so hard that he flew across the Warp for a straight week thus banishing him for pissing Khorne off. Tzeentch like always, just sat on his throne, conjured up a martini glass filled with his poison of choice, and muttered: Just As Planned. Unfortunately, he now kills more in one day than he ever did when Khorne still liked him, so this could be one of the few times Tzeentch played into Khorne's hands. Just As Planned. He is thought to be to be Khorne's truest servant, since he kills without purpose and can gain no favor. Though he continues to fight for Khorne, it is for nothing since Khorne has no mercy in his heart, and his exile is eternal: None more closely embody the ideal of senseless slaughter for carnage's own sake.
Trivia
There is confusion caused by conflicts in the canon over whether An'ggrath or Ka'Bandha is the most powerful/greatest/simply best of Khorne's Bloodthirsters, as there is proof to support either side. Don't even get the canon-keepers started on Skarbrand, when he had wings. Considering how nutty Chaos is actually such a confused state of being is hardly not unexpected. It could also be GW and Black Library writers just don't talk to each other and get some common facts straight. This could be actually fixed if the two battled, but Khorne himself will never allow for this no matter how tempting that would be. Thus we'll never know. In warhammer fantasy, it was pretty clear who was the strongest. An'ggrath never gets a mention, while skarbrand is defeated pretty quickly by malekith. Ka'Bandha, on the other hand, proves to be a nearly unstoppable rapetrain that takes on nearly all the incarnates (other than grimgor) over the span of one battle and only even expresses pain when the ENTIRE WIND OF AQSHY scorches him with the death of Caradryan. He is only stalemated by Nagash, and finally defeated by Sigmar Ascendant
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The "affordable" Bloodthirster model.
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The "good" Bloodthirster model.
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the "new" "affordable" bloodthirster model, also note this is one of three new flavours.
