Editing Warhammer 40,000/6th Edition Tactics/Chaos Daemons (section)

====Khorne====
Daemons of Khorne, as anyone would expect, are primary a close combat army, more so than the other Gods. They have a good selection of HQs, the Bloodthirster being the strongest out of the four Greater Daemons, and has a good selection of gifts to start with. Of course you can always roll twice on the Greater Reward table making him strong or durable and have more weapons at his disposal, but he can work well without the gifts if you want to use those points else where. They even have THE challenge king, the best challenge character in the Warhammer 40k game, the Exiled One, better known as Skarbrand. Not only is he very nasty to go against and can buff your Daemons but he's so cheap for what he brings to the table, that taking him won't cause a huge impact on you if he gets banished. The Heralds are also very useful, being great force multipliers or downright deadly. Their Troops are excellent Marine killers, and with Space Marines starting to be more common, this will make you lick your chops for more blood! However, the problem with Bloodletters is that they are fragile for their cost, and aren't quick to compensate this, so the best way to minimize casualties is by Deep Striking them. It also gives them the mobility they need to reach their target. As for objectives, it's best you should focus on any threats your opponents may have that can remove your Troops and claim the objective for themselves, before you start grabbing them.

*Bloodcrushers are the only fast moving Icon users for Khorne Daemons, and are also quite fragile as well in a bad situation. So how can you make the best out of Bloodcrushers without losing them from instant death? Taking them in a minimum size squad, and making them less of a threat is probably your best bet. Thankfully, having a Bloodhunter with a gift and an Icon Bearer will only cost you 160 pts. Depending on the size of the game, one or two units should be enough to get your Bloodletters (Skarbrand too!) safely on the table, preferably behind cover. Once they have done their job, you can throw the safety logic out the window and use them as a light flanking unit. An entire Tactical Squad can easily be wiped out when you charge them in, and if they have a single wound left when they make it to Assault, they can dish out a lot of hurt before they inevitably die. If you want to run more than three, it's best to stick a Herald to the unit to help them survive, and Skulltaker is perfect for that role! This does make them more expensive, but they can survive being gun down if you end up being in the enemies line of sight. In minimum sized, the best you can do is either provide a Grimoire for them, or learn to spread wounds to prevent them getting killed by bolters or even lasguns.

*Flesh Hounds are definitely a must have. Slapping a Herald on Juggernaut with the Greater Locus makes them very deadly, but even better Skarbrand's buff can grant them BOTH rage and hatred (Everything)! Very cheap for a T4 two wounds unit, having the right amount will only cost 160 points. If you really want to make them a pain for your opponent, granting them a 3++ save with rage will give them a run for your points, making Flesh Hound Bombs very difficult to remove. Even Necron Wraiths will have a difficult time trying to wipe out the dogs of war, making their Rending attacks useless and having to survive wave after wave of attacks will put them to shame. Also Scouting them can be worthwhile if you go second, and if you pull it off right, you have yourself a turn 1 assault with no problem. Their Soul Grinders, while being the cheapest out of the four, are easily the weakest variant as they don't get any buffs for being a Daemon of Khorne. Still, having a versatile walker is always welcome, especially with the lack of shooting in Khorne armies. The Skull Cannon is an excellent supportive chariot, providing your units with assault grenades on the target the cannon fired on. Plus a S8 AP5 pie plate is always handy to have. Finally the Daemon Prince, presuming you toke a Greater Daemon, are a welcome addition to rip and tear tanks apart.  

*Outside of those units tho, you'll be spending most of your shooting phase with the Warp Storm and running up the board. The best way to make a Mono Khorne army work is by moving everything up, and deep striking your Bloodletters to keep up with the rest of the army. If you choose to run allies, it may be wise to invest in either fast shooting mobile units or strong objective holders. As you would guess, Chaos Marines have what Khorne's Daemons are looking for. Chaos bikers are the answer, being fast and provide special weapons on the go, while the Chaos Marines can sit on the backfield or ride in a Rhino to capture midfield objectives. Anti air isn't much of a problem if you use Bloodletters to operate a Quad Gun, or bring multiple Soul Grinders, but adding a Heldrake never hurts. If you want more firepower on the go, Dark Eldar works wonderfully well, and are an ally force that shouldn't be underestimated. Poison shots everywhere will make everyone with a high value of Toughness cry. This is invaluable as this makes the pairing look very scary to go against, and having Incubi with Skarbrand's buff will add extra lulz.

In the end, Khorne is one of the harder forces to pull off effectively due to having almost no shooting attacks and/or how fragile they are for their cost as well as very poor anti-vehicle ability (if you immediately quit when you see an armored battlegroup or Knight army across the table, no one will blame you), but with some practice and knowledge, you'll have a fast, and somewhat a glass hammer force, -That hits hard and are very rewarding.