Choosing the right Chaos lord for you- part 3 (Khorne)

I always look at the choice of a chaos power as a choice of either Khorne or Slaanesh, OR Nurgle or Tzeentch. In other words, I rarely see the need to choose between Khorne or Tzeentch precisely because they are so strikingly different. It's like saying, that you can't decide whether you want to play the Tau or Tyranids. Apples and Oranges really. But Khorne and Slaanesh are both supposed to be hand to hand armies (yes, believe it or not...look at all the Slaanesh abilities, they're all hand to hand). However, if you are planning on building a hand to hand chaos army, and if that means that you must choose between Khorne and Slaanesh, then there isn't really a choice to be made, is there? Khorne kicks ass.

In fact, Khorne is probably the best of the chaos armies for sheer killing power, especially if your enemy is playing space marines. You will trample, you will cut, you will crush. That's what Khorne does. I don't think it's necessary to do a blow by blow of why Khorne kicks ass, but I think I should hit the highlights.

First of all, the axe of khorne is one of the best hth weapons in the game. Get a general with it, a Juggernaught, and spiky bits, you'll see what I mean. But I digress as the real strength of Khorne is not in their leaders but in their dreadnoughts and their regular soldiers. The Khorne troopers can all get Chainaxes! Good lord! Plus, they get an extra d6" of movement 1/3 of the time. The dreadnoughts are more likely to go into blood frenzy, and if you don't give them any ranged weapons at all, they'll go blood frenzy half the time! Finally, unlike most other chaos troop squads which have severe limitations on the weapon options of the average soldier, Khorne troops can still get plasma guns.

In other words, a Khorne army will get into hand to hand combat and they will do very well at it. This is both the plus and the minus of Khorne. If you like watching your troops run at the enemy and actually get there, you will like playing Khorne. In fact, you will like playing Khorne alot. If, on the other hand, you like moving around, maneuvering, holding positions, sniping, sneaking, etc., you will not like playing Khorne. They do one thing well, but that's just it: they only do that one thing. For one battle this can be very fun. A couple of battles, still good. But if this is your only army, and you play them every time, you might start getting bored with your options. It's not that you won't win, but it will be the same thing, week after week after week.

It is for this reason, that I have never been able to fully commit to a World Eaters army. There are a number of hand to hand armies in 40k: Tyranids, Orks, Harlequins, Grey Knights, Dark Eldar--but each of these armies has other things going for them. Tyranids may almost always be in hand to hand combat, but there are different flavors of hth. You can move your gagantuans down the battle field or swarm with gaunts. Meanwhile, you have firing options getting into combat.

But with Khorne, you've got your one trick. It's a good trick, but if you're really into hand to hand combat, I'd suggest another army. On the other hand, if your goal is to add a hand to hand contingent to your undivided force, Khorne cannot be beat. The troopers will rival, and perhaps beat out, the raptors as your choice of assault troops.