Blood for the other blood god! The new Daughters of Khaine battletome features a revamped battle trait focused on performing blood rituals. Join us as we head to the shrine to get baptised in gore.
The new battle trait for the Daughters of Khaine revolves around spilling blood in the name of the Murder God to bring down blessings on your army. If you can keep Khaine happy, you’ll be very richly rewarded.
Before you can start a blood ritual, you need to select a Hero to lead your ceremony. Being anointed is a great honour, but as with all things connected to Morathi-Khaine, it might be more dubious than it first appears.
ANOINTED RITUALIST
Start of First Battle Round
The skin of a worthy champion is smeared with oil and daubed with sacred blood runes, and they are granted the honour of leading those gory rituals beloved of Morathi-Khaine.
Declare: If there are no friendly anointed units on the battlefield, pick a friendly non-UNIQUE DAUGHTERS OF KHAINE Hero on the battlefield to be the target.
Effect: The target is anointed for the rest of the battle, even if it has been destroyed. Friendly anointed units on the battlefield treat EXALTED abilities on the warscrolls of friendly anointed units that have been destroyed as if they were on their warscrolls.
In fact, your Anointed Ritualist might not last the entire battle. But don’t worry, it’s all part of Khaine's plan, and a swift Bloody Succession sees a new anointed Hero selected.
BLOODY SUCCESSION
Passive
As one anointed champion falls, the runes painted on their skin fade away, only to reappear upon the body of another faithful soul.
Effect: Each time a friendly anointed unit is destroyed, after removing it from play, you can immediately use the ‘Anointed Ritualist’ ability as if it were the start of the first battle round.
So, you could select a Melusai Ironscale as your first anointed ritualist, and if they fall as part of your schemes, simply select another who will then have access to the Ironscale’s Fury ability. Seems like Khaine has been learning from Khorne when it comes to not caring from whence the blood flows.
MELUSAI IRONSCALE
IRONSCALE’S FURY
Passive
The doctrine of the Melusai Ironscales is simple: every Khainite death must be answered with immediate and shockingly violent vengeance.
Effect: Each time a model in a friendly non-HERO DAUGHTERS OF KHAINE unit is slain by a combat attack, if that friendly unit is within this unit’s combat range and that model was in combat with the attacking unit, roll a dice. If that friendly unit is a Blood Sisters or a Blood Stalkers unit, roll 2 dice instead. For each 5+, inflict 1 mortal damage on the attacking unit after the FIGHT ability has been resolved.
KEYWORDS: EXALTED
Whether you’re on your first or fourth anointed champion, it’s time to start your blood ritual. As with all the best parties, the two most important things are who’s running it and where it’s taking place. If your chosen champion spills blood (or has their blood spilt) or you cause carnage in a specific location, congratulations, you’ve performed your blood rite.
BLOOD RITES
Passive
Manifold are the Khainite blood rituals, but no offering holds greater weight than the spilling of gore in a ritualistic bacchanal.
Effect: You perform a blood rite each time:
An enemy unit is destroyed and any damage points were allocated to that unit by a friendly anointed unit’s combat attacks in the same turn.
A friendly anointed unit is destroyed.
A friendly unit contesting an objective you control is destroyed.
An enemy unit is destroyed by a friendly DAUGHTERS OF KHAINE unit’s attacks and any models in that enemy unit were contesting an objective you do not control in the same phase.
A unit (friendly or enemy) is destroyed and it was within 3"of a Place of Power at the start of the phase.
Having completed your ceremony, you’ll find that Khaine is a generous god, and you can choose from seven blessings. Each is really powerful and gives you battlefield-wide bonuses. Need a boost in combat? Go with Blessing of Ruthlessness. Choose Blessing of Haste if you want to make your army faster, while Blessing of Shadow is a boon if you’re facing an enemy with lots of shooting.
BLESSINGS OF KHAINE
Once Per Turn (Army), End of Any Turn
As ever more blood is spilt in tribute, so too are the Khainites lavished with ever more blessings from their deity.
Declare: You can only use this ability if you performed any blood rites this turn.
Effect: Pick 1 of the following blessings that is not active. That blessing is active. While a blessing is active, its effect applies to friendly DAUGHTERS OF KHAINE units. The effects of more than 1 blessing can apply to a unit at the same time.
Blessing of Ruthlessness: Add 1 to hit rolls for those units’ combat attacks.
Blessing of Hatred: Add 1 to wound rolls for those units’ combat attacks.
Blessing of Haste: Add 3" to those units’ Move characteristic.
Blessing of Zeal: If those units charged in the same turn, they have WARD (5+) for the rest of the turn.
Blessing of Shadow: Subtract 1 from hit rolls for shooting attacks that target those units.
Blessing of Cruelty: Those units can use CHARGE and/or SHOOT abilities even if they have used a RETREAT ability in the same turn.
Blessing of Clarity: Add 1 to chanting rolls and casting rolls for those units.
The flexibility of these blessings means you’ll always have just the right one to use at just the right time. What happens if you can’t decide and want to select two blessings? The new Blood Hags can help you out here with their Crimson Offerings ability, which gives you even more versatility.
BLOOD HAGS
CRIMSON OFFERINGS
Once Per Turn (Army), Reaction: You declared the ‘Blessings of Khaine’ ability
Cruel twists of the Blood Hags’ valthrai send fountains of blood gushing into the air – a generous tribute for the Murder God.
Effect: If an enemy unit was destroyed by this unit’s combat attacks this turn, when resolving that ability, you can pick 2 blessings instead of 1.
Feeling ready to spill some blood? Grab a High Gladiatrix to appoint as an anointed ritualist. The new Daughters of Khaine battletome is available to pre-order on Saturday, and we’ll be taking a look at its Armies of Renown later in the week.
