This is a review of the Start Collecting Khorne Bloodbound: half of the original Age of Sigmar starter set together with the Stormcast and a replacement of the Khorne mortals start collecting.
If you do not know anything about what a Start Collecting box is, here is a short introduction.
The Start Collecting boxes are a very convenient way to get started playing Warhammer or start a new army with a specific faction.
You will usually get at least 1 character, 1 sort of “basic unit” (many times a battleline unit) and 1 unit that is a bigger elite/monster type sort of deal.)
Which models are included in the Start Collecting Khorne Bloodbound Box?
The box advertises:
- 1 Mighty Lord of Khorne (The Mightly Lord is indeed Korghos Khul himself so either warscroll can be used to represent this model)
- 1 Bloodsecrator
- 1 Bloodstoker
- 1 Khorgorath
- 5 Blood Warriors
- 10 Bloodreavers
1 Mighty Lord of Khorne
The Mighty Lord is not a hero that is seen often in a Khorne army.
With decent melee attacks he can slay outright a model on a 5+ after damaging it with his axe and unbind a spell per phase like a wizard.
If you use him as the named character Korghos Khul he adds to this the ability to re-roll all attacks, pile in 8” instead of 3” and if he is the general can basically give the Locus of Fury (re-roll hit rolls of 1) to all Goretide units wholly within 16” (same ability all daemons have within range of a daemon hero).
1 Bloodsecrator
The Bloodsecrator is an essential unit of a Khorne army with his 16” bubble that forces enemy casters to re-roll successful casting rolls and gives +1 attack to all Khorne units wholly within.
With a 3+ save and 4 3+/3+, rend -1 attacks he is also not one to go down so easily or be underestimated, but you take him for his buff (so keep him safe).
1 Bloodstoker
The Bloodstoker is another hero particularly useful to buff your units, his ability has a short range (wholly within 8”) but allows one unit selected to re-roll wound rolls and adds +3” to run and charge.
The Bloodstoker is also essential or optional in a few battalions making him good to have available as a mini for you.
1 Khorgorath
The Khorgorath is a veritable beast and even its profile is not bad considering its value in points: 3 missile attacks and 5 in melee healing back 1 wound if it slays an enemy.
And don’t forget the various buffs the heroes can give to nearby units. There’s also a slaughterhost specific to buff these guys.
5 Blood Warriors
The Blood Warriors in this box are mono-pose and as such they have only one weapon profile:
Goreaxes and Gorefists allowing to do mortal wounds on a save roll of a 6. The pair of Goreaxes would allow to re-roll 1s to hit, a bonus that can be achieved in other ways.
Unfortunately, from the box is missing also the champion with the Goreglaive, for rend -1 and 2 damage and the Icon Bearer for +1 bravery.
Despite so, the Blood Warriors are good options since they can pile in and attack as soon as they are slain.
10 Bloodreavers
The Blood Reavers are the basic mortal infantry of Khorne, extremely dispensable but not to be underestimated.
When wholly within 16” of a Bloodsecrator they get +2 attacks instead of 1 and for 70 points they are well worth the investment.
Models armed with Reaver Blades can re-roll hit rolls of 1, so once again Axes (for -1 rend) are better options but sadly not available in this box.
Points cost in the Start Collecting Khorne Bloodbound Box
Using the points from the FAQ after the General Handbook 2019 and Khorne updated tome:
- 140 points for the Mighty Lord of Khorne or 180 for Korghos Khul (unique)
- 120 for a Bloodsecrator
- 80 for a Bloodstoker
- Blood Warriors and Bloodreavers are battleline worth 100 points for 5 models and 70 for 10 models respectively.
- The Khorgorath’s value is 100
In total that is 650 (using the Khorne lord as Korghos Khul).
Note: this article was made prior to the December 2019 points update, so some points could have changed there.
Value of the Start Collecting Khorne Bloodbound box
Calculating the discount value of this box is extremely hard as only the Blood Reavers and the Blood Warriors are available to purchase separately and both boxes contain double the models.
Assuming 36.25 for half of those boxes, and the 25£ for the combined blister of the Mighty Lord and the Bloodsecrator previously available, we can guess around 17£ the value of Bloodstoker and 20£ for a Khorgorath for a total of 98.25£ estimate and a discount value of 49% or more.
Overall verdict on the Start Collecting Khorne Bloodbound box
This box, as most starter sets, is fully packed with miniatures: well 19, one of the highest for Age of Sigmar start collecting boxes.
It does suffer the problem of having only mono-pose options losing some good weapon profiles for Blood Warriors and Bloodreavers.
On the other hand, it’s the only way to obtain certain miniatures, some of which is essential like the Bloodsecrator and the Bloodstoker.
Since the retirement of the previous start collecting, now this is the only way to get into Khorne mortals.
You’ll have to choose between mortals and daemons when fielding a Khorne army, but since the above units will buff both daemons and mortals, you may anyway be interested in this box.
The battleline options are extremely useful but considering they don’t have all weapon options you may be tempted to stop at the first box and buy the other individually but if fielding an army of mortals a second box would still give you lots of material, including a second Bloodsecrator, ideas and materials for conversion/kitbash and a beefy Bloodreavers unit of 20.
