The Mark of Khorne
The Blood Legions are the Daemonic armies of the Chaos God Khorne that exist within the Realm of Chaos. They sometimes manage to break into the material realm under the right conditions to slay mortals and seek battle among the worlds of Humanity and xenos alike.
Of all the Chaos Gods' Daemonic armies, it is the Blood Legions of Khorne that are the most martial. Though they are savage and unrestrained creatures, Daemons of the Blood God occupy a strict hierarchical structure based on sheer might. Khorne's belief that the strongest of its followers should dominate has proven to be a simple but highly efficient organisational methodology.
The legions of the Blood God have carved out the largest of all domains in the Immaterium through incessant war. In the brutal press of melee on the battlefield, Khorne's forces are unmatched by those of any other god, and the strength and ferocity each of its Daemons exhibits there decides where they rank in the god's armies.
Highest in order are the Bloodthirsters. Clad in baroque armour, wielding fearsome brass axes and whips, each is a demigod of war. Were they simply warriors and nothing more, Khorne's Greater Daemons would be terrifying enough. The Blood God's foes are not so fortunate, however, for the Bloodthirsters are tasked with leading the Lord of Skull's Blood Legions on the battlefield; there they bark guttural orders to the ranks of Lesser Daemons around them, and assert their dominance and dedication to Khorne by defeating the mightiest of the enemies' combatants. Figures of awe amongst the servants of the Blood God, they often attract an entourage of Daemonic champions that follow them into glorious battle.
Khulzar's Doom Court, an example of a single one of eight cohorts drawn from a Daemonic Blood Legion of Khorne; the Doom Court was personally led by the Bloodthirster Khulzar during the Blood Crusade in the Attila System; this order of battle reflects the cohort as it entered battle on the Fortress World of Alexandrum.
Each Blood Legion is divided into eight cohorts, which are individually comprised of eight packs of Daemons led by a Herald of Khorne or a Daemon Prince. The exact composition of these cohorts, and the auxiliary formations and creatures that may fight alongside them, will often depend on the type of Blood Legion they belong to.
For instance, the heart of the Red Tide Legions is made of Bloodletter cohorts that overrun the foe with waves of infantry attacks; such is the scale of death around them that they will often be followed by packs of carrion-feeding Furies.
In contrast, the Hellfire Legions are siege specialists that prefer to engage the foe at range, and go to war in the shadows of Skull Cannons, Soul Grinders and, in the greatest of conflicts, the massive Daemon Engines known as Lords of Skulls.
The Brazen Thunder Legions are the most mobile of Khorne's armies; the ground shakes beneath their Blood Thrones and the Bloodcrushers they lead, while Flesh Hound packs chase down any that attempt to flee.
Exactly how many types of Blood Legion exist is known only to Khorne himself. At full strength, each Blood Legion is typically formed of eight cohorts, and each cohort is composed of eight packs of Khornate Daemons. These formations can vary for many reasons, although most commonly it is through the addition of auxiliaries or an influx or decrease in Warp energies upon the battlefield.
It is also not unusual amongst the minions of Khorne for a cohort to subjugate the Daemon packs of another such formation, bringing them to their side by force during savage, and sometimes ritualized, infighting.
Sources[]
- Codex: Chaos Daemons (8th Edition), pp. 10-13, 43