Testing Skaven Before the League vs Blades of Khorne
A really useful test game before the league
We had one of those games that are just perfect before an event: fun, swingy, and full of lessons. Michał got to test his list ahead of the league, and by the sound of it, it was exactly the kind of sparring match you want before serious games start.
Big thanks went to Przemek for making that test possible — and also for bringing an army that seems to rewrite the rules of the game every turn.
Khorne that keeps changing the game state
The big takeaway from the game was simple: Blades of Khorne look wildly interesting on the table.
As Michał put it, they feel a bit like a white deck in MTG — lots of reactive tools, weird rule pressure, and mechanics that keep changing what both players can or cannot do as the game develops.
Their core engine sounded especially nasty: for every destroyed unit — theirs or the opponent’s — they gain a point, and then spend those points to unlock abilities during the game. That means the army doesn’t just lose pieces and carry on; it actively evolves as the battle gets bloodier.
And this one escalated fast. In the first turn, three units died, which meant Khorne started unlocking tricks almost immediately.
The moment the Verminlord stopped being a wizard
One of the earliest unlocks was brutal.
Przemek got access to an ability that let him roll a D6, and on a 4+ reduce an enemy wizard’s level by 1. Once unlocked, he could keep using it every Hero phase.
That became a huge problem for Michał’s Verminlord Deceiver, who had been happily throwing Withers into the Skullcrushers for D3 mortal damage. But then turn 2 came, the ability went off, and suddenly the Verminlord became a level 0 wizard.
Which is to say: no wizard level, no real spellcasting, no more magical pressure from that piece.
That kind of rule interaction is exactly why test games matter. Sometimes you don’t just learn whether your list hits hard enough — you learn that one specific enemy mechanic can completely switch off a key part of your plan.
Then the shooting got worse too
As if deleting wizard levels wasn’t enough, Khorne later unlocked another ability for two points: -1 to hit for every shooting attack that targets Blades of Khorne.
Not one unit. Not a once-per-phase trick. Just broad pressure on incoming shooting.
Against some armies that may be manageable. In a test environment, though, it’s the kind of thing you really want to discover now rather than in round 1 of a league.
The really wild rule: half the units die, and Khorne goes berserk
The most absurd mechanic from the game was probably the one Michał described when the battlefield gets sufficiently thinned out.
If at least half of the units on the table are destroyed, Khorne loses all positive modifiers to saves — but in exchange, all of their weapons except Companion weapons gain:
- Crit (Mortal)
- +1 Rend
- +1 Damage
That is an absolutely unhinged tradeoff and also extremely Khorne.
It creates this strange tension where the game doesn’t just progress toward a normal endgame. Instead, it threatens to flip into an even bloodier mode where everything starts hitting like a truck.
Strong hero hunting tools
Another thing that stood out was how much hero hunting Khorne seems to have.
They could mark a hero as a kind of quarry, and then interact with that marked target through movement tricks:
- teleporting units toward the marked hero,
- or retreating from combat for free, but only in the direction of that quarry.
That sounds both thematic and dangerous. If your list relies on key support heroes or casters, that kind of pressure can shape the whole game.
Manifestation tech on top of all that
There was also a Khorne manifestation in the mix that could let them use abilities as if they had already been unlocked, even before earning them the normal way.
In this game, Przemek didn’t really get value from it because the manifestation went down quickly, but the mechanic itself sounds important. It adds yet another layer to the army: not just unlocking power over time, but potentially shortcutting that process.
And yes, the double turn mattered
Michał also mentioned that the double turn gave Przemek a lot.
That probably won’t surprise anyone who has played Age of Sigmar for a while, but in a game with this many stacking unlocks, pressure tools, and momentum swings, getting two turns in a row can feel especially punishing.
Final thoughts
Overall, this sounds like exactly the kind of game we love hearing about after the fact: a strong test before the league, a lot of practical list knowledge gained, and a reminder that some factions don’t just try to outfight you — they try to reshape the game while doing it.
Also, comparing Khorne to a white MTG deck is now going to live in our heads for a while.
If nothing else, this test seems to have confirmed two things:
- the game was great,
- and Blades of Khorne have some extremely spicy mechanics.
Category: battle-report