Goatboy’s Warhammer 40K: Top 8 Things About Codex World Eaters!
Goatboy here with the first impressions on the World Eaters brand new codex! It’s bloody-tastic!
That’s right, it is finally here and we all can get scared about the threat of Angron coming to your door multiple times asking for a cup of skulls. It’s a book full of murderous madmen doing their best to be the greatest murder hobos of the universe. The Legion of Khorne is here and while it isn’t a subtle book it does seem to have some chance to mess up the competitive scene a bit. Lots of strong daemon dudes coming at you quickly can do short work – if they get there.
But enough of me waxing poetically about mayhem. Let’s get into what I like about the book. There is a lot more than five but I figured I would leave it simple and sweet just like the codex is. Beyond just the rules the models themselves are pretty dang awesome too. I am sure I will showcase some pictures when I get a chance to paint some of the murder boys as I plan on this army being the next one I work on for me personally. You could say it is a Valentine’s gift for one of my true loves – pure tabletop mayhem.
A Short and Sweet Codex
This is not a book full of intricate plans and pathways to victory. It is a simple book filled with powerful face punches and chainblades of doom. The rules are pretty simple, but there is some crafty art to how the book is built. It isn’t going to be something you will be flipping thru to try and find the secret stratagem to win the game. The tools of the trade in the book are all in your hands and quick to access and utilize. I like this and hope we see future releases pare down some of the rules bloat we have grown accustomed to with some of the new books. With too many layers of Stratagems, you end up forgetting about or misreading and playing incorrectly. These World Eaters rules are simple. That is a good thing in a game where you have to manage a ton of dice rolling, models to move around, and seeing how you can win the game of controlling the most circular mousepads.
A Well Themed Codex
Everything about the book fits the theme of being Scions of Khorne. All the units fit this mold of skull gathering and that is a good thing. There isn’t a ton of wasted units in the books and almost every unit seems to fit. There are some missing pieces from CSM that I feel are off (why no World Eaters Bikers) but in some ways, it does kind of fit the fluff – mostly. I don’t really see a Dark Apostle working in the Codex as all of these guys are zealots for Khorne. I really only wanted them as another option to boost up your Exalted into more murderous territories. We’ll see what Forge World does with some of their options available to the book with an extra few Daemon Engines and other fun stuff.
The Blood Tithe is AWESOME
This is probably one of the more interesting rules in the book as it is a benefit to things dying. Anything dying! I like how simple it is with just a counter system based on if something dies – gain a Blood Tithe point. At the end of each phase, if an Monstrous Creature, Vehicle, or Character dies – gain an extra Blood Tithe Point. Oh, and if it happens to have the Titanic Keyword – get another bonus Blood Tithe point. This is pretty cool and you get to spend the Blood Tithe points throughout the game without having to worry about some going away. You get to spend and buy one blessing per phase, so you can’t really stack a ton right away and need to plan how you activate each blessing. Thankfully there are a ton of phases during a turn, so it shouldn’t be an issue. The big ones to think about is the 2 Blood Tithe to get a 5+ FNP versus mortals, a 5 Blood Tithe points to get exploding 6’s to hit in melee, 4 Blood Tithe points to get a 6+ FNP all the time, and finally the 6 Blood Tithe points to bring back Angron from the dead with 8 wounds. The other important one is the 3 Blood Tithe points to get a +1 to your charge as getting stuck in is important.
This design has me thinking going full MSU to generate as many Blood Tithe points via your army dying and your opponent’s army eating it. It also isn’t limited to your World Eaters themselves dying. So things like a Khorne Patrol with Skull Cannons start to sound pretty dang sweet. The three pack of Chaos Spawn for 75 points will help you generate 3 when each of those gross gribblies of nonsense die on the battlefield and maybe drown an objective in blood.
Angron Is Pretty Dang Murderous
With Armor of Contempt gone, this Daemon Primarch is going to come in hot and just get to chopping anyone he hits. This is a pure and simple unit that fits the themes of the army – extremely killy and helps generate the Blood Tithe. Is he amazing? Well, yes and no. He is a big threat, keeps coming back, and can usually murder most things he hits. He doesn’t ignore Invulnerable saves, is only moderately tough, and with the limits on Warlord Traits he is a bit greedy of a model. I really wish we had a way to get another Warlord onto someone while taking Angron. That is my only real issue with the model. In the end, he does everything he is supposed to do – which is kill things for Khorne.
Eightbound Are Neat As Heck
The Eightbound and their Exalted brethren all seem pretty good. They are juiced-up Possessed who do the job they are set out to do. Get there and bring out a ton of damage. They have a ton of attacks, and I expect most armies to run 15-17 Eightbound with a 2 pack of Exalted to help round things out. The regular Eightbound gains the CORE keyword so a ton of things bounce off of them like extra movement, fight on death, and other fun things. They feel really well set up, and I am just sad I can’t take units of 10 Eightbound like my Possessed in my CSM armies. The +1 damage option is going to make these guys hit like a mac truck. It will also help deal with some of the damage mitigation we see out there from Imperial Knights and other fun stuff.
There Are Some Downsides
Those are some of the basic things I like but there are a few things I am not excited about in this book. Let’s go thru them; just so you know not everything is rose-colored. The army is very 1 dimensional, and that can be frustrating for a new player to mess with. It is an army of movement. So if you don’t know where to go – you will just watch as your army bleeds out on the tabletop.
I hinted a bit at the lack of extra Warlord Traits and Relic stratagems but there is a lot of feeling like we are missing a few. Simplifying it down is one thing but not letting Land Raiders use smoke launchers in the Red Angels army is just weird. It is the same with the extra Damage Strat not showing up for the Red Angels. I am sure some of it is due to some game balance thoughts. But it always feels weird we didn’t have a page of regular strats all can use – then bonus ones for the two different army types.
The lack of some options is also weird too, as we have had pictures of World Eaters bikers forever. Also, why aren’t their some of the other CSM options too? Raptors seem well set up for the army as well as Warp Talons. I already wondered why a Dark Apostle isn’t a part of this too, as well as just foot Chaos Lords. An Exalted Champion at the Elite slot seems like a no brainer. Especially with how the Arks of Omen Detachment sets up Elite Characters. Heck, even a Warpsmith fits as the Brash Stampede is a thing.
A lot of this army feels like it really needs allies to get working. It could be a Daemon Detachment to get some fast options to help get your more Blood Tithe or a Chaos Knight detachment for some long range firepower. Or how about the point updates we saw with CSM coming to these guys like free weapons on Helbrutes and other fun things? It just feels like a little bit more attention paid to what people could play with might have given us a much more interesting set of rules to play with.
I’m All In for Khorne!
Regardless – this is an amazing bit of codex design work, and GW should be proud. I am still planning on playing with the army and will go over some lists these next 2 weeks. One of the Red Angel bros and a more MSU style option utilizing the best Juggerlord in the game. Captain Invocatus is the only flying Juggerlord in the game. This guy seems downright amazing and most likely will end up being the backbone of a true pressure World Eaters + Friends list.
You may have noticed I only went over five awesome things about the codex and the title said eight. Of course the last three best things are
ANGRON
ANGRON
ANGRON
Blood For the Blood God
