Traitor Legions book has greatly improved the number of ways to play Chaos Space Marines. Almost all of them are really playable, interesting and demonstrate the specification of the legion. Today we’ll talk about World Eater’s concept – blood-lusting berserkers, destroying everything they see.
We need to mention that this army is not tournament-oriented, indeed. Everyone knows that if you want into Powerplay with Chaos – just take the Cabal, Renegade Knight, Spawns, Dragons, and maybe, Daemon allies. It’s so boring, that there’s no use discussing it once again. We’ll discuss the concept of a logical, background-oriented and playable army of the World Eaters, which can bring you a real pleasure from the game, no matter, what the results are.
It’s obvious, that our army is close combat oriented. So, we’ll keep this idea. Also, there’re no psykers allowed – even allied ones. Khorne doesn’t like them, so why should we? You can take Khorne Daemonkin as an ally if you want to get Soulgrinder, or Hounds. They won’t break the concept, so it’s up to you – why not.
Since the World Eaters Butcherhorde Detachment grants you 2D6 move after the deployment, and re-roll of all the failed charges, it would be a crime not using it. What to take as a core choice? Berserker formation could be fun – less obligatory units, looks brutal, but… But look at the army’s special rule – regular space marines get Furious Charge and Fearless for free. So – we have a space marine for 15 pts (13+mark of Khorne) and Berserker for 19 – with almost the same stats, but WS 4 against WS 5..Does not help much, though. So – there’s no use in berserkers at all. 40 pts profit from a squad is really too much. So, let’s take classical Warband and classical Chaos Space Marines in it.
How to use them? The fact that we have additional 2D6 move at the start of the game lets us use them…barefoot. It sounds really unconventional, but if the idea works, it will let you charge on the first turn! Or, at least, create a decent threat to your enemies. In this case, our troops are easy targets. But we can create several different squads, each equally dangerous, and move them forward as one broad line – this will make your enemy choose, and separate shooting, since if he ignores one – it will strike with the full strength really soon. Sure, you can take dedicated Rhinos, in order to capture objectives or to hide your troops, if you don’t have the 1st turn. Don’t forget – only non-vehicle models get 2D6 re-deployment. Well, the 1st turn is a must for you – this army highly depends on alpha-strike. So…try your best for this roll.
Two tactical squads with the Mark of Khorne and CCV. You don’t need your bolters, since they are more effective right when you are far enough to try charging. You can also include 20 marines in one of the squads. Even 10 are threatening with 40 attacks when charging – imagine, how deadly the strike from 20 is… No matter, what armor they have, your enemies will shiver in fear! And you can hide your Champion in such a big blob in order to avoid challenge and use your special weapon where it’s really needed. You can also take some meltas if you like. And you can hide a character in such crowd. Here’s the most interesting place…
We can take a lot of heroes and all of them are useful. There’s no big difference – in which squad to put them – the idea of our roster is equal threat. So, you can adapt it, depending on the situation. The most obvious choice is Kharn. You can’t ignore one of the best slayers in the game, if you have an option to take him! Next – let’s choose according to the artefacts.
Talisman of Burning Blood gives you +3 to any types of move, and it’s a must. But a character with it can’t take any other relic weapons – so, you need a simple Lord with it (4++ and power fist or axe are also a good idea) to support the whole squad. As a result, it gets 9 inch move, so it can easily accompany a classical Juggernaut Lord with the Axe of Blind Fury. So – we don’t need our Spawns anymore since every squad can become a Death Star.
Another tasty artefact is Berserker’s Glaive – Deamonic sword, that gives the bearer Feel no Pain, It will not die and +2 str. There’s no better idea than giving it to your Daemon Prince. He provides AP2 and doesn’t care about losing Independent Character special rule. (In fact, he doesn’t have it). And the bonuses are extremely useful for him. He’s quite cheap (only wings and armor), fast, and extremely deadly. Imagine, he has rolled 12, then moved 12, then charged 12 with a re-roll…so we have 36 inch area, where no enemy unit can rest.
We don’t need more characters – 3 dangerous slayers and 1 support are definitely enough. Also, there are no interesting artefacts.
We still need to fill the Warband. Bikers with meltas are a nice choice since we don’t have anti-tank at all. Raptors are also fine, if you keep them in Deep Strike – it adds tactical mobility to your army. Elite choice is interesting too. Terminators, if accompanied by the Lord with +3 move seem to be really tasty. You can also try Chosen – classical meltas on Rhino or barefoot squad with Power weapons and Kharn as a leader… Both ideas are interesting and fit into our concept.
Heavy support is more likely havocs, who will take an objective somewhere behind. Not in a Khorne way, but Hellbrute is not a choice at all since he can’t re-deploy. Some auxiliary Helldrakes are a must, since you don’t have anti-air, and they are still perfect 3+ killers.
In general – the idea is clear. Hide characters in big barefoot crowds, place them as wide as possible, and run towards the enemy, screaming BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!! Tests show that this concept is even more effective than it seems. We are too tied down standards. The weak points are vehicles and mass-shooting. However, close combat potential is so great, that even mobile armies can’t escape. We’ll look into the other Traitor legions further on. Don’t be afraid to try something new to get a real pleasure from the game!
