Our series of Faction Focus articles previewing detachments from the new edition of Warhammer 40,000 continues, to the sound of revving chainblades and raucous screaming from the bloodthirsty World Eaters.
Brazen Engines
As much as the World Eaters are known for their massed, charging hordes of blood-crazed infantry, they also maintain a sizable motor pool of equally deadly vehicles. The Brazen Engines detachment takes their daemon-possessed war engines and drives them into a frenzy, terrifying anyone caught in their rampage.
RAMPAGING TERRORS
To stand in the path of stampeding Khornate daemon engines is to know the instinctive terror of cornered prey.
Friendly DAEMON VEHICLE units have the following ability:
Terror of Khorne: At the start of the Fight phase, you can select one enemy unit engaged with this unit. That enemy unit makes a battle-shock roll, with -1 to that battle-shock roll. You cannot select the same enemy unit for this effect more than once per phase.
This detachment has the ONSLAUGHT tag and cannot be taken with another ONSLAUGHT detachment.
If you’ve just picked up one or more of the new and devilishly handsome Defilers, then this is the home they’ve been waiting for. They’re already deadly, and locking their prey out of using stratagems with a failed battle-shock test tips the scales even further in your favour.
Maulerfiends are brutal in close combat and can already bludgeon a sizeable squad to bits with the 8 Attacks on their Maulerfiend fists, but what if you’re getting bogged down by great mobs of Orks or other lesser chaff? Upgrade them with the Talons of Butchery, and they’ll get Cleave 2 – giving them two extra attacks for every five models in the unit they swing at.
TALONS OF BUTCHERY (Upgrade)
The vicious talons of this daemon engine are said to have been fashioned in the blazing forges of the Blood God’s empyric realm.
MAULERFIEND unit only. This unit’s Maulerfiend Fists have [CLEAVE 2].
Don’t forget that Cleave is like Blast but for close combat, meaning your Maulerfiends will go through hordes like a scythe through wheat.
[CLEAVE]
With sufficient might or skill, warriors may sweep blades or talons through their foes in long lethal arcs.
This ability always takes the form [CLEAVE X]. Each time you gather attack dice for a [CLEAVE] weapon, if you only selected one target for all of that weapon’s attacks, add X additional attack dice for every five models that were in the target unit in the Select Targets step (rounding down).
Example: If a [CLEAVE 1] weapon with an A characteristic of 3 targets one unit containing 16 models, you would gather three additional attack dice for that weapon (for a total of six for that weapon).
It’s a real shame when meddling foes try to limit the destruction you can wreak, especially now that cover imposes a -1 Ballistic Skill penalty to your attacks. Do away with all of that with the Apoplectic Clarity stratagem, and reap skulls for the Skull Throne on your own terms.
APOPLECTIC CLARITY (1CP)
BRAZEN ENGINES STRATAGEM
So perfect a state of supernatural rage does this ironclad entity exist in that nothing can distract it from its single‑minded slaughter.
WHEN: Your Shooting phase or the Fight phase, when a friendly DAEMON VEHICLE unit is selected to attack.
TARGET: That DAEMON VEHICLE unit.
EFFECT: Your unit’s attacks can ignore modifiers to:
BS.
WS.
Hit rolls and wound rolls.
Butchers of Khorne
Back in the days of the Horus Heresy, the infamous Red Butcher Terminators of the World Eaters were rightly feared for their berserk savagery, and the Butchers of Khorne detachment channels that legacy into your modern-day Terminator Squads.
ADAMANTINE AVALANCHE
Hurling themselves into battle with savage ferocity, the sheer armoured bulk of the World Eaters’ Terminator elites is enough to shatter armour and crush bone.
At the start of the Fight phase, if a friendly TERMINATOR SQUAD unit is engaged, make a Blessings of Khorne roll and use the results to activate one Blessing of Khorne. Until the end of the phase, that Blessing of Khorne is active for friendly TERMINATOR SQUAD units in addition to any other Blessings of Khorne that are currently active.
With so many bonuses on offer from the Blessings of Khorne, there’s a strong likelihood that you’ll get to activate another powerful buff from the Adamantine Avalanche rule – potentially having three active at the same time on your Terminators. Sustained Hits, Lethal Hits, and Devastating Wounds? Sign us up!
To reflect your Terminators being the chosen elite of Angron’s sons, you can also make them fight like the elite with the Gore-stained Veterans enhancement. They’re already hitting hard with power fists and chainfists, so hitting more often is the best upgrade you can ask for.
GORE-STAINED VETERANS (Upgrade)
Countless fields of bloody battle have honed these warriors’ martial skills to the keenest killing edge.
TERMINATOR SQUAD unit only. This unit’s melee attacks have +1 WS.
Khorne doesn’t care from whence the blood flows, but he does rather like it when it flows from big and impressive foes. Your Terminators are always happy to punch up into some truly terrifying Monsters and Vehicles, and A Trophy for the Throne helps them drag down the toughest foes for a good battering.
A TROPHY FOR THE THRONE (1CP)
BUTCHERS OF KHORNE STRATAGEM
The greater and more terrible the enemies these warriors face in battle, the mightier the trophies they can take in the Blood God’s name.
WHEN: Fight phase, when a friendly TERMINATOR SQUAD unit is selected to fight.
TARGET: That TERMINATOR SQUAD unit.
EFFECT: Your unit’s attacks that target a MONSTER/VEHICLE unit have +1 to wound rolls.
Vessels of Wrath
Khornate champions are among the deadliest fighters in the galaxy, and each one pushes ever harder for the attention of their patron by slaughtering as much as they can. They channel the Wrath of Khorne into an unstoppable battle frenzy, and can choose whether they want to blend loads of enemy fighters at once or scythe through the armour of particularly resistant targets.
WRATH OF KHORNE
Every Khornate champion treads a personal Path to Glory. Through carnage and bloodshed, they earn empowering boons of martial might.
When a friendly WORLD EATERS CHARACTER unit (excluding EPIC HERO units) is selected to fight, that unit's CHARACTER models' melee attacks can have:
[CLEAVE 1].
Or: +1 AP.
Should the Blood God reward his faithful by turning a mote of his attention upon them in their moment of glory, that Character can become an avatar of his unquenchable fury with the immense, once-per-battle Archslaughterer enhancement. This turns your Daemon Prince, Lord on Juggernaut, or Slaughterbound – and any lucky World Eaters they happen to be leading – into an outrageous killing machine, getting every weapon ability that matters and all-but ensuring they’ll power straight into combat with better charges, better pile-ins and the ability to fight on death if they’re really unlucky.
ARCHSLAUGHTERER
This gifted killer channels the fullness of his rage into every weapon swing – doubly so in that fleeting moment when he believes the Blood God’s gaze has fallen upon him.
WORLD EATERS model only. (Once per battle, per army) In your
Command phase, you can use this ability. If you do, every Blessing of Khorne is active for this unit until the start of your next turn.
Oh, you want more bloodshed? How about making all of their attacks for that turn into tank-smashing mega slams with the Aspire to Infamy Stratagem? Stick it on a Lord on Juggernaut or Master of Executions and they’ll be lopping loyalist Terminators in half like it’s nothing, while the bigger guys can toss armoured Vehicles and rampaging Monsters around like toys.
ASPIRE TO INFAMY (1CP)
VESSELS OF WRATH STRATAGEM
Feeling that the Blood God’s eye must surely be sweeping the field of war, his champions strive with wild ferocity to prove themselves.
WHEN: Fight phase, when a friendly WORLD EATERS CHARACTER unit (excluding EPIC HERO units) is selected to fight.
TARGET: That WORLD EATERS CHARACTER unit.
EFFECT: Your unit's CHARACTER models' melee attacks have:
+1 A.
+2 S.
As 1DP detachments, these three can be combined into a powerful force of hard-hitting elites, or mixed with one of the options from Codex: World Eaters – most of which will be 2DP. Terminators love to be ferried up to the front lines in the belly of a Land Raider, so why not mix the Butchers of Khorne with the Goretrack Onslaught detachment and supercharge your heavily armoured spearhead?
There will be plenty of blood for the Blood God, and dare we say it, quite a few skulls for the Skull Throne to go around when these new detachments land. There’ll also be lots to see from all the other factions – come back tomorrow to find out what new technological advances the T’au Empire are getting.
