The Gunum Hot Take: The Imperial Armor FAQ – World Eaters

Hello everyone, it’s me, Gunum! I’m here to discuss recent changes to the Imperial Armor FAQ that allow World Eaters access to Chaos datasheets. With the release of the World Eaters from the confines of the Chaos Space Marine codex, there was also an incredible loss of options, from losing access to a unit like the Chaos Bikers, Warp Talons, and Raptors of all things. The adjustment to the Imperial Armor Compendium to allow World Eaters to almost triple their unit options is a massive breath of fresh (and bloody) air.

To put this a little more into perspective for people who are not Chaos players, the Chaos Space Marines codex has about 45 different datasheets in its main book. World Eaters? 22, with 13 of those being shared between the two books. The community has felt this lack of options strongly, with the exclusion of Warp Talons, Raptors, Bikers, and Dark Apostles being the most noticeable to me.

When reading this and considering the new options it presents, remember that all these units will benefit from the Blood Tithe. They don’t have Blood Tithe on their datasheets like the units in the codex, but that doesn’t matter. Blood Tithe is the primary special rule of the army, and by being World Eaters, every “World Eaters Unit” in your army gains the benefits, not the Blood Tithe ones. The special rule doesn’t impact this, so it’s hard to know why it’s on the datasheet.

Gunum Note: GW. Please. Give us Chaos Lords on foot and Dark Apostles. Age of Sigmar gets priests for Khorne armies; what the hell, guys.

The FAQ

With the introduction of the Forge World lineup to the World Eaters, the available datasheets have gone from 22 to 53. Most of these are super heavies, but tremendous support and transport options are suddenly available. The main thing we’ll gain with this adjustment is real shooting options. They may not be priced appropriately, but it’s something – and a source of things to Hear Me Out on.

Regarding how this works mechanically, the paragraph about “Chaos Space Marines Datasheets” has been updated to include WORLD EATERS, and then described how units can gain the BUTCHER ASTARTES and other relevant keywords. That’s pretty much it.

Units You Should Care about:

Before I go into these too much, there’s one crucial – and possibly unintended – thing to note. There is no errata to these data sheets’ transport capacity or the keywords of the stuff they can carry. Eightbound is INFANTRY so that you can stuff the transports full of them with no issue. This means that most Forge World transports allow you to take 10 to 20 Eightbound in them, providing an exciting alternative to the Lord Invocatus, though it may not be intended. All mentions of “units” will be substituted with Eightbound moving forward.

Terrax-Pattern Termite: Holds 12 Eightbound sitting at a reasonable 180 points. This model provides a turn-two delivery for Eightbound and screen-clearing shooting capacity from its dual heavy flamers and five melta shots. Other shooting options exist here, but keeping it cheap is essential. If the Drill ends up living, it will be able to benefit from the great World Eaters Legion trait to give it a good number of attacks. If you are looking for a unit that can do the same job as a Rhino at toughness 8, this is a real option that you should consider.

Dreadclaw Drop Pod: Again, a unit that carries 10 Eightbound into battle on turn one, dropping them a comfortable 9″ away on the first turn. It is a cheaper option to the Termite without the shooting. However, it can still be annoying if not dealt with immediately. The main drawback to this unit is that it takes up a Fast Attack slot, which could be a Chaos Spawn instead.

Blood Slaughterer: The real big winner for the World Eaters is this monster of a machine. You can see some real value in 125 points for a T7, 9W, 5 attack Helbrute replacement. With the World Eaters Blood Tithe and its 18″ Impaler Harpoon, you can have +3″ charges out of strategic reserves. The main issue is that the model you shoot with the harpoon can’t die if you want the harpoon to be useful, so this model will want to go after vehicles.

Units Gunum Cares about:

Land Raider Achilles: a fantastic unit that has a lot of potentials. It can hold six Eightbound and shores up one of the main weaknesses of the Land Raider chassis by providing a 5+ invulnerable save. It comes with four multi-meltas providing eight multi-melta shots at range. Finally, it straps a thunderfire cannon to the face of it, which gives you some direct fire damage 3 shooting. You can play this in disciples of the Red Angel or any World Eaters list and feel confident that your two units of Exalted Eightbound can get where they need to be.

Kharybdis Assault Claw: The assault claw can hold up to 20 Eightbound and immediately deliver them to your opponent’s doorstep. It is a Lord of War slot and comes in at Toughness 8 with 20 wounds and a 3+ save. At a comfortable 400 points, you get an OK amount of shooting but a fantastic amount of close combat damage. With the World Eaters chapter tactic, you are looking at a monster of a close combat unit that comes in at strength 18, AP-4, 3 damage, with a comfortable five attacks. Its main issue, of course, is that it hits on 4s. Still, thanks to its contents, it can deliver so much forward pressure that I expect to model mine as a giant beehive.

Decimator + Uraka the Warfiend: Decimators are the dreadnoughts she told you not to worry about. With many different weapon options, the most often used of which is the soul burner petard, it provides something that many World Eaters armies may be looking for: shooting, and a good amount of it for a reasonable price. The main weakness of the soul burners is that every time you roll a 1 to hit., your model takes a single mortal wound. So the only way we can get around that, with a unit that is not core, is using Uraka the Warfiend. Uraka is an HQ unit that could be taken in a Demons patrol detachment. He provides all Khorne demons within 6 inches of him to reroll ones to hit. If Decimators are taken in World eaters, they are Khorne demons. So, place Uraka next to his three new big-shouldered friends, and pour the mortal wounds onto your opponents.

Closing:

Let’s be honest, it’s not like Chaos Space Marine armies are tearing up the charts with these units. Interestingly, it provides World Eaters players with many more options than we had previously. Things like the rapier gun batteries or even something as brave as a Mastodon, which can hold as many Eightbound as you can fit into a list, provides us with an exciting depth of options for our toolbox. Don’t be scared of this new world, my bloodied brothers, as we push forward and do our best to squeeze every bit of life out of this smaller Codex.

If you find yourself successful using Forge World units, please post those below, and we can discuss it; also, feel free to check out our discord, where Land Raider Achilles haters can also harass me in person!