World Eaters

Warhammer 40,000 World Eaters News, Reviews, Editorials & Unboxings.

The World Eaters are a faction from UK-Based Games Workshop's Tabletop Wargame Warhammer 40,000. The World Eaters, originally known as the War Hounds, were the XII Legion of the original twenty Space Marine Legions. Their Primarch is Angron, sometimes known as The Lord of the Red Sands or the Red Angel. The Legion was amongst the first to turn traitor during the Horus Heresy.

Already known for their peerless martial savagery - thanks in part to the effects of the psycho-surgical implants known as the Butcher's Nails that most of their members possessed - the World Eaters would eventually devolve into a legion of blood-crazed maniacs dedicated to the Chaos God Khorne, glorying in violence and slaughter and with no other purpose than spilling blood and taking skulls in the name of their god. After the catastrophic Battle of Skalathrax, they were scattered into disparate warbands, and have rarely fought as a unified Legion since.

Alongside the Space Wolves their warriors are some of the deadliest close combat fighters in the galaxy, amongst whom are counted large numbers of the infamous Khorne Berserkers.

In terms of combat deployment, the World Eaters were champions of the drop-pod assault, usually choosing to appear in the heart of the enemy's defences, in order to rip it apart from within. When heavy firepower was required to support such a tactic, the World Eaters were not averse to advancing under danger-close orbital bombardment or direct Titan support.

As determined masters of close-combat, the World Eaters were skilled in the employ of practically all hand-to-hand weapons. One in particular grew synonymous with the legion, however: the chain-axe. Their habit of using this type of weapon grew into almost an obsession after their Primarch was revealed to be a master with the weapon type.

Every World Eater undergoes the voluntary implantation of the Butcher's Nails, the psycho-surgical implants that heightened aggression and pain tolerance to extreme levels. A side-effect of these devices would soon become apparent; they robbed the wearer of peace, satisfaction or joy except when stimulated in battle. While the effect of the Nails was not identical from person to person, the shared burden of bearing them would unite all World Eaters (and even their sire, Angron) in a bond of tortured familiarity.