The World Eaters Premature Traitor Legion Ranking

Since the official release of the new Traitor Legion Supplement, I have been sleeping with the book. The Traitor Legion Supplement is a dream come true, a love letter for Chaos Space Marine players. As an old timer it is hard to imagine it was 2002 since we had the legendary, but infamous 3.5 Chaos Space Marine codex. Now as we speed ever closer to 8th edition and maybe Warhammer 40k End Times, let us hope the Traitor Legion Supplement will live on in whatever comes next. The Traitor Legion Supplement is amazing without being broken, better yet hopefully it will do what no other release has done before…bring balance to the game.

The Traitor Legion Supplement starts off on the right foot by quickly dispensing with the fluff, only dedicating two pages to each Traitor Legion and a minimal amount of recycled art and model pictures. Much like the Generals Handbook this release is about the rules and priced just right at $35.00.

Before we begin here is a few pointers for these reviews…

• We will be ranking the Traitor Legion individually, the order will be a countdown from 9 to 1.
• Most important these reviews will assume the reader has a copy of the Traitor Legions Supplement handy.
• Focus will be on the Traitor Legions themselves, not what you can Ally with for instance.
• All Traitor Legions get Veterans of the Long War for free, allowing them a version of Chapter Tactics.
• All Traitor Legions change certain units to Troop choices, only really good for Combined Arms Detachments.
• All Traitor Legions get unique Detachments, Warlord Traits, and Artefacts.
• All the Traitor Legions are good and playable, so don’t think any of them are bad just because I rank them lower than others.

So let us go with number…

The World Eaters like the Alpha Legion deliver a few surprises. Games Workshop typically makes anything Khorne related under powered in comparison to the actual fluff, but this time Games Workshop made the World Eaters match the fluff to the rules for once. Leaving the World Eaters defined by one thing, and one thing only, get into Assault!

The World Eaters Special Rules

The World Eaters naturally get Khorne Berzerkers as Troops, but the real bonuses make the basic Chaos Space Marine much more frightening. All World Eaters get Adamantium Will, Fearless and Furious Charge. Fearless is the most critical, but all combined makes every unit a deadly killing machine. The downside of the World Eaters is not having access to Psykers and everything that can must take a Mark of Khorne. Luckily, Mark of Khorne is one of the best if you are forced to take a mark at all.

The World Eaters Warlord Traits

The World Eaters assortment of Warlord Traits showcase some cool design elements you don’t normally see. Unrivaled Battled for instance allows your Warlord’s unit to charge into combat on your opponent’s phase. Violent Urgency is deadly when trying to make an Assault, especially combined with a certain Detachment Command Benefit. Only the Arch-slaughterer and Disciple of Khorne leave a World Eater wanting, but Slaughterborn is free attacks and True Berzeker are fantastic.

The World Eaters Artefacts

If you want to look for fault with the World Eaters you can go to their Artefacts. As expected you get a ton of weapons, which you probably rather spend points elsewhere and Pistol that will never be used. All the melee weapons have problems and don’t outstrip the cost for utility of a Powerfist. The Collar of Bhorghaster is one of the two non-weapon Artefacts and is too situational for 20 points. The other non-weapon Artefact is one of the best Artefacts in all of Warhammer 40k, made even more powerful by the other World Eater bonuses. Adding 3″ to most moves is amazing, especially being simple plug n play, this is the type of Artefact Games Workshop never gives to Chaos Space Marines, so it is nice see something not left to Imperial scum.

The World Eaters Butcherhorde Detachment

World Eaters Butcherhorde Detachment Example List

World Eaters Butcherhorde Detachment is one of the great synergistic Detachments you can find in the Traitor Legion Supplement. The World Eaters are at their best when using the Butcherhorde Detachment, with the great balance of Blood Mad and Formation choices. The Butcherhorde Command Benefits are really only one Command Benefit; Blood Mad is a Scout move that isn’t a Scout move, allowing you to potential get off 1st turn Assaults, better still most World Eater units get to re-roll charge rolls. This makes World Eaters Raptors, Chaos Bikers, and the basic Chaos Space Marines the best around. This is extra nasty as the World Eaters get Khorne Juggernauts, the best mount for any Chaos Lord. Structurally, the Butchhorde has the Maelstrom of Gore Formation as a core and is the best way to use Khorne Berzerkers, working fantastic with Blood Mad. The Chaos Warband though gives you access to tons of Objective Secured units along with Raptors & Chaos Bikers, which doesn’t stop you from attaching a Juggernaut Chaos Lord to deal some massive pain.

The Butcherhorde is easily rounded out by the Lost and the Damned Formation, which can use Blood Mad because it doesn’t require units with having Veterans of the Long War. Khorne Chaos Cultists are the most powerful Cultist anyway, even if you have to pay the extra points. Raptor Talon is great as well, as you don’t have to put them in Reserve, instead throw your opponent off by deploying them. Most Traitor Legions are set up to use Command slots on Sorcerers, World Eaters are forced elsewhere, but designing lists around aforementioned Juggernauts Lords is viable and quite deadly. If you need keep things inexpensive still take a Juggernaut Lord and throw him in with a Chaos Spawn unit for a secondary Assault threat. The Butcherhorde is designed to hit hard early and/or back your opponent into a corner, just keep that in mind when designing any list based on this Butcherhorde Detachment.

The World Eaters as a Combined Arms Force doesn’t operate as well as the other Fearless Traitor Legions; the Khorne Berzerker isn’t powerful enough as a Troop choice, the innate bonuses the World Eaters get makes them inferior to a generic Chaos Space Marine. The World Eaters rely heavily on getting into Assault, so without the bonuses of the Butcherhorde it makes this very hard, especially with Games Workshop refusing to give a decent Assault vehicle option for any Chaos Space Marine army. As an Ally force the World Eaters work great because of the Talisman of Burning Blood. Taking a Chaos Lord with the Talisman and joining them to a Black Legion or Alpha Legion army makes for some interesting combinations.

Overall, the World Eaters are a devastating, giving the World Eaters the tools to actually be blood crazed killing machines they should have always been. The World Eaters are a hybrid of the Blood Angel and Space Wolf play styles, with an extra emphasis of on ground Assault, they don’t need transports just the bodies to survive a single round of shooting. In the end it is only their durably that keeps them from being the best Traitor Legion, and we all can guess what Traitor Legion does durability the best…