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 Tim:
Greetings once again, fellow worshippers of the all-powerful
Blood God, Khorne. Once again I'm here to help you convert
your army list over to the new Codex rules, by showing how
lists change, the gains and losses, and what new and incredibly
vicious pieces of wargear can be given to your Chaos Lords
and Aspiring Champions.
Let's start by looking at the units available to the World
Eaters. Overall, not much has changed, unit-wise anyway. You
still can take Flesh Hounds, Bloodletters, and Berzerkers
(of course), your main troop and Fast Attack choices. Dreadnoughts,
Predators, and Land Raiders are still available as Heavy Support
choices, and you can still have Chosen, Terminators, and Possessed
as Elites. Chaos Lords and Daemon Princes are still available
(although they're really the same thing now), as is the mighty
Bloodthirster. In addition, you may now take a Lieutenant
to help back up your Chaos Lord or Daemon Prince, or to lead
your army (a good idea in smaller games). Your Heavy Support
choices also improve, as you may now take one or more mighty
Defilers! On the downside of things, Juggernauts are no longer
available as units in the Codex, only as steeds. Unfortunate,
but I’m sure suitable replacements can be found, and as you'll
see below, you may need the extra points!
While the types of units available didn't change much, some
of the units available to a World Eaters general changed significantly.
Bloodletters are now 26 points each (an 11 points increase),
but now have power weapons! And at S5! In addition, they gain
Daemonic Instability, which means you'll never lose a unit
of them to a poor Morale check roll (which is unlikely to
occur in hand-to-hand now anyway, with all those power weapons!)
More importantly, they now have a 3+ Armour save, which will
help them survive a little longer, both in and out of hand-to-hand.
The mighty Bloodthirster is now even more of a hand-to-hand
monster, with its 3+ regular save and 4+ Invulnerable save.
And while it can now be singled out and shot at (not unlike
Tyranid monstrous creatures), and is more expensive at 205
points, the ability to control where it appears, and the improved
saves, more than make up for these drawbacks. No longer will
the 'invincible' Bloodthirster die to a few measly bolter
shells – a great deal more effort will be needed to kill one!
Chosen change a fair amount under the new rules too: they
no longer get 4+ 'shrug-it-off' save like the Death Company,
but instead can have more than one model upgraded to an Aspiring
Champion. As well, the only way to get Terminators is by buying
Chosen in Terminator armour, which is not a big deal, especially
since Berzerker Terminators are 5 points cheaper than the
old Cult Terminators.
Possessed are much better in the new Codex (in my humble
opinion, anyway). The ability to get Daemonic Talons, combined
with the extra attack and Blood Rage given to them by the
Mark of Khorne makes them a very nasty hand-to-hand unit.
They can be used either as a Fast attack type unit by giving
them wings (very expensive though), or they can simply be
kept behind Berzerkers / cover until they get to hand-to-hand.
| Now that we've looked at units
that changed significantly, let’s have a look at wargear,
and gifts. The selection of weapons and wargear available
to a Khorne general is much larger than in the previous
Codex – one of Chaos' strengths. In addition to the wargear
previously available, you can now take Chaos Hounds to
accompany an Independent Character or Champion, and Terminator
armour for your Aspiring Champions. Using Daemonic Gifts,
a Lord or Champion's Strength, Toughness, or Armour save
can be improved beyond their normal stats. Daemonic gifts
can also be used to give a model an extra attack, an extra
wound (Independent Characters only), a Daemonic Spawn
as a 'pet', or one of many useful abilities. |
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Finally, all Khornate Champions, Lords, and Lieutenants
can pick from the Gifts of Khorne. Some of them you've
seen before,
others are very new. For example, the Favour of Khorne allows
you to shrug off wounds on a 4+ (except double Toughness
and
power weapons/rending claws/etc.). The Juggernaut of Khorne
is a little different; it gives you +1 Attack, +1 Strength,
and +1 Wounds (the only way for an Aspiring Champion to get
an extra wound) – it’s a bargain at +35 points.
The Talisman of Burning Blood is a useful little piece
of
equipment, it allows you to roll two dice for your Blood
Frenzy rolls – not something to give to units in
transports, but useful for Berzerkers, Possesed, and
Chosen on foot. Finally,
let’s not overlook the Berzerker Glaive. The glaive
is a Daemon Weapon that gives you a 4+ Invulnerable save,
and
doubles the number of base attacks on the Independent Character
it is given to, and forces the IC to Blood Frenzy every
round.
So a Lord of Khorne with the Berzerker Glaive will have a
minimum of 7 Attacks (8 on the charge). Toss in Daemonic
Mutation
and/or Terminator armour, mix in a couple Daemonic Gifts,
and you have an hclose combat monster on the table. Beware
though, as the Lord or Lieutenant loses his Independent Character
status, and can now be picked out like any other model on
the table.
Well, now that we've looked at the major changes affecting
a World Eaters army lists, let’s
have a look at how a sample army list could change (Blood
for the Blood God)!
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