9th Edition World Eaters Rules Incoming!
During Warhammerfest 2022, Games Workshop revealed that Codex: World Eaters is finally on its way!
This is a standalone army separate from Codex: Chaos Space Marines. There have been rumors for years to the effect that a book was coming, and that at least some of the sculpts were long since completed. The so-called "reliable" rumor set of the past year or so included that World Eaters will be coming in late 2022, and this announcement from Games Workshop confirms it.
As with Thousand Sons and Death Guard before them, the World Eaters being split off into a codex of their own will allow them to receive unique army rules and units, and according to the video above, finally let the legion of Khorne shine.
To begin with, it looks like this "Index Hereticus" will be more like a supplement for the new Chaos Space Marines codex to get us by and not necessarily contain the same rules as the World Eaters codex. This is a reasonable concession, as otherwise we'd have to shove our angry boys into stasis on the shelf waiting for the new rules.
We know Kharn the Betrayer will be in the forthcoming codex, and in the reveal article Games Workshop confirmed the foregone conclusion - that there are new berzerkers sculps coming our way as well. We didn't get a preview of the berzerkers themselves, but we did get a shot of the 3D sculpts of their chainaxes, which are badass:
Modern sculpts for World Eaters are something many of us have been pining for over the years, and the quality of these chainaxes tells us we'll be getting something special. The axes alone are something I've yearned for, especially the two-hander. One assumes it could share rules with the new heavy chainaxe previewed from the new Legionary (i.e. Chaos Space Marines) kit:
Whether or not berzerkers lose their ability to fight twice remains to be seen. Games Workshop also dropped some tasty teasers regarding the units that will be in the upcoming World Eaters codex:
"...the codex will contain old favourites, dark legends, and some things that you’ve never seen before… We’ll be bringing you more updates on Codex: World Eaters and these murderous new miniatures over the next few months on Warhammer Community."
We can only speculate here, but my interest is piqued. Old favorites? Does this mean units that were part of Codex: Chaos Space Marines, and are being carried over? Does it mean old favorites that haven't had models or rules for a long time?
Dark legends? Does this mean in-universe legends, such as Kharn, or things out of the Legends roster, such as the hallowed LORD OF KHORNE ON JUGGERNAUT?! *chainaxe teeth revving hard*
Both Thousand Sons and Death Guard have multiple units that were created for and restricted to their armies, so we'll for sure be getting at least a few. I believe Death Guard have the greater number of unique units. Time will tell where World Eaters fall on the spectrum of having entirely new units and retaining units from Codex: Chaos Space Marines.
Getting to the wishlisting (of course), units riding juggernauts of Khorne would be an absolute dream come true. At the very least, bringing back the Lord on Juggernaut would be great, and having additional characters and units that ride them would likely seal the fate of one of my organs for harvest and sale on the black market.
Players are speculating that Red Butchers may be removed as a stratagem and replaced with a new unit/sculpt by the same name. There may also be some sort of "blood cultist," or mortal members of the army. Khornegors are another option from the past.
Without knowing exactly when the codex is coming, we do know that the Index Hereticus will be contained in the June 2022 issue of White Dwarf Magazine, on sale June 17, 2022:
I'm scrambling to work on my Black Templars, because I have a feeling once Codex: Chaos Space Marines and the Index Hereticus come out, my hype will swing entirely back to the forces of chaos. If you've been putting off working on your Heretic (TRUE BELIEVING) Astartes due to the long wait for the codex, it's time to renew your efforts and prepare your forces to resume the Long War.
Before long, the World Eaters will rejoin the fray as we've never seen them before, and everyone better clutch their blood and skulls real close.
KILL! MAIM! BURN!
