Warhammer 40k: Forbidden Stars World Eaters

Nach den Orks und den Space Marines kommen als dritte Fraktion die Chaosanhänger der World Eaters für das kommende Brettspiel Warhammer 40.000: Forbidden Stars von Fantasy Flight Games.

So boundless was his hatred, so great was his rage, that he would have killed them all without mercy. At that moment, he knew he would fight forever. He would fight until all was ruination and the entire galaxy burned.
–Warhammer 40,000

A magnificent bloodbath awaits you in Forbidden Stars. The Herakon Cluster’s teeming populations are ripe for slaughter, their veins coursing with fresh crimson blood for the Blood God, their skulls ready to adorn his throne. More gloriously, the servants of the Imperium, the Eldar, and the Orks are also invading the sector, offering you an unprecedented opportunity to unleash your hatred, exterminate your foes, and leave a trail of misery and ruin in your wake.

Today’s preview is focused on the bloody and savage World Eaters Chaos Space Marines. You’ll learn about this faction’s hate-filled forces and hellforged starships, its diabolical use of the Warp, and how the powerful and eternal lure of Chaos increases your military might.

Lure of Chaos

The most omnipresent soldiers of Chaos are Cultists, drawn to the powers of darkness by promises of glory and violence. Armed with primitive weapons, Cultists can nevertheless overwhelm a superior foe though the sheer weight of their numbers, and may possess fearsome gifts from the Chaos Gods: muscles of steel, flailing tentacles, sharp, poison-dripping horns.

You enter the Herakon Cluster with two units of Cultists, each as formidable as a unit of Ultramarines Scouts. But Chaos and its vices are so enticing that Cultists rapidly proliferate. The Prophets and Signs Event Card brings one more Cultist, if not two more, to your army.

In combat, you can play Dark Faith to gain  from your forces’ devotion to the Dark Gods and possibly gain another Cultist unit.

So, too, the Lure of Chaos offers you the chance to gain another Cultist who brings two  or  to the fight. You can also spread your Cultists throughout the sector and occupy uncontrolled worlds whenever you issue a Dominate Order.

Should you seek to unequivocally conquer a void, you may use Lure of Chaos to add another Iconoclast Destroyer to your fleet. These compact ships carry a formidable arsenal of weapons for their size and have been known to quickly shatter a planet’s orbital defences. Detested by the Imperium, Iconoclast Destroyers can as easily obliterate an enemy unit as they can convey your ravenous forces to the battlefront.

The Forces of Darkness

The heart of your armies are the Chaos Space Marines themselves, the World Eaters known for their peerless military prowess and the extreme delight they take in spilling blood for Khorne. Their hunger for killing fuels their excellence in battle: a unit of these blood soaked Berzerkers rolls one more die than a unit of their most hated foes and former breathren, the Space Marines.

As Chaos inevitably gains more power in the Herakon Cluster, you can purchase towering, crazed Helbrutes that unite the firepower of small tanks with the minds of psychotic maniacs. These armoured, rampaging monstrosities must be chained when not fighting and released only in battle to destroy everything they encounter. Yet Chaos Reaver Titans loom even more terrible than the Helbrutes. These ancient, indomitable war engines are the most powerful unit of the World Eaters faction, consecrated to the Chaos Gods and determined to perform all manners of butchery and destruction. Chaos Reaver Titans are so fearsome that lesser devotees of Chaos offer up sacrifices, even give their own lives, to help quench their thirst for bloodshed.

As Chaos Titans and Helbrutes storm the land, Repulsive Grand Cruisers bring terror to the void. These rare, gargantuan ships can withstand copious damage and launch bright torrents of deadly fire at enemy ships or vulnerable planets. Long ago manufactured to serve the Imperium, these ships are now among the most dreaded vessels of Chaos, able to eradicate tens of thousands of lives within a few seconds.

Boundless Hate

Since the massive schism of the Horus Heresy, Chaos Space Marines have fought an eternal war, fueled by boundless hatred, unquenchable rage, and an unrelenting desire to exact vengeance. These black internal drives combine with inhuman mutations and murderous technology to grant the World Eaters incredible abilities in war. The combat card Inhuman Strength grants your armies additional  and  in combat.

If that strength is feeding a Helbrute or Grand Cruiser, it may cannibalize one of your units in order to wreak even greater destruction upon the enemy.

The implacable thrill of spreading bloody death and nightmarish despair throughout the galaxy also spurs on the forces of Chaos in battle. Death and Despair, one of the most powerful combat cards in the World Eaters faction, enhances your  and , and allows you to ruthlessly eliminate any number of your enemies’ lower command level units on top of whatever other damage you deal.

With a Chaos Titan or Grand Cruiser in the fray, this card manifests your  in the destruction of another enemy unit. Even the already defeated cannot escape the World Eaters’ wrath.

Lords of the Warp

Having long ago given themselves to the service of the Blood God, the World Eaters Chaos Space Marines have no dread of the Warp’s swirling and uncanny abyss. Of all the factions in Forbidden Stars, they alone can utilize the Warp for their own benefit. By playing a Prayer to the Dark Gods, you can undo how another player has moved a Warp Storm, instead shifting it in whatever direction best suits your violent aims.

From the Warp, an order upgrade card, grants you the singular ability to move ships through Warp Storms once per turn.

Similarly, the event card Through the Warp enables you to move an entire attacking army through a Warp Storm and increase  in the process.

These cards will instill permanent dread in your opponents who thought that, surrounded by Warp Storms, their forces would remain secure. The World Eaters respect no boundaries and are limited only by their infinite cruelty, malice, and hate.

Kill, Maim, Burn

As the commander of the World Eaters, you have chosen obscene freedom and bloody gratification in the place of righteous servitude. Only war remains for you, only the incredible power of inflicting pain upon others, of soaking the ground with their blood, burning what they cherish. The Herakon Cluster is yours: all you have to do is kill, maim, and burn anyone and anything that stands in your way.

Der deutschen Vertrieb der Fantasy Flight Produkte liegt bei Heidelberger.

Link: Fantasy Flight Games