Ruleshammer: February 9, 2023 - Codex World Eaters Edition

Welcome to Ruleshammer! This week we’re covering some more questions submitted by you, the readers, and our patrons on the Goonhammer Discord. Remember the banner below will take you to the Ruleshammer 9th Edition Compedium, for all the questions I’ve answered for the last few months!

Welcome, Dear Reader, to our special World Eaters-centric installment of Ruleshammer. Rob "Vre'Kais" Chilton is out this week so instead you get me, Rob "TheChirurgeon" Jones, AKA "Mr. Goonhammer," AKA "Chaos Rob," AKA "The Superior Rob." You may have noticed our review of Codex: World Eaters last weekend. As is the usual custom, we're following up that review with a look at some of the hairier questions in the new book, so you'll be ready to play your games immediately when you pick up your copy tomorrow.

On the whole, despite featuring a new mechanic there aren't that many tough rules interactions in Codex: World Eaters, in part because there are fewer rules in this Codex than pretty much any other book in 9th edition. That said, there are a few hairy issues and frequent questions I can anticipate that are worth covering here.

Q. Does the fighting for Blood Frenzy happen before or after Consolidation moves?

The short answer is "before Consolidation moves happen." Let's talk about why.

The World Eaters' Blood Frenzy Stratagem allows a CORE unit from your army to fight on death. Let's look at the relevant parts of the Stratagem:

Use this Stratagem in the Fight phase, when an enemy unit is selected to fight. Select one WORLD EATERS CORE unit from your army that is within Engagement range of that enemy unit. Until that enemy unit's attacks have been resolved, each time a model in the selected unit is destroyed by a melee attack, if that model has not fought this phase, do not remove it from play. The destroyed model can fight after the enemy's unit's attacks have been resolved, and is then removed from play.

In this case, the attacking unit finishes resolving their attacks, then each of the destroyed World Eaters models fights, and once those attacks are resolved, the destroyed models are removed from play, and finally the attacking unit can perform its Consolidation move. The models here are the key part - they crucially stay on the table (potentially blocking or affecting Consolidation moves) until they've resolved their attacks. This prevents the opponent from moving away from the unit before the dead World Eaters can fight back, and also prevents issues that could arise from determining whether models which aren't on the table can even fight.

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

Q. How do Stratagems that limit the number of mortal wounds a unit can suffer interact with abilities that allow a unit to ignore mortal wounds?

The World Eaters are on both sides of this one, as they have both abilities like the Gory Dismemberment Stratagem which limit the number of mortal wounds which can be inflicted (as well as Mutable Form which limits the number of mortal wounds an enemy unit can suffer from the ability to 6 per phase) and the ability to ignore mortal wounds thanks to the Blood Tithe effects.

This one has an easy answer: Ignored wounds still count as wound suffered and inflicted. This one is covered in the rulebook glossary:

Suffers damage: If an attack reaches the "Inflict Damage" step of the attack sequence, the model that the attack was allocated to is said to have suffered damage, even if that model subsequently uses a rule to either ignore the wounds inflicted or it uses a rule that means those wounds are not lost.

Note for you pedantic perverts out there: I underlined inflicted to show that the wording is considered hear as well, so miss me with your weird "inflicted isn't the same as suffered" arguments.

Q. Can I take an allied detachment of Khorne Daemons in a Disciples of the Red Angel army?

Yes! As long as every unit in your army is either a CHAOS LAND RAIDER or a KHORNE DAEMON, you're good to go. And Khorne Daemons from Codex: Chaos Daemons have the KHORNE DAEMON keywords.

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

Q. Can I revive Angron multiple times with the Reborn in Blood Blessing of the Blood God?

Yes! The final paragraph of the Blood Tithe rules (see: The Blood Tithe, pg 45) says "With the exception of Reborn in Blood (see right), you can only purchase each Blessing of the Blood God once per battle." So yeah, bring Angron back multiple times. It's extremely rad, and pretty much the reason to bring him to the table.

Q. Can a unit of Berzerkers end up in combat with an enemy unit using its Blood Surge ability? What happens if that occurs?

Yes, you can end up within Engagement Range of an enemy unit as a result of a Blood Surge move. Note that you can only end up within Engagement Range of the closest enemy unit (and no other enemy units). If you do get into Engagement Range with the unit, then congratulations!--you're now locked in combat with the enemy unit. When the Fight phase comes around, treat those units like any other units which began the Fight phase within Engagement Range of an enemy unit. Note that neither unit counts as charging at this point.

Q. Can I make multiple Blood Surge moves per turn?

Yes, though you can't make a Blood Surge move once you're within Engagement Range of an enemy unit, so the first time that happens you're done moving. Note that you have to end up as close as possible to the closest enemy unit with each model moved.

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

Q. Do kills from my allied Chaos Knights or Chaos Daemons generate Blood Tithe Points?

Hell yeah they do. Every death gives you Blood Tithe Points, no matter which model causes that. So not only will your Dreadblade War Dog Executioners give you a Blood Tithe point with each kill, when one dies you'll get 1 BTP plus an additional BTP at the end of the phase because it's a VEHICLE.

Q. Can a destroyed unit still cause an objective to be Drowned in Blood after it moves off that objective?

Yes - this is a really weird one. Let's look at the wording on the secondary objective:

At the end of each player's turn, score 1 VP for each objective marker that was drowned in blood that turn. For an objective to be Drowned in Blood, one or more units (excluding VEHICLE units), that started that turn within range of that objective marker must have been destroyed that turn.

The only criteria here is that the destroyed unit started the turn on an objective marker. So if you start the turn with a lone Chaos Spawn on an objective marker, move it off, and charge it headlong into a Knight Gallant only for it to be mashed into a fine pink mist well, good news - that counts for bathing the objective in blood. It's even more fun if an opponent's unit starts the turn on an objective and charges one of your units, then gets destroyed - that'll cause the objective they left to be bathed in blood! I'm not entirely sure there's a great fix for this that doesn't make the objective really bad, but it's also very quirky as written. So keep an eye on this one if you're playing with the secondary.

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

Q: Gunum asks: "If I bring a Rhino as a Dedicated Transport, then don't put any models in it and it's destroyed as a result, does that earn me Blood Tithe Points?

Yes, but only one per vehicle. To find this one, let's check page 10 of the Arks of Omen GT Missions book:

In an Arks of Omen: Grand Tournament mission, each unit from your army with the Dedicated Transport battlefield role must start the battle with one or more friendly models in it, or it cannot be set up and will count as having been destroyed during the first battle round.

So if for some reason your transport ends up not having any units inside it, it ends up counting as destroyed during the first battle round. Every time a unit is destroyed you get a BTP, so this suggests you'd start the game with 1 BTP as your Rhino is immediately destroyed. However, it wasn't destroyed during a phase, so you won't get the bonus BTP at the end of a phase for a VEHICLE unit having been destroyed.

There's also a legitimate question as to whether or not you can opt to put an empty rhino on the table if you have units which can go inside it; that "must" wording suggests you have to put something in it if something is available, so if you have any Jakhals, Masters of Execution, or Berzerkers which aren't in Strategic Reserves you might be compelled to put one in the Rhino.

Either way, this is a pretty insanely bad use of 80 points - you're much better off just taking single-model units of Chaos Spawn which, for 25 points, do much more for you and can punish an opponent for not killing them. As good as +1 to charges is, it's not worth 240 points to start the game on 3 BTP.

Have any questions or feedback? Got a rules question you want answered? Drop us a note in the comments below, ask a question in our Ruleshammer form, or head over to r/ruleshammer to discuss.