STARTING A WORLD EATERS ARMY IN 11TH EDITION: BLOOD, BRASS, AND ABSOLUTELY NO SUBTLETY
The World Eaters are the most honest army in Warhammer 40,000, and 11th edition is a thunderously good time to take up the chainaxe. There is no grand strategy here, no layered trickery — just Khorne's chosen sprinting across the table to hit things, magnificently. That honesty extends to the hobby side: white-and-blue armour with brass trim and generous gore is a bold scheme that comes together faster than it looks, and the range is compact enough that a new collector can genuinely see the whole army from day one. If analysis paralysis has killed your previous projects, the Blood God has a cure.
The first box
Start with the current Combat Patrol-style set. World Eaters starters are dependably built around Khorne Berzerkers — the iconic, frothing core of the Legion — usually with a character and some supporting muscle. Berzerkers are the army in miniature: learn the white armour, the brass, and a tasteful (or tasteless) application of blood effects on squad one, and everything after is repetition with momentum. A pack of Jakhals — the mortal cultists who sprint ahead of the Legion — makes a great second unit and a fast, loose painting break between armour sessions.
The second tithe of skulls
Khorne cares not from whence the models flow, but your wallet does, so buy with purpose. The Eightbound — Berzerkers fused with daemons into hulking engines of muscle and brass — are the modern range's showpiece infantry and an absolute joy to paint. Kharn the Betrayer is the character to add next: cheap in effort, enormous in personality, and the Legion's whole tragic rage in one model. Practical note before the killing starts: 11th edition refreshed points and datasheets across the game, and starter boxes rotate over time, so check the current points before carving your list in stone (or skulls).
Recommended: Khârn The Betrayer
The Red Angel
Angron. The Daemon Primarch of the World Eaters is a colossal winged fury of a kit and one of the most dramatic centrepieces Games Workshop has ever produced. He is also the single best argument for finishing your infantry first — an army of painted Berzerkers with Angron descending behind them is genuinely one of the great sights in the hobby, and it simply doesn't land over a sea of grey plastic. Earn the Red Angel. He does not share his rage with the unpainted.
Purchases to defer
- Angron before your first Berzerker squad is done — the Butcher's Nails demand blood, not backlog.
- A second box of Eightbound while the first stands headless on your desk.
- Allied Khorne daemons — thematic, tempting, and a whole second painting project you didn't budget for.
- Blood effect paints in bulk; one pot goes a very, very long way. Trust us. Everyone learns this once.
Skulls for the skull throne, records for the record keeper
Khorne counts every skull, and you should count every kit: log each one when it arrives and mark it plainly as boxed, built, or finished. Rage is a poor project manager, but a growing finished column is the tally that actually matters — it's what separates a collection from a pile. When you're ready to survey everything the Legion can bring to the slaughter, the full unit catalogue is on the World Eaters faction page under Data.