The Warhammer-community team brings us a preview of the new Flesh Tearers!
Codex Supplement: Blood Angels may be up for pre-order this weekend, but it’s not all about the legendary First Founding Chapter. Fans of the Flesh Tearers are also in for a treat, as the book includes loads of bespoke rules for the Blood Angels’ most (in)famous successors. Let’s learn a bit more about them and take a look at some of their rules highlights.
Who Are They?
The Flesh Tearers are among the most notorious Chapters of Space Marines. More so than any other Blood Angels successors, the Flesh Tearers tread the finest line between controlled ferocity and wanton bloodthirst. Their name has been associated with a number of atrocities, leading the Inquisition to launch an investigation into the actions of the Flesh Tearers. Yet even though no official charges have ever come to light, some of the Imperium’s military wings have been known to refuse to fight alongside them.
Despite their reputation, Chapter Master Seth steadfastly refused to rein in the inherent fury of the Flesh Tearers, believing it would somehow weaken their heritage as true sons of Sanguinius. Instead, he chose to put his Chapter on a permanent war footing, travelling from one war zone to the next to keep his warriors occupied with the enemy and mitigate the risk of any collateral damage.
However, this led the Chapter’s fighting strength to steadily dwindle as his battle-brothers were lost to the Black Rage* or the attrition of endless war, leaving many of his companies heavily depleted. Only the recent arrival of Primaris reinforcements has prevented the Flesh Tearers from being lost entirely to an otherwise inevitable decline.
Flesh Tearers on the Battlefield
Before we go into any of the new rules, let’s just remind ourselves of the Flesh Tearers’ Chapter Tactic in Codex: Space Marines.
First up, with a bonus to their wound rolls in opening rounds of combat, your Flesh Tearers units will hit super-hard. What’s more, as we mentioned in our rules preview on Monday, when combined with the Assault Doctrine, Savage Echoes, and potentially even the Red Rampage Stratagem, the Flesh Tearers will make an absolute mockery of enemy armour in melee.
Warlord Traits
The Flesh Tearers have three Warlord Trait options that are exclusive to them in the codex supplement. Let’s take a look at Merciless Butcher – the Warlord Trait of their notorious Chapter Master, Gabriel Seth.
Send Seth or your Flesh Tearers Warlord into the largest enemy unit you can find (Orks and Tyranids, we’re looking at you), and watch your murderous leader turn into an Astartes-shaped blender!
Lord of Slaughter
On the topic of Gabriel Seth,** his datasheet has been updated, ensuring that the fearsome Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers is more destructively violent than ever.
Yes, he can essentially fight twice! But that’s not all – Seth has the powerful Chapter Master and Rites of Battle abilities, as befit his esteemed rank, but he also bears a number of rather more disturbing epithets, one of which is Lord of Slaughter.
Between this ability and their Chapter Tactic, a wound roll of 6 will see the standard-issue Astartes chainsword strike at AP -2 (or AP -3, if the Assault Doctrine is active) and Damage 2!
Relics
The Flesh Tearers also have access to two bespoke Chapter Relics, one of which is the monstrous chainsword of legend known simply as Severer. They also have access to the Crimson Plate, an artificer suit of Terminator armour that will not only protect its wearer, but keep them very much on the front foot too.
If you like the sons of Sanguinius, but the Blood Angels are (somehow) not quite violent enough for your tendencies, then you’ll just love the Flesh Tearers! Make sure you pre-order Codex Supplement: Blood Angels this weekend and pick up Seth to lead your bloodthirsty crimson-armoured warriors.
* In fact, mutation in the Flesh Tearers’ gene-seed has left them far more susceptible to the effects of the Black Rage than any other sons of Sanguinius, to the extent that the Flesh Tearers actually have a standing Death Company.
** Gabriel Seth stars in a number of books and audio dramas, so if you’d like to learn more about him, grab yourself Andy Smillie’s action-packed Trial by Blood anthology.