Changes

|Marine Image=WEMarine.jpg

|Legion Number=XII

|Homeworld Current=None. Scattered since the [[Battle of Skalathrax]].

|Colours=Blood red with brass (formerly white and blue)

|Pre-Heresy Banner=WEPad.jpeg

|Warbands=

*[[66th Armoured Company]]{{Fn|45}}

*[[Axes of the Forge]]{{Fn|48a}}

*[[Eight Sons]]{{Fn|48a}}

*[[Khar-Zhal's Desecrators]]{{Fn|72b}}

*[[Ravagers (Warband)|The Ravagers]]{{Fn|9}}

*[[Viscerati]]{{Fn|71}}, [[Voidbutchers]]{{Fn|45}}

*[[Witchcleavers]]{{Fn|72b}}, [[Wrathful Dead]]{{Fn|46a}}

===The Great Crusade===

====Formation====

The '''Twelfth Legion''' was formed on [[Terra]], from no particular geographic recruiting ground. Fragmentary records do suggest, however, that during the formation process of the legion, an experimental screening process may have resulted in the initial intakes being formed from the most aggressive and competitive of candidates. While this cannot be confirmed with certainty, early records of the Legion do note that it was considered a highly aggressive, hot-blooded, and savage force.{{Fn|15b}}

====The Early Crusade====

The War Hounds were finally unleashed as a legion force partly by circumstance. The Imperial colony on [[Cerberus (Asteroid)|Cerberus]] rose up in rebellion, and it quickly became apparent that Space Marine forces were needed to quell the insurrection. The [[Great Crusade]] having begun, most of the Space Marine Legions had already been assigned to [[Expedition Fleets]] and sent out into the wider [[galaxy]]. The Emperor was therefore minded to activate the War Hounds, sending them to Cerberus personally, with instructions to carry his wrath to those that defied him. Cerberus was invaded at 0300 hours Terran; the all-clear signal was transmitted by the War Hounds' commander at 0808. When asked how many prisoners were waiting to be processed, the War Hounds' commander replied that he had not been ordered to take any. Attached [[Imperial Army]] troops, sent into Cerberus in the aftermath, reported discovering scenes of shocking butchery and indication of massive casualties, on both sides.{{Fn|15b}}

====The Eaters of Worlds====

After Angron assumed command of his newly-rechristened legion, they once again mustered upon the world of [[Bodt]], where Angron took stock of his forces. Always possessed of the harshest self-inflicted training regimes in the Space Marine Legions, the World Eaters went to new lengths under Angron's direction, adopting fighting pits and gladiatorial combat into their doctrines. Each warrior who passed the new tests wore scars aplenty to show it. Those who failed did not live to try again. Whatever Terran martial traditions that existed in the War Hounds were erased by Angron's new gladiatorial ones, and by the time the Primarch led his World Eaters from Bodt under their new fanged maw symbol, the World Eaters had embraced Angron's own red code of savage competition and the butchery of the weak.{{Fn|15d}} However, Angron still refused to acknowledge his sons, and during their campaigns he ordered them to defeat each targeted world within 31 hours. This was the span of a single [[Nuceria]]n day and the amount of time it had taken Angron and his army of slave rabble to score their greatest victory. Despite the brutality and even hatred Angron showed his legion, the World Eaters were committed to earning his respect.{{Fn|31a}} Meanwhile, Angron had ordered his [[Apothecarion]], under [[Gahlan Surlak]], to replicate his [[Butcher's Nails]] and implant the resultant creations into the brains of his legionaries. However, early on the process proved fatal to any marine who dared try to endure the process.{{Fn|31a}} Angron proved disgusted with his "weak" sons, and managed to flee to a [[feral world]] for two whole years before [[Kharn]] found him and convinced him to rejoin the Legion.{{Fn|31c}}

Soon the World Eaters would become a byword for mass-scale slaughter and violence, their enemies not merely shot down or blasted to oblivion, but killed to a man in their streets and fortresses. Their legend for brutality became so strong that more than once non-compliant worlds would surrender at the threat of the World Eaters being unleashed upon them. Already a breed apart, Angron's legionaries began to be actively shunned by their fellow Space Marine Legions and spoken of in dread by those Imperial citizens who knew of their actions. The planets upon which the World Eaters fell were not merely crushed - they were destroyed utterly. This caused concern even among hardened Imperial Commanders, not least of whom was Primarch [[Roboute Guilliman]] of the [[Ultramarines]], who decried the atrocities of Angron during the [[Cleansing of Ariggata]].{{Fn|15d}} Eventually [[Leman Russ (Primarch)|Leman Russ]] brought his Space Wolves to confront Angron, bringing word that the Emperor wanted the World Eaters to cease implanting themselves with aggression engines, and to further urge Angron to cease his massacres. What resulted was a brief but [[Night of the Wolf|bloody confrontation]] between the World Eaters and Space Wolves, with Angron besting Russ in single combat but allowing himself to become encircled and doomed to be killed by Space Wolves in the process, if they so wished. When it became clear that Angron was a lost cause and did not understand that his own failure to lead resulted in him becoming entrapped, Russ ordered a withdrawal.{{Fn|16a}}

===The Horus Heresy===

====Betrayal====

As the hour of the Horus Heresy grew near, Horus had little difficulty corrupting the bitter and unhappy Angron. Horus was able to feed the flames of Angron's discontent with the Emperor's prior behaviour, reinforcing Angron's perception that he had been betrayed and that the Emperor was a moral weakling. When the [[Sons of Horus]] broke with the Emperor's Imperium, Angron and the World Eaters were with them.{{Fn|5c}}

The World Eaters were at the forefront of the assault on the [[Eternity Gate (Imperial)|Eternity Gate]] at the final stages of the Siege of Terra. Led by [[Angron]] himself, the World Eaters nearly reached the doors of the Gate before Angron was defeated in combat by [[Sanguinius]]. Angron's banishment to the [[Warp]] broke whatever sanity the World Eaters had left, and they began to cut down their own allies. The chaos caused by this act helped break the traitor advance on the [[Sanctum Imperialis]] just short of the Eternity Gate.{{Fn|44}}

===Post-Heresy===

== Notable Engagements ==

===The Great Crusade===

*'''???.[[M30]]''' - Relief action on [[Sarum]] and [[Golgothan Slaughter|destruction of the Brotherhood of Ruin]]. The [[Tech-Priests]] of Sarum swear fealty to the legion in the aftermath.{{Fn|15j}}

*'''???.[[M30]]''' - [[Ghenna]] Compliance action; entire planetary population [[The Ghenna Massacre|reportedly wiped out in one night]].{{Fn|15d}}

* '''???.[[M30]]''' - [[Alpha Shalish]]. The [[203rd Expeditionary Fleet]] frees the world from [[lacrymole]] occupation.{{Fn|10a}}

*'''???.[[M31]]''' - The 203rd engages in a [[Auretian Technocracy War|compliance action]] in concert with the [[Sons of Horus]] [[63rd Expeditionary Fleet]]; victorious.{{Fn|23}}

*'''005.[[M31]]''' - [[Battle of Isstvan III]]], Punitive/Reconquering action. A large World Eaters force is part of the first wave of Imperial troops deployed.{{Fn|15g}}

*'''008.[[M31]]''' - The World Eaters de facto homeworld of Bodt [[Battle of Bodt|is destroyed]] by an [[Iron Hands]]-led force.{{Fn|20b}}

*'''009-013.[[M31]]''' — [[Siege of Inwit]]{{Fn|74}}

*'''???.[[M31]]''' - The World Eaters invade the world of [[Tekeli]] and fight against a maniple of [[Legio Thanataris]]{{Fn|73}}

*'''014.[[M31]]''' - Took part in the [[Solar War]] and the [[Siege of the Emperor's Palace|grand assault]] on [[Terra]]; defeated.{{Fn|5b}}{{Fn|5c}}

===Post-Heresy===

*'''???.[[M31]]''' - The [[Battle of Skalathrax]]. Pitched battle against the [[Emperor's Children]]. Legion scattered in the aftermath.{{Fn|38}}

*'''811.[[M37]]''' - The [[7th Black Crusade]]{{Fn|67}}

*'''537.[[M38]]''' - The [[9th Black Crusade]]{{Fn|68}}

*'''???.[[M41]]''' - The battles for the [[Herakon Cluster]]{{CME}}

*'''142-160.[[M41]]''' - The [[12th Black Crusade]]{{Fn|69}}

*'''444.[[M41]]''' - [[First War for Armageddon]]. [[Khornate|Khorne]] invasion of the world of [[Armageddon]]; defeated.

*'''999.[[M41]]''' - Planetary invasion of [[Agripinaa]] during the [[13th Black Crusade]]; main forces repulsed.{{Fn|8}}

*'''???.[[M42]]''' - The [[Crusade of Slaughter]]{{Fn|34}}

*'''???.[[M42]]''' - The [[Nachmund Rift War]]{{Fn|36a}}

*'''???.[[M42]]''' - The destruction of [[Kalkin's Tribune]] by [[Kossolax]] and his forces. [[Angron]] returns during the battle to lead the World Eaters in the slaughter.{{Fn|47a}}

*'''???.[[M42]]''' - Battle of [[Rendolia]], Forces of the World Eaters fight against the 5th Company of the [[Black Dragons]], the [[Cadian 124th]] regiment and elements of the 3rd, 600th and 89th on the world of Rendolia.{{Fn|30}}

*'''???.[[M42]]''' - The [[Battle of Malak]] during the [[Arks of Omen Campaign]]. [[Angron]] leads a great World Eaters host in order to destroy the [[Choral Engine]] on the world of [[Malakbael]].{{Fn|50a}} After a great battle, Angron succeeds in destroying the engine and even corrupting [[Indomitus Crusade Fleet Quartus]], though a great many World Eaters are lost.{{Fn|50b}} Later during the same campaign World Eaters allied to Vashtorr were able to summon Angron to [[Wyrmwood]] during the [[Battle of Idolatros]], though this time the Primarch was bested by the returned [[Lion El'Jonson]].{{Fn|51}}

*'''???.[[M42]]''' - The [[Season of Blood]]. [[Angron]] returns to lead a massive [[Khornate]] horde to [[Armageddon]], the site of a prior banishment.{{Fn|71}}

*'''???''' - The [[War for Stepjan's Hearth]].{{Fn|72c}}

{{main|Known Vessels of the World Eaters}}

*''[[Conqueror (Ship)|Conqueror]]'' - [[Glorianna Class Battleship]]; Legion Flagship (pre-Heresy).{{Fn|1a}}

*''[[Slaverer]]'' - [[Battleship]]{{Fn|60}}

*''[[Gore Drenched]]'' - [[Battleship]]{{Fn|36a}}

*[[Lheorvine Ukris]] - Known as ''Firefist'', commander of the [[Fifteen Fangs]] warband{{Fn|18a}}

*[[Shâhka Bloodless]] - Powerful [[Khorne Berzerker]]{{Fn|47a}}

*[[Jarrok Skreel]] - [[Slaughterbound]]{{Fn|71}}

*[[Goghur]] - Powerful [[Chaos Lord]]{{Fn|33d}}

{{main|Miniatures: World Eaters}}

<center><gallery mode=packed heights=160>

HHWE.jpg|[[World Eater]], [[Heresy]] era{{CME}}

Berzerker9thSingle.jpg|[[Berzerker]] - 2022{{Fn|41}}

**{{Endn|15k}}: pg. 252

**{{Endn|15l}}: pg. 253

*16: [[Betrayer (Novel)]]:

**{{Endn|16a}}: Chapter Seventeen

**{{Endn|18a}}: ''Dramatis Personae''

**{{Endn|18b}}: Chapter Two

*19: [[Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness]]:

**{{Endn|19a}}: pg. 259

**{{Endn|20e}}: pg. 124

**{{Endn|20f}}: pg. 245

*{{Endn|21}}: [[Horus Heresy (game system)|Horus Heresy]]: '''Core Set''' - [http://wh40k.lexicanum.de/mediawiki/images/8/80/Gladiator_%28Karte%29.jpg Gladiator], card description

*22: [[Imperial Armour Volume Seven - The Siege of Vraks - Part Three]]:

**{{Endn|48e}}: pg. 13

**{{Endn|48f}}: Cover

*{{Endn|49}}: [[White Dwarf 275 (UK)]], pg. 20 – ''[[Index Astartes]]: Beasts of Steel: Chaos Space Marines tanks'', The Rhino

*50: [[Arks of Omen: Angron]]:

*{{Endn|73}}: [[Prince of Blood (Short Story)]]

*{{Endn|74}}: [[Horus Heresy: Age Of Darkness 2nd Edition Rulebook]], pg. 135

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