Hello from the raw dark, Dear Reader. It’s me, Gunum! And not to get this series started in a dark place, but coming from the rawness that re-entering the educational world at 30 has been leaving me with, I’m giving you all that I have left. My eyes are dry, my skin is cracked and torn at the fingertips, and the little crevice by my thumb is now taking on the shape of a pen. Blood may or may not be flowing from the paper cuts on my skin, and I think it’s a fitting offering to Khorne after my studies. With what little free time I had I wanted to take on a new writing assignment which I could follow up on and not leave other authors and fans waiting for interminably. And what better time to begin than at the start of 2023 following the release of the World Eaters codex?
But first, an introduction:
Who Am I?
As many of you may already know, my name is Chase “Gunum” Garber. I am a founder of the Warhogs ITC team, based out of North Dakota. I’ve been a member of Goonhammer since 2019 and have been in a wide variety of competitive and not-so-competitive articles. I sometimes write the Hear Me Out column (when I find true inspiration), I am the runner-up of the first blunder-dome, and am the “Best” Khorne Daemonkin player worldwide. Unfortunately for me and other Daemonkin fans, the faction was killed off shortly after the completion of that ITC year with the launch of the index-hammer 8th edition. I wouldn’t say I was ever relevant to the competitive scene, but in 2017 I was doing my best to become a name with my self-declared invention of the “Dog block” death star, or “How to get Khorne purists to hate you as you cast magic spells on Hounds of Khorne”. With the re-release of the Blood Tithe table, I am filled with renewed purpose and responsibility to do my damnedest with the World Eaters using lists inspired by those Daemonkin armies of old.
What This Series is About?
As this is my first attempt at writing a column that I plan on writing throughout the year, I must set goals for myself and the readership. The general idea here is that I will be using the first couple of months to set up and build toward a World Eaters army. Then, as I plan on taking a small break from school next semester, I will be attempting to hit the competitive 40k scene hard during the summer and spring months. I’ll use this series as a diary for these goals and keep you guys up to date on how I am performing. This will allow me to keep things honest and keep some consistent content coming out for the Goonverse. So if I travel, go to some monthly RTT’s, or get some corn guys built, I’ll post it here and keep you updated on my road to Daemonic Ascension.
My Goals for 2023
I’ve been playing this game for about a decade. I’m usually near the top table or, or winning, every local RTT I go to. My area is full of outstanding players, so this is a manageable task, but it doesn’t have any players I would consider national news. So with that in mind, I have a couple of goals for myself, especially with this being a brand-new hobby project.
- Sticking with one army. I own eight armies. I play eight armies. So, it’s only fitting that the World Eaters Army I’m about to get into is my ninth one. Also, it needs to be the sole one. I’m not accustomed to sticking to my guns and staying focused on one faction, but I will do that for this attempt. Another reason this series will keep me honest.
- Becoming a better hobbyist. Over the past couple of years I have not been able to participate in as many GTs as I would like. But as a consolation I have become a lot better at the painting and hobbying side of things. Thanks to the great people over at Turbo Dork and their color-shift paints, I finished an entire Necron army. I also finished painting a full Raptors space marine company, which I’ve been playing as Imperial Fists. I want to take the lessons I’ve been learning since making these armies and apply them to one I’m going to be very passionate about.
- Attending enough GTs to matter. I missed a lot last season. Like a lot, a lot. I went to the Albuquerque narrative, and I thoroughly enjoyed that. I won an award for playing a Xenos faction, even. But, when it came down to the ITC and winning anything that mattered, I was absent. So this season, I will be doing my best to attend the required amount of GTs and RTs really contend and make the top 100.
- Keep up with this damn article series. I’ll have the time, so I’ll use the time. That’s it. Have to keep up with it. If you see me at an event, remind me to write about it. I’m not saying this will be a community effort, but I’m not not saying that.
I’m not 100% sure what my schedule will look like for doing GTs. I’ll be able to focus more on getting this hobby project done than anything else. So, with the slow trickle of models coming my way, I’ll do everything I can to get them ready and tournament-prepared as soon as possible. I plan on going to Warhammer Fest, the GW Open at Kansas City, and probably the Narrative finale to re-release my Necrons upon the world. I’m also planning on doing the Goonhammer open for the first time, probably in both Canada and Maryland. However, we’ll have to see – I feel firm with my game knowledge and how I play this game; I will have to focus on learning the army like the back of my hand so that I can put the hammer down when I get to the events that matter.
Hobby-wise, I’m going to be starting fresh with the World Eaters. I have no models. I have old, out-of-date chaos warhounds, and the new Berserkers are much too rad to put the old ones onto the table. My game plan is to start 100% fresh. It will be expensive. I will stab myself multiple times cutting sprues and trimming models. But it will all be worth it for the content mines and the Blood God.
Hobby Progress
None on the World Eater side, but as I plan on playing a daemonkin-esque list, I will be hobbying with many demons. So currently, I am working on squads of blood crushers, bloodletters, and even a blood master or two. The current list I’m thinking of for World Eaters uses a Karanak, which I am working on.
Here are some of my bloodletter ideas; I’m trying to use a color shift of red on the primary model and make their swords feel more ethereal than hell blades. The Be’lakor list inspired me, so I wanted to do a shadow demon idea while still holding to what Khorne is about.
This is a good starting point for any allied force, and I will go pretty hard on this route. The real issue I foresee is making this only 25% of the total PL of my World Eaters army. I have some cool daemon ideas, but they all slam into that 25% limit, so I make sure I don’t lose the World Eaters’ cool faction rules and secondary objectives
Thoughts on the World Eaters
I’m very excited about what this book offers. I plan on feeling inspired even though I am not exactly spoiled for choice with list building. There are some winners and some clear losers in the book, but it will be heavily focused on the World Eaters’ side of the list. I have been tooling around with different Khorne daemon options, but being restricted in these ways makes it difficult to take everything I want. So far, all my lists have been about 70 PL of World Eaters and 45 of Chaos Daemons, which won’t work.
Next Time: More Hobby Progress and some test games?
This is my first post of the year, and I’ll be talking about things as I can. I wanted to get this proof of concept out there and the idea and make sure you guys know to look out for me as I push forward with my year’s goals. Thank you all so much for being a reader and making it through this article. Thank you.
Game on.
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