Angron

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Rare portrait of Angron. Strangely looking like he is holding in a giant fart.

"I-I am going to be a storm-a flame-
I need to fight whole armies alone;
I have ten hearts; I have a hundred arms;
I feel too strong to war with mortals-
BRING ME GIANTS!"

– Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac

"I was born in blood, raised in darkness and I shall die free!"

– Angron, to the Nucerian High Riders and their armies

"‘That’s because you’re free. The world can be– hnng,’ he snarled, fighting off a stabbing wave of pain from his Nails, ‘beautiful, when you finally get to see it without chains.’"

– Angron, to one of his companions in the break, before the last fight against the Nucerian High Riders

His name is Angron (A.K.A. The Red Angel, The Slave of Nuceria, Angry Ron, 40Kratos, Shithead if you're sergeant Gharte, That Goddamn Retard if you're Leman Russ). Cmon, do we really have to spell it out? While his name may be is clearly a play on the word "Anger", it is possible that his name is based on the Greek word Agrion which means "Wild" or even Agron, the Gallic word for "slaughter" (Which pretty much suits him considering he's the angriest, wildest, mother-fucking mother fucker in a long and extensive history of bipedal mother fuckers). Also, if you spell his name backwards it's Norgna, which has to count for something. Apparently the inspiration for his name was a corruption of the nickname a bouncer in Nottingham has: Angry Ron. What we're trying to say is, Angron just might be the angriest and the most talented in manly face-to-face fighting son of a bitch in the galaxy. In fact, one time he was so angry about being angry all the time, that the part of him that made him angry exploded in his head, rendering him permanently angry (and also sexually impotent, but don't let him know that). And then there was that time he was kidnapped by the Emprah, which didn't help his temper much, and gave him an excuse to fucking RAGE at his dad by joining up with Khorne, Warhammer's God of Battle, War and RAAAAAAAAAAGE! Angron just so happens to be Primarch of the World Eaters and that swell guy. Hilariously, while you probably pictured a hulking brute reading this, he is described in fluff as one of the shortest Primachs, stooped and bald on the top of that. He is also Khorne's second most powerful champion, where he falls short to Doombreed, Khorne's first ever Daemon Prince/Champion. But we can forgive him, because nobody can beat Genghis motherfucking Khan.

His revered exploits include slaughtering the entire population of a planet within a night; killing an entire contingent of Eldar warriors led by a Farseer when he was only a child; and leading a gladiator rebellion against their slavers and slaughtering 25 other armies sent against them, non-stop, until a huge one made up of seven armies came and fucked their shit up against a dirty rock proving that a seven nation army could hold him back. The Emperor saved him from dying there (but left all his buddies to die), which was a tremendous blow to his martial pride and among other things, eventually led him to RAAAAAAAAAAGE furiously against the Emperor, believing him a coward devoid of honor. Angron went on to become one of the first Primarchs to side with Horus during the heresy, and was turned into a monstrous, frothing demon-prince by his brother Lorgar. Eventually, Angron joined up with KHORNE, the aforementioned God of War, Murder, Killing, Bloodshed, Weeping Buttholes, Battle and RAAAAAAAAAAGE.

Here is the theme song of this glorious bastard.

History

Early Life

You'd be pissed off too if your dad didn't let you avenge your dog.

Angron has good reason to be ever-so-slightly miffed: his early life was one big bowl of shit after another. First he crash-landed on his new home world (because Khorne didn't give him a soft landing) and had a good chunk of his head torn off in the crash, after which he got jumped by the aforementioned Eldar, then (tired from the killing and the massive brain trauma --keep in mind he was like 6 hours old) got captured and sold into slavery by people with near-Imperial level technology before making him fight as a gladiator for their entertainment.

A later retcon revealed he was a decent guy who loved his fellow gladiators, but after an incident where he refused to kill his adoptive father in the arenas, his masters proceeded to replace part of his brain with ARCHAEOTECH SHIT (originally this happened before he fully grew up) that drove him so mad that he murdered his dad regardless, cueing a massive bout of despair. The stuff they stuck in his head would later be called "The Butcher's Nails", and, though never fully understood (even after the Emprah's best techs took a look), they constantly applied pain to his brain and made it so the only time he could feel anything resembling happiness was while murdering shit. It should also be noted that they go from excruciating to normal, and do not deal with the pleasure centers of the brain.

After years of being a slave, fighting through the gladiator pits and becoming the best of them, Angron eventually set up and led a rebellion, fighting to free his brother and sister gladiators. This would make him 40k's answer to Spartacus, the same way Curze is 40k Batman. Around that time, the Emperor showed up, and hashed out a deal with the local planetary government in order to expedite Angron's capture and win over the planet without any further bloodshed, because there was no point in the Emperor helping his son win a (totally justified) war against a population that had already submitted to compliance. Of course, this deal required the Emperor to take Angron away from the only people who weren't shitty to him and leaving them all to die; but Big E didn't give a rat's ass about those fuckers (and they were all summarily executed, as you would expect in a slave rebellion). Naturally, he didn't tell Angron any of this, because he couldn't give less of a shit Aaron Dembski-Bowden wanted to make the Emperor look like an ass again. Daddy issues don't make for good writing, but said good writing is harder to write. Of course, the Emperor could have saved them all or simply kill the local slavers who were, despite compliance, flying in the face of the law of the Great Crusade, and take the slaves to his ship to be made into a loyal ass-wrecking rapetrain of AWESOME alongside all the Terran legionnaires. Buuuut we need our dose of our Edgy Grimdark here, right?

Back on Terra, the Big E summoned Arkhan Land to his labs and showed Angron spread out with his skull hacked open & brain exposed on a surgery table, taking a good look at Angron's fucked-up skull and decided that he was a waste of time and effort, and arrived at the conclusion that even trying to remove them would likely kill him (reference "Betrayer"). The Mechanicus estimated that he wouldn't live long enough to see the end of the Great Crusade.

Still, considering that later during the Horus Heresy, Menes Kalliston of the Thousand Sons was fairly certain that their psyker-medics could figure out how to remove them from a certain swell guy, it is possible that the Emperor - being the most intelligent person in the Imperium and the most powerful psyker ever - could have achieved it if he put some resources into it (especially since at least one AdMech replaced everything, including his brain with machine parts); or it's equally likely the Thousand Son space marine was just stalling because he had an insane psycho-killer moments away from killing him breathing down his neck.

As it is, the Emperor was told that Angron would likely not see the the end of the crusade, and thus took the dumbest option available to Him: do nothing to mitigate the effects, do nothing to change how much Angron hated him, and throw him into warzones after giving him a massive force and assume that it would never come back to haunt him. Could He have saved Angron? Perhaps, should he have the occasion to put his entire undivided attention to it. But with Him busy with the demands of the Imperium, powering the Astronomican and trying to get the Human Webway online the Emperor did not want to sink the extra time and resources into saving one of his Primarchs.

Great Crusade

Angron back when the Great Crusade was still a thing. Along with that swell guy on his right and the angriest, most heterosexual woman in existence on his left.

"You kept that mule Kor Phaeron. Russ kept his kin-friends. The Lion kept Luther. Humans - brothers and foster fathers - saved and raised into Legion ranks. But not me. Not Angron, no. Did the Emperor teleport his gold-wrapped Custodians down to help me and my army? No. Did he free the War Hounds and order them to battle, fight alongside me? No. Did he save my brothers and sisters the way he spared the Lion’s closest kin? No, no, and no. No mercy for Angron. Angron the Oathbreaker. Angron the Betrayer."

– Angron explains his anger towards the Emperor to Lorgar, during one of his more calm moments.

Either way, when Angron was introduced to his legion he was inconsolable. He ended up hacking apart the legion captains until Khârn (who was actually much further down the list of command, having risen up the ladder thanks to several of his superiors' untimely ends) managed to talk some sense into his father. Though bearing in mind the Emperor had already let Perturabo dispassionately decimate 10% of an entire legion, Angron killing some captains in an emotional meltdown is small potatoes.

Anyway, Kharn successfully talks some sense into him, and Angron renamed his legion World Eaters, a name you might recognize translates to fucking savage in the common tongue. Angron's old army of gladiators whom he'd led to freedom and been denied death alongside them was known as "the eaters of cities" on Nuceria. So, as Dreagher, a Terran-born War Hounds legionary who served as Captain of the Legion's 9th Company, described it: from then on, they would no longer be the War Hounds, but Angron's "eaters of worlds".

Angron then replicated the Butcher's Nails technology on his legionaries, despite the Empy's warnings and how much he hated the source of the Nails, his old masters - which adds a little hypocritical spice to his complaints about how the Nails ruined his life, given that he did the same thing to other people for no fucking reason when given the chance. Perhaps Angron wanted his sons to feel the same pain he experienced since he would never be able to remove the goddamn thing from his brain and it pissed him off that his own flesh and blood did not suffer as he did. More likely he was desperately trying to emulate his blood brothers and sisters in the pits since they were the only ones to give a shit (plus Lorgar). Even in spite of being the first legionary to GIT SOME, that swell guy became Angron's 'cool headed' equerry. Ironic.

The Nails also negatively interacted with psykers, killing Librarians who tried to get them installed (blowing holes in spaceships and taking down entire squads of space marines in the process as their altered brain chemistry made it impossible for them to control their abilities anymore). Also merely being near a psyker made other Legionaries feel... uncomfortable (described as ticking by Kharn). Angron personally took this to eleven, hating psykers for the additional pain they brought - with the strange exception of Lorgar & the Emperor, who seemed not to trigger that effect. Still, the whole Butcher's Nails thing is actually quite tragic (could the fact that even being psykers caused pain to everyone implanted with the nails indicate that they were not just archeotech, but technology corrupted by Khorne who hates psykers? And even the daemon primarch still has them implanted...all the implications). In "Betrayer" Argel Tal asks Kharn why the World Eaters allowed themselves to be mutilated so, to which Kharn replies that they thought it would bring them closer to their father. Argel Tal continues asking if it worked, and Kharn sadly mutters to himself "no, it didn't". So, before Erebus made sure that Kharn would become the RAAAAAAGE train we know in 40k by killing Argel Tal (in the same novel), because - as Erebus put it - his damned humanity would have spared Kharn this fate (because becoming a berzerk psychopathic killer is so much more awesome than staying sane) he appears to be regretting this decision - at least at this point.

During the Great Crusade, the World Eaters were known as the Imperium's butcher force. Their arrival or even just the threat of their arrival in a system was enough to make non-compliant Imperial worlds surrender, lest they be completely and utterly be butchered by the Red Angel and his sons - which only made it easier for the World Eaters to butcher them. Angron ordered his sons to complete every single conquest and compliance action in thirty-one hours, since he and his gladiator army had once destroyed an entire city on Nuceria in the same span of time. When and if they failed, he mocked them for being inadequate and ordered them to decimate themselves, it apparently not having occurred to him that it's a little harder to take down an entire planet than it is one city, even if you are a Space Marine legion. Things were getting so bad that some of the World Eaters' senior officers were considering going to the Emperor for help, at least until the Nails became a thing and they stopped caring about anything beyond RIP AND TEAR. One of them even talked back to Angron on the subject, which caused him to RAEG the fuck out and start killing his own sons again until some of the Librarians knocked him out.

Angron and his World Eaters, pre-heresy and pre-daemon prince in a rare state of tranquility standing on top of a pile made of snow and dead bodies. It's hard to calm down when there's nails in your brain.

He also had a run in with Leman Russ at some point, just after the XII Legion started getting their brains Nailed. Russ came to Angron after having heard reports that the World Eaters were increasingly just bathing in blood, instead of bringing worlds to compliance. Angron wasn't as brain-damaged as he would be later, so he asked if Russ had come on order of the Emperor. Russ grudgingly had to admit he wasn't; this wasn't an execution ordered by the Emperor (yet) and he privately didn't want it to become one in the future. So he went on saying that implanting Angron's legionaries with the Nails had to stop and that they'd be brought to Terra so a way of removing them could be devised (so he basically told Angron to sort his shit out and stop mutilating his sons). But we all know how good Russ is with people and generally just liked throwing his weight around. In more seriousness, this is one of the cases where Russ really, genuinely wanted to help one of his brothers, having had his own bouts with irresistible murderous intent to deal with. His approach sadly wasn't well thought out. Though to be fair Angron wasn't exactly diplomatic either, telling Russ that the Nails were the only thing that kept him going, that the EMPRA was just another slaver (and that bringing "compliance" to worlds was just a way of candycoating enslaving worlds which merely had wished to be left alone), and that without the Nails he might go to Big.E and chop "the slaving bastard's" head off. Ironically enough Angron had a solid point with the former argument, but the very suggestion of turning against Emps basically made Russ lose what remained of his cool on the spot with the result one would expect.

There was a brief skirmish between the two Legions (an event which would come to be known as the "Night of the Wolf") where Angron fought Leman Russ in personal combat. He made him his personal bitch until he was outmaneuvered by the Space Wolves troops and surrounded, isolated from his World Eaters who were just like their father putting up one hell of a fight and hurt on the Wolves but being slowly separated and isolated from each other. Russ then tried to make his point a second time; that Angron's berzerker rage made him and his Legion lose sight of the larger tactical and strategic objectives and that Russ had lured him into a position where he would be killed. Angron refused to acknowledge his losing position since he was the one holding the weapon at his brother's throat and that killing EVERYONE should be the only objective anyway. Russ might be very well holding the proverbial gun to his temple, but it was only worth anything if he was willing to pull the trigger. Which at that point Russ wasn't, so Angron completely ignored him. Yet, surprisingly, Angron did not press his attack either and both Primarchs separated and went their own way. But, as time would show, the nails had a degrading effect on Angron's ability to hold back and remain coherent, so maybe that's your answer right there. , Angron was certain of his victory that day and didn't give the incident any more thought, the Nails stayed with him and his Legion. In the end, though, Leman Russ was right: Angron's failure to learn and control his murderous rage would be amply demonstrated and only become worse with time. At the tail end of the Great Crusade when he butchered a whole city which had just surrendered, on Isstvan III when he sabotaged Horus' clean Exterminatus by going down to rip the loyalists apart personally, and on Nuceria where he ordered every living being killed. But what’s truly sad is that Lorgar actually did seemingly succeed where Russ had failed in teaching the lesson of the Night of the Wolf years later, and on their way to Nuceria, during Angron’s last weeks as a human, he actually seemed to be trying to open himself up a little more to his legion by joining them in watching pit fights and hanging out with them during feasts, all of which was rendered too little too late by what went down when they reached their destination.

Horus Heresy

Angron during the Siege of Terra, about to give the defenders a very bad day

On which note, Angron kicked off his contribution to the Heresy in a way that had Horus' lieutenants suggest killing him. When the firestorm on Isstvan died down, it became apparent that large numbers of Loyalists had survived. Said survivors immediately hit the vox-casters and began demanding answers/hurling insults up at the orbiting fleet, outraged and grief stricken that they had been betrayed by their own Primarchs. Hearing the howled insults of his own Loyalist World Eaters, Angron flew into a rage and ordered his legion to deploy onto the planet. This meant that Horus couldn't just bombard the city again, and committed the Traitors to fighting a long, brutal campaign which delayed them and sapped their numbers.

He was much handier on Isstvan V, wreaking all sorts of carnage in the Dropsite Massacre. He stayed behind to hunt down the surviving Raven Guard who'd escaped with their Primarch, and would have massacred them if not for their reserves rocking up from Deliverance.

Lorgar then roped Angron into his Shadow Crusade, systematically butchering worlds across Ultramar to invoke the Ruinstorm. Initially, this was a campaign with mixed success: the two Legions nearly fought in the void before an Eldar fleet tried to destroy Angron, and the World Eaters wiped out several worlds which Lorgar had wanted to skip. The Word Bearers were nearly driven to despair by the World Eaters' degradation, and Lorgar began to worry that Angron couldn't see how he was degenerating - and there was only one way that could end. Still, Lorgar wanted to save Angron, although in his case "save" meant "transfigure into a daemon Primarch". Angron was, according to Horus and Lorgar, the only Primarch (beside Horus himself) that would be able to successfully take on and beat Sanguinius in full rage mode. To do that, Lorgar led Angron back to his shitty home planet Nuceria where Angron went into a deep depression after witnessing the tragic aftermath of his rebellion. And that lasted until he had the misfortune to be told he had fled that final battle, which made him go completely berserk, ordering his legion to slaughter every fucking thing on the planet faster than an inquisitoral cyclonic torpedoes bombardment.

The arrival of Guilliman's forces delayed its inevitable doom for a little while, and Angron had an epic showdown with Roboute Guilliman when he helped Lorgar fighting big boy blue. Guilliman called Angron out to which the Red Angel replied as follows:

"What would you know of struggle, Perfect Son? When have you fought against the mutilation of your mind? When have you had to do anything more than tally compliances and polish your armour?" [...] "The people of your world named you Great One. The people of mine called me Slave. Which one of us landed on a paradise of civilization to be raised by a foster father, Roboute? Which one of us was given armies to lead after training in the halls of the Macraggian high-riders? Which one of us inherited a strong, cultured kingdom? And which one of us had to rise up against a kingdom with nothing but a horde of starving slaves? Which one of us was a child enslaved on a world of monsters, with his brain cut up by carving knives? Listen to your blue-clad wretches yelling of courage and honour, courage and honour, courage and honour. Do you even know the meaning of those words? Courage is fighting the kingdom which enslaves you, no matter that their armies outnumber yours by ten-thousand to one. You know nothing of courage. Honour is resisting a tyrant when all others suckle and grow fat on the hypocrisy he feeds them. You know nothing of honour."

Guilliman ended up getting beaten so badly he had to crawl away on hands and knees, but not before throwing back:

"You’re still a slave, Angron. Enslaved by your past, blind to the future. Too hateful to learn. Too spiteful to prosper."

The irony is Angron was right all along about Emperor being a dick, as Roboute realized on Terra ten thousand years later. But in all seriousness, both of them had a point. Guilliman had it really easy and could have turned out massively different had his life not been so cushy, while Angron's rage over his admittedly-shitty life had consumed his soul and didn't exactly let him off the hook for turning his entire legion into murder machines.

Furthermore, during their duel Guilliman shattered one of the skulls that Angron had carried on him, which were the remains of the rebels Angron had carried with him (and whom he had promised to die alongside with... until the EMPRA abducted him. Angron himself said to Lorgar in "Betrayer" that he died on Nuceria), which obviously drove Angron to an entire new level of despair, allowing for Lorgar to capitalize on that emotion to fuel Angron's ascension into a daemon primarch. There were even 19 World Eater librarians, that had tried to prevent their primarch's ascension forming a gestalt warhound, pulling Angron's soul from one end, while Lorgar as well as some daemons pulled at it from the other, like children fighting over a doll. In the end, Lorgar - being the more powerful psyker - defeated the librarians, and turned Angron into the Daemon Primarch we all know and love. Guilliman ended up suffering a grievous wound, but escaped the planet, which was rendered devoid of all life by the World Eaters, and had its records erased by the Imperium of Man.

It should also be noted that one or two battles beforehand a Warhound Scout Titan tried to step on Lorgar after the Aurelian had taken two discharges of the the titan's main plasma weapon and was badly hurt (to the point of almost being mortally wounded) in the process. Angron stepped in to save his brother, catching the titan's foot and setting a new world record in squat weightlifting, keeping the titans weight suspended above himself through his sheer strength and RAGE, enabling Lorgar - who was almost dead at this point - to escape (meanwhile Ferrus Manus could punch THROUGH REAVER titans). And this was after digging his way up through 200+ feet of solid debris, after being warned by WE Librarians he had been digging 'downwards', and with Lorgar teleporting from orbit to help excavating the XIIth Primach (while Lorgar simultaneously destroyed several Ultramarine Thunderhawks with telekinetically hurled building debris which Angron had been buried under). Of course, after this the relationship between the two primarchs became pretty remarkable, and Lorgar ended up repaying the favor by arranging for Angron's ascension to daemonhood during their fight with Guilliman. At first Lorgar thought that Guilliman was ruining the "song" and finally understood that Guilliman had never hated or looked down on him until the Heresy (and the destruction of Calth) - actually distracting Lorgar for a moment as he realized that he had misunderstood his brother all along - At the end though, when Guilliman was about to gain the upper hand Angron emerged and engaged the XIII Primarch. At this very moment (topped off by Guilliman stepping on one of the aforementioned skulls) the "song" fell back in tune, and Lorgar could finish the incantation.

After Angron's ascension, he was even more the uncontrollable rage monster that he had always been and still hacked his way through the occasional officer that got on the wrong side of him. So the World Eaters locked him up on his flagship while they wondered what to do with him, which caused all the sorts of changes you'd expect by locking a roaring daemon up in the basement. Kharn visited his father during a lucid moment to try and get some sense out of him, having to remind his father of the red sands of Deshea and the gladiator he used to be. But Angron had already lost so much of his sense of self to Khorne that he did not even recognize the Legion as his own anymore, warning Kharn that the only way to continue serving him was to follow him down the same path. What's more was that as a daemon-Primarch, his grasp on reality was tenuous so the legion could only continue to keep their father in constant combat to ensure that he remained with them, forcing them to divert their forces towards literally any inhabited system to continue fighting and keeping the flow of blood going. Kharn (and presumably the rest of the legion) start losing themselves soon after.

The short story Prince of Blood casts the previous paragraph in a new, rather disturbing light: firstly, the part about the World Eaters keeping Angron contained was a lie, he was far too powerful, turning any cell block or restraining device they used on him to scrap... and never once trying to leave. Angron had developed crippling bipolar tendencies, and where his manic phase embodied the champion of raw murder we all know and love, his depressive phase was so utterly dead inside it makes Isha look cheery in comparison. He spent most of his free time cowering in a corner, begging for the Emperor to return, or just crying himself to sleep. This has only made the World Eaters more terrified of him, since he could rampage through the ship at a moment's notice and they couldn't stop him. Only Kharn has enough balls to try talking to him.

41st Millennium

Even in daemonhood, they still can't get the Nails out. Fucking Archeotech was built to last!

Angron has done far more shit than all the other Daemon Primarchs put together. Instead of sitting around being a painting on some Chaos God's wall, sitting around while being a rotting fatass and feeling sorry for themselves, sitting around and yelling just as planned anytime anything happens, sitting around and preaching constantly, being (Maybe) dead, or being missing; Angron actually gets shit done and boy howdy when he rages his way out of the eye of terror he makes sure that everyone knows about it...by tearing everything that gets in his way a new one until he finally gets thrown back into the warp by drowning in a quadrillion metric fucktons of Imperial Guardsmen, Planetary Defense Force soldiers, Spehss Mehreens, Witch Hunters, Bolter Bitches, Titans, Inquisitorial Stormtroopers, Daemonhunters, and Grey Knights, but to be fair, everyone kind of does that when the Imperium finishes the paperwork needed to retaliates.

This was of course before The Gathering Storm, whereupon Magnus personally attacked Fenris and laid waste to much of the planet and destroyed a lot of gene-seed, proving that Tzeentch can get shit done too. Then in 8th edition Mortarion waged Plague Wars against Ultramar and established the Scourge Stars systems in M42. Also it should be noted that Fulgrim has been free of that painting for a while now, but otherwise he still fits in the above category.

He also slaughtered his way throughout Imperial Space for over a century with 50,000 World Eater Berserkers and destroyed/maimed/killed/burned/broke the backs of/split open/fucked 70 sectors. However, in a subsequent Imperial offensive, Angron was banished to the warp and his men routed. This strike force comprised 2 Titan Legions, only 4 full Spess Mehreen chapters and over 30 Imperial Guard regiments to do that, so it's suffice to say that the counterattack put up quite a fight against the superior force. But to be fair, Angron's force was only comprised of close combat heavy infantry without ranged support or artillery. Later on, he showed up with an even bigger force to attack Armageddon. The Imperium responded in kind, sending in one hundred Grey Knight Terminators, and all but ten of them died fighting Angron and his Bloodthirster posse(and only because their prodigy Librarian Hyperion managed to shatter his sword, and he STILL managed to murder their leader with just his bare fists). He is armed with a really huge fucking chainaxe that's taller than him with chainswords for the chainteeth of the chainaxe. He's also got a stormbolter, but we wouldn't be surprised if that fired chainswords as well. Fittingly enough, it was called 'Godtearer'.

In video games

Unfortunately, he has appeared in only one of the official games, which greatly displeases Khorne. However, in the Ultimate Apocalypse mod for Dawn of War, he takes the place of the Chaos Daemons' "game-ending win button" unit - and he's a walking rapetrain that can obliterate buildings with a single hit, take out Titans in three, make himself invincible, and summon a retinue of Bloodthirsters. He can also be almost unkillable by exploiting a bug which lets him instantly refill his morale, which gives him disturbingly fast health regeneration. Too bad you'll almost never use him. He costs so many relic points in an army that consumes them like candy that, if you can spare the points and time to conjure him, chances are you're already winning so badly you don't actually need him. Seriously, for the same number of points it takes to conjure Angron you could just build 5-6 Helldrakes or an equal amount of Bloodthirsters, and keep in mind Chaos Daemons need the same resource for anything greater than lesser Daemons. If you're not spending them on other units you need right now then you can just overwhelm them with what you already have. Essentially the definition of "awesome but impractical", but sweet jesus is it truly awesome to watch.

Angron shows up in the Horus Heresy:Legions card game, being one of the best warlords, and in keeping with his character he has to attack every turn.

On the tabletop

Horus Heresy

	Pts	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Angron:	400	9	5	7	6	5	7	6	10	3+/4++

WHY IS HE BEATING UP HIS OWN LEGION said everyone on Isstvan III. Proof that Angron was actually a Loyalist Primarch. Don't believe the Chaos Lies!

Obviously one of the strongest Primarchs in the game when it comes to close combat, aside from his stats Angron has a 3+ armor (weak for a demigod), 4+ invulnerable, FNP (the full rule since the 02/11/2019 errata) the Primarch rule and Hatred, so he gets to re-roll to-hit rolls on the first turn of any combat, while also having Armourbane and dealing Instant Death on to wound roll of 6, in case S8-9 doesn't instagib anything right away. Thanks to the Butcher's Nails he will gain 1 bonus attack (up to 10) for every Independent Character or Infantry unit he kills/destroys in close combat (But he must be the one to give the fatal blow/remove the last model to pick up this bonus) and he can also challenge as many times as there are Independent Characters and units in combat with him thanks to the Red Sands rule, assuring he will at least pick up some extra attacks during the course of the game.

The obvious downsides are that, aside from butchering things in melee, Angron cannot do anything: he doesn't buff his army in any way aside 12" aura of Fearless, while other Primarchs bestow significant buffs to their armies, and of course he is one of the (if not THE) most fragile of the Primarchs, having only 5 wounds and 3+/4++. Having FNP 5+ doesn't fully compensate against mass fire but makes him actually more resilient than most of his brothers against AP2 attacks. So all in all he's much like Kharn on steroids: you reach melee - you're king, you get your transport blown up and then get kited across the table - you're fucked. The other problem he shares with Kharn is that he tends to annihilate anything he charges in one phase either through sweeping advance or just by killing everyone outright, which leaves him vulnerable to enemy fire afterwards.

Honestly, he's not worth it. Between his fragility, low mobility, and lack of army bonuses, he's a tricky Primarch to use. Unfortunate considering his badass fluff.

40k

	Pts	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Angron:	500	10	6	7	6	5	6	6	10	3+/4++

He had stats from an old issue of White Dwarf, and though they might seem disappointing, especially in comparison to his Primarch form (it's barely an upgrade), his stats alone don't tell you everything.

For starters, he has additional rules such as Furious Charge (to make him S8), he has Iron Hide (keeping his power armour save), the Roar of Hate rule to reduce the Leadership of enemies by 1, and his Daemon rule made his Invuln as strong as when he relied on armour. The real boost to him however is the fact that he's a Flying Monstrous Creature now (although in the edition he came out it just gave him 12" movement instead), effectively keeping his Armourbane and AP2, and it fixes his movement issue.

The real boost to his old self is his weapon, Angron's Black Blade, and with it in hand it's no wonder Gorefather and Gorechild became hand-me-downs. This is a Master-crafted weapon that gives all of his attacks the Instant Death rule. All this combined he makes Abaddon the Despoiler and Mephiston look like total pussies, but you have to get him a bodyguard of at least 2-12 bloodthirsters, which effectively racks up his point cost to over 1300 at the least, but there's nothing in the game that survive a charge from him and his bodyguards.

Angron VS other Primarchs:

Primarch fighting, while fun to see, isn't a very competitive thing to do as it'll usually tie up both Primarchs for the entire game without either of them dying (But with Angron this is less likely as you're going to die or kill fast!), with that in mind this section is about how Angron fares against other Primarchs Mathhammer wise. Please note that all the various abilities are taken into accounts when possible and the match-ups assume the Primarchs are the only ones involved in the fighting, so various abilities like Angron's "The Butcher's Nails" and Rampage do not provide any bonuses. The fights are supposed to be in a vacuum for simplicity (So no Furious Charge for our hero...), but notes are added to make things clearer in particular instances. Also all of the Primarchs use their most powerful weapons (because why have a contest if you don't do your best?)

• Angron VS Horus
  • Horus turn 1 & 2: hits 3 times, wounds 2.667 times, 0.888 after saves and FNP, and IWND will take that down to 0.555 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Horus (with Angron wounded twice): hits 3.999 times, wounds 3.555 times, causes 1.185 wounds after saves & FNP, taken to 0.851 with IWND at the start of the next turn.
  • Angron Round 1: hits 5.333 times, wounds 4.444 times, 1.48 after saves, and IWND take it down to 1.148.
  • Angron Wounded: hits 3 times, wounds 1.999 times, 0.666 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.333 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Despite a good showing in the first round; when factoring in Disabling Strike the whole thing becomes academic; Horus overtakes Angron in damage capacity after one wound (<2 turns) and quickly beats Angron to a pulp as Angron continues to flail feebly.

• Angron vs Fulgrim
  • Fulgrim hits 3.5 times, wounds 2.333 times (2.722 times if his warlord trait is Child of Terra), 1.166 (1.361) times after saves, 0.971 (1.134) after Feel No Pain (remember that half of the attacks that wound cause Instant Death) and IWND will take that down to 0.638 (0.801) wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Angron Round 1: hits 5.333 times, wounds 4.444 times, 1.48 after saves, and IWND take it down to 1.148.
  • Angron Round 2 and thereafter: hits 4 times, wounds 3.333 times, 1.111 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • A really close fight: Angron does marginally more damage if Fulgrim doesn't chose Child of Terra as his Warlord Trait. With Child of Terra it becomes a battle of attrition that Angron will eventually lose. If Angron gets blinded at any point due to Fulgrim's Gilded Panoply it puts him at a disadvantage he likely wont recover from.

• Angron VS Ferrus
  • Ferrus hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 0.694 times after saves and FNP, and IWND will take that down to 0.361 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Angron Round 1: hits 5.333 times, wounds 3.555 times, 1.185 after saves, and IWND take it down to 0.852.
  • Angron Round 2: hits 4 times, wounds 2.666 times, 0.889 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.556 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Thanks to his upgraded Feel No Pain, Angron can tank more than Ferrus can, resulting in a win.

• Angron VS Konrad Curze
  • Curze hits 3 times, wounds 2.25 times, 0.750 wounds after saves and FNP, and IWND will take that down to 0.417 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Angron Round 1: hits 5.333 times, wounds 4.444 times, 2.222 after saves, and IWND take it down to 1.889.
  • Angron Round 2 and thereafter: hits 4 times, wounds 3.333 times, 1.667 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.333 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Angron easily wins, doing a lot more damage and receiving less in turn.
  • Note: Curze can Hit & Run, but by doing so he would only gain one more attack, while allowing Angron to reset his Hatred, thus actually making himself die even faster.

• Angron VS Vulkan
  • Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 wounds after saves (ID Negates FNP) and IWND will take that down to 0.5 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Angron Round 1: hits 5.333 times, wounds 3.555 times, 1.185 after saves, and IWND take it down to 0.63.
  • Angron Round 2: hits 4 times, wounds 2.666 times, 0.889 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.333 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Vulkan wins (barely). This fight is actually much closer what the simplified maths suggest. Since IWND only comes into affect on the controlling players turn (two rounds of combat) Each combatant gets their damage output twice before IWND kicks in, so Vulkan's legendary endurance nearly fails him by the second bout of combat on turn four, possibly resulting in a mutual kill.

• Angron vs Mortarion
  • Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 times after saves (no FNP due to Instant Death) and IWND will take that down to 0.5 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Angron Round 1: hits 5.333 times, wounds 3.555 times, 1.777 after saves, and IWND take it down to 1.222.
  • Angron Round 2: hits 4 times, wounds 2.666 times, 1.333 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Mortarion loses. Despite having the same reroll on IWND and doing the same damage per turn as Vulkan; even with one extra wound Mortarion's poorer save allows Angron to take him down more quickly.

• Angron VS Lorgar
  • Lorgar hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 0.694 after saves and FNP, and IWND will take that to 0.361 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Angron Round 1: hits 4 times, wounds 3.111 times, 1.555 after saves, and IWND take it down to 1.222.
  • Angron Round 2 and thereafter: hits 4 times, wounds 3.333 times, 1.667 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.333 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Angron wins pretty easily.
  • Note: against Lorgar Transfigured with Precognition Lorgar wins (Not as easily as the old version, but is still a monster).

• Angron VS Perturabo
  • Perturabo hits 2 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.555 wounds after saves and FNP, then IWND will take that down to 0.222 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Angron Round 1: hits 5.333 times, wounds 4.444 times, 1.48 after saves, and IWND take it down to 1.148.
  • Angron Round 2 and thereafter: hits 4 times, wounds 3.333 times, 1.111 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Angron wins.
  • Note: in the turn after Perturabo actually wounds Angron (69% per round) he will most probably be blinded and then hammered to death. So if he can't kill him before that he is actually dead meat.

• Angron VS Alpharius
  • Alpharius hits 2.917 times, wounds 1.7 times, 0.85 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.517 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Angron Round 1: hits 5.333 times, wounds 4.444 times, 2.222 after saves, and IWND take it down to 1.889.
  • Angron Round 2 and thereafter: hits 4 times, wounds 3.333 times, 1.667 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.333 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • As with Vulkan, Angron can't use FNP in this fight due to the Pale Spear's Instant Death, but he still easily takes the win.

• Angron VS Rogal Dorn
  • Dorn hits 2 times, wounds 1.5 times, 0.499 wounds after saves and FNP, and IWND will take that down to 0.167 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Dorn (Sundering Blow) hits once, wounds 0.972 times, 0.486 wounds after saves (No FNP due to Instant Death), taken to 0.152 at the start of the next turn.
  • Angron Round 1: hits 5.333 times, wounds 3.555 times, 1.777 after saves, and IWND take it down to 1.444.
  • Angron Round 2 and thereafter: hits 4 times, wounds 2.667 times, 1.333 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • This is probably Angron's easiest fight.
  • Note: Sundering Blow cancels out Feel No Pain so it was worth calculating. Turns out it makes no difference here; Dorn has too few attacks to make a difference either way.

• Angron VS Corvus Corax
  • Corvus hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 3 times (Scourge)/2.25 times (Shadow-walk), 0.999 wounds (Scourge)/0.750 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and FNP and IWND will take that down to 0.666/0.417 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Angron Round 1: hits 5.333/4.5 times, wounds 4.444/3.75 times, 2.963/2.5 after saves, and IWND take it down to 2.63/2.167.
  • Angron Round 2 and thereafter: hits 4/3 times, wounds 3.333/2.5 times, 2.222/1.667 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.889/1.333 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Angron wins really easily as Corax is simply too frail for him.
  • Note: differently from Curze, Corax would actually have the edge on the charge thanks to his Sire of the Raven Guard rule and his Hammer of Wrath/dual Archeotech Pistols. Also in a turn in which blind goes off he could have the advantage of Shadow-walk and scourge at the same times (plus more, 'cause he would hit on 3s). A tough fight, but more on his style and it could make him win in extremis.

• Angron VS Roboute Guilliman
  • Angron Round 1: Angron has Hatred, so on the first turn he will hits 5.333 times, wounds 4.444 times, 2.222 after saves, 1.972 after Armour of Reason re-roll and IWND take it down to 1.639.
  • Angron Round 2: Angron hits 4 times, wounds 3.333 times, 1.667 times after saves, 1.417 after re-roll and IWND will take that down to 1.084 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Angron Round 3 and thereafter: Angron hits 3 times, wounds 2.5 times, 1.25 after saves and 1 after re-roll. Then IWND take it down to 0.667.
  • Guilliman Round 1/2/3: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times, 0.741 times after saves and FNP, and IWND will take that down to 0.407 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Guilliman Round 4 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 0.987 times after saves and FNP, and IWND will take that down to 0.654 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Unsurprisingly, Guilliman loses this fight.

• Angron vs Magnus
  • Angron first round: hits 4.5 times, wounds 3.75 times and 1.875 after saves which IWND will take down to 1.542 at the start of next turn
  • Angron second round: hits 3 times, wounds 2.5 times and 1.25 after saves which IWND will take down to 0.917 at the start of next turn
  • Magnus: hits twice, wounds 1.667 times, reducing to 0.557 after saves & FNP. Then IWND will take down to 0.222 at the start of next turn
  • Magnus (using Force): hits twice, wounds 1.667, reduces to 0.834 after saves. IWND brings this to 0.5 at the start of the next turn.
  • Psychic powers normally don't get included in the PvP breakdowns, but Magnus is the only one with a Force Weapon so it was worth mentioning. Either way you look at it, Magnus loses this one pretty badly. Things would obviously be different if other powers were included.
  • As with psychic powers in general in 30k, this fight is really swingy based on what powers Magnus takes. If he can roll Iron arm and Warp speed with a power left to generate then he could take Prescience to actually gain a decent chance of winning. At the same time he could also have a tough time in power generation and get squished.

• Angron VS Leman Russ
  • Angron Round 1: Angron has Hatred and is hitting on a 5+, so he hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.778 times, invul save brings it down to 1.389 and IWND brings it to 1.056 wounds.
  • Angron Round 2 and on: Angron is hitting on 5s, so hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, saves brings it down to .833 and IWND brings it 0.5
  • Leman hits Angron 3.214 times, wounds 2.678 times, save brings it down to 1.339, FNP brings it 0.892 and IWND brings it down 0.559
  • As expected Angron loses this fight. Angron puts up a reasonable fight but the wolf king is just much for him.
  • TLDR: Without the Sword of Balelight, the fight is very close. Sword of Balelight is pretty busted.

• Angron VS Jaghatai
  • Jaghatai (on Bike) hits 4 times, wounds 2 times, 1 wounds after saves and FNP will take that down to 0.666 and IWND will take that down to 0.333
  • Angron Round 1: hits 5.333 times, wounds 3.555 times, 1.185 wounds after saves, and IWND take it down to 0.852 at the start of the next turn.
  • Angron Round 2: hits 4 times, wounds 2.666 times, 0.888 wounds after saves, IWND will take that down to 0.556 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Angrons wins, and if Jaghatai uses hit-and-run he'll get destroyed even faster.

• Angron vs Sanguinius
  • Sanguinius charging: hits 4 times (3.5 times with Blade Encarmine), wounds 3.999 times (double wounds taken into account) (3.111 with Encarmine), becomes 1.999 (1.037 with Encarmine & FNP) after saves
    • Sanguinius Hammer of Wrath: 1 autohit, wounds 0.833 times, becomes 0.277 after saves and FNP.
    • Total combined damage on charge 2.276 (1.314), taken to 1.944 (0.981) next turn with IWND
  • Sanguinius thereafter: hits 3.5 times (3 times with Blade Encarmine), wounds 2.333 times (double wounds taken into account)(2.666 with Encarmine), taken to 1.166 after saves (0.888 with Encarmine + FNP), taken to 0.8333 (0.555) next turn with IWND
  • Angron Round 1: hits 4.5 times, wounds 3.75 times, becomes 1.875 after saves (0.938 if Sanguinius charged). IWND takes it to 1.54 (0.604) next turn
  • Angron thereafter: hits 3 times, wounds 2.5 times, becomes 1.25 after saves and IWND takes it to 0.917 next turn
    • There is a lot going on with this fight depending on what Sanguinius is doing. With the Spear of Telesto, from a standing start or if Angron charges there is a mutual kill by about the fifth bout of combat. If Sanguinius can get the charge he wins.
    • With the Blade Encarmine there is a close mutual kill if Sanguinius charges, but Angron wins from a standing start or if he charges. Feel No Pain really makes the difference.

• TLDR version: Despite being mocked for only having 3+/4++ in saves and fewer wounds than everyone but Lorgar (or Corax on a bad day), Angron is surprisingly resilient thanks to his FNP(5+). He will outpace most opponents thanks to his high number of attacks and good WS, so those who can't match his output turn-for-turn can only hope to outlast him. Angron is pretty vulnerable to Strikedown, Concussive, Blind, and basically any rule which reduces his ability to hit things (eg: Horus & Russ), all of which will severely cripple his overall damage potential. Keep in mind, as mentioned above, this is without any benefits from his The Butcher's Nails rule. With his attacks maxed out he can destroy almost any other Primarch (even Lorgar with Precognition, though it is damn close) with the exception of a few like Russ and...yeah, you guessed it right: Horus! Although he will surely put a dent even in the Warmaster.

In case you're wondering, Angron's mortal form defeats his Daemon form, mainly because his Daemon form was made before IWND became a thing.

Gallery

• 

  Doomguy called he wants his training uniform back, and he wants your head with it.

• 

  Can Vegeta say what his power level is?

• 

  Angron before Daemonhood. The only real difference is a lack of wings.

• 

  Angron portrayed in his natural state: PISSED THE FUCK OFF!

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  Angron just generally being a boss (and looking absolutely goddamn awesome while doing so). And you call the epic ness that he wears "3+" greatly displeases khorne and teh emprah

• 

  Daemon Primarch Angron at the final battle of the First war of Armageddon.

• 

  Angron can be happy too!

See Also

• They hit him with a truck!

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Angron also supposedly wrote some stuff called the Clotted Scrolls. What this means is unknown

The Primarchs of the Space Marine Legions
Loyalist Corvus Corax - Ferrus Manus - Jaghatai Khan Leman Russ - Lion El'Jonson - Roboute Guilliman Rogal Dorn - Sanguinius - Vulkan
Traitor Alpharius/Omegon - Angron - Fulgrim Horus - Konrad Curze/Night Haunter - Lorgar Magnus the Red - Mortarion - Perturabo