Chthonian Beserks

Cybernetics meets stimulant fueled rage

An early edition miniature of a Squat Berserker.

Chthonian Beserks or otherwise known as Squat Berserkers (Not to be confused with Khorne Berzerkers, although they might as well be one) are close combat Squats whose rage and strength are matched nearly as much as games workshop's intentional spelling mistakes in recent new models. Their fantasy analogues would be the Slayers. Like the Squat Thunderers, Squat Berserkers only appeared in Epic. They excel at bonking heads on Orks and chopping up Gretchins if they get too close to Squat ranged units. They're often quite erratic and unhinged and maybe possibly pumped full with Drugs like an Eversor.

They are also deployed in Berserker Battlecars from Squat Land Trains.

Overview

Squat Berserkers are made up from attack squads of the most ferocious hand to hand fighters in the Stronghold. In the old Epic days, these attack squads were armed with bolt pistols, power axes or chainswords and a variety of grenades. They are expert tunnel fighters and excel at clearing buildings and fortifications ahead of the Brotherhood's advance.

All Squats are doughty fighters in close combat but Squat Berserker units are renowned for their tenacity and courage against the most impossible odds, battling fearlessly against even the mightiest of opponents without thought for their own losses. Because of this heroic determination Berserker units automatically pass any morale checks if they are in close combat.

Following the 9th edition reboot of the Squats as the Leagues of Votann, the berserks have been reimagined as heavily augmented close combat murder machines known as Cthonian Berserks, which is an alarming name. Cthonian means 'earth', but it also has meaning in both lovecraftian myth and it's also the name of the planet where Horus landed.

These frontline fighters originally began as Kin from the Cthonian mining guilds who enhanced the physical capabilities of their cloneskeins with cybernetic upgrades and cyberstimms, all the better to extract precious minerals from rad-plagued nebulae, explosive asteroids, and fathomless ocean depths. Now tasked with dealing with their people’s enemies, they charge into battle with modified mining gear like mining charge launchers turned into mole grenade launchers, heavy plasma axes, concussion mauls, and concussion gauntlets all while wearing little or no armour besides that which their cyborg augmentations provides.

Overall: They’re probably not going to be too good a troop choice unless those augmentations give them a bunch of re-rolls to avoid damage or a decent wounds buff, or their speed is higher than what you’d expect them to have with their short, squat legs, or the league gets a really good transport that can get them up close and personal with the enemy safely. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see what their stat line is before passing final judgment on them. The latest version's fluff is the origin of the Cum weapons meme.