Flesh Tearers: Warhammer 40K Lore Guide

Every Son of Sanguinius carries the curse of the Red Thirst. In the Flesh Tearers, the curse is winning. They are the most savage Chapter of the Blood Angels' line, warriors whose hunger for blood is so close to the surface that battles end in slaughter rather than victory, and whose allies have sometimes died alongside the enemy. Their Chapter Master fights two wars at once: one against the foes of the Imperium, and one against the beast inside his own brothers.

The Flesh Tearers are a Second Founding successor of the Blood Angels, and the Chapter the other Sons of Sanguinius fear they may one day become. This guide covers their founding by Nassir Amit, their death-world home of Cretacia, Gabriel Seth's struggle to hold the Chapter together, the campaigns that made and nearly broke them, and how they play on the tabletop.

Flesh Tearers at a Glance

Nassir Amit and the Founding

When the Blood Angels Legion was divided at the Second Founding, one of the new Chapters was given to Nassir Amit, a former captain of the Legion. Amit was already known for a ferocity that alarmed even his brothers, and he gave his Chapter the name it still bears: the Flesh Tearers. The name was not a metaphor. Amit's warriors were renowned for tearing their enemies apart in close combat, and their founder's own temper set the tone for everything that followed.

The Chapter eventually settled on Cretacia, a death world of primeval jungles, volcanic wastes and enormous predatory reptiles. Its human tribes are primitive and violent, and the Flesh Tearers recruit from them. Cretacia suits a Chapter that sees war as an unending struggle for survival, but it also shapes its warriors into hunters before they ever receive the gene-seed.

For much of its history the Chapter has also operated as a fleet-based force, relying on a single battle barge and a group of modified strike cruisers that carry its companies between war zones.

A Chapter on the Edge

All the Sons of Sanguinius suffer the Red Thirst, a constant craving for blood, and the Black Rage, a psychic episode in which a warrior relives Sanguinius's death at the hands of Horus. In the Flesh Tearers both flaws are far more pronounced. The Thirst rises quickly in battle, and the proportion of warriors who fall to the Rage is higher than in almost any other successor.

The results have been grim. Flesh Tearers have been known to keep killing after the enemy has broken, and on occasion to turn on Imperial troops and civilians caught up in the frenzy. The Chapter has been under Inquisitorial scrutiny since a series of massacres in the 36th millennium, and incidents as recent as the Third War for Armageddon have kept that scrutiny alive. Because of this history, the Flesh Tearers often prefer to fight alone. They do not entirely trust themselves around allies.

To other Blood Angels successors, the Flesh Tearers are both a warning and a mirror. They show what every Son of Sanguinius might become if the curse is allowed to run its course, which is why the parent Chapter's leaders have often defended them rather than abandoning them.

Gabriel Seth, Guardian of the Rage

Gabriel Seth is the Flesh Tearers' Chapter Master, and his entire reign is a struggle to keep the Chapter from destroying itself. A brutal and uncompromising warrior, he wields the huge two-handed chainsword Blood Reaver, and is himself no stranger to the Thirst. What sets him apart is that he sees the danger clearly. He has dedicated himself to finding a way for his Chapter to survive its own nature.

Seth is pragmatic to the point of harshness. He keeps the Chapter apart from other forces when he can, works the Flesh Tearers hard in war zones where their fury does the most good and the least harm, and accepts the suspicion of the Inquisition as a price of survival. His relationship with Commander Dante of the Blood Angels is one of mutual respect: Dante has repeatedly stood by the Flesh Tearers when others would have condemned them.

Black Library has told several stories about Seth and his Chapter, including Andy Smillie's Flesh Tearers fiction and the Chapter's role in Guy Haley's The Devastation of Baal.

Other Notable Flesh Tearers

• Nassir Amit, the founder, remains the Chapter's defining ancestor, the warrior whose fury gave the Flesh Tearers their name and their reputation.
• Harahel, the Chapter Champion, Appollus, the High Chaplain, and Luciferus, the Chief Librarian, are among the officers who appear around Seth in Black Library fiction.
• The Chaplains as a whole carry a heavier burden than in most Chapters, since so many brothers must be led into the Death Company and guided to a meaningful death.

Organization of the Chapter

The Flesh Tearers nominally follow the Codex Astartes, using the same company markings as the Blood Angels, but over the centuries the Chapter has evolved into an almost pure assault force.

• Assault doctrine. The Chapter fields an above-average number of jump-pack Assault Marines and transport-mounted squads, built to close with the enemy as fast as possible.
• A standing Death Company. Because so many warriors fall to the Black Rage, the Flesh Tearers maintain a permanent Death Company, along with Death Company Dreadnoughts, rather than gathering one only for a particular battle.
• Medical expertise. An unusually large number of battle-brothers have Apothecary training, a practical response to the Chapter's constant losses and the need to recover gene-seed.
• Chapter thralls. Unusually, the Flesh Tearers have used Chapter serfs in battle alongside the battle-brothers.

Notable Campaigns

The Flesh Tearers have fought across the galaxy, but their most important recent wars have been against the Tyranids alongside their parent Chapter.

• The Cryptus campaign. In the Shield of Baal campaign, the Flesh Tearers fought beside the Blood Angels in the Cryptus system, a group of worlds standing between Baal and a splinter of Hive Fleet Leviathan.
• The Devastation of Baal. When the swarm reached Baal itself, the Flesh Tearers joined the Sons of Sanguinius in the defense of their gene-father's homeworld, fighting to the edge of annihilation until Guilliman's Indomitus Crusade arrived.
• The Third War for Armageddon. The Flesh Tearers fought the Orks on Armageddon, a campaign that added to their reputation for excessive violence.
• The Battle of Cretacia. The Chapter has also had to fight for its own homeworld, reclaiming Cretacia after it came under attack.

The Primaris Question

The arrival of the Primaris Space Marines changed the Flesh Tearers more than most Chapters. Seth was openly skeptical of them at first, questioning whether newcomers who had never known Cretacia deserved the Chapter's name, and wondering whether they spelled the end of the Firstborn. Yet the Primaris warriors brought something the Chapter desperately needed: their gene-seed has proven far more stable, making the Red Thirst and the Black Rage much less of a problem for them. For a Chapter long expected to destroy itself, that may be the best chance of survival it has had in ten thousand years.

How the Flesh Tearers Differ From the Blood Angels

The Blood Angels fight to master their curse through art, ritual and nobility. The Flesh Tearers have no time for refinement; their culture is one of raw survival on a death world and in endless war. Where Blood Angels battle-brothers are gilded and aristocratic, Flesh Tearers are scarred, blunt and dangerous. The comparison with the World Eaters is often made, and it is telling: both are defined by rage, but the World Eaters surrendered to it and to Khorne, while the Flesh Tearers keep fighting to stay loyal despite it.

How to Play and Collect the Flesh Tearers

On the tabletop, the Flesh Tearers use the Blood Angels range, including the Death Company and the wider Space Marine units, with Gabriel Seth as their signature character.

• Identity: an all-out melee army built around jump packs, fast transports, Death Company and brutal close-combat characters.
• Strengths: devastating charges and some of the most aggressive close-combat units in the Imperium.
• Challenges: the army needs to reach combat to work, and a patient shooting opponent can punish a poorly timed advance.
• Best for: players who enjoy relentless aggression and a darker, more desperate take on the Sons of Sanguinius.

The scheme is simpler than the Blood Angels' gold-heavy look: deep red armor with black, plus the Chapter's saw-blade-and-blood-drop badge. Adding a larger than usual Death Company is the easiest way to give the army the right story.

Flesh Tearers FAQ

Are the Flesh Tearers a successor of the Blood Angels?

Yes. They are a Second Founding successor of the Blood Angels, founded by Nassir Amit, a former captain of the IX Legion.

Why are the Flesh Tearers so violent?

They suffer the Red Thirst and the Black Rage more severely than almost any other Son of Sanguinius, which makes them prone to frenzied slaughter in battle.

Who leads the Flesh Tearers?

Chapter Master Gabriel Seth, who wields the chainsword Blood Reaver and has made it his mission to keep the Chapter from destroying itself.

Have the Flesh Tearers ever attacked Imperial forces?

In their frenzy, Flesh Tearers have killed Imperial troops and civilians, which is why the Inquisition has watched the Chapter for millennia and why they often fight alone.

Did the Primaris Marines fix the Flesh Tearers' curse?

Not entirely, but their more stable gene-seed has made the Red Thirst and Black Rage much less of a problem in the new warriors, giving the Chapter real hope for the first time.

Continue Exploring

• Blood Angels — the sons of Sanguinius and parent Chapter of the Flesh Tearers.
• Warhammer 40K factions guide — every army, its lore and how it plays.
• Space Marines (Adeptus Astartes) — the Primarchs, gene-seed and the Codex Astartes behind every Chapter.
• Tyranids — the swarm that brought the Sons of Sanguinius to the brink at Baal.
• World Eaters — the Legion that gave in to the rage the Flesh Tearers resist.

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