Gaming In a grim dark far future there is only war - A thread for Warhammer 40k

We seems to get some questions answered in October, or maybe not since the Dark Angels play their cards close to their chest:

"First of the Fallen
Many characters from The Horus Heresy forged legacies that stretch into the 41st Millennium. Few had quite such a massive and lasting impact as Luther, the subject of Gav Thorpe’s new novel.


Luther exerting his sinister influence over a Dark Angels legionary.

Luther: First of the Fallen will be coming your way in October and will delve into the character and motivations of Lion El’Jonson’s closest friend – and bitterest foe – like never before. Here’s the story’s blurb to whet your appetite.


Who better to write about this legendary hero of the First Legion/treacherous wretch* than Gav Thorpe, author of many Dark Angels tales encompassing the Horus Heresy and Warhammer 40,000? We caught up with Gav to get his thoughts on why he jumped at the chance to write about the master of the Fallen.



Gav: It was a very pleasant surprise when Black Library editor Jacob asked if I’d be interested in writing a book on Luther for the Horus Heresy Character series. We sat down to discuss what that meant and within 30 seconds ideas were already bubbling through my head for the overall structure (interrogations by a parade of different Supreme Grand Masters), what sorts of scenes and arcs I wanted to include, and how we’d tie it up with interstitial sections.

I’ve worked on many Dark Angels books in both the Horus Heresy and the 41st Millennium, and Luther – along with perhaps [Lord] Cypher – is the living continuity between the Legion of old and the Chapter of the present. The chance to use him to explore Caliban’s past and the journey of the Dark Angels over the last ten thousand years was too good to pass up. And to tell the tales in Luther’s own words was a delight as both a writer and fan. That’s one of the great strengths of the Character series – telling stories from the distant past that resonate all the way through the Imperium’s history and continue to shape current events.

Thanks, Gav! You’ll be able to pre-order Luther: First of the Fallen in limited edition format on Saturday the 24th of October. You can catch up with the story of Luther, the Lion, and the First Legion in the Horus Heresy series – check out Descent of Angels, Fallen Angels, The Lion and Angels of Caliban for some key events.

* Depending on who you ask."

From https://www.warhammer-community.com/2020/08/12/first-of-the-fallen/

just wondering what's your inspiration for those concepts?

 

I think to remember Luther being described as handsome, more like the man in the front than the bearded guy in the back.

Mainly the Antifa/Anonymus movements, both groups seek to violently fight "the system", are masked and use absured fake names even amongst each other.

 

I'm not sure that the guy in the back is Luther, maybe he is the guy in the front. Or maybe both are Luther, representing him before and after he turned to Chaos.

thanks I thought that they might be Anonymus references but didn't catch the Antics one.

 

Could be. On that note, did Luther actually fall to chaos? He seemed to have been empowered by the gods to some extend when fighting Johnson but even that is only in the DA codex wich generally is pretty biased against the Fallen.
Cause when we consider that after this Luther not only didn´t kill Johnson when he could have, but has spent ten thousand years claiming no absolution is nessesary for his sins and that the Lion will forgive him when he returns. Sure one could say he is mad or lying but ten thousand years the same story despite going through the worst tortures imaginable?

Maybe he is more similar to Ahriman or Fabius Bile in that to some extend he is a pawn of the gods but doesn´t really follow/worship them.

Also on the topic of Luther in my parallel universe of reversed fates he actually stays loyal, is in fact banished back to Caliban because he speaks up against the Lions falling to chaos. He later helps the loyalists during the Heresy. Afterwards he forms the "Angels of Darkness", chapter who seek to bring down their traitorous kin, while Merir Astelan would found the "Knights of Terra" in rememberance to the pre Claibanite Legion he knew.

Due to Luthers actions Caliban was actually spared, but renamed as Petram(Latin for "the Rock") and officially listed as destroyed.
Luther eventually became a dreadnought and was ultimatley placed in stasis only to be awoken in great times of need, comparable to OTL Bjorn. Alongside Fabricator General Kelbor-Hal(also a loyalist in this version) he might be one of the oldest still living humans in the Imperium.
The Lord Chyper is also still around but its likley Zahariel the bearer of said title during the heresy is long dead and the position is secretly given to new members of the order just as it was in the old pre imperial order.

 

There is some new stuff from GW. I'm just posting the 30k/40k stuff here, for the rest go to https://www.warhammer-community.com/2020/08/22/warhammer-preview-online-shadow-iron-broken-realms/

"

Are you ready? In just a few minutes, you’ll be seeing incredible, awesome new models and more (oh, so much more) for – take a deep breath now – Warhammer 40,000, Warhammer Age of Sigmar, The Horus Heresy, Warcry, Warhammer Underworlds, and Necromunda. Prepare to be amazed. Of course, we’ll be bringing you all the hot headlines right here, along with glorious pictures of all the new models.

You can watch the feed live right here, or if you’re coming to us a bit late, watch it back in the Warhammer Twitch archive.



The reveals start at 2 pm – and you’re not gonna want to miss a single one…



2:00 pm – The Crusade Begins in September!
For the last few months, we’ve been bringing you sneak peeks at The Horus Heresy Book 9: Crusade in the Road to Thramas series. Now, it’s nearly here – with a confirmed release date. Watch this epic video to find out exactly when this latest black book will be in your eager hands.



The martial might of the First Legion faces the sinister terror tactics of the Night Haunter’s murderous sons in Crusade (not that terror has much effect when you know no fear). New rules and extensive background for both Legions is joined by the history of the Thramas Crusade, and four narrative missions that let you recreate some of the fiercest battles between the Dark Angels and Night Lords. And of course, loads of lovely models are coming for the units and characters in the book, including the Primarch Lion El’Jonson himself.



Among the new units in the book are the Contekar Terminators, elite butchers and killers even by the murderous standards of the Night Lords. We caught a glimpse of these models a while back, and now you can see them in all their midnight-clad glory.






Gather your Legions and prepare for the Crusade to begin on Saturday the 4th of September. The battles of the Horus Heresy are about to reach new levels of bitterness and treachery.





2:10 pm – Iron in the Underhive
It’s time to unleash the House of Iron! A new expansion is coming your way for Necromunda – check it out!



House of Iron is your indispensable guide to the history of House Orlock and includes all the rules you need to dominate your Necromunda campaigns. New fighters, Hired Guns, and Hangers-on will be joined by House-specific weapons and wargear, which will change up the way your gang will wage war in the underhive.



Among the additions will be an all-new plastic kit that adds three fighter types to Orlock gangs.



Arms Masters are champions who keep their gangers and juves in line with fear, respect and a variety of deadly weapons. Get a load of that arc hammer…

[pictures here that I don't seem to be able to copy, to see them follow the link at the top]

Wreckers are Orlock Prospects who take on the most dangerous jobs and missions in an attempt to prove themselves to their gang fellows. Each wears a jump booster which can be used to swiftly get around the battlefield – though not without some degree of risk. After all, most jet packs come with safety instructions saying not to use them indoors. That’s a bit tough in the underhive. We bet a lot of Wreckers end up with sore heads – if they’re lucky…

[pictures here that I don't seem to be able to copy, to see them follow the link at the top]

Finally, there are some very good bionically-enhanced canids. Cyber-mastiffs are guard dogs, attack dogs, and one of the ways in which Arms Masters keep their gangs in check. You wouldn’t want to have a run-in with those jaws – augmented or otherwise.

[pictures here that I don't seem to be able to copy, to see them follow the link at the top]

House of Iron and the Arms Masters & Wreckers set will be bursting into the underhive soon.



2:20 pm – The Ultimate Six Shooter
What has six arms and six guns, and will be joining Necron armies everywhere soon? This guy.



The Hexmark Destroyer is a Deathmark who has fallen to the Destroyer curse and wants nothing other than to kill absolutely everything around it. While other Destroyers fly around with massive cannons or scuttle forward with phase blades, the Hexmark Destroyer takes the Deathmarks’ propensity for surprise attacks to epic levels. They burst from their dimensional oubliettes, the corrupted Destroyer engrams targeting and dispatching nearby enemies in a hail of enmitic disintegrator fire.






This new Destroyer will make a fun and deadly (very deadly) addition to your Necrons, as well as looking immensely cool. Keep an eye (or 7) out for it shortly after the codex launches in October.



2:30 pm – Lifting the Veil
If you’ve tried the new Crusade rules from the Warhammer 40,000 Core Book, you’ll know that they’re a great way to add a narrative element to your games, following your army from scrappy patrol force to all-conquering horde. Soon, your Crusade army will have new worlds to conquer, perils to face, and rewards to reap with the first Crusade Mission Pack, Beyond the Veil.



Venture into the Pariah Nexus and battle under the baleful influence of the Necron technologies within. You’ll be able to play loads of missions at every game size and gain incredible rewards, including upgradeable wargear, new Battle Traits, and more. But beware, for the threats in the Pariah Nexus are many – a host of battlefield conditions can affect your games, and dangerous Battle Scars await… Setting your Crusade battles within the Pariah Nexus will give you new narrative opportunities, allowing you to tell the story of your army thriving (or struggling) within this terrifying celestial phenomenon.

You’ll also be able to recreate the battlefields of the Pariah Nexus, and beyond, with new scenery kits, like Battlezone: Manufactorum – Vertigus.



This battlefield-in-a-box expands on the scenery found in the new Warhammer 40,000 Command Edition. Inside you’ll find two double-sided card gaming boards and a variety of thermo pipes, ruins, and a new auto-choral transmitter.



The contents of this set will be enough to play Combat Patrol and Incursion-level games and can be combined with more boards and scenery for larger battles. This is just one of the new scenery sets you can look forward to.

As you build your scenery collection, you’ll want new ways to use it in your games – and the Chapter Approved Mission Pack: Tactical Deployment is a great way to do so.



This pack contains 18 new matched play missions which allow you to bring your own themed terrain and use it to create a balanced battlefield alongside your opponent for close-fought games. This is perfect for any Warhammer 40,000 player who wants to add a new element to their battles. It also makes it much easier for event organisers and clubs to run tournaments – no need to paint 500 ruins to populate the tables! Run a Tactical Deployment event, provide tables and a roof, and the participants will bring the rest.

Both of these mission packs and loads of scenery will be available soon – keep your eyes peeled for more information.

 

Where did the Lion´s beard suddenly come from? Really feels they are giving more and more into the pressure of text to speech and its bizzare meme of giving all the Primarchs ridicoulus facial hair.

So been thinking a bit about my alternate Heresy setting and the post Siege of Terra developments:

The Emperor is dead, Magnus has taken his place on the Golden Throne. The good news compared to the OTL are that most of the Mechanicum is still with the empire including fabricator General Kelbor Hal, also more psykers are around and generally more tolerated by the Imperium. Bad news is that much more forces of Imperial Guard and Navy rebelled, mostly due to anti psyker/mechanicum prejudice, not helped by the fact that most Primarchs with good relations too the guard where traitors in this timeline. Based from this major differences are:

-In this timeline humanity exists under a dual monarchy of Terra and Mars with the Imperium and Mechanicum being technically still independent entities from each other, tough both unified under the rule of the Emperor/Omnissiah. He is dead/has returned to the Machine God his place is instead fullfilled by Magnus(who being not crippled can still communicate with other beings on occasion) and Kelbor Hal until the day he returns

-The Senate of Terra does not exists, at least not in its OTL form, instead of both Terra and Mars have their own councils

-The Inquistion does not exists its place is instead taken by the Alpha Legion

-Logar expanded on his idea of a union between the Imperial Faith with the Machine Cult, this was also done to somewhat lessen the Mechanicums influence. Anyone who has played the Mechicus game will remember Lector Dogmatix Videx, the Imperial side of the religion kinda goes into his direction, so Machine Priests actually delibertley keeping and valuing their emotions and the values of the imperial creed.

-As a result of most Guard Forces betraying the Imperium during the Sanguinian Heresy the Guard is to this day heavily mistrusted and put under strong oversight. Banners, Trophies and other displays of their honor are largley forbidden, instead every guardsman is specifically instructed to "fight and die for the Imperium so that their sacrifice may do a small part in makeing up for the reprehensible betrayal of their forbearers". Only if a regiment sevres many long years utterly faithfully they can be granted some small amounts of honor and maybe a pension. Guard heroes are few and far between and rarely talked about in Imperial society. Consquentially there is also no Ollanius Pius story. Instead this honor is given to either a Lunar Wolves Terminator, on the Imperial side, or a lone Skitarii Ranger on the Mechanicum´s part.

-The Regiments that stayed loyal to the Imperium where elevated from the Guard status. Most notably the Prospero Spire Guard. These regiments where instead declared Adeptus Astartes Auxillia and thus where able to retain their honors. These regiments to this day are considered extensions of the chapters they are attached to and thus avoid the stigma the Guard is branded with.

-Due to not that much of a Mechicum scism Skitarii forces as well as Titan Legions and Imperial Knight Households are much more numerous than in the OTL.

-With only the elements of the Mechanicum who where bound to a traitor legion as well as those who utterly rejected the concept of the Machine God behind them the traitor legions have considerably more trouble supplying their forces, though on the bright side Ultramar was never taken by the Imperium and thuse the Imperium has to deal with a second major chaos infestation in the galaxy, tough this would ironically have some advantages when later it was Guillimans plague empire that would take most of the inthial hit of the Tyranids assault giving the Imperium some breathing Space

-Instead of Crawl, in this timeline Fabius Bile was the one who "upgraded" the Space Marines, there are also rumors he might be close to cracking the code on how to apply Astartes implants to female recuits as well

 

from

He has had it for a long time

 

Not in all artwork, back in the day he looked like Prince Arthas:

So to clear this up: the Squats are not extingt!
There has actully been a Squat character in the new edition of Necromunda as far as I know. They are no longer an independent civilization but there are still Squats living as abhumans in the Imperium.

Here is the Necromunda Character:
https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-GB/Grendl-Grendlsen-Squat-Bounty-Hunter-2018

 

Where are pics from? Wondering since I don't recognice them

there is two of them actually
https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-GB/Ragnir-Gunnstein-Squat-Ammojack-2019

 

Just googled the Lion himself. But I have seen them before and doubt its fanart

Also there are apparently mentions of Imperial Force encountering Squat ships during the Psychic Awkening books. So its not just a few mercenary stragglers left.

 

Warhammer Community's own Ben Bailey joins Wade on this week's podcast to talk all about creating his own Space Marines successor Chapter.

or you can download it as pod here https://warhammercommunitypodcast.com/

 

Found it:
Slaine69: Lion El'Jonson being played by Thomas Kretschmann

https://www.deviantart.com/slaine69/art/Lion-Kretschmann-298834267

Lion El'Jonson being played by Thomas Kretschmann, I think that would totally work, what do you guys reckon? I been racking my brains for Russ but I haven't got to him in 'thousand sons yet so I'm uninformed as of now, sooon though, sooooooonn.

 

Do anybody know where the phrase "They smell of dirt and entitlement" is from, and who said it?

Alos, do anybody know if John Blanche ever did a primarch pic on Lion El'Johnson?

Found the other one: https://www.deviantart.com/noldofinve/art/Lion-El-Johnson-311708734

Know I recognise the artstyle, I have been folowing Noldofinve for some time now.

 

Some different things:

Got my hands on White Dwarf #455 where they talk about, among other things, the Realm of Tzeentch (have five different illustrations showing different colour combinations for Thousand Sons CSM); a Titanicus battle report; a presentation of the War Zone Pariah Nexus; and part three about how to go about when creating your own Chapter, this time talking about Chapter organisation and how that is shown, illustrated by the WD's own Tome Keepers (it's also shown the thought process when it comes to the marines individual names and that they decided to go with Babylonian names).

----------------------------------------------

Also, I recently looked up the coat-of-arms for the noble families prince Vlad III the Impaler belonged to and they are not one bit gothic or horrific. It would be fun to somebody use them as inspiration for a Blood Angel Successor Chapter's colour and/or Chapter symbol:

House of Basarab's coat of arms

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:House_of_Basarab_quote_of_arms.png


House of Draculesti's coat of arms

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:House_of_Draculesti_Arms.svg

 

Picked up Bloodlines by Chris Wraight in an Amazon UK order this past week. It's the first in the Warhammer Crime series This one is set in 40K times. I'm a fan of the Warhammer Horror books so I hope this is as good. Two more books and an audio drama are listed inside for release in 2020.( I'm hoping to read this when I finish my current book.)

No Good Men - anthology for August 2020. - Amazon UK says Sep 3 in pb for this. Setting is the same as Bloodlines according to the blurb.
Flesh and Steel by Guy Haley. This is a Noctis and Lux novel for Sep 2020 - Amazon UK says Oct 15 in pb. Also set in the same place as Bloodlines.
Audio drama Dredge Runners looks like it's out as there is no date next to it. It's a Baggit and Clodde story by Alex Worley.in the same place as Bloodlines. Came out earlier in August per Amazon UK.

 

I'm still waiting for the Warhammer Romance series.

 

Don't give them any ideas. I'd pass though - romance novels are not my thing. I'd like to see a few more Brunner the Bounty Hunter stories though - I liked him.

 

Here is as far I have come right now. Would like to thank @Anedon for suggestions

Khorne

Spoiler

1. The warbands are out to hunt the largest skulls possible, the more dangerous the beast the better but it’s the size they are after.

2. Are stalking Tzeentch sworn warbands and sorcerers, and attack them as they are trying to set up, or finish a plan.

3. Don’t attack non-combatants, but they are likely good at getting people to attack them, turning them into combatants.

4. The waband’s leader is out to collect as many skulls as possible from a specific xeno-species.

5. Any people who wants to join the warband have to survive a battle fighting as the warbands expandable/sacrificial units and then participate in the victory feast afterward, where the battle-dead and prisoners make up the main course.

6. Are masters of mechanised warfare, so they quickly can get close enough to hit the enemy with their close combat weapons.

6. Every decision within the Warband is bound to trials by combat

7. Attacking their own brothers is considered no big deal, any Marine who dies in these conflicts is considered worthless anyway.

8. Despite their bloodlust the warband still retains a rest of honor and has a taboo from fighting each other, the rest of the universe is fair game tough.

9. The warband keeps Orkoid fungai in the debts of their ships so periodically new batches of Orks grow down there giving them something to fight

10. The Warband has an arena on their homeworld/flagship, where members of different squads regularly face each other.

11. The Warband strictly forbids any kind of cleaning of their equipment.

12. The Warband has a soft spot for rebels and radicals, prioritising aiding them and recruiting young fighters into their ranks.

13. The Warband does not really considers killing the helpless beings worth it so they may ignore them if not outright in their path.

14. Members of the Warband will always issue and accept challenges for single combat during battle.

15. The Warband consists of many master craftsmen who are able to create elaborated brass decorated weapons and armour.

16. The Warband completely shuns ranged weapons, and using one is considered a shame in any circumstance.

17. The Warbands strong sense of brotherhood is underlined with ritualistic tattoos/scarifications that every member has to earn.

18. The Warband will inform any world they plan to attack 80 days in advance so the defenders can prepare themselves and give a good fight

19. The Warband specializes in fighting Slaanesh forces.

20. The Warband enjoys fighting the Tyranids cause there is always enough of them and the big monsters make for great challenges.

21. The Warband tolerates psykers as long as they don´t use their powers to kill directly or weakening the enemy.

22. Are hunting and attacking Slaanesh warbands, something that has led to an alliance with a group of exile Aeldari.

23. Somehow has a blessing from one of the other Chaos gods. The warband may see it more as a curse.

24. Have no Khorne Berserker Marines.

25. The warband disdain non edge-weapons as crude and spiritually unfulfilling.

26. Lots of war hounds.

27. When facing a foe the warband give them one chance to cast down their weapons and surrender. If this offer is accepted the warband will keep their end of the agreement, an enemy that surrenders without a fight is not worth fighting after all.

28. Flame-weapons and axes are the warband’s main weapons.

29. Are noble and honourable.

30. Has done something that angered Khorne and made the god curse them.

31. Have been known to give up tactical advantages (such as the element of surprise) in order to make missions more challenging and thereby the eventual victory that much more sweet.

32. Believe that the less advantage one has, the greater honour victory brings. They likely tend to use underwhelming firepower and less powerful weapons when fighting a foe. Probably they are at the same time not without tactic and measure their foes and bring the appropriate weapons to a fight, as defeat is a great loss of honour.

32. One of the hands or arms of each band member is replaced with a weapon, making it only fit for combat.

33. Lots of Chaos Hounds.

34. Use Juggernauts as hunting and warbeasts.

35. The core of the warband, or even most of it, are former worshipers of one of the other Chaos Gods.

36. Always try to kill an enemy by cuing of his head.

37. The bandleader/s and/or elite rides to battle on Brass Scorpions.

38. The lower body of the band’s leader and/or champion resembles that of a Brass Scorpion.

39. Try to capture enemies alive so they can be drained of blood for the great blood pool in the warband’s ship/base.

40. The warband is led by a Lord of Battle daemon-engine.

41. After battle the warband don’t just take care of their own wounded but also the enemies, the way they see it is that if the enemies survived they deserve to live on.

42. The warband is built around a Cauldron of Blood, likely do much of the warband’s resources go to keeping the daemon engine functional, happy and battle ready.

43. The warband consider only the most powerful of individuals as considered worthy of facing their elite in battle. As such a retinue of slaves-at-arm travel everywhere with their masters, at least three to every elite warrior. Their task is to weed out the weaker enemies – as anyone incapable of defeating a slave is certainly not deserving of a elites attention.

Tzeentch

Spoiler

1. Hunt after people (Imperial, Chaos sworn, or xeno don’t matter) with notable destinies and cut them down before they can fulfil their destiny.

2. The warband spends more time planning that actually fighting.

3. The warband will only attack worlds already at war, preferably a war caused by them.

4. The warband is entirely made up of psykers.

5. The warband’s command elements are entirely made up of psykers.

6. The warband enjoys fighting the Imperial Cult and mocking them about their anti psyker bias.

7. The warband is skilled enough at infiltration they can pretend to be imperial forces with only few being able to see through the deception.

8. The warband selects its targets using games of chance.

9. The warband seeks to battle against every species found in the galaxy.

10. The warband has no serves but demonic creatures fill their place.

11. Stalk Khorne warbands and try to spoil their plans, in preferably cunning and subtle ways.

12. Stalk Nurgle warbands and try to spoil their plans, in preferably cunning and subtle ways.

13. Somehow has a blessing from one of the other Chaos gods. The warband may see it more as a curse.

14. Lots of thrall-wizards and low lever psykers toady around and assist the bands Chaos Sorcerers/Librarians. Likely the assistance is often in the form of sacrifice or taking the hit of failure feedback.

15. The warband’s command elements are entirely made up of sorcerers.

16. The Possessed that’s leading the warband is supposedly possessed by a Lord of Change, but it is actually a much weaker daemon.

17. Are masters of guerrilla and harrying warfare, at the cost of their capability in other forms of warfare.

18. The warband’s core is made up by psykers and sorcerers, who consider all non psykers and sorcerers as useful only as slaves, expandable troops and sacrifices.

19. The leadership of the warband consist of Thousand Sons Sorcerers (or maybe just one) with their/his Rubricae, who have forsaken the name and colours of their Legion.

20. Has done something that angered Tzeecntch and made the god curse them.

21. The warband’s core is made up by sorcerers, who consider all non-sorcerers (including psykers) as useful only as slaves, expandable troops and sacrifices.

22. A Chapter that’s extremely secretive.

23. Seems unable to execute a straight plan.

24. Distrustful and paranoid, they lie and tell half truths about everything, others most do the same. Possibly unable to believe that others are actually telling the full truth.

25. Masters of stealth operations, infiltration and misdirection, they are arrogant in the belief that they are the ones with the secrets and lies.

26. While very secretive and stealthy when preparing and doing missions, once the final stages are executed do they want to do it in such way that others know that they were the ones who did it

27. Are seemingly friendly, cooperative and trusting with their allies, but have no problem sacrificing them in any way if it would lead to victory.

28. Use lots of small and/or hidden weapons, like digi-weapons.

29. Always try to find out secrets and hidden knowledge. Possibly they have hard to understand that some people are not interested in secrets.

30. Are seemingly unwilling, or unable to tell people the straight truth and/or what they are planning without omitting somethings.

31. When possible they try to recruit avian xenos. Likely they have had some success and has avian xenos among their ranks.

32. Masters of subterfuge, misdirection and deception, and use these skills to spread anarchy and discord throughout enemy territory.

33. The warband specialize in subverting personnel, creating usefully-placed operatives and spy networks, even amongst their allies.

34. Have been known to give up tactical advantages (such as the element of surprise) in order to make missions more challenging and thereby the eventual victory that much more impressive.

35. The warband’s leadership all (also the women) have moustaches that they twirl when feeling pleased with themselves.

36. The core of the warband, or even most of it, are former worshipers of one of the other Chaos Gods.

Nurgle

Spoiler

1. Are trying to collect examples of all zombie-plagues, possibly also other ways to reanimate the dead.

2. The entirety of the Warband’s weapons and armor are corrosive.

3. Everyone on the Warbands ship is infected with some kind of disease.

4. When pillaging a planet the Warband will leave any sick civilians alone, sick kids might be taken as recruits.

5. The entire Warband is utterly accepting of death and thus will never run away

6. In their free time the Warriors enjoy creating new poisons/plagues which they test on themselves and each other.

7. The Warband treats its serfs/similar nicely.

8. Members of the Warband keep Nurglings as pets.

9. Somehow has a blessing from one of the other Chaos gods. The warband may see it more as a curse.

10. The Warband has cultists spread plagues to planets they plan on attacking, with the cultists being disguised as a carnival.

11. Members of the Warband are pretty much unkillable you have to burn them completely to stop them from putting themselves back together again. How fast they can put themselves together can vary.

12. The Warband likes to see the ageless ones decay, and therefor likely looking for Necrons, Aeldari, and similar to fight.

13. Put importance on the number seven, and it’s likely that anything they do is done in units of seven.

14. If they have a homeworld the Warband treats its people pretty okay, even if everyone there has some sort of sickness

15. The Warband will try to capture Apothecaries to torture them.

16. Don’t look more sick, rutting, undead, rusting, and/or similar, than most Nurgle unsworn warbands.

17. Unlike some Nurgle warbands so do this band’s wargear not continue to function as it’s falling apart, therefore they have to work hard to maintain what they have and constantly raid and trade for new equipment.

18. Lots of plague-toads, maggots and worms, used as both war-mounts and attack-beasts.

19. The warband’s Chaos Sorcerers do their magic by foul cocking using tainted, sick and rutting ingredients.

20. Have no Plague Marines.

21. Carrion eater animals follow the warband.

22. Undead animals fight beside the warband.

23. The warband have flying units that a plague mutants and/or Marines who are filled with gasses that makes them float, and the gifted with fly wings and/or equipped with rockets.

24. Has done something that angered Nurgle and made the god curse them.

25. Are noble and honourable, if in a twisted and fatalistic kind of way.

26. Large amount of toads live on-board the warband’s ship/s and in any possible main base.

27. The warband collect things, maybe everything or maybe only certain things, and are willing to go to war to capture unusual or high numbers of examples of what they are collecting. Ones the thing has be collected they just throw it in a pile with the other things they have collected, never using, maintaining or cleaning it. The warband is likely very prideful of their molding hoard/s.

28. The warband’s leader and/or champion rides on toad-dragons.

29. The core of the warband, or even most of it, are former worshipers of one of the other Chaos Gods.

30. The band-members all have a notable cultural fear of cleaning products.

31. Embrace Nurgle in his aspect of gardener and bringer of new life, and therefore look for planets that have been purged from life (by war, tyranids, asteroid hits, exterminatum, or in other ways) and work to bring new bountiful (nurglish) life to the planets.

32. Embrace Nurgle in his aspect of gardener and all band members try to have their own garden or partake in a community garden.

33. The warband have jump units that a plague mutants and/or Marines who are filled with gasses that makes them more or less float, and can propel themselves into making great leaps by releasing their internal gasses downward in flatulent ways.

Slaanesh

Spoiler

1. Members of the Warband sexually assault their victims and slaves.

2. The Warband primarily hunts Aeldari.

3. After every battle the Warrior who had the least kills is brutally tortured to death by the rest.

4. Members of the Warband write poems about their exploits.

5. Members of the Warband paint picture of the people they killed.

6. Members of the Warband only consume the flesh of whatever they killed.

7. The Warband rejects "barbaric" weapons like hammers and axes, preferring swords instead.

8. Members of the Warband tend to not wear any clothing when off duty.

9. Members of the Warband have androgynous appearances.

10. Members of the Warband will only enter into a fight in utterly clean armor.

11. Being poisoned is seen as a great pleasure for members of the Warband. Likely searching for poisons that can affect them.

12. Seek perfection in personal long range combat, with the ability to take out the enemy from as long range as possible with your personal weapon seen as the true path of the warrior. It’s probably worth extra glory if the warrior can ricochet his shots and still hit the target.

13. The Warband enjoys experimenting with Dark Eldar torture devices. How do they get their hands on the equipment?

14. Capture psykers to make drugs out of their bodies.

15. Leadership of the warband is decided upon musical ability.

16. Leadership of the warband is decided by which member has the most perfect pet.

17. Leadership of the warband is decided by which member has the most awe-inspiring haircut.

18. Their hair is very important for the warband and their main concern is likely to get ingredients for hair-products and capture skilled hair stylists.

19. The whole warband change gender from time to time at the will of the bandleader/similar, likely using alchemy and surgery, and/or sorcery to do it.

20. Somehow has a blessing from one of the other Chaos gods. The warband may see it more as a curse.

21. Lots of thrall-wizards that use sex- and/or drug-magic to assist the bands Chaos Sorcerers/Librarians. Likely the assistance is often in the form of sacrifice or taking the hit of failure feedback.

22. Have no Noise Marines

23. Many of the band-members are master craftsmen and much of their raids, trade and war-making is to gather resources for what they are crafting and/or to test what they have made.

24. All the high members of the warband are followed by a personal entourage of slaves and/or servitors who sing their masters praise.

25. The warband is as dedicated to the cultural arts as to the ways of war. What they see as cultural arts may be something very disturbing to others.

26. Only use high-quality equipment, even if it means that it takes longer to resupply or repair.

27. All members of the warband have androgynous appearance and/or are hermaphrodites, this maybe be done by science, sorcery, sorcery-science, a blessing by Slaanesh, or some other way.

28. The core of the warband, or even most of it, are former worshipers of one of the other Chaos Gods.

29. Has a an unusual high amount of Apothecary and/or medicai.

30. Has done something that angered Slaanesh and made the god curse them.

31. The leadership of the warband, if not most of it, are gourmets and much of their raids, trade and war-making is to gather ingredients and/or spices for their meals. Will likely try to kidnap any chefs they hear are masters of their trade.

32. The warband’s wargear are highly decorated and always as well kept at the situation allows.

33. The warband’s slaves are constantly praising their masters and they are sucking it up.

34. Have been known to give up tactical advantages (such as the element of surprise) in order to make missions more challenging and thereby the eventual victory that much more impressive.

35. Believe that the less advantage one has, the greater honour victory brings. They likely tend to use underwhelming firepower and less powerful weapons when fighting a foe. Probably they are at the same time not without tactic and measure their foes and bring the appropriate weapons to a fight, as defeat is a great loss of honour.

36. The warband’s ships, equipment and everyday lifestyle is ascetic and austere, but when they raid or make war they overindulge in everything.

37. Many of the warband’s weapons are laced with party-drugs.

38. The warband take their drinking serious with each higher member having their own micro-brewery. Likely are many (all?) of their raids, trade and war-making only to gather ingredients and/or spices for their beverage.

39. The warband take their drinking serious with each higher member having their own micro-brewery. Leadership is decided by who can create the best brew.

40. The bodyguard of the warband’s leadership are equipped with mirror armour so the leader/s can constantly see themselves.

41. The warband is collecting a certain thing and works to make their collection perfect. Likely are many of their raids and war-making done to increase of fix their collection.

42. The warband consider only the most powerful of individuals as considered worthy of facing their elite in battle. As such a retinue of slaves-at-arm travel everywhere with their masters, at least three to every elite warrior. Their task is to weed out the weaker enemies – as anyone incapable of defeating a slave is certainly not deserving of a elites attention.

Malice

Spoiler

1. Has a very black-n-white way of seeing the world with no grey areas, with thing being either one thing or its opposite, there is nothing in-between.

2. Manipulates (or at least try to) other Chaos forces into attacking each other.

3. Lots of Helldrakes, with the warband riding on their backs.

4. Have a God give need to fight fellow godsworn Chaos forces, including each other if no others are available.

5. Each band member have a god give need to fight another godsworn at least once within a certain time period (a Terran mouth is common), even if it is a fellow Malice sworn.

6. Has done something that angered Malice and made the god curse them.

7. Organise after the number eleven.

8. The core of the warband, or even most of it, are former worshipers of one of the other Chaos Gods.

9. The core of the warband, or even most of it, turned to Malice as a way to get protection from the wrath of one of the other Chaos Gods whom they have angered.

10. When attacking other godsworn the warband attempt to appear as being worshipers of their prey’s patron’s rival God.

11. Specialise in fighting daemons.

12. Specialise in fighting daemon-engines.

13. Mask themselves as imperial loyalists.

14. Specialise in desecrating shrines, temples and other holy sites of the other Chaos Gods.

15. Specialise in capturing daemons in devices, and later release them to attack other daemons.

16. Malice's favoured colours are black and white and therefor only the warband’s holy people, champion and banners are allowed to wear those colours.

17. The warband’s usual tactic is to focus on the leadership/s of their target, often at the expense of other strategical goals, and often leave ones they have slain all the leaders.

18. During their raids or battle the warband try to capture worthy sacrifices, ones they have captured eleven people that are worthy do the warband have a ritual where the worthy sacrifices are sacrificed to the honour of Malice.

19. The warband has lots of daemon weapons that want to shed the ectoplasms of daemons.

20. The warband’s leadership is changed every eleventh Terran month (or similar time unit).

21. The warband’s leader/s is changed randomly every 121 (as in 11 x 11) day.

22. Political evangelists that spread

23. The warband’s serfs are organized like Anarcho-syndicalist trade unions

24. The warband kills the leaders of worlds they attack but leave the populous behind to fall into anarchy.

25. The warband only ever attack other Chaos forces.

26. Are the hunters and slayers of Exalted Chaos Champions.

27. Are the hunters and slayers of Deamon Princes.

28. Enslave and bind daemons, preferably other god’s daemons, to create daemon-engines.

29. Specialise in fighting sorcerers, psykers and daemons, at the cost of their ability to fight other kinds of foes.

30. Specialise in hunting and fighting the followers of a specific Chaos God.

31. Specialise in hunting and fighting the Word Bearers and similar groups.

32. All band members wear the same, more-or-less featureless, black and/or white masks.

33. Somehow has a blessing from one of the other Chaos gods. The warband may see it more as a curse.

34. The band members all have forsaken their old names and instead have taken up absurd and/or random cognomens, often with number elements.

35. Masters of subverting electronic information systems.

Hashut

Spoiler

1. Shadows cling to the band members.

2. Lots of minotaur-like abhumans/mutants/xenos.

3. The warband’s leader and/or champion rides on Great Taurus.

4. The warband’s leader and/or champion rides on Lammasu/s.

5. The warband’s leader is a Lammasu.

6. Lots of warpsmiths and/or similar.

7. Lots of daemon-engines.

8. All full members of the warband are equipped with at least one flame based weapon of some kind.

9. Lots of squats.

10. The warband’s vehicles all spew out high amounts of black smoke.

11. Constantly raid and trade for slaves.

12. The warband’s leader is a daemon-engine.

13. Has done something that angered Hashut and made the god curse them.

14. Somehow has a blessing from one of the other Chaos gods. The warband may see it more as a curse.

15. The core of the warband, or even most of it, are former worshipers of one of the other Chaos Gods.

16. Has Battle-automatas in their armoury.

17. Works to turn their claimed base-world into a Forge World.

18. The true members of the warband all wear bull masks and/or helmets. Possibly are only the higher-ups/elite of the warband allowed to have horns.

19. Attack and raid Adeptus Mechanicus’ worlds, stations and ships to take technology and resources.

20. A group of Goff orks have mistaken Hashut for their totem and therefor joined the warband. They may by now have realized that they have begun to worship Hashut, or they may not.

21. The lower body of the band’s leader and/or champion resembles that of a Brass Scorpion.

22. Lots of flamer and melta weapons.

23. The warband uses modified industrial gear as weapons.

 

Started the Warhammer crime novel Bloodlines last night. It's pretty good so far (about 1/4 in). I pre-ordered No Good Men as part of an Amazon UK order this morning - should come next week.

 

First novel featuring Fulgrim, includes: Fulgrim X Wife (on Chemos), Fulgrim X Ferrus Manus, Fulgrim X Slanesh, Fulgrim X Lucius/Fabius/Marius/Julius, Fulgrim X Fulgrim. Which are all pretty much already canon.


Like your ideas for the warbands, never actually really considered Hashut in 40k, has he ever been brought up? If he has he would defenetly fit very well for the Iron Warriors.

Will think about the whole Draculesti idea, could make for an intresting BA succesor chapter, might even make my beloved Knights of Blood look sane by comparison.

Also speaking of the Knights currently working on a creation table for non chaos aligned renegade Astartes, so if anyone has any suggestion of those I´m happy to hear them.

 

Here:

1. Is still following the Codex Astartes in all possible ways.

2. See themselves as being still loyal to the Imperium and in theory only attack xenos, other warbands, and non-Imperial planets.

3. Have a deep hatred for the part of their original Chapter/Regiment that did not forsake the Imperium.

4. Have only recently turned traitor and try to create/find new traditions to take the place of the one they have decided to abound together with their loyalty.

5. The warband have jet gotten any Chaos sorceress, they may have some Warp-dabblers and/or psykers (maybe just the bound ones from their pre-renegade days).

6. A Chapter/Regiment that’s been declared renegade not because of their acts but because of their bodies having mutated in non-acceptable ways. If a Chapter it could be a fault in the gene-seed that’s behind the mutation.

7. Most of the warband is made up by a Renegade Imperial Guard Regiment or Space Marine Chapter who was declared renegade because of repeated monstrous acts, even by the Imperium’s low standards. The warband can’t see, or are unwilling to, how what they did was wrong and many of them have a victim complex.

8. The Chapter/Regiment was declared renegade after having followed the orders of an Inquisitor, or person of similar position of power. The Inquisitor/similar may have abounded them and claimed to have nothing to do with what the Chapter/Regiment did, or maybe she was declared reneged together with them.

9. The warband have kept much of their original ways of culture and war-making and don’t have any plans to change more than what they most.

10. The warband has been around for at least a thousand years and as of jet have not fallen to Chaos or entered any Warp heavy areas (like the Eye of Terror or Screaming Vortex).

11. The warband have been around for a while and while they may have been declared renegade and possibly have little love for the Imperium do they not see themselves as its enemies, something that may explain why they have a working relationship with a loyal Chapter.

12. Are still unwilling to work with xenos or use xeno-tech.

13. Are allied to, or at least have a working relationship of mutual benefit, with a xeno-faction. This alliance might be the reason why they were declared renegade.

14. Was declared renegade not because of any mutations or heinous acts but because they worshiped the Emperor in ways that was seen as obscene by somebody of high enough power.

15. The warband was declared renegade after having fallen to one of the Chaos gods. As of now are their blessings minimal but for those that knows what to look for so are their allegiance visible.

16. Was declared renegade after having decided to protect their own territories rather than to send forces to areas in need of enforcement.

17. Was declared renegade after a notable act of cowardice. Likely involving them leaving other Imperial forces to die just so they could save their own skin.

18. Was declared renegade after it was found out that they had been attacking fellow Imperial forces, ships and/or world to capture their resources for their own use.

19. Was declared renegade after it was found out that they had been taking and using gene-seed from other Chapters to bolster their own ranks.

20. Was declared renegade after it was found out that they had been tampering with their gene-seed. Likely there was some kind of notably abnormal results, that may now be fighting side by side of their normal brothers.

21. Turned their backs to the Imperium after having been on the receiving end of what they saw as highly shameful and/or honourless treatment.

22. The reason why the warband went renegade was highly petty. Maybe becouse they did not receive the honours they thought they deserved.

23. Was declared renegade to hide something that the Inquisition, High Lords of Terra, or similar don’t want to be found out.

24. Is allied to a Navigator House that was declared renegade for something (their conduct, heretical acts, their bloodline becoming too corrupt, and/or having made the wrong enemies) and followed the House into hounded exile.

Don't think so but I like the idea so I did it. I would do a Horned Rat list if he had some other name I could use, I just have hard seeing many humans (at least of the fighting kind) following a deity that they know is a rat.

 

Thanks for the list.

Weren´t the Hrud meant to be somewhat Skaven inspired?

 

Nemo problemo
Here are some more:

25. Have a fanatic hatred toward mutants and abhumans. Possibly it’s this hatred that made them go renegade (thinking that the Imperium was to corrupt since they allowed abhumans and some mutants to live and serve), or maybe they was declared renegade after attacking loyal abhuman/mutant Imperial forces one time to many and/or in a way that cost the Imperium an important victory.

26. A arrogant and prideful Chapter/Regiment that was declared renegade after they attacked fellow Imperial forces just for questioning their methods.

27. A arrogant and prideful Chapter/Regiment, whose conduct made them few friends and many enemies. In their arrogance they are unwilling to accept that they are the ones to blame for having no allies that spoke for them when they overstepped and was declared reneged, possibly are they even unwilling to admit that they ever did wrong and them being declared renegade is nothing but highest injustice and everybody else are just jealous of them.

28. Went into a Warp heavy area (like the Eye of Terror or Screaming Vortex) as a loyal Chapter/Regiment on a crusade, vengeance quest, or similar, but come out again as renegades.

29. The Chapter/Regiment don’t remember their history or why they turned their back to the Imperium, and the Imperial archives seems have no records of them as ever being loyalist.

30. Was investigated and declared renegade because it was thought they were too similar to one of the Traitor Legions.

31. The Chapter/Regiment had a dark secret (for a Chapter it could just be their gene-curse) that was revealed while in presence of other Imperial forces, that was then killed to keep the secret. This was done sloppy and/or one time to many and the Chapter/Regiment was declared renegade, possibly just because of the slaying of fellow Imperials, their dark secret being reveled during the investigation, or a combination of them both.

32. The people of the Chapter’s/Regiment’s recruitment world was found out to be tainted, in mind and/or body and was one and all put to the sword, if not the whole planet virus bombed. The Chapter/Regiment was declared renegade when they protested; did not turn themselves in; or just as part of the overall cleansing.

33. The Chapter/Regiment have actually not been declared renegade; it’s all an Alpha Legion plot that have tricked them to believing that the Imperium have turned its back to them. How they act now when they believe they have been declared renegade may lead to the Imperium to actually declare them such,

34. The Chapter/Regiment just went renegade without any visible reason. Later the people of the Chapter’s/Regiment’s recruitment world was found out to be tainted, in mind and/or body.

The original illustration of the Hrud had a rat-tail and skaven-ish pose but we did not see its head and they were later given a not-skaven-like appearance. But if there is a version of the Horned Rat in 40k would it not surprise me if the hrud worshiped him since they seem to be scavengers.

 

Looks good, @Gamiel made mine kinda inspired by the chapter creation list we talked about a while ago. You can roll a dice/get a random number generator, for each of these.

1. Reason for the Fall

Spoiler

1-3. Accused of consorting with the forces of chaos
4-6. Accused of consorting with non humans
6-10. Attacked other Imperial Forces
10-15. Geenseed Flaw
15-17. Rebellion against Imperial tyranny
18. The Reason is Lost to Time
19. Declared Renegade because they knew too much
20. Innocent but declared traitor because of imperial incompetence

2. Parent Legion

Spoiler

1-4. Ultramarines
5-6. Imperial Fists
7-8. Dark Angels
9-10. White Scars
11-12. Iron Hands
13-14. Raven Guard
15-16. Blood Angels
17. Space Wolves
18. Salamanders
19. Traitor Legion(would require its own chart)
20. Lost Legion

3. How long have they been renegade

Spoiler

1. Deserted Pre Heresy (Can be a company at max)
2. Deserted During the Heresy (Can be a company at max)
3. Deserted shortly after the Heresy
4-5 Deserted during the Age of Apostacy
6-7. Deserted before the 41st Millenium
8-10. Deserted during the 41st Millenium or after

4. Size of the force

Spoiler

1-5. W3 Squads
6-10. W6 Squads
11-13. One Company
14-16. W3 Companies
17-18. W6 Companies
19. Full Chapter Strenght
20. Beyond Chapter Strenght(Re roll when Salamanders or Space Wolves)

5. Religion

Spoiler

1-3. Imperial Cult (Re roll when deserted during or pre Heresy)
4-5. Machine Cult
6-7. Imperial Truth(Re roll when deserted after the age of Apostacy)
8-10. Primach worship(Re roll when Lost or Traitor Legion)
11-13. Various but no overall prevalent believes
14-15 Original God
16. Khorne in a different aspect
17. Nurgle in a different aspect
18. Tzeench in a different aspect
19. Slanesh in a different aspect
20. The greater good(re roll if deserted for any reason beyond consorting with aliens or rebellion against Imperial)

6. Main Allies

Spoiler

1-3 No allies
4-5 Allies in the Imperium(Re roll if worshipping chaos gods or greater good)
6-8 Allies outside of both Imperium and Chaos
9-10 Allies in the forces of chaos(re roll if still following the Imperial Cult/Truth or Greater Good)

7. Imperial allies

Spoiler

1-5. Sympathetic Governor
6. Sympathetic Mechanicum Fabricator
7. Sympathetic Space Marine Chapter(would require its own table)
8. Sympathetic Knight House
9. Sympathetic Inquistor(Re roll if deserted on charges of consorting with chaos/aliens or geenseed flaw)
10. Sympathetic Navigator House

8. Allies outside the Imperium

Spoiler

1-2 Renegade Human World
3. Heretekt Group
4. Freetrader Clan
5. Minor Xenos Species(Re roll if on Imperial Cult/Truth)
6. Eldar Corsairs (Re roll if on Imperial Cult/Truth or a chaos god)
7. Tau Empire (Re roll if anything but Greater Good or Various)
8. Eldar Worldship (Re roll if on Imperial Cult/Truth or chaos god)
9. Dark Eldar Band (Re roll if anything but Original or Various)
10. Necron Lord (Re roll if anything but Original, Various or Machine Cult)

9. Chaos Allies

Spoiler

1-2 Black Legion (Re roll if anything but various or chaos good)
3. Iron Warriors (Re roll if Imperial Cult/Truth or Greater Good)
4. Night Lords (Re roll if Imperial Cult/Truth or Greater Good)
5. Word Bearers (Re roll if anything but various or chaos good)
6. Alpha Legion
7. World Eaters (Re roll if anything but aspect of Khorne)
8. Death Guard (Re roll if anything but aspect Nurgle)
9. Thousand Sons (Re roll if anything but Aspect of Tzeench or Various)
10. Emperors Children (Re roll if anyting but Aspect of Slanesh)
11-14. Dark Mechanicum(Re roll if anything but Various, Machine Cult or Imperial Truth)
15-18. Lost and Dammed Forces(Re roll if Imperial Cult/Truth or Greater Good)
19-20. Demon Forces(Re roll if anything but a chaos good)

These would at least be my current ideas, for things like geenseed flaws I would suggest the official SM creation table. Also on the rerolls, the 40k universe is pretty insane and so if you land the same result again you can actually take it to create your Pre Heresy Deserting Greater Good Worshipping Demon Allied Salamanders.