Thinking of going Word Bearers/The Sanctified or Night Lords

[Prince of Ecstasy]

So I was originally going to paint my CSM as a Slaaneshi host, but I couldn't bring myself to the sole worship of te Dark Prince. (I like the other gods too!) Besides, I was making a new list with non-Slaaneshi cult troops. With that in mind, I've been drawn to both the Night Lords and The Sanctified fluff. Interestingly enough, these warbands are very different in terms of Chaos worship. The Night Lords don't worship any of the gods and use Chaos as a tool, while The Sanctified/Word Bearers worship the whole panthenon. I've thought of ways to include cult troops in both armies, though. I'm dead-set on Zerkers, as I have a bunch modelled up already. I was thinking the Night Lords could temporarially use Zerekers of another warband as a fear tactic. After all, I'd be scared s**tless if a bunch of lobotomized psycopaths were charging at me! The Sanctified could recruit them as terror-causers as well, maybe as tools for handling the dirty, assaulty work.

 

Asides from that, I've been wondering what some fluffy units might be for both armies. For NL, I'd say Raptors, of course, maybe DSing termies and winged lords. They favor swift assaults, so I'd imagine them to be a very mobile, fast army. For The Sanctified, I'd think they'd use lesser and greater daemons here and there, because of their nature of worship. Both armies would probably have unmarked lords and IoCG-toting marines, except in rare cases of recruiting/allying with other warbands.

 

So hopefully you didn't get too bored reading all that. I just need some help with deciding on which route to take and what units to use in each.

[Mithril hound]

post up some models, so we can see wht they look like.

[Prince of Ecstasy]

Of my army? As of now, I just have a squad and a half of CSM (undivided) and half a squad of Zerkers assembled. I've yet to paint them up. That's why I'm deciding on the warband now so I'll know how I want to paint and model them in the future.

[Mithril hound]

Well, night lords are a bitch to model- so id go with some thin else, cos The Sanctified/Word Bearers are terrible to paint.

[Prince of Ecstasy]

Uh, that's your personal opinion. What makes you think that?

I'm not really chooing for painting or modelling ease, I'm sure I can do both armies well. This is merley from a fluff and playstyle factor.

[Mithril hound]

Ive painted 13th co, so ive painted wordbears parts, not fun. modelling nightlords requires lots of gs and metal.

[Prince of Ecstasy]

GS for Night Lords? You don't need to model them with greenstuff unless you want to. GW has the NL conversion kit if you want the winged helmets, and even that's optional. All you really need is the lightning on the armor and the legion symbol to distinguish them as NL.

I'm not asking for your opinion on what's hard to paint, I'm asking for thoughts on each army's style and such.

[Mithril hound]

Night lords then, fo sho.

[Prince of Ecstasy]

Yeah that helps... <_<

Mind providing some real assistance and telling why you'd suggest them?

[Mithril hound]

They look awsome on the table top, an you can make some great winged raptors. They are very stealthy an' all. On the other hand wordbears are the counterpart to black templars, which is awsome- they make mockery of the imperial faith and are orgonised <_<:. I read and loved deamon world, which showd the fanatacism and cunning the word bearers possess. They are one of my favorite chaos legions, after thousand sons and iron warriors, of course.

[Prince of Ecstasy]

That's more like it.

What kind of army lists do you suppose each would use? Any particulary favored units?

[Mithril hound]

Do you own a 4th edition csm dex? If so open and read, if not tell me an ill see what i can remember.

[Prince of Ecstasy]

Yeah, I have it lying around somewhere. It'd probably make for some good fluff refrence, though everything else is outdated now.

[Mithril hound]

It had sections for all the differnt legions, then the evil 5th edition dex came out, and now i plaw wolves <_<.

[Possessed Marine]

I would say join us in the worship of the blessed primarch Lorgar... fluff wise, you can put in berzerkers, as the Dark Apostle series had a squad that leaned heavily toward sole worship of khorne... also you might consider some lesser demons because they're known for summoning them... and the red paint job looks great

[Prince of Ecstasy]

I think I lean towards the Word Bearer/The Sanctified route. The worshipping of Chaos Undivided and the mockeries of the Imperial Creed are more inspiring to me than the Night Lords' lightning color scheme or thier guerilla tactics. Also, it gives me more reason to use cult troops and lesser daemons, which seem like fun. I just need to work on the color scheme I plan to use.

[Beaky]

Don't look at Night Lords as stealthy, more as sneaky. Less guerilla tactics and more terror tactics.

For example, if used responsibly and isolated from the rest of your army, a dreadnought is a very fluffy choice for Night Lords. A frothing maniac placed in control of a giant mechanical killing machine and pointed towards the enemy? What's not to love, so long as it suits your battle plans? Tactics should revolve around making the enemy respond to your Night Lords rather than enacting their own plans, and keeping them off-balance at all times. Night Lords are more about fighting unfairly than fighting with subtle stealth. Hence the lightning bolts and the skull masks on their helmets. In terms of tactics, they share a lot with Alpha Legion, but their style is a bit different.

 

From a modeling standpoint, Word Bearers can take a hint from Witch Hunter armies and go all out with banners and reams of scripture nailed to their armor and vehicles, abhorrent texts scribbled on their shoulder-pads, vehicles turned into makeshift pulpits, profane and ruinous popemobiles if you will, everything to make a mockery of the likes of the Black Templars, Adeptus Sororitas and other over-zealous Imperials. Checkout their IA article for ideas in visuals and army composition, such as twelve-man squads. They really do seem to favor large masses of troops, but you could put a spin on it with multiple small squads of mobile CSMs used to summon giant mobs of daemons. The IA article seemed to suggest that as faithful as they are, the Word Bearers really prefer to have others die for their cause before committing their own, valued believers.

 

Just some ideas to roll around in your head. I could see both forces using Marked mercenaries as disposable soldiers, but I feel like Cult Marines are bit at odds with the established values of the two legions. But then again, this is Chaos after all...

[Dammeron]

It all depends on what you want:

 

The Night Lords are a legion of sadistic psychopaths who bask in the pain and terror they inflict on their victims. They have a conflated sense of their own status as inviolable warriors of ancient days, at large in a corrupt and withered empire and free to do as they please. Their ethos is one of subtle psychological subterfuge, undermining the enemy's morale by any means imagination can contrive before descending upon their enemies in a wave of cruel brutality. Aesthetically, they are very distinct on the table top, their bat wing motiffs, terror markings and lightning-strike painted armour highly unusual, even for one of the Traitor Legions, and they are also philosophically interesting, the ideology and modus operandi of the legion derived from the Night Haunter's own highly cynical opinions concerning application of justice.

 

The Word Bearers are fanatics, pure and simple. They are dark crusaders and jihadists, entirely in thrall to the dark creed of chaos as dispensed and interpreted by their Dark Apostles, whom in turn answer to Lorgar and the legion's high council. They are superstitious, interpreting anything and everything as signs from the Dark Powers, and thus often assemble their armies in unwieldy or eclectic fashions that seem tactically inviable (leaving plenty of scope for possible tacticsand army composition). Traditionally, they have been the legion that most readily makes use of daemons and is most adept at summoning them to the battlefield. Again, they are aesthetically very distinct: robes, candles, books, tapestries, religious and occult icons, vehicles transformed into great mobile sacrficial altars...the possibilities are truly endless. They also demonstrate a propesnity to ritually scar and tattoo themselves, allowing for some very interesting conversions. The Word Bearers also have the benefit of being able to derive inspiration from historically existing sources such as the Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades, medieval witch hunts etc etc.

 

I would say that they are rather difficult to realise convincingly under the current codex, but then so are most traditional chaos forces. It all ultimately depends on what your personal inclinations are: for me, the choice would likely fall with The Word Bearers or a splinter faction thereof (e.g. The Sanctified), as their elaborate ritualism and religious aesthetic appeals to me.

[Prince of Ecstasy]

I believe I've made up my mind; I'm going with the Sanctified/Word Bearers. I really like the religious aspect they bring to Chaos. That being said, I know I want to include a unit ro two of lesser daemons for fluff reasons. I've read tips on when and how to use them, where to deploy them, etc. However, I've yet to figure a way to successfully base a list around their use. I know lots of people dislike them and would rather use other units, but I like the idea of using them. I could go with a DS-heavy list overall, though I'm not certain on it being fluffy for Word Bearers.

[Argon]

Go for the Sanctified. I don't think I've seen pics of models in their colors, and they'd be more or less like Word Bearers as far as fluff goes.

[The Prophet]

I believe I've made up my mind; I'm going with the Sanctified/Word Bearers. I really like the religious aspect they bring to Chaos. That being said, I know I want to include a unit ro two of lesser daemons for fluff reasons. I've read tips on when and how to use them, where to deploy them, etc. However, I've yet to figure a way to successfully base a list around their use. I know lots of people dislike them and would rather use other units, but I like the idea of using them. I could go with a DS-heavy list overall, though I'm not certain on it being fluffy for Word Bearers.

 

Great decision, and good you did it for fluff reasons! I got bored of the IW for the lack of interesting fluff and modelling inspiration. Though I will probably never end growing my word bearer host due to the rich background you can make use of. Don't think too much of what is not fluffy when you build the list, cause if made right (sometimes with counts-as), all things in the codex can be represented in a great way when you build and paint your models.

[Prince of Ecstasy]

Time to get list building! Oh, and I had some questions about painting the Sanctified. From the sample image in the 'dex, they have some kind of yellow cracks around the neck of their armor. I assume it's supposed to represent magma or fissures, but how could I paint this on the red armor? Additionally, I'm stuck on whether to use the WB decal, or try and freehand the legion symbol. The decal is pretty close, but their actual symbol is a skull brazier, rather than a daemon head over flames. If someone could share some freehand tips for skulls and small things, that'd be great.

[Brother-Chaplain Gaius]

Your mind is made up but the Night Lords are cooler! I think somewhere down the line I will eventually start a chaos army and it'll have to be them. Night Lords with deep black eyes, yeeahh