A D-B in The primarchs

[Darkchild130]

In NL novels I see curze as a plot device to set up the character of talos. Its not about curze so I dont care about his character development. I would feel different if the story was specifically about him.

So Talos's character is purely set up by negative views on his Primarch then, because that is all we read about as i said before.

 

Talos' character is set up by the traumatic death of his primarch, who is generally viewed in a negative light, so yeah.

Lets face it, he used to skin people alive and butcher them based on his own :cussed up code of honour even before the Emperor found him.

Then his primary strategy was to torture enemy planets to death by crippling them with terror tactics. I'd say he's always been pretty negative in general.

 

Darkchild

[A D-B]

Now, I don't write humour. I write books even less. And the man could have been talking utter rubbish. But that seems to be applicable to Curze there. He's just an insane dude. Insane. Nutso. That dog has a hat, but he doesn't have the other aspect to make him full.

 

I know what you're saying. The issue is that it's an invalid criticism in this context. I can explain better this time.

 

It's exactly the same as the following example:

 

You're reading a book about a guy called Joe. Joe gets up, brushes his teeth, has a fight with his wife about the bills, drives to work, nods at the gate security guard he sees everyday, parks his car, slumps in his cubicle, processes data, goes to lunch with his friends, comes back, does more work, he briefly remembers the last time he called his dad about wanting to borrow money, but remembers how badly that went, and then he drives home. He gets home, apologises to his wife with flowers, and has an early night because tomorrow he has a Lazer Tag office bonding weekend, which will rock.

 

Your complaint is that his dad has no character development in the story. He's just tight with money in that one short scene when Joe remembered what happened. That's his only definable trait from the three seconds we see him.

 

But the story isn't about his dad. The story is about Joe, and his daily jazz. His dad is a character with a three-second cameo, with the specific narrative intent of showing a slice of memory, and a main character's troubled life. Now, behind the scenes, as a keen follower of everyone in this this town, you know Joe's dad fought in both world wars, has a bionic eye, and regularly sexes up supermodels. He has a lot of stuff going on in his life. But the story's not about him. He's not even a character in the story: he's a brief memory, where we see Joe say a couple of words to his dad, and see his dad refuse to lend any money. The story is full of a hundred other characters who all get a lot of development, and are actually relevant to the tale being told. Joe's Dad may be awesome, but he has next to nothing to do with anything. Similarly, Curze himself isn't really relevant. His legacy, as evidenced in the memory and the way they all act and speak and discuss it later, is what's relevant.

 

And that's the deal, here. Saying "Curze has no personality" in those scenes is like berating a dog for not being a cat. It's three seconds of one of his sons seeing him acting like a ruined, hollow, useless relic. That's the scene. That's the point, and the theme. "Remember how screwed up Dad was at the end?" "Yep. Do I ever. Anyway, let's deal with all this relevant stuff now." Yes, we could pause and go into endless character development, but it's irrelevant. The guy's been dead 10,000 years, and has very little to do with the story. It might be interesting, since it's a primarch and people are drawn to them, especially long-time fans hungry for any lore about these mysterious beings. But that's not the story. The story is about Talos and modern day Night Lords, and for a few short seconds they remember their primarch at the very end, showing a brief overview of him as a declining, messed-up creature obsessed with revenge and his legacy, with nothing else in his mind.

 

It's not a judgement call on how he was for his entire life. It's not a flashback to show him in a detailed light. It's not a flashback to explain all about him in nuanced, developed terms. It's not a flashback to even present him as a character. It's about Joe doing all his daily things, and for a couple of seconds he remembers that time his dad was a jerk.

 

If a story about that character showed him in exactly the same light, with no development or nuance, that would be a valid criticism. If Curze was even a side character, or anything more than the briefest of brief flashbacks and overviews, then it'd be valid. But you're digging for gold in the wrong place, there. That's not Curze. It's not even a decent glance into Curze's life. It's a flashback where Talos happened to be looking in Curze's direction for a few seconds, and hated what he saw. It's even clear that he wasn't always that way, and they're flashing back to the final degeneration. That's not poor character development. That's narrative flow, and decent characterisation of the story's actual characters.

[Beef]

Practically everyone and their pet monkey is on the AD-B train, as of late -

 

 

Could that be because he at least takes the time to post here? Maybe because he is excess-able

to us people jump on his bandwagon? Could be that he writes good books. Or it could be that people just like to think he takes thier ideas on board? Who knows? All I know is I like his portrayal of the Night Lords.

[Lucifer216]

Personally, I think it might be a better use of our collective imaginations to try to think up some possible examples of Konrad Curze and the Nightlords pulling their weight during the Great Crusade.

 

How about the following to get the ball rolling:

 

A hard fight against a planet devoted to Chaos, which could go a long way into instilling contempt for Chaos into some of the Night Lords

 

A fight against a technologically superior but human foe. Only through instilling terror are the Night Lords able to prevail. Use of a variety of quasi-primitive measures designed to drag their opponents down to their level, in a manner similar to Batman using a mudpit to take out the mutant leader in The Dark Knight Returns.

 

A Warp storm triggers a wave of insanity in a recently compliant world. The Night Lords brutally enforce order. In doing so, the lives they take pale into insignificance compared to those they save.

 

The Great Crusade was a more innocent age, but it still takes place against a backdrop of thirsting gods and a cruel, uncaring universe. In their comparative ignorance, the Primarchs stumble on a terrible but at first innocuous seeming foe. Only the Night Haunter is not fooled and his actions prevent a splinter of biological corruption from claiming a great swathe of the crusade.

 

Through careful application of their credo, "The end justifies the means", the Night Lords quickly bring worlds to full compliance after winning military victories. Authors could liberally borrow from "The Prince" depicting the Night Lords initially bringing in cruel overseers, only to execute them later for their crimes and in doing so, winning the gratitude of the population in question.

 

A criminal organisation tries to blackmail the nascent Imperium using terrible weapons from the Dark Age of Technology. The Night Lords use their deep understanding of the criminal mind, to locate and destroy this threat.

[Lord Ragnarok]

It might be interesting, since it's a primarch and people are drawn to them, especially long-time fans hungry for any lore about these mysterious beings. But that's not the story.

 

That is the crux of the issue. Any taste of Primarch in a meal of their descendants and many fans want an entire new primarch dinner.

[Sons of Horus]

@ADB: So, are you going to write a story about Joe now? That would be awesome because I'd probably read it :P

[Gunslinger87]

Like someone on this topic said before, I too am a person who firmly believes in giving credit where it is due. A key reason why people are all over A D-B is simply because his stuff is great, our expectations rise, we await the next novel, and our expectations are fulfilled. Hence his star rises. Now just as much as I like A D-B (Abnett just a bit more, as he has a lot more stuff so far) and have loved everything I've read from him so far, neither do I like when people automatically assume that his track record must mean all his stuff is great and he can never write something below par. First of all, it would probably be the first case in literature history, and second of all, it doesnt help anyone. When you take off your critical glasses, you're only hurting the writer and yourself. I too felt cheated by the brief glinces we've had of Kurze, but I totally agree with the justification we've been presented. Sometimes you have to overcome your initial fanboyness and just look at things (as much as is possible) objectively.

 

The day when this reported short story/novella comes out, you will completely forget you ever had this conversation. But then again (to support what I've said until now about being unbiased) you might not, so wait and see when he actually gets his own story.

 

I think most of the beef comes from the fact that these brief glances were of Kurze not at his best. Nobody seems to complain so much about Guilliman (dispite being smacked up in The First Heretic) because he had his cool (in a way). And that was just one scene. Complaining that Arnold in Terminator:Salvation had no depth, when he was just an animated piece of nothing with a scanned head that appeared for 3 seconds before his face got burned off... well that just doesnt make sense to me.

[Son of Rawl]

Sadly our dear Konrad is in the same boat as Angron, both have been given some rather bad fluff representation and now, most of us atleast, seem to think they are just one dimensional charecters which is far from the truth.

 

Change is bound to happen with the Heresy series, lets be thankful that we have authors who care for the universe.

[Morningstar317]

There are some details that are being overlooked! The red gauntlets in savage weapons & blood reaver, it implies that Curze had lost control of his legion and had to revert to the old gang laws. In that context I have no issues with his depiction.

[Perrin]

There are some details that are being overlooked! The red gauntlets in savage weapons & blood reaver, it implies that Curze had lost control of his legion and had to revert to the old gang laws. In that context I have no issues with his depiction.

 

That could have been re-started by the Captains of the Legion mind, and it doesnt seem that harsh a punishment.

[Tyrannicide]

Practically everyone and their pet monkey is on the AD-B train, as of late -

 

 

Could that be because he at least takes the time to post here? Maybe because he is excess-able

to us people jump on his bandwagon? Could be that he writes good books. Or it could be that people just like to think he takes thier ideas on board? Who knows? All I know is I like his portrayal of the Night Lords.

...did you even read anything after that line? Pulling it out of context like that changes the entire dynamic of my content...

[Valkyrion]

I know we're talking about a primarch, so this is Heresy related, but the stories being talked about aren't heresy related.

You're reading about a future historic event, or a historic future event, or something. Point being that time changes everything, one way or another. You could have the old guy recounting a famous WWII mission where his CO ordered 100 of them to do something really brave and 90 of them die. The days, weeks and months after that the future old guy is buzzing with the excitement of it all telling everyone who'll listen. Now 90 years old he resents his CO for killing 90 of his friends for no real reason, has flashbacks and nightmares about it and is generally living out his days as a sad and lonely old man.

 

That sad old man is Talos (or the entire Night Lords) to KC's CO. Do you know what I mean? The story is about the sad old man, not his glorious (or idiotic) commander.

 

When the story is about the commander you'll find out why he did what he did, whether he was right, and so on and the future sad old man will just be a footnote in his story,

[Pulse]

The story is about Talos and modern day Night Lords,

Indeed it is, so lets see some real terror tactics in the next book, lets them see being absolutely brutal and following their way of warfare. Thats what i have been dying for reading Soul Hunter and Blood Reaver. :huh:

[Billuriye]

Indeed it is, so lets see some real terror tactics in the next book, lets them see being absolutely brutal and following their way of warfare. Thats what i have been dying for reading Soul Hunter and Blood Reaver. :huh:

 

Well there were some flashbacks from 30k night lords where they were in their primes but if you expect the same from 40k NLs you must be sorely dissapointed.

[Brother Nihm]

Indeed it is, so lets see some real terror tactics in the next book, lets them see being absolutely brutal and following their way of warfare. Thats what i have been dying for reading Soul Hunter and Blood Reaver. :huh:

but if you expect the same from 40k NLs you must be sorely dissapointed.

Why?

[Captain Semper]

Well truth being said we've seen a glimpse of their terror tactics in the fortress of the Knights Errant - but it was largely waisted against their main enemy - that knows no fear... They also used terror for their attack on Ganges. But it seems that it comes so natural to them that it is not a calculated tactic - but rather the way they do things. That is actually an aspect I really liked about the novels.

 

However they are also a small warband, so unless they group together with other NL, I doubt they'll be able to conduct a successful terror campaign of any material size... One has to be content with small scale operations as the one mentioned above. Frankly that's fine. This is the story of a small warband after all - not Horus Heresy all over again. It has to do more with the 1st Claw and less with the fate of the entire NL Legion. By their very nature the novels are more micro and less macro. So having a handfull of NLs conducting a large scale terror campaign on their own would not only be implausible but unecessary in my view...

[Israfel]

Slightly off-topic, but I would love to see AD-B writing more blood angels stuff and Sanguinius. I have really enjoyed the night lords novels (even though it was the blood angels who were being butchered :( ). When weaving 40k lore he seems to have a good eye for both sides of the coin and gives his best to portrait both sides in his novels. This is what makes the night lord novels a very good read and his characters have much more depth than the characters we encounter in BL novels, they are less "romantic/one dimensional". It was pleasure rading his description of the black rage in the flesh tearers short story. I hope he keeps up the good work and takes more role in the creation of BA fluff.

[Pulse]

Well truth being said we've seen a glimpse of their terror tactics in the fortress of the Knights Errant - but it was largely waisted against their main enemy - that knows no fear... They also used terror for their attack on Ganges. But it seems that it comes so natural to them that it is not a calculated tactic - but rather the way they do things. That is actually an aspect I really liked about the novels.

 

However they are also a small warband, so unless they group together with other NL, I doubt they'll be able to conduct a successful terror campaign of any material size... One has to be content with small scale operations as the one mentioned above. Frankly that's fine. This is the story of a small warband after all - not Horus Heresy all over again. It has to do more with the 1st Claw and less with the fate of the entire NL Legion. By their very nature the novels are more micro and less macro. So having a handfull of NLs conducting a large scale terror campaign on their own would not only be implausible but unecessary in my view...

Dropping from the ceiling and leaving a few bodies scattered around the Marines Errant fortress doesn't count as terror tactics.

 

Small warband or not they are capable of horiffic things, we just are not seeing it. I am not wanting HH scale blood letting, i want to actually taste what the Night Lords are about. I know its now the 41st Millenium and times have changed but so far Talos' squad are no different from any other squad of plain Space Marines in the way they seem to act in the small skirmishes we have read about them being in, i know not every battlefield is going to suit their style but still the Legion character isn't there.

 

It is different if they are ashamed of who they are or where they have come from, but they are not, they still clearly show their Legion colours and they are proud of the fact they are Night Lords, its time to show it.

 

I am not complaining about the characters such as Talos, i am complaining about the character of the squad and how it acts.

[A D-B]

Well truth being said we've seen a glimpse of their terror tactics in the fortress of the Knights Errant - but it was largely waisted against their main enemy - that knows no fear... They also used terror for their attack on Ganges. But it seems that it comes so natural to them that it is not a calculated tactic - but rather the way they do things. That is actually an aspect I really liked about the novels.

 

However they are also a small warband, so unless they group together with other NL, I doubt they'll be able to conduct a successful terror campaign of any material size... One has to be content with small scale operations as the one mentioned above. Frankly that's fine. This is the story of a small warband after all - not Horus Heresy all over again. It has to do more with the 1st Claw and less with the fate of the entire NL Legion. By their very nature the novels are more micro and less macro. So having a handfull of NLs conducting a large scale terror campaign on their own would not only be implausible but unecessary in my view...

Dropping from the ceiling and leaving a few bodies scattered around the Marines Errant fortress doesn't count as terror tactics.

 

Small warband or not they are capable of horiffic things, we just are not seeing it. I am not wanting HH scale blood letting, i want to actually taste what the Night Lords are about. I know its now the 41st Millenium and times have changed but so far Talos' squad are no different from any other squad of plain Space Marines in the way they seem to act in the small skirmishes we have read about them being in, the Legion character isn't there. It is different if they are ashamed of who they are or where they have come from, but they are not, they still clearly show their Legion colours and they are proud of the fact they are Night Lords, its time to show it.

 

I am not complaining about the characters such as Talos, i am complaining about the character of the squad and how it acts.

 

One of the reasons you don't see it en masse is the same reason you never see it in the game. It doesn't translate well in most battles. It's a gamey idea that doesn't happen in-universe to the degree that a game designer's old article would suggest, which is yet another reason sometimes the lore portrays Night Lords as stealthy ambushers, sometimes it's as "the Legion of Raptors" and sometimes it's "those guys who terrify people". They struggle to find a niche because once you start applying detail, their niches don't stand up to internal lore or solid storytelling all that well.

 

It's something the Night Lords would love to do, but they tend to fight people 95% of the time that don't feel fear, or in battles where it's not really an option, or is even something that makes any sense to force into a storyline. You have a choice, really. Show them doing the Legion-preferred tactic of overwhelming force against a weaker enemy, (such as the station at the beginning of Blood Reaver - a perfect example of Night Lord tactics, but hardly a fair fight and not something you can repeat in a novel over and over again), or focus more on the less day-to-day battles that challenge the warband, which is essentially the core of any storyline, given that novels are often more about the more unusual events in any characters' lives.

 

The 30K Night Lords had it easy. The galaxy knew who they were. Planets surrendered at the sound of their name. They had a massive Legion that could swoop around and torture entire worlds at will. 40K Night Lords... not so much. They're either Raptors, Raptors, Raptors; or they're sneaky ambushers; or they're non-Chaos independents; or they're daemon-summoning infiltrators; or they're whatever else depending on the lore source in question that day, and "terror tactics" (which means what, exactly, on a practical level?) aren't something that would happen very often. Against whom, exactly? Tyranids? Necrons? The Mechanicus? Space Marines? Other Chaos Marines?

 

The few times we see Night Lords in the kind of overwhelming battles against normal humans that they wish they could always be fighting, they do what they can, drawing in from a variety of lore sources. But really "Terror tactics" is vague enough to mean essentially nothing in the 40K context. 30K Night Lords did it for a specific end, with a goal in mind. They had things to achieve, and fear was how they did it. The 40K Night Lords don't have the same drive. They don't want to scare worlds into obedience now. That's done with. That lesson was taught. They like to scare people - and kill them. The IA article makes that clear. In the instances the Night Lords are in position to do that to their enemies in the series, they do it. But it's not something that makes sense to write about a lot. I mean, look at the reviews. People get that they do it. I'm not worried about it.

 

Curiously, this is one of the things I've had discussions about with peeps in the IP and lore section of GW. It's good stuff. It's just not as simple as "terror tactics", because that means almost nothing in an applied context, relating to the current Legion's shattered goals. The Emperor's Children like to feel pleasure now. The Night Lords like to cause fear. That's what you've got to work with, at the most basic level. It's not something they can always do, either. Outside of their easy, steamrolled wins (which have little place repeatedly shown in a novel for obvious reasons) it's not something they can realistically do much at all. Lord of the Night suffered the same thing: there's very little "terror tactics" in that. A lone Night Lord scares a handful of human enemies a bit, but there's no greater application of fear as a weapon or a tool of the modern Legion.

 

Obviously, this is something I've thought about a lot and discussed with GW brass, so while I see where the confusion comes from, I'm not exactly sweating when one or two people say they're not seeing it.

[Brother Nihm]

when one or two people say they're not seeing it

Would you be sweating if it was ten, twenty, thirty people? ;)

I've previously voiced concerns about almost the same things as Pulse has.

 

The nature and atmosphere of Talos and his band of renegades, I too quite enjoy reading about that.

But Soul Hunter was for me a book about renegades, not Night Lords.

 

I've yet to finish Blood Reaver (85% through) and while closer than Soul Hunter, I still don't feel that the character of the Legion has been captured very well, mostly for the same reasons as has been already stated.

But particularly for the 'lack of that which doesn't translate very well in most battles', which is the defining character trait of the Legion and the mindset of its Legionnaires after all.

 

The ultimate challenge for a writer must surely be to translate that well?

[A D-B]

when one or two people say they're not seeing it

Would you be sweating if it was ten, twenty, thirty people? ;)

I've previously voiced concerns about almost the same things as Pulse has.

 

The nature and atmosphere of Talos and his band of renegades, I too quite enjoy reading about that.

But Soul Hunter was for me a book about renegades, not Night Lords.

 

I've yet to finish Blood Reaver (85% through) and while closer than Soul Hunter, I still don't feel that the character of the Legion has been captured very well, mostly for the same reasons as has been already stated.

But also for the 'lack of that which doesn't translate very well in most battles', which is the defining character trait of the Legion and the mindset of its Legionnaires after all.

 

The ultimate challenge for a writer must surely be to translate that well?

 

Very much. Thankfully, the overwhelming majority of feedback on every level is in favour of it, so like I said: I get you see it X way, but I don't, and I'm okay with that. People see the license in different ways. Even Lord of the Night didn't show it, and when it tried, I found it to be the more agonisingly unrealistic moments of the novel.

 

Also, I think one of the most interesting facets in the "terror tactics" debate is even in the lore sources that claim they do it, like the IA article, there are almost no examples of how they do it - and none that would actually work against most of the armies in the lore. That's a key point in how it doesn't translate into actual realistic portrayals with any grace. Sometimes, like in the beginning of Blood Reaver - or in LotN on a tiny scale of one guy - it's easy enough to show in terms of their vaunted "overwhelming force" tactic. I think Blood Reaver even specifically uses several/all of the tactics mentioned in the IA article, as a point of highlighting it when it works. But otherwise, well, it's pretty clear why there are so few examples in the lore, or on the tabletop. It's an ideal, not something they'd be able to do in most of their difficult battles.

 

Still, it was a lot easier to inspire fear when that was the point of your Legion in terms of achieving a goal not based on then killing everyone right afterwards. When they existed to inspire fear in order to further a greater goal, you've got the reason the Night Lords in the Heresy were so unique. When later lore sources categorically say they've lost a lot of that drive and now cause fear out of a desire just to cause fear - before killing their enemies anyway - then... Well... You see where I'm going with this. Especially seeing as they don't conquer worlds much anymore - they flee from Imperial retribution rather than ever fight fair. You've got something that sounds cool in a vague way, but doesn't actually mean much in a narrative context. What sounds great and works as a few paragraphs of game design backstory doesn't always make as much sense in a novel, under deeper scrutiny. Or even in tabletop rules. Or even in the very game design backstory, which is so light on actual examples or practical explanation, because the concept itself is so hokey. But you can say that about countless examples in the license.

[A D-B]

Addendum, as I do really like this topic. I don't think it makes much sense to say the character of the Legion's not coming across (especially with the atmosphere of the Covenant of Blood; and the conflicting views on the past and their primarch; and the fact that the serious issue is that several of them like to cause fear, there's just little chance to do so in real terms) - or even in the sense that it's even harder when the galaxy doesn't know who you are, even when you show up and wave at mortals. They're still like "...um? Why are you skinning me alive, stranger?"

 

I had all these talks about it with IP folks before I started Void Stalker, because I really, really, really wanted Talos and co. to attack a planet "like the old days" and really cut loose. Void Stalker's about 80% done now, and the assault in question is close to the start of the book. It's a world they have a lot of investment in, and aren't pleased to see what's become of it since they were last there. So they slip the leash.

 

But even then, there's a powerful difference between inflicting fear essentially for the fun of it, which we're told in the lore they now do almost exclusively, and doing it as part of a battle tactic when you're trying not to kill everyone, such as back in the HH and Great Crusade. Back then, the idea was to scare them but leave most of them alive, with the lesson of obedience learned. Now it's often just to make them frightened as they die (way less pathos) - and the vast majority of enemies that can actually challenge the Night Lords simply don't feel fear.

[Beef]

Practically everyone and their pet monkey is on the AD-B train, as of late -

 

 

Could that be because he at least takes the time to post here? Maybe because he is excess-able

to us people jump on his bandwagon? Could be that he writes good books. Or it could be that people just like to think he takes thier ideas on board? Who knows? All I know is I like his portrayal of the Night Lords.

...did you even read anything after that line? Pulling it out of context like that changes the entire dynamic of my content...

 

I did read it, but i was replying to that point in particular. also dont take it personally it was not directed at your argument, i just quoted you as you summed it best with that line.

[Ashur]

But even then, there's a powerful difference between inflicting fear essentially for the fun of it, which we're told in the lore they now do almost exclusively, and doing it as part of a battle tactic when you're trying not to kill everyone, such as back in the HH and Great Crusade. Back then, the idea was to scare them but leave most of them alive, with the lesson of obedience learned. Now it's often just to make them frightened as they die (way less pathos) - and the vast majority of enemies that can actually challenge the Night Lords simply don't feel fear.

 

So if I understand, the NL cannot fight the Heresy using their personnal philosophy since they cannot hope to scare other marines. I've never considered that side of the problem.

That only makes me more impatient for Void Stalker. I will read the other two again and take this topic into consideration.

[Legatus]

Perhaps "Terror Tactics" is not the right word for it. The Night Lords don't sneak around and attempt to scare an opposing force once the battle has started. They throw their full might behind the attack to utterly anihilate the opponent. The entire demoralization/confusion process happens before any fighting takes place. All the terror stuff serves basically just to establish how terrible the Night Lords are and what they will do to you when they get you. But once the battle has started they will basically boltgun or chainsword the opposition to death, much like any other Marine force would. The survivors of such an engagement are in for worse, though, as they might then serve as material to prepare for the next engagement.

 

In a scenario where the Night Lords attack a planet, this is perhaps how it would unfold:

 

Step 1: The communication satelites suddenly go quiet, and the planetary government/defense command has no clue what is happening. Suddenly the screens start up again, but what they see is an unsettling picture. The screens show a camera view of the satelite command center. There are some traces of combat, and some blood, but directly in front of the camera (think a person sitting in front of a webcam) is a female communications officier, her head forced down on the table, the face turned towards the camera. Holding her head down is a black armoured colossus, whose armour is adorned with spikes, chains, skulls and all that. In the back the other surviving crew members are rounded up by other armoured warriors. The warrior holding the female officier down looks straight into the camera and growls "now we are coming for you!", after which (to the disgust of those watching the transmission) he starts cutting off the screaming womans face with a nasty combat knife. Meanwhile the other warriors in the back proceed to brutally dismember the other survivors, over the sreeches and screams of pain and shock.

 

Step 2: Over the next few days the planetary defense forces are assaulted and destroyed one by one by the Night Lords forces. All the while the recorded images and audio of the earlier massacre on the com satelites are broadcast across all frequencies. But aside from that this is straight up battle scenes and bolter porn. Though more than other Chaos forces the Night Lords make it a habit to string up bodies of their enemies on their vehicles, or to arrange the casualties in certain patterns or poses for other enemy detachments who might examine the battlefield later to find.

 

Step 3: After any kind of resistance has been utterly crushed, the Night Lords proceed to turn on the panicked civilians, murdering them in their homes, in the streets, wherever they find them.

 

 

All this nasty stuff the Night Lords do happens "around" a battle, but not during the comencing of the battle. They will do their com channel spiel before any fighting, and after the fighting they desecrate the bodies of their enemies and decorate their armour and vehicles with them.

 

Also, as A D-B said, their entire "capture com channels and scare the enemy" stuff only really works when they assault an Imperial planet. And maybe on a Tau planet. But against any other foe they can't really do anything like that. Not to that degree, at least. How are they going to scare Tyranids, Necrons, Orks, other Marines (loyal or traitor) or even Eldar? While Eldar might be susceptible to such horrors, the Night Lords will not be in a position to attack a lonely communications installation and do that whole broadcasting thing. The best they can do here is kill a small Eldar patrol and dismember the bodies of the fallen to then maybe have an effect on the next Eldar force they are encountering. But they could not organize the entire thing the way they would when attacking a planet.

For this reason I have allways been against a simple morale effecting special rule for Night Lords. That makes sense against Imperial Guard and Tau, and Perhaps Craftworld Eldar, but it wouldn't make sense against any of the other armies.