The Characters that Should have Been...

[VIIILegionaire.]

If it had to be a specific character from the fluff, I'd like to see Zso Sahaal for my Night Lords.

[Kol Saresk]

If it had to be a specific character from the fluff, I'd like to see Zso Sahaal for my Night Lords.

No. I'm too much of a "radical" to accept him. And I would also prefer it if GW would move away from the "Raptor Legion" concept, not reinforce it. Halasker is kind of "eh" simply because he is an unknown. I'd rather deal with an unknown than someone who would more than definitely used to stereotype a virtually un-stereotype-able Legion, the "murders first, last and always" bit excluded.

[Sinners Red]

I agree with Kol Saresk, if the VIII Legion got a SC, it would have to be a relative unknown, only loosely mentioned. I'm glad I haven't seen the Prophet, I think I would have vomited (side note, I am a fan of the A-D-B novels, but as I have said before, they hardly represent the entire legion IMO.)

Where I disagree with Kol Saresk is that I would very much enjoy a Raptor Legion theme, although I can understand his dislike of the concept, so far in the HH books and any current ones other than Lord of The Night, the Legion isn't full of raptors at all. Just regular dudes, and terminators. It seems that Night Lords had some good terminators in the Atrementar.

 

I have two character ideas (more like 3)

 

Raptor Lord (insert Night Lordish name here)

A pretty standard, mid range SC, probably with increased weapon skill, and fearless.

 

Special Rules:

Raptor Lord - Raptors and Warp Talons as Troops

We Have Come For You - All units marked as Fast Attack in the codex have Fear Special Rule and count as having assault grenades

 

Kyropteran Special Character

Can be taken in PA, or TA

 

PA

once again, nothing special on the stats bar, fearless

 

We Have Come For You

Cry of the Night - A flamer template style attack, that represents vox amplifiers in effect. Probably same stats as doom siren

 

Ta

Terminator stats, fearless

 

Champion of the Atrementar - Terminators as troops

Psychological Warfare - select d3+1 enemy units who now take leadership tests at the beginning of every turn (no matter what)

 

 

 

I went with something that would more or else affect army composition rather than being just a power house, sure I mean we have options to take Cult Troops as troops, but for me that's just boring.

 

I like the idea of having a character who could be taken with Power Armor or Terminator Armor.

Also, I am willing to concede that it is possible some of these options are completely unfair. I dont really know, I'm just spit balling. But I don't think any of these are too outlandish.

[Kol Saresk]

I'm not against Raptor armies, and if that's your dig then go for it. I fully understand the desire to field a Raptor Cult. Heck, I'm making a Raptor Lord who will have a Raptor retinue, although I will probably ever only field one squad of Raptors. I'm just not "Raptor Legion". On a side note, you have come up with some rather interesting ideas for characters, I will give you that.

 

The only thing I have with anyone of the suggestions for the rules is Fear. It doesn't do much and it only works in base contact, not even close combat. Yeah, it makes it harder to Hit, but all it does is guarantee that they just have to roll a 4+, on most armies as far as I am aware. So it's an "eh" kind of rule. Fluffy as all get out and as much as I want to have Terror Marks, there's really not much I can do with so it seems a waste to have to have it when it virtually does nothing.

[the jeske]

ATKNF , fearless just ignore fear . only armies that actualy get hurt by it is tau and IG[doesnt matter for them as they suck in hth] and mirror matchs against other chaos marines.

[Plaguecaster]

I would love it if there was a SC that you could take to make Raptors troops I reckon a Nurgle raptor army would be funny. Shame fear is such a pointless rule I mean it would of been better if everyone could be affected including those with the and they shall no no fear rule with a -1 to leadership for every unit with fear within 6 then it would of been even better

[Brother Nihm]

I'd say Krieg Acerbus would be the closest thing to typical Night Lords leader.

Hells yes!

 

I'd take Krieg over all the others, any day of the week.

The trick would be to make his rules unique enough to warrant including him over your run of the mill Prince.

[Offswitch]

I love Honsou and he is one of my favourite characters. However in games terms he wouldn't work. Games of 40k have equal points values to make them as fair a fight as possible and Honsou runs away from fair fights!

 

Ferrus Ironclaw is a name that's been around for a while and it would be better for him to represent the Legion.

[Rune Priest Ridcully]

It would have been nice, if in addition to SC's for each legion, we'd seen possibly a couple more for each of cult ones, such as a mangusite for the Thousand sons, the rumoured dread character for the Emperor's children, and so on to show how all the cult legions have fractured into two or more factions. Would have properly ended up with a bucket load of khorne and nurgle characters though.

The lack of new SC's give the codex a rushed feeling. (That and a few other things as well.)

[Excessus]

A problem with an Alpha Legion character is the fact that none of them are relaly 'fleshed out' yet. Ingo Pech and Mathias Herzog only have "Legion", in most other publications it's Omegon or Alpharius doing stuff, and usually ends with a lot of Alpha Legion deaths amongst the 'main cast'. There are no characters with any real stories behind them since they kill off so many characters all the time before they can make a name for themselves...

 

I would have loved for Arvas Janic to survive, he was awesome! ;)

[Warsmith Aznable]

EDIT: I shall call him "Iago the Ancient, Lieutenant of Chaos Undivided."

 

Chaos Lieutenant would have been nice to have back. A cheap HQ to free up points for lists that want more vehicles or monsters. Basically a cheap lord that doesn't take artifacts or make a cult unit troops. They could have even had fun with it with another random chart

 

Chaos Lieutenant Chart (d6)

 

1. Lacks Personal Ambition - The Chaos Lieutenant is a strong warrior and loyal to his master. Perhaps too loyal. The Chaos Gods are jealous and spiteful beings... - +1 STR, +1A, and when rolling on the Chaos Boons table, all Dark Apotheosis results count as Spawnhood.

 

2. Known Coward - The Chaos Lieutenant is favored by the Master for reasons unfathomable to anyone else. The warriors despise him, but follow his commands as if they were the Master's. - After a Challenge from the Chaos Lieutenant is accepted, any model from a squad he has joined may be chosen to fight the Challenge in his place while the Lieutenant fights with the rest of the squad as normal.

 

3. The Master's Enforcer - The Chaos Lieutenant is the eyes and ears of the Master, and no warrior is willing to let his name be poisoned by the Lieutenant's disfavor. - Any unit the Lieutenant joins becomes Fearless while he is joined to it.

 

4. Hedges His Bets - The Master will not be happy with the Chaos Lieutenant for rushing his plans, but a swift and decisive victory will placate him and keep the Lieutenant alive. - Begin rolling for Reserves on Turn 1 instead of Turn 2.

 

5. Edge of Glory - The Chaos Lieutenant is powerful in his own right, grasping for more from fickle Gods who hesitate to claim him. - The Chaos Lieutenant generates a random psychic power at the beginning of every turn (along with the Warp Charge to use it), discarding the previous turn's results. The player may roll on any Chaos God's psychic powers table, but must choose a different Chaos God than the previous turn.

 

6. Useful Idiot - Once per game you may call in d3 Orbital Lance Strikes centered on the Chaos Lieutenant's position, rolling 1d6 for scatter instead of 2d6.

[zyl-]

6. Useful Idiot - Once per game you may call in d3 Orbital Lance Strikes centered on the Chaos Lieutenant's position, rolling 1d6 for scatter instead of 2d6.

 

I would so use that.

[Biaz]

Best. Chart. Ever.

 

Edit: I would've liked some possessed HQ to be honest. I mean Possessed would have to be better, but he comes with the daemon USR, and maybe selectable mutations rather than access to artifacts. Doesn't have to make possessed troops or whatever, I think this theme is over used.

 

I don't really know how to make such an idea work, but when we're dealing with an army who's theme is centered around making pacts with the devil, a guy who is possessed would be awesome.

[Kol Saresk]

-Max-............................................................................................ I like that table.

[Chronotonic]

indeed....that s awesome makes me think of the 3rd edition chaos book when i read it...

 

 

hahaha man dont know why but like they said awesome table i would use it for fun...

[Rik Riorik]

Very characterful chart! I really enjoy the randomness in this new Codex as opposed to the randomness in the previous one and this would have added to the fun.

 

I too would have enjoyed characters for all the Legions. Just seems a bit sloppy to just have the same rehashed characters that we've had for editions and editions with nothing new to show for it. Especially seeing Some of the newer Codii getting new characters.

 

Erebus or even Kor Phaeron would have been awesome from a Word Bearer perspective with more support like abilities a la the Dark Apostle.

[Warsmith Aznable]

I'm going to take Iago over to the Homegrown Rules sub-forum and make an entire entry for him. The chart started as a joke/lark, but I think I like the idea too much not to try him in a friendly now.

 

EDIT: the full entry with adjusted chart is here. Any C&C appreciated.

[DavidKits]

Greetings everyone of this Bolter and Chainsword... more so us dark followers of the dark gods in chaos! I have begun working on a campaign lately and with that campaign I'm working on making some special characters up for the players to use. as much as the ones in the book are nice I have decided i want to make up some new ones just for the event. now i'm trying to make them still kinda balanced not to overkill and so far i only have one that is ... kinda finished i suppose and i need your guys opinions.now please understand this is my first time doing this! so please give me some honest advise. Now as he a Night Lord Special character and with some requests from my gang his kinda a sterotyped one but anyway its what they wanted. my biggest problem is trying to find a name for him so please if you guys could give me a hand that would be wonderful! I don't have a story written for him yet still working on that part so please bare with me! i'm not that good at this >,<;;;

 

 

(Insert name here) Night Lords Chaos Lord: 215 points

WS BS S T W I A LD SV

7 5 4 4 3 5 3 10 2+/5+

 

Unit comp: 1 (unique)

 

Unit type:

Infantry

 

Warlord trait:

Lord of terror

 

Equipment:

:Terminator Armour

:Nulladram

: Truth

: Mercy

:Regret

 

Special rules:

:Fearless

:Champion of Chaos

:Independant Character

:Fear Incarnate

:Lord of Raptors

:Veteran of the Long War

 

 

 

wargear:

Truth/ Mercy: a matching pair of weapons once owned by the previous lord of the warband, claimed as a trophy for his use when he marches to war, Truth is a set of wicked and serrated Lightning claws with a built in Bolter, Mercy is a mencing twin bladed chainfist, also like truth contains a built in bolter that when the bolters are fired together gives the Lord a twin linked bolter.

Weapon Stats:

Truth: Range: Melee Str: User Ap: 3 Shred, Specialist weapon

Mercy: Range: Melee Str: x2 ap: 2 Armourbane, Specalist weapon, unwieldy

Built in bolters: range: 24inch Str: 4 ap: 5 Rapid fire, Twin-linked

 

Regret: Under his own watchful gaze, he ordered the warbands Warpsmith to contrust and install a device into his armour inspired from the Banshee Masks of the Eldar, wanting to once more beable to strike terror into the hearts of men moments before his merciless charge, warpsmith under threat of a painful death slowly modify his battle plate to carry a series of focused direction vox amplifers as well as a few arcane devices that when unleashed, produced a sudden wail of sonic, and somehow even psionic force straight out in front of him inducing such mortal dread to freeze a man in terror forgetting to even defend or force even the sternest of warriors to suddenly commit suicide when under malign influence.

Regrets stats:

Range: Template Str 8 ap 2 Assault 1, Blind, one use only (this weapon targets against a Models Leadership valve not toughness)

 

Nulladram: an Unknown reptilian creature that appeared amonst the warband only soon after the previous warlords death. (insert name) only responce when asked about the creature was that it was a 'gift'. all dare not ask anymore for fear of their masters ire, but many rumors continue to float about the creature, that it was a warp beast locked in a prison of the old lord who offers feality to the one who released it, or an alien creature picked up in secret and imprinted on the Lord like a child to a mother, or even a gift from the dark god of change himself for changing the fate of the whole warband at (insert name)'s rise to power. whatever the reason or wherever it came from it is know to viciously attack anyone who dares threaten its Master, clawing at flesh, ripping at armor joints with its frighteningly sharp claws at startlingly quick speeds. unknown to most though is that the creature also has a fair degree of clairvoyance, only able to pick up in a short distance from its master but even so its sudden warnings has saved him nurmous times from his enemies sudden strikes while in the thick of the battle.

the Nulladram counts to his wargear as a Combat familiar, at the same time when in close combat once per player fight subphase the Nulladram gives allows the re-roll of a single failed save be it armour, or invul as it warns its Master of the incoming blow

 

Fear: see main rule book

 

Fear Incarnate: If this lord is in base contact with a unit that has the Fearless, or the "they shall know no fear' special rules he still FORCES a fear test. but this only applies if HE is in base contact not his unit.

 

 

well there you go guys... with all my horrible horrible grammer.. *gahs* this is just a first hand draft I still got to work out alot, like rewriting parts, fix up my gammer, give him a name of all things! anyway most of the guys in the campaign so far think his cool so i'm glad with that but hey why not throw him up here for you all to pick at and ask questions and get your thoughts of. as i said before i know ther eis alot to work on on him. but i'm trying and i'm trying to go for the idea that his balanced in hiw points cost being that he isn't really cheap but like all special characters is able to pretty much hold his own and then some.

 

 

Cheers, David Kits.

 

edit: talked to a friend in rl who is the resident night lords boss or at leasat the only one in rl i can talk to em about and he told me he loved the concept of the character and thinks his well done, the only flaw is that he doesn't see the raptors being troops part as fitting to the character, as such I thought of it agreed and removed it, also of note he talked with me in that he believes that the Regret weapon needed to be modified so that he can ONLY be used in the owning player turn and cannot be used as an Overwatch attack. tell me what ya think! I'm alittle in clined to agree but i'll wait for more opinions.

[UglyWretch]

I'd be happy with a Lysander equivilant- Lord in Terminator armour, with a Storm Shield! You can give him any weapon you want, perhaps a Daemon Weapon, but that might be a touch OP. I guess that might work for Iron Warriors.

 

The main thing that's annoyed me in every CSM codex I've seen is that Chaos Marines don't have access to the same basic wargear that loyalist marines do, for example: Thunder Hammer, Storm Shields, Storm Ravens, Razorbacks, Plasma Cannons.

I'm not asking for special war gear, or chapter specific stuff, but if all these things were built thousands of years ago, you'd have thoiught Chaos would have picked some up over the years...

[Rune Priest Ridcully]

Or kept it from when they had it before the heresy.......

[TheDarkApostle]

I'd be happy with a Lysander equivilant- Lord in Terminator armour, with a Storm Shield! You can give him any weapon you want, perhaps a Daemon Weapon, but that might be a touch OP. I guess that might work for Iron Warriors.

 

The main thing that's annoyed me in every CSM codex I've seen is that Chaos Marines don't have access to the same basic wargear that loyalist marines do, for example: Thunder Hammer, Storm Shields, Storm Ravens, Razorbacks, Plasma Cannons.

I'm not asking for special war gear, or chapter specific stuff, but if all these things were built thousands of years ago, you'd have thoiught Chaos would have picked some up over the years...

Of all those items, the only one I'm not sure of being developed post-heresy is the thunder hammer. That is, non-vehicle sized ones at least.

 

Storm Ravens are post-heresy.

 

Razorbacks are post-heresy.

 

Plasma cannons for non-vehicles are post-heresy. (Which is why we have them on our Dreadnought/Hellbrutes)

 

Storm Shields I'm pretty sure are post-heresy.

 

Thunder Hammers as said is the only one I'm not sure about.

 

TDA

[UglyWretch]

Storm Ravens are post-heresy.

 

Razorbacks are post-heresy.

 

Plasma cannons for non-vehicles are post-heresy. (Which is why we have them on our Dreadnought/Hellbrutes)

 

Storm Shields I'm pretty sure are post-heresy.

 

Thunder Hammers as said is the only one I'm not sure about.

 

TDA

Yeah, but if you were at war and saw an enemy using a really good sword, hammer or shield, wouldn't you take it after you killed him? Plus, Chaos must still be getting new Marines or they'd have died out by now, so why couldn't they bring some of this stuff with them? It's just irritating.

[Kol Saresk]

Well since Eidolon had one, I suppose you could say that we had Thunder Hammers. But that's it.

[Watch Commander Danek]

Unless things changed (AGAIN >,<) Thunder Hammers are post Heresy and are successors to the Power Maul

[Sanctimonius]

Storm shields are pre-Heresy. The story where the Fists take on the Iron Warriors shows them using SS in the ship boarding action.