Fluffy for a Night Lords Force?

[Xenith]

Anything in the codex represents what would typically be found in a traitor force.

 

Shock and horror, deepstriking and infiltrating units.

[incinerator950]

Well the gist of it is that Night Lords prefer to use swift application of overwhelming force to terrify and annihilate any opposition with minimal danger to themselves. Luckily this lends itself to a lot of different tabletop representations, and mostly depends on how chaotic he wants his warband to be. Main limitation is that NL are not devout to any of the Chaos gods, so there probably wouldn't be any NL berserkers, plague marines, etc. that said, NL have been specifically noted in their IA to ally with other Chaos factions without compunction (viewing their allies as expendable tools essentially) so cult squads wouldn't be unfluffy so long as they are painted as another legion and not actual NL themselves.

 

So really, it's one of the most open and all encompassing Legions, with even marks being okay as some characters in ADB's NL books were certainly affected by certain gods even if they didn't worship them. Also cultists seem kind of an odd mix with NL since in fluff the NL tend to attack targets for fun more than anything and their style of warfare leaves little need or room for human fodder. Even then though, they'd use it if they thought they needed to. Which is the thing, NL are very pragmatic, they have no sense of honor, and look down upon those that do. They don't worship the gods and so would join a cult but they would gladly ally with a cult if they thought it would advantage them. No principles, no rules.

 

I used to be more of an advent purist on Undivided Legions being Undivided, but not only does that suck more on the table, it's not the case.  The line is more or less drawn that some that are marked are not 100% in a gods thrall, sometimes they're affected or please a god to receive a boon.  Cult troops are fully devoted, where as marked CSM are either those who are in favor and may not be 100% on board, or are aspiring to make it to what the Cults are going for. 

 

As you said, allying with a cult for pragmatism is one of their best known traits.

[Plague Angel]

I think in this case the cultists we're talking about are the 6+ armored human kind. Which, I agree, feel a bit out of place in a Night Lords force. While Cultists are no doubt made use of by others, I don't see them being a major factor in whatever a Night Lord warleader has planned; they don't really seem to fit in with the terror tactics idea, they're more likely to be gripped by the fear themselves.

[incinerator950]

If he/she still wanted to include cultists, they could be under the thrall in a Helbrute.  Could be indoctrinated, but that would fit WBs/AL more.  Or in the case, the Night Lords found cultists and use them as expendable meatshields and sacrifices for demonic pacts. 

 

Brigannion IV was originally held by the Night Lords, its Demonic protection is attributed to their sacrifice of the civilian population, hence why the Iron Warrior fortifications are ever so stronger there.

[Kol Saresk]

To the idea of cultists:

Actually, I think the concept of a "cult of personality" could be applied. After all, if serial killers like Ted Bundy and Charles Manson can have fan cults, then what is to stop someone like the Night Lords from attracting gangs of murderers who aspire to be like "the gods of murder"?

However, a personal idea I had was a group of slaves who had been tortured and beaten and forced to do the same to each other and then given a gun and told to charge the enemy and they obey out of a mix of stockholm syndrome and fear of the Astartes who now own them.

Even Night Lords use meatshields.

[Sception]

Be'lakor works well with a Night Lords theme.  Daemonic without being aligned, super fast, cloaked in darkness, and preying on the enemy's fear both in terms of his considerable psychic abilities and in terms of his own special rules.  In terms of game play he just screams 'Night Lords': he spends most of the game skulking in the shadows, turning the enemy against themselves with his psychic powers while your own forces encircle them and pick off isolated groups, and in the last stages of the game leaps out of hiding to feast on the terrified stragglers.  And the look of the model is a pretty good fit, too, imo.

 

Thematically he works great as a counts-as for a more Night Lordsish daemon prince.  Or even as himself - his whole gimmick, being a 'rebel' who hates the gods while serving them against his will or even without his knowing, and a mercenary force who will work for anyone, only to stab them in the back as soon as it serves his own self interest - aligns very closely with the role the modern Night Lords have fallen into within the Eye, and I'd imagine there are many Night Lords splinter groups that would be happy to work with him.  Groups he might not even have to manipulate into striking out at other chaos factions.

[Spaz431]

All the ideas you have read are good. Look at your current local meta. Are the players mostly playing marine armies, ork mobs, necrons, or tyranids? Then consider black legion special rules more then (downside is that you have to buy vets) or baseline codex. If there are more of anything else give consideration to Crimson Slaughter, the free boost and not buying vets saves points.

[Plague Angel]

It's fairly easy to justify Night Lords using cultists, true. But it's easy to justify any war and utilizing any resource. So by that measure, no list is ever "unfluffy."

 

So when these topics come up they really lean towards what's the most iconic. A sort of average snapshot. Cultists don't really come to mind as a super Night Lord thing, even if they have their uses.