The mechanics of a Chaos Warband

[Tenebris]

Well lets consider the ways how a warband acquires resources, supplies and manpower.

 

First and most obvious is by raiding small outposts, mining colonies, agri worlds, in short targets which pose not much of a danger or retaliation to a warband. Raiding usually provides the warband with slaves, foodstuffs, raw materials and hopefully fuel and technology to keep their ship running. We are well aware that even ten astartes are a dire opponent in battle and I see them break the defences and enslave a minor town with this numbers. When the dirty part it is done, slaves and helots descend on landers, put the useful in chains, the useless on the sword and when the cargo bays are full they escape into orbit. With the classic astartes attention to detail, swiftness in deployment and skill in battle this should at best take some 48 hours maximum, for a relatively solid haul. 

 

The second way of acquiring supplies is simply buying them from various daemon forges, chaos worlds and so on. It is right, be it in the Eye as well as in the Maelstrom there is a vibrant society and countless planets are colonized and with a functioning society. There is also the constant need for slave labour and materials which can very well be exchanged by the warband for the supplies they need. I also think that the basic astartes gear is also in abundance for the right price, and while it is usually ancient marks of armour or weapons they are still replicated en masse by the Dark Mechanicus. Consider a warband as a patron of sorts, if they keep to their end of the deal they are supplied, if not... well here is where the troubles begin.

 

The third way is of esoteric origin. In the Eye, as well as in the Maelstrom, countless daemonic entities live and thrive, whole legions of daemons fight and move, whole contingents of daemon lords rule over their keeps and planets so they can be considered an option for a warband. Now the price for their help and supplies is usually of the esoteric sort, the tears of children, virgins, souls... a lot of things can spark the interest of a daemon and I think that a dedicated warband can have a lot of fruitful deal with their daemon allies. Arcane weapons, daemonic prosthesis, lesser daemons, possessed vehicles and ships,... almost anything can be provided by the daemons, provided that their price is met, and usually it is a steep one.

 

The fourth and usually not exactly the safest way is to broker deals with the remnants of a traitor legion. I presume that the Word Bearers have a vibrant trade on Sicarus, the Iron Warriors too, especially thanks to their massive daemonic furnaces and forges. Almost any traitor legion, or what remains of it, has certain articles and goods which are always high in demand. The problem is that unlike with the other ways to acquire goods, here you deal with astartes and here is where the actual tension is or what sprung the Legion Wars. I imagine countless keeps, shipyards, fortresses, forges and gene labs are the domains of the traitor legion forces but each has some very distinctive requests and needs and not all warbands are willing to pay such prices, for there is little of actual material need for a chaos space marine bar his wargear and ships, so one deals with a whole different type of immortals.

 

In the end there is a possibility for a warband to operate and be effective based upon the wargear and supplies from the Eye or the Maelstrom. The problem is that here we speak of a very high price, be it in souls, blood and sweat for nothing is given freely in the Warp bar damnation. The question is than how it is the deal secured, how are the guarantees met, and guarantees are of cardinal importance when those who deal are backstabbing, immortal, ruthless and superhuman killing machines, with little to no concept of law left. I quite see contracts sealed in blood or by other esoteric means as a way to protect a deal, exchanges of "prisoners" are also a way to protect a party from a doublecross, same can be also said for the influence of either a very powerful group or a very powerful entity. For no one is stupid enough to cross a warband under the aegis of either Abaddon or a Daemon Prince, there are consequences if one does so.

 

Overall I see the concept of this alliances and trade agreements as a very malleable concept. Also the Warp usually provides what you need, the problem is that more often than not the price for this is damnation of some sort (remember the story where the Apothecary of the Avenging Sons sold his soul to Nurgle in order to save his Captain, and the Librarian secured his power by making a deal with a daemon of Tzeentch). Usually the mortal party gets what it needs, but daemons prey on fools in need.

 

More of a specific problem is the acquisition of the geneseed. Now this is perhaps the toughest problem to solve for a Chaos Warband. As ADB aptly put in one of his posts (LF link above), if you steal the geneseed from an outside source you taint your bloodline, if you are exposed to the warp than your geneseed is corrupted and if you try to secure the geneseed of your bloodline, usually the price is very, very steep.

 

Yet even with all this said I still see a Chaos Warband functioning well in the Eye if they are both skilled warriors and wise diplomats. Perhaps I would add, I see a small Warband being even more successful for it needs less supplies than a massive army and can easily skip under the radar, while a vast Chaos host would yes have strength but also it will get a lot of unwanted attention. 

[Balthamal]

To steal ADB's closing quote, for pretty much everything discussed, the course of action or options all revolve around maybe, maybe, maybe

[Tenebris]

I wouldn't say that all is a big maybe, we have some sources and some concepts too, depicted in lore.

 

Example, we know that the Helbrute chassis is in fact produced on masse on several daemonic forge worlds. We know that the Dark Mechanicus seals a contract with a daemon which results in the creation of the Soul Grinders. We know that Blessed Sicarus has a number of forges, gene labs and manufactorums uses by the Word Bearers. We know as a matter of fact that the Iron Warriors are quite big in their production of astartes wargear and technoarcane devices and that they have quite a lot of daemonic forges in their fold. 

 

For example we also know that the Night Lords captured an imperial frigate in "Throne of Lies", Huron captured a Strike Cruiser of the Space Wolves, Zhufor and Arkos also pillaged the armouries of Vraks and so on. We have countless examples of chaos warbands acquiring the good they need in all kinds of fashions. Be it with force, guile or pact, the Chaos Space Marines are very resourceful when they need something. 

 

I think that the renegade chapters are even better set for they have newer marks of weapons and ships with more readily available replacements in the imperial space. Again, the Avenging Sons renegades stole everything they could before escaping the doomed world upon which they fought for months. The Crimson Sabers, later Crimson Slaughter are quite an example of how a renegade chapter provides for it needs, in the end by going so far to bending the knee to Abaddon. 

 

So it is maybe, only if we seek on in this direction. If we sit and search in our resources and write them down we will see a lot of facts on how a warband functions. This is why I have made this topic, to learn and catalogue what is known, and speculate on what is unknown. 

[Balthamal]

I wasn't intentionally trying to devalue the thread so if that's how it came across then I apologize. The maybes revolve around the potential options in that everything is fair game. To use the examples you've included above, maybe a warband goes to Sicarus offering to trade five thousand slaves taken on the latest raid in real space. Maybe the warband is hoping to acquire the rituals that the Gal Vorbak undertake before being possessed, maybe they want to learn the secrets of circumventing the space time continuum that Erebus is possessive of or maybe it's to trade for some gene-seed in order to breed new legionnaires. Or maybe it's not the Word Bearers but the Iron Warriors who are notoriously wasteful with the slave labour they utilise so five thousand souls only pays for a fraction of what the lord hoped. Or maybe they skip both legions and go straight to the Dark Mechanicum since they'll need their expertise eventually why bother introducing a third party or maybe they have no ties to any of the factions in the eye so require the good word of an established legion warband in order to make a first introduction. That's the kind of thing I was pointing out with the maybes.

 

Give me an hour or three and I'll attempt to post a comprehensive breakdown of my own little gang, The Forsaken operate.

[Tenebris]

I understand, no offence taken, it did not even cross my mind. What I am saying is that we have were clear facts in the lore, in the books and we really need to collate those facts here in order to begin grasping at the larger picture.

 

On a side note, and this is directed to you Night Lords people, ADB wrote the great Talos series and I would really love to see those books dissected in minute details for the benefit of this topic. You say that it is a go to font on how does operate a warband so every minimal snippet of lore as well as the major facts are very much welcome. 

[Balthamal]

I'll expand on the night lords of ADB's series in a mo, will take me a while to type up though

[Kol Saresk]

For no one is stupid enough to cross a warband under the aegis of either Abaddon or a Daemon Prince, there are consequences if one does so.

I disagree a bit with the bold part. For one thing, daemon princes are essentially Chaos Lords who are daemons. Their power is not infinite. In a way, it is even more restricted than when they were mortals because their influence in the material realm is dictated by when they can appear in the material realm and as with all warp entities, their power is in a constant state of flux. So basically, if one is willing to screw over a Chaos Lord, they're willing to try and screw over a daemon prince, consequences be damned because there are always consequences when betraying the Forces of Chaos.

 

And actually quite a few people have crossed Abaddon. Talos refused Abaddon's offer to join the Black Legion straight to his face. True, no actions were taken in Soul Hunter since they were in the middle of a battle and Abaddon wanted his battle won, but I'm willing to bet that if it had ended differently, the Warband of the Exalted/Broken Aquila would not have survived the end of the book.

 

That and there is a reason they risked dealing with Huron and the Red Corsairs despite an unmentioned previous doublecross rather than going to the Eye in Blood Reaver.

 

Another example we have is Honsou. In Storm of Iron, we see that the Warsmith and his Grand Company are charged by Abaddon with plundering the gene-seed of a hidden Mechanicus base. They succeed and the Warsmith gains ascension.

 

In Dead Sky, Black Sun, Honsou recollects on how he at first met with the representatives of the Black Legion to turn over the gene-seed, but then decided to kill them and keep the gene-seed for himself.

 

A third, but more minor example, is in Dark Creed. As the Word Bearers set out to begin their minor Crusade, Abaddon seconds a Black Legion sorcerer to be attached to the 34th Host. At first everything goes well.

 

And then the Brotherhood kills the sorcerer. Something that Erebus warned not to do because it would make Abaddon rather angry.

 

So while Abaddon is certainly a fearsome man to cross due to the power and resources at his disposable, it doesn't mean no one is capable or willing to do it. Many are.

 

And whenever you cross someone in the Forces of Chaos, there are always consequences. Sometimes these are an immediate "If you will not kneel, then you will die." and other times they are a simple "Watch your back. You never know when a knife might find it."

 

For example, say there is the Sinners, a warband made up of Night Lords who have forsaken their bonds to the VIII Legion. They're small, only numbering thirty or so. But they have just taken a minor and, more importantly, isolated forgeworld relatively intact and are now using it as a base of operations while letting the Mechanicus representatives who chose to serve them over death. That and some xenos technology the Sinners had made for a good bribe.

 

Here comes along the Eternal Flame, a Host of Word Bearers. Normally, they are a rather large Host, even amongst the XVII. They number almost 3,000 just in Astartes, have two Warhound Titans on loan from Legio Mortis, several oath-bonded Traitor Army Regiments and have a small fleet composing of three capital ships, each of which have attendant escorts.

 

They arrive in-system, haggard and beaten. The only ship that survived the battle and the subsequent warp jump is their Infernus-class battle-barge and it is just barely limping along. See, they had a really bad run in with the Red Corsairs while trying to raid New Badab. After all, surely these half-breed mongrels would fall before the might of such a strong Legion Warband? They didn't quite expect the numbers of pirates and Renegades who would answer Huron's call for retribution.

 

But here they are, asking for aid from this small, and pitiful Night Lords warband. And the Eternal Flame is stunned when they receive the answer in the form of orbital defense weaponry lighting up. Were the Sinners just that jealous of the resources they horded? Had the Eternal Flame offended these murderous scum in some manner? What had happened? They had never dealt with these... "Sinners" before. Had they?

 

The Sinners you see, they had a long memory. During the Slave Wars in the Eye of Terror, they had been a strong warband, one of the largest to escape the Shattering at Tsalgualsa. They weren't known as the Sinners back then, just "the Remnant" as they believed they were the only survivors of the Ultramarines' retribution back then. They and the Eternal Flame had sworn blood-oaths to fight as brothers during the oncoming wars as they had found a planet suitable for plundering, but neither could do it alone. They defended this planet against any who came to raid it. Death Guard, Thousand Sons, Sons of Horus, even other warbands from the Word Bearers. Their bond was strong and they were nigh-unstoppable.

 

But then Abaddon began the Black Legion. The Eternal Flame had never been one of the blessed Hosts of the XVII. They were never graced with any of the Gal Vorbak, first or second generation. Erebus did not share with them the secrets of the Unburdened. Surely someone had even turned the Eyes of the Gods away from them for no matter what they did, they could not create any Possessed. The daemons refused to be bonded and so any aspirants died, never achieving the power they desired. Abaddon offered them these secrets. He told them that if they did one thing for him, they would receive the knowledge necessary to create their own "Gal Vorbak". They agreed.

 

And when the Black Legion took up the next charge, the Eternal Flame retreated, leaving the Remnant to deal with Abaddon and his forces alone. The Sinners were all that was left of those who survived that battle.

 

And it may have taken them ten thousand years to once again reunite with the Eternal Flame, but they were reunited. And the former VIII Legion warband took full advantage of the Eternal Flames' weakened state to finish the job Huron started by blasting the last ship with its last survivors into nonexistence.

 

There are always consequences. In the Eye of Terror/Maelstrom, if you cross anyone, you better make sure that they're either dead or they are never in a position to return the favor.

[Balthamal]

As far as the Night Lords go, in terms of actual functioning, Blood Reaver does a remarkable job in laying bare the framework of how any warband will likely function.

 

MAJOR SPOILERS contained hereafter for anyone who hasn't read it so read on at your own peril.

 

When we first them, the warband is struggling big time, their previous battles have cost them dearly - their ship is falling apart, they have lost thousands of mortal crew, their navigator is dead so they're forced to use a replacement who is struggling to bond with the ship and on top of that, the warriors they have had join them are not playing well with the existing claws, they're killing each other on the decks, leeching further precious resources away in armour and more importantly, legionnaires.

 

They risk everything on finding a resupply point for a loyalist chapter and take the time to infiltrate it and bring it down from the inside because they no longer have the power left to simply overwhelm it. This succeeds and they take a goodly amount of raw materials and also human slaves for their troubles. However a patrol squadron from said Chapter turns up and interrupts the theft. In the end, they have to run. In better times their ship would wipe the floor with the opposition without breaking a sweat and they have taken everything they'd need to completely restore her to peak fighting condition so the temptation is there to chance, and have 3 additional ships worth of salvage to pick over. But in the end they run, because even though they have the materials, none of it is usable. Metal alone doesn't make a bullet or a torpedo. 

 

So they have a decent enough haul. But not the crew required to actually translate that into a fully functional warship. So their only option is to head into the Maelstrom and make use of the resources of Huron Blackheart who's void empire is only overshadowed by Abaddon's. Hell's Iris, an ancient starfort is the destination and although big enough for several dozen ships to be anchored there is far from Huron's largest outpost. Trouble pops up in that the last time they visited, they left a mess behind so they're not exactly welcome. Huron allows them to dock because he has a use for them (more on that later) Also while on the station, the legion slaves are busy abducting pregnant women, who show as little mutation as possible, because they need infants in order to get more legionnaires since cloning them or otherwise taking shortcuts isn't an option to a legion notable for intolerance to genetic deviation.

 

Now the warband can't exactly pay Huron for his crafters and crews to repair the ship - they need their mortals so can't bargain them away, they have no technology, they have no estoric lore, they just have the materials they stole, all of which they need to actual refit the ship itself, there's nothing spare and they still have to pay, any nobody can stockpile raw materials, still need skilled labour to make it into something whole. So Huron lays it out to them, knowing they have zero choice in the matter: They will help him assault a Chapter fortress monastery and likely get killed doing it, in return he will completely refit their ship and call it quits, not exactly a brilliant deal but he's got them by the balls and he knows it, he's a lord of a corsair empire in direct conflict with the Imperium, he's not a nice guy.

 

Now the Night Lords have to do this, it's that or go elsewhere which they can't. However, they notice within Blackheart's fleet a Night Lords ship, one that he's taken. Now they're not pleased by this in the slightest so scheme to betray Blackheart once their job is done. This succeeds but at the cost of their own ship. As Blackheart isn't keen on letting them go once they've screwed him over.

 

So they end with a different ship, a different lord, and a further betrayal under their belts. That's the whole constant with this. Betrayal is the blink of an eye away. Huron helps them? They betray him

[Carrack]

Abaddon's warband, as described in Soul Hunter, has fleets, Titan Legions, and hoarders of Astartes. Likewise Huron, as described in blood Reaver, has a vast fleet numerous Astartes, a station capable of refitting capital ships and numerous other resources.

These larger warbands are able to bring the smaller, resource starved warband under their sway for at least short times. It makes sense that if they have the logistics to deploy fleets and even titans to the battlefield, keeping their armies supplied with beans and bullets shouldn't be to difficult a task.

By the way this is a great thread and brought me out of lurker status. Thanks

[Tenebris]

Glad to hear that Carrack, it is always nice to hear from fellow astartes. Indeed, the major Warbands can very well be considered the kingpins of the Eye, especially if they still have some of their legion assets. I think that most warbands sooner or later have to pay the devil his due and side in a temporary alliance with some of the big boys in the block. Yet as all things Chaos I presume that each warband will try to deviate from the deal unless they are really eclipsed by the military might of their patrons.

 

Also great post Balthamal, indeed it is good material on a warband mechanics. Keep the good work.

[incinerator950]

Even the Devil has to pay his due.

 

If Gw ever moves the end game state, Abbadon is going to be on a spotlight the Primarchs can knock down or someone new can take.

 

Staying on topic, do they just have a demon engine eat minerals and poop out ammunition?

[Kol Saresk]

Even the Devil has to pay his due.

 

If Gw ever moves the end game state, Abbadon is going to be on a spotlight the Primarchs can knock down or someone new can take.

 

Staying on topic, do they just have a demon engine eat minerals and poop out ammunition?

Actually, its possible. Dark Adeptus lets us explore a forgeworld that spent one thousand years in the warp. And over that one thousand years much of the machinery became techno-organic.

 

And Dark Apostle also shows some construction mechs that digested the bodies of the dead into blood mortar for the Gehemanet.

[Goreshed]

Here are my thoughts about this entire thread.

 

Back in the day the Horus Heresy was a myth. Flat out. It was considered lucky for you to get GW to print a snipet of something out there. The entire events surrounding the almost decade long fight back to Terra were never truly known and thats the way GW liked it. Back then you played the legions becase those were the guys printed in the books. Now it is entirely different. Gw changed their marketing which in turned changed the fluff if you think about it. Before they wanted you to focus on the legions because they were the mainstay for what chaos really was to the Imperium. Now with greater creativity you have new authors and a new fan base that wants to know about the underdogs and those that have turned since, because, like I said, back in the day the focus was on the original traitors because they were the fallen heros of that age and an age that was so shrouded in fluff mist that it gave them an extra edge.

 

Now to bring it to the present. (And I promise to keep GW marketing out of it)

 

Welcome to the age of the Horus Heresy books and the new codex. We now have an exponential amount of fluff to go off of. Not only do we have the ability to build off of what we have read of the 30k age but we have so much filler in between you could choke a greater demon on it. But I also see something that people forget.

 

The Warp is not explainable. Sure you can describe it but the beauty of this creation is that you can never fully describe it or put it into reason. It has been stated many times that humanity simply cannot understand it. There are also many examples of the time differential that happens inside of that really chaotic realm. To those that say "Well 10,000 years have passed so obviously all of their equipment would be junk..." or anything along those lines I say shame on you. It's the warp. A year could have passed from a fleet going in but thousands or...10,000 years could have passed in between. You know what that means? Those giant production ships that floated behind the armadas and supplied the Legions would still work because for them...only a year would have gone by. But to the rest of the Imperium outside of the warp time would have flown by. To say that just because a Legion has degraded into a warband because the warp completely screwed them up is untrue. It can. It's the warp. But does it? No it doesn't have to. Can some warband has experienced every year since then? Sure I don't see why not and yes they would suffer. But not every warband is going to be like this.

 

The Eye of Terror has been stated that it sucks in worlds, has sucked in worlds and was the epicenter of the Eldar worlds when they give that dirty, dirty, back alley birth/abortion/summon/whatever-you-use-to-explain-godhood to Slaanesh. It has also been stated that there are most likely many thousands of worlds in there which means that there are resources to be found. Not to mention it has never been stated how big the Eye is on the Warp side as well....its the Emperor-damned Warp. It is not explainable. Combine this with the fact that Warbands raid to also support themselves and you have a very rich environment to either plunder from other warbands or from the Imperium. To say that there is nothing in there to be very helpful is flat out wrong. Chaos owns the warp and by extension the Eye of Terror and the gods do play favorites with their champions. Look at the Demon Primarchs. They got their own worlds inside which provides for the remnants of the Legion in some fashion. Hell in Siege of Castelex they state that some of their production goes back to the tithe to Medrengrad which to me implies that at least one legion is completely devolved to the level of lets say the World Eaters. In Traitor General the Sons of Sek use flat out warp sorcery to suck material out of one world to bring it to another. Chaos is Chaos and it will find a way to get the resources it needs.

 

So to bring this back on topic a bit more...

 

Chaos is about playing Traitor Legions, Warbands, Lost and the Damned and everything in between that likes to feel that naughty touch of the warp. Whatever you call your group fits. Why? Because it is Chaos and it takes all types to make it go round. Great Company, Claw, Warband, Traitor Legion, Host, Cohort, Army, what have you. This is the beauty of playing chaos is that you can work with this.

 

Chaos follows the strong and destroys the weak. If the chaos group is strong with a coven leading it then it will work. If it is stronger with a demon prince controlling it, it will work. The options are near limitless and that is the beauty of Chaos.

 

Supplies? No problem. You're chaos and you have a near limitless horde of down trodden Imperialites that either 1) your army captures and uses or 2) they willingly join you but in the end, its Chaos and they will suite your needs and damn their own wants because you are top dog. Forge worlds can be taken or bartered with. Guns, ammo, ships, everything can be found and either stolen, built or found if one has the drive and the stregnth to see it to the end. To try and quanify Chaos will only see a non stop slew of threads trying to put neat lines on something that is not.

 

So go ahead, build your Traitor Legion Warband, maybe you have one guy who emulates the abilities of Abadon and you took control of a Forge World.

 

Or you could be a group of recently turned loyalists whose coven of librarians are guiding your hand as you raid across a sector or two.

 

Or you could simply raid penal worlds and gather up swarms of cheap and dispensable labor to sell off in the Eye of Terror for goods.

 

Or you could be a disenfranchized group of guardsmens who saw an oportunity and mucked in with another band of traitors and saw some sort of benefits.

 

Welcome to playing Chaos. It doesn't have to make complete sense because it is Chaos and there is always a way. Unlike those lackies who worship a corpse on a throne you have the Chaos Gods and no one telling you not to sacrifice whatever you want to get whatever you seek.

[incinerator950]

Thank you for repeating the same thing from the topic for the 4th/5th time.

[Zeller]

I feel the Alpha Legion and the Word Bearers still function as cohesively and effectively as they did during the Heresy. That's not to say there aren't groups of Word Bearers or Alpha Legion cells that haven't accepted the aid of other renegades but on the whole these two still fight effectively as a legion. The rest of them are just shattered beyond recognition - even the Iron Warriors.

 

A minor tangent.

[Tenebris]

While it is easy to say, the Warp provides, I would rather have facts. Facts to work with and collate into a resource. We know our books and we know most of the fluff, so sit down, find the snippets of lore which speak of how a warband functions and post them here. We are drifting into another generalist and speculative discussion. Take note from Killofix and Balthamal, those are the kind of answers which are expected in this topic. A little bit of speculation is welcome, facts on the other hands are desired. 

 

You say that the Sons of Sek gathered resources with the use of the Warp. Please provide the book title and the author so we can go and read it for ourselves. A small description is much welcome too. 

 

It is described in Siege of Castellax that the IW pay some sort of tithe. Now this is a fact which I would love to hear more about. Please write down the font, the author and a small description.

 

I think most of you have read some book or books in the BL range which spoke of a chaos warband. There were snippets of lore which caught your eye so please write them down.

[Kol Saresk]

Sons of Sek: Traitor General by Dan Abnett. Although what they actually did was used captured worlds that were high in resources and then transported those resources as needed in the Sabbats Crusade via a warp creature. I'll provide a page number when I get home but I must warn that it is from an omnibus format.

 

Siege of Castellax confirms that some Iron Warrior Grand Companies pay tithes to the "Lords of Medrengard" I believe was how it was stated. Will provide page number and passage later.

 

There are also the Blood Gorgons who raided worlds and also "protected" some worlds to use as recruiting grounds and resource-gathering. Source novel is Blood Gorgon. Page number will be provided later.

 

The Crimson Slaughter relied on raiding and tributes from aspiring cultists. Source is Codex: Crimson Slaughter. I have an e-book version so I lack a page number. Will provide passage with other citations.

 

The Council of Sicarus is a ruling body for those warbands stationed at Sicarus an are willing to follow Erebus. Source is Dark Creed. Citation will be provided later. Omnibus format.

[incinerator950]

While I agree on the Word Bearers still maintaining the highest coherency of the Legions, they're still prone to setbacks and the political backstabbing everyone incurs. However, those who claimed new home worlds and have a closer relationship with their Primarch, have higher levels of cohesion than those who lost theirs and remain scattered. As I understand it, the WB also has a considerable presence in the Maelstrom?

 

The Alpha Legion is mysterious for a reason (damn the plot). Most of their Warbands and Cells were deliberately setup autonomously. If one fails, it has no impact on another's success.

 

On renegade Chapters, my Warband, the Violators, has only a handful of information. They were written into Demon World (Book sucked imo) and were also mentioned in the 13th Crusade codex. Specifically that they attacked the St somethingwhoseit Prison and used the prisoners for sport, slaves, or slave soldiers. In Demon World, they were Slaanesh affiliated but had a more sane Chaos Dreadnought as their Commanding officer. Despite a surprising jump dread and possessed thuderhawks, they didn't really differ from regular marines/chaos marines besides the smells, and pleasure enhancements.

[minigun762]

While it is easy to say, the Warp provides, I would rather have facts. Facts to work with and collate into a resource. We know our books and we know most of the fluff, so sit down, find the snippets of lore which speak of how a warband functions and post them here. We are drifting into another generalist and speculative discussion. Take note from Killofix and Balthamal, those are the kind of answers which are expected in this topic. A little bit of speculation is welcome, facts on the other hands are desired.

 

I'm a fan of the little tidbits that catch your eye and give you the foundation to build an idea off. My brain WANTS to have an encyclopedia of exactly how everything works but sometimes it's better to just have some facts that you can flesh out yourself.

 

I guess I'm saying it's a fine line between too little and too much information.

[incinerator950]

I have to agree. Although I like mix and match up the history for background. Some commmonality (Word Bearer CoC on Sicarus) is nice though.

[Tenebris]

Indeed it is always welcome to have fanmade warbands, especially with Chaos where almost everything is viable and somehow explainable. But I would like to see as many references in lore in order to make a solid collection of fluff. A similar thing would be great if we would do it for the warships, known daemon worlds and so on. 

[Inquisitor Kravin]

For the Legio Imprint Issue 2: The Eye of Terror I delved through every source I could find from Slaves to Darkness to the then current Codex: Chaos Space Marines (this was 2011) to compile information that would be pertinent to this topic. I can't seem to find it in the Downloads section now. If anyone could find a link that would be much appreciated. If not, I must have a copy somewhere.

[Lay]

This here?

www.bolterandchainsword.com/dornian/LI2EyeofTerror.pdf

[Goreshed]

Storm of Iron -

+The titan transport ship was once a hive ship of the Tyranids that was hit with an obliterator virus, dragged into the Eye of Terror and remolded for reuse.

 

Siege of Castellex -

+Vat grown human slaves are used, when they die they are reconstituded into food....

+Pysker was used to poison the minds of other Navigators to prevent the fleet from leaving the planet and thus keeping them around to defend it or to prevent escape.

 

Traitor General -

+Sons of Sek taking training from other traitors in tactics/basic soldiering.

+The use of warp creatures to move material around via the warp itself.

+"Scientist" advisors who interrogate loyal Imperial citizens to find out more about the enemy to gain more in the ways of infrastructure.

 

Dead Sky Black Sun -

+Chaos hot housing Space Marines via mutated women. Also using a enlarging and then deflating method to harvest skin for hopeful sucesses.

+Using a Greater Daemon to power the defenses of a fortification.

 

Those are just off the top of my head that I can think of to help you out.

[Kilofix]

Well, we know for a fact from NL and WB Omnibus that both NL and WB:

 

Raid and capture human slaves and crew.

 

Raid and capture Imperium equipment (armor, arms, etc.).

 

Salvage Space Hulks.

 

....in order to resupply.