The mechanics of a Chaos Warband

[Goreshed]

I agree that the fleet is key. It's key for anything because a fleet means movement.

 

Even if they half destroy some Imperial ship (whatever toneage) they can still harvest the raw material out of it. Not to mention the poor bastards still alive would end up as slaves. While Imperial ships take on penal legions and what have you, so too does chaos.

 

Now to what end constitues an effective number of ships? That all depends on the skill and the target. In the Night Lords series you have a single strike cruiser and a hand full of marines getting the job done while Abadon runs around with planetkiller and its entire fleet. So it can vary to an insane amount of ships of various size and scope. It just depends on the target/who is leading it.

 

Could one strike cruiser and a number of other smaller escort ships work too? Sure, why not? But one could also think about the ways that the warband's leader keeps those other ships in line as well.