thinking about making fallen Deathwatch: but which God fits?

[RipOffProductions]

so, sense I have a bunch of Deathwatch shoulder pads and weapons in my bitzbox, I was thinking about using them to make a chaos warband, with the twist so to speak being that they still for the most part still target Xenos, basically using their Chaotic powers to be even better that their job them they already were(it would be the reason they fell in the first place after all).

 

so, as asked in the thread title, which god should they be dedicated to to best represent their old self?

 

I can think of their 'lore' reason for each:

• Khorne: giving in to their bloodlust and hatred for Xenos.

 

• Tzeentch: seeking ever more knowledge of how to slay the endless enemies of mankind.

 

• Slaanesh: the pride they take in the perfectionism of their work.

 

• Nurgle: (honestly I can't think of a good way for them to fall to Nurgle that's personality based rather then action based, but I like the idea of them spreading diseases that are "relatively harmless" to humans, but horrifyingly deadly to Xenos once they already have)

 

• Undivided: the Deathwatch's whole thing is bringing together the best of each chapter and synergizing their many different and often contradictory traits to create one of the deadliest forces in the Imperium, why not do the same for chaos?

 

so, anybody here got suggestions rules/gameplay wise? I'm not even sure the Undivided idea would be possible, sense if it was, Undivided would be OP as hell compared to armies dedicated to only one of the four.

 

in particular, what weapons in the CSM arsenal are closest to the Deathwatch's specialized combi-weapons and/or ammo? because that would be a deciding factor if they're tied to a specific God.

[N1SB]

Interesting idea, bold concept.  I would suggest Tzeentch, for both narrative and gameplay reasons.

 

Narrative-wise, I think it's more believable for Deathwatch Marines to have been UNKNOWINGLY manipulated by the Changer of Ways rather than to willingly worship him or any Chaos god.  Yes, they're veteran Marines that serve the Inquisition and should know better, but ultimately it's a bunch of mortals against the actual God of Intrigue.  His lies are made especially more believable because he's manipulating them to fight the OTHER forces of Chaos, i.e. Tzeentch's rivals...which they want to do anyway.  I'm thinking there's some psyker Radical Inquisitor who lead them down this dark path, himself an unwitting pawn in Tzeentch's Grand Game.  I'm imagining they lost their way, figuratively and literally, during the time between the Fall of Cadia and the end of the Indomitus Crusade, stranded by warpstorms (secretly put there deliberately by Tzeentch).  To survive, they had to use Chaos-tainted gear and relics from their fallen foes (not realising Tzeentch had directed them their way), slowly being corrupted inch by inch, until they thought they were merely using the weapons of the enemy against them, not knowing they themselves have become their enemy's weapon.

 

Gameplay-wise, I'm thinking Thousand Sons with their Infernal Bolters would most resemble Deathwatch's Special Issue Ammo (Vengeance Rounds), while their extra resistance represents how their Chaos-tainted gear protecting them.  The Radical Inquisitor could be represented by a Sorcerer.  The rest of the army could be Renegades & Heretics and Renegade Knights similarly recruited by the Radical Inquisitor, not knowing they are all secretly chess pieces of Tzeentch.

 

Just some ideas.  I think the inspiration partly came from Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising, where the Blood Ravens got all sorts of Chaos-tainted loot, which gradually turned them (alongside questionable decisions).

 

+++++

 

Alternative take - maybe it's not Tzeentch that manipulated them, but a forgotten Chaos god, Malal.  Not sure if you're familiar with this vestigial piece of 1st ed lore, but kind of intriguing.  The black Deathwatch armour might have 1 side eroded to a near-white, resembling Malal's yin-yang look.  A Chaos Marine Chapter actually has this backstory, the Sons of Malice.

[RipOffProductions]

Interesting idea, bold concept.  I would suggest Tzeentch, for both narrative and gameplay reasons.

 

Narrative-wise, I think it's more believable for Deathwatch Marines to have been UNKNOWINGLY manipulated by the Changer of Ways rather than to willingly worship him or any Chaos god.  Yes, they're veteran Marines that serve the Inquisition and should know better, but ultimately it's a bunch of mortals against the actual God of Intrigue.  His lies are made especially more believable because he's manipulating them to fight the OTHER forces of Chaos, i.e. Tzeentch's rivals...which they want to do anyway.

 

Gameplay-wise, I'm thinking Thousand Sons with their Infernal Bolters would most resemble Deathwatch's Special Issue Ammo (Vengeance Rounds), while their extra resistance represents how their Chaos-tainted gear protecting them.  The Radical Inquisitor could be represented by a Sorcerer.  The rest of the army could be Renegades & Heretics and Renegade Knights similarly recruited by the Radical Inquisitor, not knowing they are all secretly chess pieces of Tzeentch.

 

 

thanks, good points all around, though I'm not sure about the "fight the OTHER forces of Chaos, i.e. Tzeentch's rivals...which they want to do anyway" sense Deathwatch is an anti-Xenos force rather then anti-Chaos, and my main Idea for these guys is that these fallen heroes are still perusing that mission; protecting Humanity from the Alien at all costs, including their own souls if need be.

 

I had a bit of the idea was that they sacumed to Chaos in a moment of weakness while fighting a powerful Genestealer Cult(and possibly the hivefleet they spawned from arriving during the battle? making the situation even more desperate) when the Great Rift opened up and swept across the world they were on, thus forcing to the surface things that were barried deep in their hearts(and possibly a few secret worshippers among them taking advantage of this to spread true/proper worship of the Ruinous Powers).

 

admittedly that background was an idea that came to me when I was thinking of just putting my leftover Deathwatch shoulder pads on a hoard of possessed, which then turned into the idea of a Khornate Deathwatch when I thought about painting the sliver arms a bronze/brass color, and then the question of which Chaos God truly fit Deathwatch best, and then I made this thread.

[Kite Senet]

This "fallen heroes" bit definitely seems like a Tzeentch sort of thing to do. Even in the Thousand Sons backstory it took Ahriman's Exiles (at least) quite a bit longer in general to realize/admit they were servants of anything other than their own free will. (Frankly, I'm not sure Ahriman has ever admitted that, but he definitely didn't in John French's trilogy.) There's even a section in the Ahriman trilogy describing Tzeentch's delight in the paradox that his champion doesn't even knowingly worship Tzeentch.

 

Furthermore, the way I see it, Tzeentch's followers are far more likely to simply see Chaos as a weapon which can be controlled and wielded; and this attitude that all things, even Chaos, can be manipulated to whatever ends one desires, is reflected back at the material world in Tzeentch's tendency to see mortals as little more than the playing pieces of The Great Game. The other three gods want conscious followers, whereas Tzeentch is happy to have his servants not even comprehend that they are his pawns. In my opinion, this would fit sublimely with your Deathwatch's continued "loyalty" to their anti-Xenos mission: The Deathwatch are perfectly happy to utilize Xenos weaponry, like the xenophase blade, in their mission; why not also use Chaos as a weapon against the Xenos? And this is exactly the sort of error which can lead one to serving, knowingly or otherwise, the will of Tzeentch.

 

However, I would not play them as Rubric Marines; that just seems silly to me. They do not have the hats.

[RolandTHTG]

An undivided list may be your best option. While the thousand sons bolters are the best equivalent of the high ap rounds, Noise marine sonic blasters are like an anti-cover storm bolter, and the blastmaster has two fire modes, like some of the deathwatch weapons. 

[Slan Drakkos]

IMO, Slaanesh would be the best god for them to fall to narratively as well as concerning gameplay. Tzeentch isn't the only god that corrupts heroes and Slaanesh is by far the most seductive in its promises of power and glory. These Marines could have fallen for a variety of reasons. They could take pleasure in the pain that they inflict upon each and every last piece of xeno filth. They could have wished with all their might that they could end the lives of their targets with expediency so that they could move on to the next mission, little realising that their prayers had been answered by the dark prince. They could have come into conflict with the dark eldar and subsequently, come into the favor of She Who Thirsts; each dead eldar making them faster, stronger, and thirstier until they finally gave into their dark desires and received the full blessings of slaanesh.

 

Think about how easy it would be for them to be corrupted by their actions. The pleasure that your Black Templar Captain feels from impaling the geenstealer broodlord on his sword and watching its last miserable breaths. The smell of burning flesh and chitin being akin to an aphrodesiac for your salamander sergeant. Your blood angel battle brother dining on xenos blood as if it's wine; taking each and every moment to savor the taste as the blood of no two xenos is ever the same. Your White Scar battle brother moving from kill to kill only caring about what lies ahead of him as he continues to pick up speed as continues to move on.

 

As far as game play goes, noise Marines are better shooters and more cost effective than rubric Marines. Their blastmasters also have two settings like several of the deathwatch guns. The slaanesh stratagem also makes them even better at shooting. They also have access to psychic powers (unlike Khorne), are capable of moving quickly (unlike nurgle), and finally, while Emperor's Children are actually good in close combat, thousand sons only real redeeming feature is their psychic powers and they suck in close combat.

[Doom Herald]

I would say fluff wise, Slaanesh. You can run the pride in humanity angle and the perfection of Astartes as far superior to Xenos.

[Kite Senet]

Deathwatch becoming Noise Marines might be better than them becoming Rubric Marines for narrative reasons, but...Slan, I don't think you really understand where Rubricae fit in the T-Sons army. At very least your description deviates heavily from my experience: (1) Aspiring Sorcerers kinda suck at casting spells, and should only be relied upon in a pinch; Perils come at horrific cost since Rubricae don't get the same outs as other "Brotherhood" Psykers, like those in the Grey Knights and Eldar Warlock Conclaves. (2) Durability. The 5+ invuln is big, and only becomes more significant when you start stacking Glamour and Weaver on a Rubric squad. (3) Inferno bolters are very good.

 

I do not think it was necessarily the intention to force these deathwatch into the narrow paths of one of the cult units; falling to Slaanesh != Emperor's Children != Noise Marines. And while Slaanesh certainly corrupts, he/she/it is much less subtle than Tzeentch can be, and it seems unlikely that these deathwatch would be able to maintain their primarily anti-Xenos mission for long (if that is the OP's preference, of course); it simply would require too much restraint for a devotee of Slaanesh. Not to mention, such a selfless long-term objective (as described by the OP) would run rather contrary to the self-centered, impulsive tendencies of Slaaneshis. It could still work as a short-term or introductory narrative for the fallen Deathwatch immediately after their fall, but it really would not be a sustainable state of affairs; degeneration would be inevitable.

[Slan Drakkos]

Deathwatch becoming Noise Marines might be better than them becoming Rubric Marines for narrative reasons, but...Slan, I don't think you really understand where Rubricae fit in the T-Sons army. At very least your description deviates heavily from my experience: (1) Aspiring Sorcerers kinda suck at casting spells, and should only be relied upon in a pinch; Perils come at horrific cost since Rubricae don't get the same outs as other "Brotherhood" Psykers, like those in the Grey Knights and Eldar Warlock Conclaves. (2) Durability. The 5+ invuln is big, and only becomes more significant when you start stacking Glamour and Weaver on a Rubric squad. (3) Inferno bolters are very good.

 

I do not think it was necessarily the intention to force these deathwatch into the narrow paths of one of the cult units; falling to Slaanesh != Emperor's Children != Noise Marines. And while Slaanesh certainly corrupts, he/she/it is much less subtle than Tzeentch can be, and it seems unlikely that these deathwatch would be able to maintain their primarily anti-Xenos mission for long (if that is the OP's preference, of course); it simply would require too much restraint for a devotee of Slaanesh. Not to mention, such a selfless long-term objective (as described by the OP) would run rather contrary to the self-centered, impulsive tendencies of Slaaneshis. It could still work as a short-term or introductory narrative for the fallen Deathwatch immediately after their fall, but it really would not be a sustainable state of affairs; degeneration would be inevitable.

you make some solid points, but here's my counter argument.

 

I'm not simply suggesting noise Marines. I'm saying that all around, they're more cost effective and all around better than rubric Marines. I will concede that playing a tzeentch based deathwatch army would be very good, but I feel as if a Slaanesh themed army would be better. Yes, Tzeentch is probably the most subtle of the gods and I can see the deathwatch fitting the theme of trying to cause change (through killing aliens). However, there is also more than one way for them to be converted to slaanesh. They could come into repeated conflicts with eldar and their hatred causes them to find common ground with Slaanesh and slowly be led a stray. They could see the orks as disgusting abominations and hate them so much that they fall to slaanesh. They could succeed in all of their missions and eventually come to see themselves as faultless and all aliens as imperfect. They could seek to elevate humanity to its ultimate goal (perfection) by trying to annihilate all xenos that are holding the humans back.

 

Slaanesh isn't just degenerate behaviour, it's also excess in all of its forms. That means an excess of death. An excess of pain *cough*Black Templars and Imperial Fists*cough*. An excess of pleasure *cough salamanders killing eldar *cough* Space wolves and drinking *cough* White Scars and Speed*cough*. Let's face it, all space Marines enjoy killing aliens (some more than others) and that can be the gateway leading to slaanesh.

[Scammel]

Definitely Slaanesh, and to be honest, I'd say Tzeentch last. Slaanesh is all about the celebration of fetishisation, of going to the extreme in search of personal gratification. Pride is a big theme when talking about Astartes specifically, and few are more specialised than the Deathwatch. Perhaps there's a two-handed swordsman utterly devoted to decapitating Orks in a single strike, a biker who delights in chasing down Eldar Jetbikes, or an Apothecary who's so self-impressed with his ability to tank Tyranid venom that he starts ingesting it. Slaanesh adores perfectionists, even when those 'perfections' are abhorrent to the eyes of the sane.

 

Khorne and Nurgle are both reasonable, if a little straightforward. The Deathwatch like killing aliens; they fall to Khorne. The Deathwatch are obsessively dutiful and seek to endure whatever the Xenos can throw at them; they fall to Nurgle.

 

I don't think the Deathwatch are 'high-minded' enough to be tempted by Tzeentch. The Deathwatch are ultimately a reactionary force created to kill aliens; there's just not much mysticism about it. They aren't revolutionary, there's not really a grand vision associated with their function.

[Kite Senet]

You two do make some good arguments. I'm not sure that Tzeentch's pawns always need to be high-minded, but the fact that they are a reactionary force does set them at odds with Tzeentch's favorite toys. So while I still think it's more plausible that Deathwatch might unwittingly end up in Tzeentch's hands as opposed to unwittingly ending up in the hands of any other Chaos god, that's less due to particular synergies between the Deathwatch and more due to the fact that Tzeentch is the only one of the bunch who genuinely cares to have unwitting followers; them becoming witting followers of other Chaos gods is more plausible.

 

I didn't see how their mission could be maintained while wittingly following Chaos, but on second thought, I can see it; Slaanesh, after all, is the one Chaos god of the bunch with the greatest affinity for Xenos...and tasty, tasty Xenos souls. I could definitely see Deathwatch units waging war against the Eldar encountering some shadowy allies with a common cause.

 

I don't think it is, however, reasonable to assign all forms of excess to Slaanesh, because, indeed, just about all of Chaos can be characterized as an excess of some human trait, whether that be stubbornness or hope or prowess or pride. I know that's how Slaanesh is traditionally written about, but I've always felt that that characterization steps on the toes of all of the other Chaos gods. It is not a description error unique to Slaanesh--e.g. Khorne might be the god of martial prowess, but that doesn't mean the others don't fight, and Tzeentch might be the god of magic, but that doesn't mean there aren't sorcerers in the EC or the DG or the WE--but it does indicate that the Chaos gods cannot be categorized quite so simply.

[Slan Drakkos]

You two do make some good arguments. I'm not sure that Tzeentch's pawns always need to be high-minded, but the fact that they are a reactionary force does set them at odds with Tzeentch's favorite toys. So while I still think it's more plausible that Deathwatch might unwittingly end up in Tzeentch's hands as opposed to unwittingly ending up in the hands of any other Chaos god, that's less due to particular synergies between the Deathwatch and more due to the fact that Tzeentch is the only one of the bunch who genuinely cares to have unwitting followers; them becoming witting followers of other Chaos gods is more plausible.

 

just gotta stop you right there. Cyrion of the Nigh Lords as well as Fabius Bile are both unwitting and unwilling followers of slaanesh. Fulgrim was also an unwitting follower of slaanesh. Apothecary Arrian (formerly of the WE) is an unwilling follower of Khorne. Mortarion was an unwilling and (for a time) unwitting follower of Nurgle. These might be fringe cases, but it brought up pretty consistently in the lore that often times, the best followers/helpers of the chaos gods are the unwilling and unwitting.

[RipOffProductions]

I think Undivided might be the direction I want to go with it, sure long term these fallen Deathwatch will come into conflict with eachother as they grow more deticated to seperate gods and eventually devolve into 4 (or more) separate warbands, and on the tabletop I might run them as a specific god's disciples("yeah, these guys are technical fallowers of Chaos Undivided, as seen in the basic marines each being dedicated to different gods, but these are the more Slaaneshi among them, so here's some Noise Marines and Deamonettes", or "the more Khornite with some Berserkers and Bloodletters", and so on)

 

I mean what exactly do you loose from each god's faction by playing Undivided?

[Replicant]

I was definitely getting the Getting Started box for Iron Warriors start up.

[Azekai]

I really like the core concept of fallen Death Watch, and I think Undivided is the way to go. The Death Watch is made up of fairly individualized warriors.  Their backgrounds vary, so what corrupts one may not be a temptation to another. I would consider having an 'Undivided but specialized' group of Death Watch, with some renegades worshiping specific deities. This affords more modeling opportunities, and allows you to treat them as a band of individuals with their own aspirations, fears and desires.

The Black Legion maintains a strong level of coherency despite their multifaceted beliefs. If your Death Watch is led by a potent and visionary leader, that could easily be enough to keep the various different splinter cults and god-marked factions in line.  

[RipOffProductions]

I really like the core concept of fallen Death Watch, and I think Undivided is the way to go. The Death Watch is made up of fairly individualized warriors.  Their backgrounds vary, so what corrupts one may not be a temptation to another. I would consider having an 'Undivided but specialized' group of Death Watch, with some renegades worshiping specific deities. This affords more modeling opportunities, and allows you to treat them as a band of individuals with their own aspirations, fears and desires.

 

The Black Legion maintains a strong level of coherency despite their multifaceted beliefs. If your Death Watch is led by a potent and visionary leader, that could easily be enough to keep the various different splinter cults and god-marked factions in line.  

 

 

That was kind of what I was talking about here, in this post:

 

I think Undivided might be the direction I want to go with it, sure long term these fallen Deathwatch will come into conflict with eachother as they grow more deticated to seperate gods and eventually devolve into 4 (or more) separate warbands, and on the tabletop I might run them as a specific god's disciples("yeah, these guys are technical fallowers of Chaos Undivided, as seen in the basic marines each being dedicated to different gods, but these are the more Slaaneshi among them, so here's some Noise Marines and Deamonettes", or "the more Khornite with some Berserkers and Bloodletters", and so on)

 

I mean what exactly do you loose from each god's faction by playing Undivided?

 

and that final question at the bottom is the biggest deal for assembling this army; can I have Berserkers, Noise and Plauge Marines all marching side by side? if not, what can I bring to the table?

[RolandTHTG]

They can't be your troops choices, but you can absolutely have all 3 in your army.

[Kite Senet]

 

You two do make some good arguments. I'm not sure that Tzeentch's pawns always need to be high-minded, but the fact that they are a reactionary force does set them at odds with Tzeentch's favorite toys. So while I still think it's more plausible that Deathwatch might unwittingly end up in Tzeentch's hands as opposed to unwittingly ending up in the hands of any other Chaos god, that's less due to particular synergies between the Deathwatch and more due to the fact that Tzeentch is the only one of the bunch who genuinely cares to have unwitting followers; them becoming witting followers of other Chaos gods is more plausible.

 

just gotta stop you right there. Cyrion of the Nigh Lords as well as Fabius Bile are both unwitting and unwilling followers of slaanesh. Fulgrim was also an unwitting follower of slaanesh. Apothecary Arrian (formerly of the WE) is an unwilling follower of Khorne. Mortarion was an unwilling and (for a time) unwitting follower of Nurgle. These might be fringe cases, but it brought up pretty consistently in the lore that often times, the best followers/helpers of the chaos gods are the unwilling and unwitting.

 

 

I'll keep reading the Night Lords omnibus to see if I can't verify about Cyrion...I think that's more than enough spoilers for me for now. But what evidence do you have that Bile is an unwitting or unwilling follower of Slaanesh? While he certainly contributed to a *few* of Slaanesh's ends, like guiding the Emperor's Children to Slaanesh, it's not as if he's being played like a dang fiddle as with Ahriman's exiles; even the Space Wolves guided the Thousand Sons into Tzeentch's hand, and by Tzeentch's manipulation, but I'd not call them unwitting followers of Tzeentch for that. But I see no evidence that Bile was anything but conscious of what he was doing, and even now a defining trait of his characterization (though perhaps not in his novels, I can't speak of those) is that he does not have a Chaos god trait, and is not (officially at least) dedicated to any Chaos god. I can't even find where Arrion is from, but Fulgrim and Mortarion are very much witting, considering they are now part of their respective Chaos gods.

 

It's worth noting the words "was" and "for a time" in your post; any of the Chaos gods are willing to work subtly in order to corrupt, but my point is that only Tzeentch desires the deception as an end to itself; the other Chaos gods tend to find such charades impeding, and will cast off the illusion once their followers are firmly within their grasp. And, it's also worth noting that Nurgle loves unwilling or reluctant followers just as much Tzeentch savors unwitting followers, but these are two different things; Nurgle savors stubborn resistance born out of hopelessness, while Tzeentch delights in false hope and purpose born from deception.

 

This is what I was referring to earlier when I mentioned the degeneration of this corrupted Deathwatch's mission; any other Chaos god would eventually reveal themselves when the time was right, and (I was thinking, previously) that the Deathwatch's original anti-Xenos purpose and hope that they were truly helping humanity (if not the Imperium) would crumble, whereas Tzeentch would be happy to dangle their ambitions in front of them and exploit that to drive them towards his ends. However, upon later thought, I do think Slaanesh would be willing to allow them to perfect their anti-Xenos mission, even if Slaanesh would not hide him/her/itself forever in the same way that Tzeentch would, because it does permit Slaanesh much access to tasty, tasty Eldar souls. (In contrast, I think Khorne would be disappointed to have followers who go to the buffet of murder that is the 41st millennium and only pick out Xenos skulls for him, and Nurgle would be much less happy about them having such an external purpose and hope for humanity at all--perhaps he could savor their hopeless struggle, depending on their attitudes? I don't know.)

 

I think it has a lot to do with how the story is portrayed. If it involves permanently unwitting Chaos corruption and a constant charade of Imperialloyalty (even deceiving themselves), Tzeentch is the only way. If the characters are portrayed shortly after corruption and they are unwitting, or they are portrayed later as witting followers serving "humanity" but not the Imperium per se, Slaanesh is likely to be more appropriate.

[Slan Drakkos]

I'll keep reading the Night Lords omnibus to see if I can't verify about Cyrion...I think that's more than enough spoilers for me for now. But what evidence do you have that Bile is an unwitting or unwilling follower of Slaanesh? While he certainly contributed to a *few* of Slaanesh's ends, like guiding the Emperor's Children to Slaanesh, it's not as if he's being played like a dang fiddle as with Ahriman's exiles; even the Space Wolves guided the Thousand Sons into Tzeentch's hand, and by Tzeentch's manipulation, but I'd not call them unwitting followers of Tzeentch for that. But I see no evidence that Bile was anything but conscious of what he was doing, and even now a defining trait of his characterization (though perhaps not in his novels, I can't speak of those) is that he does not have a Chaos god trait, and is not (officially at least) dedicated to any Chaos god. I can't even find where Arrion is from, but Fulgrim and Mortarion are very much witting, considering they are now part of their respective Chaos gods.

 

*Snip*

sorry, the books have been out for a while. I thought you knew about cyrion.

it was stated (in the first book btw) by a small aspect of Slaanesh that (s)he had chosen Cyrion and gave him his psychic gift (how he can see fear) even though Cyrion doesn't worship the gods

 

As far as Fabius goes, I'm not going to spoil anything, just read Primogenitor and Clonelord. At least one Keeper of Secrets and one daemon prince outright say that he has pleased Slaanesh greatly. That Keeper also brings up the numerous contributions that he's given to Slaanesh and this is before he

helps attack an eldar craftworld, summon thousands of daemon of slaanesh on the craftworld to wreak havok, and then take control of a huge slaanesh warband

 

Arrion is from the Fabius Bile books and he's also a complete badass.

[GreaterChickenofTzeentch]

You could also go with Alpha Legion infiltration under the guise of, say, a Blackshield or two. Whichever faction/cell the Alphas are could have any number of reasons for wanting access to all of the Xenos tech and artifacts that the DW come across, especially given the AL's early murky days on Terra retrieving artifacts and important knowledge and their complicated relationship with the Eldar.

 

Maybe the Alphas redirected the team to an important Crone World as part of a mission against the Eldar and made sure that "something" was waiting for them, akin to that cursed crusade into the Eye that spawned tons of unwilling, converted Renegades.

[RipOffProductions]

You could also go with Alpha Legion infiltration under the guise of, say, a Blackshield or two. Whichever faction/cell the Alphas are could have any number of reasons for wanting access to all of the Xenos tech and artifacts that the DW come across, especially given the AL's early murky days on Terra retrieving artifacts and important knowledge and their complicated relationship with the Eldar.

 

Maybe the Alphas redirected the team to an important Crone World as part of a mission against the Eldar and made sure that "something" was waiting for them, akin to that cursed crusade into the Eye that spawned tons of unwilling, converted Renegades.

how they fall isn't as important as who they fall to, because that determines what I need to buy to build them, I can work backwards from that final destination if I really want to flesh out their story.

[Brother Nihm]

Malice/Malal. 

[GreaterChickenofTzeentch]

 

You could also go with Alpha Legion infiltration under the guise of, say, a Blackshield or two. Whichever faction/cell the Alphas are could have any number of reasons for wanting access to all of the Xenos tech and artifacts that the DW come across, especially given the AL's early murky days on Terra retrieving artifacts and important knowledge and their complicated relationship with the Eldar.

 

Maybe the Alphas redirected the team to an important Crone World as part of a mission against the Eldar and made sure that "something" was waiting for them, akin to that cursed crusade into the Eye that spawned tons of unwilling, converted Renegades.

how they fall isn't as important as who they fall to, because that determines what I need to buy to build them, I can work backwards from that final destination if I really want to flesh out their story.

 

In that case, I'd say Undivided.

[Kinstryfe]

Honestly, you could come up with a way to justify any of the gods, but for the same reason I think that Undivided makes possibly the most sense. I dig the idea of them being more or less the Xanthites of the Deathwatch. They must use any and all strengths at their disposal to defeat the Xenos, and that just happens to include the powers of the warp. So first their merry band includes a Librarian who is pushed to greater and more dangerous extremes, and then they find or search out a tainted artifact to bend it to their service slaying the Xenos threat. Over time while they see themselves as serving humanity and The Emperor to purge the alien, they have in fact been getting more and more extreme in the lengths that they will go to, to the point that they are using chaotic artifacts, experimenting with daemon possessed tech, and even summoning daemonic incursions onto Xenos planets. Eventually they'd be confronted by other imperial forces, but by then they would be too far gone to do anything but fight or flee. I really like that kind of idea.

 

Explaining cult troops then gets really easy and you can have tons of fun with the story and modeling options. Some of the Warband utilize forbidden technology like the butchers nails or Xenos stimulants to fight like Berzerkers. Others utilize forbidden methods to gain unnatural durability like plague Marines, or weild daemon possessed guns to fight like noise marines. You'd have tons of great modeling opportunities.

[RipOffProductions]

Honestly, you could come up with a way to justify any of the gods, but for the same reason I think that Undivided makes possibly the most sense. I dig the idea of them being more or less the Xanthites of the Deathwatch. They must use any and all strengths at their disposal to defeat the Xenos, and that just happens to include the powers of the warp. So first their merry band includes a Librarian who is pushed to greater and more dangerous extremes, and then they find or search out a tainted artifact to bend it to their service slaying the Xenos threat. Over time while they see themselves as serving humanity and The Emperor to purge the alien, they have in fact been getting more and more extreme in the lengths that they will go to, to the point that they are using chaotic artifacts, experimenting with daemon possessed tech, and even summoning daemonic incursions onto Xenos planets. Eventually they'd be confronted by other imperial forces, but by then they would be too far gone to do anything but fight or flee. I really like that kind of idea.

 

Explaining cult troops then gets really easy and you can have tons of fun with the story and modeling options. Some of the Warband utilize forbidden technology like the butchers nails or Xenos stimulants to fight like Berzerkers. Others utilize forbidden methods to gain unnatural durability like plague Marines, or weild daemon possessed guns to fight like noise marines. You'd have tons of great modeling opportunities.

cultist forces would probably be humans rescued from Xenos threats that have been recruited/volunteered to repay their debt to these Deathwatch once they've fallen far enough to be dleared trators/heritics and thus no longer getting new supplies from the Imperium proper.

 

heck many might not even know they're being recruited into an unholy force at first; after all how much does your average Imperial citizen know about the Adeptus Astartes? that they are the holy warriors/angels of death of the Emperor? the chaotic powers wielded in battle could be seen as divine intervention, and they'd technically be right.

 

I mean if your some peasant on an Agri-world, get invaded by Tyrranids, and then the 'nids start melting away into toxic goo when a Plague Marine sneezes on it, you're converting to the worship of papa Nurgle when he offers it.