[IT] The War Wolves

[Dolchiate Remembrancer]

Fantastic timeline!

I cant wait to see it fully fleshed out! Its something i have been working on myself for my IA article recently.

Trying to represent 20+ years of wargaming for one Chapter. Give it a look and comments when you can.

[Doctor Perils]

Thanks

Give it a look and comments when you can.

I'll do my best :tu:

[Brother Lunkhead]

Looks all properly plausible and incredibly interesting...…. Well done Brother

 

Meanwhile, back to organization...… 

- How large is your warband?

- Will it generally maintain it's pre-corruption structure?

- Will it still be fleet based or headquartered on your Daemon Forge World?

- Etc.

- Etc.

 

Here's something for thought ........ You mentioned that the sector was originally conquered during the Great Crusade by forces of the Iron Warriors and Night Lords. Perhaps at some point the War Wolves discover a hidden cache of relic weapons (tanks, dreadnoughts (empty), flyers.... whatever) left by the Iron Warriors. This could give you some interesting and exotic muscle outside of the usual chaos fare. There's historical precedence for this..... one example is during the early expansion of Japanese forces against Australia during WW2 the Australians were seriously considering falling back from the coast to consolidate and counterattack from the interior. To this end, they prepositioned large caches of weapons (tanks, fighter planes, bombers, rifles, ammunition, etc.) in huge underground bunkers. Fortunately, they never had to do this, when the United States entered the war and saved the day  ...... just a thought.

 

Awesome work so far

[Doctor Perils]

Meanwhile, back to organization...…

- How large is your warband?

That's a good question! I'd been tentatively thinking they'd be more or less chapter sized - while they no longer get access to their homeworld, they are still young enough that their geneseed is not yet so mutated they can't continue recruiting, and I was going to say they probably won't lose too many men in the Cardinal's Slaughter...

However! it may be more interesting from a story point of view that the time the Cardinal chooses to order them to destroy the population of their homeworld, they are actually rather heavily depleted from a previous campaign.

So, how about they're down to between 600 and 700 marines (including scouts) before the Slaughter. Let's say they lose another 70 during the fighting there (they meet a lot of resistance from the local convent of the Ardent Sword Order of the Adepta Sororitas). Assorted fighting (and especially taking over control of Helsmed) perhaps makes them lose another 50. So I'm looking at a tentative 480 to 580. However, from their time raiding from the Psyphon (the local warp storm), they do get some recruitment, plus a fair amount "level up" by going Berserker or Possessed; they get new access to Daemon Engines; and they find a traitor guard regiment or two that they "convince" to join their cause... So at the end of the day, they'll probably end up round the 500 to 550 mark, but their average power per capita will be stronger then they were as loyalists.

 

- Will it generally maintain it's pre-corruption structure?

This one will be a definite no - instead, they'll rally around "power figures", diverse Lords, Exalted Champions, Sorcerors and other assorted characters (in particular, the announced Lord Discordant looks so amazing I know I'll have to create a named one for my warband!). Eventually there'll be a variety of fighting styles present, with "sub-warbands" forming and often fighting fairly independently.

 

- Will it still be fleet based or headquartered on your Daemon Forge World?

Between the time they are granted their homeworld and the Slaughter, they will have moved to a gradually more sedentary lifestyle. However, they will essentially move their whole fleet to the Psyphon with as much equipment and inhabitants they can rip up from their homeworld. From then on, they'll remain fleet based, but keep Helsmed as a "home port" from which to launch raids to slaughter and steal slaves and potential recruits.

 

You mentioned that the sector was originally conquered during the Great Crusade by forces of the Iron Warriors and Night Lords. Perhaps at some point the War Wolves discover a hidden cache of relic weapons (tanks, dreadnoughts (empty), flyers.... whatever) left by the Iron Warriors. This could give you some interesting and exotic muscle outside of the usual chaos fare.

This is definitely an interesting idea. While my Heresy army is Iron Warriors (which I also use as CSM in 40k) - meaning I'm not going to use a cache of IW stuff, some kind of throwback to the Great Crusade and Heresy in the Sarment Sector could indeed be plausible... this is something I'll have to explore later

[Brother Lunkhead]

Looks good Brother

 

The only point of contention I take is with your attrition level from "The Slaughter". To me 70 marines is rather high. To be honest, casualty levels  in the 40K fluff and lit among Space Marines is a big pet peeve with me. Having seen first hand what a small, well trained, well equipped fighting force can do in the real world. It always befuddles me when I see high casualties among the Space Marine units unless they are going toe to toe with other Astartes. With all due respect to my Sororitas and Astra Militarum brothers and sisters, unless a Space Marine force is presenting itself in a unprotected gunline, facing a  chapter (or company) should be an extinction level event. That's why the Emperor made them in the first place. I'm not at all uncomfortable with maintaining a high survival rate within your warband. Some may cry "Mary Sue", to which I reply, "Adeptus Astartes…. they don't call them THE ANGELS OF DEATH for nothin'"

 

Ok... I'm done Proceed as you see fit...… looking forward to more.

[Doctor Perils]

The thing is, they're taking on an entire fortified world of Sororitas - coming out of that with only 70 or so losses is already a pretty massive achievement in my mind

 

Regarding the weapons cache, I had started working on a response when my computer shorted out, so I'll have to get back to it ^^'

[Dolchiate Remembrancer]

Casualties might not necessarily be deaths. 70 marines could become non combat fit maybe even for good and still be alive.

[Doctor Perils]

That's a very good point!

And I do have a few helbrute models...

[Doctor Perils]

Entry 07 - Warband Organisation

This one will probably be a bit shorter than previous entries, mainly because I have less comparative material to work with - this looks set to change in a couple of weeks, with the release date of Vigilus 2 announced, a book which is said to include a fair amount of data on Renegade Chapters.

In the mean time, I am pretty sure there will be a few different formations around a few select personalities. While these will primarily be based on groups of models I have, I'll attempt to develop some fluff for them based on Anglo-Saxon warfare and culture.

To start, everyone has heard about the viking Berserkers. From some fast research, early anglo-saxons also had this kind of warrior. In addition, two other "animal warrior" orders existed : the Ulfhednar and the Svinfylkir.
It looks like the Berserkers were more physically imposing, where the Ulfhednar were more enraged and the Svinfylkir were more disciplined and fought in a very specific wedge formation - they also seemed to wear more armour than their counterparts and protected less armoured archers that moved forwards with them.

From this, I was able to draw parallels between :
- "Berserkers" (Bear warriors) and Possessed
- "Ulfhednar" (Wolf warriors) and Khornate Berserkers
- "Svinfylkir" (Boar Warriors) and Terminators, protecting standard marines

By extrapolating the animal theme, two other animals had an important part in Anglo-saxon religions: Ravens, which would work for Raptors; and Horses, which would work for bikers.

However, I also liked the idea of representing a group of Anglo-saxon warriors we have more historical information on: the Housecarls. These soldiers wore mail hauberks (the best of the best at the time) and used large daneaxes. Historical daneaxes actually had smaller hafts then pop culture would suggest, but I don't mind using pop culture references alongside historical stuff. The question is, how could these be represented on the table and in the fluff? With the lack of much two handed weaponry in the game now, and rumours of some Terminators with polearms, I decided to put this idea on the backburner.

Another group of models I have and that haven't yet been represented in fluff are my Daemon Engines and Helbrutes - potentially obliterators and Havocs. With the large number of monsters in Anglo-saxon mythology and folklore, I decided to look for parallels there.

The Einherjar in norse mythology are the fallen warriors in Valhalla - it would therefore be logical for these to represent the Dreadnoughts and Helbrutes. Whether these are all formed together in a single formation or whether they are spread out in the other formations would be a good question though

[Brother Lunkhead]

I think your development of the "Berserker" units looks very promising..... I especially like the way you've defined them. Each group has a very different character and feel, but a common thread to tie them together.

 

In the old fluff, Obliterators were a specific Chaos cult, separate from the warbands. It might be interesting to use them as mercenaries (allies) rather than being of War Wolves gene stock.

 

When Helbrutes were first introduced as the new Chaos dreadnaughts, they were described as rather crazed. They might be more effective and colorful if organized in a pack like war hounds, run by a particularly ferocious Aspiring Chaos Champion.

 

Your Housecarls, I assume would be a Chaos Space Marine Chosen Squad. As far as the look goes, perhaps some variation on this:

 

https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-WW/Sons-of-Horus-Justaerin-Terminators-2019

 

….. or this:

 

https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-WW/Sons-of-Horus-Reaver-Attack-Squad-2018

 

might work.

 

It's all coming together very nicely ..... I hope you are pleased with what you have so far.

[Doctor Perils]

I think your development of the "Berserker" units looks very promising..... I especially like the way you've defined them. Each group has a very different character and feel, but a common thread to tie them together.

 

Yeah that was definitely my hope - it allows me to explore some varied aspects of Anglo-saxon culture while at the same time following the sort of "organisation" that chaos warbands seem to have in the lore

 

In the old fluff, Obliterators were a specific Chaos cult, separate from the warbands. It might be interesting to use them as mercenaries (allies) rather than being of War Wolves gene stock.

 

That is... an astonishingly good idea! In fact, I may steal it for the daemon engines as a whole, create a kind of separate Warband... I may even go as far as picking up your idea of the Iron Warriors cache and use them as mercenaries - that way I'd be able to stick them to my heresy-era Iron Warriors far more easily! Plus I find the concept of mercenaries far too underused in 40k...

 

When Helbrutes were first introduced as the new Chaos dreadnaughts, they were described as rather crazed. They might be more effective and colorful if organized in a pack like war hounds, run by a particularly ferocious Aspiring Chaos Champion.

 

Perhaps... though perhaps a Warpsmith, who is aware of just how to control his charges if push comes to shove could be a good one too... I'm still not sure of this one to be honest, I'd probably rather explore their homeworld and beliefs a bit more before committing on this one

 

Your Housecarls, I assume would be a Chaos Space Marine Chosen Squad. As far as the look goes, perhaps some variation on this:

 

https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-WW/Sons-of-Horus-Justaerin-Terminators-2019

 

….. or this:

 

https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-WW/Sons-of-Horus-Reaver-Attack-Squad-2018

 

might work.

 

 

Hmm, not certain - the cataphractii don't really fit with a younger renegade chapter imo. Perhaps I could switch round the Terminators to be Housecarls and the chosen as the Boar Warriors I suppose... to be continued I think...

 

It's all coming together very nicely ..... I hope you are pleased with what you have so far.

Definitely! Thanks for the help and interest guys :D

[Brother Lunkhead]

Brother Lunkhead, on 18 Mar 2019 - 11:45 AM, said:http://bolterandchainsword.com//public/style_images/carbon_red/snapback.png

When Helbrutes were first introduced as the new Chaos dreadnaughts, they were described as rather crazed. They might be more effective and colorful if organized in a pack like war hounds, run by a particularly ferocious Aspiring Chaos Champion.

Perhaps... though perhaps a Warpsmith, who is aware of just how to control his charges if push comes to shove could be a good one too... I'm still not sure of this one to be honest, I'd probably rather explore their homeworld and beliefs a bit more before committing on this one
 

Warpsmith is a much better idea.

 

 

Brother Lunkhead, on 18 Mar 2019 - 11:45 AM, said:http://bolterandchainsword.com//public/style_images/carbon_red/snapback.png

Your Housecarls, I assume would be a Chaos Space Marine Chosen Squad. As far as the look goes, perhaps some variation on this:

https://www.forgewor...erminators-2019

….. or this:

https://www.forgewor...tack-Squad-2018

might work.
 

Hmm, not certain - the cataphractii don't really fit with a younger renegade chapter imo. Perhaps I could switch round the Terminators to be Housecarls and the chosen as the Boar Warriors I suppose... to be continued I think...
 

I generally agree. Perhaps some of this more arcane armour was part of the Iron Warrior cache. I must admit I'm partial to diverse armour and I use it liberaly in my own DIY chapter.

 

I'm just throwing out ideas. If you actually use one or more of them, I'm honored. But I'm just putting them out there to fire the old neurons in different directions

[Doctor Perils]

Entry 08 - Homeworld

Sooooo, homeworld...
To be honest, I've been putting this one off slightly because... well I had no idea what to call it ^^'

My old Shadow Wolves had their first homeworld as Varadon (see ADB's earlier version of them) which they then left for a world called Nidavellir in the Ýl system (contraction of Yggdrasil). Yes, a bit unimaginative now that I look back on it. This time I wanted to be slightly less obvious...
First of all, my theme being Mercian Space Marines, a good starting point was to look at the old english name for Tamworth, the Mercian's capital... unfortunately, Tomsworđing (or something to that effect) was probably a bit too complicated for a DIY world... the same could be said for Leicester's Leogresceaster. Birmingham's Beomingas didn't really roll off the tongue in an interesting way, and Nottingham's Snottingham was downright amusing (the founder of Nottingham was allegedly called Snot...) - the appropriate Gravitas would be missing for a modern audience...

Back to the drawing board!

To avoid blocking myself on the question of the planet's name, I thought about looking at the planet's history and beliefs.
The idea of a planet whose beliefs have changed over the millennia appealed to me - based on Anglo-Saxon Britain still. Am easy way of showing this would be a shift from a "pagan" version of the Cult of the Emperor and his sons as more minor deities, to a more accepted form based on the central ecclesiarchy's teachings.

It seems like the three anglo-saxon gods most worshipped by the Mercians were Woden (Odin, the All-Father, ie the Emperor), Tiw (Tyr, which I already established could easily stand in for Dorn) and Thunor (Thor) - the last of which being represented by his hammer and lightning could fairly easily be seen as an amalgamation of Perturabo and Curze, the Primarchs of the Legions who originally took the Sarment Sector for the Imperium. There were other gods (Òs) that could fairly easily be represented by other Primarchs (like Baldr the Fair as Sanguinius - perhaps "Baaldr"?). However, an interesting tidbit of information in germanic mythologies is the existence of a second family of gods who aren't as well known in pop culture: the Vanir. Once upon a time, the Vanir and the Òs (Aesir) fought each other, but ended up declaring a truce with an exchange of hostages. To me, it doesn't look like many of the Vanir could be linked to Primarchs, including Freyr/Ingwine-Freyr, another prominent god in anglo-saxon culture whose main attribute is fertility.

On the other hand, perhaps the Vanir could represent the older inhabitants of the homeworld, or even the sector - ones that rejected compliance initially before finally subjecting

[Dolchiate Remembrancer]

The tale of the Vanir could be also one of an exchange during or following the Horus Heresy. Maybe a negotiation happened which spared blood shed and which would plant seeds of eventual corruption in your chapter?

[Doctor Perils]

Woops, a year and a half of no activity! Where did that time go ^^'?!

 

Suffice it to say, work, mental stability, and relationship stuff... Oh and Covid happened!

 

Well, now that we're in lockdown MK2 here, might be a good idea for me to get back to these guys.

In my absence from this thread, I have worked very little on these guys - basically nothing apart from updating a test model thanks to some of the new paints like runelord brass+ cryptek armourshade.

 

Still, I have thought about my process a bit.

a. I realised I was getting _way_ too bogged down in developing early history and organisation for the chapter, before they even become a chaos warband. Which could really be seen as micro details rather than getting the macro scope sorted out.

b. The advent of the "Flashpoint" articles in WD look like they'll be a very interesting format imo. While Index Astartes articles are a good format to present facts about a faction, they are a lot of hard work without necessarily getting much of the "feel" across. Plus, it's all too easy to just make your chosen faction look good and ignore any opponents. I am now considering changing the format here towards a more "Flashpoint" style, as I can continue with serialised updates and develop several factions at the same time. Plus it'll force me to concentrate on the "present" period of the 40k universe

c. Looking back on my current stuff, I'm slightly less enamored with the idea of the War Wolves being mostly based on Anglo-Saxon England. I'm way too close to overtheming imo, and I'd like to inject some more stuff. Plus, a chapter called X Wolves based on Anglo-Saxons isn't _so_ far from a chapter called X Wolves based on Vikings... So where does that leave me? Well, going back to the OG Warwolf (being a massive trebuchet in the wars between medieval England and Scotland) might be an interesting track to follow...

 

So... Watch this space :)

[Doctor Perils]

Entry 09 - The Warband

Ok, until my WD arrives I might as well make some progress continuing in the old IT blog format. Setting aside the chapter homeworld for a bit, I'm going to refocus my efforts on how the War Wolves develop at and after the time of their Fall.

Soooo... How does a typical Chaos Space Marines warband organise itself. That's actually fairly simple on one level: warriors congregate around the strongest/charismaticest/powerfulest of their number. Some warbands expand only around one individual, others have multiple smaller warbands whose leaders recognise an over-leader. In some cases (eg Abaddon's Black Legion), this type of hierarchy is repeated over multiple levels.

It's clear that I'm going to have to develop a number of different characters for my force - they won't necessarily need to be fleshed out too much, but at least a skeleton is needed.

So, what do I need?

Warband leader

First off, I'll need a main leader. Let's imagine an equivalent to Huron Blackheart.
In fact... Since I was planning on using the Red Corsairs rules for my guys in the absence of DIY warband traits, I kitbashed my own counts-as Huron Blackheart model, based largely on Geigor fellhand's model. Let's simplify the parallels in case I ever take my warband to a battle against people who don't know my lore in depth and say that this guy is my main dudesleader.

He'll now need a new name though, and a bit of backstory.
To avoid making him seem too close to Huron, I don't think he should be the old Chapter Master. Further, I'm planning on making the old Chapter Master a Daemon Prince of Khorne, ascended but also sent berserker during the Cardinal's slaughter (let's put this guy aside for now).
Now, I also don't want him to be an ex-librarian, techmarine or chaplain, the model's aspect and rules wouldn't match that. Ex-apothecaries have already been done (eg. Talos Valcorian), as have ex-captains, many, many times (for good reason). Now, remember how I said that a Warband's leader is strongest/charismaticest/powerfulest of a warband? Well that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with previous hierarchy, so there's no real reason that it can't be a sergeant or even a standard-battle brother. However, to keep it a bit simpler, I'll still say that Nu-huron is at least a sergeant, let's even say first sergeant of his company, making him once a cunning and trusted adviser to his old captain. That's already a beginning of a backstory :)
Now let's move on to naming...

In my view, chapters/warbands with completely randomised names feel very weird, so I'm going to try and establish a naming convention: Anglo-Saxon and on a larger scale medieval English names is a good start, but I'm also going to extend it a bit to Frankish/Merovingian names, as well as Burgundian and Visigothic names. In general these Germanic names from the migration period have two parts to them: for example, Alfred (or Aelfraed) is "elf-counselled", Aethelwulf is "noble wolf", etc. - as such, I can start to craft some names from scratch, or else steal others from history wholesale.

For the warband's leader, we said that he is a wise and cunning counsellor to his captain. While it might be a bit on the nose, let's have a look at how we might construct that name:
Cyneraed would be king-counsel, not a bad start... But let's take a step back and use "gar" (spear): Garraed or Raedgar. I like that! I'm going to pick Raedgar.

Raedgar, master of the War Wolves probably deserves a bit more backstory and an epithet to make him a bit more fearsome... But that can come later, we still have other characters to create too.

Previous Chapter Master

So, as mentioned previously, my plan for the previous Chapter Master is for him to become a Daemon Prince, and I might as well also have him lead the Possessed in the absence of any true Possessed character types.

In terms of naming, I hadn't got much to go on, so I went on a (pretty extensive) Wikipedia search to find an ancient king of the Mercians. The likes of Penda and Offa didn't really fit with the naming convention I'd set myself so I carried on looking back in time... And found Eomer Third Marshal of the Riddermark last king of the Angles in Angel - now that's more like it! However, the connotation with the LotR character was way too obvious, so I played around with the etymology: Eoh (steed, horse) + Mere (grand, excellent, famous) could be easily swapped out for Wolf + Mere to become Ulfmere of the Bloodmaw, last chapter master and first traitor of the War wolves.

Sorceror

The first character I ever made for the (once-upon-a-time) Shadow Wolves was a Terminator Sorceror whom I called Thørn the Impetuous, which would eventually become my main internet handle.
While I have since soured a bit on sorcerors, terminators and Tzeentch, this model still has a place in my heart as a link to my beginnings in the hobby. He'll definitely be staying in my lore.

However, "Thørn" doesn't _really_ fit my naming conventions, so I'll give the whole character a bit of a revamp, not just his model.
More Wikipedia digging allowed me to find the name Thorgeir, "thor-spear" ie lighting... Well, Sorcerors can absolutely shoot lightning, so I suppose that would do nicely :) I think in terms of backstory I'd like him to be a prominent librarian (perhaps even master of the librarium) pre-fall, and one of those who wanted to _change_ the direction they were headed in, thereby opening himself up to Tzeentchian corruption

So that makes three core characters for the Warband, who can form the backbone for sub-warbands, so I might look into those potential sub-warbands in the next entry.

[Brother Cambrius]

Now I am loving these reasonings on how you're building a central character to the War Wolves! The concept of using someone of a less specialised or senior rank is a pretty fun idea as it can also hint towards the birth of a new generation of War Wolves, enhanced and strengthened by their faith to Chaos and Khorne.

 

Now if you wanted to add a further spin to help with the charismatic/respect levels; what if it was a Training Sergeant that served to teach neophytes in the former 10th Company? That would really help to cement their position of respect and notoriety across the ranks, but they themselves carry no significant rank other than Sergeant/Veteran Sergeant.

 

The naming convention is something fun I tend to do as well to maintain character. I use mutated welsh words and the odd self-created ones to imply a warrior's stature/purpose. They're subtle and the mutation helps to hide it from being to glaring, but it's a great exercise.

 

Looking forwards to seeing these high-rankers in your work soon. :D

 

Cambrius

[Doctor Perils]

Entry 10 - Sub-Factions

Right then, here I'll be exploring how the War Wolves are subdivided in their Chaos Warband form.
Despite my previous mention of the different animal cults (ie Berserkir, Ulfhednar etc.) I'm worried this would go into overtheming, a trap I'm prone to falling into all too easily. Furthermore, it segmented the warband along unit types, and while, sure a sub-warband made up of only terminators is cool, I'm not sure it necessarily fits too well with a Chaos Warband. Remember, what I'm calling "sub-warbands" are technically Warband's themselves, their leader just calls fealty to a bigger meaner boss than themselves. And while creating Warbands around the chaos gods is tempting, I'm not sure it would be the most natural fit either.

So how would I imagine it happening on the day of the Cardinal's Slaughter?
Well, it would seem logical to me they'd start off clumping around their battlegroup leader (which would probably be the battle company captains), with reserve company captains becoming exalted champion equivalents.
This state of affairs would probably change fairly rapidly as the renegade Chapter became more feral. Officers would fall under the blows of rivals and ambitious underlings, while some warbands would split off in disdain or disgust, making way for some larger sub-Warbands being the aggregate of several companies, some sub-Warbands being small specialised formations like raptor cults.

So, here's what I'm thinking, mixing loyalist and chaos terms. They're more broad ideas then specific formations yet:
• 1 Battle Company, with a few attached elements, in the slow process of dying out, led by their old captain
• 1 large warband aggregating two battle companies, including the Master of Possession and the Possessed of the Shadows Wolves. One captain (?) beat the other for leadership of the combined warband, but the second one's librarian (by then a sorceror) began corrupting the former's marines, and ends up becoming the _de facto_ leader.
• 1 Raptor Cult, formed from assault marines of several companies who work as mercenaries within the War Wolves - perhaps for some kind of arcane payment?
• 1 more motley crew, a few terminators, perhaps some berserkers and helbrutes. They're the elite shock troops, led by Raedgar's (un)trusted lieutenant


WRT Raedgar, I do like the idea that he'd be sort of a Telion equivalent, @Cambrius. Perhaps he could gain control of the Warband through soft power and politicking? Initially put forward as Lord of the Wolves by Thorgeir (enthralled to Tzeentch) to offset Ulfmehr's own power (and hence Khorne's), Raedgar would end up playing Thorgeir for a fool, by being one of the few _actually_ trusted by the other Warband leaders, shrugging off the chains of submission Thorgeir believed he had knotted around him?

[Doctor Perils]

Entry 11 - Lord of the War Wolves

Ok, I think it's time I focused on Rhedgar a bit.

I like Brother Cambrius' idea that Rhedgar would be the wily first sergeant of the 10th company, pre-fall. While I don't think he should be quite as old as the likes of Telion or Ulrik, he would still be senior scout sergeant and hence in charge of training those recruits with the highest potential for command or other important duties.


As per the previous entry, I'm thinking of making him take control of the Warband more through guile then raw killing power, by in essence double crossing the once-chief-librarian Thorgeir.

This leaves quite a bit of development room. Why did Thorgeir want to use a lowly sergeant as opposed to an already-prominent captain? How did Rhedgar manage to assert his dominance despite Thorgeir's own manipulation?

Well, for one, I imagine that Khorne's hold over much of the chapter, including its most prominent officers of the battle companies, would already be rather firm thanks to the centuries or even millennia of spilling blood with vengeance and rage in their hearts. As such, swaying them back away from Khorne would be far more complex than Thorgeir could probably afford within a limited time frame.
However, space marine scouts are rarely in the thick of the fighting - I imagine therefore that they would have fallen less prey to the bloodlust of battle companies. Their officers and sergeants will also be known to many members of the chapter, since they are teachers and trainers - they might not be universally appreciated, but at least they would be respected.

The question now poses itself of why would Thorgeir not choose the captain of the scouts?
Well, what if he did, only simultaneously Rhedgar challenged the scout captain to single combat over some personal disagreement? This could also explain why Rhedgar managed to get a suit of artificer power armour rather than a scout's recon armour - after killing the captain, he'd claim the armour as his spoils, and Thorgeir would then select the victor as his pawn to take over the Warband.
To "help him"/"watch over him" Thorgeir could invoke a kind of tutelary or familiar, while secretly this tutelary's job would be to sway Rhedgar to Tzeentch and ensure Thorgeir's domination over the Sgt... Only, the plan would backfire

(TBC)

[Doctor Perils]

I have a new test model with a slightly updated colour scheme, I hope you like it:

[Zebulon]

He is SHINY! :D

 

I do like him, but I wonder if you would consider more contrast between the armour and the weapon?

 

Blue and gold is a relatively unusual choice for a chaos warband said the man who had never heard of the Thousand Sons whoops! and I think that’s the good kind of unusual.

[Nomus Sardauk]

Blue and gold is a relatively unusual choice for a chaos warband

It's actually blue and copper, though I admit it can be hard to distinguish at times.

[Zebulon]

 

Blue and gold is a relatively unusual choice for a chaos warband

It's actually blue and copper, though I admit it can be hard to distinguish at times.

My mistake! Well that is certainly distinctive. Is the plan to have a bold contrast then, what with blue and orange/copper tones being on the opposite sides of the colour wheel?

[Doctor Perils]

Yeah, it's not the best picture, but it is indeed closer to brass/bronze (secondary colour) and rusted steel (for the trim). The colour wheel did definitely enter into the choice, but I'm aiming more for a split complementary (with a blue-teal and magenta across from the brass) rather than full complementary.

 

And yeah, CSM have had lots of trim for ages, but now it seems like theres miles of it XD In fairness, once I get to basing him,

[Doctor Perils]

Well, this year doesn't seem to be all that much better than the last on the grand scheme of things, and the pressure is on at work again. Still, getting away from video games (again) does seem to have done some good to my painting productivity. I'm not in a mental headspace to be dedicating all that much time to creating more lore at the moment, but here's a new unit for the War Wolves :