Chaos Warband - Cardinal Fangs *WIP*

[Kelborn]

Hello there,

 

the first time in years that I got a chaos brainstorm going on. Inspired by the new FW Blood Angels models, which basically look like Emperor's Children (imho), how about a Blood Angels warband, dedicated to Slaanesh?

 

Again, this is just a brainstorm to write my thoughts down before they're gone again.

 

 

- WIP name suggestions: Blood Children, Children of the Sun,

- Dive into the vampiric stereotype of the Blood Angels; even more gothic, artisan craftwork and turn them into creatures of the dark

- Avoid too many similarities with the Night Lords, no fear tactics, more psychological manipulation, haluzinations and such

- No mindless bloodied berserkers, eloquent/ cultured lords of thousands of willing slaves, each eager to rise in power to become their masters' chosen servant

- relish blood as a mean of excess; blood is accumulated with the essence of a being, its soul, its memories; tasting blood is tasting a life; high empasize on Omophagea (Red Thirst)

- few Astartes, all the more mortal slaves and taimed xenos beasts (bloodhound aspect)

- favour stealth tactics, but don't hesitate for an all-out assault

- sonic weaponry grandet to them by other Slaaneshi followers; retained jump pack units with two pistols

- fleet-based, ravages, raiding worlds, always on the move; maybe utilizing either a Space Hulk or a small fleet of frigates with one majore capital ship

- ties to the Red Corsairs and other comparable factions

- though few, some become addicted to blood (Black Rage)

- sources of inspiration: classic Vampires, Warcraft (San'layn & Venthyr)

 

 

That's it for now. More will come when inspiration hits me again.

 

Cheers,

Kel

Edited January 20, 2020 by Kelborn

[Llagos_Tyrant]

This is a really cool idea! I think it's a great way to take a heretical group of Blood Angels.

 

My first thought was that on the tabletop they would play well with Night Lords rules and using raptors and Warp Talons, but if you're looking to steer clear of the Night Lords on the tabletop as well as in the fluff, maybe the Alpha Legion tactics could work well? Thinking here about their stealthy nature, their ability to redeploy, some of their relics and warlord traits.

 

Interesting brainstorming, and looking forward to seeing more! Any specific characters you've imagined?

[Brother Lunkhead]

A  vampiric Chaos warband based on the Blood Angels I'm surprised we haven't seen more of these..... awesome idea Brother Kel. Looking forward to seeing more.

[Kelborn]

Thank you, brothers.

 

Appreciated your kind words.

@Llagos_Tyrant: Haven't though about rules, etc. but I like your suggestions. One could also use Word Bearers tactics due to their numerous mortal cult servants and such.

 

@Brother Lunkhead: Well, yeah, an even more vampiric version of the Blood Angels is far from being innovative, yet it's a way to start tinkering with them as I've always...how to say....found them quite boring. Tbh, they were always a bit bland and monotonous for me.

 

A couple of days have past and I thought about some topics:

 

1) Name

 

Had various ideas for a name. Children of the Sun, Blood Children, Rubian Lords

In the end, some pals of mine suggested the following Carmine Fangs / Kardinal Fangs - I like those a lot for several reasons.

 

Generally speaking a warband's or chapter's name is quite simple, yet it gives us already an impression, thoughts of what these will most likely be about.

Let's take the Iron Hands for example, Iron suggests metal, forge, strong, unbreaking & Hands suggests craftmanship, active role, executing role

 

Both suggested names do the same, though I'm currently leaning towards the Kardinal Fangs because of the following.

 

Kardinal = not only a color but also a rank (cardinal) within the christian church, someone who leads in a spiritual way, someone who is venerated by the "lesser" people, who "manipulates" them into his service and such

 

Fangs = predators' teeth, tearing flesh, bloodied, lethal

 

This train of thoughts leads me to a lethal priest-ish band of brothers, deified by blindfolded people. Quite hits the mark, eh?

 

2) Dedication to one of the dark gods

 

- Khorne: quite obvious, the blood theme, etc. is one of the most prominent within chaos ranks; could be an interesting take to turn away from the stereotypical "mindless" berserkers and make them a scheming, more "reasonable" force (I'm still missing the levelheaded, getting stuff done force dedicated to him) of the Blood God, blood rituals as form of veneration to the Brass Throne; nonetheless, that'd be quite on the nose and unsurprising

 

- Nurgle: the Dornian Crusade did a great job in turning the Blood Angels into followers of Nurgle; drinking blood in order to keep their bodies going, slowing down the decay

 

- Tzeentch: Sanguinius always had a thing for foreseeing things and his visions/ fate, etc.; I could further emphasize this by turning blood rituals into a process to predict the future and thus, their decisions; turning degenerated humans/ mutants into fully pledged Astartes would further be an aspect of change Tzeentch could approve

 

- Slaanesh: like I already mentioned; drawing from the victims essence/ soul by drinking their blood, turning this process into a form of excess, the highest thing to aspire; successfull, loyal servants could be granted the gift of drinking enemy Astartes' blood, while the Fangs themselves keep the blood of saints, strong souls, etc. for themselves

 

- Undivided: easy, no dedication to a certain god means I could make use of all those ideas. Maybe for splinterfactions/ possible characters within the warband.

 

So yeah, every aspect of the dark pantheon could suit this warband. Khorne and Tzeentch were always my favorite of the four. But I'm interested to try something new for a change. What do you guys think?

 

3) Further sources of inspiration

 

- Star Wars ancient Sith (former EU); not taling about Bane or Sidious, I'm talking about the real ancient ones like Revan or the very first Sith, who discovered the Sith race; a band of exiled, send on a penitent crusade for refusing orders or devouring enemies' flesh in order to get intel or a comparable trespass; discovering a remote human colony, establish themselves as venerated leaders and such

- Warhammer Fantasy (old world): Vampire Counts, don't need to explain that, eh? Possible mortal order of trained soldiers called the Sanguis Draconis or so.

- Filmizations of Vampires (Dracula, Underworld, etc.) to get some exemplary depictions for characters/ future commissioned artwork

 

Well, that's it for today.

 

Cheers,

Kelborn

Edited January 20, 2020 by Kelborn

[Brother Cambrius]

So the idea of a Slaaneshi focused Blood Angel vampires is a really fun concept I can get behind with all the potential of perfection through the artisan craft renowned for the Blood Angels. Seeing it twisted to the services of Slaanesh for the sake of their blood lust will be great to see develop.

 

Trick is ensuring they don't go too far the other way to Khorne, but concepts of perfection and excess (which naturally, partying Vampires doing court to seek out their latest conquest for a meal would help a bunch) would keep them in Slaanesh's thrall and sway.

 

I do love the name of the Fangs Encarmine. If you wanted to go old school mutated-latin as per the usual norm of the 40k verse, the Haemophage might be an idea?

 

Cambrius

[Brother Lunkhead]

Brother Cambrius makes some good points. I personally think ______ Fang(s) or Fang(s)_______ lends itself too much to camp and should be avoided (feel free to disagree). 

 

I think a Slaaneshi focus lends itself well to  more elegant and/or esoteric concepts. However, a Khorne leaning warband has great possibilities too. So, I wouldn't dismiss the idea.

 

Some additional ideas for chapter names:

• Blood Tempest
• Red Maelstrom
• Crimson Wraiths