Random Warband Inspiration Thread

[Gamiel]

Inspiered by 

 

 

 

This is a thread for all those flashes of inspiration or ideas for a warband or fallen chapter that people get and want to share for others to use.

A single space to just share ideas, and create a central source of inspiration for new IA writers.

 

[Gamiel]

I'll start:

It's mentioned that the Minotaurs chapter's fortress-monastery was attacked by Nurgle forces. In The Regent’s Shadow we have one of the High Lords of Terra thinking that this is just a ruse to give the Minotaurs a reason to be at Terra and be amongt he first that get Primaris marines added to their chapter, but what if it was not? While the Minotaurs lack a homeworld they do have a fortress-monastery in the form of their ship. What if therir ship had been attacked by Nurgle forces and they had taken some notable damage, maybe not as bad as they claimed in The Regent’s Shadow but still notable. Now we know that Nurgle can infest people and turn them in to his minions without them understanding what have happened, so my concept is a warband made up by Minotaurs that have become plague marines and are deluded about their condition. They don't realise they are Chaos tainted and belive they are only battle damaged.

My Idea for making them is to use plague marines as the base but using standard marine helmets for their heads and/or taking away any parts of their armour that don't fit with the Minotaurs aesthetic (like the WWI helmet spikes). Paint the undamaged-ish areas of their armour in Minotaurs standard bronze, but the notably damaged areas and around where thing have begun to turn biological would be in old bronze green.

[Xin Ceithan]

Hmm, the idea of having some force of diseased / nurglish Space Spartans has some unhealthy appeal 

Modelwise I could picture them somewhere between Plaque Marines and Greek Hoplites, sort of Snyder‘s „300“ with tainted bronze clad undead…

 

the Nurgle  aspect to „tough it out“ seems to fit with theme of the Minotaurs, too..

[Gamiel]

Something I thought about a week ago was that Seraphons have lots of snake based standards, bling and other bits, and that's something that could be used to personlise warbands with a snake theme, like the Steel Cobras, Masters of the Crystal Serpent, Serpentine Scourge, and Armoured Serpents. There is also the Predator Legion who where ones know as Serpents of Light, and any Alpha Legion warband really. 

 

When it comes to snakes is there also The Splintered Fang. And you don't need to be Alpha Legion to use the snakey Alpha Legion upgrade kits parts for your serpentine CSM. There is also the Black Ark Corsairs who has some snake standard "heads" and transfers. 

Edited February 11, 2023 by Gamiel

[Gamiel]

A concept that has to have been done but I don't think I have really seen is legion warband that have sworn themself to a different god then the rest of their legion (or a god in the cases of the unaligned ones) - e.g. Khorne Emperor's Children, Nurgle World Eaters, Tzeentch Iron Warriors - and I would say that the easiest way to do this is to use god-marked forces (Khorne Berserkers, Plague Marines, Tzeentch Sorcerers) and just use the paint scheme and upgrade kit heads for the Legion you plan that those god-marked come from. Khorne Berserkers will feel different if they have Emperor's children heads and colours instead of the World Eaters ones, the same for Plague Marines if they are in Thousend Sons colours and with TS heads.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

On 2/18/2023 at 12:59 AM, Gamiel said:

A concept that has to have been done but I don't think I have really seen is legion warband that have sworn themself to a different god then the rest of their legion (or a god in the cases of the unaligned ones) - e.g. Khorne Emperor's Children, Nurgle World Eaters, Tzeentch Iron Warriors

Great idea! I can see Tzeentch turning other warbands this way, to gain an advantage over his rival Chaos Gods- and him regretting this, when he loses control over said warbands.

[slitth]

I have an idea for a Nurgle warband that is base on a apothecary that is developing 19 different plagues and diseases that mimic a the 19 gene-seed organ implants.

His goal is to cure death by making everyone a plague marine.

 

His preferred victims are doctors and other medical personal. As he see his warband as a mobil hospital that need more staff in the fight against death.

I just need to cure them of the insanity. For who in their right mind would try to cure plagues and diseases that removes pain and give longer life. All in the name of vanity.

No, a sane man would strive to be in balance with plagues and diseases. To make them stronger, so you can become stronger.

 

Also he would need more gene-seed to use for raw material for the "plauge-seed"

[Gamiel]

Two warband concepts inspiered by me reading the D&D3e supplement Skull & Bones: Swashbuckling Horror in the Golden Age of Piracy:

 

Carisona’s Blessed – Khorne warband, supernatural hunters, “blessed” with an nearly endless hunger that’s only shortly satisfied by eating fresh meet. Lacking the uncontrollable rage of many of Khorne’s followers they have no problems postponing attacks and skulking around for a greater opportunity, have a preference for ambushes. Neither have they any problems with fleeing from a fight they are about to lose, but only so they can return later and attack again. With all that said do their hunger sometime lead to them attacking when they would have won more with waiting or falling into a feeding frenzy once they have tasted blood or fallen a foe in which they are unable to do anything but consume or attack anybody that hinders them from eating.

Actually have a mystical need to hunt and they are guided to prey by their bloodletter-bokurs’ visions or by others who hires them to hunt down a specific target. Inbetween those great hunts they usually spread out, solo or in squads, on whatever planet they are on to stalk, kill and consume any living thing, even if they have a precedence for human flesh.

The members bodies bodies are covered in intricated tattoos and scarifications [no idea if their armour also should be covered in linework].

- No idea about colours. Precolonial and colonial Caribbean-ish in feeling.

- Was thinking that Carisona is a Khorneate greater daemon/demi-god that have followers of his own that thereby get blessings a bit different from the standard Khorne package

- Inspired by the spirit Carisona the Hunter from Skull & Bones, where he is a cannibal spirit (akin to a Caribbean wendigo) that can be summoned and sent by a occultist, bokur, or similar against a target. Have found no more information about him so I presume he was actually created for the game, or very obscure.

 

 

 

Lel-Za-Bol – Night Lords warband, decorate with colourful feathers, Mesoamerican-ish bling in jade, obsidian or saturated gold, and (if possible) jaguar pelts (or other animals that seems fitting). The core of the warband were all from the Mesmerika (Terra) hive Lel-Za-Bol, thereby their name. Give some of them Seraphon’s macuahuitl instead of power/chain-swords. Standard Night Lords tactics of terrorising the prey for some time before attacking, they like that their targets know how powerless they are against what’s coming.

- Inspired by the spirit Lel-Za-Bol from Skull & Bones, where she is presented as one of the Aztec Night Lords (ergo my inspiration), a goddess now turned into something lesser by the lose of constant sacrifices. According to Wikipedia do there exist a group of gods called the Lords of the Night in Mesoamerican mythology but non of them have a name similar to Lel-Za-Bol and I have not found anything Aztec related when oogling her name, so either she was created for the game or it’s a very obscure alternative name/spelling for one of the Lords of the Night.

 

[Gamiel]

Got an name creation bing for water/waterlife based names after takinga look at the DeviantArt based fanproject Scornful Tides. so here are some possible warbands names (some with suggested colours and/or fluf): 

 

Lightless – underwater, shore raider and night fighting specialists, has a smaller fleet of submarines. Used to fighting in darkness and minimal light, before and during combat they like to take out light sources and sensors, use ink clouds when fighting in water and smoke when in air. All CSM members have skin so pale that their skin is semi-transparent, and large black-on-black eyes. Possibly servants of Be’lakore, possibly not knowing that.

- More late 19^th-centery, early 20^th-century seamen than anything Golden Age of Piracy-ish in feeling, lots of turtlenecks among the humans and unarmoured CSM.

- Inspired by a RPG adventure where the villain was a vampire that had found one of Captain Nemo’s Nautilus prototypes and used it as his base and transportation.

 

Sea Wolves – alternative name for Vikings in some stories. Could go viking-ish, wolf-ish or just have that it’s a nice name.

 

Brim Hag 

 

Sea Hag 

 

Ebon Eels 

 

Malus Mantas – Uses Chaos Raptors and Warp Talons modified/mutated for underwater (manta wings are suggested but not obligatory).

Colours are black, purple and lavender.

 

Mantas Mephistopheles 

 

Abyss Nagas 

 

Devil Rays 

 

Ran’s Own - as in the viking goddess Rán 

 

Aboleth [something] – knowledge horders, use their Omophagea to gain the knowledge of their fallen, enemies and captives. Likes to show of their knowledge for people that understand enough to be impressed and using it to creat/use unusual/unique tactics, technology and/or sorcery.

Swamp, water and submersal fighter. Often bombard planets with ice meteorites and/or drop large rocks or bomb in the sea and/or ice-covered poles to create tsunamis and weather changes. Likes to leave world in such state that they have to be reclassified as Swamp or Water Worlds.

Colours: blue-green with orange as spot colour, lenses (including eye-ones) deep red.

 

Gargoyles Submarined 

 

Shadows Bellow 

 

Red Tide 

 

Ocean Giants 

 

Seawrack Dragons 

 

Drowned Sons 

 

Bone Bosuns 

 

Keel Crushers 

 

Mist Reapers 

 

Sea Scorpions

 

Blood Kelpies

 

Waveriders

 

Beastmade

 

Blood Frenzied

 

Illtrawlers

 

Sea Witches

 

Sons of the Black Sea

 

Sea-serpents of the Deep / Deep Sea Serpents

 

Locker Keepers/Warden - "locker" here as in "Davy Jones' locker"

[Gamiel]

What about a warband made up (or at least led) by Veterans of the Long War who are(were?) members of one of the Loyalist Legions that sided with Horus. Here you could just use the CSM and paint them up in their Legion colours. But you could also do them in some different ways, maybe;

- kitbash your CSM toghter with the 40k and/or HH upgrade kits for their Legion/chapter, and kits specefic for that Legion/chapter - like the Ultramarines Honour Guard if you are making Um Veterans of the Long War

- paint them in their pre-Primarch colour scheme, showing that they havd turned their back to what their Legion had become after finding their Primarch.

- they have invert their Legion's colour scheme

 

Also:

- if they joined Horus' side during the HH because they had been hanging around one of the traitor Legions a bit to much/long could you and some symbols, colour/s, bling, armour-parts and/or wargear from (or associated with) that Legion to your models.

[Gamiel]

A warband of Fallen that belive they are following the Lion but it's actually a daemon or some kind of heretical creation. Model-wise would you do it by using the Lion model (the HH or 40k work just as well) as their leader (count-as daemon-prince or Be'lakor), maybe paint it up as he looks unnatural or kitbash him with some chaos bits.  

[Gamiel]

Some Nurgle warband name suggestions:

Angels of Rot
Atrophy Angels
Atrophy Arcanists
Borrowing Maggots
Decaying Sons
Dukes of Decay
Entropy Angels
Fly Angels
Forty-nine Sons
Infected Cogitator/s

Knights Entropy
Lore-keepers of Contamination
Maggot Bile Toxin
Maggot Casters
Plague Bite
Plague Kiss
Plague Wind

Pus-blooded
Rampant Pestilence
Rotting Heart

Rusted Cog  - or other item/weapon
Sickness Shamans
Sickness' Vitality
Sludge Blooded
Sludge Sharks
Toxic Soup
Withered Mace - or other weapon/item
Worm Veiled
Worm-ridden
Varmint Lords 
Vile Swarm

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Khorne attempted to force Sanguinius into his service, during the Heresy; the Blood God still tries to do so with Sanguinius' sons, e.g., Mephiston. One idea I used in an IA, was a warband of Blood Angels descendants (named "Heartless Angels" in the IA) who believe Sanguinius is Khorne's son, not the Emperor's; that they must fulfill the destiny the Anathema (the Emperor) denied them, by drowning the galaxy in blood.

[Gamiel]

The Cabal Sworn: Alpha Legion warband, uses lots of xeno-tech, likley fight alongside xeno-mercenaries.

May or may not work for what's left of the Cabal or the Cabal's plan, may or may not do it becouse they belive it's Alpharious and/or Omegadons will, or they think their primarch/s were fools who did not continue with the Cabal's plan - who ever they work for they are possibly actually double agents for the other side, or somebody else. 

[Gamiel]

Lightless – underwater, shore raider and night fighting specialists, has a smaller fleet of submarines. Used to fighting in darkness and minimal light, before and during combat they like to take out light sources and sensors, use ink clouds when fighting in water and smoke when in air. All CSM members have skin so pale that their skin is semi-transparent, and large black-on-black eyes. Possibly servants of Be’lakore, possibly not knowing that.

- More late 19th-centery, early 20th-century seamen than anything Golden Age of Piracy-ish in feeling, lots of turtlenecks among the humans and unarmoured CSM.

- Inspired by a RPG adventure where the villain was a vampire that had found Captain Nemo’s Nautilus prototypes and used it as his base and transportation.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

A "Renegade" band of Iron Hands descendants who want to avenge their Primarch. They believe they can draw upon Khorne's power, without being corrupted in the process, by replacing their hand with living metal ones taken straight from Necron Flayed Ones.

 

In their arrogance, they mistake their RESISTANCE to Chaos corruption for outright immunity. The blood these "Renegades" shed as the Flayer virus infects them via the living metal hands, is slowly but surely bringing them to Khorne's side.

[Rain]

On 5/18/2023 at 6:31 PM, Bjorn Firewalker said:

A "Renegade" band of Iron Hands descendants who want to avenge their Primarch. They believe they can draw upon Khorne's power, without being corrupted in the process, by replacing their hand with living metal ones taken straight from Necron Flayed Ones.

 

In their arrogance, they mistake their RESISTANCE to Chaos corruption for outright immunity. The blood these "Renegades" shed as the Flayer virus infects them via the living metal hands, is slowly but surely bringing them to Khorne's side.

There was a short blurb in the World Eaters codex about a captured Iron Hand that had Butcher’s Nails implanted and became a World Eaters Chaos Lord specializing in sieges.

A whole warband of Iron Hands that hate the Emperor’s Children so much that they inadvertently turn to Khorne worship as Khorne is Slaanesh’s archenemy could lead to some really great modeling opportunities. Cyborg berzerkers with chainswords for arms. Someone needs to do this.

[Gamiel]

A Nurgle warband that has as its mission to hunt down and extinguish any force (Chapter, regiment, person, lance, ship, etcetera) that has stuff like "eternal", "immortal", or similar as part of their name/title.

[Gamiel]

On 5/19/2023 at 3:31 AM, Bjorn Firewalker said:

A "Renegade" band of Iron Hands descendants who want to avenge their Primarch. They believe they can draw upon Khorne's power, without being corrupted in the process, by replacing their hand with living metal ones taken straight from Necron Flayed Ones.

 

In their arrogance, they mistake their RESISTANCE to Chaos corruption for outright immunity. The blood these "Renegades" shed as the Flayer virus infects them via the living metal hands, is slowly but surely bringing them to Khorne's side.

Similar but a bit different is a force that has used metal and/or xeno-tech parts taken from Flayed Ones (knowingly or not - maybe they thought those necron parts they have been using were archeotech) and have themselves become infected with the Flayer virus. Either they were declared renegade because of their use of xeno-tech or their Flayer virus lead actions.

 

Possibly have fallen to Khorne because of their acts, or possibly are "just" xeno corrupted renegades thanks to their necron tech protecting them from the Warp Gods.

 

Think Khorne rules with a focus on "anti-magic" regarding gifts would be fitting either cause.

Edited May 25, 2023 by Gamiel

[Bjorn Firewalker]

18 hours ago, Gamiel said:

Possibly have fallen to Khorne because of their acts, or possibly are "just" xeno corrupted renegades thanks to their necron tech protecting them from the Warp Gods.

 

Think Khorne rules with a focus on "anti-magic" regarding gifts would be fitting either cause.

The Khorne-worshiping Blood Pact uses "gore mages" in Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts novels, meaning Khorne is NOT anti-magic, but anti-magic that lets one kill from a distance and avoid engaging in honorable close combat- he allows his worshipers to use magic to find enemies, power wirewolves and other close combat golems, teleport to close the distance and engage in close combat sooner (or provide logistical support to armies fighting on distant worlds)...

[Gamiel]

1 hour ago, Bjorn Firewalker said:

The Khorne-worshiping Blood Pact uses "gore mages" in Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts novels, meaning Khorne is NOT anti-magic, but anti-magic that lets one kill from a distance and avoid engaging in honorable close combat- he allows his worshipers to use magic to find enemies, power wirewolves and other close combat golems, teleport to close the distance and engage in close combat sooner (or provide logistical support to armies fighting on distant worlds)...

I know,  but he is the one with the most anti-magic gifts and for this force it's there to represent the anti-magic/Warp ability from the necron parts mostly. 

[40k_fan]

The Black Knights - Chaos Undivided - Legion Unknown

A chapter of devout chaos worshippers who seek to eliminate those who would threaten the sanctity of the dark gods, and in doing so they seek to target anti-chaos forces, especially the Grey Knights. Also the Inquisitorium and Ecclesiarchy as a whole, but that's not really the focus or anything.

Except right now they are just another chaos space marine warband. Thus far they haven't really figured out how to get on the radar of the GKs.

They go out and commit atrocities on random planets, and they also look for ancient forbidden daemonic and psykic artefacts to wield.

They haven't accomplisjed either of those things yet. But when they do, they know they will finally have their Nemesis.

 

"We are the Anvil! No hammer will break us!"

 

 

The Bleeding Hedonists - Khornate - World Eaters

A branch of Khorne worshipping Chaos Space Marines with an unfortunate and confusing name. They have frequently ended up getting screwed over by Chaos Infighting, and often end up mixed up with Emperor's Children far too much. They get endlessly frustrated by this, which makes them more angry, which makes them more violent. Typically seen as an unwitting detatchment to the Emperor's Children.

 

"Schadenfreude!"

 

The Grim Hospitallers - Nurgle - Alpha Legion

This cruel warband that uses classic Alpha Legion trickery to spread the blessings of Nurgle. Due to their Alpha Legion gene seed, their mutations are much less visible than most other Nurgle worshippers, and while their fellow Nurglites might see them as lesser for their unmarred looks and being less hardy compared to the Death Guard, it does allow them to do one thing: They masquerade as benevolent ordinary space marines and visit planets around the galaxy to set up hospitals "treat" the sick and wounded, and spread useful medicine to the people of the world. But it is all a lie. Once they leave the worlds they visit, the truth becomes apparent as the people break out in deadly plague and rot, with nobody to save them.

 

"We treat the Imperium's people. Your maladies will be corrected."

 

The Phoenix Flames - Slaanesh - Emperor's Children

While people joke that the Salamanders love their flamers, that's all a fun and good-natured in-joke. The Phoenix Flames are legitimately obsessed with fire to an unhealthy and fetishistic degree. Their armor is literally doused in promethium and set ablaze as they charge into battle. The battle brothers of this warband are covered in burns and scars, but they only see it as a sign of their devotion to the beauty of flame.

 

"Fire and Flame! We are one!"

 

 The Sons of Fate - Tzeetch - Thousand Sons (Officially), Emperor's Children (Originally)

A group of Emperor's Children who sided with Horus, but were then horrified with killing their fellow Emperor's Children in the Isstvaan III Atrocity. To atone, they fled to the Thousand Sons seeking to escape infamy, atone for their crimes, and make a new name for themselves. Of course, this didn't really work out; They hadn't really gotten the memo about the whole Magnus stuff, but Magnus was too busy sulking about being exiled to tell them to screw off, and then he got bane'd and his soul broke. And so even though they had tried to flee Chaos, they would just end up joining a different group that would fall to Chaos. Fate cannot always be escaped so easily.

 

"Nobody escapes fate."

Edited June 9, 2023 by 40k_fan

[Gamiel]

Some Khorne wrbands from non-gods sworn legions:

 

Eaters of Innocent
Khorne don’t care from where the blood flows and where this Khorne-sworn Night Lords warband attack the blood flows from the week, the innocent, the helpless and the already wounded. 

 

Alpha-Sanguis-Omega
An Alpha Legion Warband that got stranded on a Khorne Daemon World and left it blood baptised and Khorne-sworn. 
As they fought the Long War this warband found themselves unable to do the damage they wanted on the Corpse Worshipers and hunted by those they should be hunting, but by swearing themselves to Khorne they got the understanding and powers they needed for killing and destroying.
The Alpha Legion always think they are to cleverer for their own good, and in the case of Alpha-Sanguis-Omega they believe they can make a deal with Khorne and later get out from it. This “later” always seems to be sometime in the future, after the next mission…
Those are among the stories behind this Khorne-sworn Alpha Legion, maybe one of them is true, maybe they are all lies. Whatever the case the Alpha-Sanguis-Omega are still master assassins and snipers, but now they also have blessings and cult forces that makes their war on the False Emperor’s forces so much more destructive. At least from their point of view.

 

Blood and Iron
Similar in their warfare to  their unsworn Iron Warriors kin, with their preference for long range barrages, heavy ordnances and xxx, at least until they get close enough to the enemy, when the Juggernaut riders comes charring first, then the Exalted Eightbound, Brass Scorpion, Khorne Berzerkers, and Jakhals. 
 

Edited June 28, 2023 by Gamiel

[Minigiant]

The Ironclad Reapers, a renegade warband with roots in the esteemed Iron Hands chapter, offers an intriguing twist on Chaos lore. By intertwining the pursuit of mechanical perfection with the worship of the Machine God, this faction presents a captivating departure from traditional Chaos narratives.

 

Origin: The Ironclad Reapers trace their origins back to the once-loyal Iron Hands chapter, renowned for their unwavering commitment to augmentations and mechanical prowess. However, their relentless pursuit of perfection eventually drove them into the clutches of heresy. Seduced by the allure of the Machine God, the warband embraced forbidden beliefs, steering their path towards the treacherous embrace of Chaos. Now, their objective is to merge flesh and machine, seeking to forge the ultimate beings in service to their new dark masters.

 

[Minigiant]

The Wolves of Baal are an ominous and fallen successor chapter of the once-noble Blood Angels. Cursed by a tragic twist of fate, their manifestation of the Black Rage diverges from their venerable progenitors. When the curse takes hold, their minds are haunted not by visions of Sanguinius's sacrifice but by the malevolent spectre of Horus, the arch-traitor, smiting down their beloved Primarch during the Horus Heresy's climactic moments. They are struggling against this grim torment