++ The Murderers' Call - A Night Lords Community ++

[helterskelter]

My Night Lords are going to be full marine. No Daemons, no Cultists, no Daemon Engines.

Whilst a noble endeavour, remember there are tools of terror that whilst themselves are... undesirable, are still pretty useful all the same.

 

The long and short of it, I actually tried this route and found it a bit more than challenging to perform well, whilst being in the spirit of some noble causes, having the daemon engines really helps as distraction. I say this because if it wasn't for my venomcrawler (which subsequently exploded in a delightful fashion) and Lord Discordant getting in the way for a turn, I wouldn't have had the room to kill magnus and 2 daemon princes (in a 1250 point game) with my 3 predators.

[Lord_Starscream]

 

My Night Lords are going to be full marine. No Daemons, no Cultists, no Daemon Engines.

Whilst a noble endeavour, remember there are tools of terror that whilst themselves are... undesirable, are still pretty useful all the same.

 

The long and short of it, I actually tried this route and found it a bit more than challenging to perform well, whilst being in the spirit of some noble causes, having the daemon engines really helps as distraction. I say this because if it wasn't for my venomcrawler (which subsequently exploded in a delightful fashion) and Lord Discordant getting in the way for a turn, I wouldn't have had the room to kill magnus and 2 daemon princes (in a 1250 point game) with my 3 predators.

 

 

Predators? Night Lords are too poor for Predators! :P

 

Kidding of course, lol.

 

I've got 20 Terminators, 10 Havocs, and 60 Chaos Space Marines who are going to be rocking the Midnight Clad. It'll be fantastic. Terminator teleportation. Gonna run x2 Rhinos with them.

 

Marines are split into x3 close combat squads and x3 bolter squads. Bolters have x2 Autocannons, x2 Heavy Bolters, and x2 Heavy Bolters. Close quarters squads are running x2 Plasma Guns.

 

Terminators are x4 Melta for one. And x4 Plasma for the other. Both are running Axes for the most part (with some one handed lightning claws, for flavour) and Reaper autocannons.

[Midnight Brotherhood]

Consider running a squad of chosen if you are going the melee route, Night Lords are fantastic duelers in the lore so having a squad of chosen with the extra attacks and having both boltguns and chainswords to boot really represents the Night Lords well I think.

[Lord_Starscream]

Consider running a squad of chosen if you are going the melee route, Night Lords are fantastic duelers in the lore so having a squad of chosen with the extra attacks and having both boltguns and chainswords to boot really represents the Night Lords well I think.

 

Chosen are index only atm aren't they?

 

That's a scary thing to make my friend! I always fear what could happen if GW drops support. If I make Chosen for melee, it's gonna be packed full of power weapons, claws, axes, ect. :P

[Gederas]

Consider running a squad of chosen if you are going the melee route, Night Lords are fantastic duelers in the lore so having a squad of chosen with the extra attacks and having both boltguns and chainswords to boot really represents the Night Lords well I think.

Chosen are index only atm aren't they?

 

That's a scary thing to make my friend! I always fear what could happen if GW drops support. If I make Chosen for melee, it's gonna be packed full of power weapons, claws, axes, ect.

The datasheet for Chosen is on page 136 of Codex: Chaos Space Marines II

[Lord_Starscream]

 

The datasheet for Chosen is on page 136 of Codex: Chaos Space Marines II

 

Ah! Superb. I'd not grabbed the updated copy yet. I now have confidence to make a unit of psychopaths with power weapons, lol

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Chosen are also in the first CSM codex, but their weapon options were substantially altered by the FAQ.

Edited May 16, 2019 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Lord_Starscream]

Chosen are also in the first CSM codex, but their weapon options were substantially altered by the FAQ.

 

 

*Grabs codex*

 

... ... ... ... Yes. lol

[Midnight Brotherhood]

Chosen are also in the first CSM codex, but their weapon options were substantially altered by the FAQ.

*Grabs codex*

... ... ... ... Yes. lol

Yeah they are super flexible now and only 1pt more than a standard marine with a better stat line built for melee. They can be a fun squad to play with some support from an Exalted Champion, they blend imperial troops.

Another update from me, I just finished off my last 4 Chaos marines so now I've got a full compliment of 3 x 5 man Chaos marine squads that use a mix of the new sculpts and Dark Vengeance. Each squad has a heavy weapon and each champion has a chainsword and bolter (which is holstered on their back). Thats all my troops done! Can finally move onto the new Havoc next and my lightning claw chosen. Anyway here are some pics.

[Lord_Starscream]

 

 

Chosen are also in the first CSM codex, but their weapon options were substantially altered by the FAQ.

 

 

*Grabs codex*

 

... ... ... ... Yes. lol

 

 

Yeah they are super flexible now and only 1pt more than a standard marine with a better stat line built for melee. They can be a fun squad to play with some support from an Exalted Champion, they blend imperial troops.

 

 

 

 

I've traditionally been all about troops in almost all the armies I've built over the last 24 years. So its awkward to build that many elites. Though I will say that I did just make an order for some parts to build at least one (and potentially 2) Squads of Chosen for my Night Lords, and probably 2 squads for my Word Bearers.

 

Troops man. Troops. lol

[Midnight Brotherhood]

 

 

 

Chosen are also in the first CSM codex, but their weapon options were substantially altered by the FAQ.

 

 

*Grabs codex*

 

... ... ... ... Yes. lol

 

 

Yeah they are super flexible now and only 1pt more than a standard marine with a better stat line built for melee. They can be a fun squad to play with some support from an Exalted Champion, they blend imperial troops.

 

 

 

 

I've traditionally been all about troops in almost all the armies I've built over the last 24 years. So its awkward to build that many elites. Though I will say that I did just make an order for some parts to build at least one (and potentially 2) Squads of Chosen for my Night Lords, and probably 2 squads for my Word Bearers.

 

Troops man. Troops. lol

 

 

Oh still keep your Troops for making a battalion for that sweet sweet extra 5 command points. I usually only take one squad of Chosen myself as well.

[Lord_Starscream]

 

 

 

Oh still keep your Troops for making a battalion for that sweet sweet extra 5 command points. I usually only take one squad of Chosen myself as well.

 

 

 

The best time i had in the hobby was playing my Word Bearers during the EoT campaign, where I went something like 32/3, which was amazing. And I built it on, at 2,000 points... I basically just fielded a company of Word Bearers, and a Greater Daemon of Tzeentch.

 

"Special units? Elites? Heavy Support?! NAH, how many more joe blow marines can I fit, with  x2 Plasma guns per squad?" lol

 

But obviously I've played a lot more since then, but genuinely, for Chaos Space Marines my plan is usually to run just a brick of marines. My WB's have about 250-300 cultists to throw into my enemies to be fair. It's just how its gotta be, you see.

 

But for my Night Lords I'm looking at things to be more about just Night Lords themselves. No Daemon Engines, no possessed. Just good ol' boys in dark blue murdering people with guns and such, maybe a few tanks, maybe. I'm basing the whole thing on the colour scheme of this one guy, Mezgike. I've actually started the process of emulating the frozen water base he was using, and I'm intending to run the same overall paint scheme. I've replicated his Chaos Lord with the undead head so far, not got any paint down yet though (just been too busy), but I'm hoping to get things moving starting this weekend, though I'll be painting Word Bearers at the same time.

 

I like the idea that my Night Lords are cursed somehow, and that they have no reprieve from the cold night. Their vessel is cold, slaves die despite their best efforts otherwise, leaving the marines constantly in want for new subjects and slaves. Their battlefields freeze over days before their arrival, and the Marines themselves never know anything beyond the cold, barren world they've been cursed to live through. I'm also going to be creating my first Knight House as being attached to this, bearing similar colours and bases, but as we know, Knights are not Space Marines, they're still not exactly going to be NIght Lords. I'm patiently awaiting the Chaos Codex before I decide on what build theme I'm doing for them.

[SyNidus]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh still keep your Troops for making a battalion for that sweet sweet extra 5 command points. I usually only take one squad of Chosen myself as well.

 

 

The best time i had in the hobby was playing my Word Bearers during the EoT campaign, where I went something like 32/3, which was amazing. And I built it on, at 2,000 points... I basically just fielded a company of Word Bearers, and a Greater Daemon of Tzeentch.

 

"Special units? Elites? Heavy Support?! NAH, how many more joe blow marines can I fit, with x2 Plasma guns per squad?" lol

 

But obviously I've played a lot more since then, but genuinely, for Chaos Space Marines my plan is usually to run just a brick of marines. My WB's have about 250-300 cultists to throw into my enemies to be fair. It's just how its gotta be, you see.

 

But for my Night Lords I'm looking at things to be more about just Night Lords themselves. No Daemon Engines, no possessed. Just good ol' boys in dark blue murdering people with guns and such, maybe a few tanks, maybe. I'm basing the whole thing on the colour scheme of this one guy, Mezgike. I've actually started the process of emulating the frozen water base he was using, and I'm intending to run the same overall paint scheme. I've replicated his Chaos Lord with the undead head so far, not got any paint down yet though (just been too busy), but I'm hoping to get things moving starting this weekend, though I'll be painting Word Bearers at the same time.

 

I like the idea that my Night Lords are cursed somehow, and that they have no reprieve from the cold night. Their vessel is cold, slaves die despite their best efforts otherwise, leaving the marines constantly in want for new subjects and slaves. Their battlefields freeze over days before their arrival, and the Marines themselves never know anything beyond the cold, barren world they've been cursed to live through. I'm also going to be creating my first Knight House as being attached to this, bearing similar colours and bases, but as we know, Knights are not Space Marines, they're still not exactly going to be NIght Lords. I'm patiently awaiting the Chaos Codex before I decide on what build theme I'm doing for them.

 

Like the ever-winter from AOS. Pretty cool concept (

[Lord_Starscream]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh still keep your Troops for making a battalion for that sweet sweet extra 5 command points. I usually only take one squad of Chosen myself as well.

 

The best time i had in the hobby was playing my Word Bearers during the EoT campaign, where I went something like 32/3, which was amazing. And I built it on, at 2,000 points... I basically just fielded a company of Word Bearers, and a Greater Daemon of Tzeentch.

 

"Special units? Elites? Heavy Support?! NAH, how many more joe blow marines can I fit, with x2 Plasma guns per squad?" lol

 

But obviously I've played a lot more since then, but genuinely, for Chaos Space Marines my plan is usually to run just a brick of marines. My WB's have about 250-300 cultists to throw into my enemies to be fair. It's just how its gotta be, you see.

 

But for my Night Lords I'm looking at things to be more about just Night Lords themselves. No Daemon Engines, no possessed. Just good ol' boys in dark blue murdering people with guns and such, maybe a few tanks, maybe. I'm basing the whole thing on the colour scheme of this one guy, Mezgike. I've actually started the process of emulating the frozen water base he was using, and I'm intending to run the same overall paint scheme. I've replicated his Chaos Lord with the undead head so far, not got any paint down yet though (just been too busy), but I'm hoping to get things moving starting this weekend, though I'll be painting Word Bearers at the same time.

 

I like the idea that my Night Lords are cursed somehow, and that they have no reprieve from the cold night. Their vessel is cold, slaves die despite their best efforts otherwise, leaving the marines constantly in want for new subjects and slaves. Their battlefields freeze over days before their arrival, and the Marines themselves never know anything beyond the cold, barren world they've been cursed to live through. I'm also going to be creating my first Knight House as being attached to this, bearing similar colours and bases, but as we know, Knights are not Space Marines, they're still not exactly going to be NIght Lords. I'm patiently awaiting the Chaos Codex before I decide on what build theme I'm doing for them.

 

Like the ever-winter from AOS. Pretty cool concept (

[MegaVolt87]

Go x2 las x2 auto, on both the the havocs units.  x4 las will just get focused down and wiped early. Always look to build in that redundancy. 

[Lord_Starscream]

Go x2 las x2 auto, on both the the havocs units.  x4 las will just get focused down and wiped early. Always look to build in that redundancy. 

 

or... I could do eight Lascannons O.O lol

[Lord Abaia]

The great thing about building a purist army is that if your tastes ever change, you will have an excellent core to whatever kind of army you want to grow in to.

 

I started my 7th Ed Night Lords out as purists (no daemonic infantry, no daemon engines, no cultists, no daemon princes, no summoning.) And I got myself a nice core of some CSM, rhinos, raptors, HQs, and a "helbrute" I converted out of a venerable dread.

 

Eventually one of my opponents gifted me a small unit of warp talons that he had assembled and primed, but had no intention of painting. I justified them by saying they were just veteran raptors with LCs, but the taint of the warp was already wriggling its way into my cold, black heart.

 

8th Ed hit and I thought to myself "There's no harm in giving my raptors an Icon of Despair," "There's no harm in giving my plasma terminators the mark of Slaanesh," "There's no harm in painting up a couple of berzerkers." And now I'm pinning the wings on a metal Daemon Prince, I've got a Herald of Nurgle painted up for summoning, and I just bought a copy of Shadowspear and I'm drooling waiting for ETL to start so I can add all those grody, daemonic models to my army.

 

Or you can not do any of that stuff and just stick to astartes, tanks, and dreads. Either way you'll have already eaten your vegetables so to speak and you will be able to grow in any direction you choose.

[SyNidus]

One thing ADB's trilogy did for me was open up the understanding that my warband does not have to be me. My avatar may be free of chaos taint. But necessity often forces you to make surprising allies.

 

Another route you could take is counts-as. My mark of slaanesh is just better training or stims. Etc. You can model them with less chaos taint if you want. I use converted Centurions as my oblits precisely because i'm not a fan of the warp taint.

[Lord_Starscream]

To be fair, my Word Bearers are being rebuilt at the same time, and are going to be a significantly larger force than my Night Lords, and includes hosts of Daemon Engines, cultists, Daemonic infantry, and swathes of nightmares. 

 

I'm building the purist Night Lords company because its different from my Word Bearers :P

[MegaVolt87]

One thing ADB's trilogy did for me was open up the understanding that my warband does not have to be me. My avatar may be free of chaos taint. But necessity often forces you to make surprising allies.

 

Another route you could take is counts-as. My mark of slaanesh is just better training or stims. Etc. You can model them with less chaos taint if you want. I use converted Centurions as my oblits precisely because i'm not a fan of the warp taint.

 

The bigger take away was actually as purists they stagnated compared to their brothers who embraced chaos. Demon Prince Krieg had one of the iof not the most powerful NL force since he embraced chaos. Talos and his "purity" just led him to be self destructive, the guy destroyed himself and his whole warband. It was just in miniature of how Konrad hated his legion near the end. If Talos was serious he would have gone off the grid for 50+ years to make his warband 100+ strong. I think Talos could have been killed by someone else in the warband, if Xarl/Cyrion didn't gatekeeper him so much. The guy was mid tier melee against other Astartes, he was just popular which kept him alive really. I don't see a new arc with the marine that was descended from Talos because- he would be too OP, or it would be a repeat of the Talos arc/storyline. I would argue a zealot Word Bearer is more sane and together than a purist Night Lord. The Word Bearer is also likely happy/content with their choices and decisions as well. 

[Midnight Brotherhood]

The great thing about building a purist army is that if your tastes ever change, you will have an excellent core to whatever kind of army you want to grow in to.

 

I started my 7th Ed Night Lords out as purists (no daemonic infantry, no daemon engines, no cultists, no daemon princes, no summoning.) And I got myself a nice core of some CSM, rhinos, raptors, HQs, and a "helbrute" I converted out of a venerable dread.

 

Eventually one of my opponents gifted me a small unit of warp talons that he had assembled and primed, but had no intention of painting. I justified them by saying they were just veteran raptors with LCs, but the taint of the warp was already wriggling its way into my cold, black heart.

 

8th Ed hit and I thought to myself "There's no harm in giving my raptors an Icon of Despair," "There's no harm in giving my plasma terminators the mark of Slaanesh," "There's no harm in painting up a couple of berzerkers." And now I'm pinning the wings on a metal Daemon Prince, I've got a Herald of Nurgle painted up for summoning, and I just bought a copy of Shadowspear and I'm drooling waiting for ETL to start so I can add all those grody, daemonic models to my army.

 

Or you can not do any of that stuff and just stick to astartes, tanks, and dreads. Either way you'll have already eaten your vegetables so to speak and you will be able to grow in any direction you choose.

 

I had a similar experience to you of starting out purist after reading the trilogy. Then slowly over time I came to accept that actually lore wise Night Lords that are marked or tainted can be pretty damn scary and more terrifying than their purist equivalents. Similar to what it says in the codex I now see my Night Lords as tainted and marked and use Chaos for their own ends and selfishness, embracing the certain aspects of the dark god's powers to let them be more effective at what they do. It's a nice middle ground between having their own legion identity and goals but not going full on mutation / warp / possession at the same time.

 

 

 

One thing ADB's trilogy did for me was open up the understanding that my warband does not have to be me. My avatar may be free of chaos taint. But necessity often forces you to make surprising allies.

 

Another route you could take is counts-as. My mark of slaanesh is just better training or stims. Etc. You can model them with less chaos taint if you want. I use converted Centurions as my oblits precisely because i'm not a fan of the warp taint.

 

The bigger take away was actually as purists they stagnated compared to their brothers who embraced chaos. Demon Prince Krieg had one of the iof not the most powerful NL force since he embraced chaos. Talos and his "purity" just led him to be self destructive, the guy destroyed himself and his whole warband. It was just in miniature of how Konrad hated his legion near the end. If Talos was serious he would have gone off the grid for 50+ years to make his warband 100+ strong. I think Talos could have been killed by someone else in the warband, if Xarl/Cyrion didn't gatekeeper him so much. The guy was mid tier melee against other Astartes, he was just popular which kept him alive really. I don't see a new arc with the marine that was descended from Talos because- he would be too OP, or it would be a repeat of the Talos arc/storyline. I would argue a zealot Word Bearer is more sane and together than a purist Night Lord. The Word Bearer is also likely happy/content with their choices and decisions as well. 

 

 

Yeah Talos certainly let some of his personal ideology / purity get in the way of strengthening the warband, if he'd followed the Exalted then it's likely they would have been swallowed up into the Black Legion or Red Corsairs (from what I remember)

[Lord Abaia]

I don't think Talos was all that ineffective though. Maintaining a strong warband while bouncing back and forth between the Eye and the stagnation of the Imperium is potentially an impossible prospect for any CSM character. The veterans of the long war are a dying breed and as fractured as the VIII Legion is I imagine the same fate would befall other warbands regardless if they embraced the ruinous powers or not. If anything Talos managed to (potentially) unite the legion by becoming a martyr. Recent lore in Vigilus Ablaze makes mention that only three Night Lords warbands showed up to Vigilus because most of the legion was attacking craftworld Ulthwé.

 

Purist Night Lord armies are a flavorful theme for an army, especially if they are doomed to dwindle and die out for their convictions. I just choose not to run one anymore because I love spooky Chaos stuff too much.

[Lord_Starscream]

I don't think Talos was all that ineffective though. Maintaining a strong warband while bouncing back and forth between the Eye and the stagnation of the Imperium is potentially an impossible prospect for any CSM character. The veterans of the long war are a dying breed and as fractured as the VIII Legion is I imagine the same fate would befall other warbands regardless if they embraced the ruinous powers or not. If anything Talos managed to (potentially) unite the legion by becoming a martyr. Recent lore in Vigilus Ablaze makes mention that only three Night Lords warbands showed up to Vigilus because most of the legion was attacking craftworld Ulthwé.

 

Purist Night Lord armies are a flavorful theme for an army, especially if they are doomed to dwindle and die out for their convictions. I just choose not to run one anymore because I love spooky Chaos stuff too much.

 

The advantages to having Word Bearers with my spooky stuff :P

 

Though to be fair, I am going to have a Knight House, backing up my Night Lords (The pun on the name along was too much), so perhaps it won't be quite as one sided of an affair :P

[Aeternus]

What do people usually give their leviathan's? Its the last day of the get a free dread weapon and it's looking oh so tempting...

[Dizzyeye01]

I went with a balance between combat and dakka: siege drill on one for hurting vehicles and the storm cannon for heavy infantry. The cannon is great for hurting them and being NL means it combos with the legion trait.

 

I've got another one recently but instead I decided to go for the grav cannon arm instead as it's made to hurt vehicles and hordes in order to balance off my first one.