rems01 wrote:I'll be answering in bold text within the quote, i find it easier to address specific points.
-Snip-
Ok the World Eaters were fractured at Skalathrax but their obviously still listening to big daddy or he wouldn't have been able to rally even the 5-10k that attacked Armageddon
I find it hard to believe the inquisition tracked down every last one and nuked their planets from orbit just to be sure, even then its entirely possible the Wolves shipped a few back to Fenris where they KNEW they would be safe, you cannot entirely eliminate history on that scale with that many variables, especially for an organisation that routinely looses track of planets.
Open defiance of the High Lords is something that all 12 would be worried about, its not a case of defying the inquisition or attacking the echlesiarchy these are organisations empowered and endorsed by the High Lords, they may not like or tolerate each other but defiance of one brings into question defying the others.
Influence and Resources beyond what marines should have is another way in which several chapters defy the mandates of the High Lords, they just can;t DO anything about it, I'm sure the Lords aren't exactly ecstatic about that state of affairs.
But they don't have to just make new ones, chaos chapters are known to be full of recent defectors and the chaos space marines willingness to steal geneseeds from dead loyalists means they don't exactly have a diminished supply
And as for a source of Bile having mastered cloning, He cloned Horus, I think he can manage to clone grunts en masse, with the use of daemonic alchemy and outright sorcery in some cases Chaos actually has an advantage in keeping the numbers up, or they would all be dead by now.
Yes the legion broke up at Skalathrax yet thousands of years later Angron still has rallied his legion back for two separate attacks on the imperium both of which involved large elements of his legion so he must have some control over them still.
Why would they have a problem replenishing, between more access to willing supplicants and the use of chaos magics to circumvent the usual constraints of engineering people in a lab not too mention a secure stronghold from which to do it and endless supply of war material from their own shops and smiths and what they scavenge from the imperium, their not lacking for people or equipment.
But we've digressed from the point, who won Armageddon......
Khorne
Imperium ultimately ended up with a few years reprieve before Ghazzkull came to the party
