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I'm a big fan of fluff. I have built a chaos Khorne list that seems relatively fluffy to me, and actually seems to perform ok on the table top! (I have to really work for it though). Anyway, my knowledge as to how a warband operates, how it is constructed, or even how it has come in to being is very limited and hence I'm looking to a community with a lot more knowledge than me to help me out.

Very basically my list has;
Kharn,
A dark apostle,
8 bezerkers,
5 warp talons,
20 cultists,
A Heldrake,
2 maulerfiends,
A land raider (kharns personal transport)
And daemon allies consisting of;
A bloodthirster,
10 Bloodletters.

I put the apostle with the cultists, as I think that's fun and fluffy. Kharn rides with his bezerkers in the land raider, and the rest pretty much speaks for itself.

I'm trying to work out how this type of force would form. Would the apostle appear on an imperial world and start spreading the word of the dark gods? Rally enough to his cause to attract the attentions of Kharn and his warband? I've read so much loyalist fluff, and know how chapters are constructed and how they're formed. Chaos is one of my most favourite armies and I know so little.

Thanks for your help.

Word Bearers are really the only chaos legion to have Dark Apostles. Word Bearers worship chaos as a whole instead of a specific god. But in one of the word bearers novels there is an instance of a group of chaos marines doing be battle rituals that come real close to khorne worship.

I guess you could say that the Apostle was banished or left his legion because he fell to Khorne, went solo and started preaching the word of Kharn as being Khornes chosen. Eventually attracted or found Kharn and joined him.

I would also look into running a Khorne Daemonkin army vice a straight up CSM list. You lose a few things (Kharn, the Apostle) but gain some really nice toys and rules.

 Khaine's Wrath wrote:


I put the apostle with the cultists, as I think that's fun and fluffy. Kharn rides with his bezerkers in the land raider, and the rest pretty much speaks for itself.

I'm trying to work out how this type of force would form. Would the apostle appear on an imperial world and start spreading the word of the dark gods? Rally enough to his cause to attract the attentions of Kharn and his warband? I've read so much loyalist fluff, and know how chapters are constructed and how they're formed. Chaos is one of my most favourite armies and I know so little.

Thanks for your help.

To echo what was said, the only books featuring Dark Apostles are Word Bearer books. The Dark Apostle leader of the Word Bearer's Warband, second only to the Dark Council.

The Dark Apostle would not set foot on an Imperial world without an entire invading army. Nor would he be allowed to just stroll about, preaching The Glorious Words of Lorgar to commonfolk.

Kharn is not a leader. He's a bloodthirsty dog of Khorne. He spent an entire night killing Emperor's Children and World Eaters because they decided to take a break form killing each other and seek shelter from deathly weather conditions.

In other words, you'd have to do something the exact opposite.

"During his endless crusade to fill Khorne's coffers with blood and his throne with skulls, Kharn comes across a particularly brutal Warband. Lead by a Dark Apostle, a group of Khornate Beserkers and Warp Talons have conquered whole worlds, leaving in their wake mounds of corpses. From these shattered worlds, few arise to join the dark crusaders. They pledge their lives and bodies to Khorne, and gladly throw themselves head first into the fray, betraying their former Imperial comrades.

This warband has gained enough attention to merit the use of a few Chaos Warmachines in their conquest. Granted to them are a pair of Maulerfiends and a Heldrake. These Daemonic machines crave blood and carnage, and have taken up alongside the Dark Apostle's forces.

Through their last campaign, the Dark Apostle, with the aid of Kharn, created enough havoc, mayhem, and bloodshed to catch the attention of Khorne himself. Being the rewarding God he is, Khorne sent his own minions, a pack of Bloodletters led by a fearsome Bloodthirster.

Together, the combined force has begun a quest to satiate Khorne's never ending thirst for blood, and His never ending demand for skulls"



Or something like that. You get it.

In defense of the Dark Apostle: he could be used to represent any charismatic CSM who leads mortals through force of personality. He doesn't have to be an "official" Word Bearers Dark Apostle.

If it's a traitor warband from after the HH, he could also represent a fallen Chaplain.

Well, Khârn pretty much goes wherever the Red Path takes him. He doesn't care for anything or anyone except serving Khorne. Other Berzerkers and Khornate worshippers like to tag along with him because they believe he is the chosen of Khorne and they hope fighting alongside him will bring them Khorne's favour and lead them to lots of worthy trophies. Khârn is okay with them being there (as long as they don't get in his way) because the support allows him to tackle bigger targets than he'd be capable of taking on on his own. Khârn would not actively look for allies though. Khârn does not seek any support, support seeks Khârn. The only reason Khârn would ever seek you is because he wants your skull.

I like all of this. Thank you.

I'm contemplating using a dark apostle and calling him something akin to a 'slaughter priest' like they have in AoS. I'm also contemplating not calling Kharn Kharn, and instead creating my own chaos Lord who just so happens to use kharns profile from the codex. Why would people think of that?