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Normally i'm a big fan of the imperials. I mean, who doesn't have a favourite chapter, or a special place in your hearts for a guard regiment or an affection for an order of sisters. However, i'm extremely interested in Chaos as well. More specifically, i can't decide my favourite out of three... let's say cults:

Slaanesh, since i really appreciate its concept and the noise marines;

Tzeentch, since, while i have no affection for the god itself, i quite like Ahriman, Magnus and the thousand sons in general;

Chaos Undivided, since it's more stable and i appreciate the idea of a pantheon.

Each time i think to have decided which one of these i prefer, and each time i find myself with new doubts.

So, to make myself a definitive idea, i'm asking you guys: What are you opinions on the Chaos gods? Which God is your favourite? What do you think are the pros and cons of the different "cults" (by how cool are the characters in that cult, how cool is the God or its daemons, how much did the faction accomplish etc...)? What made you choose that specific God (or to venerate all of them)?

Khorne is the best, he is simple in what he wants and rewards those who give it to him. Also he has the coolest demons with the bloodthirster being pretty much the classic demon.

I personally like Khorne. Something about his uncompromising, uncomplicated nature I like about him.

Slaanesh is kind of meh for me, but that comes from not liking Fulgrim.

Tzeentch - as a concept, doesn't grab me as much as Khorne does, but would probably rate him as second I do feel for Magnus though, so a thousand sons force, sure.

Nurgle, I'm not sure, he is more a force of nature. I'd rate him between Slaanesh and Tzeentch.

Undivided - Word Bearers are a legion I love to hate. I like the Iron Warriors, I somehow think they were always boarder line and could have gone either way before the Horus Heresy. Don't like Nightlords or Black Legion

I would point out my opinions are based on the horus heresy novels more than game options or abilities

I have no favourite, they each reflect a side of me:

Khorne is my desire to fight my opponant face to face and triumph with honour.

Tzeentch is my desire to trick and confuse people.

Slaanesh is my desire to do whatever I wish and to experience all I can from this world.

Nurgle is my complacency and contentedness with death and decay of the world and to find joy at the darkest of times.


I feel I can't have favourites as they are all shades of me. (Which makes sense since the Gods of Chaos were created from the emotions of sentient beings)

Khorne and Tzeentch are probably my favourites. Slaanesh and Nurgle don't do it for me in quite the same way.

All very 1 dimensional. (currently anyway. i miss the old duality thing like korn is about blood AND honor)

as it is conceptually i only really like slannesh. maybe a bit of tzeench.

Nurgle is absolutely dull model and fluff wise, Khorne love the models hate the fluff.

exception to all of this is Chaos vehicles. i love all the daemon engines.

My favorites are Nurgle 1st and Tzeentch being 2nd. Khorne is 3rd with Chaos Undivided coming in before Slaanesh.
-Nurgle because he is like the grandfather who is loving and cares so much for his followers. He bestows his gifts graciously to each of his followers.
-Tzeentch has change and time on his hands. He is always looking for a way to gift his followers and yet his gifts always come at a cost. Plus I feel The Thousand Sons kind of got screwed in the HH, yes they were told not to use their warp sense, but that would have been like telling Rogal Dorn and the IF to not set up defensive positions, or The Iron Warriors to not besiege every planet they took.
-Khorne, I like Khorne for his simplicity, and I like how he gifts those who sacrifice for him. I just don't see enough of him in me to play that style on the table.
-Chaos Undivided, I love the Iron Warriors fluff and I love the Nightlords fluff( both of whom I believe also got screwed in the HH), Black Legion and Word Bearers can go themselves...I don't like either warband.
-Slaanesh- the perverted little brother/sister of the other chaos gods who is just a little to sick and twisted imo.

My ranking:

1 - Nurgle - The "nicest" of the Chaos gods, I like how Nurgle is not just a god of death and decay, but also life itself, as his process brings about bountiful microbial life from the deaths of larger lifeforms. Plus, there is just something cool about the aesthetics of the models and the art - I'm not normally one for gross for the sake of gross, but Nurgle just works for me. Plus, the way he captured the Eldar goddess is very similar to the story of Hades and Persephone from mythology, so that is cool!

2 - Khorne - The most honest, straight-forward Chaos entity. Run up and attack the enemy, without too much flair. The "Neo-Classical" aesthetics of the Daemons I like because they are very familiar and simple, yet not the exact same as what we see in other media.

3 - Tzeentch - Eh, Tzeentch is okay. I'm not much into magic myself, and I am not a fan of any character or entity in a story "knowing" everything going on, becuase either it's A) not true, or B) overpowered and unbeatable. The Daemons look pretty cool, but I'm not really interested in the magic-heavy aspect of games.

4 - Slaanesh - I like to keep things PG or PG-13 at all times, and Slaanesh makes that difficult. Sure, Slaanesh can be handled maturely and in ways that aren't inappropriate for children, but it is hard to do. I am trying to get me 8-year old step-daughter into the hobby, and I hope that she skims over all the Slaanesh stuff. Plus, I am just not a fan of the models, like, at all, except for Noise Marines and the Forge World Kakaphoni squad.

Your best chance at a really viable list it to do undivided and take the best units from multiple chaos powers.
Focusing on 1 patron can be rewarding, but you run the risk of having gaps in your tactical tool box.

From a Daemons perspective, I consistently run lists that include at least 1-2 units for all 4 gods. I don't think I have every run a list that didn't have at least 3 represented.

My ranking in Aesthetics comes like this:

1-Khorne: When they don't have bunny helmets, both daemons and chaos warriors of Khorne are generally my favourite kind of Chaos.
2-Tzeentch: Birds rules. Blue rules too, and in general the mutated and more ornate tzeentch motives with egiptian subthemes are really cool.
3/4-Nurgle/Slaanesh: Normally I love the Nurgle aesthetics, their helmets, weapons, armours, etc... but I really don't like the bloated and putrid thing, with bellys open with the guts exposed or their daemos. Slaanesh is the same: I love the Greek aesthetic like the old fantasy Chaos Lord in Slaanesy mount, but the BDSM aesthetic of Daemonettes etc... I don't like it.

In lore and personality:
1-Nurgle: As the God of Despair I love how he is the most goofy and "good" god of the fourth. But I love the dark twist to that, how him being "good" and "funny" represents people trying to surpass their diseases and failing to do so.
2-Khorne/Tzeentch: I find both appealing for totally opposed reasons. The simple and direct nature of Khorne and the totally incomprehensible nature of Tzeentch.
3-Slaanesh: I normally ignore the "OMG SEX/BDSM/ROCK AND DRUGS!" side of Slaanesh and I see him as the good of perfection and excess in every aspect of life, but even then, is the least interesting good to me.


But as others have said, my favourite kind of Chaos is the old fantasy one: The Chaos Undivided as a Pagan Pantheon. Where Chaos Followers aren't crazy cultists, but just northsmen and women that live their lives with the Chaos Gods just being forces of nature and as a formal religion that mark their traditions. Thats why I prefer much more the Chaos Warriors that the Chaos Space Marines. Ones are simpathetic badass vikings that pray to their goods but are humans still, with a rich culture. Others are just emo super-kids with papa issues.

Khorne is probably my favorite because he represents more than just slaughter and carnage. He is arguably the god of honorable combat, justice and truth. Straight and to the point is the way I like'm.

Also the fact that this model exists even if it isn't 40k.

Tzeentch is easily my favorite. I like the patient schemer theme. Tzeentch is playing Chess, the other gods are playing Hungry Hungry Hippos.

Next would probably be Slaanesh, though I don't think he/she has been handled well in the past. While some of the extended lore has done Slaanesh well, there is so much more to the concept of "hedonism" than what seen in the primary fluff (IE the stuff directly relating to the table top).

Nurgle would be next (and his models are by far my favorites). I like the caring father type personality he displays, and again, his models are really cool and SUPER fun to paint!

Khorne is my least favorite (though I still like him). The whole KILL! MAIM! BURN! theme is kind of tiresome at times. My favorite bits of Khorne lore are relating to his sense of honor. I like that in AoS, the Bloodbound were super excited when the Stormcast Eternals were created. It finally gave them a foe worth fighting.

Honestly, the Chaos Gods are the embodiment of why I love 40k. Over the top, crazy, balls out, grim dark shenanigans.

1. Chaos Undivided, boring, but a classic. The main reason I like chaos is because the Imperium is honestly a tyrannical religious fundamentalist police state hellhole where life is terrible, and you are going to die a terrible death. Chaos is a viable way out.
Also fight the power, Alpha Legion all the way. The anarchist in me is speaking.

2. Khorne. He is simple, he has something he loves to do, and he does it. 0 brainpower required - Khorne is basically comfort food for me.
Also there's some primal instinct encouraging us all into smashing something weaker than you into a bloody mush.

3. Slanesh. Honestly same as Khorne, all she (to me any way) wants to do and do what she loves. What she loves is really messed up beyond all belief - but gosh darn, do what you love hey.

3. Nurgle. I like the life part of nurgle, and how its the reflection of death. But damn is he nasty. Pretty meh with him.

4. Tzeentch. I dunno, use to like him when I was younger. Plans within plans and the whole lot. Don't like him now.

After reading the previous posts I think the best case has been made for Undivided. Then Tzeentch cuz that is how he planned it.

Malal, of course.

 Purifier wrote:
Malal, of course.

Who's Malal

I've actually made a tiny homage to Malal in my Skitarii army.

You see, this is what the skull of the Mechanicum looks like:



While they are flipped every now and then, most artwork and models with GW has the skull black to the left, white to the right.

These are my Skitarii



And this is the logo of Malal

As a satanist Chaos is a confusing thing for me. I like the models and lore but abhor the worship of Gods for any reason. That said, Satanism deals with metaphorical (ie, imaginary) gods and their non-existance whereas the Chaos Gods are very real. So I really don't know if I like Chaos or not, but what I do like is Khorne. Simple and elegant in the brutality. Kill or be killed. Fight with honour and like a man, don't resort to trickery bs

I like tzeentch I just think he's kind of misrepresented. I imagine a lovecraft inspired "the thing" kind of deamons as apposed to peacock fish bird human things.

nateprati wrote:
I like tzeentch I just think he's kind of misrepresented. I imagine a lovecraft inspired "the thing" kind of deamons as apposed to peacock fish bird human things.

^This. I've always liked Tzeentch the most (tho I like -all- the Chaos Gods for various reasons), I just hate the aesthetic of his Daemons.

I enjoy the idea of 'Knowledge is Power' that Tzeentch - and to an extent, the TS - embody, but large birds, and flaming blobs don't really strike me as all that imposing, really.

All the Gods have an aspect to them that is at least interesting to me on some level, but Tzeentch is generally my favorite. I like how he's playing 'the long game' and how he manages to manipulate others without them ever being the wiser. Sure, many times it's excessive, especially when he looses, yet it's still "All part of the plan" (essentially meaning he never looses...), but the overall concept is neat.

Tzeentch by virtue of the whole roundabout prophecy thing and the links to the Thousand Sons

Firstly, I like all four in their own way. But if I had to choose it would be..

1. Slaanesh is my top god because, well, the lord of pleasure! sex, drugs, rock and roll and fetishes. Nothing stands out more than a bunch of pink marines with multi-coloured mohawks. In fact, Anything that makes 7th edition eldar scared is always a big plus. Who is not tempted by pleasure?

2. Nurgle. Always liked the look and lore of plague marines. As long as they are not "over the top" such as the new 8th edition starter kit (GW Trying too hard)

3. Tzeentch. Vary cool lore. The master of change and manipulation. Really liked the Thousand sons tragedy during the HH

4. Khorne. Not only capable of carrying very intelligent conversions most of the time but the only god that refuses to fill his prozac prescription. Cool, but also very one dimensional on and off the tabletop.

I like the Nurgle miniature range and the conversion opportunities, and the lore is alright, but I already have a green army (orks) so I'll probably never collect an army of them.

I like Noise Marines and other CSM devoted to Slaanesh, but I'm not too fond of the actual daemons of the pleasure god. The lore is mediocre and I'm not fond of the rules they've traditionally been associated with (going fast and having good anti-infantry is kind of bland compared to the lore).

I don't care for the Tzeentch lore that much, but TSons are an exception being awesome in the fluff and and daemons look good too. Tzeentch-heavy daemons were almost my first army.

And Khorne is probably my favorite right now. Amusingly my opinion of the Khorne range is the inverse of my opinion of the Slaanesh range, I prefer the daemons to berserkers and Khorne CSM. The fluff is decent too, and the World Eaters are runner-up for my favorite traitor legion.

 Purifier wrote:
Malal, of course.

I approve of this message

I would find the Chaos Gods more interesting if, as other posters mentioned, you saw more of the duality of chaos in the realm.

The focus is so overwhelmingly negative you just don't see any depth.

Your opinions about the Chaos Gods

Khorne has anger management issues.
Slaanesh is full of himself.
Nurgle is a dirty hippy and needs a bath.
Tzeentch is a know it all.

 Purifier wrote:

not sure if this is a good thing or not, but this looks like a cartoon version of my wife.

-

When I started playing the game 15ish years ago I was all about Slaanesh. I've also always liked Khorne as well, probably because Berzerkers look so cool.

Gradually I started liking tzeentch more and I've sort of come around to accepting nurgle, although I've never been really into the nurgle thing.

All in all, I started monotheistic and gradually started worshiping the whole pantheon.

 Galef wrote:

 Purifier wrote:

not sure if this is a good thing or not, but this looks like a cartoon version of my wife.

-

Well done

 Galef wrote:

 Purifier wrote:

not sure if this is a good thing or not, but this looks like a cartoon version of my wife.

-

Does she attend cults and attempt to raise icons in worship to the chaos gods as well?