Warhammer 40k Chaos Space Marine players who want unique rules for their traitor legion, give thanks to the dark gods! Indie game designer and homebrewer Noelle has created a full supplement with unique detachment rules for each of the six traitor legions that don’t yet have their own official rules.
Warhammer 40k eighth and ninth edition saw a proliferation of sub-faction rules, with every Warhammer 40k faction from Orks to Aeldari offered a choice of subfactions. These came with a suite of bonus special rules, Relics, Warlord Traits, and 40k Stratagems. Subfactions are almost entirely gone from Warhammer 40k 10th edition, which simplifies the game, but also removes a lot of flavor from some armies.
Chaos Space Marines were hit particularly hard. While Thousand Sons, Death Guard, and World Eaters enjoy unique Index rules, the other six traitor Legions share the Chaos Space Marines army list, despite huge differences in their tactical doctrines and armory. Noelle’s ‘Traitor Legions Extended’ – available to download here – brings those differences back.
The expansion uses the 40k Detachment system, providing an alternative Detachment for each Legion, with special rules, Stratagems, and Enhancements. There’s some subtle, lore appropriate tinkering here: for example the Slaanesh-worshipping Emperor’s Children Detachment can’t contain any units aligned to another 40k Chaos god, but is able to take Noise Marines as a battleline choice and attach character models to them.
Long-time 40k fans will fondly remember the 3.5 edition Chaos Space Marine Codex – the second Codex released for the faction during third edition 40k – which helped to define the lesser-known Legions with restrictions and additional unit choices. Noelle’s expansion continues that tradition, doubling down on the Night Lords as a legion of jump-pack wearing terror troops, the Iron Warriors as gun-toting siege specialists, and the Alpha Legion as saboteurs and infiltrators.
Want to know more about the Chaos Space Marine legions? Check out our guide to the Horus Heresy books if you want to find the roots of each of the legions. We can also recommend Iron Within on Warhammer 40k streaming service Warhammer TV as a perfect introduction to the Iron Warriors, and Chaos Space Marines in general.