Hello, I was told that all of you BC players could help me answer a specific question regarding the forces of chaos. And I just wanted some advice regarding a part of my campaign.

One of the more frequent encounters in my campaign is going to be with the forces of chaos. I want to highlight the infighting between followers of the four gods, but I also want there to be some missions that can demonstrate some form of cooperation, between Nurgle and Khorne, and Slaanesh and Tzeentch. But I plan on having it culminate in an encounter that is an all out battle between the forces of the four gods. And its up to the Kill-Team to intervene, with some help from some certain... grey brothers of theirs.

What I'm trying to figure out is how forces of these gods would interact (based on the two divisions I mentioned above) and how I should go about portraying them fighting alongside each other. I know how to play as them individually of course. But there isn't much stuff I've seen in the fluff about these situations.

There are going to be mainly followers devoted to a specific god, and undivided forces will not be frequently encountered.

I could imagine nurgle followers fighting WW 1 - style trench war of attrition, thriving on the despair-filled battlefields where piles of corpses rot on a no-man's land, trenches are filled with mud, dirty water and vomit of those who are poisoned either by chemical weapons extensively employed by nurgle followers or by poisoned water or food. While nurgle followers endure these nightmarish conditions, their enemies don't - whenever any weakness is shown, blood-soaked warriors of khorne launch unstoppable assaults, murdering those few still capable of resisting and those who are wounded or incapacitated alike.

Chaos corrupts anything it touches - slaaneshi demagogues have little problem spreading spread pleasure cults among their enemies, since few can resist drowning in pleasant sensations to get horrors of war out of their heads - if you are going to die, you at least shouldn't die a sober virgin, right? That's right, because those who are supposed to upkeep discipline are instead jumping from shadows, as telepathic offers of tzeentch followers promise those who are in charge a way to heights of power should they forget camaraderie and follow devious coup schemes - and none of them knows how many officers succumbed to these offers, but very suspicious deaths among the most prominent and faithful became common long ago.

What I'm trying to figure out is how forces of these gods would interact (based on the two divisions I mentioned above) and how I should go about portraying them fighting alongside each other. I know how to play as them individually of course. But there isn't much stuff I've seen in the fluff about these situations.

Followers of Khorne won't be friendly to anyone. They tolerate disciples of Nurgle, but it will look and feel more like they just ignore them. Khornates will go well out of their way to kill followers of Slaanesh or absolutely any sorcerer on the field. I recommend you craft an encounter around Khornates using a captured/slaved psyker/sorcerer to bring forth a daemon.

Followers of Nurgle will thrive on the battle because it leads to decay. They will remain close to the Khornates if for not other reason than they make the most corpses to raise from the dead. Contrary to popular belief, followers of Nurgle won't go out of their way to kill anyone - even Tzeentch disciples. They will do this only if it suits them.

Followers of Slaanesh... do I really need to say anything? Booze, tentacles, lobster claws, boobs, yeah... Think of it like this: It's 25% Rave, 25% Torture and 50% awesome

Followers of Tzeentch... more spells... more cunning... more of everything. Tzeentch disciples do the same **** the rest do, they just make it look good.

As above, forces of most gods will usually work with others but it will often be for only a short period and usually no more than absolutely necessary, their values are usually incompatible and their fighting styles will be equally detestable. Fights will often break out amongst both camps as they have debates over techniques or just general arguments and God Emperor forbid if you put Nurgle sorcerers on the battlefield next to the Khorne ones...

Most of these alliances will usually be temporary because one party either has leverage over the other or something they might want and there's a good chance that towards the end of it, one side (particularly the Tzeentch side) might be considering a double cross.

So the question of how this plays out on the battlefield, consider it as Desperate Allies from the 40k rulebooks, where they will work with each other but are likely constantly keeping an eye on the other side. Commanders will likely not care about collateral damage to the other side and if some of their allies get obliterated then they will hardly bat an eyelid. To them it is the responsibility of their own boss rather than them. This means you may get a fair amount of friendly fire if that commander feels it is tactically viable. Additionally they may be constantly looking out waiting to see if they may be betrayed or stabbed in the back at any time.

Neither side will perhaps not generally allow the others to benefit from any of their psychic powers or buffs (at least not intentionally). If they do get any then it is purely coincidence but they will want to see their own side come out as the strongest overall so that they are the one to ultimately profit from the inevitable campaign victory.

Thanks for the advice! Its been very helpful and I'm glad you were able to answer my questions so clearly!

Judging from what you've said it seems like it'll be more believable and make more sense to have Khrone Berserkers and Nurgle Plague Marines fighting alongside each other. Under the premise that the Plague Marines just happen to be fighting whoever they're fighting and don't mind having some bloodthirsty people who just want to have fun killing followers of the corpse emperor. As long as there aren't any sorcerers fighting at the same time. It'll work pretty well, and I'm sure Grandpa Nurgle won't have too big of a problem with that.

It seems like Tzeentch and Slaanesh are a bit more complex and I'd have to make it seem like things are going... JUST AS PLANNED.

But I will be utilizing Slaanesh followers quite soon, and by quite soon I mean the next mission. There will be other non-marines involved, in particular an apostate cardinal who will probably annoy my players by running away and sending his guards after them. But by the end of the mission when my players encounter the head honchos they're in for a bit of a surprise, there's going to be a Slanneshi Sorceror and Noise Marine Champion (that I made using Black Crusade) and a decent amount of Daemonettes. But what the kill-team doesn't know is that all of their killing of followers of the god of pleasure toast or whatever you want to call him, they have drawn the attention of a band of Khorne Berserkers, who will make an entrance jumping through fiery portals along with a few Bloodletters and the Headsman of Cellebos. And then the sh*t will hit the fan.

I'll probably have the most difficulty figuring how to include Tzeentch and his minions and making it seem like an excessively well made plan.

It should be fun though.

I'll probably have the most difficulty figuring how to include Tzeentch and his minions and making it seem like an excessively well made plan.

Easy, just have them there. The plans and machinations of a great champion of Tzeentch do not need to be obvious or apparent to lesser beings, only the truly enlightened can possibly comprehend such a scheme. You could have them wondering whether they left the washing machine running back onboard their fortress and whether they put the toaster in the microwave all session and still it could serve a plan somehow...such is the way of Tzeentch.

I would consider taking the Slaanesh sorcerer out and replacing with a Tzeentchian one. A Slaaneshi noise marine makes for an excellent speciality unit of the Lord of Excess with a few daemonettes on the flank while a pure Tzeentch sorcererer accompanied by flamer or horror daemons makes for a nasty challenge. A sorcerer fully embracing the god who helps manipulate psychic abilities...such a potent psyker may serve as your hook to pull in the Khornate legions. We all know how much Khorne loves those powerful witch types...so their very presence or their death may be the lure for the Headsman.

I'll probably have the most difficulty figuring how to include Tzeentch and his minions and making it seem like an excessively well made plan.

Easy, just have them there. The plans and machinations of a great champion of Tzeentch do not need to be obvious or apparent to lesser beings, only the truly enlightened can possibly comprehend such a scheme. You could have them wondering whether they left the washing machine running back onboard their fortress and whether they put the toaster in the microwave all session and still it could serve a plan somehow...such is the way of Tzeentch.

I would consider taking the Slaanesh sorcerer out and replacing with a Tzeentchian one. A Slaaneshi noise marine makes for an excellent speciality unit of the Lord of Excess with a few daemonettes on the flank while a pure Tzeentch sorcererer accompanied by flamer or horror daemons makes for a nasty challenge. A sorcerer fully embracing the god who helps manipulate psychic abilities...such a potent psyker may serve as your hook to pull in the Khornate legions. We all know how much Khorne loves those powerful witch types...so their very presence or their death may be the lure for the Headsman.

I think I am going to do that. It should go nicely, especially with a Black Templar as one of my players! I have good feelings about this one. And I am going to go a bit over the top with all of these nutjobs screaming PLEASURE! and whatnot. I kind of want to add a bit less-serious and more crazy/funny enemies to fight, I already pitted players against orks but I'm looking forward to the next session.

I'll probably have the most difficulty figuring how to include Tzeentch and his minions and making it seem like an excessively well made plan.

Easy, just have them there. The plans and machinations of a great champion of Tzeentch do not need to be obvious or apparent to lesser beings, only the truly enlightened can possibly comprehend such a scheme. You could have them wondering whether they left the washing machine running back onboard their fortress and whether they put the toaster in the microwave all session and still it could serve a plan somehow...such is the way of Tzeentch.

I would consider taking the Slaanesh sorcerer out and replacing with a Tzeentchian one. A Slaaneshi noise marine makes for an excellent speciality unit of the Lord of Excess with a few daemonettes on the flank while a pure Tzeentch sorcererer accompanied by flamer or horror daemons makes for a nasty challenge. A sorcerer fully embracing the god who helps manipulate psychic abilities...such a potent psyker may serve as your hook to pull in the Khornate legions. We all know how much Khorne loves those powerful witch types...so their very presence or their death may be the lure for the Headsman.

I think I am going to do that. It should go nicely, especially with a Black Templar as one of my players! I have good feelings about this one. And I am going to go a bit over the top with all of these nutjobs screaming PLEASURE! and whatnot. I kind of want to add a bit less-serious and more crazy/funny enemies to fight, I already pitted players against orks but I'm looking forward to the next session.

One thing to keep in mind which many people miss is that Slaanesh is not just about sexual pleasures, excess and lust. You can have a few screaming pleasure and gasping in delight but there are other parts of worship to the Lord of Excess which one can follow. Slaanesh cultists can often strive for utter perfection and obsession doing everything they can to achieve it. It becomes a desire, a drive. A Slaanesh cultist can spend their entire lives seeking out the perfect wine or trying to become the best swordsman/craftsman etc and spend every waking moment trying harder, pushing themselves, never satisfied with what they have produced or their performance and picking faults with it while lesser or normal men may see no such issue. It's an endless torment and a challenge for them and one which drives them ever harder to push themselves. Under such circumstances you can get some pretty (pardon the upcoming pun) warped personalities.

"How did I unite 90 clans that want to kill eachother? I told them if we don't get south of the wall, we're all going to die"

Never underestimate one charismatic leader's ability to bind the groups together for a common goal. It is easy to see how a powerful warlord could get leaders of differing allegiance to all agree to follow his commands because he's promising them a chance to kill a target far grander than anything they could dream of by themselves.

The second sigmar legend book has a good demonstration of this where all the norsica unite to strike back at sigmar.

"How did I unite 90 clans that want to kill eachother? I told them if we don't get south of the wall, we're all going to die"

Never underestimate one charismatic leader's ability to bind the groups together for a common goal. It is easy to see how a powerful warlord could get leaders of differing allegiance to all agree to follow his commands because he's promising them a chance to kill a target far grander than anything they could dream of by themselves.

The second sigmar legend book has a good demonstration of this where all the norsica unite to strike back at sigmar.

Nice reference there! I'm definitely thinking of using someone who could convince several disparate war bands to unite, if there was such a person then it'd most likely be a Dark Apostle, it makes the most sense, and they come from one of the 3 Legions of Chaos Space Marines that did not splinter into a bunch of warbands after the Heresy (the others being the Death Guard and Alpha Legion, though the Alpha Legion are spread out they seem to work towards a single unified goal, the Thousand Sons might count as well but thats because most of them are husks of power armor).

In Liber Chaotica there was a guy conceived his a 100% Slaanesh cultist.

After his death It came out his had been serving Tzeentch his entire life.

Just as planned moments can be quite easy from a GM's perspective