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★ Night Lords

The Night Lords were the eighth Legion formed during the First Founding. Their Primarch, Konrad Curze – later to be known as Night Haunter – grew up on the mining planet known as Nostromo, a world shielded from its sun by a huge moon, and which consequently rested in almost perpetual blackness. The days on Nostromo, such as they were, were only slightly lighter than the pitch-black nights, and the people of the planet grew up with a deathly grey pallor. Suicide and depression were facts of life on such a world, and were it not for the huge deposits of adamantium formed beneath the planet’s surface, it is doubtful the world would have been inhabited at all.

How This Supplement Works

On this page, you will find special rules unique to armies from the Night Lords that reflect their tactics on the battlefield. You will also find Warlord Traits, Chaos Artefacts and Tactical Objectives that you can use when fielding your Night Lords army in games of Warhammer 40,000, and an exclusive Detachment – the Murder Talon.

Books


BookKindEditionVersionLast update
► Traitor LegionsCodex Supplement71.0January 2017

FAQ

Traitor Legions

 Q: Alpha Legion have the ability to bring Cultists back on a 4+ in their Insurgency Force, but the only way to take Cultists is in the Lost and the Damned Formation which already has the rule. How do these interact?
 A
These rules do not interact in any stackable way.

Night Lords Special Rules

Any Detachment with the Chaos Space Marines Faction can be from one of the nine Traitor Legions. A Night Lords Detachment retains the Chaos Space Marines Faction and is treated in all ways as a Chaos Space Marines Detachment, with the following modifications:
All units in a Night Lords Detachment or Formation gain the following special rules:

In Midnight Clad

Units that have the Veterans of the Long War special rule have the Fear, Night Vision and Stealth special rules.

Skyborne Horror

Units of Raptors are Troops choices instead of Fast Attack choices.

Terror Tactics

Enemy units that are locked in combat with any units from a Night Lords Detachment or Formation must subtract 2 from their Leadership when taking Fear tests.

Tactical Objectives

D6Result
11Hunter, Prey 
12Genocidal Tendencies 
13Strike as if from Nowhere 
14Murder on the Mind 
15Excessive Force 
16Bringers of Terror 

Presented below are six Tactical Objectives to use in your games of Warhammer 40,000, which are exclusive to Night Lords players and reflect their murderous style of warfare.

If your Warlord is from a Night Lords Detachment or Formation, you may replace the Capture & Control Tactical Objectives (numbers 11-16) described in Warhammer 40,000: The Rules with the Tactical Objectives on this page.

If a Warhammer 40,000 mission has the Tactical Objectives special rule, players use the normal rules for using Tactical Objectives with the following exception: when a Night Lords player using these Tactical Objectives generates a Capture & Control objective (numbers 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 or 16), they instead generate the corresponding Night Lords Tactical Objective, as shown in the table to the right. Other Tactical Objectives (numbers 21-66) are generated normally.

HUNTER, PREY
The Night Lords prey upon the weakling champions of lesser foes with a cruel pleasure.
11
Score 1 Victory Point at the end of your turn if you killed any enemy characters in a challenge during your turn.
Type: NIGHT LORDS
GENOCIDAL TENDENCIES
The Night Lords can often be seen giving into their baser instincts and hurling themselves at the foe to indiscriminately murder and slay.
12
Score 1 Victory Point at the end of your turn if at least one unit made a successful charge during your turn.
Type: NIGHT LORDS
STRIKE AS IF FROM NOWHERE
A favoured strategy of the Night Lords is to launch sudden and hard-hitting strikes, be they from the skies, concealed positions or the enemy flanks.
13
Score 1 Victory Point at the end of your turn if you completely destroyed an enemy unit with a unit that was either in cover or that arrived from Deep Strike Reserves during your turn.
Type: NIGHT LORDS
MURDER ON THE MIND
The Night Lords never pass up an opportunity for a gory display of brutality.
14
Score 1 Victory Point at the end of your turn if you completely destroyed one enemy unit during the Assault phase of your turn. Score D3 Victory Points instead if you completely destroyed three or more enemy units during the Assault phase of your turn.
Type: NIGHT LORDS
EXCESSIVE FORCE
Since the days of the Great Crusade, the Night Lords have borne a reputation for the merciless execution of those standing in their way.
15
Score D3 Victory Points at the end of your turn if you completely destroyed at least two enemy units that were controlling Objective Markers at the start of your turn.
Type: NIGHT LORDS
BRINGERS OF TERROR
Honouring the ways of their Primarch’s reign of terror on ancient Nostramo, the Night Lords use fear as a weapon as much as bolter and blade.
16
Score 1 Victory Point at the end of your turn if your opponent failed a Morale, Pinning or Fear test during your turn. If your opponent failed 3 or more Morale, Pinning or Fear tests, score D3 Victory Points instead, and if they failed 6 or more, score D3+3 Victory Points.
Type: NIGHT LORDS

Warlord Traits

When generating his Warlord Traits, a Warlord from an Iron Warriors Detachment or Formation may choose to roll on the table below instead of those found in Warhammer 40,000: The Rules or Codex: Chaos Space Marines.

D6Warlord Traits
1One Piece at a Time…
This Warlord prefers to toy with his prey, striking hard and fast, then vanishing once more, his injured and helpless victim completely at his mercy.
Your Warlord has the Hit & Run special rule. 
2Murderous Reputation
Even amongst a breed of murderers, this Warlord and his brethren have gained a notorious reputation for their mastery of the killing art.
Your Warlord and his unit can re-roll any To Wound rolls of 1 in the Assault phase
3Bitter Hatred
This Warlord shares his ancient Primarch’s bitterness and channels it into a ferocious killing fury in battle.
Your Warlord has the Hatred special rule. 
4One With the Shadows
So skilled at blending into darkness is this Warlord that it is difficult to discern where his corporeal form ends and the shadows begin.
Your Warlord can re-roll failed cover saves
5Dirty Fighters
To the Night Lords, the very notion of fighting fair is alien, and this Warlord has trained his closest warriors to use every dirty trick in the book.
Your Warlord and his unit have the Hammer of Wrath special rule. If they already have this special rule (if they are equipped with jump packs or Chaos bikes, for example), you can re-roll any failed To Wound rolls when resolving their Hammer of Wrath attacks. 
6Killing Fury
A warrior born, this Warlord launches himself into the heart of the enemy lines the better to slake his thirst for murder.
Your Warlord has the Rampage special rule. 

Detachments


Night Lords Murder Talon

The Murder Talon allows you to represent the typical structure of a Night Lords army on the battlefield. Whether you wish to bring death and destruction with the full might of a Chaos invasion force, or field an elite warband tasked with some dark purpose, the choices below offer a great way to pick your army.

A Murder Talon is a special type of Detachment that can be included in any Battle-forged army. Unlike the Detachments shown in Warhammer 40,000: The Rules, it has a Force Organisation Chart whose slots are a combination of specific Formations and Army List Entries instead of Battlefield Roles. However, it still has compulsory and optional elements, as well as Restrictions and Command Benefits, just like any other Detachment.

Although units cannot normally belong to more than one Detachment, units from a Formation that is part of a Murder Talon are an exception. They count as part of both their Formation and the Detachment, and have all associated Command Benefits and special rules. If your Warlord is part of a Formation or an Army List Entry that makes up part of a Murder Talon, the entire Murder Talon is your Primary Detachment.

Command
0-4
Core
1+
Auxiliary
1+


LORD OF THE LEGION
 • 1 of the following:
  - Chaos Lord
  - Sorcerer
  - Dark Apostle
  - Daemon Prince

 • 1 Chaos Lord
 • 0-1 Sorcerer
 • 1-3 units chosen in any combination from the following list:
  - Chosen
  - Chaos Terminators
  - Possessed
 • 2-6 units of Chaos Space Marines
 • 1-3 units chosen in any combination from the following list:
  - Raptors
  - Warp Talons
  - Chaos Bikers
 • 1-3 units chosen in any combination from the following list:
  - Havocs
  - Helbrute
 • 1 Chaos Lord
 • 3-5 units chosen in any combination from the following list:
  - Raptors
  - Warp Talons

 • 1 Dark Apostle
 • 4-9 units of Chaos Cultists

 • 2-4 Heldrakes

 • 1-3 Warpsmiths
 • 3-5 units chosen in any combination
from the following list:
  - Obliterators
  - Mutilators

 • 1 Chaos Lord or Sorcerer
 • 3-5 units of Chaos Terminators

SPAWN
 • 1-3 units of Chaos Spawn
 • 1 Warpsmith
 • 3-5 units chosen in any combination from the following list:
  - Helbrute
  - Maulerfiend
  - Forgefiend
  - Defiler

 • 1 Warpsmith
 • 3-5 units chosen in any combination from the following list:
  - Chaos Predators
  - Chaos Vindicators
  - Chaos Land Raider

 • 1 Daemon Prince
 • 3-5 units of Possessed

RESTRICTIONS
This Detachment must include at least one Core choice and one Auxiliary choice. It may include up to four Command choices and any number of additional Core or Auxiliary choices, in any combination. Only the datasheets listed here can be included in this Detachment and all units must have the Chaos Space Marines Faction.

COMMAND BENEFITS
Nocturnal Warfare: If the Night Lords player wishes the Night Fighting rules to take effect, they are automatically successful; there is no need to roll. Whilst the Night Fighting rules are in effect, all non-vehicle units in this Detachment add 1 to their cover saves.

Strike Fast, Strike Hard: You can re-roll failed charge rolls for units from this Detachment.

Talon-master: If this Detachment is your Primary Detachment, you can re-roll the result when rolling on the Night Lords Warlord Traits table.

Chaos Artefacts of the Night Lords

The most favoured champions within Night Lords Legion wield powerful and deadly relics designed with a simple but cruel purpose in mind – murder. Only one of each of the following items may be chosen per army, and only one may be chosen per model.

Units in an Night Lords Detachment or Formation that can normally take Chaos Artefacts in Codex: Chaos Space Marines can choose to take items from the Chaos Artefacts of the Night Lords list below at the points cost shown instead.

Scourging Chains 10 pts
Curze’s Orb 20 pts
Stormbolt Plate 20 pts
Talons of the Night Terror 20 pts
Vox Daemonicus 30 pts
Claws of the Black Hunt 40 pts

Claws of the Black Hunt

These vicious hooked talons have spilt the blood of thousands of victims since their creation in the Soul Forges. Worn by the master of the Black Hunt, a vicious ritual that precedes the greatest of Night Lords invasions, they are so encrusted with gore they are almost black. This congealed fluid is so thick it cannot even be seared away by the vicious energy field that runs about each claw. This is seen by some as a clear sign of a gory blessing from destructive gods, and the crackling field is so powerful it burns cloth at a yard’s distance. Even when the wielder swipes the air near a foe, not quite making contact, the victim’s armour and flesh part as if slashed open by a fierce and invisible beast.
The Claws of the Black Hunt are a pair of Melee weapons that replace all of the bearer’s Melee and ranged weapons (excluding grenades). Each claw has the following profile:

Range S AP Type
- +1 3 Melee, Master-crafted, Rending, Shred

Curze’s Orb

Said to have sat upon the arm of Curze’s throne, this orb was a gift from Magnus, Primarch of the Thousand Sons. It was given to help Curze focus his precognitive visions, though in truth, the primogenitor of the Night Lords never felt the need to use it. Now it is his sons that make use of the strange device, scrying possible futures in its depths even as they take battle to their enemies.
The bearer of Curze’s Orb can re-roll any Run, To Hit and To Wound rolls of 1.

Scourging Chains

The Scourging Chains once jangled from the rafters of the Primarch Konrad Curze’s throne room. Many a soul judged guilty by the Night Haunter has been hanged from their jagged spikes until death. Appearing taut as corded tendons as the wearer flies towards his chosen victims, these spiked chains loosen and loop at the last moment before impact. By lashing out to catch the wearer’s prey and then contracting sharply, they bring the enemy close – often onto an outstretched blade or crackling set of lightning claws.
All of the bearer’s close combat attacks have the Shred special rule.

Stormbolt Plate

This artificer armour was fashioned from a strange metal smelted in the darkest pits of long-dead Nostramo. It is not the war-plate’s incredible durability, however, that has made it so prized amongst the Night Lords, for it is wreathed in a cloying darkness, an unnatural skein of midnight that perpetually shrouds the wearer. So it is that a warrior with the Stormbolt Plate pounces on their prey from the shadows.
The Stormbolt Plate confers a 2+ armour save. In addition, the bearer improves their cover save by 1.

Talons of the Night Terror

Worn over a pair of boots, these talons give the wielder the appearance of some eldritch raptor-beast that has evolved to better disembowel its prey. Should one sporting these bladed accoutrements descend feet-first into the ranks of his prey, the talons will clutch and rip, slicing and eviscerating all those too slow to evade. A heartbeat later, the crushing weight of the Chaos Space Marine wearer will be brought to bear with sickening, spine-breaking impact.
In each Fight sub-phase, the bearer can make an additional D3 Attacks (or D6 Attacks on a turn in which they charged) at their normal Initiative step, using the following profile:

Range S AP Type
- User 5 Melee, Shred

Vox Daemonicus

Emanating from the ornate winged helm in which it makes its home, a living susurrus haunts the airwaves, spreading lies and falsehoods across the vox networks of the Night Lords’ enemies. The chill whispers of the Vox Daemonicus have unmanned brave commanders and undermined masterful strategies; many a well-laid plan has been torn to shreds by its baleful curse.
Enemy units within 6" of the bearer must subtract 1 from their Leadership. In addition, whilst the bearer is on the battlefield, your opponent must subtract 1 from their Reserve Rolls.