Lost and the Damned

This article or section is about something oldschool - and awesome. Make sure your rose-tinted glasses are on nice and tight, and prepare for a lovely walk down nostalgia lane.

FOR CHAOS!!

A General term for the various cultists, pirates, mutants and so forth that are not space marines and fight for chaos. Well known for fantacism, narm, disposibility (c'mon, they're evil Guardsmen), and alternating between complete brilliance and brain-shattering idiocy depending on the individual force group; some, such as the Blood Pact, Children of Nemeroth, and Brethren of Fire, are well-trained and organized, led by actual Chaos Champions, whereas others are traditional Chaos-worshipping pants-on-head retards. Most Lost and the Damned force groups are considered at least 50% as ballsy as their Imperial counterparts, which is fairly ballsy by the standards of the 41st Millenium.

In general, Lost and the Damned forces played somewhat similar to the Imperial Guard, but with a number of unique differences. Most notable is that they got different heavy and special weapons, a few different vehicles (including the option of Rhino Transports OR Chimera Personnel Carriers for transports, Defilers AND Leman Russ Battle Tanks for fire support, and so on), and that they replace the usual suite of abhuman and specialist units the Guard have - Ratlings, Ogryns, and Veteran Squads and Storm Troopers - with versatile units like Mutants, Big Mutants, summoned Daemons, and Chaos Space Marine squads. The result was a tactically-flexible army, but one that traded the raw firepower of the Imperial Guard Codex of the day for flexibility and genuinely fun-to-use options. They also had a few options that were mod-fodder, such as the Stalk Tank.

As of today, the Lost and the Damned are both hopelessly outdated and no longer supported by Games Workshop, functionally making them our generation's Squats. Despite popular demand, there's no indication that the army will ever be re-released, even though Forge World still carries models for it. Sadly due to the lack of the proper codex, as of thus far, you can only use them if you count them as a Guard Army, which may or may not be even possible depending on what your force group originally consisted of. If it had a lot of Daemons, Zombies, or Mutants congrats: You're fucked.

And you thought the Guard was rough

So, you have managed to defect from the Imperium and joined the ranks of the Lost and the Damned. You had been drafted and taken from your dreary but comparatively peaceful home that you shall never see again, taken across the galaxy to a place you have never heard of to die in a war you have never heard of in the name of the Emperor. You have lived off shit rations, been bullied and bossed around and threatened by men in nice hats and then those voices in the back of your head came offering an escape for all that. And you have managed to somehow switch sides and join up with the local chaos force, everything is going to get better right?

Think again.

First of all, while you have switched heaps, you are still at the bottom. And while your old bosses might have been puritanical callous slave drivers, at least they were sane. Sided with Slaanesh, well prepare your anus. Sided with Khorne, hope to hell that you don't get set with a delay or have to go on a long march or get pinned down among your fellow Psycopaths, because he only cares that it flows. Tzeench? Well, expect to be expended in someone's schemes. Nurgle? Hope you like becoming a walking pile of sores, blisters and pustules with random bits falling off while smelling of a mixture of slaughterhouse runoff, old gym socks and vomit (alright, to be fair you won't care about that being Nurglite and all).

On top of that, your leaders are completely fucking nuts and you are their punching bag. Alright, some are better than others (though the same goes for the guard that your heretical ass left) but the bottom bar for chaos leaders is going to be lower. Chaos is more, well, chaotic. Seeing someone shot because the boss had one of his little moments or knifed in the back because someone forgot where he put his socks and accuses someone else in your Warband of stealing them is not going to be uncommon. Now if you are a scheming bastard, a good demagogue, an exceptional fighter or simply lucky/favoured by the gods you might be able to go up in rank (though generals die in the guard as well and someone's gotta fill those gaps). That said, this is quite a cut-throat business. On a related note, the forces of chaos are also opposed to themselves. In absence of loyalists or orks and such, a battle between servants of rival chaos gods is inevitable. Even if you are fighting a loyalist force or some orks, you still better keep an eye out for rival chaos worshipers.

Then there is support. If nothing else the Imperium has the edge in Industry and general manpower. You will generally have to make due with much less than you did in the guard and much of your gear is likely going to be looted from people who don't want you looting their stuff. Now Daemons, some mutations and the blessings of the Chaos goods might be help, but that brings up the risk of getting into Chaos Spa-urh, going-even-lower-down-the-command-chain-than-you-already-were-while-losing-your-brain-in-the-process-territory. Finally, you've had enough of this? Well too bad. There is no going back, Heretic scum.

On the other hand, if you survive, have the skills to pay the bills, and satisfy the dark gods, the sky's the goddamned limit. You could even be a champion yourself some day, or perhaps even a Daemon Prince. It's happened before. All it takes is ambition and a willingness to survive (and the ability to not die from a bolter slug to the face). No one said this was going to be easy.

Fucking Games Workshop

The Lost and the Damned army list was a hell of a lot of fun, and was designed for those who had scored Codex: Eye of Terror for campaigns. The idea was simple: an army full of non-Marines dedicated to Chaos - pirates and raiders and cultists and mortal warriors devoted to Chaos, all under one banner, albeit with Chaos Marines allowable as Elites (and you could even get a cheaper, if weaker, Chaos Lord/Sorcerer as an HQ).

YOU ERASED MY HIGH SCORES ON TETRIS?!.

The combination of lots of modding possibility, a potentially characterful army, and some interesting ideas to differentiate it from the Imperial Guard went a long way towards endearing it to players, since the idea of cultist units had been toyed with before in the previous Chaos Codex (with the Alpha Legion. This was taking it to its logical conclusion, and suffice to say, some people thought this was pretty cool. Forge World saw potential here as well, and to promote the new army list, put out some bad-ass new resin-casted models. Several people started to get into the new army, and there was a lot of Derp and win as players used this to put out some truly entertaining army lists, from Zombie Apocalypse setups backed with heavy armor, to squads of Traitors backed by Mutants and APCs.

True to form, however, the second that the official tournaments of the season ended, Games Workshop abruptly stopped supporting the army entirely, refused to allow Lost and the Damned armies into future tournaments, pretending the previously-supported army didn't exist, and left players with naught but the Counts As rule to keep them company - and then there was RAGE. A few fortunate souls - the ones focusing on infantry and not-Chaos armor - could get away with using their killy and flash models as a viable Imperial Guard army, but these players were a distinct minority, since a lot of players had used the rules to field more versatile, interesting, or outlandish lists, especially given how expensive the models from Forge World are.

Fuck you, GW.

But all is not lost, for the Forge World Siege of Vraks sourcebooks each contain a varaint Lost and the Damned list at the end. Part one has rules for a vanilla chaos undivided force, Part two has rules for a Khornate force (with Berzerkers as an elite option), and Part three has rules for a Nurgle force (with Plague Marines as elites)

• Rumor Control Update: rumors have been reinforcing the idea of cultists lately. Interestingly, some have even added Traitor Guard to the list of possible units. Also, depending on what Chaos Lord you take (whether it's a specific SC or marked lord is not known) the Cultists will take on the characteristics of the lord's god affiliation. These are all good signs of things to come, or just a set up for a horrible disappointment. Pray to your Dark Gods that we get Cultists/Traitors.

Promotions

A Lost and the Damned Traitor Command Squad.

A few fa/tg/uys who infiltrated GW managed to put out new Lost and the Damned rules for the Tempus Fugitive events, using the newer Chaos Space Marines and Chaos Daemons codexes. Sadly, due to GW not giving two shits, it's unlikely that it'll ever be made legal outside of these events, but anyone who wants to take a look can find revised rules below:

Lost and the Damned - Tempus Fugitive Edition

New Life in 6th Edition?

The new Allies rules in 6th Edition allows for a lot of new possibilities for Lost and the Damned armies. All you need is your old LatD and Chaos Marine/Daemon models, the Imperial Guard and Chaos Marine/Daemon codecies, some skewing of the Alliance Matrix, and a little imagination...

Basically, in 6E the Imperial Guard and both Chaos arimies are "Allies of Convenience" aka Neutral to each other (which is stupid, but that's what you get for letting Matt Ward write your rulebook). Thus, your Lost and the Damned "counts as" Imperial Guard troopers can take a small detachment of Daemons or Chaos Marines as allies with no penalty, completely legally and with no fandex required!

Obviously, there are limitations to this. You can only take Chaos Daemons OR Chaos Marines as the allied detachment, not both, (in most games, this will be true but at 2,000 points and above you CAN take more allies. You just need to have another Guard detachment.) and from that codex you can only have one HQ, two Troops, and one each of Elites, Fast Attack, and Heavy Support. Not to mention, what you can and can't take as your "counts as" Imperial Guard hasn't gotten any less restrictive (unless, you know, you pretend Ogryns and Ratlings are mutants...). But what else are you gonna do? Let GW tell you that all your models are worthless and your favorite army is dead? Fuck that noise! Stick it to the man like a real Lost and Damned should!

Fandex alternatives

Being one of the most popular ideas out there for IG conversions, many players have obviously taken to creating their own versions of the LatD codex. Here is a list of the people who have come up with their own fandexes (will be updated as more are found):

• Chaos Gerbil's fandex (is currently asking for more playtesters, but codex is pretty solid) [1] Here's a link to his blog as well so you guys can keep up with his updates [2].

• 40kdirectorscut Chaos Cultists fandex (based on the 2nd ed codex, it features a combination of different codices with some rule modifications) [3]

• 40kdirectorscut Lost and the Damned fandex (more along the lines of the traditional LatD codex, but with more options available) [4]

The Traitorous Regiments

Like the Imperial Guard, the Traitors of the Imperium come in a huge variety of flavors, all ripe for different customization ideas. From those who want their freedom from the oppression of the Imperium, to those who become corrupted with Chaos, there's plenty to choose from. The following is a list of the renegades found in the universe of Warhammer 40k so far. Also, I'll provide some advice on where to find people who have done conversions for those regiments already. More information can be found on the Warhammer 40k wikia and Lexicanum on these groups.

• Blood Pact: hailing from the Sabbat Worlds sector, they worship Khorne but fight more organized than the common rabble that is usually found in an LatD army. They pattern themselves after the IG and since they even captured some Forgeworlds, they can field super heavy tanks. Also fairly unique to them is that they hire Loxatl mercenaries and use them as shock troops. Loxatl are reptilian quadrupeds and are deadly in close combat. Born of past rituals before the Imperium came along, the Blood Pact are a fierce army. They dye their uniforms with the blood of their enemies and display corpses on their tanks. Even more impressive is that they field Stormtrooper equivalents in their Death Brigades. They also field unique psykers called "Gore Mages" which can turn renegades into Daemonhosts who then turn into "Blood Wolves." Have fun with those conversions.
  • Conversion opportunities are abound with these guys. Some people have already built Blood Pact armies, but the most impressive one belongs to Dave Taylor. He built an entire army and even scratch built a Stalker with it's own datasheet. The only unit type he didn't create were the Loxatl but the Tempus Fugitives codex provides an entry for them at least. He fields it as an IG army, but it can be fielded with modified LatD codex rules as well.
  • Helpful links: Dave Taylor's Blood Pact army [5]. Another note is that the Blood Pact wear special Oni style masks that would take considerable time to model with green stuff. So for your converting convenience, here's the link for head swaps that use Oni masks [6].
    • Either the regular Imperial Guard codex, the Tempus Fugitives LatD codex, or even the Death Korps of Krieg are suitable lists for this army. The IG codex will give the Blood Pact the power their fluff describes them to have and matches their battle style since they're patterned after the IG. The Tempus Fugitives codex has rules for the Stalk Tank and has good rules for the marauders. Finally, the Death Korps of Krieg is a great army list since their infantry are fearless and capable close combat fighters. The same goes for the Blood Pact, so the army list is a good match.

• Sons of Sek: actually an offshoot of the Blood Pact, the Sons of Sek are an elite force of renegades under the command of Anakwanar Sek. He wants to usurp the leader of the Blood Pact and take control of the Sabbat Worlds sector for himself. They function pretty much the same as the Blood Pact and by extension the Guard. But they have a couple of unique features as well. For one they field a Commissar-type unit called a Scourger. Not even the Blood Pact have one of these. Also, they are better trained than their predecessors, so you can field an elite team of renegades with statlines closer to Stormtroopers (though hopefully better points cost.)
  • Unfortunately, no one has made an army of these guys yet, and the only references I could find are in both wikias with only one picture to boot [7]. Still, they provide a unique opportunity to field a more elite version of the IG and renegades. Modify the LatD marauders to be more expensive but have better statlines and reduce the amount of models to ten in each squad. Also, provide them with better equipment.
    • Most likely the Elysian Drop Troops army list is best for this army. The use of elite infantry in the army parallels well with Stormtroopers and Sentinels can be made to look like Stalk tanks.

• Vraskian Renegades: currently the most popular Renegade army since Forgeworld supports them and has 3 army lists. They come from the world of Vraks where the Apostate Cardinal Xaphan decided to secede from the Imperium. He tricked most of the populace into thinking that the rest of the Imperium had fallen to Chaos and that they were the last untainted humans left. Those who knew the truth became enforcers instead and acted as Commissars. They can field Chaos Space Marines as elite choices and have access to old school super heavy tanks such as the Malcador. Even though they eventually lost the war on Vraks Prime and were destroyed, they inflicted heavy casualties on the Krieg regiments they fought, numbering over 10 million souls.
  • Conversion ideas are everywhere for these guys. Just google "Renegade guardsmen" and chances are that almost all conversions feature the Forgeworld models. So no linkage is going to be posted here for that. Although here is a kickass Vraks renegade squad for some inspiration (7th row, middle column) [8].

• Carnibales: an uprising occurred on the planet Solo-Baston when the Ecclesiarchy (in all their infinite wisdom) started taking the lands away from the natives. Not liking this, the indigenous population was guided by 2 pairs of Blood Gorgon chaos space marines (who are by all accounts awesome.) They saw the opportunity in the natives plight and trained them in guerrilla tactics. They also smuggled advanced weapons from offworld which were then assembled by the rebels. Once the rebellion was in full swing, the Ecclesiarchy hadn't anticipated so many rebels, believing the rebellion to be small. The Carnibales (as they were now known) had managed to capture the planet and executed anyone still loyal to the Imperium. The Imperial Guard eventually came to reclaim the planet but where held off and defeated(!) thanks to the Earthshaker cannon (supersized) the Carnibales captured. After that, the Blood Gorgons added the planet to their growing list of captured planets who enjoy their protection (no sarcasm, they really are not that bad for csm, they love freedom and rebelled against the oppressive Imperium and help others free themselves.)
  • Unfortunately there is no official artwork for the Carnibales and I haven't read the novel they appear in, so I'm not sure what they are described as looking like. But given the fact that their name seems to be derived from Spanish and that they use guerrilla tactics, think South American rebels. They also have special leaders called Disciples, who follow the teachings of the Blood Gorgons. They are injected with daemon blood and mutated to superhuman levels of strength. Multiple opportunities for conversions. I suggest using the WHFB Chaos sorcerers as Disciples.

• • • The Vraksian Renegades army list is the best suited for this group. They have the Apostate Preachers and Enforcers that can be modeled to be Disciples. They also use light weight skimmers called spikers and one can use the Vraksian salamander's stats for it. Overall the list has the guerrilla warfare feel of the Carnibales.

• • • Carnibales are basically space Taliban. The author who created them is an Afghan war vet. Seriously, loose guerrilla army that uses hit and run attacks, hides out in local villages, and recieves external support from a clandestine foreign source? That's either Taliban or Vietcong. Either way, a good look for that sort of force would be just standard dudes in simple clothing (ie the black pajamas worn by the Vietcong) with assorted small arms.

• Brethren of Fire: A Tzeentchian LatD force that arose when the entire PDF of the sepulchre world Tachira went full-on-heretic from the Imperium's failure to stop constant depredations by the Dark Eldar. Led by a Tzeentchian Chaos Lord-in-exile, the newly extra-heretical forces took complete control of the planet and managed to drive Imperial forces off-world before a warp storm enshrouded it. They've since emerged numerous times, seeking slaves and plunder, and backed by a small number of Chaos Marines. Their force organization is based only loosely on the Imperial Guard model, having phased out Imperial Guard recon units in favor of Stalk Tanks and Mutant packs, though they possess production capabilities and considerable heavy armor, including Decimator Super-Heavy Tanks.

More regiments coming soon.