Having spent a campaign now with these scum I figured I’ll give my thoughts on how the Chaos Cult plays in 2021 in the game of Necromunda.
The cult were added back in 2018 I believe via White Dwarf, in a fairly different “meta” or version of the game at that time. Back in the dark times of Gang War books..
They were re-released in book form packaged in with the Book of Ruin next to the Corpse Grinder Cults and the Genestealer Cults, though I believe not much changed between the versions. Compared to their two rival cults in that book however the poor Chaos cult certainly has much less going for it.
You have the usual leader, a champion, a psyker (also a champion) and gangers. No juves for the cult! And in the list is also rules for the Chaos Spawn but good luck getting it :). There is a few unique brutes for Outlaw / Chaos gangs that were added later via White Dwarf, the Chaos Ogryn, Warp Horror, Scrapcode-corrupted ambot, and Sump Beast.
None of the above have anything special, gangers are your average jo with basic weapon choices. Champions can grab a heavy stubber out of the gate (probably your best choice), the psyker has terrible powers that make him not worth taking at all, and the leader is a fairly average leader.
When the gang came out I think they were fairly in line with the rest of the gangs which had not really been fleshed out much during the Gang War book releases. But by the time Book of Ruin redo for the Chaos gang, even the other cults in the book puts them to shame (and the Corpse Grinders continue to put most gangs to shame!)
At this point playing the gang in 2021 I was really suffering from some “house of” envy. Now that all the core gangs have their house book, full of amazing customization and unique ways to play your gang, the Chaos list just seems so very basic in comparison.
The ability to ally to a Chaos god and gain some gifts is nice, but frankly does very little. In my case, Nurgle, you can re-roll a single recovery dice in the end phase and your leader gets +1 wound (which is nice, putting him at Orlock level). Not terrible of course but at the same time certainly not much. The other gods also have a single small bonus like the previous, tho also a bit meh (Slaneesh being the best one with letting you do two activation in a turn, and also adding +2 to your leaders move).
You also have the mutation table where when you take lasting injuries you may gain a mutation. However they require a hot dice roll to end up getting said mutation so it is pretty rare you end up with those sadly.
Also you must keep up Dark Rituals (which take up a post game action from your leader or a champ) in order to keep your gods favour. This is the only way you can get a Spawn, and it only happens if you roll snake eyes. Again, not easy, and probably the best part of that ritual. You can get some nice ganger XP however if you select one of your own gangers as a possible sacrifice they get D6 XP if they aren’t killed in the process (which has a low chance).
All of the above is nice, but I would just love to see it all fleshed out more for each god. As well as psychic powers to match. There is a ton of potential here for it and I have a feeling down the road we will see them get a nice revamp.
But as of right now, the poor Chaos cult both in power and unique feeling as a gang are sorely lacking in comparison to all the lovely House Of books we have now.
Though from a modelling point of view you have a ton of freedom with the cult!
If you really want to do a Chaos gang I think the best way to do so and keep up with the other gangs would be to use a house gang and have them fall to Chaos. You can still get the Chaos abilities like above, but you keep all your house stuff as well. Of course you will become an Outlaw so keep that in mind 🙂
I’ll finish this off with images of my completed Chaos Cult gang, the Flymasters of Hulud. I hope to run them again in the future as a new and improved gang, but in the meantime perhaps some models will make an appearance as hive scum 🙂
WarGamer Eric's Hobby and Gaming Emporium 
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