Editing Crimson Slaughter (section)

==Expansion==
[[File:Destroyer by diegogisbertllorens-d6bbqun.jpg|thumb|400px|left|Just look at how calm he is. [[Grimdark|It's because he just murdered those people.]]]]
GW has given them their own supplement codex, hardcover book and everything. Why they would focus so much on a minor warband over the other Traitor Legions is a mystery (Relax, my children, your time is coming). All models gain Fear, they can't take Veterans of the Long War (Khorne Berserkers and the like ignore this restriction), they have some actually pretty interesting relics, and they get really pissy about the Dark Angels due to an embarrassing [[space hulk]] cleansing back in M38. Most importantly, Possessed are now troops, and trade the Vessels of Chaos mutation table for their own Whispers of the Somethingorother table (gain Shrouded, become Beasts, or gain 3+ invuln and Rending; otherwise works exactly the same as normal Possessed).

GW couldn't seem to decide what they want with these guys. Originally they were corrupted by Khorne for being so savagely merciless to their foes. The Dark Vengeance novella (written by the same guy who wrote their Khorne corruption novella) has Kranon ''claim'' the Sabres were tricked into murdering innocents instead and having their guilt drive them into the eye -- meanwhile the ghosts of the Bathelu cult claim the Slaughter feel no real guilt and willingly kill everyone they see for the hell of it. The summer campaign, meanwhile, seemingly portrays them as devout and loyal followers of Chaos Undivided fighting to bring mankind to its natural true masters, with no mentions of the voices at all (probably because Chaos players presumably would rather play true Chaos believers rather than a bunch of guys who were just duped into it). So they're [[fail|ping-ponging around]] from guys who Khorne corrupted to him, guys who went insane from a guilt trip ([[just as planned]]) and turned to Chaos from that, and true Chaos believers who honestly believe in Chaos' cause. Perhaps they're all three now, as their codex states some have grown to relish in the voices while others don't, and the Chaos Gods do occasionally decide to cooperate every now and then for reasons that mortal minds would no doubt be unable to understand.

The codex also states they've become one of the most feared warbands around now in spite of their relatively short history as Chaos Space Marines, rampaging through such huge swaths of the Imperium that the Imperium can't hide their existence anymore. Maybe someone at GW decided to add "the next big thing" (or "another big thing", rather) to the setting instead of re-tread established fluff. Or maybe they're meant to be an example of how anyone can take [[Your Dudes|their own generic warband]] and, with enough effort, transform it into their own fully fleshed-out "hero of another story" snowflake (or fallen hero of another story, in this case).

To make a long story short, basically no one cared. None of the Chaos fans were in a mad rush to buy this new codex or start a big Crimson Slaughter army. It seems GW misread their fanbase (no big surprise there) because while the Slaughter have a big Your Dudes factor, this is historically not as big a thing with Chaos players, who love their Legion traits and being Veterans of the Long War. As such, throughout 7th edition and the start of 8th the Slaughter started to fade into the background again. They have however been given a "Legion" trait in 8th edition so as not to leave their fans high and dry: upon killing an enemy unit, they become immune to Morale checks for that turn, and gain 1 CP if they roll a 5+ on a d6.