Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-64.121.236.162-20140910042956/@comment-72.93.49.215-20140910134559

The Sons of Horus were the second biggest traitor legion after the Iron Warriors. So they had big number to start. During the Heresy they did pretty damn well without any disastrous campaigns like say the Night Lords who lost over half of their numbers against the Dark Angels, and others. Then in the great scourging they were the first to get the hell out of Terra and the Segmentus Solar and into the Eye Terror, something the others (who were also retreating but trying to put up a fight) resented. Then of course they won the Slave Wars, beating the EChildren and Word Bearers. They are very tight with the Death Guard, always were even in the Great Crusade, so that is a powerful ally right there. don't see any other legion having the testicular fortitude of challenging both of them.

So that is the background of why they are so big to begin with. As for currently Neithen pretty much has it; they recruit and they absorb renegades.

Think about this. A full chapter rarely goes renegade, there are usually at least some marines who stay loyal and fight them. Chapter Masters and Chaplains especially. If they see a couple of companies going rogue they will pull the plug on them asap. So even if the chaos marines win over the chapter the still had to get rid of the loyalist and take loses the proses, then they have to get the hell out of the Imperium of course and into the Eye of Melsrum wee they will be greeted my centuries old marines who will treat them like a bunch of senior prison inmates treat new inmates, but worse. So what do they do, take out that paintbrush and join the badest strongest gang of curse. Also the BL doesn't care what your personal beliefs about chaos are. You can have a night lord mindset, word bearer mindset, or single god mindset, and that wont deter you from joining or even moving up the ranks. Its a pretty good deal for a few hundred renegades who are running out of ammunition and oil.