Chaos Line Cruisers
Murder Class Cruiser
Size: 5.1 KM long, 0.8 KM abeam at the wings
Crew: 75,000
Max Acceleration: 2.8 g
Defences: faramite-alloy armour plating, 1 cruiser class Void shield.
Standard Main Armament: 40 'Hector' Heavy Plasma-macro cannons, (20 per broadside), 2 Heavy Lances (prow mounted)
Standard secondary Armament: Turbo lasers, missile banks and autocannons (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)
Auxiliary craft: 4 Arvus lighters
Lore: In service with the Imperial Battlefleet Obscurus to act as the primary fleet cruiser from M33-M37, a majority of these vessels were sold off to Rogue Traders after being replaced by the largely superior Lunar Class: which had more powerful broadsides, more lance batteries, had more armour, could fit a Nova Cannon and was cheaper to mass produce. Some of these vessels would eventually find themselves in Chaos hands, being first seen in numbers in service with Slaaneshi fleets in M39, and seen in wider service in M41.
The Murder Class, despite being inferior to the Lunar when dropped from service, has had various upgrades during its service with Chaos. The Batteries and Lances (which were already longer range than on the Lunar) are now capable of hitting targets far beyond what should be possible for such weapons, her speed has also seen an increase despite already being faster than average for her weight class: now capable of manoeuvring more like a Light Cruiser than a Cruiser. In Chaos service her armament configuration remains unchanged, but more deadly than ever: a pair of prow-mounted Heavy Lances with enough power to punch through the armour of a Battleship with ease, and a two batteries of plasma weapon batteries with a withering rate of fire and impressive range.
The Murder Class has a lethal track record.
Its batteries are a huge threat to any escort or Light Cruiser it faces, as well as being excellent weapons for tearing down the shields on larger warships to open them up for a devastating double heavy-lance strike which is capable of crippling even battleships in a single hit (Some Variants of the Murder having their weapons batteries removed entirely and replaced with lances to make it a pure lance boat, like on the Plagueclaw and Despicable Ecstasy).
This became apparent during the Gothic war: where the Retribution Class Battleship, the Relentless Persecution, and her escorts were ambushed by the Murder Class Vessels Monstrous and Steel Fang. Both Cruisers flanked the formation and fired a massed crossfire of plasma rounds from the cover of debris from a previous battle: The Escorts and Light Cruisers with the lone Battleship quickly disintegrated and the void shield generators on the Battleship burnt out under the concentrated fire, but the batteries were only capable of doing superficial damage to the Battleship's thick hide of adamantine composite armour. Before the Battleship could fire its reply from its far deadlier Heavy Macro Cannon broadsides, both cruisers had maneuverer to fire their Heavy Lances into both sides of the mighty vessel: four Heavy Lance bolts and series of rippling explosions later, the Battleships magazine and generator were destroyed, causing the imposing shape to disappear in a massive fireball of death and destruction.
The Murder Class would perform similarly well in various battles across the Gothic Sector during the War, being a continuous dagger in Battlefleet Gothic's side: being equally as deadly in any role the Chaos Admirals chose to employ the Murder in.
Carnage Class Cruiser
Size: 5 KM long, 0.8 KM abeam at the wings
Crew: 73,000
Max Acceleration: 2.8 g
Defences: faramite-alloy armour plating, 1 cruiser class Void shield.
Standard Main Armament: 40 Phased Plasma-Macro Cannons (20 per broadside), 2 Heavy 'Hector' Plasma-macro turrets (dorsal)
Standard secondary Armament: Turbo lasers, missile banks and autocannons (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)
Auxiliary craft: 4 Arvus lighters
Lore: This ship was originally intended as a test bed for an experimental Phased Plasma battery, the ship designed to use these weapons to Support the Imperial fleet by pouring a large volume of fire into approaching enemies attempting to break the Main Battle Line. the phased Plasma batteries having a massively improved rate of fire and range when compared to the standard Macro cannons, and not suffering from the same 'fading' issues of other plasma-based weaponry. The Carnage class herself designed to be fast: so that she could always keep at a range where her poor armour and exposed power supply couldn't be exploited by an enemy, and could take advantage of the ships mid-long range advantages over other weapons batteries. This ship however had numerous issues, mainly in the form of poor crew comfort (even by Imperial navy standards) and massive technical issues with the power supply for the ship's armament and engine. This lead to the ship being maddening to operate, driving crews and captains into a continuous state of rage and discomfort which proved the perfect foundation for Heretical thought to take root. The very first Carnage Class, the Relentless (renamed the Initiate of Skalathrax after joining the Chaos fleet), turning on the convoy it was escorting, destroying it utterly, after a particularly maddening series of breakdowns.
The Carnage is now only found in Chaos service. The Long-Range rapid-Fire batteries able to annihilate whole squadrons of escorts and light cruisers in very short order, although the lack of fire saturation and accuracy at extreme range make it so the Carnage presents little threat to larger warships while alone, although is exponentially more deadly the closer they get for other cruisers. The Carnage Class is a true terror when combined with a ship armed with Lances. Long-range rapid-fire batteries rapidly overwhelming the shielding on any vessel, allowing for a devastating lance strike into the un-shielded hull of the now exposed capital ship. The Carnage is also a nightmare once it gets among convoys and groups of damaged capital ships, able to fire a huge volume of shots out in all directions, anything attempting to flee unable to get outside of its range before being torn to pieces under the heavy concentration of plasma projectiles.
The Carnage Class is also the Worst nightmare of any Eldar fleet. Able to overwhelm the Holo-Fields on the vessels with a massive volley of projectiles, from far beyond their effective range, and tear apart their flimsy hulls under a rapid succession of savage plasma impacts.
Slaughter Class Cruiser
Size: 4.8 KM long, 0.8 KM abeam at the wings
Crew: 70,000
Max Acceleration: 3.1 g
Defences: faramite-alloy armour plating, 1 cruiser class Void shield.
Standard Main Armament: 24 Heavy 'Destructor' Laser-Macro Cannons (12 per broadside), 4 lance batteries (2 per broadside)
Standard secondary Armament: Turbo lasers, missile banks and autocannons (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)
Auxiliary craft: 4 Arvus lighters
Lore: This vessel was designed for hit-and-run attacks and anti-piracy patrols by the Imperium. The ship had an experimental Fusion-based power plant which allowed for a number of high energy weapons to be equipped to the vessels: being equipped with an, extremely rare mixed battery, of High-yield lances and Hard hitting mid-range weapons batteries which would later be named 'Destructor Cannons' by Chaos forces. The ship also had extraordinary speed. Able to catch and even outrun the fastest of escorts, one of the fastest (if not the fastest) cruiser ever being built by the Imperium These vessels faced many complications in construction: complexity of its power plant and mixed weapons batteries meant that construction of these vessels was excruciatingly slow, as was any form of repair or maintenance. This is largely believed to be the cause of the Madness that often consumed the crews assigned to these vessels, leading to almost the entire ship class to revolt to Chaos by M34, the ability to build more being lost after one Slaughter Class Cruiser (the Soulless) raided and destroyed the data banks containing the schematics for the construction and repair of the ship's power plant.
The Slaughter has a fearsome reputation on the Battlefield: Destructor cannons overwhelming shielding and escort squadrons in rapid succession, to be followed up by a strike from high yield mid-range lances able to tear through even the thickest of capital-ship armour with ease, making the ship one of the more feared among Imperial crews. The speed making it impossible to run from the vessels savage firepower.
One Slaughter Class would earn a legendary reputation in the Gothic War. Being named Kill Frenzy for the crazy broadcast being repeated across all Frequencies which consisted purely of the words 'KILL FRENZY KILL FRENZY KILL FRENZY KILL FRENZY' voice increasingly deranged and wild as the battle progressed: the captain showing a total disinterest in anything other than destroying Imperial ships. Going as far as to ram straight through an Imperial light cruiser and attempt a second ram after having batteries knocked out and burning while under heavy fire from Macro Cannons, any Imperial vessel attempting to flee in terror only being relentless pursued by the crazed captain.
Devastation Class Cruiser
Size: 5 KM long, 0.8 KM abeam at the wings
Crew: 80,000
Max Acceleration: 2.7 g
Defences: faramite-alloy armour plating, 1 cruiser class Void shield.
Standard Main Armament: 12 Heavy 'Destructor' Laser-Macro Cannons (6 per broadside), 2 lance batteries (1 per broadside), 2 hangar decks (1 per broadside)
Standard secondary Armament: Turbo lasers, missile banks and autocannons (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)
Auxiliary craft: 4 Arvus lighters, 88 Swift Death fighters, 102 Hell Talons/ Hell Blades, 68 Doom Fire bombers, 88 Dread Claw Assult pods
Lore: This cruiser is a rarity among Chaos War Fleets. Having never served among Imperial fleets for one, it's a native modification to an existing vessel in service with the Chaos fleets (many believe this original ship to be the Slaughter Class), as well as being a break from the highly aggressive all-or-nothing profile of the Chaos fleets: being that the ship was built to protect and escort other Chaos vessels.
The Ships armament reflects the defensive orientation of the vessel: she has one battery of, fairly typical, mixed Lance and laser-based weapons; but she also has a launch bay. This Launch bay has an impressive capacity for a cruiser-type vessel, able to double the number of squadrons of its Imperial rival (The Dictator Class), she is also extremely fast by cruiser standards (like all Chaos Cruisers, speed being a major weapon for traitor fleets). The exact intention of this ship was to counter the massed torpedo attacks of Imperial and Ork fleets which often crippled Chaos fleets, limiting their ability to manoeuvre while dodging torpedoes which proved deadly to the thinly armoured ships when hit, allowing the enemy to close relatively unharmed. Devastations would use fighter screens to destroy the majority of the lethal projectiles, as well as preventing enemy strike craft from getting close to the cruisers as they poured fire into the opposing fleet from afar. The Devastation could also very quickly adapt to when the Chaos fleet made the inevitable aggressive push on the disorganised and crippled enemy: remaining useful by lancing and bombing unshielded targets as well as launching swarms of Dread claw drop pods filled with Chaos Space Marines to overwhelm ships from within.
The Devastation is greatly valued by both Chaos Warlords and Pirate Warbands. Filling a capability gap in the Chaos fleet as well as having very high speed, firepower and cargo space making it an excellent raiding vessel for Pirates. The Devastation served in the Gothic War also, and is one of the ships that caused Battlefleet Gothic to make the dramatic shift from All-Big-Gun warships to Carrier Heavy formations.
Emasculator Class Cruiser
Size: 5.0 KM long, 0.8 KM abeam at the wings
Crew: 72,000
Max Acceleration: 2.8 g
Defences: faramite-alloy armour plating, 1 cruiser class Void shield.
Standard Main Armament: 20 'Hector' Heavy Plasma-macro cannons, (10 per broadside), 2 Lances batteries (1 per broadside)
Standard secondary Armament: Turbo lasers, missile banks and autocannons (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)
Auxiliary craft: 4 Arvus lighters
Lore: The Emasculator was the first, failed, attempt to design a multi-role cruiser armed with Lances and Batteries: The Lunar Class quickly replacing her after only 6 or 7 centuries of service. Like the Murder: a lot of Emasculators found their way into Chaos service through a large quantity of them being sold to rogue traders. Despite being inferior to the Lunar Class, she had longer range lances and batteries as well as having better speed: this only being made more so after chaos was done tainting the vessel. Like the Lunar Class that succeeded her and her original design intention she is a particularly versatile ship. Her high speed and long ranged batteries together with lances mean she is nightmare for escorts and light cruisers, while able to apply similar tactics as the murder Class when dealing with larger targets: able to take down shields with the batteries to follow up with a powerful lance strike (although not to the same effect as the Murder).
Just like the Murder, this vessel was first seen in wide use by Slaaneshi war fleets (for reasons still not determined) before seeing the first major distribution of the Cruiser during the Gothic war in M41 (again, just like the Murder Class). She proved especially deadly as an escort raider, able to quickly sweep aside most escorts and tear into the vulnerable transports, to then use her superior speed to out-run any Imperial response.
Inferno Class Cruiser
Size: 5.0 KM long, 0.8 KM abeam at the wings
Crew: 72,000
Max Acceleration: 2.8 g
Defences: faramite-alloy armour plating, 1 cruiser class Void shield.
Standard Main Armament: 20 Phased Plasma-Macro cannons (10 per broadside), 2 lance batteries (1 per broadside)
Standard secondary Armament: Turbo lasers, missile banks and autocannons (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)
Auxiliary craft: 4 Arvus lighters
Lore: The Inferno is believed to be an early design and a later counterpart of the Carnage. However, it was marred by technical difficulties and not entirely successful in overcoming many of the shortcomings experienced by the Carnage in maintaining and powering its long-range batteries. The Inferno was quickly supplanted in front line units by more modern types. Even the Bastion fleets have not had an example of this class for many centuries, though several were known to be maintained by the Adeptus Mechanicus as experimental platforms and other such uses. A small number were known to turn renegade before the class was entirely removed from service by M35. None were known for certain to have been present during the Gothic War, though the Havoc and Cerberus are both known to have operated throughout Segmentum Obscuras and the Northern Rim. The Pillager and Rampage on the other hand have spent little time in Segmentum Obscurus since going renegade, and for many centuries their whereabouts were unknown until scattered reports concerning these two vessels surfaced in the vicinity of the Maelstrom in M37.
Several vessels of this class were reported in various engagements at Cadia, Kantrael and Agripinaa. While only the Pillager was identified with any certainty, at least two or three of these ships must have participated in the war for the vast distances between systems they were sighted in. The ship is effectively a Carnage class with an added lance deck to increase its firepower vs larger targets and give it a greater self-sufficiency in patrol and anti-piracy operations, turned heretic for many of the same reasons and has a similar role to the Carnage.