Skullreapers of Khorne

 These guys have been on my workbench for SO LONG... I'd done a fair bit of work on them at one point and they were 95% done and then they just sat there... for MONTHS getting pushed aside as other things suddenly seemed more important - things I was generally SURE I would be using in a game... and... as I'm not sure I'll ever get around to using these... the motivation just wasn't there... 

Skullreapers

In exchange for boons of great strength and speed, Skullreapers have all sworn to present EIGHT SKULLS to Khorne EVERY DAY!? That's... a LOT of skulls.. I mean, sure on a day where there is a larger battle, one could see these big brutes utterly destroying multiple units (two units of twenty, or four units of ten)... but EVERY SINGLE DAY!? Do they have to be fresh skulls, from people killed that day?! Do they have to be human skulls... or sentient being skulls....? Or if it gets late in the day, and they haven't found a village to murder can they go varmint hunting and collect some small skulls. 

Like seriously, I'm not sure the Parch in Aqshy has the population density to support that kind of tithe, outside of Hammerhal Aqsha, at least... 

I have to admit, I've never even looked at their warscroll... they are, as one might expect, bigger, meaner Blood Warriors... but with slightly less armour, and they have a special rule that if they are in combat while contesting an objective, the unit adds eight to their control score... I don't know... think I'd rather take more Blood Warriors... 

After taking pics for the Lord of Khorne on Juggernaut yesterday, I realized I still had these to finish, so I just left everything out so I could take ANOTHER pic of the whole army with these guys added in... 

The whole damned Blades of Khorne Army! Again! 

Okay... Now I really need to get to work on Radukar the beast and the fell bats, so we can get back to playing Warhammer Quest next week... Then some stormcast or ghosties or the rest of the undead!? 

Goretim the Reddish - Lord of Khorne

I have finished the Lord of Khorne on Juggernaut! 

Goretim the Reddish, Lord of Khorne, on their Juggernaut, Bloodbatter! 

I am going to use this as the leader of my Paths to Glory force. They command a small force that originated in the Eastern Parch. Most of the warhost was destroyed in the Skaventide event and ever since they have been fighting their way through mounds of Skaven to reach other Khorne forces in the Southeast part of the Parch near the South edge of the Adamantine Mountain range... bringing them ever closer to the Ravaged Coast! 

Goretim the Reddish leading their [to-be-named] Bloodbound Horde (and some daemoic allies!)

(probably MORE than I'll ever need for Paths to Glory!)

The Khorne Lord on Juggernaut is not in the new Battletome (because the model has been discontinued). I did find a Battletome supplement PDF On the Warhammer Website that had the stats for this model (which is still playable in matched play until July 2026...?). I'll probably use the Anvil of Apotheosis rules to build a custom Khornate Warlord - probably just a 150 point Bloodbutcher (there are also Gore Chieftans at 250 points and Brass overlords at 350, but, honestly, those just get ridiculous... I'm not sure how you'd even USE the 50 Destiny Points the Brass Overlord gets, I think you'd literally have to take EVERY UPGRADE POSSIBLE!?) 

This was a finecast model and it was awful to work with... there were so many channels carved into the mould to get resin into the right parts that it completely obliterated some details and others I may or may not have entirely carved off accidentally and then because there were so many bumps and bolts and spikes that it was sometimes hard to figure out which were actual intentional details of the model or blobby extra bits because of flaws in the mold and some of those I left and didn't realize what it was until painting and then had to carve it off (and a bunch of paint with it) so I was repainting bits and it all got very frustrating and... I'm just done with it... however it looks.. I'm just not doing any more... I can see why this was discontinued. I'm a little surprised it wasn't replaced this year along with the release of the Codex... I mean, theWorld Eaters have a pretty rad model (that can alternatively be built as a Lord Invocatus). How hard would that have been to modify and make a fantasy version!?

I do still have a few things I could paint up for the Blades of Khorne - the 5 Skullreapers, 10 Blood Warriors, and 30 Bloodreavers - but I'm well over 2000 points worth of stuff. I'm probably good for any game I'm likely to get up to any time soon... unless... naratively... I NEED 40 Bloodreavers (maybe for the Soulbound campaign?) or something... (oh, and I have spare a Bloodsecrator and a Bloodstoker... not sure what I'll ever do with those...?) 

Next!? Seriously... the Skullreapers... then the stuff I need for Night Wars (three fellbats and Radukar the Beast - and attendants) 

After that, probably still the Stormcast Eternal Vigilant Brotherhood Spearhead  army... likely, followed by either the Soulblight Gravelord Bloodcrave Hunt Spearhead army or the new Nighthaunt Cursed Shacklehorde Spearhead army... 

(or maybe some plaguebearers...? for... REASONS!?) 

What We Do in the Realm of Shadows - Episode One

I've started a new Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound role-playing game campaign. Except, no one is playing a Soulbound character. Instead all are playing unbound undead characters using the Champions of Death book and ignoring the binding rules, mostly... 

The background is that they are a group of Vampires in the court of Blood (and their mortal and undead minions!). All ostensibly serve Neferata, Mortarch of Blood. The Vampires in the group are nobility that originally held titles and land in Neferatia. During the Age of Chaos the land was invaded by a Horde of Khorne Daemons and Bloodbound and the characters lands were lost. For a time lived as refugees in Nulhamia - the capital of Neferatia - as guests of other vampire lords, but quickly wore out your welcome and were getting pressured more and more to go and take back their ancestral lands! 

Eventually they were given leave to travel to Ulgu, Realm of Shadow, where they were to rebuild, conquer new land and raise an army to eventually aid Neferata in taking back their lands. 

Passing through a Realmgate near Shadowvell, brought them to Ghyran and they discovered a short march of a day or so would bring them to a realmgate that would deliver them to Ulgu, on Cape Tenerax, near Misthåven.

Upon arriving in Ulgu, they found an old dilapidated keep, just a days march from the realm gate. The fortress had been built during the age of myth, but long since abandoned by its builders. At the time they discovered it, it was inhabited by a small pack of  skaven. The skaven were cleared out, some minimal repairs were made to make it somewhat livable and moderately defensible. 

It is a rather shabby looking place that most passersby would still think abandoned - or HAUNTED - as many in the region do! 

And there they have remained for a century or more. Occasionally murdering lightly protected merchant caravans, stealing their stuff and taking any prisoners to drain at their leisure back at their keep. From time to time they would travel into Misthåven to trade their stolen wares and acquire anything they needed. 

Nick is playing Lady Esmerelda (She/her) - a Vampire Lord

Orion is playing Sir Raven the Dour (They/them) a Blood Knight (also a Vampire)

Finnegan is playing Sir Renmould of Sylum Field (They/them) a  Grave Guard Wight (essentially a magically an animated suit of armour with a skeleton inside. 

Amanda was away during session zero and so before Session One made up a Spirit Torment character - a spooky Nighthaunt ghostie thing that hunts down wayward souls and drags them back to the deepest darkest underworld. Her character does not have a name yet. 

There was a brief encounter in Session Zero a few weeks back (after making Characters) which started with a House Meeting during which Lady Esmerelda complained about SOMEONE plugging up the toilets. Sir Renmould pointed out it clearly was not them. Sir Raven blamed the two mortal Duardin familiars.

Suddenly they realized that Lady Mereneth was also in the room with them, though none had seen her enter, and none had noticed her when they entered!? Lady Mereneth is Neferata's Master of Spies and she had come personally to inform the group that Neferata was calling her banners and they were to march with the army they've raised back to Shyish and join in a campaign to eject the Bloodbound squatters from the realm, and retake their own ancestral lands! 

And so... Session One began with preparations, where the group gathered up what they could in terms of liquid currency and as many of Lady Esmerelda's dresses and gowns and other outfits that their Skeletal and Zombie horde could carry - along with a cask of blood and a chest of gravesand. Sir Raven the Dour gathered up all five of their skeletal horses and his extra armour and lances. 

The group marching out also included ten Deadwalker Zombies and ten Deathrattle Skeletons (we are hoping a fifth player may join next week and play a Necromancer...). 

Amazingly, they had NO TROUBLE finding the realm gate!? (I'd set a DN of 5:2 as none of them had been there in over a century... and it is the Realm of Shadow... and despite not ONE of them having a single level of training in Survival - the skill used for land navigation - they ALL succeeded, some with EXTRA successes!?) 

Upon arrival, however, they discovered that a small fortified Watch Tower had been built up around the realmgate and was garrisoned by a troop of Duardin gunners! 

Luckily, being members of the Court of Blood, they were ALL Masters of Disguise! the vampires and grave guard HAD said before they left that they were disguising themselves as "mortals"... The three of them went forward and were hailed by the sentries atop the tower and the silver tongued Lady Esmerelda managed to convince the guards that they were living human nobles that just wished to pass through the realmgate. The Duardin allowed them to approach. 

As they got close to the tower, the front gate was opened and a few of the Duardin came out to greet them. Upon closer inspection, however, Sir Raven and Sir Renmould's weren't entirely holding up. But, again, Lady Esmerelda's charm and quick talking convinced the Duardin that nothing was amiss... 

Realizing there was no way they'd be able to convince these Duardin that they Zombies and Skeletons - nevermind the Spirit Torment - were just their retinue of totally alive men-at-arms and assorted servants... they attacked the Duardin once they entered the Tower. 

When the first shots rang out, the Spirit Torment raced to join them... and all the Zombies and Skeletons started shuffling in the general direction of the tower. 

More Duardin rushed in from the barracks upstairs and STILL more Duardin living in a mirror tower on the other side of the realmgate in Ghyran arrived to block the attackers from getting through... 

All were slaughtered... 

And that's kind of where we left off at the end of Session One! 

Next Session they will be travelling through part of Ghyran, the Realm of LIFE, to get to the realm gate that will bring them back to Shyish, the Realm of Death! 

The Group so far... 

Front row, Left to Right: Amanda's unnamed Spirit Torment, Sir Raven the Dour, Lady Esmerelda, and Sir Renmould of Sylum Field, Behind them is their small force of Zombies and Skeletons. 

Sir Raven the Dour has a mounted version! 

I really should have run up and got the better camera... 

Next time, maybe... 

With any luck this will be a weekly sort of thing...? It was meant to be a short campaign - just to try out playing Vampires and other undead. I have about five or six sessions roughly sketched out... we'll see where it goes from there. If we only get through the five or six, that would be fine. 

It's been a lot of fun so far. They're a hilarious group to play with. 

Finnegan has been working out more backstory for Sir Renmould who despises Sir Raven and is extremely jealous of his undead nightmare mount and the bond they seem to have. Sir Renmould is determined to acquire some kind of mount for themself, but each attempt ends in disaster, with the mount either not bonding and running off or being destroyed in the most ridiculous and preposterous ways!? 

I wonder if Sir Raven has something to do with it! 

Skull Altar

I finally finished up the Skull Altar! 

The Skull Altar is "Faction Terrain" for the Blades of Khorne. Most factions in Age of Sigmar have some sort of Faction Terrain that can be set up on the field of battle and gives some sort of benefit. 

I THINK in previous editions, the faction terrain had a point value to it (or maybe I'm just thinking of Endless Spells - I KNOW they did) but there is zero cost to bringing them along (as with Endless Spells, now!)... which is a clever way to get everyone to buy them - If everyone else is playing with them and gaining whatever benefit they give, you're kind of hamstringing youself is you DON'T!?

That's not entirely the reason I bought it. I also just think it looks kind of cool... 

I do think it's a little silly that BOTH SIDES can employ Faction Terrain... Like, how does that work... two armies approach each other and they say; "hang on, let me build my altar to the Blood God... yeah, you go ahead and build your thing too..." It would make more sense if the party defending got to deploy it... but then, there would have to be some advantage to being attacker. 

Maybe they're all magically summoned... or not-so-magically summoned in the case of the Skull Altar of Khorne!

Ah well... 

Skull Altar

Other side of Skull Altar

Skull Altar with Slaughterpriest (and some friends!) 

What the Skull altar does is while there is a Slaughterpriest on there they gain +1 to Chanting rolls (which is a d6 roll so, 16.67% increase in chance of success) and any attacks directed at the priest hit the Altar first (Which has a 4+ save - better than the Slaughterpriest's 5+ save - and 10 health to burn through before you start affecting the priest). Also, invocations and prayers and other abilities that have a range are measured from the Skull Altar instead of the Slaughterpriest and they can also attempt to Banish D3 Endless Spells within 18".

Maybe not game changing stuff... but benefits, for sure... that are FREE (in terms of the point-cost within the game)... if you spend real world dollars and buy that extra thing for your army... 

Now that this is out of the way and cleared off a big chunk of the workbench... I really need to just finish off those Skullreapers (one or two ARE completely finished, the others just have a strap or two or small bits that need touching up!?) and the Lord of Khorne on the Juggernaut... and then I'm on to other things - probably finishing up the Stormcast Eternals Vigilant Brotherhood Spearhead!! And maybe some other stuff for other spearheads - like the new Nighthaunt one. 

Oh, and maybe the stuff I need for Warhammer Quest: Cursed City - Night Wars, since Amanda is back from England and we were supposed to get back to playing when she returned. 

Spearhead: Khorne versus Slaanesh in the Realm of Death

For the second game I played against Orion on Wednesday, she decided to borrow my Hedonites of Slaanesh Blades of the Lurid Dream force and I stuck with the Blades of Khorne Fangs of the Blood God force. 

(You can find the report of the first game here: Spearhead: Dogs and Bones in the Realm of Death)

For this game we played on the Ossia side of the Sand & Bone board. 

Once again, I was the attacker, here to hunt down a Shardspeaker of Slaanesh that had irked the Blood God himself with their debauched and lurid ways and strange piercings in uncomfortable areas... 

At least... y'know...  NARRATIVELY speaking... 

The game is still played for victory points based on holding objectives... and playing cards to score extra points for holding SPECIFIC objectives each turn... 

There is a Quarry mechanic, where at the beginning of each round, if there isn't Quarry that's been picked and still alive... I can select a new one.. It has to be a HERO, but the vast majority of Spearhead warbands only have ONE Hero. And the basic benefit is, under certain conditions, Karanak may get to move d6" towards said Quarry (unless certain Enhancements are taken in which case one ONE TURN in the game I could get a bonus charge die, if it takes me into contact with the Quarry, OR if Karanak is in combat with an enemy, at the end of a turn, I just deal them d3 mortal wounds... 

There is not benefit to killing the Quarry - like, no Victory Point bonus - unless you happen to be playing with the Fire and Jade game set and happen to have the ONE CARD that gives you ONE victory point if you happen to kill the enemy general that turn... 

I digress... 

As with the previous game I charged forth and split my force.

Half went right to attack units on that flank. The Claws of Karanak actually got to fight this game. They, with some help from the pack of Flesh Hounds, slaughtered a unit of Blissbard Archers! 

And the other half went left to hunt down and kill the QUARRY!

This time, Orion put the General in the back corner of the playing board to be as far as possible from Karanak on that first turn... 

But there is NO ESCAPING THE HOUND OF VENGEANCE!!!

The Shardspeaker of Slaanesh was slaughtered... 

So... Mission accomplished, we can all go...

wait... what?

AGAIN!?

Ugggggghhhh, fine... 

Flesh Hounds battled with the Slaangor that had been trying to protect the Shardspeaker of Slaanesh. 

And just like that, the tricksy Shardspeaker of Slaanesh using the most base foul magiks, combined with pungent smoke and strategically placed mirrors, REAPPEARED on their first turn... safely away from the chomping jaws of the Hound of Vengeance or any Flesh Hounds!? 

A replacement unit of Blissbarb Archers also showed up as reinforcements and shot at, then charged one pack of Flesh Hounds. 

The Slickblade Seekers joined in the battle and utterly annihilated he Claws of Karanak... 

AND most of a pack of Flesh Hounds... 

The cackling Shardspeaker taunted the Khornate daemons; "Ha-ha-ha-haaaa! You thought you saw the last of me? Well..."

But then another band of the Claws of Karanak came chargine back onto the battlefield as replacements and cut the Shardspeaker down! 

(and the Slickblade Seekers counter charged and rode down the Claws of Karanak...)

Battlefield looking a little empty by the end of round two... 

Because neither of the packs of Flesh Hounds had been completely wiped out, I couldn't even bring a unit of reinforcements on for my third turn... This one poor Flesh Hound had to just try and hold that objective all on it's own! 

It did it's best... It ate three of the Blissbarb archers that charged in and tried to shift it off the objective. 

Karanak and the other Flesh Hound did very non-khorne-like things hanging out be particular objectives and terrain pieces and battlefield edges, just to score some points... 

Only to get run down by the Slickblade Seekers on the Hedonites third turn... 

There was a balance update for the original Spearhead armies back in June and the Slaangor now have the reinforcements keyword... so a unit of those charged back onto the field and sent Karanak back to Khorne in the Palace of Brass, to ready for hunting down a new quarry... 

End of Round Three. 

Tabled again... All objectives controlled by the Hedonites. 

On my last turn, I was able to bring back a solitary pack of Flesh Hounds AND Karanak (the Flesh Hounds came back as reinforcements and a card brought Karanak back...) I could have just stood them still and scored three or four points from cards and holding objectives and stuff... but I'd had enough of not doing violence as Khorne would have them do it... so I charged units and attacked. 

the Pack of Flesh Hounds ate the last Blissbarb archer in a unit and seized an objective... Karanak just got killed again... 

Another unit of Blissbarb archers arrived and attacked the Flesh Hounds and were joined by the Slaangor

The last chomps of the last remaining Flesh Hounds... they hit on 4+... two hounds with four attacks each, I should hit four times... nope. The six there was a crit mortal... the five either failed to wound or was saved... Teh Hedonites had so many depravity points by this point, they all had a Ward 5+ save that knocked off that final wound... 

Not only are Slaangor able to return as reinforcements - which is a pretty huge deal - they also vastly lowered the number of depravity points the Hedonites need to gain new army abilities. It used to be 12+/24+/36+ and now it is 12+/18+/24+ which also makes a BIG difference. 

I do hope this means they change how depravity points works for the regular Age of Sigmar Hedonites of Slaanesh, because as it stands, it is entirely useless... 

In the end Orion scored 23 victory points to my... 13... 

Yikes!

Still, it was super exciting to see the Hedonites score a win! I'm excited enough that I might even give them a try again!!

Spearhead: Dogs and Bones in the Realm of Death

On Wednesday afternoon I got in a couple of games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Spearhead with my friend Orion! 

The first game I played my brand new Blades of Khorne - Fangs of the Blood God army. Orion brought her regular Soulblight Gravelords - Bloodcrave Hunt. She has a NEW Soulblight Gravelords army - the Deathrattle Tomb Host - but they're not painted yet! 

I won the roll off and decided to be the attacker. As Defender, Orion chose to play on the Dolorum side of the game board from the Sand & Bone Gaming Pack, chose side and the deployment map and all that... and then the Horde of Khorne Dogs starts swarming across the batlefield - so fast were they that I didn't get to take a pictures of their initial dispositions!?

On the first turn of Round One, Karanak, the Hound of Vengeance, sent forth do hunt down that which gained the ire of the God of Blood himself, had found it's quarry... 

Other Flesh Hounds circled round to block her escape.

Karanak moved in and shredded the Vampire... 

So... that's it.. Quarry hunted down and destroyed! Mission Accomplished! WE can all go.. 

wait... what...? 

We have to play three and a half MORE rounds?! 

Uggggggghhhh... finnnnne... 

So, elsewhere... 

The Claws of Karanak and the other pack of Flesh Hounds had charged the Deathrattle Skeletons sitting on the objective on the other flank... because I guess that's a thing they could do... Not much blood to spill... but dogs like bones, I guess! 

Unfortunately they were a little to exhuberant in their charge and got a little too close to the Blood Knights who were lurking just to the rear... 

On MY turn, before they even got to swing one of their big chopping blades, the Blood Knights utterly wiped out my Claws of Karanak. 

Then on their turn, they finished off the unit of Flesh Hounds! 

At the beginning of the Second Round Karanak and the surviving unit of Flesh Hounds, smelling fresh blood... of their compatriots being slaughtered, charged across the battlefield to attack the Blood Knights! 

(Also... if Blood Knights are allowed to charge... they are SAVAGE... so better to charge them and hope for the best... get them stuck in...) 

Despite not charging the battle was savage and bloody... 

and then they weren't there anymore!? They were just suddenly across the battlefield stealing some other objective...? (stupid battle tactics cards...) 

A fresh unit of the Claws of Karanak arrived to take back an objective... 

Only to get charged by the Blood Knights again... 

ONE of them survived the initial attacks... and then the Horses went and the last one died... again... 

Karanak and the last remaining Flesh Hound decided to chew on some bones... 

Flesh Hounds attacks... needing a 4+ to hit... in case you were wondering how the fancy new Khorne dice were working out for me... same as always... 

And then it was Round Three and the Vargheists showed up and finished off the last Flesh Hound and sent Karanak back to the Brass Palace in the Realm of the Blood God... 

End of Round Three... 

Tabled. 

Round Four I did get to bring on reinforcements... 

And they charged down and shredded a unit of Deathrattle Skeletons... well... all but ONE... which prevented me from scoring another point. 

The Soulbights "won" the game, I guess... even though Karanak slayed the quarry, which, narratively, is all the Daemonic manifestation of Khorne's wrathful vengeance cares about, really... so... 

Orion ended the game with 20 victory points and I had 15. Which, is pretty much as good as I could have expected. 

The Fangs of the Blood God are not the strongest of Spearhead armies... they have a lot of attacks... if they get to use them... but they aren't particularly accurate or hard hitting and they have next to NO read (reducing armour saves) except for Karanak... They have crap saves and not a lot of health. they do have a 6+ ward save... but that doesn't do much. 

They DO all have the reinforcements keyword (with the exception of Karanak)... but only one unit of reinforcements can be brought on per round... and there are only four rounds... But if your units start being wiped out on Round One... you can bring one back every turn for the rest of the game...? Yay...? 

Looking back at these pictures here... I'm wondering if I may have forgotten to bring back one of my units of Flesh Hounds...? Ah, well. Maybe I just forgot to take a picture of it...? Got rode down by the Blood Knights so fast I didn't get a chance...? I don't know. 

It's always fun playing with Orion, so... 

This one went quick enough and we had some time so we played a SECOND game... but I'll write that up in a second game report!