Age of Sigmar - Disciples of Tzeentch: Warpflame Cavalcade

An absolutely HUGE parcel was dropped off today

YOINKS! 

Kind of dwarfed the box contained within! 

Disciples of Tzeentch: Warpflame Cavalcade

This box includes:

• 1x Kairos Fateweaver
• 3x Screamers of Tzeentch 
• 3x Flamers of Tzeentch
• 1x Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch
• 1x Herald of Tzeentch on Burning Chariot
• 10x Pink Horrors
• 10x Blue Horrors
• 10x Brimstone Horrors

The Kairos Fateweather model could also be built as a generic Lord of Change (Greater Daemon of Tzeentch) - instead of the named character. Also the Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch and Herald of Tzeentch on Burning Chariot could alternatively be built as a Changecaster and a Burning Chariot of Tzeentch. 

I think I'll stick with the Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch and Herald of Tzeentch on Burning Chariot.. But I'm really torn about whether to build Kairos Fateweather or a Generic Lord of Change... The named character greater daemons (Kairos Fateweather, Skarbrand, Rotigus, Shalaxi Hellbane) are alway better than the generic ones. I've seen them referred to as "Auto-Include" in discussions of army building... Now.. I don't care at all about matched play, or competitive gaming. I like narrative play and making up stories about my OWN heroes (or, anti-heroes) carving out their own destinies by their sword (or... spells?).. but the people I do play against (other than Amanda) DO build competitive armies and there's always a nagging feeling in the back of my brain that I am hampering myself and dooming myself to always lose by not making the "competitive" choice... 

Also... the Kairos Fateweather version of the model looks pretty cool - with TWO heads! 

But also... I don't CARE about Kairos Fateweather, that giant battle chicken's story has already been told... 

I can think on it a bit, I have LOTS of other stuff to build and paint. 

I think I'll start with the Fateskimmer, Herald of Tzeentch on Burning Chariot.. partly because it's a cool model and partly because I picked up White Dwarf #518 recently, and there are chariot racing rules for Age of Sigmar in there!!

I'll probably simultaneously put together all the Horrors... just because they look fun and they'll be super easy to paint and that will bring me close to being back in the black quicker (at least for the 28mm Foot)! 

This puts me at...

2026 PAINTED

• 28mm Foot: 43
• 28mm Mounted/Beasties: 2

2026 PURCHASED/ACQUIRED

• 28mm Foot: 65
• 28mm Mounted/Beasties: 9
• 28mm Vehicles/Monsters: 2
• 28mm Larger Terrain bits: 2

I doubt there will be any other purchases in the near future... so it shouldn't be too hard to catch up and start chipping away at the Pile of Opportunity!

(I guess there are the Endless Spells for the Disciples of Tzeentch... but I won't worry about those until I actually have enough of these painted to actually PLAY a game!) 

The Cankerborn

The Cankerborn are some Nurgle Daemons that were included in Warhammer Quest: Darkwater. They are born of despoiling the realm itself, especially place of power (like the Jade Abbey!) 

The Cankerborn

According to the latest Battle Profiles, the Cankerborn are HEROES....?! They can include any Daemon in a regiment they command!? I absolutely DO NOT need MORE heroes to lead more regiments, though! Luckily, these two can be included in Gelgus Pust's or the Great Unclean One's regiments as a "Plague Scion" - or, apparently, in a regiment commanded by Belga the Cystwitch...? So that's where they'd be fielded if ever I was playing with a game big enough I needed to include these! 

(They can also be included in a regiment commanded by Festus the Leechlord or Rotigus... but it's not likely I'll be picking up either at any point in the immediate future!) 

I've also been working on the Pestigors this weekend, but probably won't finish them up until early this next week... I actually have an exam on Monday I need to spend SOME time today studying for!? 

Then it's just Belga the Cystwitch and the three heroes (and familiar.. and a few tokens...) and I'll be DONE all of the Warahmmer Quest: Darkwater miniatures!! 

Great Unclean One - Greater Daemon of Nurgle (and Friends!)

I finally finished up the Great Unclean One... 

Great Unclean One! 

Backside of Great Unclean One!  

I took a lot longer than expected to paint. I feel like it's been in a state of "SO CLOSE" for ages... and part of that was the disruption of moving the painting station to another room... but part of that was just it's a big model with SO MANY silly little details, that, every time I THOUGHT I was done, would notice something I'd missed... over and over again. 

Also... all those annoying little nurglings... which I COULD have left off... but in Age of Sigmar, one of the Great Unclean Ones melee attacks is "Host of Nurglings" (which has TEN attack dice!) so I figured I should throw a few on the base with him. Maybe I didn't need to put them ALL in a conga line at the front... Ah, well... 

 I should probably come up with a name for it... like Norgoflathh the Vile... or... Gerald... 

While the model can be used in 40K... and I did ostensibly buy it to partake in Tanksgiving - a mega battle at the Warhammer Store where player pledge to build and paint a tank or MONSTER for 40K and bring it out to battle on the American Thanksgiving weekend - and The Great Unclean one IS playable in 40K... I will probably make far more use of it in Age of Sigmar! 

I also painted this little pair of Nurglings, but put them on individual bases... for funsies... the characters in the role-playing game will probably encounter them some day... and they will learn to FEAR the Nurglings!!!

Maggotkin of Nurgle Force for Age of Sigmar - so far! I do still have most of the Shudderblight Cyst to finish assembling and painting; four more Pusgoyle blightlords, five more Putrid Blightkings, 10  Rotmier Creed, and a Harbinger of Decay... (and will soon have even MORE new Nurgle stuff to paint when Warhammer Quest: Darkwater is released! 

Committing to the Plaguefather (and Tanksgiving!)

I had planned to wait on these things... until I was finished the Maggotkin and Helsmiths Spearheads... or Black Friday... which ever came LATER... 

But then I realized I'd missed the Beast Feast - which was an event held at the Warhammer Store last weekend where you committed to building and painting a (previously unassembled upainted..) warmachine or monster and brought it to throw down in a mega battle... 

There is another event coming up next month, though... TANKSGIVING... which is a 40K mega battle where you commit to building and painting a (previously unassembled upainted..) vehicle or monster... 

So... I thought... I could build and paint a GREATER DAEMON because they can be used in both Age of Sigmar AND Warhammer 40,000... but WHICH ONE!? 

I don't really have much of a Tzeentch army, so Kairos Fateweaver/Lord of Change was pretty easy to eliminate. 

Slaanesh was kind of my first Chaos army... and I do have a fair bit of stuff for it... and I've kind of wanted a Keeper of Secrets for a long time... and Shalaxi Helbane's Soulpiercer attack in 40K is BRUTAL... Six attack, hits on 2+, STRENGTH 12(!), Armour Piercing -3 and dealing D6+2 damage for each of those hits! OUCH! Buuuuuut.. I haven't really been playing or painting them for a while... and I'd want to do a good job on a Keeper of Secrets and wouldn't want to rush it... 

So it was kind of down to a Bloodthirster of Khorne or a Great Unclean One of Nurgle. The Bloodthirster is fast and even more brutal than Shalaxi Helbane... and I do have a Blades of Khorne army with over 2500 points of painted minis ready to go... It's the army I've been thinking about playing and I have the Battletome... ugggghhh... 

In the end I went with the Great Unclean One, though...  

It's arguably the worst of the Greater Daemons - at least in 40K... it is the slowest (if everything else that shows up is a tank, they could probably just drive away and shoot ny daemon to bits). It doesn't hit nearly as hard as the others - at least the Khorne and Slaanesh Daemons (best attacks are Strength 10, Armour Piercing -2m versus Strength 12-16 and Armour piercing of -3/-4 of the others...)... but... It's what I'm working on right now and interested in painting right now, so.... 

Having done that... 

I'd noticed there was a Shudderblight Cyst Battleforce box still sitting at Dragon's Den Games - one of the previous year's Battleforce Boxes... which has a lot of great units - stuff I'd have gotten to build up my Maggotkin army over the coming months... but at, like, 30% off... I was thinking of waiting until Black Friday (to make it close to 50% off!), but picking up the Great Unclean One kind of felt like COMMITTING to building a Nurgle army... and the guys at Dragon's Den Games give me really good deals all year long... and the box itself was at a significant discount over the regular price of the contents... and so I realized I'd be pretty disappointed if I went on Boxing Day and it was gone (as has happened other years)... 

So I went and got that today as well... 

So... I guess I have a full-on Nurgle army as well now... 

Now, you don't HAVE to buy something brand new to participate in Tanksgiving... you CAN bring in stuff from your pile of shame and show it to the staff when you sign up... and I COULD have done that... because... 

STILL SO MUCH GUARD STUFF TO ASSEMBLE AND PAINT!!!

(I'm SURE I had a third unassembled Leman Russ somewhere...?)

But I wanted to stay focused on Age of Sigmar stuff... and keep working on the Spearheads... And so, taking a few weeks to a month off of working on Age of Sigmar stuff to knock out some Imperial Guard tanks... well... I was concerned it could completely distract me from THE PLAN... so... Maybe next year...?

(How did I end up with so many unassembled Guard tanks...!? Well I'm pretty sure I bought all of these about a decade ago..? Maybe as 7th edition was wrapping up, or beginning of 8th Edition....? Some at a Black Friday sale... some at a Boxing Day sale... back when they were HALF the price they are selling for now!? But then before I could get around to assembling or painting any of them, I ended up buying MULTIPLE lots of used Guard armies from local guys... all of which contained multiple tanks that were already assembled and painted or partially painted... So almost all of the Guard vehicles I've painted over the years are ones that were assembled by others that I just repainted?! and then never got around to assembling the ones I'd bought new for myself! I STILL have a few more built tanks to repaint before I get to THESE! I will have an entire Tank Squadron when I'm done - plus supporting arms vehicles)

Bloodletters

I finished up the TWENTY Bloodletters! 

This finishes off the Chaos Daemons Combat Patrol I bought a few weeks ago - it also finishes up ALL of the Khorne Daemons, including ones I've had for years! (I do still have a few Khorne Bloodbound I could finish up!) 

Twenty Bloodletters!

One unit of ten Bloodletters

Another unit of ten Bloodletters

ALL THE DAEMONS

In Age of Sigmar, just these daemons adds up to 1920 points!? It could be fielded as an army all on it's own!! (I have almost as many Bloodbound - or, will have, when they're all finished... they could fight each other!) 

In Warhammer 40,000 this only adds up to 1130 points...? So enough for a Chaos Daemons starter Crusade force, and a few things to add to it... but not a full 2000 point tournament force. 

I briefly wondered about a World Eaters force (the Combat Patrol looks fun - with a DAemon Prince of Khorne!) but in the World Eaters force, Karanak and the Bloodmasters aren't allowed... and I imagine, like the Emperor's Children, daemons are probably only allowed in one of the Detachments and only allowed to make up 50% of the force... But the World Eaters Combat Patrol is only 500 points, so if I wanted to build anything other than a starter Crusade force (of 1000 points), that would be MORE stuff I'd have to buy... (I'd hoped maybe some of the old Chaos Space Marine stuff I have that didn't make it into the Emperor's Children codex might be allowed in the World Eaters - Venomcrawler, Obliterators, Master of Possession, etc.) alas... none were... so probably not going to bother with that. 

It has just occurred to me that I did not take a picture of the Combat Patrol... which was why I bought this latest batch of things... Ah well... 

All of the Blades of Khorne, so far... 

I do hope I'll get another couple small batches of Blades of Khorne units while riding this current wave of enthusiasm... Mighty Lord of Khorne, the Skullreapers and ten Blood Warriors. If I got all those done (and half of them are MOSTLY done...) the only thing I'd have left to do are thirty or so Bloodreavers?

So I'd started painting these with Warhammer 40,000 in mind, as either a Combat Patrol on their own, or random wandering daemons in Crusade: Armageddon, etc... in the process of painting this batch of daemons, it's gotten me thinking a lot about Age of Sigmar again... 

It didn't help that yesterday the Sunday preview on Warhammer Community announced that the new Blades of Khorne Battletome will be available for pre-order next week... and there will be a new Khorne Spearhead army (which I have MOST of the stuff for!) 

That led to thinking about running a Vampire-themed game of Soulbound... using the archetypes from Champions of Death... and... maybe the group ISN'T Soulbound. (This is the thing I like LEAST about Soulbound... is the fact that it is so focused on playing a soulbinding, it is so limiting... why not have just called it the Age of Sigmar Role-Playing game... have Soulbinding be an OPTION for a type of campaign...)

Oh! AND! This puts me back in the Black for this year - at least for 28mm foot figures - 272 purchased (or otherwise aquired through trade, etc!) and 282 PAINTED! (Also I've traded away over 100 minis, so the overall ratio of painted to unpainted is even highter!) 

Bloodcrushers

 The Khorne Daemon Horde grows... 

Bloodcrushers

Three of these came from the Realm of Chaos: Wrath and Rapture box I picked up six years ago. The other three came from the more recent Chaos Daemons Combat Patrol box. In both Age of Sigmar and 40K they can be fielded in units of three or six. As a unit of three though it's just a Commander, a Standard Bearer and a Horn Blower... which I think would look a little silly, romping around the battlefield on it's own... let along TWO of them... So when I got the additional three, I just did them as riders to fill out a unit of six! 

These took a bit longer than I'd expected - for a model with, like, basically three colours... There ended up being so many shades of red layered over each other (not that I can even tell... just looks... RED!?). 

ALL THE KHORNE DAEMONSES! 

I just have twenty Bloodletters to finish up. 

I thought I'd be done them all by now, but I've been distracted by other things.. A few of the mortal Blades of Khorne warriors made it on to the painting desk and I've been working on a few of those at the same time. I'm not sure if I'll finish them all... when the Bloodletters are done, I may put most of them back in storage... but I might finish up one or two of the champions/leaders...?

Goremonger (Free Miniature-of-the-Month)

 

I rolled out to the Warhammer Store this weekend to grab one of the Goremongers they were giving out as the free Miniature-of-the-Month. While I was there I grabbed the latest White Dwarf, as this one is another in the series of issues focusing on the Chaos gods. Since I do have a lot of Khorne stuff, I thought I'd pick this one up... 

There are two others focusing on Tzeentch and Nurgle... but I probably won't bother with those. 

I did assembled the new mini and did a bit of work on the Khorne Daemons... but mostly ended up watching House of the Dragon - which Amanda and I started watching the other day... 

Which got me thinking about Age of Sigmar again... 

Each day it feels like I flip-flop between which I should focus my energies on. Conveniently, the daemons can be used in BOTH! So at least I'm still focus on painting Khorne Daemons!!!

MOAR KHORNE DAWGZ (Flesh Hounds!)

Next in the line of Khorne things to roll off the workbench: Khorne Dawgz (Flesh Hounds) 

Khorne Dawgz - ten came with the Chaos Daemons Combat Patrol. 

Of course I already had a few - five similar plastic ones that came with Wrath & Rapture box, and I picked up ten old metal ones, at some point...? (maybe Jon gave them to me?!) - so now I have 25 of them!? In both 40K and AoS, they CAN be fielded in units of five or ten... so... do I get five more to max out on the Khorne Dawgz at three units of ten!? 

I also have Karanak to lead them! (in both 40K and AoS!) 

I was tempted to do another round of photos of the growing collection, but I think I'll pause on that until I'm done the Bloodletters and/or Bloodcrushers.. which I will hopefully finish up... maybe over the weekend...? 

Bloodmaster, Herald of Khorne - and Khorgorath

 The first two of a big batch of Khorne things that will hopefully be rolling off the workbench over the next week or so... 

Bloodmaster, Herald of Khorne, and Khorgorath!

Baelyngar - Bloodmaster, Herald of Khorne, is a daemonic champion that buffs nearby Bloodletters. It is the leader of the Chaos Daemons Combat Patrol I bought last week. 

I already have one (Korgorand), so I modified this one a bit, just to make them look a little bit different. 

Along with Karanak, Hound of Vengeance, I now have three Khorne Daemon Champions that can lead units of daemons in 40K or lead Regiments of daemons in Age of Sigmar. 

All of the Khorne Daemons, so far... These WERE all useable in both Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar. I'm not sure about Karanak at the moment. I have a feeling a straight Chaos Daemon army may soon be a thing of the past and daemons will only be allowed in the aligned Heretic Astartes chapter armies... 

At SOME point (like, when ALL the Khorne stuff I have is all done...) it might be fun to pick up a Skulltaker or Skullmaster - just to have some different looking Daemon champions. The skullmaster is mounted on a Juggernaught and could lead the Bloodcrushers... 

Of course... If I got ALL the other Khorne stuff done, I might just break down and buy myself a BLOODTHIRSTER!! 

The Khorgorath! This isn't technically a daemon... they're mortal beasts that have been corrupted and mutated into horrifying creatures utterly consumed with rage! 

(But I'll likely use this as a "Greater Daemon" for the Armageddon Crusade Campaign!) 

The Khorgorath came with the Big Khorne Horde I traded for just over a year ago! It's been mostly painted for almost that entire time... SO CLOSE, I just haven't been able to remove it from the workbench!? Now that I have a big pile of Khorne things (and there was a potential use for it!) I finally got around to finishing it up! 

All of the Blades of Khorne, so far... 

The rest of the Daemons are coming along very nicely. I started batch painting the whole lot... but now I just have to finish up details, and that I'll do unit by unit. I'll probably finish up the Khorne Dogs (Flesh Hounds) first, then the Bloodletters and finally the Bloodcrushers (three of which I never finished from the Wrath and Rapture box I picked up six years ago!?)

I've also slid a few more Blades of Khorne items onto the workbench (Mighty Lord of Khorne, Skullreapers, Bloodsecrator, and Bloodstoker). Not sure if these SHOULD be priorities right now... but while I'm riding the red tide, I might as well see if I can't get a few more done. 

I'm a little bit alarmed by how many of these are just not available on the Warhammer Website anymore... The Khorgorath, Bloodsecrator, and Bloodstoker are all no longer available. Previously they were only available in the "Start Collecting" boxes - and those are gone - will they be rereleased in new boxes with the new Battletome? Will they be getting updated models? Will they just be gone!? Replaced with other models!? 

Stay tuned for Moar Khorne Kraziness!! 

(or maybe a Warhammer Quest game report!) 

Crusades, Daemons and a Stug

 Over the last week, one thing arrived in the mail and I picked up a few things at my FLGS (Dragon's Den Games in Saskatoon!) 

Last week, I picked up the 40K Crusade: Armageddon book. I've had a hankering to play 40K again, and I do prefer playing campaigns - or at least games with some sort of narrative - so I thought I'd try out the latest Crusade Campaign book from Games Workshop. 

I'd gone to the store not entirely sure which one I'd pick up, as there have been two released so far this year - Nachmund Gauntlet and Armageddon. I didn't really look into either before I went to the store, which, in retrospect, probably wasn't the best plan... but here we are. 

I was a little familiar with Armageddon. I mean, the tales of the wars on Armageddon have been part of the narrative of 40K for decades. I mean, it was the skirmish game Shadow War: Armageddon, that seriously got me collecting and painting 40K miniatures again - and even then, Armageddon had been in the narrative a long time. 

I ended up picking up the Armageddon book because it was the only one of the two they had in stock (though they did still have the Tyrannic War and Pariah Nexus books, I passed on those, largely because I'd had it in my head I was going there for Nachmund Gauntlet or Armageddon... and the Tyrannic War and Pariah Nexus were not Nachmund Gauntlet or Armageddon... so...) 

(again, this is where checking things out to see what was available and maybe reading some of the articles on the Warhammer Community website to see what those different campaigns are all about might have been prudent... but here we are).

So the BIG THING going on at Armageddon these days is massive rift gates opening up and daemons spilling onto the planet from the warp.... and a full-scale invastion by the World Eaters (worshipers of Khorne, the blood god)... 

Ultimately EVERYONE shows up for these things (or there are ways you can work whatever force you have into the narrative and play. Space Wolves are actually mentioned to have a significant presence on Armageddon... Emperor's Children...? Not so much... but hey they could just show up to sow discord and confusion and take a few shots at both the Imperial forces AND the World Eaters! 

It's kind of fun, there are scenarios where there are wandering unbound generic daemons wandering around the battlefield! 

Which reminded me of the Chaos Daemons Combat Patrol... I'd been thinking of picking it up last year - to add to the Blades of Khorne forces (because, it's just such a ridiculous good deal...) AND I'd been thinking it might be fun to try out Combat Patrol - smaller skirmishy version of 40K with set army lists (similar to Spearhead for Age of Sigmar) but, of all the 40K forces I have stuff for, I could not fill out a single Combat Patrol!? I'd need to buy at least two units to fill out a combat patrol... for the Daemons, those two units would cost $125 CAD... the whole damed combat patrol is only $200... and contains stuff currently worth $325 - if it was all bought separately... 

Anyway, Armageddon got me thinking about that again... but when I went to check the Warhammer website, it had been removed!! the manager at the local Warhammer Store said they did have one or two in stock, but they were to be removed from the shelves soon and ultimately sent back (but that might not be for a while) checking around, I found a lot of the online stores I've bought stuff from were sold out of them... and then I happened to be in the Dragon's Den for Free RPG Day  and noticed they had one in stock... I didn't buy it right then and there... I thought about it over the weekend and went back Monday and picked it up... and the Wrath & Glory - Threat Assessment: Heretics and Daemons book, which I'd also seen they had in stock! 

And when I got home from the Dragon's Den I saw a package had arrived for me containing the Stug... which I'd ordered over a month ago and almost entirely FORGOTTEN that I'd even ordered!? 

So now I'm trying to finish up priming and prepping all those Drukhari and Corsairs... so I can put them into temporary storage so I can assemble and paint all these DAEMONS!! Largely because I know that they will be SUPER FAST to paint and it's nice having stuff DONE! 

(also, the quarter is almost done and the numbers are looking really low! Ha!) 

(this HAS... TEMPORARILY... put me back in the red - having purchased MORE than I've painted so far this year...!?) 

Age of Sigmar - Screamers of Tzeentch

 (Technically, these COULD be used in a 40K Daemons of Chaos army as well!) 

Screamers of Tzeentch - These are daemons that fly through the sky at great speed slashing their enemies as they pass with spines, fins, horns and teeth while emitting a harrowing wailing and screeching noises!

The downside of painting a small number of this and that for role-playing and skirmish games is I always start thinking; "wow, these are super fun! I'd love to build a WHOLE ARMY of them!?" Which is ridiculous and I absolutely cannot... but the feeling is always there... 

They'll soon be seeing action in my Soulbound Role-playing game. Still need to finish some Tzaangors as well! 

Hedonites of Slaanesh: Infernal Enrapturess

I guess this doesn't have to be just "Hedonites of Slaanesh", the Infernal Enrapturess is a Daemon and can be used in Age of Sigmar AND Warhammer 40,000! 

Infernal Enrapturess

I've decided to call her Thundrastark Bassweaver the Delightfoul Songstrix (Eakatrashes'Zoieng)

If you speak her true daemon name six times, really fast, she will burst into a cloud of cartoonish colourful notes an slowly float back to the Realms of Chaos, where she will recongeal and play incredibly long, slow goth-metal ballads and cry for a century or two... before returning with new, more devastating discordant melodies to destroy the minds of mortals...  

I don't love how it turned out... there's kind of a mish-mash of painting styles here. When I got the model, my plan was to knock all the Slaanesh stuff out as fast as I could using Contrast paints... and I'd STARTED this doing that... but then recently rebased and painted up the Daemon with just regular paints and... I don't love how it turned out... but I don't HATE it and there are TOO MANY OTHER THINGS to paint for me to go back and repaint the whole model!! 

So I'm calling it DONE and MOVING ON!!

I now have an additional/alternative Daemon Hero model (the only other Hero model I have finished is the Tranceweaver(40K)/Viceleader(AoS) which is now out of production and moved to legends in AoS and will probably dissapear from 40K in the next edition... or whenever they put out a Chaos Daemons Codex for 10th Edition.

Warhammer Underworlds: The Thricefold Discord

 I finally finished up the first of the Warbands that came in the two core boxes of Warhammer Underworlds I picked up on Boxing Day (Deathgorge and Wyrdhollow). The Thricefold Discord are a trio of Slaanesh Daemons... that HATE each other... Like, they hate each other so much they were always trying to disrupt each others plans and it got SO disruptive they were brought before Syll'esske,  Daemonic Herald of Slaanesh Syll Lewdtongue and a Daemon Prince of Slaanesh named Esske, who decided rather than utterly destroy the three, they would send them on a mission, together, to the Deathgorge where they must work together to collect 666 souls for their master... 

The Thricefold Discord.

Each of their inspire conditions is if a specific one of the others makes an attack, defence, or spell roll and there are ZERO successes in the roll, OR that deamon is taken out of action... Vexmore inspires if Vashtiss fails or is taken out. Vashtiss inspires if Lascivyr fails or is taken out. Lascivyr inspires if Vexmore fails or is taken out. Which I think is HILARIOUS... Three spiteful Daemons finding joy in the others misfortunes... 

Vexmor, Locus of Indolence. Apparently the "leader" of the group. If attacked and he rolls no successes for his defence roll, it does -1 damage (and would inspire Lascivyr!)

Lascivyr the Bladed Blessing, Locus of Carnality. A brutal Assassin that is always considered to have a supporting fighter. 

Vashtiss the Coiled, Locus of Paramountcy - a wizard. Adjacent enemy fighters cannot be supported while they are the target of an attack action. 

I haven't really even read any of their Objective or Power cards and they're already my new favourite warband. 

I am hoping to get in a few games this weekend, so stay tuned for a few game reports! (Or, if not full reports, at least a few pictures of the games) 

Now that these are done, though, I really need to get working on some Tallarn artillery for the tournament coming up in just four weeks!! (After that, though, I think it will be back to Warhammer Underworlds stuff for a bit - maybe the Tzeentch warband... that's the one I'm most excited about... but I do have a few others on the workbench that are over half done... so It might be the Ogor pirate and crew or the Stormcast warband that ends up being finished next...) 

Xenos Rampant - Daemons of Sidon IX

 Other Tim popped around Tuesday evening to have a go at Xenos Rampant. 

Initially I thought he was bringing his Emperor's Brethern Space Marines, and I had initially thought I'd roll out the Chaos Space Marines... but that seemed boring. I figured an asymetical battle might be more interesting - xenomorphs vs heavily armoured marines... I didn't have enough tyrnids/Genestealers/Generic Bug Aliens, but I DID have a bunch of Daemons! So, I cooked up a bit of background fluff and a scenario that seemed like it might be fun.

Then he brought Eldar...

SITUATION

There has been a great disturbance in the warp. 

Astropaths working for Inquisitor Marnie McGuffin of the Ordo Malleus, have detected a warp anomaly on Sidon IX. It is entirely likely that local heretics, performing dark rituals, have opened a gate in the fabric of reality and daemons of the warp may very well be pouring into realspace and corrupting the planet rich with valuable resources. 

A Strike Cruiser of Emperor's Brethern Space Marines are in the vicinity - just a short warp jump away. Less ideal than the Grey Knights for investigating such a disturbance, they are the closest Marine detachment, by far and time is of the essence. The Inquisitor has despatched them to investigate the anomaly.  

Farseers of the Unixos Craftworld have detected a warp anomaly on Sidon IX. It is  likely that local Mon-kee, performing dark rituals, have opened a gate in the fabric of reality and daemons of the warp may very well be pouring into realspace and corrupting the planet rich with valuable resources. 

A Strike Craft with a Host of Aspect Warriors was despatched to Sidon IX to investigate and, ideally, deal with whatever they found. 

SCENARIO

We played Scenerio Echo: Orbital Drop - straight out of the Xenos Rampant book.   

There was a target locale at the center of the table that the Attacking Marines Eldar need to solely control at the end of the game. Deployment for the attackers was determined randomly at six landing zones spread out across the table. 

FORCES

Emperor's Brethren Detachment 

Unixos Eldar Craft World War Host 

Autarch and Striking Scorpions - Heavy Infantry (@2), Incread Unit Size (+2), Assault Doctrine (+2), Close Quarters Doctrine (-1), Infiulltrators (+1) = 6AP

Dire Avengers - Light Infantry (@1), Armour-Piercing (+1) = 2AP

Falcon - Transport vehicle (@4), Skimmer (+1), Armour-Piercing (+1) = 6AP

Jet Bikes - Light Infantry (@1), Increased Unit Size (+2), Reduced Model Unit, Mobile (+1), Undisciplined (-1), Heavy Weapon (+2), Armour-Piercing (+1) = 6AP

RAngers - Recon Infantry (@2), Sniper Team (+2) = 4AP

Daemons of Khorne

Bloodmaster, Herald of Khorne - Leader (Aggressive) - Berserk Infantry (@2), Single Model Unit, Increased Squad Size (+1), Demonic (+0), Unarmed (-1), Heavy Armour (+2), High-Powered Blades (+1) = 5AP

Bloodletters - Berserk Infantry (@2), Increased Squad Size (+1), Demonic (+0), Unarmed (-1) = 2 AP 

Karanak, The Hound of Vengeance - Greater Xenomorph (@4), Single Model Unit, Demonic (+0), High-Powered Blades (+1) = 5AP 

Flesh Hounds - Lesser Xenomorph (@2), Reduced Model Unit, Swarm (+2), Demonic (+0) = 4AP

Flesh Hounds - Lesser Xenomorph (@2), Reduced Model Unit, Swarm (+2), Demonic (+0) = 4AP

Flesh Hounds - Lesser Xenomorph (@2), Reduced Model Unit, Swarm (+2), Demonic (+0) = 4AP

Because I was playing Khorne, I was sure to wear my MAGA Hat: Make Angron Great Again! 

THE GAME! 

Daemons of Khorne, running rampant in the ruins of this small industrial town. 

The Bloodmaster watches over the portal through which it expects more daemons to join them! 

The first to drop was the Falcon grav tank...

Games Workshop has gotten very clear on the differences of within or WHOLLY within. The scenario said the unit has to be set up WITHIN 6" of the marker (that little barrel with a Zombie coming out of it), Other Tim took this to mean "at least part of the unit must be within"... which is what GW defines as "Within" (if at least part of the unit is within). I feel like the meaning was what GW calls WHOLLY WHITHIN - i.e. all parts of the unit must be set up within... but whatevs... it came back to bite him in the ass the next turn. 

The reason for setting up here was to not be within Wild Charge range of those Bloodletters and getting a chance to shoot them at least once before they charged. with Armour of 5, I'm not sure he had that much to worry about... buuuut... 

The autarch and his host of Striking Scorpions landed in another corner of the table. 

The Rangers landed within charge range of the Flesh Hounds which did indeed charge, and utterly shredded the unit!? 

Bloodletters come out to play. I don't think he even got a shot off in the end, because he tried to activate the Jet Bikes and Failed... ending his turn. So I went again and these Bloodletters charged and dealt it enough hits to lose a Strength point... and they are FEARSOME, so the tank failed Courage and had to retreat... off the table... 

Flesh Hound poking its nose around the corner sniffing out it's prey. 

Karanak went after the Jet Bikes and leapt into the air swatting one down. It pounced on the rider and tore them to shreds! The bikes did get in some shots and injured the Beast of Vengeance... but the Beast slaughtered a few more the rest flew away (off the table). 

Flesh Hounds charged the Striking Scorpions and their Autarch. Every time, tearing limbs and slashing arteries. 

With the Tank out of the way, other Flesh Hounds Charged the Dire Avengers. Those not killed in the initial assault fled away off the table! 

There was a bit of back and forth between the Striking Scorpions and the Flesh Hounds. 

Things were starting to look bad for the initial pack of Flesh Hounds that had attacked the Striking Scorpions... 

But then the other pack arrived... (that had killed the Rangers) 

and then the OTHER other pack arrived.... (that had driven off the Dire Avengers) 

Soon it was just the Autarch, trying their best to hold back the tide and allow their wounded warriors the chance to slink away into the shadows - to hopefully regroup and plan a better method of attack! 

So that was Xeno Rampant. 

I like it. 

I like all of Dan Mersey's rules. I kind of wondered how this one might work with all it's little tweaks and changes, but this played out very fast. I was worried it might - with Heavy infantry fighting heavy infantry, it might get drawn out into a protracted shooting match where no one was able to take out any of the enemy... Part of the reason I went with Xenos and Berserk infantry - figuring an asymmetrical battle would go one way or the other quickly! I did NOT expect it to go SO poorly, SO quickly for Other Tim's troops! (he did have a few abysmal activation rolls...) 

I am keen to try it out again with other eras. Modern, Wierd Wars, post-apocalyptic or zombies (it's been a LONG time since I played a game with ZOMBIES!!).   

It's kind of also got me thinking about Other Dan Mersey games again - Dragon Rampant, especially...