Tag: Nurgle

Two if by Earth

This one is mostly just a painting update. I added a few things to my Death Guard Army, which has been a fair amount of fun to balance the Necron madness. Given that we are long-term planning for an Invasion of Terra 2 scenario in the Fall, I’m definitely putting energy into all things Chaos right now. And that meant expanding the Death Guard a bit more currently. There’s a ton of Death Guard in our local group, so it’s perhaps not ideal to be adding there for purposes of the grand invasion in the fall, but felt good to be painting things!

Another 10 Poxwalkers for Nurgle’s shambling hordes. These guys always look good, and I put far too much time into them for chaff that dies so fast hah.

Death Guard Sorcerer in Terminator Armor. Was good for working out how I’ll be doing the Deathshroud that are on my to-do list. Pretty fun conversion.

Two Termite Drills. These are from a Mantic kit, which is pretty good look and similar to the Forge World versions, at a far more manageable price (and easier-to-work-with materials). Cutting the one in half for the TMNT-like “Shredder’s Arrival” pose was a bit of challenge, but it turned out really well I felt.

So that’s a fair bit more of Death Guard ready to go. Got a few games in with them alongside some of the Necron games I got in. Has been really good to get back into gaming. Definitely lights the fires of the hobby!

Marvel Corner

Painted up Rocket Raccoon. I’m pretty pleased with his suit (did the Avengers Endgame white panels with red) and his gun, maybe less so his fur. But glad he’s done, and got in two games with him on the table–where he certainly did work.

Miniature Painting Goals 2021 – Totals so Far

40k Power Points Painted 120/365

Marvel Crisis Protocol Models Painted 4/12

Painting and Painting

So much over the past couple of months in terms of painting, I wanted to give just the dump update of that. While some of it was for my Chaos forces, a lot was new Tau models to bring into my force (and finishing up two older ones that needed the finishing touches to be complete). Plus I also managed a Marvel Crisis Protocol character in September! Huzzah.

I’m still hoping to make my painting threat for the year: 366 points of 40k painted, and 25 Marvel Crisis Protocol figures. Will be a busy end of the year, but I’m hopeful. Looks like in-person gaming might finally be coming back too, which with safety precaution I’m optimistic about. And will certainly drive the painting progress.

Tau Additions

A whole lot of stuff to add in. While I finished up some characters, I’m most pleased with my Stealth Teams and Ghostkeel and their cloaking technology. It’s fun to paint them as if they’re using it, and phasing thru it in fun ways. I’ve got another two Ghostkeels and at least one more set of Stealth Suits ahead of me too.

Side view really shows the cloaking technology best on the Ghostkeel.

Front View is much more bland, as it should be technically. “Nothing to see here”. Hah.

A similar look for my Stealth Suits, and added a pair of Shield Drones to them. I’ll want to beef up these squads as I go forward, but good to have the leader of each of them with the Markerlight already ready.

Here’s a close-up of one of the Stealth Suits. It’s definitely fun to figure out where to put the cloaking technology line, and the blue looks really good I think.

Also added a Commander in XV85 armor (had been in progress for a long time, finally got finished up).

And Shas’o R’alai as well. Had him for even longer, just needing to finish some highlights to make him really work.

Finally added some Smart Missile Turrets so that my Fire Warriors could choose more hidden spots and still have something to add to fights.

I am definitely going to change up my drones, likely give them bases that look like others (so I can magnetize them). But this was a really big start to getting a much more sizable Tau force added to what I had already completed. See here for more Tau goodness: https://chalkboardwar.com/2020/09/09/a-return-is-greater-good/

Chaos Forces

My combined Nurgle and Khorne Chaos Lord in Terminator Armor has been posted here already in my fluff for that combined crusade. But he also should be counted toward my painting progress so here he is again.

Also finished up a Chaos Knight Tyrant. This model was a ton of fun to paint, and I really enjoyed working on it. Was quite pleased with how it came together. Will be a while before I field it no doubt, but still good to get done.

Marvel Crisis Protocol

Black Widow in an alternate color scheme of my own devising. I don’t plan on using her in the game, so she was an odd stumbling block for completion. Been sitting on my paint table since literally February. Glad she’s done. On to the Green Goblin!

2020 Painting Challenge Progress

168/366 Warhammer 40k Power Points Painted

15/25 Marvel Crisis Protocol Models Painted

Rage Virus: A Crusade Begins

[Summary of personal research notes. Malcolm Blackstone, Ordo Malleus Inquisitor]

At this point I am not sure if Qahr G’azab remembers his own name, let alone whether he understands the fragile tension he seems to represent in the machinations of the Immaterium. I record here what I know of his past and present, in hopes that it lends me strength in purging the galaxy of him and his ills.

From what I can tell, while Qahr G’azab walks among the cursed of the Death Guard, he is not of their Legion. At least not originally. I found records of a Qahr G’azab being elevated from initiate to Legionnaire for the World Eaters, recruited from the human settlement of a distant fringe planet shortly before the World Eaters were recalled to Warmaster Horus’ 63rd fleet for the engagement with the Auretian Technocracy. This was the time when the World Eaters were operating in the fringes. I cannot find out whether Qahr was subject to the technically-prohibited “butcher’s nails” procedure of his Legion at the time. I doubt so due to later moments.

The next time the name Qahr G’azab appears is amid two separate estimations of order of battle, both from Istvaan III. Our World Eaters Qahr G’azab is among those dispatched to the surface along with Angron when he defied Horus’ will and went to wipe out those in his Legion that remained loyal to the Emperor (long may their sacrifice be remembered). While records later in the Heresy get muddled, those early actions auto-scribes were still listing battle actions with care–and thus we know of Qahr’s landing on the planet.

Strangely, the other order of battle record is one of a battle brother of the Death Guard, named Gazab, recalled from the surface of Istvaan and listed as having sustained serious damage on the surface. He is listed by the admitting medicae on the Endurance (Mortarion’s flagship) as having been damaged by the detonation of a dud viral ordinance cluster that the Loyalists must have rigged for their side. That matches a story I extracted at no great difficulty from a captured member of the Death Guard, pried from their mind amid agonizing death throes as their body literally ate itself to prevent it from giving me the information I sought.

As best I can piece it together, this Gazab was a battle brother whose unit had been entirely wiped out, and found by other Death Guard forces–his armor steaming and nearly melted away by the converted ordinance blast. At the time, they had thought that the viral agents were defective in the cluster, so he was only exposed to the acidic vapors designed to eat thru armor to allow infection. All that was left of the armor was an insignia of him being a part of the First Company. This Gazab was delirious and insensate from the damage, and thus was put into a medical coma upon arrival at the Endurance, earmarked for return to the First Company. However, that must have been delayed as Typhon led the chase for the Eisenstein.

Gazab in medical stasis on the *Endurance*

Records get much more spotty after this, and I was reliant upon again those imperfect captured memories from the corrupted. By arrival for the Battle of Terra, I get an account of a Gazab getting refit on Typhus’ (Typhon in his newly-daemonic form) ship and joining the assault on the surface–and distinguishing himself amid his Legion. Remember, at this point the Legion had spent their time becalmed in the Warp and fully given over to Nurgle.

Was this Gazab the same Qahr G’azab who had been a World Eater? I believe so. The white of the World Eaters, melted away, would be close to the neutral of the Death Guard. And without the Butcher’s Nails applied, the medical scans would have shown him as no different than any Legionnaire on the Endurance. He was perhaps still even in medical coma when the diseased factors of the warp infiltrated the Endurance and changed the Legion. And finally as horrid and repulsive as the powers of Nurgle are, his notion of “Grandfather” makes an odd room for family. Could he have awakened burdened with plague, and simply not remembered nor cared to remember his past? At the point of corruption, did the Plague Marines of the Death Guard even care about their record keeping amid a Legion so numerous? Everything I have suggests to me that this warrior started as a World Eater, but due to circumstance found a space amid the Death Guard.

Accounts of him amid the Death Guard that I extracted were of a soldier of the line who preferred using two plague knives shaped almost like butchers’ cleavers in lieu of his bolter for many of the battles. The memories are hazy (again extracted at much difficulty from an untrustworthy source), but they are of a taciturn fighter who waded into combat almost instinctually. Proving his capability with Typhus’ Company, he served amid those gifted with Cataphractii Terminator Armor.

*Gazab using axe-like plague knives, conflict unknown*

At some point Gazab rose in ability to the point he was elevated to leadership himself in Typhus’ twisted hierarchy of post-Heresy operation. Clearly given his own raiding ship to command, we start to see scattered incursions where he was operating on his own to further the First Company’s endeavors in regions. Notably, the attrition rate of his force was perpetually high due to his style of warfare: adding aggression to the stern methodology of the Death Guard’s implacable advances.

The memories I recovered ended with the most notable ones to our purposes, Gazab’s recent history. He had been working with his Putrifiers and Plague Surgeons to better improve the Poxwalkers that continually had to bolster his forces. While every member of the Death Guard now holds a variety of mixed diseases, the chattel infected by him had a tendency to arise with a particular sort of vigor and thirst for blood. Taking samples from his distended gut, they worked to refine and spread it amongst his command forces. This new sickness they called simply “Rage”.

And that’s where my own trail of Gazab starts. I was dispatched to a planet that I had been to once before, a little industrial world called Cetaro. When I had first been there it was because of a wave of Khornate cults that were using bloodsport rituals that appeased the masses in order to reach daemonic tributes. This second visit was because of reports of a blood pathogen disease that turned those exposed into frothing and gnashing ghoul-like remnants of themselves, bent on passing the disease on to others amid violent attack. Early on it had looked like local officials would be overwhelmed by the spread, but they did well to keep it in check (thanks to massive purges of the potentially infected).

Arriving on Cetaro, I found that it was Gazab (hitherto unknown to me) and his small warband behind these actions. More disturbingly, he was apparently utilizing a base that had missed my first sweep of the planet’s taint–some long-lost industrial workshop that had been one of these makeshift shrines to Khorne. In my forces’ assault on his base, they found Gazab at the heart of that foundry, and in a moment of heavy assault he reached for a weapon that apparently had been left on a dias from before. The combat-servitor scans confirmed that the weapon was an axe, branded with the symbol of Khorne. And once his strange tentacled hand clasped the haft of the axe, the rune started to glow with heat. More worrisome for my purposes, it seemed to trigger a warp event that led to a small number of twisted daemons emerging into the space to join the battle against my forces (all I could recover were servitor recordings and the active data logs). The daemons that poured thru were not just Nurgle daemons in their shambling ways, but also a small number of Khornate daemons with their burning weapons.

*Gazab (Chaos Lord of Nurgle… and Khorne?)*

The puzzlement of this… this conjunction of rage within Gazab, and his positioning between Nurgle and Khorne, is why I worked to learn what I could of his history. The more I see of it, the more I worry. Gazab needs to be stopped. Whatever he is up to–supporting Typhus’ plans, spreading this viral Rage, and striking with the support of two Chaos Gods–seems destined to be a problem. My hope is that this conflict within him tears him apart and sunders his plans, as Khorne and Nurgle oft compete in their machinations. My dread is that his foundling status, the way that both Khorne and Nurgle are entwined within him, makes him a loci of power for broader daemonic power and cooperation. He must be stopped.

Beasts of Nurgle – Chaos Tactica 8th Ed

Okay friendly forces of the Grandfather, so you’re thinking about doing some Beast of Nurgle spam in your games of Warhammer 40k? Well, I’ve been tending the garden for a while and I wanted to offer a reasonably(-ish) comprehensive guide to using those delightful Beasties in a game of 40k. This Beast of Nurgle tactica considers: where do they excel, where do they struggle, what are their matchups, and how do you maximize them?

What They Bring to the Table

Crack open your codex for the full stat block. I’ll highlight the key elements. You may notice a theme: Beasts are a gamble.

Durable-ish: Beasts have a toughness high enough to make small arms wound them on 5’s and only the most heavy of heavy weapons able to wound them on 2’s. They have an armor save of 5+ and that daemonic invulnerable save of 5+ as well. And then they can ignore wounds with Disgustingly Resilient (also on a 5+). This makes them durable-ish. There are times when mine have shrugged off far too much fire, and other times when they have crumbled. Being streaky at best, it means that they benefit from high numbers in their squad if possible (sometimes useful, sometimes not–see below). Count on them to be durable-ish and I think you’ve got the right of them.

Pillow-ish: d6 attacks is a cruel, cruel mistress, and the fundamental reason these guys area a gamble. Doing 2 wounds and having re-roll all failed wound rolls is good, but with no AP modifier and only an average strength. Keep in mind that 1 out of every 6 times on average your unit of three beasts will roll up and do a whole three total attacks. Sure, the turn where they get 18 looks amazing, but again–it’s streaky. If you count on the average number of attacks, and only hitting on 4+, you’re looking at the reliable point of the swing being about five Strength 4 hits with no save modifier. So keep that in mind. There are ways to boost reliability, strength, and damage, but the lack of save modifier and random attacks keeps things very much dependent upon dice.

Special Rules: Don’t over-estimate the value of these… they’re not so hot. It’s nice that they can heroically intervene, but it takes some critical positioning skill with other units to ensure that it can happen. And the slime trail rule simply isn’t that punishing to an opponent. Some players will stay stuck with you in melee, but honestly it’s hardly a worry to just step out and chance the mortal wound.

Expensive but Flexible: So these guys are expensive in some notions of the word. The kit is costly, and while there are secondary companies that make great alternatives they still come at some cost (I love my trio of Kromlech Snail Beasts pictured below). And more than that, they’re 30 points/2 power points. If you’re playing power points, then they’re a real comparative deficit (30 Plaguebearers for the cost of 6 Beasts). Better in the realm of regular points, where 30 Plaguebearers are roughly 10 Beasts. The advantage of the Beasts is that they can be broken into lots of different size units: one huge mob, each one fielded individually, some combination. I tend to like trios, as that gives me good flexibility–but I have definitely run duos, run solo, and even a big massed unit to try them out. That flexibility of combining or running solo may be their best strength.

Tactics for Gamblers

So you’re ready to commit to the Beasts of Nurgle, and you think that you can make them work in a reasonably competitive game? That means you’re taking a gamble. You need to keep in mind that they’re a gamble, and use them as such. They’re not an end-all, be-all kind of unit. Instead, like any risk you’ve got to manage it well, and reduce the risk where you can. Some of that is synergies, which I’ll cover below. But the most general two risks are that pesky d6 attacks characteristic and the lack of armor modifier.

The random attacks risk has a fair solution: paying the CP to do a command point re-roll. This has its risks as well. There might be some other crucial combat where you need it (e.g. that Daemon Prince wounds on a 2+ and you roll the 1 on the difference-making attack). But for Beasts of Nurgle, being able to re-roll a 1 or a 2 (and sometimes a 3 even) for number of attacks is absolutely huge. This scales the larger the unit is, as it has more and more of an impact the more models there are. For a unit of 3 Beasts, consider the upside of the single command point if you roll a 1 for number of attacks. There’s a 1/6 chance that it’s the same, and a 5/6 chance that you gain between 3 to 15 additional attacks that turn. If I have the CP I will always re-roll the 1 for attacks on a unit of 3 or more Beasts. For 2’s it’s a little more iffy, but I will if I think I can make a difference (armor saves in opposing unit of 4+ or worse). There’s also a time to just sit and be tough for a round, and not loose too much yourself. Against really dedicated melee foes, I do tend to re-roll 2’s and even sometimes 3’s just to get a chance at protecting myself by damaging enough of the enemy. Hence the gamble: you resign yourself to losing the unit and a CP, but if you get lucky and they do blunt the enemy’s return attacks then all the better.

On the other side, the gamble of armor modifier is just something you need to deal with. Your best Beasts targets are low armor save high wound models: something with 4 wounds and a 5+ save is far more appealing to fight than something with 2 wounds and a 2+ save. Try to manage it by choosing what foes you can on the tabletop (not always easy). Know from deployment onward where your rough match-ups are going to be, and steer them to better grounds. And don’t necessarily commit to those really steep climb fights if you don’t have to. Try to find other ways to use your beasts to stop those threats that you’ll have a tough time killing: use your big base size to block their way, or at the very least know when having them not engaged to be a target is the best use of them.

Unit Synergies, Strategies, Horticulus Slimux, and Feculent Gnarlmaws

Synergies and Buffs: So there are some other sources in the Daemons Codex that helps out the big blobby slug-puppies of the Grandfather. Some of the basics are just that: basic. Being within 6″ of a Nurgle Daemon prince lets them re-roll 1’s on hit rolls. This is a solid buff for their output, mitigated of course by the gamble that is the number of attacks. Being within 6″ of Loci character also nets additional damage on a wound roll of 6: helpful as you re-roll all wound rolls, and gets Beasts to a respectable 3 wounds on those 6’s. Having a Poxbringer close also ups their Strength. Great Unclean Ones with a Doomsday Bell returning Beasts to the unit certainly gets bang for his buck, all the more so if he can take Fleshy Abundance to heal up any wounds that are lingering. Shriveling Pox certainly helps if you’re at a toughness break point in a given fight: dropping T3 models and T4 models by a -1 both have advantages for the Str 4 Beast of Nurgle. Virulent Blessing could help if your Beasts go after models with lots of wounds, and Miasma of Pestilence always ups survivability, but often I’m putting those on more reliable units than the Beasts. So yes, you can stack up all of these effects on your Beasts of Nurgle and they’ll really have the potential to hit hard. But that’s a LOT of support surrounding the unit, and it’s unrealistic to expect it in every fight. Far too often I find my Beasts got a bit too extended, my buff needs to go elsewhere, and my attacks characteristic generates a poor number. High-reward if you can pull off much of it, but high risk in some ways as well.

Strategies: There are generally better units to deep strike, so skip Denizens of the Warp on these guys unless you’re thinking of a big distraction wound pool (might work on opponents who have never faced Beasts of Nurgle before. Warp Surge can make your Beasts more resilient, but that definitely scales in power with more models in the unit and the more threatening (and thus focused by opponent) you place them. I find I rarely use this one on units of 3 or less Beasts. Locus of Fecundity is also a 2 CP durability booster, but re-rolling 1’s on Disgustingly Resilient tests is marginal at best and generally outshone by Warp Surge. Revolting Regeneration seems like it was written for these guys, but it’s expensive and you need to plan on it (and plan on restoring wounds in the Psychic phase with Fleshy Abundance). The critical strategem you’ll be using on your Beasts of Nurgle is the humble Command Re-Roll as I mentioned above. At any point you’re tempted to spend on the others, remind yourself that it’s two combat phases of less reliability that you’re chancing.

Horticulux Slimux and his Feculent Gnarlmaws: This gent (and his warty trees) is the most common Beast of Nurgle buddy for making them click. If you’re doing one huge unit, two large units, and pretty much anytime you’re committing to Beasts spam as a strategy, he really is critical. He has two absolutely essential upgrades for making Beasts really shine. First, Beasts within 6″ get to re-roll their charge rolls. This gets them where you want them to be, but keep in mind he’s slow (and if you’re planting trees there are some spacing issues you’ll want to learn). Second, Beasts within 12″ get a +1 to attack rolls. That helps make your attacks more accurate, so as long as you’ve got that multiplying power of the higher roll on number of attacks you’re going to be in good shape. Stack with re-rolling wounds and seeking those 6’s for additional damage (as the slug-master carries the Loci), and they can make a right mess of many opponents. I don’t think he’s absolutely necessary for them, but he is quite effective at running with them. I end up using him to crack armor a lot, as his modifiers are potent, so he’s worth thinking of that way: buffing your Beasts and then providing punch against anything they get hung up upon due to high armor saves.

The Gnarlmaws are where it’s at with Horticulus Slimux, and there’s a reason I’m always happy to include one or two in a list. The ability to plop one down from Horticulus to allow charges on a turn that the Beasts ran is huge for their mobility. That greatly helps get to foes who are reluctant to engage with my force, which is important when running lots of Beasts. Taking two is generally right in a list if you’re paying for them, I often find that the third is just kind of sitting where the second was. That said they can also be a really bothersome space denial tool against certain models. Yeah, models can get around but no one wants to be near them (due to the wounds they cause to non-Nurgle models) and they take up a lot of space where models simply cannot stand.

Matchmaker Matchmaker

As you might have gathered, a lot depends on what support you’re getting. There’s a sweet spot for Beasts of Nurgle in the “lots of wounds” and “not very good armor” zone. Instead of a detailed tactica for every possible force, I’m going to break it into certain typologies below. Again, this is general rather than specific, but it should give you some sense of where Beasts of Nurgle might be ideal and where they might struggle.

Easy Prey: Anything where there are multi-wound foes with bad armor saves is the real sweet spot for Beasts of Nurgle. They do surprisingly well into Tyranids of most varieties except for utter swarms, and likewise can hurt other daemons just fine. They actually match up decently against Death Guard in a funny sort of way, as multiple wounds still helps get through both Plague Marines’ and Poxwalkers’ Feel No Pain rolls more effectively. Orks are a pretty decent match-up for them as well if you can get the charge rather than the Orks, especially the more elite units of regular Nobz–and they do better against the lighter Ork vehicles than you’d think.

Average Utility: These are the spots where the Beasts might have half of that magic combo: either poor saves or multiple wounds, but not both. For instance, troop-heavy Primaris marines forces are reasonably managed by beasts, as the 2 Wounds each really make work–but the good armor saves limit that. Likewise against ground-pounding Astra Militarum or Genestealer cult, the feeble saves help a great deal, but the random attack number on the Beasts can really slow you up in the kill count (esp. overkilling the majority of 1 wound models). Tau, footslogging Ad Mech, Sisters of Battle, standard sorts of Space Marines, footslogging Eldar, and Necrons all fit here as well.

Poor Matchup: These are spots where the defenses are just a bit too much for the Beasts, or some other piece of defensive tech slows them down. Mechanized forces tend to fit here, where Beasts can’t reliably knock the foes out of their Chimeras, Rhinos, Devilfish, Wave Serpents, Raiders, Goliaths, and more. It can be a game, but it’s a pretty poor match-up if you’re Beast-heavy as you’ve got to commit to things that are hard to kill to then get at the stuff you actually want to kill. Slaanesh daemons with attacks debuffing also fit in here. It can also be the case when opponents are fielding massed weapons that are great for taking out hard targets. Multi-meltas and Lascannons usually chew thru Beasts of Nurgle pretty fast, so be wary there as well–a huge limit in a meta where people come ready to face Knights.

Misery for the Beasts: Armies with uniformly good saves and hard-to-wound models. Even with the re-roll on wounding, the strong saves mean that it’s a real uphill slog for the Beasts to get anything done. Knights are the clearest example, but Astra Militarum armored companies, Chaos Daemon Engines, and anything else that would be the classic “all vehicles” force are going to just be brutal on the Beasts.

Concluding Thoughts

The TL;DR of this is basically that Beasts are a gambler’s friend in lots of ways. If you’re lucky, they can be good and you can get good match-ups in tournaments. But that’s a huge “if”, and while there are ways to improve their capabilities, there’s also a limit to what they can handle–and a bad draw would just be a rough loss. They also require a bit of cash if you wanted to go Beast-heavy and do all GW figures, so keep that in mind (or hit the casino and hope absurd luck hits you there as well). While the meta remains the “make sure things can take out a Knight” and “I’m fielding my Knight” I think Beasts suffer a significant weakness.

All that said, Beasts of Nurgle are great fun to run en masse in games. Even when they’re being terrible, I do enjoy setting them on the table every time. So that’s worth thinking about as well.

Happy gaming if you choose to use your Beasts, and Grandfather Nurgle bless.

Clevelandis Falls

The following is a narrative battle report for our mega-battle culmination to the Second War for Futuris Clevelandis. Huge thanks to Ryan for building walls and terrain, and to Rico, Mike, Andy, Colton, and Jeff for painting up great models to join in the battle.

The time had come. The enemies were at the gates. The Mayor of Futuris Clevelandis stood on the battlements, his electro-monocle showing him the massing forces below, while his trusted aids counseled him on courses of action. While the advisors were solidly Imperial citizens, the Mayor’s slight mutation meant that he was just as uncomfortable with Imperial rule as what the forces of ruinous Chaos would do to his precious city.

While defenders prepared their positions, inside the city walls critical infrastructure was being prepared and defended. Even the unemployed buskers of the Mechanicum were given temporary work furloughs to sing songs of praise to the careful machineries.

The citizens, like this crone and her two grandchildren, had seen the horrors of war before. They expected difficulty, but had no idea the cruelties that Chaos planned for the invasion.

Adeptus Astartes from the Salamanders and Ultramarines chapters manned the massive walls of Futuris Clevelandis, determined to keep them intact and the city center protected. Every unit they could keep from getting to the city was a critical objective spared and civilians defended.

When the conglomerated forces of Chaos arrived they did so with a grand howl, spilling from warp rifts and bulk landers alike. Strangely, the Eldar that had been plaguing the system with raids showed up and launched an assault at the walls of Futuris Clevelandis at the same time. The defenders fired down on their numbers, hoping the hail of gunfire would slow the assault.

Yet Chaos’ victory in the air battles had left the defenses of the interior of the city open. Deep striking terminators from the Thousand Sons appeared first, and then used their magical loci to enable masses of daemons to surround the Adeptus Mechanicus defenders that occupied the critical infrastructure of the city center.

At the walls, the Imperial Guard were the first to the fight, their tanks being placed at the far side of the walls, supporting their troops that occupied external trench works. The daemons were far too close and too numerous, and their great strikes tore through troops and tanks with equal ease.

Inside the city, the daemons of Slaanesh enacted their cruel plans: by slaying the souls of the citizens (including the crone and her grandchildren) they increased the blood power of the Daemonic forces. Soporific clouds of Slaanesh’s power began to accumulate within the city corridors thanks to the suffering inflicted on the innocent. The Adeptus Mechanicus fought back in the face of it, and called for help from the Space Marines who manned the walls.

A great Helldrake of Chaos launched itself into the lead of the forces of Chaos, but the resolute Salamanders remained undaunted. Their squads of Primaries Inceptors boldly leaped the walls and unleashed plasmatic destruction into the chest of the great beast, felling it in a wave of destruction.

Yet it was too late. The Eldar had sent sapper Kill Teams ahead of the mission, and they were able to blow one section of the wall right as the battle reached its climax. The Mayor of Future Cleveland managed to barely escape the destruction, but his aids were not so lucky. The Ultramarines and Salamanders steeled themselves for the incoming assault, even while some units turned to support the city that lay at their backs. The tanks of the Ultramarines were savaged by the Tzeentch daemon prince that reached them thanks to unholy speed, while the battle line troops of both Chapters poured their fire into the Hell Blade fighter that was the first attacker to exploit the gap in the wall.

Yet all the defenses at the gate were for naught, as the city center fell to Chaos. The Adeptus Mechanicus put up a heroic fight, but surrounded on all sides and dulled by the strange musks and magical energies of the Slaanesh daemons they could not survive. The Chaos Fire Raptor’s arrival to the city center furthered the wave of destruction, and helped finish off the Space Marine reserves who were dispatched to the city center. While one section of the city remained held by the Imperium forces, three sections fell to Chaos. Back on the battlefield, the wall was broken but manned, but the trench system had been entirely taken by the Chaos forces. The city of Futuris Cleveland was broken, fallen to the ravages of Chaos. Already their rituals began to be enacted, with the goal of turning the entire planet into a daemon planet to harness the dark energy that had always been bound in the crust and core of Clevelandis.

The Mayor of Futuris Clevelandis had thought himself finally safe, and that at least his mutation would make him seem appealing to those on the Chaos side–explaining it away to the Imperials had grown increasingly difficult over the centuries. He had dodged the wall collapse as well, and found himself atop an entirely empty battlement. Where had the space marine defenders gone? Then with a blink he realized, the Eldar had been operating with a singular mission the entire time. They had engaged enough Space Marine forces to clear the battlement, then blown the wall to force him to flee that way. As two farceurs on Jetbikes flew in at him, the Mayor felt a sinking sensation. He was far from safe. The Eldar had designs on him. What they were he could not say, but he knew as he surrendered that he was the central goal of their plan all along.

The game turned out to a great event, and was a really fun time putting it all together. Again huge thanks to all the players who build and painted things to make this go off so well. Stay tuned, as the next steps for Clevelandis and its erstwhile Mayor will be taking place over the summer of 2020 in the DaemonWorld campaign that we’ll be playing at Drawbridge games.

Painting Progress

I didn’t get any of what I hoped to get painted for this event done, but I did manage to finally finish up the last touches on my two units of Nurgling bases. These little scamps have been mostly painted for a while, and just needed the final treatment.

Such gross little dudes.

2020 Painting Challenge Progress

70/366 Warhammer 40k Power Points Painted

14/25 Marvel Crisis Protocol Models Painted

Invasion of Terra II: Planning

[Dates moved to extended postponement due to Covid-19]

It’s time to start planning for The Invasion of Terra II: The Emperor’s Boogaloo. We’re gathering the forces of the Imperium and Chaos for a big final showdown that will culminate at the steps of the Golden Throne itself.

The 6ft table and the 4ft table will be lined up to form one massive 12ft table, with trench works and the walls of the Imperial Palace along them. Forces will start relatively intermixed, representing that fighting has been going on and that reserves from both Imperial and Chaos factions have joined in from various sides. That battle will be the “Invasion Battle”. It will be immediately followed by clearing a space on the 4ft table and placing down the terrain for the Golden Throne, representing the cathedral chamber in which the Emperor resides. That will be the “Golden Throne Battle”. Both will take place [in the future].

The key to the Invasion Battle will be seeing what general toll the war takes on both sides. The story will be that the champions of Chaos do fight their way to the Golden Throne, and get opposed by the great champions of the Imperium there. Results like one’s forces being lost may delay certain arrivals to the Golden Throne Battle, or enable certain supporting units to be present. Even if a champion character is destroyed in the big battle, it will be back in the Golden Throne fight–as you can’t keep leaders like Vulkan or Magnus the Red down too long. That said tho, they are likely to be hampered in ways due to the punishment they took at the gates.

We’ll sort out more specific “if/then” rules about the results of the Invasion Battle affecting the Golden Throne Battle (and the specifics of the Golden Throne battle) as we plan forward. For now, I wanted to put out the list of who we’re expecting as those big characters for the event, as well as players, factions, and the schedule.

Players and Factions Involved

Player	Faction(s)	Characters
Steve	Black Legion	Abaddon
Enrico	Slaanesh Daemons	Fulgrim
Andy	Tzeentch Daemons	Magnus the Red, Ahriman, Changeling
Andrew	Nurgle Daemons, Khorne Daemons, Death Guard, Chaos Knights	Mortarion, Ka’Bandha (also the Golden Throne terrain itself)
Ryan	Blood Angels, Imperial Guard	Sanguinius
Colton	Salamanders	Vulkan
Mike	Ad Mech, Deathwatch	Belisarius Cawl
Jeff	Ultramarines	Rouboute Guilliman
Tony (?)	Imperial Knights

Schedule

Wednesday, [sometime], afternoon or evening: set up terrain for event, set up models in starting positions.

Thursday, [day after sometime], 6:00 pm: The Invasion Battle begins.

Thursday, [same subsequent to sometime day], 9:30 pm: The Invasion Battle results are tallied. Selected models are moved to the Golden Throne room.

Thursday, [still future sometime… it’ll get there], 10:00 pm: The battle for the Golden Throne commences.

The Second War of Futuris Clevelandis

It’s that time again, time for the Second War of Futuris Clevelandis. Future Cleveland is the short-hand name for the ruined city board my friend Ryan built (inspired by the Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video), and as we’re cooking up a big invasion scenario for May, we wanted to do a practice run of a linked-board invasion. So the Second War Futuris Clevelandis was born. It’s a three part series of games, where each portion influecnces the final battle. It starts with a Kill Team battle, then a clash in the skies that is limited to just flyers. We got those two games in these past weeks.

My Death Guard clashed with the Eldar in the Kill Team missions. The twin plasma gun plague marines made a mess of the Wraithguard, and kept the Eldar Autarch hopping from cover to cover. While I pinned him in with some poxwalkers, my own Lord of Contagion had trouble chasing him down and I lost on scenario (it was an assassination mission).

Future Cleveland Flyer Battle Chaos Side

Future Cleveland Flyer Battle Eldar Side

Future Cleveland Flyer Battle Imperial Side

The flyer battle was an asymmetric clash between different flyers across the three factions: Imperials, Chaos, and Eldar. Chaos had Enrico’s Helldrake, and my Hell Blade and Fire Raptor. Steve fielded three Hemlock Wraithfighters on the Eldar side. The Imperials had the largest contingent: two Valkyries, a Corvus Blackstar, a Stormraven, a Stormhawk, and a Stormtalon.

The Eldar flyers proved to be the initial predators of the sky, wrecking almost anything they were pointed at. The first plane to be downed was the Stormraven, which caught two of the three flyers. The Stormtalon chased the Chaos Hell Blade, and was chased by a Hemlock in turn. The Hell Blade managed to escape unscathed, while the Stormtalon was finally downed.

The remaining Valkyrie finally took out the Fire Raptor, blasting away its last wounds. But it was the Helldrake that finished it off–proving to be the most dangerous predator of the skies. A victory for Chaos!

While Chaos doesn’t get the saboteur special bonus for the final battle due to losing the Kill Team mission set, they do get to control the skies for the final invasion. A good result after some fun events toward the shared goal.

Painting Progress

More painting progress to go! Units that fleshed out the Kill Team as well as my second Flyer for the aerial combat event.

Death Guard Lord of Contagion

Lord of Contagion. I really enjoyed this model, and I’m slowly getting more and more comfortable with my process to do the Death Guard armor.

Death Guard Poxwalkers 1 Death Guard Poxwalkers 2

Ten Poxwalkers. Fun quick paint jobs. The one with the wrench is probably my favorite.

Death Guard Fire Raptor Assault Gunship

Fire Raptor Assault Gunship. The model is far larger than I thought. I enjoyed the process of working on it, and pleased with the results. It’s not something to field in every game, but on occasion will be a good addition to the force.

I also continued my progress on my Marvel Crisis Protocol groups. M.O.D.O.K. and Black Panther. I got in a few fun and friendly games of Crisis Protocol as well. It’s a great skirmish game that I’m having a lot of fun playing. I’ll have to do a post about my progress with that game and some of the cool action shots from it.

2020 Painting Challenge Progress

64/366 Warhammer 40k Power Points Painted

14/25 Marvel Crisis Protocol Models Painted

Linked Battle: Confusion and Clash

Note: For the end of January, I prepped and painted my forces for a two-part game of Kill Team and then 40k against my buddy Mike’s Adeptus Mechanicus forces. The battle started with the Feint Kill Team mission (varied to have civilians as the objective markers which the forces of plague were trying to infect). The 40k mission following was Blitz, with the winner from the Kill Team mission getting to use concealed deployment for the larger game. The narrative battle report starts this post, with the painting progress below.

Confusion and Clash

The larger battle for Segunda 144B’s dual moons raged between forces of the Death Guard and the Adeptus Mechanicus contingent from Forge World Graia tasked with defending the system. While the battle raged hotly on the outskirts of the urban sectors, the Death Guard were keen to exploit the various urban populations behind Mechanicum lines in order to sew disruption and and disease. Small bands of raiders were tasked with lightning assaults into urban centers in a variety of spots, hoping that they would effectively feint the Mechanicum–or at least make them draw their strength back to deal with a disease-and-threat-laden population.

Kill Team Death Guard 1

Utilizing access tunnels and steam vents, small squads made their way into the population. They struck quickly at the populace, managing to infect people simply with a touch or drip of putrescence placed in the right spot. This unsuspecting citizen could do nothing as the very machine spirit of his mobility hover chair was infected by the merciless tendrils of a Death Guard warrior of the line. The Death Guard shoved him onto a transit carrier bound for the interior of the city, and the vector spread.

Kill Team Death Guard 2

Finally the Adeptus Mechanicus was able to send squads to respond, but they were too late as the Death Guard reached the populace–people fleeing in terror from the warriors unwittingly carried plagues with them as well. The dispatched Skitarii fought well, but their firing lines were too short and the plague marines’ putrid bodies able to continue to function in the face of devastating wounds. While a few newly-turned poxwalkers were slain, the Skitarii were slain and the Death Guard plodded back into their sewers to return to their units.

With the confusion sewn virally, the Adeptus Mechanicus command structure was forced to send a portion of their rapid-response forces back to the cities to respond to the crisis. With their scouting elements withdrawn, the Death Guard were able to attack without relative warning, striking at a weakened point at the larger battle line with a spearhead force.

Death Guard v AdMech 1

The Mechanicum had to deploy their forces broadly, and while the natural choke point of two buildings helped, they had the wrong units facing the Death Guard forces at the start of the battle. Huge burly daemons with ghastly snail shells led the charge, followed by ranks of plaguebearers and the more orderly support of Death Guard Legionaries.

Death Guard v AdMech 2

The Forge World Graia Dragoons tried to mount an attack along their left flank, one taking some damage from a Foetid Bloat Drone as it fought. Unfortunately the accuracy of the Plague Marines’ destructive shooting eliminated the other Dragoon–whose exploding form did the last of the damage to the injured one. With the fiery cataclysm, the flank collapsed and the Death Guard closed in around the remaining forces.

Death Guard v AdMech 3

The lines of Skitarii warriors poured damage into the onslaught of beasts, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with their attacks nor their ability to heal and revive members of the two large squads of the disgusting creatures. With their troop line decaying, finally the trio of Dunecrawlers that made the back line had to face their opponents. While their destructive power had downed the Daemon Prince and a Bloat Drone, the power of warp-laden hides managed to shrug the power of their weapons as the daemons rumbled in for the kill. With the lines of of the Mechanicum fully mixed with Nurgle forces, the triumph went to the Death Guard and their demonic allies. They were not pushed back, nor killed in numbers sufficient to stop the tide of filth. Another planet will fall, and the Grandfather smiled again as plagues bloom on his watch.

Was a great game to play, and I really enjoyed linking the Kill Team with the final game. Mike had some brutally unlucky rolls which skewed the result to a pretty clear Nurgle win (best example was using a command re-roll to try to avoid the Dragoon explosion, and rolling the 6 a second time). And it was a mission well-suited to my durable force. Overall a great game, and love building narratives through play.

Painting Progress

Got a lot of painting done, and pretty pleased with my progress. I was hesitant with my scheme for the Death Guard marines, but I think I got something that I like.

Death Guard Biologus Putrifier

Biologus Putrifier first up. Definitely enjoyed painting all of the bottles and vials he bears. Was a lot of fun to do them all slightly differently. He makes Marines pretty nasty with the grenade strategy, tho in his one outing so far I didn’t get to see anything at all from him.

Death Guard Plague Marines

Death Guard unit #1. Champion with plasma pistol and plaguesword, two plasma gunners, and then a marine with a plague flail and a marine with a bubotic axe. They were the MVP’s of my first game with them hitting the table. Excited to start to explore what these troops can do, as another unit of five is on my painting table to give me options and variation.

Chaos Daemons Poxbringer

Another Poxbringer for my Daemons force, this time the official model. Certainly pleased with how he turned out, as I like my daemon scheme quite well. And that smug little Nurgling amid the growths is about my favorite Nurgling sculpt ever.

To not let 40k dominate the whole post, I finished two more Marvel Crisis Protocol characters as well: Hulk and Okoye. He was easy enough, she was tough–I went for her head tattoo to be the movie version rather than the comic version. It’s hard to see in the pic, but if it were more extreme it would look strange too.

2020 Painting Challenge Progress

35/366 Warhammer 40k Power Points Painted

12/25 Marvel Crisis Protocol Models Painted

Back to the Garden (of Nurgle)

Well, it’s a new year and that means time for some change. While I enjoyed my Fall-to-Winter with Orks, I felt that I wanted to get back to painting the force that really has me excited: a grand Chaos army of Death Guard. Those slimy, pox-ridden boys just interest me most as a painting challenge, and I’m trying to recognize the habit in myself: what I like to paint is what gets painted (and thus played, as I am still going with my Brush Wielders Union pledge to play it painted.

So that has meant some new painting from me these past couple of weeks of the new year. I added some air power (and float-power) to my force in the form of a Chaos Hell Blade fighter and two Foetid Bloat Drones with plaguespitters.

I love the sleek look of this model, how it definitely looks like it’s flying. This is one of the lava bases I’m most proud of as well (there’s a little Nurgling marooned amid some lava).

I tried and tried, but there are no good ways to get photos of the Foetid Bloat Drones. Like, I see them in person and think “wow, these are crazy and characterful”, but photos just don’t do them justice. Alas. Still proud of them tho.

Played one big team-up game of Chaos versus Imperium: Enrico’s Slaanesh force and my Nurgle against Ryan’s Imperial Guard and Colton’s Salamanders.

(Clockwise from left) Enrico stares down the line of Imperial Guard tanks that hammered our Daemonic cohort. The forces of Slaanesh hit the Salamanders, while Nurgle daemons trundle thru the muck in the distance. The battle for the sky engaged, with the Hell Blade barely denting the enemy Flyer.

I also snuck in a couple smaller games: one against Andy’s Tzeentch force, and one against Jeff’s Tyranids.

1 40k Death Guard Beast of Nurgle versus Tyranids

(Clockwise from Left) Andy’s Daemon Prince hit my lines on top one turn one (close deployment zones for the mission), so it became a quick slug-fest. Against Jeff’s giant bio-guns, the resilient Daemon Prince managed to eventually hack his way through the creature. The wrath of the Genestealers was too much for even a hearty Beast of Nurgle to survive.

I also got in a bit of Marvel Crisis Protocol. Instead of taking the time to do separate posts (which would prevent me getting things posted), I’m just going to combine them. I finished painting up Killmonger for my team. Been a while since I did dark skin (had a Catachan army for 40k back in the day that had lots of varied skin tones), but I think it turned out nicely. And I’m very pleased with the camo pattern on his pants.

The MCP play was just a couple of sessions of the Ultron raid mission. Figured I’d share some pics. I teamed up with Ryan against Tony’s Ultron, and we managed to win thanks to the mission objectives.

1 Marvel Crisis Protocol Unlikely team ups

Overall an effective early January of gaming and painting!

2020 Painting Challenge Progress

20/366 Warhammer 40k Power Points Painted

10/25 Marvel Crisis Protocol Models Painted

Paint 366 Points Per Year – Redux

Okay, so another new year and another chance to make a gaming pledge. I came up short last year, owing partially to change in gaming focus and partially to some health complications. I did manage to paint 230 points of Warmachine and Hordes (entirely Minions models) by mid-March 2019, and then got 50 power points painted for two different Warhammer 40k armies (and that’s not counting a good 50 points I painted up for a third army that I didn’t stick with).

This year I’m setting my sights on two games: Warhammer 40k and Marvel: Crisis Protocol. On the 40k side, I’ve got Nurgle forces (Daemons and Death Guard) and Orks, and will probably flip between the two as I get started. My first painting for the year has been some Nurgle Daemon counts-as models that will get double-duty as they’re pieces from the Cthulhu: Death May Die game.

Wilbur Whateley (on the left) will count as a Poxbringer Herald of Nurgle, while Yog-Sothoth (right) will count as a Chaos Spawn in the Death Guard list.

I also have painted up a number of Marvel: Crisis Protocol models so far, and I’ll keep adding those. That game is a really neat and fun one, and offers a surprising amount of customization of teams/cards/missions.

Marvel Crisis Protocol Crossbones and Baron Zemo

Marvel Crisis Protocol Red Skull and Ultron

Marvel Crisis Protocol Red Skull and his Cosmic Cube Simulacra

Yes, I know that Red Skull’s Cosmic Cube-Created Simulacra of some heroes might be taking the easy road, but I had no interest in painting the core Avengers. I’m a villain guy mostly (tho Black Panther will be getting painted up).

So my goal for 2020 is two-fold. First, to paint up 366 power points (as it’s a leap year) of Warhammer 40k models. For reference, the two I painted so far are worth 4 and 2 points respectively, so I’m at 6/366. Second, to paint at least 25 Marvel: Crisis Protocol figures. And a habit I’ve gotten away from, I’m going to try and track all of my games in some way.

So here goes. Happy painting in 2020 everyone!

2020 Painting Challenge Progress

6/366 Warhammer 40k Power Points Painted

9/25 Marvel Crisis Protocol Models Painted

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