Happy 2020 - Grandfather Nurgle Loves You!

I'm putting the finishing touches on my on my next 500-points for our Escalation Campaign with these cuddly fellows - a unit of Plague Drones!

These lads will give my plodding army some much needed speed AND a modicum of ranged attacks. I think they would really be devastating in a unit of six (and I already have the models), but for the nonce, three is all I can afford in my 1000 point force. I had to take a second unit of Plaguebearers to make my army 'legal' (we ignored the requirement for two Battle Line units in our initial 500-points) and I wanted to add a spell caster so I picked a Herald of Nurgle. Magic didn't play too strong of a role in my first game (I won, btw), but I felt naked without the ability to even attempt a dispel!

I'll try to get a few pics of my full army as it stands for this month in a few days...

Escalation Campaign - New Blood

I just managed to finish the last two models I need for tomorrow - a pair of Feculent Gnarlmaws!

So here's my 500 point army...

All of the models have black rims on their bases now... the Plague Bearer pics are recycled from an old post. I have no idea how this will fare on the table top. Slimex is a hefty choice for a 500-point game, but he is central to the theme of the force I'm building so I wanted to include him from the start. The Beasts of Nurgle have a hefty amount of wounds so I'm hoping to be able to overcome the small model count. I'll have another ten Plaguebearers, a trio of Nurglings, and a third Beast of Nurgle in reserve for summoning so that will help replace casualties!

I'll try to take a few pics tomorrow if I'm not too wrapped up in the carnage!

A Tale of Some Warlords, Part One

My friends and I are embarking on an escalation campaign for Age of Sigmar, starting with building 500-point lists. In traditional style, we will each try to get in a few games with these while building toward 1000 points, then 1500, etc.

We've decided to allow people to use some models they have already painted, though the real goal is for all of us to increase the size of our collections. Several players are new to the hobby and just starting their armies. I'll be adding models to my Nurgle army and I've chosen to build out around my Daemon contingent, led by Horticulous Slimux!

Horticulous Slimux (220)
10 Plaguebearers (120)
2 Beasts of Nurgle (160)

It's a tiny force and I'll have trouble capturing objectives, but in a 500-point game I'll probably just concentrate on trying to wipe the enemy from the table! When we go to expand to 1000 points, I'll add another 10 Plaguebearers and 3 Plague Drones. That still leaves me a few points shy, but I'll probably see if I can fit in another Leader or maybe a unit of the new Chaos Knights!

The other members of the group:
Dennis.. Sylvaneth
Doug.. Stormcast
Kyle.. Seraphim
Taryn.. Gloomspite Gitz
Tom.. Ossiarch Bonereapers

Our first games are scheduled a couple of weeks from now and hopefully throwing some dice will keep everyone motivated to keep painting! I'll make sure to take notes and try to get some photos of the action..

More later!

Uther Gutdoom

I've had this model since it was released and decided the ability to use him Warcry was a great reason to slap on some paint.. All tremble at the might of Uther Gutdoom, Lord of Plagues!

Not sure which warband(s) he'll end up fighting for.. probably the highest bidder in true mercenary fashion!

More Warcry!

Work has been crazy (stupid day job gets in the way of my hobby time), but I've slowly been adding warbands to my Warcry collection. Rather than spend all week posting in dribs and drabs, I decided to add all of them to date (no telling when I'll sit down to do another update).

The Unmade

Nighthaunts

Iron Golems

Untamed Beasts

I finished my terrain too (pic below is an early WiP.. you'll have to trust me) and hope to start a small solo campaign in the next few months. I'll try to chronicle everything here.

I'm painting some mercenaries and monsters to go with the collection and looking forward to the next book due out later this year. I also have the Corvus Cabal and a pile of Gloomspite Gitz to add more warbands. More soon (ish)!

The Groovy Ghoulies

Ok, I feel like I'm channeling my inner-Grove with the name (look it up) of my Nighthaunt warband, but this makes my second force for Warcry!

I used a Guardian of Souls to represent my Dreadwarden, Dravoch Blacksoul, who is condemned to endlessly chant the crimes he committed in life in a sibilant whisper. Other than that, the warband is WYSIWYG... three Grimghast Reapers, a Glaivewraith Stalker, and four Chainrasps.

They will be a perfect campaign opponent for The Shadow Haunters (my Unmade) who have the Hunters of the Dead background. I suppose I'll have to paint my graveyard terrain now...

My third Warband is almost done and I'll start my solo campaign shortly. I'll be adding more warbands as I go, but I want to start getting in some games!

The Unmade

Here's the rest of my first warband for Warcry..

I'll post my Nighthaunt Warband in a few days..

Warcry

I know it's been a long time since I've posted. I've not been idle. In fact, I've painted more in the last few months than the rest of the year. I just haven't taken the time to take photographs or sit down to write about my projects.

Warcry is the new(ish) skirmish game from Games Workshop. The mechanics of the game are easy and fast. Possibly too simple if you are a fan of granular sets like Mordheim and Necromunda, but I've been enjoying narrative games more than crunchy ones these days. Despite the rules lite nature of the mechanics, there is still a good level of tactical choices during a battle. I'm not going to go into full review mode (there are plenty of those on the web), but I do like the game.

More than that, I LOVE the new models. My first warband is the Unmade..

These are just a few of the lads. I'm working on the terrain now and I'll post some more photos (no, really) when I can set up a proper table.

One of the things I didn't like about the game was that the cards for the models only include one of each type. When you have multiples of the same ganger, you add a numbered card below to track Ascended One I, Ascend One II, etc. The cards also featured photos of the studio versions of the model. This created a little bit of a disconnect for me as I wanted to name all of my fighters and I wanted the cards to be MY guys. Not a huge problem - I just made my own!

In addition to The Unmade, I have a ready painted Nighthaunt faction.. what? I've never posted my Nighthaunts? Hrm.. I'll add that to the list. I'll certainly feature my Warcry Nighthaunts soon. I'm hoping to get in some games as soon as all of the terrain is ready and I'll try to feature a battle report.

Hopefully the next post won't take so long!

Horticulous Slimux

It's been a very long time since I've painted anything for Age of Sigmar. I suppose the looming 2nd edition gave me the spark, but this model has been sitting on my desk for months. I finally got around to painting him...

More Maggotkin of Nurgle on the way...

Lord of Change

My brother Dennis has been collecting armies for Tzeentch for as long as we've been playing Warhammer, both for 40k and Fantasy (and now Age of Sigmar). The new Lord of Change model was enough to make ME want to collect a Tzeentch army, but I have waaaay to much going on to start another new project. However, I did get the chance to paint the daemon when Dennis bought it. He paints well, but wanted this giant monster to be a real centerpiece for his collection and took me up on my offer to do it.

I'm pretty pleased with the results...

Now this gives me the excuse to paint my Nurgle Glotkin model, the only thing I have in my cupboards that might stand a chance against this monster!

Chaos Warriors

With the arrival of the General's Handbook, I decided to focus on making sure I have a 'legal' army for matched play. We'll probably play more narrative games than matched ones, but it seemed good to be able to do both. I need more Battleline Units and the first reinforcements actually come from models I painted years ago...

Twelve Chaos Warriors dedicated to Nurgle were painted with the advent of eighth edition in an attempt to raise a new army after being away from the game for years. Yes, one of the house rules we adopted aright away is to allow partial units by simply doing the math - Chaos Warriors are 18 points each. I didn't get far with this project as these models and five Chaos Marauders were all I managed. The Marauders were conversions using plastic kits from Orcs, Marauders, and Zombies for a wretched, Nurgly appearance...

However, after a quick rebasing, these models are all a welcome addition to my Chaos Alliance army. I need to paint five more Marauders to bring them up to strength to join the muster. I also have around 30 Beastigor and 5 Centigor to add more troops. The later are particularly needed as my existing force is slow and devoid of ranged weapons except for a few sorcerers.

I also found a Chaos Warband I'd forgotten about, also destined for rebasing (plus there are enough zombies to add another unit, though then I loose my Alliance benefits)!

My brother and I are playing a small 1300-point game tonight to try out the point values and I'll post some pics of the action later in the week...

Great Unclean One

I've had this model for years - it was a gift from my brother. At the time I was building a Nurgle-themed Warhammer 40k army (still have most of the Nurgle bits of that force and as a bonus the Great Unclean will work great with them too). I'm glad I finally got around to getting him painted.

I wanted him a bit darker than the Plaguebearers so I shifted the palette a shade darker for each stage. Rather than coating the thing in gore, I stuck to the bright green innards to tie the model in with the rest of the Daemons. This monster makes a great centerpiece for a Nurgle Daemon army and another heavy hitter if I want to combine the Daemons with my Rotbringers.

Herald of Nurgle

I decided to give my Plaguebearers the benefit of a dedicated Hero with a Herald of Nurgle.

Although the Herald lacks any Hero abilities, it could be named the general of the force and gain Inspiring Presence. On any case, three attacks, Rending -1, and D3 Wounds per hit will add more beef to any fight the Plaguebearers find themselves in.

Plaguebearers of Nurgle

That makes twenty!

Plaguebearers of Nurgle

Rawr! That makes 15 (though honestly, I would probably field 14 to keep them in multiples of Nurgle's sacred number of 7)!

Only 15 more to go... This will give me the horde unit my army lacks without cultists or thugs.

Plaguebearers of Nurgle

... and that makes ten!

These guys are fast to paint. I'm using a lot of drybrushing for the bulk of the model, then adding washes and picking out the details. Originally I painted the icky bits pale and bloody, but in combination with the drybrushing, the style didn't blend in well with the rest of the army I painted so far. I decided to pull in the bright green from my Nurglings and this seemed to tie them in nicely. I work on five at a time and can usually finish the batch in a single afternoon!

More next week... The army is approaching something that LOOKS like a Warhammer army. I still want a few more Blightkings and at least one more unit of some sort, but I'll try to get pics of the whole force assembled soon.

Plaguebearers of Nurgle!

Now back to more rank and file for the army. Without access to Chaos Thugs and the like, I don't have much in the way of fodder. Pulling from the Daemons of Nurgle list, these Plaguebearers should do nicely!

More on the way! The plan is for a single unit of twenty or so to act as a horde wave to absorb shooting and mob the hell out of smaller units.

Gutrot Spume

Gutrot Spume fought his way to lordship over the fjord tribes many decades ago, and amassed a fleet of captured vessels that he was only too pleased to lead to war. The self-styled Lord of Tentacles was a proud warrior, known to the north by the set of pseudopods that bristled across the left side of his body. Many claimed these appendages to be the signs of Nurgle’s favour, for they numbered seven, a numeral beloved of the Lord of Decay, and they often seemed to have a life of their own. The extra limbs afforded Spume an unusual edge in battle, allowing him to entangle several foes at once before striking them down.

I love this model, but I'm not sure I'm happy with the paint job. He was much brighter initially, but he didn't look right with my Putrid Blightkings so I went back and dulled him down. Now he might be too dark. Oh, well... I still have a pile of models to paint so I guess I'll move on for now. He looks good on the table surrounded by my other Rotbringers! I'll have to take some 'action' shots sometime soon.

More Nurglings!

I managed to finish another unit of these little monsters...

Not much to say beyond the pic, but the army is starting to look like an army! Another character is on the way, plus more Nurglings, and a pile of Plaguebearers!

Stormcast Eternals

I rarely buy painted models, but I just picked up this little army on eBay...

The Rider on the Dracolith and the Relictor are not finished, and the rest models may need a tiny amount of work to make them look like mine, but are way ahead of starting from scratch. The main thing is that the existing paint jobs are very neat - most are very good - and look to be finished in the official GW color scheme from the tutorial. That is important for any touch ups plus expanding the army in the future. I will need to finish the bases to match the rest of my collection, but it should be easy to pluck off the grass and simply add my normal texture over the existing one.

Very happy with this find!