We're in the Badlands. Also, there's blood.

Campaign kicked off on the weekend with a long session of making the rules clearer to everyone and agreeing on others that aren't fully explained. We set up the currently half-sized mighty empires map (I bought a new set on Monday and it arrived today, so we'll fill it out and do another land grab this weekend.

We have an Empire, Dwarfs, Vampire Counts, two High Elves (which I will refer to from now on as Digh Elves and Ligh Elves to simultaneously reduce and increase confusion), and my Daemons.

In the random events at the start of the first turn, Empire lost a mine to the Vampires and a Fortress to bad luck, while Dwarfs lost a precious mine. Movement sent everyone off to war and challenges were declared between Ligh Elves and Dwarfs (who were between the Ligh Elves and my territory, that guy holds a grudge well), Empire and Vampires (to reclaim the mine), and me and the Digh Elves. We had no reason to fight, what with both of us invading the Vampires territory, but the others paired up first.

Rolling for mines led to +D6x50 points for me, Digh Elves, and Vampires, and a D6x10 point magic item for a Vampire Hero of Legend (he also got a relic).
Due to time constraints most of our games are going on this weekend, but Empire and Vampires got a battle in, with the Ghoul King on a Terrorgheist falling to cannon fire. Things didn't improve from there when the backup wizard lost his magic levels to a miscast. I didn't hang around until the end of it, but we declared the result with some interesting consequences.

For winning, Empire got a free D6x10 magic item (he rolled a 1, unfortunate.) and a relic.
For losing, one Vampire unit is now subject to stupidity for the next battle, and the army was pushed back towards the Capital.
Sonuvabitch  Ghoul King rolled a 6 on the character injury table, resulting in +1S.

I played a quick 1000pts against the Dwarfs to pass the time, and he went very artillery heavy. I took lots of units and Light.
First turn nearly killed the Scribes and knocked out a few BLs.
My turn killed off a few of the single infantry unit with magic, but also caused a Cascade that could have wiped out my Tzerald and lost me the game (it was Blood and Glory with only one standard). The epic explosion that occured took a wound off him anyway and killed just a single Horror.

Further shooting chipped back a few more BLs and again, nearly killed a Fiend. The Organ Gun messed up the Scribes, who acheived nothing but distracting artillery.
I got Timewarp off on one unit of BLs after Pha's was dispelled. Both Fiends charged but only one got in, taking out 2 crew before losing his single remaining wound.

Now within charging range, the dwarfs took their chance and charged the non-Birona BLs. We forgot Fear and I lost combat but passed my instability. All cannons fired at the Birona Letters, taking them down to the command models.

Birona Letters charged the weakened Grudge Thrower and the Fiend ran at the Organ Gun. I did the Timewarp again, this time on the BLs in combat with the infantry. Fiend won combat and the crew failed their test, but due to me never fighting artillery before they stayed there. Unless that's something special with Dwarfs. I dunno. Grudge Thrower was finished off and I overran into the cannon. After killing 7 to 2 wounds on the rank and file, they fled and were caught. Only after I got home did I realise that I forgot the ASF rerolls, not that it mattered.

We called it there and watched a bit more of the other game. I'd say that I won partly due to poor rolls by his characters, but mostly because I brought more units than he could shoot before I got to him.

Yeah yeah, no pictures this time. I'm assembling a Chimera and Manticore right now, so maybe next update.

Current campaign relic tally:
VC: 1
Em: 1
DiE: 0
LiE: 0
Dw: 0
DoC: 0

No quote either. I'm gonna go play Diablo.

Spring is here

Ok so Spring isn't really here. It's late Autumn. But the campaign starts in Spring in about half an hour, so we'll go with that.
Just a quick update today before I head off, first of all my final Lieutenant:

Lieutenant #2

Cyrus Pusgurgle, the Undying

Unlike his counterparts, Cyrus has no grand story of being a weakling blessed by his God. He was born as a particularly large boil burst on the oozing flesh of Nurgle into a life of excess and joy. Within mere months he was fully grown and marched onto his first battlefield, only to be cut down by a mere mortal.

It took further months for him to regain his strength and corporeal form, but with the camaraderie of his filthy brethren he felt no shame at his defeat, and became more powerful than ever before. Something of a rivalry was born when he met and fought alongside Larry, who had killed him in a past life, although Larry took this far more seriously than Cyrus.

Unable to match Larry’s speed and ferocity, Cyrus turned to a war of attrition and magic as they sparred. On more than one occasion, his opponent dissolved into a pile of Nurglings, to the laughter of onlookers. This led to somewhat of an arms race between the two, gaining experience and power as they fought.

It was at the rare and terrifying united behest of the Chaos Gods that the two turned to face the Badlands, to secure the great power that lay there. As they made their preparations, Herma joined and alerted them to the presence of mortal cultists of Slaanesh worshipping there. In an instant all three had arrived, armies in tow, and slaughtered the fools who had summoned them.
Winter is coming.

*Cyrus managed to trick Larry into thinking he was a different Great Unclean One than the one he had slain by saying that his name was instead Papyrus. Larry is an idiot.

*Cyrus sees Elves only as bags of Nurglings, and will do whatever it takes to free his little brothers

*Cyrus’ favourite movie is “The Warriors”

Fun fun. With my copy of Diablo 3 arriving on Friday I came close to not getting my weekly painting finished before we started, but I showed tremendous self control yesterday and finished off these guys before playing:

 Their bases aren't finished just yet (I need to char the ground around their feet), but outside of that, that's 10 Bloodletters with semi-full command. The standard bearer is just a stick bearer right now. I didn't document the method since it was a largely experimental paint, but sometime in the next 50 or so that I still have to go I'll take pics along the way.

Figuring that they had enough red - and sticking to the theme of my army - ice swords were the way to go, and they ended up looking really nice. I just went with a base of black followed by shades of grey moving up to the tips, then did a wash of blue. The Imperial Blue that came with the others is a kind of weird inky consistency, so I barely watered it at all.

Ok, 20 minutes until I have to go. I'll probably do an update during the week of the campaign and battles, things are going to get interesting (with only a 2 in 5 chance of playing High Elves again!)

"Can you dig it?!"

         -Cyrus, in The Warriors

Tiny dancer

It took me all week to get her to a colour that worked, but the Masque is finally painted and based.

Originally she was purple, but her hair was the same colour, so it didn't stand out enough. I'm still not entirely happy with it, but it's most likely one that I'll revisit after I've done everything else. So 2015.

That's a character done, so next up is some regular peoples: Bloodletters.

I'll just be doing 10 for now. 40 would be a bit much for just one go, and I want to have a chance to finish them before the campaign starts this Sunday.

Speaking of which, here's Lieutenant #1 and his/her/its/whatever backstory:

Herma, the Deceiver

After experiencing a defeat in a battle centuries ago, Herma was a lowly Daemonette captured by the victors. Feigning a futile struggle against the meagre binding spells they placed upon him/her/it/whatever was part of a long-term plan, for while they performed useless experiments to determine the weaknesses of the Daemons, he/she/it/whatever was gathering the power to strike back.

Knowing that a single Daemonette could hardly destroy a city in a night, Herma bided his/her/its/whatever time until the researchers became convinced they had learned everything that they could and left him/her/it/whatever “safely” caged away for a century. In that time the Daemon was forgotten and the city grew. A whorehouse was built in an adjoining building and Herma fed off the energy that leeched through the walls.

As time passed, Herma grew bloated with sinful power and a glorious transformation occurred, reshaping him/her/it/whatever into a mighty Keeper of Secrets. With newfound speed and unbelievable efficiency, Herma slayed the entire population of the city in mere moments. As the last soul was reaped, he/she/it/whatever vanished into the void, returning to serve Slaanesh once more.

*Herma is a uniquely skilled fighter, his/her/its/whatever speed and practiced reflexes rivalling the ferocity that is expressed by Larry

*Herma is a superior leader to both Larry and Cyrus, but has no desire for the rigors of higher command

*Herma once joined a circus to practice disguising his/her/its/whatever form, and proved to be an excellent juggler, singer, dancer, and bearded lady. The adventure ended one night when Herma accidentally sung a Siren Song, causing the crowd to rush the stage. There were no survivors.

"With a gun-toting trigger-happy tranny named Kinky Renee."

          -No Aphrodesiac, by The Whitlams (also originally included in an MGF song) 

Sexy Beasts

Hi all, my beasts are painted and their bases are half done. I went with dipping them to keep a consistent look between all of my Nurgle forces. My last model to do for Nurgle is Epidemius, and I spent a couple of minutes patching up the gaps in his model.

I'm keeping up my unit-character-unit painting schedule, so the Masque is next. I went with an undercoat of black followed by a quick dusting of white; I'm hoping that it'll give a bit of texture to the basecoat.

Flamers are all done and based now too. The champions turned out well despite one of the models coming without an arm. I green stuffed a fire to stick out of the socket, making it look like it's just burning uncontrollably without an arm to guide the fire.

 I've gone back and put washers in the bases of everyone on 25mm bases to work with my magnetic movement trays. The Nurglings and such will be getting some for safer transportation, but I need more washers first.

Very happy to announce that the group I'm in is starting a Blood in the Badlands campaign next weekend. Despite the rules being poorly written and full of holes, it should be a great time. My main general is Larry the Bloodthirster, who I have written as once being one of the Chaos Knights that stomped my Nurgle army a couple of months ago. Here's his backstory and a few points of flavour about him:

Larry, Devourer of Souls

Once a mortal devotee of Khorne, Larry served as a knight in a battle against a Daemon army of Nurgle. On that fateful day, his frenzied attacks carved through wave after wave of Plaguebearers, while his horse trampled Nurglings underfoot. By the end of the battle, Larry was overcome by blood-rage, and suffered a heart attack which claimed his life.

With Larry's ability to slay Nurgle Daemons proven, Khorne planned to use him in the constant struggle between the Gods. He seized the soul of Larry as it began to fade and reforged it in his own image. Taking the armour of the vacant body and the flesh of the abandoned steed as raw materials, Larry was reborn as an immense Bloodthirster.

Larry now leads armies against all who dare oppose him, gorging on the flesh and rending the souls of his victims. He hopes to one day meet those he once regarded as brothers in battle to test their mettle and laugh at their puny mortal forms.

*Larry no longer hates Daemons of Nurgle and will fight beside them, although he will happily send them to their death before those who serve any other God

*Larry is a wild fighter but is quite easy to fool; he will believe anything that is told to him in the form of a rhyme

*Despite having wings, Larry chooses not to fly. He simply jumps extraordinarily long distances

Expect my productivity to drop after this week, with the release of Diablo 3. Killing Daemons just won't seem quite as right as it used to.

"There is a place of great evil in the wilderness."
     -Akara, in Diablo 2

Daemons of Excel

Well it's been a while coming, but I finally got my army list creator finished:
Army List Creator (DoC)
Very handy if you don't know the points and stats for everyone, not to mention also telling you if you're over your 25% and 50% limits.
A quick how-to:
1. Enter the point limit for the list in the red cell up the top
2. Choose models from the drop-down lists on the left
3. For Core, Special and Rare units, enter the number of models in the unit next to the list cell, you can select any Options for the unit in the drop-down lists on the right
4. For Heroes and Lords who can take Gifts or Options, pick them from the drop-down lists in the appropriate area, Heralds can be a BSB

The cells up the top showing percentages will turn red if you are under the Core requirement or over any other limit. Unfortunately Furies are counted in the Core points, so just keep track of that. At the bottom you can choose any mounts that you are using to see their stats; these don't affect points.

Cue the release of a new Daemons army book.

*Update* New version uploaded with a tab which is the list creator without stats and special rules. Much easier to read and print.

Heraldburger no more!

Success! Over just 2 nights I managed to not only paint and base my Tzerald, but stop him from looking like a hamburger too! Naturally I forgot to document the process again, but he's looking good nonetheless. Without further ado, blarg:

It's a shame about the mould lines, but I couldn't do much about it. His body has a matt varnish and the eyes are glossed to make them stand out. I carved the crystals out of empty sprues and glossed them after painting to get them all shiny.

That's my last Nurgling at the bottom, but fear not, I've got another 20 or so on the way. Nice and blurry on the right are my Flamer champions, OOP models, and they'll be my next job.

Back to work.

"Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder."
      -Surprisingly apt adage