Sea of Green

Despite having painted up an entire Warriors of Nurgle army made up of very old miniatures in the last year and a half, I haven't actually played a game of Warhammer: The Old World in just over two years.

I've also never used a Chaos army in any iteration of Warhammer Fantasy Battles.

I'd like these facts to be borne in mind in what follows.

Pete and I arranged to play a 1500 point game of Warhammer: The Old World last weekend and I saw this as an opportunity to finally get my 'new' army on the table.

Pete has also been building an army of Orcs and Goblins and was keen to give them a try.

My army consisted of pretty much everything I've painted, all with the Mark of Nurgle:

Winged Daemon Prince

Chaos Sorcerer Lord

9 Chaos Warriors

25 Chaos Marauders

3 Chaos Ogres

1 Chaos Chariot

1 Warpfire Dragon

Pete's army seemed to consist of a billion greenskins. More precisely I think it was:

Black Orc Warlord

Orc Shaman

14 Black Orcs

20 Orcs (two hand weapons)

20 Orcs (spears)

20 Goblins (spears)

20 Goblins (short bows)

2 Orc Chariots

3 Stone Trolls

Giant

The scenario we rolled up forced deployment in the centre (so no refused flank shenanigans) and pretty much guaranteed we would largely just smack into each other and see what happens.

Orc Turn 1

The Orcs opened up with a predictable surge forward and the Shaman summoned the Foot of Gork to come slamming down. Fortunately, only the big toe grazed my lines and a single wound was done to both the Chaos Warriors and my Chariot.

Nurgle Turn 1

Given that I had nothing to shoot the incoming horde with (before anybody mentions it, the game was half over before I realised the Warpfire Dragon is technically a stone thrower), I surged forward in return, trying to guess the distance I needed to ensure the Orcs were unlikely to teach my lines.

In what proved to be a terrible idea, I dispatched my Daemon Prince over to my left flank to contend with the Goblins and Chariots - essentially taking him out of the game.

Meanwhile the Dragon lurked on my right flank, ready to pounce.

Orc Turn 2

Charges were made and, fortunately for me, most of them were failed. Only the Giant made it into contact and proceeded to make heavy weather of the Chaos Warriors, which proved surprisingly resilient and also began to chip away at the Giant's wounds.

Nurgle Turn 2

With the Orcs very close, my heavy hitters sprang into action. The Chariot and Dragon slammed into the Orcs with two hand weapons and drove them back, narrowly missing out on breaking the unit and turning the flank.

The Giant and Warriors of Nurgle continued to trade blows, with the Warriors managing to win combat thanks to some truly terrible dice from Pete.

Orc Turn 3

More charges were declared and again failed as the Black Orcs missed out on getting to grips with the Marauders. However, the Chariots were now in position to wreak havoc on the next turn as they had evaded my Daemon Prince (who you can just about see dicking about with Goblins in the background).

However, the Stone Trolls did make contact with the Chaos Ogres, narrowly winning the fight. The Ogres failed the subsequent break test and were run down.

If only there had been a general nearby.

Nurgle Turn 3

Realising that they were probably doomed, the Marauders charged into the Black Orcs as it was their best option of survival, whilst the Warpfire Dragon moved to threaten the rear.

It was at this point that I found out about it's breath weapon and it managed to clip the back of the Black Orcs, killing a couple of them.

with the Giant having been reduced to a single wound on the previous turn, I was hopeful that the two remaining Warriors and the Sorcerer could finish him off.

The Sorcerer, seeking to hasten this outcome, managed to miscast a spell, which proceeded to kill both Warriors and not hurt the Giant, which wasn't wholly under the template because it's huge.

Predictably, the lone Sorcerer was squished with a headbutt whilst the Marauders were driven back by the Black Orcs.

The only bright spot in this fluster-cuck of a turn was that the Marauders were driven so far back that only one of Chariots would be able to come screaming into their flank.

Orc Turn 4

Waarrrgghhh! Chop! Chop! Splat!

Things turned out for the Marauders pretty much as you'd expect, apart from the fact that they rolled insane courage on their break test and held their ground.

However, in other news, my Chariot finally lost combat, broke and was run down by the three...count 'em, three remaining Orcs.

Nurgle Turn 4

All that was left for me to do was charge my Warpfire Dragon into a losing fight in the vain hope of breaking the general and creating a wave of panic that caused the whole army to flee...assuming that's a thing that can still happen.

Anyway, it didn't work.

***

We called it there as I'd been comprehensivly battered.

It had been a really fun game where I'd learned a few important lessons about my new army:

1. Don't send my general off on a wild goose chase.

2. Paint up a few more Warriors of Chaos and Chaos Ogres to given them some backbone.

3. Remember that the Warpfire Dragon is also a stone thrower.

4. Don't leave the Chariot unsupported.

5. Don't rely on the Marauders to kill stuff.

6. Remember that Gaze of the Gods is a thing.

I am going to scour my lead pile to see what I can do to bulk out some units, perhaps splitting the Marauders into two speedbump units.

However, I did enjoy a game with an army that was so direct and resilient, it's a very different feeling to my Undead, Wood Elves and Bretonnians, and it was definitely nice to finally play a game with these miniatures.

Anyway, happy October!

Path of Damnation: Damned, but not Lost

Regular readers of the blog will know that just over a year ago I sold my soul to Nurgle and set out to create a Warriors of Chaos army for Warhammer: The Old World using only models that were collected in the dim and distant past by a teenage me.

I have now put the finishing touches to that army by adding a handful of models and a command group to the Chaos Marauders, the unit I began with.

My own personal rule for this army was that it needed to fit the Oldhammer brief and only feature miniatures which were produced in the early 90s or before, and there were to be no duplicate models.

The aim was to get an army which evoked the cover image of Realms of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned).

I've drafted in every metal Chaos Warrior, Chaos Thug, Beastmen, Chaos Dwarf, Barbarian, Minotaur and monster that I could lay my hands on, supplemented with a handful of plastic miniatures from Heroquest and Warhammer Quest.

Perhaps the most recognisable model in this batch is the dynamically posed, and taller than I remembered, Warhammer Quest Barbarian.

He will take the role of unit champion, but I may need to lighten his skin at some point as I think he lacks a little definition.

Also from the boardgame department is this Zombie from Heroquest. I've come to really like this sculpt and have started to look for ways to use more of them in other projects.

Although he's joining a unit of, very much alive, Chaos Marauders, he's also a nod to the fact that the first Nurgle army list did allow units of Plague Zombies and Plague Skeletons.

I've also been drafting in a handful of Blood Bowl star players, who are very much Chaotic in nature and add a flamboyant amount of mutation to the army.

This is Dieter Hammerlash, one of a very early batch of star players, whose star card I first got from a copy of White Dwarf.

Although he could quite easily have been given a Tzeentchian flavour (he has a touch of the Pink Horror about him), I've gone for a more fleshy look and just added a weapon.

The most obvious Blood Bowl player of the bunch is also the most fitting for a Nurgle army: Bilerot Vomitflesh.

I was presented with a conundrum of how to get his very 'football' look to fit in, and so I opted to turn him into a musician, by giving him a bell ( which I think is from the Grenadier Undead Mammoth I wish I still owned) to dangle.

I also added a shield on his other arm to make him a little less sporty looking.

The final miniature and standard bearer for the unit is Slarga Fourstrike (which I've discovered the internet often, wrongly, refers to as Slarga Fourstrike - check his card).

I commited Oldhammer sacrilege and pinned the banner, which was cobbled together from my bits box, in place and left him at that.

I'm really pleased with this one.

And there we have it.

A 2000 point Warriors of Nurgle army for Warhammer: The Old World. Admittedly it's probably not very good and needs a hefty chunk of magic items to get across the points threshold, but that's pretty normal for Chaos armies.

This army has been at least 37 years in the making and I'm actually a little bit choked up to finally have the Chaos army (or at least a variation of it) that I planned so long ago.

In other news, I've printed and painted some rock formations.

They're not really exciting enough for their own post, so they're here.

Acquired: 15

Painted: 79

Lead Mountain: 698

Path of Damnation: Organised Chaos

After a bit of a hiatus, I've finally got around to working on the last few models for my Oldhamner Nurgle army by completing the command models for my unit of Chaos Warriors.

This includes a Chaos Sorcerer of Nurgle. Along with a standard bearer and a musician bringing along a little bit of star quality to the army.

This is because two of these models are actually converted Blood Bowl star players.

The Chaos Sorcerer, however, has nothing to do with Blood Bowl and is one of the frankly excellent range of metal Chaos Champions that were released around the same time at Realms of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned.

This model, along with a small handful of nuglings and a single Pestigor, is one of the factors that convinced me to sell my soul to Grandfather Nurgle, as I couldn't see a scenario where this model would fit into a force dedicated to one of the other powers.

The standard bearer is based on Dorjak Sureclaw, a Chaos Star Player for the second edition of Blood Bowl. He was a somewhat lacklustre player, having fairly average stats, a couple of minutes not skills and the claw mutation.

It always seemed odd to me that he had the Sure Hands skill as he wouldn't be handling the ball with his claw. Mind you, his other hand is massive.

The claw and big hand perhaps suggest Dorjak might be more suited to the service of Slaanesh or Tzeentch, but the gods of Chaos are fairly easy going when doling out mutations.

I'm not massively happy with the banner. It feels a bit too simplistic but I'm never great with free-handing.

Also from the second edition Blood Bowl stable of Star Players is my musician, Galmen Goreblade, who was much more useful in a Chaos team, being fast, strong and having the Mighty Blow skill.

I really like the fallen noble aesthetic of this model.

To make him a musician I have used the same trick I used on my Age of Sigmar Skaven. Giving him a bell-flail. This is also a nod to a very old model in the Chaos range that has a similarly blank helmet and was armed with a mace and a bell.

And so there we have my full unit of Chaos Warriors on foot (the Warhammer Quest model will be the unit champion).

I want to do something more with the banner and there hasn't been an edition of the game where 10 expensive and easily avoidable heavy infantry haven't been a bad choice, but perhaps having a sorcerer in their ranks will bring the enemy to them.

I just have a handful more thugs/Beastmen/marauders to finish off and my Path of Damnation will be complete.

Acquired: 11

Painted: 50

Lead Mountain: 723

Path of Damnation: What a load of bull!

With the recent addition of several hard hitting characters and monsters, I figured I should probably get another unit on the table.

This also gave my another reason to procrastinate about the standard bearers and musicians that are needed for my Chaos Warrior and Marauder units.

Therefore, I took a different bull by the horns.

This unit of Minotaurs with function as Chaos Ogres in my Warhammer: The Old World army because the teaming hordes of Chaos have a somewhat rigid structure dividing them into Beastmen, Warriors and Daemons.

I, however, refuse to be bound by such restriction, and also don't have that many more options regarding units to add to the army.

I'm not sure how useful just three Minotaurs/Ogres will be, but that's what I have.

 

 

The unit champion is a lightly converted Warhammer Quest Minotaur, and these were a truly feared sight for adventurers, particularly when you drew three of them in the first room of the dungeon and immediately died.

The light conversion is a hand replacement, giving him an Ogre spiked gauntlet I had left from making a Bloodbowl team many years ago. This is to give him two hand weapons to match the rest of the unit.

I actually have two more Minotaurs like this one (although one has a club) but opted not to use them because I want the army to have no duplicate models in it. Also, the fact that he's bigger than the other two makes him an imposing champion.

The other two members of the unit are metal second edition Bloodbowl Minotaurs, hence the large pads and spiked gloves (additional hand weapons).

They are significantly smaller than both the Warhammer Quest model and the 'modern' plastics (which I hate, btw, just for reference). These were the 'big guys' of their time but stand no taller than a Primaris Space Marines.

This was from a time when something being the equivalent of seven or eight foot tall would be rightly viewed as imposing.

The final model is a curiosity, because I have no idea what this pose is meant to be representing. As a single piece model I'd that he's just a natural consequence of having to sculpt in a flat plane and try to make him visually different from the other guy.

He's also the reason why I didn't try any conversions to give the unit double handed weapons as I have no idea how I could go that on this model and make his pose look remotely natural.

This unit was unbelievably quick to paint and leaves me with about half a dozen metal models left to do from my initial plan to complete the army.

Acquired: -73

Painted: 400

Lead Mountain: 372

Path of Damnation: Cavalcade of Nurgle

One of the features of the forces of Nurgle as outlined in Realm of Chaos: the Lost and the Damned was their tendency to move of festering caravans of carts, wagons and chariots, travelling from town to town and visiting plague upon them.

Sadly, this feature seemed to disappear quite quickly outside of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, but I have managed to cobble together my own Chaos Chariot to perhaps be a precursor to my own caravan of corruption.

My chariots, bearing a Sorcerer of Nurgle has been scraped together from my bits box, and owes more than a little to my Vampire Counts army.

Obviously, the skeletal horses are the most obvious element, but the winged sides are hefty chunk of metal from the chariot of Arkhan the Black, who was jettisoned from my army in the Great Sundering (Arkhan himself went to a friend).

The chariot body is from a Wargames Foundry Ancient Briton chariot, which, when I bought them, were featured in the pages of Warhammer Ancient Battles and so counts as official.

The element across the back of the horses is actually a Wood Elf bow.

I made the decision to use skeletal horses because the only other horses I have available are not Games Workshop models and look far too healthy.

Before I opted to plump for a solely Nurgle army, I did have the idea to mutate those horses with eyestalks, horns and bright colours to dedicate them to Tzeentch, but that would feel out of place with where the army is now.

Anyway, in The Lost and the Damned the Nurgle army list includes Plague Zombies and Plague Skeletons and a unit called a Plague Cart pulled by skeletal oxen, and so the undead feel to this model feels appropriate to me.

If the opportunity presents itself, it could also function as a Plague Cart in a game of 3rd edition Warhammer Fantasy Battles.

Thr Chariot is crewed by a single metal Ghoul I had knocking about. Technically this should be a Chaos Warrior with a Halberd, but I'm a bit short on Chaos Warriors and didn't want to use one on the Chariot (also, they're all too bulky to fit).

The Sorcerer is Azoth the Faceless, another of the Heroes for Dungeonquest alumni featuring in the army. It's quite hard to get a decent photo of him given how he's buried beneath the wings.

I'm really pleased with how this unit has come out as it brings a bit more weird into the army., I'm also pleased to finally get to use at least part of the Arkhan the Black model I bought with birthday money many moons ago.

Acquired: -77

Painted: 395

Lead Mountain: 373

Path of Damnation: Heavy Metal

I think I've mentioned before that I never really took to the more ordered aesthetic Chaos adopted with the transition to plastic.

Nowhere was this more apparent than with the plastic Chaos Warriors, whose bulk demanded a very regimented pose to allow the models to rank up.

They weren't bad models, far from it, but combined in thire serried ranks, pressed shoulder to shoulder, they didn't exactly shout 'chaos'.

Fortunately, this is not going to be an issue with this motley bunch of glamorous all-stars.

I think I've lamented in these pages before about selling my unit of Champions of Slaanesh before I'd ever painted a single one of them.

They were a beautiful set of models.

Although the combination of drawing together a mishmash of Chaos Warriors and them dedicating to Nurgle means that they will probably lose out on beauty. However, this magnificent seven more than make up for this with their collected renown and notoriety.

First up we have one of those most stalwart and fearsome denizens of the halls of Heroquest, the Chaos Warrior.

This is a great model that only slightly shows it's age around the horns (which merge into the armour round the sides) and still cuts an impressive figure.

Next week have a pair of Champions, one of which the eagle-eyed will notice, is actually a Champion of Tzeentch.

I opted to include this anomaly because I felt that nothing would amused Grandfather Nurgle more than a corrupted former servant of his arch-enemy still bearing his former livery besmirched in corrosion and filth.

The Champion of Nurgle bears only the slightest hint of his allegiance in the sculpt. Only the rune of Nurgle at his breast and some cracks in his armour betray who he serves.

I like this choice as the rest of the Champions of Nurgle are so corrupted that they don't really suit being used as merely the champion of unit of Chaos Warriors, whereas this guy fits the bill perfectly.

Next, as a step up from champions, we have some real 'heroes'.

On the right is the Warrior of Chaos character model from the boardgame Talisman, who not only had the power to corrupt those he came into contact with (somewhat appropriate for this army) but also would receive gifts from the gods each time he slew an enemy.

He was one of my favourite characters to use in the game, and I'm pleased that the colour palette I'm using for this army allowed me to make a nod towards his appearance in that game.

One the right is what I deem to be his successor (later versions of Talisman don't count), the Warhammer Quest Chaos Warrior.

This chonky boy made for a somewhat odd companion in groups of heroes that could include Wardancers, Warrior Priests of Sigmar and Witch Hunters.

However, he is a beautiful miniature and would make for an excellent Chaos Lord were it not for the fact that there is no way I'm putting that amount of points and death-dealing killyness on foot. Therefore, he shall serve as the unit's champion of champions.

Yes, I know the spike on his ace is bent, but I quite like it. Imagine what he might do with that hooked end...

Finally we have some real celebrities, named characters in fact, to add a sprinkling of glamour to proceedings.

On the left we have Thargrim the Dark Lord from the Heroes for Dungeonquest expansion to, unsurprisingly, the board game Dungeonquest. I've already added four of the Dungeonquest alumni to the unit of Chaos Marauders, and there are still a couple more to come if I can find a way to include them.

On the right, the last of this all-star line-up is none other than Duke Luthor Von Hawkfire, the somewhat superfluous thrower for the Chaos All-Stars Bloodbowl team. I say superfluous because the majority of throwing that team would do would be if Goblins, specifically Dirty Dan. However, the presence of Morg'th N'hthrog (later bastardised to Morg 'n' Thorg for simpletons) meant that the All-Stars favoured the punching and running game.

Duke Luthor isn't the only Bloodbowl player destined to join the horde, but he is, in all likelihood, going to be the most famous name amongst their number

Acquired: -78

Painted: 394

Lead Mountain: 374

Path of Damnation: Ancient Dragon

My goal with my my Warriors of Chaos army project is to build an army solely from the pile of ancient lead and plastic that has sat unpainted for 30+ years, with the ultimate of fielding it in games of Warhammer: The Old World. Sadly, this means that some of my collection can't be fielded due to the lack of suitable rules to use.

However, the recent release of the Warriors of Chaos Arcane Journal included the rules for Warpfire Dragons, meaning that I can now include this beast in the ranks of my horde of Nurgle.

This is technically a Blue Dragon that was released by Citadel in a boxed set with a Sorceress and a pile of books in 1987.

I still have the Sorceress, and she actually served as a Necromancer in my Vampire Counts army for many years, however, I have never even tried to paint the Dragon. Admittedly, it sat in a friend's garage for twenty years, but it's well past time it hit the table.

I think the pile of books got sold as part of a lot I should never have gotten rid of.

The 'Blue' Dragon is curious and characterful sculpt, in a pose that is unusual for fantasy Dragons. Rather than attacking or rearing, he's sat on his haunches, giving him a pot-bellied look that is not out of place in Nurgle's ranks.

Being all metal, you'd expect assembly to be tricky, but I never had a problem with this one, but some patience was required with the wings.

With painting, I went with mainly contrast paints, which work extremely well on metal models that are sculpted with this much detail. A newly bought pot of Plaguebearer Flesh for the scales and Skeleton Horde for the wings and underbelly give him a sickly and unpleasant look.

I furthered his links to the Plaguefather by painting some of lumps on the body (which I think might be meant to embedded jewels) as pus filled boils using Nazdreg Yellow and ringing them with Carroburg Crimson.

Another curious design feature is that this Dragon has hair along its spine, which I gave a coat of Basilicanum Grey, for a dirty, matted look.

Finally, claws and horns were done with Ushabti Bone, a few bits of jewellery were done with gold and washed with Nihilakh Oxide for a corroded look and the eyes were done red.

My usual basing with AK Scenics Muddy Ground and then pools of Nurgle's Rot technical paint completed the model.

To say I'm pleased with this one is somewhat of an understatement. This was the first 'big' model I ever owned and it was therefore the most intimidating to paint to young me. It's a shame because it's such a good model and the excellent level of detail would have helped a young me get a decent result with just a little patience.

Added to that, I'm really happy with the colour choices I've made. The paper pallette gives him a sickly Swamp Dragon feels that suits the looks and feels of the army. I also feel that including a Dragon in such a small force is a true homage to the spirit of 3rd edition Warhammer Fantasy Battles as you could just add monsters to your army, pretty much as you saw fit.

I'm really beginning to get my teeth into this project, so expect more disease and corruption in coming posts.

Acquired: -78

Painted: 387

Lead Mountain: 381

Path of Damnation: The Frog Prince

I've been slowly painting Chaos Marauders cobbler together from some of the oldest miniatures in my lead pile for a while now. However, having reached the point where they might actually be a functional unit, I decided to reward myself with a character model.

Not one to start small, I opted to honour,in a small way, the insane conversions of the The Lost and the Dammed, from which my inspiration for this army is being drawn, and kitbash together a Daemon Prince to lead my burgeoning horde.

As ever, the limits of my kitbash were defined by what I already had access to in my bits box and lead pile.

Fortunately, after completing my Heroquest project a couple of years ago, I still had a second Gargoyle, which was in fact the damaged one I had originally owned back in the eighties.

Way back in the mists of time, I had intended to use my Heroquest Gargoyle as a Bloodthirster, but back then, I very rarely acted on my intentions beyond buying a few random packs of miniatures (at one point I owned a whopping three Bloodletters) before the next idea struck.

Obviously, in it's original form, the Gargoyle looked to much like a Daemon of Khorne, and so I combined a metal head that I believe comes from a very old modular Chaos Spawn, a trophy rack from a plastic Daemon Prince (to hide the break in the wings) and the tail from a plastic Screamer of Tzeentch (to cover up where the hideous glue I'd used to fix the wings had filled up the chainmail).

I then threw in a weapon swap (the whip evoked it's Bloodthirster-like origins) and a couple of metal Nurglings on the base, and ended up with something that could work as a Nurgle Daemon.

They don't all have to be fat. It's Chaos.

When it came to painting, I opted to go for green skin. I'll admit that this decision worried me. 

The model has been sitting in my queue for some time because I was concerned that if I went for the traditional Nurgle green, there was a chance that my converted Daemon Prince might bear more than a passing resemblance to Kermit the Frog with teeth.

Fortunately, I opted to go for Elysian Green and give it a wash of Agrax Earthshade (along with everything else) and it seemed to work. He's still fairly reminiscent of a Kroxigor, but the wings, spines and Nurglings do root him firmly in the Chaos family.

There's nothing particularly clever going on with the painting, but liberal doses of Nihilakh Oxide, Nurgle's Rot and Blood for the Blood God technical paints were used to cover any inadequacies not drenched in Agrax Earthshade.

I should point out that I was surprised at the level of detail in the Chaos Spawn head, there it quite a lot going on, and it serves as a good focal point to draw the eye away from what is, to be honest, a some what simplistic sculpt from Heroquest.

Overall I'm delighted with how my Daemon Prince has turned out. He fits the aesthetic of the army so far and it's clear what he's meant to be. I've also managed to salvage a damaged model and get the first character for my army. I also still have the Gargoyle head that might find it's way into a different project.

Admittedly, he's a little small. Compared to more modern Daemon Princes, he's tiny, but he's also somewhat towered over by the original metal Greater Daemons. However, I opted to raise his base to give the illusion of height.

Also, Chaos is chaotic. If it amuses the Plaguefather to create a diminutive, frog-like Daemon Prince, then who's going to stop him?

Acquired: -79

Painted: 386

Lead Mountain: 383

P.S. This post takes me past a notable landmark. So far this year I've painted more models that I actually have left in the lead pile. That's promising...