Wargames Gallery: Great Unclean One Fallen

The last wound removed from the Great Unclean One, and it is placed lying on its back to show that it will be removed at the end of the combat round (I trust everyone does this kind of thing?). However, its not removed immediately since it was striking simultaneously with its opponent (see - there's method in the madness!). 

[Aside: Very much looking forward to the Horus Heresy daemons rules being released!]

Master Painted Great Unclean One

I took my time. A hell of a lot of time. And I am pleased. I'm not sure I'm quite finished yet, but this is looking striking, original, and very fitting for a 30k Ruinstorm Daemons army, 40k daemons of chaos, or Age of Sigmar army.

Behold my new Great Unclean One.

Great Unclean One: Daemonic Sword

A painting update today on the Great Unclean One, focussing in on the weapon he's holding. The sculpt of the Great Unclean One in plastic is simply phenomenal, and laden with a slew of details; the daemonic sword that he holds is no exception to this.

Around a rusted outer edge is a core festooned and embedded with skulls. When I saw this, I wondered immediately if I could somehow bring a bit more life in to this core skull area rather than just stick with a rusted tone. Although others have attempted similar, I figured I wanted my version to stand out as noxiously Nurgle, but also unique. Therefore I opted to have the skull area painted in a contrasting, but consistently Nurgle, green toxic tone.

The painting approach here is straight forward. I undercoated the model in Corax White all over to begin with. I then set to work on the inner region of the blade by giving it a base layer of white. A generous coating of hex wraith flame ink was then applied to give it a spooky and toxic like depth. This was highlighted in a lighter green colour around the skulls and raised parts. I might go over the highlighting again later, but overall I'm happy with this part.

The thing that makes it "pop" a bit more than usual is the muted colours around the edge. I used pure black to outline the blade and base coat the rusted portions. Following this, a dappling of golds, silvers, and bronzes followed on top, laying up a very rusted feeling with a random application of these colours and blends along the entire length of the blade.

Overall, the effect is really nice and speaks volumes of a daemonic blade suitable for wielding by a Great Unclean One. I really like this approach and experiment. Onward with the main body that I'm going to try a master work blend approach on. More about that at a later date.

Unclean and most assuredly Great

A "little" ...erm... "treat" following some recent sales that I've made on eBay from my older miniatures: one of the newer, plastic Great Unclean Ones!

This is a kit that I have wanted to get a hold of for a while, but couldn't quite justify the cost to myself without selling some of my older and unused miniatures. And what a kit it is. It is readily apparent how much design work has gone in to the new Great Unclean One and the superior production values compared to years ago when the metal versions were all the rage.

The size of the miniature is immense too. It has a really dominant presence on the battle field from its sheer height and bulk.

Putting together the miniature was straight forward: it is hollow on the inside, hence its a bit like making a "cup" or semi-spherical object using plastic and glue. The parts slot together really well, and the only choices are which arms and head to attach to the miniature, plus the teeth versus the spilling gut on the front.

For this one, I have opted for the teeth (largely because its a classic in my eyes), the sword in the right arm, and the Rotigus arm for the left hand as I really like the tentacles and the pose -- it looks as if a spell is being cast to my eyes. And if not, then it looks like the right hand is about to come down to chop whatever the left hand is going to grasp on to. I was struggling to choose which head though as both have their merits. I did attempt to put the viper tongue on the symmetric horned head, but a dry fit revealed how poor that worked. Hence I went for the symmetric horned head without any special work done. One nurgling on the shoulder and I was done!

I know that this arrangement is not canon for 40k or Age of Sigmar per se. However, I'm not bothered much since I will be using this primarily in 30k for a Ruinstorm army where such implementations will look excellent.

Horus Heresy Review: Ruinstorm Greater Daemon

Background. 

Greater daemons are exactly what we have come to expect, even here in the Ruinstorm. They are extensions of the masters that created them and gave them a spark of their own consciousness. The background given characterises them as well-honed and expert killers who have been bringing misery and suffering to the sentient races for a very long time.

Strengths.
As with all of the ruin storm daemons, the greater daemons are very customisable with the ability to take up to three emanations. Their stat line is impressive, with 5 wounds, and slightly sub-primarch levels in most others.

Their other rules are the standard fare for daemons in 30k: tides of madness, parting the veil, and daemon of the ruinstorm (naturally).

Weaknesses.
They come with a basic 4+ save and a close combat weapon. That's all. Other than that, they're not really "weak" per se. But they are worth the points when built nicely.

Builds.
One build for each dominion follows.

Resplendent Terror Build:
Daemonic Wings, Crushing Claws, Miasma of Rot (210 points).
A simple build meant to get in to combat fast and start killing things.

Crimson Fury Build:
Daemonic Wings, Brass Collar, Sundering Fangs (210 points).
I tried to build something like a Bloodthirtser. Enough said.

Creeping Scourge Build:
Miasma of Rot, Corrosive Vomit, Lord of Sorcery (205 points). 
Following a theme, I tried to build a Great Unclean One (with one level of psychic mastery just because). I like it and would play it.

Lurid Onslaught Build:
Stupefying musk, Crushing Claws, Quicksilver Speed (195 points). 
My attempt to build a Keeper of Secrets. I'm not wholly sold on it, but it feels like it adheres to the new plastic model.

Maddening Swarms:
Daemonic Wings, Lord of Sorcery x 2 (235 points).
A Lord of Change style build here. Obviously with wings and as many levels of psychic ability as we can get. Which sadly is not 3 unless I drop the wings. But I'm keeping the wings because of the model.

Mirror of Hate:
Daemonic Wings, Lord of Sorcery, Warp-scaled Hide (225 points). 
Although there is some older pictures (e.g., Realm of Chaos, and others) of Malal daemons, the field is wide open here, so I went with something that is similar to the Daemon Lord, earlier.

Nurgly New Year

Hi Folks: We're back after a longer than expected break due to various things happening in real life.

The new year on the hobby front appears to have kicked off with a very solid start with the plethora of new Nurgle models available. The one that caught my eye the most is the new Great Unclean One. And the main reason that it caught my eye was that it seems to harken back to the older Realms of Chaos era.

The image above shows one such example of the Realms of Chaos era Great Unclean One. This is a metal monster, standing a bit taller than a modern space marine (or Primaris marine). There are a number of salient features that this model has and is shared with the newer, larger plastic one. These include the belly tear and the possibility of that tear being turned in to a maw for chomping on nearby Nurglings (or others) that was featured in a different metal model. The snake like tongue is also an interesting feature.

However, the more things stay the same, the more that they change as well.

The biggest change (pun not intended) is the sheer scale of the new plastic Great Unclean One. It is literally huge and towers over the older, metal versions of the model. The model retains the weapons (swords, etc.) that are not seen in the Realms of Chaos version. I think this is a good thing as it gives the threat level a big increase visually over the older metal ones which just seems to be pointing and gesticulating in an unfriendly (or maybe even friendly?) manner across the gaming board.

Also retained are the Nurgling additions. These have almost always been an addition included in many of the sets over the years and can be used to decorate the bases and various critical nodes of the Great Unclean Ones (and more besides).

I wrote a while ago that I was concerned that the Death Guard was increasingly looking more like cartoon villains. This is not the case with the Great Unclean One, but I do worry it seems to be the case with the new Plague Bearer heralds. These seem to be continuing along the line of comical. I will freely admits that Nurgle does have some jovial interpretations. However, there's a difference between a gruesome figure looking jovial, to what should be a gruesome figure appearing a bit too comical in nature. So for me, the Great Unclean On is sheer win and I might even purchase it. But not so much the Plague Bearers that have been released.

More ramblings soon (probably Dorn related!).

Wargames Gallery: Lost and the Damned

A bit of a blast from the past today. I was flicking through my well-worn and well-loved copy of the old Realms of Chaos: The Lost and The Damned book today, searching for a bit of inspiration. In the full colour art section from 'Eavy Metal, I came across this scene. 

Its a large battle between the forces of Nurgle (with Bubonicus) and Tzeentch. Count the sheer number of greater daemons contained within the image -- its immense! Just the points value alone of this diorama is amazing to think of! What a daemonic battle it is!

And those colours as well! Bright and vivid, even for the more gribbly Nurgle forces -- check out those banners in particular! These days, its a lot more about realism and grim-dark influences. Its occasionally nice to see a genuinely different approach to painting like this -- even if it looks very dated. Plus the old Warhammer Fantasy scratch-build scenery is nice to witness as well.

CSM and Daemons Review: Be'Lakor

I admit it: I bought the Be'Lakor dataslate when it became available. Well, it was actually a holiday season gift from my wife (I have the best wife!).

At a basic level, Be'Lakor is a new HQ choice for either chaos daemons or for chaos space marines. He is a pricey unit - to be clear - but probably correctly (i.e. fairly) priced. Hence there is no "discount" for taking him.  But his abilities are a force to be reckoned with - he is a real "force multiplier" in a number of ways. And: he DOES have eternal warrior which is a great bonus to have in there.

Stat line wise, he is very similar to a regular daemon prince. His sword is pretty special, having both types of 'bane and strength modifier (and then some).  On top of this is his 4+ invulnerable save coupled with a Nurgle-like shrouding ability (which ties in to his whole "shadow" theme that he has going on). But he does not have any alignment to the big four chaos power in warhammer: he is the only undivided chaos daemon prince available. 

To my mind though, the real benefit (and the reason to take him) are on the psychic side of things. He has access to all telepathy skills.  Why is this such a great thing? Well: think of being able to guarantee invisibility.  But it gets better: mental fortitude or hallucination can be extremely potent in their own rights if played right. Want more? Well, Be'Lakor gains bonus warp charges if enemies fail morale checks.  Hello terrify!  There's little not to like about such a combination in the game! Use Endurance on him if possible to help him keep alive and kicking should the flying shrouded jink'ed basic version be not to your liking.  And use puppet master (and the rest) to utterly disrupt your opponents battle plans. Especially those Tau that you're starting to really be annoyed with.

Play wise, I think I'd be seeing him as a chaos space marines HQ mostly. Even if I were fielding daemons, I would use Be'Lackor as an HQ of an allied chaos space marine force organization chart (so as to keep the warlord traits of someone better, like Fateweaver!). In such a mould, Be'Lakor brings a little extra pain to the table of the daemons flying circus style lists that are popular at the moment. And he doesn't remove too much either (possible a Tzeentch daemon prince, rather than a Slaanesh one, plus a few daemonettes).  Hence I can easily see him being taken with a minimal detachment of cultists to make it work.

In short: tailored to the right list, Be'Lakor will see competitive play and will be a pain to opponents in the hands of a competent player. And I think he will certainly see play in casual games too, for variation and shadowy themed armies (Night Lords? Alpha Legion?).

Wargames Gallery: Deepstriking the Bad Way

Deepstriking on to the red cratered forge worlds surface, the Great Unclean One of Nurgle finds himself (through mishap) extremely far away from the centre of the action and eventually gets picked off by the much speedier dark eldar bikes.

(Picture taken last year during our local league).

Chaos Daemons Review: Keeper of Secrets

The Keeper of Secrets is the Slaaneshi Greater Daemon. In common with the Great Unclean One, it lacks wings and must make its way on foot to where it needs to be.  As such, it is a prime candidate to deep strike on to the gaming board to where it needs to be.  This is doubly true given the "average" stat line for most things except WS and I.  The Keeper is also the cheapest of the Greater Daemons.

Flavour-wise, I'm gratified to see that the Keeper of Secrets obtains preferred enemy against eldar and dark eldar.  And rightly so in my opinion as well. Those spirit stones are very tasty, the way I hear it.

Like the Great Unclean One, he (she? it?) is a level 1 psyker that is upgradable to higher levels with some additional points invested.  Given the access to telepathy, and Slaanesh's own "excess" discipline, this could be good in the long run.

And as with other greater daemons, they can choose up to 50 points worth of lesser, greater and exalted rewards.  I've slowly been warming up to the Grimoire of True Names and the Portalglyph recently, and I think both The Keeper of Secrets is a good choice for either (Great Unclean Ones for the Grimoire only, and Lords of Change and Bloodthirsters for both as well probably due to their movement).  With that in mind, here's a couple of builds.

Keeper of Secrets, Level 3 psyker, Portalglyph (250 points)
Deep strike in to the heart of the battle with support from your other troops.  Use the portalglyph immediately and start using those telepathy powers. Charge and using rending as soon as possible.

Keeper of Secrets, Grimoire of True Names (200 points)
Use the Grimoire as a buff for nearby allies (probably a fully decked out squad of seekers, or a squad of daemonettes with an attached herald) and have a bit of fun as a road bump before getting downed.

Chaos Daemons Review: Great Unclean One

Toughness 7.

6 Wounds.

Shrouded.

This guy is sticking around like Ku'Gath. That fact alone is almost enough of a reason to take him. See how the enemy shudders as they try to take him down.  Add in to this that the Great Unclean One has access to biomancy, and you can see certain builds that are going to make him even better.  The plague discipline of Nurgle is also attractive for its AP3 flamer primaris power.

The only (and rather serious) disadvantage is the lack of movement: slow and purposeful coupled with no wings means that like Ku'Gath, we're probably going to be choosing him for a deep strike in to the heart of the enemy.  And once there, he's hopefully going to both cause some damage and keep alive.

The lesser reward option zero is the plague flail.  Giving +1S, it can also cause additional wounds on a failed T test.  This clearly marks it out as an enemy character killer.  Should the great unclean one get in to combat, this piece of kit could be very useful indeed.

Here's a couple of build to consider:

Great Unclean One (190 points).
A naked, filth-ridden Great Unclean One build in Nurgle's own image.  Use as a distraction, or a fire magnet and deep strike in to the heart of the enemy.

Great Unclean One with plague flail (200 points)
A nice option for character killing ... assuming this guy can make it into close combat.

Great Unclean One, Plague Flail, Level 3 Psyker (250 points)
Possibly the best build, but a steep price tag attached.  Use in apocalypse.  Use with caution at lower points levels.

Chaos Daemons Review: Lord of Change

Interestingly, Lords of Change have a higher toughness than Fateweaver (presumably because the latter got terribly aged in a daemonic way through having been shoved down the Well of Eternity?).  This means that unlike Fateweaver, they're not going to be killed in a single vindicator shot. Overall, their statline is pretty solid: sixes in most places and 5 wounds.

In the psychic department, they come as level 2 psykers as standard, with the option to build them up to level 3.  And given that they have access to Tzeentch's own change discipline AND divination, I can't see much reason that one wouldn't be considering doing exactly that.

Moreover, Lords of Change have wings.  This is good because like the bloodthirster it means that they can chase down valuable targets and perform skyfire when needed.  Of course, they're going to be a fire magnet along the way ... but that is also part and parcel of the deal and can be useful.  The only drawback is really their saving throw. I'd much sooner have an HQ selection with a good saving throw.  But at least the mark of Tzeentch helps somewhat with this.

In terms of rewards, I kind of like the mutating warp blade of Tzeentch.  By killing an enemy character, the daemons player gets a free chaos spawn.  I've always rather liked getting free chaos spawn though. Its very mutate-y and Tzeentch-y.  The greater rewards in general seem like quite a good option for the Lord of Change: many buffs are in there, and if you don't want one, take the warp blade instead.

Here's a couple of builds to tinker with:

Lord of Change with Mastery Level 3 (255 points)
The psychic terror wing wings.  Good hunting.

Lord of Change with Mastery Level 3 and 2 Greater Rewards (295 points)
An expensive way to get a buffed greater daemon in to your team.

Lord of Change with mutating Warpblade (250 points)
Go forth and make some chaos spawn!

Chaos Daemons Review: Bloodthirster

The bloodthirster has one of the best stat lines in the game.  And rightly so: Khorne's main greater daemon and fieldmarshal of war, rage, death, murder, carnage, blood and skulls for the skull throne needs to be strong in the game to back up the fluff in the background.  Does he live up to the background? For the most part, yes.

As a flying monstrous creature, he has the ability to hunt down almost anything in the game and win.  But concentrated arms fire will bring him down.  Consider this: if a lucky shot brings him out of his flying mode, he probably only has 4 wounds left.  Even with a toughness of 6 and warp-forged armour, rapid firing bolters stand a chance of finishing the job.  So he needs to get to where he needs to be quickly.  And preferably hide behind some scenery along the way for added protection.

He has a built in 12" lash (assault 1) ranged attack, and an axe of Khorne as standard, and may take all three levels of daemonic rewards.  Here are a few potential builds to consider.

Bloodthirster (250 points)
Even "naked", the bloodthirster is going to be a sound choice when wielded correctly.

Bloodthirster with the Eternal Blade (280 points)
He doesn't really really really need it.  But he likes it.  He likes it a whole lot.  Because it adds to his attacks (and some other characteristics that are already rather high and therefore don't need to be boosted any higher).  Anyone choosing this build has really got to be either a fluffy player, or really desperate to build an uber beast.

Bloodthirster with 2 Greater Rewards (290 points)
The Greater Reward table contains several buffs that a greater daemon such as a bloodthirster can make good use of.  We're really banking on rolling one or two of them with this build, since the default option (greater etherblade) isn't so useful to an already armed bloodthirster.

Chaos Daemons Review: Ku'Gath Plaguefather

He's big and ugly, and has got the stat line to prove it.  With a toughness of 7 and 7 wounds, Ku'Gath is going to be sticking around like a ... sticky Nurgle stick.  Being a Nurgle daemon, he also has shrouded --- less risk from incoming ballistics.

On the negative side, is slow and purposeful, combined with a lack of wings.  To play him, I think we're going to be deep-striking him most of the time so as not to waste his enduring stinkiness.  He's going to be hanging around worse than a bad smell most of the time.  But I think that he's not going to be so sound against Grey Knight terminators (and the like) to be honest.

His other rules give him some psychic ability (level 1 Nurgle sorcery) and a slime trail (disordered charge against him). He also grants his pet Nurglings the ability to regain a wound every turn.  Clearly he wants to be deployed with a unit of said pretties for them to benefit from him.

Finally, he has his necrotic missiles.  I think these are actually rather good: AP3 large blast is great in an infantry dominated meta game.  And his warlord trait (immortal commander) gives instability re-rolls within 12".  This is a good force buff overall and can be (situationally) very useful.  Particularly if there are squishier lesser daemons around to benefit from it (think: daemonettes).  Even plaguebearers can benefit from it.

But at a points cost more than a Land Raider, he needs some serious thought.  Would a regular Great Unclean One be superior?  Or a bloodthirster for that matter?  Yep.  But that's not going to stop the fluffiful commander taking Ku'Gath.  He is a slow monster, but will hit hard and be a fire magnet closer up.  Overall, I contend he got better than the previous daemons codex, but he's going to have a tough fight against some codexes dedicated assault squads.

Chaos Daemons Review: Kairos Fateweaver

To be clear: the days of fate-crusher and other build that relied on Fateweaver are GONE.  Forget them.  He isn't what he once was.  Bye bye.

Instead, he now allows us to re-roll one 1d6 every turn.  Of course, its unclear (because its not spelt out) if that is every player turn or every game turn.  I suspect the latter.

Hence he is still a factor to be reckoned with.  But he re-rolling shenanigan days are totally obliterated.

What he does give is a "Lord of Unreality" warlord trait.  This gives re-rolls on the Warp Storm chart.  Now that's an interesting result!  Consider this facet alone: you combine this warlord trait with his re-rolling 1d6 every turn in order to get some of the best results (+1 invulnerable save; creating a herald out of an enemy psyker; creating a new unit of lesser daemons) and I think we're on to a winner.  You should certainly think about doing this every turn you roll a 5 or 6 for ONE of the 2d6 on the Warp Storm Table (before or after the warlord trait re-roll).  You can't really go too wrong.  (except by rolling Nurgle's Glorious Rot result of course -- but you got chaos instruments in your army?  Right?).

On top of this, Fateweaver is a psychic monster.  He is level 4 mastery and has all the Tzeentch powers plus (one telepathy + one biomancy) or (one pyromancy + one divination) per turn.  (because only one head is dominant at a time).  And a 4+ invulnerable save.

But he has drawbacks.  With T=5, a vindicator shot can take him down.  And he's not an independent character.  Look out, because he's going to be taking a lot of incoming shots.  And he's a shooty kind of character.  So I'd be looking to play him in flying mode as much as possible.  I'm a little torn on whether he's actually worth it or not.  Of course a well placed bolt of change (skyfired) is nothing to be sneezed at.  So in the meta of infantry heavy with flyers, he's probably looking good for Tzeench armies.

Chaos Daemons Review: Skarbrand

At 25 points LESS than a regular bloodthirster, Skarbrand has to be an attractive HQ option for the Khorne legions.  Especially since at first glance, his stat line is strictly better as well (I=10, instead of I=9 for a bloodthirster).

With Skarbrand, we get the 3+ regular armour save, deamonic instability and the daemon of Khorne rule (hating Slaanesh, and furious charge). But he has different armaments.  His twin axes are AP2 power weapons: one with fleshbane, the other with armourbane.  To replace the loss of the whip, he has his own shout that is a S5 template attack.

Further, he grants rage and hatred to all units within 12" of himself (including himself of course!).

So why is he cheaper than a bloodthirster then?  Simple: he lost his wings!!

This give an interesting tactical choice.  Should he be with his friends in a traditional starting position? Or should he be deep striking? I think the answer is to deep strike if he's going to be followed by (or more accurately: preceded by) reasonably sized units that are following-on through the use of instruments of chaos that can benefit from his rage and hatred special rule.  Suddenly, those bloodcrushers are looking even more potent!

Regardless of how you play him -- he's still a bloodthirster, 5 wound, toughness 6 beast!  There's nothing in the game he can't handle toe to toe.  Avatar of Khaine?  He eats them for brekkie.  Giant tyranids? More skulls for the skull throne (not that Khorne cares any longer about Skarbrand)! You won't be disappointed.  The only conundrum is whether you can catch them without wings.  

Swooping Deepstrike into Cover

Top of my list of things that I picked up this week:

If playing with a monstrous creature that can deep strike (I'm looking at you greater daemons of Tzeentch and Khorne), they can come in to play in the "swooping" mode.

When doing so, we can elect to deepstrike them in to ruins (they'll hit the ground level) or other buildings.  Since monstrous creatures all get the move through cover universal special rule, they do not need to take any dangerous terrain tests. 

More significantly, enemies need 6+ to hit them, and they benefit from a 4+ cover save.  Nice.

Citation: Imperius Dominatus and others locally (i.e. from real world conversations!) covered this earlier this week.

Daemon Prince Sword

A teaser for the completely painted daemon prince I've been working on.  The chaos / power sword has been painted in a series of blues - starting with a dark blue base and working upward through to electric blue and off-white blues.  I decided that I wanted this power sword to be more like the old chaos swords.  Instead of glowing with electrical power, this sword glows with an inner malevolence ready to cause mayhem.

I think this is also the kind of effect that I would be pleased with for painting up some grey knights' ghost knights (see here and here).

Note to Self: True Cost of Summoned Greater Daemons

This topic has already been talked about extensively elsewhere, but I wanted to briefly add my own notes-to-self on this blog for my own purposes in listbuilding (at least prior to Codex: Chaos Legions). 

Since Greater Daemons require a champion of chaos in order to be able to come on to the board (summoned), the true cost of a greater daemon is not simply the (frankly attractive looking) 100 points, but 100 plus at least 30 (1xCSM, upgraded to champion).  In all likelihood, the champion(s) will be equipped with something a bit more effective than harsh language, such as a power fist.  Hence the greater daemon might "cost" something more like 155+ points.

In my Death Guard armies, I employ plague champions with power fists regularly (63 points).  This really bumps up the points cost of the greater daemon to something more comparable to those found in codex: daemons (but without the cool rules associated with them).  But by employing multiple champions, the chance of getting a greater daemon to where its most needed is increased.

When I use summoned greater daemons, I now think of them as being chaos champions that change form at some point during the game.  This helps me visualize them a bit better and their capabilities.  Doing this for a starting player is hard though -- I used to find myself getting locked-in on thinking of them as champions only and seeing the greater daemon as something separate entirely.

Great Unclean One

Just a picture today, with very few words from me.  The miniature is a modern-era Great Unclean One and the painting scheme is suitibly Nurglesque. Enjoy!