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!).

Grand Cultivator

Catching up on recent news from the gaming sphere, this chap stumbled across my desk, as I'm sure it did yours as well. Slimed on to my desk might have been a better turn of phrase though. This is Nurgle's Grand Cultivator, Horticulous Slimux. 

He is a plague bearer mounted on top of a monstrous garden snail-like creature in essence. I want to make a couple of observations here. Firstly, this miniature is one that has been featured (probably repeatedly) on the official Warhammer Community rumours mill. Check out the legs of the "snail" (I know -- snails don't have legs, but I haven't got another noun for it just yet) -- these are the ones that have been featured on the rumour site over the past few months. 

The miniature itself interests me from a number of different angles. Firstly is the sheer whimsy and joviality involved in the sculpt. By this, I mean the pose and demeanour of Slimux himself, the "face" of the snail, and the hapless nurgling that has been left dangling in front of the snail. Obviously the nurgling is being used as a kind of bait to lure the snail ever onward. Its a bit like the old cartoons of carrots being used of a lure in front of a donkey to urge it onward. The eyes of the snail are directed right at the little nurgling, who in turn is wrapped in in some kind of vine and is looking grumpy about his situation. 

Slimux himself seems to be rather chilled and laid back. He is chewing on an old bone (freshly plucked from the Garden of Nurgle probably) in much the same way as a cartoonish version of a farmer might have some wheat or crop in his mouth. Or at least I think that is what the vibe they were going for is. Given the short length of the bone, it could be that they were going for a cigar replacement instead as well. 

Striking on the painting side of things is the existence of the eyeballs. Not only on the snail, but also on Slimux. In the older fluff, plague bearers would be depicted as having white eyes (almost in totality) to represent some kind of blindness disease. This guy is just yellowed, as is his mount. Speaking of the older fluff, Nurgle and his minions are often depicted as being rather happy. Since through decay comes rebirth of life and vitality. I think this aspect is communicated very well in the sculpt overall with smiles all around (of one kind or another) and a certain level of levity associated with the vibe of what is being depicted. I've not seen this communicated outside of goblins and orcs (Orks) in a long while and its good so see something like this appear after all these years.

Further interesting aspects of the sculpt include the Venus flytrap looking plant on the rear of the miniature painted in red. I have not seen much like this elsewhere. Being towed behind are ploughing implements to break up the land ready for Nurgle's special cultivation treatments. These little details all add up to a very whimsy miniature that looks more ready for happy gardening (or even a party) than warfare. Then again, that is part of the point. Slimux is really harkening back to some of the earlier materials in a way I've not seen in a while. Its a nice new, slightly risky even, direction and one I'm pleased to see the sculptors take. 

Plaguebearer conversion with four arms

One of the neat aspects of having plastic plaguebearers (as opposed to the old metal ones) is the greater increased potential for conversions.

This conversion is actually a rather straight forward one, but one that also has a high impact: a 4-armed plaguebearer!

Creating this relies on the shoulder areas of the plaguebearer torso. They are roughly the correct shape to take an extra arm (each of which has a concave area where it would ordinarily attach to a torso at the "correct" location). Given the pustules and boils on the surface of the plaguebearer, it is somewhat necessary to smooth over the largest protrusions that are on the shoulders and (potentially) the lower set of arms.

To finish the conversion, note the positioning of the death head. Gravity is doing its usual trick and pulling it downward. This gives some "real world" credibility to the upper, extra arms and gives a grizzly appearance to this grimdark-appropriate conversion. Finally, the pair of plagueswords provides a threatening visage to this one (appropriate for a Herald even). The positioning of the swords is critical: they need to look like the plaguebearer actually knows what its doing with them, hence why I chose two of them that were at significantly different angles: one ready to slice, the other looking like it might have already done so.  Am looking forward to painting this one!

Herald of Nurgle

The plastic plaguebearer range is terrific for the long time Nurgle affectionados like me. Not only is a plaguebearer troops based army entirely feasible (if a little odd and shambling!), but one can also create HQ choices from them as well. Specifically: Heralds of Nurgle.

The image shows one of my plastic heralds, assembled but unpainted. The ease to create such impressive looking miniatures is incredible. For those of us that have been in this hobby for the long haul, you may recall heralds that look like the ones below (all metal; top is from Marauder and the bottom is the 1990's citadel version).

The difference is sculpts is rather stark. The earlier models, whilst certainly Nurglesque in appearance are distinctly not as detailed. But there are certain characteristics that have carried over from them. Notice the triple horn of the Marauder miniature. And the triple skull motif on the citadel one, replicated from the stomach to the death heads in the plastics. Its pleasing to see such ideas remain constant over the years.

Moreover, the new plastic miniature is slightly larger than the old Marauder one (more "heroic scale" if I can use that term), like the citadel one.  That said, the citadel one is pretty much a solid piece of metal. The new plastics are much easier to carry around and result in a more pleasant play style than having to (sometimes) balance a metal miniature on an uneven terrain feature.

Overall, I'm impressed with the new plastics and remain a Nurgle fanboy. It might take some time to get around to painting this one up (got a few other projects on the go at the moment). Am tempted to move away from the greens that are typically seen on the plaguebearers and try something new (perhaps a pastel / frozen frostbitten blue or necrotic grey). I think thats one of the "beauties" of collecting a Nurgle army: so much choice and variation in possible and viable painting schemes!

Simple Modelling / Conversion Tip: Angling Heads

jabberjabber here with a very simple tip that I wanted to share with you: Angling heads.

The image is of a plastic plaguebearer, glued together in a standard fashion apart from one thing. The head has been rotated by some 35 or 45 degrees from the vertical position where it might ordinarily be found at.

This technique of angling heads can be applied to most Nurgle models to give them a slightly zombified appearance (as if more were required!). It works especially well with plaguebeareres, zombies, undead, and plaguemarines, but can also be applied to more regular figures. Space marines for instance can be made to look down the barrel of their boltguns with a cocked head to the side which can create a unique model (or indeed squad) when set against what is ordinarily seen on the tabletop.

Chaos Daemons Review: Plaguebearers of Nurgle

Sure, they're not as tough (literally) as they used to be, but plaguebearers are still a strong choice.  And they're now cheaper than they've ever been, making them very tempting for troops choices in the chaos daemons codex.

Shrouded is great for Nurgle daemons, and although it comes at the price of slow and purposeful, it is not a strong issue (and one that has been with plaguebearers already).

Taking a plagueridden champion is almost mandatory - the extra attack in close combat is going to be good.  Interestingly, they have a none-zero BS now.  Hence they can potentially use a quad gun on a defence line if required.  This provides many tactical options - particularly for placing an objective behind such a line and sitting there all game long.  Having plagueswords (which CAN glance a vehicle to death) is powerful, hence the lesser and greater rewards aren't actually too tempting overall.  A random greater reward could be taken for an offensive build though, but I'm feeling that the ability to save on points here is useful.  The instrument and icon are both great choices (again, particularly for aggressive armies), but the plague banner is an excellent choice for such aggressive builds -- do not underestimate poison 2+ -- it is very potent stuff!

Finally, if you're going to take plaguebearers, let me emphasize that they have great resonance with Heralds of Nurgle.  Add in a herald with the greater locus to grant feel no pain to the entire unit for an extra 70 points - this should almost be an automatic play!

Here are some builds to think about.

14 Plaguebearers of Nurgle, Herald of Nurgle with greater locus, Aegis Defence Line with quad gun (323 points)
Its fluffy because its a multiple of 7.  Its great because just what the heck is an opponent to do?

20 Plaguebearers of Nurgle, Herald of Nurgle with greater locus (250 points)
Camping on an objective?  This is not a bad start!

10 Plaguebearers of Nurgle, including 1 plagueridden, instrument of chaos and plague banner,  Herald of Nurgle with greater locus and level 2 psyker (245 points)
The aggressive build for a small, dedicated unit.  Probably going to see a few of these kinds of build in a mono-Nurgle army.

10 Plaguebearers of Nurgle (90 points)
Sorry, just got to include this one. Really, really cheap.  And they can still work.

Chaos Daemons Review: Herald of Nurgle

Unlike Epidemius, the Heralds of Nurgle have remained a reasonable option in the Chaos Daemons army.  Certainly their cheap base points cost make them appealing, and combined with their high customizability, I can certainly see that they're going to get used on the battlefield (me included!).

For the rewards available, I think the plague flail (lesser reward) is entertaining and tempting.  For a +1 S weapon that allows an extra wound from a T test (should an unsaved wound be caused in the first place), a few of these heralds could spell trouble for any multi-wound opponent (especially space marines).  The balesword (greater reward) doesn't do much for me though -- instant death is good, but its mixed in with an anti armour ability that means its points are probably wasted.  I can see some reason for it, but the plague flail feels better to me.  Most of the exalted rewards are probably not quite worth it on a herald, but I could see a portalglyph being employed on a deep striking unit.  The high T of the herald means that the herald stands a chance to set it up when he wants.

For the loci, the lesser one (2+ poison on a 6+ roll to hit) is somewhat appealing, but pales into insignificance against the feel no pain greater locus.  The exalted locus is okay (suffering an additional hit on a 6+ to hit), but the greater reward is still much more of a buff for the unit in my opinion.

For survivability, the palanquin ranks up there as a great way to take a herald up to four wounds.  But I find myself wondering if this is strictly needed.  Sure: 4 wounds at T5 (presumably with FNP) is awesome.  But can still be instant killed.  I think I'd somewhat prefer to have a cheaper herald hidden in a big mob (although yes: I realize that he could still be sniped).

And the psychic powers are strong here as well.  Biomancy inparticular is strong in combination with Nurgle.  Added to that is probably the best psychic power in the book: plague wind (at least in terms of pre-close combat assault!).  Plague wind (a large template poisoned attack) is also pretty good should it be rolled.  Hence overall, having a psyker herald is sorely tempting.

Here are a few builds to consider.

Herald of Nurgle, Greater Locus of Fecundity (70 points)
This should be everyone's baseline herald of Nurgle.  He grants his unit feel no pain - enough said.

Herald of Nurgle, Greater Locus of Fecundity, Plague Flail, Level 1 psyker (105 points)
The plague flail adds an extra dimension to the herald, whilst the psyker ability allows a strong assault orientated power to be selected from Nurgle's own domain.

Herald of Nurgle, Greater Locus of Fecundity, Level 2 psyker (120 points)
A more buffed up psyker who is relying on these abilities in place of a plague flail.  Probably much more effective to be honest.  But the price is getting up there as well.  This flavour is going to be seen frequently at higher points games.

Herald of Nurgle, Level 2 psyker (95 points)
Replacing the feel no pain for a little biomancy.  Not a bad exchange perhaps?

Herald of Nurgle, Greater Locus of Fecundity, Level 2 psyker, Palanquin of Nurgle (160 points)
An expensive distraction. Deep strike in the back lines and watch as the enemy tries to take it down.  Hope that they don't have S10 weapons.

Chaos Daemons Review: Epidemius

Oh woe is Epidemius.  For his army wide multiplication rule from the previous edition has been replaced by a radius of effect.  To be fair, this had to happen, much in the same way that psychic hoods in space marines had to get a radius of effect.  What is irking though, is that Epidemius' ability to pump up his allies no longer extends to anything with the Mark of Nurgle.  Rather, it is now only daemons of Nurgle with 6" that benefit from the Tally of Pestilence.  Still, at least all unsaved wounds anywhere on the board by Nurgle daemons still count toward the tally -- it could have been worse.

The Tally itself sees a re-jig.  The first boon is +1S, followed by a toughness increase (to take plaguebearers back to what they were in the last codex - lol!) and then poison and feel no pain (at advanced rolls).  But the numbers needed for each have gone up too.  And there's no power sword equivalence any longer.

In terms of other equipment, he carries a standard plaguesword and has a lesser locus of virulence.  This rule (if playing for Tally increases) will rapidly become useless thanks to the poisoned attacks granted by the Tally.  I personally would have liked to have seen at least the greater locus for Epidemius.  But, of course, this could be purchased through an additional herald and added in to the unit for good measure.

The other good thing about Epidemius is the fact he has 4 wounds.  But hold on, his toughness is only 5.  So he can still be instant killed until the Tally gets above 14.  Better get the runs on the board quickly!

In terms of what to run him with, I'd take him with a complementary herald of Nurgle, both of which are buried inside either a large mob of plaguebearers the deepstrike the front lines, or within a large swarm of Nurglings - for laughs (but could be very deadly in due course!).  Beasts and plague drones have a different movement rate, so don't pair Epidemius with them.  Adding in a Great Unclean One seems like overkill (but I can imagine such a "plague star" unit hitting the board).

To be honest, at his points value, he's actually reasonable quality, but only take him in (near) pure Nurgle daemon armies.  He gets wasted (in terms of fulfilling his potential) doing otherwise.

Wargames Gallery: Iconic Clash

An iconic scene of Tzeentch vs Nurgle: the Thousand Sons take on a squad of plaguemarines to contest an objective nearby. Backed up by chaos terminators, the traitors attempt to overwhelm the daemon forces.

Plague Zombie

What do you get if you mix plastic bits from Cadians, Plaguebearers and warhammer fantasy Zombies, with a touch of greenstuff?  Well, the title of this post is kind of a give-away really, isn't it?  Yes, its a Plague Zombie.  And the first conversion of many that I'm hoping to accomplish.

Creating plague zombies is pretty easy to achieve for even the casual miniature convertor.  The bits are straight forward to go together and the best part is that even if it doesn't look quite right (or indeed: physically plausible), then you can get away with it: arms and legs at odd angles and crooked necks are all part and parcel of being a plague zombie, so roll with it!  I'm dredging the bits box for a few other finds to see what else I can incorporate.  I was thinking that some fantasy ghouls might be a nice touch, but also Catachans, the old Chaos Mutation sprue, and even an odd Orky arm or armour might not go too much amiss to be honest. Heck, why should humans have all the fun: I'm sure Grandpa Nurgle would be only too happy to count Ork plague zombies amongst his flock.

This particular chap features the legs and chainsword arm of a Cadian sergeant, coupled with a zombie torso and right arm (notice the grenades being carried in the zombie arm as well), a zombie head inside a cracked Cadian helmet, a utility belt at the rear (just above the buttocks) and a cute nurgling tugging at the zombie's innards to pull him along in the right direction a bit faster!  I like the dynamism of this conversion, the humour of the nurgling, coupled with the menace of the chainsword and the un-realized potential of the grenades: does the zombie have enough brains left to pull the pins on them?  Or will the nurgling do the job itself eventually?

Wargames Gallery: Demise of the Wolf

Calling upon the Warp for your powers won't help you now, Son of Russ.

Plastic Plaguebearer Conversion: Three Arms

The first of (perhaps) a number of plaguebearer conversions from me today.  This fellow features a mighty third arm ... which, belonging to a plaguebearer, is being dragged behind him, toting a death head in a gangly manner.

The conversion is simple enough: the plaguebearer sprue contains excess arms (even more if one makes up the musician and standard bearer options), hence there will usually be some spare for this kind of work.  The gangly dangling-behind arm feels like a good fit for a third arm, as the shoulders almost butt up against each other without having to use any greenstuff.  That said, it can be seen in the picture that instead of using greenstuff, I have used a little bit of excess plastic (that I snipped off the sprue) to fill in a small gap where the top of the two shoulders don't quite meet snugly enough.  Since this model is a plaguebearer, being fine and finessed about these things is pointless: having an extra lumpy bit at the top of the shoulders only adds to the decaying feeling of the sculpt and conversion!

Plastic Plaguebearer Unboxing and Sprues

I think it was inevitable that I got hold of some of the new plastic plaguebearers given my previous excitement.  When I opened the box, I must say the even I was impressed with the new sprues (imaged below).  

Two things struck me: (a) the level of detail that the designers have been able to sculpt in to the miniatures that I think is superior to previous incarnations of plaguebeareres; (b) the sheer number of components that the production process has managed to squeeze on to the sprue - long gone are the days of large gaps between components.  That said, I think these sprues have some advantages over others: the added nurglings and maggots really do justice to the compactness of the sprue.  Compared to tabards (etc.) that appear on marine sprues, I think these will see more usage (although I am biased, of course).

I think my only complaint sculpt-wise is that I preferred the musician being a bell ringer, rather than an odd woodwind thing.  But that's not a serious complaint -- I still think it looks cool!  Paint-wise, I think that the recommended paints on the back of the box are an odd choice (i.e. no Athonian shade?!). anyway, time for some glueing...

Plastic Plaguebearers

Did I read the release schedule and the prices right?  Did they truly include plastic plaguebearers and a whole slew of other plastic daemons like chariots, flamers, screamers and a resin blue scribes?  I feeling a little overcome!  After all these years we're finally getting plastic plaguebearers! 

If it were possible, I think my old Realms of Chaos: Lost and the Damned book would weep with joy! 

(normal service will resume shortly...)

Tactica: Castling (and Epidemius)

With the addition of allies and the ability to purchase a fortification, certain tactical options now present themselves that weren't always available in 5th edition.  

For example, if you have an important unit in the game that you need to keep alive, "Castling" is now a viable option.  There are a number of units such as these: Eldar Farseer with runes of warding for psychic defence, and Epidemius for a buff to all Nurgle units.  These guys don't really want to see the front line of combat if they can help it -- particularly if they're simply an allies choice in a force composed of other primary elements who ARE there to get to the front lines.  

So, here's the idea.  As well as your valuable allies that provide you with nifty bonuses, you're going to need somewhere for them to skulk away and hide in.  What better than a bastion?  With AV=14 at a third of the cost of a land raider, why not?  The bastion will take a bit of pounding to get at, and it is probably not going to be target number one on your enemies' hit lists.  Or at least, that's the theory.

Let's have a look at Epidemius.  To Castle Epidemius is relatively simple. Because he is going to be deep-striking through daemonic assault on to the battlefield, all that we need to do is have an icon inside the bastion at set-up.  When Epidemius arrives (hopefully on turn 1!), he will deep-strike without scatter to the ground level of the bastion, and within 2 inches of the front door (for the rules for embarkation to work).  In the movement phase, disembark the marines (or whoever it was with the icon), or perhaps move them up to the battlements section, and then in the shooting phase, run Epidemius in to the building.  Castling move complete!  

You now have Epidemius and chums safely tucked away and are ready to take on the rest of the battlefield!

Power Weapons and FNP for 6th

I must admit that I'm a little torn about the 6th edition rules for power weapons and Feel No Pain (FNP).  Although I've not yet got the new rules (and hence going by the rumours), it seems like power weapons are now AP3.  This gives terminators a big buff, but on the other hand makes units like bloodletters and bloodcrushers a touch worse off.

On the other hand, feel no pain moving from 4+ to 5+ means that my plague marines are suddenly a lot weaker.  No longer do they have an equivalent 2+ save -- it's a 2.33+ save equivalent.  This makes me sad as small arms fire is going to bring them down more frequently.  It feels like this change has been brought in to specifically tackle other armies (Blood Angels?).  I hope that the new chaos and daemons codex makes plaguebearers and marines back to 4+ FNP -- their points value is now over costed.

On the other hand, they now have a FNP save against power weapons which they never had before!  But then again, only a small subsample of opposing units have access to those weapons by the bucketful.  So its not going to particularly balance the move to 5+ FNP I think.  Maybe I'm wrong.  Either way, it'll be good to finally get hold of the new rules when they come out and play a few games through.  There's a number of game changers in there (allies, fortifications, etc.) that go above and beyond these considerations and we'll all be re-thinking our army lists as a result!

Open Backs ... on Plaguebearers

Although daemons of Nurgle are mostly straight forward to paint (green hues, sores, pustules, drybrushing, highlighting, and so forth), one aspect that I regularly wrestle with painting is the open backs on Nurgle daemons.  Many of the modern Nurgle daemon range sports open backs where the spine is visible from beneath the skin (what could be more chaotic, right?). 

I think the aspect that I most have trouble with is the colour tones.  I want to reach for the bleached bone and get going on the bone bits that are protruding, and then accentuate them with gore.  For the most part, this is not a bad approach and it produces good results I think, but it's not quite to the same standard that I managed with my (long-time to paint) highlighted plaguebearer.  I think that some of the reason here is to do with the highlighting of the surrounding regions: perhaps more needs to be made of the skin flaps around the open back area.  Rather than using gore tones or highlighted skin colours, I'm tempted to just go for dimly highlighted necrotized fleshy areas.  Most of the highlighting on this chap is probably too high toned.  Although the result looks grand on the tabletop amongst a pack of plaguebearers, there's certainly more that could be done.

If anyone has any tips about painting up open flesh areas in a Nurgle-esque kind of way, then I'd like to hear from you.  Particularly if you've avoided green tones!  What works for you?  A gradual dull fade of the flesh colour (i.e. dark highlights), or something else.

Wargames Gallery: Daemons Pincer Dark Angels Scout

After a lethal volley from horrors of Tzeentch, the lone remaining Dark Angels scout looks the objective-holding plaguebearers in the eye(s) with grim determination.  Too late he hears the playful laughter of the hand-maidens of Slaanesh race up behind him in a pincer movement.

Shambling Plaguebearer of Nurgle

This is a plaguebearer sculpt that I fondly refer to as the Shambler Model.  This particular chap has been base-coated with a semi-random blend of leathery yellows, browns and subtle greens.  Several washes of brown later, and the miniature's diseased flesh is brought together in to an unwholesome entity.  

As with many plaguebearers, this model has a variety of sores and pus-filled spots scattered over its body.  These have been variously picked out with reds, pinks, yellows and cream colours.  

Meanwhile, the chains and metallic portions are painted in a rusty bronze colour whilst the plaguesword is done in my odd blue colour to give him a sense of unity with the rest of the Nurgle outfit that I field.

The base has a mixture of fine black grit (dry-brushed in grey), with flock, scatter, and cast-off metal bits and hirst arts odds-and-ends.

Plaguebearer Orchestra

Whilst I can only imagine that plaguebearers are not the most musically gifted virtuoso creatures of the Warp, a pair of them ringing dread bells together must signal woe to all who hear them.

The front plaguebearer is the new one of the pair (the rear-ward, right hand one can be seen in full here).  For the new, front one, I decided to have a bit of a go at painting some blue slime, to match up with the blue plagueswords that I've painted a number of my other plaguebearers with.  This isn't my first attempt at the blue slime (as can be seen from my standard bearer).  Here, I've base coated the slimy portions with space wolf grey and followed up by using a traditional blue ink -- dark, vibrant and somewhat glossy.  The inking was followed up by selective highlighting in pastel blues to create the final slime-ridden vision. 

The plaguebearer itself was base coated in dwarf flesh and graveyard earth brown blends and then liberally washed with devlan mud.  Highlighting was picked out in muddy colours that progress up to an almost rust-like orange tone (essentially dheneb stone mixed with blazing orange).  As well as picking out the sores and poxes in lighter colours, the cyclopean orb was painted in slightly off-white and the tongue picked out in a strangely healthy-ish colour.