Blood Pact Army

I got my entire Blood Pact army out to see how it was going. Not too bad, it seems. I need to do some more infantry and fast attck but that should about do it.

Illuminati Renegade Predator

Sometimes creating an army is just a question of filling in the blanks to make it a viable force in game turns. My Illuminati need a tank killer so I have made a predator. I don't have much enthusiasm for the task but - it had to be done.

I will probably add some decals to my Illuminati vehicles when I have finished them.

OK, back to the war.

:)

Daemon Prince

I have finished my plastic Daemon Prince model. The kit is great and goes together easily despite having a large variety of interchangable bits. I assembled and painted it so it could lead my Illuminati Chaos Space Marines as well as a 40K daemon army.

The purple areas were base painted in Citadel Liche Purple and highlighted with a Liche Purple-Elf Flesh mix. They were edged in Cote d'Arms Shocking Pink. The metal was base-coated in Citadel Tin Bitz and highlighted with layers of dilute Shining Gold. Edging was done with a Citadel Shining Gold/Gold mix. The model was washed with a Liche Purple/Leviathan Purple mix.

The base was base-coated in Citadel Scorched Earth and highlighted in Revell Terracota/Ferrari Red mix. The liquid flow (it's blood, I tell you)was made by dripping a variety of purple, yellow and red paints into Citadel green wash. It was coated in a generous cover of Citadel gloss varnish to give a wet look.

I used the painting guide in the current White Dwarf but simplified it. My experience is that a mundane painter, such as myself, ends up with a bloody mess if they try to paint with the detail of a professional commercial artist, so I simplify. I did got to town on the face, using a Revell Ferrari Red/Citadel red wash mix.

Illuminati

I bought a series of 'standard' chaos marine some years ago and gave them a quickie paint job, which I have finally got round to upgrading. These are supposed to be 'recent' renegades, rather than the old Horus Heresy Traitors.

I like to concoct a back story for my armies as it helps me 'design' them; yes, I know, I am a very sad wargame geek but there are worse fates in life.

The back story of the Illuminati Warband is that they were once the Sundancers Chapter. Their origin was always a mystery, which caused them to be distrusted by the Inquisition. Matters came to a head on Sphactia.

The Sundancers specialise in commando and deep-strike tactics so a Sundancer battle group under Captain Menro was tasked with capturing a strategic bridge across an acid river before traitor forces could blow it, so that Imperial forces could break open the enemy’s defensive line in a surprise assault. They were promised that an Imperial Guard Armoured Spearhead would reach them in two days.

In the event, they held out for nine days against increasingly desperate traitor attacks but no loyal reinforcements arrived. After suffering heavy losses the Sundancers were forced to withdraw. Captain Menro stormed into the Imperial Guard command bunker to discover that there never was a plan for a relief force. The Sundancer attack was a feint to throw the traitors of balance while the real assault went in elsewhere. Lord Marshall Krakow added insult to injury when he informed Captain Menro that they were not informed of their role in advance as their loyalty was suspect.

Menro and his elite Terminator Squad stormed through the Imperial HQ complex killing everyone in their path. He surrendered himself to the justice of the Sundancer Chapter at their stronghold of Icarus and was acquitted because of the grievous insult offered to the Chapter by Lord Krakow.

As far as the Sundancers were concerned the matter was closed, so it cam as a complete shock when the Blood Angels led an Inquisition strike team in a suprise raid against Icarus. Only a few hundred Sundancers managed to escape off planet, Menro among them. He swore revenge against the Imperium, and the Blood Angels in particular.
The Sundancers broke into renegade warbands, one led by Captain Menro, now Warlord Menro, who carries the skull of Lord Krakow on the front of his helmet and sports a Blood Angel Leader’s helmet on his trophy rack. On his back is the Blood Angel cloak he took as a trophy, the rips from Sundancer bolter fire untended.

Menro’s Warband is known as the Illuminati as they claim illumination about the true nature of the Imperium and the galaxy.




Below are some of the possessed marines serving in the warband. The bases are ‘infected’ resin models from Scribor (with a couple of additions made from ‘green stuff’).



Launching himself into the air in berserk rage.


Blind Pew and his mate, who is usually in two minds.


Ugly so in so.


Still thinks he's a dancer.


'Is this a dagger that I see before me?' - No, it's my left arm.

The Lost and the Damned

I keep a copy of the old Eye of Terror Codex partly for the pretty pics but mostly for the Lost and Damned Codex. This provides a codex for an Imperial population in rebellion during the 13th Black Crusade. The Codex is way out of date and needs some modification for 5th Edition 40K but essentially this just involves using modern equivalents from the current Chaos Marines and Imperial Guard Codices for the earlier units from the old codices.

My Sunday afternoon opponent, Shaun kindly agreed to play me in a 1500 point match.

SCENARIO: During the 13th Black Crusade the Imperial City of Borstal falls under the control of the Arch Heretic, John the Diseased. The inscrutable Eldar Warlock, Shaun, mounts a raid on Borstal to recover 'something'. John the Diseased, advised by two chaos Marines from the Warriors of Mayhem Warband, moves to block Shaun's advance at the Boulevard Imperial.

First my army.


I had two HQ Slots. The first is an Arch Heretic = an Aspiring Sorcerer from the Chaos Codex; he is the guy in the middle with the bad skin.. The second slot was filled by two Chaos Aspiring Champions.


My Elite Choice was a squad of Derek the Damned's big Muty gang upgraded with Chaos firearms.


My first Troop Slot was filled by Leonard's Leaping Muties (cavalry) summoned from the sewers where they had been hunting alligators.


My second was a traitor squad of Faceless Ones, so called because they have hidden their face from the false Emperor.


And my final Troop Choice was a Sniffle of Plague Zombies - so called Imperial Loyalists who had been graced by Grandfather Nurgle.


The Fast Attack choice is filled by Chaos Hounds: Note these are not Khorne Hounds but simply beasts (cavalry)



Finally, I had three Heavy Support Slots filled by Leman Russ battle tanks.

And so to battle.





The tree-huggers got first turn and launched a double envelopment attack. They pinned my cavalry and stunned my tank on my right flank and moved melta armed infantry onto my left.


I shot up his HQs in the centre, killing a few and pinning them. My Leapy Muties got in a long range charge on the melta-eldar and consilidated onto the firepoint behind. The zombies shambled around getting nowhere.


On the right flank I destroyed the Wave Serpent: Unfortunately, the tree-huggars inside all got out OK. Swooping Hawks wiped out my Chaos Hounds, the survivors fleeing from the field.

However, the battle turned on my left flank. The leapy muties wiped out the building garrison and consilidated towards the Eldar HQ building in the centre, supported by the big muties. My tanks blasted the Eldar in the centre, pinning the leaders and destroying a unit armed with heavy anti-tank weapons.

The tree-huggars continued their attack on my right flank. the swooping hawks attacked the zombies, who wiped them out. The winged hero failed to destroy my tank, which was a sitting duck, when his grenade failed to go off (those damned 1 die rolls).

We treated the grenade failure as an omen and the Eldar called it a day, fading away.

Another victory for the forces of evil (cue Vincent Price to laugh).

The Other Blood Pact Tank

This is the other Blood Pact tank in the two-tank squadron. It plays as a basic Leman Russ, with the addition of a chaos missile launcher (assuming opponent isn't anal).

Blood Pact Renegade Tanks

I bought a couple of 'renegaded' Leman Russ tanks second hand. They had fought on many a battlefield and had a fair degree of battle damage. I have tarted one of them up a bit.

Zhufor Khorne Lord

As the prous owner of IG8, I decided to try to finish up my armies from IG 5-7.

This is the Zhufor Khorne Lord figure from Forge World mounted on a bought in resin base. I left his cloak off because it just did not look right.

It is painted in Humbrol Railway Acrylic with layers of Revell Fiery Red on top. I am no Golden Daemon painter by any means but I do think I am starting to get the hang of this layering lark. The brass is painted with Citadel Black/ TinBitz/ Shining Gold and the trophy skeleton's coat from the dark and medium bluw from the Citadel Foundation range.

More pics below.

Scribor Nurgle SM Lord

Oh WOW, look at this new mini from Scribor.
I just have to have one of these for my Nurgle Vraks army.
OK, it's not cheap at 19Euros and my wife may have to go without food for a bit but I am sure she will understand.

Nurgle Renegades - Muties With Guns

A bunch of Nurgle renegade muties based on Warhammer Ghouls, or somesuch. The guns are cut down 28ml AK47 rifles. Bases are bought in resin models.

I used a mixture of layered painting, Army Painter dip, and Citadel Satin Varnish. The aim was to do a fairly fast job.

Vraks - 3 The Showdown

I played three games with my friend Andy. He used a Dark Angel daughter chapter. The Purple Peril - well that's my name for them. I used the renegade codex in the Vrak 1 book for the first battle and lost. I won with a Vrak second book renegade army - but by a whisker. This codex is Khorne orientated. So for a final decider, I used the Nurgle-based army from the Vraks 3 book.

The above picture shows the set up. I positioned my tanks on the relatively open left flank supported by muties as cannon fodder. My commander, witch and elite plague marines are in the centre and I have light forces, infantry in a half track and scout sentinels on the right where the ground is cluttered by grave monuments.

I am attacking towards the tropical fish.

Objective: Annihalation.



Andy checks the rule book and is very firm that the Tardis cannot be given to the plague marines as wargear. The tanks cut down Andy's marines like wheat. The muties get all the way to the ruins before running away.


On the right flank my sentinels are massacred and the half track selects reverse gear.


On the left, Andys terminators take out one of the tanks in close combat. I rake them with fire but cannot make a kill. The muties regroup - no sssssssuger Sherlock. My plague marines stagger into hand to hand combat. The witch rolls a lucky SIX for his random power. He starts a plague in any enemy unit within twelve inches, i.e. most of Andy's army. He keeps on making his rolls avery turn and starting multiple plagues. On a small table with 1500 point armies this power is awesome. He kills two terminators and a dozen marines. This made the difference and the Space Marines were forced to withdraw.

The renegades spent the game hiding in their half track behind a tower. Nurle gifted them with giant boils - I will leave you to guess where.

Great game, I was lucky to win. Basically one die roll won the game. Commiserations to Andy who fought well. We had a great laugh, which is the point of the exercise in my view.