Return To 40k

Every time Games Workshop produce another incarnation of Warhammer 40k I feel obliged to take a look, given that it's played such a massive part in my hobby life over the years.

8th Edition has been slightly different in that GW have highlighted some of the the key changes in the build up to release. I've been intrigued by the simplification of the Warhammer world with AoS (without ever actually playing it) and what I was hearing was that 40k was going to follow suit. This gave me some hope that things may actually change to the point where I could welcome 40k back into my life. It's been a long time time since the glory days of 4th Edition and I've had no interested in the versions since, especially as things escalated towards apocalypse type battle with flyers and war machines.

Then GW played their ace card – Death Guard marines in the starter box – ah, dammit, this was not going to be a cheap return to 40k. As has become the norm in recent years, said models were of the highest quality (even if there are still a few dodgy poses). That was it then, I would have to shell out close to £100 to see what it was all about – even though the rules are technically free (how does that work?!).

I managed to miss the postman on release day and have to wait 24hrs to go to the sorting office and collect my parcel. I was excited, but with a certain level of reservation – disappointment for so many years will do that to you! Upon opening the box I have to say it is a very smart product. The only company I have come across that presents it's products as beautifully as this is Apple (they're in a league of their own, but this was pretty good). Taking the time and effort to present products to this degree makes the unboxing experience so much more enjoyable. It shows that the company cares what the customer thinks.

The contents was pretty solid. The fact that you got the hardback edition of the full rulebook, instead of an A5 lite version, was a good decision. That helped make it feel like a quality purchase and good value for money. The models are as stunning as ever and, again, helps to give a feeling of quality and value. The Primaris marines went on Ebay and sold in less than an hour, so I've made most of the cost back already.

After building my first few Death Guard models I decided to crack out my current army and rebase them on the larger 32mm bases. However, when old and new Death Guard stood side by side I noticed there was a significant scale discrepancy. Not unlike a Primaris marine next to a standard one, the size difference was quite noticeable and looked quite odd – disaster!

Now I'm left with a bit of a quandary. Do I relegate my old Death Guard to be standard nurgle marines and the new plastics are Death Guard? Do I sell my old DG marines and start a new army? Do I stick to the old ones and not bother with the new ones?

To complicate things more, my two favourite conversions of all time – my Nurgle Heldrake and Nurgle Forgefiend – can't be taken in a pure Death Guard army!! Neither can my Nurgle Biker!

So for now I'm simply putting together the models. Just like last time I built some Nurgle on the back of a 40k box set (above), I jumped straight in with a conversion. More on that another time.

Nurgle Biker Champion – part 4

Nurgle Biker Champion – part 3

Having sat on the painting desk for the last two months I thought I would use the Nurgle Biker conversion as the next test subject in my airbrush experiments.

I started by giving the whole model a coat of Burnt Umber. I did a couple of passes to make sure the colour was solid but did leave the black undercoat in the deepest of recesses.

This was followed by a pass or two of English Uniform, which you will remember has become my base colour of choice for the Nurgly marines. I sprayed from quite a wide angle so that the hidden areas would remain largely Burnt Umber.

A pass of Bleached Bone across the most exposed areas was followed by some white over just the highest areas. This procedure is rather similar to the zenithal highlight technique I watched on a Miniature Mentor video by Thomas David.

Once I was quite happy with things I moved to the brushes. Just like the Bonejacks from my previous trial, the airbrushing left things very highlight heavy… on purpose. I gave the model a wash of watered down English Uniform to unite the colours in general. Once this was dry I gave the entire model a wash of GW Agrax Earthshade (dark brown).

I had to leave that some time to dry so decided to go back at a later date. Using a similar technique as the Bonejacks, I will go back in with a brush and darken the shadows across the model. Once I'm happy with that I can go to town on highlights and details.

To be continued…

Nurgle Biker Champion – part 3

Nurgle Biker Champion - part 2

My Nurgle Biker Champion is virtually complete now as far as the building goes. I will no doubt nip and tuck some details before basing him and undercoating. He's a little more converted than I was originally going for but as the champion he has to stand out so I'll get away with it. The challenge will be to get the rest of the squad looking coherent without being as heavily modified.

The main addition was the fungal vents at the back of the bike. I had to cut away the back of the seat in order to fit the rider on, so needed some sort of visual replacement. I was going to convert the exhausts into fungal vents but they're a bit small to begin with and I didn't want to open the 'can of worms' that is major converting surgery, so this is the compromise.

I also added spikes to the wheels with bits of cocktail sticks, trimmed right back. I intend to paint them up as bone rather than metal so that it feels more organic.

I didn't think that Nurgle biker needed any kind of display or readout to ride this thing so the screen had to go. I tried a new technique I recently discovered – using a comb to roll out greenstuff, creating this piping. The impression is a bit weak on this one but the theory works well.

Elsewhere on the bike I added growth and mutations to disguise the original machine a little. I still need to drill out the exhausts and such but he is pretty much complete. On to the paint!

To be continued…

Nurgle Biker Champion – part 2

Nurgle Biker Champion - part 1



Here's the first pictures of my Nurgle biker champ after the drill has had its wicked way and the first round of greenstuff has gone down. Still more to do, plus maybe some added extras, but you get the idea of where we're going with it.

Already things are looking much improved and nurgly. The wheels don't look particularly brutal so I wanted to go to town on them. They will eventually have spikes in them, but I liked the idea of it looking like they shouldn't work properly due to being so overgrown with mutation. Getting there.

The rider himself is pretty finished with the greenstuff, the focus now being any large areas of the bike, such as the fuel tank. The drill battered it with pock marks and now I'm working back in with growths.

Very happy so far. I don't want to go too overboard with the greenstuff but, as the unit champion, this model needs to stand out a little. The back half of the bike remains relatively untouched at present, but I have plans for that!

So, another post about the greenstuff stage then on to some painting hopefully.


To be continued…

Nurgle Biker Champion – part 1

I spoke last week about a desire to build some Nurgle bikers. I need something fast in my army and at Toughness 6 (!!) these guys will do quite nicely thank you. Whilst I see a lot of people building bikers with meltas and power fists to go tank hunting I think I'll go down a different route.

Nurgle bikers are not the same as Plague Marines on bikes, they're simply normal Chaos Marine bikers with an extra point of toughness. This means that they don't get a bonus 'feel no pain' save, no blight grenades and they're initiative 4 not 3. The implication of this last point is that they will be going (mostly) simultaneously in combat with Imperial marines (looking at you Dark Angels!). Why then would I hamstring myself back to initiative 1 with a power fist or power axe when I'm likely to be outnumbered 2 or 3 to 1 and mostly likely be dead before I get to hit? Toughness 6 is great, but hits will land if rolled in sufficient numbers – white dice or not!

I want this bike unit to be a distraction to go out early in the game and take the heat of other units, maybe even assault a devastator or command unit to slow them down or hamper their effectiveness. With that in mind I have decided to go with a power weapon/flamer combo.

As you can see with my Champion model here, I gave the bike extended front forks and have added my own custom front mud guard. It's all looking a bit light weight at the moment but this is the pre-greenstuff stage, so all types of boils, rot and growths will emerge soon enough. I may even add some barbed wire and chain that I have kicking around (somewhere).

For the Champion himself, I've used a leftover Forgeworld body and shoulder pads and added standard marine legs instead of the ridiculous ones that come with the bike. I also managed to find a spare Ogre weapon, which looks far more nasty than a standard power weapon and, at a push, could represent a power axe when needed.

So at the moment the bike is looking ok but, as we've seen with my previous Nurgle projects, the greenstuff stage will change things completely. I have also added some pennies into the base to weigh it down and already it has added gravitas to the model when you hold it in your hand. Just how a model should be.

To be continued…

40k Nurgle: Blue or Green?

This weekend I got some painting time. I cracked on with my plague marine unit, getting lots of details finished. All that needs doing now, in addition to bases, is weapons and eyes.

The problem is do I go blue or green?

I quickly threw some paint on my two plasma gunners to get an instant reaction… but I can't make up my mind!

So, I've decided to open it up to the viewing public – yes, you get to choose what colour the eyes and plasma coils on my Plague Marine army get to be!

Here is the first model showcasing the BLUE. As you can see it has not been painted to a finished standard, I've just slapped on some base colour and got a couple of highlights in. You should be able to get a feel for it from that.

This is the model showing the GREEN plasma option. Similarly he is not nearly finished but the colour helps indicate what the final look will be.

There is an alternative.

How about green eyes and blue plasma, or blue eyes and green plasma? Thanks to the wonders of Photoshop we can get a sneak peek at how that might look…

And that's it. Take a look to the column on the right hand side of the blog – you should find a poll at the top where you can vote blue or green and have an input into my army. Maybe you'd rather see a different colour entirely!

Plague Marine Progress

I promised you folks some pretty pictures after a week of musings and I'm kind of delivering today. Progress of my Plague Marines has been slow thanks to real life, but here we are – not sure you could call these guys pretty though.

It was during my prep for our latest game that I discovered the lack of finished grunts in this army. I was packing my figures in my case (that I would go on to leave at home on the day) when I noticed how few of my Plague Marines had more than an initial coat of pain on them. Having just spent weeks converting and painting my Nurgle Heldrake and Forgefiend I thought I should stop with the big models and go back to the essentials.

It's funny now that I see these guys photographed up close and personal the paint job looks quite messy when, on the table top, they look rather crisp and defined.

I used my Vallejo English Uniform as the main colour for the armour, accompanied by lashing of GW brown wash (whatever it's called these days) and adding white to the base colour for highlights. The rusted metallic parts were basecoated in GW Scorched Brown with PP Oily Steel and GW Bestial Brown dabbed over it here and there. A final coat of brown wash seals everything in nicely.

Obviously the weapons need looking at but I want to spend some time on them, rather than being an afterthought.

The burning question however is, what colour to do plasma coils and eyes?… green or blue?

Typhus' Musings: Plague Marine Army Lists

For those of you who like to see pretty pictures of painted miniatures…they are coming. Paint has been applied to models recently after a couple of weeks break, so stay tuned. In the meantime more gaming thoughts.

I've spent the last week musing over the Plague Marine performances against Bull's Dark Angels, scrutinising each unit in an attempt to devise something totally effective and completely evil. For the purposes of this particular musing I will be using 2000 points as a game size.


LIST 1

Here's the list I used in the last game:


Typhus

Plague Marines x8, plasma guns x2, power axe x1

Plague Zombies x35

Heldrake

Forgefiend

Defiler


Land Raider, extra armour, dozer blade, dirge caster

(Iron Warrior Allies)

Sorcerer, Psych Lvl 3

Chaos Marines x7, plasma gun x1, power axe x1, Rhino, extra armour, dozer blade

Chaos Marines x7, plasma gun x1, power axe x1, Rhino, extra armour, dozer blade

Predator, Lascannon sponsons, extra armour

As you can see I've drifted away from an all-Nurgle list in order to cram more models (and Heavy Support) in there. The Iron Warrior allies also allow some cheaper troops in there to support the Plague Marines and zombies. On the day it worked pretty well – an IW unit rolled up and pinched the relic objective while the big units were thrown into Bull's face to deal with.

LIST 2

Based upon my findings over the last week I composed this next list as an opener. It pretty much takes my favourite units and duplicates them. There's not a lot of heavy weapons that I can bring to bear but certainly a lot of models:

Typhus

Terminators x7
Mark of Nurgle, Veterans of the long war, heavy flamer, twin lightning claws x1, gift of mutation

Plague Marines x7
Veterans of the long war, plasma gun x2, power axe x1, gift of mutation
Rhino, dozer blade, dirge caster

Plague Marines x7
Veterans of the long war, plasma gun x2, power axe x1, gift of mutation
Rhino, dozer blade, dirge caster

Plague Zombies x35

Plague Zombies x35

Heldrake

Heldrake

Forgefiend

Forgefiend

I love this list. It may never win a tournament but it's very fluffy with all those units of 7 (or multiples of) and has 96 models in it. Between the zombies and the Heldrakes chaos will ensue, maybe even enough for the Plague marines to do their thing. By giving everyone the Veterans bonus they have Hatred towards Space Marines which will no doubt help. It is troop heavy and light on the heavy weapons, so cracking vehicles may be an issue but I'd be happy taking this to a tournament for a laugh.

LIST 3

This list picks up on some of the things I've been talking about but stays very much Nurgle:

Chaos Lord
Mark of nurgle, sigil of corruption, gift of mutation, power weapon, veterans of the long war

Daemon Prince
Mark of nurgle, wings, armour, brand of skalathrax

Hellbrute, twin-linked lascannon, missile launcher

Hellbrute, reaper autocannon

Hellbrute, reaper autocannon

Plague Marines x7
Plasma gun x2, power axe x1, Rhino, havoc launcher

Plague Marines x7
Plasma gun x2, power axe x1, Rhino, havoc launcher

Plague Marines x7
Plasma gun x2, power axe x1, Rhino, havoc launcher

Heldrake

Forgefiend

Predator, twin-linked lascannon, lascannon sponsons

The Daemon Prince with his wings and Brand becomes a mini Heldrake and the two can support each other (until they get shot down). The Hellbrutes could be thrown out there with the Forgefiend to create multiple high-threat targets so that the solid core of Plague Marines can get on with things.

I don't think any one of these lists is the finished article but I do like elements of each. Going all-out with one particular chaos god is always going to be expensive pointswise, but things like chaos cultists and the plague zombies can help there. Of course we have the imminent new Daemons codex which will make a great addition to the Chaos Marine book, so maybe I should hang on for a little while before committing to a list just yet.

Typhus' Musings: Elites, Fast & Heavy

I've looked at Daemonic Vehicles, Troops and HQ choices so far. Time to quickly ponder the rest of the army options, then we'll consider some list building.

I've used Nurgle Terminators on just the one occasion - a minimum unit acting as honour guard to Typhus as he Deep Strikes into the action. They didn't last very long and only managed to inflict the odd casualty in return. They did take the heat off the big man which I guess was the point of their inclusion, so the planned worked. What I need to investigate next is whether a larger unit, or indeed a LARGE unit, could reap significant rewards. Their Mark of Nurgle gives them extra toughness but it's not going to make much difference except against standard attacks and small arms fire.

The old Chaos Dreadnought (sorry, Hellbrute) has become a tad more reliable these days but has been usurped by the shiny new Daemonic Vehicles. Struggling to find a dedicated role it will have the tendency to fall between the cracks, and this is what I have found thus far. Despite only starting at 100 points before upgrades, it doesn't carry enough threat to persuade me not to want to spend the points elsewhere. Certainly my current Nurgle Hellbrute, with his fist and Multimelta isn't doing the job. If I were to replace his long range weapon with another close combat option he might become a cheaper alternative to a Defiler. Alternatively I could replace his Fist with a Missile Launcher, which isn't the best weapon but the only option to turn him into a mobile gun platform. This is the problem, there's always another model available that can do the job better. Still, I'm prepared to try things in order to find the right army list.

Possessed marines seem to have been improved no end. Their stats are slightly better than regular marines but their rolls on the mutated table will now always provide something useful. As a dedicated close combat unit they seem a very good option, the only issues are (a) the escalating cost as you give them upgrades - but hey, their an elite unit - and (b) the Mark of Nurgle is not terribly helpful - they'd be better with the Mark of Slaanesh for improved initiative or Khorne for improved attacks. I still think they're worth a look though.

Chosen marines are the most versatile unit of grunts in the book. You can basicaaly tailor them to,be what you want them to be. As regular readers will know, I used to adore these guys in my old tournament armies. Alas, they can no longer infiltrate as standard. As such they become an expensive option, when compared to regular marines who can also hold objectives. Taking Abaddon would allow them to become Troop choices but the points cost would become quite silly.

The final Elite option available is Mutilators, who are basically close combat Obliterators. These do not appeal at all for their points cost and don't seem terribly popular across the internet either.

I've already discussed the Heldrake which, to be honest is the only Fast Attack unit I've ever used in a Chaos army. I love the idea of bikes, I have lots of them sitting unbuilt in a box. Nurgle bikes are the only ones you want to be taking, with their improved toughness of 6, so I promise we will be seeing them at some point down the line. The only problem here is how many?

Chaos Spawn have never been viable until now. They make an excellent distraction unit and the Mark of Nurgle makes them also toughness 6. I like the idea of these guys, especially running alongside bikes or a biker lord. However, it would involve spending more money which I'm reluctant to do right now. I may try this option with proxy models to see how it fares.

Raptors are a unit that I like the look of, the models at least. I love the idea of Chaos jump pack troops, especially Nurgle jump pack troops. Not sure how effective they would be nowadays and, with the Heldrake being SO good, it seems they could be wasted points. One to consider though, worth trying with proxy models. Warp Talons are their more daemonic cousins, all armed with lightning claws - another unit that sounds great on paper but is just so expensive I can't see them ever being used.

Finally on to Heavy Support. I discussed some of these options in the Daemonic Vehicles review.

Obliterators have always been my main go-to heavy support choice. Despite being nerfed for the second codex in a row they are still a viable choice. Only just though and you need to take the Mark of Nurgle for the extra toughness to make it work. They haven't done so well in my games so far but that has been mainly due to poor positioning by me which has hindered their impact. Expect to see more of them in the future.

Havocs seem to be the internet's heavy unit of choice and it is easy to see why. Their cost has been reduced and so taking a devastator type unit with multiple heavy weapons become a great cheap option. I have to models waiting to be painted so again, expect to see these guys surfacing in a battle report soon.

The Maulerfiend is the Forgefiends close combat cousin. He's the vehicle that the poor old Hellbrute wants to be. I like the idea of them but from what I'm reading on the internet, their impact may be limited as your opponent learns how nasty they can be. Certainly one to consider, but I won't be rushing out to buy a new model just yet.

The trusty Land Raider made its debut performance in my Nurgle army last weekend. It did its job well it has to be said. However, as a gun platform there are much cheaper alternatives so its primary role, if included, must be as a transport for Terminators, who have no reliable alternatives. It's expensive no matter which way you look at it, but it is almost guaranteed to make some impact in a game and is difficult to take down. Expect to see this guy again.

Finally the humble Vindicator tank with its Stength 10 battle cannon. Used so effectively by Bull in the opening games, its potential threat is as powerful as the gun itself. I've not included it yet in my army but it is definitely one to consider. Considering two would be even better! Worth trying out for sure.

And that's it for the musings. I'm going to go away now and compile a few list ideas to try out and ponder over, whilst I'm painting more Plague Marines. You can give me your feedback on those lists when the musings return and we'll try and give Bull a few more things to worry about.

Typhus' Musings: Warlords & HQs

So, I've had some thoughts on Daemonic Vehicles and my options for Troops. It's about time I had a think about the people leading this invasion.

Historically (in tournaments) I've always chosen close combat monsters to lead my armies. Bloodthirster and over-powered Prince tag team in my Bezerker army, counter attacking basic Daemon Prince with my Iron Warriors to protect the guns. I never really did the psychic thing and they all had to hit like a tank or psyche opponents out so they tried to avoid them.

Of course the game has changed now and so I'm trying to break my default thinking process. Needless to say, this hasn't worked much so far.

The main thing I have to consider is that a lot of the new Dark Angel characters have "The Hunted" Warlord Trait which means they get extra points for killing your Chaos Warlord. This puts a hefty price on the head of your leader and more than enough to lose you the game if things are close. This does not encourage you to throw your Warlord into combat against anything other than minions – even then some bad dice could cost you the game. It also discourages you from taking anyone other than a combat monster to lead your men – you need him to survive at all costs. However, the flip side of that is you don't want to sink too many points into a character that you're trying to keep out of trouble, in complete conflict with the reason they are there in the first place.

In our most recent game, Bull berated Typhus for sending minions into challenges instead of stepping up himself. Yet, with Belial hitting on a 2+ regardless of Typhus' extra toughness and rerolling for hatred/preferred enemy it wouldn't take more than a couple of bad dice on my part to gift the Dark Angels with 3 extra points, levelling the playing field completely after all my work grabbing the objective. Never going to happen, haha.

But aside from that, what are my choices for HQ?

Typhus is the main man when it comes to Plague Marines. At 230 points he's one of the most expensive HQ choices available but you do get your money's worth. He's a Toughness 5 Terminator, which is pretty good. He has a "Feel No Pain Save" and Blight Grenades like the PMs – excellent. He is a Level 2 Nurgle Sorcerer, not bad either. His weapon of choice is the 'Manreaper' – a two-handed power scythe which gives a bonus to strength but strikes last. It's also a daemon weapon which means he rolls for d6 extra attacks (taking a wound himself and if rolling a 1).

Let's be honest, he's a bit of a beast and as safe a pair of hands as you're likely to get. He also provides the option of Plague Zombies, which is not available any other way.

In the games played so far he has been a big threat. He made his reputation in the first game and this carried over to last weekend where, as I've mentioned, he didn't really participate except for a psychic power or two to soften up the enemy. His Terminator armour is an issue because he either having to Deep Strike (too random), ride in a Land Raider (too expensive) or traverse the battlefield on foot (too slow). It is this that prevents him from being an auto include in every list because his inclusion will have a points cost elsewhere in your army – either a Land Raider transport or extra Terminators to take shooting hits when arriving from Deep Strike. He is a solid choice though.

The only other HQ that we've seen to any effect is the Sorcerer. On both occasions he has died in challenges (stupid rule – did I say that before?). He is pretty much a normal marine with an improved weapon skill, an extra wound and a force weapon. I have always spent the points to get him up to a level 3 psycher, giving him as many Biomancy options as possible. This particular school of magic is fantastic, buffing the sorcerer and/or his unit or enfeebling the enemy around him. This has been very successful so far and for his relatively cheap cost he's been a good choice for back up HQ. I'd never take him as Warlord again due to his fragile nature.

The only other HQ choice I've taken is an allied Great Unclean One. However, as Bull so gleefully reported, he scattered badly when arriving via Deep Strike and played no part in the game that day.

Options not yet used include a Daemon Prince. There are lots of options here, if I can keep a lid on the points cost, so keep one eye on the blog for developments there. I also have the option of a Nurgle Lord on Bike which gives me an equally warm feeling at the prospect. A Toughness 6, fast combat monster – very nice indeed. However, it's going to take something special to dislodge Typhus from the big chair.

Next time – Elite, Fast and Heavy…

Typhus' Musings: Troops

After touching upon the impact that Daemonic Vehicles have had thus far, today I'm going to contemplate the Troops.

So far, in my games against Bull's Dark Angels, I have only fielded (technically) four different types of troops. The obvious choice for a Nurgle army is Plague Marines and for good reason.

The average Plague Marine is awesome. He's a chaos space marine for starters and comes with all the goodies that this entails. In addition he's tougher than the standard marine and has a proxy-invulnerable "Feel No Pain" save which only S10 weapons will negate – they get this save on top of their armour save so creates a bonus safety net. This means he's not going down easily, unless you picked up the white dice and you're reaping the benefits of the curse (white dice always roll badly for me).

In my opening games of 6th Edition against Bull I have seen the best and the worst of the humble PM. I  witnessed four turns of shooting from an entire 1000 point Dark Angel force virtually shrugged off by a 7-man unit, and saw it's sibling unit drop in one turn of heavy plasma hits. The dice can be fickle for sure.

They also have poisoned knives, so in combat will never need more than a 4+ to wound an opponent. Add that to an extra close combat weapon and they look sweet in combat. Their ability to take two special weapons regardless of unit size makes them pretty sweet in the shooting phase too.

The only drawback is their cost. Throwing seven guys, a couple of plasma guns and a champion with power weapon into an armoured Rhino can get pricey. Want a second unit and your points are disappearing rather quickly.

Despite the alternatives, I can never see myself not including at least one unit of these guys, they are pretty reliable on the field, frighten the enemy… and they look so cool.

Then you have your standard Chaos Space Marine. I've taken the odd unit of unmarked Iron Warriors in my games so far as support for the Plague Marines. You can get a small unit together in a Rhino for a reasonably cheap price, but start upgrading and you're better off taking PM.

The issue here is that Chaos Marines struggle to find a role. They're ok at shooting and ok in combat (better than their Imperial cousins) but you need 10 to take a heavy weapon and can't split the unit into smaller 5-man squads. Because the Chaos Champion has to declare a challenge in combat (stupid rule) you're likely to lose any power weapons quite quickly if facing Initiative 5 characters. What I find them most useful for is this support role I mentioned. They often follow the Plague Marines and jump in to add weight of numbers or weight of fire. Just as the enemy is turning the tide against the Plaguies, another wave of troops arrive to tip the balance back again.

I have never found the desire to make them Nurgle marines as the points cost for T5 seems a waste. They get none of the extra goodies that the PMs do, so better to keep them cheap.

The surprise of the latest Chaos Codex has been Chaos Cultists, or in my case their Plague Zombie variant thanks to Typhus. Having a Fearless horde unit with a "Feel No Pain" save is awesome. They are the ultimate tar pit unit in my experience and can, over time, take down most enemy through weight of numbers. In my first game against Bull a unit of 30+ zombies managed to kill Belial and a 5-man unit of Deathwing Terminators – that's less than 150 points taking out almost 500 points worth of enemy. In the most recent game I didn't position them very well but they managed to draw fire from several Dark Angel units – fire that wasn't targeting my light vehicles. They didn't accomplish very much on that occasion other than a big distraction. Still valuable though.

Their big downfall is their lack of pace. They're "Slow" so can't move more than 6" a turn unless charging into combat. This means that if you position them poorly then you will struggle to recover. They're not that great once in combat, certainly once their numbers are thinned out. However, as a Troop choice they could hold objectives and tie up enemy units, at least until support arrives.

I have also taken Plaguebearers as part of an allied Daemon detachment. I have to say that, despite having a poisoned blade and "Feel No Pain" like the Plague Marines, these guys were pretty awful. I had a unit of 14 attack a 10-man devastator squad and they struggled, needing support from a Helbrute to truly make combat decisive. They're "Slow" too which compounds my problem with them. If it wasn't for the fact that I have to take a Troop choice in order to include any allies (and the Daemons have some great units) I wouldn't imagine these models appearing on a list again. For the cost I would rather spend the points elsewhere – which is a shame because I really like the models!

As for other options, I haven't tried any Nurgle or unmarked Cultists. They would be faster than the zombies and possibly more effective in combat with the extra attack, but not being fearless would be an issue. They are just so cheap though it might be worth a go!

You can create a pretty authentic Nurgle list, especially if Typhus is on the table opening up the option of zombies. The addition of the Cultists has opened up cheaper alternatives to the cult troops and standard marines. I like a balanced approach, not going overboard on any one type, and that will probably continue.

Next time – HQs…

Typhus' Musings: Daemonic Vehicles

Bull is having a period of thoughtful contemplation after the weekend's battle about his new Dark Angels so I thought I'd join in.

Typhus' invasion force remains unbeaten so far (just about) after three games of 6th Edition against the Imperials. As you would expect, some units have excelled, some have been downright awful and some are just about holding their own. We've had zombies, possessed vehicles and daemons making up the numbers so it's time to pick out the wheat from the chaff and make some decisions for moving forward.

Nurgle Army Update

This post is for all the new visitors I seem to have at the moment – welcome to the blog – and for those followers of Nurgle that don't fancy trawling through the back catalogue of blog posts.

This is your Nurgle index list!

I started the Nurgle army (properly) with the release of the Dark Vengeance box set and the journey has continued ever since.

Nurgle Forgefiend Conversion

Dark Angels vs Plague Marines: Preparation

After a great weekend painting, this week has yielded no progress as life got in the way. The big game on Sunday draws near and it's looking increasingly unlikely that any further progress will be achieved before then.

I've been struggling on a list for some time. Knowing that Bull's Dark Angels will undoubtedly be bringing something new to the party and having read the new DA codex, I've felt rather on the back foot. This is the love/hate relationship many of us have with list building. It doesn't matter how many points the game is, you can never quite squeeze in what you would like. This meant that, when I went to a lot of tournaments in the past, I never fielded the high cost characters and vehicles – one shot could often taken them out of the game, leaving you hamstrung for the rest of the battle.

In 'fun' games like this there is no such consideration – hamstrung be damned, I want to crush and intimidate. I like to embrace the role of the bad guys, even if I end up with my grand plan in tatters at the end of the day. I thought about filling my army list with high-cost scary units – things that would truly give you nightmares and that most enemy units could not deal with in a one-to-one situation. However, that would give me so few models that if the dice gods deserted me (which they often do) then the game could be over in less than four turns.

So, I have taken on board the results of the previous outings of my Plague Marine army, thrown in some new stuff, dumped the rubbish stuff. As I said earlier, this has meant I couldn't fit in everything I wanted, but I've come to a happy compromise. It has involved the addition of allied detachment to the main force but I'm confident of the devastation that will be wrought.

I also look forward to the day when we can have a real Apocalypse sized game and I can bring all my Chaos toys to the table.

But this weekend's game we're hoping to have a guest or two join the battle. There will be photos aplenty, team break downs and analysis and possibly some video replays. There will also, no doubt, be plenty of banter in the aftermath of what is going to be a fantastic game.

++++++++++

It had gone very quiet. There had been no sight or sound of the Dark Angels or their reinforcements for weeks. Had they gone? Had a Nurgle virus wiped them out? Not likely thought Typhus. They're keeping their heads down and their cards close to their chest. It did not matter; the chaos force that Typhus had gathered would be more than a match for anything these Dark Angels could throw at him. Anticipation was growing, manifesting itself in a restless twitching of his armoured gauntlet. In less than 48 hours all hell would break loose and Cherbull would be drowning in the Dark Angel dead.

40k: Painting A Nurgle Forgefiend

Buoyed by the progress made on the Nurgle Heldrake during the week, I dedicated a few hours this weekend to bring my Nurgle Forgefiend in line with the flying beastie.

With a large part of Friday evening and Saturday spent painting, he is now starting to look a lot more the part. I'm currently up to the point of doing the final highlights – I've done most of the front armour but the back half is not complete yet – bringing it in line with the Heldrake. I've been doing a tag-team paint with these two models, progress on one informing the treatment of the other. It also breaks up some of the monotony of painting the same models for several days.

One of the big decisions to be made here was what colour to do the fleshy parts of the Forgefiend. In the end I went with a purple colour to contrast with all the green and brown. It was toned down with Brown and Green washes and by using green in the highlight process. The desaturated result looks very much the part now.

I can now go back to the mouth of the Forgefiend with my purple recipe and try and get it to match. The only thing left to do after that is the two gun arms, so I'm hoping to have him finished for the weekend.