Hey guys, before I begin I would just like to say the attention I have been getting recently has been great! I was shocked to log in after my last post to see far more viewers then I usually garner. It was a real boost to my motivation! There while be more Praetorian Guard and Vostroyan content in the future, so those who love that stuff are in for a treat over the next few months, as I have quite a surprise for you folks, a passion project that is taking a while to set-up but will be worth it in the end. (A big hint; If you liked Zulu, your in for a treat!)
Now Easter weekend was quite a busy week for me, between my sister’s birthday and the fact me and three others in the Clubhouse have started a narrative campaign. It is really fun to leave Matched Play for a while, and embrace Narrative for a bit. We are using the Chapter Approved 2018 custom character rules, and building the lore of the Alatheian Abyss, a system I used the Rogue Trader system generator to do the base work; but we are going to build a narrative in the current 40k timeline to give our armies a boost in background fluff. This sort of collaborative world-building is something I really enjoyed as a game-master for Dark Heresy, and its great to to put that experience to use with three other like-minded individuals.
Now, I’m a Guard player. I like massed infantry and artillery to win via attrition and sheer firepower. But for this campaign, had I chosen the play the Imperial Guard, we would have had three Imperial players to one Chaos, and that wouldn’t have been as interesting. Therefore, my Chaos Marine army, a side project, has been pushed into the spotlight. My chosen Warband, the Skulltakers, has very little actual lore written about them, and I have taken a lot of liberties to make them my own. This warband was chosen specifically because their leader, Zhufor the Impaler is such a cool model, if busy with detail, that I just had to build an army based around him.
Of course, for our custom characters, we decided it couldn’t be a named hero, and the Chapter Approved rules forbid it anyway, so I decided to use one of my Chaos Lord on Juggernaut as a “lieutenant” to Zhufor. Karnath the Gore-Chosen was born. My idea behind him is that of a excellent warrior, an overly proud glory-hound, who chafes as an underling and looks to challenge Zhufor for leadership in the near future. I have given him most melee based traits, making him quite powerful on the charge.
He still needs the proper round base, but I’m quite happy with the conversion. The use of a power-armor torso and power-pack bring him into the dark future enough for my liking, and he has an air of menace that will be a blast to paint.
The rest of the force consists of the Marines I have shown before, but as a bonus when selling my knights, my friend tossed in a Chaos Rhino from the Conquest magazine. Now, I like Rhinos. I like Chaos. I do not like Chaos Rhinos. To me, they always had too much spiky bits and superfluous detail that didn’t add anything. So when I got mine, I tried to go for a more subtle approach.
It should still be recognizably a Chaos Rhino, but more of a worn-out war-machine then a mobile spike factory.
I did get a few photos of our first narrative battle, a minor 50 power level skirmish between my Skulltakers and a mix of Guard (representing Planetary Defense Forces) and Imperial Fists, taking place in an abandoned supply depot as my Marines try to loot powerful weapons!
Now this is the part where I’d have painted models to show you…but, to my embarrassment, I have run out of primer! As I live in quite a rural area, and the fact my local hobby store doesn’t carry the primer I use for both my Praetorians and Chaos, means a trip into the GTA (Greater Toronto Area, for you non-Canadians), and that could be a while. So, at least for the immediate future, it’ll be most Vostroyans getting painted while I try to get a hold of some Army Painter Pure Red. It should be only momentary, and you’ll get your dose of Pith Helmets and Evil Marines soon enough!
That is all I had for today, but I have plenty of stuff to showcase over the next few months, so stick around and I hope you’ll find the future content interesting! As always, Ave Imperator (Or, in present company, Let the Galaxy Burn!) and happy war-gaming, wherever you are!
Not by Strength, By Guile 