The Brotherhood of Spawn!

To my mind, one of the best things about a campaign is letting imagination push past the limits of army lists and rule boundaries.

Having said that, there is a precedent in the Warhammer hardback rulebook for these scary looking units in the campaign section at the end.

The Brotherhood of Spawn!

We're talking a unit of 2-5 Chaos Spawn normally fielded as individual models. Which should really put the beat down on somebody!

To me it's less about that and more about the cool visuals - and being able to use all ten spawn I rashly bought when Apocalypse 40k came out.

I just finished repainting the last eight of these guys in Khorne red and they look cool - especially ranked up... though I fear the back rank will miss out on some attacks if they aren't careful (having 3 attacks as a maximum).

These beauties are the first two units of my new Warriors of Chaos army that will slowly be building up over the next few months (and years).

I'll probably stick them on the flanks and smack in from the sides in a pincer. It'll be interesting to see just how these unbreakable mo fos fare on the battlefield...

Well I suspect.

The Dank Water Treaty

In the north western foothills of the Hills of Varenka lie a series of deep pits that fill perpetually with dark brackish water. Under the sheltering branches of reaching trees, the waters receive little light and remain for the most part stagnant and odious.

It is an area shunned by men but infested by insect kind. Huge clouds of midges and flies swarm while many-legged crawling things as big as a newborn baby wriggle and squirm, searching for food in the damp and stinking foliage. It is a place with little virtue to sane folk and even less strategic value. It lies not on any route from here to there and exists only as a pit from which foolish animals might become mired and quickly lost.

And yet it is not a place unknown to the goblins of the Razor Webs, as certain luminescent floating leeches can be captured and used in the broth their shamans imbibe before battle. Goblin legend tells that drinking this loathsome medicine can aid a shaman in tapping into the iridescent power of the Waaagh. Whether this is true seems unlikely. Only one study has even been taken by a travelling loremaster and hedge wizard from Nuln. His initial conclusions showed no magical element to the intestinal content of the floating leeches, but he was murdered before much time had past.

Whatever the case, only a goblin would come to this place willingly and even they would not tarry long.

Only a goblin... or perhaps those that sought to do them harm.

But as the mist fell back, from its fetid depths strode four tall figures, clothed in thick plate armour that whispered and creaked as they walked, steam coming from the narrow slits from which their eyes burned, coal-like.

From the other direction came a rustle of skittering legs and nigh four hundred gigantic spiders crawled out of the fog to surround them, outnumbering the Warriors of Dunkel Schloss many dozens of times over. Still they seemed unafraid. They neither moved, nor drew weapons.

And then the spider parted and the Spider King came to meet them, Fang Dig, the Great Spider Shaman following behind. As they came into view, the Chaos Warriors stepped aside and the sorcerers Ovidium and Virgillium passed their guards and met them at the centre, close to the edges of one of the wide brackish pools.

"Speak," said Ovidium.

The Spider King smiled, then he laid out the proposal he had hinted at in his message: an alliance - against the fell undead creatures to the south.

Close, the goblins had come to Barak Varr and soon would be the reckoning between their forces and those of the Tomb Kings. The Spider King did not wish to fight a war on two fronts at this, most critical time. He suggested a pact: in return for a cessation of hostilities, the Goblins, when Barak Varr was theirs, would not contest the land to the east currently governed by the undead.

In addition, the Warriors of Dunkel Schloss would be free to strike at their other foes without fear of their eastern front coming under attack from the Chittering Horde.

Further, went on the Spider King, their joint assault on the lands of the dead would apply pressure on the undead forces in the far east, weakening their strength against both the Skaven; allies of the Goblins; and the Chaos Dwarfs; allies of Dunkel Schloss.

There was a long pause.

Warriors on both sides grew tense, ready to spring to battle, but the leaders of each contingent remained stern-faced and passive.

Finally Ovidium looked Virgillium in the eye before turning to the stunted little monsters. Then he too smiled.

"I will allow the Chittering Horde free reign over the lands of Dunkel Schloss. In return I expect unwavering loyalty to the Gods of Chaos and daily sacrifices to be made in their honour." 

The Spider King sneered, narrowing his eyes. 

"But of course."  

Tactical Review: In the Charnel Wilds

 MIKE:

I took the field with my new army.  I’d given them all names and was actually quite nervous on how the battle would unfold.  Would my hours of careful painting have been wasted.  In short no, and a resounding no at that. 

Although I lost my general (he didn’t even get to move) in the Tomb Kings first shooting phase my little army rocked.  A unit of 5 Chosen took out 22 Tomb King elite who had the killing blow special rule.  My Chaos Knights took out 4 chariots, my marauders and warriors made hay with two units of skeletons, even failing fear checks, and using great weapons they still did massive damage.  My cheeky war hounds even got in on the act killing the Tomb King’s general and second in command with relative ease. 

Things to improve would be to not bother giving a bound banner spell to my knights, I didn’t get to use it once.  What a waste of 45 points.  The rest of the army worked really well and I have another unit of chaos warriors still to paint.  Long live chaos…

TIM:

The irony of writing a Tomb Kings tactica and getting myself thrashed so soundly when playing them twice in a row is not lost on me.

In my defence, I followed my tactica (based on ideas from the official army book tactica) as closely as possible. With a relatively small game (the strategic map movement determined that Mike would have 20% more points than me) from my angle, my choices for magic and combat characters was very limited so my magic (the lynchpin of the Tomb Kings) failed to get off the ground.

The biggest thing against me (and excuse I can make) was the terrible state of the Tomb King rules. In the old rules, Fear was amazingly good, restricting charges, forcing units to flee, etc. With its new restrictions, the points cost of a skeleton warrior is way over the top. I’m anticipating quite a drop in cost here in the upcoming army book unless other improvements are made.

I’ve actually decided to delay gaming with the Tomb Kings until the new army book comes out in early May. This is a tad annoying and my Spider Goblins are lined up to fight them and they’re almost ready to play with!

But what could I have done differently?

Honestly, I still don’t have the right answer on where to put the Hierophant. In or out of units is bad for various reasons and with the units charging away from them they ended up being left behind. I saw no gaping gaps in my tactics really. It’ll be interesting to see if I suddenly start getting wins when the update comes out…

In the Charnel Wilds

Warriors of Chaos (Mike) vs Tomb Kings (Tim)

In the south west of the Devil’s Pathway, north of the Black Gulf and close to the centre of the Border Princes, is a desolate plain that stretches for miles: almost devoid of life and a place few men dare to cross. The plain is known as the Charnel Wilds and for good reason. What life does exist there is so lethally dangerous that no living witnesses have reported anything concrete beyond garbled and contradictory rumours of threats like invisible stabbing insects and gargantuan many-limbed worms with teeth-filled orifices everywhere.

In the centre of this plain lies Dunkel Schloss, the dark castle.

From its depths marched rank after rank of sinister armoured warriors, flanked by packs of ravening hounds warped and twisted by chaos and thundering cavalry bearing towering knights, mouldering steam issuing from their visors. To the south lay the lands of the Undead Nation and the citadel of Barak Varr, controlled by the deathly Tomb Kings. The black eyes of the Warriors of Dunkel Schloss gazed on this realm with bitter jealousy and destructive rage. Their hatred of all things was paralleled only in the blackest of hearts and their axes desired nothing but devastation and motionless death.

Waiting for them on the parched fields of the Charnel Wilds stood hundreds of expressionless skeleton warriors, each gripping an ancient bejewelled blade or reaching spear, and beside the ranks of the skeletons were chariots, skeletal steeds waiting in front of them to drag them into battle.

The warriors came on and the Tomb Kings moved to engage them but the great power of Ovidium and Virgillium, the dark sorcerers, blocked almost every attempt of the Liche Priests to spur the soldiers faster into battle. Holding, the dark Lord of the warriors smiled grimly, preparing to give the charge order, then the sun grew dark and he looked up.

A boulder that was formed from mystically fused skulls fell from the heavens and crushed him, horse and all, hurled from a Tomb King catapult.

Enraged, the knights charged forward, shattering the fragile chariots rattling towards them as the Chaos infantry ran alongside them, battering the skeletons that stalked forward to meet them. The Warriors of Chaos were unlike anything seen within the Border Princes before. The strength and endurance was unbeatable. With each swipe of their axes they chewed through the skeleton units, devastating them as their unnatural instability dragged them down.

Slavering hounds bounded round the flank toward the sluggish Liche Priests as fireballs flew toward them from the hands of the sorcerers. Forced to abandon their support of the rest of the army to save themselves, the Liche Priests bombarded the Chaos Hounds with magic missiles, but they couldn’t prevent them bursting through and first one, then the other fell under dripping jaws and disease-riddled claws.

Ordinarily, this would have signalled the end of the army as the magic holding it up vanished and the army crumbled, but not this time. Even as the Liche Priests were brought down the last of the skeleton infantry were bashed and cleaved to powdered bone until they were no more.

Suddenly the battle was over.

The Charnel Wilds were silent.

The Warriors of Dunkel Schloss looked at one another then fixed their eyes on the distant lands of the undead and resumed their march south.

On the Painting Table: Chaos War Hounds

My next unit is complete for my Beastmen army. Chaos War Hounds!

I suddenly remembered I'd bought some of these for my Necropolis game and based them on coins. I still want to use them for that (where they appear as Ghoul Hounds) but it struck me that I could put them on a movement tray and use then as they are. And they look fine. They even have a nice staggered look that agrees with me.

When I made them I was careful to fill the gap down the length of the body with powdered Multi-purpose filler. I didn't want to use the horns (as I was going for a non-demonic thing at the time) so I filled the holes too.

As far as colour, I went through three shades of progressively lighter grey before reaching white for the upper highlight. Fur looks really nice in white and I'm pleased with the result.

Now annoyingly, these don't count toward my minimum core unit limit with is a particular problem considering I have so many Rare choices already. But they look good and they fill a gap in the army list.

A Humble Retraction

I would like to retract the unkind comments I made regarding my good friend Mike’s sportsmanship during the battle report “Massacre in the Valley of the Skulls.”

He didn’t selfishly push forward toward anything. Nor was he viciously amoral or weak minded. Nor did he have a desperate and cowardly need for glory. His need for glory was very healthy and well-balanced.

He did have a voracious appetite to inflict suffering but it was directed at my ogres and not at me as a player.

I find Mike to be a kind and generous young man with a gentle heart and an unparalleled skill on the gaming board. He is also a snappy dresser and an excellent miniatures painter. Just look at the cloaks on these Chaos Warriors!

Once again, I’m sorry Mike. You’re a wonderful, wonderful man.

Massacre in the Valley of the Skulls

Daemons and Warriors of Chaos (Mike) vs Ogres (Tim) 

With their north eastern front collapsing to the onslaught of the Tempestrians, the Ogres were in dire need. All available reserves needed to be funnelled eastward to combat this threat before their lands were overrun.

But they were also assailed to the south and the west with encroaching Dwarfen and Chaos forces and a quarter of their army had been committed against the approaching Chaos horde. The Ogres only hope was to quickly despatch the Daemons then remanoeuvre into position to engage the knights.

The Valley of the Skulls was a terrifying place. Cracks in the earth spewed roiling pools of boiling blood and in the turmoil, gigantic gore-soaked skulls gaped up at the black sky. At the head of the valley, a pair of gargantuan skulls rose from the lakes there, sinister magic throbbing within them and poisonous vapour seeping from their pulsing hate-filled eyes.

But the Ogres knew no fear as the chittering, baying hordes of Daemons clambered toward them. They formed a battle line and advanced, but the bubbling skull pools hemmed them in, making free movement impossible. The Tyrant leader held, trying to lure the Daemons into the narrow channels but they halted, unmoving, hurling torrents of flame into the Ogres. There was no choice but to move forward so they raised the blunt-edged swords and began the bull charge.

Their charge was not fast enough. The Daemons surged forward at the last second, catching them in their flight, striking hard and fast and the Ogre units were snarled up in the narrow gaps preventing them bringing their full force to bear.

A Herald of Khorne riding the back of a Juggernaut called out a challenge to the Ogre Tyrant and he accepted but before he could strike a single devastating blow (that surely would have easily defeated his opponent and carrying him on toward a glorious win) the Herald committed what to all intents and purposes was an impossible assault. Breaking all the laws of probability and physics, the Herald swung his mighty sword and clipped the Tyrant’s head from his shoulders in a single killing blow. There was no way it could have or should have happened but it did.

The Daemons had spontaneously materialised in the Border Princes when Nagash brought the warpstone meteors down but now elite Warriors of Chaos marched alongside them, drawn to the carnage and ascendency of the dark gods. They charged into the Ogre Ironguts and despite the great strengths of the monsters they were hacked down, driven off and run down. Once again the Ogre army was disintegrating!

The spectre of the Ogre Tyrant manifested itself, haunting its place of decapitation, taunting the daemons; demanding to know how they had managed to break the rules of combat and even now selfishly pushed forward toward domination. But his words meant little. The Daemons cared nothing for sportsmanship or morality. They cared only about their vicious amorality; their desperate and cowardly need for glory and their weak-minded and voracious appetite to inflict suffering on their opponent.

In minutes every Ogre in the Valley of the Skulls was hacked to pieces. None remained to contest ownership of that realm. The Daemons had won their first victory and the Ogres grip on their kingdom was slipping further and further away.