This is something I've been wanting to do since the start of the year: the Aksha'i Cruentes are embarking on the Path of the Righteous.

Now that I'm comfortable with the Crusade rules in the CSM codex, I feel like this is a logical and characterful step for the Cruentes. They've always been a zealous bunch, and now with the death of Bardûl and the rising star of Kratus, I think it's a good time to start folding these rules into my army. Baruda is clearly pushing more of his influence on the new Hand of Khorne!

For those who don't know, the Path of the Righteous is a series of articles from Flashpoint: Nachmund in White Dwarf, spanning issues 472-476. If you are a Warhammer+ subscriber, you can get all of those articles right now in the Warhammer Vault. This series covers a force's ascent to absolute belief in their cause as righteous zealots, with a neat little twist at the end: 

My plan is to start with just WD472, and then each month simply add the rules from the next issue until the Path is complete.

In the first phase of the Path of the Righteous, I start keeping a Righteous Inspiration tally for each unit in my force. I gain access to a few new Battle Honours and Agendas, and engaging with these will increase a unit's Inspiration tally. The tally doesn't actually do anything (yet), but it's a handy guide to see just how zealous my force is getting.

To begin with, even though all units in my force will be on the Path, not everyone will be enthused by it. My vehicle drivers, for example, don't really care; Xarian and Bardûl, likewise, are too far gone to pay attention to it. In game, this means that those units won't actively try to achieve Righteous Agendas or use Righteous Battle Honours (or, later, use Righteous Stratagems). Later on the Path, this will prove to be problematic, but that will be half the fun!