Are those daemons or trees?

[Lord Bearer]

Alright,

 

I was struck by a strange idea a while ago (several years ago, now that I think about it)

 

I initially thought of using Wood Elf Dryads as "Summoned Lesser Daemons" for a CSM army that I was crafting. I ended up not using the idea and it was shelved in the back of my brain.

 

>Flash Forward<

 

I was surfing the web and I found the Ultraforge Treewoman model and was in awe

 

http://www.ultraforgeminiatures.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/yhst-64608620957019_2104_2219014.jpg

 

Then I started thinking about the possibility of making an army built around "tree folk". Using the Treewoman as a "Daemon Prince" and then Dryads as "troop" damons. Then possibly using Treekin as heavier troops... All in all, the army would be all hand-to-hand... or thrown rocks?? It would be rather limited ... I know.. but then my son suggested that I could make it as a Chaos Space Marine army. Dryads with bolters? Hmmm...

Ultraforge also makes a "Tree Lord" which I was thinking of as a Soulgrinder.

 

http://www.coolminiornot.com/pics/pics15/img4e2c484eab64a.jpg

 

 

SO.. I come to the members of B&CS and ask your opinion(s)...

1) Do you think this type of army would be better in Space Marines or Daemons?

2) Do you see this army being feasible? Would it work on the table... or just on paper?

 

Thanks for your input... all is welcome.

[EricBasser]

I had a similar idea. It was for mono-nurgle daemons army. I figured trees don't feel paint, and it would be cheaper than metal/finecast Plaguebearers. Now the plastic box came out. I even had an idea to use zombified gnomes as nurglings. Plus a unified look would be cool to see on the table. 6th edition has the random forests, so why not have a army of trees that fight back.

 

Don't forget that Lord of the Ring line has the treefolk too. They are a little taller and slender, but might make good greater daemons.

[Lord Bearer]

I had a similar idea. It was for mono-nurgle daemons army.

 

Nurgle WAS one of the gods of chaos that I pondered. I just wasn't sure if disease and decay would fit a tree army.

 

Don't forget that Lord of the Ring line has the treefolk too. They are a little taller and slender, but might make good greater daemons.

 

The Ent would be an interesting Soulgrinder. Not what somebody would expect.. that's for sure.

[Kierdale]

When I saw the dryad I too thought they'd make for great demons. Not sure what they could count as...plaguebearers??? A definite resistance/hardiness to pain...

[Vesper]

1) Do you think this type of army would be better in Space Marines or Daemons?

Daemons. Without a doubt.

 

2) Do you see this army being feasible? Would it work on the table... or just on paper?

On the table ? Well, depends of your army composition. But the very concept is really great, I'd say go for it !

[Lord Bearer]

When I saw the dryad I too thought they'd make for great demons. Not sure what they could count as...plaguebearers??? A definite resistance/hardiness to pain...

 

The problem is this for me... If not Nurgle.. Then which god would it fit? I was thinking Tzeentch.. Because it could allow for some field firepower. I even envisioned sculpting some flames onto Dryads to make them Flamers or painting them up to look burned.

It seems that most people seem to be suggesting Nurgle though. I think Pappa has a better press agent. ;)

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

Daemons would be your best bet, and why restrict yourself to one god? Fluffwise, treat these as Undivided Daemons and use whichever rules feel appropriate for the models. Say, use spare arms as "tails" tipped with one or more Drydad heads for Pink Horrors, and sculpt eyes all over the headless bodies for Plaguebearers etc.

 

Doing Chaos Marines could also be cool, but in that case it might be better to make them a weird mechanical/plant hybrid, sheets of metal growing from the bark, rusty piping leading to flintlock-bolter-barrels etc.

[Xenith]

The concept is great, and I'd go with Nurgle, thematically and scheme wise, they are similar.

 

Look at the Ents in LotR. They stagnate, let the world pass around them.

 

I'd love to play against an army like this.

[Iron Sage]

I actually have two unopened plastic boxes of dryads. The plan has always been to make tzeentchian "count as horrors" out of them. But yeah,, guess Nurgle could have worked as well, though I sincderly think the twisted wood could represent the work of the Lord Mutandis :)

[Lord Bearer]

I actually have two unopened plastic boxes of dryads. The plan has always been to make tzeentchian "count as horrors" out of them. But yeah,, guess Nurgle could have worked as well, though I sincderly think the twisted wood could represent the work of the Lord Mutandis :yes:

 

 

My original idea came from the premise of "lesser summoned daemons" for a CSM army.

 

The idea for an all wooden daemon army came when I saw the beautiful "Tree Woman" mini.

 

Tzeentch was my first idea for the army. I was thinking of painting some dryads to look burnt up to represent the Flamers of Tzeentch... while others could have pink foliage for the Pink Horrors.

 

I will have to play around a little here. I am on a spending freeze due to the approaching holidays. But the new year could be interesting.

[Lord Bearer]

I have been playing with the Chaos Daemons Codex and I have come up with this... for a start..

 

First of all.. let me give you an original background for an army that I was toying with. Just so you know.. I eventually made a Word Bearer army.

______________________________________________

 

At the end of the Horus Heresy, the shattered forces of Chaos limped back to the Eye of Terror in retreat. A ship of Emperor's Children had taken massive damage and was forced to crash-land on a desolate planet. The planet had inhabitants already there, they were little more than barbarians. The planet was a frozen hell-hole most of the year. The winters were vicious and brutal. The inhabitants crafted huge buildings in which they would weather out the winter. The warm months were spent gathering and harvesting what they could and then the winter was spent in the houses. With the arrival of the Emperor's Children, things were going to change. The Emperor's Children brought their corruption to the people and their winter homes became bastions of the most base human desires. As time passed, the leader of their forces, Capt. Trucido, became aware of another presence on the planet. Hidden and secretive. One year, during the warm season, Trucido was walking through a wooded area, when he became aware that there was movement around him. After a short pursuit, he realized that it was not a person moving through the woods, but the woods themselves. The iron-wood trees that made up the wooded area were actually the physical forms of Chaos Daemons.

_____________________________________________

 

Now.. with this as the basis of my idea... I started playing around. Using the 4 gods of chaos... I thought that this might be a good break-down.

 

 

"Tree Woman" --> Counts as Great Unclean One

* I envision the Tree Woman to be the culmination of the darkness in the woods. I would paint her in dark tones and base her on as desolate base as I could.

 

"BranchWraith" --> Counts as Herald of Tzeentch

 

"Treekin" ---> Counts as Beasts of Nurgle

 

"Dryads" ---> Counts as Plaguebearers

 

"Dryads" ---> Counts as Pink Horrors (?)

 

"Treeman" --> Counts as Soul Grinder.

_________________________________________

 

Not sure if I want to sink time and $$$ into a total Daemon army as I don't want to create a glass hammer that will not garner me some victories..... at least a couple would be nice.

[Lord Bearer]

OK... As I sit here and ponder this army I was surfing around looking for possible models that I could use for a Soul Grinder "stand-in". I found the plastic Ent kit from GW... It looks promising, but I was wondering how big it was. Anybody know how big it is? I'd love to add a "heavy hitter" to my army, but I want to keep with the tree-folk imagery as much as possible. I was even thinking of HEAVILY converting a Soul Grinder to be a walking tree construct.... Ah.. the possibilities!!

[Lord Bearer]

I am happy to announce that I acquired a Treewoman model which I guess means I have officially started my Daemon army. :D

 

. Now... I have been plotting out the different aspects of my army, one of which is my "Heavy" option. Right now, I have settled on using a Soul Grinder as a heavy option. I was looking at the Soul Grinder model and have come up with two (2) diferring options as how to proceed. These options are:

 

1). Convert/resculpt the entire model to make it look as if it is a mass of trees walking across the battlefield.

2). Convert only the actual daemon part and then do some minor tweaking of the robot portion to make it look like tree harvester unit. The background would be that the harvester entered a sacred woods and when it tried to cut down the trees, it was over -taken by daemon spirit(s). I was thinking of replacing one of the hands with a giant buzzsaw.

 

Ok.. There you go... Any thoughts on either of these ideas?

D

[EricBasser]

Depending on your sculpting skills, a regular model of Soul Grinder with roots for legs, and bark looking skin would look cool. I would either make him all tree, or part tree and part landscape. Like the land started coming to life in front of these poor, poor guardsmen.

[Lord Bearer]

Alright.... enough talk!! Time to put my greenstuff where my mouth is... :)

 

 

I dug through my bitz-box and found an old Defiler leg that I chopped off when I did a conversion.. (Crab-style ---> Bipedal-style)

 

I grabbed the leg, green stuff and bits from a dead bush..... <PRESTO>

 

 

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc236/Keikan300/TreeLeg.jpg

 

 

What do you think? This represents what I would want to do to the entire mechanic section of the Soulgrinder... Yeah.. I know... that's a LOT of green stuff.

 

 

So? What do you think?

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

Looks pretty cool, maybe tie some twine around the sticks/leg? Might look neat.

 

Perhaps try using a craggier (and cheaper!) clay for sculpting the details - if it's just general gribbliness the hi-definition of greenstuff isn't important, and natural cragginess might help.

[Ideaus]

Looking good so far,

 

this I thing would make a cool defiler

 

maelstrom

 

I could imaged a beam blasting out of the runic stone in its centre (battle cannon),

 

he could make a cool greater daemon.

 

Orion the king of the woods, would make a cool deamon prince aswel.

[Lord Bearer]

Looking good so far,

 

this I thing would make a cool defiler

 

maelstrom

 

I could imaged a beam blasting out of the runic stone in its centre (battle cannon),

 

he could make a cool greater daemon.

 

Orion the king of the woods, would make a cool deamon prince aswel.

 

 

I thought of Orion as a Daemon Prince... but I have decided to so with the Treewoman.

 

I found the model, Oacyning, Lord of the Oak-Enta, on The War Store for $72. No too bad as it is a fraction under 4 inches tall. It would give the same basic size on the battlefield as a Soulgrinder and it fits the theme beautifully. At that price.. it is not too much more painful than an actual Soulgrinder. Thanks for the heads up!!