Night Lords Tallarn Commander's Chaos (The Blood Wolves Battle the Emperor's Children)

[Tallarn Commander]

Greetings again!

 

Game 3: Blood Wolves vs. Iyanden Eldar

 

 

Game 3 pitted the Khornates from Fenris against the (mostly) dead Iyanden. It was a fun game and my opponent was awesome, a gentleman. He was also wearing a t-shirt advertising the German industrial band "KMFDM," which obliged me to randomly sing KMFDM lyrics during our game.   My opponent was also testing his list for the July Tacoma Open.

 

The Iyanden List

Spoiler

Iyanden

-as usual this list is probably riddled with errors

 

CHARACTERS

-Eldrad

-Warlock Skyseer

-various other HQs

 

BATTLE LINE

-10 Corsairs

 

OTHER DATASHEETS

-5 Wraith Guard

-5 Wraith Guard

-5 Wraith Blades

-5 Wraith Blades

-Possibly a 3rd unit of 5 Wraithblades?

-Wraith Knight--we joked about how you never see these after always seeing them back in the mid 2010s

-Wraith Lord with Shuricannons

-Wraith Lord with Bright Lances

-Wraith Lord with Bright Lances

 

So a very fluffy and fun Iyanden force.

 

 

 

 

Here are some photos...

 

 

Iyanden line at deployment

 

 

Blood Wolves line at deployment

 

 

Warlock Skyrunner charges and says hi to Squad Bloodflowers

It did not end well for the Warlock.

 

 

Turn 2 charge by Squad Bloodtongue vs. Wraith Blades

 

 

The Wraith Blade vs. Bloodtongue melee continues

 

 

When I remember it, the Master of Executions buffs sure are good.

 

 

Wraith Knight, Corsairs, and Eldrad manuever onto Eldar left-flank objective during midgame

 

 

Wraith Knight retakes objective and wipes out Bloodtongue

 

 

Blood Golem and Wirewolf charge Wraith Knight

Wirewolf would finish off the Wraithknight, Maulerfiends are probably better this edition than they have ever been

 

 

Company of Eight Chosen charge Wraith Knight and Wraith Blades

 

 

Wraith Guard saunter onto objective

For the early game and the midgame this squad and my Storm Crows Termie squad had both been hiding in separate buildings near this objective. We joked that the two units were texting each other, "If you leave your building, we'll leave our building." "You go first." "No, you go first."

 

 

Wraith Blades Jump out of Melee with Wulfrik and the Company of Eight

 

 

Void Rage Bloodletters Squad prepares to charge Corsairs on an objective

 

 

 

Eldrad watches the swirling melee

 

 

Wulfrik and the remaining Chosen fight a Wraith Lord

 

 

Wirewolf greets a Wraith Lord

 

 

As you can see, the game was full of fun and dynamic scrums in the middle. I actually remembered that my Warlord had the "Prime Test Subject" enhancement this game. I might want to stop taking this enhancement since I rarely remember it. The game was extremely close in points at the end but, in the end, the forces of the Undead Eldar won.

 

My MVP for this game is Wirewolf the Maulerfiend for killing a Wraith Knight and doing lots of damage to other units.

 

 

More games to follow....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SirTainly]

looks like a pretty colourful game too!

[Tallarn Commander]

Yes, Sir Tainly, my opponent's classic Iyanden yellow and blue colors were wonderfully painted. And, as good as his army looks, he said he still has some more work to do on it before the Tacoma Open. I hope I catch his army at Tacoma in July because it will be a sight to behold.

 

 

Game 4: Blood Wolves vs. Chaos Knights

 

 

Game 4 found the Blood Wolves up against an awesome Nurgle-themed Chaos Knight army. My opponent was incredibly fun to play against and we found out he lives just north of me in Kenmore, Washington. We plan to get in a game in our neck of the woods.

 

I'm a big vague on recalling my opponent's list. This was Game 3 of the tournament and we were all tuckered out. So I don't exactly recall what my opponent had. His list had various and sundry War Hounds, a big Knight Tyrant, a squad of Plaguebearers, 2 Beasts of Nurgle, and 2 or 3 squads of infiltrating Nurglings. His whole army had a neat Nurgle back-story to it.

 

Here are some photos...

 

Carnivore Chomps on Chaos Lord Svane and his Bloodtongue Legionaries Squad

I remembered my Prime Test Subject enhancement but it didn't do much. Oh well.

 

 

War Hound tussles with Wulfrik and the Chosen

 

 

Another Carnivore rolls poorly against the Alliance Havocs and they survive

He had just ripped apart Wirewolf the Maulerfiend so he was probably a tired Carnivore.

 

 

Voidrage Bloodletters try to save The Alliance

 

 

Storm Crows get taken out by another War Hound

 

 

Bloodfrenzy Legionaries Squad and a War Hound chip away at each other

Blood Golem the Defiler would then come in and finish off the damaged War Hound

 

Plaguebearers leave the enemy backfield to complete a secondary

I love the Plaguebearer on the right. He has such an adorable hat! My Plaguebearers are all the old 3rd edition metals, I would love to paint up a new squad of these plastic Plaguebearers someday.

 

Beast of Nurgle arrives to help mop up

 

 

War Hound finishes off the Baba Yagas Cultist Squad on my home objective

 

 

This was a very fun game full of some hilarious moments. In the end, the Blood Wolves were easily defeated. The Creations of Bile list generally plays to my strengths though. Out of my 4 losses this past weekend, 3 of them were very close. Usually if I go 1 and 4 over a series of days only 1 of my losses is close and in the other 3 losses I am easily tabled. Since I've been playing infantry-heavy Chaos Marine lists for 25 years, the Creations of Bile detachment finally rewards me for my style of play and gives me all sorts of tools for my assault infantry. Huzzah!

 

My MvP for the game is definitely Blood Golem the Chaos Defiler for killing 2 War Hounds through his shooting and melee.

 

I definitely need more in my list that can deal with a knights army. Currently Blood Golem the Defiler, Wirewolf the Maulerfiend, and the Alliance Havocs Squad contribute nicely in such a matchup. My assault infantry with lethal hits can chip away here and there. I think I might test out a second lascannon Havoc Squad and see how that does.

 

 

Photos from Game 5 to be posted soon.....

[Tallarn Commander]

Game 5: Blood Wolves vs. Black Templars

 

Game 5 found the fallen forces of Fenris facing foul Loyalists, the Black Templars.

 

 

Black Templars List

Spoiler

Black Templars MSU Army of Doooom

 

As usual, this list is from memory so it is probably riddled with errors

 

CHARACTERS

-Apothecary

 

BATTLE LINE

-5 Intercessors

-5 Intercessors

 

OTHER DATA SHEETS

-5 Heavy Intercessors

-5 Heavy Intercessors (?)

-3 Outriders

-3 Suppressors

-5 Jump Pack Intercessors

-5 Scouts

-5 Scouts

-5 Scouts

 

TRANSPORTS

-Impulsor

 

 

Here are some photos of the game.

 

Gorgeous Outriders and Legionaries

 

 

Svane and Bloodfrenzy pick on Impulsor in melee

 

 

 

Scout and Intercessor Firebase

 

 

 

Jump Pack Intercessors take objective from Cultists

 

 

Bloodfrenzy holds objective

 

 

Imperial Fists/Black Templars size up the foe

 

 

Wirewolf the Maulerfiend KO's Impulsor

 

 

Bloodtongue seizes objective

 

 

Chaos Lord Svane Vulfbad, Son of Fenris, poses dramatically

 

In the end, it was a very close game indeed. But the forces of the Black Templars managed to snag a victory. My opponent was very nice and this was a great game. He also plays Night Lords. Huzzah!

 

I think I'm really figuring out the strengths and weaknesses of the Creations of Bile detachment. It sure is a fun detachment. The next phase of the slow-grow is 1500 point. I think I'll add:

-A squad of 10 Chosen with Rhino: The Company of Eight (Chosen are probably my most effective unit and the Rhino will be good for transportation and secondaries)

-A squad of 3 Chaos Bikers: the Ghost Riders (for secondaries and general utility tasks such as screening or grabbing objectives). Plus this will force me to paint up my Chaos Bikers.

-A 2nd squad of 5 Chaos Havocs with lascannons: War Never Ends (I needed more ranged AT at the tournament)

 

 

Enjoy the photos!

 

 

Blood Wolves, "Make the loyalist scum howl in pain"

Edited April 8 by Tallarn Commander

[Tallarn Commander]

Hello everyone,

 

Since last month I was able to finish up Wulfrik the Wanderer (Counts-As Fabius Bile), the Baba Yagas Cultists Squad, and The Alliance Havoc Squad, I have moved onto my next batch of 3 projects: Warp Talons, Possessed, and Chaos Bikers.

 

Here are some Work-In-Progress photos.

 

 

The Valkyries, 5 Blood Wolves Warp Talons

Spoiler

 

Birgit

 

 

Tora

As one of 2 squad members who still have hands, it is Tora's job to open pickle jars.

 

 

Sif

 

 

Freya, Aspiring Champion

 

 

Hilda

 

 

Freya and Hilda are still awaiting heads from Statuesque Miniatures.

 

 

I'll paint the Warp Talon bases separately from their bases. Here are the bases:

 

Claw Base

 

 

Steel Girder Base

 

 

Statue Head Base

 

 

Spike Base

 

 

Smoke Plume Base

 

I've really enjoyed my Night Lords Warp Talons over the years. So I'm sure I'll like these Blood Wolves Warp Talons. Especially since they will often enjoy Creations of Bile augmentations.

 

 

 

 

 

The Serrated, 3 Blood Wolves Possessed/Eightbound

Spoiler

Lars Bloodhowl

 

His neck looks a bit weird so I'll add some jeweler's chain as a cloak clasp. Lars will be holding the squad's banner in his left arm.

 

 

Goredrinker

 

 

Raddesk the Blind

 

 

 

I am also adding Space Wolf bitz to the three Possessed that I have already painted.

 

For example, Soul Eater gets a new chest plate

 

My Night Lords and Warp Born Possessed are a blast to use and I'm sure they will be just as nifty in the Blood Wolves. Plus, Possessed are fluffy in a Creations of Bile list.
 

 

 

 

 The Ghost Riders, 3 Blood Wolves Chaos Bikers

Spoiler

 

Blaze, Aspiring Champion with power fist, er, halberd

 

The green-sculpted flames are functional, but I'm no wizard at sculpting green stuff

 

 

Zarathos, Chaos Biker with flamer and Astartes Chainsword

 

 

Ketch with flamer, Astartes Chainsword, and icon

 

 

I gave each bike a sort of chopper look by extending the front forks with various bitz from my Empire Old World army

 

Since I enjoy running squads of 10 Legionaries and they are busy in midfield grabbing objectives and chopping the foe, I will rely on Rhinos, Cultists, and these Chaos Bikers to do secondaries and perform other utility tasks such as screening, etc.

 

 

I hope to finish the Ghost Riders in time for a local tournament on the 19th. I will hopefully finish the Valkyries and Serrated next month.

 

 

A parting shot of all Warp Talons, Possessed, and Bikers

 

 

 

Enjoy the photos!

 

 

 

The Blood Wolves, "The Gods promise us the galaxy."

[Tallarn Commander]

Hello everyone,

 

This weekend I played a very enjoyable game against an awesome Emperor's Children player. Despite losing a lot of units, it seems like their new codex has lots of nifty tools that make it a fluffy and dynamic army. His Emperor's Children army defeated my casual Chaos Marines list in a dynamic and very enjoyable game. I ended up tabled and only killed 5 of his units. It was a very fun game with some very zany saving throws.

 

This game was part of the ongoing Slow-Grow league at a local gaming store, Nomad Games in Edmonds, WA here in the U.S.

 

 

Here are the lists

Spoiler

Blood Wolves
Spring 2025 Phase 3 Slow-Grow League List
Reid Gustafson (Discord ID: reidgustafson)
Khornate Chaos Space Marines
Creations of Bile


CHARACTERS
● Svane Vulfbad, Chaos Lord (90)
● Wulfrik the Wanderer,  Counts-As Fabius Bile, Warlord, and Genesplice, Surgeon Acolyte (85 points)

BATTLELINE
● BloodFrenzy, 10 Legionaries (170 points)
● BloodTongue, 5 Legionaries (90 points)
● BloodFlowers, 5 Legionaries (90 points)
● 88th Blood Pact, 10 Cultists (50 points)

DEDICATED TRANSPORTS
● Death's Head, Chaos Rhino (75 points)
● Tentaculus, Chaos Rhino (75 points)
● Wrath, Chaos Rhino (75 points)

OTHER DATASHEETS
● The Ghost Riders, 3 Chaos Bikers (70 points)
● The Company of Eight, 10 Chosen (250 points)
● Wirewolf, Maulerfiend (130 points)
● The Alliance, 5 Chaos Havocs (125 points)
● War Never Changes, 5 Chaos Havocs (125 points)

 

Enhancements: +1 WS (really good) and +1BS (meh)

 

The Blood Wolves at 1500 points (I had already deployed the Baba Yagas, my Cultist Squad)

 

 

Emperor's Children, Peerless Bladesmen Detachment, I think

 

CHARACTERS

1. Virellion, the Thrice-Rapturous, 1 Daemon Prince with Wings
2. Exultant Lyvaris, the Wound-Eater, 1 Lord Exultant
3. Kakophonist Vaedrix the Choral Surgeon, 1 Lord Kakophonist
4. Lucius the Eternal, 1 Lucius the Eternal

Battleline Units

1. The Flesh Suturers, 10 Infractors
2. The Vein Reapers, 5 Tormentors
3. The Tasting Choir, 5 Tormentors

Other Datasheets

1. The Gilded Finalé, 5 Chaos Terminators
2. The Opal Vultures, 3 Flawless Blades
3. The Scarlet Crescents, 3 Flawless Blades
4. The Glasshowl Cantors, 6 Noise Marines
5. The Shrike-Eaters, 6 Noise Marines

 

Some of Fulgrim's finest

 

 

I absolutely loved my opponent's unit names and fluff! Here is his backstory!

The Chorus of Flesh traces its lineage to a conclave of duellists and war-singers within the Emperor’s Children during the Great Crusade—warriors who believed that perfect combat required perfect rhythm. Known as the Symphoniarchs, they fought in synchronized formations, treating every battle as both competition and concert. During the Horus Heresy, they fell utterly to the allure of sensation, their martial rituals twisting into violent displays of excess under Slaanesh’s seductive gaze. In the aftermath of the Heresy, they fractured and scattered across the galaxy, only to be reborn centuries later when Virellion, a once-mortal champion of their creed, ascended to daemonhood. Under his leadership, the Chorus of Flesh reunited as a warband devoted not just to victory, but to the artistic execution of violence. Now, they roam the galaxy seeking new arenas in which to perfect their craft—each battle a sacred opera of agony, every kill a note in an endless, screaming symphony.

 

 

Here are some photos of the game.

 

 

The purple and gold line during deployment before the game

 

 

 

The red line before the battle

 

 

 

The Tasting Choir, 5 Tormentors, tarpits my Chaos Rhino, Tentaculus, on Turn 1

Boy EC sure are fast!

 

To prevent getting boxed in from happening in the future, I should  just deploy the cheap, sacrificial bikes in front of the Rhino as a cheap screen.

 

Look at those gorgeous sculpts. I definitely need a box of these blokes someday. I think I'll add 'em as my black and yellow homebrew warband, the Warpborn. That way I could use 'em as an Emperor's Children army or as Legionaries or Chosen in a standard Chaos Marines army.

 

 

The board at the top of Turn 2

You could see that with going first, infiltrators, fast units, and deep strikers, he had effectively boxed me in. This allowed him to quickly get ahead on secondaries. Well played!

 

 

Bloodfrenzy, Legionaries, and Glasshowl Cantors, Noise Marines, eye each other across the battlefield

 

 

Wirewolf and Daemon Prince Virellion, the Thrice Rapturous

 

Look at the superb paint job on that Daemon Prince!

This was a really fun melee. In the end, we each chipped away at each other. Then Virellion left the melee to go pester the Bloodflowers Legionaries while Wirewolf got easily blown away by the Shrike Eaters Noise Marines and Kakophonist Vaedrix the Choral Surgeon. I love Kakophonists, their buffs are good but not overpowered.

 

 

The Flesh Suturers, Infractors, and Lyvaris the Wound Eater, Lord Exultant, rip apart the Company of Eight, Chosen

He had a once-per game "fights first" ability with handily dealt with my Chosen. I also forgot to give my Chosen "fight on death" which is usually how this unit deals with "fights first" abilities. D'oh! I'm getting better at using Creations of Bile, but I still have more to learn.

 

 

Bloodfrenzy battles the Termies

Huzzah for 10-trooper squads of Legionaries lead by a lord!

 

 

Virellion vs. Bloodflowers Legionaries Squad

They dropped him down to 1 wound before being wiped out. So close.

 

 

In an effort to avenge the Emperor's Children Termies, Lucius himself charges into the Bloodfrenzy Legionaries

If Lucius looks like Belial, it's an illusion. He's really Lucius.

 

Lucius handily takes out Chaos Lord Svane Vulfbad (I recently learned that Svane means "swan" in Norwegian, which is rather funny) but Squad Bloodfrenzy takes out Lucius.

 

Since the squad swung all at the same time, I declared that the final blow to Lucius was dealt by Kilwrath.

 

 

I will have to model Kilwrath with a bald Lucius-esque head and replace his chainaxe and bolt pistol with a whip and sword

His squad mates will ask, "Uh, Kilwrath, does your face look different?" His response, "No. And have I told you about our lord and saviour Slaanesh?"

 

 

And a parting photo of the Glasshowl Cantors Noise Marines avenging Lucius with cacaphonous firepower

 

 

While the game could have gone either way during the early game, by the midgame his board control and lethality showed and he managed a fairly easy win. I really love the new Emperor's Children. Their melee lethality is quite good and really dependent on their mobility. I can definitely see that he would have struggled more, if I'd rolled the +1 toughness enhancement on the Creations of Bile enhancements.

 

 

I tried out some different things with my Creations of Bile list:

-Squad of 3 bikers...traditionally I run squads of 6 bikers. But I'm experimenting with using cheaper, smaller squads to act as cheap screens and action monkeys. The bikers here did nothing except for draw some firepower. But if they'd rolled higher on their advance rolls they would have contributed more. I still think this is a valid unit.

-Multiple 5-trooper squads of Legionaries....traditionally I run 10-trooper squads of Legionaries because their melee oomph is really fun. However, squads of 5 Legionaries is certainly more efficient than 10-trooper squads so I'll continue to test out 5-trooper squads.

-Pair of lascannon Havoc squads....Traditionally I usually just run 1 lascannon Havoc Squad and a Predator or a pair of Predators. The jury is still out on using 2 lascannon Havoc Squads.

 

 

I'll try all three of these units some more at a league game and a 3-game tournament next weekend.

 

 

Hobby Progress

Spoiler

 

My Statuesque Miniatures female heads arrived from the UK. I promptly glued 'em onto 2 members of my Valkyries Raptors/Warp Talon Squad

 

Aspiring Champion Freya

 

 

Hilda

 

 

And work proceeds apace on my 88th Blood Pact Traitor Guard Kill Team

 

 

And on my Ghost Riders Chaos Bikers, seen here with Simon and Finn

 

 

I hope to finish my squad of 3 bikers, The Ghost Riders, on Friday before a tournament this Saturday

 

Bikers, WiP display board, and new collapsible cart

I've had enough of moving my army around tournaments on a perilously held display board. I will now start conforming to norms by using a cart.

 

 

 

Enjoy the photos!

 

 

The Blood Wolves, "Boundless rage fills our souls!"

 

Edited Sunday at 04:44 PM by Tallarn Commander

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Thanks for the battle reports - its always great to hear about your adventures on the table top.

 

Love your opponent's EC - he did an excellent job of making them look annoyingly gaudy but still nice.  Its like the ideal mashup of traditional 40K EC, 30K EC and harlequins.

 

Your idea of "Lucius-izing" Kilwrath is hilarious.  Hopefully you don't fight too many more battles with EC, otherwise everyone in your army might be Lucius. 

 

The new female heads look great on your raptors, and I always love to see your kitties participating in the hobby.

Edited 14 hours ago by Dr_Ruminahui