Night Lords Tallarn Commander's Chaos (Three 'Zerkers Completed)

[WarriorFish]

Don't forget to document it ;)

[Are Verlo]

A Path to Glory campaign would be fun! I haven't done a campaign in years.

 

Or spice things up with a narrative battle? Try uneven point values, planet strike, new battlegrounds or even stronghold assault?

That could be great fun with the guard desperately holdding the line vs WAAAAAGH-[insert warboss]. I´d read that batt rep, if you describe the action as your other battles :-D

[Tallarn Commander]

Good news.

 

I have a commitment from 3 co-workers. They all will start 40K armies!

 

-E. will do Ultramarines or IG

-A. will do Orks (he's getting back into the hobby but gave away all his Orks)

-M. Will do Necrons

 

Yes, Warror Fish, I shall definitely document it.

 

E., A., and M. have all expressed interest in a slow-grow league and possibly a campaign. The slow-grow campaign would be a nice way for me to work on my custom Warpborne CSM Warband.

 

Are Verlo, those are all great ideas. I'll have to research campaign ideas and write up background fluff.

[WarriorFish]

Good news, a nice spread of armies too so the games should always be different. Looking forward to seeing it progress :tu:

[Cryptix]

If you're looking to do path to glory, I'm hoping to finish my adaptation of the original Fantasy Path to Glory soon. After I finish the core, I plan on expanding it to include Death Guard and 1k Sons units, Imperials in the form of the Inquisition, and Orks, Eldar, and Tyranids.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Now I have to admit that, unlike all my other models, this model was not entirely painted by me. This is because I bought him used at a tournament last year. I primed all the model except for the pink arms. I really love the look of the pink on the arms so I kept it.

Sadly I don't know what color of pink the previous owner used on the arms.

If any of you have any theories as to what color of pink this might be I'd love to hear them.

Sorry for the delay, but I saw this post, meant to respond to it when I got home - then forgot. So, hopefully this is still useful/relevant.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure the arm is Pink Horror, washed in Naggaroth Night, then highlighted with Emperor's Children.

Here's a pic of the three colours:

Edited May 24, 2020 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Tallarn Commander]

Thanks Dr Rumimahui!

[Tallarn Commander]

I finished another 6 models: 5 Warpborn Possessed and a Greater Possessed.

A shot of all 6

World Eaters Greater Possessed, Soul Eater

He shall support Daemon Prince Azrath and the Blood Slaughterers BloodLady and 888. Through him their vigour shall increase!

Sor Vondar

He's probably my favorite in this batch, I like how it looks like he's warding off a blow with his shield

Kelim

Ghorax

You can sort of see what my black looks like on his right leg here. For some reason, the black doesn't come across well in many of the photos.

Torek

Vhol Atresh

My Possessed Squad, the Nameless, alongside a Bezerker squad, the BloodFlowers

I'm getting a bit better at painting my new Warpborn color scheme which is green and black over rust with rust trim. My first infantry model, Sorceress Valkia was really small so the color scheme just made her look green and rust. The black didn't really come through on her. On my 2nd infantry model, Jadath the Greater Possessed, I somehow totally forgot to use black paint so he's just green and rust.

But on these models you can see the black and green in unison. Although in photos the black doesn't photograph as well as the green for some reason. I'm now officially pleased with the color scheme. Other than the small pirate goblin army I painted up years ago for Rackham's Confrontation miniatures wargame, I've never used green in an army before. I like it.

I'm not pleased with how the green pooled on some of the shields and other large surfaces though. I will resolve this by either mixing it with floor polish or something. Or I might try using oil paint as a wash. I did this with my Renegade Russes last year and I really like how the oil paints pooled in a very natural manner. Although they took forever to dry and cleanup of my painting area was a bit of a chore.

On a sidenote, I've really enjoyed 8th edition. But I've always enjoyed running my Chaos as a melee heavy army with a smattering of support shooting.

This edition it sure has felt like it favors guns over knives. In fact, I won so much with my guard this edition that I felt dirty, especially when I could just jump out of combat and shoot the enemy on my turn. So I stopped playing with my Tallarns and switched over to Chaos in early 2018.

Hopefully 9th edition rebalances things a bit so that bringing melee heavy Chaos lists doesn't always feel like you are bringing a knife to a gunfight.

Now I'm down to 10 models in my backlog (although 4 of them are terrain pieces so I probably won't be done til summer at some point).

Thank you for looking at my pictures!

Edited May 31, 2020 by Tallarn Commander

[Tallarn Commander]

Hello everyone,

Yesterday I finished up a batch of 5 Possessed Chaos Marines and 1 chaos character. They are painted up in the green and black colors of my Warpborn Chaos Warband. The character, Talos, is magnetized and can be used as a Chaos Lord with jumppack, Master of Possession, Sorcerer, etc.

With the completion of this batch this means I'm closer to completing my goal of paint all my models. I'm now down to 4 remaining models (a Pegasus Techbridge, a set of GW/Pegasus ruins, a Necromunda tower, and a Forgeworld emplacement).

It also means I've finished painting up all my Chaos models. Huzzah!

Here are some photos for your enjoyment...

Iart, Baruk, Tal Arthul, Bara, Layak, and Talos*

*Yes, I'm reading the Aaron Dembski-Bowden Night Lords trilogy so I named my Warpborn character Talos. :)

More pictures of the Possessed

Bara, he is quite happy to host a daemon

Baruk

More pics to follow....

[Tallarn Commander]

More shots of my Warpborn Possessed....

Here are some shots of the squad's icon bearer, Iart

The beauty of my Warpborn is that, unlike my Death Guard or World Eaters they are not beholden to a particular god. And I always feel guilty running my Night Lords with marks and icons. I sometimes feel I am a bad person because I run the mark of Khorne on my assaulty Night Lords and Mark of Slaanesh on my shooty Night Lords squads. But with the Warpborn I can run my Possessed as any flavor of Chaos I like!

Layak

Tal Arthul

And Talos, the Warpborn's warlord. it is he who liberated the warband from its Dark Mechanicus creators deep within the Warp.

Talos' Thunder Hammer (sorry about the mold lines)

Talos with wings and axe

Talos with Sword

Shots of all of the Warpborn together...14 models strong

...to be continued...

[Tallarn Commander]

And since I've now finished painting up all of my Chaos Marines, I thought' I'd set them up for some army wide shots.

Here are a few shots of my roughtly 8,150 points of Chaos Marines...

From left to right...Talos' Warpborn, Evita's Death Guard, Azrath's Assassins (World Eaters), Duvalier's Night Lords

During the photo shoot the tablecloth that my models were all sitting on started moving to the left. I became rather alarmed and looked underneath to see my cat Spike attacking the tablecloth. The true enemy of Chaos is not the Imperium but rather a mischevious feline.

I'll post more photos later this week.....

Edited September 17, 2020 by Tallarn Commander

[Tallarn Commander]

Since, after 20 years, I've finally finished painting up all my CSM models I'm continuing the large photo dump of CSM....

Here are some photos of each of my 4 warbands.

Night Lords

World Eaters

Death Guard

Warpborn

Now onto my HQ units...

Lord Duvalier Nightfall, the leader of my Night Lords warband...well, co-leader really, he and Biker Lord Chamorro Nightfall are cousins who hold joint leadership

Chamorro Nightfall...Duvalier and Chamorro are almost joined at the hip...they can sense each others thoughts and have intense mutual respect and trust

Think Tomax and Xamot from Cobra

Bolivar and Sparky

Bolivar is the Night Lord's sorcerous support. Chamorro and Duvalier are uncomfortable with Bolivar's worship of Tzeench, but he gets results

NightGaunt, the armies' Dark Apostle

Since the Night Lords aren't particularly into any of the Chaos pantheons, Night Gaunt improves and protects the Night Lords by promising them more money. As such, he is more of a "paymaster" who grants invulnerable saves and other buffs by describing the loot they will all gain if they exert themselves on the battlefield.

Warpsmith Hoth

While the Night Lords are not really into daemons or daemonic possession, they have no problem enslaving daemons to do their bidding. So Warpsmith Hoth and his Daemon Engines are a natural fit for the Night Lords.

Next up...World Eaters HQs...

Edited September 18, 2020 by Tallarn Commander

[Tallarn Commander]

Now some photos of my World Eaters HQs...

A shot of my HQs (minus Azrath plus SoulEater my Greater Possessed)

Daemon Prince Azrath

Daemon Prince Azrath has, over the millenia, clawed his way up from the woebegotten Chaos masses. He was once a rank-and-file Khorne-worshipping Chaos Cultist. But through skill, pluck, and a greath deal of bloodshed he became a Cultist Champion, then a Renegade Commander, then a Chaos Marine, then an Aspiring Champion, then a Chaos Lord. And, finally, he was gifted with Daemonhood for killing a Redemptors Space Marine Chapter Master (Khorne isn't picky about the fact that the Redemptors are practically Chaos themselves)

Barnabas the Butcher (usually a Chaos Lord or Exalted Champion)

A former Raptor who was more interested in skill in battle and bloodshed than in instilling terror. He found his way to Azrath's warband where his talents are most appreciated.

Constantine the Cruel (usually an Exalted Champion)

Seen as excessively cruel by the World Eaters standards. Whenever Azrath cooperates with the Night Lords, he uses Constantine as his liaison officer since the Night Lords respect Constantine's penchant for instilling terror in the foe.

BloodGrin, Chaos Lord in Terminator Armor

A former Renegade Commander colleague of Azrath's. The two met again after centuries apart and Azrath invited BloodGrin to join his warband. Seeing an opportunity to shed more blood, BloodGrin happily accepted.

Next up...Death Guard HQs...

Here is a shot of all my Death Guard HQs except Gary the Daemon Prince

From left to right Resk, Evita, Plagueclaw, and Ezekiel

My Deathguard warlord, Evita the Damned with pair of lightning claws on a Palanquin of Nurgle

Gary the Daemon Prince of Nurgle, this old school all-metal model is rather heavy

Ezekiel, Possessed (I can run him as any number of support characters)

Back in 3.5 when your aspiring champions, lords, and other characters could become a daemon prince (being killed in the process) I'd drag him out and briefly put him on the board whenever this happened. My opponents got a kick out of this. I'd then put the Daemon Prince model down.

Sorcerer Resk

He can no longer be run in a Death Guard list since I don't want to lose access to Warptime. But I sometimes take him as the leader of an Outrider Detachment along with 2 solo spawn and a biker squad (now that I can't take bikes in my DG force either)

Biker Lord Plagueclaw with Fist

Many of you veterans probably remember the days of Chaos Bikers with Mark of Nurgle, good ol T6. They didn't kill much but they sure were durable.

Troops and transports are next....

Edited September 19, 2020 by Tallarn Commander

[Tallarn Commander]

Hello everyone, continuing on with all of my CSM troops and transports...

Night Lords Predator Squad

This is my ranged squad. They usually sit back on objectives and pepper the foe with lascannon, autocannon, or missile launcher shots.

The Night Lords NightShades Squad, my midfield objective grabbers/plasma squad

Some of the squad members are sneaking up behind IG sentries, as is apropos for the Night Lords

The Night Lords Jackals Squad, a midfield objective grabber/melta squad

The World Eaters BloodFlowers Squad, they are rather stylish because each of the squad members has a cape

All my World Eaters have the chainaxe and chainsword combo except for the champs who have fists and the occasional plasma pistol trooper

World Eaters BloodTongue Squad

World Eaters BloodBliss Squad

World Eaters Company of Eight Squad

Formerly a Havoc Squad, now Havocs can only be a squad size of 5. And as we all know, World Eaters Squads must all be eight in number. So I shall convert them over to CSM. Next year I will buy a box of AOS Skullreapers, give the heads and Khorne icons to a future Red Butcher termie squad, and use the Skullreapers as largish Chaos Marines.

World Eaters Alliance Squad

Also to be converted over from Havocs to Chaos Marines

Death Guard SARS Squad with 2 plasmas, a power sword, and a Flail of Corruption (the eye thingie in front)

Death Guard Bubonic Squad with 2 meltas and a fist

Dengue Squad with 2 flamers and a fist

Malaria Squad with 2 plasmas and a fist

PlagueRot, a large squad of Plaguebearers

Night Masque, Dragonne, and Lightning...helping the Night Lords get wherever they need to be

Often when I'm almost tabled, all I have left is 1 of these Rhinos fleeing into a corner...

Tentaculus, shared by both the DG and WE

Wrath, also shared between the 2 warbands

Death's Head, used solely by the World Eaters

Next...elites

Edited September 19, 2020 by Tallarn Commander

[WarriorFish]

Good to see you're beavering away still, you must be able to field entire Black Crusades by yourself soon at this rate :P

[Tallarn Commander]

Thanks WF, yes, it feels good to being close to finishing up all my models.

Here are some photos of my various CSM elites...

The Night Scoundrels, Chaos Chosen with a little bit of everything, especially meltaguns

I've been rather impressed with shooty Chosen in 8th, hopefully they remain somewhat effective in 9th as well...melee Chosen has been fun but more hit and miss

Chaos Terminators, the Night Lords' Atramentar and the Death Guards' Guerillas

As many of you know, it looks like 9th Edition will be breathing new life into Chaos termies--an additional wound and the fact that they didn't go up in points (yet)

The Night Lords' Harry the Helbrute and the World Eaters' Dave the Dreadnought

I do love my dreads...cheap and sometimes quite effective, they pair really well with DPs

Greater Possessed, World Eaters' Soul Eater and the Warpborn's Jadek

The Pandemic has prevented me from using my Greater Possessed, but they look like fun

Possessed Chaos Marines, the Nameless, the newest edition to the ranks

These look like an enjoyable unit that will pale in comparison to Bezerkers as assault troops, but I'm a casual player so I'll still use Possessed. Who knows, maybe they'll get 3 wounds when our Codex drops.

Now onto fast attack

Death Guard (counts as) bikers, RotRiders

Death Guard Spawn (although they are often borrowed by the NL and WE too)

I love these little guys, in both 8th and 9th they seem under-pointsed for what they can sometimes do

Night Lords Raptor Squads Death from Above and Bats Out of Hell

An iconic Night Lords unit. As with my Chaos Termies, I'm hoping that 9th will also breathe new life into these chaps. The extra damage from chainswords and the extra wound sort of reminds me of how they performed back in 3rd and 4th edition. I'd like to augment their ranks by buying and painting up a Warp Talons squad, hopefully early next year.

Furies Squad

These suckers did lots for me in 3rd edition. In 8th edition I would generally set aside the points for summoning in a squad of 10 furies and they I'd forget to summon the squad. D'oh!

Chaos Bikers, Night Lords Bat to the Bone Squad and NightRiders Squad

I've always loved Chaos Bikers. To me they epitomize the Night Lords way of war, even more so than Raptors squads. They hit and run against the enemies' weaker units, instilling terror before fading into the darkness.

Coming next...heavy support

Edited September 21, 2020 by Tallarn Commander

[Tallarn Commander]

And to finish off my photo dump...my CSM heavy support units.

Death Guard Predators, Gramps and Old Faithful

Making Predator Autocannons 2d3 shot, 3 wound weapons really improved these guys' oomph on the battlefield

Oscar the Obliterator

Poor Oscar, I haven't used him in years. Which is unfortunate because Oblits are good now. Maybe I'll have to give him a couple of buddles from the Shadowspear set and try him out.

Night Lords Chaos Havoc Squads Armorbane, Night Snipers, and BugHunters

I used squads of 8 to 10 Havocs earlier in 8th Edition. But once Vigilus dropped them down to squads of 5 I became less interested. That's a lot of points to put onto a squad that only has 1 ablative wound, the Champion.

The Daemon Engines, Mary the Maulerfiend, BloodLady and 888 the Blood Slaughterers, and Deffy the Defiler

While technically my Blood Slaughterers are Fast Attacks and Mary and Deffy are heavy support, I'm including them all here because they are all Daemon Engines.

I was really obsessed with Daemon Engines for most of 8th (and still am). They are not particularly powerful, but they are just so fun. And the Vigilus Ablaze daemon engine detachment made them somewhat viable. In many games they would re-create the charge of the light brigade (since 40K has emphasized shooting over assault lately) and they'd get blown up before they could reach the foe. But when things worked out they were a joy to use. Plus, if I wanted to shoot stuff I'd use my IG. I'm a Chaos player and that means getting in close and personal and ripping the enemy from limb to limb with giant dino robots from hell.

And as a parting image, my favorite Chaos model, Ninja Joe from the Night Lords' Jackals CSM Squad. Who doesn't love Chaos Marine Ninja Nunchaku warriors.

I hope ya'all enjoyed the pics. Take care!

Night Lords, "The quick and the dead."

Death Guard, "There's something rotten in Denmark."

World Eaters, "Burn! Maim! Kill!"

WarpBorn, "I feel the warp overtaking me!"

Edited September 21, 2020 by Tallarn Commander

[Tallarn Commander]

Hello,

Progress has been slow on completing my last 5 models. But at least I have been baking. Here is a photo of a gingerbread Chaos Star I made.

Merry Christmas everyone!

[Kythnos]

Definitely something the chaos gods approve of :D

[Tallarn Commander]

Hello everyone,

After 16 months of no 40K due to Covid 19 lockdowns, I finally got in a game of 40K. Our quarantine restrictions are loosening, I have had both my shots, and many folks I know have had at least 1 shot or will be getting their 1st shot soon. This means the local 40K community is starting to return!

I went up against a very fun and fluffy Necron list with oodles of warriors and plenty of other cool units. My opponent who I've known for many years was a gentleman and a scholar and we both had a blast. The game was down to the wire, but in the end, the Night Lords eeked out a close victory.

This was my first game of 9th and I really enjoy 9th edition. Probably my favorite edition besides 3rd edition. The emphasis on board control, the tactics behind getting secondaries, the increased value of troops as objective holders, the decline of castling because of objectives, the debuff on overwatch, the smaller boards, and the improved terrain rules really make for a fun, dynamic game.

Here was my list:

Lord Duvalier's Dooomguard Detachment, Night Lords

Warband Origins: Long ago there was a noble family, the house of Nightfall. They lived in an age of peace and stability established by their world's ruler. Their ruler was Konrad Curze, the fair and just lord of the garden planet Nostramo. And then one day, a corrupt and weak emperor sent an assassin to slay the Lord Curze. The vile assassin succeeded. The emperor then destroyed the paradise that was Nostramo. House Nightfall managed to escape. But since that day they have never forgotten. Vengeance upon the emperor will be theirs!

HQ

• Duvalier Nightfall, Chaos Lord with jumppack, Claws of the Black Hunt

• Valkia the Bloody, Chaos Sorceress, Mark of Tzeench, force sword, bolt pistol, jumppack, Vox Daemonicus=

House Nightfall appointed Duvalier as leader of this warband centuries ago. Since then he has protected House interests, terrorized the Imperium, and rarely fought a fight fairly. He has hired the services of a Tzeenchian sorceress and her band of Possessed Chaos Marines. Together they shall avenge Curze's death.

TROOPS

• 1st Claw, Jarvak's Jackals, 10 Chaos Marines, 2 meltaguns, combi-melta, powerfist

• 2nd Claw, Batista's Bastards, 10 Chaos Marines, 2 meltaguns, plasma pistol, power axe

• 3rd Claw, Nightclaw's Nightshades, 10 Chaos Marines, 2 lascannons, power maul

• 4th Claw, Evita's Eviscerators, 10 Chaos Marines, 2 lascannons, power sword

The Chaos Marines provide the warband with a lethal, flexible core. They embody the Night Lords way of war, terrorizing the foe, striking from the shadows, and fighting on their terms.

ELITES

• The Nameless, 8 Possessed Chaos Marines, Mark of Khorne, Icon of Wrath

• Harry, Chaos Helbrute, fist, twin lascannon

The Possessd are members of Sorceress Chamorro's small mercenary warband. They feel the warp overtaking them and it is a good thing. Harry the Helbrute is a chaos champion who is trapped inside his adamantium sarcophogus. He abhors House Nightfall for subjecting him to this horror.

FAST ATTACK

• Bat to the Bone, 5 Chaos Bikers, 5 combi-bolters, 2 meltaguns, combi-melta

• Bats out of Hell, 8 Chaos Raptors, 2 meltaguns, combi-melta, powerfist

The Chaos Bikers and Raptors are classic Night Lords units that instill fear in the foe with rapid strikes on vulnerable flanks.

HEAVY SUPPORT

• Deffy the Defiler with Defiler Claws and Battlecannon, Defiler Scourge, Reaper Autocannon

• Mary the Maulerfiend, Maulerfiend fist, lasher tendrils

Deffy and Mary are always in the vanguard of the assault competing to see who can get the most kills. The daemon engines are abominations captured and enslaved by the Night Lords. They are a perfect example of how the Night Lords do not worship Chaos, instead they use Chaos as a tool.

TRANSPORTS

• Dragonne, Chaos Rhino, combi-bolter

• Night Masque, Chaos Rhino, combi-bolter

The Chaos Rhinos maneuver the Night Lords around the battlefield.

Total points=2,000

Number of Models=74 (58 infantry, 3 walkers, 5 bikers, 2 tanks)

Command Points=11 (minus 1 for taking 2 relics)

I took the One Piece at a Time warlord trait. I never jumped out of combat (but I did enjoy making the enemy -1 to hit me).

A photo of my Night Lords warband

My opponent's Necron list:

He took the dynasty where everything is obsec and everything got a free move before the game began. I don't know anything about Necrons but that seems like a really good combo to me. But not overpowered like many of the SM buffs these days. He also got a Necron-specific secondary (I can't remember what it was but it was nice). I sure hope we get some Chaos-specific secondaries when our Codex comes out.

HQ

-A C'Tan

-2 buff characters called Crypteks (?)

TROOPS

-20 warriors

-20 warriors

-10 warriors

ELITES

-2 squads of 2 Cryptothralls, or, as my opponenet called them, Murderbuckets

FAST ATTACK

-3 scarabs

-3 scarabs

-3 scarabs

TRANSPORTS

-Ghost Ark

LORD of WAR

-Szarek (I'm sure I spelled that wrong): this guy put out a great deal of pain and buffed up the warriors nicely

I might be forgetting some things.

Some photos of my opponent's gorgeous army...his Silent King was breath-takingly beautiful

Some comments:

The C'tan pretty much single-handedly crushed my left flank. I was only able to take it out through a bit of luck. I managed to get Death Hex off with Sorceress Valkia. Then Valkia periled and exploded doing 3 mortal wounds to the C'Tan. Then Mary the Maulerfiend was lucky enough to finish it off in close combat.

The Cryptothralls seemed like really solid units. The models are gorgeous and they have some really nice abilities too, especially when buffed by a Cryptek. Warriors seem way better then they have been in a long time, sort of like they were back in 3rd edition. It does seem like the "We'll be back" rule is weaker than previous editions, which is a shame because that rule is so fluffy for the Necrons.

Night Lords Stratagems: This was my first time using the Night Lords tricks from the December 2019 Fate and Fury book. I really like them. Using "Hit and Run on my Raptors" made them feel like the old 3rd Edition Raptors. I also really liked the "We Have Come for You" and "Raptor Strike" strategems. I completely forgot about the "Prey on the Weak" stratagem, I'll have to try it out. As always, "In Midnight Clad" was clutch. It helped keep 1st Claw alive and holding a midfield objective.

Night Lords Army Ability: the morale debuff is still pretty mediocre, although I did kill 5 or 6 warriors with it, which is more than it would have done in 8th

Unit Assessments:

-Chaos Marines. With Astartes Chainswords and some nice NL stratagems CSM seem better than in 8th, not particularly good, just better. I took 4 squads of 10 CSM and I'm glad I did. With obsec being so much more important, my 4 CSM claws were a big part of my close win. I also really liked spending 2 CP to outflank a CSM squad, such a trick seemed very apropos for the Night Lords.

-Possessed: This was my first outing with them. They sure pack a wallop (unless they roll low for their attacks, luckily I didn't roll low). And with 2 wounds and a 5++ they are more durable than my Bezerkers are, although they put out less pain than my Zerkers

-Sorcs: the same buff/debuffmasters they were in 8th, handing out warptimes and death hexes as needed

-Jumppack Lord with Claws of the Black Hunt: solid melee/buff units

-Maulerfiends/Defilers/Helbrutes: still solid melee units, and not suffering the -1 to hit meant Harry the Helbrute and Deffy the Defiler contributed more during the shooting phase than they did in 8th

-Raptors: very similar to 8th but with -1 AP on the Astartes Chainswords my Raptors packed more of a punch then they have in a long time (and the aformentioned "Raptor Strike" was really nice too)

-Bikers: Their mobility seems crucial in 9th. I've always liked Bikers but with their mobility it seems like they contribute more than they did in 8th.

-Rhinos: performed the same as previous editions, solid support units

Secondaries: I went with assasinate, raise banners, and engage on all fronts. I used 1st and 4th claws to raise banners. Mary the Maulerfiend took out a C'tan and 4th Claw took out a Cryptek. My Raptors and Rhinos really helped me get Engage on All Fronts.

Here are a couple more photos...

The Silent King dueling Duvalier Nightfall...

1st Claw, Jarvak's Jackals, and Duvalier duke it out with scarabs on an objective

All in all, a great game against a great opponent. GW did an excellent job designing this edition.

Night Lords, "Death is nothing compared to vindication."

Edited April 27, 2021 by Tallarn Commander

[Tallarn Commander]

Hello all,

I managed to get in another game yesterday. This time it was a 1,000 point game vs. Death Guard. I brought my World Eaters out to play.

I played a former co-worker and all-around great guy. The game was very fun, casual, and close. WH40K at it's finest. Both of us are new to 9th so we were fuzzy on some of the rules. Luckily nearby players were more than willing to answer our questions. We played at Uncle's Games in Redmond, Washington in the Pacific Northwest of the United States (for you Brits, that's the upper, left-hand portion of the country )

My opponent's list (from memory so I might be a bit off)

HQ

-Lord of Contagion

-Malignant Plaguecaster

TROOPS

-10 Poxwalkers

-10 Poxwalkers

-6 Plague Marines with flail, fist, plasma and some other stuff?

-another identical Plague Marine squad

ELITES

-Noxious Blightbringer

FAST ATTACK

-Bloat Drone

Some of my opponent's beautifully-painted DG before the game

My opponent's Lord of Contagion, what an impressive warlord!

Bloat Drone, I need to get one of these chaps for my DG army

A Plague Marine Squad

As a DG player who runs squads of 7, I teased my opponent for only running squad of 6. What would Grandpa Nurgle think?

My 1,000 point World Eaters CSM List: Constantine's Crushers

HQ

-Chaos Lord Constantine, Gorefather, combi-melta

-Dark Apostle Constantine, Banner of Rage (which I promptly forgot I had)

TROOPS

-The Company of Eight, 8 CSM, lascannon, power axe

-BloodBliss, 8 Zerkers, fist, icon

-Bloodflowers, 8 Zerkers, fist, icon

ELITES

-Harry the Helbrute, fist, twin lascannon

-2 Dark Disciples

FAST ATTACK

-Brrrbbble the Spawn

TRANSPORTS

-Tentaculus, Chaos Rhino

-Death's Head, Chaos Rhino

The World Eaters before the battle

Lord Constantine, my warlord

I'm not entirely sure where his 3+ armor save comes from. Lightning reflexes perhaps?

Ghoulghast, CSM Aspiring Champion

"Someday I will grow up to be a Bezerker!"

Dark Apostle Barnabas, with his 2 Dark Disciples borrowed from my Renegades and Heretics army

"Have you heard about our Lord and Savior, the Lord of Rage?"

Up next...some more comments and photos from the battle

World Eaters, "Burn! Maim! Kill"

Edited May 5, 2021 by Tallarn Commander

[Tallarn Commander]

...post continued from above....

The game was called Ransack (I think?) from the rulebook. A control 2-control 3-control more mission. My opponent's secondaries were raise banners, bring it down (since I had 3 vehicles), and the mission special rule which gave him points for holding objectives near my deployment zone. I chose raise banners, engage on all fronts, and since he had 3 characters, assassinate.

The board before the game begins

As it turned out most of the action happened on the flanks, not much went on in the middle of the board

Poxwalkers on an objective in the middle of my opponent's DZ

Plaguemarine and Poxwalkers form up on my right flank

A Rhino full of Bloodflowers Bezerker Squad and Lord Constantine as well as Brrrrbbbblle the Spawn on my right flank

Since the action happened on each of the 2 flanks I'll give a quick overview of what happened on each flank, starting with the right flank.

On his Turn 1 his Poxwalkers on the right flank raised a banner. The Plague Marines and Noxious Blightbringer shuffled forward and took some wounds off the Rhino and Spawn with plasma and bolter fire.

On my Turn 1 My Zerkers, Bloodflowers Squad, jumped out of their Rhino and moved up.

The Zerkers leave Tentaculus the Rhino behind. "How did we all fit in there?"

Constantine jumped out and set up a banner. Meanwhile the Spawn shambled forward to support the Zerkers.

Red Messiah and his squad draws nearer to the Plague Marines, readying for a charge

Bloodflowers pulls off the Turn 1 charge!

Bearclaw says hi to a Flail of Corruption trooper

The Zerkers wipe out the Plague Marines, but take some hits in return and their squad size goes down

Bloodflowers consolidates

On the DG Turn 2, the Poxwalkers and Blightbringer move up on the right flank, readying their own charge

"And have you heard about OUR lord and savior, Grandfather Nurgle?" All but 2 or 3 Zerkers are brought down by the counter-charge. Ouch!

On the WE Turn 2, Constantine and the Spawn run up and charge, so as to rescue the 2 lone Bezerkers

Constantine (or possibly the Bezerker Squad) manages to take out the Noxious Blightbringer. But the Poxwalkers tarpit him and the 2 Zerkers, as Poxwalkers are wont to do. They keep getting models added to their squad as Zerkers and Spawn die. I love Poxwalkers!

Eventually by Turn 3 or 4 the melee is over. Constantine heads towards the middle of the board in an effort to grab an objective. Meanwhile the 2 surviving members of Squad Bloodflowers bravely hide behind a wall on an objective. But as my opponent informed me, no other World Eaters were nearby so there were no witnesses to their Bezerker cowardice.

Sadly, the other squad of Poxwalkers didn't want Constantine going anywhere near their banner so they sandbagged him for the rest of the game.

"I keep hacking at them with Gorefather but they're still here!" Constantine will probably omit this ignominious melee from his dispatches, lest he get the ancient relic chainaxe taken away. I can imagine the conversation he will have with his warband's leader, the Daemon Prince Azrath..."You did what with Angron's most ancient unholy weapon?"

So that wraps up the right flank. Pretty much a World Eaters success story because I had a Rhino in my right rear holding an objective, I knocked his 3 units off of his objective, and I still had 2 Zerkers and a lord alive. But the battle on the WE left flank played out in a much different manner....

...to be continued...

World Eaters. "Blood for the Blood God!"

Edited May 5, 2021 by Tallarn Commander

[Tallarn Commander]

....continued from the previous post...

On my left flank the DG had a Malignant Plaguecaster, Bloat Drone, and Plague Marine Squad. The World Eaters had Dark Apostle Barnabas the Butcher and his 2 Dark Disciples, Dave the Dreadnought, the Bloodbliss Bezerker Squad, and their Rhino Death's Head.

During deployment the left-flank Plague Marines stare down at Death's Head (who would soon be joined by Harry and Barnabas)

During the DG Turn 1 the Plague Marines planted a banner on his objective, the Drone shuffled up and removed 2 wounds from Dave with a heavy blight launcher, and the Plaguecaster debuffed Dave with a spell.

During the World Eaters Turn 1 Barnabas moved up a bit while his Dark Disciples planted a banner. Dave shuffled up in hopes to engage his counterpart, the Drone.

Dave heads for the bad guys, er Nurgle guys

Meanwhile BloodBliss jumped out of Death's Head and moved up. Their plan was to multi-charge the Drone and Plague Marines.

Bloodbliss prepares to charge

Then the charge rolls. Dave gets in easily! Huzzah!

Dave's powerfist manages to drop the Drone down to 1 wound.

But Squad Bloodbliss, despite only needing something like a 7, fails. Even with the re-roll from the banner. Uh oh. Kilwrath's squad is now facing down a bunch of angry Plague Marines. D'oh!

My opponent measures out distances during his turn on the top of Turn 2, eager to get to grips with Squad Bloodbliss.

At the bottom you can see my CSM Squad, Company of Eight, chilling on an objective in lawnchairs with drinks. "You got this Zerkers!"

The Plague Marines move up on the left flank and his Lord of Contagion deep-strikes into the middle of the board, readying a charge at Dave.

The Plague Marines charge Squad Bloodbliss

The Lord of Contagion successfully charges Dave with a re-roll

Now by all rights, the Lord of Contagion should have killed Dave. But my opponent made 2 mistakes. He activated his Poxwalkers over on the left flank as his first chargers. I didn't really pay attention to it at the time because my opponent's phone died. So I was busy typing up his army units into my phone's Army Builder app so we could see his unit's stats. Had I been paying attention when I noticed him activating his Poxwalkers to fight first I would have asked, "Do you really want to do that?" It was, after all, a casual, friendly game. Plus, both my opponent and I are a bit rusty due to the Covid quarantine.

As it was, I looked up from my Army Builder app and noticed his Poxwalkers had already gone. I then used 2 CP to activate Dave. Dave promptly turned around, pounded the Lord of Contagion into the ground with his fist. The second mistake my opponent made was forgetting that his warlord's trait granted him a 5+ FNP. He didn't remember this til much later. Oh well, live and learn. I myself forget a warlord trait more frequently than I remember it, just like I rarely remember "Death to the false Emperor!"

The Plague Marines charge Squad Bloodbliss and what with the powerfist and Flail make short work of my squad. Poor Bezerkers you never had a chance!

On my Turn 2 my Dark Apostle moves up to get revenge on Bloodbliss. I didn't have high expectations. I was desperately fishing for successful Sigil of Corruption saves in order to keep the Plague Marines off of my objective.

In the shooting phase Dave finishes off the Drone with which he is locked in melee. I could get used to this shooting into melee with vehicles thing. This frees him up to go after the Plaguecaster.

Dave gets the charge off and kills the DG sorcerer. Dark Apostle Barnabas the Butcher gets the charge off and gets killed by the Plague Marines. Doh!

Barnabas gets butchered by Plague Marines.

Well, there goes his 5++invulnerability chant. It was nice while it lasted.

On the DG Turn 3 the Plague Marines, the only surviving DG unit on the right flank assaulted my Rhino on the objective, thus grabbing the objective. They also turned around and gunned down poor Dave.

On the WE Turn 3 I desperately charge my CSM Squad, Company of Eight, into his DG in an effort to save my left flank. The CSM get slaughtered to a man.

"Someday we will get 2 wounds like you."

Meanwhile on my Turn 4 I advance my Dark Disciples over to my opponent's side of the board and plant a banner while trying to tie up his Plague Marines with Death's Head, my Rhino. My Rhino dies.

Crull and Skara, not quite sure why they are in a World Eaters warband rather than their own Renegades and Heretics army, plant a banner

On Turn 5 the Plague Marines gun the Dark Disciples off of the objective and that's it for the game.

The board at the end of the game

Both sides had very little left at the end. As it should be because, as you know, Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows. It was a close game, but, in the end, the World Eaters managed a win. More importantly it was a fun game against a sporting, nice opponent.

As I noted last week, I rather like 9th edition. I only had 6 CP so I didn't get to try out many of the WE tricks introduced in the 2019 Faith and Fury book, but I tried some of them such as the "Wild Fury" stratagem and the Gorefather relic. This was also the first time I had used a Dark Apostle since the changes introduced back in the Vigilus book. I tried out the 5++ chant and really like it. I'd definitely take a Dark Apostle again. He sort of makes a Hebrute into a baby Daemon Engine with the invul save.

Thanks to Uncle's Games in Redmond, Washington for hosting game nights such as this!

And if you're still reading this, thank you for taking the time to read about the exploits of my little World Eaters warband!

World Eaters, "Skulls for the Skull throne!"

Edited May 5, 2021 by Tallarn Commander

[Tallarn Commander]

Hello again everyone,

I got in another game this weekend! A local store, the Wizard's Keep in Renton, WA, is running a local 1,000 point league. This glorious event is bringing people out of the woodwork. As our state approaches something like a 70% vaccination rate, more folks feel comfortable playing. Some in the store wore masks, and some did not. The choice to mask up was left to each gamer.

I was fortunate enough to get in a game against a very nice Admech player with a gorgeous army. The game was very fun indeed and we both had a blast pushing our little toy soldiers around the board. I brought my Renegades and Heretics Chaos Militia, the Nostroman Ninth. He was very sporting and toned his list down quite a bit.

Here are the lists (I don't know Admech very well so my recollection of his list is probably a bit off)

HQ

-Tech priest of some sort (wasn't called a techpriest though).

Sorry for the blurriness of some of these photos.

-A Skitarii marshall

This bloke handed out buffs, re-rolls to hit and to wound to the Skitarii squad

TROOPS

A large squad of Skitarii

He brought a mini-horde!

FAST ATTACK

-2 squads of the sniper Raiders (hereafter referred to as horsies or cavalry). On a sidenote my opponent was Army Cav and I was Army MI so we made various army references during the game. "Butt-stroke to the head series, move!"

TRANSPORTS?

-2 tanks (a couple of gorgeous Skorpius tanks)

-ELITES?

A squad of Infiltrators

My army....

NOSTROMAN 9TH MERCENARY COMPANY, "HELL'S HORDE,"

My army at a glance

HQ [95]

• Dneghra Nightfall, Renegade Commander, Army Warlord (35), powerfist (10)=46

• WarpRend, Malefic Lord=50

Dnegrah Nightfall has lead the Nostroman 9th Mercenary Company for decades. She travels the verse, selling her mercenaries' skills to any non-Imperium clients with enough coin. Dnegrah's ancestors were Nostroman nobility, the noble House of Nightfall. They feared Curze but respected his ability to establish order. They seek to avenge Curze's death at the hands of the Emperor. WarpRend is the regiment's spiritual advisor. She can call upon the warp to commit unholy acts upon the battlefield.

ELITES [270]

• Kholek's Killers, Renegade Ogryn Beast Handler Squad with 1 Packmaster and 5 Mauler Hounds=90

• Gaur's Gang, Renegade Ogryn Beast Handler Squad with 1 Packmaster and 5 Mauler Hounds=90

• Wrath's Wrath, Renegade Ogryn Beast Handler Squad with 1 Packmaster and 5 Mauler Hounds=90

The Ogryn Beast Handlers are space pirates, wanton miscreants who excel at boarding operations.

TROOPS [399]

• Annika's 4th Squad, 20 Chaos Militia (120), 2 lascannons (30), flamer (5)=155

• Cthulu's 5th Squad, 20 Chaos Militia (120), flamer (5)=125

My Chaos Renegade Chaos Militia Squad, 5th Squad

• Zeva's 7th Squad, 17 Mutant Rabble with shotguns=119

My Chaos Renegade Mutant Rabble squad

The Chaos Militia and Mutant Rabble are a diverse lot. Some fight for coin, some for Chaos, some fight against the fascist Imperium, and some fight for the sake of fighting.

FAST ATTACK [75]

• Hound of Chaos, armored sentinel (30), lascannon (20), sentinel chainsaw (2)=52

• Bbbrrrrble, Chaos Spawn=23

The sentinel and spawn are fast units. Perfect for harassing the enemies' flanks.

HEAVY SUPPORT [160]

• Reaver, Leman Russ Battle Tank (140) Battlecannon (5), heavy bolter (15)=160

The tank crew are traitor guard who now use their weapons against their former comrades.

Total Points=999

Number of Models=80 (62 infantry, 15 hounds, spawn, walker, tank)

The fluff for his army is that this was an Admech reconnaissance in force. My army was, as usual, a mercenary group hired out by House Nightfall. Our employer, for some reason, wanted the Admech dead. Since we hate the Imperium (and believe it was the Emperor who destroyed Nostramo) we give discounts to employers who oppose the Imperium.

We rolled up the Ransack mission on p. 293 of the rulebook. It's a standard objectives mission with a secondary called "Ransack." You get extra points at the end of your turn for holding, aka ransacking, objectives in the enemy deployment zone. His secondaries were an Admech one for killing infantry (?) units, Grind Them Down, and Engage on All Fronts. I had Banners, Engage on All Fronts, and the mission secondary, Ransack.

The board before the game and before scout moves. We house ruled that none of the terrain is difficult. That sure made things easier.

You can see my opponent's Infiltrator squad, well, infiltrating in the ruins in the center of the board.

For scout moves the forces of Chaos went first.

My Chaos Renegade Scout Sentinel, Hound of Chaos, sprints up the board eager to get to grips with the robot corpse worshippers. Well, Admech don't really worship the Emperor, but such finer distinctions would most certainly be lost on my rabble.

And his horsies shuffle forward.

Boy those models sure are gorgeously sculpted and painted models. My opponent's army was superbly painted!

With scout moves done, we then diced off for first turn.....

to be continued...

Edited June 22, 2021 by Tallarn Commander

[Tallarn Commander]

...continued from above.

TURN 1

Luckily the forces of the Nostroman 9th Renegade and Heretics Chaos Militia won the roll and I elected to go first.

I pretty much shuffled up my forces as best I could, keeping some units back as objective holders.

Chaos Mauler Hound Nharax and his fellow pups head for the foe

Ashkal and Trooper Grok head out

Horsies eye the oncoming blue horde with disdain

During the psychic phase my psyker, Malefic Lord WarpRend, perils and suffers 1 wound. Now for any other psyker this would be bad news. But when a Malefic Lord suffers a perils they effectively gain the stat line of a miniature daemon prince. This is a fun rule indeed! During my shooting phase I take off a few wounds here and there.

Then the forces of the Nostroman 9th assault.

Reaver the Chaos Renegades and Heretics Leman Russ charges the horsies on my left

Yes, I know I just charged a horsie squad with a firebase unit. I didn't want those snipers taking out WarpRend before she had a chance to shine.

In the center my Renegade Ogryn Beast Master and his Mauler Hounds, Wrath and his Wraiths, make it in against the Infiltrators.

During this round of combat I thought they had toughness 3. During the bottom of the turn I noticed they actually had toughness 5. Oops. With 2 wounds and toughness 5 Mauler Hounds are sort of on par with Chaos Marines for durability, and they pretty much cost the same. Not that that's saying much since CSM are pretty underpowered these days. But it's worth noting.

And on my right, my Chaos Renegades and Heretics scout sentinel, Hound of Chaos makes it in against the other horsie squad.

All three fights were pretty much inconsequential with no one doing much to the other party. But at least I wasn't getting shot or charged by his vanguard units.

On my opponent's Turn 2, he pulled his horsies out of melee and moved them over to screen my right flank units: WarpRend, Gaur and his Mauler Hounds, and Annika and her 4th Squad. My opponent had no pyschic phase. During his shooting phase he whittled away at various units. His Infiltrators in the center and his horsies on my right continued to hack at Wrath and his Mauler Hounds and at my sentinel, respectively.

So turn 1 ends with him gaining board position on my left, a draw in the center, and me gaining board position on the left. I scored a bit for Engage on All Fronts.

to be continued...