Freaky Druchari 40K Objective Markers

 Hallo there, as the title implies I have made some Druchari themed objective markers for my 40K games. As 10th edition does not allow models to actually stand on top of these markers I have made some fairly gruesome 3d ones. So without further waffle here they are;

Family photo, the whole gang.

This is a stretch goal from a Dungeons & Lasers kickstarter. Nothing says evil space elves like a barely crucified skeleton with a crow watching on impassively.

A wide selection of stuff here, Mantic games lamp post with another Dungeons & Lasers item with what is intended as a firstborn space marine head transplanted onto some sort of massive xenos tapeworm 'to teach him a lesson'.

Next is the same recipe only with a beaky marine helmet hooked up to the lamppost to power it. What isn't visible is another marine buried up to his neck with ants biting him regularly and thus his anger and pain is the main power source.

My favourite is this one. A burly human (probably Astartes) has been thoroughly dismembered and stuck on a metal pole. Various viscera is exposed as an aesthetic  choice by the Haemonculus and as a tangy aroma for any Drukhari to soak up.

This one is a model I inherited from Dylan, original owner of some of my Dark Eldar. The skeleton signpost has been given some Astra Militarum accessories to fit into the 41st Millennium and all I had to do was put it on a 40mm base.

A while back I got a pile of skulls from a guy on wordpress by simply asking for them and they got painted up. Several years later they got a 40mm base and now they can visit many planets for the sentient races of the galaxy to fight over.

So that's the lot. Six objective markers that can represent places of interest of the battlefields of the far future. Depending on the scenario they could be relics inserted into dying humans and/or skeletons, secret plans inserted into dying humans and/or skeletons, elixirs, instagram hotspots or any number of plot devices that have been inserted into dying humans and/or skeletons. In any case you may be seeing a lot more of these and even some objective markers themed around some of my other armies too. Until then hobby responsibly  and always read the label.

Thanks for reading.

Beldam Qud's Toxic Helpers

Greetings. Recently I finished some faux Wracks for my Drukhari army. They were started when Wracks were harder than hens teeth to get from FLGS. By the time I finished them though, I could've bought dozens. Also I wasn't in the mood to shell out €70ish to have a ten elf unit. So for those interested I will go through what bits of plastic were used to create them. 

Fluff

Beldam Qud is the name of my rather ugly Haemonculus. She has fought in quite a few battles but has a tendency to wander away from her bodyguard Talos and got killed for a while. Now she has the ability in 10th to actually join a unit she might be a bit more resilient. Qud has taken an interest in a small Tarrelian colony after sending allies to the colony she requested fresh Tarrelian limbs for her experiments. She has entered into an alliance of sorts with Adraxys Molech the Archon I have been using to terrorise mortals in realspace raids.

The Help

Some time ago I inherited some High Elf archer legs that I planned to to use for various projects, then came my desire to use Wracks and a rummage around in my bits box I found the torsos of Wood Elf wild riders and sisters of the thorn. A few bits from the Talos kits made some creepy arms. So here's the sadistic cutter uppers.

On the left is wrack #1 with spiked tail, Tarrelian forearm, skeleton horse leg and distended stomach with a skin skirt, on the right is the Acothyst.

Left is wrack #2 with vestigal wings, ancient tyranid warrior arm, tarrelian leg and stolen aeldari powerfist arm, wrack #3 however is a lot less 'enhanced' with swollen foot and some minor aesthetic surgery.

Wrack #4 has by and large been left unmolested except for a multitude of eyeballs emerging from the mask and a liquifier gun, wrack #5 has a tarrelian forearm and a large syringe used for extracting and transplanting generally unsolicited liquids from it's unwilling victims.

Tarrleian leg for wrack #6 and some cronos bits, while wrack #7 is sporting an extra leg, a rather flat face mask and a liquifier gun.

Wrack #8 has been gifted an extra arm and for reasons only known to Beldam Qud all flesh has been removed up to the forearm. Another enhancement is a series of transferance tubes that extend from the chest cavity to extract flavoursome genetic matter (this one is sucking out an Asartes brain). Wrack #9 is sporting a skin sporran and some efficient murder equipment.

So here's the group shot of my wrack unit, ready for action.

So that's my hobby update and now with the data cards for the wracks I am able to add another three ranged weapons per 5 man squad. So it looks like I will have to return to my bits box to create some more monsters to frolic about on the grim battlefields of the 41st millennium.  So until then happy hobbying and try not to bring about any Armageddon type scenarios in real life.

Thanks for reading.

 

Four Cultists About To Bring Doom to the Imperium!

Greetings viewer. Just a quick update on some more members of the Assembly of D'Keddes my genestealer cult army. As the new 10th edition has dropped I'm trying to fill in gaps in my army, but the first two aren't gaps, just models I wanted to finish.

Neophyte Leaders

These two were constructed before GW decided to give neophyte leaders nothing in the way of options for the data cards. This is fine and dandy as I believe there will be a bit more to choose from is 2024 or 2025 but for now they can just hang around in the throng. For those interested they are on the left a human bomb from 1990's Imperial Guard and on the left is an even older confrontation miniature. Both are metal models where generic IG arms were then attached but I though a couple of new GSC arms would do the business. The bomber has an Attilan hammer in one hand and I think an Attilan gangsta posed bolt pistol. On the left we have an Attilan shotgun and hammer. Also of note is the collection of human(?) bones attached to his waist. Very grimdark. They are attired in the bland colours of D'Keddes so they won't stand out to enemy snipers that much. Or will they?

 

Smasher McBoom & Specs the Bone Collector.

Tarrelian Metamorphs

A while ago I made some Tarrelian/genestealer hybrids as I had a plantiful supply of never to be used Saurus. I made enough to fit the 15 being sized unit and then Cult Icons got good. So I made one and now they have a maximum of 10. Grrrrr. So now I have sixteen I think so I can make another four to make two units of ten or quite while I have the wrong number. When I was making the Icon bearer I made a buddy for him so he wouldn't be scared on the painting table with all those mean Drukhari. Anyhow that's the last ones I have constructed so it's on to other less species fluid aliens.

Blind Bill the Icon Bearer & Buddy Flamerchops.

So that's all folks for this update. Hoving into view are my virtually finished Wrack conversions that are a wee bit bizarre and (hopefully) gruesome. Until then, hobby responsibly and enjoy the wild ride that 10th edition will no doubt be!

Thanks for reading.

Eldar Pirates, Arrr!

Corsair Voidscarred.

Greetings. After a long lull in my painting, I've managed to get some shit done. Aeldari Voidscarred. no less, not the bespoke Kill team that recently came out but some severely mangled metal guardians that I had lying about. The cheap knock off Dremel was taken out of it's protective faux case, and heads were removed, the bits box was raided and voila! A fancy unit that can accompany (for now anyway) both Aeldari and Drukhari armies.

Felarch

First up is the leader with a slightly odd name. the model is an Aeldari Guardian model with a Drukhari helmet and a neuro disrupter from an old metal Solitaire. His sword arm is one half of a pair of Klaivex Demiklaives. I could give him a Faolchú which is Aeldari for falcon. Until then he shall be known as Faochúni the Half Klaivex.

Faochúni the Half Klaivex

Shade Runner & Grunt

Next is my Shade Runner and an ordinary pirate. The Shade Runner is kind of a Wych that got involved in thievery as far as I can tell, (I didn't read up on them so this is an educated stab in the dark). This is a bare headed guardian with a pair of Mirrorswords that I got from an eBay purchase. The other guy is an intact arm swapped Guardian. He has a Kabalite power sword and blast pistol (even though he's not allowed, but that's what living on the fringe of Aeldari society does for you).

 

Darkethá & Rebellious Zim

Grunt #2 & Way Seeker

Grunt #2 has a Kabalite helmet and has stolen a Lizardman shield to go with his power sword. I figure that his travels have taken him to some backwater planet where shields are still a thing and he's nabbed it. Of course he had to wade through dozens of primitive shield owners until he got the one he liked best.  The Way Seeker was a much more fiddly conversion as I had to line up two plastic arms with a metal Hellion glaive. A Scourge head with a Harlequin mask completes the ensemble. It also allows me to get psyker into my Drukhari armies. It's only for the Deny the Witch honest.

 

Gruchú the Saurian Slayer & Jolly Rójúú

Blaster & Wraithcannon Duo

Two more unpleasant weapons for my opponents to dislike, the Blaster is bare armed and wears the now unfashionable tanga brief mesh armour style. The Wraithcannon operator has possibly stolen it from a Fire Dragon Exarch and put some pretty feathers on his hat.

Erostika & Featherblite

 

Grunt #3 & Shredder

Lastly is a Shuriken rifle armed pirate who has spent a fortune getting it modified to look exactly like an ordinary shuriken catapult. To make him look less guardiany he has attached a wicked looking forearm blade to his left, er, forearm. Lastly is my cloaked Shredder girl. A Wych head and cloak makes her seem less like a conformist and more like a anarchistic she elf.

The Innocuous Pirate & Buini Bóyla

So this is what I done recently. I have a pirate with a sniper rifle to do and a Soul Weaver to create, in fact I might even go full retard and create a second unit. So until my next update, hobby responsibly and try not to misgender anyone maliciously.

Thanks for reading.

Battle For Hell's Gorge

 

The torment of the Void Spectres on Tuberosum continued. Harassment of isolated squads led to great sport and insignificant casualties. That was not to say that there were none, just unimportant vassals who would not be missed. The Void Spectres were seemingly retreating through a gouge in the earth that had once been some kind of mining settlement. The area itself had been named by the indigenous dross as 'Hell's Gorge'. Within the centre of the settlement were a series of defensive bunkers that the pathetic humans were fleeing to. The Void Spectres were deployed to enable as many Imperial citizens could enter the bunkers and avoid the depredations of Adraxys' raiders. Digging out prey like common labourers would not be a productive use of his menials time so a swift strike to capture the entire human populace would gain a great deal of booty for his avaricious desires.  So with a slight gesture towards the enemy the battle for Hell's Gorge began.

Greetings all. Quite a while back I played a few Crusade missions from the Beyond the Veil book set in the Pariah Sector against Dylan's Space Marines. Here is the report of the game. The game represents a swift strike against a foe that was on the receiving end of an arse kicking. So; The Void Spectres Last Stand was the event in question. If want to read up the entire mission rules here it is on Wahapedia.

The deployment map.

Agendas 

I decided to take credit, reaper, breakthrough. 

Requisitions

I spent two RPs and removed (the injury) leg wound (or wounds, I don't know) from the  Hellions, and the mark of shame for Wyches.

The game was pretty tough for Dylan, he deployed quite far forward to hold the objectives which unfortunately for him meant I could get some early charges in. The strangely worded set up rules for the attacker meant I could get into him turn one. The Dreadnaught took a barrage from my heavy weapons and died again.

The start of the battle and the enemy is almost within fiddling distance!

A good view of the worried Void Spectres.

The Reavers prepare to murder some marines (as do many other Druchari). 

Eradicators try their normal try to look inconspicuous on building tactic, this isn't the Hellions first rodeo though.

I could almost feel pity for the marines in this scenario, but as the living embodiment of alien evil, I don't. If anything I can't stop smiling. 😇

The blood letting has begun! To be fair Primaris Marines are pretty tasty  in combat with numerous attacks but Drukhari are better (this game was pre Armour of Contempt)

A 5" vertical engagement range meant the Eradicators were eradicated!

Up close and personal, just how the Dark kin get their kicks.

Wyches jump out of a transport to kick someone some nicks.

The suddenness of my early charges nearly backfired as both Venoms had their passengers still in them when they struck the marines. It would have been very embarrassing for Adraxys had he been blown up with his Incubi entourage!

 

Now that the Wyches and Succubus arrive from the transport, it's pretty much game over.

By turn three Dylan conceded as my force has done a rather fine job of decimating his army. Yes I had gotten lucky with the taking out of certain key enemy units (the dread and eradicators). Combat went very well as I had thrown the two Venoms into the fray possibly a little prematurely but it left some of Dylan's shooty units unable to do so. Once again the Incubi and Wyches proved to be horrific butchers of Marines as do Hellions. It's probably worth reiterating that this game was pre Armour of Contempt and as such the Drukhari are probably ideal Astartes killers.  So after the game it was time to do the accounts.

Battle traits 

Two units got battle traits, The Sinister Path; Quentifel's own Wych escort got headhunters, this means any characters need to keep the flip away from them! Seven Cliques of Terror, the Hellion unit got fleet of foot which is their second advance. They now move 1" faster and get +1 to advance and charge rolls. Coupled with Lightning Strikes (exploding 6's in melee) they are very dangerous!

Territorial Dominance 

Due to the sucessful nature of the game and take credit agenda I received 6 raid spoils. Adraxys gained control of the shrine of cursed night (incubi temple), drudge pit (sprawl slum), bladewrought lanes (gang territory), and the netherweir (shadow district). Unfortunately there was an assassination attempt and my Archon received battle scar (insentate). This ultimately means he halves damage received but can no longer benefit from Power from Pain. 

Weapon Enhancements 

None

Battle Scars 

the Reavers got mark of shame, so they are skating on thin ice within the force. As noted above the Archon is now Insensate, but I heard of another crusade gamer whom received this battle scar for a character, he vowed that he cannot remove said injury until he commits some incredible  act of wanton slaughter to regain his lust for life (or more likely death). 

Crusade Relics 

None.

With the masses of slaves taken from Tuberosum Adraxys had the necessary leverage and resources to attack several other Archons holdings. The Incubi temple Shrine of the Cursed Night was now under his control as was the Netherweir which was part of the shadow district. The Drudge Pit and Bladewrought Lanes also became his territories due to bribes and threats.  Unfortunately the minor moves garnered attention from some rival leading to an attempt on his life. The attempt was unsuccessful but the assassins blades were laced with a powerful neurotoxin attacking his nerves, rendering his ability to enjoy the suffering of others severely curtailed. This insidious toxin was not fatal but excruciating. Someone would have to pay. The thought gave him a slight glimmer of enjoyment but it quickly dissipated. A cure needed to be found but in the interim my raids must increase to stave off the hollowness. 

The End

So a rather brutal game that ended well for the good guys! Well, morality is in the soul of the beholder I think so think the Druchari are my version of good guys. They definitely identify as being justified anyway. So next up for the Crusade is an attempt at playing some planetstrike missions,

Thanks for reading.

Skirmish inside the Great Gout

Greetings one and all. Following the release of Arks of Omen; Abaddon, I decided to give it a go. I saw some videos on YouTube and got the itch to play some space hulk type games. I had pre ordered the book from GWs website only for it to arrive some 10 days after it was supposed to on the day of the game. Never being one to let ignorance of rules interfere with a game, myself and Dylan decided to plough on with a game. Another thing to note is I am too scabby to buy the GW boarding actions terrain (for now anyway) so I am using Necromunda bulkheads, Warhammer Quest doorways and various other terrain that if you squint really hard could pass for the inside of a space hulk. 

The Death Guard deploy.

The Scenario

We decided to play Access Junction Primus, the first scenario in the book which has a central open space with four objectives. Points are scored for 1, 2 and more than your opponent with additional CP's for purging the ship of enemies. Nice and simple.

The Narrative

My initial boarding force are a splinter cell of The Assembly of D'Keddes  who have resided on the Great Gout, a space hulk for several centuries. Unknown to the assembly it has been given to a Nurgle warhost by Abaddon to further his spikey plans. When a routine Nurgle patrol discovered Aberrant dung along some of the walkways a group was sent to investigate and kill. Due to the enormity of The Great Gout quite a sizeable force of Genestealers reside on it and have been running a racket whereby incautious explorers get waylaid and infected with Genestealer genetic material then released back into their respective 'people' to begin the breeding cycle elsewhere. When within the deepest bowels of the Gout the Patriarch became aware of a large number of invaders, the cult was mobilised.

The Boarding Parties

The cult force consists of two Acolyte Hybrid units, a neophyte squad, 5 Aberrants,  Biophagus Nerm and force leader Stumbleklunk an Abominant. They are of the Twisted Helix strain so +1 strength and +1 move make them ideal close quarter fighters. Dylan took two five man units of Plague Marines 10 Poxwalkers, five Deathshroud Terminators and their leader was a minor character, a Foul blightspawn if memory serves.

The Disclaimer

I do not have boarding party terrain so a quick search of my terrain collection enabled me for the most part to construct an approximation of the map in the book. This includes necromunda  bulkheads, Warhammer Quest doorways and various other bits. the game itself was to figure out what the boarding parties games would be like and let myself and Dylan know if we want to play more in that vein. Photography was a bit meh too, as I have to yet sort out adequate lighting in the loft.

The Game

The fun thing with Cult armies in boarding actions is that due to the lack of being able to use blips, my army always sets up last, regardless.  So the Death guard set up with the Terminators in a teleportarium somewhere. I set up with all my bodies on the ground (gravity permitting). In the centre was the Abberants, five Hybrids and Stumbleklunk. North of them was another five Hybrids and to the south were the Neophytes.

The idiotically deployed Neophytes skulk through small chambers rather than set up where there is the only long firing lane.

The red blips denote closed doorways until I manage to either create hinged doors or beg steal or borrow the proper terrain.

My Neophytes slink through a doorway.

The game was hella fun with plenty of killing and holding of objectives. My troops weren't as durable as the Death Guard but they were slightly more mobile. Grabbing objectives and stealing the DG home objective put me in a great position early doors. What seemed amusing to me at first but actually gave me an unassailable lead was my Northmost Acolytes holding a door closed for two turns while holding an objective. By the time the Plague Marines did get the door open I had spent two turns racking up the score. 

The central 'claw' of my boarding party made up of the Aberrants and Acolytes make for Junction Primus, presumably to Access it. Biophagus Nerm follows behind while the Stumbleklunk makes a racket in the vicinity.

Through the bizarrely semi transparent walls five Plague marines walk out on the set. The Foul Blightspawn (or whatever) hides behind them.

The Poxwalkers do their thing, walk with pox. They grabbed the objective and held it until wiped out by Acolytes.

One thing I really missed was using some of the ultra fun Genestealer strategems. This was particularly missed when the Deathshroud Terminators started whaling on my poor innocent Aberrants. Had I been able to use Monstrous Vigour they might have  stuck around for a bit longer. Also using the Biophagus to give my Abominant a 5+ feel no pain when he already had it was a bit dumb. Read your Codex's kids! Had I been a bit more savvy with my army rules I possibly would have survived until Dylan's final turn. As it was the strategy of holding a door closed against all comers was a sound one.

The Aberrants duke it out with the Deathshroud terminators while the Hybrids decide on whether to save the day.

This rather snazzy scoring sheet is from an app made by goonhammer.

The Hindsight

My deployment was wrong, the Neophytes should have gotten the central objective and thusly be able to use their long range weapons, particularly as they were opposite the Poxwalkers. I also should have put a unit into deepstrike to react to whatever stunts the Death Guard would pull. I used the Biophagus to give Stumbleklunk a 5+ fnp when he already had it! D'oh! The Acolytes were the ones who won it for me however with one unit wiping out and therefore taking Dylan's home objective and the other unit by holding a door closed for 2 turns, stopping the Plague Marines from contesting another objective.   

The Conclusion

I sometimes find games of 40K don't sit well narratively speaking with my own armies, ie. why would Drukhari be fighting Aeldari on an Imperial world? Boarding Actions removes this bugbear of mine as pretty much everyone is fighting on somebody else's turf. The other narrative hook for me is space hulks in general are the home of genestealers and therefore I am perfectly happy to have Orks vs the Cult as it makes much more thematic sense. Anyway, as far as the game went, it was 40k with less stuff for me to forget (only three strategems to use) and LoS considerations. I like it and hope to play a good few more games of this type.

The Future

Next time I'm going to use GSC I think I will try to get a Magus in there. In particular using the power to advance and charge could be crucial to get into the right position mid game. With that in mind I think my Druchari will be very tasty in boarding actions as power from pain isn't affected by boarding actions. Some of the obsessions could make quite an effect on small scale skirmishes. Anyway I would recommend boarding actions as a fun little diversion. I wouldn't buy the terrain until you've had a few games to see what you think. Of course, GWs books Angron and Vashtorr are already sold out so whether I will get to play any of the later scenarios remains to be seen.

Thanks for reading. 

Experimental Creations of Biophagus Nerm

 Hi all, just a quick post of my first finished models of 2023. Some models from the Mantic Games kickstarter for Star Saga. I backed it some 3 or 4 years ago then promptly ignored it when it arrived. It's highly unlikely I will ever play it but I do like a lot of the models. So a couple of weeks ago I was searching for proxies for my Drukhari Court of the Archon models. I was also looking for a Biophagus model to experiment on my Genestealer Cult chaps. So here is what I've done;

Biophagus Nerm

Biophagus (Biophagi plural?) are a sort of geneticist that appears in a cult when needed, which is dead handy for the Patriarch. They sort of mess around with genetic code to make cult members more killy and less pleasant to be around. The model I'm using for said battlefield role is Dr Koyner from the Mazon Labs Faction. He can also moonlight as some sort of heretical sci-fi boffin that might wander on to a Rogue Traderesque type scenario. Who knows?

As a blatant fuck you to the Imperium, he is seen posing on a big Imperial Aquilla on the floor.

Experiments 97 through 103

These Plague models are also from Mantic. They came in the kickstarter but I don't see them on the website at the moment. I think they have a variety of uses in my games. Firstly as Ur Ghul proxies for my Drukhari army. Fluff wise they can be creations of Beldam Qud (my Haemonculus). More than likely some Astra Militarum troops captured and then put through the genetic wringer only to come out the other side as muscle bound almost mindless attack creatures. They also look like the sort of thing Fabius Bile could create after he gets in with a rebellious Imperial governor who wants to cede from the empire and get some fanatically loyal buff bodyguards to protect him from insurgents. They could also represent exhibits in some creepy alien zoo where some unfortunate humans have been stuck there and due to having to eat rank xenos food have regressed into shit flinging primates that give aeldari smug smirks of validation. The possibilities are endless. 

These guys seem to have bony growths on their shoulders so they will probably make great bloodbowl players too.

Family photo.

So that's my first seven models of the year, if I can maintain this rate I'm looking at 84 models for this year. Not great but at least it's an achievable target. Until next time take care and hobby responsibly.

Thanks for reading.