Marauder Horsemen Finished!

After what seems like an age, I'm back with my finished Marauder Horsemen! These were a real slog to do. I applied the basecoats shortly after the last post, but quickly decided that I'd ruined them. Of course, when I got some of the details and washes on, I was much more happy with how they were going.

Added to this, I really hate painting horses. Also, I had a mishap with watering down a brown wash too much, which resulted in white marks all over the horses... Which then resulted in me having to paint over each area again!

Areas that need improving/finishing when I get the required paints/washes are the rust on the weapons and armour, and washing then highlighting the horses. But for now I'm happy with how they are! Now onto the photos - 









Got a couple of options for the next purchase. I know I should try to finish off my Nurgle Demon Battalion with a Herald and Great Unclean One, but I'm leaning more towards either some Plague Drones, chaos warriors, more blight kings, a chaos lord or doombull. Any ideas/preferences what I should attempt next?!

Nurgle Wood Development

Writing my own background has allowed me to more readily envisage suitable scenery to go along with the army. With scenery being a much more integral part of Age of Sigmar than 8th, I felt more enthusiastic in creating my own.

I have some ideas for a forest themed board, but am struggling with the logistics of transporting a board of such size. Whilst I would still like to create a board at some point (maybe over the Christmas period, at a reduced size from 4x6...), I've begun work on a Citadel wood to go along with the army, and to hopefully form a good background for taking photos of them!

Removed a tree to create a pool area, greenstuffed my best attempt at creating a bubbling effect + bank and a tentacle.

And painted - may do a bit more work on it, specifically the tentacle as the paintjob currently looks too similar to the green stuff base...

Plus you can see my first attempt at the Rot Tree, from the removed tree on the base.











A couple of close ups of the green stuff work on the tree -

Finally here's a quick preview of the next unit in the army - a unit of marauder horsemen -

Rebasing cavalry is hard...

Beginnings of the Rot Glade

Like many, AoS has reignited my love of terrain, and so tonight in a moment of inspiration, I've begun recommisioning a wood into a Nurgle-dedicated wood. I've removed one of the trees and begun sculpting a fetid pool in it's place. Complete with tentacle.



The remaining tree will hopefully be used as a base for the Rot Tree from my background, doubling up as a realmgate complete with some kind of door...

First Battle Highlights

I recently had my first real taste of AoS in a game with my friends Orcs. We played the breakthrough scenario, where I had to get off the other side of the board, being blocked by his army.

I had;
1 Rotbringer Sorceror,
2x10 Plaguebearers,
5 Blightkings,
3 Nurglings,
3 Plague Ogres.

He had;
1 Black Orc Hero,
10 Black Orcs,
10 Orc Boys,
7 Boar Boys
1 Giant.

We had a very close game, with myself achieving a minor victory by getting the minimum number of models to achieve the victory off the table by the end of turn 6. So I guess due to how close it was you could say it was balanced, and we made some concessions to ensure we had balanced forces before the game. Below I'll list my first impressions of the game;

• We played it for quite a long time considering how small the forces were, about 4 hours. However this will definitely reduce the more we play, I think we'd be able to get two games in the same time next time!
• Access to re-rollable saves for the boys and Boar Boys is insane.
• Giants can do alot of damage but this is somewhat mitigated by how easy they are to wound, which with them being a monster, reduces their output as they get damaged.
• Nurgle demons are very resilient, getting a 5+ normal save then 5+ Disgustingly Resilient save. Add in Mystic Shield and you're laughing.
• The Icon Bearer ability for Plaguebearers/Drones is very powerful. If you roll a 1 for battleshock, d6/d3 wounds are regained. I did this three times in the game with my Plaguebearers.
• Blight Kings are great at dealing damage, hitting and wounding on 3s is great, then add in their Blighted Weapons and Virulent Discharge rules on top and they are amazing.
• Plague Ogres with Damage 2 are good too.
• Nurglings rule of if you don't kill a full base in one turn they regenerate to their starting wounds is ace, a great tarpit unit.
• The two basic spells for wizards are very versatile, although in this game I used Mystic Shield far more than Arcane Bolt, but I did use Arcane Bolt to kill the Orc General.
• My army was very slow, to combat this I'll be purchasing some Marauder Horsemen which I can give the Nurgle keyword to to keep synergies. I also intend to get a unit of Plague Drones as soon as funds allow!
• I think the scenario was key in making the game so fun, so we will continue to play with scenarios going forward.

Below are a couple of photos from the game, not particularly information, but you can at least see the kind of formations we were putting are units in. I really feel every person who is anti AoS really hasn't given it a chance and I'm genuinely gutted for them! Great game.

Army Background 2

After having my first battle, I've come up with a little more background development for the army.

Cholothrax was first aware of the Orcs' presence on their first night's camp within the forest. He sensed a new species of Rot moulding into the earth as the Orcs created their waste from the spoils of pillaging a nearby town. 

Ordering the warband to converge on the Orc's camp, Cholothrax's first thought was to parley with them, to tempt them into carrying out their particular kind of waste in the name of Nurgle and the Rot Tree. However, as the warband approached their camp, they were immediately set upon by the Orcs. 

The Orcs quickly created a blockade to cut off the Rotbringers from their glade, Cholothrax was loath to let this happen as he would soon lose his grip on the warband as his power was derived from the Rot Tree itself.

Cholothrax soon sensed a powerful presence within the Orc ranks, and dispatched his personal vanguard along with a gaggle of Plaguebearers he had managed to summon.

In the centre he commanded the most powerful of his warband, the Blight Kings, to engage what he perceived to be the epicenter of the enemy forces, a large group of Black Orcs. These proved a persistent and difficult to dispatch enemy.

On the right flank, Cholothrax sent a small group of his Plague Ogres and their attendant Nurglings, their orders to break through the ranks of the Orcs to get word to the rest of the warband.

Cholothrax himself held back surveying the battle, only committing himself to a course of action when  needed. Throughout most of the conflict, he supported various regiments with his mystic shield, only committing to physical violence when the enemy general presented his rear, expertly using an arcane bolt to execute him. He then moved on to support the remaining Plaguebearers in assaulting the Giant.

As the opportunity to retreat to the glade was becoming ever more unlikely, Cholothrax, after bringing the Giant to it's knees, fled the battle back to the safety of the Rot Tree, following the remnants of his Blight Kings, Plague Ogres and Nurglings, ready to lead the assault on the remaining Orc forces in the forest.

I guess that turned into a mini battle report of my first game too! Hopefully going to try writing like this after each battle, due to how rarely I get to battle this shouldn't prove too much hassle. Will do another post covering my battle highlights to keep things compact.

Plague Ogres Complete!

After what feels like an age, I've managed to just about finish the Plague Ogre unit. I had trouble for a long time trying to get the right size bases bought, but in the end I'm happy with how the bases have turned out, after a flash of inspiration after some pieces of slate fell off my roof -

The growths across the back are probably a little too much, but I'm still proud of them as these and the stomach below are my first attempts at greenstuffing.

However I'm really happy with the blending between the growth and skin.

The open stomach below is my favourite part of the unit, it was really easy to mold using the green stuff, and painted up I think it blends in with the model alot better than the back growths.

Even though the Plague Ogres have no rules for standard bearers (or other command models), I'm glad I kept it as is, rather than trying to convert it to using a normal weapon. I enjoyed the blending on the flag even though it's a bit rougher than the growth blending. The gnoblar that came with the miniature I swapped heads with a spare nurgling head from, I think, the Plaguebearer kit.

This last ogre goes with my Possessed warband (counts as plaguebearer unit, this guy counts as 2 in game). The yellow round his mouth doesnt seem as pronounced IRL...

Army Background

For some reason this has languished in drafts - for further army background see this post too.

Decided to have a think about the background of my army, in order to get motivated to continue, inform my modelling and painting, and to help me decide which way to go with the army in future.

From what I know of the Nurgle forces in AoS so far, they have currently been depicted in Ghyran, the Realm of Life, fighting the Sylvaneth (Forest Spirits) for control of that realm.

I've decided to base my army around a particularly corrupted tree in Ghyran, which I will hopefully model at some point. I intend each unit to have a particular purpose in regards to the tree.

Currently in my mind the army is split into two, the Humans and daemons, who focus on tending to and defending the tree, and the Beastmen, who focus on expanding Nurgle's influence in the realm.

Below are some thoughts on background for the warband I have just finished painting.


The current leader of the warband is Cholothrax, a somewhat powerful Rotbringer Sorceror. His work entails jovially tending to the trees needs, ensuring it's conduits have sufficient matter at all times, in order for it to thrive. Cholothrax's grip on the warband is tenuous at best, hinging on his innate knowledge of the Rot Tree.

His personal retinue is led by his brother, who has absolutely no magical aptitude, and so compensates with a large two handed axe, threatening to start hacking at the tree when the two have an argument.

Other notable members of the warband are The Brothers, a group of three gors who are scouting out the warband in order to ascertain if the Rot Tree is a worthy cause for the rest of their herd to follow, and an Ogre who tags along for the laugh.

Just from these few thoughts on the characters of the warband has cemented at least my next few months of buying for the army, as the two brothers begin to one-up each other in their dedication to Nurgle (with varying stages of daemonhood), as well as Beastmen reinforcements arriving at some point (or not), and possibly even the arrival of a more powerful entity to take control of the warband.

I'm loving how open Age of Sigmar is for writing your own background, and am glad I did this exercise, even though I found it hard at first, as it has really helped define the army for me.

Couple of WIPs from tonight, ploughing on with the cultist warband even though I'd rather be doing the Plague Ogres. Hopefully getting green stuff tomorrow so should be able to start work on them.



With these cultists, I've aimed to try and keep the robes "clean" and have the only soiled areas being the weapons and particularly the masks around the faces. I wanted to give the impression of the robes covering up their diseases like the old Mordheim Carnival of Chaos.



This is the ogre that will go with the warband, and count as two models in game. I purposely kept this ogre free from most "Nurglisation" as I wanted to use him as an ogre for hire if I wanted to use the unit in Mordheim.

Going through the washing and highlighting stages with these next, then more detailing, so should hopefully be able to see a marked improvement by the time I get around to posting next!

Nurgle Warband WIP

Began work on my Nurgle Mordheim warband, that will count as a unit for AoS too, colour scheme is based on the old Bretonnian squires colour scheme

Why Nurgle?

Or to be more accurate, why Nurgle, why now, and why plan the army as I have.

After reading what felt like millions of articles on the pros and cons of Age of Sigmar, I decided to start a new army project rather than change my former armies, Dark Elves and Vampire Counts, over. This was partly because I wasn't going to be rebasing hundreds of miniatures, and also because Age of Sigmar is so different to 8th that I think you'll be seeing completely different armies being made.

So looking for a new army, not much grabbed me to be honest, until I looked at Beastmen. Widely regarded as one of the worst performing armies, I had written them off for an 8th edition army but always loved the models. With AoS, I think most if not all units in an army are now viable, as well as there being benefits for taking certain units / heroes with the same keyword. So Beastmen were starting to look alot more feasible.

I began to make a list of what elements of the Beastmen I would include, beginning with the minotaurs, both the Doombull and standard minotaurs, as they are great models, plus being monstrous infantry sized would allow me to develop my painting skills. I then added ungors with bows as I felt these would act as scouts for the army plus give some much needed firepower. I like the centigor models so these were added in, also being used for scouts within the army. Other elements I may include at a later date are a Great Bray Shaman with his ability to summon any monster, and the other monsters in the beastmen range.


I was also looking for a project that would push my painting and modelling skills, and Beastmen with Nurgle allies fit the bill. I could practice using greenstuff on any model in the army, adding in typical Nurgle elements where appropriate. As the Blight Kings are some of my favourite recently released models, I decided to include them.

So I intend everything in the army to have the "mark" of Nurgle to unify it, even though none of the beastmen have the option to do this in the rules. Having begun collecting a number of units that are dedicated Nurgle already, this has allowed me to built up a small collection of Nurgle bits to use in converting the non-Nurgle units. Units will receive some greenstuffing in order to bring them in line with the others.

Plaguebearers Complete!

The unit of Plaguebearers is now complete, the photos below are from just before I added the finishing touches and neatened up the bases etc

I've since done a brown wash then highlighted silver on the metal head of the banner below.

Considering Next Purchase

My next purchase in the army is going to be my first non-Nurgle unit. However I intend to "Nurgle-ise" every unit in the army, one of the main reasons I started the army is for the modelling and painting opportunities in order to push myself (but more on that in a future post).

The two units I am debating on getting next are either a box of Ungors, to begin the Beastmen side (and intended core...) of the army, or a box of Ironguts in order to convert them into Plague Ogres. So below are my thoughts to help me decide.

Ungors 

Cheaper
Give some shooting to the army
Easier to convert, can use spare parts from Plaguebearers

Ironguts/Plague Ogres

4 to a box
Fit in better with the rest of the units I have so far, with Nurgle keyword, similar size to blight kings
Can hopefully use parts from the Blight Kings kit.
Would like to try green stuffing some parts on them.


Whichever way I go, I intend to try my hand at green stuffing for the first time, having found some great tutorials on the subject -

Nurgle 101

Greenstuff 101


Does anyone know how well, if at all, the Blight Kings parts will match up with the unit of Ironguts?

Plaguebearers Almost Complete

Some quick shots of the almost complete Plaguebearer unit tonight, will post better quality photos when they're fully done.

Nurglings Complete

Nurglings complete (apart from a quick paint round the edge of the bases)

Plaguebearer WIP

Tried a bit of wet blending last night, starting with a basecoat of one of the old dark greens, followed by highlighting with warboss green in desired areas. Really enjoyed doing it and hope to continue this with the rest of the unit. Next steps are a wash and another highlight.

Nurgling WIP

Been working on 3 bases of Nurglings this week, using all the Nurglings from the Plaguebearer sprue, plus a couple of egg sacs (?) to round things out. 

Used these as a test for the plaguebearers, although will use washes and hopefully blended layers on the plaguebearers.

I've covered each egg sac with PVA glue in order to give them a wet look, will probably use varnish for this in future but didn't have any to hand...

Overall Nurgle Army Plan

Below is my current buying plan for the whole army, I've decided to complete the daemon side of things first, as I'm already half way towards completing a Cohort of Nurgle, only needing a Herald and GUO to finish it. I've added an extra unit of plague drones in there as the models are sick... (Although I've just seen you need 3 units of plaguebearers for that, so may scrap that idea for now)
















This should hopefully give me a good basis of Nurgle bits for the rest of the army, particularly the Beastmen side, which I will probably do next... although I have some good ideas for using ironguts as chaos ogres.

I've also started to consider a Skaven battalion, only Nurgle units, plus those Plague monks look good on round bases...

Blight Kings Finished Photos

Managed to get some semi decent photos using my camera and bounce flash, really need to sort a background out to shoot against!

Blight Kings Finished!

Finished the unit of Blight Kings tonight after pondering about how to do the bases for much too long! Will post more better photos tomorrow.

Plaguebearers next, but currently more excited about doing the free Nurglings...