Must-have units: Plague Marines and Plaguebearers

In what promises to be another great post, Ron at From the Warp is putting together a list of the FtW group's must-have units. Since Warpstone Flux is mostly about Chaos, I wanted to give two choices: one for the chaos daemons codex and one from the chaos space marines codex.

Firstly to the chaos space marines. My must have unit there are plague marines. For my long time followers, this probably isn't too much of a surprise to you! Their survivability is legendary for their points costs. I've talked extensively about their advantages, thinking of them as terminator-kin, various special weapon set-ups, and firepower draw-backs. Their utility to the codex has been shown time and again on the battlefield for me, in numerous roles. One of their chief roles is to "objective grab" -- they persist for such a long time that they're hard to pass by without thinking of them in that role.

Continuing with the general Nurgle theme, in the daemons codex, I usually always take plaguebearers. They form part of my first-wave and usually take an icon with them to ensure that second wave daemons have something to deep-strike off when they come in to play. Their survivability (in common to the plague marines) is very good. With a chaos instrument, they can tar-pit and bog down opposition units for turns on end. In addition, they have poisoned attacks which means they can take on monstrous creatures and stand a chance of both doing damage to them and bogging them down for a few turns. On the negative side, they are on the slow side with regards to movement. But with a reasonable deep strike, they probably don't need to be moved around too much anyway.

I'm looking forward to reading about everyone else's choice!

Chaos Objective

This is one of a small number of chaos objectives that I built a while ago for use in games. I can't say it's very original in design or execution, but it does fulfil a dual role in both of my chaos space marine and chaos daemons armies.

It is principally an icon taken from the new plastic bloodletters sprue, affixed to a small circular base, and given a (very) rough paint job with a chaos star icon. It works, it is functional (i.e. it doesn't tip over readily) and represents the theme of my armies well. However, I'm now looking for better ideas for chaos objectives. I'm thinking along the lines of a roughly carved stone (styrene) with a chaos symbol etched in to it -- a little like what was depicted in the old Realms of Chaos books. I'll have to get around to it at some point! Anybody got any further suggestions as to what might work well for objectives in both daemons and chaos marine armies?

Purple Daemonette

This daemonette follows a purple colour scheme that was commenced with a basecoat of hormagaunt purple followed by liberal inking in a blended purple and black ink. The flesh areas were then shaded progressively lighter to an almost grey colour -- this can be seen clearly on the forehead region which really doesn't look as purple as the bulk of the rest of the miniature.

The clothes were basecoated in goblin green and inked a deep green colour in the recesses of the folds, before highlighting back to a tone lighter than goblin green on the raised portions. The green gives a jagged contrast to the purple tones of the flesh (not quite as bad as blue and green!) but still suitable for a daemonette of Slaanesh. The armoured portions were based around boltgun metal silvers and highlighted to skull white levels around the rim. The lining of the skull white is probably a bit too thick; I need to get a new fine detail 000 paint brush. The final details included adding dots to the eyes and completing the claws in a two-toned cream and white combination.

The base of the miniature is simply plasticard cut in to a regular shape and painted up to look like a street scene.

Golden Demon Next Year

Well, I didn't make the final cut for Golden Demon this year with my various entries (plaguebearers, great unclean one, lava screamer, a bloodletter and a LotR wraith that I've not posted about yet!).

Next year I'll be more prepared! :)

However, one thing that I did notice was the relative number of entries in each category. As I might have expected, the most frequent entry was in the single miniature category for both fantasy and 40k.

What was a bit of a surprise to me was the scarcity of the following: 40k squads, 40k monsters, fantasy regiments, and Lord of the Rings categories.

Although also few in number, the duel and large model categories were fantastically well painted.

I'm not sure whether this is noticed elsewhere on the planet, but it certainly indicates that (e.g.) Lord of the Rings might be moderately easier to get placed in than others?

Group Photo: 1500 points of Mixed Daemons

Following on from my army list posted yesterday, here's the big group photo of my mixed daemons horde!

At the front and centre are the Herald of Tzeentch on a Chariot with a bunch of screamers.

To the left of them are the Khorne contingent: a Herald riding a Juggernaut surrounded by bloodletters with wicked lava-like hellblades.

To the right, are the putrid Nurgle elements: a Great Unclean One surrounded by plaguebearers.

At the back and centre, we have a large Soul Grinder, lurking in the same way that skyscrapers don't.

To the left are more Tzeentch elements: this time a squad of pink horrors with the Changeling.

To the right are the Slaanesh daemonettes cavorting around a daemon prince.

Army List: 1500 points of Mixed Daemons

This is the mixed daemons army list that I've been playing around with recently. It consists of all four of the major powers in (approaching) equal quantities. I've taken it to tournaments and had reasonable results with it. It's not supposed to be "killer" or "top tier", but it is competitive without being overwhelming to newbies. It is somewhat changed from my usual "friendly" style list. I've linked to my random tactical thoughts on a couple of the choices that I've made, for reference. Comments welcome!

HQ:
Great Unclean One of Nurgle, Cloud of flies (165 points)
Herald of Tzeentch on a Chariot, with Bolt of Tzeentch (95 points)
Herald of Khorne on Juggernaut (105 points)

TROOPS:
11 bloodletters of Khorne (176 points)
11 plaguebearers of Nurgle, icon of chaos, instrument of chaos (195 points)
11 daemonettes of Slaanesh, transfixing gaze (159 points)
9 pink horrors of Tzeentch, chaos icon, bolt, The Changeling (195 points)

FAST ATTACK:
5 screamers of Tzeentch (80 points)

HEAVY SUPPORT:
Daemon prince with flight and iron hide (170 points)
Soul grinder of chaos with phlegm (160 points)

Total = 1498 points.

Footnote: My preferred first wave of deep-strikers are the Herald of Tzeentch, the plaguebearers of Nurgle, the daemonettes of Slaanesh, the soul grinder and the screamers of Tzeentch.