Magic

Now that I have the Chaos Daemon Codex I have been learning a lot. I have been looking at Tzeentch as they Hate Nurgle. They are also very much focused on magic. There is a variety of units available through the Malefic Powers route.

Primarius Power - Summoning - 10 Pink Horrors, 3 Flamers

Sacrifice - 1 Herald
Incursion - 3 Screamers
Possession - 1 Lord of Change

Herald of Tzeentch

The Herald is interesting because it comes with 30 points worth of gear. The basic model is normally a HQ choice costing 45 points and is a Pysker (Mastery Level 1). 25 points can upgrade him to Mastery Level 2. Casting Sacrifice is also quite cheap at Warp Charge 1.

Being a Daemon of Tzeentch is also cool because there is a +3 modifier to Leadership when manifesting powers. You can also reroll any saving throws of a 1. The basic Leadership is already decent at 8. This makes it very likely that the Physic Test will be passed.

Summoning a Herald also means that you can add to the Warp Pool in following turns. I think you would want to summon a Herald every turn if possible.

The Herald can also take Daemonology Malefic Powers and so can start to summon things to the table himself so potentially adding even more Heralds. By turn 3 they could begin to focus on summoning units of daemons.

Pink Horrors of Tzeentch

These little beauties also have magical abilities and add to the Warp Pool. They come in units of 10 but can join together. Unit of 10 adds 1 to the Warp Pool. However 11-15 adds 2 and 16-20 adds 3 to the Warp Pool. That is starting to get serious!

They are also Daemons of Tzeentch so add +3 to Leadership. They too can take Daemonolgy Malefic Powers.

They are Brotherhood of Psykers and as such have a Mastery Level of 1.

Lord of Change

This is a 230 point Monstrous Creature. A level 2 psyker with a Leadership of 9 and comes with Daemon of Tzeentch.

I could see a situation where the Ork Weirdboy goes for the Possession straight away bringing a much more powerful magician to the table who then starts summoning further deamons with much greater reliability.

This is proving to be an interesting exploration and no mistake.

A touch of chaos - Pink Horrors

As part of my ongoing exploration of Chaos Daemons I ordered the Codex, always a good start ;-). As with these things there is the temptation to add something to the order so I decided to invest in a box of Pink Horrors. The models look great and it will give me another unit to choose from. Also I had an idea for painting Orky daemons and thought it would good to start with them.

My theory is that the daemons are being summoned using Ork Waaagh Energy. This magical energy is created by the Orks themselves when they enter that blood crazed state of the Waaagh. The Weird Boy is just harnessing the energy as it flows through him. So it is very much an Ork thing!

On that basis I figure that the daemons that are summoned must have an Ork core. They are what they are but the Waaagh Energy adds something to the mixture.... I give you the manifestation of an Ork Pink Horror. I love it. (He giggled madly over his cup of tea)

Painting - I have attempted to merge the colours so that I am going through Light Green - Dark Green - Purple - Pink, mixing them as I go. I have used washes and highlights to bring elements forward and then knock them back. I have made the Green the standout colour and kept the Pink fairly dull. The bright Blue is another theme accent colour for my Orks so the tongue fits in well.

I have given them the 'dirty yellow' for feathers as this is another theme accent colour in my army. I have gone for the this yellow on the beaks as well, a nod to the colour of the 'iron gobs' on my guys.

The Blue tongue is a nod to the couple of Blue Horrors that are inside every Pink Horror. Finally I have gone for Blue Gems and again this is aimed at the Blue Horrors within. I think they look mad and will fit right into the army.

Still a lot of work to do, but don't you just love it when you have an idea and, when implemented, it turns out to be pretty cool. I will be picking out details on these guys for weeks.

I have started to read up the rules for the daemons - man its complicated but I have just noticed that these guys 'Hate Nurgle'. How appropriate is that for the storyline? These guys would be very clear on who the opposition is!!

Chaos Daemons

I thought I would explore what deamons I have in preparation for the great conjuring of 'Agor the Mad'. Its funny how the mind works and over night I have been wrestling with the issue of how the daemons would know to fight on the Ork side? I have decided that as it is the  Ork 'Waaagh Energy' that has spawned them then they are caught up in the Waaagh and are driven to destroy the hated enemy. This makes sense to me ;-)

One of my very first armies was Khorne. They were the first army that I took to a tournament and I used to play them with lots of Bloodletters. A quick hunt in the garage has revealed a surprising number of Khorne daemons.

I had forgotten about the hounds altogether and I think I have another set of the old Bloodletters on the right somewhere. I really must get better at keeping stuff in the same place.

Possession allows my Ork Weirdboy to turn into a Greater Daemon. The Bloodthirster was my first really big model and I did love him. He is metal and at tournaments the wings and hands kept falling off until I was educated into the fine art of pinning. It would be glorious to see him on the battlefield again.

I would have enough models to field a unit of 10 Bloodletters or 5 Flesh Hounds of Khorne for the Primus Power - Summoning. That is good.

I have another Bloodcrusher of Khorne somewhere although not painted. The Malific Power - Incursion allows you to take three of them in a unit so I would need a third in order to use them. This would give me at least one allowable unit for this spell as I don't have any Fiends of Slannesh.

More recently I moved into a Slannesh army. I had great hopes for it. Some of the Slannesh models are just great however you do need some expert painting skills to do them justice and I'm afraid that I lack a little in this area. Anyway I had gathered some Slannesh daemons during that period.

The Daemonettes of Slannesh are mouth watering and I spent ages trying to get the flesh to look decent.  I have 12 models so that will be enough to field a unit of 10 as allowed by the Primus Power - Summoning. I also have enough Seekers of Slannesh to field the allowed unit of 5.

Possession would allow 'Argo the Mad' to transform into the Keeper of Secrets. This model always seemed to do well for me.

The spell of Sacrifice is therefore a potential problem as I don't have any Heralds however I suppose I could just use any chaos model as a stand in for this.

Other than that I believe that I have some of the really old Pink and Blue Horrors of Tzeentch and a few Plague Bearers of Nurgle. We used both of these for some of our early games of Necromunda. I don't think that I will be able to muster units of 10 though.

It would be nice to have a greater variety because the units could be very situational in that they will excel at certain things. I will need to get a set of the Daemon rules and then   .......    Orky Daemons.

What was that? ..... Oh yes ..... I think it is ebay whispering in my ear ;-)

Ork Weirdboy, with chaotic leanings

I played my Ork Pysker, 'Eadcrumpa, in our first 1500 point game.

I gave him abilities from the 'Powers of Waaagh'.  This seemed to be very appropriate and in keeping with the story line. He really brought something to the game when he rolled for 'Da Jump' and 'Power Vomit'. I was able to Deep Strike an entire unit in behind the enemy and then used Power Vomit on a unit of Obliterators. It was hilarious.

In the second game of 2500 points I did not take any magic at all. 'Eadcrumpa had died spectacularly and it was as if Ghazghkull had seen enough and turned to the Mekboyz instead.

For the next big game of 4000 points I am thinking of turning back to magic with 'Agor the Mad'. However this time a corrupted version. In my head Agor, 'Eadcrumpa's second in command, has been effected by his time on this world of Chaos and his powers have evolved such that his abilities are now those of Daemonology.

I just love the idea of Orks using Malefic Powers and summoning daemons to the table. And think of the opportunities for conversions .....

The are four ways to summon demons: -

1. Primaris Power (This is automatic - no rolling required) - Summoning, this summons a unit of your choice who arrive by Deep Strike within 12".
    - 10 Bloodletters of Khorne
    - 10 Pink Horrors of Tzeentch
    - 10 Plaguebearers of Nurgle
    - 10 Demonettes of Slannesh
    -  5 Flesh Hounds of Khorne
    -  3 Flamers of Tzeentch
    -  3 Nurgling swarms
    -  5 Seekers of Slannesh

Then the next three can be rolled for.

2. Sacrifice (D6 of 4) - Conjure one of the following units of your choice Herald of Khorne, Tzeentch, Slannesh or Nurgle with 30 points of options.

3. Incursion (D6 of 5) - Conjure one of the following units of your choice 3 Bloodcrushers of Khorne, 3 Screamers of Tzeentch, 3 Plague Drones of Nurgle or 3 Fiends of Slannesh.

4. Possession (D6 of 6) - Conjure one of the following of your choice 1 Bloodthirster, 1 Lord of Change, 1 Great Unclean one or 1 Keeper of Secrets.

The big question is where to start? The idea of Bloodletters joining an Ork army is pretty cool but then again so is the idea of sending Plaguebearers in against a Nurgle opponent. This is going to require some thinking.

I would welcome any thoughts ...


   

Da Stompa in play - thoughts of a defeated general.

Well now that I have played Da Stompa I feel that I know so much more about about it. It is great fun on the battle field and no mistake! The Dark Templar has done a cool battle report which is worth a look.

I think that I have learned a number of things: -

1. The Mek Boyz are important to repair HP's have a number of them and don't forget to use them!
2. The KFF is necessary and it has a range of 6" around the Stompa - make use of this.
3. Who is carried inside is important - think shooting. There are four fire points.
4. There is potential to take several small units inside.
5. It not great against lots of AV14! Blow up transports early and get troops out in the open.
6. It can get bogged down in hand to hand so support him with something that can help.
7. Beware of magic - I had 'weapons get hot' cast on me a lot so any 1's were hurting me.
8. He is huge on the table - hide something behind him - A unit of Boyz in a Trukk would be good start and would help with any potential hand to hand volume.
9. He is not an assault vehicle and there is only one access point, at the back. Whatever gets out needs to be able to shoot.
10. His blast template weapon only scattered one D6. Be brave!
11. Melta weapons are not to be tolerated. Have a plan to deal with them.
12. Max out on Supa Rokkits and use them when you can
13. Grot Riggers are worth a thought.

He is lots and lots of fun to play but he is not a one man army. Now that I have a 'feel' for him I need to consider what complements him. He is the star man but everyone benefits from a team approach.

I am liking the idea of Killa Kans in front and to the side of him. Maybe a full unit of 6 all benefiting from the KFF. They have a BS of 3 so decent shooty weapons would be useful. This will slow things down a bit but that is fine.

Have a small unit of Lootas inside manning the fire points. This will add weight of shots. Upgrade to as many Meks as possible.

I also like the idea of a small unit of Tank Bustas with Squigs. These can disembark in turn 4 or 5 and  use the Squigs. They will also be fearless within 6" of the Da Stompa.

When he goes down he does it in style with a huge explosion. It would be nice to be in hand to hand if that is going to happen ;-)

I would welcome any other thoughts. Its always good to get another perspective.