#75: The Brisbane Revolution....

If you live in south-east Queensland, and you play Age of Sigmar, you are part of one of the fastest-developing, most directional community in wargaming that I have seen in a long time! I will go out and say it...

Brisbane is going through a revolution, where the whole dynamic of the Age of Sigmar community is shifting; focusing. 

For me, the release of the GHB and Matched Play changed the game completely. It changed from a very fluid, organic (some would say dysfunctional) gaming experience into one with structure, form and purpose. Competitiveness had returned, no longer in the form of who owned the craziest models, but in the form of who could craft a cohesive force and then back it up by having great tactical acumen and strategic instincts after the dice started rolling. 

This on its own changed the whole feel and, to my pleasant surprise, not in a bad way. 

With this wave of competition came tournaments. I've said before and I'll say again, that the tournaments run by two of Brisbane's Warhammer Stores (Capalaba and Brisbane City stores, to be precise) in cooperation have been among the best events I have had the privilege of attending. These events on their own developed a great following in a gentlemanly atmosphere. 

Shortly after, came the Redland City Grand Tournament, which was wildly successful! 

Last year was pretty solid as far as tournaments go. But let me tell you...

You ain't seen nothing yet!

2017 will hands down be the biggest year of tournaments in our part of the world since Age of Sigmar was born! Not only are Alistair and Blake continuing their highly successful chain of events, Redland City GT will once again be held, as well as two other large events nursing onto the scene in style! BrisCon (a Heralds of War event) and Brisbane City Grand Tournament. Excitingly enough, The Rune Axe Wargaming will actually be a sponsor of the Brisbane City GT, so I'm very much looking forward to that! Both should be fantastic events!

But among the most exciting things to arrive on the AOS tournament scene  is easily the introduction of Australian National Rankings! This scratches that itch to know just how good you are at the game compared to the rest of the country! Not only that, but at the end of each Tournament season, the best sixteen players in the country will be invited to Australian Masters, a tournament to truly determine who is the best of the best in our fine country's wargaming community! This is all being spearheaded by the Heralds of War Podcast.  

What a time to be alive. 

It looks like an exciting few months ahead, as I'm in the process of planning out my Tournament Route. I'm by no means expecting to make Masters, but I'm interested to see where I can rank at the end of the season, and of course, set the bar for myself in coming years!

Hopefully, you too will do the same and join me in the battle for nationwide supremacy! 

Speaking of which, in the not-too-distant future, I'll be doing an interview with the player currently ranked #1 in Australia to pick his brains about how to challenge the best to become the best, as well as his advice on army construction, tactics and the ever-evolving state of this game we all love! Keep an eye out for it; it should be a great opportunity!

As always, thanks for reading,

Gabe

#74: In the Company of (Anti) Heroes...

One of the things I love so much about Age of Sigmar is its heavy focus on Heroes (and in turn, villains) that lead the many different factions of the Realms! From the the furious Grimwrath Berserker to the stalwart Lord-Castelant, from the lowliest decrepit Skaven Warlock clutching for power to the unbridled might of the Goddess Alarielle, atop her murder-beetle of death, characters abound in Sigmar. 

If we throw our minds back to 8th Edition, which I thoroughly enjoyed but can certainly recognise that it was not perfect, it reminds us of a time where characters were oft overlooked past the bare essentials...

A general.

A battle standard bearer. 

A wizard or support character.

Some armies, of course, benefited from having more, while forces like Lizardmen could tick all three boxes with a Slann. 

But these days, your playstyle, synergies and combos are built upon the back of Heroes. Whether they are unique, unnamed, minuscule or riding atop a towering monster (sometimes the hero IS the monster), every hero has a purpose and a place in one army list or another. Sure, there are certain characters that are better than others, as with any game, but all are useful. 

On top of that, your selection of heroes can have a huge impact on how your army plays. You could field the same selection of units and alternate characters, and that army would operate on a completely different wavelength! 

I'm going to delve into my logic behind the selection of characters, using Khorne Bloodbound as a prime example. 

With any army, I think there are four categories of characters. 

Commanders, usually picked for their great command abilities. My go-to, as many would know is the Mighty Lord of Khorne.

Buffers, used primarily for their abilities to empower those around them. While Bloodstokers fall into this category, the standout Buffer for Khorne is, of course, the brutally efficient Bloodsecrator. 

Toolkits are usually wizards or heroes with a handy little selection of abilities to be used throughout battle, whether offensively or defensively. With a total lack of magic, this role falls primarily with the Slaughterpriest, with their ability to halt magic with ease and using prayers to cause chaos and disarray in the enemy ranks!

And lastly, Brawlers. If there is one thing that Bloodbound have in abundance, it's Brawlers, characters designed purely around crushing heads and spilling blood. Take your pick! From the Skullgrinder to Exalted Deathbringer, they all love killing, but my top pick would have to go to Valkia! She is just a rocket-propelled slaughter-machine!!

Obviously, other factions may have other roles, and some characters land in multiple roles, but in my mind, Bloodbound Heroes will always fall into one of these. 

After a time of indecision (see last post for a glimpse of this), I've refocused and decided to punch out the remaining forces left to complete my Bloodbound, and if there's one thing Bloodbound can boast, it's an absolute plethora of Heroes! 

This my current cast of heroes! While this gives me plenty of options, the collector in me probably will continue adding to this pool until I have one of each plastic sculpt. And while there are probably characters that I would typically not use in Matched Play, there is a significant-sized Narrative Campaign that will occur later in the year, that will delve into a Khorne-led campaign and explore the cast of influential characters as they progress through the events of the Campaign. 

But I digress; more on that later...

Heroes mould and guide the creation and operation of forces on the table, and I can't get enough of the characters that are finding the limelight on the table! From Orruks riding Maw-Crushas to the big dog, Nagash himself, the attendance of these characters adds a level of cinematic grandeur that keeps me coming back again and again to witness these titanic clashes and perfectly orchestrated combos that land the knock out blow upon their foes! 

Man, I love this game!

Do you have a go-to Hero or a must-include Champion? 

Thanks for reading,

Gabe 

#73: Hitting the wall, then knocking it down...

Sometimes, very occasionally, the hobby takes a moment to not be enjoyable at all. 

This can come in several forms. You might be sick of building your seventieth marine in a row. You might be jaded with your army in game in either it's playstyle or shortcomings. You might even be tired of an entire system. Or, like me, you can get major Painters Block. 

For the last couple of weeks, I've really struggled to get back into the swing of things in the new year. Every time I picked up the brush, my brain just hit the wall and I would sit there, staring at the models in progress with no desire to tackle the task. 

This can be really demoralising, as for a lot of people (myself definitely amongst them), painting is a very relaxing activity, where I can forget my day at work, forget my worries, flick on YouTube or a Podcast, and just immerse myself in the art of it all. Incredibly relaxing. 

So when you find yourself grinding to a halt, where do you go from there? For me, it's a 50/50 mix of stubborn refusal to be beaten and an open mind. 

As readers will know, my goal for the first half of 2016 is to focus on my Word Bearers and a Death Grand Alliance army; both ambitious goals with very (shall we say) same-ish colour pallets. Word Bearers, regardless of whether it's infantry, vehicles or hulking daemon engines, are all red and silver. Sure there are little details here and there, but let's be real. Red. Silver. 

Death has a little more variety, with its rotting flesh and its spectral entities, but there's also a lot of bone. Now, to be fair, I actually still enjoy painting the Death range. Every kit is new and exciting for me, as I've never ventured into Vampire territory before now. The one thing that has stopped me painting the Death army is something that I acknowledged when I first set this challenge for myself. 

After batch painting a huge number of Word Bearers, I could barely wrap my head around tackling ranks upon ranks of highly detailed undead legionaries. I just didn't have the mental stamina, especially after a big day of work. And so I set out upon an artistically aimless adventure through my collection; basecoating random models from different ranges that piqued my interest. I would spend some time working on that model, before briefly contemplating a full scale army based around it. The intentions were well-meaning, of course, until another random model or character caught my eye. 

This lasted about a week and a half, a portion of time usually used to crush out a decent sized unit or several characters for a single army, but here I was with a random cluster of models. 

Then, out of nowhere, after hours and hours of confusion at the hobby desk, something just... Clicked. I finished off a Rockgut Troggoth (easily one of my all time favourite models; he just encapsulates the era of Warhammer when I first entered the game as a young chap) and finishing him brightened things significantly. 

Nostalgia was strong, and having put the final touches on him, I felt as though it closed the door on Painters Block, with something as seemingly mundane as painting a single model from a random unit in an army I don't really play...

I felt refreshed and enthusiastic about painting once again! The goals that I had set myself seemed less of an unattainable feat and significantly more realistic. 

I think my biggest mistake (and what led to the grinding halt of my painting enjoyment, and in turn, schedule) was setting really big goals. I had planned a truly massive Word Bearers project (Aprox. 5000+ points), which was probably a little overwhelmingly optimistic.

So, I've decided to tackle littler goals. I might paint up a Chaos Marine formation, then a handful of units for Age of Sigmar, perhaps even finish painting my Baltimordheim Ravens for Blood Bowl! I've shifted my thinking away from painting collossal armies of massive scope, and more towards painting different units from a couple of different armies to break up the schedule and keep me on my toes. 

Well. 

That was a bit all over the place! 

I think with such a grand and diverse hobby, it's easy to get out of a rut and push through if you have the right mindset. Easier said than done, I know, but after floundering a bit, I feel more focussed and purposeful in my hobby than I have in a long time! 

How do you handle getting burnt out on aspects of the hobby? Is it a matter of taking a break, shifting focus onto a different aspect of the hobby, or do you just grit your teeth and soldier on through the down times?

I'll apologise that this post is not as, let's say, optimistic as my usual posts. It's been a grind, and I'm through it now, but I just wanted to open up and be real and honest and let you guys know where I'm at. You guys have always been incredibly supportive, and hopefully if you're going through a hobby dull spell, that you can shake it off and be re-energised for the year ahead!

This has been what feels like a solid wall of text, so I shall bid you goodnight. Enjoy yourselves.

Thanks for reading, 

Gabe

#72: The Fall of Cadia and the Rise of the Imperium...

Well! What a week in the hobby! Where do I even start...

Let's talk first about Fall of Cadia! This has been the event we've all been waiting for; the advancement of the official cannon. Abaddon is finally putting the effort in and learning how to launch a successful black crusade. Cadia, the bastion of the Imperium is getting its front teeth kicked in, and everything's coming up chaos. 

And what would a new campaign be without a few new heroes. 

The first, and most notable hero making her triumphant return is Saint Celestine. Her model is picturesque, with an incredibly dynamic pose and fleeting doves. Not only that, but she is now accompanied by the Gemini twins, who act as a sort of perpetual bodyguard unit for her, granting her a decent pool of regenerating ablative wounds! To top it off, now she has Eternal Warrior and Armourbane and can still resurrect herself with an Act of Faith (should someone actually be able to take her down). All for 200 points. For what you're getting, that is disgustingly cheap! You can add her to any Armies of the Imperium force as a HQ, giving her unprecedented use. Obviously, her abilities and strengths are accentuated when she finds a home within a Deathstar unit (Grey Knight Paladin squads spring to mind), where she can absorb wounds with impunity, as well as slingshotting out and murdering everything she can get her hands on! It's great to see Sisters getting some more (brutally powerful) love, and hopefully it's a trend that Games Workshop continues.

Next, we have the big guy everyone has been talking about. Bellisarius Cawl; the big dog of the Adeptus Mechanicus. This guy is massive, and is basically a synergy machine! He accentuates the strengths of the Admech/Skitarii faction, and finally gives them a unique named character to call their own! No longer are you stuck with the Techpriest Dominus. Now you can run the Ultra-Techpriest! He's not some frail figurehead either! Rocking the ability to regenerate wounds at an alarming rate, and having the ability to lurk within units makes this guy one tenacious general!

And lastly, we have Inquisitor Greyfax. Now, to be honest, I don't care what her rules are, because this is an incredible model! From her witch hunter hat to her crossbow-mounting Condemner Boltgun, this model is pure gold in its design! 

All in all, even though it's only 3 characters being introduced to the game,  it's a game changer if you're an Imperial player. These three characters really amplify existing armies in three very distinct ways, and I'm predicting that they will be in heavy use in the current meta of the game!

Moving forward, I can only hope that, in the next step of the story arc, Chaos received a similar degree of love when it comes to new models and new rules. A guy can dream, right?

Either way, the fact that significant events are beginning to happen again to advance the history is something I think we can all get behind. This isn't some global narrative campaign to decide the fate of some backwater system with no significant impact on the larger Galaxy (Medusa V, I'm looking at you...). This is Cadia; the bastion of the Imperium holding back the flood of Chaos. This is the 13th Black Crusade, not looming on the horizon; it just kicked down the front door. Chapter home worlds are getting obliterated (sorry, space puppies!), Daemon Primarchs are roaming realspace, and I can't wait to see where this story progression takes us! Exciting times. Genuinely, I haven't been this intrigued by 40k lore in a long time!

Now, last week, we got a look in at what's coming up for Tzeentch, and most of last Sunday's post was based around what was in White Dwarf, which led me to assume that the wave of new releases was perhaps winding down, and that aside from the Skyfire's we knew were somewhere on the horizon, we had seen all that was to be expected. But in true Tzeentchian form, the trickery and deceit was rampant in the hallowed halls of Warhammer World, as before people could say "Flickering Fire", a new wave hit us not three days after WD dropped. And it had finally happened...

Plastic Lord of Change/Fateweaver kit. Plastic Changeling character pack.

The previously mentioned Skyfires!

And even word of a Blue Horror/Brimstone Horror box set! 

What a time to be a Disciple of Tzeentch!

I'm lost for words with this release. It's extensive, incredibly comprehensive (seemingly filling every possible battlefield role for what is by all rights a brand new Faction for the game), and every model released so far is downright spectacular! Tzeentch players will not be found wanting with this book! 

This wave also rounds out the Chaos Pantheon pretty neatly. Until Slannesh gets a story arc worthy of Chaos, I highly doubt we will see any models at all on that front. But look at Nurgle, Khorne and Tzeentch as stand alone armies! They have been fleshed out and supported incredibly well. It's not a case of a core set of kits that is flavoured by what characters and monsters you take. No sir-ee! Each of the three has their own unique foot soldiers, their own set of characters and monsters to lead, and most satisfyingly, they all look and play exactly how you would imagine them!

Games Workshop can seemingly do very little wrong at the moment! It looks like their CEO is really flexing his muscles and making waves in the best possible way. GW has been making very solid profits as of late, crediting a resurgence in the hobby, and that comes down to great game and model support, fantastic community outreach via social media and the likes of YouTube, and one more vital ingredient. 

You and me. 

The company relies on the wargaming community as its life blood; the source of its power to grow and advance. And they're incredibly aware of what people want, especially in the last 12 months. We have asked, and they have given. And in appreciation, I think the community has been overwhelmingly positive, both in feedback and with our hard earned pennies! Hopefully this is the trend moving forward; to see a company whose main interest is giving its supporters great products. If they can nail that, as they have been, profits and growth of the company will naturally follow!

This beautiful game is ours to enjoy. And I, for one, am happy to put my money where my mouth is and support a company that is supporting my hobby. 

I know this post was a bit of a ramble, but as I said, it's been a big week! How are you feeling regarding GW's recent decisions and business ventures?

Thanks for reading,

Gabe

#71: Oh the Times, They are A-Changin'...

Let's talk about Tzeentch. These guys are about to get their own shiny Battletome, but before we look forward, let's look back! 

Of the three currently active Chaos deities, Tzeentch has in recent years been by far the most neglected. In the later editions of Warhammer Fantasy, Tzeentch always played second fiddle to Nurgle. Mark of Nurgle was an incredible boon for Warriors of old, especially compared to the benefits offered by the Mark of Tzeentch. Short of one or two character builds, and maybe a tarpit unit here and there, it wasn't really all that points efficient. This dilemma wasn't helped by the fact that their two "Tzeentch-dedicated" characters were Galrauch (horrifically expensive in what was a very cannon-friendly, monster-hostile meta) and Vilitch the Curseling, who struggled to decide if he was a powerful warrior or a powerful caster, but paid premium points for both!

Then we passed through the End Times and into the Age of Sigmar! During this time of transition, Slannesh faded into obscurity (allegedly held prisoner somewhere amongst the realms!), while the other two Chaos Brothers were truly, truly spoilt!

Nurgle continued the trend of being a fan favourite, both in game and with models! Not only were they gifted with the exceptional Blight Kings kit, but also three Maggoth Lords and the towering, corpulent Glottkin! Gutrot Spume filled the obligatory clampack character slot, joining the Lord of Plagues, and neatly completing an abundance of models. 

Then all attention turned to Khorne! Model-wise, it felt like the wave never ended! End Times brought the Wrathmongers/Skullreapers kit and Skarr Bloodwrath. Age of Sigmar only solidified their position as the main chaos faction for the time. The new starter box was jam packed with amazing models! From the dynamic Lord of Khorne model to Bloodreaver models who quenched the thirst for updated Marauder models. 

This was backed up by more Khorne characters than you could shake an axe at!

In that time, Tzeentch was left with scraps. They received the Gaunt Summoner on a disc. And they received the contents of the Silver Tower. And that's honestly about it. The majority of the models in the Silver Tower didn't even get their own rules. The official word was that they were substitutes for existing units. 

Things only got worse for Tzeentch when the General's Handbook dropped and stripped them of their ability to cast massed Arcane Bolts!

But although the End Times was spearheaded by Nurgle, and the glory of the War of the Realms was Khorne's for the taking, their ultimate failure left only one contender to take up the mantle as the Ascendant Chaos brother. All the events, the outcome of every battle, had led to this moment. The cunning machinations and malicious trickery had all been orchestrated by the Great Deceiver, and now power over all the legions of Chaos is his to command!

It looks like The Disciples of Tzeentch is gonna be a massive drop! There are kits for all the troops, as well as a bunch of characters, but more importantly, a ton of new rules! New spells, new command traits, artefacts, warscroll battalions. The whole nine yards! 

This is a big deal for Chaos! DoT have three distinct factions within their ranks. Mortals, Daemons and the Birdmen that seem to be the new flavour added to the mix! Tzeentch has unprecedented variety within their pool of troops, and I think a savvy general will have no trouble unlocking great potential that this Battletome offers. 

The ability to manipulate dice rolls is both very themed and incredibly powerful! Characters having access to Discs left, right and centre will give them a huge amount of mobility, allowing them to be where they need to and offer synergy to those who need it most! No doubt the Hero Phase will be brutal with the array of spells available to all of the unique casters now within their ranks! 

I'm interested to see how resilient the army ends up being! While it can pack a considerable punch, will it be able to take one and still remain an effective force! Time will certainly tell. 

Are you jumping aboard the Tzeentch train? What is making it into your legion of change?

Thanks for reading!

Gabe

#70: Age of Sigmar Battle Report 1000 points - Khorne Bloodbound Vs Duardin

With my wife braving the shops during the Boxing Day sales, it took little to no convincing at all to catch up with an old friend and throw some dice. My lead up to Christmas had been a hectic one, so this would be my first game of Sigmar in quite some time, but I was looking forward to stretching my legs! 

With my Death army is still in the early stages of construction, I grabbed a case and loaded up my ever-faithful Bloodbound to unleash their poorly-managed anger issues upon my foes. 

I really struggle to look past the Mighty Lord of Khorne for my general. He's just that good, and extraordinarily versatile. The rest of my force was basically everything I currently have painted, minus a few characters. Ten Blood Warriors and twenty Bloodreavers filled my battle line slots, while a Warshrine of Khorne backed up my Crushers and Wrathmongers in their roles of carnage and murder machines. 

Across the table, I was staring down a bearded challenge! A Dwarf Lord (on invisible shieldbearers while a cool conversion gets completed) was joined by a Runesmith and an Unforged. Ten Warriors, 10 Longbeards, 20 Quarrelers and 10 Irondrakes (yikes) filled out his force!

Then we rolled scenarios and got Three Places of Power. Great. My choice to bring a single hero was coming back to haunt me, as I was outnumbered on the character front. My only hope of winning the game was to push my Lord onto an objective, while using the rest of my army to protect the others! At least, that was the idea...

As it was a friendly game, we decided to just use terrain pieces instead of markers for the three central Places of Power. I deployed solidly across my entire battlefront, while my opponent castled in the right hand corner. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing in my mind. If I could launch past the middle line and slam into his lines, perhaps I could contain his army and tie up his heroes to prevent them settling in on an objective. "Perhaps" being the key word here. 

With some healthy run moves, I made good progress up the board, confident in my combat prowess if the Duardin made a long charge. 

My Wrathmongers made their way toward the main action, and my Lord flopped his run roll. No points this turn.

My opponent was a little more mobile than I originally thought. The Unforged long-bombed a charge into my pack of Bloodreavers...

...and butchered thirteen of them in cold blood! This... This was not a great start. To make things worse, I was taking some serious heat from the Dwarven firepower. 

The Irondrakes unleashed a flaming salvo into my Crushers, stripping four wounds off, while the Quarrellers unleashed absolute hell upon the Blood Warriors, five falling with crossbow bolts lodged in their necks. 

My infantry continued their slow advance forward, while the Skullcrushers knew that if I had any hope of winning this game, I had to shut down the shooting phase! After benefiting from the command ability on the Lord, and being blessed by the Shrine, they launched a devastating charge!

My Lord finally moved onto a Place of Power to start cranking up that tally!

The slaughter was bloody and quick. The Irondrakes fell under the thunderous hooves of the Juggernauts, but the nearby warriors and Runesmith were dragged into the fight. 

And they were not messing around! Things on my right flank were going poorly, to put it gently. 

I'd reached a pivotal point of the game. I was in a difficult position if I wanted to win. It was gonna need some solid forethought. I needed to keep my Lord alive, and I needed to stop the Unforged (currently racking up a pretty tally) from being alive anymore. The warriors pitched into the half-naked berserker and, thanks to another blessing from the Shrine, beheaded the dwarf where he stood.

The Wrathmongers finally made combat, and while my choice to kill the Unforged gave first swing to his Lord, it wasn't all bad. His runic hammer crushed the majority of the unit, but their aura of rage could not be resisted. The ancient dwarf King ended up slamming himself in the face as hard as he could (as well as his Shieldbearers putting a few boots in), leaving him staggering, but still standing on a single wound. 

My opponent knew that the key to victory was the death of my only points-scorer. A veritable hail of crossbow bolts slammed into him but I saved fifteen of the nineteen wounds, but it didn't end there. The warriors who survived the combat with the Crushers (and Wrathmongers) charged up the steps of the ruins, and in the most cinematic moment of the game, the sweeping Khornate axe slaughtered all but one who met his demise to the jaws of the Flesh Hounds. 

 The Blood Warriors were crushed beneath the onslaught of the wounded Lord, Runesmith and Longbeards, starting the tally once more! 

I was confident that I could scrape a win! I was ahead on the tally, and all I needed to do was win priority, and launch an assault with my full-wound Warshrine! His Lord was on a single wound, and the Runesmith was right behind him. If I could orchestrate this just right, I could kill the lord and perhaps even halt the tally by wiping out the Runesmith. That would leave me high and safe on the scoreboard, even if the Khorne Lord met his demise at the hands of the crossbow men next turn.

Alas, it was not to be. I lost priority, and the Dwarf Lord charged up the steps of the ruins, smiting down the Chaos champion in herioc fashion. The Longbeards joined the charge by pitching into the Shrine, but the deformed monsters holding it aloft weren't happy and smeared the veterans into the ground before someone could yell "Skulls for the Skull Throne!".

With my opponent passing me on the scoreboard and my only hero meeting a dastardly demise, the game was securely in the hands of the Duardin! Well played by my opponent. 

I had great fun in this game, and I think my biggest downfall came in listbuilding and deployment. A second character would have meant a much more aggressive final score. 

All in all, a great game and a good learning experience. 

Thanks for reading,

Gabe

#69: Chaos Undivided...

With the Thousand Sons bursting into the 40k universe with a sorcerous bang, and the Chaos Legions supplement on the brink of unleashing the next Black Crusade, I'm backing up last time's Death focussed post with a post discussing the second part of next year's big hobby drive!

My favoured legion, the Word Bearers!

It's happening. Choas are getting the love in 40k! It's not to say that I think they will be top dogs or meta kings, but if the leaks are anything to go by, Chaos will go back to being a FUN army to play again, as well as becoming very themed and characterful. More so than those loyalist dogs, anyway! 

In the past, Chaos has really only come in five flavours. Nurgle (for people who love a good chesty cough and sneezing on commuters aboard public transport), Tzeentch (for people who love walking slowly and Dynamo), Khorne (for people who struggle to hold it together in the slow line at the super market), Slannesh (the less said about Slannesh, the better... This is, after all, an all ages blog.), and good Ol' Chaos Undivided.

And that's where I landed when I first ventured over to the dark side. I wanted my cake and I wanted to eat it too. Not only did I want unrestricted access to all marks and units within a single force, but also wanted a unique army, something you don't see all the time. Death Guard armies were a dime a dozen, Khorne Daemonkin did a lot for World Eater population, one of my close mates was a die-hard Thousand Son player, and Slannesh simply had next to no model range; not to mention the Noise Marine Upgrade packs were horribly dated and made a squad over $100 to make. 

And you didn't really see the other five legions represented at all...

Until now! By the looks of things, the five "undivided" legions have received the full treatment, with relics galore, warlord traits and Legion Tactics that fit snugly into the playstyle and flavour of the army seamlessly! No longer are we the unwitting victims of the power creep! Chaos is ascendant once more!

Let's take a closer look at Word Bearers. Their whole "schtick" revolves around three things! Possessed, Dark Aposltes and the Malefic Psychic discipline. Possessed have long been considered, how you say... Not worth it. Not that their rules are trash, or even their points value too high (though some would argue). The problem was that they were oft overshadowed by Terminators and the likes as "Best in Slot" for elites. But not for Word Bearers!! These bad boys are Troops now, and are no longer in competition with other powerful units! Thanks to some new formations, they have become seriously scary and I have a great idea based around them that we'll discuss shortly! Oh, the shenanigans and trickery!

Dark Apostles have often been neglected in the past, being pretty locked into wargear and being 40 points more than a Lord with a quarter of the options. To be fair though, he comes stock with a 4++ and a Power Maul, as well as having Zealot and a handy Leadership 10 bubble. He's pretty much a must have for Word Bearers. I mean, it'd be in-Word-Bearer-like NOT to, right? But it looks like there is a lot built around Zealot and having a Dark Apostle seems like the right thing to do considering the legion...

Lastly, the Malefic discipline suits the legion perfectly. This is pretty much what the Word Bearers are all about, and the rules naturally steer them in that direction. I can harness on a 3+ when casting Malefic powers, which is super handy because it's already a pretty tough Discipline to manage Warp Charges with the high value of a lot of the abilities. 

One combo I'm really keen to try is to take a big (and I mean BIG) unit of Possessed as troops with the mark of Tzeentch (bumping their Invulnerable save to a 4+). Then I'll jam a Cyclopean Cabal in there, rolling almost exclusively on both Malefic and Sanctic tables! Sanctic, I hear you say? Well, look at it like this (I can thank my chaotic mate, Blake for this treachery!) The Sanctic powers are amazing and for the most part only warp charge one. This means that one Sorcerer can calmly one-dice powers (two-dice if I'm feeling ballsy), and while they may be easy to stop, people have to decide if they want to use valuable dice preventing these instead of some of the more invasive Malefic powers! While things like Hammerhand and summoning will be nice, the two powers I'm really chasing are Sanctuary (+1 to unit's invulnerable save) and Cursed Earth (+1 to Daemons invulnerable saves within 12"). Possessed have the Daemon rule. Suddenly, there's the potential for my big unit of Possessed to be running around with a 2++ Invul, potentially summoning and Gating as I go. It's not without risk and there's a lot of moving parts, but it fits the theme and is at least a start to mastering the Masters of Chaos!

Edit: It would seem Chaos Sorcerers cannot roll on Sanctic, which makes sense and completely sinks my idea...

Now, before I get too carried away writing lists and buying reinforcements, I'm going to wait until the book drops and in the meantime, I'm brainstorming cool combos and upgrading the paint job on my existing force! 

It's been surprisingly quick and painless to add a few highlights and up the quality of (let's be honest, here...) a pretty average original paint job. 

Although widely considered to be perhaps on the expensive side, I've always loved the Chaos Space Marines army for exactly that. Chaos Marines. None of this clean-cut, purity-seal adorned, Aquillas-out-for-the-Emperor business. It's good to be bad, and although it's on the older side, the CSM sprues are still jam packed with cool bits, icons and shoulder pads. With limited special weapon options, it's hard to look past the trusty Meltagun for hard-hitting efficiency and affordability. I'm loving doing a red army (again), and the silver trim really unifies the scheme! I also love the idea of using the DV Chosen as my squad leaders, as they just have that extra level of detail and really stand out as unique champions in their own right (just the way it should be).

It wouldn't be a Word Bearers army without Cultists. These ten are geared for close combat and will be joined shortly by just a ton of their friends!

Lastly, these three slobbering powerhouses made the cut for some versatile, long-range displays of aggression. Obliterators, though pricey, have the edge over Havocs in most (not all) situations due to their increased survivability and array of weapons at their disposal. Sure, they have to cycle through guns, but there's plenty of great options to choose from! 

So here's the plan moving forward. I'm going to finish updating the paint job on the rest of my "painted" models (roughly about 1000 points worth). 

Once that's done, I'm going to pick a Formation from the Legions book, build it and paint it. To satisfy my inner collector and completionist! Certain formations will take precedent, of course. Lost & the Damned as well as Favoured of Chaos lend themselves naturally to WB, being Cultist- and Possessed-focused, respectively. A Chaos Warband is also on the high-priority list. Much to my surprise (and a testament to how many models I own), I found a complete Cult of Destruction in a box of Chaos stuff; a Warpsmith, six Obliterators (three pictured above) and six Mutilators (don't ask, I can't really explain it...). 

Long story short, things are about to get Chaotic in the Halls of the Rune Axe! Are you jumping on the Chaos train?

Would love to hear your plans,

Thanks for reading.

Gabe