Over the last couple of months, I have moved away (temporally of course) from the Emperor’s Light and have been hard at work building and painting a Chaos army to do battle in the grim dark far future. This was done partly because I wanted a new hobby project, and partly because I wanted something to keep me busy during the global pandemic. I originally started this as a Nurgle Daemon force to use in both Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar, since I liked the idea of taking a single case down to my local gaming store and having an army to play with no matter the flavour of the month. However, as time went on and the project grow in scope, the army evolved into not one, but three separate forces.
That’s right, I know have three different, 1,000-point Chaos armies painted up to tabletop standard, which can be combined together to create three different combinations of 2,000-point lists. Now I would like to tell you this was all planned from the beginning and it was what I intended all along, but like many good hobby projects this all came about very organically. So, since I recently reached the 3,000-point milestone, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on these three armies and how they came together, and what is next on the painting table for them in the coming months.
The Neverborn
First up we have the army that started it all, my Nurgle Daemons. As stated above, this started out as a duel purpose army, as it was intended for use in both Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar. I mean, I guess I could also use them in Warcry, Kill Team, Horus Heresy… the point is they are very versatile.
Starting out I wanted to go with a horde force. Since I tend to go with more elite armies like Grey Knights, I saw this as a chance to do something a bit different, and so got to work on my first two units of thirty Plaguebearers. These guys are just pure damage sponges on the tabletop and can soak up a silly amount of firepower if taken at maximum size. I the few games that I’ve used them they have been a real pain for my opponents to deal with, although it has to be said that their damage output is sorely lacking.
This is helped somewhat by the trio of Heralds that follow them around. Giving a variety of buffs if kept close enough together, these HQ’s can also help keep them in the fight (especially Bilepiper). To round out this portion of the army, we have everyone favourite swarms, the Nurglings. Made up of new and old models (because who doesn’t like nostalgia) these pesky minor daemons are some of the best units in the game at the moment. Thanks to their ability to deploy outside of their deployment zone, you can easily use them to claim objectives and secondaries as early as turn one.
Overall, quite a simple list that comes in at around 900-points (though I do have another Herald I can use to put them closer to 1,000). Able to capture and hold objectives with easy, this Battalion of Neverborn (as I like to call them) are the backbone of many of my lists. However, they do still lack the ability to deal out effective damage, especially against vehicle heavy lists. But that’s where part two of my army comes in.
The Knights of Malice
Before the coming of Ritual of the Damned, my Grey Knights used the heavy firepower of a Knight Household to help make them more competitive. However, with the coming of the Tides came the end of that little alliance, as the Sons of Titan moved from the joke of the 40k tournament scene to one of the best armies at the end of 8th edition. Since my Knights were no longer required for my loyalist, I decided to repurpose them for my now growing Chaos forces.
I begin by performing some minor conversions on all three of my Knights, adding skulls and chains from the classic chaos vehicle upgrade sprues to make them look more menacing. Next, I added a new lick of paint to them to make them stand out as more heretical. At first this was just going to be a simple “Iron Warriors” style scheme, but then I got the idea to paint them in the colours of the fifth chaos god, Malice.
For those not in the know, Malice is a renegade Chaos God who appeared in early editions of the fiction of both Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 under the name Malal. Also known as “The Outcast God,” “The Lost God” and “The Renegade God,” Malice is the embodiment of Chaos’ indiscriminate and anarchic tendency toward destruction, even of itself and its own agents. I thought this would be a perfect deity for a renegade household of Knights to follow, and so decided to paint them up in random patterns of white and black, Malice’s favoured colours.
Adding a vast amount of firepower to any force the accompany, these Chaos Knights tend to easily earn back their points in larger engagements. When teamed up with my Neverborn, they quickly target the opponent’s heavy ordinance while the smaller servants of the dark gods claim the objectives. A winning combination for sure, but this wasn’t the end of my Chaos Warband.
The Rust Lords
One of the great things about Nurgle Daemons is that they can be used in a Chaos Daemon detachment, or be used in a Death Guard thanks to summoning. Since I already loved the newish range of Death Guard miniatures, I was very tempted to add some to my growing horde of chaos worshipers. And then I saw the rules for The Wretched in War of the Spider, and my fate was sealed. So, I picked up the Dark Imperium minis before they disappeared from the shelves, as well as some Myphitic Blight-haulers and set to work on a Death Guard detachment.
Dubbing these diseased space marines, The Rust Lords (after their very fetching paint scheme) they were built to be a nice middle ground between the firepower of my Knights and the objective grabbing play style of my Neverborn. I also did my best to link them back to my Daemons by painting all the exposed flesh of the models in the same tone as my Plaguebearers, giving the servants of the Plague God a connecting theme.
While they might not be much to look at right now, it is important to remember they are going to be getting some serious buff in the near future, which is partly the reason they are still only at the 1,000-point mark. But once we get to see what the Codex has to offer; I expect their number to grow quite rapidly. Which brings me nicely to my final point.
What Next?
I’m really happy with how this army (which I have dubbed The Blighted Crusade) has come together, but it is far from finished. I have a Daemon Prince built and basecoated, ready to add some melee hitting power to either my Neverborn or Rust Lords, as well as the rest of the models from Dark Imperium to finish off. That should bring the army pretty close to 4,000-points, spread out over two army cases. Even then, I don’t think I’ll be done with this army. I can easily see me adding some more elements to this force, possible some traitor guard if we ever get a Lost and the Damned codex (get on that GW) or even a Forge World dreadnought or two. I’ll wait until Codex Death Guard drops before I add anything else, but the future is looking bright for this Blighted Crusade.
We hope you have enjoyed todays army showcase. If you have an army you would like to have featured on the website, let us know in the comments below or find me on twitter @MTGTengu and maybe we will feature it next time.
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