Ingredior: Where Silence Stops

This is the second battle in the ongoing Ingredior campaign. Click [HERE] to read the previous part, 'The Sally At Ferroc Castle'

After the resolution of the first battle, I presented Chris and his command of Sons of Medusa with the choice found below... 

After careful consideration, the Sons of Medusa opted for a cautious approach toward Ingredior Magnifica's Astropathic Relay.  The area near Ferroc Castle had been cleared of the immediate threat of the Necron Assault.  But the areas stretching out from it, former Mechanicus Serf habitats and a lattice of now battle-worn city districts, were haunted by all manner of Canoptek horrors or Necron kill teams.  It would take careful planning and hard fighting to slowly retake the area and begin to build a sufficiently capable force of mortal men and women to bolster a large scale counter assault against the Xenos. In the outlands, beyond the city stretching out from Ferroc Castle, stand towering Necron constructions of engraved black stone, restricting and dampening the Astropathic Choir. 

The constructions are heavily guarded; legions of Necrons stalk the outlands, probing constantly into the city by the hour to determine the nature of their recent defeat. Speed and Stealth are the watchwords of the day. The psychic dampening pylons must be deactivated quickly and without alerting the wider Necron armies to a significant breakout attempt.  Once deactivated, an elite force of Astartes and Kingsguard must blitz through the gap in the psychic field to re-capture the Astropathic Choir, and orient it through the newly created breach.  

Lt. Laird, would lead a small strike team into the Outlands ahead of the Assault Force led by Captain Corporis and Galkraan, Eternal King of Iron. 

We would be using my 'Force Reconnaissance' Rules for Warhammer 40,000 9th Edition, the following will be a recounting recorded live as the battle was played on the club's discord channel. 

There are 3 pylons representing the network of dampeners outside the relay. There are Patrols of scarabs maintaining the pylons and a guardian canoptek wraith in the center. The Marines start out undetected. Canoptek units have a 10" detection range, and their likely movement direction is indicated by the models' facing. If they are obscured from sight by terrain, the model is removed, and a die is placed indicating their last known location.

There are three alert levels indicating the growing awareness of the necrons to the intrusion. With increasing damage to the pylons and detections, also increasing the alert level.

The Marine Infiltration force is led by Lt. Laird, a Primaris Lt. In Phobos armor, he leads 4 infiltrators and 3 reivers who have been heavily upgraded. The infiltrators and Laird advance past a few Scarab patrols up toward the northeastern pylon

Once there, the reivers arrive via deep strike with grab chutes. The force eliminates two scarab bases, and the wraith begins reacting, moving up to investigate the loss of the scarabs

After a fairly intensive battle, the wraith is defeated, and the first pylon is destroyed, raising the alert to level 1, warriors and directed scarabs enter play.

The marines continue a merciless advance, gunning down three warriors and forcing their way into the vicinity of the second pylon. The Alert level is raised to 2. A tomb blade enters play along the line of pylons from the southwest. As more warriors arrive in larger squads

With a single shot, Lt. Laird slays the Tomb Blade, the metal xenos toppling dead from its mount, which pinwheels into the dry surface of Ingredior Magnifica, shearing off metal in a great plume of dust and sparking energies.

The Infiltration force advances, as the charges on the second pylon erupt. The marines have completed their primary objective; 2 of 3 pylons have been eliminated, though who knows what benefit the aliens might derive from these structures in a pitched battle. Laird pushes his men onward to the third and final pylon. The alert is now at level 3, and sizeable Necron assets are beginning to arrive.

The Sons of Medusa are undaunted; they break through several Necron skirmish lines to secure the objective. Planning charges on the final pylon as dozens of warriors begin to arrive. As the final pylon topples, the Infiltration team goes to ground in a nearby ruin, snapping off shots at their pursuers. Laird fires a green flare into the air above their position to mark their success. A signal seen by Captain Corporis and the Mortal Hosts of Galkraan, the Eternal King of Iron, who begin to move to their aid

Notable Deeds:

Lt. Laird personally killed 2 tomb blades, a death mark, and nearly a dozen scarab swarms.

The Reivers, though losing two of their number, slew triple their number in Necron warriors and a canoptek wraith

The Infiltrators destroyed all three pylons and killed several Necrons

We will join Lieutenant Laird and his men, as well as the rolling spearhead of the Sons of Medusa in Part 3.

I hope you enjoyed! 

-Your Favorite Madman-

Hobby: Necron Combat Patrol

 

Some time ago now, I completed a small combat patrol of Necrons for what I've been terming the 'Galthadra Dynasty'.  A lesser branch of the wider Nihilak Dynasty, the Galthadran Necrons hail from the Belt of Calces in the heart of the Vahland Sector. Their awakening has caused some issues of late for the Imperium, and for several other lesser Xenos races that call the core of Vahland sector home

I wanted to go for a different scheme than I had seen on Necrons, while still keeping on theme for them being a spooky undead force.  I settled on a rusty brown, with accents of yellow, white and brassy gold. To give the impression of a worn and weathered robot but while maintaining some of the pomp and heraldic grandeur that I think of when I think about the Necrons

Originally the force was intended to fight against the Sages of Enmity [LINK] as an introduction for an ex to Warhammer 40,000 back in 9th edition.  That obviously did not come to fruition as you can probably guess that didn't end of working out. But I still got plenty of games in of 9th and 10th. 

The wider club's collection of Necrons, which is now in the many thousands of point's is largely painted in Nihlak Codex compliant colors. But this brown little unit still remains.

This sort of mismatch doesn't bother me to much, I've always enjoyed the history that tabletop games that can communicate. I've met so many people through this hobby and my collection of miniatures reflects the changing interests, styles of moments of my life. I think that's really special.  So even though the Brown Crons represent a painful moment of personal seperation and loss in my life, painting them helped me to find resolution with that breakup.

One of the reasons this blog is still going is after all because I'm a bit of a nostalgic person that likes to wax poetic and talk about life and toy soldiers.

I hope you enjoyed! 

-Your Favorite Madman-

Hobby: Plauge Marines of the Maggotworn Path

 

I've been playing Death Guard, or more specifically Nurgle Chaos Space Marines for just about as long as i've been playing Warhammer, and tabletop games in general. Vahland, and the origins of this blog will attest to that. My original warband the 'Knights of Decay' fought alongside the Rallen 14th and other Traitor Guards under the 'Pilgrims of Rust' and the tales of great heresy and rebellion the two armies unleashed on an unsuspecting sector started as notebook paper scrawlings in a three ring binder until eventually rising to this humble blog you now see before you. 

The actions of the Knights of Decay and their human allies would bring a great deal of ire and both forces were met with a brutal Imperial reprisal (ie. much of the components of both armies were sold) this reprisal, the Manchvellian Crusade, is a mighty tale of heroism in its own right, and perhaps when the time Is right I will sit down and tell you about it.  The important outcome, is that key heros of the warbands survived, and would eventually be refounded into the 'Maggotworn Path' (with the release of the lovely new sculpts for Death Guard in 8th Edition Warhammer 40,000) 

I opted for a strikingly different color pallet from the duo-tone green and brass that was present on the old Knights of Decay. The white and purple appeals to me from an asthetic standpoint becuase of the options to add weathering and other viscera to really 'pop' on the armor. 

The models seen here are the core of the army but are by no means the only members of the force, which has swollen now to a great many points, filled with Daemons, Zombies and Daemon Engines Galore. All told, I'm really very pleased with the figures, and I always enjoy working on them, even if some of the new sculpts can be a little confusing as to where armor ends and flesh begins.  

Thank you for reading! 

-Your Favorite Madman-

Hobby: Minuteman Axebearer

 
This is another miniature for Sophie and my Renaissance of Flesh setting in my game 'With Strength Enough'. This is the first model I made with the idea of a baseline human player character in mind; I went in thinking of a standard martial class for Dungeons and Dragons, something like a fighter or a Barbarian. The model itself is a kitbash from old Imperial Guard legs, Frostgrave and Stargrave pieces, with my own sorry attempt at a greenstuff eye on the axe. I'm trying to integrate more of the biotic technologies into the miniatures. I think that ideas in TTRPG's about enchanted weapons or other item enhancements would carry through in Renaissance of Flesh as strange organs or seemingly living membranes.  In this case, I imagine the character's axe can see flaws in enemies' armor or shields to slightly guide the wielder to better hack at their opponents' weak spots.

For the characters' paint scheme, I wanted something that felt suitably worn down by travel and consistent use, while also highlighting aspects of the setting's sci-fi nature.  I went for neutrals for the model to hopefully give the character a more rugged/traveller feeling, but with a red helmet, which, in my head, was stolen or looted from a corporate soldier of one type or another. 

Thanks for Reading!

-Your Favorite Madman-

Hobby: 30k Ultramarines Rhino

 

Photos from when I finished up my first 30k Rhino. My Horus Heresy Ultras are mostly composed of Marine kits left over from the olden days of 4th and 5th edition that I've scrapped together into something I find compelling for a list. It's actually been an age since I've worked on a Rhino, and I've been pretty pleased with how well it and the rest of the Ultramarines have turned out so far.  I broke the typical codex standard here by using a white accent on the doors and front of the chassis. Hopefully Guilliman can find it in his hearts to forgive me not following his book, I've never really enjoyed having marine vehicles all in one color, I think even after highlighting it can come off a little flat. 

But overall, I'm quite pleased with the final outcome on this one here. I'll show off some more of the Ultramarines for 30k and maybe include some of the lore for them in a little while. 

Thank you for reading! 

-Your Favorite Madman- 

Hobby: Bretheren of the Praeses Vahlandia

These two gentlemen are Space Marine's I kitbashed to playtest my game 'With Strength Enough', the final version of which will be set in my own setting, but the playtest environment is set in Warhammer 40,000.  Given that, I kit bashed a whole smattering of one of Astartes characters with different loadouts and aesthetics. Its always fun to sit down and bash out some random space marines and go through the bits boxes to make something interesting.  

The idea is that a player can come along and find something relatively close to an archtype they want to play as, and get into the play experience without much fuss. I don't have any real lore for these two, other than that they are a part of the Neuvo Praeses Vahlandia, the successor organization to the old Praeses Vahlandia that I detailed some time ago. Essentially a Deathwatch organization that allows for the justification of any given space marine chapter I might encounter to perform limited actions in Vahland while still making some degree of narrative sense. 

 Thanks for reading! 

-Your Favorite Madman-

1490 Doom: First Test Game

 

Myself and Sophie went over to see Chris 'The Fabricator' a few weeks ago to test out Beur Games' 1490 Doom Ruleset. It's been something of an indie darling since its release and is one of several resurgent games with a decisively grim dark atmosphere. Inspired by older titles like Mordhiem and more recent major successes like Mork Borg and Trench Crusade, 1490's atmosphere is indicative of the sludgey dark fantasy genre's oppressive atmosphere combined with slick production quality.  I find the combination of 80s punk zine aesthetic and modern professional design very appealing. 

As for the game itself, the primary narrative thrust is that in the year 1490, a deadly miasma called the 'creeping death' has settled across the world. The majority of the population dies from this mysterious, deadly fog, with the remainder developing rebreathers to stay alive in this apocalyptic time. Even with this some banks of the dog are so caustic that they will still cause death.  This essentially means a 'King of the Hill' style scenario with survivor bands attempting to climb to the highest point on the board to get above the fog. 

Each player controls 3 figures, with players assigning a class out of a generous dozen or so different options and selecting options like climbing gear, throwables, and other expendable items 

My warband, the 'Dread Harvest', from left to right, an Assassin, Executioner, and Reaver

Chris' warband the 'Hallowed Hand'

Sophies warband 'The Bread Line' 

1490 is played normally on a small round table with a lot of terrain, defined as about the size of a dinner plate. For our purposes, we went with a 2x2 board and a scattering of castle terrain to give us some interesting verticality.

The warbands set out into the labarythine ruins of the castle. working aggressively to get to good positions to gain height for later in the game.  VP is scored at the end, and is primarily centered around who has models the highest up on the board, and how much vitality (health) each player has remaining in active play. 

The nature of the games setup lends itself to some cool tight aesthetics of adventurers exploring toppled ruins and castles. Which is a big win in my book

Chris' warband scrabbles around courtyards of the eastern castle looking for a way up to the top of the center tower

My assassin, whom started on the opposite side of the board from the rest of the Dread Harvest makes his way up to the southern battlements and begins heading to meet up with the Reaver to ascend to the top of the complex.

Sophie's warband works its way forward at ground level, and begins attempting to use ladders and grappling hooks to ascend at different points of the structure. 

The warbands begin meeting and violence ensues as the Dread Harvest's assassin pushes Sophies' scout off her ladder, and confrontation is had at the centre tower and north western gate between the Dread Harvest and the Hallowed Hand.

The clash of steel between my executioner and Chris' bulwark goes against me, and the executioner finds himself reduced to a gory pile in the face of his foes attacks. 

Things start getting tense at cloud level as members of each warband begin a showdown at the towers atrium, with throwables and the crash of blades signalling the beginning of the end game. 

In the final turn, everyone had made their way to the top of the tower and a frantic rush to push each other off the highest tower began. 

Chris ended up carrying the day by only a small VP margin over Sophie and myself. 

Overall it was a really enjoyable experience, that reminded me in some ways of Mordhiem, which is of course no bad thing.  It does make me consider how much versatility the ruleset has to it, so many of its abilities and mechanics focus on climbing and the ascent to higher levels for positional advantage, that it may be limited in regards to some of the more specific narratives that we tend to craft. That being said, its a great 'beer and pretzels' game, that can be played very quickly. Making it a perfect option for midweek gaming. That plus the small model count and limited space needed for the table means that I can heartily recommend the title for anyone interested. 

I think, if you are transitioning into the world of tabletop wargames from more traditional TTRPG's you may find this a particularly fun one for its limited model count and slick app support. Its certainly more approachable that larger battles games like Warhammer, or Dragons Rampant. With a tight focus that means more game, with more people. 

  Thanks for Reading! 

-Your Favorite Madman-

Hobby: The Mystical Stag of Arborioch

This is a model that I've wanted to make for a long time, particularly since watching Princess Mononoke. I really enjoy the idea of pulling an otherwise benign model of a deer into something mystical or incredibly powerful.  I think in an era of the hobby where miniatures companies are making some truly impressive and titanic miniatures, its nice to have something that can represent great power in an otherwise subtle package.  

This is a Stag model from the Dungeons and Dragons line of 'pre-primed' miniatures, and was picked up at one of the local LGS for a few dollars. I think of it as either a potent boss/npc for TTRPG's or as a hero for Dragons Rampant. 

Thanks for reading! 

-Your Favorite Madman-

Hobby: Hermetic Wizard

This strange little mini is from the excellent Beastarium Games, it was printed by Chris 'The Fabricator' for me, as Im a sucker for strange Blanchian/Dark Souls style things. This was part of a purposed mini exchange for the holidays in the club. I chose to make him a little brighter, color pallet wise, as I think of him like a Radaghast the Brown style eccentric. I have a whole little adventuring set from this company, and they support their monthly releases with 5th edition DnD stat blocks and an adventure path which I think is really interesting. A link to Beastarium's website is below!

Beastarium Games

Thank you for reading!

-Your Favorite Madman-