The Arrival of the Archdaemon

For my birthday this year I was bought the archdaemon of Nurgle. I green-stuffed a couple of extra horns onto him, as both me and my pal Jack picked ours up at the same time.

He was a joy to paint and now all I need to do is base him before my birthday event on the 17th of the month. The fluff for him is below. 

The Arrival of an Archdaemon

"To me, to my house, you shall all come after your deaths,” spoke the gutteral phlegm-filled whisper on the wind.

Having seized the Charadon Sector with the help of the Deathguard and the greenskins, the Aureus held their territory. Enough sacrifice had been made in the name of Nurgle to win the favour of the Plague Lord.

The forgotten chapter had lost many great warriors on all fronts. Ancients that had served them for thousands of years. But now with the support of the immortal, ancient and twisted beings, hopefully the Jackals would be able to advance even further. Over the coming months the opposition had been intense and the astartes had suffered even greater internal division. Jostien and Asger had started to aid the cause of the greater good against Tyranid invasion, while the renegade forces, under the lead of Fenerus, struck at any force within reach, proving their might and prowess.

Too many Lords sought to prove themselves by going off on their own, dividing the chapter further. Honour dictated that not one would turn their blade on the other, although the old scripture also encouraged warriors to prove themselves through actions not words.

Some fought to restore the good name of their Chapter among the people, while the damned fought for vengeance and the annihilation of the Imperium of man. Each warrior had a following of both sworn brothers and allies new.

Now the Wolf Mother’s plans were coming to fruition. Rognvaldr Pa Veg and Med Leen had guided the Aureus in finding allies and bringing worlds to decay. In doing so, the bargain had been completed and in two months Donn Hel would be released from his eternal prison. Unlike the rest of his kin, Donn was selfish and nihilistic in his approach. Many ancient societies had names for him Donn, The Eater of Men, The Fly-Blown Reaper, Hel and many more. He was a god of death in the eyes of many past. He fed on their souls and revelled in their worship, spouting hate, spreading decay and ending the lives of millions wherever he went.

Twisted by Tzeench a millennia ago, Donn Hel is far from what a Great Unclean One represents but also possesses a much darker lust and power. After having slain and digested hundreds of his own kin within the warp, Nurgle banished him to his eternal prison. Here he has waited and plotted for fifty-thousand years, longing to taste the flesh of his own kind once again. Another rejected daemon fit for the service of the Wolf Mother, a believer of nothing who only wants to see the universe crumble into darkness.

St. Nic's Return

Instead of attending the Christmas event this year at my local games shop (As it was another apocalypse game) I decided to just deploy St. Nic in a normal game of 40k later that week. Daemons and a handful of Marines vs Jack's Tyranids.  Two games in a week, both of which were great fun. The first wolves and T'au vs tyranids and the second Chaos vs Tyranids.

In both games Jack generated plenty of tyranids without paying reinforcement points (an honest mistake made by us all), both with the stratagems and the tervigon, adding up to at least an extra 50 bodies (200+ pts a game). Therefore we decided to void the results of both games.

Regardless they were amazing games and much fun was had.

Here is my silly poem for the holiday season.

St. Nic's Return

The alliance with the T'au,
Had been awfully strong,
But Jostien did not prevail,
The tyranid too stong.

They fell back to the skies,
Greater good, not today,
Asger roared in defeat,
The Aureus way.

A day or two later,
The bells could be heard,
Of the wolves and the deer,
Tyranids knew not a word.

St. Nic came to the aid,
Summoning allies in his wake,
The two great daemons came,
Much trouble to make.

Throwing down his axe,
Rognavaldr knew,
Cleaving the broodlord in half,
Ended his life, synapse too.

Pa Veg and Med Leen, 
Prefered human prey,
But on St. Nic's call, 
Dived into the fray.

The twin-headed bird,
Released a psychic force,
Decimating all in their way,
Except St. Nic of course!

For the Saint had much power,
Innocence long lost,
Neither chaos nor Imperial,
He mastered the frost.

The objective, a bomb,
The termegants overran,
The timer couldn't be set,
Not part of the plan.

Over seconds,
Many tyranids birthed,
St. Nic aimed,
Empty of mirth.

As the warriors cut deep,
His body in two,
A shot rang out,
It's aim so true.

Impacting on the bomb,
It sent the ground asunder,
Everything evaporated,
In a cloud much thunder.

Greater daemons and their kin,
Were sent back to their mother,
St. Nic reformed,
His plane as another.

The battle was over,
A war neither lost nor won,
St. Nic would return,
With a much bigger gun.

An Apocolapse

Last Saturday I attended my first ever apocalypse game of 40k. It was 3000 points a person with the intention that everyone would bring a battle forged force.  I brought along ten dreadnoughts and two lords of war across 6000 points, split between me and my pal Alex.  

The forces were Canis Aureus and Eldar vs Tau, more Tau, Guard and Salamanders.

We were outgunned and the opposing team gained first turn. During turn one we lost both lords of war and a few dreadnoughts. Pitting us against three lords of war (Two stormsurges and a shadowsword) and four Tau forgeworld flyers. At this point the game was pretty much decided but we carried on for two more rounds.

David's Eldar versus the T'au/Marine coalition did well, but down on the heavier side of the table it was cleaned pretty quickly.

The only positive of the event was that the enemies warlord never deployed so technically was killed in orbit, whereas Vlees was on the battlefield and also survived (Unlike 80% of my forces).

It was a painfully slow game, each turn taking almost an hour. 

The Imperiam-T'au coalition fended off the forces of the Aureus in one strong push, crippling their advance. Vlees once again lived to see another day, along with his terminator bodyguard, but lost many valuable renegades in the process.