Army Profile - The Scythiak Usurpation

I always liked the Lost and the Damned army from the old Eye of Terror campaign book, and really like the different Chaos cults and various renegades that show up in the background.  After redoing my loyalist Imperial Guard into a very straightforward force, I knew that I wanted to also make a force that represented the other side - not only serving Chaos instead of the Imperium, but also including elements not present in the Merkans - abhumans, psykers, etc.


I decided that the army would include a mix of forces, some representing local cultists rising up and other off-world support from outside Imperial space, pulling from the techno-barbarian concept - humans who have fallen pretty far socially but manage to maintain a pretty high tech base - Klingons to the Imperium's Federation if you will.  I wavered between using Codex: Orks or Imperial Guard to represent them, and eventually settled on IG primarily to use the WHFB Marauder Cavalry sets for Rough Riders, and also as the army idea for Codex Orks would be pretty similar to the actual Ork army I had just finished.

Here is the inspiration for this rising, the ancient traitor Astrakenor the Accursed, and his retinue who help him spread the word of Chaos.  In-game he uses the rules for Col. Straken, whose stats make him easily equivalent to a Space Marine/Chaos Marine champion.

Some priests of Chaos, to lend some extra fervor and Eviscerators to the fray.

The only vehicle currently in the army, which counts-as a Leman Russ.  The chassis is from a WWII Lee tank and the turret is from the Ork Battlewagon upgrade sprue, with some extra Chaos bits thrown on.

Some of the Rough Riders, led by Tramplemaster Gyrok (center).  With this army I set out an open invitation for blog readers to "adopt" a figure and have it named after themselves, and Gyro (later Gyrok) was one of the first takers.  It's still an open offer, so if you see anyone you really like without a name, let me know!

The other half of the Rough Rider squad.  I originally planned on two squads of ten and have the other one built but got burnt out on painting them so the second squad will have to wait for another day.  Made from WHFB Marauder Horsemen and various bits.

The sorcerer coven (count-as Psyker Battle Squad) made from various old WHFB Chaos Sorcerers.  The gent in black is the overseer, Mors Vaul, another of the adopted figures.  On the far right is an extra sorcerer used as a Primaris Psyker.

The cultist platoon command squad, led by the corrupt noble Von Drakin.  Von Drakin's figure is "Nathaniel" from the game Dark Age.

The two squads of the cultist platoon, each with a meltagun and a sgt. who sometimes carry power weapons.  The cultists are a combo of Necromunda Escher figures and IG Tallarn, with the sgts coming from Mordheim. 

Cultist missile launcher squad, more Tallarn.  The robes and concealed faces on some felt right for cultists to me, and portable shoulder-fired weapons felt better for insurgents than more stationary crewed weapons like lascannons or autocannons.

The platoon command for the techno-barbarians, led by Warchief "Papa" JJ.  Papa is a Catachan officer figure.  The guy on the left is a Necromunda Goliath, and the others are mixes of plastic Catachans and various Chaos bits.

One of the techno-barbarian squads.  Some mixed figures, some metal Catachans, and a Necromunda Goliath with the squad's grenade launcher.  Again, sometimes the sgt uses a power weapon.

The other techno-barbarian infantry squad.  Again mostly mixed figures, with the metal Catacahan female trooper with grenade launcher and one of the Last Chancers figures second from the right as Sally Tordecki.  Other notables in the squad are Notbrent on the left and the sgt with the spiked power maul, Khorne Dog.

Heavy Bolter squad, all converted from Ox from the Last Chancers.  I decided to make them just 2-wound tough guys instead of the standard two guys on a base for heavy weapons teams.  I went ahead and named these myself, so we have Kill, Maim, and Burn.

Mortars, more plastic Catachans with some Chaos heads.

More of the same, with lascannons this time.

The Spawn Riders, which count-as Scout Sentinels with missile launchers.  The riders are plastic Catachans with various heads, using old-school plastic Chaos missile launchers.  (Scythiak Trivia - unbeknownst to the Imperial forces, the Spawn Riders are actually all twins...one twin born free from taint while the other is infused with the essence of Chaos, with a strong psychic bond allowing them to fight together effectively)

Khonan, the army's counts-as Marbo.  With a bad attitude, a wealth of explosives and a runeblade he can do a lot of damage to the unwary.

The Ogryn squad, led by the minotaur Killgore.  Killgore is a WHFB minotaur with an assault cannon rippergun and a close combat weapon cobbled together from an Ork Nob big choppa and a Killer Kan weapon.  The Ogryn are based on WHFB Ogres with modified Ork shootas and some other bits, notably a number are sporting Defiler masks.

More Ogryn, with Kantor Fett in the center.  CCWs taken from the Ork Nob kit.

More Ogryn.  The one on the left was the first rippergun attempt, using a heavy bolter as a base.

I hadn't planned on these guys originally, but got a good deal on a squad of the Forge World Vraksian renegades so snatched them up.  When I use them they're a 3-melta veteran squad, with a power fist for the sgt.  They're another off-world contingent, from a previously corrupted Imperial world who have tagged along to spread Chaos to other planets.

As always, you can see more of the Scythiak in the various reports on the Battle Report page or by searching through tags.  Thanks for looking and reading!