Purge the Unclean...and Unpainted - Batrep Daemon Hunters vs. Scythiak Usurpation

Normally I don't like fielding unpainted units, much less armies, but when JVB wanted to run his recently-recovered Grey Knights, it was hard to resist the temptation to put the traitors on the table.  And since when is Chaos about resisting temptation? Besides, this will be a chance to see the recruits so far in action.

We set out for 2000pts, which is the size I was building the Scythiak Usurpation towards, but since I haven't built the vehicles yet I made a few substitutions and proxies.  Instead of a Hydra I used the Heavy Bolter squad, a second-hand Chimera served as one of the Chimeras, and some tanks looted from the Merkans provided others - a Hellhound as stand-in for another Chimera, and a Russ as the Eradicator.

JVB just got the DH back from someone who was going to paint them but never did, so there's a lot of Bare Metal Knights and Black Knights mixed in with the Grey ones.  His guardsmen that he's using for Stormtroopers need repairs, and we subbed in some borrowed dreads and a rhino to fill his list out.  Neither side is going to look top-notch here, so if  you want a pretty report, move on.  If you're just looking for a bit of a lark, read on!

We rolled up a standard mission, Annihilation/Pitched Battle.  GK won the roll, picked a side and setup.  

My list was:

Scythiak Usurpation (Codex: IG)

Company Command Squad
"Astrakenor", Word Bearers Prophet - Counts-as Iron Hand Straken.
Regimental Standard (+LP/CCW)
2xFlamer
LP/CCW
Chimera - Multi-laser, HF 220pts

Elites
Sorceror Coven - 9xPsykers + Overseer
Chimera - Multilaser, HF 165pts

Elites
Chaos Ogrynx10 410pts

Elites
"Khonan" - counts-as Marbo 65pts

Troops
Infantry Platoon
Platoon command - PF/laspistol 2xflamers 55pts
Inf squad - PW, grenade launcher 65pts
Inf squad - PW, grenade launcher 65pts
Mortar squad 60pts
Lascannon squad 105pts
Heavy Bolter squad 75pts

Troops
Infantry Platoon
Platoon command – PW/laspistol, 2xflamers 50pts
Inf squad - PW, meltagun 70pts
Inf squad - PW, meltagun 70pts

Fast Attack
10xRough Riders (1) sgt has meltabombs 110pts

Fast Attack
10xRough Riders (2) sgt has meltabombs 110pts

Fast Attack
3xSpawn Riders (Scout Sentinels) w/Missile Launchers 135pts

Heavy Support
Leman Russ Eradicator, HF hull, Dozer Blade 170pts

2000pts (with the exception of the "real" list having a Hydra instead of the HB squad, this is the list I've been building towards)

JVB took:

Grey Knights (Codex: DH)
GK Termie Captain
GK Termie squad, two psycannons
GK squad, incinerators
GK teleport squad, incinerators
GK heavy squad, 4xpsycannons
2xStormtrooper squads, PF and two plasmaguns
Stormtrooper squad, PF and two flamers, Rhino
2xGK dreadnought, TL lascannons, missile launchers

2000pts

He set up spread out fairly evenly.  One ST squad and a dread on my left moving through a large ruin.  Captain, psycannon GKs and another ST squad middle-left.  Middle right had termies and flamer STs with second dread in back, right had incerator GKs with the Rhino as moving cover.  Teleport squad in reserve.

I set up HBs and Eradicator on my left. Mid-left came both Chimeras and their occupants, followed by the Ogryn, a RR squad and the techno-barbarian platoon.  Mid-right came the cultist platoon, another RR squad, and the lascannons/mortars.  Since we were doing KP, I went ahead and combined the two infantry squads in each platoon.  No commissars or anything to make them real solid tarpits, but mainly I just wanted them to run interference to allow the Ogryn and RRs to close.  My right was pretty open with no good fire lanes, so I just left it empty of troops and tried to concentrate more towards the middle.  Spawntinels would Outflank, and Khonan/Marbo was of course in Reserve.

The washed, but unpainted masses.

Turn one the DH moved up, and the forces of Chaos sluggishly advanced, repositioning some forces on the left more towards the middle.  One GK dread blew off the Eradicator's main gun, starting the trend for what would be a very poor day for the tank.  The Captain's psychic hood shut down the psyker battle squad, and that and some poor (but not deadly) psychic tests would keep the PBS from managing to do anything all game.

Turn two the STs on my left shot and ran off the heavy bolter squad.  Dread fire wrecked Astrakenor's Chimera, so he joined the wave of folks heading towards the center.  The teleport squad arrived, and landed next to the Captain via homer.

Sorry for the poor pics throughout - still trying to figure out my wife's new camera and how to bypass settings...

  In the Chaos turn the Spawntinels and Khonan both arrived, and one demo charge later the recently-teleported GKs were slain, but the Captain made his invulnerable save.  Shortly thereafter, Khonan gets gunned down by a ST's plasmagun.

More light in the game room would probably help too, and I'm sure the black board isn't doing me any favors...

Rough Riders get shot up, prep for assault.

STs flamer cultists, while Terminators and Ogryn position for the true battle...

Stormtroopers climb over rubble to assault the stricken Eradicator, eventually managing to kill it.

Cultists move aside to allow Ogryn to assault STs and Rhino.  My plan was to try to only hit the STs with a few guys, prolonging the combat and blocking the Termies from shooting/charging the Ogryn.  In the end my good to hit rolls and JVB's poor armor saves doomed the STs but left the Ogryn open.

RRs attack GKs, kill a few but are dispatched.

Rhino tank shocks through Chaos lines, pushing them aside but failing to make anyone break.  Termies and GKs assault Ogryn as Gyro leads RRs to better positions.

Lucky SOB who for a time was the sole survivor of his ST squad, making many saves against attempts to kill him and collect that KP.  He eventually succumbed to repeated mortar fire.

Tramplemaster Gyro flanks the GK Terminators and attacks from behind as they're occupied with Ogryn.  With a Furious Charge boost from Astrakenor it makes it even easier, and the hunting lances finish off the Terminators.

Meanwhile Astrakenor, Von Drakin and their retinues try in vain to destroy the Rhino.  It makes Astrakenor so angry that his backpack falls off.

The GK captain moved up and attacked the RRs.  With hunting lances expended, he's a much harder nut to crack!  He cuts down two riders, and then...

Bzow!  Apocalypse, you heretic scum!  Seven more RRs go down, and Gyro hoofs it away to fight another day.

The captain's glory is fleeting, as soon Killgore!, Kantor Fett and others beat him down. 

Not pictured, but other achievements on the left, with the techno-barbarian platoon, Papa JJ helped direct a good bit of FRFSRF lasgun death into various ST and GK squads, with Khorne Dog helped the platoon make its Ld rolls to accept the orders, and Notbrent's aim was true.

End result, Chaos victory.

The army still feels woefully light on anti-tank.  Maybe having the Hydra instead of the HBs would help there, but probably not enough.  Maybe some more games on somewhat less cluttered tables will show it to be sufficient, maybe not.

The Straken/Ogryn/RR combo worked like I thought it would.  Ogryn to suck a charge, with Counter Attack to help them out a bit, and standard for rerolls on their Stubborn 7.  Then RRs, if necessary with help from a Move Move Move order to make the Fleet roll high move around to countercharge whoever the Ogryn have in hand, aided by Straken's Furious Charge to make them I6/S6.  Granted, it's a horribly expensive combo, but fun to pull off vs. fancy elite units.

Vraks Renegade list available for download!

In case you hadn't seen it elsewhere...you can get the updated IA5 version of the Vraks Renegades list from Forgeworld.  They recently also released the Krieg list; hopefully they'll be going through the other lists from IA6 and IA7 soon too!

The Scythiak Usurpation - second wave of recruits WIP

We've had a few more roll in.

On the left is Notbrent, courtesy of Brent .  He seemed to arise out of certain people picking on each other, so I thought that the guy armed with a pick would be appropriate.  Maybe he can spend his energies on the servants of the Emperor and leave Brent alone.  He's an avid plunderer who enjoys long walks in burning cities.

In the middle we have Kantor Fett, who suffered serious burns and the loss of one hand from an Imperial Commissar's plasma pistol.  He strangled the Commissar with his other hand, and has since had the destroyed one replaced.  It's good for combat as well as for divvying up pizza. He's named for that malign Mandalorian, CounterFett.

On the right is Von Drakin, nobleman turned cult leader.  With time the Von Drakin family may have produced a planetary governor, but he has decided to take a quicker route to power by serving other masters.  One such master can be found at the Astral Wolves.

Not pictured is Franz Scorpus...because he's right behind you!  No, he's really not pictured because he hasn't been made yet, but when he is this brutal, bloody beastman will have been brought to you via t800a.

If you haven't selected your alter-ego in the Usurpation yet, check out the collected pics to help you choose.  And if you have a renegade or traitorous army of your own, let me know so I can a) enjoy it and b) add it to the Lost and the Damned Blogroll!

Lost and the Damned Blogroll

As you may notice from the side, I've reorganized my blogrolls a bit, adding a "Lost and the Damned" blogroll.

A casual search didn't find one devoted to this type of thing, so I decided to start one of my own.  While I doubt it will grow to anything like FTW (for one thing, I won't have time!), hopefully it can be a good resource for inspiration.

I've started the roll with a selection of blogs I already follow.  I'm certainly up for more, so if you know of some good ones pass them my way!

As the name implies I'm looking for blogs with content related to "Lost and the Damned" types of armies, as well as other Chaos renegade armies.  Traitor Guard, Blood Pact, Sons of Sek, Vraks Renegades, mutant hordes, cultists, Dark Mechanicus, renegade space marines, breakaway legion factions, radical inquisitors that went too far, etc.  Pretty much everything Chaos in 40K that isn't covered by the regular CSM legions or Daemons.  Straight up World Eaters?  I think people can find that sort of thing easily enough.  Soul Reapers?  Send 'em on over.

The blog doesn't have to be exclusively focused on such things, just some measure of relevant content. 

The Scythiak Usurpation - first "recruits" plus new Primaris (WIP)

Thanks to all who've responded to the call so far!  For those who haven't responded yet, there's still plenty of guys to name, so check out the link and see who you'd like me to name after you.

Here's who we have so far, aside from the previously-named guys like Astrakenor and Khonan. 

From the left, we have:

KILLGORE!, the Minotaur leader of the Chaos Ogryn, in tribute to ColKillgore.

Warchief "Papa" JJ.  May he be as generous in dealing death as the real Papa JJ is in giveaways!

Gyro, Prince of the Steppes, Tramplemaster.  May his battles be as varied as Gyro's own.

"Khorne Dog", techno-barbarian squad leader.  Coming to you courtesy of Da Masta Cheef.

Mors Vaul, Warpmaster, overseer of the sorcerer coven, brought to you by An Enemy.

On the far right is another sorcerer, the old "Hess Poisonbreath" that I forgot I had, but tossed into the mix.  He'll be another option for a Primaris Psyker, and is available for naming.

So far I've just been hitting figs with initial washes, and trimming some more flash and mold lines, especially as they become more evident  to my poor eyes after washing.  After I get everybody washed, painting will commence, with possible breaks for vehicle modeling.

The Scythiak Usurpation arrives! Collected army pics and cultist recruitment drive!

Here's the army so far all in one post.  If you've been following this from the beginning you'll have seen most of this already, but there will be a few new things.  For many of these, check out earlier posts for more pics.
Why am I putting all these up in one place?  One, I think it's nice to see everything at once.  Two, I need your help, and seeing them all will make it easier for you to do so.  Please see the end for how you can help...

Astrakenor and his retinue, company command squad with Straken upgrade, two flamers.  The acolyte with the speaker counts as a standard, amplifying and rebroadcasting Astrakenor's exhortations.  The priest with the chainsword had an =I= icon in his right hand which had to go.  Rather than just replacing it with a laspistol, I decided to turn the hand itself into a weapon.  Various =I= symbols on the henchmen filed off.

Psyker battle squad, bunch of Chaos sorcerers.  First five. 

 

Second five.  The one with the torch and book will be the Overseer.

For times when I want to run a Primaris Psyker, if I'm not running a PBS or just a smaller PBS, I may just use one of them as a Primaris.  Otherwise I'll break this guy out, a Heartbreaker Miniatures wizard.

He's not necessarily the most impressive guy, but I like him.  I saw this fig like a decade ago and always wanted one, but didn't know who made it or what it was called.  Over time I figured out that he was probably a Heartbreaker fig but couldn't find a pic anywhere, but recently found him on ebay.  Woot!  The long search has given him extra sentimental value to me.

Cultist platoon command squad.  Officer is a Dark Age Nathaniel fig.  I was originally going to use a PF, but decided to leave the sword, especially as it comes in a nice swinging pose.  Two flamers and two CCW cultists back him up.

 Cultist platoon infantry squads.  Meltagun, sgt with PW.

Oops, now I remember I still need to add a lasgun to one of those Eschers. Easy fix.

Cultist missile launcher teams.

Techno-barbarian heavy-bolter tough guys

.

Vets, 3 meltas and powerfist.

Mortars.

Lascannons.

Spawn Riders (Sentinels).

Rough Riders.  See prior posts for more detailed pics.

Group A

Group B (incl a sgt w/double-bladed axe)

Group C (incl a sgt on left with pistol/chainsword)

Group D

Techno-barbarian platoon CO.  Powerfist, two flamers, two CCW.

Techno-barbarian platoon infantry squads.  Grenade launcher, power weapon sgt.

Squad 1, first half.  Sgt is guy with spiky mace.

Second half.










Squad 2, first half.  Sgt is guy with skull helmet.

Second half. 


















The Man with the Plan; Khonan.  Counts-as Marbo.

And last but not least, the Ogryn squad.

Group 1

Group 2


















Group 3

















And the squad leader.























Now, the building phase isn't quite complete yet, but all the infantry and such are done for what I planned on for the initial lists, unless I've forgotten something!  I still have to do the vehicles - a Hydra-equivalent, five Chimera equivalents, and a Russ-equivalent.  Then stuff will start getting painted!

I have plans for further expansions down the road, but will get this massive first batch painted first.  Some stormtroopers, more tanks and artillery pieces, maybe a valkyrie, corrupted PDF platoon, commissars, some Repentia as priests, maybe some other things as I think of them.

But now as I finish the building stage and gear up for painting, we come to the second part of this monster post, and part of the reason I went ahead and included so many pics above.  In short...

CHAOS WANTS YOU!

 

I want to give these guys names, and would like to incorporate you guys who've followed their progress and kept me motivated as an "audience".  So join up!  Join the Scythiak Usurpation!

What's involved?

As a follower of the blog, put a comment in this post or email me through my Profile here, and let me know who you want named after you, and what you want them named.  Could be your real name, your online handle, your favorite D&D character, whatever resonates with you.  

I do reserve the right to refuse particular names - I don't want to paint "Buttmunch" or something on my bases.  I don't think this will be an issue, but want to set some basic boundaries just in case.  If you get your pick in before I get the fig painted, I'll also try to accommodate things like skin tone and hair color if you specify and want them to look more like you.

I've already named Astrakenor and Khonan, and plan to name the backup Primaris guy because he's sentimental for me.  I'm reserving the minotaur for Col. Killgore, mainly because "Killgore" is just a perfect name for a minotaur.  But everyone else should be up for grabs. Get a piece of the army for yourself, and follow your exploits in my future battle reports, for good or ill!

So what'll it be?  A cultist?  A techno-barbarian?  Rough-rider or Ogryn?  A sorcerer?  Or do you want something related to one of the tanks, or reserve a commissar-equivalent?  The choice is (mostly) yours!

"Damnation's just another word for nothing left to lose."