Grandfather Kurgan's Genestealer Cult, part 10

Basking in the sheer alien glory of the patron that infected them, Acolyte Hybrids Darsai and Sketan crooned and hissed in the gloom of the underhive. When the time came to throw off the torn robes they used to disguise their foulness, the Acolytes crawled out of the mines into the lamplight of Mancunius Dome, their grotesque faces twisted in subhuman glee. They displayed a bizarre blend of the species from which they hail – the speed of a Purestrain Genestealer twinned with human cunning is a potent combination. The hybrids fired off volleys of pistol fire, before descending on the enemy in a riot of claws, close combat weapons and screamed praise to their masters.

~ Ձ ~

With all the Genestealer Cults news over the weekend I was inspired to finish off these three models - they have been sat on my desk for three months as I lost interest in working on them when the grey zenithal-spray basecoat went weird and gritty on them. I did my best to clean it off the Goliath Neophyte (with an old toothbrush), but it took a long time and by the time I got to the Acolytes the paint had cured pretty hard and it was too late.

But coming back to them I found I wasn't nearly as bothered by it so I think I have made my peace with it.

I have a Kill Team game arranged for Friday this week - I think it's time the Order of the Guardian rose up!

Shadows of Commorragh - part 11

At present, Commorragh is an almost-infinite nest of architectural impossibilities and spatial anomalies. Each of its estates has been overdeveloped to the point that their growth has been forced into the vertical plane, the various regions sprouting upwards like needle-plants fighting for sunlight. Each of the Dark City's spires and starscrapers is linked to its fellows by curved arches and gossamer-like buttresses. Its miles-tall aeries and palaces both reach upwards and downwards simultaneously, spiralling into the depths of the Webway's curved space-time. With every Terran year that passes, the hideous city seeks to spread out over more of the dimension that serves as its foundation.

~ 🜤 ~

The Low Commorragh scenery for Shadows Of Commorragh is starting to take shape. I have a plan for 2 Kill Team boards with Drukhari / Aeldari oval platforms over ancient stone ruins. These ones are made from Ruins of Osgiliath (Lord of the Rings scenery), pillars from the (OoP) Temple of Skulls, Eldritch Ruins, Raider bits, a couple of old movement trays, plus a load of odds and ends from my Drukhari bits box.

I also finished the 6 objective markers (made from Raider prows). Each one is "numbered" with 1 to 6 skulls. Most of the skulls are human but there is an Ork skull and an Ur-Ghoul skull in there too.

• Chaos Black spray undercoat. Then a grey zenithal basecoat, making sure to get most of the base.
• Paint the whole piece of scenery with Incubi Darkness. (Leave some areas like this for deep shadows!)
• Drybrush the whole piece with Kabalite Green.
• A very light drybrush of Sybarite Green on areas you wish to stand out a little more.
• Give the whole piece a final very light drybrush of a Sybarite Green and White mix, with a focus on the right side of each facing, so light appears to come from the right, no matter which way round you look at the scenery.

And I received the 12 Webway Gates that a friend 3d-Printed for me! I've attached them to 60mm oval bases and I will start painting them soon.

Edit (19th November 2018):

I finished another piece of Low Commorragh scenery (I based and repainted the small backdrop piece).

And added some Drukhari graffiti to all of them.

Edit: 30th November 2018

Got me some WHQ Blackstone Fortress Ur-Ghuls in the post earlier this week (and I've already done a chop-and-swap with an arm on two of them, so they all look a bit different).

Oil and Blood, Tor Megiddo - part 22 - Gang Moot

The campaign finale!

It's been so long,
And we've been putting out fire,
With promethium,
Feel our blood enraged,
It's just the fear of losing all.

+++

Dust-clouds gathered on the horizon and a storm of a different sort was brewing in the shanty town at the edge of Windgrip.

In a last-ditch attempt to broker peace between the Yaike Yaike tribes the elders arranged a Moot. The leaders of the Slipgibbets, the Stash Riders, the Ashtown Wasters and the Purebred met in a corner of The Notever and eyed each other warily.

Their henchmen and followers milled around the ruins, trying not to look too conspicuous or aggressive but also trying to be as intimidating as they could. None of them really wanted this peace, but they didn't want to get the blame for the negotiations failing.

Any hopes of a truce soon went out of the window though as Beetle, the leader of the Stash Riders, revved his chainaxe and charged straight at Great Father Arun!

Commander Blitzer read the ley of the land and charged Katorax! The Slipgibbet's leader was wounded twice and failed to hit back. Luckily for Kastorax, Blitzer's plasma pistol fizzled out of ammo as the last charge missed him. Then the Commander's stimms overloaded his system and the hulking brute seized-up!

Kastorax looked around to see if anyone saw, then fried the Ashtown Waster's leader with his shock stave and laughed to himself.

Beetle and Arun dueled on. Two Wasters ran passed them and ignored both!

Absent and Cable mucked about and did nothing useful.

Duggee stalked his prey...

Kastorax tried to raise the alarm as Beetle took down Great father Arun, but only Hijack noticed! The other gangs' fighters all paid much more attention!

Warfather jax gunned down the Slipgibbets' Tech Witch with his heavy stubber!

The Wasters pinned down a couple of the Stash Riders, wounding one of them badly.

Echelon the Rider and Warfather Dez were both injured by a grenade Cable fired (when the lunk finally realised something bad was going on!)

The Rustmen looked on. Who knows what they made of the unfolding scenes of mayhem before them?

Duggee chomped on Jax's leg and breathed flames over the Rider!

Hijack tried to have a go at one of the injured Stash Riders.

Successfully for once! He pulverised the fallen ganger with his power pick.

Cable blasted Beetle off his feet with a krak grenade and Smilin' Merc ran up and finished him off - claiming the kill. much to Cable's annoyance! But even though he was out of action he had been the last leader standing and gained some reputation for that!

The Hound jumped up and shot at Hijack and pinned him. Atlas also took fire and ducked...

... As the Red Wind returned!

The Notever, and probably the rest of the continent, was once more engulfed in choking dust clouds and the gangs scattered to their boltholes and hideouts.

+++

And so the Oil and Blood: Tor Megiddo campaign draws to a close. 

The final Reputation table looks like this:

19 - The Stash Riders
16 - The Slipgibbets
12 - The Purebred
8 - The Ashtown Wasters
7 - The Disciples of the Black

The Gang Rating table is as follows:

1920 - The Slipgibbets
1520 - The Ashtown Wasters
1470 - The Stash Riders
1415 - The Disciples of the Black
1390 - The Purebred

The Powerbroker and Creditor Triumphs go to the Stash Riders. The Slaughterer Triumph clearly goes to Duggee, as that good boy took out more enemy fighters than any whole gang managed!

We will be returning to Tor Megiddo next year: We will begin a new Turf War with some gangs returning and some new gangs joining the fight. The story will move on as well as new plot-threads will be added and we will continue to explore new facets of the Tor Megiddo setting.

+++

The land shakes beneath the fury of the storm.
The sand is drenched in blood and oil.
Most holy Promethium, it fills our veins with wrath.
Ride forth warlord! Blessed by the Cog and the Bolt!
Wage war in the sun!

Oil and Blood, Tor Megiddo - part 21 - Hidden Cargo

Hidden Cargo

In the settlement known as Drywaters, three gangs converged on a number of abandoned caches of archeotech. There were rumours that a Colossus had been sighted dumping cargo overboard in the shantytown and word had spread fast. The Slipgibbets were not about to miss out.

+++

Hijack, Leech, Cable, Penance and Atlas went into Drywaters looking for the stash of loot. There were loads of bits of junk dropped from the Colossus but only one of them was valuable.

Absent ran ahead of the group and claimed drop site VI.

The Ashtown Wasters headed in from the other side of town.

And the Purebred appeared from behind a refinery outlet and claimed drop site III.

Jax fired at Commander Blitzer. Jo Pyro returned the favour, and ran in with gouts of flame bathing the Rider in burning promethium.

Leech opened up with his Heavy Stubber and wounded Warfather Jax of the Purebred.

The Purebred claimed drop site VII.

The Rider was serious injured (and somewhat cooked).

Commander Blitzer claimed drop site III, wresting control from the Purebred.

Cable and Penance claimed drop site II. 

Absent crept forward into a firing position that overlooked the open area ahead of the Slipgibbets.

Duggee bounded through the ruined refinery, excitedly looking for prey.

Cable and Penance spotted him and chose to withdraw quitely.

Cable started climbing.

Leech fired at Yash and seriously injured him.

As Great Father Arun crawled away Atlas claimed drop site VII.

Penance claimed drop site I while Hijack sprinted ahead. The Ashtown Wasters suffered a few more casualties from Purebred gunfire than they were happy with so they fled the town!

Great Father Arun pinned Atlas by lobbing a grenade at him. 

Yash bled-out and Joe Pyro succumbed to his many wounds.

+++

The fates chose the Purebred as the victors this day, just as the Tor Megiddo tarot had predicted!

+++

This was a three-player game. Each of us took a different counter (skull beads, purple crystals and blue discs) to mark who controlled each objective - control was taken by moving a model into contact with an objective when there were no models from another gang in contact. At the end of the game I had control of four objectives, Ade had none and Viktor had one. We drew a tarot card to find out which objective was the site of the loot ... and it was drop site IV - the one Viktor controlled!