Ferrugo Pass: Tor Megiddo - part 7

In week five (probably!) of the Feruggo Pass campaign our warbands will be within the Heart of the Machine, deep inside a city-sized Tor known as the Cauldron: The Warbands will discover the ancient treasures within, and terrors in the darkness! Viktor suggested using Genestealer Kill Team rules for the terrors, and that set the cogs (!) in my mind turning, I wanted to come up with a way to make degraded Adeptus Mechanicus creations that would work in that role. This is the result: the Cog-Forsaken.

+++

This is mostly a Sicarian Ruststalker with an extra left arm from an AoS Sylvaneth Tree-Revenant, one of the leftover bits from my Belisarius Cawl conversion (the cylinder on its back) and a greenstuffed robe. For the others (there will be 4 more) I am thinking of adding some skulls as well as the rest of the leftovers from Cawl. The greenstuff on its base will be covered with sand before I undercoat it.

The Graveroot Wargrove, Part 8

I have built 3 Spite-Revenants - more Harrowmark Sylvaneth. I wanted to make them darker, more twisted and disturbing than the Tree-Revenants. So I built them with several human skulls each, all from Citadel Skulls box as well but I chose the damaged and cracked skulls to match the Spite-Revenants' broken and tormented nature.

~ 🙐 ~

Where other sylvaneth were graceful and suffused with life magic, the Spite-Revenants were shrieking terrors from the depths of a nightmare. Light and shadow flickered weirdly around these ghastly creatures as they tore and bit at their victims, rending to bloody tatters any who do not simply fling down their weapons and flee.

Outcasts were terrifying Sylvaneth who could only perceive the war aspect of the Spirit Song of Alarielle. When the sylvaneth were mustered to war, the Spite-Revenants also answered the call and would fling themselves into battle with wanton abandon, madness churned in their eyes and their very shadows twisted unnaturally. As they went to war, Dryads sang their war songs, but the Spite-Revenants screamed a nerve tearing cacophony of terror and hate. They may have been a dark reflection of the other tree-folk or even tainted from Soul-Pods that grew in corrupted soil. They were found in any wild place that had been twisted by malice and hate, not a few tree-folk worried that their bitterness and hate was contagious.

They were surrounded by haunting, susurrating voices which hissed threats in an unknowable tongue, and they were rightly feared for the cruel delight they took in granting their prey slow, lingering deaths.

~ 🙐 ~

Solanix (the Shadestalker), Feroxus and Dulcamara:

Ferrugo Pass: Tor Megiddo - part 6 - Opening Moves

The Tors were dying.

The Cult Mechanicus did their best: They made repairs. They replaced failing components. They said the holy rites. They applied the sacred oils. They appeased the decaying machine spirits.

But it was not enough.

The repairs did not last. The new components were just as old as those they replaced. They did not understand the holy words, so the memory of them was fading and their recitals were jumbled and misspoken. The sacred oils were diluted with raw unprocessed promethium, because that was all there was.

The Tors were dying.

They sent out expeditions into the red deserts; to find more replacement parts. To find pure sacred oils. To find uncorrupted machine spirits. They were not Tech-priests. They were not Skitarii. They did their best but the Tors were dying.

+++

The Ferrugo Pass is a winding path through the arid mountains in the far north of the Rhossum Primus continent of Tor Megiddo. The battles of the Yaike Yaike tribes across the Scorched Plain, before the last Red Wind, caught the attention of the Rustmen who ventured out onto the Scorched Plain to investigate. No-one remembered a time when so many of the revered Rustmen came down from the mountains in one go. When the battles were ended by the next Red Wind the Rustmen walked back to the mountain pass, heedless of the dust storms that can strip the flesh off a human in less than an hour.

When the Red Wind subsided again and another new year began, the Yaike Yaike once more emerged from their hiding places beneath the burnt ground, inside the ruined hive spires, within the bellies of long-dead gods of war.

Rumours of what dwelt within the rocky cliffs and fissures of Ferrugo Pass started to spread. No one knew who started them but all knew the Rustmen had come from somewhere, and they had gone back to wherever that was. The rumours said that the Ferrugo Pass was the domain of half a dozen Tors that ranged in size from the smallest; walking colossi (that dwarfed even the greatest of Rustmen!); to some that were the size of cities. Stories began to circulate that most of them were still mobile and at least partially functional.

The Yaike Yaike tribes, the Flesh Barons, the Red Church, and many others, all coveted the Tors for the wealth and power that controlling even one such legendary living god-machine could bring.

+++

The Para-Skitarii of Anomaly Protocol Patrol 8 spent some time observing the local Yaike Yaike tribes before setting out into the shanty town.

Lurking in the shadows of the shanties were the Purebred...

... and the Stash Riders.

The Para-Skitarii cautiously advanced, staying close to the reassuring might of the ruined refinery machinery. Davtov transmitted a burst of binharic to the warband and they spread out.

Tybar sprinted to the objective on their left flank, hoping something useful was inside. 

Gudget readied his Caliver and blasted the Purebred's mutant hound.

The Stash Riders hunkered-down in a makeshift bunker picked-off one of the Purebred fighters.

Daktov made a dash for the central objective.

Gudget and Decima steadied their weapons and prepared to fire.

Draktov (briefly) held the central objective....

Kasra had his eye on the objective in the pumping-station, while Tybar held the one on the near-left. One of the Stash Riders lurked behind the ruined bulkheads.

Yash the Blemished charged Daktov! Warfather Arun climbed into the back of the abandoned truck.

The Stash Riders sniped at Arun and he went down.

Yash the Blemished struck down Daktov!

Mahela, the Keeper of the Flesh, scared one of the Stash Riders with her vicious assault! The 'Rider fell back and gave her the objective.

Beetle - the leader of the Stash Riders sought to dislodge Yash from the central objective.

Tybar hunkered-down behind the heavy steel door while Kasra ticked and twitched as he prepared himself to make a dash for the objective in the pumping-station.

Gudget rained fire at the Purebred. Decima was wounded and shaken.

As Kasra sprinted across the red sand Murdock blasted him in the back!

+++

So! We are back on Tor Megiddo for another campaign. The Tor Megiddo Tarot was consulted: We expect this one to last at least 6 weeks and we have sketched out a story and the missions to represent it (you can read it here), but the action on-table may take the story in a different direction... we will have to see!

The first mission was Recover Intelligence. This was used to represent the frantic gathering of supplies needed for the desert-crossing expedition to Ferrugo Pass. There were five objectives, one in the centre and one in each quarter. The central objective was worth 3 VP each turn it was controlled, the others were worth 1 VP per turn.

The final tally of Victory Points was:

• Anomaly Protocol - 3
• Stash Riders - 2
• Purebred - 8

The Purebread were broken and battered but still managed to gather the most supplies and score a victory by a wide margin.

+++

Viktor's intro to his Ferrugo Pass adventures is here and his version of this encounter is here.

The Graveroot Wargrove, Part 7

We sing the Spirit Song for the dead.

We stalk the Spirit Paths of the Harrowmark.

We reap the bitter harvest of tears and bones.

We hunt those who would despoil the forest.

We protect the ancient secret that lies hidden beneath it.

We are living vengeance in the land of the dead.

We are the blades that cut the night.

We are the watchers in the dark.

We are the eyes and the claws of the forest.

~ 🙐 ~

I finished three more models for the Graveroot over the weekend. Hemlock Bitterblade, Arch-Revenant, and two Tree-Revenants:

The details of the build of this model are in my previous post. The colour scheme is the same as I described here.

Hemlock Bitterblade will be the leader of the Graveroot Wargrove

Githago, Tree-Revenant Waypiper

Nemorosa, Tree-Revenant

I will add the two new Tree-Revenants to the Underworlds Revenants (I will ignore that one of them has a bow as currently the only way to play that is with the Underworlds warband Warscroll, which causes other problems in Skirmish games...) I will probably use the Thornwych as a Branchwych in Skirmish games as well:

The Graveroot Wargrove so far, along with a couple of the Harrowmark Endless Spells (that are the origin of their colour scheme!). More than enough to start using them in 250 point AoS Skirmish games! But I intend to continue building and painting the rest of the Looncurse Sylvaneth over the next few weeks, a few models at a time.

The Graveroot Wargrove, Part 6

Hemlock Bitterblade, watched silently from the shadows beneath the dead trees. She studied her prey as they stumbled and crashed through the forests. The foolish orruks sky-pirates were oblivious to the danger they were walking into. The forest spirits would destroy them utterly in just a few minutes.

Bitterblade stepped into the Spirit Paths and disappeared, a shadow flickered through the trees and passed the orruks unseen. The trees around the invaders moved subtly, rearranging the pathways through the forest, redirecting the orruks and forcing them down a different route.

She emerged ahead of their altered path, alongside a small band of Tree-Revenants who had been waiting for her. They silently nodded to one-another, acknowledging their readiness. Sinews flexed and tensed as the took their positions.

As the orruks arrived at a clearing where the pathway diverged they stopped walking and looked around in confusion. They were not exactly lost, but they were not where they expected to be. The leader took out a rolled-up map and started to examine it, his gnarled green face contorted with concentration.

The tree-line exploded into movement as the Revenants burst forth, blue-green witchfire flared along their enchanted blades...

~ 🙐 ~

I converted my Looncurse Arch-Revenant, using Tree-Revenant arms (and used an animal skull from the Citadel Skulls box). I started with wanting to make her right-handed and everything else was just "I'll see what this looks like" from there. It's a very nice kit and matches the style and details for the other Revenants really well. Since I took these photos I have added another lock of flowing Revenant hair on her right, undercoated her and started painting. I hope to finish her by the start of next week.