AOBR - The Cauldron Of War

Drax Curzon, Archmagos of Soulforge Epsilon, borne aloft on his gravitic dais and flanked by two huge gun savants, that were little more than Lascannons on legs, surveyed the allocated combat zone. 
Moritat Phorgal, Archmagos of Soulforge Alpha, approached him on six spider-like legs accompanied by two tech-guards, one a tracked motive unit, the other walked upright on two brass equine hoofed limbs.  
"What have you to show me Curzon?" asked Moritat in a standard binary chant. 
Several other heads of the houses were ensconced in separate alcoves within the command octon and all buzzed a response in a similar biometric binary clicking. Ignoring the impatient protestations, Drax welcomed his contemporaries into the viewing hall and gave the escort protocol to his tech-guards. He hovered around the room acknowledging each in turn, the dim glow from the biolume globes, inconsequential as all the Adepts had infrared or lowlight optics, served to highlight his magnificence. 
Accompanied by the clacking of cogitators and whirring of data stacks, a scrivener, rattled out a ream of datafax containing positional information on the disposition of servo-skulls in the war zone. Speaking with a monotone, grating vox sound, punctuated by the clacking of its augmetic jaws, it spoke in high gothic, much to the amusement of all attending. 
"Welcome to the main event...for your delight and delectation...see how Soulforge Epsilon’s Daemonic Engines of war dominate the puny Astartes in these hostilities!"  
With the tension eased, each Adept retired to their allocated alcove and jacked in to the console to download the data-stream through their mechandrites. 
Before the attending Mechanicum cadre could orientate themselves with the battle coverage, several of the screens covering the interior and exterior of the Bastions in the Death Guards position went blank as both fortifications were pummelled by an orbital bombardment. 
"It seems Nestor is eager to get to grips with Festus, we should see much carnage today my compatriots...... Enjoy!"

The Colours of Chaos - The Wall of Profligacy

I Bought GW's box set of two Bastions and 3 Aegis Lines when they first came out many moons ago and painted them up with a generic colour scheme because at the time, it wasn't possible to include them in an army, so I just used them as terrain. When 6th edition hit I started using an Aegis Defence Line in my army, usually (wo)manned by a squad of Daemonettes. As I was using the ADL pretty regularly, I figured they needed the Castigators' artisans to get busy and tart them up a bit from the standard codex grey of the Imperium. Here's how they turned out.....

AoBR- The Beginning Of The End

Festus roared a curse as he mashed a great gauntleted fist into the smoking carcass of the soul grinder 'dereliction'. The dead lights had faded from its eye sockets and rank smears of daemon flesh writhed and bubbled as they phased back into the warp. 'Tosis Mire' and his pale incantations had been unworthy of the Plague Fathers glory. His admonishment was long past due but the way he had almost bested Nestor in single combat had shown so much promise. Festus would give him one more chance, but should he fail!!

Now the Castigators had a stronger position than ever it was all going wrong,  Nestor should have been weakened in the eyes of his effeminate god, instead he had been elevated in power within the pantheon of pleasure. Thanks to the perversions of the Castigators’ Chief Sorceror, Lucian Soulbinder had siphoned this power to call upon a warp storm so vicious that air power was impossible.

Now Festus would have to meet Nestor in battle on his terms , not a good proposition, however by manipulating the pride of the dark prince's puppet, certain constraints would be imposed, forcing a ground war would certainly favour the death guard's art of war. The longer he could draw out this little engagement the less likely Nestor would remain........unsullied.

The Colours of Chaos - Shaithis the Penitent

Shaithis was the captain of the Castigators' first company,leading the Chapter's elite Terminators in countless actions. Whispered by some, although not within Nestor's earshot, to be a future Chapter Master, he displayed all the characteristics one would expect to find in someone who had risen to such a high position. His cruelty and arrogance earned him few friends within the higher echelons of the Chapter, but success is a seductive mistress. 

It was during the attempted assault on the Space Station Voidspan that Shaithis' hubris finally caught up with him. Tasked with securing a beach-head, his arrogance led to the Castigators assault being virtually wiped out and the destruction of two of the Chapter's precious Helbrutes. Although Shaithis' broken body was recovered, rather than allow the flesh-smiths to heal him, Nestor ordered him interred within the sarcophagus of one of the destroyed Helbrutes. Shaithis the Penitent is a reminder to all.....the price of failure.

Slaanesh Heldrake - The Colours of Chaos

I've had a couple of people ask how I built my Heldrake, it's not a WIP as it was done a while ago, but I'll try and explain how I built my Slaanesh Heldrake and it might give people some ideas if they want to build something a little different themselves....

Assault on Black Reach - Breakthrough

The war council listened intently as Lucian Soulbinder, Chief Sorceror to the Castigators, addressed them.
“The corruption spread by Typhus to the acolytes has left the soul shrine unstable. The warp is seeping through the fracture now that the Mechanicum’s acolytes are no longer capable of holding it in check.”
“So the door has been opened….” interrupted Nestor “Can we make use of it?”
“We are too far away from the fracture and time is against us, my Lord…” continued Lucian “at least without some sort of catalyst to expedite matters.”
Nestor leaned forward, his interest piqued while the rest of the war council glanced at one another nervously. Many of them had had dealings with Lucian in the past and all realised that such services came at a price. 
“And what form would such a catalyst take, my friend” enquired Nestor, relishing his war council’s discomfort.
“With the majority of Mechanicus acolytes dead the arcane technology holding back the rigours of the warp has started to degrade causing spacial and temporal distortions in the local vicinity. Imagine reality as a frozen lake and the soul shrine as a small crack in the ice. Along the web of cracks water seeps through. If one was to puncture the ice slightly, the cracks would spread rapidly to that point and more water would seep through…”
“Yes, yes, but without a sacrifice of thousands, which we don’t have, what could puncture reality?” said Nestor impatiently. 
“Another Daemon could, my Lord…” replied Lucian. “Of course, such a thing would take a great toll on the Daemon, but reality is so thin here that it shouldn’t expend all of his energy.”
The relief of the war council was palpable. Smiles spread across their faces as they realised the reason that Korath was missing from the meeting.
Nestor sat back and contemplated the agonies that such a ritual would be for Korath.

"The experience of becoming a Daemon Prince would pale into significance compared to the exquisite torture that leeching him of his immortality would bring. I almost envy him." purred Nestor
“Proceed with ritual, Lucian.”
“As it pleases you, my Lord” replied Lucian…

Visage of Terror

Since reading 'The Forgotten Empire' and 'Vulkan Lives', Conrad Curze has inveigled himself into my black and twisted heart. Perhaps it was the old Goth in me resurfacing after years of suppression or maybe I just have a fondness for the anti-hero. Whatever the case, the Primarchs from the Horus Heresy range are just getting better and better......

Chaotic Visions - Soul-shrine of Chaos

I've been having a great time playing a mini-campaign with Rob just lately. We've had so much fun that the result of the game has been secondary to the story that has evolved. The ideas that we keep coming up with have really helped to enrich our games and replace the 'let's practice for the next tournament' mentality that can be easy to fall into.

While playing the Assault On Black Reach Campaign, we both thought that we really should have a 'Shrine to Chaos' seeing as we were fighting on a Daemon Forgeworld. Fortunately I remembered an old plastic skull I had lying around that would make an ideal Soul-Shrine. So with a bit of hardboard, some Cork Bark, a plastic skull, a raid on the bits box and a few enjoyable hours of chopping things up, here is what I came up with:

Dance for me my children

"How hateful are these creatures. They who abuse the minds of mortal men and suck them dry of their souls."

Assault on Black Reach - Force Supremacy

Festus wafted a pudgy hand through the foetid steam that formed the display of the holo vid, his informant from the Legio Cybernetica had been pivotal in providing positional recon on the Castigators. The timely arrival of a heldrake had eased the testing of their strength; it was only his own over confidence that had meant he hadn't come through the skirmish unscathed.

He was under no illusions that the Dark Mechanicum were playing one off against the other, if that was their game, then who was he to refuse?

A push in the right place to inject a little fecundity to the drop site courtesy of an old ally from the legion should keep the Castigators busy while he licked his septic wounds and mustered a host to secure the Dark Mechanicum's services for himself.

Slaanesh Lord Nestor Lustheart, Chapter Master of the Castigators - The Colours of Chaos

I thought I'd take the opportunity to introduce you to Nestor Lustheart, Chapter Master of the Castigators and scourge to the scions of Dorn.  

I Saw A Pale Rider....And His Name was Death.

Assault On Black Reach

Rob (my regular gaming buddy and fellow fluffhead) and I have been getting back to our roots and playing for the story rather than playing practice games for tournaments....I suppose GW would call it 'forging a narrative' ;-)

We recently played the mini campaign found in the back of the old 5th edition rulebook, so I thought I'd share how we got on.

Assault On Black Reach Campaign

Deep within the Eye of Terror lies Black Reach, a bustling fortified Soulforge World that supplies weapons, armour and the dread Daemon Engines to the Legions and renegade Chapters...for a price!

“Treacherous bastards” cursed Nestor.

He should have known better than to put his faith in the Dark Mechanicum. The payment of sixty thousand souls had already been paid to them for their services, with the agreement of a further sixty thousand on final delivery.

When the Castigators’ fleet had arrived in system, sensors had quickly detected another fleet leaving orbit of the Forge World. It hadn’t taken long to discover that the fleet in question belonged to Festus Foulspawn of the Death Guard.

The fleet had manoeuvred into a standard defensive formation, but weapons had remained powered down, lest they incur the wrath of the Dark Mechanicum’s formidable defence batteries. Orders from the Forge World, had instructed them where to make planet fall and it was no coincidence that they’d landed within a stone’s throw of the Death Guard’s camp.

Within hours skirmishes had erupted over a wide area as both sides had tried to establish a perimeter, which no doubt, was what the Dark Mechanicum wanted.

Nestor wasn’t sure who had shot the Dark Mechanium supply vessel down, but the cargo it contained could prove useful in prioritising his needs and judging by the build-up of forces in the area, Festus Foulspawn thought the same.