The Long Wait is over, now let's get back to the Long War!

Greetings Sinners!
It's been a long wait for the Traitor Legions; 14 years since the last Codex with Legion rules were published. Finally our time has come again......and I, for one, welcome our new Chaos overlords!

The Caledonian Highlander - Nestor's Return (part 2)

Sunday morning soon rolled around, it a little too soon for some people, and the Cold Steel Mercs mustered their forces to do battle once again.......

The Caledonian Highlander - Nestor's Return (part 1)

Greetings Sinners!
Last week a bunch of the Cold Steel Mercs attended the Caledonian Highlander.
Michael (Necrons), Neil (White Scars), Iain (Red Scorpions) and my misguided brother, Steve (Khorne Daemonkin) joined me in sunny Stockport for my favourite style of tournament.....the Highlander.

It's been a while.....but

Greetings Sinners!

It's been quite awhile since I last posted. I'd like to say I had very good reasons for this, but the truth is, is that my enthusiasm for 7th edition has waned considerably over the last few months.

Ennui

noun

1. A feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest; boredom:

It's the curse that haunts all disciples of Slaanesh, but slowly, ever so slowly, my mojo is returning once more.

Sheee'la'sar, the Amethyst Siren & Huntress of Slaanesh

Greetings sinners!
Work on the Harbingers of Joyous Degradation have slowed considerably, mainly because the event that I was building them for has released a rules pack that prevents me from using them....bugger!

The Harbingers of Joyous Degradation prepare for war!

Greetings sinners!
Work on my Grande Cavalcade is coming along nicely. I hit a bit of a wall last week, but just as my enthusiasm was waning, my good friend Michael got in touch about an event tomorrow.

Facing the Grey Horde

Greetings sinners!
Work is progressing on my Grande Cavalcade, the Harbingers of Joyous Degradation, although at the moment they feel more like the Harbingers of Eternal Tedium......

The Grande Cavalcade - Harbingers of Joyous Degradation

Greetings sinners!
Work has begun on my Grande Cavalcade, so here's a quick progress update to prove I'm actually doing something. 6 chariots are built....some even have paint on them. My living room is over-run with Daemonettes and Seekers and I even have an army list in my head. Of course the most important element has been done......naming them!
The story of the Harbingers of Joyous Degradation begins here.....

The Tournament Conundrum - Musings of a chaotic mind

Greetings sinners!
Tournaments have been few and far between for me this year. As a dedicated Chaos Space Marine player that insists on hamstringing himself with self-imposed restrictions, the lack of events that allow Forge World has seriously hampered my options. Fortunately, GW have been busy of late and have given Chaos Space Marines something to help them out....

Path to glory, The cult of the exquisite corpse.

While I've been adrift in the sea of madness these have been appearing on my table so I thought id share the progress of my war-band so far. Introducing the newly formed cult of the exquisite corpse. 

The Search For Festus - The Fate of a Nurgle Lord

The Warpsmith punched in the access code leading to the armoury and beckoned Tosis to follow.
"The artefact is more than just a badge of, office my lord" he croaked.
"I have told you before Seradis, don't call me that.....not yet."
Seradis was about to incline his head then thought better of it.
"Indeed, the true value lies with the manner of its... requisition!" Continued the Warpsmith.
"I am aware of its original owner's misfortune, I was there at the Champions of Chaos trial after all.
We only narrowly avoided Sladic's fate ourselves, Festus' bumbling attempts at glory left us all exposed. It is only through sheer luck that it is the Lord of the Red Tide who resides in the god's Gilded Cage and not Lord Festus!"
"He is ill suited to lead us lor...Tosis, why do you insist on bending your knee to him?"
"While he lives he is our lord and all efforts must be made to save him, I would expect no less, the grandfather see's all Seradis.....he will not find me lacking faith."

They reached the armoury chamber and struck the rune of entry.
Putrid, shrunken heads adorned the walls, casting a sickly green light from orb less eye sockets. At the far end of the reliquary hung a baroque flamer of exquisite workmanship. The sharp jagged filigree of the casing and the daemonic muzzle (that of a rabid wild dog) were the work of a master artificer.

"The World Eaters would expend much blood to reclaim the burning brand were they to learn of its location," said the Warpsmith, "Lord Sladic's penitence within the Gilded Cage is almost at an end...."
"One problem at a time Seradis interrupted Tosis.
"Prime Lord Festus' trophy...I shall take it to him!

The Search for Festus - Into The Sorcerers Lair

"How much longer, Mo'reau?" Asked Chiron.
The Fleshsmith, lost in his grisly work, had almost forgotten that Chiron was standing there watching his every move.
"Soon...." replied the Fleshsmith without looking up from his administrations, "....providing there are no further interruptions."
Dulcet laughter resonated from behind Chiron's faceplate, causing the Fleshsmith to look up from his gruesome task.
"Ah, forgive me, my young acolyte. I sometimes forget how enthralling the art of flesh crafting can be. Alas, my days of sculpting flesh are behind me Mo'reau, and these poor old limbs are incapable of such dexterity." Continued Chiron as he picked up an inert servitor in his mighty fist.
"Fortunately, these poor old limbs still have their uses, eh Mo'reau?" emphasising the point by crushing the hapless servitor.
"My apologies, Lord Chiron," stammered the Fleshsmith. "I forget myself when I'm immersed in my work....I meant no disrespect."
Mo'reau looked on in horror as Chiron's Multi-melta powered up. The Dreadnought's knowledge of flesh crafting was unsurpassed, but his behaviour since he had been interred was becoming more and more erratic and often proved fatal to those who displeased him.
"Continue with your work Fleshsmith. The Death Guard have come for your patient....I shall see to it personally that you receive no further interruptions!"

Tosis descent.

In the void of chaos there lies endless opportunity and variety along side eternal damnation. to this end it is ordained the use of some.....less usual protagonists be appointed. Diversity and stagnation coexist in strange embrace, man and daemon become one a balance is struck and a whole world trembles!

T'Ba-gur 'the peddler' Herald of nurgle.

Whatever your buying the peddler can produce from his voluminous robes his buyers unaware the bargain he brokers comes with a price they can scarce afford. The gaudy trinkets he deals in soon tarnish and corrode along with the vitality of the owner leaving them with only despair and loss. This anguish soon pales as T'ba-gur returns to seek his remuneration. The dept collected swiftly, he reaps the reward of his bargaining. Another mortal soul bound for Nurgles eternal enjoyment.

The Search for Festus - Buying Time

The assault on Bastion 12 had taken longer than Tosis had expected. What had meant to be a lightning strike had turned into a protracted fire fight and close quarter grind.
The screech of tortured metal and the thrumming sound of promethium engines heralded the imminent arrival of the Castigators' inevitable reinforcements. Clouds of pulverised rockcrete dust swirled around in the distance, creating eddies in the smog thick atmosphere betraying considerable troop movements, making it all but impossible to discern exactly how many and what type of forces were arrayed against him. Though it was clear he was badly out numbered Tosis had a solid exit strategy. 
Locating Festus was, however, proving problematic in the vast underground labyrinth of the bunker and scouts had been deployed to ensure they wouldn't be walking into a dead end.
All they needed to do was hold out until one of the scouts returned with a definite location...or (as more and more of the Castigators loomed out of the smog) maybe just a rough location would suffice!
Tosis would need to be capricious in his defensive strategy if he was to be successful in buying more time for the search party.

Path to glory 'Rictus' Raptor champion of Chaos

A shadow passed across the ground causing the streaming light to flicker it was the only thing betraying the swift arrival of Rictus on his Deamonic leathery wings. 'lord Nalax' He hailed, his voice reverberating through the leering grin of his helm. 'It appears our forces have been scattered. I have contacted several cult members and individuals from a number of units, they march to our location now!'

Lord Kithel Nalax the corpulent turned to his trusted champion and nodded 'Good good we must locate the rest of their units as soon as we have consolidated, I sense the wolf is not far from our door... We must be ready!

The Fleshsmith will you see you now.

"Oh, hush now, We've barely begun."
"Sometimes, we think that our work is not appreciated."
"Do you know just how much work we've done restoring your dulled nerve endings?"
"We don't do this for our benefit you know?"
"Well....perhaps we do enjoy our work, but one must be happy in their work, mustn't one?"
"Be still now, we wouldn't want to make a mistake at this stage."
"The first injection is the worst, but once you've recovered you'll be surprised just how much you crave more."
"You'll feel so much better when we've finished."
"Now this may sting a little!"

Festus imprisoned

When he regained conciousness Festus  found himself completely immobile and everything was in darkness, even his enhanced senses couldn't pick up the slightest noise. All he was aware of and all he had to focus on was the intense burning as though he were being roasted alive.....

Nestor circled round his adversary drawing immense satisfaction from the futile wriggling of the Deathguard worm dangling at the end of his line. A pleasure only slightly diminished by the repugnant stench of slowly searing rotten meat.

Storms of Judgement - The Search for Festus

"But why, brother, why? Asked Rask.
"The Council of Seven have voted unanimously for you to lead us. Festus is as good as dead, now is the time for you to claim your rightful place and lead us to victory against those depraved Castigators" continued the Plague Champion.
"It is precisely because of that that my decision stands brother" replied Tosis calmly.
Rask looked at each of the Plague Champions within the lodge, but each seemed equally as mystified as Rask was.
"The Council have voted unanimously, that is true brother," continued Tosis, "but a full third of our fleet still have their doubts. If we are to defeat the Castigators, we must be able to rely on the full support of our Chapter to crush these degenerates."
Before Rask could protest further, Tosis placed a placating gauntlet upon Rask's shoulder.
"As you say brother, Festus is as good as dead, but alas, he is not dead yet. To unite the Chapter, we must mount a rescue bid to save out fallen Lord. Only then can we cast aside all doubt and bring the Castigators to their knees!"

The Path to Glory: Lords of the lost and damned

I dream constantly of lands I have never seen, but I do not need to wait for sleep to see them, nor even do I need to close my eyes. The landscape of the Chaos foothills suddenly impose themselves onto the world around me in perfect clarity. At first I was loathe to look about me when these visions descended, but now I see them for the gift they are. 
Listen carefully brothers....and you too may hear the Call of Chaos

Rise of a Chaos Lord

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce some of the death guard that I will be using in our next game, as our story unfolds squad leader Tosis has been doing rather better than Lord Festus in many games and this has not gone unnoticed by the Grandfather!

Curse of the Wulfen....Gift of the Daemon?

Greetings sinners!
No doubt everybody has seen the latest campaign book from Games Workshop titled Curse of the Wulfen. As soon as news broke about this campaign book, I waited impatiently to place my pre-order for it. I mean, it's a campaign book.....I love playing campaigns. It has Space Wolves in it....I have a very modest Space Wolves army. It has Daemons in it.....I love my Daemons and this could be the incentive I need to get more work done on my Slaanesh daemon allies. Really, this was a no-brainer for me, it has to be full of win....Surely?

The Storms of Judgement - Clash of Titans

The war on Morbus was not going well for Festus. The Death Guard had been thwarted by the Castigators at every turn. If it had not been for the Nurglings gifted to him by the Plague God, the Death Guard would have been over-run and forced to abandon yet another planet to the decadent Slaanesh worshipers.
To complicate matters further, Festus was well aware of the whispers surrounding his lieutenant, Tosis Mire, and the growing support that his exploits had garnered.
The arrival of the Castigators' 2nd cohort on Morbus offered Festus with the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. It gave Festus the perfect reason to restrict his lieutenant to fleet duties, but more importantly, it presented the ideal opportunity to strike at the heart of the Castigators by robbing them of their chief Sorceror, Lucian Soulweaver. Festus was well aware how much of a stabilising factor the Sorceror was. If he could remove him, then it would only be a matter of time before the more extreme elements within the Castigators tore the Chapter apart.

The reverberating ground shook the Plague Lord from his reverie as the Chaos Knight moved into position.
"Excellent!" Thought Festus, "let us see if this warp trafficker is capable of resisting the fury of a Plague Knight!"

A new author to add to the madness

Greetings Sinners!
You've probably heard me talk about my regular gaming buddy Rob. He's the guy who most of my battle reports are with and the one responsible for spreading death and disease throughout the Pandora system. He's also the person that has kept me interested in playing for the last couple of years. I figured it was high time that he started posting on the blog. Hopefully he'll post some of his wonderfully painted models and inspire us with his dark and twisted outlook on life.
So without further ado, I'd like to extend a warm welcome to Rob Kanci.

The Cold Steel Mercenaries Invitational - The Chronicles of Sorkar

Although the journey had been relatively short for the Castigators, it had felt like an eternity to Sorkar. The young Sorceror had tried to hide his delight at his inclusion within the task force, but the veterans of Squad Divine had seen through his feigned indifference and had mocked him mercilessly. His master, Lucian Soulweaver had looked on with mild amusement, but Sorkar was under no illusion that the Chief Sorceror was scrutinising his every reaction.
Finally, they had entered the Preston system and Sorkar had been honoured to accompany his master to the Gathering. As they entered the great hall, Lucian's voice echoed within his mind.
"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious."

Chaos Boon -Slaanesh Spawn

"To strive for glory with every iota of one's being, only to be transformed into a mindless, fleshy beast. Truly the gods have a dark sense of humour."

The Painsworn - Chaos Rapier Cyclotrathe Pattern Conversion Beamer

Happy New Year Sinners!

I hope you've all had a good break and if you happen to live in the North of England, I hope you haven't suffered from the floods that have plagued us. Fortunately for me, I happen to live at the top of the Pennines so flooding hasn't been a major problem for me. Unfortunately, I happened to be at my parent's place over Christmas, so the floods delayed me getting home for a couple of days.