#ork warband

[the274]

AMassive 6 player multi-battle at the epic end of our Mordheim Campaign! Carnival of Chaos is performing Dance for the Plague God and burning Wyrdstone, other warbands are there to stop the festival, gain wyrdstone or some other alternative goal.

[grommtheorc]

I'm painting these guys in an attempted cartoon style. They're not in my 40k army, but for my Modulorka warband! They are Hunter types, and I'ma be going for a vivid color scheme. Haven't decided scheme yet, though!

[cursed-40k-thoughts]

Ork concept: mad dok obssesed with plastic surgery. All the Orks in his warband have oddly perfectly symmetrical faces

Ah yes, Dok J.S. Steinork and his Medikal Povillyun

[gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan]

Dripping Poison

Author's note: Zaarius's debut in Space Marine Husbandry!

Summary: Zaarius has fun messing with a planet and a beleaguered Lamenter, without the Lamenter knowing that he's behind some of his Suffering. Then he lands on Ancient Terra and has some troubles with his poison. And some rude Scout Apothecary tackles him to the floor and tapes jars to his hands. Rude. At least he gets his issue fixed.

Warnings: Chaos Space Marines- Variant Slaneshi Emperor's Child. Poison, uh, let me know if I need to add more.

Tagged: @barn-anon, @bleedingichorhearts, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @egrets-not-regrets, @kit-williams

Tagged: @sleepyfan-blog, @whorety-k

Oh, to be a member of a warband of brothers, in service to the Chaos God of Excess has been truly a journey of the greatest highs and the worst of the lows he's ever felt in his life. He's from one of the war bands of Emperor's Children who don't meet with Father often, not as Powerful or Important as some of the other warbands, but they make do and have a couple of Daemon Worlds that they run, and he's just finished a mission to help seed more Cultists for the God of Excess.

It's fun to see how the pathetic mortals will crumple under his claws. How the poison gift that he was given, watered down, to nearly be ineffective becomes such a sought-after drug to the base line humans and Xenos alike. He's got a lot of resources- in terms of monetary, intelligence, and other things. Still, he's made sure to keep an eye on his people, after all, one never knows when one will be attacked- and someone will try to take more than they should, and he's far more than any can handle.

Still, stringing along that one particularly stupid Planetary Governor, with honeyed wine dripped with just the smallest touch of the poison that he drips from his claws. The poison of Carnality. He watches with a smirk underneath his helmet as he watches the guests at this part start to be affected by the Poison of Carnality, more than a few people will be indulging in Excessive Lust and Carnality in a way that will empower Slanesh.

It's so fun to drip that particular poison into the goblets of the Nobility and Highest politicians. As it's so delightful to see the way the fall out of such a thing happens. Blackmail, intrigue, scandals and other salacious delights. He's been sure to not poison the goblet of the Loyalist Marine. He's the sole one on this wretched planet, who's been fighting the incursion of those dreadful Orks, no sense of style or beauty, and they weren't a good source of material for worship and empowerment for Slaneesh.

Honestly watching the Golden Loyalist suffer and fight has been such a delightful symphony of Excess emotions. Watching Haggo? Haggie? Huggo? Hagiel? Hagiel He things, suffer and fight and try his bet to succeed as been very amusing for Zaarius, at turns he's whispered things to those around him to either help or hinder the younger Marine, and it very much depended on his mood and how entertaining Hagiel has been.

Finding out to his utter shocked delight that the golden marine is of Blood Angel stock, and not an Imperial Fist or one of their shout-y menaces had him doubled over cackling with laughter. This poor bastard has such bad luck it might be a curse. Also, helping the screeching member of the Pomposity- wait no Ecclisarchy evade Hagiel long enough to cause More Drama- which he so loves to watch and grin maniacally as he watches the other suffer. Such a delightful symphony of emotions in the populace and in the younger cousin.

Also, he'd been getting almost bored, until the fall out of the drops of Carnality bloomed beautifully with the scandals and how the base lines screeched and yowled and fought amongst each other, ignoring the threat that was more important as he whispered and inflamed a few people here and there and why, somehow, for some reason the entire planet erupted into civil war! Oh, what a marvelous thing to happen! What an ecstatic joke. Oh- his sides haven't hurt like that from laughing in centuries. That poor little Blood Angel Successor Chapter Space Marine, running around, ragged, hungry, and bewildered at how little sense Base Line humans make.

He does pout and sulk a little that the Loyalist had managed pull things together just enough that the inspection team didn't arrive to complete, and utter Chaos or chaos and disaster. Urgh. Ultramarines. So boring and dull. He's getting off this miserable planet. He's had his fill of fun, and his vacation time is over, time to go back to doing really work and more Chaos. Several months later he's fighting and something explodes, and he blinks, waking up and looking around with a frown of confusion as his eyebrows wrinkle as he doesn't recognize the planet that he's on.

After all, the planet he was on before was a swamp, and this is a forest. How strange, is he in a dream? An Illusion? Or something else? He's waiting to reform his body back into being in the materium, it's taking far longer than it should as he wanders from one part of the forest to another as he takes in the scenery. The plants are nice, and while he can taste the scent of pollution it's almost a pleasure world quality to the vivid colors of the plants and animals, as well as the diversity of them. He stops as he hears a call and turns, greeting a few of his fellow Chaos Marines with a cautious, yet cheerful greeting as he follows these cousins he doesn't know further in, to a Base.

Slowly he gets drip fed information, on where and when he is now, and he explains where and when he is from. Learning about… these 'bonds' sounds definingly like the Warp is up to Something strange, and potentially very suspicious. After all, why would the Warp tie a lowly base line human to a Space Marine? Why did it effect all kind of Space Marines? From Loyalist to Chaos, no chapter was safe, nor indeed, was any future Era safe from having Space Marines snatched from their original time to the here and now. Truly, what a strange and fascinating phenomenon. He's having quite a fun time, until his claws start to drip poison, and he can't stop it.

So, he heads to the nearest Space Marine Clinic, it's one that is mostly run by Loyalists, but needs must. He waits in the lobby and greets the Apothecary who's going to treat him. Before the rude, and giant fucker slams him to the ground and straps empty jars to his hands. He protests that he's not a threat and gets growled at. At least the Salamanders are swift on their approach to get the hot headed little shit off of him.

When asked for reparations he'd like the rude brat to apologize, or have his time stuck within the base doubled. They hem and haw and speak with the brat-apothecary and he's told he's not going to get an apology, but the length of time for the younger Space Marine being unable to leave the base is what he'd requested. Honestly, it was more his pride was hurt, than actually being damaged.

A different loyalist Apothecary was able to help him out with his issue. Apparently, he'd need to milk the poison from his claws occasionally, otherwise it would build up and uncontrollably drip out of his claws and the… concentrated form of the poison is the deadliest form of it. At least, he sighs, he knows what was wrong and how to fix it, he'll pass the information on to his other brothers who have that particular blessing of Slaneesh. The poisons are weaker in this Ancient Version of Terra, but still dangerous. So fascinating, yet so strange how things are so different, and yet the same in some ways.

[soylent-crocodile]

Storm Soldier (Monster)

(Art by Anonynmous)

(I considered playing coy with my inspiration here, but let's be clear with it- this a fantasy 40k Space Marine, played not as protagonists but as tragic yet terrifying monsters for the more humanist playgroups most of my RPG experience belongs to. Statting them up as monsters, in my mind, helps distance players from the power fantasy of it; if you ever wanted a ragtag pack of underdogs to bring those marty stu marines down a peg, well, here's a monster to kill! And you if you want a sad little war machine your players can adopt and deprogram, it's the same deal.

By the way, I have them statted up as scattered force that can be dropped into any setting, but I'd love to use them as the terrifying enforcers of one of the more powerful political players in a world, like they are in 40k.)

CR8 LE Large Monstrous Humanoid

Also called storm marines, storm dragoons, and thunder warriors, storm soldiers are the result of painful fleshwarping techniques being used on young human soldiers, turning them into massive and obedient soldiers. Unlike with the creations of the drow, it is generally humans of a storm soldier's own culture who turn them into such monsters- leaders who value them more as weapons than as people. The process is traumatic and violent, and involves not only reshaping the flesh, but conditioning the mind to be loyal soldiers before all else. This leaves the storm soldier with a distant sense of her past life and a lot of buried trauma. They are functionally immortal, and often outlive the regime which created them. Storm soldiers are difficult to create, and those who do tend to spread their soldiers thin, with one or two storm soldiers assigned to a squad of mundane soldiers as linebreakers, guardians, and support.

This is not always the case, however. Centuries ago, a powerful shaman amassed a legion of these soldiers in a harebrained attempt to take over the world and unite it under his idea of order. His forces, however, became fractured- although sources differ on how, with some claiming the influence of a specific breed of fiend, and others believing it was a mundane power struggle. The result of this fracture was the death of the shaman, along with most of his generals, and the small remains of his forces scattered to the corners of the world. To this day they live in deadly xenophobic warbands; in particular, they have a hatred for elves, orks, and skeletons, although most still clash with each other in echoes of the original split. 

Storm giants notably have a strong emotional reaction to storm soldiers; evil groups of giants typically do what they can to scourge them of the earth, but good-aligned storm giants tend to feel extreme pity and often attempt rehabilitation of storm soldiers. Younger storm soldiers (that is, less than a couple hundred years old) are often a success in this endeavor, but those as ancient as the shaman’s army are almost universally too far gone.

Some rulers believe that storm soldiers can only be created out of men, although this is generally considered to be a laughable falsehood.

This hulking woman wields a massive shield and weighty warhammer. She towers over her companions, and her eyes are leaking a glowing fluid. Misc- CR8 LE Large Monstrous Humanoid HD10 Init:+0 Senses: Perception:+8 Stats- Str:20(+5) Dex:11(+0) Con:24(+7) Int:14(+2) Wis:10(+0) Cha:6(-2) BAB:+10/+5 Space:10ft Reach:10ft Defense- HP:125(10d5+70) AC:18 (-1 Size, +7 Armor, +2 Shield) Fort:+10 Ref:+7 Will:+7 CMD:36 Resist: Immunity: Fear, Fatigued, Exhausted, Electricity Offense- +1 Shocking Warhammer +15/+10(2d6+6+1d6/x3), or Slam +14(1d8+5 plus grab) CMB:+16 Speed:40ft Special Attacks: Clarion Shock +14(8d6 electricity, target is illuminated as with Faerie Fire) Feats- Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Weapon Focus (Warhammer), Vital Strike, Intimidating Prowess Skills- Climb +13, Escape Artist +5, Intimidate +16, Knowledge (Local) +7, Knowledge (Nobility) +7, Perception +8, Ride +13, Survival +13, Swim +13 Special Qualities- Illuminating Gaze Ecology- Environment- Cities Languages- Common Organization- Squad (1 Storm Soldier, 4 Human Warrior 6) or Thunderhead (4 Storm Soldier, 6 Human Warrior 6) Treasure- Standard (Large +1 Shocking Warhammer, Large Field Plate, Large Steel Shield) Special Abilities- Clarion Shock (Su)- As a standard action a storm soldier may pump a blast of glowing lightning into a target as a melee touch attack. Additionally, creatures hit by this attack are illuminated in golden light as with the spell faerie fire for 10 rounds. Illuminating Gaze (Su)- A storm soldier’s eyes glow in brilliant pale yellow, illuminating a 60ft cone in front of the storm soldier two light levels.

[khornedog]

This is Slambo the Slamnificent. He's the Lord of Skulls' little pal. If anything happened to him, his warband would kill everyone and then themselves.

I didn't build Slambo, some prior nerd gave this World Eater three arms, an axe, a grenade, and four guns. Most of those are Ork Boy parts. I couldn't pry him apart, so he stayed as I found him.

Flesh tones do him good, the Ork arms look mostly okay. Slambo here is a test model for an Army Painter metallic red, which first came out looking like a Christmas ornament. Extra coverage and Flesh Wash really helped.

Big difference between the reds, I don't like how they look on the same model. Metallic red looks cheap next to a regular WE dark red, at least when I do it.

[ghostinthegallery]

Yup, finally time to talk about Trazyn...

I put it off because hey, everyone else deserves some love and attention...but Trazyn deserves more, sorry he is just built different.

It will probably shock no one that Trazyn is my favorite 40k character. He's what got me into Warhammer in the first place. I imagine I'm not the only one who went through the "oh, funny meme steal guy lol" to "guess I'll read Infinite and the Divine" to "can't be invited to parties because I refuse to think about anything that's not Necrons or my new plastic crack addiction" pipeline.

But why is this weird sexy space kleptomaniac so compelling? The answer might surprise you!

(it won't for a while but bear with me there's a twist coming)

Why do we all like Trazyn? First of all, he's easy to grasp. Indiana Jones meets the Collector in 40k. One sentence and you know what he's about. That's invaluable for pitching a character. And then you watch him and he's clever, he's hyper-competent, he's funny. In the grimdark future, this guy makes you laugh! He screws with everyone. And yeah, he's easy to meme, but that's just part of his charm.

He fits into nearly any 40k story too. Space Marines? Aeldar? Chaos? Tau? Trazyn wants an artifact and he's messing with *insert main characters here* to get it. Or maybe *insert main characters here* need something and he's the only one who has it. Doesn't really matter what or why, the second Trazyn shows up he can play off anyone. As an uneasy ally, an opponent in a negotiation, or in a fight. He has an incredible dry wit that makes him super entertaining (especially in a setting where characters can be a bit...serious).

And Trazyn ultimately has pretty sympathetic motives. He wants to preserve, to collect, and tell stories through his museum. Museums are cool! Culture is neat! Sure he's a bit...unethical, but he's far from the worst dude in 40k so he's very easy to root for, even if he's a side character or antagonist.

So yeah, witty, devious, immortal museum curator. Perfect character, right?

Well...here's that twist.

Trazyn is actually (in my opinion) really, really hard to write for as a protagonist of his own story.

See most commercial fiction is structured around a character who wants something, but something else gets in their way. Frodo wants to take the ring to Mordor but all of middle earth plus some evil wizards, orcs, giant spiders, etc. are in the way. The issue with Trazyn (on paper) is that he doesn't truly want anything. Sure there are specific artifacts and people he wants for his collection, but that's surface level. Hunting down random cool space stuff is not a change from his day to day, so focusing a whole story around that might be fun for a while, but it wouldn't stick with you. Because any deep, emotional desires he has are fulfilled. He has power, he has purpose, he has his own planet that shapes itself to his will.

Trazyn is used to being in control. Of Solemnace, of his expeditions, of his negotiations. If plan A goes south he has twelve other options, and a few back up plans, and probably an ork warband attached to his belt if he needs it. Oh, and he's immortal. And can't be hurt. Which again, is hella fun, but how do you have suspense or stakes with all of that? How do you write an interesting story for the guy that has everything?

Enter Orikan.

Orikan is one of the only things that introduces chaos into Trazyn's existence. Orikan can break into Trazyn's house, break his stuff, and get away with it. When Orikan is around, the things Trazyn loves are in danger. Orikan shattered relics from their people's history and Trazyn failed to save them. He tried to catch one piece and it shattered because his hand was metal. The thing that usually makes him untouchable contributed to his loss. That is heartbreaking to read. Sure he can fight elves and dinosaurs and steal the most incredible things, but Trazyn can be made vulnerable in the right circumstances.

The thing he wants throughout Infinite and the Divine is not the McGuffin Mysterios. It's revenge. But because Orikan is his equal and opposite, he can't get it easily. There's an obstacle. Which means we have a story on our hands.

There's another scene that I find really striking from that book: Trazyn and his human assistant on Serenade. This old man who Trazyn kinda...mind controlled into service, but also provided him and his family with the best education, medical care, career opportunities etc. Trazyn didn't have to do that, but he is the type of greedy where if something is "his" he takes care of it. That includes (for better or worse) that human man and his family. Blips on the radar to an immortal being, but those are Trazyn's blips so they get the best a blip can ask for (aside from free will but shhhhhh.)

But that doesn't mean Trazyn can prevent the inevitable. His assistant gets old without him even noticing. The man has reached the end of his life, and that is something Trazyn can't control. And he's emotional about it. Not like devastated (it's just a human after all, basically his hamster just died) but it throws him for a loop.

Oh hey, speaking of how Trazyn takes care of things that he considers his...

Trazyn never really gets close to killing Orikan. He says he wants to. He acts like it. That's the story we set up. Trazyn shoots him in the face. But does he try to permanently kill Orikan? Does he ever act with any true cruelty?

He does once. When Orikan was weak and vulnerable, Trazyn crushed Orikan's skull with his foot, and that's so out of character it's our clearest indication as a reader that something is wrong. That's when we realize the song has Trazyn ensnared because normally he would not do that. He wouldn't treat his greatest enemy and rival that way which is... certainly interesting.

And then of course there's that scene at the end. When Orikan is burned and afraid and unable to defend himself, Trazyn doesn't even try to hurt him. He is gentle, careful, he makes sure Orikan isn't permanently damaged. After everything they've done to each other over 10,000 years (and that's just the events of the book, their rivalry is older), it doesn't even occur to Trazyn to harm Orikan in that moment.

That to me is the real secret that makes Trazyn more than a meme character. That greed that makes him care for things, cultures, places, and people. Those moments where he isn't in control. The combination of the two that means something is at stake. He has a deep love for the universe despite this being such a nihilistic setting. That love drives him to do ridiculous things, but that's the core (I think) of why we love watching him cavort around the galaxy so much.

[paint-pot-pete]

Propa dakka! 😜

Really happy with how this excellent Ork warband turned out 😁 led by Gurzag Ironskull, Basha, Hakka and Bonekutta make up the fantastically named Ironskull’s Boyz 🤣

Attempted some more line work on these that I normally do (I think it worked best on the black) and I’m really happy with how they look overall 😊

[sefusneezed]

World Building Proposal: Let me know if this vibes with what you and your friends have got so far:

Archmagos Von Kuronos has set aside sections of Ineptus Anser's surface for "Development by Off-World Benefactors." These areas are FAR from his home in the capital hive city. They were also formerly the domains of some annoying challengers to the Archmagos authority. Now they are the homes to the following three groups:

A tau expeditionary group led by a water caste spy-mistress and her ethereal wife. Their relationship is forbidden but they don't care. The ethereal never wanted to be a leader, she was just born into the job, so she lets her wife call the shots. This has resulted in a lot of support for water caste projects while everyone else gets secondary priority. The other castes are getting a bit disgruntled by this favoritism but are too paranoid to act, because of the spies. Life for humans within their territory is almost utopian, with conditional access to food, shelter and health-care. The Tau pay their dues to the Archmagos by importing food to his hive.

Ork Mek-boy clan called "Da Scrappa 'Eads" that are more interested in tinkering with "Tekmologee" than doing a waaaaugh. Scrappa'Eads own several reclamation facilities, a squig-power plant, and an "Aka-dumb-me fer Runts!" Because of mandatory enrollment in the academy, the vast majority of the orks are Mek-Boys and Bionorks. Runts that attempt to escape their education, as well as rebellious human slaves, will get arrested and imprisoned by The Git-Catchers, a grot and squig police department. Speaking of squigs, the orks were able to breed the beasts to be able to convert toxic waste into high quality fuel. Which is what they use to pay rent to Kuronos.

Chaos warband consisting of a Iron Warrior Warpsmith, an Alpha Legion Biomancer, a thrice-bound Daemonhost known as The Guardian and The Host, and a Word Bearers Preacher. The four (five) of them had come into possession of thousands of mysterious artifacts from raiding a space hulk. They needed some place in the middle of nowhere to sort, test, and store their loot, and so they chose Ineptus Anser. Archmagos Von Kuronos has been very accommodating to the war band, only demanding that he paid in artifact testing data in exchange for use of facilities.

So this is what I've got. I understand if it's too much and you won't use any of it. But hopefully you enjoyed reading it.

Yeah this is definitely something these morons would do all sorts of things can go down on this planet 💀💀💀 maybe not von kuronar because he's racist and the most dogmatic of the gang but the other two (who i literally NEVER post about rip all the lore just sits in my brain and never sees the light of day) would definitely just outvote him and then do some silly chaos and xenos stuff.

[wolframtheregulator]

What is the lore of your warbands ? hope you have a good day 

Hi! A good day to you friend. So as for the Four Fingers of the Fist known as the Mors Dictares I have this directory that contains info on the factions within the Barbatos Divide. It is all WIP and subject to change, but you can read my in depth ramblings and wip writings here.

But if you don’t want wanna sift through all of this here are some quick descriptions of each warband:

The Company of the Tarnished Crown began their existence as an Iron Warriors garrison stationed in a section of frontier space that would later become known as the Barbatos Divide. With limited communication they would be stranded there during the Horus Heresy being pushed back to a single moon orbiting a dark Jovian planet. Upon the moon Carcosa of they would build their bastion, burying themselves in the darkened dirt and becoming entrenched with the local Neon Tribes. As the years passed they would feel the foul influences of the dark entity they orbited and would make their first offering during a grueling encounter with a far flung mobile task force of the Shadowkeepers shield host. Nearly being whipped out a Magos Biologis that had been filling a role similar to an apothecary would strike a Faustian bargain that brought his warband an imperfect mockery of immortality. With which they would slaughter the custodies taking trophies and offering them as the promised tribute. In the mid M30s they would regroup with the Fortunate Ones and provide support to their alliance via deamon engines and forbidden knowledge. Now the marines are essentially immortal combat servitors in the thrall of their Magos Biologis Overlord.

The Sons of Horus 21st Exploratory Company “Fortunate Ones” were the first of the Imperium’s forces to discover the Barbatos Divide. During the great crusade they and an allied iron warriors garrison would claim the sector before leaving it to rot as a call to Terra rung out from their Warmaster, they would not be able to make it to Holy Terra in time, instead meeting resistance and being routed in the following scouting. They would take shelter within the Warp and fought viciously in the Legion Wars, crippling many warbands, but facing an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Abaddon, who they now view as a usurper. In the carnage they would escape with the remnants of an allied Sons of Horus company, the Feral Sons, that itself suffered the greatest losses in the fighting including the death of their Chieftain. Retreating from the Warp they would re-enter real space in the strange but familiar sector of the Barbatos Divide, after joining forces with the Company of the Tarnished Crown they would beat back Xenos and renegade human forces subjugating the majority of the sector. The warband itself is one of savage gangs roving between fortress safe houses. These gangs believe every legend of the Warmaster Horus claiming him to be a God General that will return and lead them to a glorious victory. In this belief they find a unique immortality of their own, believing that they are all unkillable and that those of their brothers who have died simply were not true believers of the faith and that their spirits will pass into the afterlife serving the God General they failed.

The Regulators are scavengers and prowlers lurking in the void. Once a noble space marine chapter they have since devolved into a brutal group of guerrilla renegades most well known for their piratical raids on vulnerable supply vessels. So far they have been linked to the fall of two sectors, one being their home sector of Yinnex. Beset by Ork incursions, the sector would eventually crumble from the resulting in fighting with this warband being the only known survivors. The second being the now scorched Amica sector, known for the infamous Amica Campaign that saw several space marine chapters caught in a war of confusion sparked by a sinister force. Amica is the last time the Regulators were noted working with Imperial organizations, and even then their allegiances were in question. They make extensive use of ad hoc modifications to their scavenged weapons and equipment, and pair these improvised tools with unsavory tactics including the use of prisoners wearing bombs in boarding actions. Most encounters with this warband take place in the zone mortalis sectors aboard imperial vessels and cramped space hulks. Following the Amica Campaign the Regulators would join forces with the Fractal Guard as they escaped into deep space. Eventually both groups would be spotted in the Barbatos Divide during the Taming of the Divide fighting alongside the rest of the Mors Dictares and offering only resistance to Imperial efforts.

Perhaps the least known of the Mors Dictares warbands is the Fractal Guard. With knowledge of this warband’s existence a deeply guarded secret. The their presence first being noted during the aforementioned Amica campaign. Double talk, propaganda, fear, confusion, and hope. These are all weapons at the disposal of the Fractal Guard. They have been linked to the disappearance of several space marine chapters, with the livery of the chapter sometimes reappearing on warriors fighting under the Fractal’s banner. Early signs of a Fractal Guard invasion manifest as anomalous phenomena. Dark obelisks in people’s periphery, children born with strange mutations (most common polydactyly), green auroras in the sky, shifting graffiti that escalates into hypnotic propaganda and mass riots. As paranoia and unrest grows in a planets population the Fractal Guard will often incite violence by infiltration of the upper echelons of government resulting in policies of repression brutal by even Imperial standards. The resulting conflicts seem to be used as some form of fuel for esoteric rituals, though it has also been proposed that these are merely distractions from the true threat: an enigmatic entity known only as “The Fractal”. Recent reports have placed them in the Barbatos Divide along side the rest of the Mors Dictares, with multiple instances of “The Fractal” possessing strikingly different appearances as a result of the temporal distortion noted at the end of the Amica Campaign.

[longsleeveleper]

Can’t put into words what finding Nurgle meant to me

Not long after Halloween I got chronically sick and was confined to my room with naught but my computer to keep me company. During that time I fell into Warhammer 40k via a let’s play of Dark Crusade and as a Warcraft 3 kid oh man love at first sight. I’d fall in love with fantasy later but that’s another story.

The funny thing is chaos isn’t my favorite faction, though it is one of them. My favorite faction is Orks. And the Death Guard aren’t my favorite chaos warband, it’s the Night Lords (yes yes edgelord I’m aware it’s what I’m here for). So I don’t really identify with Nurgle on a tribal level, I don’t love him because my favorite character or faction is Nurgle. I identify with Nurgle on a philosophical level, because of the value they had to me metaphysically.

Now let me clarify, I don’t want everyone to die of super-mega-pneumonia. Quite the opposite I want nobody to ever be sick because I now know for an absolute fact being sick SUCKS. But, I am sick, and I have been told I will be sick forever. This is where the value of Nurgle to me enters the picture.

Nurgle and Nurglite worshippers are the first time I can recall truly see people with diseases being represented with strength. It definitely want the first time such a thing was presented to me, but Nurgle is such a strong and repeated example of it that it I couldn’t ignore it. Because illness is strength for those who worship Nurglites. They are some of the most stubborn damn near impossible to kill just straight up fuck you try me durable. In mechanical terms being a nurglite will make you tougher to kill. Because they are sick, because being sick is a gift from their god to make them stronger. WOW!

There are so many further layers to my love of Nurgle. For one, Nurglites are described as being able to feel no pain. Now pain has an important biological function, but let me tell you, I have way too damn much of it. I haven’t been without pain for 13 years, I haven’t fully relaxed in 13 years, I haven’t been able to think without a dagger in my head in 13 fucking years. So the notion of feel no pain has quite the appeal to me, even if on a rational level I understand that feeling no pain would be it’s own dire problem.

There’s also how the Death Guard fall to Nurgle, where so much pain and suffering is inflicted on them to the point they begged on someone anyone to take the pain away. And yeah Nurgle is the guy who made them feel away, he is evil remember. But hey I’ve been there! I have begged and pleaded and prayed to doctors to please do something anything to make the pain stop, to make me feel better. And you know what? At least the death guard got a fucking answer. I’m still in pain! No one’s answered my prayers. So I understand the utter desperation of a situation like that.

But speaking of what Nurgle does let’s talk about him! Grandfather Nurgle, that’s his title, because that’s his demeanor. He’s a doting fatherly god who loves and cares for his worshippers, giving onto them lovely gifts. Sure, those gifts are horrific diseases. But he’s one of the few deities to show anything close to benevolence in the entire setting of 40k. A lot of his followers follow suit as well. Whether it be the jovial Great Unclean Ones, the feral shitkid nurglings, the Beasts of Nurgle who are literally described as puppylike, or an amicable friendly cultists who smiles at you through rotting teeth a lot of Nurgle’s followers are *happy*. The notion of finding happiness even in a setting as terribly horribly bleak as 40k inspires me to hope I can find happiness in our much happier reality.

There are many, many things I love and adore. So many things that have meant the world to me, that have taught me something that isn’t irreplaceable. But when I chose to get a tattoo I picked the Mark of Nurgle. Because to me, that symbol means love, but it’s also something that will never ever not be a part of me. It means acceptance of where I am and who I am. It’s an attempt to salvage what strength I can from a situation that has rendered me weak. So whenever I need to remind myself of that meaning I touch my tattoo, and I try to embody what Nurgle means to me. My illness isn’t something I can beat. But it’s something I can endure.

[doolallymagpie]

New lore, which comes with a tasty army project! The Dastardly Whiplashes have a rivalry with an Ork warband, the Mount-eez, led by a warboss named Dudley Krump-Rite.

No, they don’t know what Mounties were, they just know these gits from ancient Terra wore red, so they must’ve been really fast.

[cursed-40k-thoughts]

is it true that some ork warbands will work for the imperium as mercenaries for rogue traders/inquisitors?

Kinda! In terms of traditional Ork clans, no, not really. There have been moments where Orks and Imperials have briefly and informally engaged in ceasefires so as to deal with larger and more immediate threats, but these instances are very short lived. You can also get rare, individualised cases of random Ork groups agreeing to attack somewhere else, or not attacking someone on sight, but these situations are heavily dependent on the specific viewpoints of the Orks there, and are by no means consistent.

The closest you'd get to an Ork "clan" equivalent consistently and repeatedly engaging in diplomatic business would be the Freebooterz. As the name suggests, Freebooterz are basically disenfranchised, individualist Orks who've ended up as pirates. They willfully participate in mercenary work, wear cool hats and will work for people for loot and good fights. Sometimes they'll form large crews, ahem, krewz centred around a Kaptin. Of course, they are still extremely Orky, so any business with them will, ideally, be brief and straightforward.

Good question!

[fractal-knights]

So you mentioned this "dreaded campaign" a couple times. Could you explain what it was exactly?

The dreaded campaign was a terrible event. One that the inquisition went to great strides to cover up. It is similar to the story of dawn of war soulstorm with how many factions showed up.

It started out simply enough. The Imperial Guard and the Tau Empire were fighting over a sector that bordered their empires. The fighting had riled up the local orks in the sector, starting up a full-blown ork rebellion. To make matters worse, there had been reports from guardsmen that there were Craftworld Eldar sightings. Nothing confirmed though, as they would disappear just as quickly as they would appear.

To make matters worse, even Dark Eldar began to appear, wishing to take many of the inhabitants of the sector as slaves. It all got to the point the ork rebellion turned into a full blown WAAAGH!!! Attracting orks from outside the sector to join in. All the while, chaos renegades and cultists began performing Dark rituals to summon daemons, using the carnage of the war as the catalyst. The sisters of battle soon arrived to deal with the heretics and alien witches.

On one of the hive worlds, a genestealer cult began to make the call to the tyranids, believing the sector was teeming with plenty of biomass. The Craftworld Eldar then made their move when it was revealed that another one of the planets in the sector turned out to be a tomb world, when an army of necrons came out of their tombs to get rid of all the mortals that disturbed their slumber.

This made things get even worse, as soon, several chaos warbands joined the renegades in conquering the sector for chaos. Resulting in both the inquisition, and several space marine chapters, to arrive to fight. It became brutal, with no clear victor in sight.

The warriors of the Imperium tried to work together, even if for some it was begrudgingly, to bring victory to the imperium. Some of the space marine chapters tried to evacuate the civilians, with the effort to do so led by the Nova Dragons. The Inqusition tried to prevent this, believing the people tainted by chaos. But the Astartes, the Guard, and even many of the Sororitas, refused to allow this. The Inqusition, knowing it couldn't afford a battle on all sides, begrudgingly allowed the evacuation after this.

Over the following months, things only got worse. Many on all sides died, with barely any guardsmen regiments remaining, many of the space marine chapters were broken, or wiped out, and even the Sororitas began to buckle at the wave of horrors that faced them.

The inquisiton was planning on performing exterminatus on the whole sector, even where the civilians had been evacuated, no longer caring about what the other champions of the Imperium wanted, as the Lord inquisitor was even willing to mark the space marines, sisters, and guardsmen, as traitors for defying him for so long.

It led to a combined effort to stop the Lord inquisitor. When it was done, the lord inquisitor was dead. But they were worried this would lead to the inquisition punishing them severely. But at the time, they couldn't think of that, as the campaign waged on. At one point, Lucifer Samael took the lead of the space marine forces on the planet. Sergeant Nelda Brar of the Astral Lions of Harad, a Cadian remnant guard regiment, had taken command after all her commanding officers were wiped out. And sister palatine Sarella Lash of The Order of the Daughters of the Risen Sword had also taken command of her sisters after the death of the canoness.

And, after much blood had been spilled, and many lives had been lost, the imperium had managed to achieve a victory, pyrrhic though it was. They had expected retribution from the inquisition for the death of the lord inquisitor, but instead, the inquisition merely covered the whole thing up, not wishing for a repeat of the months of shame.

After this, it was left the the remaining Imperial forces to pick up the pieces. When all was said and done, what little of each space marine chapter remained chose to form a new chapter from the ashes of the old. And such was what led to the birth of the Fractal Knights.

[farsight-the-char]

So setting up a bunch of carnival games but with potentially lethal consequences would be the best way to slow down an ork warband. ... Honestly yeah. Anything Bugs Bunny ever did to slow down a villain would probably work wonders on Orks.

......

A pair of posts by some anons on /tg/, that gave me a hearty chuckle.

[zestysthoughts]

Forgot another day

So here's a brief review of Warhammer 40K: Space Marine

S'good! Combat feels great, almost every ranged weapon feels great. Story's nothing to write home about. Take a shot every time someone says "Space Marine" and you'll be dead within the hour. My biggest frustration is with the clunk. Charging up Plasma guns feels slow, performing executions is finicky (not to mention that you're vulnerable so you very much can die in the middle of the animation), and for some reason the Bolter will just stop firing after a couple shots sometimes? As far as the enemies and setting goes, enemy variety is great and sometimes you really gotta approach with caution. Unfortunately the Orks don't really have that concentrated "Orkiness" I'm used to from stuff like Speed Freekz or the book The Infinite And The Divine. Also I question the appearance of Khorne Demons. Nemeroth is a Terminator Sorcerer who hatches a scheme to plant a Warp device, then kill and impersonate an Inquisitor to get the Ultramarines to use the device to open a Warp portal, whereupon he'd come in and usher the invasion of his warband. If that doesn't scream Tzeentch I don't know what does. PLUS this game is a horde hack'n'slash, the perfect situation to bring in Pink Horrors, the demon that splits into two Blue Horrors on death. I'm sure it's a mass-appeal sort of decision; Bloodletters are more recognizable, especially as demons, to the average joe.