The Pale Lords: Army intro and Infantry

 Welcome fair traveller, to the Hobby Tavern! 

I have recently finished my first Old World army. 2000 points of Nurgle Warriors of Chaos, The Pale Lords. I thought I'd write up an article on how the army came together and show some of the conversions and painting tricks I used. So pop your pimples, let your tentacles down and let us enter the Garden...

The Glory of Nurgle

So firstly I want to take a moment to talk a little bit about Nurgle and why it's my favourite flavour of Chaos. At first glance Nurgle is this big fat, gross God, which is true. But there is more to it than that and I think GW have done a really good job of adding more depth and nuance to what could be a pretty simple and boring god (looking at you Khorne). So yes, Nurgle is gross and all about disease. But what does that actually mean? Well, with disease, funnily enough, comes life. The growth of a tumour or pustule for example. These growths, these "living" examples are coming from disease or infection and could not exist without them. This is the same with rot, imagine a jungle floor absolutely covered in decomposing plant and animal matter. That jungle floor will be teeming with life, life that relies on that decomposition processes. And this is where we can begin to see Nurgles true aim. It's not aiming for rot and disease, these are just tools for its ends, it is aiming for Cycle. Life and Death, Life and Death. Picture a body dying of disease, laying down a final time as fever grips them and strangles their life from them. They die, but their body remains and begins to decompose. Do you know what causes decomposition? Life. Fungi begins to grow, using the organic matter from the body as fuel. Insect larvae incubate and grow within the rotting flesh. Life, life, life, thrives on Death. This is the power of Nurgle. The absolute. The inexorable cycle that all life, and death, are bound to. Cycle. I used to think it was weird that of the Chaos gods, Khorne and Slaanesh hate one another and Nurgle and Tzeench hate it other. Surely Khorne would hate Tzeench because of the magic and Slaanesh would hate Nurgle due to their appearance? But if you think about the ideologies of Nurgle and Tzeench they are completely opposite, Nurgle aims for infinite cycles and Tzeench wants change. Well played GW. 

So that's the spiritual reasoning of why I love Nurgle, apart from that I think they have the best  model range in all forms of Warhammer. I love to horrify my opponents, throwing these jolly, rotting fatties at their noble elves of the everlasting blah blah really puts a spring in my step. Alright, enough of all that, let's get on to the army itself. 

The Pale Lords

So this army actually begin (at least in it's infancy) as a WHFB 6th edition army. I was tired of 40k and Old World hadn't been announced yet and wanted to get back to my roots. I actually had some Chaos from an army I was working on in 8th and managed to get my hands on some older style warriors pretty cheap. I knew I wanted a Nurgle army but wasn't too sure where to take it. So I just bit the bullet and decided to make a unit of marauders. The trouble was the marauder kit makes some pretty beefy, Conan looking dudes who I didn't think would suit the vibe I was looking for. I wanted my marauders to look like stragglers, mortals who have lost their minds and follow the army in a deluded attempt to win favour with the Plague God. So I started messing around with the Empire Flagellant kit and mixing it with Beastmen Ungor stuff. Until I got a suitably deranged, fanatical and sickly looking effect. I made a unit champ using some Plaguebearer arms and head, to signify some sort of gift/mutation bestowed upon a somewhat worthy leader. They ended up coming out pretty nice and I think compared to the rest of the army they definitely look like the lowest ranked and mostly ignored. This earns the title of "Dregs" amongst the rest of the horde. I made sure to paint them with a green tinge to their skin and added little lesions here and there to really emphasis the sickliness of them. 

The Dregs

Okay so now I had some infantry I decided to double down and begin work on my actual Warriors. As I mentioned I had the older style ones and I am very glad for it. I think the older ones look a lot heavier and more stoic than the newer more dynamic ones. This was the vibe I wanted for my Nurgle. None of these guys are doing backflips, instead they are trudging forward like a rotten wall of iron and meat, here to ruin your day. I made sure to drill into the models here and there, emulating rust and rot throughout their armour. I also use a scalpel to curve chunks out of their shields further enhancing the decrepit look. I had the Putrid Blight Kings box and exchanged a bunch of their weapons for more rusted ones too. It was about this time that GW announced the Old World and the idea of playing these guys in a modern game was very exciting (though required a bunch of rebasing later!) Originally I was going to paint the army in that classic Nurgle green but when it came time to paint the first test mini, for some reason and very spare of the moment I went with white instead. And gee wiz, that was a good call. 

First test model

It took me a fair while to get the unit finished, mostly due to moving interstate. But eventually I got them all done. Painting these fellas I developed a scheme for doing armour which would continue throughout the entire army. A zenithal prime, paint all trim and nails and whatever a rusty brown. Then a complete wash of sepia with some spot washes of green and yellow. Then a streaky highlight of Ulthuan grey. Finally, some yellow wash towards the edges of the armour. This adds a final look of "yuck" that really sells the Nurgle vibe.

The Klott Guard

They suffered a lot when I first began playing Old World, partially cause I was a newbie and didn't know what I was doing, and partially because until the 1.5 update, infantry was kind of meh. But now they're doing pretty well and serve as a very handy army anchor. This is good both on the table and in my minds eye of what a unit of Nurgle Warriors should be. Once I got them all together I was pretty pleased with the look. They certainly provide the backbone of the army and provided a workable blue print on how to paint future models.

The Klott Guard

Now that I had some solid blocks of infantry, I needed to add some chaff. I didn't have any dogs or marauder horsemen (which may change in the future) but I did have some Blight Kings from AoS. These guys were brought in during the End Times and I've always loved their models. I thought they'd make some pretty cool Forsaken models and with a bit of finesse I found I could rank them on 30mm bases. I REALLY like these guys. They painted up really nicely (and were super fun to paint) and in my humble opinion: Forsaken are a completely slept on unit in the Warriors of Chaos roster. I might do a write up on how they can be used really effectively in the future, but for now will just show off these adorable models. 

The Sons of Ruin

When painting these guys I used a lot of purple washes with some greens, reds and yellows. Then highlighted with Pallid Witch Flesh. The effect gives a sickly/infected look that's perfect for Nurgle as well as emphasising their fatness. I said it before but I really love these guys. And I have 2 units! 

More Sons of Ruin

So originally that was all my infantry but after playing with the army for a while, I realised I desperately needed something with a bit of movement. I'd been running with some knights and chariots and stuff but struggled to protect the rear of my army. Marauders (thank the Grandfather) can be taken as skirmishers, and what's more, they can take flails. Suddenly I could run a pretty cheap unit that could move like fire and hit harder than it had any right to. The only issue was I didn't have models. Luckily I had some Flesh Eater Courts crypt guard and a spure or two of 40k Poxwalkers. So I did a little kit bashing and before I knew it BAM! The Mire Scum were born. 

The Mire Scum

 These guys turned out great and definitely don't die every game I play! Well, maybe that last bit isn't true. But they DID turn out great and serve their purpose on the table. I think they capture the miserable side of Chaos. I like to imagine they sort of follow the main force, a bit like stray dogs and just sort of do their own thing. They're pretty thematic. 

So that's it for the infantry part of the army. I'm planning on doing a write up for the rest; cavalry and characters etc and I might do a general gaming article too. Share some of the tricks I've learned when using them and stuff. If you've got this far than I thank you for your time and hope you've enjoyed your stay. 

Your friend in the Tavern,

Jimzan 

IN THE BEGINNING...

Welcome fair traveller to the Hobby Tavern. A place for me to share my hobby progress, ideas, hopes and dreams. A place of merriment and friendship. The aim of this blog is to try to organise my racing thoughts, journal my progress and connect with the online community in some way. 

So I guess I'll start by telling you a little about me. I live in Australia, am rapidly approaching 40, work in a board game store and have recently uprooted my life to move cities and study palaeontology. I've basically hobbied my whole life and painting minis is probably my favourite thing in the world. 

When I was 10 I stumbled across Warhammer Fantasy and was immediately hooked. I started with Dark Elves because, well let's face it, Witch Elves can certainly intrigue a 10 year old boy. And I fell in love with them. It's funny, a bit of the chicken and the egg type thing, but I don't know if there was something in me pulling me towards Dark Elves and wanting to be part of the "Bad Guys" or, because I had Dark Elves, I was exposed to being a "Bad Guy" and learned to love it. Either way, nearly 30 years later I've rarely trod the "Good Guy" path (in regards to Warhammer). 

Where it all began

My first day of high school was scary. I was the only kid from my primary school to go to this new school and literally knew no one. I remember my first English class we had to sit in a circle, introduce ourselves and say something about us. "My name is Jim" I stammered when it was my turn "And I play Warhammer". The next person introduced themselves and the cycle continued. About halfway through another boy introduced himself "My name is David. And I play Warhammer too." Our eyes locked! Afterwards I approached him and of all the armies he could have collected, of course it was the Dark Elves most hated rivals, the High Elves. Perfection! We soon became best mates and still are to this day. He introduced me to 2 other kids who also played, Jerry (Wood Elves) and Richy (Chaos) and we formed a little Warhammer gang and basically spoke about nothing else. 

The Butterfly Effect

Then came THE MOMENT. It was about a year later and Warhammer Fantasy 6th edition had just come out. And of course, the box set with the new rule books and two armies. Empire and Orcs. Richy and I decided to split the box and each take an army but the trouble was we both wanted Empire. It wasn't even that we both liked Empire all that much, it was more that we both thought Orcs were pretty lame. So we decided to Rock, Paper, Scissors for it and lo and behold I win. "YES!!!" But then I look over at Richy and he looked so sad, and my stupid weak heart couldn't take it. So I was like "Fine, you take the Empire, I'll take the Orcs." And it's funny, there are moments in life that don't seem to be big at the time. Just these little events that seem insignificant but are actually the first of the dominos to fall that can completely alter your life. And little Jim deciding to take the Orcs was certainly one of them. I completely fell in love with Orcs and Goblins. They went from being these idiots of the warhammer world to these IDIOTS!!! of the warhammer world. I loved their whacky contraptions, crazy magic. in-fighting, models, monsters, characters and everything else. But most of all I loved their brutality. The moments in games where opponents realise "This is too much to deal with" or "what can men do against such reckless hate?" 

Ere' We Go!!!

So as time rolled on and I grew into a young man my collection grew too. I dabbled with Vampire Counts, Lizardmen (about as close to Good Guys as I ever got) and Warriors of Chaos. But Orcs were usually my go to army. I met two brothers, Laurie and Dan who also fell head over heels for warhammer and joined our little posse, adding Beastmen, Daemons and Empire into the mix. I also started playing a lot of DnD and reconnected with a primary school friend Will (Wood Elves, High Elves, Dwarfs - goody little two shoes player). A new guy, Anton, joined our DnD group and we all became fast friends. And with Anton came 40k. And boy oh boy did we all get into it. 

Naturally my first army was Orks (with a K this time) but I also built a Necron army too. And the same thing happened, we all picked armies and just played and played and played. It was constant, beers in the garage and someone playing someone on the table tennis table. Late night DnD games with 40k and fantasy sprinkled in between. And the variety was rich, we had Orks, Necrons, Space Marines, Blood Angels, Space Wolves, Dark Angels, Imperial Guard, Eldar, Dark Eldar, Tyranids, Chaos Space Marines and Daemons. Not to mention everything else; Magic the gathering, poker, board games, Malifaux, X-Wing, beers, joints and System of a Down. It was potentially the best time of my life. Me, Anton, Dan and Will were getting stuck back into Fantasy, I was working on Warriors and V.C when the news came through that GW were scrapping the game. At the time I didn't really see it for what it was, but much like the End Times had come for the folk of the Warhammer Fantasy World, the End Times had come for our gaming group too...

Archaon, Lord of the End Times

So here's what I think happened. Firstly, we all grew up a little. People had jobs and partners and all that. We can't be 22 year olds playing in a friends garage forever (unfortunately). So the group began swaying. And then once fantasy was gone all we had was 40k. And 40k was going crazy. If you've ever played 7th ed you'll know what I mean. Games required more models and the meta moved so fast. Playing 40k can leave a bad taste in your mouth too, often there are games where you basically get to do nothing and your opponent steam rolls because they happened to go first. But what I think really killed off 40k for a lot of people was us. The players... See, we grew up in a wargamming setting where, your army was your army, your book was your book. It would change once per edition (if you were lucky) and it was up to YOU to try and make the list work. But these days (god I sound like an old man) it's all right there on Youtube. You want to beat Tyranids? There's videos about it. You want to know what load out to give your squad? There's videos about it. The ease of the "perfect" list is ridiculous. And I'm not saying you're a bad person for looking up this stuff, hell, I do it all the time, but it removes the variety from the game. It basically turns one of the greatest games ever into a ludicrously expensive game of rock, paper, scissors. 

So the gaming group sort of fell away. I'd play sometimes but most people weren't really interested. I tried dipping my toes into AoS but it never really grabbed me (or any of my friends) the way 40k or Fantasy did. I really tried to keep the 40k heartbeat going, even just for myself. I played a fair bit in 8th, built a Deathguard army and went to some tournaments but it very much felt like flogging a dead horse. It just blew out into this way too competitive game, which is fine, I know some people like that. But for me it's always been about telling stories and the rule of cool and all that. I very nearly threw the towel in for good during 9th. It was a particularly shitty time for me, I was recovering from surgery (cancer, big whoop, wanna fight about it?), and went to this tournament of 136 players. I ended up coming 136th, and though I admit I'm not a great player, I'm certainly not the worst. It was just because I'd brought off meta stuff and got completely pounded, game after game over a 2 day event. Pretty much for trying basically anything other than the Ork net list. It sucked. It still sucks. Like a morgul blade that wound will never heal properly. And so I grieved, not for myself but for the game. I missed the lols and hilarity and joy it used to inspire. Now it's just stress and concentration and tactical decisions. Yuck. So over the last couple of years I've barely played. I've painted HEAPS but rarely play. And I thought I'd reached the end of the road. A place to lay down my sword and shield and watch the sky, one last time. The burden was too heavy, the pain too much. I could no longer recall the tastes of strawberries. I was done, only rest now... But then, a decade after the world came crashing down....

THE OLD WORLD IS BACK!

At first I wasn't sure how I felt about it. I'd been burned too many times to believe in hope. I was worried that the whole meta thing will happen to Old World like it had in 40k. And I'm sure it will a little, but I think there's 2 things stopping it getting out of hand. 1, There's no hellfire shooting phase like there is in 40k, so you're army isn't going to just melt turn one and 2, a lot of the players seem to be 40k refugees. People like myself that have seen what's happened and want to get away from it. I've been playing it and it's great, the community is really growing too which is lovely. It's been so nice to see everyone's work, models ranked up again with banners and such. So I've been painting like mad, got myself a Warriors of Chaos Nurgle army, got me my Orcs and Goblins (because of course), I'm even planning a retro Lizardmen army, and from where it all began, I have my beloved Dark Elves on the horizon. So for the first time in a long time I feel hope for my hobby. And I guess it's inspired me to blog about it. Document the journey and whatnot. So please feel free to join my for the ride and tell me about your own journeys through the brushes and dice. 

Your friend in the Tavern,

Jim x