Retinue Table : D4 Cultists (plus a Magus Warrior/Sorcerer)

One of my favourite options on the LatD Retinue table, is the D4 Chaos Cultists (with option to be led by a Chaos Sorcerer or a Chaos Warrior). There is so much potential with this as I can imagine the cultists in the midst of a human population, covert and looking to recruit further cultists to the cause of the Chaos God. Perhaps these Cultists have some hidden deformity, that outcasts them from ordinary society but that may lead them to follow a particular Chaos Deity. Or maybe they have just have Chaotic tendencies in their thoughts or personality that would draw them to becoming  a cultist.

In terms of model choice it was an absolute shoe-in that I would be using the Disciples of the Red Redmption for my cultists. Oldhammer to the core with their hooded capes and distinctive masks, they were perfect for the role. So I rounded up one plain disciple, one drummer, one standard bearer and one champion. For the Magus or Warrior I had to do a bit more thinking. I wanted to retain the hooded and possibly masked theme (they need to hide their identity from the public to a degree too, and in the end plumped for the jester like Sorcerer (very much fitting in with the theme of the Nurgle Carnival) and for the warrior, the iconic Goodwin model with jezzail. Mainly because it's such a damn cool model, even though it does not really fit my original fluff. Hardly a discreet weapon. 

I painted the robes in my Orc skin colour, I wanted them to be drab but with a hint of green and decided to retain the green colouring in the corrosion on the brass masks. The idea being that these hints of green would complement the reddish skin of the models.

For the banner bearer I did my usual perusal of my growing Fighting Fantasy collection of books and found a great illustration by Bob Harvey from the Talisman of Death that perfectly fits in with this idea of the hooded cultists trying to reach out and recruit you:

So I freehanded a copy of this onto a very small surface:

I plan to extend these 6 models into a unit of diseased flagellants in the future, as per the LatD Nurgle Army list. I've been inspired by this image:

And have a bucket load of plastic flagellants, hounds and even a screaming bell somewhere to make it happen... probably a long time in the future....

A Lost and the Damned warband

As the Oldhammer movement (and all that it stands for) grows, it was only a matter of time until I found a local, like-minded enthusiast. And so it happens that Justin from the Masterwork Guild blog got it contact to say he only lives a short drive from Farnborough, where I reside. So after a few emails we have decided to meet up for an evening over the next few weeks (depending upon the date of my house move) to play some RoC and have a geeky look at our Oldhammer miniatures; I can't wait.

So we decided to roll up a RoC warband each and then perhaps play a few narrative based games with them. In an ideal world I would have rolled up my warband and then gone about sculpting/converting/painting the models to match the Champion, his retinue and their various chaos attributes, but that for now is not realistic task for me. So for my Champion I decided to use one of my completed models and then apply his attributes based on the appearance of the model.

Introducing my Champion, a level 5 human; Istan Nnarth:

He has the Mark of Nurgle (+1 T), Huge Head (+1 FP) and I then rolled Involuntary Temporal Instability. For his equipment he has an axe, shield and light armour.

We agreed that our champions would have two rolls on the retinue table and I rolled a 63 for 2 Chaos Cultists:

These two are led by a Chaos Warrior, who should be given two Chaos Attributes, in this case Manic Fighter and Fear of Blood!:

The second roll saw me roll a 24 for 5 Beastmen of Nurgle: 

So here's the entire Nurgle warband, ready for action in about a fortnight's time:

I can't wait to play and meet Justin - I'll share some photos of the clash here.