Chariots of Fire - A Chaos army, with a twist

Rhupert Fleischer was not a young man. Nor by any stretch of the imagination could he be called imposing. Not physically at least. He was barely over five and a half feet high, and his exquisitely tailored jerkin struggled against the strain of his middle age spread. And yet, as he waddled along the cobbled streets of Alberhaafen’s smithy district, he knew he was untouchable. The wad of paper folded in his pocket went some way towards ensuring that. But not half as much as the two wax seal halves which still adorned either end of it, the sigil of the Imperial college of engineering clearly stamped in the ruddy substance. He walked the streets of this wholly unremarkable town in the middle of nowhere as an emissary of the College.

The gunsmith factories built in Alberhaafen in the last few years had put the little hamlet on the map. Now it was an up and coming fringe town, soon it would be a centre of industry, just like the countless other fringe towns across the length and breadth of The Empire who worked night and day to equip the brave soldiers of Karl Franz’s legions. But Alberhaafen had missed its last two quotas of handguns. And now an emissary of the Imperial College of Engineering stalked its streets. And now, Rhupert thought to himself, there would be hell to pay.

*   *   *

He rounded a corner and finally came upon the vast iron shod doors of one of the factories’ entrances. Smoke still belched from stacks on the roofs. There was no doubt that the furnaces inside were still burning, but Rhupert’s check sheet confirmed this building hadn’t seen any guns issue forth in a long time. His meaty knuckles rapped thrice on the door but there was no response. Finally giving in to frustration, the engineering emissary put his shoulder into it and forced the door open enough to slide his aging frame through.

Rhupert was an engineer born and bread. Even when he had been elevated to his own lofty position within the college he had never been too far from the furnaces and forges of the workshops. The fire was in his blood, they used to say. He never felt winters chill as long as a workshop blazed nearby. The factory contained more furnaces, boilers and forges than Rhupert had ever seen in one place. And he had never been so cold in all his life.

‘Rhupert. I’d hoped they’d send you’ the man before him was almost the comical opposite of Rhupert, tall, slight and whip thin. Soot coated his face, giving way only to two perfect circles of clean skin where his goggles had rested over eyes. Even over the din of the factory, the voice was familiar.

‘Julius Denisof. What are you doing here?’

‘What must be done old friend. To protect us all.’

Rhupert steeled himself to argue with his oldest friend when Julius held up a soot stained hand for silence, or what passed for it in an Old World factory.
‘Come Rhupert, let us talk like gentlemen in a more fitting environment.’

*   *   *   *   *

Julius Denisof had been a master engineer within the Imperial College of Engineering. His work to recreate the engine of Leonardo Miragliano’s legendary Steam tanks was the talk of students even today. He had come so close to unlocking one of the greatest secrets in Imperial engineering. It was even rumoured that he would be elevated one day to Supreme Patriarch within the college. A pious Sigmarite beloved by the church and the state, Julius Denisof’s star was well and truly rising. But then, like its twin taled cousin which heralded the coming of his Lord Sigmar, Julius’ star came crashing to earth. What really happened, few alive can say. The cover up was itself the stuff of legends. It’s rumoured that, increasingly frustrated that he was unable to unlock Miragliano’s secrets, Julius turned to forbidden knowledge. In the space of an evening he was expelled from the College, stripped of his assets and condemned to death by the Witch Hunters of Sigmar. Ever the engineer, Julius had stolen one of the Mechanical horses he had been dissecting with a class that very morning, and escaped into the night. Rhupert had not seen him since that night.

‘What are you doing here Julian? We all thought you were dead.’ The little office did little to stifle the noise of the workshops, but at least they were able to converse without raised voices.

‘As I said, old friend, I am doing what needs to be done. I do Sigmar’s work’ As he mentioned the name of his personal deity, Julius produced a pendant concealed in his robes, a token of Sigmar; The twin-taled comet. Only it wasn’t quite right. one of the tales was longer than the other and both curved upright. The comet itself had been replaced by a cog or gear design, eight raised ridges and depressed valleys denoting it’s iconic form.

‘You have commandeered this facility when the emperor commands it is needed for other work. What could possibly be so important? I ought to turn you in myself.’

‘What’s so important you say? My life’s work old friend’ His eyes lit up like a childs, a beaming grin splitting his sooty face ‘I’ve done it. I’ve unlocked the secret of the engine’

Rhupert was incredulous. All the colour drained from his cheeks. His voice was little more than a whisper ‘That’s impossible. It…it cannot be done. Nobody understands how to…’

‘I do. Even at the College I was years away from unlocking even the slightest secret of his genius, but now, it is at my fingertips’

‘How? How could you make such leaps?’

‘Divine intervention. Sigmar himself answered my prayers. He spoke to me in a dream, guided me. Told me of the change I would undergo. His protection has shielded me from his misguided witch hunters. They cannot find me. It is only because I willed it that you managed to stumble upon my operation’

‘Why?’

‘Why? Rhupert you are my oldest friend. I knew eventually they would send someone to investigate the drop off in activity here. It took but the slightest bit of bribery and politicking to get you assigned to Emissary for the Western reaches. Sigmar guided me, showed me exactly where to scheme, to act, to earn you your current station in life so that so many years later you would come willingly to me. To join me in his glorious crusade.’

‘What crusade? The Emperor has decreed no such-‘

‘Hell and damnation with the decrees of their false emperor’ Rhupert had never seen such fire in his friend before. Not in all their long years together had rage and fervour gripped him as now ‘The line is broken Rhupert. The false government of the Runefangs serve no purpose and son those relic blades will be a broken as the ideals they stand for.’

‘This…this is heresy! This is madness’

‘Madness, Rhupert? This is Change, and in our little Empire, it is long overdue’

‘You would overthrow the Emperor with a handful of gunsmiths?

‘Come with me Rhupert. I had hoped my word alone would be enough to show you what must be done. But if it is further explanation you need, then you shall have it. We will bring order to the Empire’

Without turning to see if the Engineering Emissary was following him, Julius strode from the office.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

The Back door from the office opened out to a large yard, presumably for the horse drawn weapons trains to load up and haul the freshly smithed handguns to the front lines, where they were so desperately needed. Now it housed dozens of contraptions which Rhupert could only liken to stripped down versions of the legendary Steam Tanks. Blue smoke puffed from their stacks as the engines idled. Behind the ranks and files of steam machines, an ever larger bulk was draped in tarpaulin, the dirty cloth making it’s shape largely indistinguishable.

‘My gods. You’ve done it’
 
‘Aye, I’ve done it. The chassis are lighter of course, but more sprightly for it. we couldn’t get the heavy gauge cannon here in secret, they will be acquired at later date. And this is not it. Sigmar has many others like me, chosen to be his voices here in the Old World. In the east my allies make way for a tide of blue skinned monsters from the mountains. We shall strike here from the west. Franz cannot fight on two fronts whilst still protecting all the other borders of the Empire from petty raids and squabbles with its neighbours. Altdorf will burn beneath my boot. And from the ashes shall arise a new Empire shaped in the true image of Lord Sigmar’

‘No Julius. You cannot be allowed to do this. I will not be party to such heresy’ Rhupert’s fingers groped around in his pockets. They brushed past the decree from the College, it felt so feeble and powerless now. All he had was a small, single shot pistol he carried mostly for show. As he drew it from his pocket Rhupert whispered a prayer to any god who would listen that he had not forgotten to reload it.

‘Rhupert-‘ Julius looked genuinely hurt. He believed so passionately he was right, he couldn’t see how another rational man like Rhupert could not see it to. He opened his mouth to finish the sentence, but the booming report of Julius’ pistol ensured he never finished it.

The ball shaped bullet vomited forth from the barrel in a plume of smoke, brilliant white against the azure of Julius’ steam engines. It was a perfect shot and would have taken Julius through the heart, had it not been stopped by the incandescent wall of yellow fire which sprang up to block its path.

There was real madness in Julius’ eyes as he strode through the fire, licks of it catching on his coat and hair. He lifted his own pistol. Leering faces and cog-runed symbols decorated the weapon, ending in a horrific daemon’s maw where the barrel should have been.

‘Sigmar protects’ Whispered Rhupert, forming the sign of the hammer across his chest.

‘Indeed he does old friend’ Blue fire leapt from the barrel of the pistol and Rhupert felt a hard, wet pain in his stomach. He tried to speak but only blood bubbled forth, and the world went sideways as he keeled over, leaking over the cobblestones.

Rhupert strolled over to the gaggle of engineers and cultist who had gathered at the sound of the first gunshot.

‘It is time. Ready the men. We go to war.’

‘And your mount sire?’

‘Of course’

Without another word the cultists scrabbled over the tarpaulin, heaving it aside to reveal the gears, plates, smoke stacks and boilers beneath, intertwined with infinite complexity. Rhupert climbed into the saddle and pulled his goggles into place. He spared his oldest friend, dying on the floor, one last glance before driving his mount airborne bellowing at the top of his lungs ‘Death to the False Emperor’.

The last thing Rhupert Fleischer saw in this world was Julius Denisof, his oldest friend, taking to the skies atop a clockwork dragon.



okay, so some of you may have ntoiced I've got quite a few gnoblogs on the go at the moment. The Cygnar yelow boys are good and finished (no time to paint any more and I love the army make up opportunities that I have already) and there's only 4 outstanding Circle orboros models to paint. My Harlies are being put on hold for the forseeabel future while I get on with at least 1500 points of Steampunk space marines (if not a whole company) and I stil want to add some stuff to the change eaters (3 more yhetees, a ghark ironskin and skrag the slaughterer conversion/counts as, and a new tryant with lioght up parts) but I think I may be abel to squeeze a very small project in between.


There's a mighty Empires campaign coming up at the club and I fancied taking part, but want to try something a bit differant to ogres for a change (played with them pretty muchconsistantly for a year). I've got so much going on right now that I realy don't have time to convert and paint a whole new 2000 point army. Not a normal one anyway. I've wanted to have a go at fielding the 5/6 model Tzeentch army ever since I read about it around a year ago. IIRC it's something along the lines of a lord on dragon, two exalted champs in chariots, a third chariot and one or two shaggoths. Surely I'd be able to find the time to paint 5 models? Right? Well maybe, we'll see.

Continuing my love of all things steamy (that's boiled water, not the other kind of steamy...although I'm far from against that either ) I thought about steam powered chariots invented by a crazy imperial engineer driven tothe brink by Tzeentch and manipulated into serving the same masterplan as the church of the broken sword and the Change Eaters.

Chariots will be steam tanks with no roofs or guns and a wizard on board (not sure what I'll do for the actual crewman but I'm toying with having a necron warrior conversion with a big key in his back being actually part (no hand or feet) of the STank). The dragon will be some crazy mess of gears and metal plates, like Ghark 'ironskins iron Rhimox, but with wings and two heads . I'm really not sure how to approach the Shaggoths. I'm not sure if having two more steam powered bit automotons would overpower the theme a litte. I'm still debating leaving these out and replacing them with a unit of chosen chaos knights (riding single wheeled bikes like the one in Steamboy using a skaven doomwheel as the basis) and some warhounds (inquisitor scale enforcer dogs with more gears, a smokestack and a key).

Obviously this is still all in the embrionic stages of the army (no list yet!) and I'm still doing some costings to see iof I can afford the amount of steam tanks I'll need to pull it off! Any feedback aprpeciated though
Thanks
Corai

I can't wait to see this get underway. Great to come back after a long time to none other than the great corai starting a new blog. i dunno bout the steamtanks though. im sure you can make it look amazing but i dunno i cant really picture it. I would like to see normal chariots pimped out steampunk style. Either way i cant wait to see this progress.
cheers,Gorg

Rhupert strolled over to the gaggle of engineers and cultist who had gathered at the sound of the first gunshot.

‘It is time. Ready the men. We go to war.’

Is this correct, I had the feeling Julius should be strolling there.

I love the story by the way

Personally I think that the knights are too much,
The shaggoths you can just give them one mechanical arm or something,
Another Gnoblog to check out.....

Rhupert strolled over to the gaggle of engineers and cultist who had gathered at the sound of the first gunshot.

‘It is time. Ready the men. We go to war.’

Is this correct, I had the feeling Julius should be strolling there.

whoops! Thanks for pointing that out Lexy

Thanks
Corai

That's a great story! I've always loved the idea of a corrupted Empire army, and an army of mechanical contraptions would be even more awesome!

If you will be using a unit of Chosen Knights, you should try to build corrupted Clockwork horses for them. If I were you I'd try to keep the warriors in your army as Empire-y as you can, and show their devotion to Chaos by the corrupted machines they have build. Maybe you could use a combination of Skaven and Empire technology for this, giving your engineers mechanical bodyparts that replace the weak flesh..

Now get to work, can't wait to see what your models will look like!

Corai... what is this... your 5th... 6th gnoblog?


if it is going to half as good as the others, it is going to be a good one, none-the-less.


cheers

Corai... what is this... your 5th... 6th gnoblog?

6th... I think

thanks
Corai

Rhupert-‘ Julius looked genuinely hurt. He believed so passionately he was right, he couldn’t see how another rational man like Rhupert could not see it to. He opened his mouth to finish the sentence, but the booming report of Julius’ pistol ensured he never finished it.

I've found another. I don't think Rhupert is supposed to be shooting Julius with Julius's gun.
Good stuff, and get to work on this "army". Keep the Shaggoths. Anything less isn't worth it.

Wow! Your background story is really impressive as well as truly inspiring!

I can see it all before me and I have no doubt you can pull this of and make it really astonishing.

lots of plasticard cogs to make I guess, maybe you can use some Lego cogs as well. 

Rhupert-‘ Julius looked genuinely hurt. He believed so passionately he was right, he couldn’t see how another rational man like Rhupert could not see it to. He opened his mouth to finish the sentence, but the booming report of Julius’ pistol ensured he never finished it.

I've found another. I don't think Rhupert is supposed to be shooting Julius with Julius's gun.
Good stuff, and get to work on this "army". Keep the Shaggoths. Anything less isn't worth it.

That's what I get for writing something after midnight onm a work night. That or all this chaos stuff is finally getting to me

thanks
Corai

Righto, list time methinks:

Lord of Chaos         
-Mark of Tzeentch      
-Dragon         
-Staff of change      
-Golden Eye of Tzeentch    
-Shield            
-Great Weapon      
      814

Julius himself atop a clockwork/steampowered/mechanical dragon. Not sure how I'll go about this but its looking like I'll need to scratchbuild the whole thing using plasticard and brass rod. I'm thinking I'll go for the GW classic rearing up dragon pose as it wil help identify my creation with what it's supposed to be and also unburdens me from having to make the bucket of bolts look like it will fly! I've not decided whether to make it 2 headed or not. I'd don't know if the two breath attacks require a differant point of origin to be legal. The great weapon (as with all the characters) is in there becasue I had points tospare and gives me an alterntaive to the hand weapon when I need some enemy chariots busting open

Exalted Champion      
-Mark of Tzeentch      
-Power Familiar      
-Great Weapon      
-Shield            
      226

Riding one of the chariots. I'm thinking a cross between an engineer and a wizard, with maybe a little warrior priest thrown in for good measure. Probably lots of use of the new wizard sprues I've been dying to use

Exalted Champion      
-Mark of Tzeentch      
-Dispel Scroll         
-Dispel Scroll         
-Great Weapon      
-Shield            
      226

Chariot            
-Mark of Tzeentch      
      140   

Chariot            
-Mark of Tzeentch   
      140   

Chariot            
-Mark of Tzeentch      
      140   

As mentioned, made using the steamtank (if I can find 3 cheap enough!)without the roof o cannons added and with a crew member (porbably an engineer of some variety) added in to pilot it

Dragon Ogre Shaggoth   
-Additional Hand weapon   
      301
No idea what I'm going to do with this yet! I don't want the army to look too overtly chaos and I can't see a fluff reason for Julius to build something that resembles an enemy beast (the dragon being an affectation copying Karl Franz's mode of transportation). I'm thinking maybe a powerlifter/penetant engine/battlesuit mesh which has four legs. Not sure f this will be enough to scream shaggoth at my opponent though.
            

total 1987

Thanks
Corai

A good looking list, just crazy enough to work. No MoT on the Shaggoth? I don't want to mess with the list too much, but if you drop a chariot (you'll still be at 12 pd) you can afford the MoT on the Shaggoth (lvl 2 wizard giant/dragon thing. Two terror causing wizards that are beasts in combat) and a spawn (a rickety contraption, Julius's first attempt at engineering?). And the spawn can't be insta-splatted.

No Reg, the mark thingy only for DOS characters.
So he can't take a mark for this one.

I think to represent the shaggoth, you'll have to model the mechanical shaggoth as a real life shaggoth.
Or els you'll be saying: "No, no, it's not a giant, it's a shaggoth..."

A good looking list, just crazy enough to work. No MoT on the Shaggoth? I don't want to mess with the list too much, but if you drop a chariot (you'll still be at 12 pd) you can afford the MoT on the Shaggoth (lvl 2 wizard giant/dragon thing. Two terror causing wizards that are beasts in combat) and a spawn (a rickety contraption, Julius's first attempt at engineering?). And the spawn can't be insta-splatted.

much as I'd love to, the mark makes the shaggoth a lord IIRC so I couldn't take it with the dragon rider

Thanks
Corai

Characters only, oh well. That's what BoC players get for having a great model with stats that just aren't up to par.

Well, maybe you could make the shaggoth into some sort of giant fork-lift (needed for maintenance of the great clockwork dragon). Driven by a crazy engineer of course and topped of with some ornamental shaggothy/dragony skull just to make it clear it's not a giant 

Could be four-legged or use a combination of legs and wheels, steam powered and uttely crazy.

had a bit of a win at the casino last night (following a massacre in my favour with my circle orboros against a friends khador at the club the same night) and am now going to pick up the 3 steam tanks I need to make the base of the army tomorrow. As I said, there's a mighty empires campaign starting at the club and it looks like the first games might be next sunday so I'm aiming to get a playable 1K army (the three chariots basically, qwith an extra character in one) asap and wil expand on it with the other two models in the coming weeks

Thakns
Corai

had a bit of a win at the casino last night ... and am now going to pick up the 3 steam tanks I need to make the base of the army tomorrow

Ha!  Nice work!

Good luck on the cheesefest list, all that steam power does sound quite cool.  The steam battlesuit shaggoth should be good fun particularly, however it turns out.

And this does remind me that I kinda want to make that 1000 point 3 Chariots of Tz Doom list when the HE cat chariots come out ... But we'll see if I can resist

- Salvage

Corai - jus tto let you know your "opponents" are getting ready too - I've posted a project gnoblar mayhem thread in teh cauldron to get the team together!

Just a thought, But It would look cool if the dragon was in the new High ELf Dragon pose, with the Champ standing on the head pointing, with a scroll/wrench in the other hand
Can't wait to see the army.

-Arante

Corai - jus tto let you know your "opponents" are getting ready too - I've posted a project gnoblar mayhem thread in teh cauldron to get the team together!

oh it's on

Bit of bad luck, the GW was sold out of Steamtanks so I had to put a mailorder in...which were also out! The postage will be free but not sure when they'll arrive (I ordered 3 of the Implacable Steam engine variants so I'll have the crew I need too). I gues it's time to get working on the dragon then. Expect some concept sketches soonish

thanks
Corai

All across the field battle raged. Earth was churned beneath the iron shod wheels of steam-chariots and soaked with the blood of men. Flames of iridescent colours licked out from fingertips and staffs just as the booming reports of cannon returned the tide of death. Yet in the centre of the field there was a most odd phenomenon. Silence.

Men and machines formed a circle, all thoughts of killing each other forgotten as they stared at the two figures at its centre. Two generals, their mounts discarded stood opposite one another. One a staunch follower of Sigmar, and the other a loyal son of the Empire.

‘You can’t be serious’ Captain Richter Husken. Master of the Reiskguard, answerable only to Kurt Hellborg, the Reiksmarshall himself, stood proud, the midday sun glinting from his polished plate. His voice was booming, his manner bombastic. Here, clearly, was a man accustomed to having others follow his orders. His opponents defiance made his moustache twitch.

‘You don’t know me very well Captain Husken, I am always serious’ Julius Denisof spat the words from his soot stained mouth. No armour adorned his bony form, no weapons hung from his belt. And yet Julius could feel the Captain’s fear at the edge of his perception.

‘You’re actions here will not go unpunished heretic. May Sigmar strike you down for your arrogance’

‘Hubris is not my failing captain. Sigmar has blessed me with foresight. I am his puppet and am blessed with the knowledge that everything I do is for the greater glory of him and his Empire’

Husken was dumbfounded. The heresies he had heard spew from the engineers mouth were unthinkable. That Sigmar would choose him as an emissary of death for the Empire. Madness. ‘We are at war, man. There are no troops to spare to fight off internal politics. Surrender now or you will be the doom of the empire’

‘Then so be it’

‘You would let the Empire burn?’

Julius took a step forward and lowered his voice accordingly. A barely visible glint lit up his eyes. ‘Captain Husken, if my god commands it, I would let the galaxy burn’

Without warning Julius’ fist drew back. It lit up with ochre flames and in less than a second, he drove it through Husken’s laurel-wreathed helm, and into his head.

Thanks
Corai

A 2000pts list consisting of 5 models sounds like a dream! Especially as chariots can be scratch-built! I might do a list like yours, Corai!

Thanks

 - Kyte

An interesting idea to make an army like that. Like your fluff as well. I'll definately be keeping an eye on this gnoblog to see how this turns out!

BigD

okay, impatient of waiting for the team tanks to arrive I've put in  an order for a witchunters penmitant engine and an extra set of legs for it which I will use to build the shaggoth (plus some spare parts from the steamtank/empire sprues etc...when they finally arrive). I did consider scratchbuilding aclockwork shaggoth but deciceded I'd rather keep this for the dragon to make it more unique (and cheap out on the shaggoth to speed up production of this army even more!)

thanks
Corai

did a bit of a revision to the list:

Lord of Chaos         
-Mark of Tzeentch     
-Dragon         
-Staff of change     
-Golden Eye of Tzeentch   
-Shield           
-Great Weapon     
-Rides in Chariot
      814

Aspiring Champion     
-Mark of Tzeentch     
-BSB
-Blasted Standard
-Rides in Chariot         
      225

Exalted Champion     
-Mark of Tzeentch     
-Dispel Scroll         
-Dispel Scroll         
-Great Weapon     
-Shield   
-Rides in Chariot         
      226

Chariot           
-Mark of Tzeentch     
      140   

Chariot           
-Mark of Tzeentch   
      140   

Chariot           
-Mark of Tzeentch     
      140   

Dragon Ogre Shaggoth   
-Additional Hand weapon   
      301

1996

I figures having a BSB in the centre of the line may help me loosing 400 odd points of character mounted chariot to a block of skaven slaves and their damn static combat res!

Thanks
Corai

Lord of Chaos         
-Mark of Tzeentch     
-Dragon         
-Staff of change     
-Golden Eye of Tzeentch   
-Shield           
-Great Weapon     
-Rides in Chariot
      814

So ... the main man has a dragon and rides in a chariot?  Chaos = Awesome

Also, I'd suggest flails in place of all those great weapons - I think chariots nerf gw down to +1S, so the flail is +2S and then you can use that massive chaos initiative should you/they live to round 2.

And does this make it a 4 model Tz list?  Well done

- Salvage

So ... the main man has a dragon and rides in a chariot?  Chaos = Awesome

woops, that wasa typo on my part, I'm fairly certain you can't have both (not looked into it though )

Good point about the flails, I hadn't thought about the chariot nerfing the GW so you're quite right about them not being a great choice

Thanks
Corai

Nothing new to report, I just finallmy decided on a title/nickname for the army and have amended the thread title accordingly

Thanks
Corai

Hmm, wouldn't the following name fit better?
<Booming voice>
Chariots of Steam - A Chaos army, with a twist
</Booming voice>

I'm really looking forward to something visual here ( And I do mean sketches and WIP's)

I'm really looking forward to something visual here ( And I do mean sketches and WIP's)

Wish granted

Finally did some modeling work on the army tonight by getting the lions share of the mecha-shaggoth done. I wanted it to be fairly recognizable as representing a shaggoth so I opted to arm it with a great weapon and try and mimick the pose of the stock GW model as closely as possible. Obviously there's still a lot of work to be done, the GS needs detailing and gaps need filling. I'm also planning to add either some more exhaust chimneys to the body or a large clockwork key (thinking I might go with the latter) as well as something with the army symbol on. Oh, and I expect he'll need an axe head as well! any suggestions for the great weapon? I'm thinking either a twin headed axe with the edge's serated like a cog, or a large wrench







I think I'll try and build the dragon in a similar way utlizing parts of the urban war kits. I think it might come out looking a little better than if I did it all with plasticard and wouldhopefully give me a more unified look to the models

Thanks
Corai

Damn you Corai...that is amazing, once again!

I'm really impressed with your idea and execution.

I know I've already replied in the topic in the Butcher's Cauldron, but I'm just going to do it again; it's really recognizable as a Shaggoth. Instantly. A great wow on my part.


Now I know you are more than capable making this kind of stuff, I'm really, really looking forward to the rest of the 'army'.
Also, go with the clockwork key.

the shaggoth is definatly a recognisable shape - very well done Corai!   Are you going to use the shaggoth weaponary?

Cool ow yes.

My wishes get a granted...
What would I wish for now:
hmmm, painted shaggoth

Very Cool C. ( the C of Cool is meant in capital)

I said I wouldn't post but wow this is amazing! I love the idea! Great job!



 thanks greasus409

Corai, stop it..... just stop.

Really like this, have a biscuit.

Hrm, thinking about hitting you in the head with a bat and stealing the idea.

Wont tho.... apart from the hitting with bat.

PAIN!!!

great work!!

Wonderboy/tOB

Really awesome model Corai. I reckon you should arm the Shaggoth with a big war hammer with the corrupted Sigmarite symbol on it.

Damn Coria, the wip shaggoth looks amazing.

BigD

Right, I've got 2 and a half steam tanks glued. Unfortunatley the new bottle of superglue I've opened seems to be faulty. It's a slightly yellowish colour and even after 24 hours refuses to dry, succeeding only in gluing myhand to my mouse 3 times. Needless to say I am drafting a letter of complaint to loctite as soon as I finish updating.

On the subject of the steam tank, my heart goes out to any empire general who includes 2 of them in his force. The kit is truly atrocious. None if the parts line up correctly, the contact areas for big heavy parts of metal are miniscule (often too small to drill and pin!) and although I have two assembled, they will need copious amounts of GS and Brown stuff to make them ready for paint. Pics as soon as there's something a bit more finished to show.

I ordered a shaggoth axe today as well. I took the advice of mebers here that it will keep the model looking shaggothy and hopefully fantasy orientated. I'm also planning to fill in some of the recessed areas with GS and sculpt wood to keep it more in line witht he steam tank model. I also a ordered a palstic imperial guard sentinel which has very similar legs to the penitent engine but in plastic so I'll use these to begin work on Julius' Dragon.

In other news, I've been somewhat deistracted this weekend as I bought my first car (yay). Nothing particularly special, a 2006 Ford Ka (which was mercifully cheap to buy and insure)... It's Blue.

Thanks
Corai

I don't post much....but this is definately worthy of an "at a boy".
nice work, looking forward to the rest.

About time I posted an update here really!

I've built the three steam chariots/tanks and the crew for them. 2 have been undercoated and are waiting for painting. the shaggoth has had his axe blade added and the penitent pilot replaces with a seated empire engineer to make it fit a bit better with the steam tanks. I'm also planning on filling some of the areas on the model with GS and adding some woodgrain.

I've started work on the dragon. Bought the plastic high elf dragon and used the spare tail to make a second neck. the whole model is now acting as an armature to sculpt onto. the underside of the model will be sculpted to look like wood and armour plates and other metal gizmos are being added to the top. It will also get a boiler as part of the main body, some exhaust vents and a clockwork key for fun

Pics should be up tomorrow

thanks
Corai

hey corai.

whats with the sudden interest in steam punk? your mecha-shaggoth is fantastic. i saw it for thefirst time via google images and thought "awesome someone built a steampunk shaggoth, that combines my 2 loves!" then i realised it was you. damn your amazingness. even now i know its creator i still stick by my aforementioned statement. cant wait for the dragon.

i however feel a friendly critism is in order, in your idea for the dragon, whilst awesome, i believe the clockwork key will detract from the sheer evilness that could be portrayed through the machinery present in the final look of the dragon, a look you have pulled off so brilliantly with the shaggoth. a clockwork key would be a bad idea in my own steampunk opinion. in the words of Eric Cartman "its wrong! wrrroonngg!"

if you like steampunk and like me are an aficionado of the fashion and lifestyle (mohawk, goggles, music etc) then may i suggest you research "white mischief", its an amazing club night in london that happens every so often

i apologise if i have come as rude in any way
 
syc.

p.s. steam marines are ace too.

p.p.s. sorry for my long absence, no internet at home, only at uni.

Great way to make the Shaggoth your own. It's instantly recognizable, but still fits your fluff.

Time for a big update!:
Dragon is finished and primed (i wanted to see if the giant bag of stuff I glued onto it algeleld together.) I'm happy with the result but the downside makes it very difficult to photograph. I've done what I can to the photos but it's still not that clear. Basically the underbelly is all made of wood and the top area is armour plates and steam pipes.






And this is how the shaggoth's shaping up:

Still some work to do on this one.

And a quick few shots of the steam chariots:




Thanks
Corai

You suck Corai. You should probably just give up now, and like, send me your HELLISH WORK!!

You're awesome. Top notch stuff you got!

So now you've nearly built the whole of your army

THAT CHAOS DRAGON IS A FEAT OF BRILLIANCE!! At first I wondered how you might go about making a Dragon that could convincingly look like a machine powered by steam, but you've managed it, and managed it SUPERBLY!
    Also, I'm glad you gave the Shaggoth its usual axe, it makes it look more violent and not as technical as before IMO. I'm not sure about the steam chariots, though. I've never liked the Steam Tank model anyway, so that explains most of it, and it looks too much like a Stank, it's still got the Empire's insignia on it, but I suppose it would be very hard to remove it and try to replace it with symbols of Chaos / Tzeentch.

Really looking forward to seeing all of this painted!

B.O.C.B.I.L.O.T

I geuss before posting aobut the awesome Shaggoth, it would have been nice to scroll ALL the way down the page and actually look at everything. Great stuff. The dragon is excellent, and the stank chariots look great. They really do look like a mobile wizarding platform.

Oh man, I had serious concerns about how this would turn out, but you've blown me away well and truly.  Work par excellence.

I love the dragon and shaggoth.  The steam tank/chariot things seem a little plain in comparison.  Widget them up! 

ok so youve excelled yourself with that dragon....and as far as i can tell no clockwork key.... yay corai! id have to agree tho the steam tanks are a little plain and empire'd but as your lord is a corrupted empire engineer it can be forgiven, i guess fluff wise he nicked them from the armoury? even though there are only a few left in working order in the empire (7 i believe tho im not sure) maybe he copied the idea and they were built by non corrupted engineer lackeys, not realising their boss was a tzeentchian worshipper......

loving it
syc.

Thanks guys, glad you like it so far . So yes, this is the whole army assembled so far and next is the painting. I'm thinking metallics in dark oily silver (same method as mey Cygnar warjacks) with the details (STank embossing, some banding etc) picked out in brass/gold. The wizardfs robes will be (of course) blue and the engineers/other details/any large expanse painted in halfed blue and yellow in the style of that empire province/city state I can't remember the name of

i guess fluff wise he nicked them from the armoury? even though there are only a few left in working order in the empire (7 i believe tho im not sure) maybe he copied the idea and they were built by non corrupted engineer lackeys, not realising their boss was a tzeentchian worshipper......

Yup, Tzeentch granted him the knowledge to recreate the basic design of the steam tank himself, only it was built without all the nesessary knowledge and with far inferior materials hence the lack of cannon and fact it's only effective as a box of wood pulled by horses

thanks
Corai

I love the dragon: superb conversion work. BTW, when was it released in the UK, 'cause in Italy we don't have it yet!


The steam chariot doesn't look that chaos-y to me... but I bet you have something in store for it.

cheers

Wow! Those look great, especially the dragon and the Shaggoth 
That dragon looks way better than the "roadkill" galrauch and "hello very old" chaos dragon with Egrimm van Horstmann.

Do you have any wip pics of the dragon?

I love the dragon: superb conversion work. BTW, when was it released in the UK, 'cause in Italy we don't have it yet!


The steam chariot doesn't look that chaos-y to me... but I bet you have something in store for it.

I'm not sure when the dragon was released. I bought it over a week ago so I'd assume it came out around the 10th November but I couldn't be sure.

As for the chariots, they aren't supposed to look too overtly chaotic as the general is still under the delusion that he really is doing what's best for the empire. The wizards on board will be getting chaotic paintjobs though with plenty of eveil lookinbg runes and freehand work all over their flowing robes

Do you have any wip pics of the dragon?

unfortunatley not. As there is a mixture of grey plastic, procreate, brownstuff, green stuff, white metal and brass etc stuff on there I wanted to get it primed ASAP to see if all the stuff gelled together rathe than just looking like the new highelf dragon with a bunch of crazy stuff glued to it

Thanks
Corai

Know what I think would make your already impressive army look a little more chaosy? Instead of the humans driving the steam chariots, How about chaos dwarf drivers. It would make great fluff to find them working with a corrupt engineer.

Still thats just a thouhgt, and they are amazing models you have there.

I do also wonder how much this force actually cost in money for such a small amount of things lol.

i love the dragon, I've got to ask is that made up of bitz on top of the high elf dragon, or is it green stuff or any other putty.
Anyway, beautiful dragon, really like the steam punk look of the thing, as well as the Steam Chariots.
On one the wizard looks a bit wonky, but i guess you've already noticed this.

-Arante

Absolutely awesome models Corai. Like all great pupils of Tzeentch you walk down the narrow line between insanity and genius, and come up with stuff that incorporates both!

i love the dragon, I've got to ask is that made up of bitz on top of the high elf dragon, or is it green stuff or any other putty.
Anyway, beautiful dragon, really like the steam punk look of the thing, as well as the Steam Chariots.
On one the wizard looks a bit wonky, but i guess you've already noticed this.

the dragon is the highelf dragon completley covered in greenstuff and palstic botz. Pretty much the only bit of the original mdoel still showing is part of the face and the membrane of the wings.

All the steam chariot crew are potentially wonky as they havn't been glued in yet, they will be straight once painted

thanks
Corai

Loving the steampunkyness, nice models!!

Whats the actual army list here? is it legal?

9th February
Appologies for that Space marine related break, normal services shall return soon.

As the rulings for the Yorkshire Open Finals regarding Rhinox riders are pretty strict, I have decided t let the change eaters sit that event out and am taking it as an excuse to whip this army into fighting order.

The tournament date is 30th March. Before then I need to

-paint 3 steam chariots + crew
-paint Steam Dragon + rider
-finish Mecha-shaggoth conversion (GS, basing etc)
-paint mecha shaggoth

Surely no challenge for someone with the speed painting reputation of myself We'll see.

tonight I got the ball rolling bystarting the metalics on the first steam chariot. It's being painted in between marine paint drying as they need to be finished by the end of the week but hopefuly by next sunday I should have the first chariot complete and ready for photos. I might snap some WIP photos along the way once there's a bit more to see.

Thanks
Corai

I've got the silver and beaten copper done one the first steam tank. I'm planning to have 5 main colours on each tank:
Oily Silver - done in the same way as my iron snakes for the main body of the tank
beaten copper - tin bitz highlighted up to silver then smoke washed (maybe some chestnut wash in there too) for all the 'worky bitz'
gold - again, same recipe as with the Iron Snakes for the detailing on the tank body, like the griffons etc
-brown - for all the wooden areas. Still not 100% How I'm going to do this, although I expect I'll use a variation on the bestial brown, scorched brown wash, bestial brown+snakebite elather recipe that I used on my circle orboros stuff
-blue - Natch, for the shields which decorate the tank sides. This wil hopefully tie in with the blue and white robes I'll be painting on the wizards in each tank (who should stand out from the other crew member who will be in neutral earthones as befits a steam punk mechanic

I might get chance to get the gold detailing done tomorrow in between coats of white paint on the Snakes I'm finishing up

Thanks
corai

Thanks
corai

Well, since it's been a good few months since there were any photos on this thread, it's probably about time I posted some WIP pics of the first chariot:
At this stage, the chariot itself is all but done, just needing basing whilst the 2 crew members obviosuly still need a lot of work. Since it's just a WIP pic I didn't get the lightbox out and consequently, the metals proved a pain in the ogre-sized arse to photograph. They look better in real life and hopefully when the finished pics go up they will have a closer representation of the colours.





For the WIP crew I'm planning on:
engineer blue hat and pants to tie him in to the blue-tzeentch theme and a sirt done in the same parcment bone that appears on the tank itself.

sorceror will have blue robes (only basecoat and first highlight on at the moment so a long way to go) with a Tzeentch/cog logo over his shoulder done either in yellow or very light blue/grey (not sure about this). His scarf and hat wil be space wolf grey highlighted upto white with some freehand runes fading down them. the staff pole and head will be in the same gold as the chariot with the orb at the centre in blue with lightning crackling across it. Finally I'm going to do his beard in black and fade it to blue by the end of the thing.

thanks
Corai

This is probably the one gnoblog i am most likely wanting to see finished. In my opinion this one has "legendary" written all over it. Sweet that you decided to continue on this, and i relly like the first chariot... go on!

That is so good it looks like I could touch it and it would feel real, well done Corai, good job.
Thanks, Malekith

That is awesome.

What bit(z) did you use for the Steam Chariot's engine?

As the rulings for the Yorkshire Open Finals regarding Rhinox riders are pretty strict, I have decided t let the change eaters sit that event out and am taking it as an excuse to whip this army into fighting order.

So you're taking this beautiful counts as cheddar list to a tourny?  Sweeeeet!

Love the mecha-shag, the dragon is quite cool and the stank chariots are looking good.  Pity about all the empire iconography on them, but I'm pretty sure you know what you're doing fluff-wise so I'll leave that to you

Good luck making that date, eager to see the army ready to fling some colorful fire and hopefully stay on the table (Ld not being Tizz' strongpoint).

- Salvage

Great job Corai. You already know your blues are beautiful, and with all that gold in there the model has the same blue&yellow color scheme.

What bit(z) did you use for the Steam Chariot's engine?

It's all from the steamtank kit (one of the mail order variants with the palsric engineer crew instead of top hatch and cannons

finished off the first steam chariot. I did a bit of iconography freehand on the sorceror's cloack but unfortunatley It's completely hiddden by the chariots sides. Luckily, in the event some ogre tyrant takes his S7 tenderizer to the chariot istelf, when he's fung free you'll see the freehand;)












Next step, finish up converting the shaggoth and get the next chariot painted

Thanks
corai

Well the Chaos Dragon is amazing, the Mecha-Shaggoth is amazing, and now you're going to have 3 of these amazing beauties Brilliant work Corai, the metals are great and I like the freehand on the wizard's robes. Looking forward to the Shaggoth, and the painted Dragon

B.O.C.B.I.L.O.T

Thanks BOCBILOT.

For my own reference more than anything else, The recipes for he main colours were as follows:

Silver:
-basecoat P3 pig iron
-drybrush boltgun metal
-highlight boltgun metal:mithril silver 1:1
-highlight mithril silver
-wash with Tamiya smoke

Gold:
-basecoat bestial brown
-highlight P3 brass balls
-extreme highlight P3 Radiant Platinum
-wash with chestnut ink
-wash with tamiya smoke

Blue:
-basecoat P3 exile blue
-highlight mordian blue
-highlight mordian blue:enchanted blue 1:1
-highlight enchanted blue
-highlight enchanted blue:ice blue 1:1
-extreme highlight ice blue
-extree highlight ice blue:skull white 1:1
-wash with blue ink:water:glaze medium 1:12:4

White
-basecoat astronomicon grey:shadow grey 1:1
-highlight space wolf grey
-highlight space wolf grey:skull white
-skull white
-glaze with skull white:water:glaze medium 1:12:4

Skin:
-basecoat dark flesh
-highlight tallarn flesh
-highlight talarn flesh:P3 Rynn flesh
-highlight Rynn flesh:astronomicon grey 1:1
-wash with purple ink:water:glaze medium 1:12:4

base:
-basecoat dark flesh
-drybrush dark flesh:astronomicon grey:bleached bone 1:1:1
-drybrush with bleached bone:astronomicon grey 1:1

wood:
-basecoat bestial brown
-wash with chaos black:scorched brown:water:glaze medium 1:1:16:8
-highlight with bestial brown:bubonic brown
-extremem highlight bubonic brown

Thanks
Corai

inspired by today's earlier success I've done a bit more work on the army. the sahggoth is now finished being built and ready for undercoating (which won't happen until next tuesday when I'm next off work and available to get tino town and procure some more spray paint).

Additionally I have put the base coat of pig iron down on the dragon and second chariot. I'll let this dry overnight and start working on the metallics of both models tomorrow

thanks
Corai

Corai you are "amazing", cant wait to see the rest!

cheers Luke

Well, I've decided to break up the monotony of painting a 'whole' army by alternating between chariots and something else. As I'm currently out of primer, that meant the dragon would be the next thing to see paint (having been primed several months ago). Tonihght I got thesilver and copper parts done. The smoke is drying as I type. Tomorrow I hope to get the wooden underbelly painted and (maybe) the brass/gold cogs and details. That would just leave the base and rider to do (the rider being a job in it's own right)

Thanks
Corai

I'm really looking forward to the Shaggoth (I wouldn't mind seeing another great chariot though).

Here's the steam chariot I painted yesterday. As there's no wizard/sorceror in this one I tried to add in some more chaotic iconography. There's Tzeentch runes and 8-pointed stars on all the scroll work, as well as on bothsides of the engineers coat. Not sure if the engineer looks a little too much like the guy who used to be on Walls ice cream boxes though!




And the shaggoth. The pics are a little dark but this is basicaly what it looks like. It does look pretty mechanical and whatnot, but I'm afraid it looks a little plain and dull. I was thinking about repainting the axe head to be electric blue (like the power weapons in my Space Marine armies) to give the model another visual focal point






And some shots of what the army looks like so far; only 1 model to go for a full 2000 points!



Thanks
Corai

As I've said in your Thread in The Butcher's Cauldron about the Shaggoth, I love the overall performance of the models so that is exactly why I gave you a Gnoblar, well done Corai as usual.
Thanks, Malekith

Nice work Corai. I'll save specific painting comments for the Butcher's Cauldron, where they'll get more discussion, but this army is shaping up to be a real nice one.
What camera do you use by the way?

What camera do you use by the way?

It's a Pentax K110 D IIRC

As suggested, I've added some more gold into the model to try and tie it in with the army a bit more. I've also got a pic of the tabard complete with almost Tzeentch rune:




Thanks
Corai

Great looking army you've got there, really intimidating.

as the tourney requirs a background, and my current background for the army stecthes over several pages (and posts) I thought I'd try and consolidate all the key info on the army into one passage:

My most reverent lord Volkmar,

As requested I have completed my initial study into the activities of the Engineer Julius Denisof. It is with holy fury that I am to inform you our assumptions about the disgraced engineer were correct. Though he does not realise it, the man is deep within the Throes of the Lord of Change. I was able to gain considerable insight into the man, as he freely welcomed me into his confidence, believing my station as a Templar of Sigmar was not at all at odds with his own heretical activities.

As with so many bright men of the Empire, it was frustration which lead Julius from the path of righteousness. Both his frustration at the current political situation (of which you are, of course, already aware) and at his inability to reproduce the designs for what he called ‘Miragliano’s self propelled engine’. (At the time I had no idea what machine he spoke of but subsequent investigation into the matter had lead me to believe Denisof refers here to the Steam Tanks created by Leonardo De Miragliano). This frustration lead him to seek solace in religion. Claiming he was visited by an avatar of sigmar who brought him a rune of power, shaped like the twin tailed comet but with a cog replacing the comet itself. This was, of course, a lie. The rune he was given, whilst not dissimilar to the twin tailed comet of our Lord, was that of the malign prince of Schemers, the Ruinous god Tzeentch (the irony of the similarity of our two church’s holy symbols will not be lost on you my lord).

The rune clearly unlocked chaotic power within him as I have seen several machines resembling Steam Tanks moving about his camp. They bear the basic shape of our war engines but Denisof’s exile from the Engineers College has left him without a supply of black powder or decent ore. Subsequently, the machines are built of poorer quality metals and bear no cannon whatsoever.

The man is utterly insane. Bent on a quest for change (which he interprets as a need to replace Karl Franz with a new Emperor), he has lead his mechanical forces, powered by the fires of damnation, into skirmishes with loyal citizens of the Empire. He is truly a fanatic, refusing to listen to logic he is quite sure his course of action is the Will of Sigmar. (I have sine considered how our own piety must appear to others outside the church, but have decided that is a theological matter best kept for our late night ‘blessings’ of the Sacramental Wine).

Had I needed more proof of the man’s Heresy, it was provided for me when I questioned the true nature of his ‘god’ and he sought to engulf me in a fire of dazzling hues. It was Tzeentchian sorcery, of that I am sure. Too many men have I seen incinerated by it during the Siege of Middenheim. (Although Denisof required a trigger less pistol to act as a locus for the spell, presumably as he does not realise his actions are chaotic in nature).

I have seen countless horrors in my service as a Templar of Sigmar, but none has chilled me so acutely as Denisof’s reply to a simple question. When I queried whether he cared that his private war would divert much needed troops from the empire’s defence. Whether he cared that his insane quest would have the Empire Burn, he replied ‘If my god required it, I would let the Galaxy burn’.

I apologise that I cannot deliver this report in Person Lord Volkmar, but as I’m sure you can appreciate, it is my desire to see the bones of this heretic and traitor smoulder at my feet. I will not return to the City of Altdorf until I have ended his Machiavellian crusade.

Your Servant

Ezekiel Guntz, Withfinder.


-What do you think, does it sum it up enough?

thanks
Corai

lovely fluff

Yep, nice read.
Tzeentch is mentioned, the becoming to Tzeentch also.
And descriptions of death tolls by the army work wonders also

Gushed about the mecha-shaggoth elsewhere.  Still damn impressed.

On the second chariot, I single out the Tizz rune on the little cherub on the smokestack for its excellence.  And the engineer reminds me of Col Sanders personally

Have you playtested the list yet?  Can't wait to hear how it does on the table, besides wow-ing the opponent to death.  Have I mentioned how much I love the army?

You sir continue to be the man, Corai.

- Salvage

EDIT -- And mad props for the CSM reference in the fluff

Really sweet Army you got there Corai but....

Your maths don't add up 

Your total should be 1986

and why don't you take a LA and a GW for your Shaggy instead   
wich would grant you a total of 1991pts


Cheers and Keep up the good work

did a bit of a revision to the list:

Lord of Chaos        
-Mark of Tzeentch     
-Dragon        
-Staff of change     
-Golden Eye of Tzeentch   
-Shield           
-Great Weapon    
-Rides in Chariot
      814

Aspiring Champion     
-Mark of Tzeentch     
-BSB
-Blasted Standard
-Rides in Chariot        
      225

Exalted Champion     
-Mark of Tzeentch     
-Dispel Scroll        
-Dispel Scroll        
-Great Weapon     
-Shield  
-Rides in Chariot        
      226

Chariot           
-Mark of Tzeentch     
      140  

Chariot           
-Mark of Tzeentch  
      140  

Chariot           
-Mark of Tzeentch     
      140  

Dragon Ogre Shaggoth  
-Additional Hand weapon  
      301

1996

I figures having a BSB in the centre of the line may help me loosing 400 odd points of character mounted chariot to a block of skaven slaves and their damn static combat res!

Thanks
Corai

Really sweet Army you got there Corai but....

Your maths don't add up 

Your total should be 1986

and why don't you take a LA and a GW for your Shaggy instead  
wich would grant you a total of 1991pts

really? oops!

I have decided to give the shaggy a GW (as the model has one) and will probably be able to give him a few other things as I'm going to loose the shields and GWs/flails on all the characters as none of the models have one!

thanks
Corai

Nice fluff. I like your note on the resemblance between the icon of Tzeench and the twin tailed comet. And as I said on the Butchers Cauldron, the shaggot looks great.

A question about the army list. Why does your lord ride a dragon AND a chariot?


BigD

Wonderful bit of fluff, it sums up perfectly everything one needs to know about the army.

A question about the army list. Why does your lord ride a dragon AND a chariot?

Presumably the dragon wields the chariot as a weapon.

A question about the army list. Why does your lord ride a dragon AND a chariot?

Technically it's a typo which I never got around to fixing, but I like reg's answer more

thanks
Corai

now there's a modelling opportunity - could you argue for it cuasing impact hits???

the new high elf drago is actually pretty ell suited to carrying a chariot underneath ti (maybewith some crew falling out ) although there's no way it could manage the Steam tanks (way too heavy )

Progress on the final chariot:
on the chariot itself, I've just got the blue shields to go before it's ready for basing. The crew however need a lot more work. The skin is done and the bascoat for the blue laid down but that's about it. The large amount of white, as well as the freehand needed by the battle standard.

No time to work on it tomorrow as I'm taking the army down to the club to try it out against some empire (hopefully without too many pieces of artillery or steam tanks as I have no real counter for the latter!)

thanks
corai

I'm sure Corai meant that the Dragon was pulling the Chariot, right? Now that would be a sight to see... <<races to complete it before everyone else>> LOL

I once made a chariot wielding ogre, but that was a BSB.
I actually thought the chariot was the dragon's cart.

aaaa-nd we're done

Unfortunatley my game tonight cancelled so I took the oppurtunity to get the last chariot painted. That actually brings me up to a full 2000 legal points. Although there is still something I need to paint for the army before caling it a day. In the event I get the one specific spell which can create Horrors, I thought I'd better get some modelled and painted. The plan is to make 9 0f them (natch) who have bits of machinery on their bases, when ranked up 3 X 3 all the machinery will link together and form a large steam engine controlled by an engineer/sorceror at the back of the unit (the 9th horror). then the horros themselves wil be formed from the smoke coming out of the various exhausts on the engines. That's the theory anyway;)





I also made some detachable bases for my Chaos champions for the event their ride gets destroyed under them









and finally a couple of army shots crammed into my little lightbox



I've been well and truly bitten by the chaos bug again. I've decided not to cap the army at its original plan of 5 models but expand it in the future to include a couple of units of chaos hounds (Inquisitorenforcer cyber mastifs) some chaos knights (riding single wheeled steam bikes ala steamboy) and some wind up chaos warriors controlled by a wizard at te back of the unit.

Before that though I've got a couple of armies for othegames systems to get on with and  warmachine comission I have to start (watch this space for yet another gnoblog from Corai in the coming weeks). these will al come after the horos, which should have some wIP pics up next week some time

Thanks
Corai

Great family picture.
I really love this army, great job.

WOW Corai, impressed all over again

Dig the second sorcerer, spooky metal mask, glowy ball, banner and icon on cape are all high points.  Big fan of the Tz-gear symbol too, that's a keeper.

The family photo is wonderul, all that metal and gold and then blue / white to pop.

- Salvage

I'm with salvage on loving the BSB chariot, really effective looking mage

the blended cog/tzeentch symbol is really nice too... great work

*edit* also, i'm not sure if you've managed to name your cult yet (only just got time to work through the fluff in the maw pit sagas properly) but here are some ideas: Cult of the Twisted Cog, Followers of the Changing Cog, College of the Blazing Sprocket

*edit* also, i'm not sure if you've managed to name your cult yet (only just got time to work through the fluff in the maw pit sagas properly) but here are some ideas: Cult of the Twisted Cog, Followers of the Changing Cog, College of the Blazing Sprocket

I love college of the blazing sprocket, although I'm not sure it realy fits . I'm actually not sure if the cult needs a name or not, as Julius doesn't realy know he's part of one. Although there are some developments on the way in the fluff which could change this dramatically

In a bid to add a little more chaos flavour to the models, I've been thinking of painting up some chaos shields to put inside the steam chariots, lening against the side along with a halberd and a flail. That way they wil be out of the way and not very intrusive on the model, but I can justify the equipment as WYSIWYG for my opponents.

any thoughts?

Thanks
Corai

Right, there have been a lot of developments here so I'll address them one by one:
1) The Shaggoth is amazing. And, seriously, a mechanical Shaggoth will draw enough attention on its own without any focal points. The whole model is a focal point!
2) The fluff is excellently written as always, and nicely explains your army
3) The group picture is awesome, and I look forward to seeing the mentioned additions (especially the Bikers).

Ghworg

Right, about time I sorted out a finalized list for the tourney. Here's what I've got so far:

LORDS:
_Lord of Chaos
__Mark of Tzeentch
__Golden Eye of Tzeentch
__Staff of Change
__Flail
__Shield
__Dragon of Chaos________814

HEROES
_Aspiring Champion
__Mark of Tzeentch
__Battle Standard Bearer
__Blasted Standard
___Rides in Chariot______225

_Exalted Champion
__Mark of Tzeentch
__Dispel Scroll
__Dispel Scroll
__Flail
__Shield
___Rides in Chariot______224

CORE
_Chariot of Chaos
__Mark of Tzeentch_______140

_Chariot of Chaos
__Mark of Tzeentch_______140

_Chariot of Chaos
__Mark of Tzeentch_______140

RARE
_Dragon Ogre Shaggoth
__light Armour
__Great Weapon__________306

Total____________________1989

This is a little under points but there's actually no options left to take to push it up those extra 11 points.

This leaves me with the following modelling chores:
_convert and Paint 9 Horrors
_Add Shield + Halberd + Flail to Exalted Champs chariot
_Add Halberd to other 2 Chariots
_Add stowed Shield + flail to Dragon

Quick rules question, will the light armour on the shaggoth improve it's scaly skin 4+ save to a 3+ save? Is that how it works?

Any thoughts on the list?

Thanks
corai

Quick rules question, will the light armour on the shaggoth improve it's scaly skin 4+ save to a 3+ save? Is that how it works?

Yes.

Are you actually going to make 5 steam chariots?

Are you actually going to make 5 steam chariots?

Theres only 3 in that list. the note with the 2 heroes is just to indicate they will ride in one of the 3 core chariots chosen as normal

thanks
corai

great list and great army there Corai

I look forward to seeing it, and possibly facing it, at the tournament.  I haven't yet decided on my own force....

anyway, the cyber mastif is a great idea for the warhounds, but IIRC there is only the one pose, are you planning conversions for it?

i think instead of the bikes use robo horses  for the knights

also i really dont think the shaggoth needs any adjustments its great as it is.

anyway, the cyber mastif is a great idea for the warhounds, but IIRC there is only the one pose, are you planning conversions for it?

ultimatley, yes. I don't think it wil be too much to chop it up a bit and repose some parts.

I've built the horrors unit tonight. I can't decide if I really like the unit, or totally hate it, but as it's not really part of the army anyway I'll paint it up and see what I think then. Photos tomorrow when I've got some sleep!

As it is, I've basically built a random sprawling mass of pipes, boilers and other assorted machine parts with horros coming out of al lthe exhausts and smoke stacks. I think I need to GS some billowing smoke to the bottom of the horrors o better fade up from black to blue. Anywho, photos tomorrow after work

Thanks
Corai

I didn't get as much done tonight as I wanted. I kind of got tied up alphabetising these:

It turns out sorting out 450 odd DVDs is more time consuming than I thought when I was dared to do it...

Anywho, onto some steam punk pics. The photos aren't the best but I hope you can make out some of the details. the idea is of a chaotic, sprawling machine with lots of chimney.s presided over by another sorceror of Tzeentch. Out of each chimney a puff of smoke is materialising into a horror of Tzeentch. You can't see it too well in the photos but the legs of each horror have been resculpted to try and look a bit more like billowing smoke.




weather permitting I'll get them undercoated tomorrow and painted asap

Thanks
Corai

Very cool.  How will you track the number of models in the unit?  Is each horror/sorceror removable?

Very cool.  How will you track the number of models in the unit?  Is each horror/sorceror removable?

yep, they're all individualy based and can come apart as needed

Thanks
Corai

Wow, right down to individual bases?  Id like to see a pic of that!  Holy jigsaw...

Best. Horror. Unit. Ever.

More impressed work Corai.  DVD alphabetizing too

- Salvage

I'm loving the army so far.  It's spectacular!  Your making the steam punk theme work really well with choas.  I had one idea though, if you could make the horros look like steam coming from the pipes it would be awesome.  From you story and fluff I think that the tzeentch daemons were hiding in the pipes.

Wow. This must be the first unit I've ever seen where the basing is more ellaborate than the model on top of it 
It looks great!

BigD

I had one idea though, if you could make the horros look like steam coming from the pipes it would be awesome.  From you story and fluff I think that the tzeentch daemons were hiding in the pipes. 
[/quote]
That's actualy what I'm trying to do . It's not too clear in the photos but hopefully will become clearer when I get some paint on them.

On that mater, I didn't manage to get as much done todayas I'd hoped. I've had to work today, and tomorrow (usually my weekend) so am not going to get any time off until Good friday. I did manage to undercoat the models after work before the light went completely, and I'll try to crack on with the bases tomorrow

thanks
Corai

I'm just hoping you get to cast that spell now

I'm just hoping you get to cast that spell now

law of averages states I should at least get the spell in at least one of the 3 games. Being able to cast it though, thatdepends on enemy dispel scrolls really (as I'm hoping the staff of change will push it through)

Having said that though, I bet I don't even roll it now,let alone get the chance to cast it!

Thanks
corai

Love the horror unit... really nice idea to tie them in... i take it they'll be painted with a blue/grey pallette rather than the normal deep blues

going back a little way to the names, it did strike me that cult may not be right and that he'd see it more as founding his own college, or maybe he'd see it as a revolution... along those lines maybe College of Blazing Steam, Revolution of Coloured Steam, Path of the Twisted Gears, or with 9 being tzeentch's sacred number Followers/Disciples of the 9-fold Path

and it would be the ninth college!

Actually I like Corai's background, it's very Gotrek and Felix.

Still no progress on the horros unit (maybe tomorrow?) but I did manage to actually get a game with my army today. I was up agaisnt dark rider heavy dark elves, who were maxed out on reaper bolt throwers and totaing a manticore to boot. I didn't really fancy my chances but managed to get orange fire of Tzeentch as one of the spells for my dragon. With 5 dice, and the staff of cange pumping that spell out everyturn my lord on dragon (whilst peppered every turn by repeating bolts) got a 5+ armour save (as did the dragon) which they could reroll, and a 3+ ward save, which could be rerolled. The only damage suffered to the best was a single wound. I'm a bit more confident about the dragon's survivability,espescially if he can get orange fire.

It was a fairly bloody battle (but then with this army, they're always going to be). By the end of the game I had a chariot (which had lost it's bsb) an exalted champion (who had lost his chariot!) and my lord on dragon. It doesn't sound like much but when you consider I only started out with marginally mroe than this my losses weren't too severe. I wound up beating the dark elves by 596 victory points scoring a minor victor (and missing out on a soild victory by only 4 VPs!).

It was a very fun game for both of us and I learnt a fair bit about using the army. At least I won't be going to the tourney completely unprepared!

Thanks
Corai

good result!  I guess that even cannonballs will go bouncing off if you can get orange fire

(although your chariots will not fair as well).

how did the shaggoth do??

how did the shaggoth do??

poorly! It got charged by a cold one chariot (nothing I could do to avoid it really wit no bait units or support) and lost 4 wounds to impact hits, then it's last 2 to cold one attacks. I failed all 6 armour saved faied and the aggoth collapsed in a helap of smoking parts, the engineer fleeing to fight another day!

thanks
Corai

I've actualy made some progress on the horros. Not much mind (spent most of the day hunting round leeds for a reasonably priced pirate ship model as part of my 'get an army/gang/fleet/force for every system' campaign, gnoblog to follow ) but I've got the metas on the contraptions done. I've not spent as much timeon them as I did the bigger stuff but as it's essentially only base detail, I hope it won't matter. If the smoke wash dries tonight I'd hope to get the wood on the machine done as well only leaving the horros themselves to actually paint.

It's unlikely I'll get much done tomorow as the Iron Snakes are stepping out for an apocalypse game, followed by an easter inrpired family meal. But I've got a few days off next week so am still hopeful I'll get the unit done in time for the Yorkshire open finals on Sunday

Thanks
Corai

How did I miss the the Horror unit thingy thing?!

Awesome is not the word for it .

So another Yorkshire Open tournament final has been and gone. I think i'm safe in saying (and am sure Wildcard and Orgath, who were both also in attendance, will agree) it was a great day run without any conflict between players or rules, and with a general fun atmosphere.

alas I didn't get all the horros painted! In the end I only had 2 ready for use at the tourney (but never got the chance to cast indigo fire anyway so it was a moot point!).

I'll get a pseudo tourney report up and a link when I get chance, but I'll add the highlights here:

Game 1: Tomb Kings
He had (IIRC)
-Khalida
-3 liche priests + casket
-2 big blocks of light cavalry
-big block of tomb guard
-big block of skeleton archers

I got first turn and went charging towards him. I'd got orange fire so my dragon (who attracted plenty of arrows from the 3 archer units) shrugged them off. A dispel scroll took care of the casket for this turn. In his turn he moved his archers and tomb guard into a position that gave away his intention to magic them into combat. I let both spells through, the skeleton archers crashing into my flank and the tomb guard being 9" away failed their charge and wound up stuck in front of thecasket, exposing their flank to the bulk of my army.

The dragon shrugged off the skellies and through attacks and combat res he knocked out half the unit. In my turn I charged the tomb guard block (+khalida) with all 3 chariots and (2 in the flank) and the shaggoth (also in the flank). They went through them like the proverbial hot knife and through over run I was into the casket with the shaggoth and one block of cav with a chariot. It was really a case if mopping up from there. At the end of the game I'd taken a handful of wounds on the chariots for his entire army + all 4 board quarters.
Result: Massacre!

Game 2: Chaos
-Lord of slaanesh on chaos steed
-BSB of slaanesh with rapturous standard + chaos sted
-sorceror
-block of chosen knights
-2 blocks of 15 warriors + mark
-3 X 5 hounds
-2 chariots
This was a pretty hard fought game with a lot of casualties on both sides. By my last turn I had only the dragon left but due to some last minute heroics (and a charge against an unblooded block of warriors) I pulled it back to a draw, in my favour. The massive cost of the dragon really came in handy here.
Result: Draw

Game 3: Empire
-pope mobile (gulp)
-cannon (gulp)
-steam tank (gulp)
-2 big blocks of knights of the inner circle
-unit of knights
-block of swordsmen + 2 detachments
-some crossbowmen.
I didn't fancy my chances in this game. It was another case of the army falling apart under cannon fire + the thrice damned speculum! Gin I only had the dragon left which mnaged to see off the cannon and a couple of smaller units of infantry. As we totted up the points I'd been solidly beaten, but again the points cost of the dragon prevented a massacre
Result: Solid Loss

Another great day of gaming with a total of zero dickish opponents. I got 3 good, fun games and managed a win, los and draw. And to boot, my 5 model 'army' swung the best army award (which sists pride of palce on my shelf, next to the Iron Snakes' one )

Thanks
corai

Good job on another army award and 3 deceant games final matchup by sounds of it seems fairly much impossible for your list so can take a moral victory in not getting massacred.

TK player round 1 sounds poor as does their list I just dont think Khalida is good at 2K 2.5 - 3K where you can get a lot more archers around her and have supporting counter charge chariots then she can shine.

oddly enough, the TK playe was defending champion from last year!

thanks
Corai

Great job on the games and the award C.

strangely enough sometimes you get good match ups and sometimes you don't.
That seems what have happened to the TK player.

I will definatly agree that the event was a great one - I actually had 2 games that I would rate as awesome, and yep - no dickish opponents

Just a note - Corai's army was head and shoulders above the rest in terms of painting and was gathering many great comments from all who saw it, he well deserved his award

It's just going to make me try that much harder with my new bretts army

Congrats on the prize Corai, and 1-1-1 with "The 5 Model Army" ain't half bad

Did we ever see full army pics of your prize-winning force?  If not ... *taps foot impatiently*

- Salvage

Did we ever see full army pics of your prize-winning force?  If not ... *taps foot impatiently*

I'm sure there's one in here somewhere. To tell the turth, I didn't think the army was all that overwhelming as a whole as there's so little to it, and what is there is hard to display in a symetrical, or aesthetically pleasing pattern.

It's really about time I posted pics of the 2 horros I actually got painted in time for the tourney, whilst I work on some more:



Hopefully I'll have the whole machine/unit finished before too long.

Thanks
Corai

... finally a couple of army shots crammed into my little lightbox

So ... yes we have seen pics.  Always nice to see them again

Superb horrors, and I have to note never has the intent of the sculpt - horrors climbing out of horrors - been as clear as on these 2 you've done.  Excellent work.

- Salvage

Cant wait to see all the horrors complete... love those first couple and really like the realistic look you got on the fire

Ive lurked for a while but had to register and say that the fire on the horror is ridiculous. I obviously need to practice that aspect of my painting. The whole army was a great idea and you executed it very well. Congratulations!

Corai this army is freak'n amazing.

Sorry for bumping old thread, but have you completed that horror unit?

Sorry for bumping old thread, but have you completed that horror unit?

I've not pressed on any further with the horrors, and don't expect to TBH. Now that the hordes of chaos book has been made illegal, and the horror casting spell been removed from the spell lists available to chaos in the Get-you-by-insult...I mean list...I'm not planning on spending any mroe time and money on this army until the real army book comes out at the end of the year, and I can decide whether GW have left chaos with any ofit's character in tact

thanks
Corai

What happens should you decide that you dislike the state of the new hordes book when it comes out? Will you decide whether or not you wanna keep the army, or are you definitely keeping it regardless?

JJ

I'd really like to keep it, and can probably find some way to make it work with the new list (with the get you by list I just need to add 30 chaos warriors, use the shaggoth as a giant, adda second giant then go to work). I'm just not going to spend any time or money on it until the new book comes out which ay wel include some more interesting core choices than warrior or marauder (come on 'Cultist'! )

Thanks
Corai

have you decided if your going to continue on or not now?

If I remember rightly, Corai sold this little lot a while ago now (or at least he was trying to...)

JJ

hmmm..... do you know how much he was looking for it incase he didnt sell it? also did he put an announcement in the sales forum?

Thanks alot, Chaos Mortal

edit: there was a notice but he never said it was sold so i dont know what happened it would probably have been out of my price range anyway, Thanks Chaos Mortal

Alas, I did sell the army (just couldn't bear the thought of building all the clockwork warriors I'd need to make it legal ).

I have got a new, more traditional chaos army on the go though* which will have a gnoblog as soon as there's a photo to post!

Thanks
Corai

In the past I've done an ogre-chaos army, a steam-punk-chaos army, a cult-chaos army and an elf-chaos army, it was about time I got back round to a bunch-of-frothing-loonies-from-the-north-with-fur-capes-and-spikes-chaos army

lol, it probably would have been so expensive to make even twenty marauders lol, il look forward to your nest blog though =)