Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

tzurk wrote:Amazing turnaround on the crawler, gobert. The patina effect is lovely as is the green glow/leakage in the join between the armour plates on the front.

More rhinos is never bad news. Keep up the good work mate

Thanks mate, the stippling worked pretty well on this guy, as did the green glow on his vision slit (painted it the same as the marines lenses.

ShadowsAndDust wrote:That Plague Burst Crawler looks amazing. Probably the best one of the whole army so far.

Thanks mate, hopefully they keep improving as I figure out what I’m doing!

Earlier today The Black Death Crusade undertook its first mission in The Cebriones Crusade (hosted by Cryptic Cabin, Bristol). They descended on Forge World WY-4TT a newly populated planet (Population Density 1) with a growing society (Fecundity 1) of hardy Mechanicum thralls (Vulnerability 1) making for a tough planet to begin concocting a Grand Plague. Never the less they intended to spread Papa Nurgles joy by making the Ad Mech force Unwitting Vectors (chance to increase Plagues Survival Rate with each surviving unit) and exhuming a Viral Harvest (chance to increase Plagues Adaptability when No Mans Land objectives are exhumed).

Carrion-Lord Dregnul deployed in Deep Strike with the Verrux the Weepings Deathshroud Terminators. He sent Gangrus’ Rotborn and Tharxus’ Filthreaver Plague Marines scouting forwards with an eye on the No Man’s Land objectives. The Ad Mech sent forward their Dunerider, Breachers, Servitors and Destroyers. The latter 3 opened fire, taking a couple of wound off Sludgehammer the Myphitic Blighthauler and slaying a Poxwalker who hadn’t hidden very well but the Rotborn shrugged off the fire sent their way. Gutrain and Sludgehowler whittled down the Breachers whilst Pustus (Malignant Plaguecaster) and Feculus (Tallyman) led Gangrus’ Rotborn Plague Marines forward to successfully exhume their first objective uncontested

In turn 2 the Dunerider surged forwards and deposited the Skitarii Vanguard and their Marshall. Their combined firepower put pay to many of the Plague Marines, but they held their ground. Belchmaw was wiped off the board by the Destroyers. The Ruststalkers then surged forward and charged Thraxus’ Filthreavers, both sides whittling each other down.

Dregnul and the Deathshroud teleported in to the Mechanicum rear flank and proceeded to delete Battleclade Servitors. Then with the Eye of the Swarm Stratagem he instructed Thraxus to blast the Ruststalkers at point blank range with all their ranges weaponry, this proved highly effective and they finished them off in the fight phase
Sludgehowler pressed forward to get a clean shot at the Skitarii Rangers taking many of them down. Gutrain and Pustus’ Focussed Plaguewind made mincemeat of the Skitarii Vanguard. But in turn 3 they took their Revenge, with the Dunecrawler tank shocking the remaining members of Gangrus’ Plague Marines and Feculus to death. Pustus tried retaliating but in the panic he missed the massive tank with his staff .

In turn 4 the Ad Mech threw nearly everything they had at Sludgehowler

Shooting had very little impact so they charged in from everywhere to get him off the Objective

And that eventually put pay to him.

The rest of Turn 4 made little difference and then we were out of time. At that point I was ahead by 1 VP so we quickly walked through Turn 5 and figured that we’d have drawn that

So The Black Death Crusade set off with a victory. They also successfully exhumed a Vector Target for the Viral Harvest Agenda, that got 1XP for Pustus. Quite a few Ad Mech were left alive, some of which were below half strength which was needed for my Unwitting Vectors Agenda. As the victor I got an extra Marked for Greatness as a victor Bonus, so I Marked Pustus and Sludgehowler given how effective they’d been.

Rolling for my Path of Contagion I improved the Survival Rate by 1 thanks to Unwitting Vectors. That bagged me another 3XP which I put on Pustus. Viral Harvest turned out to be a bust and made no difference. On step 3 I rolled a 4+ for Cultivation adding 1 to the Survival Rate. Step 4 Counteragents was a fail that meant the Vulnerability stayed at 1. Step 5 is Death Toll, and even with my new Survival Rate of 3 I rolled higher and killed off the small population of WY-4TT and causing my Plague to fail at the first opportunity. Following that failure The Black Death moved on to another planet, they’re yet to figure out its name but with a Population Density of 3 I should keep concocting for a few more games at least.

Now with 7 XP Pustus gained the rank of Blooded and since he covets Daemonhood he sought Papa Nurgles blessing. Papa gifted him the Boon of being Grossly Swollen (+2 wounds). Nobody else qualified for any gifts, so on to Out of Action checks. Most passed them, but Belchmaw and Thraxus’ Filthreavers failed theirs. Thraxus suffered Crippling Damage (-1” and unable to Advance) with Belchmaw getting Fatigued (-1OC and no Charge bonus).

Overall a really interesting experience. The mission had really low VP which kept things in the balance but the XP boost from Agendas instead of Secondaries gives quite a fluffy flavour to the game. So far, really enjoyable and I’m looking forward to the next game.

Given how poorly Thraxus performed I’m thinking of interring him in a dreadnought and letting him take out his failings in a more extreme way. I bought a really rough one recently that I think came from Dark Vengeance. It took a fair bit to get two really thick paint jobs off and even more work to get the pieces apart

I couldn’t quite get the Multi Melta apart so I need to figure out how I can close the massive gap.

Further down the line of the campaign I’m hoping to raise a character to Daemon Prince status so I built this guy up a while ago

He’s mostly stock, but has a bit of chainmail added to a shoulder pad and a small tentacle from his stomach, oh and a Nurgling to keep him company!

Bit of a long post this one, hope you all enjoyed it, because there’ll hopefully be more

Thanks for looking