"WHFB Chaos questions" Topic

SO, if you are already using an official army book to start off, I'm not sure how important any of the other aspects of "official" list question really are?

1) Should my core be made up of the Nordvolk/Vikings as marauders?

It's not a bad choice, and fits visually.

2) Should I use the mounted Nordvolk as Marauder Cavalry? given I have enough Chaos Knights to do either a large band, or two smaller bands for flank attacks?

Marauder Cavalry is actually pretty nasty if you have lots of it, but I'd keep full-blown Chaos Knights in a single big unit.

3) Should I mix the Chaos hounds and Wolves, or use them separately as, well, cannon fodder and flankers?

I'd keep them separate just for aesthetics, but you can never have enough flankers!

4) The demons range from minion types to a demon Hero, so how should I best use them?

Now, here's where I don't know what to tell you, because I don't do demons.

5) Should I use the Norse Army book Ice Dragons and Frost Giants, or add more Chaos/Demon Champion types, bearing in mind I don't plan to use this army for tournaments?

One giant or dragon is cool. Both is kinda gamey, and multiples of each is just gratuitous. And I prefer Heroes and Lords over monsters, anyway.

6) The Norse Book allows for Chaos Norse style Dwarves, so should I grab some Nordic Dwarves from West Wind, and/or add a Hell Cannon if I can find one at a decent price?

You should absolutely grab a pair of Hellcannon. It's the only shooting you have, so make the most of it! If you don't have something to counter the Empire gunline, you will hate life.

If you are going more of the WoC route, you'll also want to get some Sorcerors. Without any major ranged capabilities other than Marauder Horsemen short range Throwing Axes and Javelins and the Hell Cannon, you'll need the ranged capabilities their Magic provides you.

The Hell Cannon is a pretty nasty piece of equipment. Unfortunately it is metal and expensive.

Don't know about the Warhammer Forge book.

Can always scour eBay and the like for either the Hellcannon itself, or some of the heavy cannons for Leviathan or in Grendel/Scotia's unaffiliated fantasy range- quite a few look the part, they tend to be primarily, if not entirely, resin, and you can occasionally find'em on the cheap.

I'd peruse Johnny Lauck's "MegaMiniatures," as well, as he sometimes has oddball pieces that can fill equally oddball gaps.

- Monk

Yeah, since you're proxying most of the rest of the army, I'd proxy the Hellcannon, too.

As Monk suggests, Grendel has some nice resin pieces. For example, the Grendel Dwarf Heavy Cannon is only 7UKP: link

The Dwarf Mortar is also useful: link

Grendel also has a lot of nice, relatively inexpensive Barbarian-themed terrain pieces, to go with your longships.

Throne: link

Huts: link

Warlord's Hut: link

King's Longhouse: link

Standing Stones: link

Standing Stones 2: link

Burial Mound: link

Adventurer's Campsite: link

John,

First off, welcome to the true way…the only way…chaos.

Tzeentch is a good one…more magic than the others, primary colors blue/yellow really pop, in general a clear favorite IMO.

I tend down the path of Slaanesh due the nature of chaos, I feel the tainting of the spirit and emotions is a cool idea, the laughing, dancing, and joyful lust for battle is a crazy thought…but Tzeentch is a close second.

*****

In the grand scheme of things, Games Workshop will surely (sooner than later) change their rule set…again.

So in that thought I would select miniatures as you like and tourney proper be damned; unless that is your goal, to compete in a few contests before they rewrite the rules…again.

But if you have miniatures that you like, find another set of rules or offer to play house rules…then you are set.

*****

A giant can do serious damage as can a dragon. It is a matter of preference and playing style to pick monsters over machines…I like the monsters better myself.

Skaven have their own chaos lord if you are playing the fluff, The Great Horned Rat

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But any application with chaos gets a thumbs up from me! I saw a Nurgle army way back when that used skaven as their beastman :)

*****

If your newly enlarged local store does indeed welcome any miniatures then I am green like the walls of Oz!

Just keep in mind that while you may find players willing to allow non-canon miniatures on the table, few will also accept miniatures that represent something that they are not…proxy can only go so far…a human that is being called an ogre or a troll…the elf in woodland leather with a long bow being pressed into duty as a plate armored hero with a two handed sword…etc.

WYSIWYG is most often welcome by anyone willing to look beyond the non-GW thing :)

Have you considered using Yeti?

And I thought I would share this

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Witchhunter link link

Oh, yeah, forgot that the Marauder cav can get some (short-) ranged weapons. I was so irked with the lack of shortbows (for a 'Mongol' horde of 100+ marauder horsemen) that I dumped the infor.

A hellcannon is BIG. As in, bigger than a chariot base big. Whatever you use to proxy one needs to be similarly big. Despite the problem with gaps in the GW model, it's just intimidating, especially when painted up well (lots of screaming faces in the barrel).

Nurgle and the Horned Rat…good thoughts.

I had always suspected that the Horned Rat was a son of Nurgle.

Son of Nurgle?! Die-die, 28mmMan-thing!

Brave talk! I will meet you on the field of battle and for your sake you had better pray that you are not captured (The General notes his prismatic legion of Slaanesh followers grinning, laughing, and making obscene gestures of just what will happen regardless if you are alive or not…yikes)

:)

*****

Well if not a son then certainly an experiment of attention? The Horned Rat and his followers have the taint of Nurgle all over them.

John,

That is a serious collection. The fun part will be bonding the mundane vikings with those miniatures from cool minis.

Some of those cool minis are just perfect.

Have you chose your colors yet?

Raymond

I will meet you on the field of battle . . .

Well, that's not fair at all. My Skaven *always* go down in defeat on the field of battle, usually because their own war machines blow up in their ratty little faces. Hah!

John, like you, my armies and warbands are made up of minis from many different companies.

My Barbarian army is mostly the old Grenadier Fantasy Warriors Barbarians sculpted by Mark Copplestone, but it also includes Barbarians from Ral Partha, Harlequin/Black Tree Design, Heartbreaker, Copplestone Castings, Dark Sword, Foundry, Reaper, Lance & Laser (Runequest) and a few other companies. Interestingly, the only Nordvolk I use are the the unarmed villagers, because I went more for the Conan look than the Viking look of the Nordvolk. I got the unarmed villagers because I needed a few more noncombatants for the "homefront" scenes.

I also have a small vulture-themed Tzeentch army, made up of units of second-hand GW Chaos Sorcerers, some very old Pink and Blue Horrors and Flamers, and Screamers, but also the Crocodile Games Aegyptus Nekharu: link

The Reaper Vulture Demon: link

The Iron Wind Metals Vulture Dragon: link and Harrid: link

And some of my favorite little guys, the Heartbreaker Chronopia Dwarf Talon Lord: link , Vulture Mallet Warriors: link , Vulture Crossbowmen: link , and Vulture Gauntlet Legion Leader: link

Those colors sound good to me.

For the altar, maybe include some poor mutating enemy soldier, demonstrating the changing power of Tzeentch.

JP "I also have a small vulture-themed Tzeentch army, made up of units of second-hand GW Chaos Sorcerers, some very old Pink and Blue Horrors and Flamers, and Screamers, but also the Crocodile Games Aegyptus Nekharu" Were they lead by the Tzeentch hero Skeksis?

Celtic your colors and hue theme sounds good indeed. I might pass on the impaled bodies, never thought of the Tzeentchy guys as impalers…more of a Khorne thing because it is gruesome and a Slaaneshy thing because they might like it themselves (yikes).

If you watch the TV show Bones, they had a run in with a bad guy pair called Gormogon; the cannibalistic serial killer that posed the bones of the eaten in particular poses like this picture basically a skeleton poses in a sweep that reminds me of the Tzeentch fish…the bones are silver or bone colored…silver being replaced with the bones of those consumed.

This would make a sexy alter IMO…an easy with a plastic skeleton.

I am curious how the vikings will turn out with the color palette you have presented…should be most fun. I am looking forward to seeing the end result :)

The floating disk altar is a fun one.

Disks are easy as the original idea was that each was unique.

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Depends greatly on the flavor of your theme…the Norse/Viking thing I might consider the potential of stone slabs (disk) with runes (bright colors as if there is an energy within the stone leeching out from the runes link or maybe use a nice jewelry finding like this picture clam shell a pair together (most findings are .50-$1) and add a little green stuff in between to get a look like this picture

If you want a winged thing to pull the alter then perhaps the Tomb King Carrion Birds? picture

Not birds, Vampire Counts Fell Bats, they are bigger yah yah yah their not small no no no picture

This guy I found while looking surely fits the Tzeentchy theme, if not the viking aspect picture

Also these Vampire Counts Dire Wolves may fit your bill for wolves and werewolves picture

Ravens/crows link

Dark Eldar Razorwings picture

Warmaster Undead Carrion picture

A custom that looks like fun picture

Raven (vampire girl) link

Were they lead by the Tzeentch hero Skeksis?

Hah, I actually have one of the old Grenadier/Pinnacle Skeksis from the Dark Crystal sets they did: picture

I haven't painted mine yet, though, because all of my other Tzeentch vulture demons/dragons are scrawny, and this guy is very large and hefty.

John, like 28mmMan, I think an altar on a giant Disk of Tzeentch, pulled by one or more Screamers, would look very cool. Given the Viking-Raven theme of your army, maybe use a large Viking shield featuring a stylized Raven. Something like this, turned upside down: picture with this triple-raven design sculpted or painted on top: link

Or, as a cool alternative, how about a giant Raven or Crow skull, with or without wings, with the top flattened to act as the altar. For example, here's a 4-inch-long Raven skull casting for $14: link

Of course, you can also sculpt your own out of Sculpey or green stuff pretty easily.

By the way, Etsy.com is a great source for this kind of thing.

Also, Reaper sells lots of separate sets of wings, if you want to add some to the disk.

Definitely post photos when each "bit" of the army is done.

Will you be Tzeentching the Mammoth at all?

Kind of tough I know…maybe something assessable like the tusks?

Is the miniature resin or metal?

How are you with green stuff?

If you could twist them a bit without breaking…or add a couple odd sized though small tusks along the mouth like more were growing out…hhhmmmm.

I always wanted to use Gripping Beast Teutonic knights as Chaos Knights…those guys have that "evillll" feel

Hey Celtic! Here are a couple guys I thought might fit for your unit…Privateer Press/Hordes/Lord of the Feast link and this guy also from Privateer Press/Hordes/Ravager Whitemane link

Ohhh hoh oh put thin petal like tentacles around the jaw section of the tusks to give them an opening flower or underside of an octopi look!

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So…I am confused.

You are still making a chaos WHFB army but you will not be using anymore GW miniatures…will you be using their rules?

The tentacles sound like fun, looking forward to seeing it.

PS
That is a bunch of sprue…

Anyone who works with resin for a business should have pressure pot or at the very least a vacuum generator to draw the air bubbles before mixing the catalyst and during the pour/set.

From a small company, one man show with lower end prices, air bubbles are to be expected and usually accepted.

From a large company the idea of sending out bubble filled resin is embarrassing, but this is about standard for games workshop.

I do like some of their products but their business practices are repugnant.

*****

Good luck with the build up.

*****

I would offer your plastic sprues here on the marketplace before the ebay…you will not have to pay a percentage and you are among friends :)

If you are playing with an understanding group…talk to them…as long as the doors open both ways and they could include units not normally allowed then you should be fine.

I would suspect that skaven would be more comfortable with Nurgle of the four chaos gods.

As far as there being internal conflict within a chaos unit…that is a given…I see no issue there :)

Skaven and beastmen could work, but the skaven should be directing the units…beastmen do as they are told as long as it fits their end goals YouTube link you will taste man flesh!

As for the horse riders of chaos, I believe they were chaos thugs…I am searching.

In your case, I would use centaurs instead :)

Those work also :)

I could not find your answer but these guys should know

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Though, be wary. These are fanboys and will not take kindly to your talking about non official armies.

I would recommend asking simple questions and do not give a lot of back detail…"what are the stats for light armored mounted chaos WFB units?" or something like that.

Good luck

I found a little chaos dog for you link

Celtic, I was just sharing…$75 is a bit excessive!

More just an inspiration than anything else :)