WarbossKurgan

A Tear in Reality Daemons ran rampant at the head of the wurm, causing it to shift and turn in its route. Although they seemed to be content to grow in numbers around their rift, it was only a matter of time before they descended on Ghur, destroying all in their path. Their first and second port of call would most certainly be the settlement further down on the wurm, and then Nassolotyl itself. But they were caught unaware, as their presence was most certainly well known. First by the followers of Beliana Fauncrest who raced to warn the settlement of Dawnbringers, and by Hogrog Ug Weirdklaw who had been working his magic in the background to close to the portal, or at least waylay the daemons. ███▀ ███▀ █▀▀▀ Hogrog had been sharing his plans with anyone who would listen - Thorn's Troggs, Steeltoof's Ironjawz, Tygon's Gargants, Gurrbag's Grots, and many others - even some of the city gitz. A lot of them were of the same mind: The Rift had to be shut and the daemons had to be smashed. Otherwise there would be a lot more damage done to the Realm and its spirit than just a few stretched ley-lines. The Wurrgog Prophet and his followers found a good spot for their part in the Ritual of The Snapping Jaws. Unfortunately there were already a lot of gribblies there. The Badfangs formed a cordon around Hogrog, to try to stop the daemons interfering with the ritual. The Horrors swarmed forward with sorcerous fires erupting from their many hands. The Changecaster and his entourage of weird imps and floating books, slowly moved away from the main fight, to try and outflank the Wurrgog's defences. Zogfang charged through the warp-fire blasts and engaged the Iridescent Horror - the Changecaster's second-in-command. He was mildly annoyed when Boss Ersatz appeared at his side and slammed into the Iridescent Horror and sent it tumbling across the ground. Zogfang got one last jab of his bone shiv in though, just before the daemonic lieutenant discorporated. The Changecaster moved past the fighting and headed for the Wurrgog Prophet. Hogrog felt the first parts of the magic sliding into place - it was a slower start than he wanted but there was now a foundation, there was now hope. A Pink Horror blasted blue fire at Ersatz, the Big Boss was furious. Wardokk Urgog jumped down from the platform and started his Grimdokk magic; the healing power worked on all of the orruks near him; closing cuts, un-burning flesh and revitalising the Badfangs. Some of the Bonesplitterz realised what the Changecaster was up to and blocked his path. So the daemonic commander avoided them - he jumped up onto a ruin with a clear line of sight on Hogrog. The Horrors started aiming sorcerous fires at Wardokk Urgog. Hogrog focussed a portion of his power at the Changecaster: A crushing green fist enveloped the daemon. Wardokk Urgog ignored the fires and continued to heal the Badfangs nearby. More Pink Horrors closed in. Boss Ersatz carved his way through some of them. Noknok interrupted his rhythmic drumming for a moment to smash his heavy bone drumstick into a Horror's face, without missing a beat. The teeth of the Ritual were now in place. Hogrog had to concentrate hard as the various threads of the ritual were being pulled apart, even as he wove them together. The fibres of the Ritual's jaw-muscles started to bind together, they were still weak though. It didn't help how distracted he was though - at the same time as manifesting the Ritual Hogrog and the Changecaster were also exchanging magical blasts, the Wurrgog had the edge in the duel but to get it over-with sooner he sent Zurgob over to attack the daemon as well. Zurgob leapt up the ruins and finished off the injured Changecaster! Searing blue, yellow and pink fires streamed across the open ground between the daemons and the orruks. The daemons were far more dangerous at a distance than they were in a fight, so the Badfangs didn't want to leave them with that advantage for long! Arcane flames rippled out through the fighting again and again. Several of the Horrors concentrated their fires on Ersatz - the Big Boss was making a mess of them, one after another. Waves of iridescent fire washed over Ersatz, his war-paint protected him from the worst of the effects but it still scorched his flesh. Zogfang and Rukbeast ganged-up on a Pink Horror. Hogrog contorted and babbled incoherently as he pulled more components of the Ritual together, weaving the strands of wurm-lines with the Beast-magic of the realm and the energy of the Badfangs' fighting. But there was something missing... Boss Ersatz was being worn down faster than Wardokk Urgog could heal him. His injuries were threatening to overwhelm him soon. He didn't seem to notice though and the Badfangs rallied around his example, plunging through the arcane fires to smash the daemons with their spirt-bone weapons. The great maw of the Ritual loomed large in Hogrog's mind now - its muscles were gaining strength and coherency. More Horrors crowded the Badfangs. Suddenly Hogrog jumped down from the platform on the ruin - he knew what the Ritual was missing now. It needed more violence! He roared encouragement at the Badfangs who redoubled their enthusiasm for the fight. Several started laughing uncontrollably as they slashed at the Horrors! Big Boss Ersatz hacked down two daemons, one after the other. His massive stone axe sliced through them and they dissolved into swirls of pink and blue smoke. Wardokk Urgog sent out another wave of healing Grimdokk power. The Badfangs rounded on the last daemon. With a triumphant roar Zogfang charged forward and smashed the last Pink Horror with his beast-spirit infused bone weapons and the daemon de-corporealized into a shrinking swirl of pink and blue flames, which were then snuffed out. The Waaagh! energy that flooded from the fighting orruks gave the Ritual the last burst of power it needed to manifest: the vast ghostly green form of Gorkamorka's grinning face coalesced from the clouds, and appeared right in front of the Rift. The image of the orruk god slowly opened his enormous fanged mouth then suddenly chomped down on the swirling black portal.... https://www.thegreatweave.com/vurm-tai-finale/

I started building the Badfangs for AoS Skirmish originally way back in 2018, I worked on them sporadically and only just finished enough for a game. Then I expanded them for Warcry in 2020 and used them as my warband for Animosity II. This approach meant I didn't have to pick one or two of their options and make all 20 of them the same way - it was really liberating and meant I had a fun skirmishing warband with a lot of variety. I converted a couple into Wardokks and made a single Big Stabber team. But this meant the Badfangs could only be used in Warcry as the number of each type of Bonesplitterz were too small for AoS. I bought another box of Bonesplitterz orruks this week, to add to the small groups of models to expand them into AoS size units. I don't know how much I will actually play AoS as Warcry fills up most of my gaming plans, but I thought it would be good to have the option! I had 8 Morboys completed for Warcry, including a Morboy Boss (the orruk with a great-axe from Hedkrakka's Madmob) and a Morboy with Bone Totem, so they just needed two extras to bring the unit to minimum size: A Morboy and a Morboy Skull Thumper: I had 7 Arrowboys in my warband already, including an Boss (the Arrowboy from Hedkrakka's Madmob), so they need three extras - a Skull Thumper, one with a Bone Totem and one more regular Arrowboy. I have completed the Skull Thumper, with a bow and quiver on his back, and started building the Bone Totem and the last Arrowboy. I have also built another Big Stabber team, as they are fielded in pairs in AoS. I gave the Skull Thumper a squiggy friend (a spotter-squig from the Ork Flash Gitz kit with some techie bits scraped off) to add a little character. I also had a first attempt at painting one of his trinkets as a chunk of amber. I'll get photos of the other two Arrowboys and the Big Stabber team as soon as I have done their greenstuff cowls. (Edit 2021-09-24) As promised, WIP photos of the next batch of Badfangs:

Does the foot belong to this model? https://warbosskurgan.blogspot.com/p/rumour-engines.html#2021-09-21

The Great Rift Hogrog Ug Weirdklaw could feel the power flowing through the Great Wurm, even from here. The ley-lines of magical energies that converged on the Wurm were out of alignment and unstable. The city gitz had no idea what they were playing with! The Badfangs watched approvingly as he rummaged through the tribe's collection of powerful beast-bones, searching for two or three that felt right, that resonated with the same energy. As he searched he threw rejects around the temporary camp. He found some that seemed like good candidates and held each one against his Wurrgog mask in turn. The ones that harmonised with the Wurm's power went into a bag. ████ ████ ▀▀▀▀ The Badfangs set out along the top of a line of ruins that Hogrog had picked out as the best spots - focal points at the crossings of the wurm-lines with Neolotl's ley-lines. They had to hurry though, the wurm-lines were moving fast. They ran along the stonework at breakneck speed, leaping over the gaps between buildings. Some local Freeguilders spotted them and started shooting! Bullets zinged past them and ricocheted off the stones. A few shots clipped the orruks as they ran. They didn't pay it much attention. Hogrog and Snaggatoof reached the first wurm-line intersection. Hogrog took one of the beast-bones and jammed it into a crack between the stones. The Freeguilder's fire increased as the Badfangs got closer. A Freeguild Champion positioned herself in the way of the Badfangs - Snaggatoof barrelled into her, expecting to brush her aside. He was not going to get the outcome he bargained-for. More Freeguild handgunners arrived and the Morboys started taking fire. They were less than impressed. Boss Ersatz and a couple of Morboys caught up with Hogrog. Snaggatoof's claws slashed time and again, the Freeguild Champion dodged and skilfully counter-attacked with parry and repost. She used the big orruk's momentum against him... ... and sent him tumbling off the wall! Boss Ersatz saw what happened and learned from Snaggatooth's mistakes. Noknok the drummer jumped off the wall and sprinted at the Freeguild General. Zurgob and Boss Ersatz ganged up on the Champion while Hogrog completed his ritual at the second wurm-line crossing point. The Wurrgog Prophet realised time was running out: The Badfangs had to hurry. Ersatz didn't smash into the Champion with blind fury as Snaggatoof had; he drew her into over-reaching her attacks and swept her legs out from under her. Zurgob smashed his stone axe down. Noknok was no match for the Freeguild General. With the second magic beast-bone jammed into place the atmosphere changed - the air was filled with crackling static, small stones started bouncing around on the ground. Light flooded the battlefield as the magically charged bones started to interfere with the wurm-lines. White lightning arced between them and straight up into the air. As the magical backlash they unleashed started tearing the stones of the ruins apart, the Badfangs fled the scene, Hogrog cackled with glee...

The Badfangs tribe have an oral tradition, myths and legends that have long been told and retold, passed down through the years, of their time as travellers among the stars, in the Void-Between-the-Realms. They believe that in an age long ago they roamed the cosmos, they were not natives of Ghur but they came from some other, unremembered Realm. They chased god-beasts across the void, riding in the belly of a creature they called the Odargul, but they crashed into the Great Parch by accident while the Odargul was battling another god-beast. In some versions of the stories the Odargul was killed by the other god-beast, in other versions the Bonesplitterz accidentally killed Odargul from inside by cutting their way out in an ill-considered attempt to get at the god-beast that was attacking it. Whichever version they believe, they all agree that in the crash they lost their ability to travel the cosmos and they were stranded. They still carry with them a sense of adventure that continues the tradition of travelling, exploring and finding new monsters to defeat. They wear masks to protect them from the Void-Between-the-Realms and in reverence the god-beasts they emulate and hunt. ███▀ ███▀ ▀▀▀▀ Vurm-Tai Campaign, Act 1 - Down Wit Da Walls! Dry winds and reddish sands swirled through the Realmgate as the Badfangs stepped out onto a rocky island in the seas of Argharock. In the distance the colossal god-beast Nasson (also known as Puncha to the orruks) lumbered slowly through the waters around Neolotl (known as Sitta), each carrying the half of the city called Nassollotyl that was divided between their backs. Hogrog tipped his head and pointed at the distant creatures. The Badfangs followed his gaze and one of them let out an impressed whistle. "There's Puncha and Sitta. There's a whole bunch of gitz, what live in a city on the back of them like fleas." There were a few wordless sounds of consternation from the warband. Then he turned and pointed in a different direction. The Badfangs all turned to look, but there was some confusion as none of them could see any monsters that way. "There's another big old beastie comin' from that way. A massive wurmy thing. The stories say it will pass right between those two soon, and a whole load of them city gitz is planning to try to jump on it as it passes through. We're going to make it difficult for them. Maybe even nick the wurm ourselves." Some of the Badfangs laughed. "We need to get into the caves under the mountains on Puncha's back. The caves lead to tunnels, the tunnels lead under the walls of the city." The Badfangs arranged their gear and weapons for the fight, some re-tied knots on each-others backs, and others adjusted their godbeast-masks. Hogrog looked at his mob with pride - he could tell a few of them were already planning to update their masks with a pair of nose-horns, like Puncha's. █▀▀▀ █▀▀▀ ▀▀▀█ The Badfangs crept through the ruins in the mountains, on the back of the godbeast Nasson as the evening light faded. So far they had evaded detection - everyone in the city seemed to be distracted by their preparations for the arrival of the great wurm. Make that almost everyone: A band of duardin mercenaries had been posted to guard the tunnels. Their leader hefted a heavy-looking (and probably magical) hammer and shouted orders as soon as he saw the Badfangs. The Badfang's arrer boyz let fly and with a roar, the rest of the mob changed! Boss Ersatz leapt up the walls, straight into the fight. Aethershot rifles flashed and banged around him. Hogrog blasted one of the duardin off his feet with green lightning... ... then jogged round the undefended side of the wall. Skulsmaka wielded his great axe with skill and ferocity, stopping another of the mercenaries from helping his leader. Ersatz and the duardin Endrineer fought tooth and nail but neither had the upper hand for now. A couple of the Badfangs were wounded in the charge, by the punishing volleys of duardin aethershot fire. But the mercenaries were pushed back by sheer weight of numbers. Hogrog smiled to himself as his orruks roared with dark glee... ... when Ersatz finally finished off the duardin leader. Wardokk Urgog used his grimdokk powers... ... to fix up a couple of injured but still grinning orruks, whose wounds knitted themselves back together as Urgog's magic did it's job. Skulsmaka and Zurgob chased off the last of the gunners. Then Hogrog and the Badfangs descended into the tunnels.

As the Badfangs started to explore Ghur they came across another small band of orruks who had abandoned their tribes and wandered the wilderness is search of great beasts. Hogrog told the tale of his vision and they willingly joined his warband, and made themselves godbeast masks from whatever scrap materials the could find. So the Badfangs grew steadily more numerous. +++ Oddsnarl (Hedkrakka) - Wardokk Snaggatoof (Toofdagga) - Savage Big Boss Gromstikka (Dakko Sharp-Stikka) - Arrerboy Boss Skulsmaka (Wallop da Skul) - Morrboy Boss with Big Chompa A Kragnos-y objective marker (made from a Blood Bowl counter and some ork/orruk bits) The whole Badfangs warband so far!

The Library of Galaeron (on Sumina) A cluster of towers, filled with books, scrolls, manuscripts, collected letters, documents and assorted paper records, from across the Realms. Most were once part of a private collection and there is no central theme. The library is in the process of being sorted, ordered and catalogued but most of it is currently a jumbled mess. The small staff work diligently and enthusiastically, but their task is herculean. The parts for this came from lots of different sources: The loaded shelves are from the inside of the Luminark / Hurricanum kit. The big red book on the floor is from Belisarius Cawl. The rest of the "bits" books are Flagellants and Grey Knights. The white books are thick plasticard wrapped in thin plasticard. The piped-piper plaque, the sun sign and the wooden (turnip) sign are from the old Watchtower/Chappel/Fortified manor kit. The strongbox on the top is from the old Empire Great Cannon kit. The hourglass is from the battlemage kit. The bigger shields and wine bottle are from Freeguild Guard. The smaller shields are from various Grey Knights. The (bird and human) skulls are all from the Citadel Skulls box. The "back board" is a door from the Mighty Fortress. The central pillar is the "floor" of the Ogor Ironblaster Cannon carriage. I've no idea where the orange crystal-in-a-claw is from! (Update: Don Vermeer told me on Facebook that the crystal in a claw is from Skaven Plague Monks. Thanks Don!) The scattered papers have some maps that are references to the current and previous Animosity Campaigns. Lake Bykaal in Shyish and the Prime Dominion in Hysh... ... and Amasya in Ghur:

Hogrog Ug Weirdklaw awoke from a vivid dream - a vision of the Realm of Beasts. He immediately leapt into action and roused the tribe. He made The Badfangs repaint their godbeast masks red (well, red-ish) and dye their leather and lizard-skin robes and cowls brown. With the warband suddenly looking much more sombre and threatening, Hogrog headed off in search of a Realmgate to Ghur, with the Badfangs close on his heels! +++ The Badfangs are masked Bonesplitterz, formerly of Aqshy but now they are off to Ghur. I have spent an evening partially repainting Hogrog Ug Weirdklaw and The Badfangs. The warband is now much more coherent and I'm very much happier with them. Hogrog Ug Weirdklaw, Wurrgog Prophet and leader of the Badfangs. Hogrog and his Wardokks, Urgog (left) and Krogdak (right). Bigtoof (Morboy with Bone Totem) and Big Boss Ersatz. Gugtusk, Boarboy Maniak (slightly unpredictable) scout for the warband. 6 Orruk Morboys (Klogtoof, Zurgob, Umclaw, Zogfang, Rukbeast, Mogrok) and 6 Orruk Arrerboys (Azgrok, Bortusk, Toofdrakk, Gurkfang, Rogtoof, Legbiter) 2 Orruks with a Big Stabber - Murtoof and Durtoof (or “MurDurToof”) The whole Warcry warband as it now stands. I have Hedkrakka’s Madmob on my desk - they are the reason this repaint happened. I wasn't really enjoying the idea of painting more Bonesplitterz in the old colour scheme, so I changed the scheme!

I'll cross post them here too The books are from lots of different sources: The loaded shelves are from the inside of the Luminark / Hurricanum kit. The biggest one on the floor is from Belisarius Cawl. The rest are Flagellants and Grey Knights. The white ones are thick plasticard wrapped in thin plasticard.

The Prime Dominion is a land at the edge of Hysh, in the normally inhospitable continent of Haixiah that borders the Perimeter Inimical of the Realm’s Edge. It is an archipelago of floating metalith islands that surrounds a Realmgate waterfall called the Catarhactes. Orbiting around the outer edge of the Prime Dominion is Noctis; a mysterious black sun that pulls material from the Catarhactes and eats light and magic. The interaction between Noctis and the Catarhactes formed the archipelago of the Prime Dominion over thousands of years. As Noctis orbits the Dominion the regions closest to it experience winter and have darker nights than is usual in Hysh. The regions furthest from Noctis experience summer. An enclave of pre-Spirefall aelves have made their home here, hiding from the rest of the Realm in this almost inaccessible domain. But their society is on the brink of destruction from their own hubris. Each of the six factions they have divided into has called on mercenaries and friends for aid in the inevitable war that looms. The unspoiled paradise of the Prime Dominion will soon be shattered! +++ I have finished the scenery for my Hysh Warcry board. I made one more tohnasai tree without basing it, so I could swap out the dead tree on my shipwreck. Now the wreck can serve double-duty as Hysh or Shyish. I can't wait for the start of Animosity III and to get playing some (solo) Warcry games on it. Some shots of the whole board together: Just for fun I have filtered a couple of these photos to make the look like the illustrations from the Lumineth release trailer:

I haven't painted it yet but it's on the way. It's on both my Twitter and Instagram.

Two more pieces of Hysh scenery for the Prime Dominion - tohnasai trees, aelven ruins and a little rocky outcrop. I've started built another tohnasai tree to swap with the dead tree on my (Harrowmark) shipwreck so that can double as Hysh scenery too. When that is painted I think it will be enough to get going, I may add more later but for now there are other projects waiting!

I have finished the Shrine Luminor and rocky outcrop for my Hysh Warcry board. I'm fairly pleased with the "marble effect" on the shrine, but it was definitely more luck than skill. I was trying to match the colours on the box and it didn't come out as well as I'd hoped, but it looks okay so I'm happy. A Wildwood Ranger for scale! (on a 25mm base) +++ I have a couple more pieces in progress for this project - I managed to get the "other" part of the ruins from Teclis' base from a bits reseller and I had two more Hyshian tohnasai trees built. I hope to get them both painted in the next few days. +++ You can join me, and over one hundred other narrative Warhammer players, for Animosity III, which begins Wednesday 14th July 2021 and will run for 5 weeks (5 turns) until Saturday 14th August! The Iscarneth Ceraphate stands on a knife's edge as six Satrapies prepare for war. With no Satrap able to assure victory on their own, their emissaries have scoured the realms for interests willing to support their claim to the throne of this unspoiled and nigh-unassailable paradise. Featuring overhauled diplomacy and figurehead mechanics paired with an improved Narrative Path system and twice(!) as many Unfolding Narrative writers, Team Animosity expects this to be our best instalment to date. Da Warpath (the pre-campaign narrative and hobby build up phase) will officially start Saturday 15th May and kick off with the campaign map, locations, coalitions and figureheads. You can join the community on the Discord and take part in the campaign here: https://animositycampaigns.com/community/

The Sentinels will be used as the opposition in solo Warcry games for the Animosity III campaign: The Prime Dominion, that is due to start in July. Viktor has hacked the Wild Fighters rules from the Tome of Champions 2020, so they can work really well as a solo game. The are made from pretty-much all of the aelf parts I could find in my bits boxes. Some I bought for other projects, some were given to me by friends having a clear-out. I chose this blue and gold colour scheme to match my other Cities of Sigmar models, so I can use any of them in a "soup" list. +++ Taeral, Nomad Prince and leader of the Sentinels. A Harlequin Troupe Master body with Eternal Guard head, arms and shield. The "pocket dragon" is a helmet crest from something else (but I don't know what!) - I realised late in the build that the Nomad Prince's hawk has an attack so I thought I should add something to represent it! The backpack is greenstuff, to cover the high-tech looking one the Harlequin body came with. Ilimitar, mage-librarian. This was the most satisfying one to build - the parts were all from a bag of High Elf leftovers a friend gave me years ago. I can't identify which kits the bits come from but the way all the ribbons and bookmarks and cloak all flow the same direction is VERY pleasing to my eye! This archer was made from two mismatched Lumineth body parts I was given recently. The right arm is from a Freeguild archer, the left arm and cloak are from Glade Guard. I think the head is High Elf... The two Eternal Guard were built straight out of the box. As were the Wildwood Rangers and Warden. The Warden's base-topper is from a High Elf Mage I think. The Glade Guard was an eBay bits purchase but I don't know if the two sword-arms are supposed to both be on one model.

The build is finished and I've undercoated it black and zenithal basecoated it grey. I hope to start painting it soon.