Slave to Darkness: Generation

True Slaves to Darkness: A pencil sketch by Tony Ackland.

So we return once more to The Realm. I have recently been mulling over what to do next with my hobbying, especially with the winter months coming up. The cold, forbidding weather coupled with much shorter daylight hours here in the UK always seems to encourage miniature painting. Ahh, the reassuring glow of the modelling lamp and that distinctive 'undead' look us miniature painters achieve when bathed in its heat. But I digress...

As I have said before, I want to collect, paint and convert 'period' miniatures to run a 'Realm of Chaos' campaign proper, using the full rules presented in the associated literature. I have in mind to create a champion for each of the four major chaos powers and build a custom made 'Realm of Chaos' battlefield/gaming table before the Christmas holidays. The characters created will need full, expansive background (inspired by the incredible entries in the Golden Goblin painting competition), rules and most importantly, a retinue. I plan to use the narrative game generator published in Lost and the Damned to ensure that a strong narrative element prevails through the games, even though the true emphasis is on the collecting, converting and painting.

To roll and roll again

So to begin then. And as anyone will know if they have ever gone about creating a chaos champion, your first port of call is the Starting Profile Table from Slaves to Darkness.

You know when its 80s when there are a LOT of options on a nice, big table.

I am imagining that the 'Four Protagonists' as we shall now call them are all freshly arrived in the Chaos Wastes. They would have no doubt travelled up through the Old World, crossing the Sea of Claws and passing through Norsca to reach their dreaded destination. Or perhaps, they slogged their way through Kislev and Troll country to the border. Or perhaps, from some other less well known direction.

Lets roll off then...

Champion of Khorne (73)Human (27) standard profile
Champion of Slaanesh (43)Human  (24) standard profile
Champion of |Nurgle  (54) Human  (62) level 15 hero
Champion of Tzeentch (39) Human (56) level 10 hero

It seems that chaos favours humanity above the other races. Looking at the table, it is far more likely than not that your champion will be human. The chances of rolling off a high levelled character is also more remote. When we have played previously, we just picked a level for both champions, so it will be interesting to see how these characters interact on the table top.

Each character next gets a free roll on the retinue table to get their little warband going. Again, human troops are the most likely, alongside beastmen. This would no doubt represent the followers that the champion would have picked up on their long journey to the wastes.

Let's roll to find out who gets what then...

Champion of Khorne (rolled 73)Human (rolled 27) standard profile  (rolled 02) 2d6 beastmen
Champion of Slaanesh (rolled 43)Human  (rolled 24) standard profile (rolled 37) 1 chaos sorcerer
Champion of |Nurgle  (rolled 54) Human  (rolled 62) level 15 hero (rolled 28) 2d6 chaos beastmen
Champion of Tzeentch (rolled 39) Human (rolled 56) level 10 hero  (rolled 94) wizard

Well, things are certainly interesting already. Khorne has a glut of beastmen (very appropriate for the Blood God) as does Nurgle (hopefully, I can get my hands on some more pestigors). Slaanesh and Tzeentch, certainly the most magical of the Powers both have magic users. I need to generate the stats for the sorcerer and the wizard as well as establishing the number of beastmen the warbands will have.

Let's roll...

Khorne (rolled 3+5) 8 beastmen
Nurgle (rolled 3+4) 7 beastmen
Sorcerer of Slaanesh (rolled 64) human (rolled 64) level 15
Tzeentch Wizard (83) human (rolled 40) level 5

Trial of the Champions

The next job is to add the different Marks of Chaos to each of the champions and wizards.

Khorne Human Champion 

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Int	Cl	WP
4	3	3	3	3+1	1	3	1	7	7-2	7	7

Chaos gift #1: Chaos Armour- saving throw of 5 or 6. Increase T by 1. No movement penalty. +1 bonus to magic saves and tests.
Attribute #1: (rolled 704) Pin Head- Intelligence reduced by 2, subject to stupidity, cool test to react to anything that requires thought.

Slaanesh Human Champion 

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Int	Cl	WP
4	3	3	3	3	1	3	1	7	7	7	7+1

Chaos gift #1: +1 WP increase
Attribute #1: (rolled 707) Plague Bearer (rolled 6) Green pox - has horrible green pustules all over the body.  Needs to be thin. Should lose 1 wound but rulebook states that the disease cannot fall below 1. +1 fear point.

Nurgle Champion human level 15 hero

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Int	Cl	WP
4	5	3	4	4+1	3	5	3	9+3	7	8+1	8+1

Chaos gift #1 +1 Toughness
Attribute #1: (rolled 165) Bestial Face +1 fear point (rolled 2) face of a beast of Nurgle

Tzeentch Champion human level 10 hero 

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Int	Cl	WP
4	5	4	4+3	4	2	4	3	8+1	7	7	7

Chaos gift #1: Magic item daemon sword (lesser) d3 (rolled 3) attributes
Attribute #1: (rolled 579) Long Spines +1 fear points. Can only wear chaos armour now. Opponents need to make a I test or face a S1 automatic hit from the spines.
Attribute #2 (rolled 766) Rearranged face +1 fear point
Attribute #3 (853) Strong +3S (needs bulging muscles-apparently!)

Slaanesh Sorcerer human level 15

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Int	Cl	WP
4	5	3	4	4	3	4	1+1	9+2	9+2	9+2	10+2

Chaos gift #1 WP increase +1
Chaos gift #2 Face of Slaanesh causes fear and +1A bite or gore (cancels out Bestial Face)
Attribute #1: (rolled 174) Bestial Face (rolled 1) face of a beast of Slaanesh + 1 fear point
(rolled 26 for additional reward - refused and rolled on Gifts of Slaanesh Table- re-rolled 06 Face of a Keeper of Secrets)

Tzeentch Wizard human level 5

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Int	Cl	WP
4	4	3	4	3	1	3	1	7	8+1	8+1	8+1

So there we have them... Generated and profiled up. I have decided, to make things for interesting and focus my addiction to late nigh eBaying, that all the models in this campaign have to be purchased specifically, so no raiding the collection for suitable minis. I'll just have to see what I can get hold of online and with any trades that can be achieved. Obviously, Slaanesh and Tzeentch are going to be fairly easy as only two models are required for each warband (if you can call them that at this stage?) while Khorne and Nurgle need multiple beastmen so shall probably take a little longer.

Off to eBay then....

Olygg.