A modest (40k) proposal

Snoogans

In these harsh economic climes, those of us dreading the idea of shelling out for new models or armies are forced to be clever. I'm thinking of collecting a chaos daemon army and an idea occurred to me- make it a zombie horde.

I had the idea of constructing a Nurgle Daemon army, using Warhammer zombies as my plaguebearer hordes. Throw in a daemon prince, soul grinder(s), some heralds, and Epidemus, and I'd be fielding a particularly formidable force indeed.

The thing is, what would you make of an opponent using zombies to represent plaguebearers? Plaguebearers have Feel No Pain and Slow and Purposeful, while having poisoned attacks, which to me just screams out "ZOMBIES!" in a panicky female reporter voice. but before i even begin to try anything like this, I want to ensure that such an idea wouldn't disgust the vast majority of gamers. I like using armies consistent with the fluff, and I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with my idea, but experience has taught me that not everyone sees things my way.

Pugsley

Thats a great idea! i really like it, and the cheaper zombie models will let you get a formidable army for pennies in comparison. Will probably need to do some heavy conversion to make the zombies a bit less weedy and make them fit in with your other characters, but otherwise I really like it.

Snoogans

How would you go about such a conversion? How would you handle things like Beasts of Nurgle, or Nurglings, or the Heralds of Nurgle themselves? I assumed the weedy looking zombies by themselves would do (maybe with some chainswords, guard heads etc mixed in). The daemon prince models are a cinch, obviously. I was thinking of using/converting necromancer like figures to use as heralds and plague champions, though I'm open to suggestions...

hairyheretic

I'd say maybe add a couple of Plaguebearers to each unit, just to make it clear what they are supposed to be. From the background, Plaguebearers are created from mortals who die from Nurgles rot, so having the zombies as 'early stage' plaguebearers would be quite appropriate.

Maybe use some green stuff to bulk some of them up a bit, and to add the single horn to the forehead. If your sculpting skills are up to it, see if you can alter the heads to have a single eye.

For the Heralds ... actual plaguebearers maybe, plague marines, necromancers. If you can lay your hands on any of the old Realms of Chaos era nurgle chaos champions / warriors, they'd do well.

Mantel

If you base them on the same sized bases you should be fine the only other thing that might crop up is height difference with the newer line of sight rules. As long as they're the same height or you make them the same height you should be safe from rules nazi's.

Can't said I'd have a problem with it, they certinly look decayed and diseased enough

MarkHall

Great plan. I knew a chap who used Green stuff to create a Choas Army. Not sure what faction. But it worked well enough.

And the Zombies as Plaugebearers makes a lot of sense.

hairyheretic

One thing to bear in mind .. if you play at an official GW tournament they may disallow them, as there already are plaguebearer models. If you're just playing friendly games it's unlikely to be an issue.

Snoogans

hairyheretic wrote: »

One thing to bear in mind .. if you play at an official GW tournament they may disallow them, as there already are plaguebearer models. If you're just playing friendly games it's unlikely to be an issue.

Really? Time was, GW positively encouraged stuff like that.

I'm glad to see the reception's so positive, thanks guys. As for conversion work, I'd be against mixing plaguebearers into the unit, as it does kinda ruin the zombie horde feeling I wanted to create, though sculpting horns onto the zombies to make them resemble plaguebearers in development is a cool idea. A plaguebearer as a herald/champion with plaguesword is a pretty good idea too. Using plague marines is also not a bad idea as I have some plague marines in my existing chaos space marine army. I also like the idea of using Chaos Spawn models as either Beasts of Nurgle or Heralds, though they'd have to be one or the other- not both. It seems that while using zombies is going down well, other army choices are a bit harder. I could always 40k up some Nurgle champions, necromancers or other sinister robed/cowled figures to represent heralds.... but I'm damned if I can think of any suitable off the top of my head...

hairyheretic

Snoogans wrote: »

Really? Time was, GW positively encouraged stuff like that.

I know people have had to remove conversions that used non GW base models. If you're using all GW stuff, it may not be an issue, but I'd still check it before taking them to a tournament.

Snoogans wrote: »

I also like the idea of using Chaos Spawn models as either Beasts of Nurgle or Heralds, though they'd have to be one or the other- not both.

I think they'd make better Beasts than Heralds.

Snoogans wrote: »

It seems that while using zombies is going down well, other army choices are a bit harder. I could always 40k up some Nurgle champions, necromancers or other sinister robed/cowled figures to represent heralds.... but I'm damned if I can think of any suitable off the top of my head...

Check the classic range, the old Chaos warrior sorcerers. There are several hooded ones there. You might also find suitable models in the vampire counts and undead ranges. Maybe even in the Beastman section, if any of their models come hooded.

Some of the Mordheim figures could work. The undead, Possessed and beastman warbands. Likewise the Necromunda Redemptionists.

One or two of the Inquisitor models would work well for deamon princes.

Snoogans

hairyheretic wrote: »

One or two of the Inquisitor models would work well for deamon princes.

Which ones in particular? I thought the existing ones were just fine, but I like the idea of unconventionality...

hairyheretic

The Chaos Magus isn't bad, but I'd get rid of the pistol and give him wings probably. Possibly a head swap, or some green stuff to make him more Nurgly.

If you look at the FW DP and Herald

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/ndp.htm

you can see the general decaying theme. You'd want to make the Magus's armour a lot more corroded looking, and add a few of the triple circle icons. Three raised boils is a good way of doing it.

The chrono-gladiator looks pretty impressive. Could be a good base model for a DP or a maybe even a Soul Grinder.

Snoogans

How about these?

hairyheretic

Good for Heralds I'd say.

Sigard

if you're feeling confident with the green stuff, you could also use the new plastic bloodletters as the basis for some plaguebearers (or perhaps as plaguebearer champions for your other units). maybe pop on a zombie head, add horn to forehead, make sword look slightly more rubbish and away you go!

as for the Daemon prince, there is talk of a plastic one getting released soon, though I haven't heard of any confirmed release date. if you're not too stuck for time, maybe hold out for that?

Snoogans

A plastic daemon prince? Spankin', as time is the only thing I do have, unlike money or skill with green stuff.
I am partial the the forge world nurgle deamon prince though.

Sigard

Forge world do good work. Although after listening to several podcasts about them, the amount of prep work you need to do (coupled with the price) is a little too much for my sake. here's the link for the rumor thread about the new DP
http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205445