Nasty men for Nasty Jobs

Although the name "Chaos Marauder" still exists within the armies Warhammerdom, the actual rank doesn't exist anymore. Way back when the world and his dog weren't 'connected', Marauders were the middle ground between Thugs and Warriors. Better armed and armoured than the lowly mix and match thug but not quite as hard and expensive as bib, burly warrior. A unit of these guys would be perfect for holding a flank, anchoring your line or just menacing some villagers.

They didn't last long though. As soon as the second book of Realms of Chaos been published they had been condemned to the fantasy dustbin of history. Some of the models were promoted to full Chaos Warrior rank and other were busted down to lowly thugs where all the bright haired, semi-naked weirdos talked about them behind their backs.

So what am I doing painting up such a long dead collection of armoured hard men?

You may remember that I painted some Blightkings a little while back and, as mean as the big fatties are, they are going to need some back up. In the Generals Handbook there is a campaign system for war bands called 'Paths of Glory' and Chaos warriors feature as one of the units that your war band can take. Now, as I already owned these lovely chaps and I'm not a fan of a group of identikit warriors like the current plastics set, i figured these guys would fit the bill.

Using these guys also warm the cockles of my Old school heart. They are fabulously characterful models and as well as being a unit for the Nurgley bunch they will also be of use for smaller games where villainous armoured nutters are required to menace poor innocents, think the evil swines that destroyed Conan's village at the start of Arnie's famous film.

A bunch off these guys causing grief to our heroes party would be enough to have even the doughtiest barbarian thinking twice about trying to tackle them.

As far as the models themselves go, you might notice that I've used the shields from the Gor set cos I like the battered, rotten wood look to them and that goes really well with the gurgle theme. They are also on round bases for the maximum flexibility. I painted them the same way as I did the Blightkings so sprays and washes followed by more traditional painting to finish them off.

So this is what I've got painted so far. Blight kings, Warriors and Mounted marauders (or to be used in old fantasy money as Marauders and mounted thugs)

You might notice that Papa Nurgle isn't going to be too happy with choice of numbers so thankfully i've got another load o the way. More classic figures to add to the crew. (i'll need a few more if i'm going to do two Paths of glory units).

While I've got your attention I thought I show off a bit of woodwork. This started as an experiment with laminating different types of wood and after making a mistake with mounting an multi-chuck I ended up with a rather smart dice-bowl.

Anyway, cheers. Till next time.