Saturday, September 24, 2016

The Warband Assembles!

Waking up face down in the dirt, alone and naked, is the first thing Shak'nar the indomitable remembers with any real clarity. There are memories from the before, but they are hazy and dream-like. Memories like chopping wood and putting nails in show soles, but the colors are all wrong and the other people in these memories all speak a language he does not understand anymore.

After waking up, Shak'nar spent several days wandering what he find out to be the Chaos wastes. Eventually, he found a small camp, with several explorers sleeping around a campfire. In his feral state, the animal portion of his brain took control. After sneaking up on the lone guard and strangling him with his bare hands, he murdered the remaining men in their sleep. Afterwards, he feasted--first on the rations, then on the flesh. The next morning, Shak'nar was fully clothed and armed; albeit with weapons that were more laborer tool than fighter's armaments.

But those gave him the base to get better. He used these supplies to defeat others and loot their weapons and armor, slowly building up a better collection. After he killed a chaos champion, the Gods began to take notice. After taking the armor from his vanquished foe, it began to speak to Shak'nar, telling him that he would be special but first he had to wear the armor. After strapping on the armor, his flesh began to burn as it fused to his skin. It began changing color. That night, the Gods spoke to Shak'nar in his dreams and promised him glory if he would kill in their name and sow discord and chaos upon the kingdoms of men.

The next morning, the orcs came. They spoke only in guttural grunts that Shak'nar could not comprehend. But they seemed to recognize him as their leader so he did not kill them. Sometime later, Shak'nar was not sure how long since time does not flow evenly in the chaos wastes, he was joined by Scorpius. At first Shak'nar only saw a cloud of dust on the horizon. He and the orcs readied for battle. When the horseman arrived, he leapt from his steed and scuttled to Shak'nar and swore fealty. While Shak'nar does not trust Scorpius, he has seen his potency in combat and enjoys fighting with him. The hobgoblins were the last arrive. They promised to fight with him if he would protect them from the wolf-riders of the Hobgobla Khan.

The path to glory has begun!



I want to thank AirborneGrove26 at Give'em Lead and Urion at Madhouse Society for posting such great fluff for their warbands and inspiring me to do the same. If you haven't checked out either of these blogs, give them a go, but allot some time because you'll be hooked!

7 comments:

  1. Thanks for the shoutout. It's nice to be an inspiration. I love the warband so far, especially the knight. Did you roll the warband on the table or are you just going with stuff you like?

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  2. You were an inspiration, had to give the shout out!

    I rolled up the warband, but then fudged some things. Most obvious was swapping the hobgoblins for beastmen. I also rerolled a monster I didn't own for the orcs (and would make a lopsided warband), and toned down the knight. Originally I rolled really well and he ended up way too powerful for an entry level warband. I don't remember exactly how it worked out but I do remember he was level 20, which felt wrong since he was higher than the leader.

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    1. I did the same. I'm working on painting units for a lot of the entries on the table so I'll have to fudge as little as possible.

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  3. Ohhhhhhh maaaannn!!! I need to get in on this!

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    1. All the cool kids are doing it. And the first time's free.

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  4. Sweeeet....! Really should get around to finishing my own warband. Fudged rolls for interest and fairness makes for a better effort I think.

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    1. Do it! It's actually a great way to paint chaos because you don't have to paint large units of anything. 3-5 models here and there and you're golden!

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