Distopus: 2014

Edit ( So I received a few requests to keep the blog open a while longer ..so its got a short reprieve )

So I will be taking down the blog again in the next few days, so I can concentrate on some real life things , but before it disappears I thought I would share the images of The Realms of Chaos Game we played at the start of summer.

The gestation of this game was long and difficult, first proposed back in April 2013 on Fulgrims Blog
for the 25th anniversary of the Realms of Chaos game. It was eventually played out due to various reasons in late June this year- Unfortunately Rise of the Magi was not able to Join in the shenanigans - And Fulgrim forsook his warband to graciously Gm the entire game for the rest of us, something that some gamers will realise is no easy task using the archaic and detailed Realm of Chaos Rules system.

PDH and Myself set up a blog to document the building progress of each of our warbands and champions on Dakka Dakka

JB's Warband gestated from Tzeentch through to Nurgle over the course of the year and quarter.

Whilst Tears of Envy had a glue malfunction and her models fell entirely to bits.

Fulgrim had suggested we complete a short background story of our champions as well as a scenery piece to accompany our warbands .

Here is the background story for the Twin brother Champions of my warband , inspired at least in part by a fighting fantasy book I read as teen

2542 IC Vorhexen I write this diary while I can because change is on the wind....

I write this diary as a man, well what is left of the man I once was.

I write this diary to myself and to my brother , who can no longer write.. to my long dead mother,

died of fright on my sibling and I's Ist birthing day, I write this to my father , for his sins , now but

rotting flesh and dried up bone, and I write this for all the women I will never love , all the hearts I

wont break, and for a heart that will no longer care, if it breaks... for my unborn children I never

had nor ever will , for everything I could have been were it not for my god father, my creator, the

black night tormentor . I write this for the trickster god who I have come to despise and to love ,

like a true father, who both annoys and protects.....and changes...

Change is the nature of man , I know better than most the consequences of change, for better and

for worse, my brother and I have had our fair share. We were born in the Capital city Altdorf on the

Mitterfruhl spring equinox in the year 2523 IC , they say the purple flowers turned pink then

died that day all over the city. A portent of sorts … Because our conception was nothing short of a

bad omen.

Our mother a wretched servant to the high guilds, had fallen foul of the charms of a traveller.

Dismissed from her post, she took to begging, whereby she came to the attention of a debauched

alchemist known as Johannes Eckle. Of course no one knew how debauched he was at the time,

merely forgiven for being an eccentric Thaumaturge, it was not until the inquisitional purge that the

diabolical truth came spewing forth, ( quite literally as it happens ) but even then his powerful

allies in the Magical guilds across the city came to his aid and prevented justice from being served.

It was around that time we realised it must have been HIS machinations that made us who we are today .

For the longest time we , were just bullied as freaks, I could always handle the bullies better than

Lothar, who would fly into a rage at the least thing, he lost many fights before the growth spurt of

his late teens, then it was everyone else who feared his rages !

I on the other hand, I however had the clearest mind when I planned my revenge, half a ounce of

widows weed into the families water supply meant far fewer bullies picked on me regardless of my

diminutive stature.

All this was to be expected , we were different, not so much physically ..yet .. but we were half

made , I completed Lothar and he myself, we were better together...

When Lothars feathers came on our sixteenth birthday we were branded more than freaks , we

were ostracised, from the slums, and you have to be truly terrifying to be kicked out of Altdorfs

slums !

We left the city and made a name for ourselves as merchant guards , the riskiest jobs that no one

else would attempt, and we thrived at it. Soon our coffers overflowed with gold, and I set my keen

mind to learning the winds of magic.

Geheimnistag

Four years past and our attributes grew.. we heard of the trials of Johannes Eckle put two and two

together and plotted our revenge.

My Human mind had already started to grow distant , even more than usual , empathy had been

replaced by a sorcerous ambition and I cared for nowt but Lothar , power and revenge.

The Changes in Lothar were more noticeable, a terrible affliction gripped his skin as it peeled away

in chunks ! No Armour could be worn without it rusting and falling away within days. His moods

turned black and for once I began to fear myself his violent unpredictable rages . The only thing that

would calm him was talk of revenge and murder !

So the plan was set , we travelled by night to Altltdorf and slipped in on our boat. We stayed in the

only area we knew the slums , until the deed was done , then slipped out by way of the Reik.

Those winter days were hard , Bandits and bounties on our heels and heads , we fled north to the

safety of the Drakwalde. Our bodies changing day by day , our minds eye fixed to the northern

wastes like a broken compass.

Kaldezeit

I remember little about the past few months, we took up with some fellow outcasts , Ungor

too human for the Herd, unrecognisable now , how quickly they embraced change...

we have heard of a blighted place were time flows fluid , a place where seasons come and go

within a day..

its so cold...

why am I writing this .. I forget...

the cold is in my minds eye...like a shard of ice , probing my brain .. numbing me to everything ..but

tzeentch...

days turn to weeks and weeks flow into months .. and still we travel north , we raid villages as we

go , Lothar spares no one , His bloodlust unquenchable , the more he kills the greater he becomes ,

his fledgling feathers now a full blown wingspan, he takes to the air more often , searching out that

blighted place... I can barely recognise the brother I grew up with .. he doesn’t even try to

remember , we all keep our distance ..

Arrived last night night , Tzeentch showed Lothar the way.. the distinctive serpent shape of the ruined

castle only visible from the air, We are not alone.

The winds of magic are strong here , they flow through this place like water in a river.. we find mutated ratmen beneath the ruins, a grey seer drawn to this place, like ourselves for some instinctive reason..

Lothar has left again , but I am in no doubt that he is the one in charge , I live because he wills it ,

we all do..

More strangers arrive later that evening , spiteful and malicious , greedy self severing dwarves who

have forsaken their own god in favour of the divine trickster.. I admire them..

Lothar is back and his menace is greater than ever, his will is iron and all obey his command.

Change is coming we can feel it...

As we prepared for the Game Fulgrim had suggested that our scenery provide the basic plot for the battle.

The Tzeentchian Garden Idyll had become under threat from a nasty Nurgly swamp, and each side had been tasked with ridding the others patch. A brilliant idea that really set the tone for the game. We set up on the warhammer world Valley of skulls Table .

Although Originally intended to be a game with the four or even five chaos gods represented , we were now the classic Nurgle vsTzeentch.

With PDH and JB representing Pappa Nurgle on one side of the Table, whilst myself and Tears of Envy

held aloft the flame of Hope for the architect of fate Tzeentch.

Unfortunately I dont have time to fully blog the game as a proper battle report , not that I can remember the minutia details of the game anyhow . But I can provide plenty of pics so you can see it for yourself. As a an overview I can say that the glorious minions of tzeentch eventually overthrew the illusionary japes of the green rotters, but not without some serious contention and for a while it was very much touch and go- with the magisters taking heavy losses from the stoic plague bearers in the early rounds of the game - whilst hardly inflicting any damage at all to the saggy wart bags. There were some great moments of drama too - like when Envys tiny miniature troll tiny tim jumped out from a hiding place to assault PDH's Champion in close combat , or when I committed most of my warband to attack a formidable and impregnable looking champion for at least four rounds until I realised he was just an illusion ( haha ha )In the dying moments of the game I risked it all for my champion to cast a hugely powerful spell to once and for all banish the garden of rot from the plains .. A thunderous crack echoed across the chaos wastes and PDH's Champion lived up to his reputation and flew away like a cowardly custard ;-) All in all it was a terrific game and Fulgrim did a spectacular job of Narrating ruling and consulting the tome of rules to hold it all together.

As a side note I just wanted to thank my fellow gamers and friends for making this game happen - Tears of envy in particular inspired everyone early on with her amazing warband which she completed months before anyone else did and I fear if not for her commitment the game could have easily faded into myth.

JB of course who never ceases to inspire in everything he does. PDH who is just bloody amazing and without whom all this stuff would probably not happen at all but even if it did would just be not as much fun and last but not least Fulgrim who's idea it was in the start and at the end.

I just wanted to say its never easy organising these games and the huge commitment shown by folks at every game I have documented on this blog either by organising gm'ing or by bringing themselves, scenery, beautifully painted or converted miniatures shouldn't be underestimated .

I personally would also like to thank PDH for Sorting out the rules for my war band ;-)

So thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy the pics .. whilst they last ;-)

many regards Neil