We Are Going On A Crusade!

Hello and welcome to a brand new series of articles I’m going to be doing here on Sprues and Brews!

Regular follows of our weekly podcast will know that we’ve been super excited for Crusade, a brand new way to play Warhammer 40,000.

The rules for Crusade will be in the new 9th Edition Codex, which is up for preorder right now, and is released on Saturday. We were sent a copy of Indomitus to review, and I’m pretty sure one of the first pages in the new included rulebook Matt headed towards was Crusade!

The premise is simple. You start with a 50 power level army of your choice, and during the course of your games your units can obtain upgrades, ‘level’ up and even obtain battle scars should they be unfortunate enough to fall in battle. As you add to your army, depending on your opponent, you can choose to increase the size of your games.

The rulebook includes a battleplans designed for Crusade, and features a load of content on how you can upgrade your units. Crusade is very narrative driven, which really appeals to myself and my fellow Brewers Matt & Jay.

With 9th mere days away, we are commencing our Crusade armies. In fact, Matt (Necrons) and Jay (Space Marines) have already had their first game, which can be watched over on our YouTube channel, as well as at the bottom of this article.

The Plagueridden

Back when Dark Imperium came out I dabbled a little with the Death Guard, without fully committing to an army of them. Over the past year or so I’ve obtained a lot of Death Guard minis from the Conquest Magazine series.

I figured they’d be a really fun army to take into a Crusade, so these will be my primary force for the narrative. I will also be creating Crusade armies for the other factions I own, including the Tyranids and the Adeptus Mechanicus, but most of my Crusading will hopefully be with these smelly lot!

Splintered off from a much larger Plague Fleet, the Plagueridden, once under the lead of Mortarion’s own Chosen Sons, are seeking their own joyous glory for their Chaos God, Nurgle.

I love the resilience of the Death Guard, and each of the models I’ve painted so far just ooze character. Perfect for a narrative focus!

Over the course of the Crusade campaign I’m going to be updating you all on how they are getting on, forging their own path and expanding the background of each of my characters and units.

It makes sense at this point to introduce you to the founding force of the Plagueridden, my first 50 power level, led by the utterly disgusting, Dolgoth.

Dolgoth Foulgoit & Gorg
Chaos Terminator Lord (with Allwyther [Balesword] and a Combi-Bolter)

Gorg cried out in anguish, the Nurgling was not keen on warp travel, and it had been far too long since he reveled in the delight of battle. Not that he did any fighting. His love of violence and the spread of toxicity was only equaled by his love of his own life, and would be ever found on the shoulder of the current warlord of The Plagueridden.

Rising from what a one stage would have been a grand captain’s chair, now riddled with disease and tentacles, Dolgoth Foulgoit, warlord of The Plagueridden took note of the planet they were nearing. This would mark the start of his campaign, his crusade, to spread the joy of Nurgle to all who fell before him.

My main priority for the start of this campaign was to create a warlord that was unique for my force. Whilst I was tempted to have a Lord of Contagion to lead my army, as I love the model, I really wanted to slightly convert my own.

War of the Spider, part of the Psychic Awakening series, introduced a raft of new Death Guard content, including Relics and Stratagems. One of my favourite Relics was the Allwyther, a Balesword with +1 Strength, -3 AP and flat 2 damage. Not only that, but it ignores Invulnerable Saves too! I quickly decided that my warlord would be armed with this weapon. With that in mind, and that I wanted to have a Terminator Lord, I set about my quick and easy conversion.

In a starting Crusade force you start with 5RP (Requisition Points). These can be spent on upgrades, adding units to your army, warlord traits or relics. I decided from the off, that I wanted to ensure Dolgoth was ready for war. His base stats aren’t super impressive, so I splashed 1RP on the above mentioned relic and a further 1RP on a Warlord Trait, Arch-Contaminator. This trait allows any units within 7″ to re-roll wound rolls with Plague Weapons.

Gorg, the Sassy Nurgling sat on his shoulder, really adds character to the model. I cannot wait to see what these two get up to!

Grimmal Barfspewer
Malignant Plaguecaster (Blades of Putrefaction & Miasma of Pestilence)

It is said, that whenever Grimmal opens his mouth, something, somewhere dies. If anything represented the foul, disgusting nature of Nurgle, it was Grimmal. Even when he speaks, his pure toxic breath steals the oxygen from your lungs.

I wanted to ensure I had some Psychic powers available from the word go, so of course I had to include this guy. Such a cool model too, he really emanates the essence of Nurgle.

He can choose to powers, so I have given him Blades of Putrefaction & Miasma of Pestilence.

Dr Rotgar Spleenz
Plague Surgeon

A moan could be heard from the surgery of Dr Spleenz, as a Poxwalker could be seen dragging itself across the floor. It’s legs were being inspected by Rotgar. He loved nothing more than taking apart the poor souls that were left on the battlefield, in particular those of the false Emperor.

He’d ran out of subjects, and was keen to gather more specimens to take to pieces.

I have chosen to align my warband with Mortarion’s Chosen Sons, a Plague Company from War of the Spider. This particular company has a 1CP stratagem which upgrades the Plague Surgeon to have a re-roll of 1s and 2s for Disgusting Resilience saves whilst within 7″ of Rotgar.

In Crusade, instead of spending 1CP every game, you instead spend 1RP and upgrade him for the rest of your Crusade, which I have done for this guy.

Moros Sepk
Noxious Blightbringer

It is said the moments before the arrival of a Death Guard army, the air thickens and is alive with the chiming of a bell. Moros Sepk, bringer of Blights to all those who wish to stand against the Plagueridden, rings the chime of certain doom.

I’m not going to lie, this is probably my favourite sculpt of the entire Death Guard range! Whilst rules-wise, he would have probably made more sense bring him in later in the campaign, I just had to include him from the word go. Further down the line I’ll probably upgrade him to have The Daemon’s Toll, a relic which offers a 5+ Invulnerable Save to all those within 7″s.

Besides, his job is to let the enemy know they are coming, so he needed to be in my starting force right?

The Revolting
Plague Marines (With Plasma Gun)
Champion (Plasma Gun & Powerfist)

And so we move onto my first of two units of Plague Marines. I’ve purposely ensured all of the marines are different sculpts. This first unit includes a Champion armed with a Powerfist with a Plasma Gun strapped on his back. I also have another Plague Marine in this unit also armed with a Plasma Gun.

Eventually I’ll include a larger, maybe 10 or 20 man Plague Marine unit, but to start with I’m running 2 x 5 man squads.

The Unclean
Plague Marines (With Icon of Despair, Blight Launcher)
Champion (Powerfist & Boltgun)

My second unit has a Blight Launcher, as well as an Icon of Despair for reducing the enemies leadership.

Again I purposely chose to have different sculpts, my pick of which in this unit is that Champion. Such a cool model, alas sadly without his Sassy Nurgling, as he can be found on Dolgoth!

Knarg
Myphitic Blight-Hauler

Leaving a trail of drool and muscus, Knarg revels in the destruction of anyone, and anything. His engines spew toxic fumes into the air, inadvertently provided cover to any Plague Marines nearby, that is, if they can keep Knarg from racing across the battlefield in search of its next prey…

Giving me some anti-armour firepower, this little Daemon Engine is a brilliant model. I’m hoping further down the line we say see his keen, for Knarg has family…

Spatterblight
Plagueburst Crawler (With Entropy Cannons)

Those Guardsmen who have faced the horror of the Death Guard and lived are very few in number. Those who have survived are forever plagued with the side effects of Nurgle whether it be boils, burning skin, oddly coloured vomit or something else very unpleasant.

They often talk about a Daemon Engine that stalks the fields of battle, raining death from afar. Should a mortar from this land on you, it is very much the end. To that end, in could say to be rid of the pestilence of Nurgle, you may choose to find yourself being the target of the vaccine that is a Plagueburst Crawler.

Let us not beat around the bush, this tank is an utter beast, and really takes advantage of the new Vehicle rules for 9th Edition, not having to take a -1 to fire if it moves. Another unit in my army I eventually want to upgrade to make those Cannons at least damage 3, this impressive tank should provide me with the firepower to take down any armored foes!

To War!

And so that wraps up my introduction to my army. I’ve spent 3RP so far, leaving me with 2RP for the start of the campaign. You can never have more than 5RP in your kitty, so it is well worth spending some to begin with. I almost spent all of it, but decided to upgrade some of my other units further down the line, perhaps after they have achieved a feat during a game perhaps, as a reward!

I cannot wait to get stuck into my first game with these, which is happening very soon…

“Those warriors clad in gold, they think they can stand against our Plague Lord putting such faith in the false Emperor, sat on his throne of lies. They will fall, like all others.

Ring the toll! We shall bring the plague down onto this planet!

Dolgoth Foulgoit

Published by David Jennings

Born and raised in Crewe in Cheshire, Dave is a geek through and through. Enjoys designing and managing websites. View all posts by David Jennings