Cult of the Black Grail
Epidemics of typhus, malaria, typhoid, smallpox, yellow-fever, pneumonia, trench fever, Markisian disease and countless others ravage the trenches and battlefields of the Great War, but they all pale in comparison to the most dreaded of them all: the Black Grail.
Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies, stands apart from the other lords of Hell, who act mainly through their mortal followers. Instead, when he periodically gains supremacy in the bitter power struggles of the archfiends, he sends forth his deadliest curse.
Infused with demonic essence from the bowels of the seventh layer of Hell, where the putrid fortress of Beelzebub stands, spews forth a torrent of demonic hell-flies, scorpions, locusts and other infernal insects. The Hellgate opens and a veritable tidal wave of foulness emerges, flowing across the land at startling speed, consuming everything and leaving indescribable horror in its wake. After nine days the insect swarm exhausts itself, devouring its own in its insatiable hunger.
The Black Grail is indiscriminate in its hatred of all living things: its infections can spread to virtually any living biological matter, which bursts forth with tumours, boils and weeping pustules. Puddles and ponds of melted flesh are left in its wake, endless mouths left screaming in their agony, for the Black Grail destroys the body but leaves the mind intact to suffer. The Scientist-Priests of the Church and the Alchemists of the Sultanate fervently look for a way to inoculate their people against this foulest of diseases, but thus far they are without success. The only answer is to burn the infected settlements with specially-constructed flamethrower tanks that use holy anointing oil as the fuel for their weapons.
But if this is not done, or the countermeasures are too late, what happens next is even worse: bodies of men, horses, dogs, insects and other animals of every kind that are infected by the Black Grail lurch to their feet, driven by a demonic will. Not living, not dead, they become vessels to spread the corruption of their master ever further, forming warbands that strive to find and infect life of any kind. They also gather things that mortals value and bring this loot as well as grisly trophies to the feet of the idols of Beelzebub they erect. Thus the Cult of the Black Grail mocks the devotions of the Faithful and their prayers.
At the head of such warbands stand the knights of the Order of the Fly: those most depraved men and women who willingly embrace the Black Grail and whose devotion Beelzebub finds sufficient. They are granted weapons, armour and equipment corrupted by the hand of the Archfiend in exchange for sacrifices brought to the altars of Beelzebub, which these warbands build wherever they go, objects of grisly horror constructed from the remains of their victims shaped into the form of monstrous flies.
Faction Rules
Some attacks by the weaponry of the Black Grail causes their opponents to suffer
A model may have up to six
When your warband is created, you must choose whether it will be led by a Lord of Tumours or a Plague Knight.
- Lord of Tumours: Your warband must include a Lord of Tumours when it is created. Your warband may include up to one Lord of Tumours and up to two Plague Knights.
- Plague Knight: Your warband must include a Plague Knight when it is created and may include up to three.
Captains
A Lord of Tumours can be equipped with any weapon, armour and equipment from the
A high-ranking noble officiant in the Cult of the Black Grail, the Lord of Tumours spreads filth and corruption amongst friend and foe alike. They commune with the Lord of the Flies through a trance-like ecstasy and can channel the very power of the seventh circle of Hell which Beelzebub rules.
A Plague Knight cannot be fielded, unless it is equipped with a suit of armour. In addition, a Plague Knight can be equipped with any weapon, armour and equipment from the
Plague Knight Ranks
You may have one rank per Plague Knight if you pay the necessary cost, as indicated.
Ranking lowliest in the nobility of the Black Grail, these armoured great warriors were once truly depraved worshippers Beelzebub. When the Black Grail came for them, they willingly submitted themselves to the authority of the Lord of Flies. As a result they retain a semblance of sentience and the ability to wield weapons as they did in life. They aspire to win favour in the eyes of Beelzebub and one day be promoted in the hierarchy of the Order of the Fly.
Elite
Corpse Guard can be equipped with any weapon, armour and equipment from the
Only the strongest human devotees can survive the blessings of the Black Grail. The ones that do are inducted into the ranks of the Corpse Guard, bodyguards to the nobility of the Black Grail. If they serve with distinction, they may one day join the ranks of the Infernal Nobility.
A Plague Knight cannot be fielded, unless it is equipped with a suit of armour. In addition, a Plague Knight can be equipped with any weapon, armour and equipment from the
Plague Knight Ranks
You may have one rank per Plague Knight if you pay the necessary cost, as indicated.
Ranking lowliest in the nobility of the Black Grail, these armoured great warriors were once truly depraved worshippers Beelzebub. When the Black Grail came for them, they willingly submitted themselves to the authority of the Lord of Flies. As a result they retain a semblance of sentience and the ability to wield weapons as they did in life. They aspire to win favour in the eyes of Beelzebub and one day be promoted in the hierarchy of the Order of the Fly.
Infantry
The amalgam has six functional arms. They can carry six one-handed weapons or three double-handed weapons, or any combination thereof, as long as the six arms can carry them. The amalgam uses the
An Amalgam is a huge, shambling mass of dozens of bodies of infected fallen enemy warriors, insects, mammals and any other living creatures that had the misfortune of succumbing to the agonising blessings of the Black Grail together. These shoggoths shamble across the battlefield like walking mountains of corpulent, diseased flesh, its flailing arms still wielding weapons its victims used in life. Anyone or anything unfortunate enough to be in its path is crushed into a disgusting pulp beneath its elephantine feet.
Thralls cannot be equipped with any weapons, armour or equipment. They do not suffer penalties for fighting unarmed.
The boons of the Black Grail lead slowly but surely down the path of utter corruption. Only very few of the chosen can withstand the blessings of the Lord of the Flies. Most are turned into Grail Thralls, and join the endless legions of empty, hollowed-out and diseased husks who must obey the whims of the Black Grail nobles for all eternity, while suffering the torment of their countless supernatural infections.
Thralls come in two varieties: Grail Thralls that have become almost impervious to pain and Fly Thralls, controlled by the gargantuan hell-flies that have buried their proboscis deep into the central nervous system of their victims, allowing far greater mobility in exchange for less resistance to pain.
Thralls cannot be equipped with any weapons, armour or equipment. They do not suffer penalties for fighting unarmed.
The boons of the Black Grail lead slowly but surely down the path of utter corruption. Only very few of the chosen can withstand the blessings of the Lord of the Flies. Most are turned into Grail Thralls, and join the endless legions of empty, hollowed-out and diseased husks who must obey the whims of the Black Grail nobles for all eternity, while suffering the torment of their countless supernatural infections.
Thralls come in two varieties: Grail Thralls that have become almost impervious to pain and Fly Thralls, controlled by the gargantuan hell-flies that have buried their proboscis deep into the central nervous system of their victims, allowing far greater mobility in exchange for less resistance to pain.
Heralds can be equipped with any ranged weapon from the
Some victims of the Black Grail suffer a far worse fate than becoming a Thrall. They are bestowed with the black honour by being melded with hell-flies, growing into a grotesque winged insect made of bloated flesh. After this torturous metamorphosis they take to air as Heralds of Beelzebub, the winged squires and scouts of the Order of the Fly. Their vestigial human bodies are still conscious as they are slowly eaten from within to be used as fuel by the Herald, all the while their warped bodies fight for the glory of Hell against their will.
The Heralds are the vanguard in any assault of the Black Grail, and the ear-numbing otherworldly drone of their wings strikes terror in any defender, breaking their focus and sapping their willpower. Heralds wield discarded weapons, contaminated with horrible worms that churn through them, which in turn infect their victims. Each diseased bullet has sentience of its own, finding even the smallest chink in any armour, burrowing into the nervous system and liquefying the internal organs from within.
The Hounds cannot be equipped with any weapons, armour or equipment. They do not suffer penalties for fighting unarmed. At the cost of +5 ducats, they cause
Parasitic carcasses of canines infested with maggots and flies spawned from the body of Beelzebub himself. Their unholy mission is to prowl No Man’s Land and spread diseases and pestilence in the name of their dark master.
Mercenaries
Combat Helmet
NEGATE SHRAPNEL
Ignores additional
The simple combat helmet has proven its value on the battlefield time and again.
Reinforced Armour
Grants a -2 modifier to all injury rolls against the model wearing this armour.
Reinforced armour is a master-crafted suit made individually for the most important and elite troops. Each one is richly decorated and often carries the personal device of the warrior who wears it.
As a
Whenever the Sin Eater is activated, the devoured model suffers one
The Sin Eater attempts to purge a model it has devoured as an
Tenderizer Maul
| Range | Melee |
| Hands | 2 Hands (Melee) |
| Modifiers | +1 to Injuries |
HEAVY
Its huge reach means that the Sin Eater may make one Melee Attack
Reinforced Armour
Grants a -2 modifier to all injury rolls against the model wearing this armour.
Reinforced armour is a master-crafted suit made individually for the most important and elite troops. Each one is richly decorated and often carries the personal device of the warrior who wears it.
Sin Eaters are horrific creatures: once they were mortal men and women, but their overwhelming greed and hunger for human flesh tainted with Sin, combined with the corrupting influence of the Hellgate, has turned them into a form that matches their inner foulness. They’re swollen into monstrous proportions and are always at a point of nearly bursting, yet forever ravenous for more flesh and human sins to devour.
The Sin Eater is one of the very few creatures that Beelzebub approves of outside his own followers due its insatiable gluttony.
Armoury
Variants
Promotions
