Dirge of the Great Hegemon
In the annals of the Great War two mighty Hegemons of the Cult of the Black Grail have risen: Yersinia Rex, Emperor of Pestilence, and Febris, the Rotting Bride of Beelzebub. Each was eventually destroyed, but at an unimaginable cost to the forces of the Great-Tyrant YHWH whom the Lord of the Flies seeks to overthrow. Even the great Paladin Engelier, the Sword of Heaven, died when confronting the might of a Hegemon.
With the ascension of a Hegemon, the hideous power of the Cult of the Black Grail is exalted. Beelzebub grows sleek and fat, and like a magnanimous king, bestows blessings and gifts upon his most favoured children. Beelzebub’s insidious grip over his Grail Thralls greatly increases. They move with more grace and the exalted blessings of the Grail opens their ruined minds, allowing them to truly witness the rotting glory of the Lord of the Flies and enabling them to understand more complex weaponry. In turn, the nobles that make up the ranks of the Order of the Fly are given kingly gifts from their mighty liege.
Full of the ascendant power of the Cult of the Black Grail, how miserable they become when their Hegemon lord falls in battle. Each Hegemon is unique, thus when slain it can never be re-created. The ecstasy of the Plague Knights in the service of their dread ruler sinks into the deepest despair from which there is no escape. Their strain of the Cult of the Black Grail is shunned by others of their kind, and they are no longer welcome at Ekron, the city of Beelzebub. They are cast out from the Order of the Fly for their failure. The Hegemon’s strain of disease continues to spread and create Thralls, but they are born into a world bereft of their sires, leaving them hopeless and desolate.
The eyes of the Plague Knights continuously weep cold black blood as they cry for their lost dark paradise that will never be again. The tantalising dream of a great flood of pestilence that cleanses the Earth is lost forever. Their mournful wails echo and reverberate through No Man’s Land, a cry of sorrow deeper than any mortal can feel, and agonising rage of black hatred that no mortal comprehends. They compose mournful paeans to their lost Hegemon - beautiful yet disturbing songs that promise nothing but neverending death.
Such shattered remains of the once-mighty legions of the Hegemon take their vengeance on any opponent regardless of their allegiance, even throwing themselves at other Cult of the Black Grail warbands in futile acts of regret, trying to feel pain that would at least momentarily dull their aching feeling of loss. But no such hope exists in their eternal damnation.
These bands made up of the strains of fallen Hegemons’ once-mighty legions form everlasting funeral processions for their dead masters. Echoing cries and dirges accompany their solemn steps, taking them from nowhere to nowhere. Their eyes are forever stained by the foul tears of the Cult of the Black Grail, and their skin turns black and sloughs off, hanging in tatters like funereal garb. They seek lost artefacts and broken shards of armour and weapons of their lost liege, fashioning disturbing and rusted jewellery from these remains where the Hegemon’s power still lingers beyond the grave. Few things that haunt No Man’s Land are more dangerous - or more ghastly - than these corruption-ridden echoes of the dark past, for these profane funeral processions will last until time itself is no more.
Faction Rules
Some Cult of the Black Grail Weapons have the
An
An
Rules that allow a
If there are one or more
Using the remnants of the lingering power of a fallen Hegemon, a Plague Knight of the Warband can directly command a nearby Bereaved. An Executor or Plague Knight in a Dirge of the Great Hegemon Warband can take a Command Bereaved
- Move Command: The Bereaved carries out a normal move (it cannot Retreat).
- Shoot Command: The Bereaved carries out a Ranged Attack.
- Charge Command: The Bereaved carries out a charge move.
- Fight Command: The Bereaved carries out a Melee Attack.
Captains
Using the remnants of the lingering power of a fallen Hegemon, a Plague Knight of the Warband can directly command a nearby Bereaved. An Executor or Plague Knight in a Dirge of the Great Hegemon Warband can take a Command Bereaved
- Move Command: The Bereaved carries out a normal move (it cannot Retreat).
- Shoot Command: The Bereaved carries out a Ranged Attack.
- Charge Command: The Bereaved carries out a charge move.
- Fight Command: The Bereaved carries out a Melee Attack.
A Plague Knight can have any Battlekit from the Cult of the Black Grail Armoury Tables. It must have a suit of Armour. No restrictions apply to any other Types of Battlekit.
Ranking lowest in the nobility of the Black Grail, these great armoured warriors were once truly depraved worshippers of Beelzebub. When the Cult of the Black Grail came for them, they willingly submitted 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
A Corpse Guard can have any Battlekit from the Cult of the
Only the strongest human devotees can survive the compounding blessings of the Cult of the Black Grail. The ones that do are inducted into the ranks of the Corpse Guards, bodyguards to the nobility of the Cult of the Black Grail. If they serve with distinction, they may one day join the ranks of the Infernal nobility.
Using the remnants of the lingering power of a fallen Hegemon, a Plague Knight of the Warband can directly command a nearby Bereaved. An Executor or Plague Knight in a Dirge of the Great Hegemon Warband can take a Command Bereaved
- Move Command: The Bereaved carries out a normal move (it cannot Retreat).
- Shoot Command: The Bereaved carries out a Ranged Attack.
- Charge Command: The Bereaved carries out a charge move.
- Fight Command: The Bereaved carries out a Melee Attack.
A Plague Knight can have any Battlekit from the Cult of the Black Grail Armoury Tables. It must have a suit of Armour. No restrictions apply to any other Types of Battlekit.
Ranking lowest in the nobility of the Black Grail, these great armoured warriors were once truly depraved worshippers of Beelzebub. When the Cult of the Black Grail came for them, they willingly submitted 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
Thralls can be equipped with ranged weapons, troop flags, or instruments, but nothing else. They do not suffer penalties for fighting unarmed.
The boons of the Cult 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, destined to join the endless legions of empty, hollowed-out and diseased husks who must obey the whims of the Cult of the Black Grail nobles for all eternity, while suffering the torment of their countless supernatural infections.
Thralls come in two varieties: Grail Thralls, which 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.
A Thrall cannot have any Battlekit.
The boons of the Cult 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, destined to join the endless legions of empty, hollowed-out and diseased husks who must obey the whims of the Cult of the Black Grail nobles for all eternity, while suffering the torment of their countless supernatural infections.
Thralls come in two varieties: Grail Thralls, which 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.
A Herald of Beelzebub can have any Ranged Weapon from the Cult of the
Some victims of the Cult of the Black Grail suffer a far worse fate than becoming a Thrall. They are bestowed with the black honour of being melded with hell-flies, growing into a grotesque winged insect made of bloated flesh. After this torturous metamorphosis they take to the 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 Cult 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 a sentience of its own, finding even the smallest chink in any armour, burrowing into the nervous system and liquefying the internal organs from within.
A Hound of the Cult of the Black Grail cannot have any Battlekit.
These are 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 disease and pestilence in the name of their dark master.
Mercenaries
Combat Helmet
NEGATE SHRAPNEL
The simple combat helmet has proven its value on the battlefield time and again.
Reinforced Armour
-2 INJURY MODIFIER
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.
- Place the model to one side, along with any MARKERS it may have. It is inside the Sin Eater and cannot be affected in any way or carry out any Actionsexcept as described below. While it is in the Sin Eater it is considered to be Down for the purposes of Morale Checks. A Sin Eater can only have 1 devoured model at a time.
- When it is Activated, it can take a Fight Actionand must target the Sin Eater. Add-3 Diceto the roll for the Melee Attack, and do not use any of the model’s abilities or any of the special rules for its weapons.
- If the Sin Eater is taken Out of Action, before removing them from the battlefield, deploy the devoured model within 1" of the Sin Eater and place it Down. If this is impossible, the model is taken Out of Action. In either case, the Sin Eater is then removed from the battlefield.
- If a devoured model is still inside a Sin Eater when the game ends, it is considered to have been taken Out of Action.
- Each time the Sin Eater is Activated, place 1 Blood Markernext to the devoured model. As soon as a devoured model has 6Blood MarkerS, it is immediately taken Out of Action and is no longer considered to be inside the Sin Eater.
- A Sin Eater that has a devoured model inside it can take a Purge Action.If it does so, take a Success Roll for the Sin Eater with+4 Dice. If the roll is a Failure, nothing happens. If the roll is a Success or Critical Success, deploy the devoured model within 1" of the Sin Eater and place it Down. If this is impossible, the devoured model remains inside the Sin Eater. Once released the model can be Activated normally.
Tenderizer Maul
| Range | Melee |
| Hands | 2 Hands (Melee) |
HEAVY, +1 INJURY MODIFIER
Reinforced Armour
-2 INJURY MODIFIER
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.
Combat Helmet
NEGATE SHRAPNEL
The simple combat helmet has proven its value on the battlefield time and again.
Sin Eaters were once mortal men and women, but their overwhelming greed, combined with the corrupting influence of the Hellgate, turned them into an abominable form that matches their inner foulness. Sin Eaters are among the few creatures outside Beelzebub’s followers that he deems worthy as their boundless gluttony mirrors his essence.
Armoury
Base Faction
Promotions
