Ellen Degenerate: Lord of Chaos

With Bring Out Your Lead! 2014 fast approaching, I find myself preparing, like you.

Painting.

As the more regimented of the readers of this blog may have noted, the posts have been sporadic and a little too spaced out. The sort of thing that happens when one is tackling real life: two year olds, family holidays and heroically ambitious company growth plans despite ridiculous cutbacks.

And if you thought the posting was suffering, well the past three months have produced absolutely no painting at all. Not a jot. No pots opened, no brushes laid out, no figures even undercoated, or cleaned. Not even been sniffing the glue.

But inspiration comes, as it always does.

Enter Ellen Degenerate. Don't recall the name? Go ahead and follow the link. There's time.

Now as you will see, the good lady is a good and powerful lord of chaos. Someone not to be trifled with, by all accounts. But how do you model a sinister and powerful chaos lord, when they're afflicted with one of these:

Providence is afoot, because it just so happens that Don Hans, slavering scion of Nurgle that he is, decided to paint an ostrich man, which goes to illustrate the point:

Interesting? Yes.

Disturbing? A little, yes. Mainly due to the paint job, actually.

Chaos Lord? ...er.....no.

And it was this conundrum that stopped me from working on Ellen. I had worked out what she might look like when I produced the epilogue of the last battle report played out on this site, which helped with the overall idea, but I was still stumped for a candidate figure.

I needed something frail, like an elf, but still full of power, as only a chaos lord could be. Likewise, something suggestive of the mind-shredding madness that is only millimetres away from engulfing her strained and anxious mind.

All along she was just sitting in front of me. I'm talking about 3 years now. Before I'd even written the first line of her first appearance, the candidate was waiting before me.

The Dark Emissary.

It is one of my favourite figures of all time - a candidate for so much. It could be dark elf sorcerer, some kind of chaos thing, a necromancer - it's even a good candidate for a grey seer. And also for Ellen Degenerate.

What I didn't do was take a before shot. But, you look like you're into finding things out, so you can google that and see what a normal one looks like.

In essence, I've not changed much at all. I toyed with different heads and I was on the very verge of replacing her staff with the daemon sword she has. In the end, I just gave her the neck, which twists over her back before returning under her left arm and positioning her head beautifully in the centre of her chest.

After three years in incubation, I give you...




...Ellen Degenerate:

A shot considering her armoured neck (she is blessed with fused chaos armour, you see). I tried to keep the colours bright, as she is an elf after all, and I suspect Slaanesh people are big on colours. In hindsight, I should have rounded the armour plates more, as I ended up trying to paint that in some sort of crustacean shell pattern.

I also tried to get the whorls and spirals to glow. I might revisit this after BOYL, depending on my mood, my painting schedule and my eternal enemy: real life.

A quick note about the camera. It's new and frustratingly shares nothing in common (y'know, like the user interface) with my old one. I took lots of shots which seemed okay on the camera screen, but were just useless for the blog - so, apologies for the light and the comparatively few shots.

Now I am clear to start working on her terrifying retinue - being comprised of Teacake, the chaos goblin and Sirrell Tonjon, the chaos dwarf.

Candidates have already been selected...

Realm of Chaos: Army Builder

Since Thursday, 28 july 2011 I've been added to this blog as a new contributor. Months have passed and I've contributed precisely nothing. What I've been doing instead was working feverishly on what is probably the most impossible and least awaited project of 2012. That's right, a complete implementation of the Realm of Chaos books within the WFB3 Army Builder files. Now before I delve into the intricate details of this, let me first explain Army Builder for those unfamiliar with it.

Army Builder is a software product created by Lone Wolf Development. I quote from their website:

Army Builder streamlines the creation of army lists, providing "point-and-click" simplicity and virtually eliminating mistakes. Instead of spending an hour to create a roster, it now takes a few minutes. Army Builder's validation engine constantly checks your roster against the rules for the game, flagging any errors with pinpoint accuracy.

Since Army Builder takes care of the math for you, you can quickly experiment with different ideas and refine your army list. Add a new item, subtract some models from a unit, change the rules for the roster - Army Builder instantly recalculates points totals and revalidates the roster, allowing you to make changes in seconds.

When your roster is complete, Army Builder can print out an invaluable "quick reference sheet" for use during game play, saving time and reducing costly errors. Between games, you can harness all this power and easily experiment with new army ideas.

The software allows so called data file authors to create data files for virtually any point-based system. The data file central shows a list of all the currently available point-based systems for Army Builder. Anyone can become a data file author. Being a programmer myself I thought it fun to create the data files for Warhammer Fantasy Battles 3rd edition. Little did I know that this "fun" project would take years to finish. The first version was published in October 2010. I believe I started somewhere in 2009.

I completed the implementation of the Warhammer Armies book with version 1.32 on June 2011. This is around the same time when Gaj coined the idea of including the Realm of Chaos army lists. Thanks dude. After a quick investigation I figured it wouldn't take a lot of time if only including the rank & file troops. The Khorne and Slaanesh army lists where included in version 1.51 on July 2011.

Being fairly content with the result, I thought myself finally finished with the latest version 1.65. Until, Gaj started complaining he couldn't select a "Champion of Chaos" from the RoC army lists. Obviously, the implications involved in adding CoC to the list are paramount. I wish I just neglected him and went on with my life. Needless to say, I didn't and this is where my decline into the Realm of Chaos started. Ooh the horror...

To be honest, I really don't know where to start explaining all the work done so far. At the time of writing I've implemented 115 attributes and almost all common gifts. All effects of the attributes are calculated and applied to the selected starting profile. There's still a lot of work to be done, like patron gifts, daemon and chaos weapons, war bands and the remaining attributes. Before continuing with this project and exposing myself to a certain insanity, I would like have some feedback on what has been made so far.

To demonstrate the potential of the RoC data files, I present to you "Ellen Degenerate" made in Army Builder.

We start by selecting a new Chaos roster, and choosing the "RoC - Chaos Army of Slaanesh" army subtype. The other options are left untouched.

The new roster has the following units available.

Selecting the "Champion of Chaos" unit from the roster presents us with the following options. Text marked in red means the option is invalid. In this case the validation roster reminds us that these options are mandatory.

To create a CoC you need to select a starting profile and mark it with the Mark of Chaos. As explained in Gaj's blog post on Ellen Degenerate, she starts her rise/descent as a level 10 Dark Elf Wizard. The Mark of Slaanesh gives her the default gift of Slaanesh (+1 WP) and one random attribute.

The starting profile is added as a child node to the CoC unit. Notice how the name has changed to "Champion of Slaanesh" after selecting the Mark of Slaanesh, the profile is still that of a standard Dark Elf with the exception of the default gift of Slaanesh.

Changing the profile to a level 10 Dark Elf Wizard is done by selection the "Level 10 Wizard" option.

It's also possible to change the default unit names into something more appropriate.

The random attribute is not added immediately after selecting the mark. This has to do with the way Army Builder works. Although AB supports random numbers, it cannot remember the number once generated. Random numbers are recreated each time the roster is updated. Basically every time you select or add something to the roster. To circumvent this problem, the user has to supply AB with the results. This means the user still needs the RoC books for consulting the various dice charts.

Reward 2 - Attribute 1: Chaos Lord
We know Ellen rolled the "Chaos Lord" attribute as her first random attribute. The attribute is selected by clicking on the "Select Attribute" option. Notice that this is mandatory for completing the startup profile.

A dialog appears in which the user can select an attribute. There are three different types of attributes. Those that affect the profile and those that don´t and those that are horribly complex. The Chaos Lord attribute falls under the latter.

Each attribute has a description. The first part is a copy of the description as written in the RoC books. The second part describes the effects.

Attributes are added to the profile unit as child items, prefixed with "attr:".

For this attribute the users needs to roll a D6 for each option presented and select it on a roll of 4+. Now, I'm not sure if Gaj rolled these dice, since he didn't mention anything about it in his blog post. Though he did mention he got the options 1,2,3 and 4. So, for the sake of this demonstration let's assume he did roll the dice.

Selecting the "Chaos Armour" option adds the "Chaos Armour" item as a child to the profile unit. The first CA received gives it bearer a +2 armour save. Consequently normal armour options under the profile unit have now been disabled.

Selecting the "Magic" option adds a +1 Magic Level, giving Ellen a total ML of 2 and access to Level 2 Spells. If Ellen was a follower of Khorne she would have received a Fleshhound and a Collar of Khorne  instead, crazy right?

Selecting the "Attributes" option causes a dialog to appear, asking to enter a number. This number represents the number of attributes. Ellen received 5 extra attributes. These additional attributes causes the "Select Attribute" option under the profile unit options to appear enabled and madatory once again.

Although you can select it, the "Daemon Weapon" option is currently not supported. This leaves us with the following.

Reward 2 - Attribute 2: Long Neck
The "Long Neck" attribute is one of those attributes that does not affect the profile. The easy ones.


Reward 2 - Attribute 3: Bestial Face
The "Bestial Face" attribute needs some special attention. Again, the red text indicates this. Let's have a look at the attribute description and options.

Just as with the "Chaos Lord" attribute, this attribute requires user input.

However, these options are mandatory and only one can be selected per attribute.

There, Ellen now has a "Face of a Goat", gaining +1 Fear Point and +1 Gore Attack.

Notice that the +1 Fear Point and +1 Gore Attack are accumulated under the Traits and Abilities categories

Reward 2 - Attribute 4: Zoological Mutation

Two D100 need to be rolled, the result can be entered by the user.

One part is replaced, and +1 Fear Point is added to her profile.

Reward 2 - Attribute 5: Limb Transferance

Another one of those complex attributes that need user input. Again, this attribute adds another +1 Fear Point to her profile.

Reward 2 - Attribute 6: Plague Bearer

The Shakes cause -1 WS and A, but the stats cannot drop below 1, so A stays the same. The Plaque does add another +1 Fear Point.

Spells
The spells are selected under the appropriate Level categories.

Exporting the roster to PDF creates the following document.

This concludes the creation of Ellen Degenerate. This demonstration only shows a small part of what is implemented. I'm not completely confident in publishing it yet, I guess I'm just looking for some feedback and mental support. If there're enough people actually wanting to use this, I might actually finish it, otherwise I'm not so sure.


If you're only interested in the CoC creation, but don't want to spend money for an AB license, don't worry. The trail version allows the creation of up to 3 units. The CoC only occupies 1 unit, meaning you can create up to three champions without needing an AB license.

Realm of Chaos: Ellen Degenerate

Ellen Degenerate. One pun becomes another.

If, at this point, you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, it might be worth reading the events in the epilogue to the Battle for the Wyemm Seeyay. Go there now. Then the rest of this might make sense.

One of the most interesting events of the Battle for the Wyemm Seeyay, was the incredible incompetence Ellendee had with her magic. Basically, the poor girl failed her intelligence test three times in a row. In fact, she only managed to cast one spell once. That wasn't a planned event - quite simply, the dice rolls were just awful.

When I started looking at what I could do with that story wise, it just became more and more obvious that the sort of person that would turn to chaos would most likely be the sort of pampered, arrogant elf who thought they would save the day with their clever spells and basically only survive long enough to see their entire army annihilated before being taken captive themselves.

So the choice was easy, really.

And, given that Ellendee is somewhat infamous, I felt that I could roll up her Realm of Chaos conversions, because we have a dice log to prove the rolls, and a global audience to see her descend into madness...

What we have here, then, is the before and after case. Ellendee Generis, the level 10 elf, and Ellen Degenerate, the impossible-to-apply-a-level-to chaos champion:

	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Int	Cl	WP	Magic Points	Fear Points
Ellendee Generis	5	5	4	4	3	2	7	1	9+1	10+2	10+1	10+2	10	0
Ellen Degenerate	5	6	6	6	4	5	10	4	10+2	10+2	10+1	10+2	20	4

As you can see, she suddenly became a lot more... competent. All I'm saying is that wayward gyrocopter pilots had better watch their step from now on.

Anyway, Ellendee's rise (descent?) was actually really quick. I only created her as a starting champion - I used the profile of a Level 10 Dark Elf Wizard and produced one Chaos Attribute for her, after applying the (meaningless) Chaos Gift of Slaanesh.

Let's go in order, shall we:

Reward 1 - default Gift of Slaanesh

+1 to Cl. Her Cl is already 10+1, so no more benefit to be achieved, I don't think. Perhaps Cl 10+2?

Reward 2 - Attribute 1: Chaos Lord. 

Yeah, that's right. Chaos Lord. Check this out:

So, I rolled well. She went from a frail little elven damsel to a heaving beast of chaos. Unfortunately, I then rolled for a further five Attributes. This means that she has six attributes, so if she ever rolls an 'Eye of the Gods' Reward when she gets her next reward, she's going to turn into a Chaos Spawn. She'll never make it to immortality now. Let's see how far we can go, though.

Reward 2 - Attribute 2: Long Neck

Great. Now she can see over fences. That's a problem she has all the time...

Reward 2 - Attribute 3: Bestial Face

That's the stuff! Chaos coming out in all it's glory. Is it a lion? Or a bear?

No. It's a goat. Beware, enemies of chaos, lest she ram* you to death!

Reward 2 - Attribute 4: Zoological Mutation

Fortunately, Chaos asserts it's true qualities, as we see the opportunity for a truly frightening and powerful mutation come through!

So I roll the dice...and her mouth is affected! That great, evil maw that... goats have. Maybe lion now?

Nah. She gets the mouth of a Rabbit. Grrr! Or whatever sounds rabbits make.

Reward 2 - Attribute 5: Limb Transferance

Okay, so up until now, she was still pretty badass. Even with a rabbit's mouth. You can get a helmet to cover that up. But now she was running the risk of quite an embarrassing deformity. More embarrassing than the long neck, even.

So wouldn't you know it, her bizarre rabbit's mouth moves around to her...

Back.

Which is always useful. Now she has to lie on the floor staring at the sky in order to eat. She can't even use her long neck to shout abuse at her neighbours over the fence anymore. Still - could have been worse. I decided, for longer term narrative, to have the mouth at the base of her neck, which makes it a bit more sinister and possibly a little more practical as well.

Reward 2 - Attribute 6: Plague Bearer

Don't get excited, it's not what I thought it was either. She is sick, though:

She's not a follower of Nurgle, so let's see what she gets:

The Shakes! So, the first really negative attribute - she loses some weapon skill and an attack. She can live with that.

But that's not all, folks. Being a Chaos Lord, she got two extra rolls on the Chaos Followers table, meaning she could already start with a small army to do her bidding. All together, this gave me three rolls. Having rolled all my dice, I got...

...a Chaos Goblin. One.

I guess she couldn't shout very loud what with her mouth on her back and all. They wanted to come, they just couldn't hear her.

I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that he's a very nice goblin, though.

Still, Ellen got three other nice things, being a Chaos Lord and all...

1. Chaos Armour (Yes!)
2. Daemon Weapon (Yes!!)
3. Extra Magic Level (Yes!!!)

The armour is pretty straight forward - she gets heavy armour and can still cast spells.

The weapon contains a Daemonette. So it doesn't have amazingly scary properties, although it doesn't allow armour saves and will kill anything with just one wound. Also, she gets +3 to hit. Like I said, not amazingly scary.

It has 37 strength points. Basically, each time the blade kills something, it absorbs a third of the victim's strength as strength points. Once it reaches 37, it is sated and doesn't have any further effect until the next battle.

And finally, the dear girl learned some new spells. When you become a Realms of Chaos Chaos Champion, and you are a wizard, you automatically get the spells of the god the champion follows. In Ellen's case, her spells now look like this (of course, you didn't know what spells she had before, because she never bloody cast any of them besides fireball...):

Level 1:

1. Slaanesh: Acquiescence
2. Battle Magic: Flight
3. Battle Magic: Dispirit
4. Battle Magic: Wind Blast
5. Battle Magic: Fireball
6. Elemental: Hand of Fire

Level 2:

1. Slaanesh: Pavane of Slaanesh
2. Elemental: Wind of Magic
3. Daemonic: Summon Lesser Daemons

So, there we have it. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Ellen Degenerate, Champion of Slaanesh.

Regards
Gaj

*Actually, I know nothing about goats. For all I know, there are incredibly dangerous feral mountain goats, who carefully stalk their prey and then ram them off difficult mountain passes or something. Their freaky little eyes are quite disturbing, I suppose.