Is this thing on...?

Hello my friend, stay a while and listen.

I opened this blog last year, but haven't been able to stump up the requisite motivation to begin filling it with actual content until now.  If you've been unfortunate enough to find your way here prior to reading this, I apologize for having led you to this particularly void-stricken corner of the galaxy. As blog names go, 'Segmentum Obscurus' seems more apt.

Now that's out of the way, let's move on to introductions. 

I've been in and out of the hobby since issue 127 of White Dwarf, the very same copy of which I still own to this day.  I'll spare you the endless stream of nostalgia; you've probably heard it all before from other Oldhammer Gitz. Suffice to say, I have seen the hobby evolve from the twilight years of Rogue Trader into its present incarnation.  

I grew up with the stuff, and like it or not, it has clung to my imagination with all the stubbornness and tenacity of the Emperor's finest.  Much to my poor wallet's dismay, I seem fundamentally incapable of ditching this life-long obsession with the most expensive toy soldiers in the world.  And boy, did I pick a strange time to commit in earnest!  

It's certainly a turbulent and bewildering time to be a 40K hobbyist.  For what is essentially a pastime that thrives on patience and the rewards it can yield, the current pace of 'stuff' being churned out by G-Dubya seems entirely at odds with the spirit of the hobby.  For all their talk about 'forging a narrative' with your tabletop experience, it's hard to ignore that ever-decreasing gap between editions of the game or the kitchen sink philosophy of their design team. Indeed, if there were ever an appropriate moment for veteran hobbyists to walk away, now would seem to be that moment in time. 

But if GW are putting out more and more plastic kits of dubious quality (the current trend of which likely began with those blatantly CAD minotaurs), then the very talented folk at Forgeworld are going from strength to strength.  It's almost as if the FW team are carrying the torch from a bygone era.  They seem to enjoy a degree of creative autonomy that enables them to do what they love, and it shows.  That's not to say everything the mother company puts out is necessarily poor, just that even when they're top of their game (Mechanicus, anyone?), something vital is missing.  

So when I did finally scrape together a bit of disposable dosh, the temptation to splurge on a load of Forgetastic resin was too strong to resist.  I set out to muster a truly depraved coalition of the Lost and the Damned straight out of Imperial Armour VII, drawing together all my favourite scumbags of the (barely) human, post-human and daemonic variety under one banner.  And that banner is grandfather Nurgle.

Nurgle's all about death, decay and despair, whilst finding it all very amusing.  I dig it.

Having recently gotten my grubby mitts on the beautifully produced Imperial Armour: The Siege of Vraks, the call of the Plaguefather has never been stronger.  To that end, I have produced an army list that I feel best incorporates those models I have already procured, along with a few additional elements that didn't exist the first time around.  It is my hope that by publishing this list here for all to see (however few of you that may be), it'll motivate me to work towards that most hallowed of goals: a fully painted army. 

Along the way, I'll post photos with updates of my progress, the occasional step-by-step, hobby musings and maybe even some short fiction.  Feel free to chime in and don't hold back.

Here follows one casual hobbyist's riveting account of watching paint dry and slicing chunks of flesh off his fingertips in the pursuit of that most elusive of boyhood dreams.  I hope you enjoy the ride.