So another birthday has come and gone, and my friends spoiled me like crazy. Just the 40K-related haul was amazing. My friends Dan and Tim got me a copy of Dawn of War II, which has already provided me with a few hours of entertainment. Kat and Jon got me a gift certificate to my local gaming store, which will be put to good use, I’m sure. However, the pièce de résistance has to be the gift from my friend Richard, our local Ork player and kit-basher extraordinaire. (Seriously, I need to get pictures of the various pieces he’s been making, including a homemade Wazdakka that is just fantastic). A month or so ago, he won an auction at our local store for a massive collection of old-school 40K material, including a Second Edition boxed set, various codexes, a Rogue Trader rulebook (!), and a considerable cache of Second Edition-era Chaos models. Well, it’s no secret in our local group that I’ve been pondering Chaos as a second army, so I’d told Richard that I’d be interested in buying some or all of the Chaos figs off of him.

Fast forward to last night, at my birthday gathering, and Richard hands me three boxes, each progressively smaller than the first. I unwrap the first one, and it’s a Black Reach box… but inside is most of the Chaos figs that he’d won. Plague Marines, Khorne Berzerkers, Chaos Terminators, and so on. I open the second box, and inside is an old Chaos Dreadnought – so old, it has a spare Thunder Hammer close combat arm. And then, the third, smallest box. The other two boxes I’d vaguely recognized, but this one was new. Unwrapping it revealed a Tupperware container full of bubble wrap, and inside the bubble wrap was this:

Ahriman and Fabius Bile, all painted up and pretty

My terrible camera does not do these miniatures justice. They look fantastic. This was the real present, apparently, and everyone knew about it but me. I was rendered damn near speechless.

I put together an inventory of what was in all those boxes, and I have to say that I did not make out poorly. No, not poorly at all:

5 Plague Marines
1 Plague Marine w/ Plasma Gun
1 Plague Marine Aspiring Champion w/ Plasma Pistol
5 Khorne Berzerkers
1 Khorne Berzerker Skull Champion
1 Chaos Terminator w/ Combi-flamer
1 Chaos Terminator w/ Chain Fist
1 Chaos Terminator w/ Reaper Autocannon
1 Chaos Terminator w/ Combi-melta and Lightning Claw
1 Chaos Terminator w/ Twin-linked Bolter
1 Chaos Terminator w/ Twin-linked Bolter and Lightning Claw
4 Chaos Space Marines
1 Chaos Space Marine w/ Flamer
1 Chaos Space Marine w/ Missile Launcher
1 Chaos Space Marine Aspiring Champion w/ Power Claw
1 Chaos Sorcerer
1 Chaos Dreadnought (w/ arms for Heavy Bolters, Plasma Cannon, or Autocannons)
1 Ahriman
1 Fabius Bile

Most of it’s either unpainted, or badly in need of stripping and repainting, and there are loose arms and backpacks and trophy racks, but that’s okay. That just leaves more room for customization and reworking later. It’s enough to make a legal army, although perhaps not the most well-balanced one, and gives me some very interesting options.

But anyway, the point is… I have far better friends than I deserve. Thank you so much guys, for everything – and the gifts, too!