Grimdark Army Concept: Obliterator Cult

Art by Filip Čekić.

Obliterators are a monstrous variation of Chaos Space Marines: former Techmarines and/or Terminators who have become infected and corrupted by the terrifying and bizarre 'Obliterator Virus' which slowly grant them the ability to fuse with machinery and reshape their techno-organic flesh to replicate whatever they absorbed. And yet, a less known fact is that they are not the only type of Obliterators. Certainly the most infamous and advanced form of the mutation but as it turns out, the virus can infect more than Space Marines.

While the virus can only slowly spread in the material world, the Inquisition is starting to fear that it may be spreading across Imperial worlds and creating small pockets of what are termed 'Obliterator Cults' as ordinary individuals become carrier for the disease and are slowly overtaken by it. But, surely, the average Imperial citizen is a far cry from a monstrous techno-organic Terminator bristling with heavy weapons, right? Well, as it turns out there's a lot of machinery one can come into contact on your average, developed Imperial World. What if such a cult did form in secret, its members hiding in the darkness and collecting all the scrap of useful machinery and weapons they can: first lasguns, autopistol and armor to add to their flesh, then vox transmitters, auspex and eventually industrial equipment. In time as the cult grows bolder they would attack tech adepts and servitors, dragging them in dark tunnels to rip the precious machinery off their flesh.

Codex: Obliterator Cult?

Well, not quite. This is an idea on how I'd flesh out an Obliterator Cult army for use in the rather rule-light and easy to play Grimdark Future, which is a lot like a free bootleg wargame system which just so conveniently happen to have armies which just so happen to resemble those from a certain British company! Since Grimdark Future allows to merge armies more easily, this list will combine from two different army lists to create what could be a hypothetical form of an Obliterator cult harvesting resources and gadgets from an Imperial world to start their uprising.

The core of the army are the Soul Snatcher Cults, which are absolutely totally not Genestealer Cults. These guys are fairly human-like, are a cult and have access to heavy duty equipment including heavy weapons, military gear and mining gear. Perfect! However, Brutes aside this list just isn't quite monstrous enough. The Obliterator virus make the host stronger, bigger and heavier from all the flesh-metal their mutating body starts to pack on. The easy answer would be to combine this list with the Chaos Marines Havoc Brothers and, sure, that is valid but the idea is that this is an Obliterator Cult which has arisen from ordinary human and not chaos marines. As such this list is combined with Orc Marauders to add a few more monstrous techno-brutes!

Obliteration Initiates

Base Units: Minions, Support Minions, Neophytes, Minion Bikers, Minion Quadbike

Strogg concept art.

At 5+/5+ with fairly basic weapons, these guys represent the bulk of the Obliterator cult. They are physically mostly still human, ranging from almost un-mutated to showing the initial stages of the mutation. The primary source of bitz for these models would be th Imperial Guard, Genestealer Cult and/or Necromunda range. They would appear to be mostly human, but with what would appear to be cybernetic enhancements crudely sticking out of them and their skin would have a somewhat reddish and/or grey tinge to it, either looking sickly or strangely raw and bloody, as a nod to the older Obliterator miniatures and their Dawn of War 1 3d model. Squad leaders and heavy weapon users would be partially merged with their weapons, with fingers and hands extending into techno-flesh melding into the gun. The bikers and other vehicles of the Genestealer cult around found at this 'level' of mutation. Vehicle crews are also assumed to be among those rank and files.

Obliteration Disciples

Base Units: Acolytes and Morphs

At this stage the individual is clearly more than a cybernetically augmented individual with some skin condition, as the virus has progressed enough to make the mutation of flesh and metal obvious. These models have 4+ quality and better access to close combat weapons. What would be Tyranid bio weapons are instead grotesque and swollen limbs, thick with cable-muscles and strong with metal bones. Horrid, H.R. Giger-esque tubing has started to form and these guys, equipped with the cutters, chainsaws and drills have fused with their weapons. Bitz could be taken from servitors and even arco-flagellant however at this stage the part where the flesh and machine meld would be smoothed out with greenstuff and have cables, tubes and wires going in and out, melding with the machinery in some chaotic ways.

Obliteration Brutes

Base Units: Brute Champion, Mutant Brutes, Orc Mob and Boss Mob

Those who have made it to this level have truly grown beyond their human limitations. Flesh has swollen with thick cords of plastic and metal fused with flesh at the cellular level, while bones have lengthened and thickened absurdly. Some might have taken a different path, however, simply gathering machinery to replace their flesh, becoming nothing more than a fetal mass of flesh and organs in a large body made of scrap and demonically-tainted flesh tendrils. What make this category clearly defined is that these individuals have grown larger, more powerful and noticeably heavier.

Art by Ricardo Robles.

• Mutant Brutes and Brute Champions are particularly large and deformed individuals which have lost much of their sanity and humanity in the process, having become oversized piles of mutant flesh fused with whatever scrap of technology they could acquire. These creatures lumber forward, waving massive flesh-metal fists, amalgamation of razors and chainsaws or even the stubby end of what used to be guns.
• Orc Mobs are used to represent those who have significantly bulked out but have otherwise retained their sanity. While somewhat clumsy shooters they have access to a variety of crude weapons and relish in close quarter combat. Think of them as a more human-sized version of the Mutilators. Model-wise they would be as mutated as anything else on this 'tier' but primarily use Arco Flagellant models with added thick layers of spiky bits and machinery bulking out their bodies and with one gun for an arm. These can also be equipped with better armor to increase their saves.
• Boss Mobs are the ultimate evolution of these still-sentient brutes, having grown to almost the size of a Space Marine (if not larger!). Since Boss Mobs can take weapon attachments (read: combi-weapons) this make perfect sense, as it represent the Obliterator fully developing its powers, gaining the ability to regrow multiple weapons out of their flesh at will. Not to the same extent as a true Chaos Space Marine Obliterator but still enough to have flamethrowers and flesh-rockets.

Cult Leaders

More Strogg art.

The way I see it, the leadership of an Obliteration Cult is purely based on whoever is most 'blessed' by the virus, meaning who has managed to retain most of their sanity while also having grown the most powerful. Lower rank officers and demagogue do exist, presumably selected out of the ranks for their leadership skills and military knowledge.

• Commanders, Alpha Bikers, Mad Scientist and Prime Neophytes are all taken from the lower stratum of the mutated masses. These may not be the most advanced of the Obliterators but they stand apart from the cult as first-among-mostly-equals. Their raw skill supersede any advanced blessing of Chaos.
• Meanwhile the Warlord represent the most advanced form of Obliteratorhood: a massive pile of daemonically-infused techno-flesh bristling with weapons. His strength is on par with that of an Ork or Space Marine and he easily tower over them. His form could be mostly symmetrical and humanoid (if he's managed to retain that shape) or he could have dozen of techno-arms tipped with claws, sensors and maybe even spare heads. Others might have fused with a vehicle (if the 'Bike' upgrade is chosen). No matter the option chosen, he is a nightmare to behold. While the Warlord could be upgraded with heavy armor to reach a staggering 2+ armor save part of me think it doesn't quite fit this list.