It is the end of the world. “Good” thought Worm, surveying the villagers milling about in a subdued stupor. It’s funny how it was not panic or anger, but simple acceptance, that gripped the village. But as long as the Slimy Scourge Who Wants to Destroy it All was summoned, the world would end the way it SHOULD… in a pile of melting goo.
The District of the Damned just wrapped up the 2026 Zenithal Elephant- our kitbashed warband swap event. We all first bashed and primed our cult, then brought hem to a big white elephant exchange. After a suitable amount of horse trading, we all walked away with a new warband to paint!
You can read all about it: https://bonespoonminis.io/zenithal-elephant-2026-part-1/
In addition to making the minis, we played some games! We used the Forbidden Psalm Endless Horrors From Between the Stars (FS:EHFBTS, rolls right off the tongue): https://impioussaint.itch.io/forbidden-psalm-endless-horrors-from-between-the-stars
We were playing for the burden, punishment, and honor that is the DotD Zenithal Elephant Trophy! @holyfirethem was our winner from last year (an event I sadly missed). This kitbashed trophy is part of the fun- the winner inherits it and had to bash more nonsense on top of it for next year!
The awesome @holyfirethem took up the burden of leadership, organizing the game day and GM-ing the event (since most of us had no idea what the rules were).
The Event
We gathered at Games and Stuff, which is a mid-atlantic destination for nerdy stuff. I hadn’t seen the new location yet, and it’s wild. A huge game room, plus a gigantic store with everything from Legos to used games workshop minis.
We did two rounds – the first round was a quick 1v1 to try to convert some villagers into cultists for our doomsday cults. Then in the second round, we had a huge Free for All trying to summon our Avatars to bring about the end of the world!
The Warbands
My favorite part was seeing how all the warbands turned out! This was the best- a really cool collaborative kitbash experience, getting a chance to interpret and paint someone else’s work. Personally, I thought I could see touches of both people in the final products- the bash influencing the paintjob, and the paintjob highlighting and reinterpreting the bash. This was super cool!
I’ll do a quick rundown of each band, we unfortunately mostly just had pictures in the moment, but rest assured they all looked awesome.
First up is Jason with the Machine Men with Machine Hearts and Machine Minds! He did a great job with the TMMs to bring these to life, and I love the contrast between the minis and the bases!
Next up is @themightyel! The lighting on these was fantastic- OSL from the torch and lantern, but also gorgeous NMM on the swords. Of particular note is the Thing that Thumps in the Night- look at that little possum swarm!
@sleepykamistudios was unable to join us in person, but did send a care package from the top secret command bunker. These came out amazing, with a suggestion of the wild zenithal showiing out from below.
@razoramonstoothpick did an awesome job with these bashes. I particularly love the little eyeball on the avatar. It just rules.
@landlines made it for round 2 after conducting some important work. And look at these dudes! The Rat in a coat vibe is perfect, with a great yellow-purple scheme.
@holyfirethem was not only GM-ing but also painted up and kitbashed a whole warband! This is the cult of the Roiling Worm that Wants to Drown the World in Poison Fog. The dragon is absolutely rad, and the color scheme really pops!
@deadchannelstatic painted up the fantastic mushroom fellas with their amazing medieval vibes. They really have a dirty and organic look to them that I love and have a super cohesive look.
@ardite did an awesome job with these claw monsters as well. They have a super distinct personality but look great together. I love the splotched color on the horns and claws, it looks fantastic.
And finally the cult of the Slimy Scourge who wants to Destroy it All. Ardite did a fantastic job building these and they were a joy to paint!
The Games
So for round 1, our cults were tying to gather recruits for the cause of bringing about the end of the world. We had several small 2′ by 2′ boards assembled out of the terrain at G&S, which made for some good quick skirmishes.
@ardite wanted to throw down, so they could battle against the warband they had bashed. I was happy to oblige!
The Cult of the Slimy Scourge that Wants to End it All squared up against their cult of claws and teeth. The board had 6 civilians scattered over it- our objective was to reach them and try to convert them to our cause- but if we failed it would turn them against us!
The game is simple- you get a move action, then one action where you roll a D20, typically looking for a difficulty 12 check. Our warbands fanned out over the ruines, making contact with the civilians. An early critical pistol shot from ardite’s cultist hammered my cultist Freddy. Still standing, but he was almost down! After our turn, a pair of investigators showed up, seeking to take our our cults! One charged into both of us.
In the next couple of turns, we moved up to a number of the civilians seeking to get converts. We were a little unfamiliar with the rules- you have _one_ and only one chance to convert the civilians, and if not they become hostile. We sent in our B teams to do some pamphleteering and rolled poorly. We each converted one civilian, then failed again and again!
I felt like I was rolling particularly poorly and could hardly ever hit my DC12 checks. Then @holyfirethem them kindly pointed out that I was, in fact, rolling a D12. Well that would do it! My fortunes picked up soon after making the switch to a D20.
Ardite was locked in combat with civilians and ended up slaughtering a slew of hostile villagers and investigators in a flurry of criticals. Pargin, my bowman, got stuck in combat with a civilian and fumbled and dropped his dagger, having to resort to his fists! Worm snuck over to one of ardite’s cultists and got a crit with his glaive, slicing him in two! Pargin the bowman finally disengaged from the civilian, and took out the last villager with his bow.
At the end, we each had one civilian convert, but I had taken out one of their warriors as well- so a minor victory to my cult!
The Finale!
Worm tightened the grip on his Glaive. Ahead, he could see the roiling clouds of gas. The end is nigh. Which is, of course, what they all wanted. But not like this! Not this gas-cloud belching snake! It must be the slimy scourge! The world must melt in it’s comforting consuming goo. Just as Worm himself was now doing…
All our warbands all gathered around. In the middle @holyfirethem’s cult had arrived at the skull temple early to summon the Roiling Snake!
Our goal was simple- defeat this false avatar, and then summon our own!
Everyone’s warband started pouring forward, seeking to engage the scourge!
Right off the bat, on turn 1, @landline’s rat marksman took aim with it’s flintlock and fired… getting a critical fail! The rifle exploded, killing the rat man! First Blood!
Across the board, Ardite, TheMightyEl and Jason got stuck in against the cultists, throwing their warriors forward.
On our side of the board, there was less cooperation. Landlines, RazorRamonsToothpick and I all got into a scrum on the way to the big battle. We were just too tempted by our diving charges!
At the end of each turn, the great serpent would turn and shoot a beam of power at us. This killed four cultists as they were closing in.
But close in they did. In particular @deadchannelstatic’s mushroom warriors made a steady bee-line for the serpent avatar.
As they closed in, the true horror of the scourge was unveiled. As they got within 1″, they had to take a presence check or suffer a mutation! The first mushroom warrior ran into combat, failed the check and rolled…
To our collective horror, he grew duck feet! Then another warrior charged in… and also got duck feet! Then one of The MgihtyEls warriors charged in… also duck feet! What was with this scourge? Did it even care about ending the world, or was it just here for the feet?
Everyone opened fire, hacking away at the beast!
Ultimately, it was defeated, and deadchannelstatic’s mushroom warriors stood atop the altar! TheMightyEl’s warriors attempted to contest the altar, but it was too late.
They summoned their mighty mushroom avatar, ushering in the end of the world!
The Wrapup!
So that was amazing- a great group of folks and some amazing warbands and narrative weirdness! So cool. I’m still just super stunned by everyone’s efforts in bashing and painting- this was a unique set of projects that never would have existed without the elephant.
And they all gave me the honor and the burden of the Zenithal Elephant Trophy! This was seriously a great honor, especially from such an amazing group of hobbyists! But this also is now an albatross around my neck- I need to kitbash some new stuff onto the trophy for next year, and help run and organize! What will we do? Who knows! But for sure, there will be more tiny weirdos running around. Tune in next year for Zen El 2027!
And a huge thanks to @holyfirethem, @landlines for organizing and all the players! What a blast.
-BS
Truly a fun event!
Great write up!