Friday 31 May 2013

'nids part 81 - Tyranid Bastion growth pt2.

The last post on my Tyranid Bastion had me pleasantly surprised that the surface area of my small crater was roughly equivalent to the rooftop area of an Imperial Bastion. However, I was unconvinced that the end result would match my concept. So I looked at the larger double crater and this is how the roof would fit, giving me some scope to taper the tower. Now, the base is big and it'll be a slightly more imposing structure than an Imperial Bastion but there's 'the rule of cool' and if my mate Otty can build a Mycetic Spore Pod that is 20x12x12cm I think I can get away with a Fortification of similar proportions!


This is the skeletal beginnings. You can see the height to the roof is 150mm and then you have a 20mm wall that will go round the roof with some ridges that will add a centimetre up to the 180mm max height with the Tyranid Capillary styled towers that form the compass points.


Here you can see it with miniatures for scale, including my Quad Gun. The rooftop currently will hold the 15 25mm bases or 5 40mm bases an Imperial Bastion can support but that may be reduced once the walls and sculpting has finished. Probably a small price to pay particularly as the occupiers gain most benefit when inside the Bastion as opposed to occupying the roof.


Here you can see the difference between the large crater on the left and small crater on the right. If I'd chosen the latter I may as well have mounted it on MDF as I'll get little benefit of the crater effect to add to the design.


Here's the top-down view on the small crater. I think this crater would also emphasise it's vertical dimensions.


Whereas a substantial base at least would not automatically draw the eye upwards as there will be horizontal elements to compete. You can also see where the two additional cross-members that will help define the structure are to be placed.


Next up I'll be adding the cross-members and probably be cutting slots in the crater base so that I can have it glued straight to the mounting card base underneath. Then I have to decide how to fill out the gaps between the frame and how to create the Capillary Towers.

 
Tyranid Bastion Foamboard core template part 1.

Wednesday 29 May 2013

MOAR from my mate Liam - Scratchbuilt Warhound Titan

Otty's Bio-titan and Liam's Warhound go toe-to-toe
I've been carping on about my mate Liam [y'see I've dropped the links to his scratchbuilds there, seeing as they never worked anyway!] for a couple of years now. He's a mad genius when it comes to painting and his abilities outstrip mine by a long way [although I do recall I got a higher grade than him in A-level art :P ] but it's more than that he's prolific on an industrial scale. Back in the day he had many, many armies for Epic, 40k, and Fantasy. Now he's down to just Crimson Fists, Dark Eldar, Tau, Chaos Marines, and I've seen Elves and Vampire counts too although I think that's still the tip of the ice berg.

Anyway, he's renowned for his scratchbuilt Warhound and Warlord Titans and I managed to get some pics of his Warhound build, maybe one day I can bully him into starting his own blog or joining with me on this one, what do you think? Well, here's the Warhound:

"She's got legs...


... and knows how to use 'em"


Some heavy duty carving of Plasticard for the scrollwork.


and in close-up.





Weapons are scratchbuilt too.


Plasma blast gun.


Vulcan mega-bolter.



Altogether


And the whole thing complete, non-metallic metals everywhere - I guess that's one way to get some practice doing it, paint 20m² of Titan!


Still plenty MOAR to come from Liam, the guy is a hobby machine!

Tuesday 28 May 2013

The Brood Mother has spawned - congratulations!

Just a quick shout out to Otty, Mrs Otty and all the little Otty's who have been blessed with a new addition to the family - this being the reason we went to Throne of Skulls in March and not in May ;) Y'see we could have made it there the other weekend, ha, ha!

All the best to everyone in the Otterburn household!

Monday 27 May 2013

1500pt battle report - nids vs Imperial Guard

Another match up against Ben and his embryonic Imperial Guard, once again we did the full board density rules, this time using some of Ben’s fantasy terrain. Unfortunately I can't find my army list with the Psychic Powers on, when/if I do I'll update the list below:

Psychic Powers
Winged Tyrant HQTervigon CC troopTervigon Plain troopBroodlord [Adrenal]
Iron Arm

Endurance



NA Haemorrhage

Doom of Malan'tai
Forgot to change, so left him with Catclysm

The low down:
  • Crusade.
  • Vanguard Strike
  • I won deployment but elected to deploy second
  • Warlord Trait - Move through cover for ruins.
His Aegis is made of the dry stone wall and I have to say I was a little in love with the Autumnal Silver Birch trees cobbled together out of BBQ skewers and the leaves from the Citadel Trees he uses bare. I’ve wanted to do these Birch trees on Terra Genesis for years, got the flower arranging wire but just use it for other modelling purposes. Anyway I’ll get round to doing something similar when I’ve got time.

    So the Vanguard setup and Ben went first, I was fearful of his Hydra and Quad Gun so kept the Winged Tyrant off the board but still fearful of what would happen when he deep struck. Luckily no -1 modifier for reserves this game, just a big Psychic squad.


    Despite having a decent set of support powers I still chose to push the Stealers forwards, hoping for cover.


    My Termagants were a bit lazy, so much for ‘move through cover’ and that was my Warlord Trait too.


    Still, at least that wasn’t my Tervigon spawning rolls which were 8 for the CC and 14 for the vanilla and both spawned out. Everything else moved into whatever cover I could find but it was a bit of a parking lot. The Biovore took a shot but just clipped a single Guard behind the Aegis which absorbed the blast.


    Penal troops arrived on my flank...


    with a Vendetta closing in on the Hive Guard and


    Penal troops shot up the Biovore for First Blood.


    Demolisher shot came down on my Broodlord, insta-killing him and all but one of Stealers.


    Ymgarls wake from hibernation and luckily a prehensile tongue allowed the furthest to cling to the skullface so they would launch a retaliatory attack on the Leman Russ.


    The Tyrant swooped out of the sky, out of range of any anti air and deviated to only get side armour shots on the Vendetta but thankfully an inch short of the board edge.


    The Spore Pod missed being in front of the Aegis and deviated onto the Guard but moved to the nearest point it could, behind them. The Doom didn’t manage to Spirit Leech anything from the surprisingly brave Guard, no doubt boosted by Commissar Yarrick’s presence. Interceptor fire from the Quad Gun tooks some wounds on the Doom. The Mawloc also missed the Leman Russ and ended up roughly where the Spore Pod was aiming for.


    I think this may be my wound roll for the Hydra Flak Tank from the Mycetic Spore. Can you imagine after getting four 5s/6s I then just get just one glancing hit for my troubles!


    The Tyrant blasted the Vendetta out of the sky with his Devourers, 3 HPs and once again we forgot about Jink until it was dead, this time Ben took it on the chin and vowed to remember next time.


    The Penal Troops were reduced to 5 after being shot by Fleshborers, Impaler Cannons and Stinger Salvoes.


    Ymgarls lined up to charge the Leman Russ but after a 3” move from cover they could make the 10” charge even with a Fleet re-roll.


    The Guard repositioned some moving to surround the Mawloc, others moved out of range of the Doom and the remainder, spurred on by the Hero of Armageddon faced down both the Doom and its living transport beast. A torrent of las-fire left it with 2 wounds remaining.


    The Leman Russ repositioned to get a better shot at the Ymgarls. 3 of them were killed and the remaining two broke and fled.


    The remaining Penal troops in my DZ headed for the entrenched Termagants


    The Ymgarls entered the Synapse Range of my CC Tervigon, rallied instantly and later headed for cover.


    Guard charged my Mawloc, he got in one hit before being battered by Krak grenades [thankfully no Melta Bombs this time] and suffering a wound – stalemate.


    The Doom managed to kill a Guardsman bringing it up to 3 wounds. The Spore Pod’s lash Whips made Yarrick and 2 Guard Initiative 1 but some of the remaining Guard, not in base contact, were able to Krak Grenade it into a pulp before it got chance to attack [once again missing it’s opportunity to record a kill].


    Finally Yarrick got to bring his Power Claw to bear and took another wound off the Doom, leaving it with 2.


    The Mawloc managed to break from combat with the Guard and headed out into the open.


    Winged Tyrant kept out of range of the anti-air and added support for my home objectives and cover the imminent arrival of the remaining Vendetta. Unsurprisngly the Penal troops did not live beyond the end of this turn!


    Conga lining the Devgaunts I was able to get in range of the Guard holding an objective. With a bit of luck from 9 shots could I rout them leaving the objective unmanned?


    The Mawloc slammed into the Leman Russ managing to blow it up but without any wounds to itself or the nearby Guard.


    The Doom managed to Leech the life out of all but one Guard and Yarrick.


    The Second Vendetta arrived, dropped the second Penal troop in it’s shadow and then put another two wounds on the Mawloc. Aggressive fire from the nearby Guard and Veterans managed to strip it’s remaining 3 wounds.


    The Ymgarls were finally despatched by Manticore fire with the lone Stealer securing the objective alongside the Devgaunts.


    The Devgaunts had lost their front rank, retreating to the shelter of the Chaos Shrine, while the Tyrant finally set his sights on the enemy line.


    Termagants head for middle objective along with CC Tervigon which succeeded in casting +1 Iron Arm but with Perils. The vanilla Tervigon had also Perilled, either this turn or the previous and so did the Tyrant this turn or the previous. So I’d caused more wounds on my own Monstrous Creatures through psychic power than the Guard had inflicted in anger. So the Guard upped their game, putting a wound on the Tyrant who then fell out of the sky taking him to 3 wounds.


    The Doom managed to kill off the last Guard and put a wound on Yarrick.


    Vendetta repositioned and the disgorged troops headed for the Tyrant but got gunned down by the Devgaunts. Gotta love those trees!


    The Tyrant managed to survive he’d eventually head to the Aegis and the exposed vets were wiped out. Ben called it at turn 5. Yarrick couldn’t kill the Doom before he’d have the life sucked from him and he didn’t have enough to capture/deny the two objectives I’d claimed.

 Ultimately the Doom controlled the game, he’s become Ben’s Nemesis. He wasn’t targeted too much with high strength weaponry so there were no insta-kill rolls but coming back from 2 wounds to 10 can really shake your confidence. On the one hand assaulting him at least controlled him, ensured the remaining army could focus on other targets and not get leeched but with so many rapid fire weapons available perhaps it would have been best to move out of range and then shoot. I think I may try a list without him next time, perhaps swap in the Swarmlord instead!

The game was pretty much the Doom’s, everything else tried to weather the storm and hold the objectives but the Mawloc gets a special mention for failing in his primary task but at least taking advantage of his Hit and Run this time and then destroying the most deadly element of the Guard force – the Leman Russ. He essentially played as a Trygon, without the shooting and -30pts, so a good choice. The other pivotal element was all my reserves turning up in turn two. This does make me think a comms relay or the Swarmlord would be useful. Having everything turn up in turn 2 gave Ben too many targets to deal with and with the lone Vendetta and backfield Penal troops unsupported I could deal with that threat safely with the Tyrant while the forward push of the Ymgarls, Doom and Mawloc meant no one element suffered enough concentrated fire to destroy it completely.