Saturday 13 October 2012

Tuesday night's all right for fighting - 500pts Nids v Dark Angels

Over at the local friendly neighborhood gaming club there has been renewed interest in 40k. Warmachine has gone off the boil a bit and there's a Fantasy campaign underway so one of the guys - Gonders [who has an excellent blog you should check out] has put together a loose 40k campaign, starting with just 500pts and growing each month by 250pts. There are other restrictions:

1) Must include one HQ choice.
No more, no less. When this rule is removed, the second HQ option becomes open, and with it, so does the chance to take allies.
2) Must include one troops choice.
When this rule is removed, players will be forced to take a second compulsory troops choice.
3) No model my have better than a 3+ save.
This goes for both Armour, and invulnerable saves.
4)No weapons that can use the large blast templates.
Includes ordnance, and other effects, such as eldritch storm.
5) No vehicle may have a total Armour value or more than 33, including front/side/rear.
This makes the heaviest vehicle available at the start a devilfish transport.
6) No model may have more than 3 wounds.
7) No models with the flier special rule.
8) No psykers with a mastery level of higher than 1.

Of course that makes my list slightly difficult and easy - no Tervigon, Barbed Stranglers and I pretty much HAVE to take a Warrior squad to provide synapse along with the Prime. So my list was:

Tranid Prime, lash whip, bone sword, Deathspitter (Intimidating Presence)
1 Hive Guard
10 Termagants with Devourers
12 Hormagaunts
3 Tyranid warriors with scything talons and Deathspitters
5 Genestealers

And Gonders had 
A Librarian  with the psychic powers to twin link shooting or overwatch on full BS (Inspiring Presence)
10 man tactical squad with missile launcher and plasma gun.
5 man Tactical squad with plasma gun
Twin Linked Las Cannon Razorback

Now that's all out the way here's the game - Dawn of War, Purge the Alien, Gonders got first turn and I didn't steal. The only thing to note is the 10 man squad in the ruin top left and the five man squad in the Razorback.


Here's my force 'hiding'.


and the Stealers Infiltrated in the central ruin.


Gonders moved through the ruin and fired at the Stealers killing the two that were visible.


The Razorback trundled backwards [after this pic that is] and managed to target a stealer through the ruined window with it's Las Cannons but it was saved by cover.


I moved forward, the Hive Guard stormed through the cover with a 6, fired at the Razorback but with a 1&2 failed to penetrate or even glance! The Stealers advanced through the building and were out of sight.


The Devgaunts advanced, hoping to reach cover but their run move falling short. Exposed, in Gonders next turn three of their numbers were killed through bolter fire.


With little for the Dark Angels lack of targets my turn came around soon, the Hive Guard got a glancing hit on the Razorback after another storming move into cover.


Everything else was out of range after their move forwards.



The Tac squad finally left the cover of the ruins...


... and were in range to do some serious damage to the Devgaunts.


Leaving one solitary gaunt on his tod, but not for long as the Razorback drew a bead on him with his Las-cannons! To which I scoffed as he was vaporised only to be shown tactical genius as Gonders claimed first Blood!


Bit of loss of pics here. The five man squad had disembarked from the Razorback earlier. Advanced, thrown a grenade at the Hormagaunts - killing five and then assaulting. I struck first and two marines went down. In return he killed four but we were locked.


The Stealers charged the squad two more Marines were killed for one Hormagaunt. The front two Warriors fired at the Rhino but no damage, meanwhile the Hive Guard once again sprinted through difficult terrain only to shoot like girl ;)


The Marine sergeant died in a frenzy of teeth and claws, the stealers consolidated 6" and the Hormagaunts 5". The Warriors took fire from the tac squad and Razorback but Look Out Sire saved the Prime [although we really do have to check how that works as other folk were playing it differently]


As you can see, 1 wound on the Prime and 2 on the Warrior.


The Warriors moved to target the tac squad. Hormagaunts hid to deny a VP and the Hive Guard finally rocked up and shot the Razorback to pieces leaving the Stealers with nowhere to go but hang around in the backfield for Line Breaker.


The marines returned fire but with some judicious position I was able to Look out Sir on a different Warrior for bolter shots and prevent Insta-kills with the Missile launcher on the Prime.


By this stage almost all the Warriors had been wounded and he had tried to gain Line Breaker. His Librarian had been casting the Overwatch on full BS in fear of the assault and this caused all the wounds. His Sergeant accepted a challenge by the Prime and was slaughtered. The remaining Warriors killed three more but they stuck at it.


Another round of combat and the Librarian was duly challenged and slaughtered, two more Marines fell to the nids and they ran screaming, too quick for the Warriors but straight towards the stealers who had been crossing the back field.


Even then they did not reach the awaiting gribblies as Deathspitters cut them down as they fled.


So it was a win from me but Gonders did some really neat things - using the Grenades, tactically using the right psychic power at the right time, taking First blood and heading for Line Breaker. I can't say my Devgaunts did much and the hive guard could run for Jamaica but wouldn't be allowed on the Great Britain shooting team! Not sure if I have an MVP but the bonesword is a beast of a weapon but I'm forever dismayed that he doesn't have the re-rolls for scything talons that the other Warriors have.

Still a good game and more to come no doubt.

Thursday 11 October 2012

'nids part 60 / Terrain is everything - Tyranid Aegis Defence Line Pt7

One thing I learned through the tediousness of painting these things is do something that tricks your mind into what you are doing. So for instance I would plan to paint plates but then after I'd done two I'd then switch to doing the red planet basing - say adding the Badab Black wash. that way having been bored with the first task I broke it up with the second only to find that when I planned to complete the second task parts of it were already done and therefore it went quicker and became less boring.


Each panel was taking 15 minutes to do the highlights with 12 in all that was 3 hours. But sitting down knowing I could handle 45-60mins at most was both hard and daunting. Its great to have those figures in your head but it can put you right off. The advantage was that I could find 15 mins from somewhere and just do a single panel but setting aside an evening was just awful to contemplate - hence the diversion tactics.


One way to speed things up was by using a cocktail stick for all the dot. Cutting it in half meant I had a point and a large flat circle which actually made some dots way bigger than I normally do but these are larger pieces of Chitin than I normally do.


What amazes me is the reservations I had about achieving the same finish because they were too denim seems to have been premature, once again I refer you to the most important rule of painting. I thinkeven without the next set of highlights most of the Turquoise covers any discrepancies and the mixed tones add depth and variety. Simply he lighter colour makes the darker colour 'appear' darker, it's pretty much an optical illusion.


The kicker for all this is that in doing the red planet basing I also have to do the bone white fragments which meant one of the other diversions from the monotonous Chitin was the backs of the panels. So once again these things start to come together all at once.


I also tried some Mechrite Red on the alien tentacle vines to see if that would make them stand out a bit more.


The backs are pretty much done, no secondary bonewhite highlights I think, just a few highlights on the alien tentacle vines to pick it out from the base a bit more.


Once again the quad gun in context with the defence line.


Next up more highlights, another 15-20 mins per panel - oh joy!


Tuesday 9 October 2012

Flufftastic - Professor Egon Seuss


Professor Egon Seuss eminent xeno-botanist, Delta Level Bio-Magi of the Frau Mara Institute of Floramancy and part-time children's author.


It is his research into the mysteries of the Ferron Fire Fir and many other local flora that has saved countless lives of children, picnickers and couples who thought to enjoy nature without realising they were standing in the middle of a powder keg. One of his simple tongue twisters:
Four flaming Fronds on a Ferron Fire Fir.
is cited as reducing forest fatalities by 46%. It's also believed he has used his children's book as socio-political commentaries, the subversive messages often being condemned by the scientific community despite their widespread success. His festive tale about harmony to greenskins - How the Gretchin Stole Christmas has even been investigated by the Inquisition but in truth it is a harmless tale due to the fact Ferron Proxima is largely anathema to the Ork species. It is his extensive research into whether it is the Flora of Ferron Proxima that repels the Ork horde that prompted this tale.


The majority of plant life on Ferron Proxima is in a yellow hue and that includes fungal growth too. Whether this colour shift has any impact on the lifespan of Orks, who are by naturey green fungus, has still to be determined but Prof. Seuss has conducted many surveys, in particular, on the fungal reproduction cycle.


Many of the native fungus have light emitting properties, indeed the Bear Claw Tribe harvested wild mushrooms to use as illumination. Investigation of this phenomena may be important.


Prof. Seuss continues to collect many and varied samples to try to unlock the potential final solution to the Ork problem.


Additionally the Professor is very much interested in the connection between some of the genome strands in certain plants on Ferron Proxima and the Catachan Devil. Was Ferron Proxima the origin of the Catachan Devil or did the Devil somehow make it's way across hyperspace to infest Ferron Proxima? Once again the Professor posited some of his more outlandish thoughts in 'The Catachan Devil in the Hat'. What purpose these children's prose is not sure but in the scientific community his discoveries are often overshadowed by these comic interludes. His gifted artistic catalogues of native plant species tempered by the ludicrous cartoons to send little babes to sleep. Although the startling dénouement of 'The Catachan Devil in the Hat' where a full-scale Tyranid invasion takes place to re-acquire the Catachan Devils DNA strain conveniently hidden in his hat is enough to make any child have nightmares.

 

Again this is considered more social commentary and his fans cite the increased contact with Tyranids as justification for the bestseller. They claim he is preparing the next generation for the impending invasion. Pre-warning and fore-arming them for the conflict to come. Never stop being vigilant! Or, it might be the ramblings of a bi-polar madman about a Xenos in a hat!


Sunday 7 October 2012

And now a word from our sponsor



You may have noticed among the additions of extra pages tab at the top of the blog I've now become a Wayland Games affiliate, well why not? When I started the blog I casually decided to include a Google advert widget. I'm not a big fan of web-adverts but if it's innocuous enough I don't see too much harm and who knew if there would be anything my few followers would find interesting enough to click on.

For a while I hadn't even completed all the details to claim any earnings even if the ads were clicked on and as time went by, more posts were added to the blog archive, a search function, links through to From the Warp and the list of followers pushed the ads lower and lower down the page. So I'm really not in this for the money. If I was I wouldn't be giving away the foamboard STCs and freebies. However, it is nice to suddenly find folk have clicked on stuff and clicked enough to get you a couple of pots of Mechrite Red, or it's nu equivalent.

Amazingly when I did finally manage to get all my payment details sorted with Google I actually found out my earnings had practically doubled in a month. Which sounds cool but I think in total I've only made about £13 in nearly two years of blogging. Still that's £13 I wouldn't have, although I don't actually get paid by Google until it reaches £60, and I'm extremely grateful for those folk who clicked thru to some offer. I've tried to filter the ads a little bit so there should be some things of interest but thinking about it I realised the best option would be to join up to Wayland Games affiliate scheme. They seem to be one of the cheaper third party operators and I've had decent service from them in the past, my Tervigon being my most recent purchase.

Feel free to use the banner or not. Personally, if there is ever any adverts I want to check out from other folks blogs I enjoy, the simplicity of clicking thru to put pence in their pocket has meant I do so. Meanwhile I only found out in the morning of the Dark Vengeance release, after I'd ordered my Limited Edition set, that I'd been accepted, so I'd already clicked through Lancashire Wargaming Forum's affiliate scheme link. Which is funny because it's Lancashire USA, not the Lancashire UK where I live. Still, like I say, it's no skin off my nose to help a fellow community-er out and I hope they enjoy their commission.

So I heartily recommend adding a Google advert to your blog and/or clicking on links when you visit someone else's. We're not going to get rich off it but it's kind of nice to know folks are doing something. Of course if you're reading this through an RSS reader you won't see anything of the ads but no bother and there's only a point to clicking if you're actually interested in the offers available, otherwise just enjoy the content and stuff freely given.

Just to reiterate I'm not soliciting extra clicks, I'm just thanking those that have clicked, observing the limited success the webadverts have had and how other bloggers may use them and to point out I've tried to tailor what limited advertising there is to things you may be interested in, hope it's not an inconvenience.

Friday 5 October 2012

'nids part 59 / Terrain is everything - Tyranid Quad Gun pt6.

On goes the Turquoise. For some reason this was quite tedious. Having lumped this in with the defence line which was hard work every time I came to paint this I did it in bits. 


The head, the muzzle, two base Chitinous plates, the plates on the side of the gun.


It took quite a while. I also thinned some Mechrite Red and added it in places.


And I did the base with my usual Red Planet Basing formula but additionally painted the Adrenal Glands looking for a symbiote. See what I mean about the problem with red ones blending in. they'll look better on the back of a beasty but hopefully they're just noticeable enough.


And this is the view I want your flyer to have just before it ploughs into the ground thanks to its four shots :)


Next set of highlights to come but before that the same set on the defence line, keep watching!

Wednesday 3 October 2012

'nids part 58 / Terrain is everything - Tyranid Aegis Defence Line Pt6

The Tyranid Aegis Defence Line has been washed. Once again, Gryphone Sepia and Devlan Mud or it's nu-GW paint range or my Warpianter Strong Tone equivalent.


What concerns me is that the sheer scaled of these chitinous plates looks like there won't be the depth to the colours as on your standard Tyranid. these are looking more denim than deep sea ocean effect. And also whatever the washes do they somehow manage to slightly thin the base colour as significantly more undercoat seems to be visible than I would normally expect. You can see the Red Oxide colouring just a tad in the blue areas below.


And the back areas for a bit of contrast and all the alien vine tentacles are slightly more purple, just because.


Makes a nice difference to see them blue one side and then as you pan round you get a whole different perspective - the best of both worlds.


And here's the quad gun in situ, poking out form behind the wall.


Fits right in don't you think?


More coming as soon as I can fit it in, your patience is appreciated.

Monday 1 October 2012

A Thousand Sons - a review


June last year we went to Llandudno and I came back with the two books above. I read A Thousand Sons quite a while back so my recollections of it will be hazy at best but it's been sat in my 'drafts' as something to do for ages and I really need to knuckle down and say something about this book because it's one of the best Horus Heresy books I've read so far. I heartily recommend getting it and if you're lucky, like me, you'll be able to pick it up still in a local discount store - they all seem to have the same stock!

Obviously this is about the Thousand Sons and it's a real tipping point in the Heresy. If you don't know your 30k history then the Thousand Sons were pretty loyal to the Emperor, they just had a penchant for psychic abilities that the Emperor didn't want them to delve too much into given the dangers in the warp and the tragedies that had befallen man in the past through dabbling in the occult and the wyrd.

Unfortunately the Primarch of the Thousand Sons - Magnus happens to be the greatest psyker so far and as with most children seem to know better than their parents. So he defies the Emperor and continues to practice magyk but only to try to uncover the conspiracies that are about to erupt across the galaxy. Unfortunately 'the ends does not justify the means' and the attempt to warn the Emperor goes horribly wrong and he's forced to punish them for doing what they promised not to do.

There's quite a few interesting lines of thought going through this book. There's the contradiction of employing psykers, something the Emperor decides to clamp down on, but continues to use Astropaths and their psyker abilities to fly around the warp, something that at least was brought up by a White Scars psyker in the gathering that eventually outlaws the Librarian order. There's the conflicting beliefs between Space Wolf Rune Priests and the various psychic orders of the Thousand Sons. There's quite a lot of fleshing out of the Primarchs and it soon becomes apparent that much like a photocopy and a photocopy of a photocopy the sons of the Emperor are slightly flawed reproductions of himself as are the astartes who are more flawed copies of their own sires. It's in these pages that you begin to realise the scope GW has to play with. There's 20 Primarchs each with a back story and a legion to tend and each has his flaws and aspirations, it amazes me how many balls they've actually got to juggle!

My one annoyance though is that with this book there's a very strong similarity to Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith. Magnus, much like Anakin seeks advice and answers from the Emperor and instead of getting them he goes off and finds a solution through dubious enterprises much as Anakin gets nothing from Yoda and the Dark Side of the Force from Darth Sidious. You can't help getting frustrated that these 'masters' just seem to be a bit too cryptic for their own good. Perhaps if they'd made a little more effort to understand their wayward sons/pupils there wouldn't have been quite the mess that ended up happening. Unfortunately this feeling manifests itself across the entire pantheon of Primarchs, not helped by their poor imitations of the Emperor 'hisself'. You can't help wondering if they'd had a mother to bang some sense into them things would have been a little less catastrophic.

Ultimately though this is an awesome book, well worth getting and I really began to sympathise with the Thousand Sons predicament. I know the other side of the story - Prospero Burns, is supposed to be good too but I don't know if I can put aside my Space Wolf prejudices to enjoy that as much. Anyway reading it certainly made me think about Heresy Era Thousand Sons and if you really want a good feel of what they're like you can't go wrong by checking out isotope99's Heresy Era Thousand Sons over on BoLS, here's some pics.