Throne of Skulls March 2014 - Prologue

It's Throne of Skulls tomorrow, I've nervously excited for a couple of weeks now, this is the culmination of months of work and I can't wait to hang out with my gaming buddies because if I'm honest I'm going into this with a fair bit of trepidation. We have Escalation to contend with - it's not the end of the world [that's Apocalypse ;) ] but I'm not 100% convinced I can do much against a Lord of War, hence my adoption of Stronghold Assault forces to try and weather the storm. Ultimately I don't want to spend £150+ for the weekend to be wiped off the board without response!

I also have the new Tyranid Codex to deal with which really is the gift that just keeps on giving. Only today I found out that Winged Hive Tyrants can no longer Deep Strike. Flying Monstrous Creatures do not have that Special Rule and although it does mention that in Swoop and Glide mode they 'move' like Jump Units apparently the consensus is that that does not mean they 'are' Jump Units and thus can take advantage of their deep Strike Special ability. Apparently even to consider such is just stupid, or so I was made to feel on the forums! Apparently the last Codex FAQ did state that Harpies and Flyrants could Deep Strike but obviously that is no longer available/appropriate so deployment is now on or off the board in Reserve, which just sucks.

Anyway, I chose my option 1 list. Everyone kept on saying go with 'fun' well if I'm actually taking 4 Spore Mines in a cluster along with the Biovore it must be fun. It does actually make a mockery of all the Termagants I have. I painted those extra 20 on the assumption I'd run three Tervigons, which is no longer the case, still they needed to be done for Project X. Although with 30 less gaunts on the board from the get go I'll be under less pressure so may get to take pictures as usual. Oh, bizarrely I decide to start adding a bit of Mechrite Red to the Trygon last night around the joints and fleshy bits. I've been adding more and more red into Hive Fleet Gorgon as time goes on and retro-painting the Warriors and other models to fit with this new aesthetic. The 'liver' effect wasn't particularly good on the Trygon so it could definitely do with a pick-me-up. it won't be finished but it will look better alongside the other Kaiju!

Ultimately ToS this time is about having fun, I want to hang with my buds and have some fun games and with Stronghold Assault I get to show off all the nid Fortifications in one go. I didn't expect to ever be as successful as Dan and I were at Battle Brothers, coming 2nd and lets face it with everything as it stands I doubt that's even a possibility. But I've a good run at best painted Monstrous Creature and Fortifcations, although I expect considerably more competition this time, so it's by no means in the bag toxin sac! I do want a better 'Best game' score. It's extremely arbitrary but hopefully the army, freebies, my rugged good lucks and natural charm will win over those I get to game with.

What more can I say? We hope to leave early tomorrow morning, get to Warhammer World for 4ish, register and maybe even get in a practice game. Liam and I will have a bash while Otty and Scott [our 5th Musketeer] face each other with Ben offering Scott support, given he's only just getting back into 40k. Hopefully all these positives will run true and it'll be a good weekend.