Just a thought...

Tyrannocyte

+

Tervigon

+

Spawned Termagants

=

Whole lot of fun when that baby lands! ;)

Add in a Lictor so they land on target, maybe even buy 2 spawning baby carriages! I really must make up a Comms relay!

The sky is falling, let it rain!

Y'know the bit in South Park when someone goes to heaven only to be denied entrance because they chose the wrong faith and it turns out 'Mormons had it right all along'? Well out of all the third party casts of Mycetic Spores that came out who'd have thought that Mr Dandy would have been the one most on the money.

This looks so like the central core of the Sporocyst, you could easily add the five 'arms' with Tyrgon head crests if you wanted something even more similar.

And just a reminder, in February I was mourning it's loss but here we are right back at it with so much more too. The fact is I am super excited to have this back in my arsenal. Will I be purchasing one though...? Erm, not just yet. I obviously have my own scratchbuilds and they will suffice for now. So is that an own goal by GW, too little too late? Not at all because right now I'm looking at the Codex anew. Suddenly there options, some I mentioned in my earlier post but these are kits I had not entertained before. The Haruspex I wanted for the cool model but as Monkeychuka pointed out the Haruspex is awesome but the Exocrine is more useful. Now the Haruspex has a delivery mechanism, heck pretty much everything can be in your face, this way. I was only contemplating how much we needed that level of deployment when this happened to me the other night:

There's nothing like seeing your opponent put drop pods on your Landing Pad to feel slightly aggrieved you can't even attempt the same. Still, all kinds of fun to be had. I will be definitely be getting some new models, models I wouldn't have considered prior to this option, so although I'll muddle on with the pods for friendly games I will be partaking of other gribbly sustenance. However, I have quite a bit on the plate at the moment, stuff that is in my hobby list and as and when my mojo and opportunity returns I will be focusing on those items.

So as giddy as a schoolgirl I may be thanks to GWs beneficence I will have to contain my excitement and just enjoy the new dawn that's arrived just 10 months after the initial horror of the new Codex. happy days!

HELL YEAH! The return of the Mycetic Spore!

I give you the Tyrranocyte! 75pts, so it's more expensive but it comes armed with 5 deathspitters! No one can face down that much firepower [not to mention you can upgrade those to 5 Barbed Stranglers or 5 Venom Cannons]! It still looks like it'll shoot at the neearest traget but add in a Dakkafex or 20 Devgaunts or 10 Warriors or lets face it the Toxicrene and Haruuspex itself suddenly take on a whole new outlook. This is so much win for nids...

If you look close you'll see that the WS and BS are still 2, it's now S5 instead of 6 :( T is either 5 or 3, I think it looks more like 5 which is :) less insta-kill but look at it's Wounds - 6, up from 3! Initiative 3 [from 1] and attacks 3, Ld and 4+ save still the same. Nothing about close combat weapons, it's lost it's Lash Whips and Ripper Tentacles but is does say although it cannot Sweeping Advance it can Consolidate so deal with a T5 6W unit in assault!

One last thing, look in the 'Area Denial' rules on the left, just below where it refers to 'lob Spore Mines' and it referes to a 'Mucloid'. So I guess this kit makes a second model that fires Spore Mines too! Happy days!

Now the big question, will these still be acceptable... 

 

Amongst friends no doubt but what about tournaments, let the debate rage

Mycetic Spores - In Memorium

As we bask in the afterglow of our wonderful new Codex I thought we should hold a minutes vigil for arguably the greatest casualty to the Tyranid arsenal - the Mycetic Spore. I'm not sure we can accurately know why we no longer have access to this little beauty. I think it's probably a financial one ahead of any other mooted reasons. The cost of making the molds and the potential market given how folk made their own or found alternatives is probably the real reason. There's no point GW investing money in something that won't sell, which makes sense but I can't help feel the true hobbyist is being penalised for their creativity. Well, I would say that given that's what I did with my 'Pong Pong Pot Pourri Pod'.

And then again with my two [oft-maligned] Plasma Hatcher conversions. I never quite understood the dislike these created, sure they're not perfect in their standard version but they were pretty much the right size, very nid-like and on occasion extremely cheap [until folk realised they could sell for lots to those that wanted to make Spore Pods]. Luckily my conversion continues to make them viable as an alien Vengeance Weapon Battery, which I may well have some fun with in the future.

But I'm not the only one to suffer, Otty had this beast of a Spore Pod. I'm not sure if it'll work as another form of Fortification. It's Bastion sized but extremely difficult to use as something with Battlements

And what makes it worse is he'd just finished another pod of more sensible proportions before the 'extinction event' happened. He'd built this out of a toy heart or other internal organ. He may be able to get a Weapon Battery out of it but it's still a disappointment no doubt. There'll be more pictures at the end of this post.

Of course the major impact is the loss of our ability to get nids all over the battlefield. Situations like this 2nd turn 'beta-strike' will never happen now. The funny thing is given the FAQ that gave us a 6" disembarkation showed renewed love for the Pod it feels like a double kick in the plums that it was removed completely. Obviously that made the Doom even more effective. Deviations meant very little when you could still get out and move to leech as many units as possible. Even though I was a little weary of my nids at the end of the old Codex it was the ability to switch things around, deep striking or foot slogging it was the extra Spore Pods that gave me the versatility to keep playing them interesting. It also allowed me to be competitive in different ways, learning how to get that 'beta-strike' in place but even then you were reliant on the dice, it certainly wasn't over-powered.

Here we have probably the last great thing my Spore Pods did, Smashing a Triarch Stalker to pieces in assault!

Getting the Doom exactly where it needed to be, the number 1 reason to take a Mycetic Spore. Even if he died he was usually a turn of people shooting at it instead of the rest of the gribblies.

Here's a Spore Pod Tervigon Sandwich.

And I had some fun with the rumours before the Codex hit.

And then the actual reality of what the rumours turned out to be.

But we can still not forget then iniquity whereby Tyranid Primes were not allowed in a pod with their Warrior brethren unlike practically every other Independent Character specifically being able to join a unit in their transports. Presumably this was more to do with Primes joining Carnifex in a Pod to make them more durable but that was an easy fix but they went for the hard one instead.

Anyway, here are more pics of Otty's insane last hurrah for the Spore Pod. See if you can identify all the bits ;) Let us hope one day they return to the Tyranid arsenal. I don't hold out much hope for these Data Slates, they promise much but deliver so little but they still feature Spore Pods in the artwork so maybe one day... we can but hope.

Armies on Parade board - The finished article [near enough]

The board is done, not that you can see much of it once I put all the figures on it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to fit the digestion pit on too but most of everything I'll be showing is on there or at least an indication of where they might go [Gargoyles in the background I'm looking at you].

I've got the Ymgarls up front coming out of the smashed Aquila. They're some of the more recently painted nids and are quite varied in their mutations so I think it was appropriate them being the vanguard of the force.

The second Flyrant will have his wings replaced with the Swarmlord's Bonesabres. The wings are a bit too big at the front distracting from what's behind but there was nowhere else to put him really. I even got my Rippers on the board on the right. The blades are black with Turquoise, I have to still photograph them in natural light.

CC Tervigon is the 'mother hen' that is back at the hive [Bastion] which is surrounded by it's defensive walls [and Quad Gun ;) ] and it's aptly named 'Hive Guard' who are defending the Hive from anyone foolish enough to approach. I think this accurately depicts my belief that Tyranids are not just a roaming force that don't have structures or things to defend. When you see it like this it makes sense, sadly with so little Tyranid terrain and buildings you don't often see it like this, hence the misconceptions.

Even the Trygon had to take a back seat due to the amount of stuff on the board and when I display it for real I will probably add even more gaunts wherever I can fit them! The Biovore is hiding in the background too.

Hive Guard and Quad Gun defend the Hive. I was quite surprised how well the defence line managed to fit the hilltop that was cut at a completely random shape. I guess it's just very versatile.

My rarely seen Gargoyles will be in the background. I dislike them so much I couldn't even be bothered to put more than 4 in these shots, just treating them as 'placeholders' for where I'll put them today.

Lastly, plenty of node points will be scattered among the battlefield debris.

I'll be dragging all this stuff to Southport and it also happens to be day one of the Southport Airshow. The Red Arrows should be there [weather permitting] and indeed tomorrow there was supposed to be a fleeting visit by Avro Vulcan, no, not Avro Vulcan but the only remaining flying Avro Vulcan, unfortunately I've been told it's suffered a mechanical problem so will be unlikely to attend. Maybe the Free Radical Collective have go to it! However, it does mean Southport will be an absolute nightmare tomorrow for traffic/parking so hopefully I'll find a way to avoid all of that.

Meanwhile, having finished my board a few weeks back and coming down after the 'gluttony' of the Scythe and Teacup tournament my hobby Mojo is at an all time low. Even painting the Swarmlord's Bonesabres left me on some occasions unable to paint for more than 20-30 minutes at a stretch [bodes well for my Dark Angels!]. The situation has not been helped by a renewed interest in Dawn of War II and more recently Saints Row 3rd [I know IV  has just come out but 3rd is what I've got].

Not to mention my kids started back at school this week and I discovered now my eldest is in secondary school and has much further to walk he gets up 20-30 minutes after me and will be under my feet while I get my morning routine done. On the plus side it may force me to abandon my late night stupidity so I can get up on time and get my stuff done before the kids descend on me. And my 93 year old Aunt has also been in hospital this week which is emotionally and physically draining too.

Sadly this means my blog schedule is running dry which may force a short hiatus, but usually when I suggest that, my mojo returns and nothing changes. Although give me a glut of GW today and I may just keep feeling sated like an overfed snake for weeks again. However, even if a short break transpires there may well be something wonderful that will happen before then, it's Saturday though and it seems no one reads the blog on the weekend [according to my stats] so who knows if anyone will pick up the teaser tomorrow...

 

'nids part 104 - To done! Plasma Hatchers Mycetic Spores

These Plasma Hatchers scratchbuilt Mycetic Spores finally got their Tamiya Clear Red X-27, I think I may be reverting to my teenage persona and just putting as much gore on as possible. So juvenile!

I really love the way the 'brainy' bits have come out though, they really look like exposed flesh.

And the tentacles too look positively icky thanks to the gloss varnish, must get some more.

Damn that mould line on the the top. You try really hard to get rid of them all and they still show up, nevermind these are only spares.

Yep that's some raw fleshy bits on top.

I think you could get definitely get away with these being Vengeance Weapons Batteries.

The slightly dull side view where I added some extra texture with my rough bone stripes.

And yet more pics, they deserve it, this has been a project over 12-18 months since I bought them.

I wish I'd picked up more of the beggars now, they're actually hard to get hold of and even then not the £2.99 I paid, more like a tenner! May as well look at the GW model IF it ever arrives, although on principle I may wish to abstain.

Anyway, job done!

Mycetic Spore V2.0 Plasma Hatcher | part 1. | part 2. | part 3. |

'nids part 101 - Plasma Hatchers Mycetic Spore pt3

Striations on the Chitin plates go on, yeah it's getting old for me too now :(

Also the first Bonewhite highlight and these are done enough to go out in their first game.  

And somehow I managed to force myself to do second highlights on this. So tedious now, I'm getting so over doing Tyranids!

Really rough Bonewhite highlights to try and add more texture to the flat areas, I like it, it's rough and ready.

Top view, the red bits will all get the raw open wound treatment of Tamiya Red Clear X-27 so they will also be able to pass as a Vengeance Weapons battery either Punisher or Battle Cannon's conceivable from these orifices!

Fleshy bits and tentacles next, oh and mustn't forget the turquoise highlights on the Chitin dots.

Mycetic Spore V2.0 Plasma Hatcher | part 1. | part 2. |