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...

 

Throne of Skulls Mar '13 - Best Army Nominees

Here are the nominees for best army from Throne of Skulls, I've also included a couple of extra shots that I coincidentally took of the nominees ahead of the nominations as well save me creating a new post for those. Anyway, first up my mate Liam, we'd joked about how my use of scenery would overshadow the poor soul who may have to display underneath me if I was nominated. You can see our fears were unfounded as Liam was indeed dsiplaying below my 'little Ferron Proxima'.

Liam's Daemon Prince, his head and arms are removable but Liam has abandoned the use of magnets for this and instead uses Lego, mainly the 'technical' pieces but you can't beat the flexibility, durability and downright reliability of these pieces to secure your miniatures and make them 'hot-swappable'.

Not sure who's marines this was but it was cleanly executed.

Which is why I took some pictures of it first thing on Day 1.

Not sure what Space Marine cahpter [and their Imperial Guard allies] this is but my buddies were mightily impressed by the scorching and damage to the drop pods.

Last Ocotber's Iron Warrior winner was nominated again, probably because of the added trophies on the base ;)

A unique Necron force featuring a white and green marble effect on their living metal.

These Howling Griffons were amazing. They were so cleanly executed with individual heraldry and freehanding. My mate Otty got to play against them with his Eldar

Mounted Demigryphs, not sure if these were run as Thunderwolves or bikes but they were another awesome addition and once again the clean finish was amazing to behold.

Mat Garside's White Scars. Excellent execution and consistency throughout

Here are the extra pictures I took before our battle on day 1.

And here's what I did with my space, as well as my army and a few extra additions to try and show the full Tyranid range I included my Tyranid Reclamation Digestion Pool, various craters, Ferron Fire Firs, Honored Imperium terrain and various wound and ability markers because they all go together. 

I'd hoped making the diorama would have helped unify everything together so you could see that the army went beyond just the figures - trying to bring a little bit of Ferron Proxima to Warhammer World. I'm still debating whether I should have measured the cabinet so I could have created a backdrop if I'm ever lucky enough to be nominated again but I do like the mirrors allowing you to see the backs of the models too.
Anyway, if you want to check out the facebook album full of 248 photos of the event please check it out here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.579078605444957.1073741831.212614545424700&type=3

Throne of Skulls Mar '13 - Conclusion

So that was it, my five games and a whole lot of indigestion. Lets look at some of my units and how they fared:

Winged Hive Tyrant
Lets just say from the beginning I knew going in that he was going to be a potential liability. I was taking him more for the fact he was a newly finished model and a cool one to boot. I knew he had the potential to do well but equally fall at the first hurdle. The first two games he didn't survive past turn 2 but the last two games he actually was one of the key parts of my force that won [or nearly won] me the game. As for the third game, however bad it ended up he was probably the single most effective unit in play. I can't say I'd rely on him, he's still incredibly expensive and vulnerable but having a Deep Striking flyer is nothing to sniff at.

Tervigon
These really have become the workhorse of my army. I really should take on a third but I hated painting this one, there's just too much figure and I really don't want to be spending more money on the Tyranids or else I won't stop. Spawning was ridiculously poor and I even forgot to spawn in a couple of instances. It was certainly interesting to have both scoring Tervigons it makes them even more of an issue for the opponent when they're sat on an objective but I did miss out on an Outflanking Warlord Trait that was unnecessary on the Hive Tyrant but if I'd kept the Tervigon as a HQ could have been fun. Also I'm not 100% on all of the details in the battles on why they died but there seemed to be some combats they were unstoppable against tough opponents and yet others where they were whipped by seemingly inferior forces, c'est la vie.

Termagants
Having a spare 10 gaunts was handy, that's for sure. Termagants as a whole did surprisingly well, those 15 killing two Wraiths in game 2 being a particular high-point. Also their tar-pitting ability is handy but I guess with a greater understanding of multiple charges I'll now have to be even more strategic so that I can still follow up with Tervigon support. As I say spawning wasn't great, which was a shame.

Devgaunts
Devgaunts were their usual dependable selves, my only disappointment being they were quite often picked off before they could bring their weapons to bear. However, even 4 or 5 remaining gaunts proved to be effective, it's just a shame I didn't have the other half to be even more deadly. Perhaps I'll look at a bigger brood at some point, or a couple of pods of them to get within range before being mullered.

Broodlord and min Genestealer Brood
Didn't deliver much in game terms this time round. With only one brood there was less opportunity for them to shine and really their contribution was the added Biomancy power, hopefully picking up Endurance or Enfeeble but on a number of occasions lucking out with Witchfires.

Hive Guard
The Hive Guard did admirably, they secured First Blood on a couple of occasions which probably was the difference between a win or a loss. I did mess up with my Defence Line positioning, not always putting it within 24" of my opponent which would have benefited their range.

Doom of Malan'tai in Mycetic Spore
Not as unlucky on saving throws as normal but not as lucky as he could have been. The Doom is always a threat, Psychic Shriek is fun for that extra chance to kill people in the same fashion as Spirit Leech but with the added advantage of no cover saves. He had his moments of success and some moments where his only impact was to take a turns worth of shooting from anything nearby. Regardless, in these tournament environments I think he'll be a 'must take'.

Trygon

This is what I wrote last October:

Oh dear, what did you do? I think it may have killed a couple of things but overall it was 200pts that may well have been wasted. Perhaps it took fire which allowed the Tervigons to shine...

and it repeated that situation. I may consider saving 30pts and going with a Mawloc in future. If all it's going to do is get shot I may as well do it for cheaper and have a large blast attack to boot.

Aegis Defence Line
Game 3 and this baby must have made it's points back 10 times over, although ultimately it could not save everything. I think I was able to come up with some effective formations, although some didn't get me in a position to capitalise on the 24" range for an Impaler Cannon. That flexibility makes me shake my head when I see folk who have mounted theirs on a base, or recently I saw someone had magnetised the edged of theirs, which sounds and looks cool but really only gives you a straight line.

However, there was the occasional misunderstanding where my opponents didn't know that Fortifications are deployed in your table half, not your Deployment Zone. So when I'm putting it in advance of my army they think I'm trying a fast one. Equally the remarks from bystanders about Tyranids shouldn't have them was irritating, like Tyranids don't create structures on a planet  - digestion pits, spore chimneys, brood hives. And of course they defend these with a variety of bioforms. Those comments just illustrate an ignorance of the army in general. It's not really a big issue it's just an annoyance to have folk pass comment while you're playing and not have the opportunity to educate them, it's not like there's a lot of love for the bug anyway, who'd have thought that I'd come to the defence of these things.

Anyway, the big thing of course is that they won me Monument of Legend - Best Fortification prize. I'm pretty sure if it hadn't been in my army list with people seeing it in action it may not have succeeded. I think the pic below is evident that it certainly stands out on a standard Warhammer World Realm of Battle board. Of course there were only 5 entries which increased my odds but it was an accolade I was ludicrously happy about and made up for my less than stellar success on the battlefield.

Biomancy
How fickle the tides of the Empyrean. Obviously game 3 where I had all the powers at my disposal to survive almost anything only to be nobbled by poison weapons is a downer. Quite a few Endurance wounds were saved which totally renewed my faith in the powers beyond Catalyst. However I also got a few occasions where I was stuck with Haemorrhage AND Life Leech, was resigned to using them and they may have been effective too but as far as I can recall didn't bother! I also suffered a 1 in 5 Witchfire for my Broodlord with only one game where he traded his powers only to get nothing in return. Sorry but this sucks, I still don't get it and I still don't get why its FAQed that way. If I roll something above my Psyker level I get a re-roll because, one can assume, he isn't going to learn something too powerful for him. In the same context he's not going to learn something he has no ability to cast. Equally if you roll a double you get to re-roll as he isn't going to learn the same thing twice. The fairest option is a re-roll for a Broodlord, I've looked at Telepathy and Telekinesis too and the options are even less favourable for him there. I really should write a well considered appeal to the FAQ team about this, it's a nonsense.

Warhammer World Events Team

Say what you like about GW, its policies, practices, prices etc. but one thing they get right and it's Warhammer World. The weekend actually feels good value, the food that's included is top notch and the staff are excellent to the point where even after just three visits they are getting to know us and treat us like old friends. Even at the end of the tournament they asked if we'd had a good time when, lets face it, the sooner we vacated the building the sooner they could finish for the day. The last comment of the day was when I asked Nick 'if and when they renew some of the battle boards he would suggest a red planet one is created so my army would look even better' to which he replied 'well if perhaps you'd killed a few more people the board would have been stained red already' which my mates thought was hilarious.

Also there were significant improvements in the event compared to last October. It was a smoother operation from the Events team, games got underway easier and getting food was just as simple. One aspect I took upon myself to improve was to move my army to my next table as soon after finishing as it was announced. Quite often that meant the hall was relatively empty meaning I could navigate stools and gear with my horde without having 140+ other gamers trying to do exactly the same thing at the same time, just some advice if you go.

Ultimately I had a great time, the gaming success was minimal but I feel there were some moral victories in amongst the defeats and draws. I know I could have won two more games than I did but for my own misunderstanding and choice but even so they were all great games against thoroughly decent opponents. My only real problem was the nervous excitement and unnecessary stress that these events bring that manifest as silly errors and quite often indigestion. I'm not sure why I get this way, particularly when I want to have fun. In the end I was the least successful Tyranid player there and was ranked just outside the top 100 [I think] in joint 101st another vote for favourite game might have tipped me up a notch but there's nothing I could do about that. But I will look forward to going again, the guys have suggested October/November but I'll have to see if I can afford it. Until then I hope you liked the reports.

1600pt battle report - MAWS Challenge nids Vs Imperial Guard

Here's the third of my MAWS tournament matches. This was a four-way tournament between my local friendly neighbourhood Gaming club - The Lost Boys against The Ribble Warriors, Northern Warlords, and our hosts the Manchester Area Wargames Society [or MAWS]. There were three battles of 1600pts with a time limit of 2 hours, sadly this meant I was pressed for time, you know me, so pictures are sparse given the need to actually play. Also it's been a few weeks now so memory will be even more sketchy in places than usual. Paul [sorry I forget his surname] was up last with his Imperial Guard.

Psychic Powers Tervigon HQ CC Tervigon T Tal Broodlord [Adrenal] Broodlord [Toxin] Warp Speed Enfeeble Iron Arm Iron Arm Haemorrhage Haemorrhage Endurance NA Haemorrhage

The low down:

• The Scouring (6 objectives ).
• Hammer of Wrath
• I lost deployment, but eventually stole the initiative
• Warlord Trait - Tenacity - Feel no Pain within 3" of Objective :)

Here's my initial setup, my Aegis was right on the half way mark as you can see Paul set his Aegis up within 12" of his board edge. So I still had 24" of empty killing field to cross so I kept the Trygon and Stealers off to Deep Strike and Outflank.

I spawned some Gaunts and pushed everything forwards but tried to stay in cover with the big stuff. It turned out the objective behind my Tervigon was Sabotaged so I would spend the rest of the game trying to keep fragile Termagants away but near in case I needed to secure the objective.

I repositioned the Tervigons so I wouldn't get anymore wounds taken off by the Leman Russes. Everything else moved up to the Aegis and I think it helped keep them alive and I can recall thinking it actually paid for it's points in saving lives this game, however I think the Hive guard had taken a casualty or two.





With a vacant spot where the Leman Russes had been the Spore Pod landed exactly where I wanted it to be.





Genestealers came in on the flank.





The Doom sucked life and was up to 10 wounds, the Spore Pod failed to do damage.





So, all the Doom had to do was make two saves or be insta-killed. That's right he makes one and fails the other. 4 saving throws in three games! He obviously did some damage but I really want to seem him last a couple of turns just to add an extra level of annoyance. The Spore Pod also got killed. 



The Warriors suffered extensive damage, I'm not sure from what but given the Warrior that's left nearest the Aegis I'm thinking it was some form of barrage weapon or perhaps a Vendetta shooting from behind?



  

The Broodlord had managed to survive a torrent of lasgun fire and managed to trash the Chimera, exploding it with the occupants left to hunker down in the wreckage.

Unfortunately this was the last of the pictures. The Trygon eventually appeared in the same spot the Doom had been and the second brood of Stealers cam on on the other flank and headed for the objective on the second floor of the building. Amazingly the Biovore had struck and killed the two guardsmen defending it and the unit routed. The Stealers got into the ground floor but later on another unit of Guardsmen managed to make it into the ruins. Eventually we ran out of time, unfortunately we only got a 1 minute warning in this game and only just completed Paul's 4th turn, with mine still to go. At that stage I was 1VP up somehow 6-5. We debated whether to 'rewind' to the end of turn 3 so we would have a fairer VP count which I believe would have been more in my favour but I settled for the small win. Who knows what would have happened with the Trygon, remaining Broodlord on the left flank and stealers gunning for the objective in the ruin on the right flank? 


Anyway, a good game overall, tough but a great learning experience. As for the actual tournament we came 3rd, which is one place better than last time and I came 13th overall [presumably out of 24] with a win, loss and draw. I'm happy with that, the draw was lucky and the other two games were also finely balanced. I'm convinced if the Doom had have been just slightly more durable he'd have been the key to tipping the balance further in those games. So does that mean hope for Iron Arm in Biomancy or forget it and just make him even more killy and take the Telepathy primaris power - Psychic Shriek - essentially his Spirit Leech special ability just with a Deny the Witch but no armour or cover saves! Of course I may not need the extra wounds Absorb Life gets me and I miss out on the AP1 of Cataclysm but it could seriously damage nits round an objective... something to think about.