'nids part 92 - Tyranid Bastion growth pt13.

Another 2fer, with 2 days updates. Firstly I decided to sculpt some fleshy bits round the fire ports [node points]. 

I'm not 100% convinced this was the best thing I could have done but it did need something and eventually some more red flesh should go some way to break up the large bone white walls.

As you can see I also added lava rocks at the base. I'd originally planned to use beads and paper balls but once again chatting to my brother about his lizard vivarium he reminded me about them and they do make  less uniform blobs and therefore more interesting more organic shapes. I've also got tons of them so go with the easiest option.

With a bit of effort I'll get it to blend in a bit more than the 'stones stuck on the side of the building' it resembles at the moment.

An we're coming full circle to the skills I picked up on my first kitbash - Carnifex to Tervigon

The lava rocks were covered in small bits of tissue paper soaked in PVA. This gives a thin membrane stretching across the lava rocks much like the birthing sac of the Tervigon. I want it to look like the Bastion is gestating Tyranid bioforms. It's not just a defensive structure it's part of the Hive and as such fulfills a variety of rolls.

I also added a number of tendril vines coming out of the fire ports. As usual this is just PVA soaked unwound string [or twine]. I actually had two different gauges here so tried to mix and match to get a pit of variety.

With the inner towers, where there was less of a crater I wanted to show the tower had pushed up through the surface a bit. Once again I'm not 100% convinced I got this spot on, I struggled to find some reference imagery but some slate and Milliput did a half decent job and when the sand goes on it should cover up any inconsistencies.

More vines and PVA membranes

The single vines seem to work the best here I think. The vines that have not been unwound so much do tend to look just like frayed string but hopefully the paint job will suggest otherwise. I also added a number of crafting beads in the crevices between the larger lava rocks. These will be picked out in green the same way I did the small pustules on my Tervigon [picture at the end]. Once again this is to break up the expanse of colours and add a bit of variety.

The other ground-rupturing inner tower

If you go back to the start of this update [or any other updates for that matter] you may notice that the moonscape base is attached to mounting card. I'll be adding sand to the edges to transition the crater but before that I decided to cover the card with Milliput. This needs to be durable, especially on the edges and I didn't want to rely solely on the mounting card. Of course it's only reinforced on the top but I think it should make it considerably stranger than card alone. A simple thin sausage was pushed into place and carefully smoothed with not too much water as I didn't wish to soak the card.

So folks, aside from adding sand to the base that's the construction done as far as I'm concerned. I may add a few wandering Adrenal Glands but I'll do that after it's painted which will be my next update. 

As promised you can just make out the Tervigon's maroon incubation sacs with the livid green pustules I aim to replicate this on the lower sacs on the Bastion.

Tyranid Bastion | Foamboard core template | part 1. | part 2. | part 3. | part 4. | part 5. | part 6. | part 7. | part 8. | part 9. | part 10. | part 11. | part 12. | 

'Blind gaming'

I've been pimping er, promoting the blog on a number of forums recently. Given a number of blogging networks seem to be 'overloaded' resulting in fewer returns, or perhaps the loss of Google Reader I think it's inevitable that you've got to do the leg work to show people what's on your blog and invite them over. To do it well you also have to be a part of that forum, not just rock up and shout about what you've done but be a part of the community. One way to do that is to look at the 'unanswered posts' who doesn't feel a bit left out when their question goes unloved and unanswered?

So, over on www.warpshadow.com I spotted one thread asking for a Battle Brother. Someone had a pair of tickets to Warhammer Worlds pairs tournament and his wife was unavailable and regular gaming buddies could potentially be working. So I thought hwy not? This morning I got the nod from 'Centurion' that I can be on the team. At first it seemed a bit weird to meet up with a complete stranger to game but pretty much every tournament you play in is against people you don't know and I'm thinking it's going to be fun. I really hope he is Max Ray though and at some point goes 'power extreme'!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szjcCB8m3G8

Anyway, aside from the perhaps 'oddness' of 'blind gaming' I did think this would be a good opportunity to give the Bastion a run out and Centurion is up for it. There is best army nominees again, I don't whether it's a joint thing but his Tyranids are coincidentally the opposite to mine, not in colours but in colour use. His body colour is blue with brown/bone chitin whereas you know mine are brown/bone bodies with blue/turquoise chitin and I think they'll look quite good as force. There's still opportunity to do best fortifications and models too, so I'll be 'in like Flynn' with the Bastion and a number of other things. 

However, this will most likely result in some pictures on the Warhammer World Facebook page of the finished article. So I've brought forward the final construction updates for tomorrow but the painting updates will still be over time therefore if you want to avoid spoilers do not look at the Warhammer World pages Sunday onwards, but if you do at least you'll know what it's 'naked' construction looks like and you should have been able to extrapolate the finished paint scheme based on my other works. 

So a fun weekend ahead, traffic willing ;)

'nids part 91 - Tyranid Bastion growth pt12.

The Bastion is now weaponised! All the Deathspitters are now in place.

With some left over Milliput I sculpted some fleshy muscular bits that will allow the weapon to move in it's fire arc [not for real, just pretend]. I also added some Toxin Sacs, not so much for them to be toxic mind I just wanted to add some other bits and so I can put in some different colours. If anything it may be the brain sacs that fire the weapon...?

I wanted to add an Adrenal Gland to the top of the door, it opens the sphincter obviously, its not there for any other reason (¡)

Another emplaced weapon.

Some more fleshy musculature perhaps.

And the top view showing it's compass points as a normal Bastion would have as a fire arc, just offset.

Tyranid Bastion | Foamboard core template | part 1. | part 2. | part 3. | part 4. | part 5. | part 6. | part 7. | part 8. | part 9. | part 10. | part 11. | 

Necron tactica and showcase from my mate Ben pt1

My mate Ben decided he wanted to share his efforts on the blog and as you can see felt like the Bridesmaid in our little gang. At Throne of Skulls he was the most successful gamer out of all four of us but did not come home with any certificates which was a shame. I think his army is extremely well painted [despite his claims otherwise] and I'm not sure I could have done quite as good a job on them. He's incredibly consistent with his painting and has added nice little touches throughout. So when he says "I will openly admit I don’t possess the painting or conversion skills of my 3 talented friends" don't believe him. As a group we like to play with painted minis and I always enjoy setting up against Ben and his army, even if they're going to smear me into Xenos paste by the end of it. Be sure to comment at the end to let him know what you think.

Throne of skulls march 2013 - Necron list that won 5 out of 5 games.

Feeling a bit left out as my mates Otty and Liam both having contributed to Dave's 40k blog site, I thought it may be of interest to everyone, especially Necron players, the list and army I took to Throne of Skulls March 2013. I will openly admit I don’t possess the painting or conversion skills of my 3 talented friends and see myself as a player more than a modeller. I sadly spend days reading/ studying rules and codex’s trying to come up with competitive (some may say beardy!) lists. The list I took to Throne of skulls is below.

I thought I’d give a brief outline of why I took what I took and I apologise now if it seems I’m trying to teach people to suck eggs that isn’t my intention.

Imotekh Stormlord

I took Imotekh who’s Lord of Storm rule is, well, just too good to be honest. In most of the games I played he was able to destroy something first turn thanks to lightening which often gave me first blood. The night fighting rule also helps Necrons as their guns have mostly short range(24inch) it makes your opponent move nearer as the max range during night fighting is 36inch. Imotekh’s hyperlogical strategy is also a good rule giving you a great chance of steeling the initiative. I’ve often thought it might be best to let your opponent deploy first and have the advantage of second set up and then try and steel the initiative.

3 Crypteks

 

I took 3 Crypteks one with a Chronometron I placed him with the Stormlord mainly so he could re-roll the dice to keep night fighting in play throughout the games. The shrouded and stealth rules also often give the annihilation barges a better jink save.

 

I took another Cryptek with a voltaic staff and put him with Necron warriors, I felt the haywire ability of his staff fitted well with the warriors gauss blaster ability. They all have a good chance of wrecking even the most heavily armoured vehicles with multiple glancing hits.

 

The final Cryptek I put with 10 immortals he has the Abyssal staff template weapon and veil of darkness. I start this unit at the back of board behind the aegis and use it to deep strike near the end of the game to either try for an objective or gain linebreaker or both.

'nids part 90 - Tyranid Bastion growth pt11.

It's two days update for the price of one, or else you'll never get this thing done. So first of all it's another load of flesh strands on the towers, with Chitin plates 3 and 4 on the larger and inner towers respectively. 

I'm also going through latex gloves at a healthy rate too. Can't stand Milliput on my hands :(

And the morning after the night before I begin again, applying the final Chitin plates to the inner towers. I suppose they do look a bit skew-whiff but nobody ever accused Tyranids of being great builders - they have no thumbs, they can't use Quad Guns give 'em a break!

The 4th larger Chitin plates are in place and I'm also really glad I went with the Spinefists, they add some extra 'official' nid texture to the whole thing however together with all the clay on the walls I'm becoming dubious I can fit 10 Termagants on the roof now :(

And the other side of the Bastion, slightly more 'plumb' for the inner tower on this side. 

How we getting along folks, are you enjoying the ride? Let me know if you're liking it and if you're going to try this yourself.

Tyranid Bastion | Foamboard core template | part 1. | part 2. | part 3. | part 4. | part 5. | part 6. | part 7. | part 8. | part 9. | part 10. | 

A freebie - 45° fire arc template

Sometimes you just have to throwout the schedule and add in a post just because if you tried to fit it in the schedule it'd be months down the line before I could give out some more freebies

You may be aware I'm making a Tyranid Bastion, apparently only the cool kids are doing it but don't hold it against me. One of the key elements of the Bastion is the emplaced weapons and their 45° fire arc. GW doesn't povide a 45° fire arc template and aside from emplaced weapons hull-mounted weapons on tanks also have a 45° fire arc. So I wanted to make a template so I knew what a 45° fire arc was and could use my 45° fire arc template to gauge if my tartget was within the 45° fire arc.

And this is the 45° fire arc template I made

And you can download the 45° fire arc template for free,

 

1. Print
2. Apply double sided tape to back
3. Stick to mounting card
4. Carefully apply sellotape to top if you want them pseudo-laminated
5. Cut out with craft knife/scalpel
6. Amaze your friends and enemies with this 45° fire arc
7. Tell them to visit 40kaddict.blogspot.com for their own free markers.

Just in case I hadn't made it clear this is a free 45° fire arc template ;)

Dark Vengeance Vs Assault on Black Reach

Granted this may seem odd to be doing a comparison of the 5th Edition box versus the 6th Edition nearly 12 months after release but y'know how I am with delaying things and I still have the pictures of my unboxing so why not do something with them.

I actually bought a second set, they had it at my local independent game store for silly money so I sold off the bits on ebay and despite learning how much postage has gone up since my heady ebay trading days of a few years back I still made a profit of around £22.

I didn't manage to sell the blast templates, I suppose they always come in handy - they do get lost don't they and the Chapter Master which I may repurpose as an Azreal with a head-swap and a Watcher holding the supplied helm. I dislike the pose as it very nearly looks like a kendo stance - hasso-no-kamae but the bits that are wrong are the sort you constantly tell people to fix so I look at this 'master of martial prowess' and he looks like a beginner. Still, cheaper than buying the actual model.

Anyway the meat of this post is not really a true comparrison it's realy just comparing the marines because although there was a lot of deserved praise for the new DV miniatures I think there should be a lot love still for AoBR guys and they are still available on ebay. First up the Terminators and you can see quite clearly th eposes on the Deathwing are head and shoulders, dynamically, above their 5th Edition counterparts. Of course if your not a Dark Angel player you're going to have a hard time removing the wealth of iconography shown off on these 'blinged' Terminators, something the AoBR guys don't suffer from. The other problem is that because the DV Terminators are so dynamic they look awfully odd when you have two sets, how come they're all captured in motion doing exactly the same thing. Now the AoBR guys are more static but because their arms ar eseparate at least you can repose weapons in different positions. Kitbashing the DV guys is a nightmare as most of the elements fit perfectly and ar enot discrete components - an arm or weapon, quite often they are a torso and an arm. I've managed to remove a head with my Dremmel and replaced it with a hooded Ravenwing head but it's quite a feat. The AoBR really deserve a lot of love for adding extra bits on and taking into account a Deathwing squad box has bits for three alternative loads there's bound to be plenty of spares left over to add to them to bring them up to the modern era. The DV models are much better but I definitely think the AoBR hold a lot of potential nowadays.

The Tactical Squad has one of the best sculpts I'v eseen. I love the Sergeant, his face has so much character but aside from the Plasma dudes there's very little variety otherewise. You do have two Corvus dudes, but they didn't bother to stud their shoulders but more importantly every model has a near identical Bolter and if I recall they each fit a specific model. The only real difference is some small detail on the side. If you check the AoBR squad you will see there ar ebolters with scopes and straps and you can mix them up to the similarly psoed models so each ends up with a different silhouette. Add that the variety in helmet types and knee joints the AoBR guys really impress me because you end up with a varied unit. I was looking to mix up my DV guys with some extra Dark Angel Veteran upgrades and bayonets, it helps a bit but I still think it's a step backwards in some ways. 

So if you want cheap alternatives to the boxes it's maybe useful to look beyond just the DV bits available and look out for AoBR models too and if you were to mix and match both squads amongst each other you could have practically individual poses in each unit, worth a thought.