Throne of Skulls March 2014 - the interim report.

Sorry for the delay in this, most of my post Thrones news has been shared on Facebook but I've been trying to start preping what is to come. I think the picture indicates the Brood 'done good'! Throne of Skulls - March 2014 saw me win Best Painted army as voted for by the 100+ competitors. I am truly honoured and  once again makes up for that Toymaster debacle! My games were also great fun and although I didn't do as well as Battle Brothers I did do better than the last ToS.

My mates were also rewarded for their efforts. Otty was once again nominated for best army and so was Liam who also won best painted Monstrous Creature, best painted Vehicle/Engine, best army list for his updated Chaos Space Marine Helmet and also managed to win best Chaos Space Marine player. In fact on the way home we realised that if he'd remembered the last game that his Heldrakes were scoring he could have won the game instead of a draw and he would have won the tournament outright! The only thing we didn't win as a group was the pub quiz, best painted Hero [infantry character] and the prize for most Heroic Act in the game. Oh and obviously the best Fortification category was dropped :(

It was quite a weekend and when Nick said it was "Dave's Tyranids" that was the winner I honestly didn't realise he was meaning me, as I hoped to hear "Dave Weston". I was hoping but you can't tell with these things and the competition was fierce across the nominees, from cleanly executed Eldar to gruesome Iron Warriors full of executions ;), Imperial Knights with LED eyes and Gretchin pretending to be Imperial Guard I was lucky to be chose and luckier still I could actually fit the Skyshield in the cabinet. Two Capillary Towers had to be removed and even then it could only go in one side where the sliding door gave it a little more room but meant the inner door couldn't slide back or it would hit the landing pad - I never thought about that did I?!

The weekend was an absolute blast. I didn't do great with the 'nids but I did do better than the last time that I went to Throne of Skulls. My use of Stronghold Assault to mitigate the Lord of War threat came to nought because I didn't face any! I did get to play against 'nids, Chaos Space Marines, Dark Eldar, Nurgle Chaos Daemons and Ork Bikers so make of that what you will for the upcoming battle reports, not to mention the pre tournament pick up match I had with Scott using my old nemesis - Ben's Necrons

We had a right royal laugh though and the five of us had some serious fun amongst the incessant dice rolling. I also played against some top blokes and once again Warhammer World surpassed itself with the way it held the event and looked after those that were attending. I can't believe this is the trophy I got!

It looked nice at GW HQ too!

And the beard brought me luck as I continue on my 'hobo with a shotgun' impression, Liam no doubt happy with his haul in the background.

Anyway, I'll leave you of a couple of pictures of how I managed to fit everything in and try and work up some of the Battle Reports, I'll try and be as quick as possible but please bare with me, there's over 300 pictures to sort through. Below you can see where one of the Capillary Towers was removed over the digestion pit, worked quite well I think.

and one in the back was detached too, I even got my shattered Aquila underneath with some of my older Termagants that don't quite meat today's standard.

Flufftastic - Hive Fleet Gorgon - Ferron Splinter Fleet - 'Devil Gaunts'

Amongst the more common Tyranid genus found to frequent the Hive Fleet Gorgon Ferron Splinter fleet are Termagants armed with the fearsome Devourer weapons. 'Devgaunts' or 'Devilgaunts' as they're often called by the more superstitious residents of Ferron Proxima are found amongst the broods that strike without warning. Usually joined by it's monstrous brood mother - the loathsome Tervigon. Or were on occasion bursting from the remains of the sub-orbital deployment pods known as Mycetic Spores, these beasts are not to be dismissed despite their position in the Xenos hierarchy. Ordinarily they were seen as a brood apart, separated from other differently armed Gaunts, their Devourer weapon symbiotes incompatible with their Fleshborer bretheren. However, more increasingly we are seeing Devgaunts intermingling with other less formidable gaunts and providing both range and weight of attacks hitherto unknown amongst Fleshborer gaunts alone.

The Devourer weapon is a rotting mass of flesh filled with pulsating worms that are ejected from the weapon thanks to a bio-electric shock. Upon impact with their victim the parasitic invertebrates begin to bore into exposed flesh or infest any orifice they can find. The victim becomes a seething mass of agony as the worms eat through to their brain and certain death. The horrific display can be too much for the companions of the victim. Quite often the sight of their colleague being eaten from the inside and screaming in agony can cause witnesses to flee in horror.

These particular Devgaunts caught on camera by servo-skull Xt-36^9 show what appear to be a Toxin Sac biomorph. These glands are a breeding ground for caustic poisons and virulent toxic fluids that coat the creatures claws and teeth making it far more dangerous than it's stature would suggest. However, some Bio-magi have posited the suggestion that sometimes these are just vestigial sacs, with no real function aside from providing its brood mother with a means to keep track of its offspring. The very concept that such alien intelligence is at play has brought Inquisitorial censure for those magi foolish enough to publish their works openly.

More recently the burrowing worm has been less virulent in it's attack upon the victim. Initial tests by the revered Bio-magi converging on Ferron Proxima to study the captured Xenos beasts are indicating that something within the Ferron eco-system is having a weakening affect on the Tyranid bio-form. In fact a transcript from the treatise 'Ye Battle of the Planetes' by one of the first Bio-magi to observe the weakness, suggests one theory. Heronimus-Gamaliel Welles wrote:

And scattered about, some next to their primo-genitors, were the Tyranid filth —dead!—slain by the putrefactive and disease bacteria against which their systems were unprepared; slain as their Capillary Towers and Bio-Titans were being slain; slain, after all man’s devices had failed, by the humblest things that the Emperor, in his wisdom, has put upon this planet.

For so it had come about, as indeed I and many men might have foreseen had not terror and disaster blinded our minds. These germs of disease have taken toll of humanity since the beginning of things—taken toll of our prehuman ancestors since life began here on Ferron Proxima. But by virtue of this natural selection of our kind we have developed resisting power; to no germs do we succumb without a struggle, and to many—those that cause putrefaction in dead matter, for instance—our living frames are altogether immune. But there is no bacteria similar to the strains of Ferron Proxima whence the Tyranid came, and directly these invaders arrived, directly they drank and fed, our microscopic allies began to work their overthrow. Already when I watched them they were irrevocably doomed, dying and rotting even as they went to and fro. It was inevitable. By the toll of a billion deaths man has bought his birthright, and it is his against all comers; it would still be his were the Tyranids ten times as mighty as they are. For neither do men live nor die in vain.

Here and there they were scattered, nearly fifty altogether, in that great gulf they had made, overtaken by a death that must have seemed to them as incomprehensible as any death could be. To me also at that time this death was incomprehensible. All I knew was that these things that had been alive and so terrible to men were now dead. For a moment I believed that the destruction of Ultramar had been repeated, that the Emperor had repented, that the Angel's of Death had slain them in the night.

However, there is also some evidence that points to the fact that the biological absorption of the Wraithbone debris scattered about the surface of Ferron Proxima that initially brought about the heightened psychic mental abilities of the Tyranids, has now begun to weaken their physical being. For it is well known that the Xeno Eldar are weak and feeble due to their repeated exposure to the Wraithbone. Documentation abounds as to their avarice to this otherwise worthless material, they surround themselves by it like Magpies, or at the worst addicts. Therefore continued expose has escalated the demise of their race like a withered lifeless limb. 

They even have the blasphemous audacity to sculpt buildings and heretical automata out of this excretion, instead of using the sanctified and Mechanicum approved materials of Adamantium and Rockcrete. Rumours suggest they even trap the souls of their ancestors in shambling bipedal machines, the depravity of the Xenos filth know no bounds. These obsceneties are a poor mockery to the glorious majesty of the venerated Adeptus Astartes dreadnoughts and Titans. These Wraithbone constructs are more akin to mobile torture cells than the shrines of honour borne by only the finest Space Marines. But that is the Eldar way and brave and just human beings cannot begin to comprehend the alien mind, else face re-education.

Support your local blogger - Fenrisian Studios

I may be a little biased about this but I had to share Fenrisian Studios blog, it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact Javier created the ruins below from my very own STCs

I love the pale colours, I really need to have some cream/bonewhite buildings on Ferron Proxima, I think they'd look fantastic against the red but Javier has gotten a lot of texture and tone into the colouring, really nice.

Additionally he's got airbrushing tutorials, painting guides for his Space Wolves [well we can't all be perfect and play Dark Angels ;) ] He's even made some terrain based on plans from my own original inspiration - Bugbait

A lot of the blog is in Spanish but google translate cna help cut through the language barrier and ultimately we're all speaking the language of hobby anyway. Have a look see what you think: http://fenrisianstudios.blogspot.co.uk

Ooh the cruel irony - you've got to laugh

So we got to Warhammer World yesterday and I had a little game with Scott just to help bring him up to speed. I spot Nick from the events team and he comes over to admire the Skyshield and I ask him if Best Fortification is one building or one formation. He says have I read the events pack? I root around for a bit and realise I just have the Warriors Code with me. To which he adds they haven't done the best Fortification painting competition for about 6 months. You've got to laugh though!

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.

What's on my palette?

Nearly six weeks since my last confession... and how've I been doing? I've obviously been flitting between the Great Maw and the Skyshield walls in preparation for Throne of Skulls, preview to follow. This has actually been quite a challenge, it's required a lot of will power and discipline, not to mention a lack of sleep, to complete. This is what I was dealing with last time:

1. 20 termagants
2. Skyshield Walls
3. New Tervigon
4. 4 Spore Mines [actually 6 got completed, some old metal ones resurfaced]
5. Deathwing [they're base coated at least...]

And I also made 2 new figure boxes:

However, as the deadline and completion approaches I can feel the reserves of energy waning, the job will be done but what of post-Thrones? Traditionally I have found myself completely stuffed on hobby gluttony after previous visits to Warhammer World, and with a solid six months of modelling and painting I may well take some 'time off'. That wasn't the plan, I wanted to get three months of Dark Angels work in before Project X is required to begin, but I feel quite tired right now so we'll just have to see what comes.

I have promised to repaint my brothers vivarium, after the only solution we could find to the matt floor varnish 'frosting' was to start again, So it's now a flat brown, so I need to do a shadow wash and then drybrush it. A couple of nights work but one that has been postponed since about Christmas, the poor lizard needs a new home.

I'd also planned a couple of 'large' purchases some 'Apocalyptic' things but having just come off the Skyshield I'm not actually keen to start a big model, although Project X will be big, but potentially straightforward. In case you're guessing it is not a Tyranid Fortress of Redemption. I had thought of doing one and I had a brilliant idea for the tower and some of the other bits but I came across the following picture a good few months ago that's pretty much what I had in mind

http://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer/comments/1cydoj/awful_sketch_for_a_tyranid_fortress_of_redemption/

Nabbicus pretty much read my mind [and he even likes my Quad Gun], although I was going to add some kind of 'oesophagus' using rope between the Capillary Towers with Termagants attached to it and coat the entire thing in PVA tissue paper so it looks like the gaunts are running up and down the tower 'gullet'. I wonder if he got round to making it? I measured up the Fortress to plan ahead but project X will take up a fair bit of room [I don't have ] so it will go on the back burner.

Meanwhile I do have a new Zoanthrope and a Venomthrope as well as a Carnifex and Pyrovore to paint but I don't want to start those, despite the 'voices' telling me they'll be SOOOO easy. I want to do the Dark Angels and if I'm going to struggle to get motivated and also try and endeavour to be sensible with my hobby time - not working till stupid o'clock I think they deserve a bit of attention.

I actually felt nauseous the other day at the thought of doing something new. However I managed to overcome that last night when I thought I'd prep the Zoie and Venom [that's when I lost the back vent for the zoie, grrr!] and get some bases done too - 6 bike bases and 11 Genestealers [wait, what?! Where did they come from, ha, ha!]. I know I shouldn't but until Thrones happens I still feel I'm allowed to do some nid stuff and may well throw in some nids while I'm focussing on Dark Angels, just to keep momentum going. So  I basically prepared a simple list that I can hopefully achieve for the Dark Angels that utilises as much of the stuff I've already got started so I can have something complete to play with sooner...

I've my Aegis Defence Line to do, a unit of Deathwing, the MKI Land Raider, my Dreadnought [it's on the list too!] and I want to get some Ravenwing complete. I recently saw this Black Legion Army painted by Ballistic Skill Four which is what I would love to achieve on my Ravenwing

Which is reminiscent of the Codex entry that manages to eschew the 'white wings' of the Ravenwing who are supposed to be dark and shrouded hunters, not blinged up followers of Liberace

This is a bit darker in the Codex

More like the original version just excuse all the reflections.

Anyway, that's it for now, lets get Thrones out of the way, overcome the post thrones slump and we'll see what treats the hobby has in store for me and the faithful.

Throne of Skulls 2014 army list help

Tomorrow I will finish my army list, unlike my hobby buddies I will not be spending months doing mine I've a template that looks cool and every one of my opponents gets one with a sheet with the Hive Fleet Gorgon  Ferron Splinter Fleet back story. I can't imagine Liam making 6 copies of his Chaos Space Marine head army list! Anyway, I got approval from the Events Team today to use all my models but I now have to make that last decision.

The two main choices I need help with is this list which is slightly varied, a Zoanthrope, Biovore [the spore mines], Trygon and two Tervigons [one as troop, the other a HQ with Regeneration (which worked out well last game)]...

...or slightly less versatile three Tervigons, two of which are troops.

Option 1. has some long range fire power with the Biovore. Assault damage from the Trygon [he got me a VP on a Lord of War, but died immediately afterwards] and the opportunity to Warp Blast from the Zoanthrope

Option 2. still has the same amount of Synapse and Psykers but I get the extra durability of the second troop Tervigon [not to mention the 2 broods of 30 Termagants] spawning will be limited in places, I just don't have enough gaunts but I'm hoping that enough will die for me to respawn them.

Ultimately Option 1. is probably more fun for people to play against, Option 2. fits my 'fluff' in that they are defending the Hive Nest - the Bastion, Skyshield etc.but it's 3 Tervigons! Will I be 'that guy' if I run it? I may survive to the end of the game - when you go Stronghold Assault it's endurance not attack you're planning for but spending most of the game hiding... but, it's the first time I've been able to run three.

I may get a chance to try this out tomorrow night on Ben but any opinions on these two options would be greatly appreciated.