'nids part 146 - The unexpected bonus of a magnetised Carnifex

Having completed War I was lucky enough to finish off my spare set of Tervigon Crushing Claws that are also magnetized. Once you add in the Tervigon's Scything Talons here's the making of my Old One Eye/

Admittedly he hasn't got that 'skull' head but it seems the Carnifex kit only comes with one spare other side which I used on my Quad Gun, now I actually have 2 skull sides and no normal ones to make OOE, so until one turns up this will just have to before it gets wounded.

If I ever use him I can put the unused Mawloc talons on my Tervigon, if it's armed with the Miasma Cannon technically it shouldn't have Scything Talons at all so those Mawloc talons are pretty ineffective looking to illustrate it doesn't have any melee weapons.

I do like that toxic tongue though.

Of course being magnetized I can also swap the arms around, making the claws the front weapons and the talons in the back. That's so versatile but I seem to take quite a gamble with the position of the magnets. The end result isn't always as cool as it could be but its a small price for so many options.

I'm looking to do another one as soon as I find a cheap Carnifex but Fleshborer Hives are quite scarce so I may make some converted Devourers, like I originally intended.

Luckily if I can get some Carnifex Crushing Claws it will give me the bits to convert some more Hive Guard.

One cool advantage to going with Tervigon Crushing Claws is they're massive, much bigger than the Carnifex versions so it really works for Old One Eye as an uber Carnifex. Adding in the Mawloc talons probably doesn't but it is another way of making this model even more versatile.

And lets face it any creature foolish enough to get past those claws, well you need something small and tiny to kill what's got underneath you so it still works.

So even with a slightly random set of weapons this still works and has been a blast to create.

Not to mention his 'War' configuration.

 or even 'War-lite'!

Blog Wars 7 - Retribution

Today is Blog Wars 7. Last year PeteB and I attended Blog Wars 6 in the November [check the Battle Reports tab for all those games] and had a great time so we were both looking forward to today's event. Unfortunately Pete's shifts got mucked about so he had to cancel, even worse, after getting his refund someone offered to swap. So he's understandably miffed not to be attending.

Hopefully I can hold our end up though. It's interesting to see what I'll be facing, it turns out Daemons are popular alongside their Chaos Marine bretheren, obviously strong Tau and Eldar showing, but a surprising amount of Space Wolves, some freshly minted Astra Imperial Militarum Guard and billy no mates me the only 'nids. I know there's a large contingent from a gaming club in Preston, including Lemon Painting who was nominated for Best Army at throne of Skulls with their Imperial Knights, so the painting competition will no doubt be hard fought, there's no guarantees. I am however taking note of last years comments about my army display, that putting them on my transport trays wasn't the best way to display them.

So I'll be taking my Armies on Parade board, just to be a little more professional. Then again it could be seen as over the top, who knows, I do my best and will leave it up to my fellow gamers to decide. Either way as AoP isn't likely on the cards this year it's nice to give it a run out for 2014. One point of note is that this particular army list features 740pts [from 1850pts] of miniatures that were not part of last years competition. The majority of which are newly painted, only my Warriors and Quad Gun were done but not part of my entry and my Trygon/Mawloc has been retouched considerably since then. Again this might put people off voting, as it's technically the same army that won last time but there's not much you can do when you commit to something like this. It's a shame the Skyshield and Pestilence couldn't fit into my list, to make it even more of an update, but the Capillary Towers will get a showing on the board at least.

Terrain is everything - Hail the Omnissiah a new Print & Play building

It's been a good few months since my last   'Print & Play' terrain template so it was about time I added the wide version of the black building. If you've made the first beige building then it's exactly the same wider footprint with exactly the same options to keep or remove the windows, this time a lovely diamond leaded effect. So the building is the same, but wider with just a different colour for variety on your battlefield.

These would ideally be suited for foamboard that has the black foam core. I was going to make one but didn't get round to it, sorry. However, that black foam would make these easily playable from the off, without looking too much like a quickly knocked up bit of terrain.

To access the full STC please point your Cogitators here, be fair warned it is 11MB in size [I make no apologies for this, I could probably render it as a .jpg or spend hours trying to reduce the file size, I tweaked it a little bit and got it down so hopefully it's less of an issue now.]:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B97Rk-BalgZbV0tobjU4OEZEbkxDNXVXMWF2WG1MZFRrQjVN/edit?usp=sharing

Alternatively if you want to reduce the footprint a bit and still retain some of the proportions you could employ the standard 2 storey template on one facing to make a rectangular building instead of a square one. It's your choice but here's another 'artists' rendering and a link to the page where it's at.

Yet MOAR! Tuesday Nights all right for fighting

With PeteB on nights this week it gave me chance to arrange a game with Ben, who I haven't played since way before Throne of Skulls back in March. Trying to get in another game with my Blog Warslist ahead of Saturday but once again using 7th Edition rules but playing Purge the Alien so the version differences didn't have as great an impact. I have to say 1850pts is a nightmare, it takes so long to set up, we started rolling dice at 8:30pm and had only finished turn two, two hours later! Blog Wars has a 2.5 hour time limit.

Once again this isn't a battle report just an overview, interspersed with pictures from the initial deployment. Ben was running Orks, with Ghazgkhull, some Cyborks, Kommandos three trukks ad Dakkajet, three Killa Kans, a war trak, buggy and Void Shield Generator. I deployed first and was able to get first blood, on Ghazgkhulls sweet ride, so turn one was quite successful. PeteB had suggested last time I needed to be more aggressive with Deathleaper [although in his three games he's got into combat relatively quickly and died equally as fast with only a mullered Beastmaster to show for his efforts] so he was deployed in the open in the centre of the board to help my Mawloc arrive somewhere cool.

The psychic phase wasn't amazing because Ben had no psykers so his only option was to try and nullify my efforts but I seemed intent on applying the most randomly inappropriate power to a situation - Ghazgkhull with -3WS while facing Deathleaper, I'm not sure that made any difference. Giving Catalyst to Termagants where they couldn't get in range of a unitand the Carnifex standing not far away could!

 

Ben had a pretty rubbish turn one and things were looking positive when the  Malwoc arrived. I had a choice to take out a trukk full of Nobz or go for the recently disembarked Cyborks and Killa Kan in the forrest. I went for the latter, scoring only 1 wound on first attempt and 2 on the second. Cyborks 5+ invul and FnP from the Painboy was very effective. So effective I rolled on the mishap table because the Mawloc couldn't be positioned and got a 1! 140pts of damage to myself! The only solace was that if I'd have chosen to attack the trukk it would have been equally ineffective. In fact as a transport it would more likely cause a mishap because even if I manage to explode the vehicle and the Mawloc is AP2, so there's a chance, the models are positioned where the vehicle was, i.e. where my Mawloc is deep striking! We've come to the conclusion the best way to use him is to just clip the edges of the blast template with your target so it may have space to actually deploy if it kills it but that reduces the effectiveness of it's Raison d'être, non?

 

For pretty much the entire game I was shooting with impunity, I amanged to take out two of the Killa Kans so things were looking good. It was in assault I was failing and if Ben's appalling charge rolls had gone the other way I'd have been finished off much quicker. Ghazgkhull suffered one wound to Deathleaper and then promptly swatted him like he didn't exist. He then did exactly the same to my Carnifex and got the hat-trick by smashing my Bastion to pieces, taking the Quad Gun with it and putting 3 wounds on the Hive Guard inside! The Great Maw managed to wound every single Cybork once but not enough to get me the VPS for at least half the unit and he was shanked by the Painboy who managed to multi-task like fiend - killing Monstrous Creatures while administering solder and Savlon to the Cyborks so that they hardle ever failed a FnP roll. Not to mention the period of Fearlessness when the WHAAAAAAGGGHHH! was called. Then when the Great Maw popped it took enough Termagants with it to tip the assault they were in in the Orks favour.

The Flyrant was the king of the skies for the entire game. The Dakkajet, after losing one of it's weapons to Interceptor from the Quad Gun managed to stil put 6 wounds on the FMC but it saved them all and every other wound for the entire game. It Vector Struck the Ork flyer in return but could do nothing so shot it down with the remianing Brainleech fire.

By the end of turn 3 or 4 I called it as it was after midnight. There was very little that I had left but I thought I'd been quite effective throughout but it transpired I'd killed just short of 500pts worht of figures to Bens 1400+ which is probably worse than I scored in the same mission at Blog Wars 6. It seemed that the stuff I had killed didn't cost a lot and despite all the wounds caused often it wasn't enough to cover 50% of the unit cost which would at least get me 50% of the points according to the rule pack.

So I'm two for two in my last four games. I really learnt a lot in this one. I finally realised that the new 'nid Codex contains one massive red herring. It is undeniable that the likes of Move Through Cover and Catalyst have made us quicker and 7th Edition removes some obstacles like carging through Difficult Terrain. So although my early nid experiences were always concerened with closing that gap to assault now we can do that much easier. But therein lies the con, we are not good in assault, or at least what I have in my army is not good. Tervigons just don't cut it with only three attacks. My only success was the Crushing Claws Tervigon blowing up a Trukk but it's occupants [the Nobz] survived and systematically butchered it over the next couple of turns. We may be able to close ground now but what have we got that can get the job done when they get there?

So I think I have to think conservatively again. Particularly for the tournament in that my Bastion does not confer Victory Points so I may as well capitalise on it's cover, hide behind it and force my opponent to come to me while ranged fire - Biovores, Brainleech Devourers, Hive Guard and Quad Gun do their bit. Lets see if my experiences make any difference on Saturday.

Tuesday Nights alright for fighting 7th Edition

I've actually had two games of 7th Edition with PeteB now. We were going to continue with 6 until Blog Wars [as that's the ruleset they'll be using] but Pete has had his shifts rearranged so wouldn't be able to go. It's not really fair to keep forcing 6th on him when there are new rules to try out and get your head round, so I suggested we play the 'Purge the Alien' mission, given the changes to scoring units this will have less impact on my preparations. We'd play all the new 7th Edition rules with psychic powers, I think I can live with that when it comes to reverting to 6th.

Pete went with his Wraithguard and Lords again but I got first turn.

And having infiltrated  a wave serpent and unit of Scorpions forward Pete paid the price with my Hive Guard destroying it for First Blood. The Wraithguard also suffered a lot of wounds, Pete's dice rolling was particularly bad. My first turn was brutal and given last weeks overwhelming win I think this early surge was demoralising for the Eldar high command.

As time went by I did make some grave tactical errors, I continue to assault units far too powerful for my Tervigon to overcome. So as the game progressed Pete managed to close the gap quite considerably. One of the highlights was my last Tyranid Warrior getting an Overwatch on the venerated Wraithlord from our last game and taking it's last wound!

 

The Psychic phase was a whole lot of weird, Pete was initially very impressed before his turn when he was unable to cast any of his powers. That's one thing about 'nids, our powers are hella cheap to cast. It's a nice mechanic on the whole. It allows a bit more interaction between players during the game but it does interrupt the flow of things, slows it down a bit. We took to sitting down during this phase, it was more like a card game. When you consider I used to cast certain Psychic powers with three dice, two yellow for the Ld check and a red die for any D3 modifiers - Iron Arm and Warp Speed, now Paroxysm [why didn't that get a straight -3 to BS and WS like the Biomancy powers?] to try and save just a little bit of time. So I'm a bit concerned about the amount of time spent doing powers, but it's early days. Overall the game plays much the same but I was slightly more impressed by the charge through cover situation with -2" to your 2D6 but my Termagants have Move Through Cover so it's no effect [except for the Initiative modifier] and they get Counter Attack for free when next to their Tervigon. So I'm seeing some benefits for my nids, which is nice.

A week later and we're at it again. This time PeteB decided to overcome the shortcomings of his Wraithguard with the help of some Evil Space Pixies and their faithful beasts. This time we did the 'Emperor's Relic' mission from Blog Wars - 3 objectives with one in the middle of the board worth 10pts, and one each, your own worth 5pts to yourself and your opponents worth 15pts, an interesting dynamic. As you can see I forgot my Bastion so PeteB's daughter's toy stool proxied as my Fortification.

The beasts were the advance guard but I got first turn again so I was hoping to thin their numbers.

 

 One advantage of the 'stool of doom' was I could put my models inside the building. The Hive Guard were reasonably effective and although I didn't manage to get First Blood I took out quite a few beasts and wounded a Wraithlord.

Unfortunately the beasts are super fast and managed to roll over my Carnifex. Additionally the Bastion got hit by a Lance weapon and blew up. The Zoanthrope manning the Quad gun took two wounds and I got snake eyes for his saving throw. The Hive Guard suffered 3 unsaved wounds between the three of them, killing one and wounding another in the explosion. With Baron Sathonyx and a Farseer/Warlock on a Jetbike all sorts of wound allocation shenanigans went on to protect the beasts. It was really difficult to kill any of them. I made a gamble and sent Deathleaper in, challenged, and ended up facing a Beast Master. Challenges seem to have changed in 7th. I thought you nominated who you wanted and if they sent someone else they didn't get to take part. Now the assaultee chooses who accepts if there are more than one so the Beastmaster [the weakest of the three opponents] was torn apart by 5 wounds, two of which were rending. The Great Maw spewed its poisoned Miasma over everything and both my Biovores and Barbed Strangler deviated wildly to less effect, it seems I was borrowing Pete's luck from last week.

At this stage there was still a unit of Jetbikes and Vipers to come on and the Dire Avengers hadn't even got out of their Wave Serpents. My Mawloc had failed to turn up on turn two when Deathleaper could have got him to swallow a bunch of doggies, instead he eventually got a unit of Swooping Hawks, with the sole survivor flitting off. My Tervigons fell, one was Doomed so was taken out by the Vipers in one turn, the Mawloc would follow in much the same fashion. The Great Maw managed to survive a couple of turns against the Farseer, Deathleaper was unable to get past Sathonyx's save. Eventually the Farseer's Instant Death weapon brought them both down.

We had to call it at midnight, there was no way I could hold my own, most of my force had been spent on the Beasts and their buff units.  This was a difficult game, there's something that happens when absolutely nothing goes right. It doesn't matter how philosophical you are about it it's tough to overcome. Last week it was Pete who had to face this feeling, this week it was me. The Beasts and their buff units, offering them Fearless and having 4+ invulnerable saves, Sathonyx with a 2+ invul save until he takes a wound, it's a tough nut to crack. I even put 7 wounds on a Wave Serpent, thanks to my Flyrant, it jinked all of them!

I think we're both looking forward to smaller forces though, 1500pt armies. I'm getting bored fishing out 60 Termagants a game, can't wait to have something a little more compact.

The Death of Project X - Armies on Parade 2014 cancelled?

I've been dropping hints about projects X and Y for months now. Project Y turned out to be the landing pad section of my Skyshield to attach to the Capillary Towers I'd been building, but Project X has not been revealed, until now.

Project X was supposed to be my new Armies on Parade board. Last year my Armies on Parade board was a relatively simple affair, a 2'x2' mdf square with a hill in one corner and a backdrop. It was supposed to be minimal effort as I wanted to showcase the miniatures ahead of the board.

Sadly, I was the only entrant in my local GWs competition, so I walked away with the gold medal. It's since been used as a beat stick to my gaming buddies to enter the competition this year. Every time I play one of them I whip out the old medallion to wind them up, in the hope they will enter and then I'll be able stop showing it off. The only problem is, the fact I've seen no mention of Armies on Parade 2014 at all this year. This time in 2013 I'd already been approached by my GW manager saying he'd got three people who were going to commit to it [and ultimately didn't]. When I popped in recently and mentioned this years competition he was of the opinion it had been cancelled altogether.

With this rumour in hand I decided to contact GW directly for some confirmation and this is the information I received:

Hey Dave - Many thanks for your email and we do apologise for the long delay in responding to you. Since the new web store launched we have received a large increase in both calls and emails.

We do not currently have any knowledge of if or when Armies on Parade will be happening, however the first place to find out about such releases would be on the website’s daily blog or in White Dwarf.

We hope this helps.

Regards

James

So Armies on Parade 2014 could be cancelled, or it may still be on. What is pretty much guaranteed is that Project X is dead. I'm not prepared to commit to creating a new board with just three months to go. That's not to say I couldn't do it in that time, in fact I'd probably set aside that amount of time to complete it anyway, but a little more advanced warning would help me. Additionally we may be looking to have some building work done on our house and trying to fit in a large scale terrain project won't really fit into that scenario, or go down well with my better half. Should AoP happen this year I will most likely reuse my existing board but there will obviously be new additions to the army itself, that will have to suffice. On the one hand I am disappointed, I had a really great idea for what I was going to do, maybe they'll sort it out next year and I can fulfill it's potential. On the other hand those energies can now be focussed on my current painting challenges - mainly Dark Angels with a side order of Tyranid procrastination.

One point of note is that AoP may well be still alive in other countries, I'm not sure why. But I have seen posts of people doing things overseas so maybe it's not all dead, just take what you will from the email I received. All I know is that this time last year the competition had been announced, whether it's dependent on Games Day/Golden Demon, which itself may be debatable after it was downsized in 2013, who knows. Like I say though, time is running out to run a competition that requires such effort as an AoP board, although I'm pretty sure those Golden Demon guys probably start preparing as soon as the last competition is won! Until I see an announcement I don't believe it's going to happen.

'nids part 145 - TO DONE! The Four Horsemen of the Ferron Apocalypse - 'WAR'

WAR!, Huh! What is it good for? Absolutely killing anything on the table. Carnifex are clearly the great winners in new 7th edition. With Smash attacks being nerfed 'Billy Big Time' who doesn't want D3 S9 Hammer of Wrath attacks plus 4 [or even 5] S9 attacks on the charge.

Even when kitted out with twin-linked Brainleech Devourers they can beat up on tanks better than almost any other Tyranid MC. Their only problem their lower Initiative, which is why mine keep losing to Wraithlords. Either that or the tiny talons it's got!

I'm looking to get another Carnifex so they can tag team. I learnt a valuable lesson about their potential in my first game at Throne of Skulls so having two would give me more firepower and durability.

Some cloe up shots of his carapace.

This really does look like an armourred beast from this angle.

And as you can see the magnets allow me to swap the position of it's weapons.

Giving a slightly more compact but no less terrifying aspect.

From the back he's trimmed up and svelte also.

I've some more pictures to follow where I add in some of my other weapons, making Old One Eye but thought it beast to leave War his own moment in the spotlight. With Blog Wars just a week away I've got all of my models done with Death proxying for Deathleaper and one of my Tyranid primes proxying for a second Biovore, other than that, job done.

Big blue tick for being a good boy!