Terrain is everything - 40k outpost, that got bigger Pt 1 'the outpost'

This was the first piece of terrain I started. I'd just joined TerraGenesis and I saw a guy called BugbaitNZ creating a planetary defence platform for a competition. The tower he was making for the gun emplacement wasn't going to get finishe din time so he made a hexagonal base which is what I decided to copy to just see if I could do it.

And it turned out OK, only the problem was it was much bigger than I expected and totally dominated our small battlefield. I had to do something to make that real estate worth more than the low level cover it was representing. So I started on my modularity complex and hacked at the rear wall in such a way that i could position a 3 storey tower into the out post. This can be detached to form a separate tower if needed or leave the outpost on it's own or joined together.

As you can see the tower was a considerable jump in detail and complexity but I'd been convinced I could do it following the success of the outpost. My only regret is the use of a lever arch file cover for the base. I thought it was the moisture in the PVA that warped card and as the cover was plastic coated it wouldn't warp. WRONG! It's just PVA shrinks. If it's not dimensionally stable your base will warp, FACT, so deal with it.

   

   

Plans for the outpost are here. Tower plans to follow...

'nids part 1. and 'List maker'

So given my son's choice of 'nids I thought I'd look to some form of army list maker to help, erm, making the lists. Obviously there are some you have to pay for but if you can get one for free even better, and that's what I found. Over at Alice 40k Warhammer club they have plenty of list makers for your specific codex. They're all Excel spreadsheets and they're quite good, a few bugs in places but nothing you can't add to somewhere to get your force down.

With this in mind here's the first list I came up with, using my son's figures and a few more I felt I needed [like the Shrikes for synapse support for the Gargoyles]. It was completely without any background knowledge, the Codex was so new very little advice was available at the time.

• Tyranid Prime with Pair of Boneswords,Adrenal Glands,Toxin Sacs,Regeneration,,,,,,,,,,,,120
• 3x Hive Guard(s) with ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,150
• Tervigon with ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,160
• 12x Termagaunts with Strangleweb,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,70
• 12x Genestealers with Adrenal Glands,Toxin Sacs,,,,,,,,,,,,,,240
• 3x Tyranid Warriors with Barbed Strangler,Deathspitter,,,,,,,,,,,,,,110
• 3x Ripper Swarms with Tunnel Swarm,,,,,,,,,,,,,,36
• 10x Gargoyles with ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,60
• 3x Tyranid Shrikes with Pair of Boneswords,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,135
• Trygon with Regeneration,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,225
• 1x Biovore(s) with ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,45

TOTAL 1351

Now a lot of things would change with this mainly due to offers that became available on ebay. So we'll see where we're at once all those purchases got made. Certainly the Shrikes have gone by the wayside, despite finding 3 pairs of wings I could use to convert them... Meanwhile where was that Tervigon coming from?

Next up what I did for my HQ choice, the Tyranid Prime...

Falling off the wagon part 3. The Shadow in the Warp

So for Christmas 2009 I got Assault on Black Reach, but it's one thing to get the game, it's another to play and really the only incentive is if you have someone to play against. I've got 1000's of points of Space Marines but they had absolutely no interest to my eldest son. He was only interested in Tyranids and with his birthday coming up and a new codex due at the same time he had plenty of birthday money to invest.

Now I loved the 'Without Number' rule in the old codex whereby if a gaunt was 8pts or less, for an additional 3pts each if the brood was wiped out they could be brought on again from the Tyranid board edge. What better way to prevent tears and tantrums than a constantly respawning battleforce. Anyway that rule went by the wayside and the Nipper got a box of Termagants, Warriors, Gargoyles and a Trygon to add to the Biovore he'd randomly bought at some point.

It was my job to get the paints and work up a paint scheme. I knew I wanted to do it blue because the Nipper's favourite colour is blue. I also looked at all the new stats in the codex and realised those gargoylse were rapidly going to suffer when they got out of Synapse range so would probably need some Shrikes to go with them. Looking up Winged Tyranid Warrior I saw a nice conversion on a website called Necrotales. Suddenly I had the inspiration for the colour scheme I wanted to do...

So you've already seen my son's Broodlord [in a body warmer] from when I discussed cheap terrain materials. But you can see quite clearly the blue and bone white scheme I developed, we'll get to see more of these beggars over time.

A ruin of a rule

As I stumble through my new experiences with whatever edition 40k is on now occasionally a rule will come up I don't have an answer for, I'm sure we all suffer this. Anyway my son was playing a game with his cousin. He had a Tervigon and 16 Termagants in tow. A squad of terminators were on 3 floors of the ruined building pictured below.

Now they never actually got into combat because the game had to finish, that's the price you pay when your battlefield is the dining table! But afterwards I debated what my son should have done and it raised these questions.

The termagants aren't going to want to assault through the ruin as that'll make their Initiative 1 so what if the Tervigon destroys the building then the Terminators are denied their cover, so I asked the following on the Bell of Lost Souls forum for answers

Tervigon assaults the building- it penetrates roll on vehicle damage table.
Immobilised - does nothing.
Wrecked - terminators disembarks up to 2" away and pinning test [would you put a crater down? would it be difficult terrain? would the termies be allowed within this cover considering they had to disembark].
Explodes! - everyone takes a S4 hit and positioned where the building used to be and pinning test [no crater placed, or would it?].
If the tervigon's termagant spawn then assault any pinned or even unpinned occupants would the occupants get the 'assaulting through cover' bonuses?
What I'm getting at is if models are in a building and you destroy the building which was giving them the 'assaulting through cover' bonuses would they still get them if you destroyed the building?

The responses were mixed but I think I understand what would happen now and there's a fundamental difference between a 'building' and a 'ruin' [or 'ruined building']. Apparently a structurally sound building is like a vehicle, you can assault it and destroy it just like any transport. A ruin though is difficult terrain, you cannot assault it, you cannot destroy it so there is no opportunity for the mighty Tervigon to smash a rickety unstable ruin to pieces.

Which just makes no sense to me.

When you consider most of GW's building kits are 'ruined' I'm surprised this isn't a major issue. Together with the fact even in the rule book they suggest often it is better to assault a building than trying to assault the occupants because of the Initiative modifier. However, as the moving through difficult terrain test suggest that people use micro grenades, cutting tools, or acid to dissolve holes to negotiate the terrain you could easily suggest, in a friendly game, if a Monstrous Creature walks through a ruin and passes the test the ruin is flattened. Although I still prefer the idea a ruined building should be a valid assault target, so that may be our house rules.

Of course even if my option of destroying the ruin was agreed with an opponent and the Terminators were 'dismebarked' outside of the cover the Termagants would not be able to assault because you have to nominate who they're assaulting before any assaults take place. If you nominate the Terminator squad they'd have to be in the building when the Tervigon rampaged through it.



Epic Space Marines part 1. - Dark Angels

Here's some pics of my small Epic Dark Angels force. I had to have one seeing as I was fielding a Dark Angels 40 chapter but also you got extra choices with the likes of Ravenwing [before they went all Goth coloured]. So there's 3 tactical squads, differentiated by bolter and back pack colours - gold, silver and red. A Ravenwing attack force - Land Speeders and bikes. Three Lands Raiders, a Thunderhawk Gunship and continuing my love affair with Tarantula Sentry Guns - my own scratch builds made out of Imperial Guard las pistols and las rifle handles, enjoy!

Falling off the wagon part 2. Assault on Black Reach

Unbeknownst to me our town centre independent newsagents had been under new management for quite some time. This newsagents had always been quite large and had an art section at the back. Aside from my trek to Liverpool when I first started down this path there was only this shop that stocked Citadel Miniatures. I recall purchases of samurai, ninja and a strange passion for half-orcs? Individual blister packs were 60p, although I do recall paying 50p on occasion.

Anyway, decades later the new owners had reintroduced GW products as an Independent stockist. My wife just casually dropped it into a conversation and I had to return to my roots! Suffice to say it was an odd feeling to go back and see their new stock and even more exciting when I saw Assault on Black Reach for around £45. Cheaper than GW! So I actually said that that was all I wanted for Christmas.

On the day I didn't get it. Santa came and went but in the morning there was no 'game in a box' sized parcel. I really was like a kid let down on Christmas day. Then my Mother-in-Law comes over to drop off the presents Santa left at her house. It seemed I'd been a good little boy afterall and the game was mine. Saying that having trimmed all the figures from their sprues I've never had a game with all the figures provided. It would take part 3. of falling of the wagon to really push me over the edge - The Shadow in the Warp

Harlequins

The first picture I posted was of my Harlequin Jet Bike. Harlequins were probably my first purchase for Rogue Trader. My Godmother lives in Canada and we went on a family holiday to visit. At the time my obsession with GW was absolute and I had my latest White Dwarf with me that I insisted on shoving under the nose of any and all that showed an interest.

Eventually we found an independent stockist of Citadel miniatures and I came out of a place more likely to sell scented candles than figures. I have to say there were some strange looks on the airport security staff when that box of figures went through the X-Ray!

Below are the figures I bought, painted in varying degrees. Eventually they were sold on ebay and although there are some I now regret this was not one of them. I still like the figures and the premise, although now I understand they're part of the new Dark Eldar codex, but I thought they deserved a more loving home.

The completed part of my Harlequin troupe.

The full ebay lot, including unpainted miniatures and a free Swooping Hawk [which I loved].

Death Jester inspired Eldar dreadnought.

The joker on his jetbike - batdance!

Some of the better painted 'quins.

Death Jesters, I love 'em. tried to be clever with a 'milky' wash on the shuriken cannons.

Average quality 'quins, some of my first attempts. The Riddler is on the left and the middle pose is awesome thanks to the Milliput 'hillock'.

These were unfinished at the time of sale.