Wednesday 8 August 2012

25,000pt Apocalypse battle [5th Edition] - part 2



Once again due to the unique way of preparing these posts in advance I have stumbled on a new problem. I still have battle reports for 5th Edition while I'm exploring new 6th Editon so I hope you don't mind having to straddle the two rule-sets to enjoy what went down. For one you've no choice and for two I'm not about to dump the content. This was my final 5th Edition battle, a 25,000pt Apocalypse War, before 5th went off and  expired quietly in a corner somewhere.

Here come the Stealers! Both units of Adrenal Stealers came on and the Ymgarls woke from dormancy in the building complex top left. The Stealers and the broodlords multi-assaulted the three Whirlwinds and the deathstrike missile launcher, the Ymgarls went for the Techpriest and the bombard.



The Doom of Malantai emerged from the spore pod and sucked the life out of varied bikers and guardsmen but quite a few managed their cover saves from this life sucking psychic ability [don't even get me started on that nonsense!]


In the lower corner the bulk of the nids suddenly faced a group of outflanking White Scars but the Trygon looked on hungrily, meanwhile the IG heavy Weapons team are no longer a threat. The Tervigon must have spawned the 10 Termagants next to it.


The stealers survey their carnage, all three Whirlwinds wrecked or blown to smithereens, the Deathstrike Missile Launcher gone as was the Bombard and Techpriest, allowing the Ymgarls to consolidate back into the terrain they'd lain dormant in. BOOM!


The Trygon licked it's lips having eaten all the White Scars bikers with the Hive Tyrant but their frenzied attack caught the attention of the Imperial Guard tanks.


The Leman Russ trained its weapons on the Hive Tyrant and blasted it out of existence. Meanwhile the Devgaunts were rooted out of the ruins and more assault marines came on and charged the Termagants and Tervigon. My disrupter beacon continued to play merry havoc with all deep striking units, not least Belial and his attendant Deathwing who ended up perched on the first story of a building in the middle of the battlefield with nothing to shoot and nowhere to go.


In retaliation for the death of the Hive Tyrant the Trygon smashed the Leman Russ to pieces while the Hive Guard shot their Impaler Cannons round corners to destroy one land Speeder and wing another.


The Trygon looked on hungry for it's next target.


The Termagants were reduced down to three and thee Tervigon was on four wounds


While the Hive Guard and Biovore continued to take cover from the ruins safe in their ability to fire indirectly.


The battle in full flow, you can just make out Belials Deathwing on the building middle left above the yellow tape measure. Also of note is the White Scar Drop Pod dead centre of the board sandwiched between the ruin and the Fortress of Redemption. This catastrophic miscalculation due to disruptor beacon interference had essentially car parked the entire Imperial Guard frontal assault which was aiming to drive through this choke point. I was beginning to feel extremely mean about my asset at this point. One other point to make is the missing Warlord Carapace, don't worry it was OK, just kept falling off and it was deemed safer to leave it off.


And here comes the pain, Vendettas swooped in offloading dedicated verteran Xeno purge teams with their many flamers incinerated every Genestealer in sight around the two wrecked Whirlwinds and bruning the Ymgarls out of their hibernation spots.


And that was it for me, time to leave. I have to say this was the most fun Apocalypse game I've ever had. My little force did a lot of damage and went out with a blaze of glory. The fact outflankers will no longer be able to do damage in the way my Stealer just decimated the back field is sad but what a finale! Not to mention the giddy fun but eventual apologetic annoyance my disruptor beacon made to the entire game. What a blast!

Tuesday 7 August 2012

'nids part 47 - Superquick update on my Tervigon

I know this is just one pic but I spent a good while on the head and although it's not complete I'm really happy with it. The Mechrite Red , and its highlights, really adds something to the richness of the figure that the liver colouring [that ends up brown after the washes] really doesn't bring. Add to that the acid green toxin elements on the tongue and I'm loving this. Even the glow effect from the green adds smoky clouds to the tongue spike. 

Sadly my chitinous feathering is a bit sloppy in places, not up to the standard I would hope but on these big creatures I like to do a third highlight so I might be able to cover the mistakes with more detail.


And just to remind you where I was at...


I'm loving doing this, it's a real labour of love and I'm also trying to get the Hive Guard done as well which is slowing progress. The Chitin on the body is a rather daunting prospect but I will try and dig in and have a bash piece by piece so I don't go mad. So many times you read about nid painters getting sick of chitin. I don't mind it, except in large areas. 

Two other points of note is that the Tervigon has become a new MVP in the nid arsenal, thanks to the new Psychic disciplines so whatever it takes I will be making this the true centrepiece of my army, which is a shame for his home made older [but smaller] sibling. Secondly, due to painting it piece by piece I have resorted to wearing rubber gloves to paint. It does help reduce the amount of oils I'm depositing on the model, which given how greasy my phone gets is probably far more than you would expect. Also there's a certain satisfaction and businesslike approach to snapping those blue gloves on every time I'm about to 'get down with ma bitch' ;)


Monday 6 August 2012

'nids part 46 - Nu Tervigon updates

Amongst all the 6th Edition and Warhammer World madness you may recall I ordered a Tervigon [and hoped to get it delivered and painted in time for WW but that was not the case]. Well it did arrive a while back, here's the unboxing [I don't buy too much new GW stuff so excuse the indulgement*, then again this whole blog is an indulgement* and you're still with me].


This is quite a big box, nearly twice as deep as it needs to be for the sprues within...


Multiple Tyrannofex weapons, I may sell these or try and use them in Tyranid terrain/Tyranid versions of Imperial Fortifications.


Tervigon torso and egg sacks.


Legs, heads and limbs.


I'm pretty much painting this piece by piece. I'd read it was the best approach, can't say it's the quickest but it may well achieve the best results. So far the base colours are down with the Sepia and Devlan Mud Wash. I did have a 'wonderful' moment where I knocked the pot of Sepia paint over, spilling it down a folder, onto the floor. I spent a great deal of time trying to put the paint back in the bottle instead of just using it to continue washing the figure. Still the job got done and the end mess wasn't as bad as it could have been.


The head, I much prefer the Tyranofex head but it looks like it would get in the way of the birthing sacs for the Tervigon.


Now I want to try and achieve a semi-transparent look to the birthing sac. I've added the 'liver' effect to the sacs and some green bulges too. I didn't want to be a slave to the GW idea of smaller green bulges but the fun I've been having with the extra green elements made me keen to go ahead anyway.


OK, I have to admit there's some weird things going on visually here. These pics seem to make the egg sac look really cool [in my opinion]. from these pics I would be happy to leave this as is with their almost watercolour-esque finish. However, in reality I was less than impressed and wanted something a little more 'angry' and red looking.


Enter thinned Mechrite Red, which is certainly more livid. However the pictures again fail to capture the fact it does look better than without the red.


BUT, it also looks like I've lost a lot of the textures created through the two washes and the thinned liver colour.


I tried to capture the look in better lighting and this certainly shows that it's a much better colour but still lacking in depth.


But the other side which was untouched has a a variety of tones I'm convinced I will lose. My only recourse is to continue on with the Mechrite Red, afterall there's no undo in in painting, but I will be using much thinner red and hoping to allow the tones created so far to show through. Perhaps if I'd have done the bonewhite highlights too I might have a better idea how this was going to turn out.


One other area of note is that the Mechrite Red was done over a couple of sittings at my local GW. Despite keeping it in a plastic bag in a box, so any friction was against shiny plastic, not the mild abrasive cardboard in the box quite a few areas of relief, Termagant crests, Fleshborer barrels were scuffed down to their white primer. I'm pretty sure two coats of varnish will be needed on this and I'll probably gloss varnish the sacs too,


* I know I should use 'indulgence' instead of indulgement but just indulge me.

Saturday 4 August 2012

25,000pt Apocalypse battle [5th Edition] - part 1


Once again due to the unique way of preparing these posts in advance I have stumbled on a new problem. I still have battle reports for 5th Edition while I'm exploring new 6th Edition so I hope you don't mind having to straddle the two rule-sets to enjoy what went down. For one you've no choice and for two I'm not about to dump the content. This was my final 5th Edition battle, a 25,000pt Apocalypse War, before 5th went off and  expired quietly in a corner somewhere.

I hadn't had much intention to go to the Apocalypse battle at my local friendly neighbourhood gaming club but the wife was amenable so I thought why not. I'd also heard another of my old gaming buddies may turn up, he has around 13,000pts of 'nids which would have been fun, but alas didn't come to pass. Anyway when I got there the 'axis of good was in the process of setting up their 25,000pts. As you can see the setup was vanguard strike, although that's it's 6th name, not sure if it was the same in 5th. Just for context those are 2'x4' panels making a 12'x8' battlefield. Also I think some of the pics are a little out of chronology but I don't think it'll be too bad as I'm only really covering what happened to me, too much was going on to cover the entire battle.


I asked if there was room for my 2,000 pts of 'nids and the 'axis of evil' who were still to setup had only brought 23,000pts so how perfect was that to allow my force to balance the sides? I would also get to choose a strategic asset. I had a quick look at the variety of little doodads you can choose to disrupt, enhance or delay your opponents. In the end, having seen the masses of drop pods waiting to come in I chose a 'disruptor beacon' it was cited just to the right of the Honoured Imperium statue in the picture above. This little device means anything that deep strikes within 48" of the beacon can be repositioned by me anywhere else on the battlefield on a 4+ [what's the symbol for evil grin smilie].


This is the evil deployment, Necrons, Orks, some Marines, some Chaos and the bulk of my 'nids in this lower corner, Hive Guard and Warriors skulking behind the Land Raider for cover. Yes, that's a Warlord Titan on the right, sadly he kept falling apart but it did add to the drama when his torso would randomly crash forwards, if only that had been when he was shot. Dan standing in the background from the goodies, he had Dark Angel's.


My deployment in the lower corner - Devgaunts in the building, Hive Tyrant, Hormies, Tervigon and Trygon, the Warriors and Hive Guard behind the two Land Raiders. The remaining two broods of Adrenal stealers and a unit of Ymgarls ready to outflank in the very top left corner, hopefully, where there was an  awful lot of artillery. Lastly the Doom of Malantai in a Mycetic Spore...


The goodies were predominantly Space Marines - Dan and Rob's White Scars and Roy's Imperial Guard. As you can see the board was pretty packed and it soon became apparent that trying to move units to the centre of the board was a challenge - we needed some of those WW2 deployment map sticks you see in the films!


Roy's Heavy Weapons teams prepare to face the oncoming horde.


A unit of White Scar bikers that ended up facing my nids in the lower corner shortly after I'd finished deployment. Roy on the left, Dan next to him and Tom our Necron general on the right.


Another of Roy's heavy weapons teams, and what they'll be aiming at.


My Monstrous Creatures tower over an allied unit of Space Marine bikers.


The combined evil infantry at the bottom pic, Necrons and a lot of 'counts as' Orks face off against the many tanks of both the Space marines and the Imperial Guard.


Necron Wraiths eager to tear apart the metal boxes.


The awesome 'counts as' orks [or so I believe], everyone different


More of our infantry.


And yet more.


KABOOM! Not so much a pie plate as a serving platter. So when I decided to put my Warriors and Hive guard behind the two land Raiders for cover why did I not realise that given their 'alpha mech' status they would be a primary target for the goodies. Rob had three Vindicators that could combine their firepower into on massive blast template - covering the two Land Raiders and my 'nids.


Here's Rob's Vindicators taking aim, not to mention the assorted other vehicles keen to face down the 'deluded' blue marines.


Ouch, the Land Raider was toast, the Vindicator on the right also was down, but luckily for me I came out of with one wound on the Hive Guard a Warrior down and a few wounds on the remaining brood, it could have been so much worse.


First contact for me, a unit of Assault Marines target the Hormagaunts who suffer terrible loses despite holding onto the cover they were in. 


The Assault Marines wipe through the Hormagaunts and consolidate into the building hunting the Devgaunts on the third floor. 


So I'd lost the Hormies and taken wounds on my core units but amongst all of this the disruptor beacon was paying dividends by the score. With tunnel strategic assets around the feet of our Warlord Titan and main objective drop pods, teleporting Terminators and assault units all tried to secure a foothold in out deployment area but over half of them had their co-ordinates disrupted and I got to move them back to their own defensive positions. I actually felt sad about this in the end but they weren't too far from their own objective so there was still some good they could do in the battle.

Anyway, more to come too much for one post alone...

Thursday 2 August 2012

Rumourmungous



I just checked BoLS as I do at stupid o'clock most nights when I should just go to bed instead, which had a rumour repost from Faeit 212, here's the original post.

Exciting news that the Tyranids will get their Harpy and a Mycetic Spore [though it'll need something pretty dramatic to tempt me to buy one]. More interesting is the 'Harrier' model named and new Tyranid Warriors, lets hope that means they'll come with wings to make Shrikes. Additionally repositioning the Pyrovore as anti-aircraft dunno how that's supposed to work but I guess that's about the biggest U-turn you will see GW do without actually admitting they made an awesome figure but saddled it with really bad rules.

I'll gloss over the Dark Angel Codex being pushed back until April 2013, which means it can be pushed back again nearer the time, because if you glanced at GW's Annual Report you will see they are committed to releasing something every month which I feel is exciting for all. However, the other really exciting thing is a summer release for Blood Bowl! Lets hope I've painted those figures by then, although there'll probably be some pretty awesome plastic miniatures in the box so that should be another thing I want to paint. Put me down for a box regardless.

Flufftastic - Ferron Fire Firs

One of the many unique elements of Flora on Ferron Proxima is the Ferron Fire Fir. It's oft remarked that the Universe in the 41st Millenia is a dangerous place and everyday it gets 'dangerouser'. Gone are the times you can stroll out to the ethereal swamps of New Baux City in peace, now you risk disturbing a nest of Razorwings and hope you can return to the city limits before they strip you to the bone. 


The Ferron Fire Fir is unique in that's form of 'Photosynthesis' creates a byproduct of heat. The greater the energy transference the hotter they get. During periods of particularly strong solar activity and reduced sulphur cloud coverage it is common for the Fire Firs to spontaneously combust. Strangely the trees themselves are not combustible, the flames from one tree do not spread to the next and so on to cause raging forest fires, however there is some belief there is a limited sentience between the trees and it is theorised that some trees will often 'choose to combust in sympathy'.


The greatest study of this phenomena has been made by Prof. Egon Seuss - eminent xeno-botanist, Delta Level Bio-Magi of the Frau Mara Institute of Floramancy and part-time children's author. It is his research into the mysteries of the Ferron Fire Fir and many other local flora that has saved countless lives of children, picnickers and couples who thought to enjoy nature without realising they were standing in the middle of a powder keg. One of his simple tongue twisters:
Four flaming Fronds on a Ferron Fire Fir.
is cited as reducing forest fatalities by 46%. There are still many examples of people caught unawares, but predominantly most Ferron Fire Firs are avoided, except for military exercises and suppression campaigns.



This area of avoidance does allow criminal elements to site their activities within the relative security of fir stands. Although the merits of keeping your illegal alcostem distillery within a potentially flammable environment has left many a crimelord ruing that decision.