'nids part 99 - Plasma Hatchers Mycetic Spore pt2.

On with the Spore Pods - red oxide primer once again. However, these Plasma Hatchers are renowned for their weird plastic and dubious ability for paint to stick. So I tried to 'key' it a little bit with an overspray of clear gloss varnish I had knocking around, with hindsight good old frosty Purity Seal would have done the job too!. Anyway, letting the varnish drops fall on the plastic gave a slightly more uneven surface. No guarantee whether the paint will be more durable but it was worth a shot. 

Learning from the Bastion I went straight for the base, all the drybrushing risks any paint on the model, which is applied with greater control so it gets it out of the way before I do anything else.

Also the future red bits were washed with Badab Black/Dark Tone

Then on goes the docrafts Artiste Bahama Blue and Latte craft acrylics. Funnily enough I originally bought the Latte as a Vallejo Bonewhite substitute way back when specifically for these Spore Pods. 

I was mindful of the size of them and didn't want to waste expensive paint on something that was eventually going to be washed twice and have two sets of highlights so the base coat at least could be cheap as chips. Once again this paint is quite rough, with a chalky feel. It may not be durable but will add a nice key for the other paints to stick too [hopefully].

 Gryphone Sepia/Soft Tone wash.

Love how I can just nip out and pick a pot of this up, 5 minute walk from work and it's cheap and does not screw up my model like that abomination I will not name!

Devlan Mud/Strong Tone next.

Mycetic Spore V2.0 Plasma Hatcher | part 1. | 

'nids part 98 - Plasma Hatchers Mycetic Spore pt1.

With the Spore Pods finally based it's time to move these on. I really want to try two and three pod lists. You have to mix up your choices, if I'd never tried the Flyrant I'd still be back with Warriors. Additionally these can be added to my Armies on Parade board for a bit more 'monstrosity'. So first up was to fill in some gaps [poorly] and add some tentacles,

I made these with the same tentacle tool from last time but the results were mixed, in part due to the Milliput being very sticky and the more you push to emboss the texture the more the Milliput sticks to the rolling surface. Once again you'd probably get better results from Green Stuff Industries Tentacle Maker or Masq-Mini's tube Tool.

I also ended up short for time and had to throw on some of the tentacles and 'sculpt' the sections by hand, either that or waste the Milliput. So they're a bit rubbish in some places but hopefully the paint job will rescue them a bit although I'm not that fussed, these are really only 'emergency' pods.

Again, I was mindful not to spoil the sculpting already done and not go mad doing it endlessly so I added only two plates at a time.

Eventually the plates were all in position, with the tentacles coming out from underneath the Chitin plates. Have to say I cocked that yellow one up  with the right tentacle crossing over the left one. It should have angled right covering up the rather plain featureless right side. Oh well, that's what happens when you're rushed. DAS airdrying clay was used for the base.

I'd originally intended to embed slate into it but in the end textured the clay with a tooth brush and sculpting tool. I'm not entirely sure how to create that impacted crater look and I really don't want to lose sleep over these, just get them done so I can tick them off my list as they've been on it for far too long.

And from the back you can see, yes indeed, some of those tentacles are v.poor, nevermind. However I did have a sudden thought in that these so look like spore-pods but they also look like some form of Tyranid Terrain/structure and there's two what other structures can you get in pairs from GW?

A Vengeance Weapons Battery and it doesn't say Nids can't use them, BS 2 Battle Cannons - just saying!

Game of Throne of Skulls

A good few months back Ben organised a mini Throne of Skulls-like tournament between himself, Liam, Otty and I with two tables on the go in his conservatory and with £5 each in the pot converted to GW vouchers - the winner taking away the 'hobby pot'. Obviously I intended to do a battle report but as the games went on and the temperature rose things got a little heated and time rapidly ran out. Funnily enough I've written this overview once already and somehow all the text got overwritten as I kept pushing back the schedule date to update my Bastion reports.

First up I played Liam, with his more Nurgle-centric Chaos marines.

I had quite the amount of cover until I think Abaddon allowed that Land Raider to Infiltrate on my right hand side, luckily I'd arranged the coral for my Aegis.

Obliterators struggled to draw a bead on anything thanks to my setup.

Cultists have a better view, just not the range to do anything with it.

Typhus jumps out of the Land Raider, maybe premature but going bold so early on was at least going to speed things up.

The Hive Tyrant took a couple of wounds.

Everything barreled into the Terminators. I think Typhus killed the Crushing Claws Tervigon with his Force Sword but may have eventually succumbed to the smaller vanilla Tervigon.

Liam's Nurgle Heldrake. I was impressed with the wings, although the bright colours don't scream Nurgle - decay and rot. However, I did look over to the other table in a later game and I swear the graduation worked as a perfect optical illusion and tricked my mind into thinking I was actually looking through the wings!

I'm not sure what that is but I'm guessing it can't be good, well at least for one of us

Next up was Otty and his Eldar, the new Codex was just a week old and was still new to him, which is why he ended up with his HQ lugging around 150pts of ALL the Eldar Special Weapons [somehow for free] instead of just the 1 weapon he was allowed to have. Additionally he had stuff in Transports that weren't allowed to take them but it's a new codex so cut him some slack. Anyway this is his Revant Titan masquerading as a Wraith Knight [and why not] about to breach my back line.

While my Flyrant does the same for his Deployment Zone.

Rather comically the Wraith Knight is stalled by the combined efforts of some Termagants and Broodlord and one Stealer. I managed to put 3 wounds on it thanks to Enfeeble - Devourers and Fleshborers eventually going to take a wound. I later on thought my Termagants were super cool doing a couple more wounds - more effective than the Broodlord but that was because I keep thinking they're S4, not 3. Anytway we fixed it up, hey it's an old codex, cut me some slack ;)

We went well over time on this we'd reached turn 3 and I was clearly winning but it was elected to continue on and Otty managed to swing it his way, although I think the Wraith Knight was eventually smashed by my Tervigon thanks to more Termagants tarpitting it long enough for the Crushing Claws to get in range. Enfeeble was awesome in cutting it down.

Last game was against Ben's Guard, due to the setting up times I never moved tables but I noted that Ben's Wall of Martyrs was extremely useful in allowing him to keep his troops set up and just move the wall from one table to the next.

I had quite a nice little defensive screen to keep me safe.

Eventually all hell broke lose in Ben's backfield!

What with my on objectives I think I ended up sealing this one to end with two wins and a loss.

Otty managed 3 wins and took the prize.

While I was playing Liam, Ben took a few pictures of his match with Otty.

Otty's scratchbuilt Defence Line from disposable razors and curtain rail fixings!

Otty had some amazing Eldar objectives made from medicine spoons.

Wraithguard get to head through the trees, which I absolutely love, asked for specifically and never got to play on that table!

Marbo tries to steal the cache of Shuriken Pistols. I think he eventually succumbed to the Rangers.

The Jetbikes arrive.

But the objective is still in Ben's hands.

Another cache of Shuriken Weapons and the gun-line continues to pound the Guard.

Wave Serpent tries to flank the Guard.

I think these were the Wave Serpents target.

Gunlines trade shots across no-man's land.

Wraithguard advance through the autumnal trees.

This was a really good days gaming, Ben was the consummate host but we must get better at time-keeping. The heat was certainly a factor, gaming was a little more fractious than usual with us having to stop and mediate for rules during games, maybe next time we need to crank out the beers sooner, although I did miss finishing off a fantastic cup of tea which was replaced by an equally awesome ice-cold shandy. See what I mean about a cool host, and lest us not forget about the massive bacon and egg barms [which I spilt on the battle board!]. 

Anyway, an Apocalypse battle is planned for next get together, although my lowly 4,000pts won't stack up against these power gamers, ha, ha!

Dark Angel Bitz and another call for help from you guys. [or not?]

'The best laid plans... etc.' Originally I wanted some advice, again, but since I wrote this piece I've actually been working on the model I wanted advice on, so you'll actually get an update at the end of the redundant request for help, so don't feel cheated. Anyway, I somehow shoe-horned some time into getting it done while my Mycetic Spore Milliput dried and was able to see quite clearly the solution to my problem [or not, I'm not sure]. But here's the original post:

Right, when I was juggling three [or four] projects - Dark Angels, Inquisitorial Vault and the Tyranid Bastion I ordered some extra bits for my Unforgiven from www.modelbits.co.uk [they run a decent service, although I did need to chase up delivery] and all the bits below came. A couple of Forgeworld original Missile Launchers for my Devastator squad - I've 4 of these babies now. Some flat bases that I can put slate on so my original metal Devastators can stand a little taller given their lack of stature.

Additionally some missiles, and servo-skulls just to add yet more character. And some replacement heads and a Watcher with Perfidious Relic because I have a plan. Back when Dark Vengeance came out I was able to purchase a second set of the Limited Edition box at a silly price from my local Independent Game Store. I managed to sell everything except the blast templates and the Dark Angel Chapter Master making a £20+ profit. 

Anyway, I didn't think much of the Master. I'm not a huge fan of his pose, it looks like a kendo stance - hasso-no-kamae but his feet, hands and arms are wrong. It's a small thing but when you've been telling beginners how to get it right for years it's painful to see a so-called master of all things 'martial' making noob errors. I mean seriously what's with that elbow sticking out and why is his left hand on top of his right? 

Anyway, he'd make a nice Azreal who is frankly awesome for all the bonuses he brings but I didn't want to do a straight figure swap when I can do a little kit-bash. The Chapter Master helmet comes separately, I can easily add it to the watcher once I remove the Perfidious Relic. Then all I need to do is swap his helm for a cool bare head and these are the ones I picked up and what I'd like you advice on. First choice -  a Ravenwing Command head that isn't overtly Ravenwing

Another Ravenwing Command head, slightly more classical although I've not had much success painting bionic eyes.

The classic Dark Angel Veteran Command head. I'm not a huge fan, the first two options are much better sculpts but as I say it's a classic and deserves a shot.

Lastly a generic Space Marine Command head - he's got four studs! He's still cool and I'm not that bothered he doesn't have any Dark Angel motifs, I think there's enough on the model already but I'll leave the choice up to you guys.

1. Ravenwing Command head 1
2. Ravenwing Command head 2
3. Dark Angel Veteran Command head
4. Space Marine Command Head

So which do you think I went for in the end? Well good question because it seemed obvious when I dry fit them but then I added a super back-pack from the Dark Angel Veteran upgrade sprue and a banner and having said I didn't need help at the beginning I may have reconsidered. Anyway I think I'm 75% convinced that option 1 above is the best option [top right in the picture below], but what do you think when you see it in context?

Here's the 'preferred' choice, am I right? And this will be the base he's on - head and shoulders above a normal company Master and the Watcher, carrying the Lion Helm, is complete and will be on the 'biggest piece of slate ever' to emphasis his small stature and the base is unimportant as he never gets assaulted anyway!