1000pt battle report[ish] - nids vs Eldar - The first run out with the new Codex

I got to open my 2014 account with PeteB the other week. New Year, New [OLD] Codex. This isn't a battle report as such, I wasn't paying too much attention to keeping track, really it's an observation of how things are different and how they may be very much the same. PeteB took the photos, I was too flustered moving bodies, and OH how many need moving now! Due to the opposite view that PeteB had it's another reason I'll struggle to describe the action as it unfolded, but I'm extremely grateful for his impression of David Bailey ;)

We set up the terrain as a sort of Xenos-henge, with my Capillary Towers surrounding a reclamation pit and various craters and redundant Spore Pods for added LoS blocking terrain. It was Vanguard strike and I think there were 3 objectives, I had one and PeteB had the other. I may have stolen the initiative which allowed me [thanks to Catalyst] to run my Termagants over to the Infiltrated Striking Scorpions on my left.

Thanks to the mixed load out of Devourers and Fleshborers [+1 to the new Codex] I was able to bring 34 shots to bare on the Striking Scorpions. I think this translated as 2 or possibly 3 dead. The real concern was that my Tervigon was now only just in Synapse range even with a conga line and where as in the past I'd have spawned some more gaunts to man my Quad Gun and then moved off to support now I had to move and then spawn. It was a very fine balance, very difficult to reverse the previous order of action and having to think ahead of where the Tervigon will be and not where it begins was extremely hard.

The real issue that presented itself was just how damaging Instictive Behaviour can be. It was at this point that I realised should my 30 Termagants fail IB they could potentially fall back. As you can see, it's a big brood and in heading left along my board edge I was only 7" from potentially fleeing. It's here that I realised how detrimental IB could be [-1 New Codex]. In the old days that would never have been a worry. With such a potential failing I wondered why it was a 50% to run off the board? Surely a 1-2 is fall back 3-5 is Seek Cover and 6 is the lucky bonus one where you Seek Cover and get Stealth. Think about Grounded results and reserves, they're on 1-2 - the bad things happen on the lower rolls. I'm sure if the odds on something bad happening had been reduced the IB chart would be less contentious.

Spore Mines were the other anomaly I discovered. Considering how there is nearly half a page discussing the various rules relating to their use it seems lacking in how they actually function. There seems to be no proximity detonation anymore so PeteB's Eldar were free to dance around them like they weren't there. There's also no clarification of what happens when they are shot at, do they explode as per their rules or just get shot. This was in the old Codex I'm sure, so why not cover the situation here? The last thing is can a cluster explode from deep strike? Presumably not as the explode in the assault phase, and Deep Strikers can't assault.Although it does not say they are assaulting, just explode at the initiative 10 step. Otherwise you're paying for a unit that sits there and gets shot to pieces, which in fairness is what most every other Deep Striker does but these are T1, their sole purpose is to drop in and explode, if they have to wait a turn there's just no point and for me would move from an auto-include: potential S9 large blast Deep Stike for 30pts! So, I'll probably not bother.

In fairness to the new Codex the end result was not really due to a change in rules, despite the lowered BS my Hive Guard are still ineffective against high armour saves. Strength 8 will wound a Wraithlord, it just won't damage it! :(

So with my major concern over Synapse it suddenly became imperative the Termagants were shot again, that way I could 'go to ground' thus making me immune to IB. All I then needed to do was get my Synapse within range and they would automatically recover. This Duck and Cover approach will become a nid players friend I think. Everyone needs to get with Bert:

My Flyrant came in no problems, I was hoping I could force a Morale check on the Dire Avengers and being close to the board edge hopefully they'd flee off. The planned worked, insomuch that I killed sufficient to force the check but they passed with ease. Which left the Flyrant very exposed which resulted in him being dead the next turn

Incidentally I did get another round of fire on the Scorpions, after they fled back up field but rallied in their turn. Another 34 shots but I think only 1 kill!

With my Termagants instantly recovering with the Tervigon getting into range I headed for the little objective on the bottom of the pic. I was hoping Catalyst might put me in a position the Wraithlord couldn't reach but sadly it wasn't the case. In the end the Termagants were tied up in combat and PeteB was hard pressed to get rid of them, he even claimed they were worse to deal with than what I used to field. I suppose max brood size does have it's benefits.

There have been plenty of reviews on the internet of the new Codex, many I agree with so I'm not about to repeat what's been said, particularly when they've often been comprehensive of their unit by unit analysis. What I am going to say is I am one of the disappointed Tyranid players. Apparently that means I'm a whinger and WAAC player as all those who have found light in the new Codex.

I really think it depends on your view point and the route you've come to it. Having not played the 4th Edition Codex I was not hit hard by the 5th rules but I could understand the implications. Maybe that's what's going on here, new 6th Codex players are wondering what the fuss is about... the Codex is a disappointment because the pluses are far outweighed by the minuses. The things we've lost and the new things that have been implemented are not mitigated by the good stuff. The Flyers are a high point but even so they're lower price and higher wounds than a Flyrant are counterbalanced by the lower toughness which means they'll die just as quick, if not quicker. The Exocrine and Haruspex are still only slightly above interesting but with the resurgence of the Carnifex and it's real world cost - I picked one up with Fleshborer Hives as twin-linked Devourer [what I was going to do anyway] for around £13! What's the real incentive to go for the new model?

Anyway, I'll plug along regardless. This is only a slightly worse position than we were in 2010 and I was quite happy to continue sending the bugs out. I'm convinced I'll spend more time skulking again, hiding from fire and hoping to weather the storm. When you had durability you could be aggressive, without it you need speed and I really think we failed to get that. The only speed we had were Deep Strike capabilities and they've gone, if a way to replace that had been found it might also have solved the loss of Iron Arm.

Still it was an interesting dip into the new Codex, but very slow, it was 1am by the time we'd packed up! Hopefully everything will speed up but plenty to think about moving forwards and what to take for Throne of Skulls.

P.S. One other thing, anyone else find the positioning of the Weapons and Biomorphs section and the Colours of the Hive Fleets just a bit awkward. I'm constantly going backwards and forwards between weapons and biomorphs and the Army List section but to do so I keep having to flick past 22 pages of models. So much easier if the Hive Fleet had come before the weapons.

'nids part 123 - PROJECT Y Scratchbuilt Tyranid Skyshield Landing Pad pt5.

This isn't much of an update as really it's just the fact that the DAS clay is dry now and you can get a sense of scale and perspective with the towers. However, it's a two-fer, in fact it's technically a three-fer and there is a bit more progress further down the page.

A sense of scale with the Termagant in place.

A close up of how the Capillary Tower slot interacts with the Skyshield Landing Pad.

And here I am testing just what is visible once the Aegis Defence Line is positioned in front of the pad.

At ground level any Termagants will be invisible underneath , although taller models will be able to get a bead on them. Of course if they're next to the wall they'll be 'visible', that's what the save is for but I'm planning for all eventualities at Throne of Skulls to ensure I've somewhere to hide against Apocalyptic Barrages - under/inside the pad and then against D-Weapons I'll just have to hide behind my Bastion.

The fleshy musculature has been sculpted onto the support fibres from the 6 Capillary Towers. I laid down masking tape on the edges so I could get a flat base for my detachable walls. As you can see each tower slot is labelled and each wall will fit snugly up against the respective Tower. The footprint of the slots are mapped out and everything is coded so I know what goes where. A considerable amount of time has been spent finessing this although there are still gaps in places but the tolerances are acceptable.

Here's a close up of the pad deck. It's considerably thicker than I planned but I've alwasy struggled with fine detail and hopefully this will be more durable because of it. It has bowed a bit, despite my efforts, following the drying of the DAS clay but it actually looks more like stretched flesh because of it. The fibre muscles must have taken around an hour to an hour and a half to do. I think I had all this very clearly in my head but it all seems to have evaporated, so they're guestimate times now I'm afraid.

And here's the third bit, I've added Milliput to the edges and then scored them to look like many layer of fibrous tissue. It's not great but it should suffice when it's painted. In truth the Milliput was far less forgiving than the DAS clay but I wanted something strong to anchor the edges for durability and strength in the whole piece. I think there was about an hours work here.

So sculpting is done, hooray! Next up the painting, Red Oxide spray primer and some fun :)

Tyranid Capillary Towers | part 1. | part 2. | part 3. | part 4. | part 5. | part 6. | part 7. | part 8. | part 9. |

part 10. | part 11. | 

Tyranid Skyshield Landing Pad | part 1. | part 2. | part 3. | part 4. | part 5. | part 6. | part 7. | part 8. |

'nids part 122 - Scratchbuilt Tyranid Capillary Towers pt12. TO DONE!

Aside from an application of my Vernidas gloss varnish in the three male towers these are all but complete. Once again Tamiya Clear Red X-27 is awesome, I'll need to get some more at this rate.

I'm less convinced of the tendril vines, they don't show up a great deal but I've already changed the colour  from my first Reclamation Pool I didn't want to introduce another variant.

Each fleshy musculature was gloss varnishes prior to any Tamiya Clear Red X-27. That ensures that the pink of the flesh is still glossy and wet and the highlights painted on get some use. When the Tamiya Clear Red X-27 goes on it's not all over, in joints and at the end, with some Army Painter Heavy Tone mixed in where I want it darker.

Army Painter Heavy Tone [equivalent to Badab Black] makes the Tamiya Clear Red X-27 matt so in some cases a quick dab of extra gloss varnish was required to make it look wet again.

I was dubious about doing the lime green pit throughout, thinking I should have stuck to just the flesh sac versions but now I'm loving the variety and it's a really cool effect with the gloss varnish.

The Vernidas was applied afterwards and filled this baby up, and then somehow shrank down. A second coat though has retained a lot of it's thickness. I'm thinking the underlying material must absorb soemthing from the varnish. I think next time I'll do a thin coat to seal the base and then try a thicker coat.

Ultimately this isn't a 'water effects type substance' there are various resins and water looking substances. Vernidas is cheap in small doses and convenient for me to get although I'm sure 250ml of Vallejo water effects is considerably better value. Howevere, it;s doing the job admirably.

I did have a think about getting some and probably will, not sure what crazy idea had brewed that required more water, maybe it'll come to me

I'm also looking at ways to transport them, I may end up getting a pick & pluck foam tray to store them in.

Currently bubble wrap and some jiffy bags will suffice ;)

OK so this is just the four rotations of the three pairs, just so you get a full view of everything.

I think the one on the left is my favourite, it's got a little more character and heft to it.

And the four and five tier towers, I surprise myself I really do sometimes.

So, next up completing the landing pad. Then I will look at the walls but March is fast approaching and I may have to abandon those [the Mk I Land Raider has been abandoned too :( ] to paint more Termagants :( and maybe fit in something completely off piste - an Icarus Las-Cannon. I've got the bits I'm just not sure I'll have the time. I did want to make some Void Shield Generators too but I can't fit them in my Fortification slot. If ti was a full Stronghold Assault mission I could get three, including the Void Shield Relay Network and the Vengeance Weapons Batteries. Instead I'll have to make do with the Bastion, Aegis and Skyshield.

Here's my big blue tick, for getting it done!

Tyranid Capillary Towers | part 1. | part 2. | part 3. | part 4. | part 5. | part 6. | part 7. | part 8. | part 9. |

part 10. | part 11. |