'nids part 125 - PROJECT Y Scratchbuilt Tyranid Skyshield Landing Pad pt7. TO DONE!

The Tyranid Skyshield Landing Pad is pretty much done. Aside from the walls its complete in all it's gory glory.

It's very much what I originally planned, there are some compromises but I think it's all ended up fairly well. I know there are some alternatives I could have pursued - using clear perspex for the pad and adding the Capillary support strands as Milliput on top and underneath so it was transparent. It certainly wouldn't have warped, but in truth that's something I could still do, or anyone wishing to follow in my footsteps.

I was a little worried when it came to glossing and adding the blood effect. My combination matt varnish made up of Army Painter Anti-shine and DoCraft Matt Varnish had created a complete flat matt finish which was wonderful to behold. I was using the Gloss Varnish from my Best Painted win at the Scythe and Teacup to coat it afterwards, a bit of an unknown paint from Miniature Paints. Luckily none of the bits where it pooled ended up opaque, I tried very hard to dab away any excess. 

I actually got through pretty much my entire bottle of Tamiya Clear Red X-27. I was upset recently to learn ModelZone, the local model shop in Manchester where I got it from, has since gone bust so I'll have to source it online.

But the end result is worth it and adds yet another dimension to the colours and the end result.

I tried to apply it deliberately so I didn't remove all the hard work in putting highlights on the model. I've no idea if that edge works as a bunch of muscular fibre strands, it's really just an inconsequential texture, I thought about adding a Bonewhite edge similar to the Sphincter ring but I think it works better as flesh.

Still surprising myself ;)

When you look back at the process of making this you'll see I was very particular about ensuring the correct tower went on the correct slot. Suffice to say when I started painting I thought I was being careful to preserve that. However, I'd somehow numbered the anchor points anti-clockwise instead of clockwise. So, when I first came to add the towers I had to force them on, scuffing the paintwork on the edges and with quite large gaps on the join. When I realised my mistake the towers went on so much better, as they'd been designed to do.

Still, some of the joins are a bit wide. Obviously something went a little haywire here, it's not too bad and when the walls go on their tolerances are much tighter and will most probably hide any of these gaps altogether.

The same gap, nevermind. It's the bigger gaps between the fibre bundle support strands and the towers that are more annoying, so much for being careful.

Although this join is so much better. There's still a bit of a gap to the support strand. I'd hoped to sculpt these so the tower butted up perfectly to the strand but these were always guestimates as the added Milliput, clay and warping would change the shape greatly.

Here's my big blue tick, for getting it done! Come back tomorrow for some bonus pictures of it with troops onboard ;)

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. |

1500pt battle report - nids vs Orks - Escalation!

Bother, I went and lost my sheet with my Psychic Powers on, so much for a fully featured Battle Report. Still, I'll try and make do. I think it was Kill Points with Vanguard Strike as the setup. I got and Escalation Warlord Trait to Deep Strike on target within 6" of the Stompa.

Ben had a Stompa [and I had nothing to harm it! ;) ] and Ghazkull in a trukk with a bunch of Nobz.

I had both Flyrants Deep Striking and in reading the rules there no longer seems to be a caveat that for Hive Commander to work the unit must be on the table. It just states "for each Hive Tyrant with this upgrade, choose a single troops selection from the same detachment [what other detachment would we have...? We have no allies GW!]. All models in the selected unit gain the Outflank special rule'. So by my understanding as soon as you add the upgrade you can then apply it to a unit, as if you were specifying they were arriving from reserve either by Deep Strike or walking on, you have to specify and then follow through with that decision. Anyway, 30 Termagants and the CC Tervigon were coming on from Outflank thanks to this and the Flyrants were going to Deep Strike behind the Stompa and hopefully 24 Devourer shots would glance it bad...  

OK, what?! That Stompa can move 12"! Good lord, it's like Usain Bolt! Thankfully I've got my Bastion between it and my frail little gribblies.

Well, except my Quad Gun, which was out in the open where it would have decent field of fire when I got to it. And thuse was pretty much the only thing that could be shot, so it was, and it was destroyed. A couple of other gaunts were targeted, with blast weapons, that conveniently deviated, clipping the bastion and I think removed 2 Armour Points and destroyed the right Heavy Bolter. The Tervigon that was also clipped saved thanks to the 3+ cover save from the Fortification.

   

In retaliation I took down the Trukk, taking a couple of Nobz with it. 

Ghazkull just jumped out of the wreckage eager for a scrap.

I decided to bog down the Stompa with my Termagants, managing to assault it! Insane little critters, that's the Hive Mind for you. I also spawned some Termagants - 5 and spawned out, that's 'over-powered' Tervigons for you, something should do something about them ;)

Ha, ha, David's and Goliath!

S, that didn't go down to well, 6 or 7 dead.

   

And then the Nobz come in and chop them to pieces.

The only thing saving me now is that Bastion, stopping the Stompa from getting to my Tervigon, Hive Guard and Biovores. Luckily he can't attack it because it's unoccupied [although the Ben was particularly pleased to discover that Stronghold does in fact now allow non-occupied buildings to be targeted, since as you purchase it it is considered 'claimed' and all 'claimed' buildings can be shot or assaulted. Of course, Aegis Defence Lines and Skyshield Landing Pads do not have Armour Values so can't be targeted, it's a full on weapons race this!]. So we're reduced to skulking and hope the Flyrants can break the deadlock.

The Tervigon arrives, on the wrong flank!

Warlord comes in on target, thanks to Warlord Trait, second Tyrant also arrives. Spore Mines also arrived and I think I totally misinterpreted the rules and thought they could blow up on arrival, but I don't think the four mines even glanced the back of the Stompa but did kill an Ork or two.

Tervigon spawned, not sure how many, looks about 8 and I think the Biovores may have got lucky against the Big Shootas in the wrecked Aquila Lander.

Whereas the Flyrants were appalling against the Stompa, I think only managing one glance on it's rear armour with around 20 hits [ I think one of the Tyrants managed 11 of his 12 shots!].

And the Grots turned up!

I repositioned my back field, managed to get some Biovore shots on the Grots but they stubbornly stayed on the board.

Both Flyrants were shot out of the sky and just riddled with bullets, killing one.

The Tervigon was wounded and it's spawn reduced to two.

The Stompa continued blasting away and killed the Warlord too :(

But the scuttling horde mindlessly continued with the 30 remaining Terrmagants arriving from the right flank

I think this was a saving throw, I think those two ones are probably not good for me!

Looks like somebody is leaving in a mangled mess, I think it's the plain Tervigon

I somehow managed to get my Tervigon into combat with the Stompa. Let's see how these super-charged Armour-Baned Crushing Claws do against it...

Yeah... no damage.

And that's what I get for going toe-to-toe with a 'Lord of War'. looks like my Termagants were thinned out a bit too.

That looks like another poor save.

And the Biovore's fate looks sealed too.

I was roundly slaughtered. Apologies, for some of the vagaries, I really should have written this up sooner and having the army list with the result on would have helped. I'm pretty sure I was able to put 3-4 glances on the Stompa gaining me a VP. I'm not sure if I was on 3 or 5 by the end, but Ben was on a stupid amount. With hindsight I should have just ignored the Stompa but when it comes lumbering towards you and you've got four S8 Impaler Cannon shots you feel obliged to have a go given they're pretty much the only thing I have that can damage it. I'd have been better off taking the Boyz down.

Once again I can't categorically state that the new Codex was the reason for my loss, I think the Stompa pretty much took care of that. Ben didn't struggle too much against my 'horde' though but I certainly found the most annoying thing was my Bastion - a massive obstacle to steam rolling my back field. I'm sure his intense scrutiny of the Stronghold Assault rules and discovery he'll be able to target it in the future is evidence of why it was my MVP, practically the only thing that kept my nids alive.

Another learning experience though, we'll add it all to the Hive Mind. Incidentally Otty played him the next day, a couple of Tyrranofex taking the Stompa down with some lucky penetration rolls that did multiple Hull Point damage. So Ben is still going to give the Stompa a new lick of paint but if it continues to be a liability he may well drop it, especially as he's just picked up a KillBlasta tank off ebay for around half price!

What's on my palette?

Nearly six weeks since my last confession...and how've I been doing?

• Capillary towers - painted and complete
• Skyshield Landing Pad - painted and complete [pictures to follow next week!]
• Finished the Epic Reaver Titan
• Started painting 10 Termagants [and added a further 10 last night that will be primed soon]
• I also primed and base-coated 5 Deathwing [well I have to at least pretend I'm interested in them]
• Added a further 4 Spore Mines to my painting list [for giggles]
• Won a Tervigon on ebay and have set about trying to remove it's CC claws and head [only bled once so far]
• Stripped the Land Raider Proteus
• Started the walls to the Skyshield

So there are some pics to follow for most of these. But first up here's the last aborted attempt for the Skyshield walls that resulted in me 'keeping it simple' and familiar with the frame and Milliput process. I tried using Silicone Sealant which I probably would have gone with except for one thing - it's Silicone, nothing sticks to it! I thought a coat of Vernidas might 'set it' hard, but it cracked when I flexed it. Equally Tamiya Clear Red X-27 wouldn't stick to, or harden it. So although I can create a nice organic shape that looks like alien excretions it's not going to solve my problem. I'd just like to point out the ultimate solution would be to create the walls in Milliput, then make a mold and cast clear resin for the ideal effect I imagined. But that's not the simple answer, which, given the time available I need to go with. So that leaves us where we're at - with building the five remaining frames.

I'm going to base the gaunts first and then add the colours after, the advantage being the rough and ready drybrushing is covered up by the neatly applied Termagant colour scheme.

 I thought I may as well start the final 10 at the same time, no point waiting. Three needed paint stripping with Fairy Power Spray and two needed remedial repairs to their base. Had some fun putting adrenal glands on the base of their tails. They're more for identification purposes really than upgrades.

5 more snapfit Termagants with Adrenal Glands on their tail!

The Dark Vengeance Deathwing, again I'll do the bases at the same time as the gaunts. At least they've progressed since my last 'confession'.

Dark Vengeance Deathwing

 Another Tervigon... I don't know why either? It was £24 and it was one of those ebay auctions that you bid on and suddenly find you're winning and then hope someone else will snipe it before the auction ends. Still, for Throne of Skulls we're not supposed to have proxy models, so I'm not sure whether I can still justify my Carnifex/Tervigon conversion any more. It's new rules so maybe a new regime. Either way I'm going to try and magnetize it so I can maybe use it also as a Tyrannofex. I've applied Fairy Power Spray to all the joints. It does help to break down the Poly Cement weld a bit, sufficient to remove the head so far. I'm replacing the Tervigon head [which I've already used on my other Tervigon] with my spare Tyrannofex head, but, I'm removing it's lower jaw and adding the spare Mawloc mandibles. The T-fex jaw has a blade underneath that obstructs the Termagant spawning sack. The Mawloc mandibles will frame it instead, although those 'bamboo' crests may have to go. Either way the opening may make a decent representation for a mouth mounted Miasma Cannon - given it makes a Miasmic 'Spit' attack and it'll look cool and different too!

New Tervigon, for £24!

Four new Spore Mines

I had plans to make a couple of Tyranid Void Shield Generators for Throne of Skulls too. This was the final epiphany from my last 'What's on my palette'. I'd thought to create a couple of them, based on the following  concept but I can't take them AND my Imperial Strongpoint so they're hanging fire and I may well reconsider the design. I actually added the 'battlements' with suitable room for 10 gaunts to 'man' them, but then noticed they're 'impassable' buildings so didn't need to add space. Anyway, they may or may not get done, we'll see. I also took out the bits for my Tyranid Icarus Las-cannon emplacement but have decided not to pursue that just yet as it uses the T-fex Rupture Cannon I may need to magnetize to create my Tyrannofex.

I also picked up 3 more Tyranid Warriors and a Carnifex on ebay. I intend to make 2 of the Warriors into Hive Guard and have the remaining one either with a Venom Cannon or Deathspitter. The Carnifex was also a bargain, I think in total I may have made something like a 65-75% saving and this came fitted with a Fleshborer Hive to make it a Dakkafex, which was my intention anyway, bonus! I also plan to pick up a Venomthrope, two more Zonathropes and one or two Biovores, depending on availability. To cap it all I may go insane and look at something from Forgeworld too! I might be able to get a good deal on something so we'll see. So much for my Winged Tyrant being the 'treat to myself to celebrate finishing the Tyranids'.

And THIS is why the Dark Angels are languishing! So I've still got to get the following done:

1. 20 termagants
2. Skyshield Walls
3. New Tervigon
4. 4 Spore Mines
5. Deathwing

That's the priority order. Everything except the Termagants would be nice to have, the gaunts are essential.

PS, I also broke the 200 follower barrier and had an increase in the amount of hits this month by 25%! High Score again - you guys rock!