Wednesday 12 March 2014

'nids part 132 - 'The Great Maw' £24 Tervigon pt 4

That's the problem with the blog I want to share stuff and although I'm not taking as many pictures as I used to, I'll suddenly find myself with a load of pics to share all at once when I've felt I've been scrabbling around for content that could have been micro-blogged over the course of the week. Here's the base, at the point of completion I decided to create the mound to hide the 'Cuban heel' I'd added to the Tervigon's hoof to make it sit level. Some DAS clay and sand explains the slightly different colours in the top left.


You can just make out the magnet extensions too. The two arm sockets have had another magnet added and sculpted around with Milliput. Without them the claws and talons sit a bit too close to the body and looked dumb.

    

All the striations have been done, the spots will be done last. I think that's quite a time consuming part, it's not very much painting and it does make a huge difference but it does feel like a lot of work for not much return, even if that's not the case. On the plus side this was considerably less mind numbing than the first one. perhaps my 'mojo management' techniques are keeping me sane?

    

The Tervigons together, despite the different paints they are suitably related to one another, should I have done a green belly?



All Chitin highlights and spots complete, you get a good view of the tail too, like I said - all pointless because they can't take tail biomorphs! Still makes it a little more distinctive. I keep thinking if it's possible to put the middle legs at the front and what that would do to the look of the model. I'd love to see some mix and matches between the Tervigon and the Haruspex, it'd be really interesting to see what's possible.


The first Bonehwite highlights are also in place. Now that was more mind numbing!


However the continuous momentum to get it done has pushed it through. Rest assured though that I'm paying for it in other ways, the 'addiction' does feel more like it's controlling me than I it, my sleeping habits are also up the spout again. Anything pre-midnight is 'early' for me know!


As you can see the Scything Talons are attached [by magnets] the claws are still a bit iffy even with the extensions but I'm still more upset by having the poles on the right arm in such a way as I cannot attach the Hive Tyrant's Fleshborer Hives :(


Still to add that head though. Next set of Bonewhite, then the fleshy bits, claws and any Special FX -I'm going to make the vent stacks glow - to differentiate it more and add more fluff about the toxic bio-plasma for it's Miasma Cannon.


Monday 10 March 2014

1500pt battle report - nids vs Orks - Escalating Stronghold Assault

Ben and I wanted to have a run out with our potential ToS lists. He's got his Void Shield Generator made now and was trying out his Stompa, which he has doubts over. I on the other hand am all about surviving the attack of a Lord of War, so it's Skyshield, Bastion, Aegis, however since the Bastion can be targetted without being occupied in Stronghold Assault rules I wasn't holding out for much protection on that.

Psychic Powers
Winged Tyrant HQTervigon CC HQTervigon Plain TrZoanthope
CatalystParoxysmCatalystCatalyst
Warp Blast

Warp Blast

The low down:
  • The Emperor's Will - Ben's objective to the left of his VSG, mine between the Bastion and the Skyshield
  • Vanguard Strike
  • One of us won deployment, but Ben went first
  • Warlord Trait - Perfect Volley, once per game my Warlord gets Rending AP1 shots on the Stompa!
  • Night fighting turn one
I deployed in as much cover as I could and split my Termagants on the Skyshield so half got invul and 3+ Cover saves and the rest just the covers.


I set up hoping the woods and defence line would slow down the Stompa so it's D assault weapon would take a while to come into play.


Ben's VSG has Battlements on top, I pointed out some may argue he can't access them as the VSG is described as an 'Impassable' building but in actual fact I think he's right, there are ladders on the outside so the battlements are indeed reachable, it's just the interior of the building he can't hide in. In fact the rooftop is a water tank that's frozen and there are some precariously placed planks covering the icy water that I found quite amusing and very 'orky'.


First turn and the Stompa bashes through the trees. There's no explanation of how to do a 12" Move Through Cover that we could find so we do two 3D6 rolls picking the highest from both to get his 12" aggregate. I think he managed 9" while the Trukk with Ghazgkhull and his Nob retinue burned forwards. The Quad Gun once again fell victim in turn 1, Stronghold rules state you get VP's for lost Fortifications only if you agree with you opponent beforehand. I thought you got them regardless, but awarded First Blood anyway for the loss of my unlucky gun. I think a couple of gaunts died too and a wound apiece on the Tervigon's but most everything else escaped [according to my plan].


In my turn I threw as many Fleshborer shots as I could at the Trukk without avail and was forced to stop it with the Hive Guard, who were really my only chance at the Stompa. They did their job, blowing the Trukk up but it careened nearer to my frontline instead of what I hoped for and backwards into the Stompa.


Now Ghazgkhull and the Nobz were right in my face, with only a screen of Gaunts to impeded their progress. In my turn my Troop Tervigon spawned out on 5 or 6 which surrounded my own objective which typically was booby trapped. The HQ Tervigon continued to spawn another 9 or so.


The Termagants were whittled away by the Stompa allowing the Nobz to charge the Hive Guard, sweet revenge for the loss of their ride no doubt. Ghazgkhull on the other hand went for the Tervigon, it put 3 wounds on it after it Regenerated the wound taken in the first turn. Having called the WAAAAAAGGH! everyone was Fearless so the combats ended in stalemate all round.


The Stompa had quite a good shooting phase, except for running out of ammo and lined up to take down the Bastion but came up short trying to charge through the dense wooded area, phew!


Hive Tyrant arrives from Deepstrike, deviated 11" and unbelievably was just on the board edge. He'd later be targetted by all the Orks in the area but managed to dodge everything like some aerobatic ace. Spore Mines Deep Struck also to surround the Targetting Relay objective. I think the Hive Tyrant killed 7 of the 10 Orks . Meanwhile my Biovore tried to take out the Orks on the battlements but I forgot they would hit the Void Shield first but amazingly it took out one of it's two shields!


The Stompa finally managed to get to grips with the Bastion, tearing it a new one, obviously! Thanks to a combination of spawned gaunts Paroxysm, Catalyst and Regenaration the melee in my back field continued on through my turn and Ben's, with the WAAAAAAGGH!over I thought I'd gain the upper hand but he cleverly positioned the Stompa, which confers Fearless to nearby units. I thought it was to face down the Tyrant but clearly he knew more than he was letting on.


Having felt the Hive crumble above it an enraged Trygon burst from the wreckage to confront the beast that 'kicked the termite mound' [I'm forging a narrative here!]. At the very least he was going to be an obstacle the Stompa could not ignore to get past and get to my scoring units on my objective.


Spawned Gaunts attacked Ghagkhull and more gaunts were spawned to chase down the Stompa and 'tarpit it. Meanwhile the combats continued with the odd wound lost here and there but I think I was coming out of this better thanks to plenty of Catalyst, Paroxysm preventing Ghazgkhull being effective -3 WS&BS for two two game turns! Regenerations worked and although I wasn't playing Catalyst correctly - the psyker and a unit 12" get FnP, I was only playing it a unit 12" gets FnP the results were still good.


The Flyrant Vector Struck and did enough to wipe out the remaining Orks, and the Devourers took a few Gretchin too. I think he was eventually shot down at one point, but miraculously survived the impact and any subsequent shooting. Meanwhile my 30 gaunt Brood was spread out across the board, trying to reach Ben's objective but also stay within Synapse and close to my own objective should I fail to reach Ben's and fail to bring another unit of gaunts up to secure mine.


The plain Tervigon got popped by the Stompa, it took some gaunts with it but no more than 6 or 7, it was even more desparate to get gaunts onto my objective now, just behind the right Caillary support.


The Stompa decided to take on the Trygon, it managed to get 3 pens on it, the 5 translating to a 6 thanks to AP2 but that 2 just gave me one extra Hull Point of damage :(


The Stompa struck back in return and only hit once! :)


However it was a Deathblow and the Trygon took about 9 wounds! :(


The Hive Guard managed to overcome the Nobz and Ghazgkhull finally succombed to the weight of gaunts, with a little help from their brood mother [who was on 5 wounds now!]. They'd been nipping at his ankles, wounding him once per turn and finally he failed hi invul and died.


Gaunts got to tarpit the Stompa, although Ben has since found out that's not possible. PG76 states you can't assault a Vehicle you cannot hurt, even though the FAQ states you can assault a unit you cannot hurt, maybe it's a clear distinction maybe it's a misuderstanding, who knows. At the time we though tit was possible and everything else headed for my objective.


Over on Ben's side of the board my Flyrant had headed back and stomped on the Orks in the VSG and with that the situation had tipped in my favour. With the big blob of gaunts only a few inches from his objective at the end of turn 5, his Stompa tied up and my remaining gaunts within easy reach to secure my own objective, his Warlord dead and mine far from any danger we called the game around 1am!

Ben is struggling to come to terms with the Stompa, he has quite mixed opinions, I think perhaps if you're going to invest in a VSG it makes little sense to step out from under it in the first turn, but then that D-weapon needs to be used. I think the only drawback is the cost and the limited amount of troops he has to secure objectives thanks to it's presence. I believe his tactic was sound but maybe driving thr Trukk up so early was a mistake. It's vulnerable to first blood and is an easy VP to lose. Better to hold it back and deliver it in turn 2 somewhere more decisive perhaps.

As for the Nids, well I was surprised. I'm thinking Catalyst and Regeneration were my saviours here, so that won't always be the case every game. Ben was of the opinion I rolled out of my skin but Regen is 4+ and I think I passed 3 or 4 out of 5 rolls. The FnP was also successful but when you add in Paroxysm on Ghazgkhull the situation changed again. When you both end up with durable units with low WS then you are only going to manage 1 or 2 wounds per turn. The Orks had invulnerable and FnP rolls, I also had FnP but the Tervigon and Hive Guard were high Toughness and the there were extra gaunts spawned to help tie up the situation and add 1 or 2 extra wounds to tip the balance. Because those assaults lasted so long it didn't seem like a pivotal situation but it was.

I'm now having to think whether my alternative 3 Tervigon list is better. I'd have to drop the Zoanthrope and I think the Biovore and a number of other things but the Zoie is replaced with the psychic power and Synapse of the Tervigon. I really found the Zoie a bit frustrating, with Catalyst  and Warp Blast, which is Lvl2 you have to decide if you're going to cast Catalyst  and waste a charge or save them up for the blast...

Anyway, a pleasant situation to find myself in following a rather dismal impression of the Codex, maybe I was wrong all along...

Saturday 8 March 2014

Saturday Knight fever


Much like every other 40k addict I am frothing at the thought of the new Knight Titans, sadly I'll probably end up being late to the party  even though I'm already well versed in their lore. I still have this Warden [I think] and one of the Eldar Knights knocking around, I ebayed the rest about 6 years ago but can't find the pictures :( . I don't quite know how this burning desire for the new model came about. Initially I was like, OK, now it's something I have to have.


However, I've planned out this year, hobbywise, so there is no window of opportunity to fit one in, and I have a slightly more impressive alternative to the knight in my sights at the moment. So I will probably hold out for 12 months but the fact that just the one model would really help bulk out my Dark Angels so they were playable much quicker may impact that position.

  

Additionally I have a really cool piece of fluff that manifested itself and fits with the fluff behind Ferron Proxima's rogue Titan Legion and the importance of Ferron Proxima to the Dark Angels. The fluff pieces are swirling around in my head and I just want to get them down but they really only work for me with accompanying images which slows the process and is very frustrating, sadly.
Here's the Eldar Knight Titan.

   

I have to say this initial concept sketch by Jes Goodwin has slightly more appeal to me than the final model, there is a bit more flair and menace about it. The row of spikes on the back, the more rounded shoulder guards and bulbous hatch on top seems to have been toned down a little bit in the finished model. I doubt they'll do this but I hope they make some replaceable shoulder pads and I'd love to see something like a Vulcan Mega Bolter or Punisher Cannon alternative weapon mount, just the two weapon choices seems a bit stingy at the moment.  


Anyway, just stating my intent and sharing these old pics, have a good weekend.

Thursday 6 March 2014

Support you local blogger - www.germy.co.uk


How do I get to blogging for so long without ever coming across this website. Germy has been creating free terrain tmeplates for years and I was completely oblivious. His awesome buildings for 40k are all FREE to download, which I obviously love and the sheer amount of them makes my own efforts pale into comparrison. With so many building I'm even questioning if I need to do anymore, although they mostly seem to be sci-fi/frontier, original Rogue Trader stylee, not the Grim Dark Gothic, so there's still a reason. What's more is they all seem to be pre-textured and look to be simple to construct, truly 'Print & Play'

http://www.germy.co.uk/paper25mm.html



There are even  6mm buildings for Adeptus Titanics/Epic Armageddon


Additionally there are some great tutorials: http://www.germy.co.uk/wargaming.html, not least this simple tutorial to make fences: http://www.germy.co.uk/meshfence.html


Apologies if some of these picture links don't work, they look a bit dodgy here, but that should be reason enough to check out Germy's website, it's pure gold and all for free, check it out NOW!

Tuesday 4 March 2014

Flufftastic - Hive Fleet Gorgon - Ferron Splinter Fleet - 'Proto-Tervigon'


In the early days of Hive Fleet Gorgon arriving on Ferron Proxima there was some confusion surrounding some of the larger bio-forms that had descended with the splinter fleet. Various xeno-biologists and bio-magi believed the larger creatures belonged to the Carnifex family yet some of the more outlandish claims were that these were a 'missing link' an evolved 'proto-Tervigon' that had the ability to spawn the Termagant beasts.


In time these wild claims were borne out. It transpired that Gorgon was once again adapting to it's surroundings, utilising the Carnifex as a chasis for what would later evolve into the Tervigon. It was supposed that in a previous encounter the Hive Fleet had an abundance of these bio-forms and had added bio-matter and symbiotic incubation sacs to upgrade them into Tervigons until it could find the requisite abundance of biofuel to create the Tervigons from scratch.


Despite the different scales between the two beasts there are now clear evolutionary steps evident between the Carnifex - proto-Tervigon - Tervigon and despite the intial confusion it is now clear to see that these beasts are related.


Regardless, these proto-tervigons continue to be seen roaming Ferron Proxima and in slightly different evolved forms across the Imperium. Whilst the bio-magi squabbled and awaited a clear evolutionary apex progenitor these proto-Tervigons turned up on world after world. Now that the Tervigon has been classified and catalogued in the Tyranid genepool the proto-Tervigons cannot be dismissed and nor should they be as they continue to fulfil a specific role in the Hive.


Latest reports suggest that on Ferron Proxima at least there have been less sightings of the Proto-Tervigon. In fact data simulations predict only pure strain Tervigon's will be present in the splinter fleet withing the next few months. The speculation is that once again Gorgon is adapting to it's surroundings. It is believed that the Carnifex 'chassis' upon which the Tervigon is based may yet prove more effective within the xeno-forming porcess. The Carnifex have shown to be effective in a numbe rof small skirmishes and they require less biomatter to gestate and therefore planetary defence alerts are advising to be vigilant against the abomination. Whether this means the Proto-Tervigons habe been reclaimed in a Tyranid Digestion pit to be respawned as Carnifex is yet to be seen, but maybe that was the plan all along - to be adaptable in the face of opposition. Once again to assume such blasphemous notions of intelligent thought by this Xenos filth is open to censure and 12 lashes by the Mobile Inquisitorial Arco-Flagellant Wains [please seek their 'blessing' at the next available opportunity].

To discover more about the proto-Tervigon please point your cogitators to Imperium data file #61Z-5L#proto-tervigon#

Sunday 2 March 2014

Old Stuff day 2014


It's old stuff day 2014. A couple of years ago now warhammer39999 wanted to join a movement to rediscover lost gems from the world of hobby blogs. To choose one of your own blogposts that your most proud of, or may not have got the attention it deserved or any thing that may warrant some necromantic blogpost bothering. On top of that you were to share blogposts from other bloggers which you thought deserved the same spotlight of attention before they were returned to their dark nightmare infested slumbers.

Last year I was well up for this, I had 'starred' a number of blogposts from other blogs in Google Reader but of course the events of my father's passing meant I didn't write the post and since Reader was removed I've lost all those cool posts so this will be just a few from other blogs

The only problem for me is I tend to link to loads of my old stuff anyway during my usual posting. Additionally I've been sharing other blogs too, so already I may have shown you old stuff from others blogs that's great. But I want to show a little love () to some of my older posts so let see if I can do one from each year:

2011:
One of my more successful posts, I think becuase it's 'not safe for work' which seems to appeal to us geeks. Anyway, my mate Liam from bluewarpstudios should take most of the credit, it's his model afterall
ebay sales YOU won't regret! Yet more daemons! Maybe not safe for work... eek!


2012:
How about the first completed thing for my Dark Angels army, a unit of Deathwing 2 years ago! I even got a comment of praise from Ron From the Warp!



2013:
I decided to feature 2 posts from last year, I'd have probably done my post for my Dad but I only referenced that the other day so instead something more positive - my blind gaming enterprise, one of the most rewarding experiences I've had, Dan and I still keep in touch through Facebook and we've had a couple of moans about the new Tyranid Codex, not that we're still bitter:
Battle Brothers


And also the awesome Apocalypse battle my and my buds played
Apocalypse WOW! 12,500pts of Armageddon - prelude to war 


And don't forget the full details of these battles are available on the Battle Reports page

OK so what's floated my boat from other bloggers.

Let us not forget From the Warp. It's been 15 months since Ron took a hiatus from his blog, hopefully one day we'll see his return and such treasures he's crafted while away. His blog is pure gold wherever you look but how about this scratchbuilt Inquisitor Mystic? With help from the tentacle maker from Green Stuff Industries



Eye of Error does some consistently amazing armies but I have to say this is probably the best  - his Cthulu inspired Mariners Blight chaos Space Marines they should all be on this page, from WiPs to the finished article, anything tagged and there's plenty of it - a corroded visual feast!



I stumbled across orphenox40k the other day when I did an image search for 'red Realm of Battle' board. I was quite taken by the image below but even more impressed to find out it wasn't actually the Citadel boad but a scratchbuild and the tutorial attached make it look so easy to replicate I'm strugglign to come up with a reason not to have a go myself, well worth a visit even if it's only 3 months 'old':

http://orphenox40k.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/diy-realm-of-battle.html