Blog Wars 7 Armies

I came joint second in for best painted army at Blog Wars 7, with only one vote in it. I was a little disappointed but soon reminded myself that it's just like gaming and ego really has no place here. I like to show off what I've done but ironically find receiving praise in person quite difficult. Ultimately the lesson learned from the day is for the future to take my army and display it whistles and bells purely as a '40kaddict - live' scenario. An opportunity to take the blog on the road. There are indeed plenty of armies better painted than mine, but mine looks good as a whole and has had it's share of success both in painting competitions and interest so the most important thing is to let people see it in the flesh to decide. Then I can add some of my 40addict 'business cards' which will send folk to the blog [I have had 2 new followers since the weekend, it was 3 but then one mysteriously decided to unfollow :( ]

Anyway here are the armies that were on display for the best painted army competition at Blog Wars 7and a couple of other pictures thrown in for good measure. First up, in my last game I did look over and see these two Tau gunlines facing each other, which I thought was amusing. 

This ImperialAstra Militarum Guard army was really nicely done, with it's owner having a secret recipe to paint the tanks in a few hours each!

Some nice Chaos Daemons.

Lots of Blood Angel Assault troops.

Space Wolves.

Crazy Adeptus Custodes, possibly as Grey Knights.

Graham Sanders Astra Imperial Militarum Guard - Squats, with Eldar Allies.

Moare Daemons, this guy was awesome.

The whole unit.

That's conversions for you!

A fantasatic Iron Hands army.

Iron Hands Dreadnought,

These were rally good.

I voted for this as the best Character, the pictures not very good as you can see but better ones are available on the Blog Wars 7 best army review page. It eventually won the best Character category, I think I came joint 4th.

Awesome cinemtatic FX on the missile.

Moar Daemons!

Dark Angels

Dark Eldar

Very nice and clean, too clean, what are they up to? ;)

A crazy Dark Eldar force made up of pirates

With sails and cannons, it was a lot of fun.

I think this bar may have been a Bastion, I'm not sure, it was totally mad.

Another tricked out Grav Galleon.

RTB1 Space marines, and Old Skool Rhino complete this Blood Angels army.

I believe that's a Scibor Miniature used to represent Mephiston.

Crazy Stom Raven Conversion too.

Yet MOAR DAEMONS!

I think this was an Ad-Mech force presumably using Imperial Astra Guard Militarum rules.

Love these armoured vehicles, might make nice Genestealer Cult transports?

Nice little touch there.

This guy was cool too.

Excellent Tau.

Really nice and clean.

Fantastic Iron Warriors army, which I voted for and took the overall prize by one vote, with me in joint second with the Guard Tank Army from my second picture. I voted for this myself, so Chris Benstead has me to thank for not being stuck in joint second with me, ha, ha!

Plenty of unique Forgeworld models.

These I think or Forgeworld, bu there were some other 3rd party models for the Obliterators, I think.

Fantastic.

The Flyers for Heldrakes, and some cool explosion markers, I think are the ones Lemon Painting makes and sells.

Flufftastic - Hive Fleet Gorgon - Ferron Splinter Fleet - The Four Horsemen of the Ferron Apocalypse

It was late on in the incursion of Ferron Proxima that Hive Fleet Gorgon introduced a new bio-menace.The tactics so far had usually followed a path of bio-engineering a new bioform that would threaten Ferron's defences and that way the Hive Mind could ascertain whether it was worth committing further resources to that bioform. However in this instance three new bioforms were created and deployed under the watchful gaze of the tried and tested Zoanthope genus.

Having the enhanced brain capacity of the Zoanthrope alongside these three new test subjects would allow the Hive to monitor their progress, strengths and weaknesses in real time and at an accelarated pace compared to it's previous prototyping tests. As these four abominations were often seen within close proximity to each other the valiant defenders of Ferron proxima took to calling them the 'Four Horsemen of the Ferron Apocalypse' in referrence to the ancient Terran fables. At first this naming practice was overlooked. up until the the very words 'Four Horsemen' began to bring about the unmanning of the most staunch auxillia in the PDF. Once this fear started to spread members of th Astra Militarum Commissariat were deployed to submit fatal alternatives to the grip of fear. In truth though the names were continued to be spoken, just in more hushed tones, while the light of terror in their eyes shone on regardless.

The Hive Mind's conduit was nicknamed Famine, in part because it was initially thought to be a reincarnation of the 'Doom of Ferron Proxima'. However, this was a case of mistaken identity and although it did not have the life sucking powers of that nightmare creature it did posses many other skills of the emperian. Although it was not initially considered the most threatening of it's twisted bretheren it's Psychic abilities received an unexpected boost when the 7 planets within the Ferron system aligned causing an unexpected change the manifestation of all Psychic powers within the system. Sanctioned Psykers of the Imperium have begun referring to this change as the 'Phase'. It's too early to tell what impact it will have on Hive Fleet's control of it's witch powers but so far there have been great improvements alongside drastic failures.

Despite it's fragile outer structure Famine controls all four of the Horsemen as an extention of the Hive Mind, it's recommended by the Bio-magi studying this new danger that despite it's lower threat level than it's brothers it should be considered target priority Alpha, to sever the connection between the other Horsemen and the Hive Mind.

If appearance alone be the judge of danger then this creature from the Carnifex family would otherwise be considered target priority Alpha. The creature itself is a Behemoth, a nigh unstoppable bio-tank armed with some of the most potent Brainleech Devourers the Xenos can engineer.

Although not as manouverable as the winged Hive Tyrant that also can be found armed with such weaponry this creature, dubbed 'War' due to it uncompromising battlefield role, advances under the protection of it's siblings. It uses the mental fortitude of Famine whilst being protected under the cloud of Pestilence...

...this foul, loathsome creature is still much a mystery to the bio-magi. It seems to contain and exhude some of the most virulent toxins and poisons ever encountered on Ferron Proxima. Gaining samples have proved extremely fatal. The creature is shrouded by a toxic mist that obscures most of it's biological functions and also manages to cover the advance of it's siblings and other creature from the Xeno's threat.

 

Due it's Toxic nature the nickname Pestilence was adopted. Despite its slender size and less fearsome appearance it is often this creature that will terrify more than the rest of the Horsemen. For what can a man do, even one blessed by the Emperor [insomuch as that man was conscripted into the PDF and there by default MUST be blessed] when behind those writhing tentacles and slime dripping maw once could die instantly just by being close to this abomination.

Yet for all Pestilence's fatal characteristics it is this Lictor that has earned the moniker - 'Death'. For it is death incarnate, an untimely end no one can foresee. Often striking from the shadows, having patiently stalked it's prey. With an adaptive camouflage that can help it blend into it's surroundings usually the first sign of it's presence is the mantis like talons that have suddenly appeared protruding from a Guardman's chest.

Identification of this member of the four horsemen has been the hardest  as it's given role of the fourrequires it to range further ahead than it's bretheren, even beyond the control of Famine and given this level of autonomy quite often the connection between the four has not been made. rest assured though that if you see one of these creatures the rest will surely follow but whether you see all four at once depends on if you survive the meeting or whether they choose to reveal themselves.

Further pict footage confirms their symbiotic relaitionship.

Be wary brave men and women of Ferron Proxima, these creatures are a very real threat. Should you identify any of them report the sighting to the nearest available defence cohort, where they will then detain you and send you on for thought cleansing by the Inquisition. To help the citizenry recognise these foul denizens of the alien filth, Magos Biologis Alder Garrick has prepared a set of handy cards, keep them on your person at all times.

'nids part 146 - The unexpected bonus of a magnetised Carnifex

Having completed War I was lucky enough to finish off my spare set of Tervigon Crushing Claws that are also magnetized. Once you add in the Tervigon's Scything Talons here's the making of my Old One Eye/

Admittedly he hasn't got that 'skull' head but it seems the Carnifex kit only comes with one spare other side which I used on my Quad Gun, now I actually have 2 skull sides and no normal ones to make OOE, so until one turns up this will just have to before it gets wounded.

If I ever use him I can put the unused Mawloc talons on my Tervigon, if it's armed with the Miasma Cannon technically it shouldn't have Scything Talons at all so those Mawloc talons are pretty ineffective looking to illustrate it doesn't have any melee weapons.

I do like that toxic tongue though.

Of course being magnetized I can also swap the arms around, making the claws the front weapons and the talons in the back. That's so versatile but I seem to take quite a gamble with the position of the magnets. The end result isn't always as cool as it could be but its a small price for so many options.

I'm looking to do another one as soon as I find a cheap Carnifex but Fleshborer Hives are quite scarce so I may make some converted Devourers, like I originally intended.

Luckily if I can get some Carnifex Crushing Claws it will give me the bits to convert some more Hive Guard.

One cool advantage to going with Tervigon Crushing Claws is they're massive, much bigger than the Carnifex versions so it really works for Old One Eye as an uber Carnifex. Adding in the Mawloc talons probably doesn't but it is another way of making this model even more versatile.

And lets face it any creature foolish enough to get past those claws, well you need something small and tiny to kill what's got underneath you so it still works.

So even with a slightly random set of weapons this still works and has been a blast to create.

Not to mention his 'War' configuration.

 or even 'War-lite'!

Blog Wars 7 - Retribution

Today is Blog Wars 7. Last year PeteB and I attended Blog Wars 6 in the November [check the Battle Reports tab for all those games] and had a great time so we were both looking forward to today's event. Unfortunately Pete's shifts got mucked about so he had to cancel, even worse, after getting his refund someone offered to swap. So he's understandably miffed not to be attending.

Hopefully I can hold our end up though. It's interesting to see what I'll be facing, it turns out Daemons are popular alongside their Chaos Marine bretheren, obviously strong Tau and Eldar showing, but a surprising amount of Space Wolves, some freshly minted Astra Imperial Militarum Guard and billy no mates me the only 'nids. I know there's a large contingent from a gaming club in Preston, including Lemon Painting who was nominated for Best Army at throne of Skulls with their Imperial Knights, so the painting competition will no doubt be hard fought, there's no guarantees. I am however taking note of last years comments about my army display, that putting them on my transport trays wasn't the best way to display them.

So I'll be taking my Armies on Parade board, just to be a little more professional. Then again it could be seen as over the top, who knows, I do my best and will leave it up to my fellow gamers to decide. Either way as AoP isn't likely on the cards this year it's nice to give it a run out for 2014. One point of note is that this particular army list features 740pts [from 1850pts] of miniatures that were not part of last years competition. The majority of which are newly painted, only my Warriors and Quad Gun were done but not part of my entry and my Trygon/Mawloc has been retouched considerably since then. Again this might put people off voting, as it's technically the same army that won last time but there's not much you can do when you commit to something like this. It's a shame the Skyshield and Pestilence couldn't fit into my list, to make it even more of an update, but the Capillary Towers will get a showing on the board at least.

Terrain is everything - Hail the Omnissiah a new Print & Play building

It's been a good few months since my last   'Print & Play' terrain template so it was about time I added the wide version of the black building. If you've made the first beige building then it's exactly the same wider footprint with exactly the same options to keep or remove the windows, this time a lovely diamond leaded effect. So the building is the same, but wider with just a different colour for variety on your battlefield.

These would ideally be suited for foamboard that has the black foam core. I was going to make one but didn't get round to it, sorry. However, that black foam would make these easily playable from the off, without looking too much like a quickly knocked up bit of terrain.

To access the full STC please point your Cogitators here, be fair warned it is 11MB in size [I make no apologies for this, I could probably render it as a .jpg or spend hours trying to reduce the file size, I tweaked it a little bit and got it down so hopefully it's less of an issue now.]:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B97Rk-BalgZbV0tobjU4OEZEbkxDNXVXMWF2WG1MZFRrQjVN/edit?usp=sharing

Alternatively if you want to reduce the footprint a bit and still retain some of the proportions you could employ the standard 2 storey template on one facing to make a rectangular building instead of a square one. It's your choice but here's another 'artists' rendering and a link to the page where it's at.

Yet MOAR! Tuesday Nights all right for fighting

With PeteB on nights this week it gave me chance to arrange a game with Ben, who I haven't played since way before Throne of Skulls back in March. Trying to get in another game with my Blog Warslist ahead of Saturday but once again using 7th Edition rules but playing Purge the Alien so the version differences didn't have as great an impact. I have to say 1850pts is a nightmare, it takes so long to set up, we started rolling dice at 8:30pm and had only finished turn two, two hours later! Blog Wars has a 2.5 hour time limit.

Once again this isn't a battle report just an overview, interspersed with pictures from the initial deployment. Ben was running Orks, with Ghazgkhull, some Cyborks, Kommandos three trukks ad Dakkajet, three Killa Kans, a war trak, buggy and Void Shield Generator. I deployed first and was able to get first blood, on Ghazgkhulls sweet ride, so turn one was quite successful. PeteB had suggested last time I needed to be more aggressive with Deathleaper [although in his three games he's got into combat relatively quickly and died equally as fast with only a mullered Beastmaster to show for his efforts] so he was deployed in the open in the centre of the board to help my Mawloc arrive somewhere cool.

The psychic phase wasn't amazing because Ben had no psykers so his only option was to try and nullify my efforts but I seemed intent on applying the most randomly inappropriate power to a situation - Ghazgkhull with -3WS while facing Deathleaper, I'm not sure that made any difference. Giving Catalyst to Termagants where they couldn't get in range of a unitand the Carnifex standing not far away could!

 

Ben had a pretty rubbish turn one and things were looking positive when the  Malwoc arrived. I had a choice to take out a trukk full of Nobz or go for the recently disembarked Cyborks and Killa Kan in the forrest. I went for the latter, scoring only 1 wound on first attempt and 2 on the second. Cyborks 5+ invul and FnP from the Painboy was very effective. So effective I rolled on the mishap table because the Mawloc couldn't be positioned and got a 1! 140pts of damage to myself! The only solace was that if I'd have chosen to attack the trukk it would have been equally ineffective. In fact as a transport it would more likely cause a mishap because even if I manage to explode the vehicle and the Mawloc is AP2, so there's a chance, the models are positioned where the vehicle was, i.e. where my Mawloc is deep striking! We've come to the conclusion the best way to use him is to just clip the edges of the blast template with your target so it may have space to actually deploy if it kills it but that reduces the effectiveness of it's Raison d'être, non?

 

For pretty much the entire game I was shooting with impunity, I amanged to take out two of the Killa Kans so things were looking good. It was in assault I was failing and if Ben's appalling charge rolls had gone the other way I'd have been finished off much quicker. Ghazgkhull suffered one wound to Deathleaper and then promptly swatted him like he didn't exist. He then did exactly the same to my Carnifex and got the hat-trick by smashing my Bastion to pieces, taking the Quad Gun with it and putting 3 wounds on the Hive Guard inside! The Great Maw managed to wound every single Cybork once but not enough to get me the VPS for at least half the unit and he was shanked by the Painboy who managed to multi-task like fiend - killing Monstrous Creatures while administering solder and Savlon to the Cyborks so that they hardle ever failed a FnP roll. Not to mention the period of Fearlessness when the WHAAAAAAGGGHHH! was called. Then when the Great Maw popped it took enough Termagants with it to tip the assault they were in in the Orks favour.

The Flyrant was the king of the skies for the entire game. The Dakkajet, after losing one of it's weapons to Interceptor from the Quad Gun managed to stil put 6 wounds on the FMC but it saved them all and every other wound for the entire game. It Vector Struck the Ork flyer in return but could do nothing so shot it down with the remianing Brainleech fire.

By the end of turn 3 or 4 I called it as it was after midnight. There was very little that I had left but I thought I'd been quite effective throughout but it transpired I'd killed just short of 500pts worht of figures to Bens 1400+ which is probably worse than I scored in the same mission at Blog Wars 6. It seemed that the stuff I had killed didn't cost a lot and despite all the wounds caused often it wasn't enough to cover 50% of the unit cost which would at least get me 50% of the points according to the rule pack.

So I'm two for two in my last four games. I really learnt a lot in this one. I finally realised that the new 'nid Codex contains one massive red herring. It is undeniable that the likes of Move Through Cover and Catalyst have made us quicker and 7th Edition removes some obstacles like carging through Difficult Terrain. So although my early nid experiences were always concerened with closing that gap to assault now we can do that much easier. But therein lies the con, we are not good in assault, or at least what I have in my army is not good. Tervigons just don't cut it with only three attacks. My only success was the Crushing Claws Tervigon blowing up a Trukk but it's occupants [the Nobz] survived and systematically butchered it over the next couple of turns. We may be able to close ground now but what have we got that can get the job done when they get there?

So I think I have to think conservatively again. Particularly for the tournament in that my Bastion does not confer Victory Points so I may as well capitalise on it's cover, hide behind it and force my opponent to come to me while ranged fire - Biovores, Brainleech Devourers, Hive Guard and Quad Gun do their bit. Lets see if my experiences make any difference on Saturday.