Hot off the press, 4 VBRs!!!

I figured out how to make these and really enjoyed doing it. Hope you like them!

VBR 1 Space Wolves vs Joyous_Oblivion's Imperial Guard in Kill Points using Spearhead deployment



VBR 2 Space Wolves vs Joyous_Oblivion's Imperial Guard in Kill Points using Pitched Battle deployment



VBR 3 Space Wolves vs Joyous_Oblivion's Imperial Guard in Capture and Control using Spearhead deployment



VBR 4 Space Wolves vs Manchester's Demons (Mars Attack Aliens counting as Demons, talk about some awesome converstions!!!!) in Seize Ground and Dawn of War deployment



Hope you enjoyed the VBRs!

Pardon me sir, have you seen my pachyderm?

Have finally got my butt in gear to continue painting my ancients force. This comes for an urge to play Field of Glory. Never understood it, but finally its starting to click, and I even have a teaching game lined up. That and my group are doing Turks vs Mongols in various rules sets, so I figured I'd get back into the Braveheart style of game for a while... Anyhoo, here are a pair of elephants and those 9 spear units that I started AGES ago for the Carthaginian army. Might even pick up the Polybian Romans from Warmodelling.com as their FoG packs look awesome. I have a few more Carth Veterans in Roman armor, but they'll have to wait until after the Spanish Auxiliaries are finished. That a pile of skirmishers of various types...

Hmmmmm..... The plot thickens......

This week the Radiation storm that has been raging since the 2nd week of the campaign suddenly ended. It destroyed a bunch of warp lanes and created a bunch of new ones. This makes sense given the change in points for movement so players/factions will have to think a little more about what they are going to do before they do it. There was a couple of Planet Strikes this week, HERA was attacked by a Nercon force and they destroyed the Salamanders and Imperial Guard who were holding the planet. Also, this week the Fang of Tzeentch was able to move to ARCHIMEDES and stop the Imperial Planet Strike there. That gave yours truly and a bunch of other Imperials free ride back to DANATH. This week, another person came forward complaining about the Pawn rule. I wish I had known that there were issues so it could have been sorted out. Of note the Imperials were 4 -0 for Planet Strikes with the Pawn rule and 0 - 4 without, looks like I shot us in the foot. With the changes it appears the a campaign is going to be a little more tactical for movement.....hhhmmmm.......

Harpy WIP

Another thing about the new book that really irks me is about half of the units in the book have no models for them, just small pictures of what they think the creatures should look like. The pictures of this guy have him looking like a flying Ravener that is almost the size of a Hive Tyrant/Carnifex.

I actually started modelling this guy into my Tervigon (as per the drawing I upload a couple weeks ago). When I actually started putting him together I realized the Torso is WAY too small for what I wanted to do. A couple weeks later I was going through my bits drawer when I found a whole slew of pieces for a 3rd ed Hive Tyrant, all which are PERFECT for a huge ravener. I quickly busted out my green stuff and made this guy a tail. I also completely re-sculpted his lower rib cage as well as the neck, which I still have to do a little bit of filling in. I *should* be getting his wings this week as I ordered them last week. I am going to use the Balrog wings as they are BY FAR the most "niddy" of all the wings GW makes. As you can guess I am going to fit them into the upper shoulder while fitting the membrane just under the Carapace along where his arms are glued in. I am also going to take the time to punch a bunch of holes into the Balrogs wings to give make it look somewhat battle worn. I have seen that done before on other people's WIP Hive Tyrants and I have to say it looks really good, so I am going to steal it :)

I have to get this guy done by March 6th, so once I get the wings in the mail there will be a bunch of updates in a row as I finish building him and then painting him. I am really looking forward to seeing how everything turns out (especially with the green stuff) as I am still really new with sculpting. After this guy is finished I will be working on finishing up my second Hive Tyrant and then I am going to sculpt from scratch a "Mycetic Spore". Once those two things are finished I am going to take a break from these guys and start something new (leading contenders are Orks and Daemons...as noboby plays Daemons lol).

Carnifex Redux

One of the things I *hate* about playing Tyranids is that with every new book Games Workshop feels the need to 100% redo everything in the book. So all options for every creature change as well as what the guns themselves do. So weapons you USED to have for Anti Tank (ie my Sniper Fex who had a Barbed Strangler and a Venom Cannon) had one of his guns turn into 100% Anti Troop and the other turn into a very crappy Anti Armor weapon. Also, the new book removed ALL of the biomorphs from the previous two editions and made it so you can't take two big guns on a Carnifex. SIGH!

Anyways, after looking at this guy's options I figure he doesn't loose anything by taking two guns (since last edition scything talons added attacks, now they add re-rolls to attacks) so I might as well focus on one roll and that is shooting. Now this guy gets 6xTwin Linked Str 6 shots at 18" range that makes people take break tests on a -1 modifier AND a Str 6, Large Blast that causes pinning. So pretty much every time this guy fires the unit he shoots at has to take 2 tests, which isnt too bad. Only problem is this combo makes him the exact same points as my Hive Tyrant...and needless to say he is no where near as good, so sadly he won't find his way into too many lists.

Anyways, here is what he looks like now. The only good thing about all the biomorphs from the previous edition being removed is that I was able to take off that incredibly stupid looking "Enhanced Senses" head (aka bunny ears) and put on the regular one. I am pretty happy with how this guy turned out with his new guns and I am in the middle of doing up his brother the exact same way, that way they can form a squad :)

Tyranid Warriors

In the new Tyranid Codex Warriors are now a "troop" choice and seem to be one of the backbone units of the army. With that in mind I painted up two more bringing my total to 5 and I am counting my converted Tyrant Guard as my "Tyranid Prime" till I can build one. I uploaded a shot of the two new guys as well as a full group shot (all 6 of them look awesome when set up on the table :)

Hive Guard

Okay, mega update time. Over the last 2 - 3 weeks I have been super busy updating my nids as well as painting a whole bunch of new faces. I have 2 tournaments coming up in March, one at 1400pts at the start of the month and 2000pts at the end of the month.

After playing a couple of test games and realizing I had no way of dealing with Armor I decided it was time to paint up a couple of these guys. Overall they were pretty fun to paint, pretty much the same as my Warriors.

Some Heavy German Tank Action

So my gaming buddy here in California and I have been engaging in a bit of an arms race when it comes to Germans vs. Russians. I get a bunch of Pz IVs, he gets a bunch of T-34s, I get a Tiger, he gets a number of T-34-85s, then HE gets some JS-2s, and well I have nothing to respond except a couple of 88s. Well, we've evened the tables a bit with this latest addition; A platoon of 3 panther tanks, and a 2nd Tiger. I think this'll be the last of it, unless his heavy tanks overwealm mine in which case, I'll have to paint that Tiger II that's sitting undercoated in my drawer....

Ok ok, I know, Panthers are technically medium tanks, but I count them as almost heavy because they were rated as the best tank of WW2.. Hope you like the hand painted ID numbers...

Cut off, Conditions worsen, Attack!

The Storm has gotten so bad that all but a few of the warp lanes are open. All the planets no longer provide any rest points. Talk about a perfect time to attack! The Imperials continued to push the pace and were rewarded with another successful planet strike against the Xeno strong-hold of LOS DEIMOS. I was an epic battle involving (I believe) over 500 pts but in the end the Imperials were left holding what has become the hub of the LOCARA sector. There have been a couple of other developments, the Pawn rule which allowed either the head of the Xeno's faction (Dracon) or head of the Imperial faction (Inquisitor) to submit moves for players on their team (provided that they allowed it) has been removed. Also, the points earned for both playing games and resting on planets have changed. Now instead of earn 3 pts with a win you will earn 5, then 3 for a draw and still only 1 for a loss. The resting bonus is now 5 pts when on a planet and seeing as there is now a even number of planets I'm happy to see the introduction of the new rule. The version of the rules that we are shifting to is 1.2 and it will also allow you to create a Nemesis (once you have 25 pts) on the opposing faction and when you play against them it earns you way more pts. In addition, you can now play a second army for earning pts but it has no other impact on the campaign. With the changes in the rules there was some confusion about when you had to attack so there are a couple of Xeno armies that are on planets that didn't attack but will be next week. For anyone that is interested there is still time to get in on the Return to LOCARA campaign. Here is the forum where everything is being run through and these are the rules.

The Storm grows and lightning strikes twice!

This week has been eventful to say the least. The Radiation storm that has been brewing since the beginning of the campaign has stretched across all most the entire map and done significant damage to the warp lanes. It is impassable and looks like it is going to sweep right on through. Players that are on planets effected by the storm are starting to not only not get bonuses for holding the planet but in some cases are actually starting to lose points!!! You can't have a serious storm without some lightning and that came in the form of not one but two successful planet strikes against HARSADED and ADAMA. So this is the strongest position that the Imperial side has been in since the beginning of the Campaign. Another interesting note is the mysterious energy source that had been moving around on the Xeno side of the map collided with The Royal Falcon (TRF) and destroyed his army (not teleported them back to RYIIS, the Xeno Homeworld but destroyed them)!!! At first I thought it was a neat trick to allow TRF to change armies but Orbital101 has just come up with new rules for having primary army which you play on the map but that you can have multiple armies from either side and get points for playing them (allowing players more freedom to change it up if they need a break from one force or another). There is still lots of gaming to be had and I'm curious to see what is going to happen with the storm and how it is going to continue to effect the Locara system.

The plot thickens!

One good Planet Strike deserves another! The Xeno's have claimed HARSADED and again dropped the Imperials down to having a single planet. This wasn't part of the original plan but I think it could work. The rules for Planet Strikes and movement have changed this week so it is going to now be easier to conduct Planet Strikes (you can now do them the turn you arrive into a subsector) but if you lose a Planet you have to wait 2 weeks before you can attack it again. Movement on the other hand got much more expensive. If your only going a single subsector there is no change but the further you move the more pts it costs to move, so now people will have to think about where they want to go before they start moving. I think that the next couple of weeks are going to be the turning point of the campaign, but only time will tell...

Big Willie's Wolves vs Matt Varnish's new 'Nids!

Here is a video battle report of the new Tyranids vs my Space Wolves! Special thanks to Matt Varnish for making this and posting it to his blog Druken Gamers, you can find the link on the right of the page.



Awesome game Matt and I can't wait to play again, and yes Njal is that powerful. For those that are interested here is what my Army list looked like

HQ
Njal in Power armour
Rune Priest
Rune Priest

Elite
Drop Pod Dreadnought with Extra Armour and Heavy Flamer

3 x Wolf Guard each with Power fist

Troops
6 x Grey Hunters with Meltagun mounted in Rhino

6 x Grey Hunters with Meltagun mounted in Rhino

6 x Grey Hunters with Meltagun mounted in Rhino

Fast Attack
Land Speeder with Heavy Flamer and Mulitmelta

Land Speeder with Heavy Flamer and Mulitmelta

Heavy Support
Predator with Autocannon and Heavy Bolters

5 x Long Fangs with Missile launchers and Razorback with Heavy Bolters

I'm going to drop the Razorback and a Marine to give the Long Fangs a lascanon and to upgrade the sponsons on the Predator to lascannons as they are needed against things like the Tyranofex

Tervigon WIP

After spending two weeks solid painting I felt it was time for something different. I have decided that it is time to start work on the "Tervigon". I have been thinking about what I wanted to do with this guy since I started reading about it back in December. One of the main things that I want to accomplish is to make him look like he belongs with this army (ie doesnt look out of place) and doesnt look like just a Carnifex having babies.

Below I have included a rough sketch of the initial planning for this guy. I am trying to make it look as much like it is in the Codex while still giving it some of my own touches. One of the main things I am trying to decide on is if I want to make it as is below, or turn it into a spider type MC (which will definitely give it its own look). I have 3 Carnifex kits with virtually non of the scything talon kits used as well as the left over scything talons from my Trygon. As far as the torso goes I am pretty sure that is how I am going to set it up, with the 3 rows of vents as well as the birthing ports in the front with an egg sac around its stomach. I am also thinking I am going to extend the armor plates further down around the egg sac to make him look a bit wider. One last thing I am going to do for this guy is put him on the Trygon base. All my 6 wound baddies are going to be on that large base as another way to distinguish between them all at a glance.