hyv3mynd vs the New Tyranid Codex

So here we are, a week after the newest tyranid codex release.  If you read this blog, chances are you read many blogs and discussion forums all dedicated to wh40k.  If this is the case, you've been exposed to hundreds of opinions, analysts, winging, praising, and soapboxing about the new book.  I've been silent about the topic on this blog and I don't want certain emotions and arguments to dominate the atmosphere, so this will be my one and only post on this topic.

Game 5 of PTGRTS's Annual GT, Results, Comp & Missions

     Today I'll finish up my coverage of Play the Game, Read the Story's Annual GT (Check out Games 1&2 and 3&4). For the second year in a row, my final game was going to be against a Grey Knights player (though not the same player). Entering the final round last year, the two of us were 4-0. After it, I was 4-1. This year, I was facing 2 Dreadknights, a bunch of Terminators, Coteaz, and Hammer and Anvil Deployment. I was worried. 

     Check out my game, the full event results, and what I thought of the missions and comp below the fold. Also, please leave me a comment on what you think. I have a couple of questions that I'd like to crowd-source. 

Tyranid Terrain: Ripper Pads Finished!

After a month of working on this project and a plethora of other projects I was finally able to finish the tyranid ripper pads. Unlike with the first two  projects (the digestion pools and carnivorous plants)  I started to incorporate elements of human habitation to give the terrain a story theme. So in this project I used a section of the crashed ship pieces that came in the BfM 4th edition starter set and I made a small section of an imperial generator room. I plan on continuing this theme with the remaining pieces that I am going to work on for the tyranid terrain. So with out any more delay, lets looks at the pics!

1500Point - Play the Game, Read the Story GT Report - Games 1 & 2

     July in Syracuse means it’s time for Play the Game, Read the Story’s annual GT. Last year I managed to snag 2^nd overall, so I was looking forward to this year’s event and hoping for a repeat performance. This year’s event was a single day, 5-round, 1500point tournament, bringing in just over 30 players. The scoring weighed heavily on battle (0-9/game), but also included soft scores: Paint (0-10), Sportsmanship (0-5), and Comp (0-10). Having attended a few of their events over the past year, I felt that I had a good grasp on what they were looking for in comp, and what kind of armies I’d likely see.

Here’s what I brought:

HQ

Tyranid Prime w/ Lash Whip & Bone Sword, Toxin Sacs

Elite

2 Hive Guard

5 Ymgarls

Troops

12 Termagants

Tervigon w/ Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs and +2 Powers

5 Genestealers w/ Broodlord

Fast Attack

5 Shrikes w/ Lash Whip & Bone Sword, Toxin Sacs

Heavy Support

2 Carnifex w/ 2X Twin Link Devourers

3 Biovores

Total: 1496

In the past 3 years, I can only remember squaring off against 3 other Tyranid players (2 of which are my co-authors Hyv3mynd & DaCock), but somehow I managed to draw 3 on this day. Below the fold are bat-reps from my first 2 games. 

Tyranid Terrain: Ripper Pads

Tyranid rippers are small organisms created to spawn in the latter stages of a tyranid invasion for the sole purpose of consuming all matter on the surface of the planet. When they cannot eat anymore matter they immerse themselves in the many digestion pools to be broken down and digested, along with all matter that they have consumed, and sucked back up by the hive fleets so that the DNA can be assimilated by the fleet. In this series I wanted to create one of the many ripper pads that spawn on the surface of the planet during an invasion. I wanted to make these pieces large than the previous tyranid terrain projects and I also wanted to include imperial elements in the terrain as wreckage that has been overrun by the invasion. So without any further ado, lets get started.

Batrep: DE/Eldar vs Tyranids 1500pts

I had a chance to have my friend Gerry over for a casual game this week.  He's been using my tyranids to get a feel for the 6th ed mechanics before he builds an army of his own.

Here's a shot of the table and terrain.  I had set it up earlier so we use the "narrative" setting rather than the alternating method.  We rolled up The Scouring and Hammer/Anvil deployment.

Tyranid Terrain: Carnivorous Plants Conclusion

In my last article, I left off with the basic egg-shaped pod with the tyranid ribbing drying with a mixture of white glue and super glue. Since then I have painted up the pods, added jungle foliage, and flocked the bases. As I did this process over a series of 10 days, I was not able to take pictures of each step but I've included the final images for you to review.

Tyranid Terrain: Carnivorous Plants pt II

Welcome back to the next installment on making tyranid terrain. This latest series is about creating carnivorous plants that will be part a part of a tables worth of terrain that represents the later stages of an Tyranid invasion. Last week I started the project by gluing some foam eggs to particle board and adding feeder tendrils to the base of the pods. You can read about that phase by clicking here. This week I did some clay sculpting to add an alien look and feel to mirror the digestion pools I worked on a few weeks ago (click here). So let's take a look at what I was able to add this week.

Tyranid Terrain: Carnivorous Plants and More

This past week has been a real productive one for me in regards to hobby-related projects, which is a good thing because my hobby time these past few months has been pretty hit and miss. Here is a run down of what I was able to accomplish in the past week. First I was able to pick up Betrayer by Aaron Dembski Bowden. As a huge fan of Aaron's writings and the Word Bearers I was pretty stoked to start reading this book. I am about half way through the book and it has so far exceeded my expectations. While the book does deal with the Word Bearers and their actions going on at the same time as the events in Know No Fear, it deals more with the World Eaters and their involvement in the campaign against the Ultramarines. For someone who did not know much about the World Eaters I find this book interesting as it fleshes out Angron and Kharn (especially Kharn) as characters that you can somewhat feel for. One of the best lines in the book comes right from the opening pages, as a quote from Kharn: "The wolves will always come to heel when called. In that regard, it is a mystery why they name themselves wolves. They are tame, collared by the Emperor, obeying him at every whim. But a wolf doesn't behave that way. Only a dog does. That is why we are the eater of worlds, and the War Hounds no longer." - Eight Captain Kharn. - Excerpt from Betrayer.

Tyranid Terrain: Digestion Pools Pt III

In this article I will wrap up the series on a tyranid digestion pool. Looking back at the first two articles I am pretty pleased with how building these pools have gone. As I mentioned in the first article, I was kind of apprehensive about building tyranid terrain as it was something out of my comfort zone. I did a lot of experimentation and there were plenty of trial and error going on during the process but overall I am pleased with the final product and I am ready to move onto the next project. But before I get ahead of myself, let's wrap up the digestion pool tutorial.

In the first article I built up the borders of the digestion pool and in the second article I added the poisoned fronds and the gooey inside walls of the pool. In this article I will be adding the vegetation to the bases and paint up the pool.

Tyranid Terrain: Digestion Pool Part II

Welcome back to part II of building a tyranid digestion pool. My goal was to have this project finished for this week but real life reared its ugly head and I got set back a few days. Plus our blogging scheduled got a bit shuffled with the announcement of our Parkhammer 2013 event. So without putting this off any longer, lets take a look at what I was able to get done in the past week.

Tyranid Terrain: Digestion Pool Part 1

My last series on building themed terrain dealt with creating city ruins with basic tools and materials and this next series will follow along with the same premise but this time I elected to build tyranid themed terrain. Why tyranids? Well, way back in 4th edition I attempted to start a tyranid army but that never went far and I ended up selling the meager collection I had started, but my love of tyranid fluff has never stopped. The idea of an unstoppable mass that cannot be reasoned with or negotiated with and that is geared with the simple purpose to consume all matter for the hive fleets is a scary prospect. For with the tyranids it is either kill them all or face utter annihilation.

In this series I want to build terrain that represents the latter stages of a tyranid infestation. By this time much of the resistance would have been wiped out, leaving the planet ready for consumption. At this point the alien spawned vegetation would be in full growth and in the process of breaking down all matter to be consumed by the ripper swarms that will soon erupt and ingest everything in their path. The rippers would then immerse themselves into the digestion pools where all of the biological matter will be reduced to an acidic gruel that will then be sucked up into the awaiting hive fleets in low orbit. So my first project for the tyranid series will be to develop some digestion pools as a test to see what I could do to create something that is totally alien and has an organic quality that none of the other 40k races have.

Tyranid Tournament Wrap-up

     It's been a hell of a few weeks, including a small tournament that 4 of our authors made it out to, an all-nighter at work that obliterated my post for last week, and a smattering of modeling to expand the swarm.

This scene sums up my game against Calypso2ts. Well played sir, well played. 

     The tournament in Syracuse we went to had an interesting comp system.  I know a lot of people don't like comp, but I've never really had a problem with it. I figure that it's just another way to play the game. Because I travel to events a lot, I like to try and conform to what our hosts want to see. Going into this event, I was at -1 on the comp scale.

City Terrain Wrapup and beyond...

Hard to believe that its been almost three months. Back in early February of this year, Hyv3, Calypso2ts, and Crispy approached me about becoming a contributing author to the Mandulian Chapel. While I was honored that they asked me to contribute, I was both excited and nervous about the prospects of writing for this blog. I was excited that they all felt that I had something worth contributing to the greater community but at the same time I was nervous because I was not sure I would find enough stuff to talk about each week that would keep you, the reader, interested and engaged. Boy has that changed. These past three months have been a blast and due to the blog I have found myself taking on more hobby related projects and pushing myself to try new techniques in modeling and terrain building. With that being said, this week I will be wrapping up the “Creating City Terrain” series by showing you how to create unique terrain elements out of items that you can find relatively cheaply and easily. Hopefully my articles have inspired you to go out and build terrain pieces for your own collection, or for your gaming club or store.

Tyranid List Ideas & WIP

     Ever since the team tournament last month, I’ve been itching to try out a unit of Dakka-Fexes. I’ve had a single one for a while now, but with my recent WIP projects moving along, I think a unit  may be ready for the field soon.

     I’ve been running a 5-man unit of Shrikes, or the Swarmlord with a small bodyguard. Either way, you’re paying out a ton of points, and I’ve been meaning to try something different. My new points sink seems to be these Carnifexes. I know, those 2 Carni’s cost more than either of the two options above, but this is how I add to my collection (wait until I feel the need to build up a bunch of Screamer Killers!). I’m interested to see how they handle in comparison. On one hand, the Shrikes and Swarmlord do take down most things they hit, but they have to get into combat to do so. The Carni’s have the added utility that they don’t have to reach hand to hand, they have guns.

Hobby Progress: Nids and O&G

     Hobby progress over the past few weeks has reached a snail's pace as I've jumped into a kitchen remodel. With a little bit of time here and there, I've been plugging away at my Savage Orcs, but I've hit a bit of a wall. I'm not satisfied with my current method for painting bone. Here's what I've been doing lately: Paint the bone area w/ Bleached Bone --> hit the area with Agrax Earthshade --> pick out details with Bleached Bone. Simple, I know. I've been doing it for a while now, but it looks too dirty, and not up the the level the rest of the model is (at least I think so). Below is a picture of how it turns out. 

     I suppose it doesn't look bad, but I just felt a little bit disheartened when it didn't turn out the way I wanted. Also, I have around 50 guys to do this to. It's a little discouraging when you have a pile of dudes to paint and you aren't 100% on how you want to do them. How do you guys do Bone?

     Anyway, below the fold I'll show off my Savage Orc Hero, and a couple of Tyranid projects that I've been working on the fight the Orc burnout. 

Adepticon Team Tournament Primer - Round 3 - Tyranids vs GK/IG

It seems like every that I participate in where I have to play against Grey Knights - which is really good when it comes to having experience against Grey Knights.  We are matched up this round against Zack and Paul with an IG/GK combination.  I had a chance to play against Paul a few months ago with my Daemons at the Millenium invitational  In contrast, Zack and I have played a number of casual games against one another but somehow managed to dodge one another at tournaments.

That is a lot of terminators and the Dreadknight with its Heavy Incinerator is one of my least favorite weapons to play against in the game...

Adepticon Team Tournament Primer - Round 2 - Tyranids VS CSM

     This past Saturday, Calypso2ts and I teamed up for an Adepticon Team Tourney primer. Each of us brought 1000 points of Tyranids, which can be found here. Calypso covered our first game against the Orky team of Trevor and Ben. Damn those Dakka-Jets!! Coming out of the first round with only 10 points hurt, but we still knew that we could still turn it around.

     Heading into round 2, we were paired up against Beth and Scotty from Erie PA. The Erie crowd is made up of a great group of gamers, and I've played several of them in single tournaments. They always offer up solid competition, and are great gamers. Beth & Scotty brought CSM lists, built around their Slaaneshii Adepticon team.

Calypso2ts - Adepticon Style Teams - Tyranids

I had the outstanding opportunity this week to both play with a fellow Mandulian Chapel coauthor/friend (Crispy) and to bring to bear a Tyranid army for a tournament.  I have been playing exclusively Daemons for the last three years - since I took a Sisters of Battle army to Da Boyz and just did not enjoy the way they played.  I am fairly familiar with assault armies, but when it comes to armies that have to deploy I was going to have to rely on Crispy for a lot of guidance an mentoring.

Luckily he was up to the task - the lists and format of the tournament are described here - and we had three great games.  The first game saw us up against Ben and Trevor running a very Orky coalition...

Adepticon Style Team Tournament - List Building Ideas

      March at Millennium Games in Rochester means it’s Adepticon Team Tourney practice time. While I won’t be heading out to Adepticon this year, I still wanted to get in on some team action. I’ll be teaming up with my co-author Calypso2ts to bring either a Chaos/Daemon or Nid/Nid army to the event. The other Mandulian Chapel authors (Hyv3mynd & Grubnards) will be present, along with the Da Boyz and Beef & Wing crews. If you’re able to, come on out and join us. It’ll be the 9th of March at Millennium Games in Rochester NY, with registration starting at 9:30AM and dice dropping around 10AM.

      Anyway, I wanted to throw out a few list builds to talk about. Each player is limited to 1K, and has to conform to a modified force org (see below). Because each teammate is restricted to 1K, there’s a few things to think about in terms of list building. Do you try and go for a well rounded list, knowing that you don’t have full access to your toolbox, or do you try to focus narrowly?

      Calypso2ts and I aren’t sure if we want to do CSM & Daemons or Double Tyranid, so I’ll present a couple of lists for each. These lists will be my side of the team equation. Check out the format of the event below the fold, and I hope to see you there.