Army Review: Tyranids - with cunning colubrine and malice viperine and sleights serpentine

Well time for another army review and, as it's been absolutely sweltering up here in Cumbria (well over 12 degrees!), I was inspired to turn our living room table in to an inhospitable Death World and give a warm Catachan welcome to the Tyranids!

Brothers in (Four) Arms - Part 2

So we finally find ourselves back on the dingy little backwater that is Pelegosto Prime.

Apologies for the slightly longer than intended intermission - real life and all that...

We last saw our dastardly Pirate Captain Reade running into the first obstacles in his way, as he and his desperadoes attempt to track down the whereabouts of his Brother-in-Law, Black Bill - Part 1

We now pick up the action as Reade splits his party in reaction to the skirmish with the militia patrols on the right flank. A scurvy looking boarding party begin sneaking down the left flank, aiming to use the thick vegetation as cover.

Brothers in (Four) Arms

Well it's been a busy week or so in terms of getting games played and my Genestealer Cult got another outing last weekend when Warlord Paul came round for a game. After rejigging the original Imperial Rescue mission idea I'd had for the scenario, we had a great afternoon's gaming using the Rogue Trader Rules.

Here's the scenario -

A raid on the main settlement of Pelegosto Prime has gone dreadfully wrong. A seemingly low tech and backward planet in the Outer Rim, Pelegosto seemed ripe for the picking to the orbiting Pirate ship. With its largely peasant population, rural economy and small PDF garrison surely it would be a push-over...

The initial reconnaissance party managed to make planet-fall without being detected. Their reports indicated that there was loot to be had as the harvest had just been auctioned off and a large influx of currency was doing the rounds among the large landowners. A large forbidding fortress had been identified as the seat of Government and so possibly the planet's Mint. Orders were duly issued to investigate it.

What happened next was unclear. Upon entering the castle the reconnaissance party's reports became increasingly strange, telling of strange religious iconography, cowled figures leading large congregations in strange rituals and a fearful presence that gnawed at the edges of their minds. The last transmission was garbled and panicky. It spoke of claws and hypnotic eyes in the Dark. It spoke of the Great Father's love for his children...

After the screams had stopped leaving only the clicks and pops of subspace static coming over the ship's communicator, Dola sat back in her Captain's chair, fists and teeth clenched.

Her Son-in-Law quailed a little inside. He didn't like what he had heard over the radio - especially as the leader of the missing team was his Brother-in-Law. He could guess what was coming next...

"Get down there and if you know what's good for you, don't come back without my son!"

With a sigh, he motioned his band to the transports. He had a bad feeling about this drop.

A larger Pirate force has been dispatched to the surface with one objective:

• Locate and rescue the original Reconnaissance Team

Tyranids before Bedtime...

Got another game in with my old pal Ollie last weekend - my Genestealer Cult against his Black Templars. Here's the scenario we hashed out on the night - 

The once bustling Imperial planet, Thorium G, was now a wreck. Eaten from within by that most terrible of all Man's cancers - Genestealer infestation. Long and subtle had been the onset of the corruption as the cult grew around its founding father like some obscene crysalis.

Slowly it reached out its tendrils, absorbing and embracing the rich and poor alike. Soon the entire Broadcast Network had been subverted to the cause and its message of hope and enlightenment brought many more to the fold.

It wasn't until all communication with the planet ceased that the problem began to get noticed. The came the single distress signal, which indicated that high level Scientific Personnel were in need of extraction.

A small force of Marines from the Black Templar Chapter were sent in but the mission went awry. On finding out that the entire Planetary Defense Force had been subverted by the Cult, the Marines became aware of the risk to the blockading fleet from the Planet's considerable battery of Defense Lasers.

Taking the only decision he could, the Marine Captain set a beacon to call down the planetary bombardment that would cleanse Thorium G of all infestation. As long as the beacon could be defended and kept transmitting...

Genestealer Cult

Brotherhood of the Life-Giving Father

Once I had finished my Rogue Trader's Retinue my eye was caught by the Genestealers - particularly by an old Tyranid army list in White Dwarf Magazine. Loved the old models of the Patriarch, Zoats and Hunter-slayers so started searching ebay to start the cult. The idea of Brood Brothers also caught my imagination and a few of my faithful Imperial Guard minis found themselves corrupted by the seductive lure of the cult.

Found some great minis from the Necromunda range to complete the squad, along with a few other fallen Imperial minis from the Adeptus Arbites and Space Marine Scouts - no doubt ensnared on a lonely Space Hulk!

To give them a bit of heavy support I converted an old Orc Bolt Thrower frame to an improvised artillery piece -

They also needed some wheels so I spruced up a old Rhino I had - added some spiky bits and more improvised weaponry to make it look like it had been pinched and beefed up a bit for the Cult's sinister purposes.

Always fancied building or converting a Cult Limousine - bizarre idea for the battlefield but a lot of fun as can be seen in this old pic from White Dwarf. However, never found a suitable model to convert and the idea fell by the wayside.

Found a great site called Bell of Lost Souls which had a new list for the Genestealer cult to fit it into the new 40K rules - wasn't so bothered about following any rules but there were some great ideas like the Brood Initiates - ordinary civilians initiated into the cult and whipped into a fanatical religious fervour!

Again had loads of fun tracking down suitable minis - some from Heresy, Empire Flagellants, Old Citadel and Rogue Trader minis and so on -

And onto the Genesteales themselves - always loved the Hybrid minis and assembled a good sized band from plastic and metal minis -

The actual Genestealer minis I wasn't that chuffed with - unfortunately the budget didn't run to a horde of the old metal minis so I had to make do with some cheapo plastics!

However the Patriarch more than makes up for them -

Couldn't resist putting a dead Space Marine sprawled at his feet either!

No Cult would be complete without a Magus and his familiar -

As Genestealer Cults were supposed to soften a Planet up in preparation for a Tyranid invasion and because the old Tyranid army was so cool I had to include a few advance elements of the Hive Fleet.

Zoats are a sad loss to the Warhammer world -

And I much prefer the old Hunter Slayers to those new-fangled Gaunts and such like -

However, they proved somewhat rare on Ebay and I had to top them up with the slightly newer version that came out when the Tyranids were rereleased.

Another great idea from the Bell of Lost Souls were the Hybrid Monstrosities - Native creatures that have become infected by the Genestealer incursion and are now under the control of the Patriarch.

Having flicked through the Creatures pages in Rogue Trader I felt these Heresy Maggots could

be Lash-Worms -

And I had to include a Cthellan Cudbear after I found this Sabre-toothed Bear on Ebay - once I had altered the ears he was ready to go -