The Hive Mind Adapts....

With the release of the latest edition of Codex Tyranids at the start of the year, it's been a rather gribbly 2010. So I'm going to look at one of my favourite new units and, hopefully in a later post, show you how I made mine. These guys are the bane of light vehicles, and can threaten anything on the table without needing to see it - that's right, it's the Hive Guard.

So firstly, yes, my Hive Guard are a slight departure from the official GW model (a google image search of 'Hive Guard' should bring him right up). It wasn't exactly love at first sight when they unveiled that model, and at £12 per guy I'd written them off as a possibility for inclusion in my army list. Only later when I read the Codex did I see them as a must-have. So after some thinking, sketching, and bits box raiding, I now have six of these monstrosities to worry enemy armour.

So what's so great about them? First of all, they're tough. With T6, 2 wounds and a 4+ armour save they can weather a fair bit of abuse. They've got a brilliant gun that fires 2 S8 shots per turn (and are good shots to boot!), and an unusual special rule that lets them fire it at stuff they can't see. They are in my opinion the most satisfying anti-tank option in the Codex. They have a further reach than Zoanthropes (especially if enhanced by the Tervigon psychic power 'Onslaught'), and better ballistic skill than Tyrannofexes. And even though their gun is not quite as strong as the Heavy Venom Cannon, it can actually blow tanks up, rather than causing ineffectual 'shaken' and 'stunned' type results, which many vehicles ignore or downgrade. I certainly wouldn't take to the field without these guys - go Hive Guard!!

Fighting Talk: Askepios' Tournament Calendar 2010!

Most, if not all, of my hobby activity this year has been tournament motivated: Play-testing the new Tyranid codex; army list number-crunching; frantic painting sessions to get models to an acceptable painting standard. I feel I got off to a good start for the year by attending Conflict in April, coming 8th with an Orks/Orks doubles team. Next on the agenda is Britcon in Manchester (August 12th-15th). Signed up this week also for Counter-Attack, a one day tournament in Edinburgh which takes place the weekend after Britcon; and I've informally nabbed a place at Rapid Fire which is in Stirling later in the year. Who needs Throne of Skulls?!

Front and centre of my focus this year is the Tyranids. I'd had precisely no luck with them in their previous incarnation but the new book, though far from perfect, presents plenty of solutions for the main things 'Nids struggled with in the past: Tanks; and getting shot to bits before coming anywhere near assault range. For anyone who's interested, here's the 2000 point list I'm taking to Britcon in a few weeks' time:

HQ

Tyranid Prime

(Deathspitter, Lashwhip & Bonesword, Adrenal Glands) - 110

ELITES

3 Zoanthropes - 180

(Mycetic Spore - 40)

3 Hive Guard - 150

3 Hive Guard - 150

TROOPS

Tervigon (Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands, Catalyst) - 195

Tervigon (Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands, Catalyst) - 195

10 Termegants - 50

10 Termegants - 50

19 Hormagaunts (Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands) - 190

19 Hormagaunts (Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands) - 190

HEAVY SUPPORT

Trygon Prime (Adrenal Glands) - 250

Trygon Prime (Adrenal Glands) - 250

So there it is. I've had a lot of success with it so far. The Tervigons are definitely the key to this army: Spawning more termegants to add further weight to the assault or grabbing objectives; conferring benefits to the smaller creatures (synapse for all of them, counter-attack and the effects of his own upgrades get passed to nearby termegants, whilst catalyst gives those buffed-up hormagaunt units the Feel No Pain special rule to make sure they hit home hard). Hive Guard are also key, taking shelter behind cover and busting tanks with their no-line-of-sight-required Strength 8 guns. The Trygon Primes don't need much explanation (well what would you do with a Toughness 6, 6 wound Monstrous Creature who is Strength 7 & has 7 attacks on the charge? CHARGE!).

I had to think a bit in light of the FAQ that GW recently released for Codex: Tyranids. When I wrote the list I was teaming the Tyranid Prime with the Zoanthropes and Deep-striking them all in with the Mycetic Spore. The Zoans can blast away the turn they arrive, and the Prime is there to gallantly take any Lascannon hits directed at the Zoans, then run riot in the enemy lines next turn. The FAQ disallowed this tactic so I was in doubt for a while as to whether I wanted to keep the Prime in the list, or re-jig a few things to get another Tervigon in there as my HQ. (Why not a Hive Tyrant you ask? Well I have issues with this Codex's version of the Hive Tyrant but that's maybe for another post.) Anyway as you can see I've kept the Prime, mainly because I didn't feel confident I had time to build and paint the 3rd Tervi before the competition, but also because after a couple of practise games with the new ruling I've found he can do plenty of damage marching in on foot, and he provides more handy synapse.

That's it from me for now!

From the sublime to the ridiculous

A recent and eagerly-awaited arrival, I was instantly taken with the Isabella miniature when I came across it on the Studio McVey site. In their design notes they've quoted Blade Runner & Phillip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' as influences for the character, both of which are magnificently prominent in the final sculpt. I've kind of super-imposed a touch of Joss Whedon's 'Firefly' in there too though - she looks like the kind of lady that would never tire of giving Malcolm Reynolds a hard time! Though she'll be a challenge (she's TINY!) I can't wait to paint her and I'm still mulling over schemes at present. My first instinct would be to go typically cyber-punk with grimy leather browns and perhaps some muted reds but I'm leaning more towards an arctic colour scheme: White coat, blonde hair and some turquoisey blues and browns for variety. Watch this space!

....And to the ridiculous it seemed about time I posted a pic of something I'm working on at the moment. So - termegants! They may not be pretty, but what can I say? There's 20 of the lil buggers! If you use your models for gaming as I do there comes a point at which you realise that life's too short and you just need to get guys on the table to field a decent army. These ones I've just about got 'painted' to a sort of minimum satisfactory level for playing games. The Tyranid army I'm putting together for this year's Britcon event needs a minimum of 60 termegants so I've a few more to do before August - I'd better get painting!

Tiny Dancers

As I'm currently engaged in production-line painting Termegants for my ever-growing Tyranid swarm, I'm not doing much quality painting just now. I hope to get some of the better pics of Hive Fleet Askepios up soon but until then I hope you enjoyed the above 'archive' pictures of my Eldar Harlequins.

These guys (and girls) were a joy to paint, primarily down to the uncluttered and dynamic nature of the sculpts. It was also an opportunity for me to try my hand at the signature Harlequin diamond pattern - the turquoise and yellow diamonds that appear on every model. This was acheived by painting a grid with a watered down blue/black ink over a yellow basecoat, then filling in and highlighting (not as easy as it sounds - steady hand required!). I've also tried to use different complimentary and contrasting colours on each model to give them some individuality. The overall effect is perhaps a bit garish but fitting, I think, for a flamboyant dancing troupe that migrates around Eldar Craftworlds pretty much as they please, sitting somewhere between the role of the court jester and the Grim Reaper.

My Eldar army lies in a somewhat fragmented state at present - much like the Eldar civilsation itself! - a shadow of its former glory. The Harlequins were meant to kick start a return to regular game-play for my Eldar but it never quite happened! Long term I still fully intend to get the army back up and running, and as Games Workshop have some new releases planned for them later this year that could be a good opportunity.... the skeins of fate and probability are fickle masters!

Prepare to (be) Board...

Hello and welcome to the inaugural post on my new blog. The main purpose of this blog will be to share pictures of models I've painted. I'll also be briefly explaining the background of the models - most (if not all) of which are from Citadel Miniatures' Warhammer 40,000 range - to give an idea of what drew me to them; and letting you know about any special conversions or assembly/painting challenges I encountered along the way to finishing them. As I use many of these models for gaming, I'll also no doubt be doing a few posts letting you know of my exploits on that front.

So these first pics are of models from Games Workshop's surprise 2009 release, Space Hulk. Above is Sergeant Lorenzo, to the right is Brother Scipio, and below is Brother Zael: Terminators of the Blood Angels Space Marine Chapter. These guys have been tasked with cleansing the eponymous Space Hulk (a huge interstellar craft) of the xenos scourge known as the Genestealers; pitting mighty armour, ranged weaponry and righteous faith against the ferocity and numbers of an alien infestation. Games of Space Hulk are fast paced, tense affairs and represent desperate close-quarter combats within the claustrophobic confines of the Space Hulk's labyrinthine corridors.

For the paint job I took a lot of pointers from White Dwarf 357's 'Eavy Metal Masterclass by Anja Wettergren, as this was a first for me in that I'd never painted Space Marines and also in that I'd never actively sought to recreate an aspect of the Warhammer 40,000 universe verbatim before. With these guys I felt the sculpts were so evocative of the characters described in the game that I felt I'd be doing them an injustice in not trying to reinforce this with the paintjob. Points I'm particularly pleased with here are the deep red hue of the armour, the parchments and lettering on Zael & Scipio's armour. Feel free to let me know what you think!