Teaser: Alternate Tyranid Bits Coming Soon

First - the good news.  Quite by accident I came across a gentleman named Peter who is working on sculpting and molding 'alienoid' body parts, which can be used as alternate bits for Tyranids.  Blame Google, and their cruel, heartless cancellation of Google Reader for this discovery.  Out of frustration I've been spending more time with Google+ or Plus or whatever the hell you're supposed to call it (seriously.. a symbol?) and joined a 40k Community and a Tyranid community just to test things out.  It isn't going to replace Pulse anytime soon as my newsreader of choice - but it does a much better job of presenting relevant content than Twitter from people I'm interested in.  So enough about techstuffs - here's the part that matters:  there simply aren't enough alternate Tyranid bits or models out there, so I was quite excited to see what Peter is sculpting, primarily some alternate Aliens/Giger-esque heads, another head style, and some positively wicked looking alternate "bone" swords.  Here's the video - which would have led the article, but Blogger for some reason refuses to let me embed it (it's probably next on the chopping block!):

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMYWenOj-u4

I was able to snap out a couple pics in case the video doesn't cooperate:

The "bad" news - he's not ready to sell yet or even picked out prices, packages, etc... I'm sure positive feedback and demand might speed that along!  Peter is considering doing additional heads that will fit other MCs, alternate whips and tails, and is working on some eggs and drop pods.  Coolest part:  he's looking for suggestions on other bits or themes, and can even do custom work.  Here's a video of some of his concept art - the insect style wings are fantastic!   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsWnpq2XjEc

My first suggestion:  with everyone and their brother running dakka flyrants, we're in dire need of some alternate bits we can use for quad devourers.  I'd love to see extra plating that could be used for 'armored shell' tyrants too, and it would be fantastic to have some decent alternate bits for crushing claws!  

At any rate - hit him up on his video page, or comment here (for now) with feedback and suggestions. 

Airbrushin' iz 'ard! - Hobby update and Genestealer Cults on the Horizon?

While at the NOVA Open last year I attended an airbrushing seminar given by Mister Justin of Secret Weapon Miniatures, and had lots of opportunities to hang out and chat with the fellow manning the Grex Airbrushes booth.  Needless to say - I caught the airbrush bug, but didn't fully succumb until Mike Brandt painted up his Tyranids for Battle of Salvation in something like 14 days...   I Santa got brought me an airbrush for Christmas, a nice Badger Renegade Krome.

So far, however my experiments have been pretty awful.  I've oversprayed, undersprayed, and everything in-between except gotten it right.  Having a hell of a time figuring out what the 'break' is when it will start spraying.  Lots of comments about "you'll eventually get a feel for it" but so far that hasn't happened.  I just need to paint more I think.  I've watched quite a few videos on YouTube, but very few are useful.  Most have horrible resolution, or are done by those guys who are so talented they are utterly oblivious that a complete beginner has no hope of understanding or copying what they are doing.  The best so far have actually been the ones by MisterJustin, and can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/secretweaponvideos/videos?view=0&flow=grid

Over the past couple months I've managed to find some hobby time - I finally touched up most of my gribblies from the dings and nicks they've earned from tournament play and the packing case, started work on the six newest members of my psychic choir: 

I wanted to try something different - "yet another WIP" - the Star Blazers Andromeda:

But the best news of all so far this year has been this - the Vidar's Fate: Praedis Zeta campaign at Warhammer World on June 22-23rd.

Add to this the rumors of Tyranids being the first book of 2014 - playtest rumors of cults being back in, and/or available in the rumored Allies book.  I've always wanted to do a genestealer cult army - love the idea of the big limousines, the hordes of cultists.  To me the genestealer cults are one of the most iconic forces in all of 40k, so I'm really hoping GW doesn't drop this ball.  Now I just need to figure out what to use for limousines...  here's the candidates so far:

The Polar Lights 1/32 Black Beauty of Green Hornet fame, or the newly re-released Rommel's Rod by Monogram.  I'm definitely leaning toward the Rommel's Rod...  

And just for extra motivation: here's a fantastic Cthulhu-based 'stealer cult:  http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?310707-WIP-Lovecraft-ian-Tyranids

Absolutely love the jalopy tervigons...

Huzzah Hobbies RTT 1850 Batrep#1, Nids vs Tau/IG & NOVA Open Missions

A couple members of the NOVA staff ran an RTT on Feb 2nd at Huzzah Hobbies in Ashburn, VA - basically a live-fire test of the new NOVA Open missions.  Huzzah is definitely a tabletop-focused store with a great selection, and did a wonderful job supporting the RTT - with plans to expand its playing space substantially in the coming months.  Definitely worth checking out if you're in the area.

This year's NOVA Open missions are very different from last year's - you will definitely want to playtest these to tune your lists.  The biggest change is the scoring approach, while the additions of the relic mission, mysterious objectives, and player-placed objectives definitely up the challenge level, and require an additional skill area to consider for player growth.  The only real negative I thought was Hammer and Anvil deployment in a big tournament environment: with tables end-to-end it is a massive pain in the ass and big game delay to run around to the opponent's side of the table to manage complex movement or assault - especially with the large units common to 6th.  I'd originally planned to put all 3 batreps here, but that took too long so here's the first one:

Games Workshop Design Studio

Stumbled across this doing some research on GW's social media presence and sentiment and thought it worth highlighting.  Despite the overuse of the term 'archaic' - this is an entertaining video to watch regarding GW's Design Studio methodologies.  Not really a surprise the 'creatives' tend to run the company timelines given what we see on the release end.  Although I think we're seeing more consistency from GW in the last 6-8 months, reflecting a bit more formality than is reflected here.  Mad props of course for the call-out on crappy inclusion of the Harpy in the Tyranid codex as an example of rush-jobs and poor corporate processes.  Give the gent some comments =)

Holiday Hobby Time - WIP Tervigon - Crushing Claws Conversion

Just a quick post - as you've probably read if you follow this blog at all, I'm a big fan of the idea of putting crushing claws on Tervs in 6th; but man I don't like the dinky little derp crushing claw arms the model comes with.  I have however been a big fan of the conversions I've seen using two of the big crab claws - much more menacing!  So I thought I'd give it a go.  I basically cut down the fleshborer hive arms about a half inch and used both the tervigon and carnifex claws.   Lots of work left as I need to fix the magnet angle (hardest part for me - I've never really used magnets before).  Here's a few pics of the process and progress after the jump:

Tyranid Library: 6th Edition, part 1

I think we're finally at the point where there's enough netwisdom out there for Tyranids in 6th to start compiling a new Tyranid Library article.  This isn't all inclusive obviously - just a compilation of useful articles for the aspiring Tyranid general in 6th edition.  If you've seen other articles that you've found useful or insightful somewhere that you think other 'nid players would benefit from, by all means drop me an email or a comment below.  

Let's start with assault ranges - in case it isn't obvious, Tyranids are an assault army:  so here's a handy table that gauges the probability of failing charges, and most importantly:  how and when to re-roll.  Kudos to Plague Marine over on A Plague Spreads - pity he hasn't been consumed by the hivemind yet ;)

http://aplaguespreads.blogspot.com/2012/07/probability-of-failing-charges.html

Next up are the always excellent articles from Abusepuppy over on 3++ is the New Black.  Quite simply one of the best competitively-focused Tyranid authors out there, with tons to learn in each article, especially if you are a newer player to Tyranids.  He can assume a certain baseline level of knowledge though, so these are best read with the rulebook next to you if you are a newer player.

http://kirbysblog-ic.blogspot.com/2012/07/bugs-on-brain-tyranid-psychic-powers-in.html

http://kirbysblog-ic.blogspot.com/2012/07/tyranids-in-6e-part-2-head-and-body.html

http://kirbysblog-ic.blogspot.com/2012/08/tyranids-in-6e-part-3-best-of-best-of.html

http://kirbysblog-ic.blogspot.com/2012/08/tyranids-in-6th-part-4-cut-to-quick.html

http://kirbysblog-ic.blogspot.com/2012/07/tyranids-in-6th-part-1-something.html

Another Tyranid author to pay attention to is Fritz, from Fritz40k.  Fritz is an innovator, and experiments more than most; crucially he doesn't take netwisdom on any unit for granted.  The fact he's experimenting with Mawlocs here is just one great example; and IMO, a Tyranid 'rush' list built around mawlocs, ymgarl, and dual flyrants, maybe a doom is definitely a workable list in 6th - mawlocs still aren't great, but they're just the thing for those pesky clumped infantry and their aegis walls: 

http://www.fritz40k.com/2012/10/winning-40k-6th-edition-tyranid-build.html

Mike Brandt, over on Whiskey & 40k, has a soft spot for Tyranids and has been beating up on the NOVA crowd with a psychic choir list that he ultimately took to a 5-1 finish at Battle for Salvation.  It deserves mention here both as an example of a "prototypical" psychic choir list and some great play tips, but also because of the innovative Tyranid Psychic Power and Spawn Tracker.  This is a godsend, and an approach I will definitely be copying in every game/tournament going forward.  I'm a pretty big fan of his list too, as I've liked the Swarmlord+Parasite of Mortrex combo for a long time.

http://whiskey40k.blogspot.com/2012/10/bfs-quick-battle-recap.html

Gritts over on Anvil of War has a nifty article covering missions; terse and to the point, but a good read:

http://anvilofwar.blogspot.com/2012/08/tyranids-in-6th-part-3-of-7.html

No library article seems complete without a shoutout to hyvemynd over on Synaps3, and the reason for inclusion here is this list reflects the 6th edition need for bigger units to survive overwatch, and protecting your warlord:  http://synaps3.blogspot.com/2012/07/1850pts-food-for-thought-and-noming.html

As far as batreps go, jifel1 over on Knighthammer has been posting his latest list thoughts and batreps, piloting his nids to a very respectable finish at Beakycon.  Definitely worth reading as he faces some rough lists, and does a good job of capturing his thoughts and approaches:

http://knighthammer40k.blogspot.com/2012/10/beakycon-game-1-igcd.html

http://knighthammer40k.blogspot.com/2012/10/beakycon-game-2-scythewing.html

http://knighthammer40k.blogspot.com/2012/10/beakycon-game-3-green-tide.html

http://knighthammer40k.blogspot.com/2012/10/disclaimer-on-batreps-i-played-6-games.html

http://knighthammer40k.blogspot.com/2012/10/beaky-con-game-5-igspace-wolves.html

http://knighthammer40k.blogspot.com/2012/10/beakycon-game-6-vs-necrons.html

Slowly getting back in the hobby groove...  

Anti-Procrastination: Building a Light Box

"If you want to make an apple pie, you must first invent the universe" - Carl Sagan

The mindset behind that quote above seems to be a path I take far too often:  I set up pre-conditions, invent needs, and find things that need to be done first before I can start something.  Sadly I even do this with my hobby.  I always want to have the right tool, the right brush, the right material before tackling a project.  Take for instance my desire to post pics of my mighty blue and orange horde.  My gribblies have needed multiple repairs after NOVA 2011 (yeah you read that correctly), plus I need to add static grass/flock to their bases, get the inks and varnish out to add depth, and matte seal them to kill some of the shine.  While my painted hordelings are definitely not what I'd claim on eBay as "pro-painted" (admittedly that's probably a low bar for some, but I like to think I have some sense of honor) - I've definitely considered the pictures I've taken so far to be pretty crappy, and would make my median paint job look far worse than it actually is.  If I'm going to be judged, I'd prefer to be judged fairly - and the ability to take good photographs that duly represent the level of painting have been a pre-requisite.  Until today.