Tyranid Rumors

Now that GW has announced the release of the new Tyranid codex for January rumors are flying! Some people who know people that were at Games Day UK have said various things - some great and some are intriguing. Rumors are flying about what will be in the new codex and what new models will be released: plastic Trygon (very likely), a plastic Harridan (who knows?), Malenthrope able to be used in normal 40k games (good chance... will be nice to use mine more often), plastic gargoyes (would be very nice and a very good probability), new metal biovore (pretty good possibility), and new army builds.

Here's my take... I can see them adding the Harridan, Trygon, and the Malenthrope in the codex. The IG codex has stuff like the Medusa, Manticore, and Deathstrike Missile. Those are all Forge World models but you can convert your own or buy the FW kits and have rules to use these in a regular game. Now as for plastic models, we'll have to wait and see. I'm very excited for the new codex either way. Cruddace did a great job with Guard without reinventing them. He really brought out the way they should be played... keeping the flavor but adding some new things and taking out some old. So keep your fingers crossed he does the same with the new Tyranids.

Making River Pieces For My Desert Gaming Board Part 3

OK, now for the third and final installment on how to make river scenery. In part 1 we cut the hardboard to make the bases for the river sections and made the banks from sand and wood glue. In part 2 we painted everything and glued scrub brush bristles down with a hot glue gun to make bunches of grass/reeds.

So now onto working with the resin! You'll need about 8 oz of resin if you made a river as large as mine (enough to span 6 feet.) You need resin that will dry clear. I used EnviroTex Lite pour-on resin as you can see in the pic to the left. If you cannot find this (I bought mine at AC Moore but you should be able to find it in the woodworking section at most larger craft stores) you can use GW or Woodland Scenics Water Effects and apply a couple coats.

If you have them, some latex gloves are a good idea to use. That way if any resin gets onto your hands it's no big deal. So first off was to mark cups at 4 oz. To do this take 2 clear/frosted plastic cups and use a measuring cup and pour a half cup of water into each plastic cup and mark it with a sharpie marker. If you're making smaller spans of river or making a pond or digestion pool or something of that effect, you can use less. Just be sure to use EQUAL amounts of resin and hardener! So anyway, dry the cup with a paper towel so there is no water left inside. Next up, pour the resin into one cup to the 4 oz mark you made. Then pour the hardener into the other cup to the 4 oz mark. Pour the hardener into the resin and mix for two minutes to be sure the two components are completely integrated with each other.


Next, pour some of the resin onto a river section where the water is supposed to be. Using an old brush, that you don't mind tossing after this project, spread the resin around so that the area between the two river banks is covered and looks wet. If you added any sand in the middle don't totally cover this but do cover the edges. This will make it look semi-submerged. If you made a fordable area like i did in the pic to the left, you can lightly apply some of the resin to look like the water is still flowing through but is quite shallow and able to be crossed easily.

Do this for each piece of your river section. I made seven (A-G) to span my desert board. If you look at the pic to the right you can see how it looks on the board... Now I have my own Nile river running through my desert! Good luck making yours!


Til next time,
Steevo

Making River Pieces For My Desert Gaming Board Part 2

OK, so here we are in part 2 of 3 of my tutorial on how to make river pieces. In part 1, we cut our hardboard pieces, made a sand paste and created the riverbanks of the pieces. Now we'll paint it all and glue our pieces of scrub brush to make reeds.

Ok, first up is to get out the latex paint (Ace Sensations Earth Tone), all the banks and outer sand areas get painted with this color then a heavy drybrush of Bleached Bone. This will give us our sand color and a nice highlight.

Next up we paint the water area with the dark blue (I used an old Citadel color called Deadly Nightshade) then along the banks we'll paint Ultramarines blue. This will give the appearance of a shallower area. We'll also do a taper from any spots of sand in the middle as you see here. This is where the labeling underneath comes in. Not only does it keep the order corect so the banks line up but when you paint the shallow areas you know which way to taper the lighter color because of the directional arrow underneath.

Now onto the finishing touches. First off get out the Knarlock Green and stipple it along the banks to simulate algae and other underwater plants that grow in the shallow areas. Once this is done get out the scrub brush, a pair of scissors, and plug in the hot glue gun. Hot glue is the quickest east way to do this as it not only glues the bristles to the base but also glues them together so they don't fall over. So grab a small bunch from the brush and snip with your scissors. Then take the hot glue gun and apply glue to the bottom and then around the sides at the bottom so you are making a glued together bunch of bristles. Now, before the glue starts to cool, place the bunch of bristles in the spot you wish and hold it in place for about 1-20 seconds. As you see in the pic you want to apply around the banks and any shallow fordable areas. This looks more natural.

Once you have all the painting done and the bristles glued down it is time for the resin! That will take us to part 3 of this tutorial. Check back soon for the resin application and we'll finish the river!

Til next time,
Steevo

Incoming: Tyranids!!

"From the great blackness beyond the edge of our galaxy they come, an alien swarm driven by a ravenous hunger that knows no end. These creatures have many names, for all races have come to loathe and fear them. They are the Great Devourer, the Doom of All Things, the Penance of the Elder Gods, the Shadow in the Warp. They are the Tyranids, and they have come to consume us all."
- GW What's New Blog

OK, So by now everyone knows that the new nids codex and models will be released in January. GW posted in their What's New blog today about it. I can't wait!

According to GW, the codex is 96 pages long! And of course no new relese would be complete without new models! I can't wait to see what the studio has come up with this time around! GW says they will have new Tyranid beasts never seen before - three new plastic kits and three new metal models released alongside the Codex!! So I say bring on the Great Devourer... January can't get here fast enough!

Now will just have to figure out a way to work new nids and Space Wolves all into my schedule lol!

Til next time,
Steevo

40K Has Come Full Cirlcle For Me

I've been into the hobby since 1995. 40k was in second edition and the Dark Millenium box set had just been released. Things were much different back then. The nids did not have a codex ... YET. My brother had gotten me into the hobby and had given me some marine models. So it was "hmmmm, which chapter do I play?" Yes, I know what you're thinking... The bugman? Played marines? But yes, it's true.

Well after some thought I looked at the Space Wolves. Once I checked out their codex... IT WAS ON! Over the next year or so I amassed quite a large army. I think it was about 3,000 points which in second edition points was about 5,000 points or so nowadays! Eventually I moved over to nids and started that army and have been a nid player off and on since. But I never lost my love for my first army. So now with the new codex coming out, I'll be doing a Space Wolf army once again!

I have direct ordered a rune priest already which should be in anytime. I have decided to take my time with this army and put in the work to make a beautifully painted and converted army. I won't be rushing to get them painted and on the table. I'll be posting my progress as I go so check back in here and there.

Steevo

On Its Way

That's right according to Bell Of Lost Souls GW said at Games Day UK that the new nid codex will be out in January! WOOHOO! Can't wait!!

++Official Imperial Communique Week 2++

UTILITATUM ADMINISTRATUM TERRA

++++Transmitted: Conclave of Har
+++++++Received: Astropath Nimzikki
Telepathic Duct: Terminus Kaleb
++++++++++++Ref: OrdoXenos/454228290/Hv
+++++++++Author: Autosavant Tremonte

By the Authority of the Imortal Emperor of Mankind, this mission briefing (and any transcript thereof), are classified information.

Priority Grade: Omega-Absolutum

Re: Korfeon

We have received progress reports and our SG-1 probe still relays intelligence as well. We are very pleased with the Imperial victories this past week with the Valhallan regiment controlling four territories, the Legios Astartes Flesh Tearers controlling three, and the Cadian regiment and Sisters Sororitas controlling two each. The Administratum is hopeful we shall emerge victorious at the end of this campaign!

But we are not pleased with your apparent lack of duty by letting the xenos and traitor armies control so many territories. The armies of the tyranid splinter fleet control two territories, the Eldar control four (two territories to each warhost), the Greenskins control five territories with three going to the Warboss known as Bill and the other two controlled by scouts of Warboss Strom. We have no traces of his main battleforce but expect him and his invasion force to arrive soon as there have been warp storms in the Syrius sector.

The traitorious legions of chaos have have also been observed by our SG-1 probe fighting among themselves as to which foul god will lay claim to this planet but no matter. They now control five territories. The berserkers that fight for the Blood God control two and the forces of the bloated one control three. We have also confirmed that there is definitely a Necron presence on this planet and has conquered four territories. This is unacceptable! You must double your efforts this next week. Failure is not an option!

There are still five uncontrolled territories. In the name of The Emperor go forth and secure these by force before our enemies lay claim and establish outposts.

The Emperor’s Will guides you.

++++++++++++++++++++++End Transmission

OK, for those who didn't get the info from the above transmission here are the current campaign standings:

1st
Matt - Valhallans (4 tiles)
Dom - Necrons (4 tiles)

2nd
Bill - Orks (3 tiles)
Joden - Nurgle marines (3 tiles)
Tim - Flesh Tearers Marines (3 tiles)

3rd
Steevo - Nids (2 tiles)
Scott - Sisters Of Battle (2 tiles)
Rich - Khorne Marines (2 tiles)
Mike - Eldar (2 tiles)
Strom - Orks (2 tiles)No Games Played Yet
Tony - Eldar (2 tiles)
Dustin - Cadians (2 tiles)

Remember, first army to control 10 tiles wins the campaign!

More Battles For Korfeon

So the first full week of the Battle For Korfeon Campaign is over. Everyone has been getting in games which is TOTALLY AWESOME!!

The last battle of the week was played last night at my place between Tony's Eldar warhost and Dustin's Cadian regiment! They broke in my new desert board, being the first battle on it since I built it! It was a great battle as they rolled Dawn Of War for deployment and Capture And Control for the mission - each trying to control objectives. The Eldar walked into the desert canyon searching for their Imperial foes. The Cadians rolled in with some heavy armor from reserve on turn 1 and the battle begun. Both armies took casualties and it came down to the last turn.

The Eldar attempted to destroy the Cadian squads holding the objective by tank shocking them. One unit fled off the table but the other stood their ground and one model, armed with a meltagun, made a death or glory move and took out the Eldar falcon; crashing it to the ground. The brave guardians turbo-boosted their jetbikes across the desert canyon to contest the objective but the mighty Imperial Guard Chimera fired its heavy flamer and fried the squad then more artillery fire found its way to its target and took out the guardians manning the support weapon. The Eldar were dug in and were not ready to concede as they still held their objective and the game went a full seven turns ending in a tactical draw! No one could roll for conquest as there was no victor in the battle.

Official Imperial Communique for the week coming tomorrow!

Steevo

And The Battle For Korfeon Rages On

More battles on Korfeon Yesterday! It all started early morning at our local GW store. Tony's Eldar battled it out with Bill's Orks. This first time confrontation ended with many casualties from each faction but the result was a Greenskin victory as the Eldar lost sight of their mission and did not secure the objectives required. Surely a lesson learned for their farseer... or maybe he should be called a "Nearseer"? lol Though the greenskins won the battle they did not conquer the battlefield as Bill rolled poorly for the tile.

Later in the day Hive Fleet Juggernaut came to devour yet another area of the planet but found resistance in a Necron battleforce! This battle was a full out shoot em up game, as we rolled annihilation for the mission. We played for full on kill points! If it wasn't for his 3 monoliths teleporting fallen warriors back through the portal I could have won. But at the end of the game the ancients won over the great devourer and seized yet another area on the map!

Shortly after the Tyranid/Necron battle began, two forces of Chaos, one a Nurgle army and the other fighting for the Blood God of Khorne met up on a battlefield to each claim the area for their foul god. The Nurgle Marines with their resilient troops won the battle for the Manufactorum in the south giving Joden three of the four lava tiles and raising him up to the next rank in the campaign! Papa Nurgle was favoring him as Rich and his Berserkers will surely have pennance to make with the Blood Good as to their loss!

Full Imperial communique and campaign standings to come tomorrow! Still no news of the Cadians (Dustin) or the other
Ork Warboss (Strom) as to their progress.

Til next time,
Steevo

Heirophant aka "The Big Nasty"

Well the plan for the day was to work on my Heirophant. Yup, that's right the big nasty himself. Though mine has been converted a little just to change the pose so he doesn't look like everyone else's. I added some green stuff to extend the neck and add another armor plate and made the head turned to the right and down as if eyeing up a juicy target then also added movement to the front legs as well. I filled in the gaps between the body and the legs with more GS molding more muscle tissue in between. Turned out pretty well. Will post more pics in the near future.

As everyone that has bought this model knows, the scything talons (feet) on this guy are too flexible and break. So what I decided to do thanks to advice from my old buddy from the UK, Matt, I made a piece of ruined building and pinned the heirophant's chest to it, thus relieving the stress on the feet! The only problem with this was that I really couldn't add the lash whips shooting from his chest, but a small price to pay!

I cut a small base out of hardboard and glued down some sand and glued the phant's rear feet to the base. I'll be posting better pics as I get more painted on it. Currently all the basecoating has been done and a badab black wash has been applied. More pics to come!

Battles Rage On Korfeon!!

Ok so the campaign is definitely underway! Lots of gaming goin on today. Thanx to all who played at our local GW store today! It was definitely cool to see all the gaming goin on! So above is the campaign map as it currently stands. If you look at previous posts you'll see more tiles taken today... definitely a great thing to see!

Matt's Valhallans took on Dom's Necrons in a battle and the Imperium left the battlefield Victorious! Matt and his regiment took the Shield Generator adjacent to his tiles, then fought Scott's Sisters for control of yet another unowned adjacent tile with a shield generator and took that as well! Matt and his Valhallans will be one highly defended army. This puts the Valhallan battleforce at the top of the heap with 4 tiles! Glory be to the Emperor!

Dom's Necrons rose once more in a battle of Ancients battling it out for a power station in the desert with Mike's Eldar. All these two armies were worried about was killing as many of its enemies as possible! In the end the older of the two races won out and Dom's Necrons took the Power Station!

The final battle of the day was was between Tim's Flesh Tearers (the only Imperial Marines in the campaign) and my Nids! Once again, Hive Fleet Juggernaut was just set on consuming all it surveyed! After devouring quite a bit it turns out the Emperor's favor assisted in a victory for the Imperium's finest! The Flesh Tearers were able to beat out the great devourer in the battle for a manufactorum in the east!

So current campaign rankings are:
1st
Matt (Valhallans) - 4 tiles (Manufactorum, Power Station, 2 Shield Generators... all adjacent!)

2nd
Bill (Orks) - 3 Tiles (Shield Generator, Power Station, Spaceport)
Dom (Necrons) - 3 Tiles (Manufactorum, Power Station, Spaceport)
Tim (Flesh Tearers) - 3 Tiles (Command Bastion, Manufactorum, Power Station)

Everyone else still owns just 2 tiles.

Bill and his greenkins are SUPPOSED to play Tony and his Eldar Friday. We'll see what happens!

Til next time,
Steevo

Game 1 In Korfeon Campaign

Well I decided to take the lava board I made to my local store for everyone to play on and who is there painting his greenskins? Bill. So We decided to get in that game we missed Saturday. 2,000 points. This turned out to be the first game in the new campaign. We decided to battle it out on the lava board and test out the rules and fight for the unowned spaceport tile! If you look at the post for the campaign from a few days ago you can see the entire campaign map.

So I got my minis unpacked and so did Bill. Rolled for the mission and wouldn't you know it... Annihilation! Kill Points just what i wanted... not, and we rolled standard 12" deployment. So Bill rolled to go first and set all his models up. In the meantime I told him the rules for the lava board. Any models trying to cross the lava must first roll for difficult terrain movement. Then each model that crosses the lava on foot must make a dangerous terrain check. Basically if you roll a 1 you take a wound with no armor save allowed! Then any models ending their turn in the lava take a melta hit! Now don't I wish I had skimmers or jump infantry! They would cross this with no problem! So anyway, he deployed his army and I deployed mine and guess what... I seized the initiative from him for the third time in a row! So I got to go first!

This board REALLY slowed down my movement. I had one fex take a wound from the dangerous terrain and only had one place close to my gaunts and stealers to cross without having to risk the lava! After our last game I didn't leave as many models on the side of the board his battlewaggon equipped with the deff rolla! No tanks shock for me thank you. As usual, my template weapons did some damage as my gunfex destroyed his truck that was full of nobs! They took their armor saves and one bit it. I was off to a good start but missed or was out of range with other weapons this round.

Bill's nastiest thing his first turn was to totally obliterate my warrior brood with his Lootas! Damned AP4 shots. I should have done the smart thing and left them in the crater ... will remember that next time.

Next turn rolled for my outflankers. My scuttling stealers came on and saw the mob of boyz as ripe pickins! I moved into range for some firing into his boyz with my dakafex to help whittle down the numbers and moved the rest of the army forward to get into range as well. Fired some shots and took out more greenskins but still moving SLLLLOOOWWWLY across the board. Not likin this at all! Thank God for outflank! Also immobilised his other battlewagon with the kill cannon! So my stealers charged in! Fair ammount of hits but wouldn't ya know it... NO rending :( His boys fought back and I won the combat believe it or not! So Bill had to roll a couple armor saves.

Bill's turn and more shooting and of course, wouldn't you know it... TANK SHOCK! That damned deff rolla into my 2 tyrant guard! He rolled a 6 which meant my guard took 6 STRENGTH 10 HITS! Wiping them out. I hate that thing! Bill was racking up the kill points and I hadn't even gotten one yet:( All those boyz he had made it much harder to take out the whole unit!

Next turn, the brood lord and his boys didn't feel like comin in just yet so I did some more shooting and got lucky... Immobilised the other Battlewagon!! NO MORE TANK SHOCK!! Thank God!! I also managed to take out some more greenskins but victory was nowhere in sight lol. The stealers went round 2 with the whole mob and took out a few more boyz but bit it in the end.

Bill's turn... of course MORE ORK SHOOTING! he disembarked his ard boys with Mad Doc Grotznik from the battlewagon, fired at my fex then charged in! While my strength is nice and high and so is my toughness, the massive attacks from the ard boyz took out the boomfex in no time and I didn't get a chance to fight back.

Tyranids' turn and the Brood Lord and his stealers finally come in, seeing the Mob o' boyz casserole standing there they charged in and slicd and diced. FINALLY, A Kill point! YAY!!!

My gun fex took out a def dread giving me a second kill point. But it was looking pretty grim as Bill was up to six. His next turn he took out my dakatyrant in close combat scoring another.

Finally I decided on my next turn to fire at the def dread that was left with my gunfex which didn't do much good. I charged in but due to initiative went last. He did a few nasty blows and my gunfex took four wounds! Luckily I gave him reinforced chitin so he had one left to still do combat with. But of course, as usual with Bill, my dice started not likin me and i scored no blows on him.

Bill took his turn and shot at my gaunts leaving one on the board from each brood and toasting a stealer brood. His dread took out my fex and that was the end of the turn. I looked at the board and decided to concede. I would have had to take no more losses and kill EVERYTHING he had left on the board to win. And that just wasn't happenin.

Once again, Bill won the game. I will find a way to beat him one of these days. He made his conquest roll successfully and now has 3 tiles with one spaceport in the campaign!

Tomorrow I'm playing Tim and his Flesh Tearers. More pics and Battle Report to come!

Til then,
Steevo

Making River Pieces For My Desert Gaming Board Part 1

OK, so I decided to do some nice river pieces for my desert board. It's not a very hard project but for those of you that have never made any water pieces for your wargaming table this will be a somewhat "How-To".

So anyway step one was to figure out how long I wanted my river to run and whether it should run the short distance i.e. 4 feet long or the long distance i.e. 6 feet long. What I came up with was why not make pieces to do both! Since the river is going to be made in sections, why not make it work for both lengths!

First off was the materials. You'll need the following:

• 1/4" hardboard for the base
• Sand (I have a big bag of playground sand I bought at a DIY store for about $5 a few years ago and I still haven't used it all!)
• Wood Glue
• Scrub Brush (natural fiber or some natural fiber rope... we'll be using this to make some grass here and there at the banks)
• Paints: a dark blue (I'll be using an old discontinued citadel color called Deadly Nightshade), Medium blue (I'll be using Ultramarines Blue), A Medium Green (will be using Knarlock Green), and whatever colors your gaming board are painted. Since mine if for a desert board I'll be using my desert color of latex paint (Ace Hardware Store's Sensations Earth Tone) dybrushed with Citadel Bleached Bone.
• Two Part Resin that sets up clear. I'll be using EnviroTex Lite Pour-On but you could also use GW's Water effects and use a few coats if you don't have acess to any clear resin.

First thing I did was decide the width of the river pieces. I went with 7" wide pieces. I marked out the hardboard creating straight sections 12" long and then made two 90 degree curves and a 180 degree curve or "U". In order to make it so I could use it going both directions I had to marked out and cut a smaller 7" long straight section. The length of this smaller piece will depend on how much length your curves and "U" piece are. Or you can just make a straight section of river and use four 12" pieces.

Next was the cutting. I used a circular saw to cut the hardboard into 7"x12" pieces and cut the curves and U into square pieces. Once this was done I got out my jigsaw and cut the square pieces into the respective curves or U sections and added some shape to the straight pieces so they weren't just a rectangle with straight edges (up to you if you want to do this step.)

Now that the pieces were all cut I gave them a feathered edge so they will blend in with the table more. So using my razor knife I shaved off some of the hardboard then sanded it a little using medium grit sandpaper. Now the pieces were ready to build upon.

Next off was to make a paste out of the sand and wood glue. So I poured sand into a plastic bowl (soup bowl from wanton soup from the local chinese joint) and added a little water and then wood glue. You want the consistency of the paste to be not too wet. If it's too wet there will be no texture and the paste will not stay in place. It will run all over. Go for a dryer mix and if it's too dry you can always add more glue a little at a time. If you make it too wet add more sand. Using an offcut of the hard board for a mixing stick I mixed up my paste and started laying it down in "sausages" onto the board on each side of the river to make the banks. Now taper it out with a shallower angle on the outside area of the bank and a sharper angle on the inside "river" area of the bank. I used my fingers for this. Once you get to the end of the piece, lay down the next piece and line them up then start the sand on the next piece. This way your riverbanks will line up. One thing I did was to label the underside of the hardboard with a letter and an arrow showing which way the river was flowing. The pieces would just go in order alphabetically in the direction of the arrow. This way the paint and gravel for some shallower spots in your river will all be going the same direction. Also your riverbanks will all be lined up properly this way so they will look like they all go together. Let all the sand-glue-paste dry, overnight if possible.

Now that your riverbanks are set up, select a few areas for shallower ground and for areas that are fordable for your river. Glue down some sand and try to taper the shallow areas in the direction your river is flowing as you can see I did in the pic to the left. You also want to glue some sand onto the outer side if the riverbanks to give some texture for the ground. Let this all set up and in part 2 of this we'll be painting everything and adding the grass clusters!

This is it for part one of my river pieces. Hope it's helping you out.

Til next time,
Steevo

The Forces Of Sigmar Are Assembling

That's right. I've started assembling my Empire army for Warhammer Fantasy! I've had the models for some time now and finally decided to start assembling them. I picked up the limited edition army box last year that contained 12 knights, 2 boxes of outriders, 2 boxes of handgunners, 2 boxes of state troops, a general, a great cannon, and a limited edition bright wizard, not to mention the army book. To this I added a hellblaster volleygun, a couple of characters, more state troops, and a free company regiment.

I was lucky enough that my brother owed me some cash and hasn't been playing fantasy so he evened up with me by giving me some models from his previous edition empire army. So picked up a Luthor Huss model, a 30-man block of spearmen, a 24-man block of flagellants, a mortar, a warrior priest, an engineer with a Hochland long rifle, and the Volkmar model on the war altar. Thanks Budrow!

So have started assembling my models. This is quite a daunting task as all of you that play Fantasy know there are WAY more models in an army compared to 40k! I have been moving along though. Now if only Tony would do the same with his Tomb Kings lol. I'm sure once I get the army all assembled Bill will be happy to dust off his Orcs & Goblins army to play a few games.

I'll post more on this once I get more done with the army.

Steevo

Battle For Korfeon Underway

So I finally got all the overview/backstory ironed out as well as some rules modifications for the Planetary Empires set for 40k. The pic to the left there is our final campaign map for week 1!

As I said in my post yesterday, I modified things a little and each of the guys were allowed to choose 2 tiles on the map. Once they were chosen I added "unowned " or "buffer" tiles to the map as you can see. If you compare the 2 (yesterday to today), today's map is a little bigger. So then I basically rolled the map pieces onto the map like dice and where they landed is where they were set. If more than one piece landed on a tile then a piece was placed on an adjacent tile. Best way to randomize the map pieces. Thanks for the idea James!

I was supposed to play Bill and Mike today in games at our local GW store but woke up feelin pretty bad. So I had to cancel today's gaming and trying to make the best of things I finished painting the map tiles, map pieces and wrote up the backstory and rules for the campaign.

Each Sunday the new map will be posted as will an update to the story. Check back and follow our progress! The intro/backstory is below:

UTILITATUM ADMINISTRATUM TERRA

++++Transmitted: Conclave of Har
+++++++Received: Astropath Nimzikki
Telepathic Duct: Terminus Kaleb
++++++++++++Ref: OrdoXenos/454228290/Hv
+++++++++Author: Autosavant Tremonte

By the Authority of the Imortal Emperor of Mankind, this mission briefing (and any transcript thereof), are classified information.

Priority Grade: Omega-Absolutum

Re: Korfeon

A new planet, rich in resources, has been discovered. Korfeon, thought to be a dead moon in the Targus sector, has somehow started regenerating and is rich in resources and ideal for colonization by the Imperium. Initial intelligence reports the planet unoccupied but as of late there have been reports of the cursed greenskins as well as a splinter fleet of hive fleet Juggernaut. The tainted marines of Chaos have also been spotted lurking in the sector so it’s safe to say they will be trying to conquer this planet in the name of their foul gods. The Eldar have no doubt discovered this planet as well, considering there have been reports of ancient web ways spotted on this planet and an ancient structure bearing resemblance to what our xenoarcheologists believe is Necron design has been discovered by our latest pass with our SG-1 probe.

This briefing has been dispatched to a few Imperial organizations in hopes that Korfeon is quelled and ready for inhabitation by the mighty Imperium. The Imperial guard armies of both the Valhallan 24th and the Cadian 65th regiments have been summoned to duty. Communications have been forwarded to the Legio Astartes Flesh Tearers’ battle barge Death’s Head, with a request for assistance in this matter. The Sisters Sororitas in the Beta Phi quadrant have been contacted as well. It is imperative that the Imperium takes this planet as you are well aware of our overpopulation dilemma.

Operations are to begin no later than 06:00 hours 0920850.M41.

Upon arrival at the target coordinates you have received you should establish your base of operations and commence survey and extermination of any resistance.

These orders are effective immediately.
The Emperor’s Will guides you.

New 40K Campaign

My friends and I are starting a new 40K campaign that we'll be playing mostly at our local GW store but some will be played in my basement on my 6 gaming tables. Tomorrow kicks off the campaign and it looks like it should be a blast.

We'll be using the new Planetary Empires Set for the hex tiles for territories on the planet, Korfeon. I made a few army specific tiles and spent the evening painting up our map we'll be picking tiles from over on the left there. The areas on the tiles represent pretty much all six of my gaming boards so there will be plenty of different environments to fight in. Once everyone picks 2 tiles I'll be adding in "buffer tiles" to fight over that will contain the special resource pieces such as manufactorums, bastions, shield generators, and power stations. These each give bonuses in games.

We're lucky enough to have a wide range of armies...

• I'll be playing My Hive Fleet Juggernaut (Nids)

• Tony - Eldar

• Scott - Sisters Of Battle

• Joden - Death Guard Of Nurgle
  

• Dom - Necrons

• Tim - Flesh Tearers (Marines)

• Matt - Imperial Guard
  

• Dustin - Imperial Guard

• Rich - Khorne Marines

• Mike - Eldar

• Strom - Orks
  

• Bill - Orks

So as you can see we have a wide variety in our group. A few space marine chapters, Imperial Guard, Chaos, and few Xenos armies as well. This should be a great campaign! I'll definitely be posting updates on here. That rematch with Bill and his mob o' boyz will be the first battle of the campaign tomorrow morning then in the evening Mike will be binging his Eldar to take on the Great Devourer. Both games will be played on my lava board (see New Scenery post below) so it's gonna be some hot fun hehee!

Takin On The Waaaagh!!!

Well I got together with my old buddy, Bill, today at my local GW store here in MD for a 2k game... my nids vs his orks! Bill and I have been playing 40k since the good ol days of 2nd edition back in 95. Haven't quite been able to beat him in the past 10 yrs or so. So figured I was due...

As you can see in the pic above, he brought out a couple of battlewagons (1 with a deathroller and a 'ardboyz mob and Mad Doc Grotznik), a trukk full of nobs and his warboss, a couple def dreads, a big ol 30 man mob of boyz , some lootas, and some grots. I was actually VERY surprised he didn't bring along a shokk attack gun, as it is one of his favs.

From Hive Fleet Juggernaut I ran a dakatyrant (2 twin-linked devourers) with guard, a brood lord with retinue, 4 warriors with str 6 deathspitters, a dakafex (2 twin-linked devourers), a boomfex (barbed strangler and scything talons), 8 spinegaunts with Without number, 8 Termagants with Without Number, 2 broods of 8 stealers with feeder tendrils and extended carapace to shrug off those nasty AP5 shots, 8 stealers with extended carapace, flesh hooks, and scuttlers so I could outflank the greenskins, 2 gunfexes (vanom cannon & barbed strangler), and 2 zoanthropes with warp blast and synapse to help keep us all fearless... overlapping synapse is the way to go! All this for the low low price of 1997 pts... coming in 3 points under!

He deployed first but i seized the initiative and Hive Fleet Juggernaut was off and running! My templates the first 2 turns were rollin hits all over the place or not scattering far. His grots were getting whittled down quickly and then the shots on his boyz. A pretty good first turn for the Great Juggernaut. Then came his shooting and he started takin out a few things but would definitely say the 1st turn went to me... as usual with our games. Then as the game progressed my dice started not to like me so much lol.

Overall I did some damage but had some bad rolls and was just out of range with my scuttling stealers thanx to some friendly fire :(

The brood lord and his retinue finally came in and managed to put some wounds on mad doc and his stealer retinue kicked some a$$ as well but lost in the end... damned FNP. The worst thing for me was when his battlewagon with the deathroller tank shocked me and i wound up losin a gunfex :( and my one thrope tried to fire the focused warp blast and rolled a 1! Of course that's always how it goes isn't it?

End of the game we had both lost lots of models but he managed to run his 'ard boyz in to control his objective and contested the one my spinegaunts were holding with that same damned battlewagon with the deathroller... that's right another tank shock into some other gaunts to get it in there by the end of the turn. so he just beat me.

It was a great game and as usual we had a blast! But once again Bill won the game. We're doin a rematch Saturday to kick off our new campaign. We'll be playing with the same lists from today so we'll see what happens. I'd say I'm due for a win!!


Til next time
Steevo

I Am The Bugman Wooooo

Couldn't resist that Beatles spin off... my fave tune by them. Anyway I decided to go through my whole nid army being curious as to just how many points I own total... now how much of it is completely painted is another thing entirely lol. It's all assembled and primed but most are not completely finished as far as painting goes.

I have been a nid fan since they came out in second edition back in 95! ...still have the old 2nd edition codex actually. Have had a couple armies over the years and sold or traded them off. So I started collecting "The Great Devourer" again a couple years ago back in 07. Played a couple games and then got the idea of collecting a 10k army of tyranids! Then wouldn't you know it, up popped Apocalypse! So started goin bug crazy!! After awhile I had amassed quite a bit of models. Started assembling and then primed them all up. Now to just get it all painted!

I have been playing some games here and there after a hiatus from playing while i assembled minis. Lately I have been getting in more games and all i have to say is "THANK GOD FOR FORUMS!!" The Tyranid Hive has been an invaluable resource for honing army lists and tactics as well.

So back to my models... I have some cool conversions here and there, including an artillery creature for Apocalypse games. Was calling it an exocrine but then realized the exocrine is more of a direct fire creature instead of an artillery creature. So any ideas? Let me know. I won a datafax contest with him at my local GW store! And you can't mention converting minis without mentioning Dave Taylor! Definitely check out his blog. He's AMAZING!


I decided to call my collection Hive Fleet Juggernaut. Given the overall size I think the name fits. So in no short order here it is:

2 Brood Lords
3 Tyrants (1 with wings converted from a fex... he's a big boy!)
4 Tyrant Guard
1 Malenthrope
13 Warriors (8 shooty, 5 assault)
4 Lictors
8 Carnifexes (Various configs)
64 Hormagaunts
20 Spinegaunts
23 Devgaunts
20 Termagants
80 Genestealers
24 Ripper Swarms
10 Raveners
7 Winged Warriors
20 Gargoyles
3 Meiotic Spores
5 Zoanthropes
1 Biovore
1 Barbed Heirodule
1 Artillery Fex
1 Heirophant
1 Trygon

Including Apoc formations the grand total comes to:

11,097 POINTS

That's 328 models!

... Now if I can just find a way to get them all painted completely... that will take some time hehee

Upcoming ideas: Flak Fex (2 twin-linked venom cannons with anti-aircraft rules) will definitely post when that gets done and will post pics as more of the army is painted up. Look for some battle reports with the upcoming campaign and the battles for the challenge board at my local GW store!

til next time
Steevo

New Scenery

Have been busy with building a new desert board along with scenery. Tony's tomb kings will have a board to call home. Built some mesas and hills as well as a half buried obelisk (needs to be painted still). The latest thing I'm working on is a river to run through it all. Will post pics as I get more completed. The mesas took the longest with all the cutting gluing and painting. The board was a piece of cake!


My previous board I built was a 6x4 lava board built on 3 2'x4' pieces of MDF. Turned out nicely I think. After 16 hours of working on it between cutting out and gluing down the foam with liquid nails, then taking a sculpting tool and jabbing out the edges to get the texture on the rock right (8 hours later), next added the spackle for the lava texture and glued sand on the top of the foam. Painted it up and viola a great new board to play on!


Will be posting more soon!

Steevo