Quick update!

Sorry for not posting lately, things have been hectic. Here is a short update... I have been playing quite a few games lately (battle report below) and made my first army trade (video below). I have also been working on some terrain for my snow board (pics below).

That's it for now. Hopefully I will have something more in depth for you guys soon.

Battle report

Video Battle Report: Tyranids VS Dark Angels

Sorry I don't have anew article up yet, but to hold you over here is a Battle Report and you can see a bit of the table I have been working on!

Let me know what you guys think!

Dracus, Out!

First game with the new Dark Angels, BatRep

So I picked up the new Dark Angels book last weekend and got my first game in with them this week. I have to say that my first impression of the book is that it looks pretty well balanced. I am a bit disappointed in the flyers. I would have really liked if the Nephilim Fighter had the Hurricane Bolters instead of the missiles. I think the amount of shooting you would be able to put out of it in conjunction with the TL-Heavy Bolter and the Avenger Mega Bolter would have made it worth taking.

Without further adieu here is the Battle Report. If you like it please make sure the "like" and subscribe. I would also appreciate some C&C as this is my first full game, video BatRep.

Till next time! Happy Wargaming!

Tyranids 3 for 3 so far!

So the last 2 times I have gone to my FLGS I had brought the Tyranids again. This week I fought against one of our better players at the store and current LAtCS Thunderdome Champion, Matt "Long Hair" and  his Space Wolves. Last week I fought against one of the newer guys at the store. He has been around for about a year now but keeps jumping to different books, last week he had Dark Angels Deathwing with some Ravenwing support.

Nids V Dark Angles Turn 1 movement

Tyranids Bat Rep

So I have been busy again over this last week. I finished up those gargoyles you saw in my last post and on Monday night I decided to paint my "new" Hive Tyrant (pics to come). I also got a game in with the bugs and had a great time. I played not resident Tyranid player so we had some bug vs bug action. In the end the bugs won! Imagine that!

BROTHER! NOOOOOOOOOO!

My week in 40k

So this last week or so have been rather eventful. I got a game in and assembled and painted some minis. Lets start with some modeling!

I have had an Land Speeder on sprue next to my desk for awhile now... about 9 months. And I had a little inspiration to get it build and to finish the other one I have already built and painted. So I built the new Speeder on Thanksgiving and magnetized it along with the Typhoon Missile Launchers from the older Speeder. Then on Black Friday I got to painting!

 Missing Pilots... o well!

Tyranids dying off? Some of my observations and tactics.

Well in my local gaming group the Tyranids look to be dying off all of a sudden. Now we did have an abnormally large % of Tyranid players for the size for our group, but all but 1 seem to be parting ways with the bugs. Now they all have different reasons one says its to focus on his Craftworld Eldar, another is going to Orks, and one is wanting a more competitive army (he is moving to Gray Knights). While the one other dedicated Nid player is stay with them because he plays just to have fun and only plays with what he has painted, and he only has Nids painted.

"6th Edition" Test Game Reaction.

Best game ever?

So I had a test game for the "Leaked 6th edition" rules on Tuesday with Faolain from Awakening Ynnead. We decided to play a smaller game (1250) to help with any time issues we may run into while looking up rules and such. I played what you might call a 3rd edition style army list with my Chaos Space Marines, while Faolain played his Nids. 

Nids:

Tyranid Prime

10x Termagaunts

Tervigon (troop)

9-10? Genestealers W/Brood Lord

Trygon Prime

Tyranofex

Death Leaper

Doom W/M.Spore.

Chaos Marines:

Daemon Prince -Sorc., Wings., Mark of Tzeench, Warptime.

16x Khorne Berzerkers -Skull Champ w/Power Fist

10x CSM -2x Flamers, Champ w/Power Sword & Melta-Bomb, Rhino

6x Noise Marines -6x Sonic Blasters 

Defiler -Twin-Linked Heavy Flamer, Extra DCCW

5x Havocs -4x Missile Launcher

The game was very interesting. Some of the Key things I think we learned were,

*First Turn is very important. Not only do you get to place the first objective marker (putting objective games in your favor), but as your opponent has not had the opportunity to move this makes Alpha Strike armies even more effective as their shooting will be more accurate. With The Tyranofex getting 2 hits on my Rhino turn 1 it put me on my back foot a bit. The -1 on the damage chart due to it being a tank did help prevent it from becoming a wreak though. Going back to the Objective advantage, as objective points are calculated at the start of the turn going first also give you the advantage of denying your opponent points on turn 6. You are able to get your points then run units in to contest your opponents objective so he is unable to collect points at the start of his turn. You don't have to charge him or even shoot at him and there is nothing he can do on turn 6 to prevent that.

*Bolters are scary and useful again. Being able to shoot while moving at combat speed is very nice. This may help lead to the Bolter Drill style lists coming back.

*Defensive Fire is very dangerous. Having a Doom spore down just to die from the Defensive Fire from bolters is a very risky move. If we read it right units can also fire their Heavy Weapons as well so Monstrous Creatures will have to be careful as well. Faolain was also able to Deep Strike his Trygon in front of my Berzerkers, they were able to take out 2 wounds with their pistols (really big help), but he was still close enough to charge that same turn. Drop Pods with the Guidance system is rather safe as they do not allow for defensive fire but the units that disembark are still unable to assault.

*Explosions from vehicles feel more risky, but may not really be the case. Models in range have a chance to take a critical hit (Wound with no armor save), this makes it more deadly to units like Marines and MCs but better for units that have a bad armor save.

*Template Weapons may be the new "thing". With having a 3" range and special abilities like "Fire Sweep" they have become so much more useful.

*Shooting after Combat. The ability to have your unit fall back or be wiped out in combat then have your other units get sweet revenge on the enemy is very useful. In a combat with my Berzerkers vs the Tyranid Prime and Tyranofex I was able to kill the Fex with my Power Fist in Faolains turn and saved the no retreat wounds. In my turn the Prime killed the last 2 Zerkers before they could strike (due to bonesword/lash whip) and my Noise Marines that did not move were able to rip into the Prime with all 18 shots taking out his last wound. It felt like justice was done. This turns the normal though of wanting to kill your opponent in his turn on its head, as you will want combats to either be done after 1 round (on your turn) or be longer combats that will go 3/5 rounds. This may lead to larger squads of dedicated combat units like Berzerkers, Assault Marines and Death Co.

Shooting after Combat will also allow you to engage/charge a transport, blowing it up in assault then shooting your opponent as he disembarks.

Well that's it from me for now. Faolain said that he would be doing a post about our game as well, so for his take be sure to check him out. As for my overall judgement on the game I may have to hold off on hating or loving it for now, but I like it so far. Since I am in the middle of building my Space Marine army this could put a damper on some the the strategies I was planning on using, but it opens up new ones. Like off the top of my head... Vulkan is still awesome! TH/SS Terminators pooling their re-rolls really helps, then you also have all of your flamers now shooting out 6" then being placed!

Hormagaunts, Drop Pod, and Tac Marines! Oh My!

Well as I don't have a bunch to show this week I thought that I may share some of my Hormagaunts with you. I will show what little progress I have made this week on the Celestial Lions later in the post.

Well the Tyranids were my first army for 40k  when I started 10+ years ago. Unfortunately they are quite a bit out of date as I did not touch them at all during 4th edition and only really got the 5th ed codex and have not gotten any of the new units at this point. One of my favorite Tyranid units of all has always been the lowly Hormagaunt. In this edition they have really come into their own. With proper upgrades the Hormagaunt can destroy most vehicles, kill Monstrous Creatures, and wipe out groups of infantry in 1 turn of combat.

At this point my favorite unit load out for the Hormagaunts with my old 3rd ed list style is the Super-Gaunt with Toxin Sacs and Adrenal Glands. The reason this load out work well in my build is because I have very few units that can deal with tanks, and fewer that can take care of MCs like Wraithlord that are common in my area. I have read allot of forums about how useless Adrenal Glands because most people believe that Gaunt should never be assaulting vehicles. I feel that in a more of a "Horde" style list that everything needs to be able to damage vehicles as you don't want to be left out in the open with your opponents Marines, Orks or Dark Eldar staying in their vehicles and using fire ports or open topped rules to destroy you while staying safe in their boxs.

I have had several games where the Hormagaunts have paid for them selves several times over. Recently a couple of these scenarios have been game changers. In one game I was able to have my 1 unit of SuperGaunts outflank (thanks to Hive Commander) and by the end of the game vs Space Marines they were able to destroy 2 Rhinos, each with 10 man tac squads and a Whirlwind tank. In my latest 1,000 point game vs Eldar half of my gaunts were destroyed by flamers from a Wraithlord in 1 turn. But due to taking my casualties from the front I was able to deny my opponent the charge. In the following turn I was able to charge 2 Wraithlords, killing 1 on the charge and killing the 2nd in my opponents turn leaving me able to charge a unit of guardians in my next turn and wiping them out on the charge. In the last turn of the game I had the SuperGaunts back track and charge the Avatar, killing him as well.

I find it interesting that an opponent my spend 2-3 turns shooting a some Hiveguard while leaving the Hormagaunts to do far more damage then the HG could dream up. In the end I think you need to give some respect to the lowly Hormagaunt.

Celestial Lions Update:
I finally received my Battleforce from 'Ard Boys. I spent a day or 2 cutting out all the pieces off the sprue and organizing them in smaller bins. I was disappointed in the amount of ranged and melee special weapons. It looks like I am going to have to put my Instant Mold and Green Stuff skills to use. Anyway I was able to build 5 tac marines, I was also able to pick up some Mud Wash and Ultramarines Blue to put some finishing touches on the Drop Pod and Contemptor Dread. I have also started cleaning up the 2nd Contemptor Dread so that I can get it build so that I no longer have to use a Chaos Dread to stand in for it during games.

Pics!