40K News: Computer Epic Fail!

We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties!

So a lovely thing happened to me this past week. My wife and kids were gathered around the family PC, a former monster of a gaming PC back in its day six years ago, when all of a sudden, it just died. And I mean, died, as in dead, for good, and un-fixable death. After some work pull the Video Card to see if it had died, to checking each of the RAM chips to see if they had failed, to determining that the Hard Drive was still good, I came to the conclusion that either my Motherboard had Fried, or the Processor.

Now, I will start off by saying that this was not a welcomed failure. The PC, while it was 6 years old, had done a great job gaming foe me and it was not until recently that its age was beginning to show. Starcraft 2! However, since it is now dead and the wife was not to upset about building a new one, my new gaming PC components are on the way. Thanks to my friends over at Tiger Direct, I have a new PC on the way!

It will have a 450W Tower with a three core, AMD Processor, 4G of RAM, a terabyte of Hard Drive storage, and a 1G HD Video Card. If all of that is geek mumbo jumbo to you, just know that I will not be able to post as much as I wanted until my new PC arrives and is built. It will be here Tuesday, conveniently on my gaming night, so I will have no 40K this week either, which is suckish!

But, soon, I'll be back on my feet and gaming again. I'll keep you posted!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 8/21 – 8/27

Just a friendly reminder readers, that This Week in 40K Podcasting will release tomorrow morning on the blog From the Warp:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

40K News: Working is Killing Me

Hey gang, I wanted to just let you all know that my work has been kicking my butt lately. I have been keeping up with my 40K Podcasts and my weekly article on From the Warp will be posted on time. However it has killed a lot of the time that I use to think about my next posting. In fact, I have having problems thinking in English right now and not in TransAct SQL. If you get that joke, you should understand. Point being I am just super busy at work and I have a back log of articles building up that I will try to get out this weekend. So the 'ol EvilEd209 is alive and well, just grinding his gears right now.

Thanks guys!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 8/15 – 8/20

Just a friendly reminder readers, that This Week in 40K Podcasting will release tomorrow morning on the blog From the Warp:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

Where I learned to Paint Tyranids: Beasts of War

So when the new 5th Edition Tyranid Codex dropped back in January I was seeking high and low for tips, tactics, and reviews of the Codex to determine where to go with the army and what new models to buy. I soon began to realize the potential power of the Tervigon and the endless possibilities that swarms of free Termagants running amok all over the board presented. But then it quickly dawned on me that at some point, if I wanted to go to the big tournaments, that I'd have to paint swarms of gaunts! Being pretty new to the game, having only really started when 5th Edition began, I had not quite nailed down a basic painting method yet. I had one good technique which was dry brushing, which I perfected on my Necrons, but I never really thought that the first Tyranids I painted this way were very good, and I wanted to do better.

After a few searches on YouTube I managed to find a then budding YouTube Channel based out of the UK called Beasts of War. They gave me a fantastic painting method that I had not heard of before, or more correctly never seen done before, which were the GW washes! I was amazed at the quality of this simple painting method of base coats, wash, and pick out a few details and done was capable of

Here is the video that taught me how to paint my Nids:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqOowCEJNew&p=5EC99B140583ABAB&playnext=1&index=3

I wanted to give these guys full credit for the painting technique, while i was the one putting paint and wash to brush and then model, these guys showed me a simple and effective method on how to paint.

Here are some of the models I have painted thanks to this method:

Here is my Custom made Terigon made mostly from the Carnifex kit, with some spines and mandibles from the Trygon kit and one of those infested bits from the Genestealer kit:



Here are my Hive Guard:



And here is a small units of Hormagaunts:



And for the record, I just added the Baal Red wash to a 15 man unit of Termagants tonight and all they need to be finished is Bone White on the fangs and based and they'll be done too.

I'll post my progress!

Getting Back to Working Small: Painting Hoard Nids

So I have to admit it, I have gotten very lazy when it comes to painting my 'Nid. I can't help it, there are a ton of them that need painted in a 100+ model army! I do not know that I have picked up a paint brush in like 3 months. And I don't know why, I want to paint them, I just have not been motivated to paint lately. My main problem as a husband and father of three is that my hobby time usually breaks down to either play or paint, and I choose play. So, my painting time has suffered for it.

One of the things that makes me the most proud as a 40K player is not the mob of gamers that stand around my table to watch my games, or the people that say to me 'I need to learn tactics from you', it is when someone picks up my custom Tervigon or my Hive Guard and Homagaunts and look at them and say, 'WOW, what a paint job!' The problem with my army is that less then 25% of my army is painted and it is a work in progress. Well, that and I also suffer from army OCD and every month I am dreaming about a new army (This month Blood Angels) and my poor 'Nids suffer from it. While they are my primary army and the one I know the best and smash face with, I am still trying to one-up them for some reason. It is like having a super hot girlfriend at home, and looking at porn on the internet. What the hell are you doing?

I have been meaning to finish the army since 'Ard Boys. I had this sick goal of showing up to 'Ard Boys 2010 with a fully painted 2500 Point 'Nid list, which I failed miserably at. But now with Adepticon looming in a little under 8 months, I will have to have at least 1850 points+ (thanks to my duel Tervigons) fully painted if I want to play in the tournaments there.

What spurred this line of thinking for me was that last night at the game store I got to see my good friend Shawn, who I have not seen in quite some time. Shawn showed up with some of his recently built and painted Orks, and he had done some of the same techniques that I use to paint my 'Nids, base coats and washes. They looked amazing, and I found myself being quite jealous of his army. Shawn has two kids, and yet he has managed to paint a small hoard of Orks since I last saw him. Heck, I even asked him, half joking and half not, if he wanted to paint some bugs for me.

One of the things he told me that he did since he had so little hobby time to work with was work small. He said to me that most nights he only gets an hour or so to paint before wife and kids pull him away, so he works small. Pull out five guys and do skin, then do carapace, then wash, then walk away. If I were to do that, soon, I'd have a ton of models done, five at a time, and they add up fast.

For me to get where I need to be by Adepticon, I need to complete like 20 Models a month. That is not really that hard of a goal to hit. So I am going to do it. As hard as it will be, I will have to put Starcraft 2 down one or two nights a week, catch up on True Blood and Big Love in the livingroom watching and painting at the same time. If I keep up this reasonable pace, I'll be done with plenty of time to spare for Adepticon. I of course will post my progress as I go.

Thanks Shawn! You inspire me! I think we need to setup some painting nights.

Well, I will try tonight to start painting and taking some pics for you all to see.

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 8/8 – 8/14

Just a friendly reminder readers, that This Week in 40K Podcasting will release tomorrow morning on the blog From the Warp:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

40K Battle Report: Tyranid Swarm vs. Space Marines 1000 Points

First I wanted to let everyone know that we had a slight medical emergency in our family that has kept me away for a bit. But things are good now, everyone is healthy, and I am back to the blog!

Well, the final game of my local gaming store's mini-tournament was held tonight, which pitted myself and the swarm versus David and his Lysander lead Imperial Fists. We played a Seize Ground Mission with four objective and a Spearhead deployment. David did exactly what I thought he would do and bottled up his entire army into one corner, holding one objective, and was going to make me run across the board to get him. I had a rather different strategy in mind however. His army was Lysander with a 10 man TAC squad, Las-Plas-Fist, two other evidential ten man TAC squads, a Devastator squad with four missile launchers, and a landspeader. I ran my stock list. I deployed so that I was hold an objective at the beginning of the game and was within striking distance of the other two rather quickly. My strategy for this mission was to not play his game and run across the board to be murdered. I would sit and hold three objectives for as long as I could, spitting out gaunts to double up on the number of units holding them.

I stole the first turn and in retrospect I probably should have left him go first. It would have been better for me in the end to have had the last turn. The Tervigon pooped like a champ all game, never rolling doubles and running me fresh out of 120 gaunts. Turns 1 - 3 basically involved me ducking into and out of cover and charging forward slowly and carefully with a 15 man unit of gargoyles and the 30 man squad of hormagaunts. These were distractions to draw fire away from the mass of gaunts holding three objectives. David moved the landspeader around to try and keep it out of range of the Hive Guard but basically sat there for three turns taking pot shots with missiles and lascannons. doing little to no damage. As it came to his turn 4 it became blatantly obvious to him that I was not falling into his trap and he would have to move out to at least contest objective if he hope to not lose. So he moved the two TAC squads out to try to move towards the nearest objective as Lysander and his TAC squad were being eating alive by the hormagaunts.

Turn 5 should have been the end. I held three objectives and contested the fourth. His TAC marines were taking shots at my gaunts but not doing enough damage to matter. He also managed to take out my gargoyles, which means that they did their job and drew fire. A HUGE disappointment for me were the Hive Guard this game, as they pummeled the landspeeder turn after turn and the best I could do was keep it from shooting. I needed it dead because I knew what he planed to do with it. Lysander died turn 5 and there were four remaining marines in his squad. If the game ended on turn 5, I win holding three and contesting one. It does not.

Turn 6 is about the same story. His four marines on his objective do enough wounds to finally break and kill the homagaunts, and were now holding an objective for him. His marines moved forward some more, failed charges and were sitting out in the open for me to kill. He moves the landsppeder flat out to contest an objective. So, if the game ended on turn 6, I hold 2, he holds 1 with one contested. I still win. The game goes to turn 7. I hate when this happenes.

In the end I charged one of his two TAC squads with a 30 man gaunt squad, killing 8, but could not do what I wanted to do which was wipe the squad. His final ten man squad, now 6 due to some shooting on my part, charge my tervigon produced gaunt squad holding an objective and he contested now two objectives, held one, with me holding the last. A TIE, A DARN TIE!

I will take my hat off to David, he took a situation that I thought was hopeless and managed to pull out a draw. Good play on his part. His tie, however, took him out of contention for placing, as he finished 3-0-2. Mike won his game, finishing 4-0-1, and another player I was not aware, another Mike, also finished 4-0-1. So in the end there were three players at the end with a 4-0-1 record. It went to Battle points, needing a 500 point different to pull ahead. Mike finished third with something like 3500 VP. Mike and I were each over 4000 with less then 200 points in difference in VPs. The owner gave us the option for a playoff game next week, but Mike was going to be out of country the next few weeks. We decided to call it a tie and split 1st place.

So, in the end, a free $25 gift card for the 'ol EvilEd209 which I turned into some paint and a Broodlord for the 'Nids. It was lots of fun and I am very happy with my performance. I do wish I had rolled better to blow up that darn landspeeded as the game would have been mine and sole possession of 1st would have been nice. I am not sure what comes next, a full tournament I would think, but I'll keep you all posted.

Thanks guys!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 7/31 – 8/7

Just a friendly reminder readers, that This Week in 40K Podcasting will release tomorrow morning on the blog From the Warp:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

40K Battle Report: 1000 Point Tyranid Swarm vs. Blood Angels

So here we are at week four of the five week mini-tournament at my FLGS. This week I played one of the top players on the leader board, Greg, who was running a real nasty Blood Angels list. I have to admit that this list concerned me a bit, as he was running a 7 man Death Company Squad with a Chaplin, a Furioso Dreadnought with Blood Talons in a drop pod, a 10 man assault squad with 2 meltas and a power fist accompanied by a Captain on a jump pack with power weapon, and a second 10 man assault squad, two meltas and a fist. While the list only consisted on 31 models vs my 120 or so after the Tervigon pooped out gaunts, his units were hard! They were geared for close combat and had a real good chance of wiping squads off of the board.

I ran my stock list (1 Tervigon HQ with TS, AG, Catalyst, 2 30 man gaunt squads, a 30 man hormagaunt squad with with TS & AG, 2 Zoeys, and 2 Two man Hive Guard Squads for the Dread) and we played Seize Ground with 4 objective and a Spearhead deployment. I desperately wanted Greg to go first to ensure that I would get the charge on turn one, however he won the roll and let me setup first. Very smart. I genuinely believe that my deployment and target priority were the key to the game. I positioned the Hive guard for maximum coverage of the board to make sure I could hit that Dread when it landed, that thing can eat gaunt squads for breakfast. I also put the Zoey up front for needed synapse support, and the Warp Lance/Warp Blast powers to hit Death Company with. I intertwined all of my units of gaunts to ensure that cover saves were a plenty on the board, and I set the Tervigon back, in cover to boost the gaunts holding two objectives.

My turn one I held back, I could have charged the hormagaunts forward, but they would have been charged by the Death Company, so I made sure I was out of his assault range and dug into cover for the saves. The Hive Guard took some pot shots at the Death Company, killing one, and the Zoeys rocked them with Warp Blast, killing two more. The Tervigon hit the hormagaunts with Catalyst and pooped out an 11 man unit that I position in cover to hold an object I already held. His turn one he moved the Death Company up and took some shoots at the homagaunt squad doing 6 wounds, all of which the cover saves/feel no pain took off of the board. He drop that dread right near an objective and hit may Hive Guard with the heavy flamer and the melta, doing a wound. He held an objective with one assault squad and moved the other up.

Turn two are glorious for the 'Nids, the Hive Guard Immobilized the Dread, the Zoeys finished him off, and the second unit of Hive guard took pot shots at Death Company, doing nothing. I charged forward with the hormagaunts, taking down all but the Chaplin and one Death Company out before they could strike. They killed off four gaunts but my two major threats on the board were all but neutralized. On his Turn two his Death Company and Chaplin bought it and he moved his second assault squad up and spread them out to hold one objective and contest another.

My Turn three the remaining homagaunts slammed in his full assault squad with the Captain in it and took out five grunts. The Zoeys and Hive Guard peppered the assault squad hold/contesting two objective and knocked them down to a 5 man squad and pushed them off of an objective. It was down hill for Greg from here. My gaunt squads, the normal Termagants, never saw combat and the homagaunts and elite choices did most of the work. Greg conceded the game by turn four.

In low point tournaments such as this, say 1250 and under, hoard armies do very well and I am very impressed with their performance over the last four games. There are simply just too many wounds out there to do for low model count armies to shoot. I have been lucky with the folks I have played as most of them are running 30 model armies or under. I usually out number them 3 or even 4 to 1. And for every model they loss, it is a much larger percentage of their army coming off of the board.

So, David my friendly rival, won his game against a noob (good job!), and Mike won his as well. So here I am, one week left in the tournament sitting all alone at 4 - 0 with 4000 Victory Points. David and Mike are both sitting a 3-0-1. Everyone else has 2 wins or less and are pretty much mathematically out of this tournament. So, even if I were to lose next week, I am still guaranteed at least third place. David, as I expected, challenged me for the final week and of course I accepted. His list and tactics do not scare me. He runs a Vanilla Marine list with Lysander as his HQ. He usually has three TAC squads with heavy weapons, which, aside from the Tervigon will do close to nothing verses my hoard, and a 10 man squad with Lysander. I think that there is a Rhino or Whirlwind in my future as well, but spreading out will cure that. Like the coward that he is, he will more then likely corner himself up and make me come to him, gunning me down in a hail of bullets as I cross the battlefield. I just hope it is a 5 objective game and if forces him out into the open.

I'll more then likely drop the Hive Guard and add in two units of Gargoyles, bolstering my numbers to over 120+ at the games start. I am taking a gamble but I just do not see him being able to do enough wounds before I get there and eat his whole army.

I'll let you know how it all ends!

40K Tactics 101: How to Get a Hive Tyrant a Cover Save

So, the question came up on the podcast Life After the Cover Save (http://lifeafterthecoversave.wordpress.com/) on "how to give a Hive Tyrant a cover save". One of the guys over there was having an issue keeping his Flying Hive Tyrant alive because it is so hard to give it a cover save. And with the codex deciding to nerf this unit by not giving it an invulnerable save, the crucial Tyrant and the advantages he brings with him in Hive Commander or Old Adversary are dying before you ever get to use them.

In my years of playing Tyranids within the 5th Edition rule set I have found quite a few clever ways to get your Hive Tyrant that life saving cover save:

Method 1: Large Area Terrain (Flying or Walking)

I know that this is the most obvious way to do it, but do not be afraid to start of your Monstrous Creatures in cover, forests work just fine for me because pine trees come up to the guys chin, if you are afraid of that Alpha strike. Or, better yet, hide the big guy being a building and completely obscure him, and make it hard to even see this guy at all.

Method 2: the Tier system:

This one is a bit more complicated, but can easily protect a walking Tyrant. First, look at your army list and pull out the units of medium size, say your warriors, ravaners, hive guard and the like. Bump those models base-to-base together and right in front of your Tyrant. Then, take your smaller units, say the millions of gaunts that you have running around and throw them in front of your mid-range size bugs to give them a cover save as well. Now, you can be a real jerk (and I like being a real jerk) by then making sure that the small units are also 50% or more in area terrain or being cover themselves to provide the whole mess with at least 4+ cover saves all around!

Method 3: The Gargoyle Wall:

This one is a bit harder to pull off and could be considered modeling for advantage, or more correctly picking out the right models for your advantage, as you do not modify the standard GW model for this trick. First, remember that if running a winged Hive Tyrant, no matter how big the wings are, they can not be used for Line of Sight to the models. Read the line of sight rules!

I love the new plastic gargoyles, they are great looking models and a lot of fun to use. In each box of models comes two particular models where the gargoyle is almost completely head over tail with its wings spread out as far as possible. In this same box are two gargoyles who are flying as low as the model will permit them on the flying stand, where the very top of their wings come up tot he bottom of the wings of the previous gargoyle. If you were to line up three or four of the high flying, covering as much of the Hive Tyrants upper body as I can gargoyle right in front of the Hive Tyrant, and run about three or four of the low flying models, you can most certainly pull of a cover save with a large unit of gargoyles in front of the Hive Tyrant.

So guys over at Life After the Cover Save, there is my response, three solid, easy to use tactics to provide a Hive tyrant with a cover save. Sadly though, despite all of these tricks and tips, the Hive Tyrant with only 4 wounds and no invulnerable save it simply to fragile. It is still possible to gun down your Tyrant in one round of shoot from a strong Alpha Strike army like Leafblower IG for example.

I hope this helps, let me know!