Ravenwing WIP

Here's what I've got going on right now:
Notice the bluing on the gun.

The exhaust stains and the heat bluing were both obtained by using Tamiya Weathering Powders.

When I first started the Ravenwing, I used some warm grays to highlight, and was bored with the results. It just didn't look good. I then switched to a cool gray and now am much more pleased with it. My client likes it too. I'm approaching the halfway point on the bikes, I have been slacking recently and I kind of squandered my Thanksgiving break with videogames. Well, now there's Christmas break starting tomorrow, for three weeks! I love being an educator.

Capture and Control Variant Mission

Here's a new twist on the classic objective mission. The other day we were using the Planetstrike guns as objectives, and I thought, "What if the guns were active?"

We tested it, and it makes the game different, as instead of making a last turn grab for objectives, it becomes advantageous to hold them as it increases your firepower. We played this game with the Solifugid campaign rules, with each gun guarding a tunnel entrance (which was the actual objective). The winner gets to reroll reserves in the next tunnel battle, since they control more access points.

The mission is played exactly as capture and control, but with the following exceptions.

Setup: After placing terrain, place 5 gun turrets on the battle field. These weapons have the same stats as the Planetstrike guns (quad gun and lascannon, minus the automated weapon and interceptor status). One should be placed in the center, and the rest in each table quarter 24" away from the center gun.

Firing the Guns: A squad within 2" of a gun may fire it during their shooting phase. The model firing the gun may fire at a separate target than the rest of the squad.

Shooting at the Guns: The gun has an AV of 10. Any glancing or penetrating hit will destroy it. The gun is treated as an extra squad member for the purpose of allocating hits (I chose this instead of standard artillery rules because it makes more sense in this situation). If the gun is destroyed, it still counts as an objective (as the objective is actually the tunnel entrance).

It's really just a simple twist on the old mission. I have found with homebrew rules that the best way to go is to keep it simple.

Final Game With 4th Edition Tyranids This Tuesday

This Tuesday will be my final game with the 4th edition codex. After reading the very latest round of rumors, I am realizing that I need to play my Eldar as much as I can before the new codex hits, because it's going to take many, many games to try out all the new options.

I just assembled a 2nd Edition Screamer-Killer that I got off Ebay for cheap that I want to use as a CC carnifex before I convert it into some new monstrosity.

I'm not going to bother repeating all the new rumors, you know how to find them, Warpshadow or Warseer should have all the latest confirmations. But here's some choice tidbits that have me the most excited:

The Tyrannofex: Basically, a heavily armed monstrous creature. There's no model for it yet, but I am really looking forward to creating my own. It's going to have a TON of weapons (including a 20 shot one), and basically be awesome.

Can't remember what it's called: A flying monstrous creature that bombs spore mines on people.

Tervigon: An HQ unit that generates Termagants every turn.

People are saying that there's only 4 new units in the book...that's not true. There's a ton more. Only 4 of them are getting models. January is shaping up to be a rough month on my pocketbook.

Tyranid Confirmations and Thoughts

I got the Advance Order email in my box today, and the new Tyranids are finally up. They gave away some clues in the email, and here's what I figure:

Trygon/Mawloc: Looks great. The Mawloc is a bit weird but still pretty cool. I don't have enough information about it, I wish I knew if it was a 0-1.

Pyrovore: Appears to be a close combat monster, and an Elites choice. Sure seems that the Tyranid Elites are filling up. And, we'll finally get to use the flame template. Furthermore, it looks almost like a Tyrant Guard, so it may have similar toughness. It will need that if it is indeed a front line creature.

Venomthrope: Wounds on a 2+, always. From other rumors, it generates a 5+ cover save for anything within 6". I doubt it has psychic powers, since nothing was mentioned. Here's my idea. If Lash Whips work as rumored, being able to target a specific model, put one of these near a group of Carnifexes and they'll get cover, plus the Lash Whips can keep those powerfists out of the action.

Hive Guard: They shoot out two S8 shots per turn, and don't require LOS. For these guys, AP will be VERY important. I hope it's at least a 3, and since it doesn't require LOS perhaps it ignores cover. If they get a template, that would be nice too but from the sound of it (Impaler Cannon, sounds like a single target weapon) probably not. It seems Tyranids will still be lacking ranged heavy vehicle killing power, though we have yet to see what will come of the Venom Cannon.

The new Raveners (small rant here but guys, it's not ravenor. Ravenor is the inquisitor. Ravener is the Tyranid.) look nicer than I originally thought with those blurry cell phone pictures. Check out the sprues, you can see what the weapon biomorph thoraxes look like. Plus, there appears to be an armored thorax...could Raveners be allowed to take Extended Carapace? That would be nice.

The Gargoyles also look better than I thought on my first impression.

Genestealers are still in the Troops section, along with the Broodlord. It appears that he will be a squad upgrade. Another small rant here, but guys, Genestealers were never "going back to" elites. They have always been troops. Genestealer cults don't count. You internet kids can get off my lawn.

Zoanthropes have been moved to Elites as well. Now it seems like I'll actually have to make a choice in my elites section!

There's also a note in the email that Hormagaunts cost half what they cost now. That would make them 5 points. Not too shabby!

Spore Mines appear to have been removed from the Fast Attack section.

Well, the rumors will probably slow to a crawl now. Hopefully we'll get a bit more info so I can start planning out my next purchases.

Putting Together The Fortress of Redemption

I'm in the process of putting together this behemoth...seriously, it's huge. It's not a difficult build, but I noticed some creativity on GW's part. The missile silo is two sided, one side has the missiles and the other has the platform for the lascannon (which pivots and rotates with a full range, I couldn't help but make gun noises while moving it around). I thought it was a rather clever way to put the sprues together.

I'm not looking forward to painting it, as I said this thing is massive.

Based on the size of this kit, I think it it totally possible for Games Workshop to do a plastic Thunderhawk. Sure, it's mostly a joke by now (like Duke Nukem Forever) but you never know. GW is getting way better with their sprues, fitting tons more options in creative ways. Think back to the Space Hulk Terminators. The way everything was positioned, the figures with their rich detail, all in such a way that mold lines were minimized.

Working projects this week: Finish putting together the Fortress, and work on the Ravenwing. I may throw up a Ravenwing tutorial later, as I spent a long time figuring out how to paint them and keep it interesting.

Number Crunching On The New Tyranid Battleforce

The new Tyranid Battleforce is up for order now. Here's the contents:

3 Warriors
8 Genestealers
16 Hormagaunts
16 Termagants
3 Ripper Swarms

That's 46 models total. At a price of $105, that's $2.28 per model. Let's break it down more specifically.

3 Warriors are $35
8 Stealers are $30
16 Hormagaunts are $33.27 (new packaging with 12 for $24.95)
16 Termagants are $33.27
Rippers are free, practically.

The grand total separate is $131.54. You save 25%. Now let's compare it to the old Battleforce.

3 Warriors $35
8 Stealers $30
8 Hormagaunts and 8 Gaunts $35
1 Carnifex $45
2 Rippers

Separate, the total is $145. It used to retail for $90, at an average of $4.09 per model. You saved 61%.

(edit: For some reason that number looks wrong. I have triple checked my numbers and I still get the same result. I am very bad at math, so any math people that could help me out would be appreciated.)

Now I'm wishing I got the old Battleforce when I could. Oh well. The new one is still a deal, especially if you get it at the Warstore or somewhere, and especially if you need lots of gaunts it is a better deal in that regard. But the old Battleforce was nice because it was a very cheap way to get a Carnifex.

Now I'm really wishing that I had got that Tyranid Assault Brood back in the day...

Games Workshop, You Read My Mind

For the past two weeks, I have been complaining to my gaming group that I'm kind of bored of the missions in the rulebook (though Planetstrike is still fun) and that I was going to take the missions in the 3rd and 4th edition rulebooks and adapt them for 5th edition. This morning, I got an email from Games Workshop about how they are releasing a Battle Missions book with all kinds of raids, assaults, etc in it (30 something missions, too!). It is supposed to be coming out in March.

I was going to sit down and adapt a few missions later today. Seriously. Well, now it seems I won't have to. Perhaps instead of adapting those old missions I'll write up my tunnel fight scenarios and have some fun with those. I'm almost as excited for this release as I am for the new Tyranids. I hope they release some race-specific missions as well.