Blog Chain Giveaway Ends Today!

So if you haven't entered yet now's your chance! So far there's only one entrant so you stand a pretty good chance! Here's the link!

My family is going to be in town this week so I may be slow on the posting, but if there's only one entrant, then you win.

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Edit: We only had one entrant and he won! So....you missed out.
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Rethinking the Mawloc

I've been thinking about this guy ever since I finished up my magnetic Trygon/Mawloc. A lot of people on the intertubes are bashing this guy, and when you think about it the Mawloc doesn't seem that powerful. Sure, its initial strike can do some damage but in a 5 turn game you're only getting to use his abilities twice. However, I think there's more to it than that.

The Mawloc is the Tyranid version of the tank shock. It's one of the few abilities in the game that can move the opponent's models. You can use it to push models off an objective. If the opponent is turtling up, you can make him rue that decision with a Mawloc not only in the damage, but if you push the model into something else and there's nowhere else for it to go, it is destroyed. I may be wrong on this rule, but I think you can also push models off the table with it. This strategy can wreck an IG parking lot.

Furthermore, what other model can disappear from one side of the board and appear on the other the next turn? The eldar can zip around and cross the battlefield long ways in two turns but the Mawloc can even beat that speed (Eldar: 48" in two turns unless you took Star Engines, Mawloc: unlimited). This can come in use in the Capture and Control mission.

That said, I think that if you're going to take a Mawloc, you need to take more than one. A single Mawloc won't do much, especially if it misses. Redundancy is crucial in this regard.

These tactics and ideas are untested and unproven. Here's some questions for comments.

Have you used the Mawloc? What did you think?
Have you used more than one, and how did that turn out?
Aside from its killing power, are there any other uses?

Magnetized Trygon/Mawloc

This is one of the most difficult magnetizations I've ever done. Don't get near it if you have a pacemaker, I used at least 40 magnets if not more. Here it is with no options attached:
I magnetized every option. Well, not every. The chest spike/claw things aren't magnetized. And the thorax armor plate isn't either, as I used the other for my Tervigon.


Here it is as a Mawloc. Even the spines on the back are magnetic. It gets a little tight in the chest area, I didn't realize that the chest spikes would get in the way. I should have glued those in first, then fit the magnets.

A regular Trygon.

And a Trygon Prime.

BY THE EMPEROR WHAT IS THAT

Best/laziest Tyrannofex conversion ever?

If anyone wants a tutorial I can work one up, the hardest part is the head, by a ridiculous measure. Everything else is simply painstaking.

**Post Edit:  Tutorial is here.**

A Synapse Rules Query

Last night this issue came up, not in my game but in another. There were two combats going on, one between some Tyranid Warriors and another involving Termagants. The player who's turn it was decided to do the Tyranid Warriors combat first. He wiped them out. Next, when it came to the Termagant combat they lost, and the question was, did they count as fearless because they were within synapse at the start of the combat?

My argument was that since the combat rules say to complete each combat before starting the next, the warriors are dead and the Termagants do not benefit from synapse.

The other side compared it to the Blood Angels where they gain Furious Charge even if they assault out of its range.

The order in which you do things is very important in 40k. Here's a similar situation that justifies my position. Let's say it's your shooting phase and I have a creature projecting Shadow In the Warp on your psyker. You choose to use another unit to shoot that creature, killing it. Now you use your psychic powers. Obviously, you can cast the power unhindered. Order of actions is very important.

What do you guys think?

Magnetizing the New Night Spinner/Fire Prism

Here's how to magnetize the new Fire Prism/Night Spinner kit. While my initial impressions of the Night Spinner were poor I'd still like to give it a try. I think its real strength will be on things like Thunderwolf Cavalry.

First off, I get my magnets from KJ Magnetics. They're a fantastic supplier and from my searches have the best combination of selection and prices. The exact type of magnets you use on this project really don't matter, as you can make any type fit the setting. I just used ones that I had left over from other projects.
The first step is to glue in your mounting magnets. Don't worry about the polarity of these, they can be the same or different. They need to be flush with the surface of the plastic, so you may have to drill a little. Don't drill into your finger like I did.

Drill out a wider and deeper hole than you need on the guns. The reason for this is that we'll make a greenstuff setting, and we need room to work. I used a 3/16 drill bit to make the hole.

Now set the gun magnet on top of the mounting magnet, and place a ball of greenstuff in the setting. There's two ways to do this from here. The first is to squeeze the two together and let the GS pick up the magnet into the setting and pull it out quickly (the fast but unreliable way), or to wet the top of the magnet so it doesn't stick to the GS, press in the magnet then pull it apart and wait for the GS to cure and then glue the magnet into the setting you just made (the slow but reliable way). Here I made the setting and glued it later, but on the Night Spinner guns I used the first method. Whatever works for you.

Here you can see the magnet in the GS setting. Make sure the GS fully cures before you go around testing it. I like to add a dab of superglue to the edges just to help it stay in place.

Fire Prism...

...and Night Spinner!

Okay, now for the housing. Here I used some GS to make a setting for the mounting magnet. Make sure it is far enough back that it won't get in the way of the guns. You can actually trim off the end of the guns (the part that goes into the housing) since no one will see it and it serves no functional purpose.

Use the GS to make a setting again. Since the housing doesn't bear any weight you can use a smaller magnet. You could even just use a portion of a paperclip if you wanted. Just be careful that you test the fit with the upper portion of the turret hull on or else the housing will not fit properly.

Here you can see all the housings magnetized.

My Work Table

I moved out to the kitchen table (which was not in the kitchen because of another project) because I needed extra space for this endeavor. I ripped apart my entire grav-tank collection in order to magnetize the chin guns, and then it turned out I didn't have to rip them apart. Oh well, they came apart really easily and nothing broke. I also magnetized the new Night Spinner/Fire Prism kit. Tutorials coming soon!

New Podcast: Life After the Cover Save

A couple of guys in my area started up a podcast called Life After the Cover Save. It's pretty entertaining! So far there's only two episodes, and I've only listened to the first but it was enjoyable. They talk about how they got into the hobby and the stories they tell are pretty funny, and somewhat similar to how I got in. Later they cover some tactics choices in a "what would you do" type format.

I was listening to it while working on the Ravenwing. So I was listening to Warhammer while building Warhammer. I'm a nerd.

Anyway you can find it on iTunes or listen to it on the website linked above. Be aware that they cuss a few swears now and again.

Ravenwing Landspeeders

Here's my latest work. It's been a while since I posted painting or modeling content. These are part of a commission.

The weapons are all fully magnetic as are the bases. I'm trying to make each one individualized, yet simple at the same time.

Blog Chain Giveaway Continues!

****EDIT 6/22****
Deadline extended.
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The Blog Chain Giveaway thing rolls on! I won a Zoanthrope and Lictor from Hive Zero. Now I must continue.

What is the Super Blog Chain Giveaway?
The fellows over at Santa Cruz Warhammer got the ball rolling in an effort to foster folks in our community reaching out and seeing what other blogs have to offer as well extending a helping hand to fellow gamers.

Want to participate?
If you want to win a prize of your own and join this Give-Away, go comment on this blog. The rules of the give-away are as follows:

you must have a blog.

you must have something worthwhile to offer up to give away for free.

if you win, you must hold your own blogsite giveaway using the same rules to pay it forward.

you must contact us with a link to your give away so we can send bloggers to your site.

you may only enter once per give away.

To Enter:
leave a comment to this post as follows.
1st sentence, why you need the prize.
2nd sentence what you will give away on your blog to pay it forward.
I will choose the winner based on how convincing they are and what they offer to the next winner.

What’s in it for you?
The winner will receive an old school Screamer Killer. This is a classic model and hard to find. it isn't new (it's been out of print for many years) but unassembled and unpainted. I will ship it free of charge along with a 60mm round base (or a 40mm if you want it for a Tyranid Prime). Tell me the reason why you want it and how you plan to put it to use. I will choose a winner based on a combination of what you are offering and how convincing you were on Monday, June 28, 2010.

I got the Screamer-Killer a while ago and wanted to use it as a Tyranid Prime. But I just couldn't bring myself to convert it as I wanted to use the model in its normal form. So since I can't decide what to do with it I'm going to pass it on to someone who needs it.

New Blog Format

Google released some new formatting options and I'm playing around with them right now so the blog may look a little weird.

On Pronunciation

A recent thread on the BOLS Lounge made me think of this topic. Different communities seem to have their own way of pronouncing words in the 40k universe. Here's some common ones:

Lasgun- According to Graham McNeill, it's LAS-gun with the A as in apple. I have heard people insist that it is LAYS-gun, as in laser. I actually used to think that they were right because of the laser pronunciation, but I always pronounced it LAS because LAYS just sounds silly.

Tzeentch- I haven't heard this one mispronounced very frequently but apparently some people start the word with an X sound. It's simple to pronounce, really. Say the word "pizza" and take the sound from the double z (in Italian double z is pronounced like a "tz" and some times like a "dz"). I believe Chinese and Japanese both have similar sounds.

Slaanesh- I always pronounce it SLAAN-esh with the A as in apple. However, I've heard a couple of times people saying Slaan-EESH which doesn't seem right to me. I figure that the doubled vowel indicates stress.

Tyranids- I've heard people pronounce the Tyr as in Tyrant so they become TIE-ra-nids. I say TEER-a-nids and I think the majority agrees with me on that one.

Nobs- I've always pronounced it as in knob, but some new guys in my group say "nohb" as in noble. That makes sense actually as an Ork nob is simply short for Noble, but Lexicanum disagrees and says that it is knob.

C'Tan- K-tan. It's a hard "cuh" sound. I've heard of people saying see-tan but Graham McNeill disagrees. Think of Cthulhu. But not for too long lest ye go mad.

Any that I missed?

Edit: Be sure to check out the comments, there's some good information there.

Look At What I Found: Some Rarities

A few months ago I put up a post about a game store where I used to live which kind of died out. Well, the store is still there but their Warhammer community died out (link to post). They still have quite a selection of ancient Warhammer goodies. Every time I visit my parents I make a point to see what they have.

If their community died out, then why do I bother going each time to see what they have new? Well, half the store used to be a "normal games" half and the other was the "nerd" half. The store always seemed embarrassed of its geeky clientele and so they erected a large barrier in the middle of the store so you couldn't see the nerd half of the establishment from the main area, like some kind of smoking section or unsavory media store. Anyway, I moved away and the community died out for reasons I suspect but don't know for sure, but their Warhammer stock remained.

Anyway, they turned the nerd room into the stock room. Every time I go there they have rearranged it and there's newfound goodies like some archaeological dig. This time I found some ancient models and sets.

Chaos Dwarfs!
I love how it says, "White Metal!" I'm really not sure what kind of selling point that is.
In case you can't see it clearly, that's the third edition boxed set. They had several of these.

Sometimes their prices are ancient too. You can get some things for a lot cheaper, but other things have a pricing fail- they had the old metal War Walker for $35 while the newer, better looking one was $30. I bought a biovore a few months ago for $15 which is half retail now.

I also found many, many cans of Blood Red spray paint. As you know, they don't make that anymore so I bought a few for when I get around to starting up that Blood Angels army.

I couldn't get to certain areas and there were stacks and stacks of things I hadn't seen on my last visit so I guess I'll just be surprised next time. It irks me that this stuff just sits here gathering dust. They should just offer massive discounts to let the gamers clear this stuff out.

Balancing Space Hulk

So I know Space Hulk is old news, but I've brought it with me on vacation and I'm remembering how difficult the first mission is. To win, the Genestealer player needs to flood in as many stealers as possible in the northeast corner, since there's a big LOS block at the corner. The Marine player has to survive either a lot of close range shooting or brutal close combat.

What I've discovered to make the mission easier for first-time players is to simply remove the starting two blips. That gives the Marine player a bit of an edge getting into position at the corner, and though the mission still isn't easy it's more balanced.