Eyes on Adepticon!

October is the month Adepticon Pre-registration starts and the folks here at Dark Future Games and the FLGS, Evolution Games are turning their mind-set toward Adepticon. Last year we rolled in there about 15 deep between the blog and the store, met tons of folks, blogged about everything there, had a great time both on and off the table and even picked up a few more writers for the blog!

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Now, with pre-registration perhaps hours away, we ponder our prospects for the events; As always, there are plenty of folks starting to try to build teams for the team tourney - always an alluring prospect for players it seems. I have to admit, I am tempted to join the team of the Judge (frequent commenter), CVinton (rabble-rouser and Hobbyist Extremus) and Seer Karandris (Owner of Craftworld Lansing), but I also want to play in the grand tourney (technically possible, but at the same time exausting).

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This leaves me at the crossroads; I really want to take the Nids into a real 1850 tourney and test my metal and whether I place high or not, I can count on learning much from the possible 7 games on Friday and Sunday with complete strangers! On the other hand, I could play in the team tourney with none of the pressure of the 1850 and side-by-side with some great friends and bloggers and know I will have fun (despite my lack of respect for the team tourney format at Adepticon).

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With registration so close, I have to make a descision. In the meantime, I will ask you what you think. Have you played in either of these events or maybe both in the past? How do you compare the experiences? What are you doing this year? Are you going for the first time and don't know, maybe some of the replies could help you decide as well. Curious where to register? Here is the link!

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As a side note, I will surely be signing up for some classes! CVinton went to a GS class for a few hours once and is now sculpting circles around me! As another aside, sorry for the lack of postage on my part, I am slaving on the Legion of the Damned and have been quietly working on a little crusade of my own! Perhaps we will see some serious WIP or finished models this weekend! Anyway, seriously, let's hear your thoughts on Adepticon!

More Dark Eldar (of course)

Sorry to those that are already sick of the dark eldar, but after reading todays GW post with the lead designer, they put this picture at the end of the article:



Cool picture, the information in the article about how the raider was basically a virtually designed vehicle was something I didn't know GW did. However, what is that in the back ground? Are those blurry shots of the Ravanger? It looks like it fits the style of one gun in the front and one on each side. Pretty sneaky of you GW.

It looks like the side gunner are like little pods they sit in that fit into the two slots on the decking of the raider right in the middle. Pretty cool design.

Some other variations I noticed are that it looks like it has a slightly different sail and lacks the hanging crew. Other than that the blurry pics don't give too much away other than; we have one, and its updated.

Now, back to pacing the house waiting for November to come.

Storm Troopers: We might be expensive... but damn we are good.

Alright, so it has been awhile since I have posted any review posts, and I had left my posting at the most critical time for me... with Stormtroopers on the talking block.


So lets get right down into it:


STORM TROOPER SQUAD

As far as elite choices go for Imperial Guard, we have quite a group of choices out there, each one designed to be unique and style changing. This is no exception with Storm troopers, they have some cool special rules so lets talk about em:

Deep Strike: We all know how nice this can be, but paired with AP 3 weapons like the stormtroopers have alongside their ability to have two special weapons, it can get nasty.

Special Operations: This is a special rule which consists of three unique rules to the stormtroopers, they are:

1. Reconnaissance: Gives them Scouts and Move Through Cover (a lovely thing to have when facing a board with lots of terrain or armies that like to come in reserves)


2. Airborne Assault: Give the STS the ability to re-roll scatter dice when Deep Striking (No words need to be spoken on how useful this is, we have all shared the pain of hitting terrain or other units.)


3. Behind Enemy Lines: Grants Infiltrate and pinning weapons the first time they shoot. (A great option here, especially when used in conjunction with Psyker Battle Squad)

As for equipment the Storm Troopers have hot-shot lasguns which are STR 3 AP 3 with a short 18 inch range and are rapid fire. Though some might question the problems of STR 3, the AP 3 more than makes up for it, besides they also are equiped with CCW and a hot-shot laspistol making them one of the most effective CC squads we have, where their lower str in CC is made up for by number attacks. I have seen this effectively used against space marines more than once and also against Nids. They also have the ability to grab 2 of the following: Plasma Gun, Flamer, Meltagun, Grenade Launcher along with having a chimera upgrade to put them in.

They start at a base number of 5 in a squad but can be added up to make into 10, the sgt having the ability to have a power weapon, plasma pistol or bolt pistol/gun. Personally I find the Powerweapon upgrade nice to have, and the plasma not a bad idea, though the point cost for it are a bit high for the payout.

Over all the Stormtroopers may be a bit expensive in some eyes, but when used properly they can create deadly chaos in the opponent ranks, or (for example) as I have seen happen, and done take down a Trygon in a single round of shooting all by themselves.

So if you are an IG player, and have not taken a good look at these guys, or given them a good tryout, I really would recommend them as they have been the MVP in more than one of my matches, and always seem to come close to making up their points, or at least providing a valuable distraction.


Oh by the way, all the pictures are of my very own Storm Troopers from my Death Korps Of Krieg. Feel free to let me know what you think about those too.

And until next time, burn some heretics, kill some mutants, and do it as always...

FOR THE EMPEROR!

Product Review: Dremel Stylus

After years of not having a dremel I decided to go out shopping and I found this bad boy. I messed around with the display model at Sears and just knew I had to have this. I owned an older model of the dremel and never really thought it applied well to the hobby. I'm now a changed man.

First thing about this is the fit in the hand. It's perfect for the hobbyest and person who wants to use it on small fragile things. The old linear model is great for deburring metal or cutting a copper pipe, but if you want to grind the shoulder pad edging off, its a little clunky to wield.

Secondly, the speed adjustment is a 1-10. This thing will turn incredible slow (for a dremel). Its almost as slow as a drill at half speed. I know also, that micromark sells very small colettes (and other must haves for the hobby) and I'm ordering one to hold my tiny drill bits.

Lastly, the docking station is cool as well. It has a lot of storage for little bits and the way the dremel fits in the station you can leave your bit in there and not worry about it falling and getting broken. I can't tell you how many times when I was using my big-ass drill I set it down wrong and snapped the bit off. (for those of you gasping at using an electric drill to pin and not a pin vise...I have way better things to do than hand drill 10 holes in pewter model to fit all the legs and tail of a carnosaur together with pins.)

One other thing, in case you were curious, the button on top is on and off. You don't need to hold it, its a click on and click off button.

This thing is a must for the more advanced hobbyist. I'm so happy with it. I haven't had it long enough to determine if the battery life is garbage, but its lithium ion, so I trust it.

Community Question: How do YOU stop Tervigons effectively?

Gewaltatron commented on the Tervigon Tactics article here, with a question: "ok nice summary. But as a non-nids-player, what is the downside of this monster. how to stop it effectively?"
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Now, my first inclination is to answer the question myself and move on, but once I dropped my comment off, I thought that the best way to get him the answer from multiple perspectives was to pose a question to the community - afterall, there are generals of every strip out there who have fought the tervigon! Why not here what the community has to say. Now I hate to think of things in a bubble, so when you answer please note a situation where you have spanked a momma bug and what kind of list it was hanging out in, that way we can see how you dealt with it in relation to the army that it ran with - this way we can all grab some insight.
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I now turn it over to you. How do you effectively stop the tervigon or the two tervigon list.

Tyranid Tactica: Tervigon

Old School here to talk about Tervigons. Ever since the codex first dropped, people have been going crazy about this unit. We have seen the wax and wan of the 5 tervigon lists, the arguements against tervigons as a whole and now it seems that most folks have settled into the two troop tervi build. With that being said, let's take a look at Big Momma.

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The Ultimate Utility Unit: The Tervigon is horrid as far as close combat is concerned so let's get that on the table and out of the way. What it does offer is massive utility in several forms:

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First great thing about the tervigon is the ability to be taken as a troop choice - just add the cost of a squad of termagants to the overall pointscost of the tervi. Having a 6 wound monsterous creature as a troop choice is an obvious benefit to an army. Having it not be a beast in close combat and the fact that it isn't the biggest baddest MC in your army also gives it a layer of survivability most people take for granted - it isn't priority target #1 and by the time most people get to it, it will be harder to deal with as they will have grinded their army against the worst your list has to offer.

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Spawning gants: This ability is obviously good for objective missions and having termagants close by gives the tervi a layer of protection in the form of a counter attacking mob that is generally benefitting from at least one of the biomorphs on the tervigon. For Killpoint missions, the gants can seem like a hinderance, but used correctly, you can spawn screens, forcing your opponent to either change direction or hit the screen and take a counter-charge from your nastier units. In this method, you may give away kill points, but you can make that up by playing smartly. In KP missions this means holding off spawning until it is necessary, like the event of a countercharge screen or to avoid allowing the tervigon to get swamped, buying time for your cc units to get into range. Also don't forget that tervigons can spawn when locked in combat, an ability that will suprise many opponents and give you a built in countercharge.

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Catalyst - Catalyst is a power that has utility in terms of buffing your gant screens, buffing your MCs against missile launchers or cc attacks and for protecting the tervigon itself (don't forget that you can cast it on yourself). This should be considered your tervi's primary psychic power.

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Onslaught - Onslaught is an ability that allows your shooting units a little more range. Good for getting the Hive guard in better position to pop tanks ect. Is it worth the points, I don't think so most of the time, but I wouldn't totally discount it.

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Dominion - Never forget that you have this power. Many people forget to use this, but every once in a while, there comes a time when that extra synapse can be effective and it is usually in the late game that you need that unit of Hormagants to charge a particular unit instead of that throw away unit you opponent has put near them to throw them off ect. Always remember that this is an option and sometimes a critical one.

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Biomorphs:

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Cluster spines - with BS 3, these have a better chance of hitting your target than your stingers and may even net you some target saturation against a squad that is coming to take you out. Always take these; they're free!

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Poison sacs - I always take poison sacs. Poisoned gants are an annoying proposition for enemy MCs and high toughness units to deal with, but the tervigon has to be close to get it off, so don't forget to stick close or the gants are little more than grots for most enemy infantry.

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Adrenal Glands - AG are useful when combined with poison sacs as they will give the nearby gants the chance to hit the all-to-common t4 units BEFORE they swing and will allow you the re-roll to wound. Just keep in mind that many units will not let you get this charge off. I would take it if I had an extra 10 points in my list - one of the few times I would purchase an upgrade for the tervi instead of just buying a couple more gants. I would not take this without poison sacs.

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The rest of the upgrades - as a pre-cursor to the rest of the upgrades, I would say that this MC is NOT a combat monster and any upgrades not yet mentioned will only make the tervigon a slightly better than half-ass MC in combat.

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Crushing claws - Spend the points on something better. For what these cost, you could upgrade a trygon, go the extra distance and afford a tyranofex, buy more gants ect.

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Scything talons - again, why? She only gets a few attacks, so the possibility of these coming into play as opposed to a unit with more attacks like a ravener of trygon are slight and while the talons are cheap, why not just buy another gant?

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Acid Blood: Not worth the points. If you are taking wounds in CC, it is likely against something with an invul (IC) or against a mob (Won't impact them as much).

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Toxic Miasma: You are going to own the units this hurts anyway or your gants will drag them down for you. Again not worth the points.

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Implant attack: Not worth it as it MIGHT happen once in a hundred games, save these for batter CC units!

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Regeneration: Nifty, but not thrifty. Don't pay 30 points for this upgrade. You are already T6 and have a 3+. Sure it will make you more survivable, but just like crushing claws, you can make a lot more milage using these points to upgrade something else.

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So how do you put these in your army?

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Single tervigon: not too bad for a unit that can make it's own scoring units. It cuts back on the chances of you over producing kill points, but it also cuts back on your chances for giving off FNP to critical units, cuts back on your breeding in objective missions and cuts back on the amount of scoring T6 MCs. I have run it quite sucessfully, but generally I find myself wishing for a little more in the scoring department in objective missions.

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Many Tervigons: We have all seen the 5 tervigon lists. I think they will give you a lot of scoring units, a lot of synapse, but will also give you an army that hits the enemy like a wet sack of dogshit. At 1850-2000 ppints, most mech armies will be able to deal with your other MCs and then hop in their transports to tankshock you and pick off the tervigons. KP missions will also be a rough proposition in most cases. You can try it if you have the money and time to buy and paint all those gribblies, but I would rather have something with a little more bite and variety.

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Two Tervigons: This build gives you a good base for your army. Two big scoring beasts, the chance to put out a lot of objective holders, plenty of FNP where it is needed and a good amount of synapse coverage on the table. This build can work out well with screening and support for walking deathstar armies whether they be warrior or tyrant based and can also work well for more deepstrike and speed orientated lists, giving you an anchor to revolve around that gives good support. The Hive commander build also allows you to outflank a tervi for better option in getting them in scoring position or in postion to really mess with static fire-line lists.

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Overall, I obviously like the two troop tervi build. I have used it in both Hive Commander and Walking Tyrant lists and it does really well. Single tervigon works, but you will feel a little gimped, so if you take them, try running two as a base for your army. Give them Castalyst and Toxin sacs for a start and other than that keep them cheap and they will serve you well. It may seem expensive points-wise, but what other army gives you this much utility and survivability for 500 points in the troops section?

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Those are my two cents, now I turn it over to you to add on your thoughts and strategy.

Chapterhouse Studio releases Tervigon conversion set and is experimenting with spore pod!

Old School here to take a look at Chapterhouse Studio's latest handy-work on their expanding range of tyranid items. We all know from previous posts that while I am a fan of some of their Marine Stuff and a fanboi of their Salamander Chaplain, I am not a fan of their tyranid stuff - at all. This spore pod, however could change all that! I love the way the green look! It amazes me and while a little on the "old School nid" side, it is by far the best rendition of it I have seen so far. They are saying on their website that it may be too expensive to produce and that they are taking a dremel to it right now - I say release it as is, as long as it fits into $30. Maybe I am hoping too much, but don't let this slip through the cracks and become another wierd looking nid attempt - this is gold, guys!

... (I hate when people write "Sigh" in a post, but here it it) ... Sigh and ... yawn. This kit fits on a carnifex kit, which means that you need to have a full carnifex to make this. At $22.50, it isn't that bad when you look at the costs and time and effort of making your own Tervigons, but really? I want to believe that this is a bad photo and there are cooler things going on at other angles, but I won't believe it until I see it. This looks like a carnifex that needs a wonderbra to push up those pancake boobies! It looks boring and plain and I just think with a little bit of effort even a novice modeller on a budget could make a more exiting tervigon out of just the carnifes kit and a termaguant or two - nevermind what he could do with an extra $22.50 in bits.

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I don't want to bag too hard on Chapterhouse as I really respect quite a few of their items and I have purchased my fair share of stuff from them, but their tyranid stuff really misses the mark for me and the tervigon is even worse for me Awkward Boneswords and extra large Yrgmal heads. If they can cut down the pod as they say they are doing and manage to keep it looking as good as it does, I will buy ... MANY of them though, so let's keep our fingers crossed!

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Now I turn the post over to you. What do you think of these kits? Ace or bullocks? Have a link to something better, post it! Either way, we are all ears!

Some Tips for Growing Your Wargaming Blog

Old School here with a little advice for those who are starting out in the blogosphere and are looking for a way to grow their blog and get noticed by more of their fellow hobbyists. I was inspired by an article I found at Combined Arms and hopefully this advice can help some folks out there who have a lot to say, but maybe just need a little help getting an audience.
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So here are some tips based on my experience in the last 1 year and 9 months of my Blogging career:
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1. Post Great Articles or Photos and do it regularly:
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This is the number one peice of advice. Decide how often you want to post, whether it be daily weekly, semi-weekly ect and plan out what you want to post (unless you are a dynamo of great postage). This will help you establish habits and momentum, soon you will adapt and blogging at your pace will be second nature. Now, with that in mind, your articles have to have purpose; they need to show us a mini that looks great (eyecandy), help us get better at something (hobby tutorials, tacticas, tips), reviews of items you bought that others might be curious about and finally Battle reports (if you play, show us how you roll) - just imagine what you like about other blogs and adapt it to what you have going on!

-sub tip on this: a lot of blogs have a blogroll, which is a lot like looking at the top fold of a newspaper in that the viewer can see a photo and a paragraph from many blogs. Readers will choose a blog with a great photo and a killer first paragraph (lead) before they grab a mediocre lead with no photo, so I have a rule that I will always put a photo up, even if it is web art.
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2. Get networked: Get on the top blogrolls by joining one or all of the Wargaming Blog networks in our little community. Getting on blogrolls in huge networks gets you massive exposure and will draw wargamers to your blog.
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Bell of Lost Souls is an easy choice as it is usually the first major blog folks view, being on their blogroll gives you a lot of exposure (about 19% of my traffic originates from BoLS).
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From the Warp is a great group to join and Ron is a dedicated Hobbyist who regularly asks the community for contributions. Great contributions get posted on his blog and result in huge traffic for your blog (I get huge spikes in visitors and typically more followers whenever I appear on the Top 10 or on a roll of collaboritive posts). Remember that some networks have rules for blogger behavour and Ron does not appreciate foul language and innapropriate content in his supported blogs, so if you plan on getting dirty, take your blog to a network that welcomes it.
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International House of Paincakes is another network and is growing fast. The blogs networked there are not held to the same moral standards as those on the FTW network, but use your head when posting in any blog network (quality posts shouldn't need too much pirate vocabulary and boobie photos lol). I really like this community for the fact that many of the blogs on their roll have superior tactical content.
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Heresy Online recently started a blog network as well. They are growing slowly and seem to hobble along on content, but welcome good article and can be an easy outlet for exposure.
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3. Interact with other bloggers you really like: I don't mean comment on every blog out there with "Great article". I mean find other blogs that interest you and start commenting constructively and adding to the conversation they are trying to have with the community. People will start to notice you and if you also follow the blogs you comment on, you will likey get followed by them and if they really like your blog as well, add you to their blogroll and comment regularly to you - real interaction is what this community is all about!
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While we are talking about interaction being the key, get your readers involved, ask them questions, let them know their opinion matters and respond to great comments on your blog. Nothing is worse than a ghost blogger who never comments with the people commenting on his stuff!
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4. Be a giver, make a Blogroll: You want to be on other peoples' blogrolls for exposure right? Well, give a little back and link to the blogs you really like too, whether it be through a blogroll or a top 10 or any other way to help out your fellow wargaming bloggers - it comes back just like Karma!
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5. Finally, remember that it isn't all about having a ton of followers: It really isn't. I hosted a contest to boost my follower numbers and I got a ton ... but the folks who keep commenting and interacting regularly are mostly the people who have been followers for a while and who have blogs I regularly comment on and people I interact with who seem like real people to me. I know it can be frustrating when you have a low base of followers, but it's all about having quality people around. That's something that took me a while to realize.
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While we are talking about quality people, look around the FLGS. There are people there with talent and skills and voices of their own who may have no interest in starting a blog, but who would gladly add their effort to a team. There is strength in numbers and I am very happy to have some good friends as a part of team DFG. Their ideas and contributions motivate me and have changed the direction of this blog for the better. So give your fellow gamers a chance!
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One last peice of advice is tracking. I don't put this is the numbered advice because it can become an unhealthy obsession; tracking. You can use sites like Google Analytics to track the traffic on your blog. You can see where in the world people are accessing your blog, how often they do, what articles they view the most and use that data to figure out what works and what doesn't. Take this with a grain of salt, because tracking your blog with a business mentality can suck the fun out of it for you, so check the numbers, but just be yourself.
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Well that's all the advice I have for tonight - another great tip is don't make giant posts full of text (oops). I know a lot of this seems really obvious, but I wish somebody would have laid this out for me a year and a half ago, so I hope it helps. If you have any great tips I may have left out, comment here and let us all know about it!

Forge World Unviels Grot Mega Tank: Grotz on a Boat!

This is a fun post for a Friday. I, like everyone else out there was obviously drawn toward the giant robot centipede that is the Tomb Stalker. I neglected this Grot Mega Tank, a huge tank that I think will satify a few Grot Revolushun players I can think of, but the big question is: why does it look so much like a boat?

Grotz on a boat? Could it be real?

Oh yes, this Boat is real ...

I know its an old video, but Flippy Floppies for the Win, have a great Friday!

Necron Tomb Stalker! Crons take a lesson from the Nids!

I am not a giant Necron fan, but holy smokes am I impressed by this Tomb Stalker - Let's check the math on this one, Giant Necron Robot + Mechanical Centipede + Oval Based Monstrous Creature + guns X Forgeworld = Awesome! While I am not so sure I like the Crons butting in on my Nids Buggy theme, I am a big fan of Crons getting models that don't just look like bigger Necrons (Their Range needs to change or else it will just be a boring army with a new codex).

Centipedes are one of those creatures that I really can't stand, so it also fits the nightmare theme the crons have for me and I can just imagine this thing stalking the empty halls of sleeping tomb worlds searching for hapless intruders.

What do you all think about this model? If this is any indication of the route the Crons might be going, then the rumoured "Necromancer" MC might not be as horrid as I first imagined (sounded like a giant cron to me).

The Damned Project II: Bring the Heat!

Old School here with another installment of the Damned Project for my client's Legion of the Damned squads. I painted these guys up a couple weeks ago and finally based them last week. This installment features a Heavy Flamer, Flamer and my favorite so far, the grenade guy!

I like the Heavy flamer Marine and I like the idea of heavy flamers in general ... I just hate that LoD makes them cost an extra 30 points!

I am very happy with this guy and I hope he will be too.

Flamer ... there are plenty of these guys.

Here is a view of the grenade thrower from his extra flamey side! I really enjoy this model and it is one of the ones I am glad there are multiples of.

There they are, don't worry there are plenty more where this came from. Feel free to leave some feedback!

Mistakes I Will Not Make Tonight with my Nids!

I am off to the FLGS and in order to remind myself not to make the same mistakes as last week, I will remind myself by posting them and maybe you won't make them either (if you are).

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I always shoot my damn spore's cluster spines where I want, but it isn't correct, I have to sahoot the nearest target (and yes I have to shoot). I have twice now caught myself shooting a target nearby without measuring to see how close it is and once decided not to shoot in order not to risk shooting my stuff - even experienced players need to read - read - read the codex!

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I will remember that I can give feel no pain to my guys even in CC. I have wandered around way to many times without casting it into CC to help my trygons (I am amazed my record has been as good as it has been).

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Finally, in objective missions and if it serves me KP missions, I will remember that there is nothing stopping me from crapping gaunts with the tervigon at the start of my movement phase - even if I am in CC!

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I think that is it. Do you forget to do stuff either for or against your benefit and seem to only catch yourself after the fact. Know someone who does. Let's hear your story!

Tyranid Tacica: Genestealers

Old School here to talk about one of my favorite units; Genestealers! One of the first creature entries I read in the old Rogue Trader book was about the Genestealers and since then I have hated them in the hands of the enemy and recently came to love them in my tyranid force.

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Let's talk about the good things first:

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Genestealers are troops. Being troops helps you score when they do manage to live, but for them it makes even one genestealer a unit the enemy must try to gun down.

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Infiltrators - Genestealers can outflank thanks to this rule - much to the displeasure of guardsmen across the Galaxy. This forces the enemy gunlines to either move (losing possible shots) deploy in the middle of the board (which is where the rest of your army should want them) or just risk it and possibly get popped (S4 rending is a threat to any vehicle that isn't a Land Raider or a Monolith). Don't forget that if you have enough LoS blocking terrain, you can infiltrate them, but the cases where infiltrating is better than outflanking is rare.

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Move through Cover and Fleet are another great benefit these guys have. The combination of these two rules mean that you will generally get good distance through terrain, a run move and if assaulting through cover (careful there stud!), you have three dice to make that on as well! This also makes a real difference when somebody is whacking you with weapons that make you move as if you are in difficult terrain as well. Overall, genestealers are quick and when lingering near the board edges, the enemy has to be very afraid of your speed.

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No need for Synapse - no brainer here.

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Finally, high initiative, high Weapon Skill and rending AND volume of attacks - This means you will regularly catch troops, elites (ones without 3+ Inv) and even MCs, strike them first, achieve hits on 3+ and then rock them out of their armor with rending and mass saves - often before they can even swing!

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Alright, let's talk about the bad stuff:

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Armor - This is the thing that all the 4th Ed Nid players cried about; they have a 5+ save, which means in the open, they are going to get rocked and if anything can live through their assault and return even a mediocre number of wounds, the stealers will start to die and lose their edge. The solution? Stay in combat, pick fights you can win and stick to cover.

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Too good at killing mech - often times, stealers will catch that tank on the edge of the board and get a decent number of rends. This is good right? Well, sometimes our claws get a little over-zealous and explode the vehicle, making us take that crappy save again and costing us some stealers. Depending on the rest of your list, this can be an acceptable loss or a devestating one - tactics can fix this problem.

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Not having grenades is another blight to the GS existence. You have these terrible claws and fangs and the ability to move through cover, just not the ability to use those claws first if you assault through said cover - bah! Tactics and synergy can overcome this problem - a friend with whips is a friend indeed.

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Lets talk upgrades:

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Scything Talons - No need for these as you will most often hit on threes, at worst fours, what will re-rolling your ones do that you can't get from ...

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Toxin Sacs - One of my favorites for these puppies, the sacs will make you the bae of almost all standard troops in the game and make MCs crap their ... whatever they wear and BEST of ALL, give you the chance to rend more, which will make for more dead troops. If you plan to use your stealers for more than just a cheap distraction unit, then consider these badboys a mandatory choice! If you think they will make you too killy (ending combat in the turn you charge), then just take these, but less stealers.

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Adrenal Glands - Glands are good for the guy who really wants to kill vehicles (you could potentially glance a Land Raider), but the sacs are a better choice for hunting troops and MCs. The adrenals also only work when YOU charge and with I6, the initiative bonus will mostly be lost on them. I have seen folks use both sacs and glands, but I feel it makes stealers a little too expensive for their survivability.

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Mycetic Spore - this is the unit that needs the spore least in the whole codex. With all the other great ways to get to the enemy, why take the pod; the one option that ensures you will not assault and will most likely get shot to death? If you just want to take the pod, give it to 10 guants and call it a day.

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Brood Lord - Here we go. I am in the school of thought that would rather take more stealers than take a Brood lord ( I get more attacks without him). He has even more bite in the WS and initiative department, but do you need it? He has higher strength and toughness, but do you need it? When I ask myself these questions, I typically say no.

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The redeeming qualities that he does have is that he can take a save here and there to get more stealers to the enemy (at this point his extra attacks start to shine, if he lives) and that he can be given Implant attack, making his rending insta-death to ICs, all the while he is a squad upgrade, making him impossible to pick out in CC.

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Aura of Dispair is a power worth mentioning. Let's say you outflank and want to get those pesky Long Fangs or those damned heavy weapon squads, but you rolled a 1 for your run move. Aura allows you the chance to at least lower the leadership of those units. Guard players and Wolves players know that one point can be life or death and now all you need to do is make that Harpy or Zoan or whatever kill 25% of that squad and you have a better chance of it running - possibly off the board. It doesn't always work and a lot of units out there are also fearless, but it is worth mentioning.

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Overall, the brood lord is expensive, but is very useful if you want to hunt down an IC with your stealers or scare static firepower footpounders off the board, but otherwise (even with his powers ), he is best off in the case while the regular stealers do the fighting instead.

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Builds:

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Stealers work well in Hive Commander lists where you have an increased chance of them coming in along with other units you have in reserve. they also work well in Swarmlord lists sometimes (depends on the list) as he allows you to re-roll the side you want.

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I take genestealers one or two ways; Naked for the sheer joy of a few cheap dudes running in to either kill a tank or some troops and maybe living to do it again (or to add a distraction) OR I take them poisoned so that I can make life hell for MCs, troops and well ... anybody AND I still have the option of killing tanks. The poison build also makes the enemy want to expend ammo killing them, which may seem counter productive for me (losing scoring units), but it also takes shots away from the rest of my army (the really big nasty stuff) - besides, your tervi's will just crap more scoring units anyway!

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Numbers: I normally run two units of 8-10 no matter what upgrades I give them. This makes some opponents nervous about the edges, adds redundancy and gives me hope that one squad will get a side with prizes nearby(!) and provides enough threats in the enemy deployment zone to draw attention away from the Trygons or Tervigons or whatever else is one the board.

Army builds they work well in - They really work well in both drop armies and foot armies. They can add distraction and deployement manipulation to both styles of army, which is good for both. I prefer to run mine in a very fleety army that includes 3 trygons (one or two as primes or relacing a trygon with a unit of raveners), a hive commander Winged Tyrant and a strong base made of termaguants, troop tervigons and hive guard - this way, I can use them in the mass drop bananza, use them to distract from a walking wall of MCs OR I can use them to castle up against a drop army (daemons) and get the jump on them with stealers AND fleeting and flying MCs.

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Stealers also do well in shooty nid lists as Harpies and Tyrannofexes can pop transports for the outflanking stealers (solving a major problem for them and making the insides into lunch). Obviously, you want to try to blow the vehicle up BEFORE you make the run move for the stealers!

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I think that is all I have for these nasty gribblies! Stay tuned for more Nid tactics. I have also been getting a ton of e-mails for building lists to fight specific enemies and while I don't condone tailoring lists to fight one person's army (take-all comers only dammit), I can sympathise with a person who struggles against a certain type of army - so there may be some VERSUS articles coming up. Let me know what you think and please add something to this tactica if you think something is missing. I am by no means the end-all for tyranid tactics.

Legion of the Damned: Showing off the Damned Project part 1!

Old School here with some Legion of the Damned Marines. I have had this commission for quite some time and while many of the models have been finished, I have lingered on the final touches for quite some time (static grass and base painting), but now it is time to start showing them off.

I have recieved a few fan e-mails asking where all the painted minis went and I figured I am going to have to stop buffing my gums with discussion posts and show off the work that I have done. So to start off, this project, project zombie Marines, includes 37 Legion of the Damned Marines straight from the blisters. The client wants them to look as close to the GW models as I can make them while adhering to the DFG Painting Service Level 2 pricing (shoot us an e-mail for prices and requests), so I got to work because I always wanted to paint these models ... well, I started off hot and heavy, assembling 20 and priming them. Then work took up 3 weekends in a row, leaving me with little time to work on the models in the week (I am married with 3 kids y'all).

Work is crazy for me in the Summer and early fall, so the going has been slow and monotonus - 37 LoD - Damn it starts to wear on a painter, but I entered the final third of them today, so now it is time to start showing off all 37, starting from the first three I painted back at the start. I will show off a few every day to help me keep the motivation to get the rest finished! Here they are.

The sergeant is a great model and since the client didn't need all the ones that came in the several boxes he purchased, he gave me one to act as a Khornate Skull Champion (to be revealed in a later post)

I love this model - no matter how many times I paint it. Each one I have encountered has been of a better quality mold than the regular LoD Marines and with all the curves and contrast opportunities, it really is a fun model to paint.

Old Buck Knife Chuck, love this guy - he has a big knife and is the easiest variant to paint quickly.

This is the guy I call Goose, with the beaky skull head and the inlaid flames (which the paintscheme calls to surround with highlighting, he is a little more time-consuming to oaint, but looks good and draws attention from afar even when on the field next to all his undead battle-brothers.

Here he is again from the back. That is it for tonight, I am bringing you three more tomorrow - these ones are sure to "heat things up." Ok, it is way to late for bad puns. Let me know what you think of these guys so far or let me know if you have ever struggled to hack through a project like 37 metal space Marines before - I am sure there are stories that make mine seem like wimpy stuff (though I have painted over 100 + combined guants and stealers).

The Emperor's Tramp Stamp Protects!

Urban Dictionary defines the term "Tramp Stamp" as:

"a derogatory term referring to a tattoo which a women places on her lower back. It is especially popular among women born in the late 70’s, 80‘s, and even early 90’s. Fair or unfair, these tattoos have a socially constructed connotation associated with them. These women are labeled with derogatory sexually promiscuous terms. Although these are often bias generalized claims, there have been sociological studies done by the American Psychological Association, Federal Bureau of Prisons, and other demographic researchers showing strong correlative evidence associating tattoos with high risk behavior, illegal substance abuse and sexual promiscuity. Some have also jokingly stated that by 2050, the “tramp stamp” will be renamed the “gramp stamp”."

With that being said, I can think of several models that bear the "Emperor's Stamp". Several from the ghostly Legion of the Damned - a chapter that was betrayed and came back from the dead to do the emperor's work, The terminator chaplain - a Marine whose faith in the Emperor is his shield and I think one of the Masters of the Chapter have the stamp as well.

If we are to believe the Urban Dictionary definition of the stamp, then these guys should all be heretical fiends, but in the 41st Millenium, it would seem that the Tramp Stamp has evolved into the "Champ Stamp" only worn on the rumps of the most faithful and powerful of His servants.

Perhaps this is so that when the alien, mutant or heretic lies bleeding and broken on the ground after a Space Marine attack, the last thing they see is the Imperial Aquilla shaking sassily on the armored booty of an enhanced superhuman ... few things could add as much salt to the wound as being stomped by a guy with a Tramp Stamp - I can just picture the Chaplain turning back and winking at the enemy as "My lovely Lady Lumps" pumps from the Laud Hailers of a nearby Land Raider. "What you gonna do with all that junk inside Ceremite?"

Notice any other models that have just the oddest addition that made you wonder what the hell the designers were thinking?

Khorne Khavalry Lord painting WIP ... Very WIP!

Old School here with a quick update on my metal Khorne Khavalry Lord. This is VERY WIP, but I wanted to show where it is at after a couple hours of painting before unleashing the fully painted model.

Having much of the main work and highlighting done on all the reds, it is now time to clean up the brass and then move to the small details like the head, the trophies on the back and highlighting the skulls.

One of the main reasons I am posting this WIP is because I am worried that this is all too much red ... but at the same time, it looks very striking on the table. What do you all think so far?

As always feedback is more than welcome.

The Best Tyranid Conversions on Video - Steveprimebot's Hive Fleet Macabre!

Old School here. It is a rainy day and what better way to kill some time than to look at possibly the best looking Tyranid Army Videos on the Web - of course I mean Steveprimebot's Hive Fleet Macabre. He has a converted Doom, Several Tervigons (all different), an amazing Hive tyrant, the Parasite, Warrior Prime, the best Harpy I have yet to see and a great tutorial ... and that is just what I posted on the blog here today. He actually has batreps, more tutorials and conversions, more Hive fleet Macabre and photos of some units from other armies. Take a look at these videos and if they strike you the way they have me, then go to his channel and check out the rest - these videos are all massively inspiring and i may have to steal a couple of these great ideas! Enjoy.

Tentacle faced Tyrant

Incredible Harpy, using Malanthrope bits

Best Tervigon I have seen yet - also with Malanthrope bits (I am going to steal this idea)

Warrior Prime - kind of a sick looking centuar

The parasite - best conversion of him I have seen by far.

The Doom

And a tutorial on how to paint his scheme - best part is that it is all dimestore paints!

Hopefully you have enjoyed these videos, please go check out his channel and let him know how you feel!

Tyranid Tactica: The Doom of Malan'Tai

(photo credit to Dakka's Lindsay40k for this amazing model) Old School here with another tactica for the Nids. I am sure "Doom of Malan'tai" and "Tactica" being in the same title made some of you laugh, hell it made me giggle a little too, but then I know there are some people who just don't quite know what this little creep is for, so let's talk about the big-headed kid - the much-maligned Doom of Malan'tai!
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I have a couple rules about the Doom I must insist you follow (Don't feed him after midnight lol):
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Don't Count him toward the plan: When I take this model (and I do it quite often), just build the rest of your list and the ideas you put into it without any tactical regard to the Doom. Don't sit around thinking what he will do - it doesn't matter - he might not eat any souls, he may just eat Double-Toughness shots and Die - He might just change the way the enemy moves - or not - and maybe ... just maybe, he will kill something important or do that and then blow something up - or make the enemy shoot it so much all your other stuff gets to do their job! You never know exactly what's going to happen, so don't plan, just execute when it comes to this guy.
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Always put him in a Spore Pod! Seriously, what use will this model be in most games if he starts 48 inches from the enemy? A Doom without a spore pod will likley get killed and do nothing more than go home and cry himself to sleep on his huge pillow. This really is a no-brainer. In a pod, he becomes a threat to any disembarked, footslogging group of models on the board, regardless what their leadership is (average roll on 3d6 is 10, even ld10 will give up wounds 50% of the time). This often means that an enemy will either disregard the Doom and play for the best, keeping their units near each other to help deal with trying to gun down your MCs (playing into the Doom's hands) - OR - they will spread out and try to minimize the damage the doom can do when he drops (playing into your army's hands). Either way, the Doom will land and the doom will do his job.
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Always Cataclysm unless assault is the better option or running will get him to contest: That is right, even a S4, AP1 large blast is fine, because if it hits a squad, they will fold, he will gain wounds or break even. This also boosts the enemy's willingness to try to double-toughness him with big guns! If you have a ton of wounds, even better, start taking out tanks, T5 stuff, whatever, it's all good. Just keep killing! The bigger the distraction the better! Every ounce of effort the enemy expends on him, the less he spends on your army! The more you kill or distract or disrupt the enemy, the better your investment in the Doom will pay off - the only time, I would run would be to contest an objective if you have to with him if he still lives on turn 5 and you have nothing else around (won me a game once).
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The Bottomline: The Doom is the ultimate distraction unit beacause for 130 points, you will always do SOMETHING with this unit. As stated above, you may kill your points back at least, or distract enough units for a critical turn allowing the big MCs to close with the enemy or disrupt the enemy enough to ruin his game plan, throwing him off balance and giving you the momentum. The point is that this is a unit the enemy has to do something about or it will do something to them!
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Now the downside: This badboy lives in the land of Elite choices, which is the most hotly contested FOC slot in the whole codex. Taking him means not taking another unit of Hive Guard or not taking those Zoans, which can be a hard choice. At 1850, I take him instead of the zoans and I recognize that he may just die to the first missile launcher shot that comes his way (because pimping is sometimes easy - even with a 3+ invul); I accept that risk for all the potential benefits he might lend as stated above.
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So if you are into the gamble, want to make hell for the opponent and maybe even cause some mayhem (I once owned a Daemon Prince, Havoc Squad and 3 Chaos Termies in one turn), then I would give him a try. If you would rather have garaunteed shooting (I can't blame you), less BS called your direction and better AT options, then you may want to pass on this model.
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Now I turn the tactica over to you: What do you think of the doom? Used him before? Been the victim? Have a great Doom Story? Please share, feedback is always welcome and please check out the the link in the photo credit up top, the guy made an awesome scratch build and it desrves more credit than the one I made!

Green Stuff: Fur (with video)

Per request from Skarvald the Troll-faced, here is the first video in what is hopefully a long line of videos about working with green stuff.





Now that you've watched the video, let me focus the camera a little better...

The pattern I wanted you to go for looks like this:

If you repeat this pattern over the whole model you'll come out with a nice fur texture. The 's' can be lengthened or shortened depending on what kind of look your going for, whether long shaggy hair or short human hair. After you get done with your pattern you can just go back and pinch the edges to have them come to a point and even lift them up to give more depth to the sculpt.

And since my flip wasn't focusing for jack here are the final product pictures. Hope it helped! Questions and comment welcome as always.
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Warhammer 40k Demo Sept 18 by Old School at Evolution Games!

Old School here to announce that I will be presenting a Warhammer 40k demo at Evolution Games September 18. We will have several tables open with lists pre-made to be balanced from several armies ranging from nids to Marines to Chaos to Eldar and more. If you want to try 40k without buying a bunch of minis just to try it, this is the event for you. No need to pre-register or sign up in advance, just grab a buddy or head on down and play by yourself with me or one of the other DFG team members.
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This is your chance to see what all the hub-bub is about in this 40k universe ... have you been playing Yu-Gi-Oh or MTG and ever wondered what the hell those dudes with the minis were doing ... here is your chance. Warmachine player? Come try out our system. I'll tell you what, you try mine and I will try yours. That is right, if you come in as a Warmachine player and try 40k at this demo and like it - I will come out and play Warmachine with you and see if I like it AND I will blog about it!
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Whatever your flavor of gaming is, come on down, try it out and I promise you will have some fun! By the way, on the Wednesday prior to the demo, we are also hosting a bitz trading event also!

Green stuff: Tell me your troubles!

One final labor day post for me. Green stuff. What do you want from me?

At the beginning of the summer I decided I'd learn to use green stuff. Now I'm sculpting pretty decent stuff for myself. So, with that said, what would the blog community want to know about that wonderful stuff known as green stuff? OST has been watching me progress in my GS skillz and every time I talk to him "...man, you need to make this a tutorial..." gets said at one point or another. So, since I'm lazy and work like chaos (lowest point of energy)....

You give me ideas, and in turn, I start cranking out tutorials. Cloaks? Purity seals? Hair? Gap filling? Faces? Skulls? Comment and you shall receive.

The Officer of the Fleet

The Officer of the Fleet, old trick with a new hat!

Lets start off with a suggested reading; http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/09/40k-interview-top-gt-tread-heads-part-1.html

I read this, all of it. Its a great read and you should always jump on reading interviews with some of the top 40k players in your region. A point was brought up about the IG's Officer of the Fleet (OF) becoming a hindrance as opposed to an IG advantage. This is a great point that I wanted to point out about how people should start turning their opponents lists against them by thinking outside the box.

For example, with the OF, why not use the potential late game arrival as an advantage? How about instead of putting your tactical squads in the opening drop pod assault, keep them in reserve for a solid late game contest? I think its a brilliant idea.

Even keeping squishier units in reserve versus just throwing them out there to give up their KP could be another utilization of the OF against the opponent.

I think for a demons player this could be great for a late game grab. You'll essentially be one turn behind your plan of action and I feel like that's a pretty easy adjust to make. Perhaps even getting a late game full strength unit can make the IG player run after he's set in his shooting line.

With the slow demise of the mystic I felt like most guard players (myself included) would be turning to the OF to disrupt the deepstrike as best we can, however after reading this I'm starting to feel like opponents might end up with an advantage that I wasn't expecting.

Tyranid Tactics: The Parasite of Mortex

Old School here with a brief respite from the harder Tactica Articles on the Tyranids I have been writing so far to bring you the Parasite of Mortex.

Fun and Killy: Let's start this off by saying the Parasite is a big ball of fun if you enjoy conversions and if you own enough ripper swarms - Why not, this model boasts W5, S6, I6, four attacks and a 3+ save. Independant Character status means you can hide this guy in squads of gargoyles, shrikes or skyslasher swarms (if you own those). Implant Attack plus rending means that multi-wound characters and models will go down quickly before the Parasite (not to meantion other Nids).
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Aside from that, the Parasite can breed rippers from enemy casualties and from outflanking units using toughness tests - added to it's other abilities, lack of invul and T4, you can pigeonhole this model into a troop hunter role - perfect for hunting down those space Marine squads where the Librarian is hidden and killing the Libby before he strikes (or any other cheap squad with a hero or lone MC). The Parasite can also be a means for cracking vehicles and then dissuading the enemy from charging, though depending on his squad, the parasite may get punished badly for this.
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The weaknesses of the Parasite include his T4 and his breeding ability makes him a liability in kill point games.
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I would use the Parasite in a list with a lot of other big units to distract from it - Tyrgons, MC spam, Zoanthropes ect. This way, it can make it up the board to get it's job done - the Parasite really needs a hearty squad to protect it - Gargoyles can lead to a lot of death through majority T3 and their 6+, but Shrikes on the other hand can provide a heartier unit that flies, can stand on its own and can also put up a fight along side the Parasite - I would go with boneswords, adrenal glands and toxin sacs to allow you to out inititiative most enemy units and to compliment the abilities of the Parasite. You just need to run a nasty list that stands aside from this unit, understand that it may not make it to the end and keep the squad in cover as it advances.
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When you breed rippers, push them out to be speed bumps, so the enemy either has to assault them to get to you or you can play leapfrog with them - playing against guard, if you can push into a flank with this unit, you can break out with a ton of rippers and distract his whole board edge, allowing the rest of your army to advance and dominate - the same goes when fighting any other mid to low toughness armies.
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In Conclusion, I would say that in general I wouldn't take the Parasite of Mortex in a take-all-comers list or a competitive environment, but I won't rule out that the Parasite can be really nasty in the hands of a good player and competitive if he really plays a lot with it and understands its tactics, but in general, I would leave it for the fun, pick-up games.
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As always, feedback is appreciated!