Warhammer World: Tyranid Cabinets

A downselection of a few of the tyranid cabinets at Warhammer World this evening. I really like the sheer number of the smaller beasts all packed closer together, just like the hive mind intended from the outset! The colouring of the purple brains is also really appealing to me for some reason. I'm not going to dwell on that thought too much though, its probably not healthy! 

Genestealer Cult Codex Excitement!

Seriously? A genestealer cult codex?

You know, I would not quite have believed it unless it was Games Workshop themselves announcing it. But: it was Games Workshop themselves! Horrah! I'm stoked!

As my very ultra long term readers might know, I harbour a love for the genestealer cult army, having had a range of figures from my earliest days in the hobby. I guess I got hooked on Space Hulk, that later turned in to the Deathwing expansion that included all the hybrid models. And I still really love them. Even if they don't come with a cult limo, I'm still very likely to purchase the new codex to be honest!

And to demonstrate just how far I travelled down the genestealer cult road ... here's a little conversion that I created many years ago -- its of a genestealer-ork hybrid model! I'm still fond of this idea personally, but can certainly see that its not the most common kind of xenos that one expects! (Yet it certainly was in the earlier publications; or at least hinted at within them that such hybrids could be created; along with Khorne worshipping orks!).

Warhammer World: Eldar vs Tyranids

In this epic diorama at Warhammer World, we see a large ensemble of Tyranid organisms invading an Eldar protected planet. There's so much to this diorama that its tough to talk through it all. In no particular order, I really liked the glowing yellow / red of the lava, the flying tyranid and Eldar battles in the skies, the drop pods from the hive mind, the Eldar war machines and titans marching to war and the way that the smaller organisms are cautiously winding along the narrow ledges to avoid falling in to the lava itself! Take a look and see what you can observe amongst all this goodness!

Warhammer World: Space Wolves vs Tyranids

This is an exhibit from the Imperial section of the Warhammer World displays. It features the Space Wolves chapter facing off an invasion of Tyranids across a frozen diorama. The images have some nice gems inside them, including modelling of icicles, as well as the Tyranid hanging off the tall spire at the back! I lingered on this exhibit for a long time, and came back to it repeatedly, each time, able to see and pick out more details of the ongoing battle that was unfolding around various focal points. A truly exquisite diorama that is up there with the Isstvan V diorama for me.

Tyranid Gaunt Prime Conversion

In a break and distraction from my usual pace, today I decided to mock up a "Gaunt Prime" miniature. This is a conversion featuring the standard Tyranid Gaunt body, combined with Carnifex claws to create something that looks very fearsome. 

The claws double up as not only a deadly close combat tool, but also a very rapid form of locomotion for the Gaunt to propel itself forward. I'll base it by pinning the downward pointing claw arm to a base to create a dynamic feeling for this miniature. No idea how I'll paint it just yet, this was just a simple conversion that I enjoyed doing, so thought I'd share it!

New Tyranids

The new welcome addition to the 6th edition of 40k is the Tyranids; available on pre-order as of today. Clearly there are many new miniatures and rules to be digested on the tyranids in the coming weeks. I don't want to add to the rumour mill myself at this stage - I'll content myself to read the rules when they're fully available.

Instead, I wanted to comment on the new miniature range available and what appeals to me about them. I'm going to start with the Haruspex/Exocrine. The Haruspex in a narrative manner is the large-scale equivalent to a ripper. Built to consume, this guy's maw is absolutely incredible! I love the detail in the maw and think it would be terrific to paint up in a green Nurglesque colour in a wicked daemon prince conversion. The Exocrine feels like a greater biovore in many ways. A living plasma cannon in some ways, and not too appealing to me.

The Harpy/Hive Crone is the second wonderful kit that has come out of this release. With a massive, glorious pair of wings, there is a lot to like about this kit.  The Harpy has a nice looking head coupled with a twin liked set of weapons. The overall impression is one of a sleek hunter, which to my mind works very well indeed.  The Hive Crone on the other hind looks interesting with the underwing creatures and the narrative of physically wrestling other aircraft out of the skies. Those underwing creatures (what are they called?) I think would look great on their own circular base (as perhaps an alternate ripper swarm?).

The other new miniatures (tyranid warriors and hive guards) also make great updates - but I'm less excited about them compared to the previous two kits. That said, the fact that most (all?) of the weapon options are present is excellent.

I look forward to seeing some new lists based on the new tyranid codex and some beautiful paint jobs across the blogosphere.

6th ed. Allies: Not Before The Apocalypse!

There are some armies in 6th edition 40k that won't ally "Not Before The Apocalypse". Most notably, tyranids cannot ally with any other force in 40k.  There are also other combinations (daemons and grey knights -- what? no heretic inquisitors?), but tyranids seem to have been singled out as the only army without any ally options.  In some regards that isn't a surprise.

BUT.... if we're playing an apocalypse game, I'm allowed tyranid allies, right?! 

 *evil smile*

Genestealer with Feeder Tendrils

In common with other tyranid organisms, genestealers can exhibit a wide variety of adaptations and mutations.  In that regard, tyranids appeal to me as much as chaos does.  One of the more common adaptations are the feeder tendrils (as the old tyranid codex labelled them).  In the new tyranid codex, they do not serve any in-game purpose other than perhaps marking out Ymgral genestealers, but they can certainly add a degree of uniquness to a brood of genestealers that otherwise look similar.

The image is one of a batch of genestealers that I'm preparing to model and paint up for our continuing Wasp Campaign.  In that campaign, we're using *liberal* allies.  And since the old genestealer patriarch from rogue trader days sat on a throne with a chaos symbol on it, I thought "why not?". 

So, the only question remaining is what colour scheme should chaos-aligned tyranids be painted in?  What hive fleet might ally itself with a dark power? 

Planning a New Gaming Table

The starting point for a new gaming table is imaged below.  I have a number of basic ingredients that I intend to mix together to produce the final product:

(1) Two MDF boards that together measure 6'x4'.
(2) A slew of craters from Games Workshop.
(3) Some tyranid bits and pieces (notably the bits from the genestealers sprue).
(4) Assorted other bits, including dinosaur bones, plastic (styrene) sheets, and craft tiles.

The goal here is to create a Martian-like surface with some signs of activity a while ago.  Perhaps a planet that was sucked dry by the tyranids.  Perhaps a failed colonization.  Or simply an airless rock.  I intend to glue the craters and genestealer sprue bits to the surface, and then use polyfilla (or similar) to create a more sandy appearance.  For the dinosaur bones, I may not include them with the board, but instead create some scatter terrain from them.



Wargames Gallery: Imperial Fists Advance

Tracking across a heartless Tyranid infested landscape, the Imperial Fists approach the chaos-held bastions.

I liked the paint scheme of these vehicles very much.  Not only is yellow a tough colour to work with, but the attention to detail on these vehicles is awesome.  Check out the battle damage in particular, as well as the muddy shading on the lower regions.

Tyranids from Galactic Cannibalism?

Theoretical: The space between galaxies is expanding according to Hubble's Law. But more than that, the expansion rate is accelerating. Hence the distance that you think you need to traverse to get to another galaxy now will be even larger in the future.

Hypothesis: Codex: Tyranids suggests that the Great Devourer came from the voids between galaxies.  i.e. they have traversed this great distance.  Whilst not impossible in a physical sense (i.e. they'd take less than the age of the Universe to do so), it is probable that they came from only the nearest galaxies if this is true.  Hence it may be physically difficult to accept that the tyranids are attacking the Milky Way from multiple angles (out of the plane of the Milky Way's disk, and along the plane) as that would suggest multiple tyranid origins (i.e. they're come at us from different galaxies on opposite sides of the Milky Way).  So, I'd like to propose a new hypothesis: tyranids come from Galactic Cannibalism.  We know that the Milky Way is gobbling up the Large and Small Magellanic clouds as well as the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy. Hence I'd like to propose that the tyranids originated in one of those gobbled up galaxies.  This solves the issue of the tyranids coming at us from multiple directions with grace -- the destruction of their original galaxies would sling shot those original stars throughout the Milky Way with ease. And Occam's razor suggests it is the better (simpler!) explanation :)

New miniatures: Tervigons, Swarm Lord, Thunder Wolves ...

Games workshop has announced the release of their new miniatures available for advance order.  These include the tervigon, the swarmlord and thunder wolves in plastic form; alongside other finecast products.

In the case of the swarmlord / hive tyrant, the set includes plastic wings.  Cool!

Battle Report: Chaos Space Marines vs. Tyranids (200 points / Kill Zone)

To help promote the Kill Zone rules, this post is a mini battle report on a small band of chaos space marines against a bunch of genestealers. My list cheated slightly: I had (unknowingly) one too many 2+ save models (doh). (Sorry Jim, I clearly didn't read the rules closely enough!).

My Chaos Space Marine team consisted of:
3 Chaos Terminators, 1 combi-melta (95 points) (team leader has the combi melta)
5 Khorne Berzerkers (105 points)

Meanwhile, the opposing tyranids were:
10 genestealers, with 1 broodlord (200 points) (team leader is the broodlord)

We stopped short of having any of the optional upgrades, but the genestealers could have done swift as the wind.

The set-up was a small area, littered with craters and small rubble piles (difficult terrain). I think the set-up will favour my marines since it'll leave the genestealers with precious little cover. The mission is 1.4 (extreme prejudice).

Turn 1.
I bunch my terminators up together and head toward the nearest crater. The shoot and kill two genestealers straight away, despite a cover save. Those twin linked bolters are good, even if they're not storm bolters. The khorne berzerkers, I keep a bit looser and allow them to prowl as lone wolves. They move up on the genestealers but fail to kill any. In return, the genestealers oblige by moving closer and then running even closer.

Turn 2.
Another dead genestealer to my terminators reduces their number to 7, plus the broodlord. One berzerker manages to get in combat with a genestealer but is promptly slain on their sharp claws. Three genestealers charge two more berzerkers. One berzerker dies, but two genestealers also perish.

Turn 3.
Two berzerkers charge the broodlord and kill it. One more berzerker dies in exchange though. The terminators take down a further genestealer, but can't manage a "kill zone" since the unengaged genestealers are spread too far apart. A further berzerker perishes to a genestealer.

Turn 4.
This is the genestealers turn of glory. Taking the initiative and using the reactive assault rule, they wipe out the remaining berzerkers and move toward the terminators in their crater.

Turn 5.
My terminators reduce the genestealers down to four in number (pictured). The genestealers then charge. One dead terminator and two dead genestealers.

Turn 6.
The remaining pair of terminators finally manage to break the genestealers and they rout. As they run, they viciously gun them down. ++ Victory to the forces of chaos. But only just. It was a narrow match!

Finally.
Next time, we're going to look more closely at some of the flavour options! Swift as the wind and armoured might look cool. I'm also going to work toward having a sons of malice kill team that can double up as chaos chosen & terminators in a standard game.

Tyranid scenery from the New Codex

So, I've been having a closer look at some of the pictures in the new Tyranid codex. In particular, I've been looking at some of the towers / spires -- the ones with the teeth sticking out of them. If you inspect them closely enough, it becomes apparent that they're all the same cast with all the intiricate details being exactly the same on each of them.

To be specific: I'm suggesting that they're all from the same mould / production process; just painted a little bit differently and photographed with different light conditions / directions. On the back page of the codex, I count at least 10 of theses toothed monstrosities reaching for the sky. Hence they've been mass produced prior to the release of the codex.

I'm wondering if these gems are going to be released by Games Workshop at some point in the future, in much the same way that we saw the fortress of redemption released? Has anyone seen them anywhere else? Just a random thought :)

Glamour of Tzeentch and the New Tyranid Codex

I'm a little behind everyone else, but I finally got the new tyranid codex this week. One thing that I immediately thought about when reading all about the new swarm was "How are my daemon and chaos marine armies going to go about tackling them". Although my answer to this question is going to be a work in progress for some time, I did have one quick thought about daemons.

In short: does the Changeling still work? I've written about the Changeling facing off against Tyranids about a year ago; but obviously under the old codex. But just to recap: this squad upgrade can force other units to take a leadership test which if failed, can cause the opposing unit to fire at their own squads. As I read the new tyrandid rules, I believe that this tactic is still valid. Hormagaunts: prepare to be glamour'd by Tzeentch! With a leadership value of 6, they make ideal targets in the Tyranid army for the Changeling to target. Gargoyles, biovores and pyrovores all have similarly low leadership.

But my new aim is to find a Tyrannofex to use the glamour against...
Or maybe even build a flying swarm army ... I really like the plastic gargoyle models!

Poll Open for the January Army List Challenge

There are three army lists to choose between this month: Heinz' Ultramarines, Suneokun's Guard, and Farmpunk's Sisters. This month, the theme of the army list challenge was to design a list capable of taking on a tyranid horde in a standard battle (Capture and Control with Table Quarters set-up). But the horde was not the normal one: it consisted of lots and lots of flying tyranids (gargoyles, flying tyrants, and so on).

Which of the three lists do you consider to be the most effective army list that also best articulates the theme? The poll is open! Results will be tallied and posted on 28th/Jan.

Here's the lists:

(1) Heinz.
Landing on a Tyranid infested planet to delay the inevitable and retrieve artifacts? Who else but the Emperors finest for such a task! And if it's going the be the Emperor's finest; Who else but the Ultramarines!!

The Ultramarines Special Character Army!

Sicarius

Sternguard Squad (8)
Power Fist, Combi-Flamer, Drop Pod

Tactical Squad 1
Power Fist, Combi-Flamer, Flamer, Missile Launcher, Counter Attack, Drop Pod

Tactical Squad 2
Combi-Plasma, Plasma Gun, Plasma Cannon, Rhino

Scout Squad (10)
Tellion, Heavy Bolter

Vindicator
Chronus, Siege Shield

Whirlwind

Whirlwind

Total 1500pts.


Upon reaching the planet, Sicarius deploys Tellion and his scouts right away to confirm the location of the artifacts and scout out the digestion pool. Fortunately or not, they are both close by! Tellion regroups his scouts back to the ruins where the artifacts are hidden.

Meanwhile, under the command of Chronus, a defensive armoury consisting of a Vindicator, 2 Whirlwinds and the Second Tactical Squad in Rhino was prepped and deployed in two thunderbird transporters right after the scouts to secure the artifacts.

Once word reached Sicarius from Tellion that the digestion pool was so close to the artifact, Sicarus wasted no time ordering an immediate strike after a brief glance at the tactical map; deploying himself with the First Tactical Squad via drop pod to land just as Chronus' detachment started bombarding the digestion pool. The Sternguard Squad would be deployed from reserve to pump rapid fire hellfire rounds into the flying Tyrant spotted in the area.

Well... At least that's how I envisioned it in my head...

Sicarius drop pods next to a forward brood of gargoyles and burns them with the dual flame templates. The drop pod will provide valuable cover for the Vindicator. Sicarius and the squad should be mostly okay considering the the support from 2 Whirlwinds, a Vindicator and Tellion's full sniper Scout squad. It's just a simple case of blast & blast away.

The second Tactical squad's role is be a mobile plasma pillbox to target TMC and other 2+ nids. It's also the only mobile scoring unit depending on which objective requires more scoring units.

The Sternguard land next to the flying Tyrant and just pump hellfire rounds into it. It's got to fail some saves. The Power Fist will finish it off.

Some odd justifications
- Use of expensive special characters mean I had to multiply my firepower by using as many large blast weapons, blast weapons and templates as possible.
- Siege shield to brush aside the lush flora and fauna that first drew the Tyranids
- Chronus because he keeps shooting that lovely demoliser cannon until weapon destroyed or wrecked.
- Missile Launcher on the first Tactical squad because it's the classic counterpart to the flamer.
- Combi-Flamer on the Sternguard incase they need to drop next to a brood of gargoyles.


(2) Suneokun
When facing flying nasties the key to victory is speed and firepower. It also helps if your whole army comes in a nicely armoured shell!

Option #1: Flight of the Mad Brigade

Primaris Psyker #1 70
Primaris Psyker #2 70

Sly Marbo 65

Veterans #1: shotguns, 1 Grenade Launcher and 2 Melta Gun's, Demolitions 125
Veterans #2: shotguns, 3 Melta Gun's, Demolitions 130
Veterans #3: shotguns, 3 Melta Gun's, Demolitions 130
Veterans #4: shotguns, 3 Melta Gun's, Demolitions 130

6 x Valkyries with Rocket Pods: 780

Tactics: this list is designed to out dogfight the horde. It starts on the board and immediately lights up any larger creatures (Flying Warriors for example) with S6 dakka. Once the badguys have closed then the Valks revert to a 12" move and 6 rocketpods a turn to keep the hivemind away. Marbo's your 'ace in the hole', giving you an anti lictor or Warrior killer option with his Demo pack. The melta's may look out of place, but they're actually 'sacrifice' units for killing Warriors and MC's... I think these guys would give a good game, but my option 2 is the 'meat and potatoes'...

Option #2: Come and get me...

Primaris Psyker #1 70
Primaris Psyker #2 70

Sly Marbo 65

Infantry HQ #1 with heavy flamer and 3 flamers, in Chimera with extra armour, heavy stubber and heavy flamer 145
Squad #1: Flamer in Chug as above: 135
Squad #2: Flamer in Chug as above: 135

Infantry HQ #2 with heavy flamer and 3 flamers, in Chimera with extra armour, heavy stubber and heavy flamer 145
Squad #1: Flamer in Chug as above: 135
Squad #2: Flamer in Chug as above: 135

3 x Hellhounds (separate) with heavy bolter and extra armour.

This lot are designed to take the first punch. The Multilasers, Primaris Psykers and Heavy bolters bring S6 death to any warriors on the board. This gives them a potential 'protection zone', as the gargoyles struggle to close without synapse.

The tank take a shooting/charge and then smack the nids with tank shock and apply multiple flamer death.

Each command Chug can pump out 2 Heavy flamer and 3 flamer shots (and a las pistol too - woop!) each squad chug can offer a flamer and a heavy flamer. The primaris psykers go dark on the lead chugs (Nightshroud), forcing lots of low level leadership nids to 'try' to shoot them.

As above, Marbo's the ace in the hole. Killing Warriors when he arrives.


(3) Farmpunk.
ok, so here I go to take a crak at the newest codex using one of the older codexes. I ACTUALLY get to use some of the WitchHunter's toys for this one. primarially, I'm going with a nasty one:
Blessed Ammo.
What's that? ah. psychic charged bullets that ignore cover. so here goes:

HQ:
Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor Lord (Bolt pistol, CCW, Psychic Hood, Psi-tracker, #Hammer of the Witches) (159pts)
2 Hbolter Servitors
1 penitent

The old school psychic hood works against any psychic power on the board, the Psi-tracker lets any unit in the force re-roll one to-hit roll vs a psyker, or psyker attached to it (probably will go to an exorcist shot).
Hammer of the Witches psychic power makes D6 psykers take Ld tests, or suffer a Perils of the warp.
The Penitent gives the squad 4+ save to psychic attacks directed against them, or that they are in the area of effect. if the save is made, the power is nullified.

Elites:
Celestian squad (3 bolters, 2 meltaguns)
Immolator (twin-linked Hflamer, that can move 12" and fire)(E. Armor) (158pts)

Celestian Squad (3 bolters, 2 meltaguns)
Immolator (twin linked Hflamer) (E. Armor) (158pts)

Troops:
Sisters of Battle Squad (7bolters, Hflamer, Flamer)
Veteran Sister Superior (bolter, book of St. Lucius)
Rhino (E. Armor, Pintle mounted Storm bolter, Blessed Ammunition) (222pts)

Sisters of Battle Squad (7bolters, Hflamer, flamer)
Veteran Sister Superior (Bolter, Book of St. Lucius)
Rhino (E. Armor, Pintle mounted Storm bolter, Blessed Ammunition) (222pts)

Sisters of Battle squad (7bolters, Hflamer, flamer)
Veteran Sister Superior (Bolter, Book of St. Lucius)
Rhino (E. Armor, Pintle mounted storm bolter, blessed Ammunition) (222pts)

Heavy Support:
Exorcist (E. Armor) (140pts)
Exorcist (E. Armor) (140pts)
Immolator (twin-linked Hbolter, Blessed Ammunition, E. Armor)


ok, all of the Celestians and Sisters have a 5+ to nullify psychic powers used against them, the inq. has a 4+.
I've brought a psychic hood to nullify psychic powers as well. Hammer of the witches is to annoy psykers, and because I don't ever use it. The psi-tracker re-roll to-hit once a turn vs. a psyker is nice as well. It should help take down the big controller bugs.

Immolators are nice since they can move 12" and still use their twin-lined Hflamers. if needed, they can move 6" and also fire the 2 meltas on the Celestians.

The Sisters Squads should be good harassment with the 4 Stormbolter shots that ignore cover from their rhinos. The Hflamer/flamer combo should be able to make a LOT of crunchy bugs.
If the rhino gets popped, the Book allows the squad, and anyone within 6" to choose to make unmodified Ld checks at the Veteran's Ld.

The Exorcists are there to Kill Monsterous Creatures. Especially lynchpin bugs, and big gun bugs. They love to see high T, 2+ armor go splat.

The Immolator with Blessed Ammo is for the Inquisitor to get in, and to gun down bigger bugs hiding in cover.

I figure that with most of the nids having 5+ armor, ignoring cover saves will be nice. I've got a lot of Hflamers with mobility, and bolters that ignore cover.

My entire force is meant to stay in their vehicles, and out of CC, unless they can deliver a devastating blow, and stay out of assault range. All of the Sororitas units are covered by 5+ nullification to psychic powers, and can all use faith. Depending on the situation, I've got 5 faith points to work with, and a good variety of ways to use it.

I should be able to make my way across the board to get the objective, and then die the glorious death of martyrs.

January Army List Challenge

Welcome to the first Army List Challenge of 2010! This one taps in to the Tyranid feeling that abounds this month.

Overview of the Challenge
Your team has been tasked with landing on a Tyranid target planet that is in the early stages of infestation. All around, there are flying tyranids that are mobbing and killing the local fauna (i.e. gargoyles, flying hive tyrants, etc.). Soon, there will be more tyranid life forms present on this doomed world, but for now its still early days. If you can capture the Tyranid digestion pool (an objective), then you will delay the inevitable for a little while longer and enable other parts of your army to retrieve important artifacts elsewhere on the planet's surface.

The game is a standard mission: Capture and Control with a spearhead deployment (table quarters). You opposition features a tyranid list in which nearly all of the models are able to fly. That means lots of gargoyles!

Rules.
(1) Design a 1500 points army list for this mission from any codex.
(2) Post your army lists as a comment to this posting and suggest why they're well suited to this mission. In particular, specify why they'll be good at tackling a large mob of flying tyranids and well-able to capture both objectives despite the large numbers of the opposition and their ability to swoop in at the last moment.
(3) On Jan 21st 2010, I'll start a voting poll that will be open for 1 week to vote for what Warpstone Flux readers consider to be the "most effective army list that also best articulates the theme" (whatever readers interpret that to mean) out of all entrants.
(4) Winner will be tallied and announced on Jan 28th.

Remember, the real aim of these challenges is to help others design effective army lists that are both themed and effective. There are no prizes beyond honour and kudos!

Another Ork Tyranid Hybrid

"I waz gonna say sumfink, but last time we 'ad a fight, 'is 'eadbutt nocked out seven of me teef. I waz like skint for weeks."

--Attributed to one of the boyz who thought that the new hybrid lot were a bit un-orky.
I'm beginning to warm to the idea of ork / tyranid / genestealer hybrids! This one is a standard ork boy, with a tyranid warrior head part. They've been put together with a combination of glue and milliput (greenstuff). A very, very simple conversion all in all. Yet, somehow, very effective. The tyranid warrior's head perfectly suits the size of the ork's head and fits snugly over the top. For me, it really communicates the concept that I thought about in the original posting I made on this idea. The paint scheme follows the previous one: purple skin, with some Khorne runes here and there from plundered parts. The tyranid head was outlined in ultramarine blue and given some thin line streaks toward the rear of the the head in a grey colour. Otherwise, the painting was rather similar to the previous ork hybrid.

Battle Summary: Daemons vs. Tyranids (1000 pts)

Overview:
Board: square 6' x 4'
Mission: Capture and Control
Deployment: Spearhead (Table Quarters)
Terrain: A number of woodland areas coupled with two brick ruins.

Daemons Army List:
HQ: Khorne herald on a juggernaut with blessings of the blood god (110)
Troops 1: 8 Bloodletters (128)
Troops 2: 8 Bloodletters (128)
Troops 3: 10 Plaguebearers with icon and instrument (180)
Troops 4: 9 Horrors with icon, bolt of Tzeentch and instrument (193)
Heavy Support 1: Daemon Prince with iron hide and daemonic gaze (130)
Heavy Support 2: Daemon Prince with iron hide and daemonic gaze (130)

First Wave: Herald with Bloodletters 1, horrors, daemon prince
Secondary Wave: Bloodletters 2, plaguebearers, daemon prince

Tyranids Army List:
HQ: Flying Hive Tyrant with lash whip, bonesword and venom cannon, toxic miasma (166)
Elites 1: Warrior Brood - 3 warriors with death spitters and rending claws (84)
Elites 2: Warrior Brood - 3 warriors with death spitters and rending claws (84)Troops: 10 Genestealers with feeder tendrils and scuttling (200)
Troops: 22 Gaunts with fleshborers (132)
Troops: 20 Hormagaunts with initiative adrenal glands (220)
Heavy Support: 2 Zoanthropes with warp blast (110)

Pre-game and set-up:
The Tyranid player reserves the genestealers. Presumably, they're to come on and try to contest (or control) my home objective later on in the game. Meanwhile, I roll and see that my chosen first wave IS going to be the first wave. I place my home objective in cover, but otherwise as close to my opponents as I can I probably should have gone much closer. My opponent has his deep within his table quarter. Shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'm more bothered by the sheer number of miniatures I'm seeing across the table. They're nicely spaced out as well even though I don't have template weapons.

My opponent elects to go first having won the die roll. That makes me happy.

Turn 1.
The hormagaunts, gaunts, flyrant and one brood of warriors comes forward. Everything else stays put.

My bloodletters (with herald) arrive and scatter toward the enemy lines. I see that as fortunate as I can now make a turn 2 assault with these guys. My horrors land bang on target and have a wonderful line of sight to the hormagaunts. My daemon prince scatters sideways from where I intended him to be, but still has line of sight for daemonic gaze. Here's the situation sketched below:

The two "X"s are the objective markers, the dark rectangles are ruins and the dark green circles are woodland areas. Firstly, I have the daemon prince open fire on the warrior brood infront of him. With some lucky rolling and poor saving throws, each warrior is already down to 1 wound each. My bloodletters run and space themselves out, expecting some incoming warpblasts next turn. Meanwhile, the horrors let rip on the hormagaunts that are out in the open. They reduce their numbers from 20 down to 9 immediately - again some lucky rolling on my part there.

Turn 2.
The genestealers are still scuttling around and don't show up. The flyrant leaps in to the ruins, the hormagaunts come forward, as does the warrior brood nearest to the daemon prince along with the gaunts.

The flyrant causes one horror to die from its venom cannon. The bloodletters suffer two casualties from the gaunts, and the daemon prince is reduced to its last wound from a combination of both broods to warriors and the zoanthropes.

Now here's a mistake. Having landed in the ruins, the flyrant has to take a difficult terrain test to charge and can only travel 1 inch! It doesn't make the horrors! The hormagaunts easily make the horrors, though. The gaunts charge the bloodletters and the warrior brood charges the daemon prince easily enough through the woodland.

As the flyrant watches on, the hormagaunts tear in to the horrors, inflicting 3 further casualties and reducing them down to 5. The remaining horrors cause 3 hormagaunt casualties in return. It would ordinarily be a draw, but thanks to the instrument, the horrors have won! Still in synapse range, the remaining hormagaunts stay put.

Meanwhile, the daemon prince dispatches the (already wounded) warrior brood with graceful ease. The bloodletter casualties are racking up though: 4 more dead from the gaunts. But since they're at equal initiative with the bloodletters, they strike back hard: 9 dead gaunts. There are two bloodletters left, alongside the herald, but 12 gaunts.

In my turn, the plaguebearers and second mob of bloodletters decide to show up. I deepstrike the plaguebearers near to my "home" objective and run them in to cover during the shooting phase. Meanwhile, the second lot of bloodletters deep strike off the horror's icon to be close to their other brethren. Much like the plaguebearers, they also run during shooting. The daemon prince shoots at the flyrant, causing 1 wound.

In the subsequent melee, my herald readily dispatches 4 gaunts without breaking a sweat (do daemons sweat?). The gaunts fail to cause any wounds on my herald in exchange, leaving the other bloodletters to take the skulls of several of the remaining gaunts. There's now 5 gaunts left.

Although brutally injured by the hormagaunts, the horrors pass all but one saving throw and inflict 3 kills in exhange. This leaves 3 hormagaunts facing off 4 horrors.

Turn 3.
My opponent is determined to use the tyrant to control my home objective. I suggest to him that he might want to consider finishing the horrors off, but he's having none of it and flies toward the plaguebearers position. The genestealers still have not shown up though. In the shooting phase, the zoanthropes finish off my daemon prince with some choice blasts. The other warrior brood opens fire on the second squad of bloodletters. Most of the incoming blast templates scatter far and wide, but one hits and slays one of them. In the assault phase, the flyrant charges the plaguebearers. Here's the sitatuion now:

The flyrant kills one of the plaguebearers. My opponent realizes his mistake now as the plaguebearers, despite having only 1 attack each, can still wound the flyrant on a 4+. Three poisoned wounds later, the flyrant is hurting. Two save, so the flyrant has three wounds left. What might have been a drawn combat turns in to a plaguebearer victory with the instrument. The flyrant loses another wound.

The horrors, meanwhile win by 1 wound and cause a leadership test on the hormagaunts who are now outside of synapse range! The hormaguants are suddenly no more and the remaining two horrors look happy with themselves.

The herald also cleans up the remaining gaunts, leaving the bloodletters freed up.

Finally its my turn. My second daemon prince arrives and deepstrikes in next to the plaguebearer and flyrant melee. My hearld takes his remaining two bloodletters on a charge toward the zoanthropes. My second set of bloodletters know they'll be out of charge range if they follow, so I take a gamble and move them southward toward my home objective. The remaining horrors move in to the central ruins but are out of shooting range of anything.

Nothing to shoot, so it's charging time. The hearld rams in to the zoanthropes. Going first thanks to furious charge and having an extra attack means that the herald and bloodletters slaughter the zoanthropes in a heartbeat.

The flyrant is getting bogged down with these plaguebearers: two plaguebearers die but the flyrant is reduced to its final wound. One more plaguebearer goes back to the warp at combat resolution. There's still 6 of them left though. It should be sufficient, with a bit of luck... and maybe some help from the daemon prince that's lurking nearby.

Turn 4.
The genestealers make an entrance on the right hand side of the map and move toward my home objective. The warrior brood shoots the bloodletters that are headed their way and kills the remaining to bloodletters. The herald is still yet to receive a single wound.

Taking the initiative, the warriors charge the herald of Khorne. The hearald causes a healthy four wounds (two warriors left) and doesn't suffer anything in exhange! At my home objective, two more plaguebearers die. I fail to finish the job though.

In my turn, I charge the daemon prince in to the flyrant and move my bloodletters between the plaguebearers and genestealers. Those genestealers will have to come through the bloodletters to to contest my objective. I also move my horrors in to shooting range of the warrior brood, should my herald fail.

But I needn't have worried. The herald finishes the job readily and smugly sits himself next to the objective. The charging daemon prince also slays the flyrant.

At this point, there's only the genestealers left on the board. I control my home objective and am contesting my opponents. If the game extends to turn 6, my horrors could be in range to claim my the other objective as well. Seeing the bloodletters and daemon prince between the genestealers and the plaguebearers, my opponent graciously conceeds the game.

Result: Daemons win.

Evaluation.
The Khorne Herald was magnificent. Moreover, it is a very cheap HQ choice which leaves open more points for things like bloodletters. Plaguebearers once again proved their worth in objective holding. The horrors were lucky; very lucky.

The flyrant made a number of mistakes but I don't think it would have mattered too much if the flyrant had have finished off the horrors either. There were too many daemons with too many power weapons. The genestealers would have made it in to a different game had they been deployed next to the hormagaunts though.

Ork Hybrid

Not too far removed from Octavius, there is a remote M-class star, around which orbits a solitary Jovian type planet. In turn, a large natural Moon supporting its own atmosphere and biosphere orbits said Jovian. For millennia, little had disturbed the Moon. Little that is, until the arrival of a battered and stolen rogue trader's vessel. On board were chaos renegades, both astartes and humans fleeing from imperial space. It was on this Moon that their vessel set-down to carry out essential and critical repairs. And to evade both the chasing agents of the false emperor and the true owners of the vessel for a time.

Sadly for the unwitting renegades, they carried with them dormant ork spores: in the airlocks, under the soles of their shoes, and in a plethora of other nooks and crannies of the rogue trader's ship. They either had no time to follow standard biosecurity procedures or didn't know how to fully operate the vessel - no surprise given their lack of techpriests. The result was the same in either case.

On the Moon, the renegades were forced to stay marooned for weeks as repairs progressed painfully slowly. The weeks developed in to months. And the vessel came no closer to getting fixed despite the beseeching of the pantheon of chaos. The renegades had truly lost track of the amount of time they'd been there when they sighted the first ork and took their first casualties.

Resources were redirected into defending the stricken vessel; their home. Scouting parties were sent out. Repairs were halted. But it wasn't enough. The time between each wave of greenskin raid was perhaps over a year to begin with. Then months. Then days. They didn't hold out long after that.

In control of the Moon, the orks set about the old vessel with a new waaaaaaa in mind. With a more intuitive feel for the vessel's systems, they made quicker progress to repairing it than the humies ever did. It was then that the Great Devourer came.

A tiny splinter fleet, possibly from Octavius, perhaps elsewhere hungered for the biomass of the Moon. A remarkable thing happened, though. The orks repulsed the invading species. But somewhere along the line, a new species was created. Part ork, part tyranid. New orks emerged from the flora. The older orks saw them for the unorky creatures that they were and set about exterminating them. But no new purebreed orks were being created. All their spores were turning into hybrids. The hybrids came to replace the old order of the orks. They took over the repairs of the vessel and succeeded.

Aims and Model.
Rummaging around my bits box, I came across a very old plastic ork body and head. Originally, I had thought to create an ork-genestealer hybrid as I had also found an old space hulk plastic genestealer arm that had long since snapped off its original model. But I also found an old tyranid bone sword arm. Could I possibly use all of them in one model? You bet. Add in to the mix a chaos marine bolter (slugga?!), a khorne berzerker scabbard, a space marine shoulder pad, and I had all the parts for an interesting conversion!

The only parts that needed a bit of greenstuff was where the arms attached to the shoulder parts - they were the wrong size. The marine shoulder pad disguises this on one side of the miniature, but on the other side pure greenstuff was used to bulk out the shoulder joint.

Painting.
There was one rule here: the skin was to be something other than green! I chose purple in the end as it seemed fitting for a hybrid model. After undercoating in black, the basecoat was worm purple over the exposed ork and tyranid flesh areas. This was followed up with a purple ink and highlighting by mixing the purple with bleached bone in a number of layers.

The leather armour was coated in brown, inked brown / black, and highlighted with bleach bone. The bolter (slugga) was drybrushed in silver along with the shoulder pad and the scabbard on the ork's back. Red was applied on the lower portions of the scabbard, the bolter, and across the shoulder pad. However, when I painted this miniature it was a very warm day (some 30 deg C with high humidity) and the red didn't dry evenly on the shoulder pad. As it dried, it cracked over. At first I was very bothered by this. But then I thought: wouldn't the original renegade's equipment be remarkably damaged by this point in the narrative? More than likely. So, I left it as is and painted Khorne's symbol over the top of it.

The bone sword was painted in sunburst yellow, progressing to white toward the tip. Brown and bleached bone was applied to the lower portions of the sword and a similar prescription was done with the genestealer claw arm. Several streaks of brown were carefully drawn upward on the bonesword to make it look old and well used. Final details (eyes, teeth) were completed in bleached bone and white.

Evaluation:
Positives: A most unusual miniature! I like how this has turned out on the whole; especially given how many different spare parts make up the creature and the various painting styles (genestealer, Khorne, ork) that were used.
Negatives: I got worried by the cracked red paint on the shoulder pad, but grew to like it. Further, I'm genuinely worried I might start a chaos-worshipping ork-hyrbid army now. Can I resist?