So we decided to play the “Wave Assault” from the Mission Book. The day started out with me lining up all my Tyranids into the three groups for the assault, one for each front while Mike and Darryn deployed there Space Marines and Eldar into their deployment zone. Separating my list into three groups was a bit of a mind bender, with synapse range to consider I had to split my force up. I went for two stronger groups and one small groups with a little punch, in the form of Zoanthopes.
Space Marines and Eldar deployment, a formidable force including 4 Gave vehicles and 2 Space Marine Predators. 
My first group deploy along the left flank , with Mike’s Death Company dead in their sites. But all those vehicles not far behind were a little daunting.
Mike’s Death Company take a pounding from my first round of shooting as the Dice God’s laughs as Mike fails lots of saves.
My Tervagon spawns 10 more grunts but rolls a double and stops spawning for the rest of the game. I lose a few Termagaunts in the shooting round but nothing else is in range so an easy and quick turn 1.
Turn 2 see’s one of Darryn’s Gav Tanks zooms in and deploy some troops right in front of my 32 Termagaunts giving them something to shoot at and with a Space Marine Dreadnought steaming forward into position. My Tervagon charges the Gav Tank and managed to completely miss everything. My second group deploys along the front, including my Hive Tyrant and a Tyrgon Prime and lots of troops. They poured in, engaging a squad of marines, and my Genestealers assaulted the Predator. This turn saw my Tyranids take a massive pounding. The Baal Predator flamed 80% of my Gargoyles before they even got to shoot at anything and the ripper swarms got barbequed quickly. My genestealers got completely decimated after the damaged Predator limped off leaving them in the open to be cut down by the Eldar.
Turn 3 sees the rest of my Tyranids deploy on the right flank, with all the shooting failing. To short or just simply missing or those damn Medic’s and Armour saves. Then in my Ravenors assault and hit on every roll only to have them all.. yes all save, unfortunatly they take one wound and end up fleeing.
We battle it out until turn 5, at which point most of my Tyranids are dead, with my Trygon and all my heavy support dead in turn 4, I have no way of taking out the vehicles as the Dreadnought stomps though my remaining troops.
All in all a really fun game, a great mission to play with lots different things to think about. My lack of play and remembering the rules meant I missed out a a good few dice rolls in the first few turns, but I don’t think it would have changed the outcome. The combination of Eldar and Space Marines was down right nasty especially with what Mike and Darryn fielded. looking forward to the next game,
Darryn has written up this Prelude for our 3000pts game tomorrow. Tyrainds vs Space Marines and Eldar.
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Captain Laevinus regarded the ancient Xenos structure. It certainly didn't look like any transport machinery used in the imperium, which would be humming and sparking, the air pungent with the aromas of the incenses and unguents of the acolytes of the machine spirit. In contrast, this machine looked like nothing more than another old ruin, though he could not deny that it was responding to the Eldar group around it who were, of all things, singing at it.
The Farseer's melodic voice cut through the music - though even this, mused Laevinus, seemed only to enhance its beauty, "It will take the bonesingers some time to complete their task. I suggest that your men take up defensive positions, the enemy will be here soon". Laevinus regarded the Eldar through narrow eyes. Though it was true that she had not yet demonstrably lied to him at any point, he knew that the aliens' reputation was of untrustworthiness, and she still refused to tell him what the Eldar were doing on Altus 4.
Laevinus had come to the planet after the governor had put out an emergency call to help quell a rebellion which had taken over more than half of the planetary defence force. When the strike cruiser 'Litany of Vengeance' arrived, they had found the planetary palace under siege. After clearing the immediate threat, Laevinus force tracked down the leaders of the revolt and dropped directly into their headquarters, determined to strike at the heart of the cancer. What a cancer it turned out to be, at the heart of the rebellion was a genestealer cult. Laevinus had led his men through dark subterranean caverns, dripping with aliens ichor and filled with half human monstrosities, while the thick layers of plascrete above them cut off all communication. Breaking through to the very heart of the alien lair, Laevinus had found the core of the cult, all lending their voice to a singular chant. Their leader, a bald tattooed parody of true humanity, surrounded by his harem of dominated women, mocked the space marines, telling them that they were too late, that the great devourer had come. Laevinus had ended his life with a single shot from hist bolt pistol, while his men exterminated the chanters. Returning to the surface, however, Laevinus found that the magus had been all too correct. As soon as they were within communicator range, the 'Litany of Vengeance' reported that they were under heavy attack. Reaching the surface, the space marines saw the sky begin to turn black as thousands of mycetic spores dropped from the leaden skies. Unable to lower their shields for teleport, the ship dispatched gunships to retrieve Laevinus' men, but they were torn apart by swarms of gargoyles and tyranid shrikes before they could descend halfway through the atmosphere. Within minutes, the strike cruiser was overwhelmed, the last communication from the captain to Laevinus was to seek cover. Realising what the crew were about to do, Laevinus led his men back into the bunker of the genestealer warren. The 'Litany of Vengeance' then lived up to its name. Descending into the atmosphere, it detonated its plasma engines in the heart of the tyranid horde. When the space marines emerged again, they found nothing but devastation and corpses. Only their blessed power armour protected them from the incredible doses of hard radiation left by the explosion. Laevinus was torn - he knew that his duty was to get off the doomed planet, but could see no way to do so - even if he could find a ship it would simply be overwhelmed by the fleet of hiveships above the planet. Instead he resolved to sell the lives of his men dearly. That was when the Eldar had turned up. Usually Laevinus would have had nothing to do with the Xenos scum, but he acknowledged that the space marines were in a desperate situation, and the aliens could hardly lead them into a worse trap. They had promised a way off Altus 4, and the only price was helping to protect the bonesingers while they activated it. The only other real question Laevinus had managed to get answered was why didn't they leave the way they had come - the answer was that the Strike Cruiser's detonation had destroyed that avenue.
For the past three days, then, the combined force had travelled across the once verdant landscape of Altus 4, now pockmarked with alien vegetation taking root. All the time Laevinus aesthetic soul had been at war with his mistrust. Everything the Eldar did, from walking and running through to battle or simply taking meals was performed with an effortless artistry that thrilled the blood angel to watch. Nevertheless he was glad when, with the Tyranids closing in, they had reached this destination. Now, assuming that the Eldar delivered on their promise, all they had to do was hold out long enough to open the gate. Laevinus turned away and began ordering his men into position.
Over the last week I’ve been chipping away at the Valkyrie, I finished up the pilots and cockpit, and got the main fuselage together and undercoated.
And today I got the three primary colours ait brushed on. I tried just using masking tape this time and it work well, but I need to take a little bit more care as some of the areas weren’t completely covered. I don’t think I’ll have problems with them as some weather effects will help hide them.
With my success of the Chimera and the airbrushing, I decided to tackle a Valkyrie. I’ve wanted one since they first got released. And thanks to January’s sale at Maelstrom, my latest distraction arrived on Thursday. I’ve started with the interior and started planning the exterior paint job.
Having had a good look around online at some WWI and WWII aircraft, I found a few images that that caught my eye. I like the different nose details and the chequers are could be a addition.
I also have some delusions of doing some freehand details, like they had on some of the lager bombers. Time will tell if my delusions come true.
Today I spent a a lot of time slowly painting bits on the Chimera. The slowly part came mainly from the fact I was with the lads yakking and watching videos while painting.
I started with a black wash over all the hull lines followed by some gunmetal metallic on the chips and scratch's. Followed by painting up the commander in the top hatch and a few details. It took a couple of goes to get the laser blast hole in the hull to look good, but I think it came out looking good in the end. I then got stuck in and spent a bit of time playing around with Vallejo Pigments that arrived in the mail the other day. Glorious mud. After experimenting with them a bit, it didn’t take long to get the hang of using them. I found this link that helped a lot. http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/blog/category/pigments/ . Finally I did an overcoat of Mona Matt finish to bring the shin back down and to help cement in the pigments.
A little more detail work on the commander and then finish off the main turret weapons and she will be all done. I’m really happy with the mud look, think a few more pigment colours may be in order to really get it looking awesome. Overall the pigments rock.
After spending a few hours painting the deck today (Yay for holidays) I thought I’d abuse the solvents a bit more. I Blue Tac’ed over the previous green then proceeded to add in the brown with the same airbrush technique. Once that was dry, I added in the decals and painted Matt finish over them. Then this evening I sprayed on a layer of gloss to hold everything in place and get ready for the washes. I also sculpted the mounts for the main turret weapons with green stuff after adding on the magnets.
After getting my airbrush for Christmas, and having played around with the Blood Angels Predator tank and then the Flames of War tank, I have gotten the bug.. that is the Tank bug. So it’s no real surprise that I’ve gone the Imperial Guard way.. the Baneblade is in my sites. But before I get onto something that large, I thought I’d start a little smaller and hone my skills a lot more on the airbrush and different techniques
I found a YouTube video on what other people have done as far as magnetizing a Chimera, I kept the construction pretty simple and decide to only magnetise the dozer blade and the main turret weapons. I kept it straight forward, drilled three small holes thought the dozer bracket while holding it in place on the chassis, drilled straight into the bottom of the hull and used these as pilot holes to drill large ones to accommodate the magnets. Then placed a bit of plastic card on the inside of the hull, this then allowed two magnets stacked to be popped into the hole with a little super glue. I then cut away enough space around the pilot holes in the dozer bracket to hold a magnet and super glued them in place.
I then took to the chassis with a knife and cut in some wear and tear along the body and placed several bullet holes around, added in a few scratch marks.. A.K.A Genestealer signatures. Then found a cool picture in the GW book “How to Paint Citadel Tanks” that I liked and got stuck in the the drill. With a few spear parts in the kit, I cut down one piece and used it as a repair, leaving a small amount of the underlying hole still showing,
Hear the pic from the GW book “How to Paint Citadel Tanks” page 65. I then primed it in black and got some cheap Chinese rip off of Blue Tac and went crazy.
So with blue tac in place I blaster away with the airbrush on my first coat. Being a blue tac virgin I am please to say the experience was for the most part all good. (Cheap Chinese knock-off of blue tac, add in a hot summer day, the stuff sticks to every damn thing – but for $3 it does the job well)
This whole project was about trying out new things, the Air brush to start with then anything else I could find to play around with. I spent the day painting, and trying out new things. First thing I tried out was the gloss finish over everything, then putting in the shadow lines with a thin mixture of paint, this worked really well with the paint running into the corners easily. Then the plan was to bring it back to a nice matt finish later on.
I haven’t used Decals since I was a kid, So I tried a couple of different ways of putting them on. It ended up that the first way I tried was the best, That was putting on the decal, then once dry, painting on Matt finish, then touching up the edges with red, then another layer of matt. Then after the coat of Mona Matt finish over the whole tank, the Skull decal came back nicely and lost it’s shine. The “5” on the other hand was a completely different story. I applied the Matt finish after the Mona coat, and with all that clear area showing it looks pretty bad, so a little bit of destruction and repair is on the cards. All part of the learning curve and fun.
I’m please with what I have learnt so far and it’s good enough to make the table for a game or two. Still lots to go on the model, the gun barrels and turrets etc as well as the insides.
Well I started to play with my new airbrush today after putting together my new Predator tank. I’ve magnetized the Predator as well, so it will be nice and easy to swap out the weapons and remove them during games when they get destroyed. I found several good You tube videos on how to magnetize the Predator. Which also gave me the idea of being able to pull off the parts and use it as a Rhino instead, which makes for a far more usable model. Since I don’t have a Space Marine army, I thought I'd do it in the Blood Angles colours so my brother can use it in his army.
I’m slowly getting the hang of the airbrush, it made a big difference once I turned down the pressure on the compressor. I’m using Tamiya paints with thinners. So far there haven’t been to many unexpected gremlins. The main one was the difference in colour change from wet to touch dry to dry. The red got a lot more intense once it was dry. Since I haven’t used Tamiya paints before or an airbrush, I’m guessing it’s just a learning curve.
Here’s the Predator so far, after a white base coat followed by Flat Red (XF-7) and then some Red (X-7). Along with a brown mix of several light colours.
I got some idea’s from some old White dwarf mag’s and the web, like this Predator below, thought I’d print off some cool pictures on the colour ink jet (nice and small). Then glue them onto the panels and spray blend them in. That’s the plan anyway, if it successful or not will be another story. Nothing like aiming high.
I’ve already tested using photo paper and then spraying a clear coat over the paper to test for the colour hold on the paper and also to make sure the image does bleed etc. So far using Matt photo paper has been the best.
After a good 6 months break from playing 40K, I busted out the Tyrainds against Mike’s Blood Angels. We went all in for a 2500pt game. On that scale I used all my Nid’s and had to beef some of them up with extras, including using some of my space hulk genstealers for a extra unit. Talk about a blood bath. Turn 1 I got hammered, with only about half my force on the board, what was there got pretty slammed. I think I killed 2 marines in turn 1 versus about 18 nids. Turn 2 was pretty much the same thing repeated as Mike went first, although I did get my Trygon and Raveners tunnelling in from reserve. Turn 3 saw me turn the tide as the Tervigon spawned more little beasties and my Hive Tyrant decimated the Sanguinary Guard and Commander Dante, with a little help from the Tervigon. My Hive Guard then took out the Baal Predator, but to late to save my Genestealer from a fiery death. Blaar.. Blarr , Blarrr… I get all my troops killed, the Tervigon and the Hive Tyrant..then can’t hold any objectives. Game over end of turn 4.
Some of the stand out things were the Gargoyles finally making it into close combat (first time ever) although I’ve only played them about 4 times, then all dying in close combat. Both Carnifex’s getting toasted and yet again not getting close to any vehicles… one day it may happen….(
Those Blood Angel chicken tanks just keep running away.
I learnt a few things and remembered to write them down as I went, things like dropping the “Regeneration” ability as it’s just to costly and not worth it.
I remembered my camera this time and took some footage which I’ll put together over the next couple of days.
After some hit and missing printing onto the t-shirts I did some more research and ended up getting myself some Essdee fabric inks along w...
