Hobby Update: Tyranids and Iron Warriors

Hello all! I have a bit of a hobby update. Mostly painting, a bit of modeling, and for both Nids and my Chaos. Sadly no games in the last two or three weeks with my bugs, but I should get 1-2 in this weekend. Well, here we go!

First up, I took apart the Doom of Malan'tai and he is now just a normal Zoanthrope. Sorry, but I decided the third Zoey was needed. 

Next, a Flyrant! This guy used to be a Tervigon, and I brought her to BeakyCon 1 before the new model came out. I decided to strip some of the more spawny parts off and used the already magnetized arms to slap some Devourers on, plus wings of course! I already have two Dakkarants, but with Apocalypse up (or 2FOC) I might use this guy eventually. 

A Mawloc! I tried Trygons, and really didn't like them as much as I did in 5th. So I changed this guys tail, added some spines, and repainted him in my current color scheme. He lacks the massive jaws, but is still pretty clearly a Mawloc. Again, may or may not see long term use, but I figured I might as well try him out in some fun games. 

And with my old Doom turned into a Zoey, I just had to make a new one! This guy is a Flyrant tail, Carnifex head, Mawloc headplate, and Genestealer arms. He's pretty much the same size. I'm out of Green Stuff, but want to smooth out some parts before I paint, so he's grey for now. 

Ok, that is enough bugs for today! Next up are some Iron Warriors. We have here 10 Havocs, with 4 Lascannons. Very fun and cool looking! And of course, no heads... Geeze I'm lazy. One of these days, I'll make a bitz order online...

I also scrapped my old base color scheme. The army is now being themed more towards Isstvaan V so I wanted a dark grey base instead of brown. The new one is on the right. Do you think it looks better with the Iron Warriors? There is a bit less contrast sadly. 

 Below is one of the Lascannoneers, I think they came our pretty good, considering my skill level.

Another guy, he counts as a bolter, but is the vox/scanner dude.

Finally, two new objectives. A dead Raven Guard, and a Word Bearer hoisting his newly colored banner! There is the slight issue that they hadn't attacked the Ultramarines yet, but I like having their symbol hanging from a chain.

That's it for now folks! Thanks for checking it out, I hope to have some new Batreps up soon! 

Conversion Corner: Pre-Heresy Forgefiend



Hello readers! I'm taking a break from all my competetive articles and Battle Reports to contribute a little bit to the Hobby side of things. A tournament player, who enjoys the hobby? Nonsense! Anyways, the basis for this article is my Pre Heresy army of Iron Warriors that I am currently working on. Although I love my Tyranids, and think that they are more competetive, I've always loved the IVth Legion, and I think that the army has more personality. Plus, some of my Tyranids are pretty old and not too well painted... I want a nice looking army on the table! Because the FW Horus Heresy books are not fully accepted yet, I play my army with the Chaos Space Marine Codex. One of the new units that, statwise, caught my eye was the new Forgefiend. The only problem was, I couldn't just throw a Dinobot into my Heresy Era army! My army represents the point where the Warsmith has declared his support of Horus, but has not yet started to be physically corrupted by Chaos.

 

I thought for a while on how to best represent this, and then stumbled on the answer in a Horus Heresy novel! In the second Dark Angels book, the First Legion is protecting a weapon from the Sons of Horus, which was a super heavy sort of Artillery. The Dark Angels end up jury rigging the machine so that a Dreadnaught could be plugged in and man the Vehicle. This inspired me to replicate this on a smaller scale, where a Dreadnaught has been mounted on top of a rhino!

 

Materials needed:

One Rhino kit (Loyalist or Chaos)

One Dreadnaught kit (I used a venerable, but a different kind would work fine)

Rare Earth magnets ( I used 3/16" by 1/16" which worked fine)

A couple extra gun bits, your choice. I used two Lego cannon pieces!  

A spare 1" base.             

Superglue

Clippers/Exacto knife               

 

To start off this conversion, assemble a Rhino! Leave off the top doors.

 

 

 

Also, no Storm bolters or cupolas. I put the optional top straight in here, and in the other put the Marine torso peice in upside down. I then mounted a searchlight and Radar dish on top. Both look suitable without being restrictive of the model. 

 

 

Next, take the Razorback option top door shown below. Use a couple of spare sprue peices to make something that the small base can drop onto, as shown below. 

 

 

Flip it upside down once dry, and glue one magnet in, as close to the center as you can get! Don't be shy on glue, it'll take a bit to dry but you want it very solidly in there! 

 

 

Assemble the Dreadnaught top as usual. Leave off the legs and arms for now. Note that I attached an Iron-Halo looking peice that came with the Dread, this is used to represent the 5++ invulnerable it gets. 

 

Then, take the unused cupola (without a Storm bolter, obviously) and glue the cover on, then glue it on the Dread torso where the legs would go. It should fit quite well, as shown below. 

 

Glue the other magnet inside that cupola peice, as shown below. Make sure it matches up properly with the magnet on the tank! 

 

The Dread torso now fits very comfortably onto the tank body. It can be removed with relative ease, but will never pop off during a game. You could glue it straight on instead of using magnets, but using them allows the torso to be removed for storage, and to rotate in game.

 

For the right arm, I took an assembled assault cannon arm, and cut off the actual cannon. I then shaved it flat with a knife and glued a lego on! This particular peice doesn't look obnoxiouslt lego-like, but you can use whatever you want to get the Hades-autocannon. Dual Autocannon would work just as well. Also, Plasma cannons could be used, if you prefer the Ectoplasm cannons that the Forgefiend may take. 

 I also added a few random poles and plasticard tubing to make it look like a cannon, do as you see fit.

The left arm was a wee bit trickier, as it comes as an "arm" not just a gun mount. I clipped a lot of the arm peice off, and added a plate underneath to cover the hole. The Ven. Dread. comes with plenty of extra plates that fit the job. Then, add another cannon matching the opposite arm.

 

Because the other arm had an ammo feeder, I added the plasma coil to the left arm so that it looked roughly the same. 

 Take the arms and attach to dreadnaught as normal! Feel free to leave unglued, so that the arms can move up/down, and be removed.

 Here is your final product! I think it looks pretty cool, myself.

 

 

But, how viable is it to use in game? After all, the Forgefiend is mounted on an oval base! Compare the footprints in the two pictures below. Shooting from a head on angle is actually slightly better for your opponent, and because shooting is measured to the hull it will never be a pivotal "He's cheating!" issue. However, I always carry a spare base with me in case my opponent wants to check for himself. So far, I have had no issues. Also, the arms don't even extend past the rhino, so no Fodeling for Advantage there either. 

 

 

The tank-Hybrid is slightly shorter than a Tervigon but is still a big model. A built from the box Forgefiend is actually almost the exact same height. Still no modeling for advantage!

 Here is how it compares in height to the Forge World Contemptor Dreadnaught.

 Finally, you can see it next to  base AOBR tactical Marine, and also a PH Dark Angels Objective marker, and a Custodes model I made.

Finally, a fun shot! Forgefiends make great fire support for your precious marines as they challenge the blind followers of the Emperor. Tear down the Imperium! Death to the lackeys of the false Emperor!

 

 

I hope you found this article informative! Although it looks a bit different, this conversion is proportionally very similar to the original Forgefiend model. It also makes a very unique model to add to your collection, and an interesting center piece! Just make sure that your opponent knows exactly what it represents on the table, and you shouldn't have any trouble. Like a Forgefiend, a Dreadnaught has a 12/12/10 statline. The BS 3 could be represented by the tremendous recoil of such a High caliber weapon, while the Iron Halo I added could explain its durability. Even the Daemonforge rule could be represented by the Dreadnaught ignoring Mechanicum reccomendations, and firing full auto... devestating, but in danger of overheating. Also, walkers can rotate in the shooting phase, just like the Dreadnaught on top! 

Chaos Space Marines: Daemon Allies



Hello everyone! Now that I have a few months before my next big tournament, I've spent a good deal of time looking over the Daemons book, and also the Allies system. As a Nid player, I actually don't know the rules too well on allies! However, looking over the Battle Brothers section it's quite clear that they can use powers on each other... the natural conclusion of this, of course, is to look for Divination to add to my Chaos Marines. Fortunately, Tzeentch is my god of choice! 

When looking at an allied chart, you MUST take a troops and an HQ. While some people like to take 5 warriors and Necron Wraiths as allies, I feel that a good allied contingent must have a useful unit in every slot, otherwise you're wasting points for the unit you're adding in! I'd like to keep my attachment to a relatively small number of units, like 2 or 3.

HQ: Because I want to add divination to my army, there are really only two choices. A herald of Tzeentch or a Lord of Change.

Herald of Tzeentch:
 Pros: Cheap, can be hid in units. Up to three Divination powers
Cons: Very weak, can only join other Daemons, and only Tzeentch ones. An absolute pushover in CC.

Lord of Change: Pros: Tough, Flying Monstrous Creature. No slouch in CC, and isn't tied to a unit, very mobile.
Cons: Big target, draws fire, only a 5+ save, pricey.

From my experience with FMCs from Tyranids, I know how fast they can go down. With only a 5++ and not as easy access to FnP, I think that the Herald is more price-efficient.

This then means that the Herald needs a unit to go with him. Compared to my Nids, I run relatively few scoring units for my Chaos Space Marines (I plan on three). The Daemon troops should then be very tough against shooting for a ore resilient unit, which Pink Horrors fit just fine. With the new Daemonic Instability rules, they can go to ground. A unit of Pink Horrors behind an Aegis Line are just nasty, as they have a 2+ cover save, and are allowed to reroll 1s due to being Daemons of Tzeentch! Gnarly! Horrors also add in a nice bit of shooting, if they need to use it.

The base allied attachment would then be 11 Horrors, with an Iridescent Horror (For Mastery level 2 until they got shot at) and a Herald of Tzeentch. The Herald would be ML 3, and rolling all divination. With Havocs and Forgefiends around to play, there shouldn't be an issue of running out of targets. Twin-linking a Forgefiend will brutalize a Rhino, even with cover, while making autocannon Havocs a sudden menace to any aircraft around. This even fits what I see as the Iron Warriors theme, a very immobile shooting force behind a fortification, with Daemons only being used as tools to further their own ends. And really, isn't that what allies are? Because sometimes, you just want Twinlinked Lascannons to ruin a guys day.

This would run in at 199 points, which is altogether VERY cheap for an allied unit. It has minimal upgrades, and doesn't have to roll on the Warp Storm chart. I'm basically paying for a tough unit behind an Aegis line, and a minor character who can really help my army be devastating on the field.

Battle Report: 1500 Chaos Space Marines vs. Guard

I know, I'm supposed to be writing up my last tournaments BatReps instead, but last night I played my first game with the Chaos Space Marines and had to write about it. Here's my list:

Warpsmith
Sorceror: Terminator, force staff, Sigil of Corruption (the 4++ thingy), Mark of Tzeentch, Mastery Level 3
8 Chaos Terminators, with Mark of Tzeentch, 2 CombiMeltas, and a few Fists thrown in
10 CSM, with melta, autocannon, and a maul
10 CSM, with melta, autocannon, and a maul
5 Havocs with autocannons
Helbrute, with Missile Launcher and Reaper autocannon
Forgefiend
Aegis Line with Quadgun

My opponents list:

Company CS with lascannon
50 man blob with Commissar, 4 autocannons
10 meltavets in a Chimera
Platoon CS with 4 flamers (in Vendetta)
Vendetta
Leman Russ Demolisher with Lascannon
Leman Russ with H Bolters and Lascannon
3 Missile Launcher Heavy Weapons Team
3 Lascannon HWT
3 Lascannon HWT
Marbo

Warlord Traits: He made me -1 to reserves, I had preferred enemy Space Marines... woo...

Psychic Powers: My sorceror had Doombolt, Psychic Scream, and the Pyromancy Primaris (Flame Breath?), which is a Heavy Flamer.

Mission: Vanguard Strike, Purge the Alien

The Board: I have the bottom left corner, from my PoV. There's two bunkers to the far left and right along the board edges. A forest in the dead center (something my opponent refuses to enter, after an incident with a Razorwing and an assault sergeant) Then there's a few more scattered hills, including one at my edge and slightly to the right. I incorporate my Aegis into this. It's a full wrap around, as I know Marbo is coming, and I used two long edges to wrap where my Forgefiend will be. Quadgun up front of course.

Deployment Guard: His huge blob is in the bunker, which is Shattered by my Warpsmith and is now only 5+ cover. His Russes are backed against his long edge, so to my top and slightly left. Heavy Weapons teams are scattered, under the bunker and towards the back of his DZ. The Chimera is closer to my edge, but far left and behind a hill. His CCS is also on top of the bunker.

Deployment CSM: My Havocs, with WarpSmith up front, man the quadgun and hide in the Aegis. 10 more marines are hiding in the Aegis, as is the Forgefiend. The Helbrute is farther to the right behind a hill, but can see over it. The otehr 10 CSM are to the far right in a bunker.

My Gameplan: I'm going to bunker down and try to not give up Killpoints, and just hope my weight of fire can drop a few things. The Terminators are Deep Striking in, so hopefully can nab a few KPs.

Turn 1 Guard: I fail to sieze. No moving, this is a gunline duel. He drops a Battlecannon shell that immobilizes my Forgefiend and kills one marine. He is fairly ineffective, until a Heavy Bolter wounds my Havocs twice. The WarpSmith is closest, and promptly rolls snake eyes... In one fell swoop, my opponent gains First Blood, Warlord, and a Kill Point. Other shooting manages to knock out the Quadgun.

Guard: 3            Chaos: 0

Turn 1 Chaos: I have to hit back, and hard. The Havocs whiff, but the Forgefiend takes revenge on the Chimera and explodes it.A spare autocannon guy from the squad shoots into the wreck, and after all is said and done there are two Meltagunners left, pinned. My other Marine Squad is out of range and moves up a bit.

Guard: 3             Chaos: 1

Turn 2 Guard: No reserves come in, he just gets straight to shooting. His big autocannon blob glances the Forgefiend twice, naturally I fail both saves, he's out of Hull Points. Battlecannon shells fall, my Havocs lose their sarge and a few more Marines die. Th Helbrute loses a HP to a missile launcher and is immoblized, I forget to roll on "Crazed".

Guard: 4            Chaos:  1

Turn 2 Chaos: The Terminators scatter and mishap, but will come in next turn. Most of my units went to ground to minimize casualties, so I actually dont kill a single model this turn.

Guard: 4            Chaos:  1

Guard turn 3: Marbo comes in, his bomb kills a measly one marine, who don't go to ground. The Vendetta tears my Helbrute apart, and more shots ping of the entrenched Havocs.

Guard: 5             Chaos:  1

Chaos turn 3: I'm more conservative with my Termies, but they scatter 11" and mishap into reserves, again. The marines on my objective turn around and assault Marbo, beating him to death for no casualties. Snap Fire shots are of course,hopelessly ineffective.

Guard: 5            Chaos:  2

Guard turn 4: The Vendetta leaves the board, and everything else makes a mighty display of killing one Havoc, and maybe another Marine. Of course, everything is basically lying down behind the Aegis.

Guard: 5           Chaos: 2

Chaos Turn 4: The Terminators finally land safely. Combi Meltas take two Hull Points and the Demolisher Cannon off a Russ. Snap fires miss wildly.

Guard: 5           Chaos:  2

Guard turn 5: Everything shoots the Terminators. First Rank Fire! leads to 78 lasgun shots incoming, and two Terminators fall. Then, the low AP weapons start flying. Amazingly I fail 2 of the 7 lascannon wounds, and make every armor save. Praise be to Tzeentch! Even the mighty Vendetta fails to hurt me.

Guard: 5          Chaos: 2

Chaos turn 5: The Terminators make a valiant multi charge and destroy both Russes. The Chainfist exploed the regular, while the Sorcerors staff pens the Demolisher once, removing it's last Hull Point. Both explode, and my Sorceror is wounded. Because nothing had to go to ground, my autocannons kill two missile launchers and a lascannon team. Amazingly, both fail leadership checks and fall back!

Guard: 5         Chaos: 6

We roll, and the game ends here! I gain one more point for Linebreaker.

Post game: Well I started off bad, but everything went right at the very end thankfully! That was a close gane, and much fun was had. My list still has a couple weaknesses. This is unsurprising, as it's basically my entire Chaos collection of things that look cool! Still, I had no mobility and had no way to move troops. For once, I'm glad it was KPs!

Thoughts on Chaos Space Marines

With holidays approaching, and the vast amount of models often aquired during this time, I lay my plans for Chaos Space marines... Here's a list of things I have/want in my collection. (I actually don't have my codex on hand, so I can't get a points total. This probably won't all fit in a 2k list.)

Warpsmith with Power fist or axe: I have one with a hammer/stomshield, a Mark of Tzeentch and the Iron Halo equivalent works here.  I also have one with a Hammer and Combi-melta, this would be a basic WarpSmith, with maybe a P Fist upgrade.

A librarian of some sort (I have a terminator armored, a PA, and a PA Ahriman count as) The TA has a Stomshield, so I'd get him the 3++ and run him with some Tzeentch Terminators. Oterwise, I'll have one Tzeentch unit to chill with Ahriman. If I use the ML 3 sorceror he'll have no mark, and just go with a normal squad.

I have a chaplain/Dak Apostle model... however I don't think I'll use him as such. The Ld. Buffs and re rolls on rewards aren't worth it really... I may use him as a Power mace sarge.

I have a Lord-type model in TA armor, (who can't be a warpsmith therefore) I don't think he'll see much use.

One Custodian hero type character... not sure what to do with him. He's not even painted yet. Maybe use as a really cheap lord.

8 Terminators: one ChainFist/Reaper auto, 2 fists, two Combi-melta swords, one sword, one fist, and a dual sword guy whod end up as a LC I'd guess. If I use them, it'll be Tzeentch or no mark. Tzeentch would mirror the FW Cataphracti and allow a Tzeentch character to join.

5 Custodians: No idea what to use here. Originally they were Space Marine honor guard with relic blades... now, Chosen are not CC, possessed are too random, Mutilator may actually fit here, but I'd have to rebase them on to one size larger. If I did, they'd end up with Mark of Slaanesh or Tzeentch.

One Dread/Helbrute with two Magnetized CC weapons: I have a reapr auto built but with no magnets, I don't see myself needing any other options.

I have 22 Space Marine models painted, but this includes 4 sarges (2 axe 2 fist). I may build an extra random marine, and use as a tough 20 man squad with 2 flakk missile launchers to sit objectives and shoot, while being tough as hell.

I have one rhino... I expect very little use out of him... Maybe as a chosen deliverer.

What I want to have:

A Bike Lord with potentially crazy options, I may magnetize arms here for Combi Weapons, fists, or maces.

A full bike squad: They'll be modeled with Jetbikes of course. I may wait on this to see if the DA release has some nice plastics in it... But it'll be a melta squad with a maul probably. Marks would be Slaanesh if it all, with an "icon holder" apothecary.

10 man Raptor squad: Max flamers, just for giggles. This'll be a kitbash, either of the new Raptor Jetpacks or MaxMini ones, combined of course with base assault Marines

Spawn unit? I'd make them out of Fantasy Ogres, but theyd represent Gene-built workers (such as the "sons of Dantioch" of HH renown.) The Mark would be whatever the Lord has, if any.

10 Havocs with 4 Autocannons: Autos fit the theme (theyd be kitbashed out of psycannons and IG heavy weapons) I want 10, not just a 5 man squad. 10s an even number, and means my opponent needs to put serious power into this to kill it in cover.

2 ForgeFiends: They'll be based off of a Dread top on a Rhino bottom with two massive cannon arms. (BS 3 = servitor targeting...). They'll probably be removable to add in a Pred turret if needed. Two is tough, and a lot of Str. 8 shots, enough to hurt flyers!

Thousand Sons/Tzeentch Marines: I really want to use the sexy FW boarding shields, I think a Sternguard unit with a 4++ inv makes sense, and special bolters to represent Ap. 3. These'll be my Sorcerors buddies, if MoT or Ahriman.

IG: I wantmy IG to have a distinct German theme, WWI era. Like the "freikorps of Krieg", before Death was cool. And of course, being the support of a Traito Legion leaves seed for future corruption in Krieg... I'll use Maxmini heads, wargames factory bodies and buy cheap lasguns off IG players all over.

Lord Commissar: The morale and the weapon-manner, as well as HW choice. Plus, der Kommissars!

Infantry Platoon: 20 men w/ Commissar as an objecvtive holder, I may have some Mortars inside for barrage, or atocannons.

Artillery: Basalisks with Camo Netting are so sweet behind an Aegis... Plus, Iron Warriors. I must, I must!

An Aegis with quad cannon for der Kommissar or the Havoc Sarge to shoot.

So much to look at at once! But I'm a fair bit in to it at least, and I ve painted a lot of boring infantry, shouldn't be much left.

Heresy Incoming!

Well, theres recently been a teaser sent out in an email by Forge World. It's also on GWs main site. Im not going to link to it, but it is literally on their front page.

Anyways: AHHH!!!!!!! HERESY!!!!!!!!

Wow, ok. But this post is mostly about my PH army and where it stands at the moment. This blog is mainly focused on Tyranids, but is also partially about Chaos Space Marines. (expect a lot more of that starting in a few months...) Anyways, with at least two, probably three books coming for the Horus Heresy, from Forge World, this changes a lot of things for my army. Right now, I have a highly incomplete army, fully painted for what I have.

22 Marines, melta/missile launcher squads at the moment, with two sarges each so I can go Power Fist or Axe. This may change to Auto cannon depending on the new codex. Oh, and none of them have heads. Im going to do a Maxmini order at some point, once my Tyranids are fully rekitted out for 6th edition.

10 terminators: 4 (Power/Chain)fist/stormbolter, 1 powersword/stormbolter, 1 captain with Hammer and a Librarian with a Storm Shield, plus two guys with Combimelta/Powersword. I have another guy who isnt really built at the moment, I ll do something with him later. Ok, these guys are basically a loyalist or traitor Terminator squad, as I choose, and I ll decide on a loadout with the new codex, but I ll probably want a few fists and I ll probably want a few Combi Meltas. These are based off of GK Terminators because the helmets look cool and they look like mini Contemptors. Fully painted, except... no Shoulder Pads. (see, maxmini order above.)

5 Custodians: converted from Sanguinary Guard (legs/torso/arms) with High Elf heads, GK halberds and SM bolters attached (and backpacks/banner) Fully painted and DONE. Gold!

Contemptor Dread: I picked him up Cheap, he looks awesome. And he's stepping on an Imperial Fist Dread. Why not? He's magnetised at the moment with two Dread CC weapons, but of course I ll have more options made when theres a new codex... Fully Painted and done.

Power Armor HQs: A librarian who I modeled conjuring up Flame, and sending a little fire daemon flying around. My Warsmith has a a converted servoarm with Nade launcher (which CSM dont have... oh well) and a TH and Combi Melta. A captain with TH, Combi Melta pistol, and a jump pack. Then, a headless captain with a Hammer/shield. I also have a chaplain with a mace, I used a Sanguinary Guard helmet.

Thats the state of the union right now, not really an army, and with no transports, and most models headless! I have played no games with them, theyre currently just a frame work for building off of with Codex CSM, and eventually for the FW books (which may be fully legal by then...)

And, I ll probably have two allied detachments, one of Daemons (Tzeentch/Slaanesh/Khorne probably) and one of Imperial Army, as an excuse to make some WWI German looking Guardsmen (the Freikorps of Kreig) and to add some highly appropriate artillery to the army.

At the moment, theyre mostly off to the side except for daydreaming and staring at longingly. I by no means have given up on Tyranids, I just need a new army paint wise. I really have three models to paint left for my Tyraids for a while, theyre just all big MCs. (Two Tervigons and a Tyrant/Swarmlord) However, as I test out, I may add more models to my Nids. Id expect to be done with them (buying wise, not playing wise!) by Christmas, which I will then use as an opportunity for a massive Maxmini purchase.