Well as I'm sat at home feeling sorry for myself with cold/man flu/allergies (goodness knows what) I thought I'd take advantage of the spare time to finally post up the battle report from my last game against Dave.

I really enjoy my games against Dave but he does have a the tendency to... well... win, I was hoping that my new fangled unit of Hive Guard could help to turn this around and give me a long awaited victory against Dave's Marines.

Mission: Kill Points
Deployment: Pitched Battle

Pictures and Text Summary below:

Quick army shot of my 'Nids before the game

Marine Deployment

Tyranid Deployment

Full table pic after deployment

Turn One - Marines 2 // Tyranids 0

General tyranid advance to inside 24”. Hive guard disarm and immobilise the librarian’s razorback, biovore kills one missile launcher.
Central vindicator advances, no other movement. Nullzone allows heavy infantry to kill both zoanthropes, before the vindicator and everything else removes one brood of termagaunts (and wound the tyrant).

Turn Two - Marines 4 // Tyranids 1

Main body continues to advance, slightly slowed by woods on their left. Deathleaper appears on the floor below the right-hand heavy tacticals. Hive guard destroy the central vindicator.
Remaining vindicator advances and smokes. Israel’s razor advances 12”, disembarks sternguard and Israel (Kantor) next to stealers in wood. Other sternguard disembark also. Israel’s sternguard cripple the stealers, who are finished off by other units. The devastators frag the hormagaunts, who are then also finished off by supporting fire.

Turn Three - Marines 7 // Tyranids 2

Tyranids still advancing, tyrant now level with Israel’s guard. Hive guard wreck the second razorback. Deathleaper assaults the tacticals, but no casualties.
Vindicator closes on tyranid warriors and kills three of six, before the heavy infantry finish them off. Light infantry shoot the biovore. The tacticals (within 12” of Israel) kill Deathleaper.

Turn Four - Marines 8 // Tyranids 3

Spawned gaunts engage Israel and guard. Hive guard wreck the last vindicator. The tyrant engages one light tactical (the tyrant guard) and the librarian’s sternguard (the tyrant). The tyrant guard causes no damage, but the tyrant causes wounds. The tacticals fall back, and the tyrant guard engages the librarian’s sternguard
The tacticals rally. The tervigon is shot and wounded. A spawned brood of gaunts are wiped out. The fight between Israel, the sternguard and the gaunts continues, as does that between librarian, sternguard and tyrant. 

Turn Five - Marines 11 // Tyranids 7
The tervigon continues to advance. The hive guard destroy the crippled razorback. The last of Israel’s guard die. The librarian and the last of his sternguard are killed by the tyrant.
The tervigon is killed – this destroys one brood of gaunts, and cripples another brood, which Israel finishes off.

Turn Six - Marines 12 // Tyranids 8

The tyrant kills the heavy tacticals on the lower level of the building.
In return , he is killed by lascannon and launcher fire.Turn Seven - Marines 12 // Tyranids 9
With only hive guard remaining, they target Israel and kill him.

Overall I think I made a fair few mistakes and there were a few learning points:

Deathleaper: Fluffed it, came in turn 2, opted to keep out of line of sight for next turn charge, charged Combat squad of las/plas marines, did one wound - saved. Next round did one wound - saved, and he was dragged down due to a measly 5+ save. I can't see myself using this guy again, even against an isolated unit like this he doesn't have weight of attacks to get through marines.

Hive Guard: Simply Beautiful, performance below:

Turn One - Immobilised and Weapon Destroyed on a Razorback
Turn Two - Explode a Vindicator
Turn Three - Wreck the other Razorback
Turn Four - Wreck the other Vindicator
Turn Five - Explode the Razorback they had fired at Turn One
Turn Six - Instant Death Pedro Kantor

Genestealers: 5 Sternguard with combi flamer and ignore cover ammo = no more stealers

Tyranid Warrior: Vindicator = Evil - One shot took out 3 Warriors (3/4 failed cover saves), followed by Krak Missiles and Las Cannons taking out the other 3 (No cover as gaunt screen had been blown away earlier in the phase)
____________________________

Couple of questions that came out of it as well as both of us play very little and are still muddling our way through the rules.

Cover - If running alongside cover in base to base contact do you need to roll for move through cover or can you move the full 6"?

Smoke - If a vehicle uses smoke does he get a cover save from Hive Guard?

Independant Characters in Assaults: Can a Librarian direct his attacks at my Hive Tyrant if the Tyrant Guard is still alive or does he have to attack the "unit" as the Tyrant Guard count as a retinue?

Kill Points: Do you get Kill Points for the Tyrant Guard?

Monstrous Creatures: Can they climb buildings? We played it that the tyrant was able to move into the upper floors of the ruins but I'm not sure if this is allowed?

Thanks for reading!

Stokie_Rich

Spray Stick!

Needed to get some of my Space Wolves undercoated ready for painting next weekend (Charlene is going away Thursday until Saturday so I'll have Thursday night and all day Friday to get as much hobby stuff doen as possible) and had to disassemble an old bookshelf yesterday in order to make space in our spare room. Whilst doing so I had an idea to use one of the slats from the book shelf as a "spray stick" as it'd make it much easier to get to all of the bits compared to putting the mini's on a tray.

Below are some pics of the results, I also wanted to praise the spray I was using as well though, the army painter spray cans are great! My first time around I didn't shake the can as much as I should have and had some poor results, however if you read the instructions it says shake the can for a good minute and a half, and the results are much better if you do that!

This is my first time using their "Wolf Grey" primer and it came out great, just the colour I was looking for and it didn't obscure any of the detail.

Also included are some pictures of odds and ends on my painting table.

The spray stick + figs ready for priming, I had initially intended to put screws in and glue teh figs to the screws but Charlene pointed out the obvious and asked why I didn't just try blu tac, problem solved. It's strong enough to hold the stick upside down without any fear so job's a good 'un. 

 

And the proud owner of the spray stick in all his glory, my wife was so proud... (Yes I'm lying, there were many comments on my geekiness)

Action Shot!

After spray shot showing, well... a stick and blu tac!

Painting station including my WIP Logan Grimnar

Close up of Logan, only really the armour (bar battle damage) and face done currently, still a long way to go.

The sprayed figures and other work in progress bits. Hoping to finish the Carnifex, Lictor and Hive Guard over next weekend and get started on the Space Wolves. The Rhino still needs the Razorback Turret to be magnetised so that it's fully interchangable before spraying (Assume the best way here is to spray all bits separate to prevent the Spray potentially bonding the pieces?)

More "to do" bits, need to convert those marines at the bottom into Long Fangs using IG Missile Launchers and a step by step from Rupert40k over on 3++, assorted other parts of the army above them.

I ordered a couple of foam cases from Mantic to experiment with, wanted to see if I could use these to transport/post the finished 10 man Grey Hunter units safely. I think the large one (pictured) would be sufficient and they do feel pretty secure once the case is closed, however the smaller one wouldn't close with even 2 of the mini's in. I'm not really sure how much use the smaller ones would be for any figures to be honest.

Well that's the update for now, I'll be posting a battle report up next with my latest game against Dave where my 'Nids got a pasting against his Marines. Just need to sift through the pictures and add them to the text that Dave sent over to me amd I can put it up.

Family Life

Few family pics to put a face to a name

Including myself, my wife (Charlene) and my daughter (Esme)

Darn good excuses to stay away from the painting station if I do say so myself :)

Final Gallery - Random Pieces

Ok this is pretty much my lack of an attention span post and will show some of the bits I started to work on before moving on to other things, this is "not" where I want my new Space Wolves to end up:

The start of a High Elf army that hopefully I'll get around to finishing some time, my friend who I play 40k against doesn't play fantasy so this is more of a painting journey for me, my very first box set from GW was the old Fantasy set with Elves/Goblins and I remember my dad spending most of Christmas Day painting the Elves for me. Ahh nostalgia...

I bought the Fellowship of the Ring metal box set when GW first got the LOTR license and Gandalf is the only figure I have left, having given the others away as gifts or lost them. I hope to finish the fellowship at some point as I also have a Balins Tomb display base from somewhere (I think from a LOTR magazine subscription before it was merged into White Dwarf)

A very brief attempt at starting an Imperial Guard army, I still really like the idea and I enjoy painting this scheme, as well as being very happy with how the minis look. The army I want however would be a foot army and I just can't face another horde army after Tyranids. As such the project is set aside for now.

I got the Black Reach orks from Dave as a gift for my birthday a few years back, I really like the minis and they were good fun to paint as well as quick, in the end however my Tyranids took over and I've been collecting them since. I would love to go back to Orks and finish painting what I have however as well as potentially expanding the army (Currently have contents of Black Reach plus a Battleforce)

This is all that's left of my last attempt at a Marine army, I had painted 6 Red Scorpion Tactical Marines and these two scouts, however I've given the tacticals away to a family friends' son back in Stoke. He's really happy with them and they're much more likely to see some use with him than with me. I'll likely send these two fellows up to join them next time my parents go up.

I painted this guy as the start to a warhammer historical army after reading an article on painting tartan and wanting to give it a go. I'm reasonably happy with the tartan but the rest of the figure is below par as I was primarily enthused with trying out the Tartan.

The last offering is a Wolfen from Rackham's confrontation range, I love these minis and was happy to hear that they are starting to be re-released as Rackham made some beautiful figures. This particular figure is from the Confrontation Starter set which again I'd love to get painted and try out but I'm unlikely to ever get around to.

Well hopefully those have given you a bit of an idea as to my painting skills (or lack thereof) and my woefully short attention span, with only my Tyranids holding my attention long enough to finish an army.

The pictures are my first attempt at taking photos of my figures so any constructive criticism would be very much appreciated, I'm fairly happy with how they turned out and they do seem to show an accurate reflection of my painting, with the speed painted Tyranids looking like they were... speed painted, and some figures I spent more time on (Cadians, Elven Prince, Tyrant) looking ok.

More posts coming later in the week, I have a battle report that I've been promising my friend to post for goodness knows how long and my next hobby night is Thursday when I'm hoping to get started with my Space Wolves Transports. I have two Razorbacks and a Drop Pod that I'm going to attempt to magnetise into the various different options. Will report back on how it goes!

Should anyone else be reading this please let me know that you're out there, it'd be great to hear from you as to what you want to hear me write about, or to offer feedback on the layout of the blog / pictures / figures / text, anything really!

Stokie_Rich

Further pictures

These are the rest of the pictures of my Tyranid army and are painted using my old scheme which was to drybrush the figs and paint stripes on the carapace berfore using red ink to make it shiny and bring out the stripes. I'm not very happy with how some of the figs turned out and did paint a few of the hormagants properly in an attempt to keep the scheme alive however it was too time consuming and I gave up before deciding on my new scheme.

As this blog is documenting my experiences however I'll post the pics here anyway to show my development.

Again please feel free to comment, it'd be good to get some feedback, was I right in abandoning the colour scheme?

More pics to follow of my random bits and bobs.

Rich

Gallery Pictures

Hi guys,

Hope everyone has enjoyed the bank holiday weekend, Stoke snatched a last minute win against West Brom so I'm pretty happy :)

I didn't manage to get too much done on my first hobby night of the week last night as I spent some time setting up to take pictures of my minis for the first time and trying to take pictures without my shakey hands making them all blurry!

Below are the pics I've taken of most of the things I still own that I've painted myself. Some are just figures I liked, some are very brief sojourns into new armies, and some are (failed) attempts at speed painting to a tabletop standard.

Any comments/criticism is appreciated and I promise to take it on the chin :)

Click to enlarge the pictures.
Without further ado:

First up is a full army pic, this is all the Tyranids I currently have painted

Tyrant and Tyrant Guard, could potentially also be used as a Dakka Fex, the Tyrant Guard is painted using my new "cheat" method and the Tyrant I spent a bit more time over, matching my old paint scheme for my 'Nids but with a lot more time spent on him.

Various views of my first Tervigon, this guy is magnetised to his larger base so I can use him as a CC Fex or a Tervigon as the need arises, the gaunts currently on his base are placeholders and I am going to model some onto the larger base once I have painted them in the new colour scheme. I have another one waiting on my paint table half done which will be pretty much the same.

My first 3 hive guard and the test models for my "cheat" scheme, these guys took next to no time to paint at all and I'm pretty happy with them, especially given the time invested. I have 1 more unpainted hive guard and am considering buying another 2 for the obligatory 3x2 units of Hive Guard however they're darn expensive and as I don't play often I'm not sure I can justify it!

Biovore, again painted in the new scheme, I'm pretty happy with how this guy turned out, he was very quick and fun to paint and I'm really happy with how the pink looks. The Spore Mines didn't turn out quite how I hoped but they'll do.

Zoanthrope, again I'm happy with the pink on this guy, it seems to react really well to the Dark Tone dip I used, I can't overstate how much time is saved painting like this and I think the results are fine for gaming pieces.

My 4 units of genestealers, in reality these will be used as 2 units of 12 but I'm not so happy with 6 of them being done with the old scheme so they got photographed this way. Again, ridiculously easy to paint and I think the 18 new guys took me 2 of my 2 hour hobby nights to paint and dip, with another one for basing, for me that's very quick!

For those of you who may be interested, the new scheme is as follows:

1.) Prime with Army Painter Skeleton Bone Primer (Make sure to shake this vigorously before use)

2.) Pick out carapace with Vallejo Bloody Red (GW Blood Red)

3.) Paint talons with Astronomican Grey

4.) Paint detail with Vallejo Squid Pink (GW Tentacle Pink)

5.) Pick out teeth with Skull White

6.) Coat Army Painter Dark Tone dip generously over the model using an old/cheap brush.

7.) Go back to the mini 20 minutes later to remove  any excess pools of dip.

8.) Base the model:

• Use PVA Glue to stick GW Modelling Gravel to the base
• Wash the gravel with Devlan Mud
• Use PVA Glue to stick clumps of GW Static Grass to the base
• Paint the rim with Bestial Brown

More pictures to follow shortly...

First! and General Introduction

OK so first of all I should welcome you (Should anyone ever find this) to what will be the first of a bi weekly blog following my bumbling antics in the world of a 40k hobbyist. Now that those pleasantries are out of the way I want to share a little bit about myself and the future content of this blog.

About Me

I'm a 27 year old male originally from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs (That's around the middle of the UK for those of you not from these parts) but moved down to Exeter in Devon on the South Coast around 6 years ago now, meeting my future wife who I have now been married to for nearly 2 years, and having a beautiful baby girl called Esme who is now coming up to 10 months old.

I originally started playing 40k with second edition when my mum used to let me look in the window of the Games Workshop store in Hanley while she did the banking, from there I moved to fantasy and had a stint through my high school years playing high elves. Following that I drifted away and have just recently started collecting again, picking up Tyranids to play against a good friend (Dave) I know from the local church.

I enjoy playing but don't get much of a chance to as I rarely brave the local store, playing all of my games against Dave when we get chance, which recently has been lucky to be twice a year!

As a result I generally spend a lot of time modelling and painting but not so much playing, perhaps that will change though in the future as I approach a fully painted army and pluck up the courage to go along to a local gaming group.

Post Content

Most of my posts as a result will be based on collecting / modelling / painting, with the occasional aside into my family life should I feel so inclined.

Since having our first baby my wife and I have had far less free time but as she is involved in hobby's of her own, and is in the process of expanding her baby photography businesss I do tend to get a couple of nights a week that are dedicated "hobby nights" which generally means once Esme has gone to bed I get a good couple of hours hobby time. - Hence the title "Two times Two" for two hours hobby activity, twice a week. (You may gather I struggle thinking creatively!)

At the moment I am finishing off painting my Tyranids, which have been painted (poorly due to time constraints) in a Kraken colour scheme, as well as building a Space Wolf army which is 90% built but 0% painted.

The majority of the posts for the time being therefore will be dedicated to following the progression of these two armies, documenting the hobby time I'm spending on these armies after each session and adding pictures and comments, hopefully receiving feedback to help me improve my hobby skills.

I have no pretensions that people will wish to read my random thoughts so if no-one chooses to read the blog, that's fine as this will also serve me as a filing system for paint schemes, thoughts, future motivation etc.

Check back next week for pictures of my currently painted Tyranids and Work in Progress (WIP) images of my Space Wolves. Please chip in with any comments you have as it'd be great to hear from anyone who is following.

Rich