December Apocalypse

By TheGravemind 

 

Bloomington had their December Apoc game this past weekend. They based it off of the Rescue of the Revenge mission where chaos is boarding an imperial ship. It gave everyone a pretty small deployment area, very close to each other. It also put a size limit essentially limiting the super heavies that could be brought.

The Tournament Minded Gamer...to Net list or not to Net list

By Newbreed

^Insert overused war gamers meme here^

NB: Hey everybody,  My name is NewBreed and I am a war gamer.

War Gamers Anonymous: Hi Newbreed!

NB:  It has been approximately 2 weeks since I had my last game.

WGA:  Great Job!  *clapping*

So that pretty much explains it.  I am NewBreed, a new contributor to the Prey in 40k blog.  I am mainly a 40k player with some stints into WHFB and Dust.  I love all aspects of the game and hobby but try to think of myself as a bit of a painter and a tournament player.

But enough about me and more about the game!  Today's topic is to discuss something the general consensus of the interwebz says is a bad thing (because everything on the internet is true), but everyone does it.  What am I talking about?  NET LISTS!

Tyranid Codex entries

By TheGraveMind

So I got two shots from the codex, Hopefully more will show up on the internet soon. This is what people were saying when they were confirming Termagaunt, warrior, and genestealer rules/cost.

Not the best detail, but you can see they are about the same. References to biomorph and bio-weapon options as per 6th ed codex. And no glaring new special rules, so we'll have to see how this goes about.

A week in Escalating Assault Day: 5

By TheGraveMind

Well, Forgeworld releasing their approved Lord of war slot concedes with my topic today very well. I wanted to bring up the topic of cost effeiciency and the blur between normal 40k and LoW slots that began a while ago.

Everything is a Lord of War!

By TheGravemind

So Forgeworld put out a PDF on what is considered a Lord of War. This does something good, and something bad. The good, we now basically have a good list of what is allowed, and what it's most current book is.

The bad? Well, they basically allowed everything. Heirophants, mantas, warhound titans. It is all approved. I was hoping for a somewhat balanced version of the list. The revenant being in escalation was bad enough, but could be considered a one off mistake. If they had put a point limitation or something I think it would be possible.

I haven't minded the inclusion of LoW slot, I'm all for it at tourneys, but this new release my make me change my stance. This is just too much, with no real regard.

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/L/lordsofwar.pdf

A Week of Escalating Assault Day:4

By TheGraveMind

 Next up this week is my first game against a Super heavy in "normal" 40k. I have already played against ScreamerStar this week, so I'll now be taking the same list and facing against a Lord of War.

A week of Escalating Assault Day: 3

By TheGraveMind

 So today we are going back to Fortifications. Last time I showed a Tau Defense line. Today I'm going to show a Tyranid one. Well, what would have been if they could use it properly.

Tyranid codex cover art

A section of the cover art is revealed. Supposedly there is a full swarm invasion behind him.

Also full picture of graboid.

Credit to war zone http://40kwarzone.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/tyranid-codex-cover.html?m=1

A week of Escalating Assauld Day: 2

By TheGraveMind

(Hoping I can start getting home earlier than 9pm to get these up sooner for people to read. )Today's post isn't straight from Escalation or from Stronghold Assault, but is some what tied into the argument about allowing them at Tournaments. Are Super heavies really the next counter to the Top Armies?

A week of Escalating Assault Day: 1

By TheGraveMind

I actually don't like Will Ferrel, but this is too good to pass up.

So Escalation and Stronghold Assault have come out, and to celebrate I have some special posts planned this week. Today I'll start with a Fortification.

New tyranid warriors in Escalation.

By TheGraveMind

Ok, everyone, follow along, I originally dismissed this yesterday, then pulled out my warriors and raveners.

For the prime, first off notice the small adrenal gland crawling on his back. that is a new bit, does not exist at the moment. Also the back vents are slightly different than a raveners, this are thicker and stouter, while a raveners is more like a fin.

On the actual warriors, there is the fleshy part exposed on the knees and ankles, this is at least twice as much as is exposed on the current warriors, and they currently only have one pose.

You can also see that the bonesword arm is different than the current finecast bits. On the back of the primes sword is a knick, where the current ones only have a knick on the front side.

So enough subtle changes that reveal it is probably a new kit, but stays in line with the current models. probably like the marine tactical box. I'd say the small crawling mite on the primes back is the most guaranteed way of saying it is something new.

I originally saw these over at The Warzone . From what I've seen most people are initially calling these just a kit bash (my self included). When Tyranid Veteran players have to do a double take, it means the models fit the current line well.

I feel the warriors might be getting a Tactical squad treatment, a new box, but will basically look the same in the end. The real question is, is the prime part of the box, or a clamshell?

Busy month

By TheGraveMind

Still here. It has been a busy month, with tons of rumors flying around, holidays coming and going, a changing in the budget means a change in jobs, etc.

I'll have some progress shots up soon hopefully. I've been painting and building when I can.

Looks like Lord of War slot and new fortifications might be coming to 40k. I'm interested in seeing how that all pans out.

The swarm is coming

By TheGravemind

The first pictures of new tyranids are out. First up is the new hive guard pack. New weapon options that look even more like a harpoon/grapple. Supposedly not a dual kit.

The other new rumor is that warriors are getting the broadside treatment and getting bigger and placed on 60mm bases.

This one I hope is not true. I like the current sculpt, I have 30+ of them. Also, warriors are the core chassis of most nids, raveners and lictors will look out of place. They are supposed to be the terminator equivelant, so they should stay 40mm.

Tyranid troubles

By TheGraveMind

 Although tyranids are my one true love, I have little hope for them in 6th edition. Even with the new book about to come out in a few months, I don't think they will work. Not the way they are.

Tyranids generally use brute strength of statline to survive (toughness and a lot of wounds). But that isn't cutting it any more. They are also supposed to be close range combatants. Pistol and melee range. That doesn't work much anymore either. The prevalence of high rate of fire and high powered shots means few things can cross the board easily.

Tyranid units need to start being faster and more mobile, but synapse requirements have generally done the opposite of that. It forces the tyranids to move as one force, and units that break off to deal with a threat are generally sacrificed.

A squad of warp spiders can easily put five unsaved wounds on a standard tyranid MC. A properly buffed tau unit can put 8 unsaved wounds. And most of these units can do it with good range/mobility that allows them to minimize retaliation. And it isn't uncommon for many of these to now ignore cover, and tyranids will rarely have an invulnerable save.

With the new rule overwatch, and no longer assaulting from reserves, it is getting harder to make into combat with enough to kill units. This is more so true with many of tyranids "glass cannon" style units.

New rumors are making it sound like Tyranids will still be a very psyker reliant army. And more rumors about MCs, which is not the problem for Nids, it is functional infantry instead.

 

What I would like to see would be an increase in unit mobility/deployment options, unique perks/protections (immune to rending etc), and tricks to making it into combat (stunning opponents, preventing overwatch). But I won't hold my breath that gw is creative enough to do things like this.

What I'm afraid will happen will be a complete style overhaul like deamons. Even if they do better, they won't be the army I fell in love with. So here's hoping something good happens, but I'll keep working on my tau till then.

Army Archetypes

 By TheGraveMind

Been bored at work, and was thinking about how Sisters fit into 40k. I started comparing the different armies to classic/fantasy archetypes. Maybe my Roll playing memories were just coming back to my thoughts.

Deathwing in Apocalypse

By TheGravemind

So some of you might remember I have a deathwing force I started sometime back. It was originall planned to be a Mantis Warrior first company force using deathwing rules. The 6th edition happened and terminators were supposed to be better. And then the DA book was on the way so they waited. Deathwing sucks now, so they sit primed on a shelf. I had even bought chapter house shoulderpads for them.

Red fighting machine

By TheGraveMind

I'm going to be heading up to the Indiana Championship tournament in lafayette soon. I've been busy this week painting my army as I haven't had much time beforehand. Its not up to the level I was hoping for, but it is a good start and I'm really enjoying how it is coming along.

I'm interested in seeing how my army performs in this more cut throat environment. I've only played them once in a small local event and a few times in pick up games.
They deffinitly are not to the comfort level I have with my tyranids, but I think have a lot of potential I can get out of them. As long as I don't make too many mistakes.

This should be a tough yet fun end to the tournament season. After this I will bunker down for the winter and work on the hobby side a lot more. I have two other armies on the back burner and some terrain as well. Plus tyranids will be back in Januarary, so I have to manage my hobby time.

Mantis warriors, HO!!

By TheGraveMind

So right when I'm about to give up on my Mantis warriors and Make them something else, Forgeworld releases a cool little PDF that expands Chapter tactics for tons of chapters outside of the book. Mostly badab war, but still very cool. Because not every kid is like their parent.

See them here!
This means the marines I was about to repurpose from my MW to other armies might be claimed again.

So I have part of a Mantis warrior army, part of a Dark angel successor chapter, and a Night lords army in the works. grrrr, too many marines for a xeno player like me.

Never tell me the Odds

By TheGraveMind

People at work have been making fun of me being on the calculator so much. I'm always running numbers, adding up lists and figuring out the odds. I often run the probability of doing damage from unit to unit. It helps give a good idea how much fire power on average you'll need to take another unit down. Here I'll run through a few scenarios to give a little step by step.

Revisiting the old big kid on the street.

By TheGravemind

I managed to get a game in against a buddy of mine who has been trying to get his draigo-wing back into a competitive viable army. Now back in the day, GK and especially Draigo-wing was the bane of both my armies at the time. Nids and BA did not like high initiative force weapons with a good amount of shooting. But now I'm learning to play with my Tau, and I don't fear the paladins as much... or so I thought.

My new overlord

By TheGravemind

Been busy working on models, actively not painting, and getting the apartment ready for the new member. Hoping he stays pretty chill so I can keep some hobby time. May also cut into my tournament travels in the long run. He's officially adopted but I don't get him from the vet for a few days. I've got a couple drafts in the works I'll try and finish and show some actual progress.

Book; Lord of the Night

By TheGraveMind

After reading some background for Night Lords while researching for my little painting project Here, I got interested in the legend behind the Terror Legion. So picking up my second 40k book every I dove in.


While this isn't a full book review, I'm sure you can some of those easily enough. The book was very enjoyable, if very hero-centric. The two main characters are very well developed, though the rest of the cast seem a little less... dimensioned. The story contains the usual 40k stuff, Imperial paranoia, crazy ruthless Inquisitor, mass poverty, etc.

I feel it gives some pretty good insight to both the Inquisition and also the Lore and background to Night Lords and the slip into chaos.

It also included a lot of Warp-stuff....Like literally, you add the word Warp to the front of a word and it fits in 40k. Warpstuff, warppiss, warpshit, warptentacles, warp-be-damned.

It is a relatively short book, at 190 ish pages, but the story is decently paced, and the descriptions are vivid enough. The end I felt was a little anti-climatic, but left it open for a sequel/interpretation so that isn't too bad.

Overall it is a good read, or a must read if you are a Night Lord fan. If you're not a Night Lord fan, and you get a chance to read this, you'll probably turn into one.

Ave Dominus Nox!

New Marines; most improved.

By TheGraveMind

Well, I had a good look through the new codex and I saw two units that I was interested in that I think got the best improvement from the last codex. The first one is ....

Ave Dominus Nox!

By TheGraveMind

 

So I haven't had much urge to paint recently. It is one of those things similar to Working out. Once you forget how much you enjoyed it, you think of it as work till you start again. Well I finally got the itch, but want to paint something random and new. Thus this was born....

Favorite Tau Weaponry

By TheGravemind

I've been having a lot of fun with my Tau recently, and I wanted to go over some of my favorite weapons of theirs. Here are my top 5 Favorite Tau weapons.

Post-gencon scheduling

By TheGraveMind

I'm behind batman and Spock on the escalator.

After putting Real Life on hold for four days to attend Gencon this year, I think I'm finally caught back up. It was my first year going, and Man it was more than I expected. A bit more expensive, but I think with better planning next year I can save money and do more. Here are a few of my highlights.

40k Demo game

By TheGraveMind

My female counter part has been watching some of my 40k games over the past few months. She'll accompany me to the club, or sometimes to a tournament or such. Eventually one day she asked me to teach her. I agreed and dug up one of the old Quick guide reference sheets.

Space marine pictures

The good, the bad, and the ugly.
I'm just going to leave these here.
From the rumors, the sterngaurd kit is the one I'm looking forward for.

Tyranids in the new Apocalypse

by TheGraveMind

Say you want to play a game of the new Apocalypse but you have a tyranid collection, what do you do? Well before the new release I would have told you to not even bother. Not being able to assault from reserves, D weapons removing whole units of anything at a time, Large no man lands that are death to any infantry to cross them meant little Tyranids could do. Well a few things have changed, some better some worse.

Dark Angel Weapon swap

By TheGravemind

This has been bugging me for a while now. The weapon layout of the new 6th edition books is pretty nice. But the arbitrary selection and wording in some of them is kind of stupid. Some examples below.

The serpent and the flame

By TheGraveMind

I've been talking smack about my unfinished tau and gravyghost had a new eldar list he had wanted to try out. So it would be my fire caste vs his eldar. It was my first game against the new eldar, and I don't have that many games with tau under my belt so I was a bit concerned.

Farsight minidex

By TheGravemind

Looks like the preorder teasers are up. 3++ has more screen shots.

Hive Fleet Zhuran

By TheGravemind

Say biomass!

Last time we showed off the Mallet Master's Nurgle forces. This time for Armies on Display I'm putting my own Tyranid Army on display. This time we added some more lighting with white background and got a second (better than mine) camera.

Return from Tippcon

By TheGraveMind

While Tippcon Aftermath goes through the actually tournament, this post is going to be more about my army and how it/I performed. I basically took the painted models I had from the Indy open, and added 100 points of upgrades and called it a day. It's not the list I wanted to run, but with out knowing the missions until a few days before hand or how the terrain was, it was my safest bet.

Event Calendar is live!

By TheGraveMind

I've now got an event calendar up for local events in Indiana. I'd also gladly put up other events if they are within reasonable distance. You can click the tab above or follow the link HERE.

This month (June) is busy with an event almost every weekend. I am planning on going to most of these. I'll try and keep this calendar up to date. Feel free to send me info if you want an event listed!

Daemons>Tyranids>Daemons

By TheGravemind
 

I finally had a weekend free, and so I was able to make it up to Kokomo for some gaming. I got some games in against the new Daemons finally, and man what a wake up call. I had only played against them once before, but it was a Zone of Mortalis game, so not the best representation. I also witnessed just how much Daemons slow down the game.

Tippcon ahoy!

By TheGraveMind
I'm signing up for tippcon as I type this (kind of, you know what I mean). It is looking like a great oppertunity. I'm also looking at signing up for the team tournament for Sunday, but I'll need a teammate. Anyone thinking about going that is interested?

Follow the link below to find out more. I hope to see you all there!
http://custodesimperialis.blogspot.com

Stripping plastic models: pt2

By TheGravemind

So that was a fun vacation. By vacation I mean working 7 days a week between two jobs, while moving. Yep, lots of fun. So I've finally settled into my new bachelor pad (glances at girlfriend to make sure she does see), and have some actual free time to work on models. I've got a lot backed up, but I figured I'd finish this post since I left it hanging almost two months ago. Here is Part 1 if you forgot.

The Plague Spreads!

by TheGraveMind

Converted heldrake for the nurgle army.

I wanted to show off  Master of the Mallet's Nurgle army. I've added them to the Armies on display tab up at the top, and will be slowly adding armies from our group up there. I figured I'd start off on a wammy with this beautifully painted force.

The SunShark dilema

By TheGravemind

So I've been looking over the new Tau models on the GW website since they have been put up on pre-order. Mostly looking at sprues and 360 views coming up with conversion ideas and magnetizing options. Looking at the new flier, I noticed something, and I fear if it is true. It looks like the ion rifles the interceptor drones have, and the ion rifles on the quad gun might be the same bit. This would really make it hard to magnetize and make so either model could be used from one set.

Another thing I noticed was the end piece to the bomber's bomb generator seems to have multiple options. This could mean an upgrade or some form of options for the type of bombs? I guess we'll have to wait a week to find out. I can't wait till the bitz sites get these suckers up, because while I don't like the new suits, I'm loving the weaponry and drones!

Custom slaanesh soulgrinder

By knowsaj

Still have a lot of greenstuff work to do but the basic idea is there. I just wanted a more slaanesh looking soulgrinder and she/it will match my fiends. Ill post more pictures when I finish it and start painting.

Detailed Tau pictures. Drones and commander

By TheGravemind

Full details over at Advanced Tau tactica, Pictures of the finecast Tau commander suit have finally come up. The enforcer version of XV8 I believe. More pictures of drones and the bomber have also been found.

BattleFoam review, Tyranid trays

By TheGravemind

So back a little bit before christmas, I got myself some battlefoam for my tyranids. I had be reluctant because I wasn't sure how everything would fit, and I had to get the 1520 XL to carry my tourney list. But tyranids being all spindly and large as they are, I knew I needed to make the investment. So I'm going to do a quick run down of the foam that is build for tyranids. Being able to actually see models in the foam would have helped me make my decision a lost faster.

Pictures from the Indy Open

By TheGravemind

Ok, So I finally got around to getting the pictures off of my camera. I apologize for the lack of quality, I quickly took each of these as I was going round the tables. So many good looking armies, I know I missed some. If you know who's is who's, then please call them out.

Soulgrinder progress

By knowsaj

 

So with the new demon book I needed to change my slaanesh list. One of those changes is adding Soulgrinders to the list. Also since I've been having so much fun playing the new daemons book( probably because it reminds me of how to nids should play) I have started branching out to other chaos gods other then just slaanesh. So here's my nurgle and slaanesh soulgrinder so far