Quick and dirty: 6 easy steps to paint gaunts

Greetings,

I thought I'd share how I paint my gaunts/gants, as I made some pics during I painted my last 3 termagants. As I mentioned before, I wanted to get the huge amounts of gaunts painted as quick as possible but thereby not compromising the quality of the paintjob too much.
So here's how I do it:

 

1.) Assembly of the model, cleaning of mold lines, obviously. After that I glue on some stones or rubble onto the base and cover it completely with PVA glue. Afterwards I prime with ArmyPainter's "skeleton bone" primer. But you can use a white primer and paint the whole model with bleached bone. But by using bone primer I spare one step. 

As a sidenote on primers from ArmyPainter: you have to shake them really well (I mean several minutes!), heat it up a bit by holding it into hot water. And after priming hold the can upside down and spray until no colour comes out to clean the nozzle. I didn't do that with my first cans and the nozzles always got clogged with dried colour before the can was half-empty. 

2.) I paint the carapace with knarloc green and the base with khemri brown (foundation colour)

3.) The stones are painted with adeptus battlegrey and some random parts of the brown base are painted with rotting flesh, that shouldn't be done too evenly. While that dries I paint some details like the tongue and the joints with tanned flesh. When the base has dried some drybrushing with dheneb stone brings out the details of the stonerubble.

 

4.)   Afterwards I wash the whole model (not the base) with a lightly thinned mix of devlan mud and water (about 3 parts devlan mud and 1 part water)

5.) Usually I leave that to dry over night, but I think an hour should be enough as well. Then I paint the edges of the carapace with terracotta with uneven brush strokes.

6.) The last step is to glue some static grass onto the base and give the carapace an even coat with 'ardcoat for a glossy finish. Some thinned white on the teeth and the magazine of the weapon give some additional highlights.

That's it. Quick and not too dirty. 

Some musings on the new Tyranids and freshly painted Eldar

Hi guys,

when checking any of the "big" W40k community forums at the moment you can´t really come around big discussion on the pros and cons of the new Tyranid Codex. With most of the rumored rules being known before the Codex has hit the shelfs, there was already a big crowd of long time players seeing the end of the world coming because the almighty Carnifex has fallen in the pit of overcostedness, while many others really anticipated the really "fresh" feeling the new list has in comparison to the 4th edition codex with its focus on Devourer-TMCs.

From the test games I had against the tyranids I also like to add my 10 cents to this discussion: From the point of an Eldar player the codex really feels like a new experience to play against - big horde armies are a real problem for Eldar players and so I really feared to be bogged down by a giant mass of screeching bugs. Interestingly the test game felt quite different - sure a horde list can also be viable, but the list really gives you targets from every category. Not only you have to be aware of small bugs and TMC, but you also need  a different appoach to kill big units of multiwound Warriors. Eldar can muster quite a big number of S6 weapons (War Walker, Warp Spiders) and these really are more efficient than one would think when used against Warriors but also against T6 monsters. In the test game a unit of Pathfinders also really suprised me with laying down 4 wounds on an Trygon , due to lucky rolling on my side. The small ones will be the job for units of Dire Avengers but here Eldar players really have to be carefull not to be overrun by big units of Hormaguants, which have a high I (Aspect warriors beware !) and lots of attacks for low points. Together with several possibilities to add some S8 weapons Eldar should be able to at least weaken or kill some of the big beasties before they hit the line.

There I think Eldar will really start to struggle : With one exception (the Reroll-It Seer Council of You-Can´t-Kill-Me) most Eldar units are really fragile and depend on doing a lot of damage before the enemy retaliates. I think lash whips will be the bane of units like Banshees and Harlequins. Damaging monstrous creatures worked quite well, in the test game but mostly through initating multiple combats together with weaker units (Tervigons together with Gaunts for example) - hitting just the little ones really can give the big one more fearless-wounds than he can handle. Here the Seer Council also has the really big advantage of just needing a 2+ to wound even the mightiest of creatures, which will further increase the use of big Warlock units with a Farseer. I wasn´t able to test Harlequins until now but they should also be quite efficient against non-lash whip TMCs but will be overwhelmed by Warriors or Gaunts. The Wraithlord proved to be quite efficient with its 2 S8 weapons and the two flamers when things get personal. His big problem will be the amount of poisonous units in the army - while in the test game he died to a Carnifex, so I can´t really comment on this but I don´t think he will win any combat against Toxin Sac carrying things (almost everything is able to do this in the Codex) .      

So much on my opinions on Eldar against the new Tyranid Codex.  And because my New Years pledge was to first paint all my Eldar stuff lying around before painting anything new I also started to again take up the banner of proud craftworld Alaitoc and painted some models again. Here you see the first of my squadron of scatter laser War Walkers :

I also painted the limited edition Wraithbone Singer (will be used as Farseer - hopefully GW adds some rules in the next Eldar codex for this guy) I still had lying around :

 

I really like the dynamic pose of this model and the picture just does it no justice. To finish my Eldar to-do-list I still have to paint 2 War Walker, Prince Yriel and my FW Avatar (yikes). So still a lot to do before new stuff comes to town ....

I will also write some word on my opinion on Chaos Daemons against the new Tyranids the next days.

Meet and greet: Newly spawned Tyranids

After all of the playtesting and actual playing with the new 'nids, let me return to the hobby part. Over the last weeks I finished some more bugs for my growing, but yet nameless hive fleet (more to all the names flowing around my head later).
First of all, the little critters are now under the unrelenting will of the hive mind, relayed by the powerful hive tyrant:

And of course a Tyrant is such a fragile existence, he needs some company for his protection: One tyrant guard is finished as well

 

As you can see I equipped him with a set of scything talons instead of the bonesword/lashwhip combo. The one and only reason for it being that I absolutely dislike the way how the bonesword is modelled! I'm not getting warm with the idea, a creature like this wields a real sword, with hilt and pommel... So I gave him the, in my eyes, way more cooler looking talons from the monstrous creature sprue. Rules-wise the other combo is better and so Trotzki mentioned he wouldn't have any objections against it if I fielded him with these biomorphs.

For further control via synapse and for serious anti-tank firepower, one of three zoanthropes is finished:

And as I was lucky to get a box of space hulk, I thought I needed to paint the broodlord. This mini is soo nice compared to the metal one and partly justifies to purchase space hulk just because of this model.

And of course he needs some buddies for the next thrashing in your neighborhood:

Finally I broke of the crushing claws of the carnifex and replaced them with another pair of scything talons. 25 points for d3 attacks more are simply not worth it...

Ok that's it for the moment with new models. Currently I am working on ever more termagants, the second tyrant guard and it itchs me to get started with the trygon I bought last week.

Tyranids: Test-games

So with the codex hitting the shelves tomorrow, I want to recapitulate the last games I had with the new tyranids and I thought, I'd share my experiences.
The first game was against space wolves and my 1750 points list looked something like this (I lost the paper where I wrote it down so just a mere summary):

Hive Tyrant
- venom cannon
- bonesword and lashwhip
- tactical insight
- 2 guards

2 zoanthropes

2 hive guards

3 warriors
- 2 pairs of scything talons

3 warriors
- rending claws

3 warriors
- deathspitters

2x15 termagaunts, no upgrades

20 hormagaunts
- adrenaline glands

10 genestealers with 1 broodlord

trygon alpha
mawloc

We played with 4 objectives, deployment dawn of war. I deployed the tyrant, all termagaunts and the mawloc, the hormagaunts would outflank (tactical insight) as would the genestealers.
So I won't go into detail of the game, I rather tell you how the units performed.

The Tyrant: I am not sure about him. He isn't particularly good but he isn't bad either. He soaks a bit of firepower and can do something with the venom cannon. But he is slow and in this game he didn't reach close combat.
At this point I considered to take him only with close combat weapons and let him run.

Zoanthropes: Funny, are considered a great thread and therefore are taken down in no-time. But their 3++ save is really annoying for the opponent, it took 4 tl-lascannons and a lot of small arms fire to kill them. I think you need more than two.

Hive Guards: Nice. They didn't do that much in this game, but they aren't too expensive. So next time I'd take more.

Warriors: I really think they should be kept as cheap as possible because they die pretty quickly when they are shot at. But they are needed to keep the synapse (at least in this list). In close combat they aren't too bad but nothing astonishing. Rending claws are disappointing, re-rollable to-hit rolls are better in my eyes. The death spitters aren't bad too. More a choice of taste I think.

Termagaunts: 15 is a good number for them I think, they soak up some fire and stay "functional". In close combat they suck, so I would give them toxin sacs. Great choice for their points.

Hormagaunts: I regretted the adrenal glands. Admittedly they took out a rhino but they got beaten pretty hard by the ensuing close combat with the disembarked space wolves. Next time with toxin sacs. But I have to say I like the greater speed of the hormagaunts compared to their little brothers. Their special rule ("flink" in German) nearly guarantees a 5-6" running distance which makes them really fast. Ok leaping would have been better, but hey, you can't have everything. I know, the so called internet-wisdom will probably come to the conclusion that termagaunts are the better choice, but I think the 2 points more you spent for the hormies are worth it, for you gain 1 attack and re-rollable 1s on the to hit roll. And to be honest I don't think the fleshborer will be used to often on the termas. So more speed is great for the part of the gaunts who want to get into grips with the enemy or charge the enemy's objective. A mix of both will be fine I think.

Genestealers: Disappointing. Very disappointing. I was able to charge a 10 men squad without any casualties by fire...and they lost close combat after 2 turns. Very sad. They used to be so good but they went the way of the Dodo.... The broodlord is nice with his psychic power where one model in base to base contact cannot strike (the power fist in this case) but he didn't do much too.

Trygon alpha: I think the alpha is not needed. Better save the points or give the basic trygon other upgrades. Otherwise he is nice. Very nice and very destructive. I think he is somewhat a must have now.

Mawloc: Meh. Just meh. To depend on the deviation of his deep striking to use his template weapon is bad (remember that you have to place him like every other unit which deepstrikes, so he has to stay away from enemy units by 1". You cannot deepstrike onto units and use his template!) I always deviated away from units and had to place him instead of the template. And then he simply gets beaten to pulp. I don't think he is worth it. Better take the trygon for a few but well spent points more.

After my first game I was a bit disappointed about the performance of the tyranids in close combat. I lost really every single one. I thought the 'nids are said to be a close combat army. Ok, space wolves are great in hand to hand combat (4 attacks on the charge with re-rolls to hit hurt). But it was my first game, so what do I know of 'nids. Heads up and right into the next game.

With my first experiences made, I designed a new list:

Tyrant
- scything talons
- bonesword and lashwhip
- tactical insight
- 2 guards

2x2 hive guards

3x3 warriors
- see above

16 hormagaunts
- toxin sacs

2x15 termagaunts
- toxin sacs

2 trygons
- adrenalin glands

carnifex
- 2 pairs of scything talons
- adrenaline glands

The idea behind this list was to offer as many as possible juicy targets to the enemy so that he is some kind of overloaded. But each "juicy target" destroyed should not lead to a collapse of the entire list. And I want more close combat than shooting.

Next game was again against the same space puppies. This time my army worked so much better than before. I deployed everything this time except the trygons which would deepstrike.
I won this game with 3 to 1 objectives.
Outstanding were the trygons! They are real beasts, especially when they appear together as few armies are capable to take down 2 TMCs with toughness 6 and 6 wounds in just one round of shooting (and I was able to keep them out of charge range). Ony trygon suffered 4 wounds, the other one none. They wreaked havoc over 3 turns and one survived till the end. 7 attacks on the charge with S7 and re-rolls to hit are pure awesomeness, equals 5 to 6 dead marines. Even Arjak wasn't able to take both of them down.
The toxic gaunts are better too. They put out significantly more damage than without. Take toxin sacs!
The carnifex is ok, but nothing more. But he fills his role in offering another target you cannot ignore on later turns.
Again the hive tyrant is so average that I am not sure about how to use him properly. And I forgot to choose and use his psychic powers...so I can't say anything here.
Overall I was pleased with this list and so I made only light adjustments:

Hive Tyrant again with venom cannon
Warriors all with death spitters

With this list I played against Trotzki's daemons and against Clausewitz who fielded my tau. Against the daemons I managed a draw and I lost against the tau, mainly due to some mistakes I made during deployment and movement and bad luck.
This list performs really well and is quite balanced concerning shooting and close combat and has a nice mix of horde and big bugs.

So this will be quite that what I am going to paint in the next weeks/months. Except that I am going to change the elite section. I ordered 2 more zoanthropes so I am going to try a brood of 3 of them. And three warriors will retain their pair of scything talons as I modelled them this way.

Hopefully I have time at the weekend to take some pics of my bugs I have so far. Currently I am working on the hive tyrant and his guard. Since the last photos I finished 8 stealers, the space hulk broodlord, 8 gaunts and a zoantrope.
That's it for the moment and I can't wait to get my hands on the real codex with hopefully nice fluff and pics.

Test...test...test

"Im afraid of energy weapons!"

Greetings,
 

I got some more games in with the new Nid codex and wanted to share my experince with you guys.

I played against Trotzkis Eldar at 2000p and against Orkz at 1750p. I wanted to test some units I havent used to far and try certain ideas.

Against the Eldar I used 2 units of 3 Hiveguard´s, they did their job and put some hurt on the Eldar flyers, Falcon´s are still a pain. If you play against mech alot this unit is really worth their points, 6 str8 shots at bf4 for less then a naked Carnifex....gooood.

I also used 2 Trygons with regeneration, they killed one Serpent sucked up the shooting from the whole Eldar army and then died. Partly because I couldnt make a single saving throw and partly because, Shinning Spear´s kill Trygons! Ok nobody uses them anymore, but they kill Trygons, for real! ;)

Tervigons are still awesome, but keeping the Gaunts in 6" is getting harder if the game gets tougher. I still firmly believe 2 is the magic number. I tried 2 Gaunt units with 15 models each, worked good. Perhaps I scale it down to 10 in the next game and see if it still works.

Carnifex killed some Eldar with his heavy Vennomcannon, killed a Phantomlord and then died to Dire Avengers and Guards in melee, the Hivemind will surely not respawn this one!

In the end i lost with 1:0 objectives, mainly because I got caught in the game and decided not to sit behind a forrest the whole game, was alot of fun though.

Since i know my Ork buddy used the big tanks alot lately, I brought 2 units of 2 Zoantrophes in Capsules. I got played a bit here, the Orkz brought only one big tank and 6 pickups! The Zoantrophes  managed to kill 3 pickups, beat a 10man Orkmob in melee and 2 actually survived. But failed to kill the big tank, with 8 friggin str10 ap1 lance hits! :(

For fun and giggles I used 3 Mawloc´s, which turned out to kill the Waaghboss´s ride, the tank and some Orkz. They failed their hit and run check and died to clawz. Mawloc´s dont like str8 energy weapons.

I scaled the Termagaunt´s down to 10 models, still worked. Since it was a Annihilation 15 would have been better, but I was trying to get some points back. Tervigons still rock, nothing to see here.

I wanted to use 2 winged Tyrants, with 2 tl Dev´s and Injector, its so expensive its not even funny anymore, cost more then a frigging Land Raider. While it still works, its just too much points for what it does.

My actual plan was to overload the enemy with ton´s of targets shocking right onto them, it kinda worked.  I suffered from some horrible rolls, but I managed to squeeze a draw out in the end,  11:11 killpoints.

So let me recap:

1. Tervigons are great, nothing new here 

2. twinlinked Devourer Flyrants still kinda work, but are way too expensive 

3. Orkz with claws/Shinning Spears kill Mawlocs/Trygons

4. Zoans in Capsules kill Tank, 2 units of 2 each should be enough

5. Hiveguards rock against mech and they cheap 

Were planning to play some more tomorrow and i really want to test some Alpha Warriors and Harpy´s. But since Managarm is also longing for his first test games, I might be playing some Marines or Tau and see how they deal with the new threats from the Nids. 
Cheers!

Nids: 2 test games later

He rocks so much!

Good Morning!
Kinda hurts that Managarm beat me to it, but hey at least i got some info right from the table top!
I managed to lure some of the guys who started to play with me in 2nd and 3rd Edition into the mancave, and get 2 games in with the new Nids codex. Yes i have a copy. No you cant have it. But as always, google is your friend. ;)

So we sat down, each of us made an army and then we faced a randomized opponent. I played Black Templars first and then Space Wolves in the "winners bracket". 

I had to face, Land Raiders, Ragnar, Canis and tons of 3+ armor saves and armor.

So heres what i used:
Tyrant

3 Zoantrophes in Capsule

Deathleaper

3 Hiveguard

2 Tervigons

2x20 Termagaunts

3 Warriors

Mawloc

Carnifex in Capsule

With this i had 5 scoring units and the ability to generate even more. Lucky me i had to play loot counters both times....guess its just me. ;) How does it work? Keep everything in reserve, come in on 3+ or 2+ depending if the Liktor has showed up, autoenter on turn 3. Lots of fun. The army lacks  focus and i guess i could make a tougher one. But it had most of the units i wanted to try out.

So how did the units do? Well let me first say one thing, Mawlocs rock! They are awesome, if your enemy has foot units on the field, they will cry. Light armor? Still gets hit from behind with st6. And if your opponent shoots at the Mawloc, he does not shoot at anything else. And if you survive you can always charge into something or burrow again. AWESOME! He was absolute devasting in my second game, killed 4 fenris wolves and the wolves ran of the board taking Canis with them! He also killed like 10 or so more Space wolves. He didnt killed a single marine in my first game though, deviated all over the place.

The Tyrant is ok. He costs A LOT but he is worth it, IF you play a army list which makes use of his abilities. If all you want is a cc unit, go with Alpha Warriors. I used him with Insight, which grants me +1 on my reserves. Other then that, lash and sword is nice, heavy venomcannon is ok.

The Zoantrophes, did their job in the first game. They killed the Black Templars Land raider. Died when they got charged and the capsule killed some more marines and then died when it got charged. They failed in the second game, where they just tore off a lascannon. And then got killed by Ragnar and friends. They are good, and i will use at least 1 unit in every army, st10 ap1 lance is just to good to miss. 

Deathleaper, he didnt do much. Killed a few marines and immobilized a rhino. Hes in the list for another +1 on reserves and for his funny special rules. W3 malus on a opponents character model is fun, even more if its a psyker. And i mean come on Deathleaper, awesome name! ;) Stelek from www.yesthetruthhurts.com put me onto this one.

The Hiveguards are good, st8 shooting which does not need los is always good. They didnt do much in both games, just walked around and shot stuff. Ill guess that´s what they do.

Termagaunts you need them. They are cheap, they shot, they score and they can kill marines in cc with roids and poison from the Tervigons. Well and for each unit you can take a Tervigon as scoring unit.

The warriors managed to avoid action most of the time. They did shoot a few times, they got shot with lascannons alot and died. Didnt saw cc action, but i reckon they rock if they get there. Energy weapons which can autokill? Yes please!

Tervigons are good, really good. The option on a t6, w6, 3+, fnp, MC which is scoring, is too good to pass. I like them, i will use them, but not more then 2. They are not cheap by any means, but the ability to spawn more Termagaunts, boosting their power and tossing around feel no pain is worth the points to me. One always managed to spend their Termagaunts in one go and the other always spawned tons.

The Fex is still good, although he does get really pricey, really quick. Put him in a capsule, shock him, shoot, hope to survive and then run him into cc. Worked quite good for me.

Ah one last word on the capsules, they are really nice. I always liked the fluff on these and i think that its high time nids get some decent shock options. They can kill stuff with shooting and cc, are autokillable, but cheap. I think over on www.chainfist.com there is a cheap option, how to get some "eggs".

So let me conclude that i like the new Nids, a lot. The codex plays totally different from the last one and i feel it has a lot of options for fiendly games. It might not be the best for tournament players, but i will totally crush foot lists. If your not mounted up, you will die, thats what i learned from my first two games. Hopefully ill get some more in, in the next days.


So with that i wish you all the best in 2010 and a nice new years party. Ill head over to the kitchen and prepare everything for my birthday party!

Cheers

Tyranids: Preliminary list building with codex in hand

 Greetings everyone,

Over the christmas days I had the chance to take a thorough look through the new tyranid codex. And as I had enough time to do so, I can remember most of the points cost pretty well. Usually I don’t put much effort into list building without haven’t seen the codex and estimated costs solely based on guess-work. But now, with a much more solid background, I played around a lot with some ideas I have for my own swarm. On the first look the codex leaves behind a rather good “feeling”, so to say. At a first glimpse, I haven’t seen a unit which seems too overpower/underpowered by itself. But surely it’s too early to say something definite and time will tell what combinations of which units will raise the cries for cheese. Only things I am somewhat disappointed are the new pyrovores, genestealers and carnifices. Those are not bad at all, but in comparison to other units they are a bit weak. But enough of that, here are some ideas for my list I am intending to build and play. Mind that I have seen the German version of the codex, so some names might seem odd.

HQ:
-    Hive Tyrant with lash whip, bonesword and heavy venom cannon, “tactical instinct”, 3 tyrant guards
I think a swarm should be led by a hive tyrant and as he will be footslogging he needs the guards. Expensive, but a hard nut to crack, a beast in close combat and I think some pretty needed anti tank capability.

Elites:
-    3 Zoanthropes
I always liked the models and the idea of bloated brains flying around and causing some serious headaches somehow appeals to me. And strength 10 ap1 lances are even more appealing. Sadly they are a single unit now, you cannot field them independently.

Troops:
-    3 warriors with 2 sets of scything talons each
-    3 warriors with death spitters or scything talons, too. Not sure right now.
It seems necessary to take more warriors now simply to keep the swarm under synapse control. And I like the models. Strength 8 will be the bane for this unit though. Against the Imperial Guard they will die quickly I guess. Maybe these 2 small units are not enough. But we'll see

-    2x20 hormagaunts with toxin sacs
Fast, cheap (with this loadout one gaunt costs the same like one kroot) and they pack some serious punch with wounding everything on 4+. And I think they can be left outside the synapse as you want them charging one way or the other. On the negative side: no chance against vehicles or walkers.

-    2x20 termagaunts with fleshborers
Very cheap , adds to the horde feeling the 'nids should have in my eyes.

-    10 genestealers with 1 additional broodlord
Actually I am not sure about this unit. I always feared the stealers and had prayed Clausewitz never fielded a broodlord in the past. To be honest they got hit with the nerf-stick more than necessary in my eyes. The downgrading of rending did that sufficiently to the stealers and the loss of inhuman strength does not make the broodlord more attractive either. But outflanking stealers are no bad idea at all and the Space Hulk broodlord is too nice to be left in the box. I definitely will give them a try.

Heavy support:
-    Trygon Alpha with regeneration
The stats of this pal are just great and with 6 wounds I think the regeneration could actually do something good. And another monstrous synapse creature with shadow in the warp isn't bad either. Expensive creature nonetheless (costs like a land raider with multi-melta).

-    Trygon with regeneration
Same like above, even without the synapse thing. And with the +1 on reserves (granted by tactical instinct of the tyrant) those buddies are likely to appear early in the game. Have fun with those two in your line.

And that's it yet at a 2000 point level. The big bugs cost their fair share now. But with more than 100 bugs on the field it's pretty cool I think. One weakness I see is the limited anti tank power I have in this list as nearly the whole troops section can't do anything against vehicles. At the moment it is up to the hive tyrant and the brain bugs. Maybe it is necessary to field hive guards. Fluff-wise they are meant to guard brood nests and spore chimneys and all those strange "buildings" but it seems it could be worthwhile to take them. They are relatively cheap and 2 strength 8 shots whithout the need for line of sight and on a tough ballistic skill 4 creature is nothing to make fun of.

So these are just my initial thoughts and it is far from finished. I would like to add some gargoyles with the special character (parasite of Mortrex?) and some raveners. And a brood of three carnifices as screamer-killers is something I'd like to try out. I could go on and on this way as the codex has soo many nice units which not only look great but seem to have some nice rules.

In summary I think this codex will bring a lot of fun as I dare to say there will be more than just one or two "viable" lists. The new creatures, and by that I don't mean only the so beloved tervigon, seem to be very interesting. Another interesting thing will be to keep everything in synapse range, especially as the warriors are a bit more fragile now.

Currently on the painting table are a hive tyrant, 2 guards and 1 zoanthrope (Santa Clause was nice this year...). The old gaunt box is still unopened. I'll keep you updated on this.