Monday, December 31, 2012

Calypso2ts @ Da Boyz GT: 2 of 3

It looks like I am going to have the chance to finish off the New Year for the Mandulian Chapel with another Battle Report.  I have a pile of painting and modeling articles to get to come the New Year - not to mention strategy and tactics - but I feel an obligation to share these reports first to provide some context for my decisions

For those who missed the first post, in Round 1 I played a Space Wolves army with Grey Knights allies - that can be found here This is the second year in a row that I have started Da Boyz with a massacre win - it also means I expected a really tough game next.  Interestingly, I ended up paired against the Ringer - and I found that the first two rounds of Da Boyz are random pairings.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Crispy - Dec Millennium Invitational - G3


     The final game of the Millennium Games Invitational had me up against Shaun Kemp and his Orcs. I’ve gone up against Kemp with my Nids once before at the last Ard Boyz semifinals and walked away with a big loss. Kemp is one of the Da Boyz founders and a big name in the GT scene, so I knew it was going to be a tough time.

Mission: Big Guns Never Tire (4 Objectives)
Deployment: Dawn of War


Friday, December 28, 2012

hyv3mynd at DaBoyz GT 2012 - Game #5


My fifth opponent of DaBoyz GT 2012 was Greg and his beautifully painted grey knights (2nd Place Appearance).  The GT format had 3 mission objectives each worth 10 battle points with a 3 point bonus each game for first blood.  Mission #5 was Hammer/Anvil deployment.  Mission objectives were d3+2 objectives (heavy support units score), kill points, and emperor's will.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Calypso2ts @ Da Boyz GT: 1 of 3

I have been avoiding writing up this tournament for almost a month now for reasons that have nothing to do with Da Boyz GT as a tournament and everything to do with my some personal challenges I ran into at the event.  I want to preface this post with a brief look into the 2011 Da Boyz GT.  I brought Daemons with me, a similar list but comp restrictions forced some changes.  Overall, I played well and ended up 4 - 2 with my losses to Greg Spark's Eldar and then in round 6 to the Tau player who went on to take Best General.  That game haunted me because I made one or two minor mistakes that poor luck punished me severely on so that I took the loss in spite of wrecking most of my opponents army.

Regardless, I was killed on painting because I did not finish painting - and I was embarrassed to have brought primed only models.  I planned for the next year to finish painting everything - or at least be so close that only I knew the difference.  It was a tough goal - I lived at my parents house as I started a new job last Spring, I bought a house with my wife and had a daughter.  In spite of that - I was able to paint and base the army and bring a display board with me.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Crispy - Dec Millennium Invitational - G2




     My second game of the Millennium Games Invitational had me going up against a friend and BuffaloBeef & Wing big dog Mike Nogle (see G1 here). I’ve gone up against Mike a couple of times and each time, he’s laid the smack down on me.  Mike rolled up with his Blood Angels, and after both of us losing our first games, he was ready to squash my bugs yet again.

Mission: Emperor’s Will
Deployment: Vanguard Strike

Monday, December 17, 2012

Calypso2ts - Dec Millenium Invitational - Game 3

I want to wrap up the Millenium invitational write up this week and lay out some thoughts for where I plan to go when it comes to Daemons and associated CSM allies.  For those who did not tune in for the first two games they are written up as Game 1 and Game 2.  Naturally I was faced with the man, the myth, the legend, Mr...


I've been expecting you himself.  Coteaz seems to be a bit confused, because my name is not Anderson, but I tried not to let that throw me off.  The vital stats for this game are:

Mission: Big Guns Never Tire (4 Objectives)
Deployment: Dawn of War
Opponents: Grey Knights

Saturday, December 15, 2012

A Tyranid List Worth Building?


These days, the main reason I don't bring out the tyranids much is that they just don't look as good on the table as my other armies.  The second reason is the hard line GW took in denying them the perks of 6th edition found in allies and gun emplacements.  Last week, I took them to our local tournament and had a lot of fun with them, restoring a spark of interest.  Looking forward, I realistically won't be able to attend a tournament until mid April as I work in an industry that relies on Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Easter to carry us through the rest of the year.  That big chunk of time combined with my renewed drive to play with bugs, and a new Grex airbrush my amazing wife treated me to, has me really tempted to tackle my repaint project.

Friday, December 14, 2012

hyv3mynd at DaBoyz GT 2012 - Game #4


My fourth opponent of DaBoyz GT 2012 was Stillfrosty (Brandon) himself from the White Scars blog, with with his Legion of the Damned (White Scars).  The GT format had 3 mission objectives each worth 10 battle points with a 3 point bonus each game for first blood.  Mission #4 was Dawn of War deployment.  Mission objectives were d3+2 objectives (fast attack units score), kill points, and slay the warlord.


Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Crispy - Dec Millennium Invitational - G1


     Every year Millennium games hosts an end of the year Invitational tournament for the winners of its monthly events. Entrance is free, they still throw in a bunch of loot for prizes, and there are bragging rights. For the third year in a row I made the cut for the Invitational, and having won the event for the past 2 years, I was excited. My first game was against Chris Courtney. I've played Chris 3 or 4 times, and the only time I was able to beat him was a few years back, the first time we played. Courtney’s a solid player, and when I saw his list I knew it’d be a hell of a time. 

These Guardsmen didn't have a Manticore to support them. 

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Calypso2ts - Dec Millennium Invitational - G2

With game 1 behind me, I surveyed the field and there were a variety of armies with a victory in the first round.  From memory I recall seeing an IG army w/ Deathwing allies, two GK armies one w/ IG allies, a Tyranid players and a CSM w/ Epidemus.  Naturally as the Daemon player at the event there was only one opponent I could have drawn.


Grey Knights - It had to be Grey Knights!

Monday, December 10, 2012

Calypso2ts - Dec Millennium Invitational - G1

I cannot help but notice that it seems the vast majority of my posts so far have been focused on Battle Reports - probably because I have been playing so many games.  I have a GT to write up still, this tournament and then another practice game to boot!  I would lie to drag it out because I will probably not get a chance to play many over the next few weeks - ski season starts here in the Northeast.

For now I am going to start with the most recent event - the Millennium Games end of year invitational.  We posted a brief summary of the invitational and our lists (hint I am the Daemons) here.  Once again, I made the drive to Rochester (it is about an hour and a half for me) with this image in mind - or more precisely thinking of ways to avoid this outcome occupying my thoughts.


Saturday, December 8, 2012

The Mandulian Monks go to the Millennium 2012 Invitational

Our local shop hosts a monthly tournament where the top two finishers each month also qualify for an invitational championship in December.  As it turns out, all three authors on this blog qualified so we'll all be playing for top bragging rights today. 

Friday, December 7, 2012

Jungle Table 3.0


A few months ago, I told the owner of the store that hosts the monthly tournaments that I would build him a set of terrain for his store.  Here is what I came up with using some of my newly acquired tools and new techniques I've been pondering.


Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Da Boyz Team Tourney – Crispy’s Wrapup




     Looking back at the Da Boyz Team Tourney, I’m surprised how much list tailoring and the pairing mechanism influenced the game balance. You might say that’s a fairly obvious revelation (come on, you knew that you were playing at a team event right?), but I think that there is a definite difference between the theoryhammer view of a team event I had before hand and the reality of playing in one. Before the event, I was confident in generating a well-rounded all comers list that could play multiple rolls. Now, I can definitely see how designing a specific list to fill a specific roll would have been more beneficial. Chalk it up to experience over theory.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Calypso2ts-Da Boyz GT - Team Event G3

With the local 40k Tournament of Champions coming up (this the end of the year invitational tournament at Millenium games open to the top 2 unqualified finishers of each monthly tournament), I have been busy working on a number of projects.  One of those involves an experiment with allies and fortifications - I am hoping to have that experiment complete in time for the tournament and to share the initial thoughts of it later in the week.


Before moving onto new topics though, I wanted to share the final round of the DA Boyz GT Team Tournament, our overall results and some of my own observations on the event.

Friday, November 30, 2012

hyv3mynd at DaBoyz GT Team Event


Since my cohorts are featuring their team tournament experiences this week, I figured I would follow suit.  I'm also going to include some background on the list development.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Calypso2ts - Da Boyz GT - Team Event G2

An introduction to my army, the team and my first game can be found here.  Although I got the matchup I had hoped for in round 1, it was a bit tougher in the second round and we found ourselves scored closer to the bottom of the pack.  Our second opponent was a team composed of Grey Knights, Dark Eldar, Space Wolves and Orks.



The GK player was packing the normal Coteaz and two strike squads which is a tough matchup for me.  It is not as bad as the Dark Eldar matchup though and we opted to have me as the Champion.  The theory being, the GK player would likely try to get himself paired against me, which meant I could dodge him and the Dark Eldar (who had too many good matchups to be the Champion and risk a bad one) to snag one of the other teams. 

Naturally, the Grey Knights ended up as the Champion for this game and it was time for a rematch of the game I played (same opponent, similar armies) at last year's Da Boyz GT round 4.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Da Boyz Team Tourney – Crispy’s Tyranids


     At the 2012 Da Boyz GT Team Tournament Hyv3mynd, Calypso2ts, our friend Terry, and I joined forces to form the Super-Team: The Grand Strategery!  With Grey Knights, Daemons, Chaos Space Marines, and Tyranids (respectively) we took the field.
     This post will focus on what I thought worked well with my Tyranids. I’ll go over the pros & cons of my list and highlight a few points from my 3 games

Monday, November 26, 2012

Calypso2ts - Da Boyz GT - Team Event - Intro/Game 1

I received the invitation to join in on the Da Boyz Team Tournament from Hyv3mynd at the end of the monthly October tournament at Millenium games.  This is the first time I have had the chance to play in a team tournament at the GT level and the format was designed to be similar to the ATC and ETC.



For those unfamiliar with the format the teams were composed of four members.  There were no allies, no fortifications and each member had to bring a different codex.  Naturally, this was not a problem for me as the Daemon player.  We rounded out the grouping with Hyv3mynd's Grey Knights, ChrisP's Tyranids and Terry's (another local player) Chaos Space Marines.

I managed to snap a few shots of our team before the event:

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Welcome to the Mandulian Chapel from Crispy


     Whether you are a returning visitor to Synaps3 & Purple Reign, or if you’re new to The Mandulian Chapel, I’d like to welcome you and say hello.  My name is Chris Pelletier, and I go by Crispy or Warmaster Primus on various forums. I’ll be joining Hyv3mynd and Calypso2ts here at The Mandulian Chapel, discussing Warhammer 40K & Fantasy tactics, tournaments, fluff, and the hobby. I’ll be posting my thoughts from the 2012 Da Boyz GT 40K Team Tournament and the Fantasy GT in the coming weeks, but before that let me introduce myself.

Care and Feeding of a Calypso2ts

For me it was a long road to eventually embrace wargaming.  My first flirtations with the hobby started in grade school when I received the board game Battle Masters as a gift.  I would later learn the game (which I still have) was created in conjunction with Games Workshop and I boldly fielded the Empire armies against the forces of Chaos - pronounced by me then with the CH as in a choo choo train.


Friday, November 23, 2012

hyv3mynd at DaBoyz GT 2012 - Game #3




My third opponent of DaBoyz GT 2012 was Frank with with his mech Dark Eldar.  The GT format had 3 mission objectives each worth 10 battle points with a 3 point bonus each game for first blood.  Mission #3 was Dawn of War deployment.  Mission objectives were d3+2 objectives (heavy support units score), modified kill points, and emperor's will (1 objective in each half).

Thursday, November 22, 2012

synaps3 Becomes The Mandulian Chapel


Well, I hinted that changes were coming! 

This year has been a crazy one for me for sure.  You know some of the details if you've followed along.  Time management has become exponentially more challenging since the birth of my son.  I've also gone from one army to three over the past three years thanks to the generous prize support at the local monthly events and GT's I've had the pleasure of attending.  Some of you were sad to see my Tyranids fall from the spotlight as I tackled new armies and hobby projects, but some were also pleased to see the evolution of my painting and converting techniques.

The changing of the blog from synaps3 to The Mandulian Chapel is the next evolution.  The blog will no longer be about myself and my armies.  Now it is a group endeavor and the beginning of a new community of like minded individuals.  Chris (Crispy) and Erich (Calypso2ts) will be authors along side myself.  Some of you are already familiar with Chris as I've written articles about him and played a few games against him.  He is probably the most talented Tyranid player in Western New York and will be contributing on that front as well as with some Chaos and Fantasy content.  Erich is our most dedicated and successful local Daemon player so he will have some content from them as well as his personal passion for statistics and mathammer.  If you frequent the blog roll, you'll know him as the author of the Purple Reign blog.

Together, we hope to bring all of our readers a steady stream of quality content that continues to focus on theory, execution, battle reports, and hobby endeavors from our favorite war gaming universe.  I hope you all continue to follow and join in on the conversations.

For those who are curious about the title, we chose it from Grey Knight fluff about a specific location on Titan.  You can read some about it here.  The awesome banner art was done by Goatboy and represents the 3 paneled altar from the fluff.  Calypso2ts is the first monk standing over the Daemon, the second monk is myself (hyv3mynd) standing over the Grey Knight, and Crispy is over the Tyranid.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

hyv3mynd at DaBoyz GT 2012 - Game #2


My second opponent of DaBoyz GT 2012 was Bill with with his pre-heresy emperor's children (counts-as space marines) with Blood Angel allies.  The GT format had 3 mission objectives each worth 10 battle points with a 3 point bonus each game for first blood.  Mission #2 was Vanguard Strike deployment.  Mission objectives were d3+2 objectives (fast attack units score), victory points (straight 5th ed style), and slay the warlord.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

hyv3mynd at DaBoyz GT 2012 - Game #1


My first opponent of DaBoyz GT 2012 was Marcus with his beautiful Blood Angels.  The GT format had 3 mission objectives each worth 10 battle points with a 3 point bonus each game for first blood.  Mission #1 was Hammer/Anvil deployment.  Mission objectives were d3+2 objectives (elites score), kill points, and linebreaker.

Monday, November 12, 2012

DaBoyz GT 2012 Recap


Well, my one big event of the year has come and gone and it was by far the best GT level event I've attended over the past 3 years in terms of fun, quality of games, and opponents.  Above is a pic of the awesome venue at the University of Rochester.  The 40k GT brought in 76 this year and the fantasy side almost doubled last year's attendance with 70.  In addition to the main floor seen here, tables were set up on the wrap-around balcony (where I'm taking the pic from).


Lots of natural lighting and space made this venue really nice.  I also was blessed to play on end tables for all 6 games of the GT.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

GT Week ~ The Home Stretch


Just a quick update as I put in the finishing touches on the army for DaBoyz GT this coming weekend.  I'm using every spare second to paint at this point so my commentary will be short.  Here's an army pic minus the rangers (still WIP) on their display board (still needs washes).

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween!


Hello everyone.  First off, let me apologize for a lack of content.  I've hit panic mode with more models left to finish than I have days until DaBoyz GT.  Every spare minute is going into painting to the point of exhaustion.  As such, this will be my last post until after the GT is over.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Games Galore!


Sorry for the lack of regular content.  The good news is I'm getting tons of games in this month with two tournaments.  The bad news is with all the games and only 3 weeks left until DaBoyz GT, blogging is slipping down the priority ladder.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

October Tournament Game #1: Dark Eldar & Eldar vs Tyranids



The October event at Millennium Games was a standard 1850pt event and would be my last chance to practice with my GT army before the big event.

My first opponent was Chris (sinistermind) and his alien inspires tyranids.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Batrep: Dark Eldar & Eldar vs Guard


My game this week was against Doug who I haven't played in nearly 2 years.  He brought out some IG to face the DE I've been working on.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Dark Eldar: DaBoyz GT 2012 Project Army T-5 Weeks


Here's the weekly update for those who have been following along.  It wasn't the most productive week ever due to playing last Saturday and writing the report.  The same can be said of the next week as I have another game this weekend.  Next weekend is the monthly event at Millennium Games and in 2 weeks there will be a 40k lock-in.  Lots of games coming up so I'm excited about that.  Lots of reports to write afterwards also.  All this means less time for painting so the final 3 weeks will be a real push.

Here's a unit by unit update on the project army for the week.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Batrep: Dark Eldar & Eldar vs Blood Angels & Space Marines 1850pts


Now that I have my army back on their bases, I decided to take a short break from painting and get a game in.  I threw out a challenge and my buddy Horst accepted.  He has a huge Aurora Chapter collection that he's played as codex marines and blood angels.  With the new ally rules, he can now play both at the same time!  It's also interesting to note that Horst started airbrushing about the same time as me and both our armies are heavily airbrushed.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Dark Eldar: DaBoyz GT 2012 Project Army T-6 Weeks


I covered a lot of this week's progress in the last post about airbrushing bases.  That was an important milestone for me, officially ending the most time consuming aspects of airbrushing and bases.  Now I can finish detailing the army on an individual basis over the next 6 weeks.  I enjoy detailing and finishing models the most as I feel that's where they develop their character and persona.

Speaking of characters, my 3 HQ's are nearly finished now.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Batching Bases

I just finished batching up all of the bases for the army.  Well, at least the first part of building, priming, and base coating them.  Washes, dry brushing, and grass will come next.  I know the intense painting schedule will burn me out eventually and I like detailing models the most, so I figured I'd get the drudgery out of the way early and focus on the parts I enjoy most at the end.  Plus, the army kinda looks finished from far away now and my unfinished models won't stick out as much.

Here's a basic walk through.



Thursday, September 20, 2012

Dark Eldar: DaBoyz GT 2012 Project Army T-7 Weeks



I got tons accomplished over the past week and I'm making great strides towards the goal and deadline.  Unfortunately, this stage of progress doesn't offer much visually as my bench is covered in WIP bases and half the army is baseless in a pile.

I was able to do some exciting things tho as I jumped around from project to project.  This pic sums it up well.

Monday, September 17, 2012

September Event Game #3: Dark Eldar & Eldar vs Blood Angels & Necrons 1850pts

This month's event at Millennium Games was the first to jump up to 1850pts since the release of 6th edition.  It brought in 17 players who have been itching to play with more points.  I just finished assembling the models for my DaBoyz GT army (also 1850pts), so this would be my first competitive run with the army.  I won't have the luxury of changing the list before the GT, so I'm going to need as much practice as possible.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

September Event Game #2: Dark Eldar & Eldar vs Tyranids 1850pts


This month's event at Millennium Games was the first to jump up to 1850pts since the release of 6th edition.  It brought in 17 players who have been itching to play with more points.  I just finished assembling the models for my DaBoyz GT army (also 1850pts), so this would be my first competitive run with the army.  I won't have the luxury of changing the list before the GT, so I'm going to need as much practice as possible.

Monday, September 10, 2012

September Event Game #1: Dark Eldar & Eldar vs Deathwing 1850pts


This month's event at Millennium Games was the first to jump up to 1850pts since the release of 6th edition.  It brought in 17 players who have been itching to play with more points.  I just finished assembling the models for my DaBoyz GT army (also 1850pts), so this would be my first competitive run with the army.  I won't have the luxury of changing the list before the GT, so I'm going to need as much practice as possible.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Tournament Day


Stayed up late last night to paint the windshields on the vehicles, the venom blade for the sybarite, and read through both my codex FAQ's and the rulebook FAQ.  Here's a current shot of the army before I packed it up for today's event.


Friday, September 7, 2012

Dark Eldar: DaBoyz GT 2012 Project Army T-8 Weeks


Not a whole lot to report this week.  The labor day weekend combined with a couple practice games before this weekend's event didn't leave a whole lot of time for painting.  If you read the two batreps for this week, you've already seen a sneak preview of what I've accomplished.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Batrep: Dark Eldar & Eldar vs Grey Knights 1850pts


Tuesdays before our local monthly tournament are my official practice day when I take a break from painting and this week, Courtney accepted my challenge.  He brought some of his GK from the Adepticon team event to put me to the test.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Batrep: Dark Eldar & Eldar vs Eldar & Tau 1850pts


I had the chance to sneak in a game this weekend due to the holiday.  Kevin came out and brought his Tau-dar for my first game with my dark footdar.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Dark Eldar: DaBoyz GT 2012 Project Army T-9 Weeks


I both love and hate the painting grind running up to a big tournament.  I love seeing the progress, trying new things, and watching the collection evolve.  When it comes down to it though, I'd take playing over painting any day.  I was all over the place again this week but got a lot of stuff accomplished.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Dark Eldar: DaBoyz GT 2012 Project Army T-10 Weeks

I haven't been posting much recently because I've fully dedicated myself to the task of finishing my dark eldar for this year's GT.  Here are some shots from the workbench and updates.


Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Looking Ahead


After many sleepless nights and much soul searching, I've decided to revise and finish the Dark Eldar for DaBoyz GT 2012.  This was mostly influenced by the amount of time I spent building and converting the army prior to 6th, and the fact that it's never seen more than a 3 game RTT.  Another factor is that they're removing comp from the scoring matrix this year for the first time and I feel the special characters add so much depth.

Monday, August 13, 2012

August Tournament Recap


Well, sometimes things just don't work out.  This month's event was a disaster for me mostly due to the dice.  I normally write up full reports but this month will be one quick recap.  There just wasn't much worth reporting tactically.  I will add some final thoughts on 6th ed in general at the end based on what I learned this time out.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Batrep: Grey Knights & Necrons vs Eldar & Tau 1500pts


I was able to get out for my first real game in 3 weeks and practice for this weekend's event.  I've been playtesting the Mordrak list I've mentioned here at home and I wasn't happy with the low model count so I changed the list last night to add more bodies.  Kevin (Grubnards) accepted my challenge with his Eldar/Tau alliance and we had the makings of an epic cinematic showdown.

Kevin's list:
Eldrad
Shas'O + plasma, missile pod, shield generator
Guardians x10 + warlock w/ destructor, scatter laser, wave serpent + lances
Dire Avengers x10 + exarch, bladestorm, wave serpent + scatter lasers
Fire Warriors x5
Dark Reapers x5 + exarch, tempest launcher, crack shot (eldrad here)
Broadsides x2 + shield drones x2, smart missiles
D-Cannon Platform
Aegis Defense Line + quad gun

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Bugs on the Brain


I've been thinking about Nids more and more since 6th was released.  They got the biggest boost of all 3 of my armies and have become really fun to play again.  Plus, you guys don't stop by as much when I start talking about GK and DE.  DaBoyz have removed comp scoring from their GT this year due to the fact that 6th ed will be a few months old and nobody knows what will be "broken" and need comping.  As such, it's also really tempting to take Nids to that event and really bring my "A" game to try and get the forsaken codex in the top of the pack.  I'd really like to take the DE I've been working on, but my 6th ed lists with them have required a considerable investment to add Eldar allies and flyers.

Anyways, here's a draft of an 1850pt list I've been considering for the GT.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Idle Hands



Not around here buddy!  That's a pic of my color scheme for necrons.  WTF necrons?  Despite recent events, the gears never stop turning.  This month's tournament is 1500pts which is the same as last month.  I tried out tyranids with the new rules last month so this month I wanted to try something different.  This month I'm adding some allies to the grey knight collection.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Lists from the Drawing Board


In last edition, I was never one to play hero hammer.  This was mainly due to the local meta being dominated by comp players and tournaments.  Now, in the early days of 6th ed., the purists have taken over for now so comp isn't even on the schedule for the local events of GT.  The other factor that's going to be huge in 6th ed. is how individuals can pass USR's on to their units instead of losing it like in 5th.  "Units containing one or more models with (fearless, preferred enemy...)" with be key to getting the most from your special characters now.  With that, here are some lists I've been mulling over for my other two armies.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Airbrushing Part 2 - Blended Base Coats




 Following some of the basics in Part #1, I want to move into blending base coats with multiple colors.  I'm going to use my dark eldar for this as they received this technique the most.  The colors I chose were inspired by a fading sunset.  Armors will be blended from orange to red, purple, and black.  Hair and wings will be blue blended to black.  I tend to start with the light colors and blend to dark with this technique.  This is just personal preference.

The eye is drawn to light or bright colors so I decided to start with orange on the helmet and shoulder area.  The color is Autumn Leaves (FolkArt).


Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Airbrushing Part 1 - Basics

One of the most popular requests I get these days hobby wise is airbrushing advice.  Here's an attempt to compile my thoughts and experiences thus far.  This is more appropriate for those who learn better by doing things hands-on like me.  A lot of this has been trial and error as I haven't sat down with any videos or classes since college 13 years ago.

I'll start with my airbrushing station as preparation and tools are very important.


Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Game Change


Things here have been quiet because I've been doing some soul searching.  The new edition has breathed life into my tyranids and stole some thunder from my DE and GK.  Flyers, allies, and fortifications are all things that tickle my fancy both on the table and with hobby projects so I've been searching for inspiration as to which projects to tackle first.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

July Event Game #3: Tyranids vs Necrons 1500pts


Our monthly event for July was a "Welcome to 6th" event.  Players were allowed to bring up to 3 different 1500pt armies to try out as many of the new rules as possible.  Allies, fortifications, and player set terrain were all in use.  Prize support was raffled off randomly at the end to discourage WAAC lists/behavior for the first event under the new rules.

My third opponent was "Courtney" and his newly fleshed out Necrons.

His list (approx):
Overlord + weave, shifter, scythe, scarabs, tesseract labyrinth, command barge
Court - lance-tek x1, tremor-tek x1 + harp
Immortals x5
Warriors x9 (lance-tek here)
Warriors x9 (harp-tek here)
Wraiths x6 + whips x2
Scarabs x9
Spyders x3 + prism
Doom Scythe
Aegis Defense Line + Quad Gun

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

1850pts: Food for Thought (and Noming)


With the possibility of next month's event going to 1850pts, I've been thinking over some lists.  Here's one I want to try out.  LMK what you think.

Monday, July 16, 2012

July Event Game #2: Tyranids vs Imperial Guard 1500pts


Our monthly event for July was a "Welcome to 6th" event.  Players were allowed to bring up to 3 different 1500pt armies to try out as many of the new rules as possible.  Allies, fortifications, and player set terrain were all in use.  Prize support was raffled off randomly at the end to discourage WAAC lists/behavior for the first event under the new rules.

My second opponent was Konrad (Political Officer Krad from Death or Glory), also my first opponent's brother.

His list:
HQ
Company Command Squad(Power Fist, Med-Pack, Standard,Vox, Plasma Gun) + Chimera
Fast
Vendetta Gunship
Troops
Vets 1 ( 3Plasma Guns, Grenadiers, Power Fist) + Chimera
Vets 2 ( 3 Meltas, Demolitions, Power Fist) (In Vendetta)
Infantry Platoon
Command Squad (Vox, Power Sword, Commissar, Power Sword, Standard)
5 Infantry Squads (2 Commissars, 7 Power Swords, 2 Vox, 3 Flamers, 2 Grenade Launchers)
Heavy Weapons Squad (3 Lascannons)
Heavy Weapons Squad (3 Missile Launchers)
Special Weapons Squad (3 Sniper Rifles)
Special Weapons Squad (3 Grenade Launchers)