The Cost of Attending GTs and a Few on the Horizon

     A few weeks back, I saw a blog post talking about the costs of attending a GT. After a few paragraphs outlining the hundreds of dollars you have to spend, I stopped reading. It may be that the Northeast is a GT rich environment, but I was able to attend 3 GTs last year for under $200/event.

     The reason I bring it up is because GTs are a hell of a time. Everyone should consider going to one, and it's not that much of a drain on the pocket if you can plan accordingly. Let's take last year's Colonial GT as an example. The key is to get a group together to split the costs:

Calypso2ts - CSM Allies - HQ

It has been a bit of a crazy last two week with work, but I finally have some time to sit down and finish up on CSM Ally mandatory units.  I discussed troops in two posts with part 1 and part 2.  The general conclusion for a Daemon army I drew was you want units that are cheap, provide bodies and whose primary job is to man a comms relay for the Daemons while also providing objective camping and some synergy to act as a force multiplier.

Although a good argument can be made for including CSM's as troops, I am going to discuss HQ units to be taken with a swarm of cultists sitting behind an Aegis.  The discussion of fortifications for Daemons can come at another time!

Batrep: Tyranids vs Deathwing (Old) 1850pts

 This game was actually round #2 at our annual invitational tournament that finishes out tournament season.  No, you didn't miss round #1, it was just pointless to write up really.  I was paired against a guard army with 3 chimera hulls, 3 russes, a flyer, and 2 unique characters.  Keep in mind this event was a "comp" event.  The mission was Purge the Alien, deployment was Hammer/Anvil, there was no night fight, and I had to go second.  Needless to say I was down 6-2 by turn 3 when I conceded with no killpower left.  This game was much closer and actually worth writing up.

Tyranid Conversions

     A couple of weeks ago the rumor mill was saying that the highly anticipated flyer release was imminent. While I’m always excited to see new minis hit the shelves, especially the long awaited Harpy, I’m pretty sure that the rumor of a flyer release has been around every month for the last few years. I wasn’t too disappointed when I saw that next month’s release would be Warriors of Chaos, but it got me thinking about some of the conversions that I’ve made for the Tyranid units that didn’t have an initial release. Here are some of my conversions. 

Chaos Marines Salvage Project

 Here's a glimpse of a project and side of me that only a handful of people have ever seen.  The first army I ever fully collected and built was CSM back from 2nd edition in my college days.  Above are some predators, metal marines, terminators, and a rhino from the army I collected 13 years ago.  The new codex release has rekindled my interest so I decided to approach this project from a new direction:  Build a 6th edition army based around models that I have and store credit/prize support that I've accumulated with as few cash purchases as possible.  This was a fun challenge because it involved using what I already have and resisting what I really want to buy.

A Tyranid Unit Worth Taking?

    I keep on going back to Hyv3mynd's post A Tyranid Unit Worth Taking, and thinking about the units I want to play with and how they fit into my new 6th lists. Lately I've been trying out a couple  of different builds, taking out high priced HQs and rotating in a few units that I've been meaning to use.

     Before I go into a unit-by-unit breakdown, I'd like to asks the community at large, What units have you seen change in the 6th ed switch. Good or bad. I'll just cover a few here, but I'd also like to hear from you. Each of our local metas are different, and you're going to have different experiences than me. I'd love to see how your units are working. In what scenarios are they doing well? Or are they tanking?

     I want to start with a unit I love, the Ripper Swarm:

Calypso2ts - CSM Allies - Troops Part 2

Last week I started an analysis of troop choices for allies in a Daemon army, found here. There were some great comments on the article and I want to address some of them and discuss some list building theory as well. First, though, I want to post my inspiration for list design:

More than being entertaining, there is a nugget of wisdom contained in this picture.  When designing a list, it is important to have balance in the threat presented to an adversary which is usually achieved through some kind of diversity.  In my Daemon builds this is reflected in my Elites choices - Fiends/Flamers/Crushers are present much different types of threats - although they all fall to roughly the same weapon types.

hyv3mynd at DaBoyz GT 2012 - Game #6

My sixth and final opponent of DaBoyz GT 2012 was Cory and his deathwing.  The GT format had 3 mission objectives each worth 10 battle points with a 3 point bonus each game for first blood.  Mission #6 was Vanguard Strike deployment.  Mission objectives were d3+2 objectives (elite units score), modified kill points, and linebreaker.

Hobby Time

     After reading through Hyv3mynd’s last post covering his latest works-in-progress and airbrush setup, I thought that I’d show off what I’ve been working on and some of my painting setup. My hobby time has been split up between a few projects: 1) Fantasy Orcs and Goblins, 2) Necrons, 3) Chaos, 4) Space Hulk 5) Tyranid touchups. The Orcs and Goblins have been eating up the most of my hobby time, with the other projects receiving a smattering of attention when the inspiration arises. 

Calypso2ts - CSM Allies - Troops

For some reason it appears that Imperial Guard are the allies of choice for just about anyone who can take them.  While I like the idea of traitor Guardsmen, there is something indescribably compelling about bringing along a detachment of Chaos Space Marines to the battle to guide the Daemonic infestation.

I am going to lay the groundwork to work through the entire CSM codex in this post and I will start with the base requirements for an ally - HQ and Troop selections (I will only discuss troops today and move to HQ next).  In selecting these units there are two criteria for allies I am going to discuss.  First, allies need to bring something to an army that it cannot do well on its own.  Second, allies need to complement the playstyle of the base army.

Hobby Holidays!

 Greetings and Happy Holidays to all!

Things have been quiet out of my corner besides my Friday articles, but things haven't been quiet behind the scenes.  I've been dancing between 4 hobby projects and enjoying not working towards a tournament deadline currently.  I acquired a Grex airbrush in early December from my buddy Joe who won it along with best appearance at NOVA this year.  I've been wanting to try it out but needed a new canvas.  I finally decided to have a go at the new plastic tyrant with a new red/black/fleshtone scheme and I do have to say, the difference between the Grex and my old Badger is shocking.  I went from painting at 18psi down to 2-4psi and the blending is so much smoother on this model than any of my dark eldar.

Tyranid Tournament & Hobby Downloads

     Taking a break from our Battle Reports, I thought I’d post up a few game aids that I’ve been using for the last few months. With the introduction of the new psychic powers in 6^th ed, I’ve found that my Tyranid lists often have at least a few psykers. Keeping track of who generated what, and what unit has what buff can be quite a chore. Combine this with Warlord traits, and you have quite a few random elements you're generating every game.

Check out my downloads below the fold. 

Calypso2ts @ Da Boyz GT: 3 of 3

It might be fitting to start the New Year by finishing off the previous year's GT reports and moving on from the previous year's successes and failures.

This will be the final installment of my series on Da Boyz GT.  So far I have covered Round 1 and Round 2.  I plan to cover Round 3 and 4 in this entry.  For those who have not followed the first two games here is a spoiler alert - I managed full points in my first two games which puts me in a great position going forward.  Luckily, in Round 3 I had a chance to compete against Andrew Gonyo who brought a combined Grey Knights/Guard army.  He was also (another give away here) the eventual winner of the whole GT.

I have actually seen the list he played posted in the past and I theoretically knew how to beat it and I also know it is a very difficult matchup.