It's a bug hunt: Tyranids Update

I've started back to working on the Tyranid Hierophant Biotitan in hopes of fielding it on the 24th...10 days to at least assemble it and maybe some paint on it.

Mounting the legs are a pain.  I plan on mounting them with glue, then running a drill through them and into the body.  I'll then pin them and sand down the pin to match the surface (probably drop a short pin in and then refill the hole with putty).  I can double pin each back leg like this and single pin each front and not lose much of any detail.

Really gotta get going on this if i'm going to make it work.

I also plan on dremeling out a slot for a flying base and supporting most of the weight on that.  That'll take the strain off the spindly legs and hip joints.

Phone was on the fritz so no WIP pictures.  Hopefully have some of those later.

Not my picture, but you get the idea.

Bugpocalypse: Tyranid progress inbound!

It feels like it's been forever since I've worked on my Tyranids.  It really kind of has...and that's about to change.  I have an Apocalypse game coming up on the 24th of this month.  5000 pts per side, dropping most of the extra Apoc rules (like the master of disaster stuff...who wants to lose half their army before they get a chance to play?)

I have a somewhat assembled and painted Barbed Hierodule.  I'm going to push to get my Hierophant assembled and maybe painted by then.  If I have enough points to play with both, awesome.  If not, I'll likely play with the Hierophant (if it's finished).

I'll likely run the Hierophant with the transport upgrade and squirrel either a venomthrope or malanthrope inside.  Something the size of the Hierophant should really have a better invulnerable save, but shrouded will have to do.

If I dont run the Hierophant, I'll run the Hierodule with some nasty surprises coming down in drop pods.  Dakkafexes and Exocrines.  The last game I ran Dakkafex pods, Flyrants, and the Hierodule.  The imperial forces on the receiving end of that didn't have the best time...so I'll likely drop the flyrants since they're still not likely to bring much in the way of Anti-air.

Riotous Progress

Got the T5s lighting the 125, but I still need to pull the casing apart and install mounting hardware.  Until such a time, I'll make due with the little legs provided.  I went with all ATI bulbs, 3x Blue Plus, 1x Purple Plus, 1x Aquablue, and 1x True Actinic.  Getting some nice color off of those, definitely a lot more red.  The super vibrant greens from the LEDs are markedly duller.  I'm hoping these will turn around with some acclimation.

Found a new fish store less than 10 minutes away from my apartment, they focus on sustainability and preservation.  Gorgeous interior (still a work in progress) and friendly owner.  One of the only fish stores in the city proper.   Picked up some Carribsea Life Rock here to finish out the bulk of my rock structure.  It's pretty nice stuff, but expensive for dry rock, definitely glad I used Marco Rock for the majority at half the price.

I've scrapped the shelf rock frag rack and opted for another arch structure.  Going to pull my branch rock from the 65 and some other reef rocks and sell the rest from that tank.

Most of my coral has been transferred (a few waves of that).  Starting it off on the sand bed and moving it up the rocks to let it acclimate to the 6 bulb T5 fixture.   The Acans are really happy.  Currently waiting on the anemones to find a spot they like before I start gluing in corals.  most of the stuff growing on big discs will get broken off and mounted directly to rock.  Chalices will likely live on the sand bed with some open brains when I find stuff I like.  Also looking into some nice neon octospawn.  gotta chip off a few more corals from the 65 and then I can start piecing this jigsaw puzzle together.

The 125, ignore those large discs and tiles on the rocks.

The 65 after I busted some rock...such disarray.

T5s Inbound

Got a 6 bulb T5 fixture inbound for my 125 gallon aquarium.  Also 7 ATI brand bulbs.

4x Blue Plus
1x Purple Plus
1x Aqua Blue
1x True Actinic

Going to tinker around with configurations until I find something I like.

Additionally I'm thinking about scrapping the rock frag rack and planting a nice size staghorn on the center pillar rock and making the one on the end into an acan rock.  Zoas would also be put on the staghorn rock.  Gorgonians might also make an appearance in the 125, I havent decided yet.

Filefish is almost halfway through the aiptasia, so in the next couple of weeks I'll start busting corals off the existing rock and placing them in the 125.  Some of the existing rock will live in the sump, and the leftovers will be sold off.



The office tank is in shambles.  Current plans are to change up the rock into something  more interesting and grab a blue tux urchin.  Massive water change tonight/tomorrow.  Soon I'll add another clown to replace the one we lost (back up to a pair of ocellaris clowns).  Maybe a black/white one.


Pics later maybe.

Dragoncon 2015: A Recap

This was perhaps one of the best Dragoncons I've attended, in large part to a fantastic room dynamic and a distinct reduction in responsibility and lack of drama.

We only had 9 people in the room this year and they got along swimmingly.  Don't worry, we tip housekeeping pretty well for the over occupancy.

I managed to make it to some nice panels for the Maker track.  The Molding Hacks panel was pretty educational with some nice tips and tricks.  RC Everything track was cool because it dealt with some hardware do's and donts.

Are You a Deatheater had a massive crowd this year.  I counted 9 games running concurrently, staggered to allow people removed from play to start playing in a new group.  We ended up having around 4 decks go missing after the session...we'll have to keep better track of them next year.  I'm still a little disappointed in people for stealing those.

The other disappointment of the convention was the CoolMiniorNot booth.  They didn't bring any miniatures to the convention for their vendors booth.  It was all board games...high quality board games, but board games none the less.  I'd have bought quite a bit of the Goritsi faction for Wrath of Kigns at the convention had it been available.  After talking with the guy at the register, CMoN evidently tried selling minis one year and didn't sell a single one.  I think it was poor marketing on their part not to try to push Wrath of Kings a little better.  They need to really be pushing it and making it more visible if they want it to continue to grow.  It feels like they're trying to just throw it out there and let it grow based on it's own merit, which is a mistake in a market so crowded with competition.

The vendors hall being in Americas Mart Building 2 this year was interesting.  It was a lot further away from the con than anything else but was much better organized.  Having the lightsaber booth and chessex right next to each other was problematic, but otherwise a solid transition.

I'm sure I'll have more thoughts on this year's Dcon.  So maybe a part 2 to this later.

Wrath of Kings Motivations, wave 2

I'm now out of motivation decks for Wrath of Kings.  Friends got most of them, raffled off 3 decks at the 2 tournaments I went to this month.  So I'm ordering 9 new decks with some updates (like this blog's logo).  I plan on having them in time for Dragoncon!

Wrath of Kings Tournament at Game On! in Chattanooga

Flying Squirrel Bar in Chattanooga...go there!

This past Saturday I attended a tournament at Game On! in lovely Chattanooga Tennessee.  I always love going to visit Chattanooga (it helps that I have some excellent friends who live up there and know all the best places to eat/drink).  This trip was no exception.

Check out the Flying Squirrel Bar if you get a chance.  Excellent beer selection, great setting, and most importantly fantastic food!

On to the tournament!

Zach Beker did a great job running his first tournament.  Using the Conquest of Kings tournament setup, he deviated slightly by allotting time to deploy before starting the round timer, thus giving us more time to actually play.  Both styles have their benefits, but I'd much rather have more time to actually play the game than spend a portion of it deploying.

Game On! is a clean store with excellent air conditioning and friendly staff.  The locals gave me a warm welcome and I got to see (and play against) against several people I first met at the CMoN Expo.

We had 6 players (2 each from the houses of Teknes, Nasier, and Hadross) in this skirmish level tournament and played 3 rounds.

My Hadross list consisted of:

Gutter Friar x2
Frenzy Charger x1
Carcharian Frenzies x3
Sevridan Gutters x4
Deepmen Guardians x4
Calith Reavers x2

Option A:  Ilva
Option B: Sevridan Gutters x3

Motivations were (in order): Treasure Hunt, Burn It Down, Land Grab

My first round was against a fat bottom girl list from Ross, one of the local Nasier players.  Lots and lots of Pelegarth, including a Howl and the character.  Wow are they tough to crack open.  My first onslaught with the Carcharians resulted in a lot of sloughed off strikes while the Sevridan had a better go at it.  I was mopping up objectives for Treasure Hunt while he was trying to get his leaders stuck in but not over extended for Call to Glory.  Ilva was the MVP of this match as her Wail obliterated swaths of pelegarth.  Hadrossian victory!

Round 2 resulted in 3 mirror matches.  My opponent was the other Hadross player Chasen.  We had been talking tactics most of the day so far, so I knew it was going to be a grueling bout.  Hadross is expertly equipped at taking out Hadross.  He brought more sharks than I did, but our lists were pretty similar.  He racked up points using Sever the Head and got a huge early hit taking out my Ilva with his.  After our armies took severe beatings all game, we drew at 0 to 0.

Final round I played against Mike Schaefer.  Mike's a real stand up guy I met and played at the CMoN Expo and so far his pigs and linemen went undefeated.  Taking the win in this match would put me at 7 Tournament points to his 6.  We both took Land Grab for our motivations, and I was confident that I could lure him away and drop either sharks or crabs on my objectives to keep things close.  Starting out 11 to 8 morale (he had a lot of pigs and linemen) meant that I had to keep the pressure on him.  Ilva's Syren's Call and the Sevridan's Gelatinous Shift were extremely useful for keeping him from popping his objectives.  His Zalaak's abomination was troublesome...and the CAGE didnt see much action.  The game went to time with a score of 8 to 7 in Mike's favor for the tournament win relegating me to somewhere around 3rd or 4th place.

I did get Top of House and a set of gold foil Hadross stat cards though!

Ilva was hands down my MVP.  Ilva riding a crab the first round or two is absolutely killer.  Unfortunately you have to really dedicate to that list with at least 3 ranks of specialists...and by unfortunately I mean for your opponent's 1 wound infantry.

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The tournament point system is interesting in the fact that after 3 round I was playing for 1st or 3rd place, but not really 2nd place depending on how the other 2 games went in round 3.  So even if you lose a round, you're still in the running.

As people get more practiced at the game, I'm sure the 1 hour time limit for skirmish level will be more viable.  I urge TO's with newer player bases to let the games examine cards, make choices, roll for side, and deploy before starting the round clock.  Or adding a few extra minutes to the pregame period and allow deployment during then to give the players more time to actually play.

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Some pictures of the tournament taken by Zach Beker!

CAGE MATCH!

Hadross on Hadross Hate!

More from the Hadross Hate Bout

3 Mirror Matches