A Tale of Three Gamers - The End of vacation update! - Week 5

Right folks straight in to this weeks one:

Millest's Week 5 Update

well folks as im sure it hasnt escaped your attention things have been quiet from me due to my holiday, however despite the sunbathing, swimming with turtles and evenings out I have managed to make some progress. The vast majority of my progress over the last week or so has been on this:

The stuff is without doubt the best thing to work on! I dont know if its the beer, the sun or the company but the drink is amazing. Although in all seriousness I did spend some of the week wondering if there was a gaming community in Barbados I could visit but if there was I couldnt find it :(

Still on my return and to get a few things done for the challenge I have decided to work on some of my "character" models, so without further ado here they are:

As I'm sure is pretty obvious this is a standard Solomon Lok model, I chose him to represent my psyker as it ties in the Inquisitional theme of the force (and is a sweet model). He's only been tidied up at the minute but once completed he will be mounted on a 40mm base with a couple of servo skulls for flavour.

Next up is the Officer from my platoon HQ (and I guess de facto force commander) I decided to mix up some of the bits and liked the idea of a long coat with the Extreme conditions gear. I know in the list he is armed with Las pistol and Chainsword but I liked the look of the Bolt Pistol and Power sword. The only thing I'm not convinced on is the Bionic arm, any thoughts?
He is almost complete however he needs the small eagle plate from the HQ bodies GSing on to his chest, his 40mm base and a servo skull adding when he is almost ready to go.
 

Up next are the two Sergeants that will lead the two Infantry squads, I didn't want to go OTT on them (and again I know their Laspistol/Chainsword armed but I liked the Lasgun arm) but I have decided all Sergeants and Officers where possible will have the eagle chest plate so I need to modify the Extreme conditions Sergeant. I also need to add either a Backpack or a Camo-cloak to the pointing guy.
 

Finally my the Sergeant for my Veteran Squad, this guy I wanted to look unfazed and like he is considering his next move, so with that in mind I gave him the "tech-ed up" head with extra eye pieces from the Vehicle sprue and the map arm from the command squad, this way it looks like he is considering a map - or in my eyes anyway!
The final pieces to add to him will be a Camo-cloak and some weapons laid on his base when he is ready.
 
I have decided, much to the detriment of my gaming, that all my officers and sergeants will be on 40mm bases. I know this will be a bitch in CC but I like idea of making each a little scene and having each accompanied by a Servo-skull, showing that even though they are Veteran Inquisition troopers they still aren't trusted. Maybe its over the top, maybe I'm been daft but let me know what you think of the idea and the models.
 
So apologies on not a huge update but now I'm back and I'm converting, casting and GS-ing furiously hopefully next weeks update will be more substantial!
Thanks Guys.
 

Jono's Week 5 Update

Well, since last week I have pretty much focussed on my Tervigon in all honesty! I have quite literaly spent hours on it and seen little/no progress!


I had to re-glue the legs, as they came loose (all is well now though), which set me back a bit. I started with my citadel Badab Black base wash, and then started to paint the main chunk of carapace in Mecharite Red. In order to make myself feel like I have accomplished something for this week's pics, I finished off one of the scything talons and the tail. Not too impressive I know, but those alone took me the best part of 2 1/2 hours last night.

For those wondering why the head isn't attached, I am still not sure which one to use from the 'fex kit, or even to get a Trygon/Mawloc head.. Please feel free to post your thoughts!

Chris' Week 5 Update

Words to come later but for now just some pictures!

 

Below are some pics of the hammerhead Chris already has painted from prior to the challenge that he will be using in a later version of his force to give you all an idea of the look of the army and the scheme used.

 

 

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So with the likelyhood of no subbmissions coming in the future I thought it a good time for a new feature of the 500pt challenge, its the:

Challenge No Submission Casualty List
Chris - 0 model
Jono - 0 Model
Dave - 0 Model

Listed are the number of casualty models each player must have completed by the end of the challenge as a fine for their none submission of weekly updates!
 
 
The Final bit of news is that as we have reached the end of month 1 the first Challenge Favourite Model Voting Post should be going up this week so please feel free to have a look back at the work so far and once the post is up let us know in the comments section which is your favourite model in this months progress.
 
Thanks folks and keep reading

Forge World Newsflash - AdeptiCon 2011

As always the important bits are below:

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AdeptiCon 2011

Forge World’s Stephen Green and Kenton Mills will shortly be winging their way to the Westin Lombard Yorktown Centre in Chicago, IL, for AdeptiCon 2011 held on the 1st - 3rd April.
AdeptiCon attendees can pre-order the immense Eldar Phantom Titan, which will be on display in the Vendor Hall, and also purchase our Event Only MkIII Armoured Boarding Marine and Chaos Dwarf Hellsmith miniatures.

We’ll also have limited stock available of the Shadow Spectres Exarch, Eldar Lynx with Pulsar and Lynx with Sonic Lance, plus a few unreleased models for you to see and pre-order well in advance of their scheduled release.

As well as getting a chance to be the first to get a look at these new models, you can also meet Kenton Mills, one of the talented graphic artists responsible for Forge World’s range of Decal sheets and Etched Brass symbols. This man of many talents also produces many of the colour profiles that adorn the Imperial Armour range and his work can be found in Imperial Armour Volume 8 as well as our best-selling Badab War series. Kenton will be happy to autograph copies of these lavish books at the event.
If you have any queries about the Forge World presence at AdeptiCon, please don’t hesitate to contact us either by telephone on 011 44 115 916 8177 or by sending an e-mail titled ‘AdeptiCon’ to Forgeworld@games-workshop.co.uk.

Phantom Titan Pricing Update
With the very first Phantom Titans being boxed up for the Forge World Open Day at Warhammer World this weekend, we can now confirm that the Titan body will be £350 ($578), while the D-Cannon and Pulsar weapon options will be £50 ($83) each.
We will have a limited number available at the Forge World Open Day, and AdeptiCon attendees will be able to advance order the mighty Phantom Titan for despatch well in advance of the pre-order date for this magnificent kit.

Forge World Open Day Reservations Deadline
We are currently finalising our Open Day stock, and there is still time to place a reservation order for collection at the event on Sunday 3rd April.
Please call the Customer Service team by 2pm on Wednesday 30th March, as after this point we can’t guarantee we’ll be able to pick and pack your order in time.
The Forge World Customer Service team can be reached on 0115 916 8177 between 9am and 6pm, Monday to Friday.

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If any kind soul is going to this show or any other and fancies helping a brother out im very very interested in the Show only Space Marine for Badab themed force later in the year!

A Tale of Three Gamers - The super early vacation update! - Week 4

Hi Folks,

as you have probably guessed by the title I will be away for the next week so rather then leave you guys gasping I have decided to put a place holder post up and give the guys access to the MMM photobucket account, so that when tuesday comes around they will be able to post up the pics of their models and you guys wont miss out. Obviously with me being away there will be no update from me, however all being well week 5 update should be good!

so with out further ado here are the links for Tuesday:

Chris' Album for TOTG

Jono's Album for TOTG

please feel free to comment in the comments section and let me know if they dont upload as promised ;)
Enjoy in advance!

A Tale of Three Gamers - time for more action - Week 3

Hi Folks,
time for this weeks TOTG update, time to mix it up and let one of the others have the limelight so lets start with Jono:

Jono's Week 2 Update

Another small update this week as all I have really been doing is sorting out my Gaunts, as well as a few other bits. Royal Fail bought my some plasticard and GS, I also took a trip to GW Bedford to pick up a Nid Battle force. I got the Battle force for conversion bits and future projects (as well as the Gaunts). Although I don’t really need it for this game, I figure it was a worthy investment.

Alas, as I don’t want to keep flooding you with pictures of Gaunts so please take this as a bit of an insight to my Prime conversion..

Millest's Week 2 Update

Well folks I too have been sorting out, organising and generally waiting about for Royal Fail. I have on the other hand been extremely impressed with the service from both Secret Weapon Minis,  (that's for the bases and brass etch - reviews to follow eventually) and also from FW who managed to sort my order out for me and send me my Cadian Extreme Environment Melta gunners out this week, well before the release date.
So as you can imagine this week has been a frenzy of de-flashing and washing of this little lot:

Now I don't know when things changed, as I certainly don't remember this, but since when has the pour plug and flash on FW kits actually consisted of more resin then the actual models? I know its been bad in the past but this is the worst I've seen. It doesn't actually impact the model - only in a few cases - but it seems like an awful lot of wasted resin to me.

This however isn't all I've had delivered this week, in fact this week I received all the terrain bits I have recently ordered so I have spent the past week tidying them up and organising them before assembly and sticking them on the shelf. so mainly this week my contribution to the project is this lot:

As you can see a lot of plastic and strangely a lot of filing to get them presentable! Very annoying but overall pleased with the models and very surprised at exactly how much you get in the defence line box set. Still hoping to have some more assembled bits before I go on holiday next week.

Chris' Week 2 Update

Chris has sent the week awaiting his delayed orders from FW and Maelstrom however these have now arrived and the building can commence. Due to the delays of Royal Fail we have given him some breathing space on this, however he will hopefully get up to speed once other things have calmed down.
  

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That's the week 3 update done and dusted, as I will be on holiday from Friday until the week 5 update I will put plans in place for an early update with links to albums the two guys can load stuff up to so you can all see their progress, once I'm back my week 5 update may involve models - though this all depends on the state I return from holiday in!

So enjoy, be good and look after yourselves!

Mondays Mirthful Meandering - 14.03.11

Blog News - Multiple page tabs - Now in action!

Hi folks,
as some of you may have noticed the blog now has tabs! To allow for easy navigating and even easier archives I have rolled out some tabs that cover the main bases, things like novel reviews and the TOTG.
I hope these work for you guys and assist in navigating the blog, their not all complete and live yet but should be soon. If you have any thoughts on them, suggestions for changes or ideas for new tabs then please feel free to let me know.
Coming soon I might consider adding MMM to Twitter and FB but only if its considered worth it.
Thanks guys and enjoy!

A Tale of Three Gamers - The action begins, kind of!! - Week 2

Well Folks, its Tuesday and time for this weeks update, installment or confession (take your pick) of the Tale of Three Gamers. So without further ado on with the entries:

Millests Week 2 Update

Like most people the "joys" of the real world are a pain, work is a hard task master and the bodies need to sleep is a bitch, but hey I've got some nice new models right? WRONG!
Yes annoyingly this week and the first week of making any real head way on the project has been wasted waiting on new toys. Ironically my chimera and battleforce have arrived today on the day of the post! great, why did it not come on fruday so I could have made a start? Unfortunately like Chris I am still waiting on my many many forgeworld bits, but still I've decided to make the best of a bad thing.

I havent been able to do much due to waiting on my little men, however i have used the time left to me to pick up supplies and throw together a few models for the force as shown below:

Ok, so their nothing special I agree, their just some guardsmen with a few respirator heads thrown in for good measure. Well yes I would have to agree with your their, but looking at them you can see the route I plan on going down where they are more of the "veteran" look, with gasmasks, the extreme enviroment kits, standard bits and pouches galore. This should tie them in together and yet make them look like they have been fighting for years and are without peer at what they do.
Hopefully this has reflected that and the continuing work to come on my vehicles and remaining squads will show this. Hopefully by next week I will have more to show you, and hopefully some more progress the following week when my final toys arrive that will be posted in my absence.

Jonos Week 2 Update

(Blogging from the keyboard of Jono)

Onto week 2 now and I am not making too much progress. I went to visit my Sister in Newcastle at the weekend and lets just say that I didn't feel too good upon my return.


Back on topic.. Since my last update I have assembled a lot of Termagants, as well as priming and black washing a load ready for detail. I am thinking to make my workload easier, during daylight hours if I undercoat as many models as I can, I can make a lot more progress when it isn't so light in the evenings! That way all that I need to do is paint the carapace and details at a later stage. Either way, sadly, there isn't anything cool to report this week. I am waiting on availability of bits and Mr Postman to bring me something before I have anything other than gants to report! Fingers crossed for next week!

Also, although not entirely related to my army, I have fully finished one of each model that I own (woo I hear you say). Included in this four piece is one finished Gant, so you can get a taste of what the models I am going to be playing will look like.. Also, despite first thinking that the Genestealers may be too plain, I feel that them being all black is actually quite fitting (that may just be me though)!

The first of many! I am fielding 21 Termagants and will be taking around 20 to compensate for whatever the Tervigon poops out, so I have a LONG way to go.

In order to finish off the Gant, I need to give it one last coat of brown around the edge of the base. This little guy is still a bit wet as I have only just based him!

As per usual, please feel free to comment and let me know if you want any specific pictures next week.

Chris' Week 2 Update

(Blogged on Chris' behalf)
This week has been somewhat of a let down for poor Chirs. Despite his best efforts he has been let down repeatedly by Royal Fail and is still awaiting the vast majority of his models and forgeworld bits. With this understanding we have gratiously allowed him a weeks grace from the dead model penance and instead he is planning on converting a postman to a dead postman! (please note that is a joke and should any postmen disappear it has nothing to do with Chris). In honour of the hassles he is facing and in order to chivvy the post office along in to getting his stuff to him (well via me) we would like to share this instead of his models:

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So folks, thats week two, not overly exciting but for the most part it shows we are on the way and are starting to make some damage on our models. Hope theres something that catches your eye, a question you have or just a comment you would like to make, so please feel free to do so, and hope you keep reading.

Millest, Jono and Chris

A Tale of Three Gamers - Dave's introduction and Army Background - Week 1

Right folks, time for the last of the Background posts for our forces, this one is obviously the most important one as its mine.


I guess I don't really need much information as if you've followed the blog for a while you should know how odd I am! Still I'm Millest, purveyor of this blog and all round man in charge (though the other half might argue about that). I've been dabbling in 40k for some time and finding new people to game with at work has certainly kick started the blog and my passion in spending money..... I mean modelling and painting. Right now on with the fluff............

The 1313th Lignum Iugo Expeditionary Force
Currently Operating on the Eastern fringes the 1313th Lignum Iugo Expeditionary force was initially tasked with the exploration and eradication of Tau enclaves and inroads in to the region of space to the galactic north of Quintairn. Under the direct control of the Ordo Xenos for the duration of the campaign the 1313th were tasked with stamping the Emperors authority on worlds that were only nominally under the control of the Eagle, eradicating those worlds infested with tau and persecuting those that openly consorted with the alien.

It wasn't long however before on the outpost world of Troya Majorus that a greater threat came to light in the form of a genestealer cult.

Upon discovery the cult threw themselves at the members of the Expeditionary force with tooth, claw and more conventional weapons. This single horrific attack which resulted in the complete destruction of the capital, Hawkesfall, soon revealed an infestation covering a number of neighbouring systems and only hinted at the horrors to come. The Campaign on Troya Majorus dragged on in to the close of 881.M41 when Troya Majorus fell.

Pre-empted by the screams of Astropaths, Navigators and psykers alike the Tyranid reinforcements arrived. The invading tyranids were identified as Splinter fleet Tenebre and the full menace of the Xenos threat, both Tau and Tyranid, was revealed and all out war reigned.

Since this time more attacks have come to light and the marauding destruction of the Splinter fleet has shown to cover a vast swathe of planets on the periphery of both the Human and Tau empires. It is here that the 1313th is now engaged in an all out war on two fronts with two of the most dangerous foes the imperium faces.


The 1313th Expeditionary Force are currently on permanent detachment to the Inquisitional Enclave at Quintairn, the forces of the Lignum Iugo are proud to serve the Inquisition with distinction in campaigns across the region. Originating in the Eastern Regions of the Britarius Sector the world of Lignum Iugo is a careful balance between Industry and Cultivation providing many local systems with large quantities of food and technology. The regiments of Lignum Iugo are known for the dual specialties in Air Assault and Scouting but amongst these regiments the 1300's stand apart from the rest.

The 1300 regiments, those bearing the numbers 1300-1399, are considered by many in the sector as a guard force without peer, of particular note are the regiments of the 1313th, 1349th and 1373rd. Selected only from the best men and women of the planets many regiments and the brightest and most martial students from the planets Scholams the 1300's are some of the best in their fields.

Referred to as Expeditionary forces the 1300's are forces that are sent on either the most critical of missions or campaigns where a hard hitting strike force is required. Their most common role however is acting as a fighting force whilst assigned to Rogue Traders, Adeptus Mechanicus Exploratory forces or, given their proximity to Quintairn, as Inquisitional Troopers. The 1313th is one such regiment who by their deeds has seen the regiment seconded permanently to the Quintairn enclave. It is here where they have fought under the Insignia of numerous Inquisitors of various Ordos before the current assignment which sees them battling the dual threat of Tau and Tyranid incursions on the Eastern Fringes.

Members of the 1300s, rarely return to Lignum Iugo as the troopers they once were, scarred and decorated they often go on to lead other regiments raised from the planet. Some are requested to serve as bodyguards and retinues for inquisitors, and even other members of the imperial hierarchy should they be deemed deserving. The rarest and most sought after path is that of the honoured few who even join the ranks of the inquisition where the free thinking and autonomous nature of the 1300s shines through and prepares them for the darkness they fight. The knowledge and skills of the 1300s is without peer in the region and is one that the Inquisition is more than happy to encourage, cultivate and utilise.


Next, my Army List for our 500pt challenge..

Finally for those of you that havent seen it, here is a test model (or two) in the scheme I have finally settled on (for now)

Enjoy and as always any feedback would be great.

Forge World Newsletter #266 - More Imperial Guard & Space Marine Sneek Peak

As always the important bits reproduced below:

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Hi There, In this Newsletter we have several more Cadian releases along with a reminder about the reservation process for the forthcoming Forge World Open Day. The keen-eyed will be able to spot an exclusive preview of our 2011 Event Only miniature as well.
Thanks, Ead Brown


Cadian Hostile Environment Conversion Sets Now Available to Pre-Order
Supporting the Cadian Hostile Environment Conversion Set and Plasma Squad that we recently released are three more detailed upgrade kits, sculpted by Stuart Williamson, for use with the plastic Cadian range:


The Cadian Hostile Environment Melta Squad contains enough resin torsos to build three special weapons teams equipped with potent anti-tank melta guns, and is suitable for use with the full range of plastic Cadian kits.

The Cadian Hostile Environment Tank Crew contains three detailed resin tank commander figures, along with various weapon and equipment options. Each Hostile Environment Tank Crewman is suitable for use with the full range of Imperial Guard tanks produced by Forge World and Games Workshop.

The third Cadian release in this week’s Newsletter is the Cadian Hostile Environment Command Squad. This full resin set includes five Cadian infantry figures: a power fist-armed Senior Officer, a Guardsman equipped with a melta gun, a vox-operator, and two other Cadians armed with lasguns. The set also contains a scanner.

These new Cadian Hostile Environment sets are available to pre-order now for despatch in the week commencing the 28th of March.


Forge World Open Day – Reservations Now Being Taken
The annual Forge World Open Day returns to Warhammer World here in Nottingham on Sunday the 3rd of April, and as it’s now only a month away we have some more information for you.
We are now taking reservation orders for the Open Day 2011, and this is the best way to ensure that we will have the exact models you wish to purchase. This year we have made a few changes to the ordering process to make it as quick and easy as possible for you to collect your reservation on the day.
In addition to the main Sales Stand, which will be packed with the full range of Forge World and Warhammer Forge resin kits, books and modelling supplies, there will be a separate Reservations area where these orders can be collected at any point throughout the day. We will be taking payment for reservations in advance for this year’s Open Day, which means that you’ll be free to enjoy the rest of the event at your convenience.
To place a reservation, please telephone the Forge World Customer Service Team on 0115 916 8177; we’ll need to take your name, the list of items you’d like to reserve and a contact e-mail address for you. You will also need your credit or debit card details handy, as we’ll charge your card there and then, and shortly before the Open Day you will receive a confirmation e-mail that will contain your order number. You must bring a copy of this with you in order to collect your reservation.


The Open Day will also be the very first time that our 2011 Event Only model will be available. This is an exclusive miniature that can only be purchased at the Games Days and other events that we attend, and this year we’ve decided to do things a bit differently – there will actually be two Event Only models for 2011!

As you may have noticed, there is a sneak peek of one of these miniatures to the left of this text, and we will be bringing you more details over the coming weeks.
The Forge World and Warhammer Forge studio teams will have their own separate areas at this year’s Open Day to best showcase the variety of different work-in-progress projects, future releases and unique display pieces that will be available for you to view. Our Studio and Book Design teams will be present throughout the day to answer your questions, explain our design process and maybe even let slip a few hints about our future plans...
Keep an eye on the Forge World events pages for more details.

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The melta troopers certainly look the part and my order of these and a shed load of other cadian bits has gone in to FW in preperation for the challenge!

any thoughts folks?

A Tale of Three Gamers - Chris' introduction and Army Background - Week 1

Hi Folks


coming up is the second of the three background posts from each of us giving a brief introduction about who we are and our army background.

So here we have the second post, guest staring Chris:

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Hello all, I’m Chris. I’ve always loved the lore behind 40k but I’ve been out of the loop for a good few years. I’ve started several armies, none of which I’ve finished. I used to paint and knew most of the rules, but never really gamed. I hope by joining Millest and (unfortunately) Jono in this small campaign it will encourage me to finish some of my models and re-learn the rules. Read on for the background to my fledgling Tau force...

The Stormstrike Expansion Cadre

With the third sphere expansion well under way, Commander Shadowsun has ordered her forces be split and sent in several directions to probe nearby Imperial worlds for weakness. At the vary tip of these fleets are the expansion cadres, small forces, little more than scouts and water caste bodyguards. Their role is to reconnoitre imperial worlds, assessing defences and where possible making contact with the more open minded planetary governors. Contact with enemy forces is kept to a minimum, with the cadre containing just a handful of firewarriors, pathfinders, and a contingent of crisis battlesuits. A long way from the inner Sept worlds, the forces must make do without the support of their allied races and heavy armour.

One such cadre pushed further in to Imperial space than most, and entered talks with a governor whose tithe was putting tremendous strain on his economy. Receiving intel that a neighbouring system may be negotiating with the xenos, the Inqusition despatched the fiercely loyal forces of the 29th Lignum Iugo Mechanized Regiment to eradicate the Tau and send a clear message to local systems. They struck quickly and the small Tau force made a desperate retreat, outnumbered, and outgunned by the superior force. The regiment landed a large amount of armour in the area with the intention of swiftly eliminating the Tau before they could extract.

The Shas’vre charged with the security of the force, made a risky move and led the other crisis suits back to the Orca dropships ahead of the main force, leaving them virtually defenceless. A single Orca then set course straight for the Guard detachment using the low cloud of the planet’s storms as cover. Making it directly above the force without being detected the Shas’Vre led the crisis teams in deadly vertical assault in to the heart of the enemy formation. The strike was a complete surprise and coupled with the cloud cover, the guard’s hydras didn’t even obtain a target lock before the Tau were among them. Landing atop the chimeras and battletanks, the suits ignited them with their fusion blasters whilst gun drones pinned heavy weapons teams. Using the burnt out husks of the tanks, the suits jumped from cover to cover, sewing confusion and death. Without any weapons to pierce the crisis armour, and the storm interfering with communication equipment, the 29th fell in to disarray and were slaughtered to a man. Not a single crisis suit was lost.

Earning the name Stormstrike, the Shas’vre was promoted to Commander, and has begun requisitioning further battlesuits to build a hunter cadre. Wherever Stormstrike is spotted, death from the skies is sure to follow. The extreme and deadly tactics have not gone unnoticed however, and an Ordo Xenos inquisitor has been despatched to end the threat. Requesting aid from the fearsome 1313th Lignum Iugo Expeditionary force, and with rumours of a Deathwatch kill team en-route, Commander Stormstrike will have plenty of opportunity to fight for the Greater Good.


Next, my Army List for our 500pt challenge..

any thoughts or comments are appreciated.

Blog News - Multiple page tabs - thoughts for the future!

Been playing with the idea of adding some tabs to the top of the blog as an quick reference point for some time now to help reduce the load time and the information down the sides. So far here are some suggestions I’ve come up with, any thoughts on if they work or not, as well as any additional sections would be appreciated. The Pages in the order they would be listed so far are:

• Home
• TOTG 2011 archive
• Modelling articles
• Novel reviews archive
• Product reviews archive
• Friday 5 Finds archive
• Web links Resource

Any thoughts, suggestions, criticisms or if you think it’s a bad idea please let me know before I roll them out. Please feel free to comment and suggestions on how to improve the blog are always welcome.

Thanks folks

A Tale of Three Gamers - Jono's introduction and Army Background - Week 1

Hi Folks
coming up is the first of three posts from each of us giving a brief introduction about who we are and also showcasing the background or fluff we have written for each of our forces. When we first thought about the challenge fluff was one of the things I really wanted to include and play with, much to the consternation of the others, but looking at what we have so far I think its worth it and it does add something a little extra to each force.

So here we have the first post, guest staring and straight from his keyboard, here's Jono:

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Well, howdy y'all! As previously said, my name is Jono and I haven't been into 40k since I was about 15(ish). I used to collect Ultramarines (well, SMs painted blue with bright pink faces) but I always loved Nids, which is why I have started again with these.

This all started a few weeks ago when Chris started talking to me about 40k, and as an instant response, I took the mick out of him! To be honest, I spend most of my days doing this, but alas this was just free ammo. Consequently I looked on the GW website, started reading fan sites and well.. bought a Nid battle force that weekend. On the following Monday I then got conned in to joining the challenge, so here I am and here is my Army's background.

Hive Fleet Tenebrae
During Hive Fleet Behemoth’s assault of Macragge, the Hive Mind, convinced of yet another victory, sent out splinter fleets to survey the way for the advancing swarm. In the closing hours of the battle, the Imperial Forces performed an assault on the man Hive Craft in orbit in an attempt to stop the swarms of Tyranids bringing devastation to the Planet's surface. During this lucky hit, the assaulting Tyranid force was thrown into a state of disarray which ultimately gave victory to the Imperial forces. It is believed that during this valiant assault, a 'Norn Queen' was either wounded, or killed. To this day, the Ultramarines believe that the Norn Queen is the embodiment of the Hive Mind, controlling the entire fleet with her will. Be this true, or be it that the target was merely a larger Synapse Creature further up the evolutionary chain nobody will ever know. Regardless of this, the temporary lapse of synapse that ensued caused many of the scouting splinter fleets to fall into a state of dormancy. Many of these dormant vessels and splinter fleets were either destroyed or simply wandered out of Imperium space in to the dead space between the stars. One such splinter was dubbed Hive Fleet Tenebrae.

Hive Fleet Tenebrae was brought to the attention of both the Imperium and the burgeoning Tau Empire when it re-entered the galaxy close to the Quintairn system, where it is hypothesised that its relative proximity to the Ymgarl system (The once theorised home of the Genestealer) and to core splinters of Hive fleet Behemoth resulted in the awakening of the hive ships many decades later. This is the first recorded active sighting of the Hive Fleet and I am sure that it will not be the last.


Next, my Army List for our 500pt challenge..

This list was posted on the back of the bits I have managed to get together and as I still wasn't sure about 40k. My thought process was that that I would get a few bits and if I didn't like it, it would only be a couple of quid that was wasted, as such. One of my friend's little brother had been bought a Tyranid battle force years ago, but never used it. I bought this off him for £25 and then ventured to GW Bedford for a few supplies. Damn GW paints are expensive now!

I got seriously lucky with the boxed set, as I didn't realise that they are no longer £40, but £61.50 for a battle force. A Carnifex alone is now something silly like £27. As it was the old kit, I have the following:

• 8 x Hormagaunts
• 8 x Termagants
• 8 x Genestealers
• 3 x Warriors
• 1 x Carnifex
• X x Rippers (not something I will use, so if anyone wants to trade me some bits for them, I have about 4 bases worth)

Now, I know that this lot is pretty useless on its own BUT it gave me a lot of minis to paint up, and lets face it, for £25 I got a bargain!

I read a lot of guides and joined a nid forum (http://thetyranidhive.proboards.com/) to get inspiration. After a lot of um-ming and aah-ing I decided on the following paint scheme..

 

For anyone interested in how I did them, I followed this guide (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqOowCEJNew) but with the following steps:

• Base coat of Halfords white primer
• 3 x coats of Badab Black wash
• Mecharite Red for the carapace and eyes
• Tallarn Flesh for the tongue
• 2 x coats of Baal Red wash for the carapace and tongue
• Skull white for the bone areas (claws, hoofs, teeth)
• 2 x coats Gryphonne Sepia wash for the bone areas
• I then went over the carapace joins with Badab Black just to add some depth
• Lastly, a bit of Baal Red around the mouth area, not really visible, but it does look nice in the right light.
• Effort!!!

These steps seem to take around an hour a mini, but I am well happy with the outcome! The guide I used was very simple, but excellent. I would recommend it to any new Nid player who can’t paint!

It has now been a week or two since I bought the first box, and that this challenge has come about. I have gone from being a bit unsure about the whole 40k scene to actually really enjoying it. I used to love the hobby and I now regret ditching it! Needless to say, my girlfriend is still not aware of this, and that's how I want to keep it!

I will leave you with this, my first finished mini. Please do comment on the base (or indeed the whole mini), as I was going to do it ash, but quite like the sandy effect.. All critique and comments welcome!

So you’ve had an insight as to what I’m planning so time for some more info. The nids are a lot darker than they look as my pictures are quite heavily saturated (terrible old Fuji bridge camera), but you get the idea! Very proud of them in all honesty and a LOT of work went into them. I may not be the best painter in the world, but compared to my Enchanted Blue (because I didn't used to like the colour ultramarine) blobby SMs, they are practically godlike in comparison!