Like a Firefly through the Cold Night of the Soul
Some days back I pulled a muscle in my lower back. I can barely stand up. I’ve been limping through but finally went to see the doctor yesterday. I’m on orders not to life anything over ten pounds for the next five days. I will be back in the saddle tomorrow.
Anyway, I was on bed rest today. I think I slept like six hours. My body is just soaking up the relaxation. I’ve been on high alert for so long that my brain and body just needed to completely recharge for a day. My home teachers came over and administered a Blessing of Health.
Friday I took my wife up to Salt Lake City for a “mega date”, an all-day outing. We are like two starry-eyed lovers. I picked up a book on business for a change of pace (ie no politics or economics). I recommend a restaurant called “Thaiphoon” if you’re ever in the area.
Saturday I made up for lost time at the office and also got in a game with sky-marshall Anonymo, Warriors of Chaos vs Lizardmen. I shot some footage of that but only as a deployment strategy how-to. Each army wins in a certain way. WoC are not an army where you can prance around and wait for just the right moment to strike. The proper strategy is to rush up with ultra-killy units and rip your opponents heart out and stick it on a barbed pike. All other units in the army are disposable lackeys to help the killy stuff get into place.
In the future, I’m going to take Saurus with spears.
Tyranid Specialized Organisms
The prototypes for Tervigon and Harpy are done. I just got to see them this morning. No pics yet.
I’m very, very pleased with the Harpy. It turned out better than I thought it would. And I thought it would turn out reeeally good.
The Tervigon looks great, just needs some tweaking. The “birth orifice” turned out just fabulously.
Just a little more patience. We’ll have pics up early this coming week. Everything is proceeding apace.
Did you realize that the Trygon kit is only $4.50 more than a Carnifex kit? $45.00 and $49.50 respectively.
Some Fave Lines from Frasier
All those years of finishing school really paid off.
What do you say about me when I’m not around.
Even Hannibal Lector couldn’t keep that woman’s cooking down.
Get a coaster for your lower lip.
Isn’t it sad when bad things happen to good sentences?
Nurgle Still on Block- SOLD!
This Nurgle army is still on the block and ready to ship out.
40K Campaign: the Seed
Today we all sat down to plan the 40K campaign. For five weeks though February and early March we’re going to have an iron man style army creation process, every Tuesday unveiling 20% of a completed army (400 points). Almost everyone has most or all models collected, but hardly any painted. We’re all starting on an even footing. There are at least doubles of every type of army:
3x Imperial Guard (one of which is Renegades)
2x Tyranids
2x Tau
2x Space Marines (Emperor’s Children is one, using the SM list)
2x Orks
If narrowed down it’s four or five factions: Imperials, Tyranids, Tau, Chaos, and Orks.
I’m doing both Tyranids and Orks.
We’re going to create five planets/moons in a single star system. I mean actual spheres which we will hang from the cieling in the main room. Each one will be a mini-planetary empires campaign with one overall winner for each section. Renn is running the first one. I don’t plan on running any of them, we’ll see. Campaign participants can change armies between planets.
Every week for ten weeks there’s a different person assigned to produce an entire new set of terrain. That’s on Thursdays.
Tuesday and Thursday mornings are campaign days. This will be televised starting Tuesday, February 2nd. You’ll get to see what’s in everyone’s army, and some new figures every week. There’s a lot of momentum behind this.
Spinal Tap
Last night I fell asleep on the couch. In the wee hours J (eight) came in saying he had a bad dream. He lay opposite me and kicked my spine all night long. I could barely stand up straight this morning. Thus was the agony of the day.
Before last night the fridge water hose started leaking. That was a many-hour adventure and on into this morning to get it fixed. That included two trips to Home Depot and at least two other places. My wife is the handyman of the family. She has such an uncanny sense for that sort of thing.
While there is silence on the matter of the Tyranids, rest assured that things are proceeding apace. I should have the studio army underway as of this coming Monday (ie being painted). Renn produced an alternate prototype color scheme, but I wasn’t overly fond. It was a good color scheme, just not what I had in mind. I’m going to try out what I’m thinking on a few models and see if it works.
The 40K campaign is due to start sooner than anticipated. Here are the armies being planned (some are already assembled):
Imperial Guard
Imperial Guard
Imperial Guard Renegades
Tyranids (me)
Tyranids
Tau
Tau
Space Marines
Orks (?)
James finally got his oriental-themed Empire army on the table and it looks really good. More to come on that.
What it’s all about
I got this letter from a client today. It represents what Blue Table is all about.
Hi Shawn,
Wanted to let you know that I received the Skaven display board today and I am more than happy with your work. In fact I am in awe to the amount of detail you put into this project. I barely gave you a theme to work with and you were able to surpass my expectations with amazing accuracy, it is exactly want I was hoping for and more so. I also wanted to thank you, Shawn, for the inclusion of the updated Doomflayers that you provided. It speaks to your professionalism and artistic integrity that even though I may have been satisfied with the previous work, you believed you could do better and then provided a spectacular replacement for my Doomflayers free of charge. I have to say you have secured me as a Blue table customer for some time to come.
I also wanted to see how things were going with the character Skaven Engineer model I sent (sorry for it getting danaged so) as well as the two warpfire teams to get painted. I look forward to seeing the level of painting your studio has become famous for.
AF
Green
My son G. decided that he wanted to look like the Hulk today. And a green marker was just the thing for the job. He made quite an inroad into covering his body with green ink.
The studio Tyranid army is gathered and should be all put together within seven days. This includes quite a few specialty conversions that are in the works. As for color scheme I just can’t get away from the Oceanic Tyranids idea– that they will be colorful like reef predators. I’m going to do a few test models and see if they look like what I’m envisioning.
Adepticon Impending
BTP is going to Adepticon again this year. The plane tickets are already purchased!
It’s still not too late to have us create your army. We can still get it done on time. But you’ll need to get it set up soon.
Carnifex: Model Redux and Preset List Specials
Let’s talk about the new Carnifex army list entry vis a vis the Carnifex kit.
Gone are the thirty different options. That leaves the heads freed up for other uses. No need to magnetize them. They can be used decoratively, though. I take that back. Regeneration and bio-plasma could call for different heads. However, I don’t think those biomorphs need to be modeled on. And indeed, I think taking both upgrades is a good bet and the model can’t very well have two heads.
More importantly, Carnifexes can be taken in a pod of 1-3. That makes the Nidzilla build quite an easy feat.
Wrecking Crew Special
9x Carnifex
6x Tyranid Warriors
1x Hive Tyrant
= 2000 pts easy (maybe pushing 2250 with upgrades)
= $1200 for a Turbo army with this build ($600 deposit pulls the trigger) We pick armament, painting style. Open to suggestions on armament if you prefer certain ones.
- Option 1: get a moderate amount of magnetization for +$200
- Option 2: upgrade to L4/5 painting for +$300
- Option 3: downgrade to L2/3 painting for -$200 (save $200)
- Option 4: switch out three Carnifexes for Trygon/Mawloc/Trygon Prime for -$100 (save $100)
Just Paypal (or preferably check/MO) the half-down deposit and note that you want this special and I’ll get it going. Turnaround is 3-5 weeks.
Gone is the Sniperfex (two heavy weapons). Ranged weapon options are:
Twin-linked Devourer (can get two sets). We would do our quad devourer conversion.
Twin-linked Deathspitter (can get two sets).
Heavy Venom Cannon
Stranglethorn Cannon (effectively the list’s Heavy Barbed Strangler)
Full magnetization on a Carnifex would be as follows:
4x Scything Talons
1x Crushing Claws
1x Quad Devourer
1x Pair left/right Deathspitter
1x Stranglethorn Cannon
1x Heavy Venom Cannon
= $30 to magnetize and paint extras on Carnifex.
My recommendations: get bio-plasma and regeneration on every Carnifex.
Odds are that the Carnifex will have at least two turns on partial wounds throughout the game, making it highly likely that it will get at least 1-2 wounds back through Regeneration; a bargain at 25 pts on a 180+ pt investment. I would guess that every now and again this will make a Carnifex nigh unto unkillable. The math here is that with a brood of Carnifexes (nevermind nine), as a group they will be regenerating quite a bit every turn. Toughness 6 makes them not instant-death-able and so more likely to be in the place where they can regenerate.
I would still put on the scything tail biomorph just because it looks cooler.
Quad Devourer Conversion
Shock Wave Special
Here’s a tournament-level list I saw on www.yesthetruthhurts.com
Tyranid Prime w/Lash Whip + Bonesword, Scything Talons, Regen, 105.
Hive Guard x2, 100.
Hive Guard x2, 100.
Hive Guard x2, 100.
Termagant x10, 50.
Termagant x10, 50.
Tervigon, Toxin Sacs, Onslaught, Regen, Cluster Spines, 215.
Tervigon, Toxin Sacs, Onslaught, Regen, Cluster Spines, 215.
Harpy w/TL Heavy Venom Cannon, Cluster Spines, Regen, 195.
Harpy w/TL Heavy Venom Cannon, Cluster Spines, Regen, 195.
Trygon, Regen, 225.
Trygon, Regen, 225.
Trygon, Regen, 225.
= 2000 pts
= $1600 ($800 deposit pulls the trigger– 3-5 week turnaround)
- Option 1: get a moderate amount of magnetization for +$200
- Option 2: upgrade to L4/5 painting for +$400
- Option 3: downgrade to L2/3 painting for -$300 (save $300)