Battle for Blacksburg Bat Rep - Game 1

We recently had our Battle for Blacksburg tournament and I got to play three great games against three great opponents. As often happens, while I had intentions of recording each turn to provide context for my battle reports, by round two I started forgetting, and by round three, only remembered to take a photo partway through the game. 

Mathammer - Smash Attacks

As someone who doesn't get to the table nearly as often as I'd like, I get some enjoyment from theory crafting around the hobby. In particular, I find mathhammer for certain scenarios to be interesting. After discussing a Flyrant's odds in combat with a Riptide, I thought about looking at when a Monstrous Creature should or should not smash.

In particular, I wanted to look at two of the more common MCs from other armies - Riptides and Wraithknights, and how the math worked out for each Tyranid MC.

Battle for Blacksburg Tournament Review

This past weekend was the Battle for Blacksburg, a small local 1,850 Tournament, and hopefully the first of many to come. The tournament was a one day, three round event, with 12 players showing up day of. The room was big enough for 16 players, so there was plenty of room.

Full results can be found on Torrent of Fire, but FTGT represented well. To start the day, I won best painted (voted by players' choice). After three rounds of battle, Ron came away with second place, with Sean Barkley taking home first prize.

Age of Darkness (Horus Heresy Book 16) Review

Continuing on with the Horus Heresy review series, the next up is the second short story collection. This collection contains nine short stories spanning a majority of the legions. With these short stories, some are cool from a story standpoint, but in the end are fairly inconsequential, while others might introduce something for following novels, or follow a new aspect of an old novel. As always, spoilers may follow.

Battle for Blacksburg This Saturday!

We're in the home stretch in getting ready for the Battle for Blacksburg, our local 16 person 1,850pt Tournament. There are still three spots available - email aidansb[at]vt[dot]edu to sign up, entry is $20. Ron will be making the trip for the tournament, and representing the Tyranids along with myself.

Time to get an updated shot with an updated list

Bending Tyranid Tails with a Heat Gun Part 2 : Converting a Unique Second Flying Hive Tyrant

Hey Guys,

Ron here, with some more plastic melting conversion goodness.  Flying Hive tyrants (flyrants) have dominated the HQ section for Tyranids since the fifth edition codex came out, and GW capitalized (albeit a bit late) on this demand with an amazing plastic kit.  However, if you plan on running two of these bad boys, the pose become a little stale.  Fear not!  With our knowledge from the first plastic bending article, and our trusty heat gun, we have a (relatively) quick fix.

Facing the Grey Tide Podcast - Episode 7: Paul Murphy Surfs the Grey Tide

What's up Everyone?  It's another week and another Special Guest on the Podcast.  This week we were able to hunt down The Man, The Myth, and The Legend that is Paul Murphy of Forge the Narrative and we welcomed Paul tonight to talk about everything that happened at AdeptiCon, List Building, and the missions that he has been working on.  It was a pleasure to talk to him and get his insight on some hot topics that are currently in the world of 40k.

Paul came in ready to roll, grabbed his surf board, and road the Grey Tide into shore.  We even had time to fire up the Delorean for a few old stories.  FYI - First Blood went to him.

Hope you enjoy the episode.

Magnetizing a Crone - V2

I learned some lessons from magnetizing my first crone, and put those into practice in assembling the second crone. Because of an impending tournament I didn't finish most of the Harpy bits, but the arms themselves are simple to add to.

First up, was to leave the tail in halves and drill through the rear wing sockets.

Astra Militarum: New name, new book. A first look. Hey that rhymes!

Hey everyone, BeeCee here.

It's codex review time! Due to GW being based in the UK, all of us here at FTGT feel like we are getting away with something when the digital downloads start for the new books on Friday afternoon here in the U.S.

I think the dude on the cover kind of looks like a zombie.

This month we have a reboot of the Emperor's faithful, the nameless, faceless, die by the billions, Imperial Guard, err Astra Militarum.

Bending Tyranid Tails with a Heat Gun

Hey guys!

Ron here with a little conversion quickie.  Are you sick of gaunts/warriors/carnifex/crones/(insert pretty much any plastic tyranid model) with unwaveringly straight tails?  Do you wish they had a little more variety, or a more unique/dynamic pose?  Are you running 3 crones like me because the internet told you to?  Well good news - it's easy to bend these tails, and doesn't take a lot of time.

List Building - 1850 April Tournament Iron Hands and Space Wolves

What's up everyone?  This morning I had to move my 40k stuff around to make room for some construction and realized that I hadn't really thought about combining my two major armies into an ally list since the very beginning of 6th Edition (It was a very 5th edition list that got blown away).  So I started thinking about my list, what I would want, what would be the theme driving it, and what would be awesome to put onto the field.  I came up with one list that really brings the Space Wolf philosophy and the Iron Hands philosophy into full view.  I am using the Clan Raukaan and Space Wolf Codex for this list.

Who wants some?

Bat Rep: 1,850 Pts Necrons vs. Tyranids

This past weekend I got a couple prep games for the Battle for Blacksburg tournament against Alex, with his Necrons. We played two games with NOVA style terrain setup, and ATC style triple-primary missions.

 vs.

List Building: Tournament 1,850 Point Tyranids

As we mentioned last week, we'll be attending a local 1,850 point tournament at the end of the month. I'm pretty much sticking with my guns and running Nids (though I've had my doubts). Ideally, I'd like to get it all painted up, but that might be a tall order.

It's time for this army to evolve

Battle for Blacksburg 1,850 Tournament

The Blacksburg RTT is a small tournament being put together by a local player who wanted to organize something a bit more along the lines of the national tournament scene than the LGS's regular events. The tournament will be a 3 round event using ATC format, and takes place on Saturday, April 26 at the Comfort Suites Blacksburg. Signups are through email only (aidansb[at]vt[dot]edu), with a cap of 16 players. Registration will open at 9:00am and close at 9:45am, with Round 1 beginning at 10:00am. Entry is $20.

Rules:

• Stronghold Assault and Escalation will not be used.
• Dataslates and Formations will be allowed, but will take up the Allies slot.
• Forgeworld 40k Approved models will be allowed.
• Rules released after March 26 (one month before the tournament) will not be used.
• Any save of 2+ that is rerolled will only succeed on a 4+ on the reroll. 

We're pretty excited about this tournament here at FTGT, and will have strong representation, with Chandler, Ron, and myself all playing. Ron and I will be bringing the bugs, while Chandler is planning on bringing some Dreads in his Iron Hands.

So, if you happen to be in the Blacksburg area on April 26th, shoot the TO, Aidan, an email at the above address and get signed up. If not, we're planning on using the Torrent of Fire Tournament Tracker to keep score, so feel free to track our progress there, we'll try not to disappoint!

Facing the Grey Tide Revisited

With yesterday's anniversary post, I took a look back at some of our earliest content. About a week after the first post, I had my first Facing the Grey Tide post. I intended to make that post a series, but it died out, partially as I got more focused on my NOVA posts and other more immediate goals. I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at the list I had then, and update it with what has changed in the last year.

FTGT Turns 1!

The title of the post says it all. Today, the blog is officially a year old. We've come a long way in that year. My first post cataloged some hopes and aspirations for the blog, as well as the tally of my collection that inspired the name of the blog. I am amazed at how far FTGT has come - I honestly never expected anyone I don't know personally to read it. For that I have to thank each of you who read the blog, whether just on occasion or regularly.

The contributors have grown from just myself to include three other writers who have helped me keep the blog alive and give additional perspectives. The blog started out Tyranid heavy and has stayed that way, though I'd like to think we're branching out a little.

Facing the Grey Tide Podcast - Episode 6: NOVA With Mike Brandt

What's up everyone?  This week on the Facing the Grey Tide Podcast,  special guest Mike Brandt stopped by to talk shop, have some fun, and give us advice for NOVA, Setting up your own Tournament, and Life in General.  It is a great look into NOVA 2014 and all of the goodness that comes along with it.  

The doors of Facing the Grey Tide were blown in by the Hurricane that is Mike Brandt and we held on for the ride.  

Hope you enjoy the episode.