Facing the Grey Tide Podcast - Episode 15: New Nids and the Hobby Challenge

What's up Everyone?  Last week Bryan, Evan, and Ron got together to talk about the new Nids that are being released, the upcoming Facing the Grey Tide Budget Challenge, and Bryan getting ready for the Renegade Tournament.  The Boys run down a lot, talk about some of the fun things the Nids are getting, and talk a little shop.  What more could you want from a Thanksgiving Day Podcast?

Let the New Nids Drop.

Shield of Baal: Leviathan Fluff Book Review

I wrapped up reading through the fluff book and enjoyed it immensely. The visuals are very high quality, both original artwork and diorama/showcases for new models. I will talk about how things go in the story line, so Spoiler Alert below the bump.

Shield of Baal: Leviathan Review: Cities of Death and Death from the Skies

I was lucky enough to pick up my copy of Shield of Baal: Leviathan today and have taken a quick look at the Rules book, particularly skimming through the Cities of Death and Death from the Skies rules.

Leaked Shield of Baal: Leviathan Tyranid Formations and Early List Builds

The Shield of Baal rules for Tyranids have been leaked (finally - been on the lookout since Monday) and there are a couple gems in there right off the bat. My two favorites are the Skytyrant Swarm and the Sporefield. The former allows a Flying Hive Tyrant to be joined to two units of gargoyles for 20-60 ablative wounds to get him across the board. The other provides recycling Spore Mines and Mucolid Clusters.

Guest Post: Hobby Budget Challenge - Tom's Tyranids

Today we have a guest post from my buddy, Tom, who is joining us for the FTGT Hobby Budget Challenge and starting a Tyranid army. 

Here's Tom:

When I saw the budget challenge I knew this was my chance to start a new army without hearing an ear full from my better half.  Being married to a woman with an MBA, who accounts for every dime I spend on my hobby, it is much easier to talk to about starting a new army when she hears the word “budget.”

Knowing that my time as a doctoral student to both play and paint are limited, I wanted to build a competitive list where I would get the most “bang for my buck.”  I’ve dabbled in other armies but most fizzle out because what my desire to paint often outweighs my desire to play.  I enjoy painting large models with unique color schemes and, with this is mind, decided that a new Tyranid army was in order.

When I was looking at all the various armies that GW puts out, along with all the box sets offered I decided there was no better deal than the Wrath of the Hive Mind. Containing a Hive Tyrant, Tervigon, 3 Tyranid warriors and 20 Termagaunts, an individual retail value $221 for only $165 was the ideal way to start off.  Not only saving money but also jump starting a new army in grand fashion.  Since I will have the most of December off, being in between semesters, I felt that if I didn’t use my double up month early I might not get the chance to paint everything before it was time to make my next month’s purchase.

While the Wrath of the Hive Mind was being ordered I took the chance to look at what competitive Nid lists looked like, setting the layout for the rest of my budget and army.  I see the potential in running a Skyblight Swarm, and wanted to base the rest of my purchases around this formation.  Looking at the dataslate I knew I needed 3 Harpy/Crone kits and 30 Gargoyles, having the Flyrant and Tyranid Prime accounted for in my first months purchase.  With the destruction of a gargoyle unit coming back on a 4+ I felt that I needed to capitalize, not only on the model count boost, but also on the budgeting of such a formation.

These additions added up to $327, adding to my $165 gave me a total of $492.  Like the final piece of a puzzle I realized that I could add another box of termagaunts for $29, not only giving me an under-budget total cost of $521 but also now making my tervigon a troops choice, since I will have a least 30 termagaunts, 32 to be exact.  It’s like the stars aligned and my destiny to lead this army was solidified, with some careful accounting, and the approval of my wife. December 1^st can’t get here soon enough!

Thanks to Tom for sharing his plan. For anyone else joining in on the challenge who wants to share their plan, monthly purchases, or updates on the blog, shoot me a message on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, or through my email. 

Hobby Budget Challenge Plan - Tau

Once we settled on the time frame and expectations for our Hobby Budget Challenge, I debated several different armies to paint up for the challenge. My biggest debates were between completing an army wasting away in my closet or trying out something cool and new.

White Dwarf 42 First Look

This week's White Dwarf features the new Tyranid dual kit of the Zoanthropes and Venomthropes. The kit includes the leaked rules and background for the more or less replacement for the Doom of Malan'tai, the Neurothrope. Additionally, this issue announces the upcoming 40k Campaign, the Shield of Baal.

Back Cover image is just too cool, in my Opinion 

Budget Challenge: The Wolves of Fenris - Bran Redmaw

What's up everyone?  With +Evan S announcing the Budget Challenge that we are taking on, I spent many hours looking into what part of a new army, or additional army, I wanted to work on.  I started to look at my two armies that I have, Space Wolves and Iron Hands, and laid out the pros and cons of what I would do with each list.  After a lot of thought, soul searching, and talking to the rest of the Grey Tide, I decided to keep with my Space Wolves and tack on another Wolf Lord.  I have Logan, Ragnar, Krom, and Harald, but I wanted to go with a company that always had a special place in my mind.  So for the Budget Challenge, I am going to start building my Bran Redmaw Army, The Bloodied Hunter.

FTGT Hobby Budget Challenge Update and FAQ

First things first, we have a Facebook Group for everyone interested in joining the FTGT Hobby Budget Challenge and sharing their progress. To recap, the budget challenge is a six month challenge in which we will make monthly purchases and paint schedules. At the end of the challenge, participants should have at least the core of a solid army. The challenge kicks off December 1, 2014, and will run through the first week of June, 2015.

"Commission" Showcase: Space Wolves Venerable Dreadnought

This is my first "commission" piece. I include the quotes because I am not getting paid for this piece, it is instead a present for FTGT's resident Space Wolf, Chandler. I had intended to make it a Birthday gift, but it's a little late for that for various reasons.

Facing the Grey Tide Podcast - Episode 14: The Renegade Tournament comes a Callin

What's up everyone?  The boys are back for another podcast involving the operators of The Renegade  Puck and David.  They came on to talk about the tournament, a little of the history, and some of the ideas and rules that they had for the 40k side of the Open GT.  Things get a little crazy, a little hairy, and some interesting stories fall into the podcast.  It is a wild night on the Podcast thanks to the Renegades.

Crack a Bottle and Enjoy!

Army List Challenge, Help me build an army to paint!

Hey everyone, BeeCee here.

So in case you haven't heard, we are doing a hobby/budget challenge with the blog for the first part of the year. Most of the guys are starting a new army and buying a bunch of new models. Well I want to do things a little bit differently.

As you probably know, because I've said it about 900 times, I have a large collection of Tyranids. I want to paint 1500 points of those Tyranids for the army challenge.

New Tyranids List Building

With the leaked rules for the Tyrannocyte and Sporocyst, and the huge waves they will make in Tyranid list building, I couldn't help myself and made a dozen or so lists that seemed intriguing. My first instinct was to add all of the deep striking. Unfortunately, while I think the Tyrannocyte is a good value, 75 points adds up very quickly and more than three starts to get unwieldy.

FTGT Hobby Budget Challenge

Recently I was digging through my old White Dwarfs and stumbled on a series from way back that I really enjoyed: A Tale of Four Gamers. This was a regular series in White Dwarf for five months that followed four White Dwarf staffers as they followed a set budget and build and paint an army from scratch. 

In a Tale of Four Gamers, they used the relatively modest budget of £50 to start and £25 for following months. Thanks to inflation and pricing changes (including everything coming in boxes instead of blisters as in the past) we will have to use a bit higher budget, but the end goal will be the same.

More Tyranid Multikit Pic Dump

More pics have been leaked, and the other options from the kit have been leaked, including some rules for the Mucolid and Sporocyst, which is the multi-kit with the previously posted tyrannocyte.

It looks like the Mucolid at least is on a 40mm base, lending some credence to the idea that three will be on the kit.

Tyranid Tyrannocyte - New Kit Game Changer

So this morning a picture of what looks like next week's White Dwarf was leaked showing the rules for a new Tyranid model - the Tyrannocyte, which looks to be a replacement for the defunct Mycetic Spore.

This is a huge game changer for Tyranid players as it totally changes the available tactics for the army.