Making BFG:R Tyranids 2

Here are some of the emergent drones being worked on. I am having to fill their mouths with hot glue to fill it up, then I move on to cover the whole top part and texture it. I am making 6 of them. 

These are the Juvenile hives. The one on the right is about where I want it to be with the hot glue but I will be adding some green stuff afterward. I want these to look like a step up in the evolution of a hive ship, from an emergent drone, tons juvenile, to an adolescent. Some day I will make an adult hive. 

Here's where I want them to be before I add green stuff. I am definitely happy with them but I will hopefully like them more when they are entirely done. 

Battle Report 3: Space Marines vs Tyranids

+++Space Marines vs Tyranids 1500pts+++

+Tyranids (current BFG:R)+
Adolescent Hive Ship + Extra Spore + Reinforced Carapace + Solar Vanes Ld 8 = 360 + RR
Adolescent Hive Ship + Extra Spore + Reinforced Carapace + Solar Vanes Ld 8 = 360 + RR
5 Claw Kraken 250
2 Vanguards 60
10 Drones: 6 Pyrodrones and 4 Biodrones 200
5 Biokraken with Tenacity 275
1505 (5pts over by permission)

+Carcharodons Chapter Space Marines (current BFG:R)+
Master of the Fleet 50
Ultima 450  Ld10
5 Strike Cruisers (SC), all extra shield. 2 are the gun variant (GSC) 800
GSC1 Ld9
GSC2  Ld10
SC1  Ld10
SC2 Ld10
SC3 Ld8
5 Hunters Ld10 200
1500

Scenery
The scenery was set up by Gavin as I got all the gear we needed for the battle, along with amazing creepy free ambient space music. Here's Gavin's Space Marine pose:

Here's the usual Gear:

Table Setup:

Scenario: Fleet Engagement

Both fleets chose wedge so we deployed under the style B requirements. Gavin (SM) won the roll-off and chose the "north" side with the planet.
The Tyranids (me, duh) were forced to deploy first so Hive 2 was put down. In the end, the Tyranids were clustered and the SMs crowded around the planet, most in its gravity field.

+Tyranids 1+
Just about immediately, I failed my first synapse roll. Luckily, the second hive was there and it held out until the last roll. At that point, I used a RR to make sure I had some good first turn control. With full control of the fleet, I pushed forward to go through a gap in the asteroids and anticipated some early conflict based on the planet being there to allow his fleet to get close with extra turning.

+Space Marines 1+
All Space Marines besides the rear Strike Cruiser squadron used the planet for the free turn. They curved around the planet and launched torpedoes and Thunderhawks, setting up turn 2 to be huge. (sorry about the blurry picture)

+Tyranids 2+
The Tyranid Kraken all went on All Ahead Full to get as close as possible so as to engage the next day. Each other squadron passed their Synaptic Control checks. The Tyranid batteries from the Pyrodrones and the Hive ships destroyed the Space Marine torpedo waves.

The Tyranid Hive Fleet pushes forward towards the endangered planet, though the Carcharodons stand in their way.

The Space Marine Thunderhawks began wading into the Tyranid Antibodies, cutting a squadron and a half down before most of them had to return to their mother-ships.

+Space Marines 2+
The Hunters and Strike Cruisers reloaded their ordnance while the Ultima Battlebarge and the Gun Strike Cruisers locked on. The entire fleet advances to pass through the gap in the asteroids. The Hunters burst forward, turn to their port side, and prepare for a torpedo strike.

Gavin and Michael consider their targets...

and then this happened......

 Survey the damage.... Space Marines, with a good turn of rolling and lock on, can do some devastating damage with bombardment cannons.

The Gun Strike Cruisers destroy a Biokraken, the Ultima kills two more of them (that's the amazing roll in the picture above, doing 6 hits), and the Hunters kill a Vanguard and 2 Claw Kraken. Quite a turn for the Space Marines!


+Tyranids 3+
The Hives immediately reload ordnance and use their last reroll.  After this, the Claw Kraken turn and engage the Hunters with their claws and batteries, killing two of them and causing them to brace for impact.  The Biokraken fly forward and do 2 hits the the Ultima Battlebarge and knock a shield down with their batteries. The Pyro and Biodrones fire at Gun Strike Cruiser 1, knock 2 shields down, and do 1 hit. The Hive ships then fire at the same target, doing 2 hits, crippling it.

4 of the Antibodies were destroyed by Thunderhawks. The Antibodies ended the turn, lurking behind the Kraken ready to board the oncoming Strike Cruisers.

+Space Marines 3+
The Ultima locks on, the Strike Cruisers reload their ordnance, and the Gun Strike Cruisers fail to lock on. The Hunters navigate the asteroids and flee the Kraken claws. Their batteries happen to do a hit to the Biokraken! The Ultima, having pressed forward into the asteroid gap, kills 2 Claw Kraken (wow) and the newly launched Thunderhawks would the Kraken once (I believe this was a mistake in the game because none of the SM ships has ordnance reloaded).

The Antibodies pose for a strike during the next turn.

+Tyranids 4+
All synapse passed. The Claw Kraken damages the Ultima 1 time, the Biodrone does another. Hive 1 launches Antibodies and kills the remaining Hunters (game changer).  Gun Strike Cruiser 1 (currently crippled) took 3 hit and runs from Antibodies (dorsal, starboard, and port). The Drones cause enough damage to the Ultima that its shields are knocked down (the blast markers are shifted in the picture but should be against the Ultima's base).  This was a dangerous place for the Ultima to be in because it allowed for all those Feeder Tendrils to attack it.  This was another possible game changer: The Ultima took 8 critical damages: dorsal, starboard, port, prow, engine (now down to 8 hits left), and 3 fires (!!!).  In the end phase, it repairs all the fires with a good roll.

+Space Marines 4+
Sensing the downfall of the Ultima Battlebarge, the Carcharodons decided to disengage. Close game! Lets' see the victory points...

This was the table after the Space Marines disengaged.

+End Results+
Space Marines: 151.25 Victory Points (including the rerolls and the 5 points over)
Tyranids: 330 Victory Points

+TYRANID SOLID VICTORY+

+Conclusions+
Gavin: [not received yet]
Dan:  Part of the purpose of this game was, besides the campaign, to test out the Tyranid BFG:R list.  There are some things that need to change about it: the Claw Kraken have more guns than claws. This is a problem. Feeder Tendrils are way to situational, and it makes the Vanguard more of a gun ship, but it used to always be a close combat ship. This needs to change. Really, the Tyranid fleet was tons of fun to play, but they aren't easy to work with.  Having all front facing guns makes some of their positions really dangerous. For example, Gavin out-maneuvered me in this game and forced me to turn closer to him so he could cross my T on lock-on.  This hurt like hell.  The 2 hit escort rules in the new BFG:R were very simple to use and proved to be lots of fun. The Kraken feel a bit slow at 20cm movement, but the 2 hits makes them worth it. Also, we are using the original Kraken 4+ auto brace instead of shield instead of just giving them a shield. Overall, this was a great game, loved using the new Tyranid fleet, loved using the Battlemarkers, learned a lot, and loved seeing the Carcharodons do what they do.

Making BFG:R Tyranids 1

So, for BFG:R, I have been working on some new stuff for the new Tyranid ships such as the Emergent Drone ship, the Leviathan, and the Juvenile Hive ship. My goal is to use Tyranid models and pieces I already have. I plan to make all my ships on my own and not have to buy the GW models (not that I dislike them or anything...).

First, the Emergent Drone:

At this point, it is a Carnifex head with some Hormagaunt legs and the tip of a Deathspitter. I will be using green stuff and a hot glue gun for the rest of it. I thought it would be horrible at first, but I like where it's going so far.

Next, the Juvenile Hive:

Admittedly, this will need a lot more work than the Emergent drone but I think it will work out with green stuff and hot glue. Its an old biovore with Trygon claws and an old barbed strangler tip.

More progress to come! I am also working on a Leviathan as well. Pictures later.

More Imperial Navy...

Considering my loyalty to the steamroller style IN fleet, I have never actually had a Retribution Battleship model. But now, that has changed!

So, this ship and....

... these will contribute to the torpedo onslaught I plan to continue to bring.  More to come!

+++Solar Empires V3+++

After months of modifying and testing, Solar Empires V3 is now ready to go!  Here it is:

+++Solar Empires V3+++

A couple highlights:
-"Mighty Empires" style campaign.
-Simplified planet types
-The addition of Ocean, Lava, and Ice worlds and Gas Giants
-New Orbital Structures (Broadcast Hub, Commerce Port, and Mass Relay)
-Refined optional racial bonuses
-New Optional Minor and Major Objectives system
-New Optional Unrevealed Campaign Map system (sort of like "fog of war")
-New Optional Champion Ships rules
-Updated Planet Marker printout sheet

Please let us know what you think about it! It would be very helpful to have more play-testers and proof-readers.

Hexographer BFG Planet Features

Here are the PNG files I made for our BFG campaign. You can import these into Hexographer quite easily. Here is a link to the zip file with all the graphics in there:

BFG Planets

Here are some of the crappy zoomed in pictures:


 
 
 I am aware they look pretty crappy zoomed in this far but they look good in the program when they are much smaller. Hope you get good use from them!

Here's a sample campaign map I made:

It's not done yet but you will probably see the completed version of this map for some campaign battles we will hopefully be posting.

Hexographer For BFG Campaigns

I love campaigns. I have been working with some people in my area to make our own version of a Battlefleet Gothic campaign that we call Solar Empires. We have always been looking for a great way to have nice looking maps for our campaigns. I stumbled across Hexographer a while back. Well, this year, I finally bought it and it's great. Here's their website:

HEXOGRAPHER

Here are some pictures of maps made in Hexographer:

So yeah, keep your eyes open for some campaign maps that we are making for our campaigns!

Pretty Pictures from the Battle Report that Never Was

So, attempting a battle report with AdMech vs Chaos didn't go so well. Basically, the text file with all the reporting was lost/I did something stupid probably, and I can't find it. Here are some pictures from it just for fun...

AND JUST WHEN I POST PICTURES FROM THIS "LOST" BATTLE REPORT, I FIND THE TEXT DOCUMENT WITH THE GAME DOCUMENTATION......

"In our Rogue Trader Campaign, we have been incorporating elements of large scale faction space warfare. This is an amazing way to incorporate BFG.  This battle will affect the story line of the campaign. The AdMech are out in the Koronus Sector and are intent on engaging with Chaos.

Adeptus Mechanicus
Explorator (ld 8) + RR
(8) Oberon + AWR and Advanced Engines + NC
(8) Lunar + AWR + NC
(9) Gothic + AWR + NC
(8) Tyrant + AWR + NC
(9) 3 Firestorms (used with permission)
(8) 5 Swords (used with permission)
=1505 (over 5 points with permission)

Chaos
Warmaster (ld8) + RR
(8) Relictor + Mark of Khorne (MoK)
(7) Styx
(8) Slaughter 1 + MoK
(6) Slaughter 2 + MoK
(8) Slaughter 3 + MoK
(8) Heretic
=1510 (over 10 points with permission)

Turn 1
AdMech
Lunar Lock-on and fails.
The AdMech fleet advanced slowly to maximize range.
The Lunar fired its Nova Cannon and scatters, hitting the moon (so many dead people...)
The Gothic fired its Nova Cannon and scatters in front of Slaughter 3.
The Tyrant fired it Nova Cannon at Slaughter 3 and scattered, just barely clipping the Relictor.
The Oberon fired its Nova Cannon at Slaughter 2 and scattered in front of the Relictor.

Chaos
Slaughters All Ahead Full and Fail.
Re-roll reattempted - passed. (6).
Relictor All Ahead Full - Passes. (5).

Slaughters move ahead 43cm.
Relictor moves ahead 44cm.

Relictor fired on Firestorms doing nothing.

Styx launch 3 fighters and 3 assault boats.
AdMech bombers advance.


Turn 2
(much of the write-up of this turn was accidentally saved over. OOPS. We did out best to write it back up for you)

AdMech
The Lunar Locks on.
The Gothic fails to lock on, uses a reroll, and fails again!

The Lunar and Gothic fire their Nova Cannons and the Gothic's lance at Slaughter 3 and, combined with the Firestorms and the Oberons dorsal and broadside weaponry, reduce it to a hulk! The Swords move in for the kill and the Oberon's Bombers blast toward the rear Chaos ships. The AdMech nova cannons have not had the best of luck so far, even with some good lock-ons.

Chaos
Most ships advance as much as possible and dig in close. The firepower of the Styx, the left broadsides and dorsals of the Relictor, and Carnage 2 reduce the AdMech Tyrant to a blazing hulk! The Relictor fires its starboard weapons at the Firestorms as well as the Heretics weaponry, and the Firestorms are all destroyed. The Relictor fires boarding torpedoes at the Gothic and, along with Assault Boats from the Styx, the Gothic ends up with 2 fires and all sorts of problems."


So, there is how far the game got. Some pretty crazy stuff happened! P.S. I like this style of Chaos fleet: in your face and ready to dominate.