Now if we can just get the genetics down

A friend of mine brought up a robotic exoskeleton video he saw the other day.  The version he was talking about though was a full armature to increase the wearers strength for the logistic side of war.  Unloading supplies in bulk, fitting missiles to aircraft, things that if you bench 1000 pounds you'd be set for life.  It did have some limitations, namely it had to be plugged in to it's power source to operate.  This video shows a similar armature, all though it's more streamlined and has an independant power supply. As the technology for this gets better, i.e. more efficient motors, sensors, and lighter materials, this could actually be something we see on the battlefield in the future.  The HAL suit from Cyberdine (try and tell me the guy didn't know what he was doing when he named his company) is actually reading the nerve impulses as they travel from the brain to the legs and that's just amazing.

As it stands now the U.S. version is going for something more like this...

And not so much something like this, at least not yet.

So what do you guys think? Are we on the verge of having power armored marines in the not so distant future?  Is the company Cyberdine, from Japan of all places, going to usher in the apocolypse when their suits become sentient?  If this is what we do get to see, can you imagine the suit we aren't allowed to see?  Anyone else find anything that could be coined as "40k in real life"? And no, the Blood Ravens rhino doesn't count...  ;-)

Chris

Incident at the Workshop

I play, well dabble is more like it anymore, a fair amount of video games and try to keep tabs on what's coming out.  In a recent issue of Game Informer they highlighted the Into the Pixel video game art competition.  This entry from Ivan Simoncini entitled "Incident at the Workshop" is based off of Valve Software's title Alien Swarm, you know the Kill Team like title before Kill Team was around, and I have to say the attention to detail is amazing.  Everything from the blister pack, to the paint pots, and even a spray tip in the background.

The ONLY gripe I have is the cigarette smoke, you should really be able to see where the light is falling from the left wall above the ashtray, and I'm sure more than one of us has a work station almost exactly like this.

I wasn't sure how many of you follow this sort of thing, but this was too cool not to share.  

Chris 

Possible 'Nid color scheme

So as I contemplate where I want to go with 'Nids, the initial army list and models to score, the one thing that excites and terrifies me at the same time is the color scheme.  I didn't want to stray to far from the "bug" aspect of the Tyranids, but I also didn't want to paint them black and gloss coat them either.  Something a little more in between might just do the trick.

The pictures above are of a Japanese, or Asian, Hornet.  These suckers are mean, fast, and will take down loads of little guys to get the prize.  They have a pheromone trail of their own, and can spit a flesh melting venom, usually into the eyes.  They can fly up to 50 miles in a day, and sting something to death after the rest of the gang homes in on the pheromones.  All that and they get to a length of 3 inches.  They are brutal hunters and seem to fit exactly what I'm thinking of when I think of Tyranids.  

For me, it's the natural aspect of this type of color scheme I find appealing.  It is mostly black, or a deep brown, not too glossy anywhere, and the only thing I'm not too sure on right now is the striping for the tails.  That could be hit or miss until I get some paint on figs other than Genestealers.  Looks like it's time to take stock for a posting at the Barter Bucket, and maybe finally order that battleforce.  

Chris

Mega Bloks are made for Tyranids

Who knew?  

After poking around a bit you can find these popping up as Mycetic Spores for 'Nids.  Now this type, the plasma hatcher, is pretty popular.  It has all the details one could want with a minimum of converting.  Propulsion type tubes at the top, hatch like spots for openings, and has a rough footprint of a 40mm base.

I say minimum because to use said pod at a GW store you'll need to slap some GW bits on it to make it "official".  Otherwise, they won't let you play with your nicely painted model you made an effort to get and they haven't released an official version yet... screwy ain't it?

The best part about this type of toy is that you can find it on sale at one chain store in town, then chances are it's on sale at the other locations.  So being at Target with the family the other day, the daughter had money to burn, I spy this...

Now these, to me, are more effective as Mycetic Spores.  I don't think all of the outside of a pod would be crusty, certainly the nose end of it would be so it wouldn't burn up on entry.  With a little bit of super glue, green stuff, and extra bits this will work wonderfully.  The bonus here was that they were on sale, two for the price of one pod from Chapterhouse.  Deal.  Even better, my wife and daughter found two more at another Target and picked them up for me!  They follow the dimensions for a SM Drop Pod, about 6 1/2 inches tall by 5 inches at the widest diameter.  A Trygon can stand behind it no problem, it's about 1/2-3/4 of an inch shorter than the pod.  Putting it on a 60mm base will stabilize it and give a solid reference for the lashing tentacles of the pod.  Now I know that this type of stand in modeling is a little easier to do with Tyranids, but have you guys found anything like this for your SM, CSM, IG, or even Eldar?  Either outside model ranges or outside of models all together?

Chris

Some construction in the future

As my time is increasingly shrinking (I don't know wether it's from age, or it just seems to be flying by at warp 10 anymore), and I'm at odds with the Chaos 'Dex I decided to start looking for a new army to collect.  I will not abandon Chaos, I just want a brake from 3+ armor saves and 8 ft. killing machines.  Which got me thinking about what is as far removed from Space Marines as possible... 

Eldar? Too clean.  

Guard? Too many tanks. 

Dark Eldar? Thought about it, but nah.

Demons? No.

Necrons? Too much metal.

Orks?  Closer.

Tyranids? We have a winner.

So my next army will be Tyranids, what really drove this home was watching AvP and the flashback scene of the temples purpose.  Those 3 Predators standing at the top of the temple, blasting Alien after Alien and not even making a dent.  Then the pan out shot and there's thousands of bugs all over the landscape.

That is some epic imagery.  It was an "a ha!" moment.  A similar moment happened shortly after I read Anthony Reynolds' Dark Apostle, I knew I wanted to build an army in that vein of vision.  Same thing here.

So what does this mean for the future?  More articles, different army lists, lots of converting and proxy articles as the Tyranid 'Dex is lacking in a lot of specific models.  This also means a shift in the blog design/layout.  Also having several smaller projects to choose from should keep me motivated to finish them and move on to the next.  Something I could finish in a day, maybe 2.  Like painting a squad of Marines, or putting together a Trygon, and devote 1 day out of the week for my hobby.  As grad school winds up for the final pitch, I think having something away from the art world will keep me sane and my students safe.

Chris