Spikey Bits

Spikey Bits Needs You- Anniversary Give-Away!

2010-03-17T11:00:00.003-04:00

It seems like time does fly- because almost one year ago, April 12th to be exact, I started this blog. It's definitely been fun and kept me well motivated to get projects done to share them with everyone. I sincerely hope you all have gotten something out of it as well, too. Sooooo I thought it would be cool to give a little something back to everyone who's tuned in over the past year, and maybe

For The Emperwar- 2500 'Ard Boyz Tounament Review

2010-03-15T18:34:00.005-04:00

I played in a 2500 'Ard Boyz Tourney over the weekend at Groovy Geckos Comic and Games in Williamsburg, VA. It's a pretty cool store, and has a new owner now who is very motivated and cool to be around. If you are ever on vacation in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia (Yorktown, Norfolk, Va Beach, Hampton, Newport News, etc.) I reccomend you check the store out. I played my Looted Guard and

Demi-Legion: Chaos Titan Mega Build 2 Warhounds, 1 Reaver Part III

2010-03-12T15:00:00.010-05:00

So far we're up to working on the pistons and weapons for Warhound #1. We knocked the rest of that assembly out in one night, and managed to clean and trim the weapons. We went ahead and cleaned up all the weapons I bought for both Warhounds just so we could have options to use for the upcoming Apocalypse game. I wasn't sure what lists we would be running for that so I wanted to make sure I at

Tear Down That Wall- Imperial Fortress Conversion

2010-03-10T14:09:00.000-05:00

My friend and avid hobbyist Rich Ditzler recently conceived and came up with an amazing Imperial Fortress for a recent Apocalypse game. I can only image the time and patience it took to make something of this size. You can see more pics and how he made this behemoth on his blog, Bossman's Bitz Box. For those of you that don't know Rich he is the owner of Adventurers Guild in Harrisburg,

Helping the GT Circuit- Open forum for change (Yes we can?)

2010-03-03T12:32:00.000-05:00

Well I think we, being the gaming community, should come up with some guidelines for Indy tourneys that GW can choose to adopt if they see fit, or maybe can even be worked into a INAT touney checklist of sorts. We can all cry and moan about problems on the circuit, obviously there have been issues with the first three event so far, but maybe we cant try to help to improve the circuit going

Ghazghkull's Rolla Mob- 1850 Orky Army List

2010-02-28T11:59:00.001-05:00

Well I'm still brainstorming over the new orks since the drop of the FAQ a few days ago. I've heard good things about burna drive-bys so I thought I'd work up a super aggro list. While I'm sure it will do fine against mech and marines, long range standoff may be its undoing. Again this list has mucho threats; Ghaz, Nobz, Battlewagon of Burnas, Kans w/ both Rokkits and Powa Claws, and ground

Slitherguard- Tyranid Tyrant Guard Part II

2010-02-27T17:59:00.004-05:00

I got a lot of comments on my Slitherguard recently, and everyone said they were a little lean for their namesakes, Tyrant Guard. I agree too, so I decided to beef them up to look like the bodyguards they are. I searched though my bits, and found some Carnifex torso plates that would work just fine. I had to cut them down a bit but they fit the back of the model well. When I glued them down,

Super Battlewagon- Orky Conversion Painted Showcase

2010-02-25T18:42:00.003-05:00

I thought I'd celebrate the recent Deff Rolla FAQ ruling with a walkthough of my Supa Battlewagons. When the Ork Battlewagon kit came out I knew I had to have a few. I opened the box up and furiously started assembling it. When I was done I have to admit I was a little let down, it was barely bigger than a Trukk. While it's a well made kit, with lots of options, I just didn't like the size.

Deff-Rollas are back! 1850 Rolla Mob

2010-02-24T13:29:00.001-05:00

Back a year or so ago I had a pretty good hybrid Battlewagon Nob Biker list going. Of course it worked good till the INAT game out and nerfed it. But now it's back and with a few tweeks I think still competitive. The main tactic of the army is to either pincer with the Battlewagons, and the nob bikers OR use the Battlewagons to block LOS to the bikers themselves, until it's too late. Secondary

Demi-Legion: Chaos Titan Mega Build 2 Warhounds, 1 Reaver Part II

2010-02-22T17:39:00.002-05:00

Well we were able to get more done on Warhound #1. We're working on the torso now, and while its not quite as hard as doing the legs, it's still important to make sure everything lines up correctly. I also plan on going back and painting the interior. I just want to get the outside painted first because we have an Apocalypse game coming up in a few weeks that I need this guy for. We started

Lor'Maxxim- Painted Figure Showcase

2010-02-19T09:59:00.006-05:00

Awhile ago during the scary days of Lash of Slaanesh, I set about making a sweet Daemon Prince model to lead my chaotic forces into battle. What I thought would be just a simple conversion ended up turning into something more; Lor'Maxxim Lash Prince of Slaanesh. To make my "masterpiece" I used the classic Bel'kor model from Chaos Fantasy, and sculpted on power armor, a breast, and of course

So You Think You Know 40k? - Rules Test w/ Download

2010-02-17T09:59:00.004-05:00

I had the pleasure of participating in an extremely well run GT called Cabin Fever back in January. One of the components of the tourney was a 75 question "pub quiz" style test. Now I know that kinda sounds harsh and brutally long, it actually wasn't that bad. Each question is worth about 1/5 of a point, for a max score of 15. Some of the questions are designed to trip you up from 4th to 5th

Demi-Legion: Chaos Titan Mega Build-Two Warhounds, One Reaver

2010-02-15T11:59:00.004-05:00

Well I couldn't help myself. Being a long time follower of all things Chaotic, when the Forgeworld Chaos Reaver Titan hit I just had to have it. But I was afraid that he would be a little lonely by himself in my display case so I bought two Warhounds to keep him company as well. It seemed like a good idea at the time.... Thus my Chaotic Demi-Legion was born, to ravage apocalypse and gladiator

Slitherguard- Tyranid Tyrant Guard Conversions

2010-02-13T11:59:00.005-05:00

Hello again from Central Virginia, where the snow keeps falling so I keep modeling. I'm keeping steady so far with my Tyranid Waterbugz converting up some Slitherguard aka Tyrant Guard to keep my big bad leader bugs safe. This time I modeled them in the same style as my Slithercannons from before, but with a little bit of a twist to the head and spine. I tried to make them show a little

Slithercannons- Tyranid Hive Guard Conversion

2010-02-10T19:58:00.002-05:00

Hey guys, well I was snowed in today so I managed to crank out some Hive Guard to match my Waterbugz theme. I'm tryin to have evverything look like its coming up out of the water, like they would have done during the first contact battle on Tyran Prime. I have a lot of metal raveners lying around now that the new 'dex is out so the plan is to convert them over to Warriors, Tyrant guard, and Hive

Evolution of the Bug - Tyranid Playtesting Part II

2010-02-08T02:09:00.003-05:00

I'm back with part two of my Tyranid play tests. I've learned a lot so far about these guys and how they work. So far I've been working with the swarm mentality, but after these last games I'm beginning to think that some spores may be necessary to take down Mech lists that are designed to stand off (like my Looted Mech Guard) in any sort of a timely fashion. Game 3 was at Time Warp Comics and

Tyranid Codex Video Review- Hitler debates the Doom of Malantai

2010-02-04T12:19:00.001-05:00

Okay so this just hit, and you gotta admit its pretty funny. I'm sure it will go viral soon. For the record Spikey Bits does not agree with the war, the holocaust, natzis or their zombies. But I do like satire....

Evolution of the Bug - Tyranid Playtesting Part I

2010-02-02T18:07:00.001-05:00

So I had a chance to playtest my nids over the last week, and overall I'm very happy with their performance. I've learned a lot and I think these guys really can do some damage to all comers, including Imperial Guard Mech. My first list variant went up against my Ork Mech Guard. You can checkout that army list here. List 1 1850 Swarmlord 2x Guard with lashes 3x Zoeanthrope 3x Hive Guard 2x

Prepare for Glory! Cabin Fever '10 GT

2010-01-28T17:28:00.004-05:00

Well I'm putting the finishing touches on my Ork Guard army and getting ready to to battle this weekend in the Cabin Fever '10 GT. This event is put on by Rich Ditzler of Adventurers Guild Gaming in Harrisburg, PA. For those of you that don't know Rich, he is both a great guy and a competent tourney player himself! I last played in the event in 2005 and I was defiently impressed by it. So it's

Inside the Hive Mind - New Tyranid Blog Compilations

2010-01-26T15:15:00.002-05:00

Hey checkout all the great new Tyranid articles over at From The Warp. Inside the Hive Mind Its a great page of blog compilations from around the web, all dealing with the new release of the bugs. Be sure to check back here later this week 1/29 for my big Tyranid Playtest report. -MBG

Model Review: Trygon Plastic Vs. Forgeworld

2010-01-23T11:10:00.001-05:00

Well I'm back again, taking a break from playtesting and converting up my Waterbugz, to take a closer look at the new big nasty Trygon. I had the good fortune to purchase one from Forgewold a few years ago, but never got around to painting it. So now we can compare these two close up! First off you can see the new plastic model comes with the new oval Valkyrie base which is definitely better

It came from the water- Slitherfexes

2010-01-17T17:42:00.001-05:00

A long time ago in the midst of the rise of "Zillanids" I started my Tyranid army. One of the things I wanted to do was make my bugs look different that anyone elses. I had seen some people convert their Canifexes by mounting them on their short shaft of a tail, and remove the legs. I really liked that look, but thought I could do better than that. I wanted them coming up out of the water like

Rise of the Tyranids- Harpy Work In Progress

2010-01-15T20:12:00.002-05:00

Here is my WIP conversion of the new Tyranid Harpy model. It's basically supposed to be a flying monstrous creature, so I figured I'd base it off the Carnifex and let the rest just materialize as I go. I'll be working on cranking out all the special Tyranid creatures over the next few months, this guy being the first. So I started off I with the Carnifex top torso, but flipped it so the

The New Guard- 1850 Imperial Guard Army List Competitve

2010-01-06T23:29:00.001-05:00

Here is my current 1850 Imperial Guard Army List. This is a pretty competitive list and won't make you a lot of friends in casual play. I took the Pysker Battle Squad out because I feel the Psyhic Hood is a better buy for the rise of Tyranid powers and proof against the standard threats of Space Wolves, Eldar, and Chaos. All four of those factions seem to dominate the Tournaments I go to. If

For the Emperor- Imperial Guard Greatcoat Conversions

2010-01-01T21:41:00.015-05:00

Hope everyone had a happy holiday! Well I'm back with a fully belly and some new conversions for everyone to checkout. Here are some Imperial Guard Greatcoat / Traitor Guard conversions that are easy to convert and will really make your foot troops stand out. You can really have some fun with these conversions because a lot of the parts are 100% interchangeable, and even if you don't use