Newb question: representing upgrades on models

[waite]

Hello everyone!

I just got my Tyranids: Battleforce and Codex in the mail-- super stoked!

As a WH40k newb, I have a few newb questions. I come from a Warmachine/Hordes background, so I've been having some trouble wrapping my head around the rules for weapon swapping and model reprsentation in 40k.

My first question is: if I have a unit equipped with certain weapons and upgrades, do those upgrades have to be represented on the model, without exception?

Second: if so, where can I get the spare bits to outfit my models with the upgrades? The battleforce doesn't seem to come with enough rending claws, for example, to outfit all three Tyranid Warriors in the brood with rending claws. This strikes me as a major inconvenience. Or my Hive Tyrant, for example-- where can I snag another pair of scything claws if I want him to have two pairs?

Thanks for your help, dudes! Looking forward to some gaming,

-cwa

[Spevna]

Generally speaking the WYSIWYG rule is used in 40K (What you see is what you get).

If you are going to enter a tourney, most people would expect you to model the minis with the equipment you have given them. In fact it would most likely be a tournament requirement.

Now I can't speak for anyone else, but I personally wouldn't be bothered as long as you let me know up front what they are supposed to have. Other people can be quite adamant about it. Really depends on who you are playing.

As for the box set not coming with all the option, welcome to the wonderful wolrd of Games Workshop!!! It is pretty common for boxes to not come with everything you need and it probably wouldn't be cost effective to stick every possible option in the box either. Not to worry though as it isn't a big problem. Your options are;

Trade - Get onto the trading section here and post what you need. I'm sure someone will be able to help.

Buy - There are lots of bits services online. For example;

http://www.thewarstore.com/battlewagonbits.html

Make - Get some green stuff and make them yourself (if you are man enough )

Hope this helps

[waite]

Awesome, this is what I figured-- thanks for the help and quick reply!

I have a related question, although it's pretty specific, may only apply to tyranid players. The battleforce comes with 3 normal T. Warrior sprues (sprews?) which include the model and the standard weapons, and then one additional sprue which containts some big guns, a pair of rending claws, and a super big pair of scything talons. These talons seem way bigger than the ones on the normal warrior sprew-- they are almost as big as the tyrant talons. My question is: are these talons really for the warriors? They seem too large-- can I (should I?) use them for my Flyrant instead?

[Spevna]

I have no idea mate as I haven't seen the sprue and I don't play Tyranids.

If you think they would look good on your Tyranid warriors then by all means use them. just make sure that the use is consistent. If you are going to use them to represent rending claws then make sure that you use that piece to represent rending claws for any minis that take them.

In my case I scratchbuilt all the melta guns for my chaos marines. They don't look like the official GW ones but because they are the same throughout the army, there is no room for confusion.

[waite]

Sweet man-- I think I'll use those big scything talons on my flyrant and then trade around for bitz to use on my warriors.

Thanks again for the help

[me_in_japan]

As spev has said, in tourneys youre expected to represent things accurately, but in terms of friendly games it doesnt really matter that much.(and, frankly, for naghammer tourneys, cos theyre run by Prim and he's a decent bloke. Im sure he would much rather have you enter with slightly non-wysiwyg models than have you not enter at all.)

You also need to bear in mind that you may change your mind about "good" weapon fits. This is especially true once youve played a few games and you realise that the weapon fits you just glued together are actually crap and you now need to rip your models apart and change things. Dont worry about this - most people are perfectly happy to accept being told whats on a model, as long as its consistent and not ridiculously complex.

e.g.

"Those big spikey claws are actually rending claws. Any claws that look like that are rending." = OK

"that wee blob is his toxin sac, and those deathspitters are really rending claws, except on this guy - hes actually got deathspitters, and the stealers are all Ymargl, oh, but not that squad, theyre normal, and oh yes, that guy is really a Broodlord." = not OK...

basically, use your common sense. (or play eldar, who have separate units for most every weapon build. E.g. fire dragons. They have melta guns. Thats all they ever have. You want missile launchers? Buy some dark reapers.)

One thing I would recommend, especially for big nids, is magnets. buy a bunch of teeny tiny rare earth magnets (assuming China continues to export em, ) and attach them to the shoulder and all the different weapon arms. Then you can chop and change at will. of course, this means tracking down sufficient arms, but thats all part of the fun

Part of what GW expects people to do is buy multiple copies of boxes, take the parts from three boxes and outfit one squad with, e.g. all the rending claws, one with barbed stranglers, and the other squad with deathspitters (or whatever you crazy nid players use these days...). Its a different mentality from PP. Most WMH players wouldnt have 3 of the same squad in an army, but for 40k its very much par for the course. (particularly marine players, as their entire frickin army has interchangeable arms/torsos/legs/heads, and are differentiated only by weapons. If you buy a box of Devastator marines and stick bolters on them, theyre not devastators any more - theyre tactical marines, and now you have half a dozen spare heavy weapons.)

So, aye, as Spev says, short of buying multiple boxes, the best thing to do is beg spare parts from people. I do it all the time (hint: Primarch and Badruck are both great sources of bitz.)

-MiJ

[Primarch]

Rending claws on warriors? Noooo what are you doing???

Just kidding , but I generally use Bone Swords myself if I have to upgrade.

I probably have a few rending claws kicking about, I'll have a look when I get a moment and we can sort something out.

[Admiral-Badruck]

Just speaking as a non nid player but I if you said these are some kind of bug bitz and these are some other kind of bug bitz I would never know the difference Marine bits are easy to spot but Bugs all look the same to me.. wings for a bug with wings and big bugz for big bugz and a list that is easy to read and you are good to go in my book...

[me_in_japan]

just a quick FYI - the Madmiral is a great guy and is generally very generous with his spare bitz (of which he has many - if you ever need a spare brain, im sure he has one in his bitz box that he's not using ) but he does play rather free and easy with regards to wysiwyg. It has been known to get him into a certain amount of grief, so take his advice on this topic with a grain of salt. No offence intended to ol badruck, btw - you know I love ya


more constructively, you can buy big nid arms n guns direct from GW:

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catal ... rod1400032

[Admiral-Badruck]

NOt to poke back at M-I-J but do know now what toxin sacks look like and are sure you know the difference on sight of death spitter and a venom cannon if you do then hats off to you mate... and I challenge any one to find fault with my Marine army they are all the models they should be... as are dark eldar.. thanks to D-Lord... I think My Daemons are all what you see is what you get... not really sure what you are talking about man... if you are talking about My orks you last time I played you every thing was represented on the model... unless you are saying conversions are not WYSIWYG then in that case I am guilt as charged... for all my armies even the Dark Eldar that Phil did up for me...