Tyranid Army: New Pix on P.3!

[Invid]

This is my first miniature army ever. I started with the Tyranids, and with Thousand Sons. But today, I am going to show my Monstrous army. After the units that I display here I have about 2-3000 more points worth of Tyranids assembled, and basecoated. The other models that I actually have finished (not pictured here yet) are: 3 Zoanthropes, 1 Broodlord, 11 Genestealer Retinue for Broodlord (which I used the last plastic models of 'stealers cause it is easy to tell them apart on the field), 6 new Genestealers, 10 Termagaunts with Fleshborers, 1 Termagaunt (paint test), 1 Lictor (paint test), 1 Ravener (paint test).

So. I will maybe post those in this thread later on if anyone is interested in seeing them. I painted everything with the idea in mind to create a believeable monster. Natural browns, both dark and light, give the illusion of a large dirty monster that could be coming stomping to a location near you. I like some of the armies with giant blue, green, yellow, grey bugs... but that is not what I was trying to achieve with this army. the first thing I want anyone (40K player or not) to say is: "Man... I wouldnt want to run into THAT!"

So far it has worked.

Note: I paint with Testors Enamel based paints. They are pretty different from Acrylics in application and look, but I was familiar with (painting car-models as a kid) Enamels going into Warhammer 40K so I felt I would get a better look from a medium I was already somewhat comfortable with. I have to say that I am happy with the "richness" that I recieved from these paints. I will probabally build my 3rd army with Acrylics, but for now... At any rate I photographed them on a light table at work. So... here is all of the army together:


It Consists of:

Winged Hive Tyrant with Devourers:

Wings are optional due to Magnetic Conversion:

I really enjoy this Model, as the wings are just a cool option, it is really scary on the TT, and if you notice- He is smooth ie: no spines like....

Hive Tyrant with Bonesword, Lashwhip, Barbed Strangler with 3 Hive Tyrant Guard Retinue (only 2 in this picture):

This is the true leader of my monstrous army. Warp Blast helps with anti tank, Barbed Strangler is anti-infantry. If I need more anti-tank I use...

Heavy Support No. One:

This Gent can be used as a heavy assault (current configuration) or...

This cool feature allows me to have the option of a Extra Senses head with Twin linked Venom Cannons, or a Venom cannon and an additional Barbed Strangler. It is nice to have options.

As you review this army... a couple fun things to look for. Please note that each monstrous creature's tail is slightly different for a unique look to each figure, and each Carnifex has a different Flesh Hook upgrade displayed. It is easy to spot on the last picture, but it gets a bit harder as we go...

Heavy Support No. Two:

This fella has one purpose. Get in close and smash face. He is really menacing looking- Very spiky, and This is my Wife's favorite monster I have... Why? Cause she thinks the HUGE mace tail is... cute

Heavy Support No. Three:

Back lines support. He slowly walkes forward, not totally opposed to close combat- But his main function is anti-infantry. Dropping Ordinance to be a menace, and closing to finish things off. Laying down cover fire so that others may close in to do more damage...

Shock Troop No. One:

Close combat scything talon fury. He wants to get close and personal, and bring his friend...

Shock Troop No. Two:

This guy is SO mean.. that no camera would capture his.. um... MEANNESS! 10 pictures... all a bit blurry. This was the best one, and it is a closeup of the group shot. If you dont like it... I can send him to your house personally to have a chat with you about it. As the 2 shock troops close, their good pal adds some cover fire:

Shock Troop No. Three:

I believe this is called a Dakkafex? I built him knowing that 2 twin-linked living ammunition guns with so many shots would be great on a max strength Carnifex. I wanted one shock troop unit to be cover fire. But... wow. I guess this is a well known unit, and I am glad cause guys... This fella is scary. With my hive tyrant they chew through units. And are a HUGE threat until my other Fexes close in for the kill.

And along for moral support...

Troops:

When you can fill both of your minimum Troop slots for 60 total points... Life IS Good!

I hope you like them. I have had fun painting them so far, and these being my first painted miniatures ever I dont think they turned out too bad. they are definately TT quality, and I am now painting my Thousand Sons to have a bit better detail. If you want to see the other Tyranids I have let me know, and maybe I can just add them to this thread when I get some more time. Let me know if you have any Questions, and if you read all my blathering you are as as me! The small pictured dont do them much justice, but I didnt want an admin hunting me down and killing me for having too many huge pictures.

Hope you Enjoyed!

[History Lover]

You have done a GREAT job painting those suckers! Very awsome pics too! ROCK ON :guitar: Jon

[Shas'ui]

Very nice army so far. I really like the paint job on the models, I don't usually see a lot of brown. They are very good for your first minis, keep up the good work.

[chickenmcfu]

wow. thats a nice playing army. i personal dont like this "dirty" look on miniatures (thats why i play eldar), but you managed it, that they look quite good.
for my tast there could be a bit more highlighting, but my friends say im a highlight freak .
but one thing i really do not like: the bone. swords, claws dont look good to me. you should spend some more time on them.

p.s.: i think i have to unpack my starcannons and brightlances to send this army home.

[Fith Knight]

Damn that's alot of pictures.. But anywho:

Congratulations on some beautiful critters


If this is your first army, you have all rights to be proud. This is one of the better 'nid schemes I have seen

Keep it up.

[Hodgeh MkII]

GODZILLA!! Love your 'nids. I'm also a user of Testor's enamel.... I think they make some really good brown and green colors.

[Xenomrph]

NICE paint job! I'll definately show those to my Tyranid-player neighbor. I also like the idea with the magnets for quick-conversions. I'll pass that idea along to my friend.

[HopkinsWFG]

excellent stuff, very unique scheme.

[Invid]

Kinda Funny... When I started painting them I thought that EVERYONE would have a Tyranid army exactly the same, y'know for realism or whatever. But now that I have them done and have seen a lot of other picture of other Tyranids mine are really unique. I didnt see that one coming.

Thank you everybods for the kind words. I think I will start on getting my other units photographed and up. Will probabally do it in another thread, so donno. I will also start one up with my Tzeench army. In a few more days I should have enough units to get SOMETHING up for you guys to see.

[peturabo]

Those are some damn nice conversions dude!

[blaesa]

Tokyo quakes in fear...

Looks great! Love the Carnifex conversions, and it's good to see a little creative use of magnets. How many points about is this army?

[Invid]

I have it set up for 1500. Pretty easy though to do 1850. But cant go under 1500 because cant use the Carnifexes as shock troops in the Elites slot yet. But one cool thing that i filed in 1850 as well is All of the Monstrous creatures you see, minus the rippers, minus the tyrant guards, and I field an additional 50 Termagaunsts with Fleshborers.

So when I do that, usually people's eyes get pretty big. Cause the Termagaunts tie things up, and people dont know what to focus on... A huge swarm or the big stompies. But for a true Monstrous army I use the rippers cause they are so durable for the points cost, and are cheap to fulill troop requirements. Rippers main cause is jsut anti-charging insurance. People shoot the Monstrous Creatures cause they dont have to take leadership tests to shoot past the Rippers. But use the rippers to charge, or block your units from getting charged is key.

I play for flavor and fluff of an army as much as for fun.

[SubZero]

A refreshing colour scheme, and conversion army.

I collect Tyranids also, and i can empathise with what you said about thinking that other people will have the same scheme and models and conversions etc.

I have just started painting up my army - starting with Lictors and the Heirophant, and ive also got a few broods painted up.

I chose a fairly bland scheme for the horde troops - Red and Blues. For the larger beasts, to mark their individuality or combat role, i alter the colours.

I like the magnet idea, i keep seeing those on ebay but i can never be bothered to bring myself to buy them, and then cut and paint other arms :P

[Dante]

I play for flavor and fluff of an army as much as for fun.

Putting my non-painting related thoughts aside...that is a really nicely painted army. First minis eh? Great stuff there. I fear at what you can do with more practise and experience.

How about starcannon toting wraithlord and viper army?

[NeoHunter]

Those look awesome and would look just as awesome on the table.

[iplaychaos]

they look great well done

[marneus]

I have to say i have never seen another army like yours. It is good because it is unique and the colour sheme is a very nice choice.

[Invid]

@Dante

Heh. Yea. In Magic the Gathering I am considered a "Johnny" basically likes to be creative and if I win in the process... then... well... GREAT! If not, well I have to get lucky sometime! :hmm:

Thanks for all of the great comments. I will be posting more pictures of my other Tyranid "Test" models sometime this next week- Time pending. :comp:

[Cable]

am considered a "Johnny"

People consider you as a condom?

Anyway, awesome painting there, I love the dark browns and they do look pretty realistic. Great job!

-Adam

[Invid]

Heh... Here is an article. It is just as much about people and how they view playing a game as opposed to jsut a card about Magic Cards. Worth a read regardless, IMHO.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/mr11b

That will be illuminating to someone hopefully.. If not.. oh well Thanks for the :comment:

[Pokey ork]

Wow those a real well painted models. Real unique colour scheme i like it.

Just a simple question, well two actually

1: When playing an actual warhammer 40k battle have you ever lost a game yet? Because if i saw that army on the other side of the table well....id be pretty scared and probably have to get a LOt of orks.

2: How does your opponents react when they see that many carnifexes being set up?

Seriously a real ACE army youv got there in both colour and of course in effectivness.

[chickenmcfu]

i would counter it with 3 serpents with starcannons holofields and soulstones with 3 squads of firedragons (9+excharch), 3 wraithlords with brightlances, 2 squads khaidar (5per squad) and avatar.

im curious which result that would have.

i think a standart army would only die and run in fear .

[Exetus]

That's a really nice army there. A lot of people paint 'nids with exotic colors and stuff, but you kept them looking a lot more earthly and simplistically brutal and natural, love it.

[Invid]

@Pokey Ork

When I field my army, especially in 1850 point matches it looks even more dramatic. Remember I have basically everything that you see plus 50+ gaunts. So I have a sizeable swarm and then when the big boys hit the tables... Then it gets more intemidating.

I have lost games mostly because for all intents and purposes I am a very, very new player to 40K, and all tabletop games for that matter.

@Chickenmcfu

Afainst all things shooty I would swarm more gaunts. Just pile up the wounds in figures. I have never played against Eldar, but like most shooty armies I would jsut rush to engage, adn tie up firing lanes. That way I could focus the monstrous creatures on other prime targets, and come in to clean up what the Gaunts couldnt handle.

One thing I notice about this army is when when it is played against and decisions are made on what to shoot it is usually based on what one is the scariest looking. then the next round the target might change to somethign that proved more intimidating. I really like this army just for the initial reaction of when they hit the table. :sprint:

[CoatedTrout]

It's a nid armoured company!!!

[cfoley]

That is an awesome army. If you want to post larger pictures (I'd like to see them anyway) then you can always post links to them.

I would also love to see the rest of the stuff you have done, both the smaller nids and the Thousand Sons.

[Invid]

I am photographing more of my other Tyranids tonight. Basically the few actual troops that I have done plus some of the single units that I got to basically paint up and look at.

I will be photographing a few of my Thousand Son's tonight as well, however, I do not know If I will post any pictures of them until I get a few more painted. All I have done now is one space marine squad, Ahriman, a Sorceror, and 2 Chosen of Tzeench. We shall see. Since basically EVERY model in my Thousand Sons army (that is a terminator) is converted in some minor way it will take me a bit to finish up the other modeling and get a paintin' again! Plus.. my Defilier is coming together as well!!! :yippee:

[Donut]

:jaw:

[bloodthirster90]

i concur with donut.:jaw:they are just awesome...shame they'll have their hive mind handed to them by any ultramarines army it comes across

are those Bloodthrister wings?

[Invid]

No the wings are from the WHF Dragon. They work really good, only I cut and filed all of the "scales" off, and did some other work with the claws and the bases, and of course the magnet work.

An as far as getting killed by ultramarines... no idea. Only a few people around me play, and I have yet to see a space marine army to play against. But with some minor tweaking I think that it could handle itself. Might ahve to put in soem fast attacks to clog fire lanes, and whatnot.. but might not be too bad. :hover:

[marneus]

I cant wait to see the pictures of the rest of your tyranid army. For your choas army did you do a paint scheme that no one has done before like you did on your tyranids?

[Invid]

I sure did. :evil:

It is completely different in FORM than I have ever seen. Some of the colors will immediately make you sure you are looking at a Thousand Sons army, while what actually went into painting them is, at least I think, really cool. But the models are one thing... Wait till you see the BASES!!! :gonemad: That is my favorite part of the whole army. I will make a new post when I send them up.

I took a few pictures of them this weekend. But I have to finish 9 more models (I think) plus my Defilier (maybe) before I post the pictures up. It will probabally be in a couple of weeks, as I am building a fence in the evenings at my house and that is taking up a bit of time just now.

[cfoley]

Oh, come on! Surely you can give us a taster?

[Invid]

Here is the Thousand Sons army

But on with the Tyranids.

These are other painted models, and a few are the very first models that I painted. Some might need some light touchups, but overall I am still rather pleased with the lot of them.

Item number one is my first character conversion ever. I wanted to make a special character that I could use in small fun games or use as a marker point if need be. Notice the silver base. That helps in identification as something special as all of my other tyranid bases are green.


Lictors. They are cool looking models, and very neat in their ability to camouflade themselves. My lictor's carapace shell I did in a deep green-brown to break him up from the other Tyranids- showing that he is just a little different. I also covered him in terrain features showing that he just burst out of some terrain and is ready to rend something. He has rocks and grasses on him that match my other bases. the Tyranid bases I made are basically from a rocky world with some light grasses and mosses still- but a world WELL on the way to being fully consumed by the Hive.


Next is the Broodlord and his retinue. I used old models of Genestealers because the they are different enough to be easily distinguishable on the Tabletop from the newer models that are also pictured lower. This gives a special feel to the Broodlord, and that is all 11 of his little buddies all around him.

[url]
From the front:


And some happy friends from the Troops Slot:


And speaking of Troops waht fun is a Tyranid army without a few swarms of Termagaunts?


I will have quite a few of these fellas once I get to painting them, but until then I thought I would paint one to show. All of my Hormagaunt bases are filled with Lead Shotgun BB's as to make it so none of them fall over during a matchup. They are a little Tipy.


And if Hormagaunts are not fast enough for you, and you need a dedicated Fast Attack choice that has a lot of pointy things to rip you apart- then maybe Raveners are the thing for you.


And to insure that the opponent feels the dominating Psychic presence of the Hive Mind- you have to sport the Zoanthrope!



Well that is all for today. I will post some more pictures as they are completed. I have been focusing a lot of time towards my Thousand Sons army, so Tyranids are on the back-burner for painting as of now... But I have a TON of Tyranid figures assembled, and once they get going again it will be fast. :nod:

I will keep you updated on my Tyranids, and be looking for a post in the near future for the Thousand Sons. Hope you enjoy!

[SubZero]

The painting in the new pictures is once again, the good same scheme, my only concern is the thickness of the paint on the claws, and some areas of the models The Ravener looks to have its claws dipped in Skull White, i doubt that did water down the paint, but please remember in future! less is more when it comes to paint!

[Invid]

Well being Enamel painty you cant really "thin down" the paint with water as such. All of the singles that were painted were a few of the first models I ever did. I think the Ravener was my second model ever, and I agree that some "smoothing" out needs to take place. When I go back to finalizing my tyranids I am going to go over most of my old models and touch them up to blend everything a bit. It is interesting to see how painting skill improves over time. Even I look at some of them and go... what was I thinking!

[peturabo]

A watered down brown ink wash would do well for the skin, being a tyranid player myself i love the models, your army is a bit beardy. But the theme of it looks good got any forgeworld creatures?

Ta

Pet

[Invid]

Well remember this is about 1500 of my 5-6000 Points. I could field 3 tyranid armies at once probabally when I get them all painted. I dont have any Forge World models, I will get all of my others done first. I will keep updating though.

Here are a few closeups of the Monsters that were asked for.

[sirabbadon]

VERY nice. All of the Nids I've seen have been painted with vibrant purples and yellows and crap like that; Do you think they would actually be purple or yellow? NO. Browns. The enamel really works for them. The GW paints are good at creating nice dull colors, but the enamel is great for their carapaces (you've never seen a dull ant) and the skin stretched over huge muscles (Again, you've never seen body-builders that don't have a sheen to their skin). Just awesome.

[Shuma]

Thin down your paints.

[Nanolathe]

The paint is Very thick, Why aren't you useing Citidel paints? (they may be expencive but I think they are worth it as you don't get the "Blobby" effect you have now)

[Schimmelord]

That first Carnifex doesn't look very frightening. Even the lictors look tougher. I have never seen a Carnifex designed to blend in with the army that much. The second one looks Way better because it stands out when it stands up. Also its painted darker than the first and stands out like that.

[SubAznDaemon]

Hmm I'd love to see you paint one of the FW Carnifexes. Those guys are awesome! Great work, look forward to seeing more.

[Donut]

Look at the last time this thread was updated...guys you are posting on a dead thread (I think don't flame me if i'm wrong)

[Ap0k]

It's not dead until it's either locked, or nobody is responding any more. At the moment, it is neither of those things.

People are more than welcome to bring threads back from the dead as long as the replies are kept constructive. If, for the sake of argument, sirabbadons post consisted of 'lol i liek cheese... roffle', then I'd have deleted the post and sent it back to page 8 or wherever it was. As it is, however, the responses are on topic, so it doesn't require any action.

[Invid]

Well maybe I should throw some info in. This page has not been updated for a while for 3 reasons.

1) I have been putting a lot of work into my Thousand Sons army. See for yourself! I am currently painting a Las-Predator. One of 2. Pretty non-daemon converted so it might take a little while to do them up in a complimentary Style.

2) Now I have Necrons to deal with as well. I have another box of warriors, and a Destroyer to test my stylings out on. So that will eat up some time as well.

3) The next updates will probabally be large masses of little bugs. I have 100 Termigaunts to Paint, 50 (I think) Genestealers, adn 40 Hormagaunts approximately. I will probabally do the Hormagaunts and Genestealers first, then MASS out the Termagaunts. Then I will move on to other models- like 3 Biovores, tons of Spore-Mines etc.

So.. There you have it! I have not forgotten about them, but the next update just might be awee bit off after some other priorities!

However I greatly appreciate the continued interest! That is a huge motivator in and of itself! :nod: