Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hi, my name's curtis and this is my Tyranid army: Hive Fleet Oblivion.

I'll be updating this blog with all my Tyranids, as well as updates on some of my more interesting battles, including Throne of Skulls Young Bloods, at Warhammer World, and we'll also be showing what I reckon is a pretty cool way of making Mycetic Spores. I'll also add a summary of the other Mycetic Spores out there as it might be useful for other nid fans.

My dad, Paul, made the spores and does the greenstuff work, while I do all the playing and most of the painting - altho my dad also sometimes helps me out if there's a big game coming up.



Oops, we left an Orc in there from my LOTR army. Do you think he'll survive?

The first batch of painting. Lots of termagants. I have another 10 still to paint! The scheme is based on the Blue Crab scheme, with some changes. It's not all finished, there is more highlighting, and some blue shading on some of the genestealrsd to come.



Metal hive tyrant and guard



Prime and warriors. They are all magnetized and we will make another prime if we can find the bits.



Hive guatrd and mycetic spores. The spores are polystyrene eggs, we came up with the design together, with bits from the genestealer sprues for the insides. My dad painted the spores, and did all the conversion. We have a Doom ready for the spore, plus one more zoanthrope.



Broodlord and more genestealers



My dad painted most of the ymgarls ready for a game last week. Gary, at the Bluewater store, is a Nid fan and found me the extra heads. But I haven't used them yet. But my friends, who have Imperial Guard and Space Marines, are already scared of them.







Automatically Appended Next Post:



My dad made these pods - he says that if GW ever make a pod kit he'll commit suicide!;D . We thought other people might like this method. Here he is to say how they were made.




Hi, the "before" pic above should show how simple it is!

Curtis found the polystyrene eggs at a brilliant UK shop called Boyes, which sells loads of craft bits cheap. 70p. The eggs you need are 12 cm, 8cm is too small. A Boyes in one town only had the smaller one, so we will get curtis's granny on Egg Patrol.)

I sawed the top off using a knife I'd heated with a candle...



then I glued on the infection-pod thingy from the Genestealers sprue, on top of greenstuff strands. Three lines of green stuff down the sides, as you can see, which I flattened then grooved using a standard greenstuff modelling tool, to look like the tyranid muscles between the carapace plates.



Then I added the carapace plates using greenstuff again, in sections from the top. I made a paper template for each trio of sections; mixed the greenstuff, then rolled it flat with a round scalpel handle, just like making pastry.

Template:



Once I've rolled the greenstuff, I leave it to cure for 45 minutes or so - it's easier to work.



Cutting it with a scalpel often gives a ragged edge - sharp scissors are much better. You can pull the sections gently so they follow the curve of the egg.



I squash the bottom of each plate, or add odds bit of surplus greenstuff, to smooth the bottom edge so it's doesn't show as a bulge on the next greenstuff section. I add some striations with the sculpting tool now, when it's soft, but not too many as the greenstuff might buckle or distort.





Normally I do just one row at a time, so I don't get fingerprints etc on. But today I had enough left to make just one extra section.



Tomorrow I'll cut off a section at the base, so the spore looks as if it's impacted into the crater.



When all the sections are completed and the green stuff is fully set, I use a scalpel to cut those distinctive nicks/notches in the carapace. That part is oddly satisfying. This is probably the messiest spore we've done as I was in a hurry and trying to use less greenstuff. This one used around 18 inches, so �4 worth, the others have thicker carapace plates and used a lot more.


I've worked out a new method of making tentacles, if it works I'll post details soon...


The one I'm working on is Number 3 - we saw nib's dull deployment list on the tyranid hive and are getting more ambitious. In a few days it will look like this!



I've since worked on the tentacles and improved them. More details soon.

As he said in an early post, the eggs are easy - and cheap, as long as you don't count the green stuff, I think each one uses about 32 inches! Cheers, Paul.

Looks great! I dig the army, makes me want to dig mine out again... The blue is very nice. The spore design is pretty great too.

THanks SBG.

Our original swarm got joined by the tervigon/tyrannofex. Magnetised.



We magnetized the tendrils from the feeder arm, Evan Quinn's thread was really helpful... (this one - http://thetyranidhive.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=painting&action=display&thread=37685&page=7). Everything stays in place at the right angle, which is better than I hoped for such a heavy weapon.





After more or less finishing the initial swarm, we took a few months off - depressed by how Genestealers got nerfed in 6th edition.

Then we started to regroup. It started with some tentacles...

Done some work on the tentacles - I think we will have these snaking from the top of the spore.... I've left a bit of paper clip on the end, to which I should be able to glue spikes...



I did like the tentacle-maker that somebody posted here. If we had someone we could share us with we'd buy one.... but we don't, so we made a budget version:



Paul



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Finally, beginning of this year, the new force starts to come together.

Spores, we now have a total of three.

And we managed to do a trade for a pair of flyrant wings. Luckily we'd magnetised him already with chunky magnets.

His name is Bob.

So, our original army is as shown up top.

From the summer we started to update it ready for the Throne Of Skulls youth tournament in August.

First off was Devilgants. Did a number of swaps here and on the Tyranid Hive to get all the devourers, thanks to everyone who helped. WE have 20 of these, ready to leap out of a spore. Click for bigger pix.

Next was our Gargoyles.

WE tried a new speedpainting technique with these. THe basic termagants were sprayed white, green ochre wash, then dk brown wash. This time we used AP Bone primer spray, then gave them a brown wash. When it works, it gives a great look to the wings - they'd painted with thinned verijo pink rose, and the bone gives nice highlights.

THe basilica is also painted using a new speed technique, using Army Painter's absolutely brilliant gunmetal, and lots of their dark tone ink.

We also updated our termagants. Most of them have the same colour scheme as the devilgants and all the others. But we did two squads in contrasting colours, so we could help pick out the spawned 'gants. These are older models, with just the carapaces changed in the main.

Mummy in the background uses a similar speed technique to the gargoyles. She was our second tervigon, it is a bit boring but we had to bring in a second one as this is a tournament and we knew we'd be facing some beardy lists.

And the other new squad...

Finally, my dad tidied up these ymgarls, glued a few new heads on ready for the tourney, and gave them a camo look, with streaked blue and brown on the body.

One of them is still a Chapterhouse head. It went in display in the Warhammer World cabinet later, ha ha!

Oh, I forgot to say, we got another 3 Hive Guard and did a better paint job on these.

This was the basis of my THrone of Skulls army: from memory:
FLyrant with TLD
17 gargoyles
3 Hive Guard
7 Ymgarls
Tervigon, with TS
Tervigon with TS
17 devilgants
14 termagants.

WE had a great time at Throne of Skulls.

Got destroyed in one battle. Against CSM with a lot of special rules, like Daemon Forge, which apparently allows you to reroll wounds throughout one turn.... on the bright side, the army was really well painted.



Then the nids went on to destroy Eldar (a great battle, with a kid who became a friend) and Blood Angels. The Doom took 4 wounds of a Wraithknight, which was finished off by the ymgarls.



Finally, the other competitors voted mine the best-painted army, so I got to come home with a glass trophy. As mentioned before, our Ymgarls with Chapterhouse threads say in the GW glass cabinet for most of a day!



Oh yeah, and at the end of the tournament, just to celebrate the result.. we left our army in the hall. Luckily we got it back the next morning.

Since the tournament we've reworked the army. Trying a list without Hive Guard, but with two dakkafexes in pods. Sadly it means no more gargoyles, which we miss, but those Dakkafexes have splattered a lot of Leman Russes over the last few weeks.

These carnifex are magnetized, paointed using the speed painting technique - based in AP bone, then AP soft tone wash (they were painted already, so we didn't want to add too much paint. )

THanks to Alex, who swapped with us, definitely a recommended trading partner.

I like the cool scheme and how well the hordes looks together.

This has to be one of the best Nid armies I have seen by far, keep it up!

thanks folks, really appreciated.

We should point out that our scheme isn't original, it's a derivation of the Blue Crab scheme at necrotales.com

We more or less follow that scheme, but with red claws. THe beauty of this scheme is it works well done pretty quickly, or you can spend lots of time on it, either way looks pretty good.

So... we've been playing once a week recently, and last Wednesday it turned out our best character was: a Mycetic Spore.

Used with no upgrades, just the ripper tentacles.

We were up against Grey Knights - a fella we've played before, we wiped out his Chaos Daemons once, so he wanted a return match and was feeling confident. I looked at his list all those power weapons and was a bit worried. I don't know if he tailored his list but I'd told him that would be cool.

Mission was Purge the Alien. Here we are, second turn. He had two dreadknights, one with power sword. Two carnifexes and the Doom came in second turn, meanwhile the Flyrant is about to shoot the Stormraider to death.

Flyrant got killed. Here was my favourite bit of the battle... I took out his warlord, can't remember its name - with the spore's ripper tentacles. YEah!

I was in bluewater the other day and the staff were trying to get my friend to buy all the new Centurions etc so they could do "lots of damage". I love that we got to kill a character with an 80p egg.

D'ya reckon it's looking good for the Dreadnight?

Termagants, most of them spawned, took it down to one wound. Tervigon finished it off with Life Leech.

The end game. My poor ol friend's forces are more or less wiped out. Who killed the last man?

The mycetic spore! It looks bigger on the photo, but he was within six inches and got taken out by the ripper tentacles.

Really nice work on the 'Nids. With the talk of the new dex I may invest in some soon!

We've had one zoanthrope and one Doom for a long time now, but used some birthday £ to buy a third zoanthrope for a little psychic choir, to make a change from the ymgarls and Doom combo for our elite slot. Can't say it went brilliantly the first time out - against Necrons. We got Tesla'd off the table... still, another day.

So... didn't envisage updating the 'nids, altho the imminent new codex might tempt us.

So, from the summer we've been working on orks. Been following More Dakka's excellent painting guide for the 60 or so Boyz we're still working on (why another swarm army? Why!). We're aiming for two or three battlewagons, plus a bunch of biker nobz.

So here's the WIP of our boss. Swapped out some deffkoptas for old LOTR stuff, and got a AOBR for a grand $4 or so from hoardobits, plus some dakkagunz from the jet.

I (Paul) chopped down the defkopts - irondog's tutorial was very helpful, we used that as a guide.

note the dakkaguns from the jet. We used the grandtline bolts for things like the armour and seat.

The boss had his arm removed and reposed.. altho I like the model, the sideways pose is a little static - ours will be leaning forward on the bike, attempting to 'urt someone v unlucky...likewise we're reposed the head, cut off the holsters etc on his back, made a fur jacket for his back with greenstuff, and cut off and reposed the right arm. THe boots have been cut off, so they are less splayed and tip upwards more, to fit the foot rests.

I've taken the saw blade from a Nobz box arm and added it to the power claw, for more 'urtiness.

The new shoulder guard is from the nobz box, which will also supply a few holsters etc. The attack squib is from the grots box.

A bit further along with the biker boss. Most of the suspension, exhausts, brake and fuel lines in.

Weapons are magnetized, so we can swap for a big Wazdakka kannon if we feel like it. Just the foot rests and handlebars to go, then I can pose the boss in place. Somehow I have to find a base that's big enough... paul

Man, really love those nids. Your dad is an excellent converter!

Will you be expanding on them?

That third zoanthrope was our latest purchase. WE have a pair of flyrant wings, in case we can find a torso. Otherwise, we're just waiting for the new 'dex... and painting orks!

We've been converting a good number of AOBR and other orks.

THe fella on the left is a Slugga converted to a Shoota with a spare barrel. On the right we have a Custom Big Shoota.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
These are extra shooters, to equip our ABOR boyz.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

So.. around 45 Boyz painted, a dozen left to convert from AOBR etc.

But we've taken a minor detour throughout January to get our Crones ready for action. They've faced down three armies so far - this is them taking on a Necron army. Didn't have time to get to Turn 5, but we were well ahead on VP, so far we're enjoying trying out new options and not too depressed by the codex.

The one on the left isn't finished - we're trying a variant on our main colour scheme with a feathered ochre base, with blues splodges on the top. I've now discovered that feathered ochre actually looks like woodgrain, so at the moment we seem to be running one Crone carved from oak.

Nice to see the Crones!

And oh man, your Dad got his wish... GW definitely isn't making spore pods

Hope you can use them for a display board or the like, and good to see it didn't stop your tyranids progress!