For a long time I have been thinking about starting Tyranids. With the release of a new codex in the near future, as well as my dad tempting me with the gift of IA4: The Anphelion Project, I have finally decided to give into temptation. I am a huge fan of the Alien franchise (except for the 4th movie, which in my book never happened). So, I am starting a second hive of Alienids to continue the fantastic work done by Necros.

Aliens was the first full-length movie I ever saw as a child, and has remained my favorite ever since. To field a force of "Alienids" would be awesome. I have read the Alien comics, novels, have the action figures, and have seen the movies so many times I can pretty much quote the entirety of the films. It only makes sense I would want to pour something that means to much to me as a person into an army.

But enough of my ramblings, here's the deal. Many of you may have seen my test model a while back, for those of you who didn't, here it is:


Now, I also bought a Carnifex kit and began working on Old One Eye (or in my army's case, Old No Eyes).

Here's the head:





I made the head look like it had been blown out by a krak missile, as, in my army's fluff (coming soon, it's just a matter of cut and paste...and finding somewhere to post it....) that's how he gets the piece of battle damage (rather than the clean plasma sear of the actual OOE.)

For his crushing claws, I thought that, since they're such a big factor of his persona, they had to be larger than the claws in the normal kit, so I ordered some of the FW wrecker claws and plan to cut them to fit a single armsocket, similar to the following pictures I did in paint:



The rear sockets will have a pair of scything talons, just like he is pictured in the codex. I also plan to make him more upright, as to make him stand out just a bit more.


C&C welcomed.

They look great and should lead to a really cool looking army.

Interesting...the painted model looks a bit chalky tho tbh

Imperial Monkey wrote:Interesting...the painted model looks a bit chalky tho tbh

Probably because of the gloss as well as the crappy photos. Looks better in person.

Excellent GS work. The painting is solid too, do you use ´Ardcoat on them, or is it something else?

Great work. If you are going to turn this into an army please keep us posted.

Lookin gooood!

Xanthos wrote:Excellent GS work. The painting is solid too, do you use ´Ardcoat on them, or is it something else?

Nope, just 'Ardcoat.

nice finish on the GS, well done

Stump wrote:Great work. If you are going to turn this into an army please keep us posted.

Lookin gooood!

Oh, it will be a full army. I might just abandon Chaos in favor of it :O.

Why does your eyeless Carnifex have eye socket(s)? xD

Inanimate wrote:Why does your eyeless Carnifex have eye socket(s)? xD

Ask Giger! If you watch the original Alien film, underneath the transluscent dome on the Alien's head, it has a skull with eyesockets. This idea was later dropped in the sequel and subsequent films, but as Giger was the originator of the creature's design, I think he deserves at least one homage in my army.

Boas have hipbones, so it's not too crazy.

Update!

I will be adding a few of these to some of the bases on larger, more important MC's (OOE will probably have one) or GC's when they come around *cough* Harridan *cough*.

I also have one of the old Horrorclix Predator box sets lying around somewhere. They have some nice Predator miniatures in there as well.

My Hive Tyrant will also have a little girl hiding behind a wall (ala Newt from Aliens).

Awsome! As you can probably tell, the Alien series is one of my favourite movie series' of all time. I'll be watching this one closely .

Wasn't it the aliens in Alien who hade those little mouths on their tongues? If yes, we need to see that ;P

Nice im liking this.

Cool, loving Old (One/No) Eye(s). Maybe you shouldn't use drybrushing to highlight your Nids, it just makes them look rough, and out of place when compared to the glossy look of the head.

As a small update I ordered some stuff .

First, from Forge World I got the Wrecker claws for my OOE, as well as some Rippers (I don't like Rippers as a unit, but I've always loved the models.) I saw a picture of a chestburster-esque objective marker in the 4th edition rulebook. It had a guy with a Ripper sitting in his eviscerated torso. I want to do that, and the posability of the FW rippers would probably be best for it. The extras will mostly be decorations on the bases of larger creatures.

Second, I plan to have all my Alienids on Resin bases. Why? Because it's easy, and it looks good. I'll be getting resin bases from lots of different companies to avoid lots of doubling up on the bases. Also, I will play around with any doubles to make sure every base is different one way or another. I decided to go with an Urban rubble theme after seeing Hydra's stuff (of which, I am a fan). I bought the set of Urban Streets bases from Secret Weapons Miniatures as they are OOP, and once these are gone they're gone permanently. He's bringing out wave two though . Here's a pic of all the bases:

I was leaning more towards the base with the broken wall for OOE, but the sandbag one is cool too. Opinions?

I was delighted this morning to find that I won the bidding on a 2nd Edition Hive Tyrant on eBay. I plan to make it my Tyranid Prime .

Last, but certainly not least, I got a tip from someone on Dakka to check out Heresy Miniatures for an awesome Limited Edition miniature. I went there, and found it. It was indeed awesome!

It may have been a bit gluttonous...but I ordered three .

Are you going to be leaving your warriors/zoanthropes/anything with a crest like the Queen alien or are you going to go for smooth domes throughout?

On a side note if you are using Predator proxies on some bases, you should create some pred-aliens. Perhaps instead of Predator Proxies, you could use Kroot? Having the sensory spines/quils protruding from the back of a smooth dome would look nice, and be reminiscent of the movie without being an entire recreation.

Colossal Donkey wrote:Are you going to be leaving your warriors/zoanthropes/anything with a crest like the Queen alien or are you going to go for smooth domes throughout?

On a side note if you are using Predator proxies on some bases, you should create some pred-aliens. Perhaps instead of Predator Proxies, you could use Kroot? Having the sensory spines/quils protruding from the back of a smooth dome would look nice, and be reminiscent of the movie without being an entire recreation.

Well...Warriors maybe (Praetorians had similar crests if you ever played the old AvP games), but for the most part I want to keep the Queen's crest unique to her (I.E. my Hive Tyrant) since the crest was designed to look like a crown (as stated by its designer James Cameron).

As for Predaliens, I was going to do some (or at minimum, one). I was thinking Deathleaper, since he's a relatively large and strong, elite Tyranid. Just like the Predalien.

I'm not wild about the Kroot idea, to be honest. If you look at the fluff behind my army (found in the Dakka Fiction section of this website) you'll find that (in my fluff, I can't stress enough) the Predator, or Yautja, race exists in the 40k universe. I don't want them to be an offshoot of the Kroot, and I think using Kroot models would require alot of modelling work, and even then, it's still going to look too much like a Kroot for my liking. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Ooh boy, I love you man! It's always great to see a 40k player paying homage to a piece of popular fiction! Keep it up and I hope to see more from you!

damn! i wanted to do this someday, but you beat me to it. ah well, it was only a matter of time.

maybe instead of making the queen a hive tyrant, make it a tervigon, that seems to fit a little better.

and rippers could be facehuggers. or something. whatever, it's a great idea, and i'll be watching this with interest.

children of filth wrote:damn! i wanted to do this someday, but you beat me to it. ah well, it was only a matter of time.

maybe instead of making the queen a hive tyrant, make it a tervigon, that seems to fit a little better.

and rippers could be facehuggers. or something. whatever, it's a great idea, and i'll be watching this with interest.

Well, I want it to be the HT because...

= HAWT

Plus I was going to magnetize her . Tervigons...may or may not be modelled with a Queen-like eggsac. However, afte looking at the Trollforge update in the news and rumors section, it looks like they're bringing out a Tervigon model...er..."large alien".

Rippers are going to be chestbursters. I was thinking maybe making Facehuggers more of aesthetic things rather than actual units. Like have facehugged guys lying on bases. Although the Parasite of Mortrex looks like it could make like...I don't know...a giant flying facehugger .

The facehuggers should be those floating spore mines. Or a mine field option, laying them out like booby traps.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Great work on the bulb heads. I think I like where you are going with the predictors... I'm anxious to see how you use them.

Well, you could have both. A tervigon is an HQ choice and I think it would fit better with your army and you could have a queen on foot and a queen with the egg sack. I would also make the guns on the HT in the chest. Try to model something to show that as it will look better with claws then holding a gun.

Nifty have you seen the new Chapterhouse heads?

Mewiththeface wrote:Well, you could have both. A tervigon is an HQ choice and I think it would fit better with your army and you could have a queen on foot and a queen with the egg sack. I would also make the guns on the HT in the chest. Try to model something to show that as it will look better with claws then holding a gun.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by that last part . I don't know why I shouldn't just have the arms like any other Tyranid, except they will be magnetized to allow for different weapon options.

Llamahead wrote:Nifty have you seen the new Chapterhouse heads?

Indeed I have! And I am not in the least bit impressed with them . Navarro's modelling is superb, but these heads only give a passing resemblance to the Xenomorph, and are not some of his better work. The dome on the second one is way off, and the mouth on both of them looks like a leech with an underbite. I may order a set just to check them out in person, but I like my greenstuff domes more in the long run.

Now the Ymgarl Stealer heads he did; those are fantastic, and I will be ordering at least two or three sets when those are released to the public (which I hope is soon).

This is really awsome!

Incidently, the game comes out in, what a week? Man Alien overload!

Definitely one of the better army conversions I've seen. Hope you can get some full army pics up soon.

CrazyThang wrote:This is really awsome!

Incidently, the game comes out in, what a week? Man Alien overload!

Try four days baby! I'm so excited.

On another note, I'm thinking about buying a battleforce on Saturday when I go to my LGS for our club meeting. Probably a Broodlord which I want to convert to look somewhat like the fantastic one Moloch did:



Xenomorph-ied of course .

4 days already?! Dang good thing I pre-ordered it.

That is pretty cool though! I say go for it.

BIG UPDATE! (Pun was totally intended)


Old No Eyes has come to eat your faces.






Resin base is from Secret Weapon Miniatures. Very nicely detailed rubble with broken concrete wall. Looks like he busted down said wall in an attempt to eat some Smurfs.



I pinned him to the base for both stability and easier painting. I'll put him on the base unglued, prime him, paint him, and then when he and the base are both painted, I'll glue them both together .




I absolutely love how the claws turned out. Perhaps my idea will inspire a whole other legion of other Old One Eye conversions based off it. I will be famous in the Tyranid community! Mwahahahahahahaha!

Thoughts?

Excellent! Can't wait to see it painted!

Coming along nicely

The crushing claws turned out really well. I'm glad someone else had that conversion idea (removing the extra brachia). You're sorta my unwitting guineapig Darth Bob!
Looking at yours though, I think I'll be kitbashing or sculpting beefier upper arms. The claws look even more massive with the single brachium and it's hard to imagine they could be lifted without some extra muscle in the arms and shoulders. Have you considered some external sinew as seen on the unmodified FW Crushing Claws?
Looking forward to what you turn out next.

Psst. I like your Alienid heads the best. Don't tell Necros or Navarro.

If you're looking for a potential Newt, take a look at these:

http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/pack.php?pack=773
http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/pack.php?pack=762

They also do a Ripley:

http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/pack.php?pack=684

Elusive71 wrote:The crushing claws turned out really well. I'm glad someone else had that conversion idea (removing the extra brachia). You're sorta my unwitting guineapig Darth Bob!
Looking at yours though, I think I'll be kitbashing or sculpting beefier upper arms. The claws look even more massive with the single brachium and it's hard to imagine they could be lifted without some extra muscle in the arms and shoulders. Have you considered some external sinew as seen on the unmodified FW Crushing Claws?
Looking forward to what you turn out next.

I considered beefing them up, but I dunno, I kinda like them this way, and I've never had a good track record with sculpting musculatures. Perhaps when my skills are developed better, I'll maybe come back and try it, but as of right now, I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. They defenitely look like they would give him S10, and they defenitely look like they'd slow him to I1 .

Elusive71 wrote:
Psst. I like your Alienid heads the best. Don't tell Necros or Navarro.

I won't say a word . Especially since Necros was one of my inspirations. Couldn't have done it as well without him. The only difference between mine and his is that I made the Fex's head a bit less sheer than the ones on his. Not that there's anything wrong with how he does it, I just like this way a bit more.

The Dreadnote wrote:If you're looking for a potential Newt, take a look at these:

http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/pack.php?pack=773
http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/pack.php?pack=762

They also do a Ripley:

http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/pack.php?pack=684

Those were the exact models I was planning on using! They're just so awesome, I love Hasslefree miniatures. Actually, one of my big plans was to make a display base for my Alienid Queen, and have her fighting this:


Paint it yellow, and find a way to get that hasslefree Ripley model in the cockpit and I'll have a little recreation of the famous "Get away from her you B*TCH!" scene. But that's a big project for another day...but who knows .

Man, that would be awesome!

You should do up some rippers to look like facehuggers!
Can't wait to see more!

Darth Bob wrote:Aliens was the first full-length movie I ever saw as a child, and has remained my favorite ever since.

That's funny, me too. Of course, the face huggers left my 6-yo self traumatized, but it was a good time.

And hey, Alien Resurrection wasn't that bad. I mean, I totally believe Winona Ryder is a robot.

terminus wrote:
That's funny, me too. Of course, the face huggers left my 6-yo self traumatized, but it was a good time.

At first I was like

terminus wrote:
And hey, Alien Resurrection wasn't that bad.

But then I was like



Seriously, don't get me started on Resurrection...

It's a masterpiece of modern cinema!! Whachu gonna do about it!!??!

terminus wrote:It's a masterpiece of modern cinema!! Whachu gonna do about it!!??!

Well, I was contemplating on murdering the director.






It's one of those things I need to do before I die.

I'll add that to the list.

Things Darth Bob Will Do before He dies:

1:Create an alienid army
2:Murder the director of Ressurection
3:???
4: PROFIT!!!!!

*Blows the dust off thread*

Well, I've been inactive, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy. I finished up a squad of Genestealers (ready to be painted and primed). Because Genestealers are built as slotta-based models, I could not put them on the resin bases without removing the slot. That said, I knew they would be incredibly fragile when they're only glued by one foot, and would more than likely break during games and/or transport. So I got an idea...a wonderful, horrible idea! I took some carbon fibre rod, drilled into the crotch of the stealers (sorry guys ) and the base, and glued a small bit of rod into the base and affixed him on. The end result is a rather subtle, not very distracting way to make the models much sturdier. I actually tested this method on a badly casted base and an old Hormagaunt I had lying around and, after chucking it at a wall, the upper torso broken off, but everything from the rod down was still connected to the base. They aren't coming off the base any time soon. I'll be doing this to my Hormagaunts and Termagants as well, since they are also slotta-based. Anywho...here they are!








^My favorite .



In other news, I won bidding on a 2nd Edition Hive Tyrant. I ordered it with the idea of using it as a Tyranid prime. It's the perfect size, being about the size of a slightly larger warrior, and it looks awesome, and is not too overly retro!




Just a size comparison to let you know I'm not totally crazy.



Cheers.

Looking good!

Very nice. And even though the comparison implies you're not crazy, you avatar has always said the opposite.

I just saw this thread, Love it man. I am a huge fan of the Predator and Aliens series as well, you have done them justice!!! I will be checking in on this from here on out!!!!

Like their look; they somehow remind me of doom as well, though I can't quite put a name on the monster. Great work!

They look really great, and with the gloss finish on the heads they'll look brilliant!
To me it really brings out the linked mind idea as well...the fact that they don't have eyes and can't see for themselves makes you think that they are all being controlled by a larger conciousness! Great stuff!

I reckon tails on your Stealers would make those critters look extra alienish.

Ah hah, that is what they needed!

Yes, Great observation. I agree with Boss'eadbreaka

Me too! Tails would make the scene!

CommissarKhaine wrote:Like their look; they somehow remind me of doom as well, though I can't quite put a name on the monster. Great work!

Are you talking about Imps? If so, yes, Genestealers have always reminded me of Imps as well .

Imperial Monkey wrote: To me it really brings out the linked mind idea as well...the fact that they don't have eyes and can't see for themselves makes you think that they are all being controlled by a larger conciousness! Great stuff!

Never thought about that...but it does indeed make sense! Great catch there!

*Goes to add that to little book of army fluff.*

Boss 'eadbreaka wrote:I reckon tails on your Stealers would make those critters look extra alienish.

Indeed...I had actually tried that before, but the results were...less than appealing. I mean, to really make them look good, you would have to make them look like the Alien tails.
Frankly, I cannot sculpt that well, and would rather have no tail then a tail that looks crappy and un-uniform. Thank you for the idea, however, and perhaps I will try it when my skills get better. If anything, I'll try it on some test models first.

Yep, the imps - those were the ones throwing fireballs, right? As for the tails: have you considered skelly horse tails and spines? they could easily pass for an exoskeleton tail.

that's a good suggestion Khaine, Combining the neck and tails would work too, if you wanted them longer.

I'll try that out on the next batch of Stealers...that actually might work. Thanks for the idea!

Now, I've started working on my Warriors. What do the good people of the forum think a good loadout for them would be?

I was thinking either:
- BS/LW and Death Spitters w/ BS
- 2 BS and Death Spitters w/ BS
- Rending Claws and Death Spittters w/ BS

i think the stealers need longer tails, and moar longer heads, because they best suit the role for the basic xenomorph warrior

physcosamatic wrote:i think the stealers need longer tails, and moar longer heads, because they best suit the role for the basic xenomorph warrior

I'm not extending the heads because the shape of the Stealer heads would make for a wonky look (they would be really wide in the back and taper off towards the front). It would just look rather silly in my honest opinion. As for the tails; meh. Like I said, I'll play around with it, but as of right now, I think they're fine.

A little preview of things to come...the base for my army's centerpiece...







The base was from Back 2 Base-ix, and the "Newt" model is from Hasslfree. The girl isn't glued to the base yet, as I want to paint her before I glue her on. The other stuff for the centerpiece has been ordered, and now...we wait...

Can't wait to see the end result!

Yeah! This'll be great!

Ah, yes, the Tyrant's base.

Hey darth bob, are planning to make a queen?

Munch Munch! wrote:Hey darth bob, are planning to make a queen?

That's the plan with the Tyrant, yes. I ordered the Forge World hive tyrant since she has the crest.

Sweet. Im now even more excited. Taking a cool model and making cooler.

Nice army!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Nice army!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Sry doubble post

After recieving my Forge World Hive Tyrant, I began work on her. I domed over the eyes, and fixed a small resin bubble in the tail and the thin-ness of the resin on the inside of the crest (the only miscasts in the whole kit; I was quite pleased). I plan to save the wings for a later project involving a Harpy, since wings aren't overly useful in this codex.




I ordered these boneswords from Paulson games. They're very nice and cheap. Since I'll be magnetizing the Hive Tyrant, I plan to make it possible to make her a Swarmlord as well.




You know how the Codex says that the presence of Tyranids causes Psykers to go insane. Well that's immediately what I thought when I saw this model, so I ordered one, and with some work to make him look more loyalist, I plan to put him on the base of a Psyker-Nid. Probably the Doom.



I also bought a Space Hulk Broodlord...I'm going to remount him on a 40mm base.

Seeing that rogue psyker in this particular thread just made me have a 'light bulb' moment. With a little bit of greenstuff work you could sculpt a face hugger onto it and have it look as if he's trying to wrestle it off before he passes out! Be great if you ever got round to putting the parasite of mortrex into your army list.

Excited to see the final result!

Good show so far, I love it; great justice to the films while still staying warhammer-ish. On a sidenote, have you ever played the AVP game? Now the two AVP movies are somewhat suckish but the game has excellant fluff & gameplay for all 3 races; the Alien fluff is specifically awesome (I love Six). I recomend checking it out, or at least the wikia page for the story on Six.

Excellent. I can't wait to see the finished product.

Can those bases be shipped to Australia Just wondering.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh and please a picture of all of it sofar

Mecharius wrote:Good show so far, I love it; great justice to the films while still staying warhammer-ish. On a sidenote, have you ever played the AVP game? Now the two AVP movies are somewhat suckish but the game has excellant fluff & gameplay for all 3 races; the Alien fluff is specifically awesome (I love Six). I recomend checking it out, or at least the wikia page for the story on Six.

Indeed, I have played the new AvP game. I have it for the PS3. While I was not terribly impressed with it, I will admit is was a pretty fun game. Much better than the movies.
In case you didn't know, the AvP game that was just released was not the first. There was also Aliens vs. Predator (1999) and Aliens vs. Predator 2 (2001) that were released for the PC. The second one is my favorite video game, and is an excellent FPS. The new game sucks in comparison; you should really check them out. I think that Six was a cool enough character that she deserves an homage in my army...I'll probably give one of the Tyranids a "6" on their head.

-=Scar=- wrote:Can those bases be shipped to Australia Just wondering.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh and please a picture of all of it sofar

I believe Back 2 Base-ix is based out of Australia, so I would say that would be a resounding yes.

I'll post a group shot when I have the Hive Queen somewhat assembled.

Darth Bob wrote:Indeed, I have played the new AvP game. I have it for the PS3. While I was not terribly impressed with it, I will admit is was a pretty fun game. Much better than the movies. In case you didn't know, the AvP game that was just released was not the first. There was also Aliens vs. Predator (1999) and Aliens vs. Predator 2 (2001) that were released for the PC. The second one is my favorite video game, and is an excellent FPS. The new game sucks in comparison; you should really check them out. I think that Six was a cool enough character that she deserves an homage in my army...I'll probably give one of the Tyranids a "6" on their head.

Can't wait to see your model of Six, as I said I fell in love with her character so expect me to be highly critical. I'll definetly have to check out the original avp games, if they're as good as you say they are they should be awesome. Also, on the topic of Aliens, or in this case reallllllllllllllly smart Aliens (like 6), I was wondering if you were going to make a Grid model too (link: http://avp.wikia.com/wiki/Grid).

Well, apparently Brickshelf has a policy of no non-lego items being put up on their site (damn lego nerds). So I'll have to re-upload all the photos in this thread to another photo hosting site. Oh, joy.

Well at least your still working on it! And yes the first AvP game was very fun but I ever played the second. I've heard a lot of good things.

Darth Bob wrote:Well, apparently Brickshelf has a policy of no non-lego items being put up on their site (damn lego nerds). So I'll have to re-upload all the photos in this thread to another photo hosting site. Oh, joy.

I'd try photobucket, it's pretty easy to work with.

Or use the Dakka gallery

Alright, all photos have been fixed. Everyone enjoy .

they mostly come out at night...........mostly

Whoooooo, eye candy . Very, very nice work, and a great theme. How is the broodlord and the 2nd ed tyrant model coming?

RiTides wrote:Whoooooo, eye candy . Very, very nice work, and a great theme. How is the broodlord and the 2nd ed tyrant model coming?

Well the first broodlord mentioned in this thread hasn't been started yet, and the Prime is still in the state he was in previous pictures...since I haven't figured out what to do with those arms of his.

The Space Hulk Broodlord is going to have this done to him (don't mean to be a copycat, but likely with the exact same base) :

Nice work Darth Bob! i have been waiting for someone to do this ever since you joined the hobby, i liked the alien franchise along with the predator one. Best of luck.

This is shaping up to be great. Will be keenly watching the army form!

This is probably asking too much... But maybe you could sculpt an inner mouth for the Hive Tyrant?

Amazing job. I love Alien. The first movies, of course.

I usually don't like tyranids but your work is making me change my idea.

Darth Bob wrote:Well, apparently Brickshelf has a policy of no non-lego items being put up on their site (damn lego nerds). So I'll have to re-upload all the photos in this thread to another photo hosting site. Oh, joy.

Nobody expects the Lego Inquisition!

Necroman wrote:This is probably asking too much... But maybe you could sculpt an inner mouth for the Hive Tyrant?

Nope, that's not too much to ask at all. In fact, I was actually thrinking about doing that in the first place. Great minds think alike I suppose .

Terminus wrote:
Nobody expects the Lego Inquisition!

I sure as hell didn't.


Anyways, small update. I am a very lucky man, I stumbled upon a lot of the Space Hulk Genestealers (all 22x + the Broodlord) on eBay for only $45. They're also still on sprue. I love the dynamic poses of those stealers, and I missed out on Space Hulk when it came out. I'm going to Xenomorphify (yes I made up a word) all of them. I'm especially excited for the floor bursting variant; very Alien-esque.

I can't wait for you to xenomorphify what I think are the best plastic sculpts gw ever made.

Darth Bob wrote:Nope, that's not too much to ask at all. In fact, I was actually thrinking about doing that in the first place. Great minds think alike I suppose .

Well, we all have Mr. Geiger to thank for that.

Darth Bob wrote:Anyways, small update. I am a very lucky man, I stumbled upon a lot of the Space Hulk Genestealers (all 22x + the Broodlord) on eBay for only $45. They're also still on sprue. I love the dynamic poses of those stealers, and I missed out on Space Hulk when it came out. I'm going to Xenomorphify (yes I made up a word) all of them. I'm especially excited for the floor bursting variant; very Alien-esque.

Oh, that will be very nice. Congrats on finding them cheap!

Looked at some pictures online, and the Space Hulk Genestealers look really, really good.

Oh dear...it's been quite a while. Well I'm back, guys, and I'm going to continue right where I left off. I went through a bit of a modelling slump coupled with Highschool finals, a fit of the flu, and summer school ( )...but now that that's all over, I think I'm about ready to get on track...so onto what I've been thinking about as of late.

I was watching Tremors yesterday while looking through the Tyranid codex. I had been wracking my brain trying to think of a good concept for a Tervigon, and as soon as I saw the graboid pop out of the ground it hit me.

We've all seen the Tervigon that births gants, and even the ones that poop gants. But what about one that literally throws up gants? My thought was to have a lumbering creature with a gigantic mouth that, when opened, would spit out gaunts. The mouth would be truly massive (not the silly Mawloc head on a fex body, this would be easily capable of ingesting a terminator whole) and disproporionate, but balanced by the stomach and held up by massive scything talons.


Similar to this but the lower jaw would be more like the two side-by-side upper jaws.

My idea for the mouth would be to put three carnifex carapace pieces into a kind of three-sided bowl to represent a head. Then, I would fill the inside of this "bowl" or mouth with green stuff and sculpt it to look gribly and nasty, like the inside of a tyranid's mouth should look. The back of the throat will have something that looks suspiciously like female genetalia to represent where the gaunts come out at the back of the throat. I would maybe even add a gaunt clawing its way out.

The body would be done suspiciously like the Tervigon that Hydra made (that is a Trygon torso with fex legs and an egg pouch towards the rear.) Along each side of the underbelly, I would have two tubes going leading to the mouth to represent the path between the egg pouch and the throat of the creature.

Does this idea sound good or should I just trash it? It looks good in my head, but I suppose it will be hard to tell until I actually pick up a Trygon and a Carnifex kit...which I will probably pick up at Games Day this saturday.

nah, man that sounds great! I suggest that you keep going forward with the plan. That tremor thing is cool. Do they have a website where you can buy that and more?

Munch Munch! wrote:nah, man that sounds great! I suggest that you keep going forward with the plan. That tremor thing is cool. Do they have a website where you can buy that and more?

I'm assuming you're talking about the Graboid Maquette...I'm pretty sure it's by Sideshow Collectibles, so I'm sure if you go to their website you'll find lots of cool busts and maquettes.

Very nice army! You made me want to watch Aliens again!
(Your avatar creeps me out..)

I really like this army , the genestealers are cool , but that carnafex dont look as good.

blood reaper wrote:I really like this army , the genestealers are cool , but that carnafex dont look as good.

Hmmm...why the hate towards Old No Eyes if you don't mind my inquiry?

love.
it.
lots.
and.
lots.

GOD BLESS YOU!

but i still am freaked out by your avatar

I think the head piece is a bit oversizded , but other than that it looks really good.

Ummm...it's actually not much different than a normal-sized Carnifex head. It's a little bigger because of the Alien dome, but I mean...it hasn't affected the head-to-body proportions...


But I respect your opinion, even if I can't say I quite understand it.

This is a spectacular idea that I wholly endorse.

Consider me subscribed.

So, in my free time, I came up with a timeline showing what Hive Fleet Fiorina has done in the Grimdark Galaxy of 40k. I also plan to feature continue said storyline by featuring specific games I have against local players as part of the storyline (for instance, if I play a guard player, it will be featured as a part of the timeline).



996.M41
Tyranid Hive Fleet enters Galaxy at Eastern Fringe. Begins to consume non-Imperial worlds. Presence remains unknown to the Inquisition.

998.M41
Imperial forces launch assault on established Tau world, Fiorina. Campaign to claim planet for the Imperium begins.

999.M41
Tyranid Hive Fleet invades Fiorina. Battle to devour planet proves long-winded, but successful. Due to planet's perpetual darkness, Tyranid Hive Fleet evolves to better suit environment. Carapace becomes glossy black. Eyesight replaced in favor of telepathy, echolocation, and pheromone-sensing capabilities.

000.M42
Only survivor of Fiorinian invasion, Inquisitor Gorman, reports new Hive Fleet to Ordo Xenos. Hive Fleet officially named and recognized as Hive Fleet Fiorina. Hive Fleet continues to ravage Eastern Fringe.

003.M42
Thousands of Vanguard Droneships are sent from main Hive Fleet to scout worlds in Eastern Fringe. Large portion enter Ultima Segmentum. Fiorinian Genestealer Cults develop on many Imperial worlds. Possibility of heavy Genestealer Infestation on Forge World Proximus. Presence of Cults remain unknown to the Inquisition.

006.M42
Hive Fleet Fiorina enters Ultima Segmentum. Invasion of worlds in Ultima Segmentum begins.


And thus...it begins...

Also, yes, I am heavily considering an Alienid Genestealer Cult sometime in the near future.



*I do not claim any rights to the picture. I only found it on deviantART.*

Darth Bob wrote:

Also, yes, I am heavily considering an Alienid Genestealer Cult sometime in the near future.

Come on over to the cult side! I'm sure you would do awesome things...

P.s- why do they tell kids that?
because most of the time... it's true.

MajorTom11 wrote:

Darth Bob wrote:

Also, yes, I am heavily considering an Alienid Genestealer Cult sometime in the near future.

Come on over to the cult side! I'm sure you would do awesome things...

P.s- why do they tell kids that?
because most of the time... it's true.

Oh, it's been in my head for a while now. Don't know I'll be able to do the awesome GS work you do though!

Anyways, I was taking a shower the other day and I had this amazing idea for a Tyrant Guard. After aquiring a Lictor, I put my plan into action. I'm quite pleased with how the idea turned out.





Obviously it's just held together with bluetac, but I think you get the idea of what I'm going for. I always hated the Tyrant Guard models; mostly since they don't look like they can walk properly, much less protect something. I wanted something that looked big, imposing, and tough. The lower arm sockets are going to be filled with Venomthrope lashwhip arms (since that's the only real use I see for the Venomthropes...cool model though), but if you have any interest in using this idea for your Tyrant Guard, you could surely put boneswords or scything talons in the lower sockets. I figure it's completely WYSIWYG, because it's on the proper base size, has all options on it (the blades on the shields represent the rending claws), and actually looks like it can guard something.

The shields are simply cut-down carnifex carapaces attached to the Lictor's rending claws. When I actually put the model together, I plan to cut off the fingers on the claws so the hand meshes in the carapace perfectly, and then greenstuffing the inside of the carapace to make it look like it's part of the arm and not just glued on. For the head, I'm thinking either a Gaunt or Genestealer head, as the lictor head would make it too Lictor-ish.

Thoughts?

To awesome for my brain to handle *splatter*

But you'r avatar still makes me have mini seizure attacks...

Really clever idea! But Darth Bob, your avatar has scarred me for life. Even more than that guy who had a tooth for an eye....

I still have to disagree that they dont look like aliens at all but whatever. I like the fexes pose.

Mewiththeface wrote:I still have to disagree that they dont look like aliens at all but whatever. I like the fexes pose.

You can have your opinion, but I'm not trying to make my army to your standards of what an Alienid should look like. If you think you can do it better, by all means have at it, and I'll totally support your approach 100% (assuming I like it). But quite frankly, I don't care if you think they looks like Aliens or not. I do, and that's all that really matters in the end. I'm sorry you don't think they look like Aliens, but I like them the way they are.

Maybe I don't like the color scheme that you're doing your entire army in. Perhaps you worked hard on that color scheme but I still don't like how it looks. I'm not going to shove it down your throat at every opportunity. I'd appreciate if you did me the same courtesy. There's a fine line between constructive criticism, and unconstructive criticism.

Cheers

Um, think you might be over-reacting to his statement a wee bit there.

On topic, I think a gaunt head could work. Mount it down low for a hunched look, maybe not quite directly in the socket but a touch out on some wire, fill in the gap, then add some armour plating from... er, something. I'm not sure what 'nid kits have what.

Your aliens can come eviscerate my army anytime. It would be a pleasure. I say that knowing full well that I am safe, aliens cannot cross the Atlantic - they would be held in quarantine as a possible rabies risk...

Very cool army theme! I want to see more pics!

Wow, this is a really nice army. Kudos to you, good sir.
I really like the tyrant guard concept model, it looks great.

Nice conversions you got there, really cool.
Looking forward to updates, as I'm also very curious on how the tyrant will look.

Amazing, simply amazing. Darth bob you are a legend my friend. oh YOU AVA ROCKS!!!! i dont know why others are scared ey?

I have returned. I'd like to say I've been busy, and I have, but unfortunately not with this project, I'm afraid. However, I do have something to sate your appetites. Going off my old idea for the Tervigon...I came up with this mock-up I put together with blue tac.





He's going to have a gross and appropriately distended stomach. The gap between the upper and lower jaws will be filled to look like muscle tissue is being stretched between them. The inside of the mouth will be made to look fleshy and organic. I really like the Chapterhouse Tervigon kit. The only part I'm really not using is the stomach, as it's a bit too big.

I might have to pick a kit or two more...in case they end up going out of business.

Er... I can't quite see the pics (403 on the album place, maybe post them in some other way?)

Were they originally monks from a wooden planet? Did you then decide and then quickly reject the idea of having them from a giant shopping mall space station? And finally did you decide to give the project to a young music video director? Level 4 nerd references aside i like the idea and the 'Phallusizing' (You don't know giger if you think think that wasn't what he was going for with the alien head!) is well executed.

Perkustin wrote:Were they originally monks from a wooden planet? Did you then decide and then quickly reject the idea of having them from a giant shopping mall space station? And finally did you decide to give the project to a young music video director? Level 4 nerd references aside i like the idea and the 'Phallusizing' (You don't know giger if you think think that wasn't what he was going for with the alien head!) is well executed.

Someone knows their stuff. Also, Giger sexualized everything, not just the Aliens head. His art is very sexualized.

Also, the picture has been fixed, so please enjoy and comment.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Worked on the first Tyrant Guard! I still gotta figure out what to do with the guardsman's right arm.

If you can convert it to be gripping the tentacle, that would be an awesome natural way to increase the dynamic between the two...

loving it

Or you could give him the sling arm from the cadian command squad. make it a really easy fight

I'm just throwing this idea out there, why dont you make ripper swarms into face huggers?

Mr.Awesome1 wrote:I'm just throwing this idea out there, why dont you make ripper swarms into face huggers?

It doesn't really fit with the fluff of my 'Nids. They're still supposed to be Tyranids that look like Xenomorphs, not Xenomorphs themselves. They still follow the basic Fluff of what Tyranids are, and therefore the Rippers are going to be the same organism that they are in other Hive Fleets. Face Huggers will have a place somewhere in the army, don't worry. I'm trying to work out some fluff to incorporate them. Long story short though, they will be a new Tyranid organism; they won't replace a current one.

Anyways, I've been busy with life, but I managed to start assembling some Hormagaunts. I finished four!





Also running low on Resin bases. But I just came into a large sum of money (18th birthday for the win!), so purchasing some shouldn't be a problem.

These also arrived in the mail today. They're the not-Zoanthropes from Troll Forged. They're quite nice and it was only $45 for three in resin (as opposed to $60 for three of the metal pinning nightmares from GW). My only complaint is that the resin blades on the heads are quite flimsy and I feel I might break them if I don't reinforce them. I plan to buy some Brown Stuff to do just that. Otherwise, they are fantastic, and I definitely reccomend them.


Finally, I've got a not-so-Tyranid treat for everyone. This is a 2003 GD Wolf Priest that I actually bought from Dave Taylor (yes, the Dave Taylor) at last years Bitz Bazaar in Glenn Burney. It was such a fantastic model and it had sentimental value (yes, I'm a Dave Taylor fanboy), so I didn't want to mock up the paint job since I'd never painted a Space Wolf. So I talked a good friend of mine and he painted him up for me. Now, you guys might know my friend for his fantastic Word Bearers army (http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.php?showtopic=150542). I see his army almost every Saturday and if you think it looks good in the pictures, it looks 10x better in real life. He's a very talented guy, and I wouldn't trust this model to anyone else. If you haven't had a look at his blog. DO IT.


He even painted the Gunnar Red Moon symbol, as I requested! Fantastic!

And that's all I have to say about that.

Awesome 'nids man! Seeing the Alienid site was what wanted me to start a bug army in the first place! It's a great theme and the work you've done looks pretty sharp, I'd say! Now if only I could keep going with them instead of turning my eyes to the Eldar or Dark Eldar... very tempted to start a tainted-spider/warper army...

I'll be keeping an eye on your stuff!

HF Izanagi wrote:Awesome 'nids man! Seeing the Alienid site was what wanted me to start a bug army in the first place! It's a great theme and the work you've done looks pretty sharp, I'd say! Now if only I could keep going with them instead of turning my eyes to the Eldar or Dark Eldar... very tempted to start a tainted-spider/warper army...

I'll be keeping an eye on your stuff!

Thanks! I'd love to see some of your stuff!

In other news, I ordered some very schmexy resin Drop Pods off eBay. I saw them pop up on News & Rumors a while back and I really liked them, but I didn't have the money at the time and the swiftly faded from memory. Glad I found them again. Alot of people were complaining that it looks too much like a flower, but I disagree. I think it is very fitting with the Tyranid style and I think a good Alienid paintjob as well as some interior detail that looks like the inside of one of the Alien Eggs will really polish this already very shiny piece. I ordered three of them, and I may order more, depending on how I like them.



It also occurred to me that I never showed this beastly Scythed Hierodule, especially considering I bought it a while ago. Games Day 2010, to be exact. There's a small chip on the left shoulder armor, but that's okay, I figure I'll do some battle damage with some acidic ichor dripping down the glossy black carapace. It should break up the black on such a large model.




I also have a Mawloc/Trygon kit and a pack of Gargoyles on my to-do list. I have the horrible habit of buying lots of models and then letting them sit there before I do anything with them.

After I finish the Hormagaunts, though, I think I'll finally get to putting the Hive Queen together. She's all ready, just gotta put her together and figure out if I really want to go through the hassle of magnetizing her (so far I'm leaning towards no). I might just do two sets of Scything Talons. I know it's not a good loadout game-wise, but I love the look and I never really play competitively. Not to mention, if I did, I wouldn't be using a Hive Tyrant in the first place.

I think that pod is pretty awesome dude, and someone is ballin' with his hierodule!

Well the Drop Pods arrived today and I have to say, I'm in love.





The things are freaking HUGE too. I think I'm going to put them on a Trygon base as they seem to fit pretty well. Definitely a highly reccomended piece.

That looks so awesome!!!!!!
you say it fits on a trygon base so that must be freaking HUGE!!!!
When will we see some painted nids

Sweet pod man!

epic....

Nice pod!

Wow. Did I have a great weekend.

First off, I stopped by my FLGS where a guy was selling off a bunch of models that he just needed out of the house...and look what he had...



Five RT-era Genestealer Hybrids. A couple are missing arms, but I don't care (you'll see why in a second).



But the real prize here was a MIB Genestealer Patriarch on throne, complete with his little Magus advisor!

So why am I so excited about this, when you see most of these models on eBay all the time? Well that's because I got all of this stuff for a measly $20 bill . I almost pissed myself when I got them for so cheap. They'll be nice additions when I start my Cult.

But anyways...another thing happened to me.

A long time ago, back when I was just a little 40k noob, I was exploring the net and I came across the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Hydra. Some of the best Tyranids I had ever seen, he has been a constant inspiration to me. However, one model has always stood out to me amongst his gribbly horde. The model that Hydra is probably the most famous for. His Tyranid Dominatrix. I looked upon her with awe and thought how cool it would be to have one of my very own. It wasn't until the other night that I realized what must be done. I was browsing the internet and I came across that same photo of Hydra's Dominatrix. Next to me was my Scythed Hierodule. I looked at the picture and the Forge World model, thoughts of "what if I mess up?" running through my mind. Finally, as if the Hive Mind posessed me, I picked up the Forge World bag and grabbed some plasticard and greenstuff.

And so, I begin. In honor of Hydra and whatever in my subconsiousness is telling me to do it, I am going to make my own Dominatrix from a Scythed Hierodule, just like Hydra did his. I'll be working off the various WIP photos he posted of his with a few variations to add my own flair. I've finished the head (note that the jaws are only blue tacked in as I am playing with the idea of seperating the jaw bones like Hydra did for his):




P.S.

I'd really appreciate some ideas for a scenic base for the Mistress of Fiorina.

Thats looks really cool!!! I like how the nids dont have easy to spot eyes (if not any eyes), it just gives them a creepy look and sorta completes them.
For a base, you could have (as always) some rubble from a city, also you could have people crushed under the rubble. And, if you like the idea have some hatched nid eggs around her.

I'm looking forward to this conversion. I've seen HF Hydra as well... yup. The conversions and paint are superb. I was going to say though as scenery for the dominatrix... If you wanted to go all out.... GS the base with the tuby wires from Aliens, and/or add the long egg sac tail.

I got a big package from the guys over at Wayland Games...


2 Battleforces
2 Boxes of Raveners
1 Box of Genestealers
1 Box of Termagants
1 Box of Gargoyles

Should be fun putting together all these models...


I also put together the three Zoanthropes! The heads aren't glued on yet because the blades on the head need reinforcement with some brown stuff but you get the idea.

All your stuff = awesome sauce. Also, a belated happy Birthday. And finally, HOW DO YOU AFFORD ALL THIS STUFF?!

Subbed for great justice.

Darth Bob, in august I'm getting the Geiger concerpt art for the Alien movie - if you want I can post some pics, hen I get it

*if* you ask nicely.