I don't believe I'm starting *another* P&M blog... need my head examined. But what the heck!

So, as many of you know I have two young boys who have adopted my hobby after being introduced to it at school by their friends (I did not push it on them). Over the last couple of years their interest and exptertise has grown, and just recently each one made an independent decision to begin a new (second) army.

My eldest started with space marines and has chosen Necrons for his second army. Not to be out done, my 7 year old announced that he wanted a tyranid army.

So here we are.


Luckily the decision came right before his birthday and I have been playing 40k since the RT days so I have accumulated a few odds and ends. So he begins his journey with 20 gene stealers from the original Space Hulk game and the original Carnifex model. To which over his birthday have been added the parts to make a Trygon (somhow he's fixated on this creature), a box of Termigaunts and a Brood Lord... OH, and a codex.

While all GW figs are expensive, I must admit to being a bit taken aback by the cost of the 'Nids... just didn't expect it I guess. Good thing I had the stealers and the fex... that saved us a few bucks.



So... first things first.. picking a color scheme. Fired up dakka and we went through the tyranid photos until we came upon one he liked... kind of a buff underside with a dark green carapace. So I needed to come up with a way to paint the bugs that my 7-year old could do with reasonable success. I've decided to stick to 3 basic principles... undercoat, washing and dry-brushing. I think he can master these basics with the 20 stealers he needs to paint, which will get him warmed up to do the larger, more expensive figures afterwards.

So... prototype #1 (and probably the last prototype) is one of my old stealers painted by ME it the basic color scheme. These old guys are a lot different that then new ones in that they are harder to paint as they don't have the clearly defined plates... but I figure if he can get through these, the rest will be a snap! The color on these isn't quite right... I wanted to underside to be a bone color but wanted to keep the process a clean and simple as possible, so this one is just primed white with a sepia wash, then some bleached bone highlights over that. The rest will get a coat of bone colored Army Painter primer, then a sepia wash. That should bring them up to a nice tone to contrast with the dark angles green. I'll re-do the ring on the base so it's not spotty. In seeing a close-up of the figure, I think we'll paint the thigh plates green as well, that should help tie the figure together and make it look a little less like a bug in a green shirt!



Next (for fun) is the old carnifex. I think I could easily convert it into something slightly more modern by replacing the hips/rear legs/tail area, but I'll leave it up to him to decide.

There have been some great conversions using the old 'fex, I shall be inerested to see what it looks like. (nice green sand BTW!)

Wow, a new army.

And be careful, Tyranids are very expensive. I should know.

Git, I still have a small pile of 'nid bitz leftover, I'll be mroe than happy to send them your way.

--B.

( Subscribed. Again. Stop making P&M blogs! )

Ah geez.. you must have no time for work, wife, food, toiler or anything keeping these PM blogs up to date

Such a masochist Gitsplitta! Lucky you have a lot of friends here on Dakka to keep you painting and posting


I can't wait till my kid is old enough to set her to painting my old armies

He name his Hive Fleet yet?

That's great your kids are interested into 40k. How old were they when they played there first game?

Yeah, yeah... I'm stupid... and have a very loving wife who's been buying me figures for 15 years or so...


Lessee... the eldest came back from school all excited about this new game he'd found about what... 2 years ago at most. Of course his little brother jumped right in so... the eldest was 8 and the youngest was 5. I walked them downstairs to an old chest and opened up about 7000 points of fully painted marines and eldar... the rest was history. The little one's got a pretty darn good command of the game considering he's just learning how to read.


Having pondered the figure I've done a bit of a re-paint on the gene stealer... expect a photo soon... after some of the Bushmills wears off.


@Briancj: given Thing2's limited earning power, I'd welcome any bits you'd care to give. Will trade with you if I can. Please PM me & we'll work something out.

OH, and the re-paint... we both like this much better...




Gits

Its a good scheme and even follows colour theory for minis, IIRC two main complementary colours the red and green and a third opposing colour, the bone. I may be wrong there please don't netbash me all you actual artists out there

They are kinda Dark Angel colors. Did they eat some Space Marines?

Crunchy on the outside... soft on the inside. The main 'nids will be more of a bone and green, it's just that these old figures are such that you really need 3 main colors to do them right. Red is a natural compliment to the green so there you go.

It's good to see that you don't show favouritism with your blogs. It's also nice to see another 'Nid player our there.

Thanks GS. Going to be fun having both Necrons and Nids in the house. I expect we'll all be better gamers having so many different armies to play with and against. Thing 2 is already starting to paint his stealers... he's got them primed (bone color) and sepia washed. Next comes the green on the plates.

he'll most likely need to learn some new tactic's as well. Consider me subscribed. I like the bone color and the dark green. I would stay away from that red and suggest a purple. You then can use a blue or red highlight contrast. Looks more organic.

Either way... now I have another army that thing 2 and I can play together. That is my evil plan....

Hmmm, purple... I like purple.

Oh, git I just love your blogs. Tyranids were my first army, and seeing you or one of your offspring doing them has put a great smile on my face and brought up some good memories. Thank you for this. Can't wait to see more!

Thanks Munch. This'll be a slow one as he's much less focused than his older brother. But hopefully it will be just as interesting.

He git,

love the new blog consider me subscribed. but on with the real deal. what do i hear about red compliment green and bone opposing green and red? thats wrong. green and bone compliment and the red is a contrast. in art you have a colour circle with the 3 main colours red , blue and green with those colours you kan make any colour.in the coulour circle any colour thats oppose and other colour is its contrast colour. any colour next too it compliments its colour. bone btw is a real good extreem highlight for green i use it a lot on my orks (when they get any paint time been bussy on my Dark Eldar see my blog for the test mini's).

well these where my 2 cents hope its help full.

Gits = never had an art class

So thanks for the lesson & tip fatty!

I thought the three colours were red, blue and yellow. What is this colour circle is it different than the primary colours then?

damn my bad. but still green is opposed too red

no no was just checking we weren't thinking of different things, I'm not much of a painter so I was just checking there wasn't some secret artist tricks or tips I'd missed.

haha well i am not a genius thats why i have repeted a class with Art. one of the reasons i choose the class was the fact that the teacher let me paint mini's at school

Yeah, we had a teacher who had a similar approach, a friend of mine completed a diorama as his coursework. Should have taken the class myself I think.

My intent to suggest purple was in an attemt to acomplish 2 things .. 1 purple can either be on the red side or the blue side. this avoids some options to the orange/yellow for lighter ( avoiding pink ) or into the brown/ rust direction. I think to complicated for a 7 year old. Not all nature is using the opposite color on the wheel. I like looking at real insects to get ideas ( thou I'm not good enough to replicate)

adding red or blue for a 7 year old is easy enough to explain and uses the primary colors.

But ( pause ) the real reason I suggested it was avoid any X-mas looking color scheme from which I my brain has been programmed to equate!

All said I'g go with what ever makes him happy!

2 cents.....Looking forward to seeing his first pics. Go thing 2!

Makes good sense... no explanation necessary.

What do you think about using quickshade on these guys Gits, or wood stain apparently the cheaper and actually better alternative. I just think it may be interesting for them to have that shine that the Aliens from the films have.

Hadn't thought about quickshade. It will give them a distinct patina and shine, though the same might be achieved by the right kind of varnish. I guess what I'm more concerned about is the fact that these old gene stealers are pretty complex in the way the various elements of their bodies intertwine and interact. Hell, I have difficulty painting them well, my 7 year old isn't going to stand a chance.

He's got some good strong colour combos though. The three basic colours then a dip. Job done he has a very fast table top quality model. Great, especially if he doesn't have the attention of his brother and its a horde army. It should keep him interested as he sees tangible results fast. And lets face it what kid wouldn't love dipping their model then flinging it round the back yard?

Another great (but more expensive) option to get horde armies onto the field, is to invest in an airbrush. Spray on the main colour, spray on the wash, pick out the details, boom, and your done.

Points well taken.... I'll consider it.

Thanks Len

Althoug i am against dipping i think it would be a good idea for thing2. that way he can paint most things himself and still have a wonderfull army too show off. although this is a lazy mans paint job its just what thing2 needs. and that gives you more time for your orks and mantis warriors. now lets hope thing1 doesnt get jalous when his little bro has a mighty fine army more quickly than him. althoug i would not advice him too go dipping his models as it is more rewording too paint it without dip.

greets Fatty

fatty wrote:Althoug i am against dipping i think it would be a good idea for thing2. that way he can paint most things himself and still have a wonderfull army too show off. although this is a lazy mans paint job its just what thing2 needs. and that gives you more time for your orks and mantis warriors. now lets hope thing1 doesnt get jalous when his little bro has a mighty fine army more quickly than him. althoug i would not advice him too go dipping his models as it is more rewording too paint it without dip.

I don't think its a lazy man's way of painting, its just a different way of painting. I completely see where you're coming from because I'd never use it myself and I used to think it was a cheat as well. In the end my friend pointed out that painting is just one aspect of our hobby, I think as a lot of us here on the P&M threads are mainly painters/modellers and we tend to forget that there is more to the hobby. I'm sure a lot of the hard core gamers probably think I'm a lazy gamer cos I haven't had a battle since 1998, lol.

haha funny. I try too do both but i tend too forget that i have too paint an army for it too look cool.

I agree I wouldnt dip (tobacco or models), but would rather play against a dipped, but still good looking army then a plastic gray army, or some of the crap paint jobs Ive seen.

i hear you man. thats why i finally started painting my army now.

I took an alternate route, I've just ordered an Khador battle-group for myself and a Cryx one for my friend. You really don't have the excuse of an unpainted army with Warmachine as its only like 10 models a side. On a side note Gits maybe you should look into it, apparently you have to play very aggressively and is more tactical than 40k but less so than WHFB.

You may enjoy the challenge and Thing1 would certainly learn to be more aggressive with it. You could even just pick up the rule book and play proxy games using your existing miniatures.

Hmmm.... interesting thought LS, I shall think upon it.

I have one question; why old models? I got into tyranids because of the new carnifex.

Because I own them so they're free.

Your blogs are among the most entertaining on here. It gives me hope that when we get out of the terrible two's and three's that my son will want to engage with mommy and daddy in painting and gaming. It's also way better, in my opinion, that you are choosing a creative way to spend time with your kids instead of just playing video games.

Howdy Git - looking good on your test figures.
I love the old screamer-killer, one of my first loves in the 40k universe

I'd not reccomend the dipping front - it's messy and you'd get similar results from simply washing. Vallejo do a super-bumper sepia wash for big armies that would be perfect for this.

Got any plans for an army list? Looking forward to seeing this one pan out. Keep it up little man!

Here's what's in the works for an army list at the moment:

HQ: Tervigon
Elite: 3x Hive Guard
Troop: 2x 10 gene stealers w/ brood lord
Hvy: Carnifex
Hvy: Trygon/Malwok


As you can probably tell we haven't sorted out the details yet... just going by what we have, what's been recommended or what figures my son likes. I suppose with upgrades that should be somewhere near 1250 pts.

My daughter, age 7 thru 8, helped her Dad dipping his tyranid horde.. she loved it, and has a propriatary air about the army.

It even made it into one of her "What I did over the weekend" writing assignments for school.

At some point here, I hope she will get out of the "Genestealers are eating my Polly Pockets!" mode and into dice rolling..

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/230249.page

(seriously old thread)

nice tutorial porkuslime , always fun working with kids. (didn´t want to necro your thread...)

That list sans upgrades is 950 points. And yes, Im that bored at work. Only so much After Effects you can handle in one day.

That's a pretty elite list Gitsplitta. Very similar to the one Gathering Storm is making for me. (Trygons+Carnifexes)

It's also good to see yet another young soul fall to the influence of the hive mind....

Looking forwards to seeing Thing 2's work.

whalemusic360 wrote:That list sans upgrades is 950 points. And yes, Im that bored at work. Only so much After Effects you can handle in one day.

That's odd, my Army Builder says 1070 w/out upgrades. That's 10 stealers + brood lord per squad (11 total).

It'll be interesting going. He's no where near as patient or skilled as his brother, so I'm thinking of dumbing down the stealer paint job quite a bit from my original. He's taken a whack at his first one and it's going badly. He's also stubborn, so he's no where near interested in really learning what I'm teaching.

Think I have a plan but we'll have to try it out this weekend and see.

Gits

if you have some strategies to overvome possible frustrations for young ones i have a 9 year old son who is also in need of encouragement, as he is not so good in doing small fiddley things, gets frustrated fast and doesn´t want to be teached or rather doesn´t hear what i try to tell him... but i feel it he wants to be part of the hobby...

Missed the B-lords, so your dead on.

Viktor von Domm wrote:if you have some strategies to overvome possible frustrations for young ones i have a 9 year old son who is also in need of encouragement, as he is not so good in doing small fiddley things, gets frustrated fast and doesn´t want to be teached or rather doesn´t hear what i try to tell him... but i feel it he wants to be part of the hobby...

Hey Victor, you might want to wander though my Doom Eagle thread as it talks a lot about working through things with this one's older brother. My little one doesn't so much get frustrated as he's just not all that concerned with listening as opposed to just plowing ahead on his own. While I appreciate the enthusiasm he's not going to get any better that way. But... it's early in the process yet, we'll see.

Does your son get frustrated at the painting or the playing or both?

Actually thats a pretty perfect fit for nids.

Gitsplitta wrote:

Viktor von Domm wrote:if you have some strategies to overvome possible frustrations for young ones i have a 9 year old son who is also in need of encouragement, as he is not so good in doing small fiddley things, gets frustrated fast and doesn´t want to be teached or rather doesn´t hear what i try to tell him... but i feel it he wants to be part of the hobby...

Hey Victor, you might want to wander though my Doom Eagle thread as it talks a lot about working through things with this one's older brother. My little one doesn't so much get frustrated as he's just not all that concerned with listening as opposed to just plowing ahead on his own. While I appreciate the enthusiasm he's not going to get any better that way. But... it's early in the process yet, we'll see.

Does your son get frustrated at the painting or the playing or both?

Maybe you're going at it the wrong way. Maybe you should try sitting him down, and ask what [b]he[/] wants to do. Being a younger brother as well as a son, he may feel like he's always being told what to do, and never get's to make some important decisions of his own. Being a young child as well as a younger brother is a tough combo.

Actually Much we did that... or at least tried to do that. With the exception of the stuff I already owned, all the figs we've gotten for him are what he wanted as opposed to what I told him to get. As far as painting goes, he's picked the color scheme, well, at least the green and pale color. I think it'll be easier once we get to modern nids... these old gene stealers are just a pain to paint... even for an adult. Very fiddly.

Gitsplitta wrote:Actually Much we did that... or at least tried to do that. With the exception of the stuff I already owned, all the figs we've gotten for him are what he wanted as opposed to what I told him to get. As far as painting goes, he's picked the color scheme, well, at least the green and pale color. I think it'll be easier once we get to modern nids... these old gene stealers are just a pain to paint... even for an adult. Very fiddly.

Oh, sorry, I didn't know. I hope it works out. Oh and btw, if you don't want the genestealers, I'd be more than happy to take them off your hands.

The Space Hulk stealers are a good options because:
1) Usually go pretty cheap on ebay
2) Look great!
3) Are pressure fit, like super pretty black reach

Con would be that you have to get bases, they dont come with any. Some conversion will be required to make em fit.

the list looks fun but i mis gaunts. there must haves in a tyranid army (according too a friend) the stealers are not that good (according too the same friend). but if this is what your son wanted than its more then fine. a list shouldnt be about whats the best but what you think is the best. in this case what Thing2 thinks is the best

My stealer swarm owned in a recent tournament and the only parts of the list that didn't perform were the gaunt's and the warriors. Probably because i didnt have many but my 30 failed in every area while my stealer were awesome. They are the best point for effectivity close combat unit i the game IMO.

i really want one of those old 'fexs! they look so awsome

Somewhere in the last year's WD's they actually put a colour circle in it (or atleast in the UK version) Blue is opposite to red, which is why they recommend using blue or green as a shade for red instead of black. Actually
I didnt believe it till i tried it on my SW dread banner but it works really well.
I know WD sometimes gets a bashing, but occasionally they do some good articles too (although they do keep rehashing/ reprinting old articles for my liking sometimes)

^ I wash my Orange with Asurmen Blue for this reason. It's looks wierd at first, but it totally works.

Hmm, being a younger kid is tough. Surely though the spraying bone>washing sepia>drybrushing white is nice simple work that he can get done quick. It might be boring as heck, but he can bash through that quick. Once that's done, he might be fairly proud of a (nearly) complete-looking unit.

Does he enjoy basing? I always liked basing as a kid.

Hey SoO, thanks for stopping by. They are neat but very small when compared with the modern figs (as are all the old figs). I've got some fancy basing in mind to try and dress him up a bit and help him fit his role better.

The use of the old figures is simply a matter of financial necessity... I save $120 US by using them... can't ignore that. Plus my kids get a real kick out of using the old figs, makes their armies stand out.

well as for my oldest son, he is a bit hard to lecture. i´ve tried to help him by doing terrain at first, but thats wasn´t him...then tried to hlep him with some marines but he´s by far to unprecise with his brush. lots of splatter all around. so he´s not really made for detailed work. when i recommend to make a simpler scheme he is not interessted. option is that i do his force too, and have done quite a tactical squad by now beside my own projects. he is interessted in the playing more...
the way i see it if he isn´t part of the production of his marines he will lead them inot battle like they´re lead into a sloughterhouse. when he´s done his fair share of painting i think he won´t sacrifice them so easyly...they will get precious for him. that´s the spirit i want to instil in him...well tough luck...

cant wait till my son is old enough to play hes only 4 but already taken an interest in the models but since only 4 its a heart attack everytime he touches a model especially since he broke both my broadsides...the color scheme on the stealers works very well btw lol

Thanks! Find him some old models... something cheap off the net, then let him go crazy... he can practice painting, play with them, break them, whatever. As long as he gets a love of the game.

i do have some lizardmen im "sacrificing" for my salamanders could always let him have at those

Absolutely.

Actually only found out recently that GW stocks FLGS and GW stores with tester models, a fantasy goblin and a sm(?) on a single sprue piece with 2 bases. They come in very neat small squares and don't have amazing detail but don't need assembly, I am sure if you asked a GW or FLGS staff member for one or two for them because your child would really like to try painting they could help you out, and they are free

Hmm ill have to ask about that next time i go into GW

I have a few of the Fantasy versions, always wondered where they came from. Mine have a goblin and a dwarf on em. Base is even on the sprue.

the gw will most likly not give them. i dont want too be a party pooper but they have a strickt 11 and above policy. and consirning the night goblin i would watch out with that one. the spear armed on has a sharp tip (i am not kidding got one in my thump and it even drew some blood).

sounds like a khorne goblin then...

LOL the same thing happened to me.

I love the old Fex' I used to have one I called it cuddles because they look like they want to hug everything, it's not their fault that what they hug gets crushed and squished... free Carnifex love I say

But seriously I like that styling on him it gives them a real bug look.

These threads for your kids stuff is a great idea my soon to be 5 year old daughter is showing an interest in the GW stuff (she got to play a game at the local store with the staff) so in a yeaar or so I would love to get her (if she's not gone down the pony's and princess sparkles road by then) an army of her own so she can build it and paint it with me.

So just like they say in those Guinness adds... Brilliant!

Santobell wrote:I love the old Fex' I used to have one I called it cuddles because they look like they want to hug everything, it's not their fault that what they hug gets crushed and squished...

Ooh, can we expect an unyuufex conversion anytime soon?

@Santobel: Thanks man, of all the armies I've worked on, I am the least comfortable with the bugs, so this will be an interesting journey. Yeah, actually bought that old fex as an RPG character... funny that he should find some use after all these years. I'm not exactly sure what to do with him to make him suitable as the new figures are 2 times his size... but we'll think about it. Perhaps some really good basing and a fex tail will do the trick.

Amazing work

Well, there's not all that much work yet... but thanks Psyker_9!

Gitsplitta wrote:Well, there's not all that much work yet... but thanks Psyker_9!

From What I have seen though the work is awesome. 7 years old right? Absolutely amazing.

Well, yes and no.

Yes, he's 7... no, he didn't do the painting here. The work here is mine (although the carnifex is very, very old work). With the gene stealer I was trying to get the color combination he wanted while trying to find something he can paint himself. It was even hard for me to paint, though he can do the initial coat & washing / highlighting just fine. These old stealers were not easy to paint before, and they haven't gotten any better with time.

maybe you can use the old fex as a warrior prime? its bigger than a warrior and a quick head/aarm swap would do the trick.

Good idea, but swapping the head is impossible, the head and body are a solid piece of metal and it doesn't even stick out from the body really, it's just a lump with a face.

lol, make it a mega-thrope..... make some squiggly brain-stuff on the exposed cranium, 2 bits of wire going diagonally between claws with a gs ball of plasma in the centre.... loike a psychic blast.

Maybe take off legs and get it floating????

A little bit of progress...

I'm painting up the old gene stealers for my son as part of his Christmas present. Because of the time crunch I decided on a bit different scheme than previously shown. I think this is more in line with what he originally wanted (pink flesh, green carapace). I'm using my new air brush to do the base coat. Works nice. These'll get a wash (sepia or ogryn flesh) then the green, then the details. At least this way he'll have two troop squads ready to go.

I present... "Hive Fleet Pepto" (Pepto Bismol is a popular antacid here in the US and is basically this color)

You can use the airbrush as well for the washes, it'll save you a lot of time!!!

On a side note, 'Pepto' doesn't sound that scary, but...

Yggdrasil wrote:You can use the airbrush as well for the washes, it'll save you a lot of time!!!

On a side note, 'Pepto' doesn't sound that scary, but...

I just figured that out! Wash went on fine but the airbrush tended to foul causing an inordinate amount of clean up time (still far less time overall than doing the washing by hand though). Wash went on very nicely too... no big drips or puddles. One wash of ogryn flesh and a spot wash on the ribby flesh parts of red (whatever the red wash is called).

When I get home from work I'll attack the green carapace. That's going to be long and painful. Be nice to get the little one on his way though. He's been oh so patient while I've been obsessing on my Mantis Warriors. This is far from my neatest job... but it at least gets the ball rolling for Thing 2.

Here's where we stand currently:

I'm loving this airbrusing buddy - especially the wash, that would genuinely never have occured to me! Really keen to get back in to my garage now, grumble grumble... Hive Fleet A-Bismol maybe?

inmygravenimage wrote: Hive Fleet A-Bismol maybe?

+1 for that name!

[edit : forgot to comment on the genestealer... Looks nice, I really like those GW washes... and the red is "Baal Red", btw]

OK guys, I need some opinions.

I have to do 20 of these guys in two nights. That means... green carapace, green wash, claws/feet/nails, possible wash of same, mouth, bases (just brown paint, can flock later).

The only real problem with what's left is how much of the carapace do I paint? I clearly can not fully paint it like on the first example which I re-post here:


Consider this a "full carapace paint" (which it isn't quite)... but it's still way too much for me to get done in this short period of time. So I have to make choices about which sections of green (a subset of what is painted green in the photo above) in order to get the project done in time for Christmas. So... if I am to only paint certain sections of the carapace... which give me the most bang for my buck as far as setting the elements apart and/or making the model look decent?

My current thought is to do the body and each of the forearms which are more heavily armored than the other limb parts (and also easy to get at & paint).

Conversely I could do the body and "shoulders" green, and paint the hands a bone color to set them off a bit and leave everything else pink.

I'm open to any ideas... remember, time is very limited... the simpler the idea without totally abandoning the asthetics of the figure, the better.

yah if you do only the back it would me more striking i think. i find this model too green. only the back wil look awesome but thats mu 2 cents

Yeah, I vote for the back - maybe only the back ridges at that, reversing the colour scheme on the test model.

Here's one possible suggestion, to protect the beautiful wash effects you have, already:



Maybe make the claws a different color, such as bone.

--B.

Do you need it to be uniform across all those stealers? For instance, could you just decide, "I'm going to paint 4 parts on a genestealer green." Then mix up what 4 parts are green on each individual genestealer? I know time is a pressing issue with this project, but for the most part it would equal out to the same amount of work/time involved. At the same time, it would create a different effect than if they all had the same pattern.
...Just a thought. And for all I know your wee one may not want that look at all.

@Briancj: You're a genius! Never thought of using photoshop to test out color patterns. See results of your genius below.

@Moltar: An interesting idea... and no, there's no more reason that the stealers all need to be exactly same any more than any other living organism.


Here are some options I came up with... preferences?? The greens will be darker and the claws will be colored on all models... probably bone or black.









Any one in particular or should I mix them up as Moltar suggests?

I like the last one that you photo shopped, but the idea to mix them is a good one as well. I would vote for mixing just the 2nd and 4th though (in my opinion they look the best).

Cloudburst

I like the last one as well...

I like to make the ribbed parts look fleshy... I think you may have seen my old school stealers

4 looks v tasty!

One more for the last one here.

Mix 'em up, but the last one is best.

All right everyone, thank you for the feedback.

I think I'll do a bit of a mix but will make the majority of them variant #4, with a few of the others thrown in for spice.

Does anyone have any preferences on claw color? Bone or black are the two obvious choices... but I'll consider anything that seems appropriate.

Gits

(now that the end is in sight on these I'm getting a bit excited)

i like variant #4 the best myself.

ialso love the pink, Pepto Bismol was my fav when i was a little kid!

I'd go for a progressive blend from dark brown to bone... and the washes can help you again!!

is it me or is the colored tip of the tail weird? maybe its just me but i like the last one the best (if you didnt paint the tip of the tail). what Yggs said above me would be the best i think but with your time issue i say make them brown and blend them later

bone, maybe darken it at the claw base with devian mud?

(And i see that i need to update my avatar to my current avatar update of my own colour scheme )

I can leave the tip of the tail pink, or maybe make it bone like the claws. I'll do a brown wash at the base of the claws as you guys suggest.

On these models I almost think that the one section of the tail is more like a spike IMHO, since it does not have that same muscular striation as the rest of the tail.

OK, here's the first of the prototypes. Took the one everyone liked & just added the shin color to make them consistant. This took wayyy too long. Well over an hour to finish just one figure. I have 18 more to do. Will try a couple of simpler designs and see how those go.

I am open to suggestion or comment.

Gits

Bone / claw parts are nice, maybe another wash on the green zones to help in shading...

As for the time spent, well... When the wash dries on 1 model, you should have plenty of time to do the other ones!

Yeah I agree with Yggs, I always try to paint at least 5 models at a time in order to get a production line going, saves time for me at least

Saying that, I do have an understanding partner

jah just paint one color on all 18 models before moving on too the next.

or tape of the all ready painted parts with masking tape and have fun with your air brush

I find doing multiple models at a time helps with efficiency. Doing too many at a time though leads to boredom/burnout. From painful experience, I can attest to 18 at a time being too many (for me). 5 seems to work well however (again, for me). Of course, if you are stubborn and on a time limit...

Doing two sets of three, when I finish those I'll move up to 5. Thanks guys. Not sure if I'll get them all done but I'll give it a go. I highlighted the green after the first one and that really helped them pop a bit.

Will probably be painting most of the day. Had to cancel my participation of family events today as I have shingles (which is the adult version of chicken pox). Doesn't itch but is very painful. Anyway we aren't sure if my wife's elderly dad has ever had c-pox (which would make you immune) so I'm staying home while she & the boys go play Christmas. Just as well as it turns out.

Ah dude! I caught the shingles myself when my girl brought home the Cpox, not enjoyable at all and I'm impressed you are still able to keep at the painting!
Hope the kids appreciate your dedication and they all make sure to bring you home a ton of xmas food

The doctor says that if you're under extreme stress, the Cpox virus that is always in your spine manifests as shingles. Right now I think it's turning the corner and I don't feel anywhere near as much pain as I did a week ago, but I'm still contagious for anyone that has not had the C-pox... so I'm house bound.

Got the bases done on the necrons, so they're ready to go. Unfortunately the best I'll be able to do is 14 gene stealers... with other Christmas activities there just wasn't enough time to get them all done. But... I might be able to finish them up tomorrow, so technically he'll get them all on Christmas day. They aren't particularly well painted as far as my space marine standard goes... but I think he'll like them anyway.

Take care my friend. Hope Santa was good to you and yours.

Damn. Well, glad you're on the mend, hope you get those stealers done. Merry Christmas and all that.

Don't try to do too much, Git. Merry Christmas to you and the Things.

Christmas morning update: (on no sleep I might add, though I did get to close my eyes for 30 minutes). The boys loved their figures. Thing 1 could not be happier with the way I painted the necrons, especially since I did my level best to paint them the way he wanted them to look. I'm kind of excited about this as with the airbrush, the necrons are actually really easy to paint. I know he's got a lord and three destroyers assembled already and we could have some recycled warriors repaired and ready to go in no time, so he could have a decently painted "force" in very short order.

Thing 2 loved the gene stealers. The fact that some of them weren't finished didn't seem to phase him at all. All he saw was a box of "painted" figures and he was all smiles and cheers.

Gitsplitta wrote:@Briancj: You're a genius!

Man, so tempted to ./sig that.

It is not my idea, I have seen it done in other places and spaces. Glad it helped you out!

I'd also like to vote for using the tailtip to indicate squads. Blue tips, red tips, green tips, yellow tips...

Sorry you got the shingles, rest up and enjoy the day!

--B.

Glad to hear the Things enjoyed their gifts, one day the will realize how much effort you put in and thank you all over again!

Yeah, it's good to be the dad...

Indeed it is well said Git!

Good to hear your on the mend as well matey!

Progress today: Painted that last bits on 6 stealers (eyes & tongues) and got the grit on the bases. Tomorrow morning I'll wash the bases and by the time I'm back from work they'll be ready for varnishing. Only 6 more to finish up after that!



Automatically Appended Next Post:

Need some advice from you experienced Nid players out there...

So, one of the things I'm trying to do with my spate of days off this week is to get both of my boys up and running with at least small, fully painted armies for their new races. This has proven easy with my eldest's Necrons as I've figured out how to use my airbrush to do 90% of the work. The Nids are another story. I'll have the two gene stealer squads done, no problem... the question is what to do for the HQ. I have the parts to make the Tervigon, but that won't get done this week... I do have the old screamer-killer thing from wayyy back when (pictured on page 1) which is far too small to be a convincing large Nid monster... BUT... I might be able to convert into a Tyranid Prime (I think that's what they're called). I remember talking to some folks that said that the Prime was actually a pretty good HQ.

So... here's the question:
Is there enough stuff between the Carnifex box and my existing screamer-killer (see page 1) to make a decently equipped Tervigon *and* Tyranid Prime?

Second question:
What size base does the Tyranid Prime use? 40mm?


I've got one shot at the gaming store this week... that's this afternoon over lunch... so anything I need for the rest of the week I need to get today.

Thanks all!
Gits

-I have no idea if you will have enough parts to make both a Tyranid Prime and a Tervigon.

-A Tyranid Prime is an effective HQ. However, it is most useful when it is put in a squad of Warriors.

-Yup, Tyranid Primes are mounted on a 40mm base, same as warriors.

OK GS, the Warriors will come eventually. I'm not too concerned with how competitive his little list is as he'll just be playing his brother and I for a while. Just trying to get him something legal as quickly as possible so he can start getting used to it.

makes sense. I'm sure if you have enough greenstuff skills you should be able to make both! You can mold a sort of greenstuff bell which is where the baby tyranids hatch from the Tervigon. That should save you parts.

Actually the Tervigon conversion is not the issue. I've got the Chapterhouse kit and will be beginning with that and modifying things from there. It's really the weapon arms that I'm concerned with. Of course I can order any bits that I need, but it would be easiest if there were enough arm options in the 'Fex box to be able to "arm" both creatures (taking into account that the screamer-killer already has 4 scything talons).

i can try and find some one who knows how many parts there is in the kit for that. (wow worst linne ever!)

Without spending the money on a Hive Tyrant, a Tyranid Prime is a good choice for a HQ slot. All that I can really say is that you will need to find the magic number of synapses to non synapses, otherwise most of the little guys end up going becoming nearly useless, since a twelve inch bubble really is not all that big once you get it on the table.

Well, on my trip to the store over lunch I broke down and picked him up a box of warriors. So at least the Prime will have someone to run with.

If possible a venomthrope would be a great addition as well im nota nid player but as a SM and tau player nothing is more annoing then having every lil gaunt and nid on the table having a cover save and absorbing all my shots

Good advice polari, I'll look into it.

xonetrophes and the little spawners make my life hell. a good friend and regullar opponent plays a spawn army and it is tough. also the guards are nasty as the dont need line of sight and ignore cover saves.

Oo yea hate them the guard caused hell for my salamanders until i could tie them up in CC

He's got 3 of those... I think he'll have a decent little army when it's all painted up. Just going to take a bit of effort on both our parts.

Just found him another 10 termigants for his Tervigon and a couple of ripper swarms from the Dakka Swap Shop... so his little force is building slowly. Just a matter of getting it painted up on top of all my other projects, but once we get to the "modern" Nid designs I think they'll go pretty quickly.

Yes that is true. My nids ended up bieng brown and green, only because someone made a bet that I could not make them look like actual bugs. I only used 4 colors IIRC and used some gloss varnish.

it's looking nice, having been doing a 'Nid army for about two months and it can be a pain to sit down and paint the smaller things, but it's very rewarding to have a fully painted 'Nid army lined up on the battlefield. I would recommend a Tyrannofex armed with a rupture cannon, I'll take a picture of my one soon and upload it to show how I did it, but it causes merry hell with tanks. Anyway, GL with the rest of the army.

Thanks Loma, would love to see it!

When I get the stealers done I'll take a pic of the whole mess & post it. They look better than I thought they would for a simple color scheme, and the boy is happy with them which is really all that matters.

oh yea, something else I just remembered, Ymgarl genestealers are always fun, being able to bring them out of terrain will always put a smile on the players face

yah but they die just as easely as normal stealers. the old tyranid code is still true.. low on upgrades high on models wins battles.

Git i now know what your up too yesterday i helped a friend base coat his gaunts he has 154 of them not funny not funny at all next we will get too paint them and if i can i will upload a pic of them.

NEVER take genestealers without toxin sacs. 50% increase in effectiveness is worth 3 points.

OK guys... thanks. Looks like I'll have to do a bit of greenstuffing as these are all just the standard old Space Hulk stealers from back in the day. I appreciate the advice though as I have no idea what actually works with stealers.

I hope to get the last 6 done today, then will provide a group shot!

fatty wrote:yah but they die just as easely as normal stealers. the old tyranid code is still true.. low on upgrades high on models wins battles.

Git i now know what your up too yesterday i helped a friend base coat his gaunts he has 154 of them not funny not funny at all next we will get too paint them and if i can i will upload a pic of them.

No true. They can upgrade their toughness and they have a better Armour save

I have a really good article, I‘ll send to you. It’s a good overview of strengths and weaknesses. It got me thinking about how to look at the pieces in the army.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
On computer at home, so I'll send it tonight.

That would be most helpful SL, thanks!

Sub`d!

Couple of "surprise" pics today.


Found the bits for an old zoanthrope yesterday in a pile... don't know why I bought it... think I was going to scavenge the carapace for an eldar dreadnought head. Anyway, we put it together and Thing 2 actually helped paint this one. Did the base coat (colored primer) and the washing... I handled the rest. Thing 2 also announced that he wanted bone colored tyranids instead of pink. Frankly I like the pink better... but they're his Nids and the bone is a lot easier to deal with because of the colored spray primer. I have not done the edge highlighting on this model yet, nor added the vegetation to the base... but both will happen eventually.



This next one I am inordinately proud of. Remember the screamer-killer back on page one that I didn't know what to do with? Well, I figured out that I could fairly easily convert it into a Tyranid Prime to give Thing 2 a quick HQ. I did a partial re-paint on him, removed two of scything claws and replaced them with one of the gun upgrades from the warrior box. I had to do a little hot gun modification of the gun arms to get them to work with the screamer-killer body, but in the end I think it worked out rather well. Nice use of an old figure I think...

Liking the " bone" look. that always was a cool figure. Nice MOD and intimidating.

That ''screamer-killer'' looks amazin' good job.... Meant to add your scheme bears a passing resemblance to my DE one..

Thanks Perkustin & Solar. I'm looking at the boxed set for my son's Malwoc/Trygon and thinking that there will be an extra set of head plates depending on what I build with it. If I'm careful with the heat gun I might be able to mold it to fit on the screamer/killer head which would make him look a bit more modern. Also pretty sure I can fiddle a tail for him while I'm at it. He'll slop way over his 40mm base size, but I'm not really concerned about that.

The models look great and the zoanthrope is a great addition...nothin like a s10 ap1 lance weapon popping your redeemer on the first turn -_-

Thanks polari. I picked up 2 more from the same era off ebay, so I should be able to fill out the squad next week. At least it'll give him a little bit of AV fire power. They're also stupid simple to paint, which makes me a big fanl. :-)

Sorry, but I prefer the bone colour... So T2's right!!!

Also, I loved those old models for Zoanthropes, I miss the ones I lost...

And the Carnifex conversion is amazing, as usual...

Maybe you can pass the old Zoanthorpe model for a Doom of Malan'tai, or whatever it is, as the model itself does look much larger than the current casting of the zoanthorpe.

Have you got some some sort of size comparision for these screamer killers? I would be interested to know how big they are!

Here's a couple of shots to give scale... I think he's about the same size as a warrior (tall) but much beefier from side-to-side.





Just dawned on me how really "old school" those all are... A screamer-killer from God-only-knows-when, an early zoanthrope, and a gene stealer from the original space hulk game. Talk about living in the past...

Actually the first Zoanthropes were like these : ...

I can understand why you didn't mention them... They're better left forgotten!

That Screamer-Killer looks a lot better for having been re-posed. I almost like it now!

Oh, i thought they were bigger than that, oh well!

Nice job on the screamer-killer

Does this mean the stealers are getting re-done in bone, or is Thing2 happy to keep them pink?

Stealers will stay the way they are, rest of army will get boned.

I see what you did there....

i love the old Zoanthorpe models. I used to have one i found in a garbage can along with a rhino haha, but i gave the Zoanthorpe to my friend for his tyranid army.

I like the bone, the pink and the bone look great, maybe have the genestealers be pink, while the rest of the army is boned.. haha. that would look cool, and that way you won't have different colored stealers.

Lovely work Gits and Thing 2, you must be a very busy man with all of these p-logs!!

Always good to see a new Nid player! Keep up the good work.

P.s. With regards to strategy, ive had a lot of success running 20 bug Hormagaunt units with toxin sacs, as long as they get the charge they can do pretty well for themselves! Also Trygons, stealers and hive guard

Looking superb mate! Lovely stuff. Re: spraying wash - how/with what did you thin it? Did you find you need to alter psi? Also, belated happy holidays!

@Sage: Well, I kind of blundered into this one the same way... just a pile of bits sitting on the corner of a shelf. Best thing about the bone and green scheme is that Thing 2 can get the figures 90% of the way there with only a little guidance from me. Keep in mind that operating a spray can is still a bit of a challenge for him... doesn't quite have the finger strength to do it without really having to concentrate... but he's getting there.

@Vitruvian: Yeah, the logs makes for a busy 'splitta... but the hardest part is giving them substantial updates... chat is easy... finishing models for 3 different armies is hard. Thanks for the tip by-the-way... I'll add it to the tactical archives.

@graven: Happy Holidays my friend! I haven't tried to spray the wash since th last outing. Spraying the GW sepia worked well on the figure but plugged up the air brush. Spraying the vallejo wash did not work as it acted on the figure much more like paint than wash. Will make a further experiment at some point where I thin the vallejo down and see if I can't get it to behave more like a wash. It did not plug up my air brush though, so that was a step in the right direction.

Parents are up for the weekend which has brought my painting to a halt, will try to sneak in little bits of work in the early AM to keep the last 6 stealers on track for being finished by Sunday. They're very close... just eyes, tongues and basing to do.

Happy New Year everyone! I hope it brings you joy in your lives, success in your painting, and victory on the battlefield!
Gits

Have you tried using some Flow-Aid for an additive to the washes, it usually thins my paint down quite well.

That or you can look at making your own. This thread here has the "recipe" as per LBursley ( and I know i reference him all too much ).
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/261541.page

Those stealers take me back a ways. I think I had about 50 of those in my old cult. As for the Screamer-Killer... I remember the WD that came out in... (does that make me old?) I don't remember seeing a better paint job than yours. IT looks much better than the old red scheme they used to have

Finally done! Thank God...

Here's a pic of some of the finished stealers...


And a whole army shot... something like 640 pts.



Thanks for all your help everyone! I get to go back to my Mantis Warriors for a little bit. Will probably have some pics of newly painted nids some time next week.

Gits

thats not a lot of models for over 500 points, i guess i never realzied how expensive tyrandis can get.

they look great though!

Well, because he has so few models at this point they're loaded up with upgrades. When he get's more options and we have to start making intelligent decisions about the upgrades, things will get cheaper. (and no, the upgrades are not modeled, for our home games or games between friends it's not necessary)

makes sense. do you know how large or what you will be getting in the army, or is it based entirely on whatever your son deems fun and exciting addition.

We don't have a specific target... but I don't think it'll be endless... either. Time will tell.

haha thats good to know! you should post up some battle reps when you get the chance!

I just feel sorry for the lone Lamentor in the first picture. He's probably thinking.." I could have joined the Mantis warriors... but Nooooooo!"

hahahaha ^QFT

Said I would post pictures of my Tyrannofex, so here you are




And for scale, dreadnought




and apparantly my phone's camera sucks

Wow! That is massive!

it's a trygon mounted on part of it's tailed, and it had to be man-pinned, also known as two screws.
However, it's a really fun model to paint
and completely custom, and i doubt i'll see another one like it

I can get you a picture of my Tyrannofex if you like, converted from a regular fex.

Be happy to see it Vit!

I'm working on some more humble things now... scrabbled up some rippers and have been having fun making little ripper bases. Only had enough rippers for two bases but but they look neat & were fun to build. Hope to snag some more eventually... maybe enough for a unit! The two zoanthropes also arrived so I've got one of those built. When I get the next one done I'll start the painting process on rippers & zoas with the urchin. Be a good weekend project.

Rippers really are fun to build, possibly my favourite part of the giant bug assembly line.

I like Zoeys, rippers are good little nuisance units. As soon as you have a reasonable amount of gaunts you'll be swimming in the buggers, I think you're only 1 base off minimum squad size anyway! (You used to get something like 2 rippers for every 4 gaunts, not sure now though) Are the Zoeys new or old edition??

Here's the Tyrannofex then, the torso has been sawn in half and widened by 4mm, followed by a tediously long amount of time GSing!!

He just saw a really nice looking lady fex!


But nice work.

Surely that would be more the response for the T-fex artwork!! Never saw the point in a cannon for a jaw.

Here's a bit of progress for today... finished the zoanthrope brood!

Nice Brainbugs.

Thanks wolfshadow!

Also have some rippers done.



Anyone out there have any spare rippers you want to get rid of? I'll pay of course. Probably not worth it to ship them from overseas but in the US I imagine a few rippers in an envelope would ship for about the cost of a letter.

Gits

I love the rippers!

And the zoanthropes look very cranky.

Very nice, the rippers look good juming ove those rocks, are they cork?

Have you thought about painting those bits on the carapace, the bobbly bits on the second layer. Youve painted them on the right side of the bodies but nowhere else?

Those 'thropes and rippers look amazing in that scheme. THe 'stealers look good in those colours, but the 'thropes and rippers look fantastic

@ChocolateGork: Thanks!

Vitruvian XVII wrote:Very nice, the rippers look good juming ove those rocks, are they cork?

Have you thought about painting those bits on the carapace, the bobbly bits on the second layer. Youve painted them on the right side of the bodies but nowhere else?

If I understand you correctly you mean the little pink bits on the sides of the zoey tail? They're all supposed to be pink... I just missed that one (have fixed it since this picture was taken). There are a couple in the head plates, I just didn't bother to paint them for expediency. Will probably get those done soon.

@Fifty: Thanks, I'll pass that on my my 7-year old! (his idea entirely)


Anyone know how they paint in those triangular streaks in the tyranid carapace? I just have them set so the wash is deepest along the overlap (I actually turn them upside-down to dry after washing the plates), but I am curious about how you do the streaking.

Yeah those are the ones i meant, cant for the life of me think of what to call them!!

I believe 'Eavy Metal do it with a tiny brush, lots of patience and lots of thin lines!

Yep.. small amounts of paint and a small brush. One gal at ou local game store does them with a fine brush then uses a insainly fine brush in a lighter color, It really makes them pop. I've not the hand coord. to do it that well, but the nice thing is if you mess up it's fairly easy to repaint and redo,

Good luck.

Well I did remember a site that had somewhat of a tutorial for the little tinky carapace streaks, scratches, or whatever they are. I believe that it was the user Girlpainting on youtube, then again that was in October and I may be losing my mind.

I like the choice of colors! They ought to stand out on the table.

The ripper swarms are especially cool.

These look really nice, Thing 2 should be proud! Bone loooks much better. As for the lines on the carapace, I tried once, an failed miserably, although I have improved since then. It just takes patience and practice. My local GW did asmall display army with two different shades of blue on the carapace like that just mixed and they looked really good.
I was thinking about starting a Tyranid army with the new dex out but the idea of large numbers got me down...whats it like Git? I'll post up the test one I did for ya to see tomorrow

Imp. Monkey

Battle report is in-process... we had a great, fun game! (and now that I've posted this would somebody give me a follow-up post so I can do the batrep on a clean post?

@Imp: The problem with large numbers (other than all the painting) is that they're really slow to run. I have that problem with my orks and have essentially gone to a battlewagon spam list just to get the number of models on the table to a low enough number that I don't get accused of slow playing. With Thing 2, I'd kind of planned to do a "nid zilla" list (few, really big monsters as opposed to hoards) but he keeps wanting all the hoard stuff. So we'll see. Game today went fine though... 'course it was under 900 pts so that's not a lot to keep track of.

Bump post it is!

Liking the colour scheme BTW, much nicer then my weak black carapace/metallic limb nid army (sold that damn thing off pretty qucik )

I agree with you Gits, hordes can be a pain! Ive been thinking of doing a magnetic movement tray for my gaunts, be very easy to move then. However, id only use them for apoc when ive got an Endless Swarm, theyd be one shotted by a russ all bunched up!

well if it takes a long time to move a hoard I guess you are daing it right, because my hoards just move in these blob-like formations, but then again when my nids shot at by troops with BS2 that forget they have grenades and blast weapons. I digress, it is great that your son enjoys playing with the new army.

I've forgotten how much bloody work it is to produce a proper battle report... sheesh! We could've fought a second game in this time!


O.K. Not much of a back-story to this battle... Thing 2 hadn't the patience for it. Suffice to say the marines were coming in to investigate an old orkish ruin only to find it already occupied. 890 pts each.

Hive Fleet Pepto:

HQ: Tyranid Prime
Troop: Genestealers (10)
Troop: Genestealers (10)
Troop: Ripper Swarm (6)
Elite: Zoanthrope Brood (3)

War gear on all is pretty much maxxed out for points.



Mantis Warriors:

HQ: Pedro Kantor counts-as
Troop: scouts (5), snipers & hvy bolter
Troop: Inushi's Tactical Squad (10), flamer, ML
Elite: Sternguard (7), 3 combi-meltas, plasma, PF
Elite: Venerable Brother Caius, TL autocannon, CCW, HF

I like Kantor because he's got a couple of nice force-multiplier effects that are subtle, but useful... and he does not seem to be an overwhelming presence on the battlefield.



And for the record: Here is Brother Sergeant Inushi (WIP), Ice Angel's GMS marine from me. I like to run each of my trades in my army at least once so it can honestly be said that they are true Mantis Warriors. It's interesting that Inushi, the first of the "new" Mantis Warriors should start his career leading a squad of my original plastic ones.



Thing 1 set up the table then insisted in playing on it lengthwise... but only half the tables worth... so effectively we were on a 4x4 table.

Deployment: Thing 2 set up two strong flanking groupings with the genestealers on my left and the zoeys, prime on rippers on my right. I did a center-left deployment selecting one tall ruin for the scouts and it's flanking alleyways which gave me good fields of fire.



Turn 1a: (Nids) Much like his orks, Thing 2 came charging forward full-bore.



Turn 1b: (MWs) And true to form... I backed up a bit. The sternguard made a dash for cover & the combined shooting of the scouts and dread accounted for 4 stealers in the center-most unit.



Turn 2a: The Nids continued their headlong rush with the damaged unit diving for cover.



Turn 2b: Ever cautions and trying to lure the stealers into a trap, Inushi backs his squad up yet again, whilst the combined arms of the other squads accounts for 4 genestealers in the previously untouched squad. Unfortunately the sternguard plasma gunner plasmas himself.



Turn 3a: While the assault units push hard on the flanks, the zoanthropes take up position behind a ruin and start to project psychic death on the Sternguard, killing 2.





Turn 3b: Inushi springs his trap and the tac squad moves back around the corner of the building. Inushi's plasma pistol misfires, but his squad's fire combined with others eliminates the center-most stealer unit. His squad will almost certainly be hit by the other genestealer unit next turn, so they prepare for the worst. The sternguard and the chapter master pour fire on the zoanthropes, but their 3+ invul keeps them from harm.



Turn 4a: On the left flank, the stealers smash into Inushi's unit, killing 4 marines in a flurry of claws and teeth. In return the marines kill only one stealer, fail their morale roll and rout. They are caught by the xenos and cut down. The prime and rippers continue to advance on the right. The entire flank pours shots into Kantor who is separated by casualties from the sternguard, but thanks to his armor, the cover and two misfiring psychic tests by the zoeys... he survives without a scratch.





Turn 4b: Venerable Brother Caius rounds the corner and unleashes vengeance upon the zenos with his heavy flamer and autocannon, killing 4 stealers. On the right the veterans fall back to stay out of charge range and to lure the xeno HQ into another kill box... while the scouts shot at the zoanthropes (who continue to make their saves).



Turn 5a: The two surviving stealers dive into cover in order to save the kill point. On the right the remainder of the Tyranid army moves ominously forward...



Turn 5b: The marines on the right flank now spring their trap in hopes of cleaning the rippers swarms from the Tyranid Prime, leaving him to face the marine forces alone. The sternguard move into position and fire their 3 combi-meltas, which Pedro Kantor (counts-as) calls down an alpha-strike on his own position (effectively) for an orbiting ship. Unfortunately the 3 melta gains fail to wound (no sh*t) and the orbital bombardment scatters enough that only 1 ripper swarm is eliminated. Further shooting from the rest of the army wounds a few rippers but none are taken as casualties.



The dice are rolled and the game ENDS!

Final results... Nids - 1, MWs - 1... TIE!


We had a wonderful time, Thing 2 loved his nids & did well with them... *and* they look good on the table.

Can't ask for more!

Great Report!

Does he know about infiltration? It is nearly always a better way to deploy than standard deployment.

Nice battle report!
found it easy to read

Lovely batrep Gits. I LOLed at "Bored Child..."!! Genius!

Seems like Thing 2 seems to have had a good strategy, stealers are the perfect units to go on a flank as they ignore synapse. Maybe a bit cautious with the Prime though, that models hardcore in assault especially if it has a pair of boneswords! Also, i would have split the Zoeys, with no other Elite choices they could have been separate.

All in all looked ike a great game! The MWs look great together (despite the od paintjob tac marines!), particularly the Tranquilty detatchment.

PS. Was he fleeting the stealers? Did he know they had infiltrate? [edit: Ninja'd, gah!]

Good Batrep! The Stealers did surprisingly well.

Looking forward to seeing some more stuff painted up for this army so you guys can get some slightly bigger battels going.

Thos Tranquility vets look awsome on the table, and so do the 'Nids.

I love that old 'Fex.

Thanks folks!

Yep, he knew they could infiltrate... but he's stubborn like his mother so once he digs his heels in he's going to just do it his way no matter what. I thought he did a great job of keeping both units alive by using cover on his advance so that one of them could hit home.

I didn't think about splitting the zoey's up... I guess I was just trying to keep it simple for him since this was his first time out with his army. Though if you split them up you give away tripple the kill points. But then they are a stone-cold bee-itch to kill (3+ invul never failed all game). I do have some warriors for him so when I get the time I'll get them built & we can paint them up so the prime has a proper posse (besides rippers nipping at his heels).

Primes re definitel very good in warriors, the increase in WS and BS (to the primeslevel) is awesome!

Cool report, and those 'Nids are lookign good, especially the rippers!

Like his mother? You know I'll have a gauntlet for you for that one.
Nice. Tough choices on what the Mantis Warrior went after first. However, I still notice your dice rolling % remain the same.

Good report. Imagine the pain of a 2000 pt nid army... Nice that the terrain is getting used.

Nice battle report...

I'm sorry, but one of the pics looked very funny, so I had a bit of fun with it :

(There are Enzo, Zoé, and... Zoachim?)

(2nd one should be "I've BEEN reading ", but ... well... too late)

Gitsplitta wrote:They are caught by the xenos and cut down.

I thought they would take no retreat wounds? Anyway - found the report easy to follow. It's a lot of effort - but it's worth it!

great battle report gts. A really enjoyable read with my tea and toast!

I lol'd at Yggdrasil's picture. Makes me think of those budweiser ads with the frogs too.

Yes, I messed up on the rules... they should have taken extra wounds.

Yggs: I LOLed... very funny.

Great report. Out of interest, is Thing 2 assisted in his moves at all, or does he o all the tactics himself? Its seriously impressive if so. As to the "Bored Child" That is very much like when i used to play with 10 year old bro a year ago....he doesn't like it any more sadly. SO i gots noone to play :(

Looking good though, although you seemed to mis-count the number of ripper swarms...

Imp. Monkey

Great Batrep Gitz..

Looks like thing 2 had a good game and kept you MW on there toes...

Jim

@ImpMonkey: He did it all himslelf. I just help him with rules and numbers (i.e. what he needs to roll & when)... but he had a clear idea of what he wanted to do from the start. I didn't actually miscount the rippers... we used two empty bases for the last two swarms. I'm trying to scrounge up some extra rippers from the folks at our FLGS or dakka so I can keep working on the squad... have a little luck but I think I'll ultimately have to go to the bits merchants to finish them up. The rocky bases are fun to do though so I don't mind working on them.

@jim: Yep, they sure did. I didn't really set out to win the game, but then I didn't want to roll over either. Had the game gone on I think he would have cleaned up. He had one really bad shooting phase with the zoeys where two of them missed their psychic tests or it would have been worse. I just got lucky the game ended when it did.

I am impressed. He's got a good tactical mind and is focussed, well when there's no chair....Ah, It was just from the army picture there were only four swarms but you'd said 6 that was all...

You're right, I should have clarified that in the army list.


@Yggs: Love the names! Congrats, they are now officialy Enzo, Zoe' and Zoachim.

BTW, what does FHM stand for? Some kind of magazine?

Yeah, FHM is a magazine. been years since I've read it. It stands for "For Him Magazine". As you can imagine it's a bit of a lads mag.

Ha, I've been struggling to find the 3rd name...

And couldn't find any, so went up with a pronunciation problem for the last one lol...

And yeah, FHM is a kind of crappy magazine for teenagers... but older guys like it as well...

Not that you need idea's but here is the test bug I told you about:



keep up the good work....

Imp. Monkey

Do the Things read these threas? If so, don't let them read the spoiler...

word, great battle report!

but how did the tac squad get cut down with wsknf

@Imp: Nice! Thanks! He's been itchin to do his termigants but I think we need to work on some big stuff before getting bogged down in more small things.

@Fifty: LOL Fifty. No, but I think a few of Thing 1's friends do. I think you're right to be honest. Thing 2 is more aggressive and less easily frustrated by bad things happening on the table, so he is a better 40k commander. Thing 1 has all the knowledge he needs, but he's so worried about casualties that he often doesn't do what he needs to to win.

Thing 2 has no problem sacrificing plastic toy solder "lives" for ultimate victory.

I'm not too worried about it, he'll mature out of that phase. Trick is his keep him interested in the mean time. Most of his friends are junior Aard' Boyz finalists... so almost none of them have any painted figures but they all own the latest greatest tank or super-army gew-gaw... so mostly Thing 1 who's dad is unfortunately a hobbyist rather than an uber-gamer, gets his *ss handed to him more often then not.

@Sage: Because I screwed up the rules. Ultimate result would have been the same though, stealers would have shredded them next turn.

To survive and remain fresh, we need both hobbyists and uber-gamers. Being one or the other is not bad in either case, though most of us are the opposite of WAAC gamers.

Exactly my plastic soldiers are ok to sacrifice, because if they live I stand a chance at winning, that and the one that causes the most casualties gets a new paint job.

Ah I see, I've made that mistake a few times.

when is the next battle report!

Probably not until next weekend. School nights and homework and all.

Might try to get something painted up in the interim... stealer brood lord would be a simple project that would help the army out.

A Trygon along with some Warriors would look ace in this army

LOL! Yes it would.... should have a chance to work on them in the next couple of weeks. Luckily, all I have to do is change the carapace color and he'll have some "instant recruits"... ;-)

Very niiiice

I take it found the odd Rippers in there too buddy?

I did, thank you! They were enough to complete another base worth. Couple of Nid players at my FLGS are supplying me with a bunch too, so I should be able to do a good mass of bases by the time it's all said and done. Luckily I really enjoy doing the ripper bases... with the cork rocks and all they're just fun to do and look pretty good when finished.

I think my 7-year old would really get a kick out of his opponent's spontaneously turning into rippers, even if it only happens occasionally... it's the kind of thing that can really peak a little kid's imagination. Have to get some gargoyles to run with the Parasite... then either find a figure or convert one for it. For now... there are warriors, trygons, hive guard and broodlords for the stealers... that's plenty.

Get a Warrior add scything talons as legs and then some Gargoyle wings. Use the Warriors head with the open mouth and then take a Genestealer implant attack tongue and ram it in there

Sounds like a good conversion! Thanks mercer!

Oh, you given me that +1 trade rating me ol' mucka?

Yep. No problemo compadre'. Will you do the same please?

There is a really good Starship Troopers model I use for the parasite for now, in the hopes GW will eventually come out with a winged warrior pack (with winged rippers included) to do a conversion with.

What set do the plastic Rippers come with? I need a bunch and assumed they came with hormaguants, but was disappoint when they didnt.

Gitsplitta wrote:Anyone know how they paint in those triangular streaks in the tyranid carapace? I just have them set so the wash is deepest along the overlap (I actually turn them upside-down to dry after washing the plates), but I am curious about how you do the streaking.

They are best done with a feathering technique. I have yet to try feathering myself, but Asher over at the Penny Arcade forums does an incredible tyranid brood using that technique. I can post a link later, when I'm at home.

Thanks Heffling, that would be great!

Here's a link to his Adepticon Nid army.

http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showpost.php?p=18055972&postcount=1218

You can also look through the Art of War thread under Critical Failures to see some close up examples.

A certain box just might hit the mailbox tomorrow.. barring unforseen circumstances Gits. Sorry for the delay, but I needed an actual box. :-P

LOL! Thanks wolf... and Heff for the link!

Gitsplitta wrote:Yep. No problemo compadre'. Will you do the same please?

Already done mate

Cool. Thanks man. You'll see you old figs emerging over time. Don't want to just "hand" them to him... gotta get some work outta 'im first! :-)

Yeah sound mate got to put your own touches on them.

Another great thread by Gitsplitta! great work mate, thought I'd read this one through too as I'm helping my 6 year old start his Tyranid army at the moment.

I love the Prime conversion you did with the old Carnifex, it certainly shows how much the newer models have grown.

I picked up an old Hive Tyrant for him to use, but it's a bit small really, fits happily on a 40mm base, so we'll probably run it as a prime

Well, I'd had that old figure panted for ages... bought it new you know... seemed a shame to waste it. We're working on a warrior squad to go with it so I hope to have a group shot of the whole batch in the next week or so. He's doing a good chunk of the painting on his own and it's working out great!

Cool as, yeah I'm getting some old beat up termagants for my boy to practice on, he's still in the thickly cover everything in on colour phase at the moment... But with more practice he'll get there.

I've just had to work out a nice simple colour scheme for him to build his skills and confidence.

Same as I did with these. We use Army Painter bone colored spray primer as the base (he can do that). Sepia wash the whole thing (he can do that). Paid the tops of the plates green (he can do that). I paint the edges & underside of the plates, the green wash, any pink detailing and the claws which I'm using the airbrush to get the effect he wants.

Heh, that's similar to what we ended up agreeing on. Dehneb stone base, devlan mud wash, then a couple of coats of the purple wash on the armour, then I put scorpion green details in and do the eyes for him.

Been a long time since I posted up anything. Got some Nid necessities from mercer (thanks bud) and we've been working our way through the Warriors to give the prime a posse to run with. They're mostly done now, just a couple left. These are done to a simple tabletop standard but as is, my 7-year old can actually do most of it on his own.

He primes with Army Painter bone primer, washes the whole thing with sepia and can paint the upper surface of the plates green and the talons black. I finish the tough parts of the plates and wash them, then use the airbrush to blend the red into the talons. I also do the pink bits and the mouth. Now some of these already had the bone part done by mercer... but a few were just primed black so we had to do those from scratch. Can't recall if the one in the photo was partially done or not.


We started a 1000 pt game but it got interrupted by a 40k play date. That being said, Thing 2 is going to be playing with a boy who also has nids as is fairly accomplished with them, so he should learn a few tricks in the process. Since we just got to deployment, perhaps we'll be able to pick things up where we left off later.

Nice. Sounds like the little ones are on their way.

Finished the warrior squad. Sorry, the background was a little smaller than the squad.



We had a great battle the other day. He got some tips from one of Thing 1's friends and tried some new things. Even though he won the roll he forced me to go first so he could respond to my deployment and then flank marched his stealers... which were both new tactics for him. We had a kill point battle that came down to the very end, with my Mantis Warriors edging him out by 1 point. I think with a minor tweak (my fault) we could have built his exact list in a way that could have easily allowed him to earn another kill point or two. I was very proud of him!

Next up... a Trygon that also came from Mercer. We're in the process of painting it right now...

Those bugs are looking great.

I'm impressed at Thing 2's tactics. Flanking the stealers is pretty clever. I'm sure you're looking forwards to him having two Trygons Gits, then he has plenty of tactical decisions to make.

Also, would you be interested in some Raveners for his army?

P.S. I can add 8 termagants and a lone tyranid warrior (with boneswords converted from talons)to the package I'm sending you.

I'm jealous of his warriors, not something I've yet gotten. Glad to hear he has an army to call truly his and is learning good tactics already.

I am impressed for I fear his tactical insight is better than mine well I better stop fooling around.

Nice too see his army growing the best of luck too him

@GS: Yes on both counts... I'm sure he could put the raveners to good use. I've got one stray warrior with a bone sword and lash whip from my trade with mercer and three more in a box that I'd like to convert to that configuration IF I can find the parts somewhere... probably order them from Chapterhouse... so your warrior would fit right in. Jeez I'm going to owe you so much...

@WM & fatty: I really like the warriors in combination with the prime. The only thing that saved my butt is that I was able to charge my Iron Clad into them which pretty much tarpitted the Iron Clad but meant that they could not hurt him (at least as far as I could interpret their rules... please let me know if I err'd), so he slowly chewed through their ranks. I spent the rest of the game throwing everything else I had at his genestealers as they were going through my infantry and razorbacks at a pretty good clip. His only real problem from a kill point perspective (and this was my fault) was that I'd put his 3 zoey's in one unit, so they could all target only one thing per turn. If I'd split them up into 3 units, they could have worked their way through all the drop pods in short order and scattered to take on the razorbacks and rifleman. Earning more than enough kill points in the process to secure the victory. It was a tough scenario from my persepctive though as I had 10 KPs to give away and he only had 6. Had we split up his zoeys he would have had 8... which would have made the "dance" more equitable from that perspective. Since I did kill one of the zoanthropes, that would have given me one extra kill point, how many extra kill points 3 independent zoeys would have accounted for I'm not sure... one at least, perhaps two or three. In any case he did very well with only his second time out using an army that is troop heavy (warriors, stealers and rippers) vs. my tournament army with all of it's armor (granted, light armor... but armor none-the-less). Wish I'd have taken photos... would have been a great little battle report.

The nice little visual "hook" to these figures in the airbrushing of the red on the talons. It's such a simple little thing but really makes them stand out. The neat thing about the larger models like the trygon is that their talons are so much bigger.... that much more of a physical palate for the striking contrast between the red and black to be taken advantage of.

If he'd had rending claws on the prime there would have been a good chance to kill the clad, otherwise untouchable :(

One of the reasons why i tend to put a set on my primes (means you can glance AV14 as well)

I'll remember that. I had them stripped down pretty close to the bone to get them down to 1000 points, but that was a big enough issue that I think I'll find the points to give them rending claws for next time.

Thanks Vit... appreciate the help.

Any time Gits

Although, if Thing 2 is careful in choosing assaults you can probably get away with giving it to the Prime only, think its a 5 pt upgrade.

Have you considered making an uber warrior squad with lashwhips and boneswords? Theyre always fun!! (bit pricey though )

Vitruvian XVII wrote:Have you considered making an uber warrior squad with lashwhips and boneswords? Theyre always fun!! (bit pricey though )

Yes actually. We have one extra warrior a-la mercer that is so armed, and I've got a box of 3 warriors that I'd like to use to fill out the unit. Just don't know where to get the lashwips & bone swords from. I know Chapterhouse carries functional analogues so we can start there I guess.

Nice paintjob on the warriors. Its nice to see that I'm being out painted by such a young general

Tell thing 2 to keep up the good work, and he'll be kicking butt and taking names in no time.

Zoana's are a really (censored) pain in the old buttocks. i never killed one to many saves aghh. btw i really like the big warrior squads my buddy never fields more than 4 per unit

Models are looking great.

It would be awesome to get some shots of the games when you play them...

Can do CT...

Woh, lovin the nids Gits, keep up the hard work and I hope your two sons like the hobby, my little brother has started playing and collecting now (he has a SW and Ork army) and, lol, even has my even younger little sister.

Gitsplitta wrote:@GS: Yes on both counts... I'm sure he could put the raveners to good use. I've got one stray warrior with a bone sword and lash whip from my trade with mercer and three more in a box that I'd like to convert to that configuration IF I can find the parts somewhere... probably order them from Chapterhouse... so your warrior would fit right in. Jeez I'm going to owe you so much...

I'll just add it to your tab.
The Warrior is 'a gratuit', as I have no use for it (the other two models from the box were converted into Tyranid Primes for some friends of mine) same with the gaunts. I'll have to think of what I should ask for in return for the Raveners though as they were only 20% off RRP.

OK GS, just PM me when you come to a decision.

subscribing

Got to say im very impressed with Thing 2's tactics. hes good for such a young player.

keep it up.

I'll pass that on Nathan, thanks!

any thoughts on a big game with thing 1 and 2 forging an alliance against their almighty father. That seems like it would be a great game!

I mention that quite frequently but they don't seem to want to go that route... too had to work together I guess. Plus at this stage both their new armies are unfamiliar to us all so I would rather not have more than one new army on the table at any given time. Now they could play each other if I was free to look up rules... but so far the 2 on 1 hasn't happened.

Awe, it would be a great battle Seeing them fight together would be cool, or a free-for-all objective game hehe

tripple tread matches are fun. i laughed as the orks and eldar killed each other when my dark grot finally entered too kill them all. good times

but any how why dont you try a team battle? 2-on-2
Parents vs Kids?

The other parent doesn't game... though I think a 2 on 2 battle would be a lot of fun and I think the boys would get into it. Have to wrangle one of my buds from the FLGS to come up here and have a game.

Looking good man! Can't wait to see the Trygon and the Tyranid Prime

Thanks Mercer, Trygon is "in process"... I was able to carefully remove a few limbs, mainly to make it easier for the little one to do his part of the painting (converting your dark red to his green), and to make it easier for me to do my airbrush thing on the talons. We might get it done this weekend, you never know.

yeah painting with all those talons can be a paint especially getting into all the gaps as you will see.

Had a little battle with Thing 2 tonight... Got a quick bat rep for you!

Mantis Warriors: 1000 pts

HQ: MoTF stock
Elite: 5 sternguard, 4 combi-meltas, 1 melta, srg w/ PF, pod w/ homing beacon
Elite: Iron Clad, HF, pod w/ homing beacon
Troop: 5 marines w/ las/plas razorback
Troop: 5 marines w/ las/plas razorback
Hvy: Rifleman Dread


Hive Fleep Pliodon (998 ish)

HQ: T- Prime, randing, deathspiter, adrenal
EL: Zoanthrope
EL: Zoanthrope
EL: Zoanthrope
Troop: 7 warriors, venom cannon, rending, adrenal
Troop: 9 stealers, randing, adrenal
Hvy: Trygon



At this point I realize that I have once again forgotten to put the "I" in Mantis... I glance askew at the bottle of Glen Morangie that sits empty on the table and suspect that it's not really the alcohol that has made me screw up my spelling for the 3rd time (especially since I formatted the picture hours ago).

We rolled for spearhead deployment & capture & control, 5 objectives. Mantis Warriors go first. I pick my side and deploy both dreads on the table with sternguard & MoTF in pod to come down in reserve. Thing 2 deploys in opposite quarter, Trygon to deep strike, everything else on the table.

Turn 1: First two empty pods scatter max distance to the *exact same spot* (no lie). Since I was still painting them and they were effectively out of the game I just removed them, but you can see where they landed by the two orange arrows in the upper left. Las cannons on razorbacks account for two warriors, Iron clad moves in front of rifleman to provide cover. Meanwhile, Thing 2 moves to envelop, moving must in a circular pattern around central building while stealers take the fall line across the field.



Turn 2: I roll for reserves and my sternguard pod comes down EXACTLY where the other two were supposed to come down... firing from the squad and MoTF nearly eliminates the stealers... leaving one. (I forget to have it make a morale test). One more warrior is lost to lascannon fire from the lower razorback. Thing 2's Warrior squad dives for cover of building. and his deep striking Trygon mishaps onto the lone gene stealer and dies. I suggested that he auto fail the stealer's morale roll (since we forgot it before) which would have cleared the way for the trygon, but he stubbornly refuses and rolls a 2 on the mishap table. He melts down. Takes me 10 minutes or so to get him talked back into playing but he eventually bucks up and gives me one hell of a game. Two sternguard meet their end through a combination of firing and the gene stealer's last charge. Warrior squad shakes "southern" razorback.



Turn 3: Sternguard press the attack on the left, wounding a zoey with special bolter fire. Iron Clad steps up to confront warriors who are now threatening rifleman dread, deals 3 wounds with his heavy flamer & charges. Stunned razorback backs up out of harms way. In his turn his Prime kills the dread with one mighty swing and the squad moves forward towards the other dread. He charges the autocannon dread but it holds.



Turn 4: The sternguard move in on the zoeys and shoot, but to no avail. Returning fire kills 2 and they fail their morale roll. I decide to make a play for two objectives NOT in warrior charge range and spring my razorbacks left. Battle with rifleman goes on... I do one wound.




Turn 5: Dash for objectives continues and I pop smoke. Sternguard continue to fall back as I have forgotten about "and they shall know no fear). Zoey's shooting is ineffective, assault continues.


Turn 6: Pretty much a stale mate here... but last minute shooting fro pod kills 1 warrior.


Turn 7: Sternguard and MoTF start moving in the right direction again. Killed a second zoay. Thing 2 finally blows an army off my dread.



So, in the end we had a great game! The MW's eked out a victory but in spite of a major set back early on the Nids really brought their best effort! Thing 2 got to blow stuff up, knock out my best troops and in the end, rip the arm off of my rifleman which made up for the turns of being tar-pitted and all the bad rolling that caused it. With his rending claws (they were on everything) he should have gotten through that dread much easier.

Nice batrep Gits, sucks for Thing2 buts thats the dangers of DS i guess.

Seems like the rending claws worked well, if he ever gets stuck on points you could just put them on the Prime.

Also, something to bear in mind, I like sarting Trygons on the table, theyre fairly fast and draw a lot of fire which helps keep the rest of the force alive.

Tell Thing2 congrats on a good fight and for not giving up!!

edit: Also, stealers are fearless

Thanks Vit... we're both still learning his army. Will keep that in mind for future stealer action.

What I didn't mention is that originally the Trygon did start on the table and it took the two lascannon hits plus one more wound instead of the warriors... so it had 3 wounds by the end of my first shooting phase. Then I noticed that it could deep strike & gave him the option of doing it that way & transferring the hits over the warriors (which would have been my target had the Trygon not been there).

No question the big "victory" for Thing 2 in this game was toughing it out and keeping fighting. We had a lot of fun throughout... he killed stuff and eventually ripped an arm off my last dread which made him happy. The rending claws really helped. He should have taken out rifleman far earlier, he just got unlucky in his rolls.

Nice battle report. Trygons scare me.

Yeah, me too... I hesitate to think what would have happened if that thing had come down where it was supposed to...

If you wanna cheer up thing 2, you could re-read the Subterranean Assualt rule for the Trygon, specificly the first paragraph. New army so it's understandeble though
Other than that, very nice report, his nids looks great on the table too

Limbo wrote:If you wanna cheer up thing 2, you could re-read the Subterranean Assualt rule for the Trygon, specificly the first paragraph

Indeed, Trygons don't mishap when they land on impassible terrain or models from either side. You move them the minimum distance away from the obstacle.

Besides that though, sounds like a fun and tense game! A sign of a good player is the ability to recover from seemingly debilitating losses, so good job to him!

Just like a drop pod! No problem! Thanks guys!

I've had DS woes as well. I was in an escalation tourny (with prizes and everything) with my deathwing. I DS my 5 man termi command squad along with my named HQ, which scattered 12, misshaped and died, on turn one (DW assault rule). This was in a 1000 point game. it was close to 500 of those. I won my other 2 games, but got murdered that one, and was out of prize contention because of it.

Well, my first tournament practicing with the Mantis Warrior army my Iron Clad mishapped and died on turn 1. Not as bad as yours but still 200 points out of 1000. And two KPs to give away to boot! Thank God the sternguard were over-achievers that battle...

haha thats great. I wanna say too thing 2 good job and credit too him for playing by the rules. its a big thing for his age not too take the easy way but the hard way and thats true character.

You're right fatty... he did well & had a lot of fun too. As long as we focus on that in our games, he'll be fine.

Anything that is a synapse creature, zoantropes, warriors, any HQ, is auto fearless.

Makes it fun, until you lose combat.

So many rules to learn... *sigh*. But... we'll get there eventually! He sure has fun playing them. Wait until he gets a good group of MCs out there... he'll have a ball!

Good on Thing 2 for keeping at it!

It can be a mission keeping the younger ones interested if the battle's not going their way. I know I have that issue at times with my 6yr old.

Oh, and I feel you pain with all the rules. My boy has started nids as well. So much to remember!

They're a nice change to paint from all the marines and necrons though... #1 they're bloody easy... at least the way we do it. And they still look good on the table. It's amazing what a little airbrushing of the talons will do to make them look spiffy even though the rest of the model is quite plain.

I'm looking forward to finally having the chance to work on them again in order to give him some options. His poor Trygon is about half done & will have to stay that way until after Adepticon...

Yea very good work to thing 2, especially since I know how debilitating the loss of your big monster unit can be. I often have a hard time keeping my 9 year old brother from playing when he feels he's losing to many dudes. Especially when I wipe out the death company in a turn or so. Never mind it took my entire army shooting at it to do so but still. So good on him for toughing it out and shooting you to pieces as payback XD

Well, Thing 2 took a 1500 point eldar force and narrowly defeated my space marines. He stuck to his plan, absorbed the casualties and kept pressing. Hope to resume painting his tyranids in a day or two so we can continue to expand his possibilities.

Sweet, sounds like he is enjoying things and it gives you both a common interest.

Oh yeah... he has fun. He's got a knack for it too. Wait till he's a good enough reader to be able to start devouring the fluff.... they he'll be unstoppable!

I did make progress on his Trygon this weekend, hope to get if finished up by Friday.