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I am taking Tyranids and turning them into indigenous creatures that live on a desert world somewhere. They are a bit like the bugs in Starship Troopers...so I am leaving off all of the ranged weapons except for bio-plasma.

The Nids will be camouflaged to match the desert so I'm keeping them natural looking rather than sky-blue-scarlet-purple...

To start with, I bought a battle-force a while ago so I have a Carnifex, 3 Warriors, 8 Genestealers, 8 Termagants, 12 Hormagaunts and a bunch of Rippers so in a bid to start the machine rolling, I started with the gaunts.

Because I wanted no ranged weapons, I took the scything talons from the Genestealers and put them on the Termagants. I also trimmed a few pairs of Genestealer Rending Claws and added them to the Warriors. I built the Carnifex with just scything talons.

So...on to paint:

White undercoat.
Bubonic Brown basecoat.
Ogryn Flesh Wash.
Plates/claws Bubonic Brown, leaving the wash in the recesses, highlight with Bleached Bone.
Mouths Scorched brown with Mechrite Red tongue highlighted with Tanned Flesh.
Teeth Bleached Bone.
Eyes Bad Moon Yellow with the recesses around the eyes being Scorched Brown

Pretty simple really.

Here are the Gaunts:



They still have teeth, tongues, eyes and bases to be painted before they are done.

I have the Warriors and Rippers all base painted and washed ready for the next stage.

I just thought I'd share .

EDIT: Updated colour list (now that I have finished painting the eyes/mouths).

Awesome scheme.

Very nice and simple scheme but it looks oh so cool!

They gonna be out in the desert feeding off of biomass?

Sweet color scheme. I may steal it...

A simple but effective colour scheme. It looks great en masse.

Schemes looking nice. Moar!

I'm glad you like the scheme, I wanted to keep things simple but still look like I'd put a bit of effort in .

I am currently making a mess of the eyes on all the Gaunts but hope to tidy them up tomorrow along with finishing off all of the tongues...

...

...

Then it will be the teeth... ...so many teeth!

great scheme, i like the idea of an indigenous 'nids

Looking gorgeous! For the eyes, I suggest a dull, solid black or brown if you haven't some something of that nature already.

@Owain: Sorry, I had already painted them yellow and I really couldn't face going back and doing them all again. I painted the recesses around the eyes in scorched brown so the eyes stood out a bit too.

I have now finished the Gaunts except for the bases (I'll sort all of the bases out at the same time) and have the three warriors on the table to get the painting treatment.

There are certain bits about painting Tyranids that are really easy (base coating, washing and basic highlights - because that is all they need) and there are less easy bits that take a lot of gearing up for (eyes and teeth)...

You just get them all to a certain level and then your heart drops because you know you have to paint all those teeth! (fortunately the gaunts are done...YAY!)

Nice color scheme. Simple tones but used well and effectively. I'm guessing you have an appropriate desert terrain board to play them on?

This cool! Can I join you swarm?

The bugs in Starship Troopers had laser guns.

u could get starship trooper bugs miniatures at one time, i think the company went under though or something....either way, if you werent making a GW only army, they could be great miniatures to use to convert with.

@Broken Loose: I am thinking more of the film than the book...and I'm not trying to build a Starship Troopers army, more an alien 'ant colony' sort of thing (hence no ranged weapons except for bio plasma because some ants can spray formic acid)...I was using the bugs from SST as an example.

@ghosty: It was Mongoose Publishing that used to do the SST stuff and there is still quite a lot available on E-bay BUT the plastic they use doesn't like certain glues so I am very dubious about chopping and changing bits. Like I said above, I'm not actually going for SST more something akin to an 'alien ants' theme.

@Lexx: Sorry to disappoint but I don't game so I don't have a board for them. I just collect, sculpt and paint.

Thanks for the input and I am glad that there are some people who appreciate the 'NON-Garish' colours I've used.

Non-Garish?

gar⋅ish  [gair-ish, gar-]
–adjective
1. crudely or tastelessly colorful, showy, or elaborate, as clothes or decoration.
2. excessively ornate or elaborate, as buildings or writings.
3. dressed in or ornamented with bright colors.
4. excessively bright; glaring.

Oh so basically like a moise marine.

Inso wrote:@Broken Loose: I am thinking more of the film than the book...and I'm not trying to build a Starship Troopers army, more an alien 'ant colony' sort of thing (hence no ranged weapons except for bio plasma because some ants can spray formic acid)...I was using the bugs from SST as an example.

Soooo venom cannons, deathspitters, pyro-acid, bio-plasma, and possibly spore mines and warp blast?

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Nice paint scheme, I'll admit.

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Ants can generate chemicals and spit them...just like nids can generate bio-plasma. Ants don't carry around symbiote creatures so I didn't want my nids to.

Because I don't game, it is a 'look' thing. Rather than the thought of all the different types of bug in SST, I was thinking more of the scene where all the bugs are charging the fort...lots and lots of just teeth and claws. Even the more unusual bugs generate the ranged weapons from inside themselves (spitting acid, firing plasma from their butts etc...) and that is the sort of general look I'm after. Gaming wise, it doesn't really matter how good they are...I won't be using them to game with.

I guess I don't see too much of a leap between the SST bugs and ants (apart from size and the alien-ness of the bugs). They have a hierarchy, a leader cast and workers etc...but they also have a sort of implied realism with the way they generate ranged attacks.

I like to have a theme behind the armies I create and they don't necessarily conform to the Codex. I try to explain what I am hoping to achieve by looking for examples that are sort of in the same ball park...it sets the scene a bit like fluff does.

I take on board critique and if it fits the theme and I have the resources, I quite often change things...critique is important and I appreciate feedback as long as it is constructive.

On to other news...the warriors are underway with all three now having painted faces and the first layer of highlighting (post base coat and washing) almost complete. Hopefully, by tomorrow evening, I'll have that completed and will be on to the final highlights. Then it will be a few small steps to showing new pix.

I also found another ripper so I will have ten bases with 3 on each (magnetised so they can act as wound markers too...I know I don't game BUT I do like to think that I might one day).

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Sweeeeet nids.

Thanks .

I have a few update pix. The first one is of the Gaunts as they are now (just need the bases painting):



The top row is of Termagants with Genestealer scything talons, the rest are standard Hormagaunts.

This following pic shows WIP Warriors and Rippers (all 30 of them):



The Warriors have trimmed down Genestealer rending claws. The Warriors just need the final highlights on the plates now...then I can start on all the Rippers!

LOL, the last termagant to the right looks like he's holding a combat knife.

good eye- giggle

Nice tyranids. I like the indigenous theme. Are you going to make any terrain for them? or maybe some IG (or other army) dead/dieing minis to fluff the army up a bit?

I have stalled somewhat on the painting because I have been trying to reinvigorate my Carnifex a bit. I had previously glued him together but I wasn't happy with him so I felt obliged to cut his arms off. I haven't quite finished him yet but I thought I'd pop a pic of him in here anyway...just so you can see what I've done to the arms and claws. Bulky arms and stubby claws...



I wanted the front claws to be a bit 'flicky' so have put them in a mantis style position...I still have a fair way to go on him (filling, wrists, fitting the arms and building up the shoulders and sorting out the carapace)...but I thought he'd be a good excuse for not painting .

I like what you've done with the claws there. Much more in the bulky smashy Fex style I picture in my head rather than long and sweeping. I would say switch to a Scythe Tail bit though, so it matches all the other blades and spikes you've got on the rest of him. That and I just don't like the way Mace Tails look...

I must admit that the more I look at it, the more I tend to agree with you...I'm sure at the time I fitted it, it must have looked OK...but then again, I did glue the arms on wrong .

If I can find the bladed tail, I'll swap it .

Good for you! The mace tails looks like a steaming dung-pile.

The scythe tail is now glued in place and I will need to sort the tail tip out (due to the other one being broken off in the club tail removal process).

You see? I do listen to suggestions ...especially when they make sense.