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Fantastic army, just as Tyranids should be done! I especially like the pods, they creep me out.

Beautiful work. I love the stories that accompany your posts. Those pods really make me queasy. Great work!

Those nids are so rich and vivid. Great job mate !

One of the most common Tyranid Bio-forms to have infested Ferron Proxima is the Termagant 'Gauntii Virago' Although seemingly without number these beasts, up until now, seemed to have had a maximum population level. This evolutionary ceiling has been attributed to the limited numbers if 'brood mothers' that spawn the gaunts. Additionally, the Hive mind is actively utilising it's available bio-matter and unbelievably it's alien intelligence is ensuring it does not commit it's resources to what is essentially a very limited beast.



That's not to say Termagants are not a threat to the population, bio-magi data suggests that there may be many more gaunts secreted in the catacombs and underground spawning chambers that the Hive Fleet has started to fortify. It also appears that the Tervigons may have developed new reproduction methods that may increase their ability to spawn in larger numbers. There is no evidence of this happening in the wild yet but the Dark Angel and Planetary Defence Forces that are currently containing their incursion have started to bolster their defences in readiness of any increase in their numbers.



Most of these gaunts are born fully formed with their own symbiotic weaponry. Despite the shock of birth they are spat like projectiles from the Tervigon's womb, immediately moving on, shooting their obscene bio-weaponry and even attacking innocent citizens of the Emperor. The abomination has even been witnessed whereby they have literally been shot out of their brood mother onto battlements and defended buildings. The staunch faith of these brave soldiers kept them alive to tell of the horrors witnessed. Having passed on this vital knowledge the Inquisition gratefully bestowed the 'Emperor's Peace' on them with summary executions so they could not spread the foul knowledge to the citizens of Ferron Proxima, their names subsequently added onto the 'Ferron Roll of Heroes' for services to the Emperor.



Another point of note is that these Termagants are highly mutable, often having enhanced strength or poisonous sacs that will lay low any human. Some of these bio-morphs can be traced back to their progenitor but equally some seem to be vestigial growths whose only purpose can be surmised as to keep track of it's various offspring. Again, such observations could be seen as heretical, even the concept that there is an intelligence behind the Xenos filth's actions is tantamount to balsphemy. However, some members of the Ordo-Xenos have sufficient powers to grant the Bio-Magi currently observign the nature of this alien scum the licence to postulate such radical theories.



Termagants are considered one of the lower life-forms that make up the Tyranid menace but they must not be underestimated. The people of Ferron Proxima will face more of these creatures in the future and it is upt to the staunch defenders of the is planet to stamp out their taint on the red planet.

Love your fleet! Winged tyrant and tervigon look amazing!

Great looking nids.

Got back from Throne of Skulls at the weekend clutching this in my lardy fingers:



Hive Fleet Gorgon - Ferron Splinter Fleet done good

That is awesome! Congrats!

NOW I remember this army !

It was at Blog wars the first time I took part on the 2nd of November!

Those were the days... Before the Era of the 6th Edition Codex was born... that was the first and last time I would come 2nd in an event I am sure of it

 Bloodhorror wrote:
NOW I remember this army !

It was at Blog wars the first time I took part on the 2nd of November!

Those were the days... Before the Era of the 6th Edition Codex was born... that was the first and last time I would come 2nd in an event I am sure of it

It was indeed, hopefully it'll make Blog Wars 7 in June, my Dark Angels will not be ready in time. Although it only won 2 out of five games 'nids did win the Throne of Skulls tournament outright, second time in a row! The Codex is still poor and still does not address a large number of issues that was even wrong with the old Codex but I am finding that with enough Catalyst and cover they can be just as effective. I'd appreciate the Spore Pod as an option still, the board is a long way to traverse to get into your opponents Deployment Zone and get Line Breaker but what can you do?

Well with my list, I'm just spamming flyers and Gargoyles

I find that with 2 Tyrants and 2 Zoanthropes casting dominion once a turn, you can cover Synapse easily enough and the Gargoyles and Flying MC's are fast enough to get there in a turn


I call it the "Balls Deep" manoeuvre!

It was late on in the incursion of Ferron Proxima that Hive Fleet Gorgon introduced a new bio-menace.The tactics so far had usually followed a path of bio-engineering a new bioform that would threaten Ferron's defences and that way the Hive Mind could ascertain whether it was worth committing further resources to that bioform. However in this instance three new bioforms were created and deployed under the watchful gaze of the tried and tested Zoanthope genus.



Having the enhanced brain capacity of the Zoanthrope alongside these three new test subjects would allow the Hive to monitor their progress, strengths and weaknesses in real time and at an accelarated pace compared to it's previous prototyping tests. As these four abominations were often seen within close proximity to each other the valiant defenders of Ferron proxima took to calling them the 'Four Horsemen of the Ferron Apocalypse' in referrence to the ancient Terran fables. At first this naming practice was overlooked. up until the the very words 'Four Horsemen' began to bring about the unmanning of the most staunch auxillia in the PDF. Once this fear started to spread members of th Astra Militarum Commissariat were deployed to submit fatal alternatives to the grip of fear. In truth though the names were continued to be spoken, just in more hushed tones, while the light of terror in their eyes shone on regardless.



The Hive Mind's conduit was nicknamed 'Famine', in part because it was initially thought to be a reincarnation of the 'Doom of Ferron Proxima'. However, this was a case of mistaken identity and although it did not have the life sucking powers of that nightmare creature it did posses many other skills of the emperian. Although it was not initially considered the most threatening of it's twisted bretheren it's Psychic abilities received an unexpected boost when the 7 planets within the Ferron system aligned causing an unexpected change the manifestation of all Psychic powers within the system. Sanctioned Psykers of the Imperium have begun referring to this change as the 'Phase'. It's too early to tell what impact it will have on Hive Fleet's control of it's witch powers but so far there have been great improvements alongside drastic failures.

Despite it's fragile outer structure Famine controls all four of the Horsemen as an extension of the Hive Mind, it's recommended by the Bio-magi studying this new danger that despite it's lower threat level than it's brothers it should be considered target priority Alpha, to sever the connection between the other Horsemen and the Hive Mind.



If appearance alone be the judge of danger then this creature from the Carnifex family would otherwise be considered target priority Alpha. The creature itself is a Behemoth, a nigh unstoppable bio-tank armed with some of the most potent Brainleech Devourers the Xenos can engineer. Although not as manoeuvrable as the winged Hive Tyrant that also can be found armed with such weaponry this creature, dubbed 'War' due to it uncompromising battlefield role, advances under the protection of it's siblings. It uses the mental fortitude of Famine whilst being protected under the cloud of Pestilence...



..this foul, loathsome creature is still much a mystery to the bio-magi. It seems to contain and exhude some of the most virulent toxins and poisons ever encountered on Ferron Proxima. Gaining samples have proved extremely fatal. The creature is shrouded by a toxic mist that obscures most of it's biological functions and also manages to cover the advance of it's siblings and other creature from the Xeno's threat.

Due it's Toxic nature the nickname Pestilence was adopted. Despite its slender size and less fearsome appearance it is often this creature that will terrify more than the rest of the Horsemen. For what can a man do, even one blessed by the Emperor [insomuch as that man was conscripted into the PDF and there by default MUST be blessed] when behind those writhing tentacles and slime dripping maw once could die instantly just by being close to this abomination.



Yet for all Pestilence's fatal characteristics it is this Lictor that has earned the moniker - 'Death'. For it is death incarnate, an untimely end no one can foresee. Often striking from the shadows, having patiently stalked it's prey. With an adaptive camouflage that can help it blend into it's surroundings usually the first sign of it's presence is the mantis like talons that have suddenly appeared protruding from a Guardman's chest. Identification of this member of the four horsemen has been the hardest as it's given role of the fourrequires it to range further ahead than it's bretheren, even beyond the control of Famine and given this level of autonomy quite often the connection between the four has not been made. rest assured though that if you see one of these creatures the rest will surely follow but whether you see all four at once depends on if you survive the meeting or whether they choose to reveal themselves.

 Trondheim wrote:
This is by far the best Tyranid fluff I have read for as long as I dare to recall. And the conversions you have done, alongside the amazing paintwork you have preformed makes me bow my head in respect! Well done sir!

Tyranid fluff as a whole is pretty meh. "This tendril is adapted to X, so it has a lot of Y". I'm not sure if Hive Fleet Gorgon is the one I remember reading about, but it probably was the one that attacked the Tau Empire with rapidly changing organisms, but still lost because it couldn't make the larger organisms at the pace it needed to and was eradicated because of it. It's my favorite Tyranid fluff, but I think there could be a better backstory for this guy's army. These nids look like they've been exposed to Chaos. Oh! Here's an idea! Just expand on their story, explaining that they were taken by a warp storm.

 Quarterdime wrote:

Tyranid fluff as a whole is pretty meh. "This tendril is adapted to X, so it has a lot of Y". I'm not sure if Hive Fleet Gorgon is the one I remember reading about, but it probably was the one that attacked the Tau Empire with rapidly changing organisms, but still lost because it couldn't make the larger organisms at the pace it needed to and was eradicated because of it. It's my favorite Tyranid fluff, but I think there could be a better backstory for this guy's army. These nids look like they've been exposed to Chaos. Oh! Here's an idea! Just expand on their story, explaining that they were taken by a warp storm.

Too kind, they are indeed the Hive Fleet that bit off more than they can chew with the Tau. Where I've expanded is that this is the splinter fleet that formed from the three Hive Ships that escaped the evil predatory nature of the Tau. I'm not sure where your Chaos bits would come in but I write the fluff to tie in everything with the Ferron star system, which includes the Eldar that my son used to collect, the Dark Angels who use Ferron Proxima as a recruitment world, some sly digs at current rules and Codex practices and the other character's who populate the planet like Professor Egon Seuss - eminent xeno-botanist, Delta Level Bio-Magi of the Frau Mara Institute of Floramancy and part-time children's author, here he is:



And two of his literary works:



and the rest of the story behind him: http://40kaddict.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/flufftastic-professor-egon-seuss.html

So although the fluff of the Xenos bioform may be perceived by the lay person to be one dimensional. When viewed holistically, alongside the wider fluff there is perhaps more depth than is initially present, otherwise its just a bunch of pictures, right?!

Whoa. This is awesome

Makes me feel inspired and at the same time inadequate as a fledgling painter.

Very nice work, and I enjoy how you have presented this fleet with the fluff in between pictures.

That proto-Tervigon

Subscribed.

Hey Mad.. please feel inspired to paint but not inadequate, especially if you're just starting out. There is nothing here that other painters cannot do and in some parts my army is quite rough and patchy. I'm a decent painter who has been painting a long time but I still struggle with a lot of things, power armour for instance and I find fine lines very difficult to achieve.

Ultimately you have to feel comfortable with what you're doing and just start stretching yourself. With so many Tyranids to paint I have improved a bit over the last few years but having a 'recipe' for my colour scheme has made the progression of my army so much easier.

Having looked at your painting log you have a recipe and that's working for you so that's a great start. I'm loving the red planet basing and they really make the army come together as whole. My advice to take them to the next level I'd look into using a wash in the joins between the Chitin Plates just to define where each one is and then perhaps just add some lighter highlights of yellow on the edges, again it'll add a little more definition to the model. I'll post this in your thread so you don't miss it.

 dwez wrote:
Hey Mad.. please feel inspired to paint but not inadequate, especially if you're just starting out. There is nothing here that other painters cannot do and in some parts my army is quite rough and patchy. I'm a decent painter who has been painting a long time but I still struggle with a lot of things, power armour for instance and I find fine lines very difficult to achieve.

Heh, cheers for that. I know I am starting out and have A LOT to learn about painting up minis. Thanks for your thoughts on my army, this is why I look at other peoples work as I am keen to learn, but also because when I see this stuff it shows me what I might be able to do as my skill set and experience grows... hence the inspiration to keep going to get great looking models myself.

I was just describing to my group the color scheme I've planned for my nids, it's this exactly hah!

Your bugs look amazing I'm so happy I found this (subscribed). Excellent work dude, wow...

Somebody hit me I must be dreaming....but seriously this is tied with they best tyranid minatures I have seen for a long time....nice to see the bugs getting some love and your fluff is beyond excellent...Keep being awesome

Edit; Tied with Nard if you've ever seen his nids

Damn there's some nice stuff in this thread!

 Drogga wrote:
Somebody hit me I must be dreaming....but seriously this is tied with they best tyranid minatures I have seen for a long time....nice to see the bugs getting some love and your fluff is beyond excellent...Keep being awesome

Edit; Tied with Nard if you've ever seen his nids

Nard is insane, I'm flattered to be considered alongside such work. I think there are a lot of awesome nids out there, almost unique in the 40k universe in that you can see an awesome colour scheme and 'say I want to do mine like that' and then see another one and go 'no I want to do it like that'. You can get a similar thought with Necrons I think but the other 'factions' tend to be based on your 'love' for a Chapter or Craftworld. With nids you just get the three main Hive Fleets but I think the majority of people just want to do their own thing, which is cool and very inspirational.

Although there has recently been little evidence of activity from Hive Fleet Gorgon on Ferron Proxima, the truth is the exact opposite. Much of it's biomass was siphoned off to create many of the larger monstrous creatures and now that it has suffered heavy losses of those same monsters the Hive Mind has adapted once again. It has exerted its will over creatures already inhabiting the red planet and swelling their numbers with raw recruits. If the great Devourer cannot smash it's way into subduing the planet it will infiltrate its way, as it was before so will it be again.



The Genestealer is rightly feared is the premier close combat unit in the 41st millennium although the Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer would describe them as 'generally slow and sluggis' with 'puny claws' and 'short, multi-jointed limbs'. The truth is they are far from slow and their claws are as sharp and tough as adamantium, however they seem to be clad in chitinous armour that is so weak and brittle that bio-magi have spent considerable research hours trying to puzzle why the Hive Mind has employed tiny bio-organisms to regurgitate this feeble resinous armour substance onto the Genestealers. The whole process is convoluted, inefficient and above all the armour is practically useless.



But the real problem is not their ability to render limb from limb nor is their inherent weakness a cause to praise the Emperor, for their numbers are legion and they are everywhere it seems. Where before they would appear, lurking in no man's land, just flitting shadows moving from one ruin to the next; now we find them in the next building or the very rubble the honoored defenders of Ferron Proxima take cover from. As battle is joined these brave men, women and Astartes will discover the area they had secured before battle is joined is suddenly infested with these foul beasts.



What's worse is they will not immediately burst forth from the rubble, but lurk in the corners and rubble, usually revealing themselves at night and hiding. With such a dangerously close threat often the brave soldiers will unleash all their fire power to clear the area, only for the Genestealer to melt into the ruins or duck down, waiting, lurking, for some inexplicable signal to leave the confines of the manufactorums and derelict structures. Often this signal is the arrival of the great winged Hive Tyrants that have been seen to lead the hordes of aliens but also it can be that the brood of Genestealers that were targeted were not alone, that more broods hide behind them and all along while the closest threat was trying to be dealt with the ravening hordes are upon you - chose wisely your next target



To see more of these foul creatures point your cogitators here: http://40kaddict.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/nids-part-148-to-done-genestealers-more.html

Good to see you've come back man, good work.

Some of the best Tyranids I have ever seen. These things actually creep me out.

Cool looking genestealers.

I love the narration surrounding them, especially in regards to the armour.

The extra mandibles you have done on some of them is very effective and makes them look even meaner than normal.

Nice work.

Thanks guys, the blog has been ticking over in the mean time, I just haven't had time to share them on the forums but hopefully I can get you all up-to-date. It takes a bit more effort to come up with the fluff too but it helps ground the choices in some reality [even a made up one ]

Incidentally the mandibles were already on these, I managed to get a dozen of the Space Hulk Genestealers, mainly the dull ones, not the Broodlord or the ones bursting through the floor or descending down girders. BUt they're just that little bit different to stand out amongst the horde. It also helps they come standing on bits of Space Hulk so they can stand a bit taller than the usual stealers scuttling across the ground.

Wow! Nice! How did you make that terrain???

lliu wrote:
Wow! Nice! How did you make that terrain???

sorry for the delay in responding, dakkadakka isn't allowed at work and I just don't have as much time as I used to to spend on forums but all the step-by-step guides to how I made the terrain are on my blog under the tutorials tab, check it out


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Among the many monsters that have found their way to Ferron Proxima the Spawn of Proxima is one of the most fear-inducing. Biomagi are still not entirely sure how disparate Hive Fleets are able to bio-engineer organisms to a similar template despite little inter-fleet contact. It's often seen as a primary goal of all servants of the Emperor to ensure the co-mingling of Hive Fleets, and therefore the transference of resources, tactics, alien intelligence and enhanced evolutionary expereiences, is the greatest threat of the Xenos. However, if confirmed identification of specific genus types above and beyond the standard bioform prove, inter-species contact is not essential for the alien Hive to adapt beyond the confines of it's own fleet biologies.



The Spawn of Proxima is one such construct. Alpha-level Bio-magi have traced it's origin to a conflict in the Baal system where a beast matching it's description, known locally as the Spawn of Cryptus, appeared as a vanguard to an incurseion by Hive Fleet Leviathan. To date there has been little indication that Leviathan, Gorgon or the Ferron Splinter Fleet of gorgon have ever been in direct contact with each other. That's not to say in the deepest darkest reaches of space there hasn't been a meeting of alien minds, better that than the concept these different fleets are communicating across the void through some other obscene alien conduit.



The Spawn of Proxima has behaved in exactly the same manner as it's progenitor, surrounding itself with a brood of highly aggressive betaloned Genestealers that seem to emerge from the shadows at will before slinking off leaving the warm fetid remains of their unfortunate victims.



Even now though elements of the First Legion are arriving at the Ferron Space Ports ready to tackle this new threat. His appearances have increased as many of the Genestealer incursions within the Manufactorum districts has reduced. Once again it 's difficult to decipher if this is a redistribution of organisms, and evolution of its grand alien plan or the constant heroic defence of Ferron Proxima has dealt a death blow for one threat only to be faced by a more focused but deadly enemy. Only time will tell but time is something not on our sides as Hive Fleet Gorgon continues to try and Xenoform Ferron Proxima. The more it can convert the natural biology to their alien filth the greater chance of losing this valuable planet.




To see more of the Spawn of Prooxima point your cogitators here: http://40kaddict.blogspot.com/2015/01/nids-part-157-spawn-of-cryptus.html

For a variety of reasons I've not kept up my forum posting quite as I used to. Most of the forums are inaccessible at work and finding time, while keeping up my blog and various other personal projects, just hasn't been possible. That said it's worth noting that Hive Fleet Gorgon has had a number of reinforcements over the last two years, so it might be worthwhile at least recordign those efforts here.

With 8th Edition still warm in my hands it seems odd to be showcasing a dakkafex. It seems bare-bones and screamer-killer may be the sensible choice but I still love the model



With the Index Devourers with Brainleech Worms were superceded by the all new and all disgusting Deathspitter with Slimer Maggots. But thankfully the Codex doubled the Devourere shots so I wasn't about to give up proxying Fleshborer Hives for Devourers.



However, thanks to the wonders of magnetisation I may well look to make some Monstrous Deathspitters up in due course. At the time I only had the two Carnifex, I've since added a third but here are the original brothers.



If you wish to see more pics, point your cogitators here: http://www.40kaddict.uk/2015/03/nids-part-166-dakkafex-no2-3-to-done.html

These Nids are incredible, really glad that you updated the thread for all to see. A little late, but well done on that trophy win! Amazing army, thanks for sharing