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So, just what happens when Tyranids, ravenous beasts who consume every scrap of organic material on a planet, land on one that is mostly water? Get a rod and lure? Or do they do that thing they do best, and adapt?

I give you: Hive Fleet Charybdis.

It's going to be a long project, and one where I will probably need some advice and suggestions, but we're going to find out just what it looks like when a Hive Fleet makes a 'land'fall on a water planet.
Some (most) will be conversions of existing models, some will be entirely improvised.
No, I'm not just GSing gills onto normal 'nids.

I more than welcome (what's beyond 'welcoming'? 'setting out a saucer of milk for'?) any suggestions/ideas/criticisms/riddles you may have to contribute. I've not done any real extensive modeling before, so I'm going to still have a ton to learn.


First up? Mycetic Spores. I'll have pictures of the work in progress on this up later tonight (I'dve posted it all together, but wanted to get the first half of this post out of the way, as it's not short). I still have to do the green stuffing on it (my first time using the stuff, we'll see how it goes), and find a way to attach part of it, but I think it's at the point where you can get a good idea of where I'm going with it.

Stuff in the works/vague plans (in no real order):
Mycetic Spores - Giant Clams
Zoanthropes - Jellyfish (this one took me a while to work out and collect the stuff for, but I think it's going to come together well)
Mawlocs - Angler Fish (this one is going to be fun, big plans for this)
Harpies - Manta Rays
Venomthropes - Squids/Octopi (ink cloud!)
Hive Tyrant - ...well, I have an image in my head, but it doesn't really translate to an actual sea creature. We'll see.
Termagants - Shrimp
Genestealers - Crabs
Tyrannofexes - Snails
Carnifexes - Crabs (really big ones)
Lictors - Lictors are just going to be Lictors, but it's their context that will change
Tyranid Warriors/Shrikes - Sharks
Gargoyles - Stingrays
Hormagaunts - Piranhas/Barracudas
Biovores - Reef/Sea Anemone combo-thing
Ripper Swarms - Starfish swarms, possibly other sea-creature swarms. This is a result of using what I could find.
Tervigons - Lobsters (though really only to go with the 'gants)
Tyrant Guard - Barnacles..sort of..I think..
Hive Guard - Sea Urchins? Pufferfish? Not sure where to go with these.
Trygons - Hydra-/Kraken-ish
Raveners - Lampreys
Pyrovores - ???
Other things to work in there somewhere (kind of notes for me as well): Trilobites, Giant Isopods, Spider-ish Crabs (rather than hermit-style crabs), Nautiloids, Plesiosaurs/Mosasaurs, Nudabranchs, Starfish other than tiny ones, Manatees...

I've been collecting the non-model bits for a lot of this already. AC Moore and the aquarium section of PetSmart are quickly learning my credit card number by heart, but both are quite a useful resource for this project.

Lots of potential for terrain with this, too. You know, aside rfom just picking up any piece of aquarium decoration and calling it a day.

This sounds... really awesome. How come nobody ever thought of this before?!

If this plan goes through to completion, I want to play against your army.
I've entertained more then a few thoughts of making an Imperial Guard water themed army. Maybe thi thread'll give me some ideas.

My first attempt at the idea for the spore pod. Waaaaay too small, but it's the direction I want to go in.



The initial bits for the second incarnation of the spore pod. Bent paper clips (normal sized and really big) and a pair of shells the size of my fist.



The pod once the tentacles are glued on. Top half on the left, bottom on the right. Note that the tentacles in the middle of the bottom half are not present on the top half.



Considering adding some 'teeth' in there somewhere, but not sure about it.

Next step is green-stuffing the 'roots' of the tentacles so that they merge into the shell better. And perhaps GSing the ends of the tentacles so they taper. Might even add some hooks to the ends of some.
Also considering a denser group of small, but longer, tentacles coming from the back of the shell's 'throat', once the two halves are put together.

Something I'm really not sure about: I'm going to paint the tentacles, and the inside of the shell since it'll be covered in green stuff and such. Should I leave the outside of the shell..shell-colored? Or should I try to paint that as well?

Also, note to self (and any others trying something similar) for next time: Get the paper clips that don't have the gold coating on them, as it flakes away if you bend them too much. Curse you, Staples!

Nightbringer's Chosen wrote:
Pyrovores - ???

Anglerfish?

Oops, I mean Archer Fish!

Pyrovore could be a squid/octopus, or a jelly fish.

SoG

This is a cool start to a an even cooler idea.
Mawlocs, Trygons and Ravenors don't realy need much, after all they're already giant snakes, it won't take much to make them giant sea snakes. may your work be joyous & your creations devine.

hungryp wrote:

Nightbringer's Chosen wrote:
Pyrovores - ???

Archer Fish!

Ahh, that could work!
Though I need to figure out how to make that look like what it is...
Oh well, it's a long way down the line.


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SonofGuilliman wrote:Pyrovore could be a squid/octopus, or a jelly fish.

SoG

Have both of those earmarked already, but thanks for the ideas!


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The Fox Lord wrote:This is a cool start to a an even cooler idea.
Mawlocs, Trygons and Ravenors don't realy need much, after all they're already giant snakes, it won't take much to make them giant sea snakes. may your work be joyous & your creations devine.

Why thank you!

And yeah, I could just slap some fins on them or something, but I wanted to try for something a little more unique. That being said, that's probably exactly what I'll end up doing by the time I get to them.

Yeah that is one thing about your idea... You seem to be changing the form of the nids more than they probably would change for underwater conquest. I imagine, for example, that smaller nids like gaunts would really only trade their legs and tail for fins/etc. and not completely change shape. And why would every type of tyranid take forms we are familiar with? (especially when to take said forms they would have to be so drastically altered...) But that's just fluff nitpicking, and when has that ever stopped anyone?

Nah, I understand. A Mycetic Spore probably wouldn't change at all, since it's just there to deliver something from orbit.

But I'll go with the old standby answer, paraphrased to suit my needs: The Hive Mind works in mysterious ways.

(plus I just wanted them to look more distinct)

The Fox Lord wrote:This is a cool start to a an even cooler idea.
Mawlocs, Trygons and Ravenors don't realy need much, after all they're already giant snakes, it won't take much to make them giant sea snakes. may your work be joyous & your creations devine.

You could also look at some of the older sea-forms that are similar. The typical long-nosed, sleek bodied dinosaurs would be a great look for these types of models. Check out the Eonatator, for example... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eonatator

Ahh, good idea.
I had thought about a nautilus for something (a shame I can't find a shell from one of those!), but had totally forgotten about other ancient sea creatures.

For trygons, you should go with Mosasaurs, since this is pretty much what they are based on designwise.
Mosasaurs: huge extinct sea snakes.
more info and pictures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosasaur
I really like the sound of this project and wish you all the best with your modelling!
As another note, spider crabs always tend to be far less viscious than regular crabs from my experience which clashes a bit with the ferocious tyranids thing. Obv its your own choice, since spider crabs do look cool but I would probably keep them out. I think I recall that most spider crabs are actually vegitarian too, though I might be wrong.

Trilobite wrote:For trygons, you should go with Mosasaurs, since this is pretty much what they are based on designwise.
Mosasaurs: huge extinct sea snakes.
more info and pictures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosasaur
I really like the sound of this project and wish you all the best with your modelling!
As another note, spider crabs always tend to be far less viscious than regular crabs from my experience which clashes a bit with the ferocious tyranids thing. Obv its your own choice, since spider crabs do look cool but I would probably keep them out. I think I recall that most spider crabs are actually vegitarian too, though I might be wrong.

Excellent idea, thank you.

And really appreciating all the encouragement.

And sea anemones and shrimp and barnacles and clams aren't all that fierce either. But I'm going partially for that deep sea hideous alien abomination sort of feel you get with some of the weirder sea creatures.

My initial thought from the title was "Alien: Resurrection" swimming posed Tyranids - but this could definately work too!

I'm always interested in new forms of Nid biodiversity.
Could I suggest a slight dipping-into the Aliens universe? In the expanded fiction universe of novels, comics, toylines etc., there's been a huge amount of "new" aliens invented, partly to cope with new environments, but mostly (I think) for fun.

There's snakes, crocodilles - everything you can imagine. This one's called the "Swimmer"



EDIT: Image fixed!

Arakasi wrote:My initial thought from the title was "Alien: Resurrection" swimming posed Tyranids - but this could definately work too!

My Tyrant is going to look somewhat like that, actually. And thanks for the visual aid, Tek.

The Mycetic Spore after greenstuffing the junctures on the tentacle bases. It didn't come out quite like I wanted, I think. Considering greenstuffing, a fine layer, over the whole inside to make the texture a gooey, bumpy sort of thing like you'd see in a clam, and to smooth out the texture into something uniform. Not quite sure. Advice from anyone with experience with GS? This is my first attempt at using it.

I also tried using it to make one of the tentacles taper to a point, but it doesn't seem like it's firming up, and isn't really working the way I wanted it to.


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Ripper Swarms. I plan on some more of these; need to get ahold of a friend to get some Marine bits for victims picked clean by the bottom feeders. And also will probably try some other swarm types, rather than just starfish.
I wonder if I should drybrush these with some other color or something...
Also, first basing I've done. Took some experimentation with what sort of glue to use, and had to do it in a couple of layers, but eventually it worked. Sand's whiter than it looks in the picture.

Maybe make the star fish and the clam more viscous, it seems not very menacing. Spikes, Spines and sharp teeth might give it some more Scariness because right now especially the starfish, just looks like it would tickle you to death

good luck though

Starfish have their 'mouths' on the bottom, and they're too small to add much too. I kind of picture them just cleaning the flesh off of anything they crawl over. As I said, when I make a few more, and have the money for some bits, I plan on making a couple with the skeletal remains of a Marine or something on them.

The Spore isn't done yet. Thinking about some teeth/spines or something, but not sure. Also considering hooks on some of the ripper tendrils.

This is a really cool project and i look forward to developments.

That said, i don't think you should go out of your way to make everything into a living sea creature, if you created some of your own underwater gribblies that would llok awesome!

Great idea and I look forward to seeing more. The horrors of the briny deep have so much potential...


For greenstuff tips, the best source is this post: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/242387.page . It's a great guide to most of the basic skills you'll need to get started. Though, honestly, the best tip is practice. You'll see as you get to the end of a project like this, the stuff you do at the end looks a thousand times better than the first few you did.

I really like the idea, if you can do the whole army it will look great

How about jelly fish swarms?

This is coming along quite nicely. I'm looking forward to seeing this army develop.

You can use some sand paper or a rough... sidewalk, let's say, to grind down the ends of the tentacles.

Interesting can't wait to see this come together

Trygons could be hag fish.

Vitruvian XVII wrote:That said, i don't think you should go out of your way to make everything into a living sea creature, if you created some of your own underwater gribblies that would llok awesome!

Most of what I'm doing is just going to look as if it is influenced by the associated 'animal'. And the Tyrant isn't really going to look like an extant creature. You just happen to be seeing first some of the more direct translations.


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The Good Green wrote:How about jelly fish swarms?

Considered that, actually. Unsure how to go about it, though. We'll see how the Zoanthropes turn out and go from there.

Thinking Trilobite/Horseshoe Crab Swarms, some kind of Piranha Swarms for Sky Slashers, a few other things.
You're seeing starfish first because I have starfish.

Alas, a lot of this army is going to be that way. Limited by what I have at the moment, much of the cooler stuff to come later, since I'm not rich.


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Mewiththeface wrote:Trygons could be hag fish.

Indeed. Thinking about converting their mouths into something lamprey-ish.

Turn the starfish into a deathstar, and I'll love this whole shebang.

I shall tickel you into Submission!

Now all i have to say is Maw-Sharkloc or something along those lines.
Oh, and You Tyrant Should be..... A MUDKIP!!!
0MG