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I took a dip in my motivation to get started on this project. There were a couple of issues. First, I got Baldur's Gate 3, which is amazing, but definitely distracted me from working on projects. Second, my usual go-to spray primer that I have been using for my Nids gave me a big issue. I have used six cans of the stuff in the past, without issue, but this time I have had problems with the finish.

It seemed to be kind of hydrophobic. Paint did not want to stick to it. I was able to fix it by spraying with a layer of matte varnish, but it was really disappointing as I was using it to save time. It might be that I over sprayed, or perhaps that it is too cold when I sprayed. Army Painter directed me to give it another go, so I will try a batch and see if it is corrected by warmer conditions of spraying.

Anyways, I was able to complete 5 test models that will be able to be completed really fast while still maintaining the kind of quality I am going for with this army.




So, 5 down. Waaaaay too many to go.

Hmmm, seems you have a house infested with 'Nids

Ok, got the scheme down for the Gants and Gaunts. I think it is a reasonable blend of speed and quality. 10 more bodies done. For my next batch I am going to try and complete 36 Hormagaunts in one go... Should be not too terrible. I found that the guns on the termagants are the thing that is slowing me the most. I am dreading spinefists, however.

Here is the latest batch of 10.

Nice work Rabid Ferret.

Cheers,

CB

A player placed in the top 8 at the LVO this week with a swarmy Tyranid list. I have everything I need to try this list for myself save for 2 exocrines.

Here is what he ran:

(2000 points)

Tyranids Strike Force (2000 points) Unending Swarm

CHARACTERS

Deathleaper (70 points) 1x Lictor claws and talons

Hive Tyrant (235 points) 1x Heavy venom cannon 1x Monstrous bonesword and lash whip

Neurotyrant (105 points) Warlord 1x Neurotyrant claws and lashes 1x Psychic scream

BATTLELINE

Gargoyles (150 points) 20x Gargoyle 20x Blinding venom 20x Fleshborer

Hormagaunts (130 points) 20x Hormagaunt 20x Hormagaunt talons

Termagants (120 points) 20x Termagant 20x Chitinous claws and teeth 2x Strangleweb 18x Termagant spinefists

Termagants (120 points) 20x Termagant 20x Chitinous claws and teeth 2x Strangleweb 18x Termagant spinefists

Termagants (120 points) 20x Termagant 20x Chitinous claws and teeth 2x Strangleweb 18x Termagant spinefists

Termagants (120 points) 20x Termagant 20x Chitinous claws and teeth 2x Strangleweb 18x Termagant spinefists

OTHER DATASHEETS

Biovores (75 points) 1x Chitin-barbed limbs 1x Spore Mine launcher

Exocrine (135 points) 1x Bio-plasmic cannon 1x Powerful limbs

Exocrine (135 points) 1x Bio-plasmic cannon 1x Powerful limbs

Exocrine (135 points) 1x Bio-plasmic cannon 1x Powerful limbs

Lictor (60 points) 1x Lictor claws and talons

Neurogaunts (90 points) 2x Neurogaunt Nodebeast 2x Chitinous claws and teeth 20x Neurogaunt 20x Chitinous claws and teeth

Neurolictor (65 points) 1x Piercing claws and talons

Neurolictor (65 points) 1x Piercing claws and talons

Venomthropes (70 points) 3x Venomthrope 3x Toxic lashes

Seems fun. I miss running swarms. It is an absolute bitch to move though. I need 1 more Neurolictor and 2 Exocrines to run this swarm.

35 More gaunts completed! 35 Hormagaunts this time.

I added some more basing variety. Some flower tufts I picked up and a few that hade enough room on the base got plastic plants that I had picked up recently. Trying to decide if I want to move on to doing the spinefist ones or if I need a break from gaunts for a bit and should paint one if the Tau Commanders or Crisis suit squads on my bench...

Not sure.







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So 50 down. Like 157 to go...


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I think I have decided on a palate cleanser between squads to keep my sanity. Also, The Army Painter customer service is sending me another can of Alien Purple which will hopefully fix my hydrophobia issue. So far I have been fixing it with a layer of matte varnish, but this is not ideal.

In the meantime I will be completing two Tau Battlesuit Commanders that I have put off working on for a while. Swamp bases, fully magnetized with every option, and not speed painted so I can flex my painting a bit before the next batch of gaunts.

Taking a break from my gaunt slog to work on my Tau as a little palate cleanser. I made finished two Tau Commanders. They are fully magnetized and will be able to have all weapon options. (I am doing these separate when I also complete my crisis suits.) I feel like they turned out pretty nice.

The Army Painter finally got back to me about my hydrophobic paint issue and they are sending me another can of Alien Purple for my nids. Hopefully this fixes the issue because it was super annoying to have to struggle to lay down a basecoat for anything on the carapace or weapons. I don't really have the patience to paint so many while also struggling with the paint. I will resume them when the can comes in and I can confirm that the hydrophobia issue is fixed.

WIP on my crisis suits. Doing nine of them that are an ebay rescue. Some 3D printed bits and bobs. Here they are post oil wash in my process. Next step will be to matte varnish and start work on the orange/white parts.

Hey mate,

Loving the mix of camo green and orange/white on the crisis suits - that's a really unique scheme that just works - part military war machine part sci fi alien robot.

Hope the new spray fixes your issues and you can smash out the rest of those nids.

Thanks for sharing!

 tzurk wrote:
Hey mate,

Loving the mix of camo green and orange/white on the crisis suits - that's a really unique scheme that just works - part military war machine part sci fi alien robot.

Hope the new spray fixes your issues and you can smash out the rest of those nids.

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks man!

I enjoy them. Very opposite my nids scheme too which is a nice brain break for me.

I really hope the spray fixes it. It is hard enough battling trying to paint that many nids to begin with, let alone battling hydrophobic primer.

WIP update on the crisis suits. All about 90% done. Need to do the lenses, finish the base rims, pour resin, finish painting the metallic parts on the battle damage. Oh, also the glowing mushrooms!

Resin pour is done for the bases. Now just for some drying time and these guys are complete, save for the weapons. I plan on doing those in one big batch.







In other news, the new Army Painter primer I got is coming out matte so far. I did a batch of Gaunts over again, a 10 strong unit of spinefists. Still glossy. From reading around I think I went on too thick the first time. Not sure why a thin layer on top is still gloss though. I shook the crap out of the can and sprayed from 20cm away.

So-far I have matte varnished them with some liquitex and they are ready to go. I will try again with another batch after this one, but this sucks.

10 more gaunts done. This time a squad of Termagants with Spinefists. These were actually the least painful to paint of all the Termagants so far. My workflow is getting much better too. I am much quicker now at painting these.

Finished a couple of Exocrines. Getting closer to my long-term swarm goal of being able to field max everything. Essentially a tyranid playset where I have every option in the book ready to go. Yes, I am insane.

Here is what I have been working on in the past week or so.

A bunch of really cool Kill Team tokens/dice. These are awesome alternatives to the ones that come in the starter. I love that they stand in for all 4 standard token types.



I have also been painting Hero Quest! My daughter and I have been playing this like mad for the past few weeks and I decided to speedpaint everything in the box.

Here I have speedpainted the main 4 heroes and the goblins. I have all the furniture painted and the Orcs and Dread (Chaos) warriors are on my desk in progress right now.









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Speedpainted some Hero Quest Orcs. I decided to go for a variety of skin tones so that I could have fun with the different styles of highlighting. I used a slapchop + some highlights method. These painted up pretty quick and were a blast to paint. Trying to decide what to paint next. I have a Neurolictor, a Deathwatch Reiver (to test a color scheme. Deciding on Blood Angels or Imperial Fists, or a homebrew.) and a Kroolboyz Killaboss on Great Gnashtooth that is 1/2 way done. (I did the rest of Dominion in one go and for some reason never finished him.

Some hobby progress.

I finished painting the entire Hero Quest set, finishing with the Dread Sorcerer, the Abominations, The Gargoyle and the Dread Warrios (Chaos warriors)







All was a lot of fun to do. Next on my bench is my 2nd Neurolictor



and the last model from the Dominion box that has been sitting on my desk FOREVER. I figured with AOS 4th coming out soon I am well overdue for painting this dude. Coming soon.

Oh, that's spicy! I should really tackle my HQ2!

I have been playing with my daughter and having a lot of fun. She is 15 and on the autism spectrum. Full D&D is a bit much for her but she is really loving HQ. We are all in now with all the expansions. My goal is to have everything painted for each xpac before we start it. Going to be working on Kellar's Keep soon, but that should be really quick because they are the same sculpts as the base set except for a door or two I think.

Oh nice. My middle one is on the spectrum, he loves hq too. He has a group of very nurturing friends who play mod'd DnD with him. It's interesting what games he really digs: coop crawlers are brilliant - Shadows of Brimstone, Hellboy - though he loves Talisman, Dreadball and we're about to try Blood Bowl. Here's hoping!

Nice! Very much considering bloodbowl. The new gnome team looks amazingly fun to paint.

Finished my second neurolictor. I think I like this one's base more. I have determined that I should rebase these guys at some point as my basing has come a long way and their bases are far from consistent. Trying to decide on what to work on next... I will mull it over while I work on upgrading my hobby area. It needs a cleanup and refresh and I have some new additions that I am excited about.

 Rabid Ferret wrote:
A bunch of really cool Kill Team tokens/dice. These are awesome alternatives to the ones that come in the starter. I love that they stand in for all 4 standard token types.

These are really great! Where did they come from??

EDIT: NM, found the files pretty easily. Thanks for the inspo! And great looking Nids too!

Glad you found them. They are awesome, and a huge upgrade from the initial kit.

So this Killaboss has been sitting on my painting desk for almost 2 years. I got the Dominion box set and had a blast painting most of the box. For whatever reason I hit a wall and stopped painting for a while after 1/2 finishing him. He languished on my desk for month after month, glaring at me. In the back of my mind, I felt like I would never finish him. In the meantime, I completely revamped my painting workstation, experienced the loss of both of my parents to cancer and dementia, and changed careers.



During the in-between, he had fallen off the desk multiple times, had his spear broken, and lost the blade. He was covered in dust and pet hair. He was forgotten, maybe to one day be tossed in the bin or sold away on ebay or facebook marketplace.


"Boss! He is never going to finish us!"

Somehow I recaptured my motivation. I returned to Dakka and began to post more minis. I began to really make headway through my pile of potential and I finished other projects that had similarly sat unfinished. I painted my Tau'Nar Supremacy army, Stormsurge, 9 Crisis Suits, Two Commanders, Shadowsun, and my Vespids. I added nearly 2000 points of tyranids to my painted pile. I painted the Hero Quest box. I began to slog through 200+ gaunts. In between painting broods of gaunts I decided to add single models to break up the monotony. I painted my 2nd neurolictor and decided that my next single would be to finish this guy. I painted everything else in the Dominion box. How could I not finish him when the project was so close to completion? I found a suitable STL and 3d printed a spearhead for him and drilled and pinned it to the shaft of his spear. I dusted him off and scrubbed him down and went to work. 2 days later he was done, and here he is! Is he the best thing I have ever done? No. Am I glad that he is off my painting desk and in the display with the rest of Dominion. Heck yes!

Congrats on finally getting your Killaboss finished!
It's a busy old mini, took me ages to get mine done too.

Thanks! Sooooo much detail. It is kind of overwhelming.

The pair turned out a treat, struggle and all. Impressive work throughout - and that base! Congrats on persevering