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After spending the last three or so months browsing this great site that is DakkaDakka and viewing some of the most amazing models I have ever seen by some amazing hobbyists I have decided to take the proverbial finger out and get to amassing the vast horde of unpainted and half painted Tyranids that I have accumulated over the past year. I have promised myself that through the inspiration I have garnered from this site, I will field a 1,500 point, fully painted and converted Tyranid Army by mid year next year.....at least that's the plan.
I have always been a massive Warhammer fan, having started playing the game about 13 years ago after picking up my first copy of White Dwarf. ( Issue: 261 Just to make some of you hobbyists feel extra old ) . Although I played Fantasy for many years I kept up with the releases and lore surrounded pretty much every range of games that Games Workshop produced. My real interest in the game came however with my discovery of a diorama in my local Games Workshop ( Blanchardstown, Dublin....R.I.P ) depicting a horde of Tyranids ripping through an entire boards worth of Imperial implacements and Guardsmen. THIS is what I wanted to do. This was just like the scenes in my favourite film at the time, Starship Troopers. A Regiment of Imperial Guard fighting against an unstoppable horde of teeth and claws, Chitin and Bone. I wanted to be the brains behind that horde. To be in the middle of that action. Unfortunately this sort of thing cost money. So I started saving.....



Several unfinished armies later and two Rulebooks down and I'm still not entirely there....Oh I have the horde....But they are far from the spectacle of terror that I saw that day in a Games Workshop window in Blanchardstown Shopping Centre. It will be some time before any opponent squirts the musk of fear as he is faced down by my Hive Fleet. But it will begin here and you will be the first to witness it as it vomits forth piece by piece from the void...



I hope you enjoy my upcoming pictures and updates as much as I will enjoy painting and fielding my slowly spawning horde of razor-mouthed gribblies and earth-shaking behemoths...

Sounds good drazuul, look forwards to it.

Unfortunately actually getting photos is taking longer than I had hoped due to both my gakky old cameras picture quality not being great enough to take decent miniature photos and the gakky weather in Ireland posing as a bad source of natural sunlight with which to light the photos I actually HAVE taken on my girlfriends HTC tablet......I have ALL the excuses...

I have however starting painting those models which did not need a dunkin' in the dethol and am now half way through a 20 strong unit of Termagaunts...Huzzah!

Pictures will hopefully follow shortly....../le sigh

I know all about the weather man, it's so annoying. What I find helps is if you have a few desk lamps to brighten up the model so you can get an accurate idea of what the model looks like.
I look forward to seeing your horde!

Cant wait to see what you got...I have a budding 'Nids horde myself, which is on hold while I explore my love for Necromunda and terrain building.

In addition to the lamps you also might want to try white paper or a cake box for a back ground.

congrats on the gribblies getting almost done good job can't wait to see them.

Thanks for the support folks! I'm actually gathering materials to make a light box so I can take some nice photos when I do get a camera sorted. Desklamp with a white light bulb will be handy for my painting as well due to the fact that I work all day five days a week and it's dark when I get home...Yellow light is not a painters friend.../shakes head.

I've also been gathering materials for a project to commence after New Years...

All I'll say is it involves Necromunda

FINALLY! It's not much but here's a pic of one of my WIP Gaunts. I'm still working on shell patterns and this picture isn't flattering at all due to the yellow light source.....But it's something!






The skin isn't pink in RL I'll have you know. I'm going for a raw bloody feel with the fleshy bits and a bone carapace as a nice contrast. I really want to get the bio-terror feel so there won't be lots of bright clean looking Shiney Nids on this Blog





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To all those lovely Dakkanauts who happen to pass by this little thread...


I wish you a fantastic Painting and Modelling filled 2013!!

Looks really good! I like the more gore-y red style your going for, perhaps you could use a deep dark red wash or ink to get it deeper, or even shiney? would look very grim!

Keep it up anyways.

Your 'Nids promise to look good, I really like the shell pattern you've done. It looks good, really smooth. What kind of models do you have, and what kind of list are you planning on?

Thanks for the support lads!

@J-Paint: I'll be making them deep......AND shiney! Looking forward to having the first unit all doneskiis. This image is just a WIP Many....MANY layers to be applied to this fellow yet. Well okay I exaggerate. Not MANY layers, but at least two more.

@Brotheralexos: That shell pattern took about half an hour to paint right the first time I did it. Getting faster as I go now so hopefully it will be worth it...It will be deeper and will be giving a coat of Lahmian Medium to give it that extra shell-esque look. I have four Carnifex, two Tyrants, Two Tyrant Guard, around 10 Tyranid Warriors, over 100 Hormagaunts, 20 Genestealers(may be more), about 100 Termagaunts, 3 Zoanthropes, a Lictor, a Brood Lord.....That's all I can remember off my head, but there will be a pic tomorrow showcasing the Horde. They're in varying degrees of completion from a precious owner so about half of what I have will require a good auld Dethol Bath!

I'm also waiting for some bases from Fenris Games so I can start on my Genestealer Cult Gang for a Necromunda Campaign due to start in Early February in my Local Nerd Store. They'll be acting as Ymgarl Genestealers in my army once the Campaign concludes!

So after many months of inactivity and unposted pics I've finally gotten to taking some more photos with the tablet. Next pay day will see the purchase of a new camera so that'll be nice, both for me and for anybody who cares to view my humble thread. As well as working on my Tyranid Army I've began playing Necromunda and have also bought a Malifaux gang with the hope of playing in the future. I'm afraid I'm a bit of a "shiney" fiend...I never know what to concentrate on at any given time. Hence the creation of this blog.



As promised a while ago there will be updates soon on the vastness of my Tyranid horde in the form of pics, unpainted as is. But for now I'll introduce you to my Necromunda Gang:



The Ordo Sanguine Salus

A relatively small religious order that has seen increased popularity within the walls of the Hive city of Necromunda, The Ordo Sanguine Solus seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Official reports claim the practices carried out by this order to be within Imperial regulation, in fact it would seem that the Order has an interest in the well being of man within the Hive, a thing many past groups cared little about. With crime and unemployment being hit hard by the teachings and the actions of the Orders hooded followers. Homeless have been given room and board, shortly afterwards swearing themselves to service within the Order, reportedly at their own behest. Criminals that others would have called scum unworthy of anything but a bullet have been seen taking up the cowl after a night of honest prayer, becoming devout followers of this apparently Emperor blessed group.
These criminals turned acolytes have then reportedly been seen as guardians of the Orders meetings, carrying weapons of Imperial make during their duties, a sure sign of support from Hive Officials. Many of the Acolytes within the Order can be seen hired as caravan guards within the Hive as well, protecting both their own and the Guilders interests. It would also seem that an interest has been taken in the hunting of the degenerate mutants that infest the lower reaches of the Hive and the Sump itself. Surely these are blessed times that we can count on and take note of the actions of these men and women, doing for the people of Necromunda what many with the same spoken mind would not.
There have been no reports on the Leader of this Orders appearance, but that any communication with him has been indirectly reported through the Orders inner circle. A group of ferociously devout hooded followers that preach salvation for all within the Hive and beyond. Truely the Emergence of such an Order within the walls of this decrepit place is the beginning of an age of prosperity and well being for those who call it home and a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.



So there you have it, a little bit of a backstory to my gang within our Campaign. So far we have 3 players, all of us using gangs that are quite unorthodox: Genestealer Cult, Chaos Cultists and Scavvies. It's an experimental campaign but hopefully with more games in local hobby shop we'll gather some more interest. We're using the GW ruleset with some house-rules as well, because it's what we know and it's easier to introduce to new players because of that. I'll experiment with the Community rules afterwards and see what runs better for us.

"That's all well and good.....BUT WHERE ARE THE FRICKEN MODELS??!!!11", you ask? Well here you go.




Aurelius Velk, High Priest of the Ordo Sanguine Salus and Genestealer Magus

This fellow is a WIP. He has no weapons at present but the plan is to exchange his left hand for one wielding a Stub gun. I've also snipped the pipe off from the back of his head and filed down the metal plate in preparation for an extended cranium sculpt using GS. I've borrowed a sword from my buddy to sling across his behind and a dagger to cross it. He looks wicked at the moment and I'm almost frightened off cutting anything off him...but progress demands sacrifice and this is Necromunda after all!...Let's face it at least I'm not cutting off an arm.....yet.





Neophyte Voss, Ex Imperial Guard, Devotee of Ordo Sanguine Salus and Bodyguard of Magus Velk.

The first of my two Heavies. This fellow is a heavily WIP model. He'll have a hood sculpted onto him, with the join between his torso and arm GSed in and a pointing finger sculpted on. His head is the Vox Guardsman head from the Cadian boxset, with the helmet snipped down and filed slightly. I didn't really need to be neat with that as a hood will be sculpted over anyway. His backpack is made from the flamer tanks from the same IG boxset, with one tank cut off (Who has two tanks of fuel in a Hive city anyway?) and a bolt pistol holster glued in its place, counting as a Las pistol. The stitched fabric is from the Chaos Marauders boxset and covers it nicely I think, it also gives his arm the illusion that it's sweeping forward to point in a direction, which I like. You can't really see but there is a Knife, Laspistol ammo cartridge and a water flask attached to his belt, also from the IG boxset. I've cut off all IG iconography because I believe that although the gear resembles Imperial weaponry, it's probably just a cheaper made or stolen knock-off.









Acolytes 1,2,3+3 back, 4+4 back, yet unnamed

All of these fellows have been converted using the Chaos Cultist plastic boxset (a steal at €8 a box!), IG plastics and Empire Flagellant plastics. A little bit of GSing will be necessary, missing hands, increasing the cranium size of a few and sculpting semi concealed mutations, spines, carapace, etc. But over all I'm happy with how their turning out. They'll all be named as I paint them, being a mix of both ex-military and criminals that have been "converted" to the cause. I'll also be adding a 5th member as rules dictate more than half of my gang must be made up of these fellows. They act as gangers if you hadn't guessed already.




Brother Tacitius, Servant of the Order and Brood Brother.

The first of my two Brood Brothers (Juves), this fellow has been converted using an Empire Flagellant. His left arm has an auto pistol (counts as Stub Gun) leftover from the Cultist plastics. I'll be giving him a few little religious icons of my own devising. I haven't shown my second B.B. because he currently has no arms, but he'll be equipped with a dagger and stub gun. losing out on the club wielded by the rest of the gang due to lack of creds. We're a poor church.

So that's that! All of the gang are using bases from http://www.dragonforge.com/Painting%20service/for%20sale/base_sets/sci-fi/tech-deck.htm. I'll be including pics of my second Heavy, 5th Ganger and 2nd Juve as soon as they acquire arms. But please let me know what you think of these guys! It's been a long time coming but I hope it was worth the wait.

Cool - more Necromunda is always good.

I think you probably ought to mix up the weapons on your Acolytes a bit more - lasguns are the most boring weapon in Necro! A shotgun or two would be great and could go with your flamer quite nicely at short range.

Also you have a juve with a perfectly good autopistol but you want to count it as a stub gun? Autopistols are fantastic, stub guns are a bit naff.

What rules are you using for your gangs? All three of the gangs you have chosen have some different variants of rules floating around, including some that are awful. For the scavvies I'd suggest using PDH's ruleset, I've tested them at length and they are much more balanced than previous rules (although you will learn to hate dogs).

For the chaos cult I think Anthony Case's rules are probably the best, but I would be tempted to just use standard house gang rules, like Cawdor. The Anthony Case rules have things like Daemonhosts which I don't think really fit in Necromunda - at least, not in every game.

For the genestealer brood I made some simple rules that are basically just house gang rules but with a few tweaks for flavour (eg a psyker to lead, and some small mutations). The other rules for genestealer cults are horribly overpowered. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4966868/genestealer%20brood.pdf

I'm actually using your Genestealer Cult Ruleset for the gang. It's working a treat and thank you for suggesting it in an early thread of mine.

The Anthony Case rules for the Chaos Cultists gang is what is also being used without the Demonhost rules....yet....But there are plans for a large four player game involving a warpgate coming up so there will be demons aplenty soon enough to mix things up.

The Scavvies ganger is using the revised Scavvies rules from somewhere that I cant find now...Whatever he's using it's working well for him at the moment and he's a real purist when it comes to rules.

All of the gangs seem to be fairly balanced against one another with nobody showing any real dominance at the moment!...

The Brood Brother has a Stub gun because I couldn't afford to give him an Auto pistol. It's also seeming to do well enough considering he's downed two gangers so far in the campaign after three games. Once in CC and the second at range. I'll eventually give him an auto pistol or las pistol. But for now seeing as how the Campaign has already started with three games under the belt, I'll leave him as is.

I'd rather leave the weapons as they are on the acolytes at the moment. They're working well for them and are only slightly more expensive than other choices. Again if I would have changed them it'd be too late now...I'll probably do it later in the campaign because it would seem upon reading the ruleset that Acolytes' skill sets cater towards the hand to hand rather than ranged which is a pity. I equipped them all as range and with lasguns due to the reliability...I find their accuracy, strength and low ammo roll highly entertaining during play. I disagree with them being boring.

Thanks for the interest and tips Bruticus!...

Oops I had forgotten I had already shared those rules... Well let me know how they get on, I can make any tweaks. They were designed to be more or less balanced against a house gang (by not being too dissimilar).

I think there should be a -1 report to watchmen for each Claw mutation in the gang. And possibly Acolytes should have Stealth as a basic skill rather than Agility.

I hope the Magus thing works OK, they have a capped leadership to represent how nervous they are at being exposed. But with perils of the warp you could end up losing a Magus or two. Hopefully that will balance against the special rules they have.

Stub guns with dum dums are a solid choice for h2h gangers. I still think Lasguns are boring though! Too reliable, not enough risks! Boltguns blowing up in your hands are more exciting. Lasguns are a solid, reliable choice but I'd take shotguns and autoguns over them any time.

I will of course...They seem balanced so far...

I agree on the -1 report and on the inclusion of the Stealth skill on the Acolytes set...It just seems right for a Genestealer Cult to have some sneaks.

The special rules with the Magus seem fine...So far my Magus is pretty weak...But as you put it, I explain story wise, that it's due to not wanting to be seen and prefering to issue orders from behind....far...behind. My last game resulted in my Magus being punched in the face by a Scavvie boss. So I've learned my lesson.

I was going to go for more visceral weapons but to be honest Lasguns were a perfect choice for me. I had a box of plastic IG sitting around for donkeys years gathering dust...I've already spent quite a bit of money on my gang and I didn't have the cash to get some boltguns or shotguns from anywhere so that solved that.



Here's a few more updates on my progress, I've placed the images in spoiler buttons because they're a little big and thought it may help when viewing:



Brother Icurcius, Servant of the Ordo and Brood Brother.

This fellow is the second Juve I was working on. Simple conversion really, a plastic Flagellant with both weapons removed and replaced with a Space Marine plastic knife (more of a short sword really) and an auto pistol from the Cultists plastic box (Seriously the best purchase I have ever made for the hobby, there is not a piece I haven't found a use for).
The story behind the chains on my Brood Brothers is that they've been held down as Genestealer implants have been forced into their body through suitably nasty means. Juicy!






Neophyte Ernst, Ex-Imperial Guard, Former Hiver Boss and Devotee of Ordo Sanguine Salus.

As you can see, this fellow is far from finished. Mainly due to the Stubber conversion I was experimenting with. He started out life as an IG plastic. I cut his leg, trimmed it down and repositioned it to look like he's bracing himself against a conduit box. His weapon has been made from a mix of IG Flamer and Orc Stubber. With the Barrel of the weapon having been shortened to cut down on ridiculousness. I chose the Flamer because of the strap over the shoulder, as the inclusion of this helps give the weapon a weighty feel. I plan on giving him a bald head, a slightly GSed extended cranium, with a scarf wrapped around his mouth and shoulders. I'm not sure weither to give him a skirt like lower half, ending raggedly just over or below the knees to help hide the gap in the leg, OR to just resculpt the bending leg and knee. Any ideas? So far I'm in favour of not doing the skirt thing, as I've been told it may look a bit much with the scarf on his upper half already.



So that was some of the new additions to my gang that I had yet to show, what follows are pics of my progress so far with the previously shown Cultists:





Aurelius Velk, High Priest of the Ordo Sanguine Salus and Genestealer Magus...continued

So he's finally starting to look less chaoticy and a little bit more Genestealer....y?....Really very happy with my progress on this one. As you can see I've sculpted on some extra robes at the base so he wasn't hovering half off the step and I've extended the cranium. I was really nervous about this sculpt because I've only ever sculpted fleur de lys before onto some old models of mine....six years ago, so I'm a bit of a green(stuff) horn (/snerk). My plan now that it's dry is to sculpt some carapace onto the crown of the head. I still have yet to replace the hand with one wielding an autopistol (That'll have to wait until next pay day and another box of chaos cultists). Please let me know what you think...I must also admit that this Magus is HEAVILY inspired by Simon Schnitzlers Genestealer Magus:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/99847-Simon%20Schnitzler%27s%20%28of%20Hive%20Fleet%20Hydra%20fame%29%20Genestealer%20Cultists%20Diorama.html






Neophyte Voss, Ex Imperial Guard, Devotee of Ordo Sanguine Salus and Bodyguard of Magus Velk...continued

So I've got the GS bug. Sculpted on the hood, filled the gap in the arm pit and sculpted a pointing finger. I'm really happy with this fellow even though I can see that keeping the sculpting tool and GS wet whilst sculpting is very important in reducing finger prints...there are a few on the hood. I'm not overly worried about them though because I have yet to sand it and also because it's fabric it'll lend a little bit of texture. I may steal a Crypt Ghoul arm from my buddy and stick it under this fellows pointing arm, just to start to throw in some gribbly hybrid mutations. But other than that, this fellow is pretty much ready for a lick of paint.



So there you have it!....All my progress so far in a nutshell. I've also filled in several gaps on my ganger models, but I didn't feel they needed to be showcased here. I'll be sculpting hands and half arms onto the remainder before I make my last ganger from scratch at some point this week. I'm also planning on making a scenic base for these fellows with the intention of entering them into the competition over on Comrade and Papa's thread, here's a link to check it out:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/513840.page

That's right...I'm intending on having these guys finished by the 30th of April!....Plenty of time.

It's going to be a busy, busy month....

That Genestealer Cult leader is amazing! A really great base model, and the extension of his skull works wonders. Can't wait to see that one painted!

I think - and you obviously seem to agree - that both the Dark Vengeance Cultists and the Fantasy Empire Flagellants are both great models to base conversions on. I've used the Flagellants for my WoC Nurgle Marauders, and I really enjoyed working with them. Plus there's a shed load of useful bitz on the sprues.

Consider me subscribed to this!

Cheers,
Monsterzonk

Thanks for the positive feedback fellow kitbasher!...

I do agree with you! Absolutely wonderful kits....I even have some flagellants left over for some future projects!...HUZZAH!....\o/...Can you say "Skaven slaves"?...

Thank you for the sub!...




And now for another update! Due to work I haven't had a lot of time to continue on my gang. That's not to say I haven't gotten anything done however....







Acolyte Bruvius, Guardian of the Ordo Sanguine Salus
I've shown this fellow before, with a tad less GS. I have to say I'm quite happy with my work on him. It may not be a lot to show for a week or so of not posting, but I think it's helping wonders with my sculpting. As you can see he's quite the hybrid. with his face having to be covered in order to allow him to trade in goods for the Order. I've just realised I haven't sculpted him a hood (we have to hide that bulbous brain-pan of his somehow), so that's next on the agenda.

Here's a closer look at the extended cranium sculpt and his bandaged hand sculpt, for your pleasure:





Hope you enjoy my little update. Once again I'm always happy to hear feedback and suggestions as to how I should continue. It keeps me intoooooosed!...

-Draz

Been a bit busy with work the past week......More pics to come soon...PROMISE!

Looking forward to seeing them painted! Gif pics

It has been a long time since I've posted on these forums. I'm a bit like a magpie, always distracted by shiney things. These past few months I've been trying to find my feet in several different hobby activities when not working, but to no avail. Recently I've been reading the Eisenhorn Trilogy again and it has rekindled my want to sculpt and paint some new figures. I've also dusted off my as of yet still unpainted Genestealer Cultists of the Ordo Sanguine Salus with an aim to get back into those.



What I've really been wondering is, where can I find a rules set for INQ28 that would be considered the standard norm? I'd love to get into playing it but I don't want to learn rules I've found only to be told that they are not the ones being used with the majority of gaming groups. All help with this would be greatly appreciated.

So I've started a new blog to bring my love of painting, drawing and model making into one area. I'll be posting projects that I've undertaken up here over the next few weeks as well some projects that I've just started so keep an eye out.

http://pencilsandplastics.blogspot.ie/

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Finally some paint on up in here! A little WIP of a friends Chaos Cultist Gang from a Necromunda Campaign that fell through a little while ago. I've just recently come back to him now and I thought I'd share my progress here. Enjoy!







(Edit) Name on base is place holder