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So I've always been fascinated with the Tyranid fluff but the only issue with the models for me, is that they don't look feral enough. So I've been trying to make my tyranid army look more feral, one thing I've been looking to do is change the Fleshborer, I hate the fact that it is an out of body weapon instead of something 100% attached to the termagant. I'm looking to add a sack for the beetles which is added onto the borer itself secondly attaching the borer to the termagant itself, instead of making it look like a weapon a termagant can just drop.

The issue that I'm having is that I haven't converted anything before so im nervous about wrecking the models themselves. Fortunately they're cheap models and I'm not TOO worried about them. I'm looking to start on something small, I'm looking to sever the hand off of the gun and attaching it at the wrist, so the weapon looks more like part of the species itself. Secondly is adding a sack, which I would model out of clay first to see if i like the result.

The other issue is that I have about 90 to 100 termagants and don't want to buy greenstuff from gamesworkshop, mainly cause of costs. Is there any alternative product I am able to use that would work for my needs? Mainly to fill in places i have cut and to create small sacks for the borers themselves? Preferably from a store like home depot/ rona/ ect.

Thanks! I'll be sure to keep everyone posted once I find some solutions.

First off, welcome to Dakka Dakka.

There is a good selection of folks that make green stuff like products. GF9, PP, spring to mind. I grabbed a huge tube of the stuff from GF9 a few years back for like $20 (US) and still have about 1/4 of it left over.

Not sure if The War Store ships to Canada but you could try them or see GF9 has a distributor near you.

Good luck.

Hey MooseRohDah,

Welcome to dakka!

The termagants are definitely a good place to start as far as conversions go. Do expect to mess up or not quite get what you are looking for at first. 2 good things about nids and conversions:

First, they are all mutants so if ya mess up just call it a mutation and move on. Practice makes perfect right?

Second, with termagants at least and the fact you have 100 of them. The ones that ya arent 100% satisfied with will just blend in with the masses. Remember its about a cool looking ARMY. Dont get bogged down with each model. That xan get way overwhelming.

I bought my green stuff for 15 bucks online. Just search google. Being such small bugs you really wont need much. Way less rhan a dime size per model. One tube will last ya through 100 models. Green stuff has a learning curve too though. Dont expect to be a pro off the bat.

Look on your sprues for adrenal glands. Those would make good little sacs for your fleshborers no?

If you are careful with your cuts you may not even need green stuff. I can post the TL devourers I made for my flyrant that didnt use any green stuff later when I get home.

Post some pics though man! Show us your progress! Good luck!

Lopis

The termagaunt weapons seems to be fused with his hands. You can see the small fingers but I alwasy figured the two skeltal structures became one. You might not need to attack them to the gaunt.

Also when converting the less you need to convert the faster it will go. Freehand crests for instance as insane. Changing the arm socket is easy. With 100 models I would keep it simple.

Thank you for the warm welcome!!

I think the issue that I have with the hand, even if it is actually formed with the weapon itself is that the army is about mutating and evolving, where one species is created to do one thing and one thing alone, I feel the need for something like a hand is wrong for the codex in my opinion and that's why I want to change it. I have the same issue with the whips and some of the bone swords on the warriors and guards. I don't like the idea of it grabbing onto something specially if the bone is actually part of itself, things like the horror frog (where they break their own bones to create claws.)

I've seen a lot of tervigon modifications and I like the idea of it birthing units, I figure that the borer beetle would be the same way on a termagant and hence why i want to add something similar to tervigon sacks onto the fleshborer itself. So that is kind of the look that I want to go for.

Thanks for the suggestions on the materials. I think my main concern is keeping the look of the army as feral as possible, and unfortunately a gun with a face isn't really doing it for me.

I'll be ordering some modeling putty soon and I'll be doing a test model to show first.

I always imagine that the tyranid make a big sacks and just add creatures to out. A warrior, a sword, a whip, a devourer and grafts them together and births it out.

All of those components consist of a lot of diferent organisems. The weapon has many sentient parts. The devourer has many living components like the larva amunition. The tyranid warrior would probably not have a hard but another creature functoning pumping blood around. Tyranid fysiolagy is not darwenisem, it is the hivemind playing god.

don't forgewt that the 'nids very ORGANS are different creatures. that's like if your spleen was named Jeremy.

I named a liver Richard.. he died. 8((( Poor Richard.

niiai, the issue i have with that is that means that every creature that is part of the tyranid is created for a purpose, the flesh borer is a weapon 100% and the borer beetle is the ammunition. So if the smaller parts are specifically for 1 function, then why is the termagant in need of the weapon itself, why cant the gant be the weapon, just like the hormagant. It's not like it's claws are a different species, its just part of the being itself. I don't have an issue with a species having a purpose, but I figure the species should be equipped at birth for that purpose, not need a tool. To me that is a human characteristic and takes away from the buggy/alien creatures.

I'm not stating what i'm doing is lore friendly, I am just stating that it bothers me that something created to shoot which is fused with another species actually needs that species. I would just figure that the creature would create its own hive inside of itself for the beetles and use a piece of its body as something to use to launch it out.

The only way in my mind it would make sense is if the gant is produced first then its needed to have a flesh borer which is also produced in the host the two are fused together at birth and then they're a cohesive unit. But from game play aspects, even just with the tervigon, it's ALWAYS producing one unit, and that unit (was) based off of traits of the parent. Secondly looking at insects and other animals, specifically the ant there are different types of ants that the queen makes however they're equipped with what they need right away. Symbiosis should exist, but not to the extent of species that are actually 100% crucial to the survival, such as being an actual lung.

so you want the gaunt to spit the beetles? makes sense. just add sack, green stuff arm sockets, done.

I like how you are thinking, but I think you are misunderstanding how the Tyranids are.

The termagaunt is not a species. I think a defenition of a species means that it's children can make children. None of these things replicate on their own. They are a multi entity organism. I am not just talking about the gun and the beetles in the gun and the termagaunt. All of those those things consists of many different organisems. (Mind you the beetles probably can replicate as you shoot them out. Presumably other things in a termagaunt as well.)

"The only way in my mind it would make sense is if the gant is produced first then its needed to have a flesh borer which is also produced in the host the two are fused together at birth and then they're a cohesive unit." - This is correct, this is exactly how the tyranids operate. The termagaunt can not "put down the gun". look at how they are integrated in the arm. Look at the bigger guns of the big tyranids. They are all fused together. (I do not think they can put down the weapons, although it is never stated. That would mean unataching a lot of "fleshy wires" from between the creatures.)

"But from game play aspects, even just with the tervigon, it's ALWAYS producing one unit, and that unit (was) based off of traits of the parent." It is not based on the traits of it parrent. It is not it's parrent in the way you use the word. It just happens to be the organic machine that can make that particular strain of tyranid. Why they always have flesh borers I do not know. I do not think it is ever stated they always have flesh borers, but it is what makes the most sence from a rules perspective.

You used the word symbiot: A symbiot is where two species come out stronger together. Tyranid things are not symbiots, they are a means to and end produced from the hive mind organic factory.

You mention the hormogaunt. That is interesting becuse it is one of the only tyranid organisems that can reproduse itself on the battlefield if I remember corrently. I do not think it is through sex, it is probably more like the leaf lice that makes clones of itself. (When autum comes all the girl clones spawn a bach of boy's and spread the genes. (In case you wondered why they stil live.)) But the question is: Is the hormogaunt a species since it can reproduce? I do not think it is. For instance the Man-o-war that lives on earth oceans is not one species, it is five different species that have a very odd way of syncronised reproduction.

Also the human body contains about 40% bacteria and cells that are not strictly speaking human. They are just part of what makes us tick.

When the imperial talk about diferent tyranid strains they do so because that is a functional way to describe them. If the british where fighting zulu's in the colony days they did not different between the culture identety of the tribesmen. They where more concerned he had a sphere. In much the same way the imperials categorise tyranids in rough groups based on function, although a Bio-magus would be more species spesific. The point I am trying to make is that even if you buy a termagaunt models and placing it on the board you are buying one model, but you are placing many diferent living organisems.

I do not see how the original consept a the tyranid weapons are much diferent from it "caughing beetles", both of them are integrated into the same gaunt make up, You mentionted the queen ant making things that are equiped from birth. Tyranids are also equiped from "birth". But when you look at the life span of the amunition of the hive guard gun it is grown in the gunn, and it lives for only the few seconds it takes to track a target. That is not a species that can replicate itself. Using earth biolagy to describe them does not function because the defined terms we use does not describe the tyranid organisems.

However such a conversion would be cool. And as always you should interpid the 40K universe into what is most fun for you.

Further reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siphonophorae
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zooid

This sounds awesome and I have thought the same thing - but I have to say... spending so much time converting your cheap stock troops is a loong road - typically you'll put 30-40 of them on the table at once. Very ambitious indeed! Best of luck to you and please post pictures.

1.) Converting 100+ miniatures is a tough way to start an army.
2.) Except for the Exocrine, all shooting Tyranids carry weapons in their arms almost like a gun, so the 100 termagants would be just the start.
3.) If Termagants carry no gun but spit beetles, there is the danger, they look like Hormagants.
4.) Painting weapons the same colour as the body would be the easiest fix.

I have seen Termagants converted to have Exocrine-style internal weapons above/below the head or in the mouth, and yes it can look good. But:
- it's a lot of work, especially to repeat dozens of times
- done badly, it can look terrible
- you need spare arms to fill the now empty arm sockets.

Certainly the simplest option is Kroothawk's "Painting weapons the same colour as the body" suggestion. Or an other similar option might be to dab some very thin glue into the gant/weapon interface cracks, immediately wiping most of it off, and letting it dry before painting, to make the weapon look more part of the hand.