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Hi, welcome to my hobby blog.

Started this a few years ago when I came out of hiatus to get nice painted armies completed and onto the tables for games. In the beginning it was just a Tyranid Hive Fleet, it has since grown to include multiple armies, along with other models and battle reports

The following is a summary of how I have gone over the years, for those of you that read this Thanks for taking the time.

Hive Fleet Ngaro

Ngaro is the name I settled with, it is from Te Reo Maori and it's meaning relates to consumption, extinction, and destruction which sums up a hive fleets purpose in the galaxy.

The colour scheme I went with is a combination of the Aliens from the movie series (Game over man, Game over!) along with the yellow black influence of the Starship troopers bugs, along with some other "alien" colours to help make the army not look to monotonous on the table, then based with a red planet theme.



Cult of the Red Saviour

I have been a fan of genestealers since playing the board game Space Hulk heaps as a young chap and was the main reason for me choosing Tyranids. While I was looking for an alternative army to the nids and looking at creating a genestealer cult using nid and AM/IG bits, Games Workshop came to the party and released the Genestealer Cult codex and models, so I have a second army now and it is called the Cult of the Red Saviour due to the red skin of the patriarch, and the patrirach being a "saviour" of the local population.



Zerg Infested Terran Deathguard

With the release of 8th edition 40k, I picked up the Dark Imperium box set. I gave the Primaris marines to one of my brothers for a birthday present and have decided to keep the deathguard. Given they have growths and tentacles growing out of them, I have decided to make a little army of deathguard similar to Zerg Infested Terrans from Starcraft. ZITs chapter works well I reckon because we are talking Nurgle here. They will be on Zerg Creep bases which I am making using PVA and superglue.




In Progress
Foetid Blight Drone


Completed so far



Primed and ready to paint
8x Termagants
8x Spinegants
8x Hormagaunts
Ravenor
Goliath Truck
GSC Sentinel
10x Genestealers
Lord of Contagion
Malignant Spellcaster
Noxious Blightbringer
7x Plague Marines
20x Poxwalkers
10x Neophyte Hybrids
Tyrannofex
Chimera
10x Neophyte Hybrids
20x Poxwalkers
20x Poxwalkers
Tyranid Prime
Venomthrope
Zoanthrope
Neurothrope
Broodlord


To be Built
10x Gargoyle brood
2x Warriors
16x Hormagaunts
28x Termagants
3x Warriors
3x Ripper bases
Mawloc
8x Genestealers
GSC Leman Russ


Completed work showcase

Here is a showcase of some of the work I have completed in this blog:

Hive Fleet Ngaro

Swarmlord Completed Jan 2015



Flying Hive Tyrant Completed Sept 2015



Zerg Infested Terrans (ZITs)

Mortarion completed Jan 2018



Cult of the Red Saviour

Genestealer Patriarch Completed Oct 2016



Cult Leman Russ Completed July 2017



Other Stuff

Chaos Marine Squad completed Sept 2016



Christmas Marines completed Dec 2015



Cheers.

Post 'em up! Can't wait to see what you've got together.

What I decided on paper was this:

- Models primed with black
- skin drybrushed with Night blue
- carapace stipple brushed with golden yellow
- teeth, claws, scything talons etc based with night blue and finished with ultramarine blue
- flesh based with goblin green (including ribbed tendon things that are in skin)
- finished with gloss varnish to give the shiny alien effect.

Over one weekend I sat down with three models, a Termagant with spinefists, a hormagaunt, and a genestealer with scything talons. These guys are my test models so I can have a play with different brush techniques, see how different combinations work and get some practice in. I found that the above original idea was too basic, and as you will see below it has evolved overtime, much like a hive fleet should.

I am glad I sat down with test models and had a play, it really helped me suss out what would work and what was going to give me the effect I'm after, I have also learnt a lot since getting into the painting proper as you will see over the following pages, and I have refined how I am doing things a couple of times.

OK here are some photos as promised, please remember these are test models, and I did learn a bunch of stuff doing these up

Genestealer with base layers and stipple carapace done (hormagaunt in background):



Shot of the spinegant showing off the stippling:



The three test models varnished and looking shiny:



And the next project, three man warrior squad with basecoats complete:



Bit of an update on how the Warrior squad is going, all the paint is on them now, just need to get their skin gloss coated and matt coat the carapace and talons etc.



Still learning and experimenting a bit as I go, here is a picture of the carapace effect with different thicknesses of paint used:



The difference is quite noticeable. Personally I like the left and right ones more than the middle one. Middle one had the thinnest paint on it.

C&C welcomed.

This week I'm thinking of painting up either some tyrant guard, or some zoanthropes.

I failed a bit with my primer on the gaunt squads, so need to give them some more primer before I get stuck into them.

Oh and basing materials and a exocrine/Haruspex kit is on the way.

Cheers.

Love the skin colour and the carapace, I'm not a fan of the blue claws etc though, I'd try them a mid grey tone personally but that's just my opinion. Will look go when you've got loads done!

Hmmmm, thanks for your thoughts.

I've got a random single metal ravener that I can test paint with grey instead of blue claws to see how it looks. Will give it a whirl and throw up some pictures

Hi all,

I have been playing around with the colours of the claws and talons etc as I felt the blue I had was too bright...

Now it is a base of Imperial blue with Ultramarine blue highlight... I like it a lot more

Also I am dry brushing the skin with Imperial blue over the top of the night blue, which really makes the skin look better.

Here is the Warrior squad all varnished and shiny! (photo isn't the greatest, they look better in real life)



So now they just need basing which I am testing a red mars/Ayers rock colour scheme on my test models.

In the mean time, I have done some work on a Broodlord and 2x Tyrant Guard:



I am 90% happy with how my models are turning out and the scheme I have got going, one thing I am struggling a bit with is the tendon bits that poke through the skin. I'm finding it tricky to get a smooth finish to them without getting onto the skin again, and at times it is looking messy. So any tips would be welcomed!

I'm thinking I might need to thin the paint a bit more when hitting those areas and just do some lighter coats...

So thats where I am up too, next update will probably be based Warriors, Broodlord and Guard, along with a start on two zoanthropes.

Thanks for reading!

Really like the stippling on the carapace's very bug like and well painted. The only thing I'm not sold on is the blue claws, I can see you are trying to get a contrasting colour to the Yellow of the carapace and Blue being the stark contrast makes sense, the downside is the blue claws don't 'pop' for me. It might be the base colour of the blue is to light to begin with? so highlighting up to a bright blue perhaps changes the colour balance to much if you are happy sticking with blue, perhaps start with the darkest blue you have (or mix in a tiny bit of black) then when you wash/highlight the over all look might pop better, or perhaps instead of layering along the claw try a cow horn approach as below?


The toughest bit I find with painting small bits is getting paint over the edges and onto other parts of the model and for a while I used a blutac substitute (sadly I can't recall the name) where I would 'mask' off the area around so the blutac would get the paint and the rest of the model would be fine. It might be you have to much paint in the body of the brush and this leads to overspill, hard to say without seeing you paint

Hope that helps.

Hi Knightley,

The next lot of claws I paint up I am looking at using Night blue, up to imperial blue, and then smaller amount of ultramarine blue, which is similar to what you are saying I believe. The ones above actually have a base of ultramarine blue underneath the imperial (because I changed my mind) which makes it brighter than I wanted. If this doesn't work, then I'll give the cow horn approach a crack.

Blutac masking sounds like a good idea, I'll give that a go if I can't get my technique sorted, but I am confident that as I get more practice in I'll sort it out . I am learning HEAPS sitting down painting these up, I'd love to crack into a MC, but I want to do the big guys well, so figured I'd practice on smaller bugs to get my techniques and scheme threshed out.

Thank you for your thoughts and advice, much appreciated by this newbie painter, and glad you like the carapace.

Another update coming soon, I'm just playing with some basing materials on the test models and will get some photos up in next few days.

Update time.

Been good progress this week

*disclaimer* Got a new camera this week, so am getting used to it

Firstly, got some basing testing done, and I am really liking what I have got going.

I base the model with PVA and a layer of army painter black battleground with some battlefield rocks randomly placed, then a layer of Gory red paint, and a highlight/drybrush of bloody red. Looks like Red desert/Mars type of colour. I've got a few tufts to throw on here and there , will also be putting some debris, other army "bits" and things like that on the bigger bases, but here is a photo of what I'm up to thus far with the basing:



I have also started working on my Zoanthropes, and have base coated them, and done the carapace and skin work, so here is a couple of photos of how they are coming along:




I feel I'm really getting into the swing of painting models up now and feeling a lot more confident and the work I am doing is getting more accurate and looking better. I'm constantly trying little things like paint thickness, different brushes etc to get the effects I'm after.

Anyhow back to the models, the Tyrant guard and Broodlord have now been varnished and are ready to be based I really love how the Broodlord has turned out:




And for a bit of fun I did a little group photo of everything done so far in it's various stages of completion:



This week I'm looking at getting the zoanthropes finished, and get everything else based so I have some stuff I can say is actually complete

My question for the week is.... does anyone still do a spray can gloss varnish? I have found plenty of the matte varnish in spray cans but not gloss, reason I'm asking is I don't really fancy brush varnishing all my troops! Big bugs and elites etc I'm happy to do it on... but that many gribblies is intimidating, so if anyone can suggest a product that would be great. I thought GW or Army painter used to do them, but haven't found any on my searches.

Thanks for reading, comments welcomed!

Hey all update time.

So have done the gory red paint layer on the bases:



And a close up:



Next up is to give them a quick highlight of bloody red and throw a couple of tufts onto them.

On my bigger models I will have more interesting things on the bases, like skulls, and detritus of war etc.

Also done a wash on the brains of the zoanthropes, I am trying something a little different and I have done a goblin green wash over the top of dark green base colour. Most of the time you see a dark wash over a light base for brains, so thought I'd try the other way. Next move is to pick out the high bits with dark green again to really get the contrast going. I'll get a photo next update because I really like it

Thanks for reading, as always C&C welcomed.

Well, first phase of painting is all done including bases. I am happy with the overall look.

There is some individual things I would like to fix up, but here is what is finished thus far:

The three "experiments"



Warrior squad with rending claws and scything talons.



Tyrant guard, which are annoying to get underneath to do the base... learnt something there for sure



The broodlord, who I reckon looks really good. and is my favourite painted up model thus far.



And a group shot



And ongoing updates, zoanthropes are painted up and varnished, just need basing.

The pair front and back:



And a close up the brain, been a bit different and gone with a light wash over a darker base colour, as opposed to the normal darker over light base. Not sure if I will keep this for the rest of the army, especially the Tervigon birthing sacs... something to think about for me anyway.



Next up, starting on a troop brood, eight termagants primed and ready to get painted up this week.



I am happy with how I am progressing both with amount that has been painted up, and the improving quality of my work. Really happy receiving any c&c as I know there is a heap of experience out there which I am happy to tap into.

Thanks.

Loving the mottled yellow, ou 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 is I'd look into using a wash in the joins between the Chitin Plates just to define where each one is Devlan Mud [or equivalent] should do or even a blue? Definitely a black wash around the base of the Scything Talons, where they join the hand would fade them nicely into the blue, similar to the way GW do their Hive Fleet Kraken claws.

Then perhaps just add some lighter highlights of yellow on the edges, again it'll add a little more definition to the model. Good luck with it.

Hi dwez,

Glad you like the red planet basing, I thought I'd go with something a little less common and I really like how it is turning out.

I definitely want to get my hands onto a couple of washes, as it is something I would like to expand my painting ability with, and I was looking at doing washes over the flesh parts of the models, like brains, feeder tubes, birthing sacs etc. You have given me food for thought on the ST and the chitin plates as well.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Time for an update.

Zoanthropes completed and based:



And gaunt squad is coming along:



Dwez has suggested I make use of a wash on the chitin/carapace joints of the models, so I have experimented doing a blue wash over the whole area just to see how it turned out (gaunt on right)




While it has worked well in terms of shading the joints, it has also darkened the overall effect too much for my liking.

So tomorrow I will do another model with just the joints done (as Dwez suggested) and the rest of the carapace left at it's normal colour... I agree with dwez that I need to do something to show or shadow the joints a bit more, especially on the bigger guys.

Watch this space for update, should have some new photos tomorrow.

PS: Does wash go onto varnish ok? Just thinking future of doing the wash on the existing completed models that are already varnished, I'd hate to have to strip already haha.

Dwez.... thank you for your suggestion of the wash in the joins of the chitin. I've done just that (used a blue wash)and the effect is awesome, So far I have done it on the Termagant brood I am currently working on, and the Warrior and Tyrant guard broods that I had already "finished".

I experimented a bit with highlighting edges as well, but I really wasn't liking it as it made it look a bit strange with the mottled/stippled look of the chitin pattern, so I am going to stick with washing the joins. I have also started washing the claws and talons on the models with the same blue wash as I have found it is blending them a lot nicer and overall getting a good look. Overall the washing has made my chitin stand out a lot more and looks more realistic and bug like, so thanks again dwez for the suggestion, I have added this to my "recipe"

Warriors chitin as it was:



Warrior brood chitin as it is now:



Tyrant guard as they were:



Tyrant guard as they are:



I think most people will agree that this makes the models look alot better overall as the chitin doesn't look so blended and washed out and I actually have some definition of the plates of chitin now.

As mentioned above have been continuing to work on the Termagant brood as well.

Chitin is complete, all base coating and washes are done, pretty much just need to put down my greens and purples on top of the white based bits, do a bit of tidy up and they are ready for varnish and basing.



Next update should be zoanthropes chitin washed, along with Termagant brood near completion.

I really need to do something about a lightbox. Relying on daylight means half the time my photos don't come out very good at all

Thanks for stopping by and having a look dakka!

I really do like that left most Warrior, his carapace looks amazing, the others do as well, but the left most one is just off the chain

What's next on the build list?

Hi Knightley - I agree that the left most warriors carapace looks the best, would you believe it was due to a newbie mistake that I got it looking that good? I had the bottle of golden yellow paint stored upside down, and when I squeezed a drop out I wasn't paying attention and didn't notice it was very thick and very pigmented (didn't shake bottle enough). Did the first couple of stipples and noticed how awesome it looked. I haven't been able to get it to look like that since.

What is next on the build list? Well I have a Exocrine and gargoyle brood unstarted, and I'm working on a building a second lictor currently and painting them both up once the termagant brood is done.

My primed and ready to paint list is pretty big though:

2x Carnifex
Walking Hive tyrant
Trygon
Tervigon
Warrior Brood 2
Hive guard
Lictor
Bunch of troops - Termagants, stealers, rippers and hormagaunts.
Crashed aquila lander terrain piece (going to do same red planet theme as army)

Actually I'm going to alter my original post with to build, to paint and completed lists now.

I'm thinking I might be ready to paint one of the big bugs after I finish the two lictors, I've been holding off so I can make my "mistakes" and refine my techniques on the smaller guys so it's not as obvious overall

Have finished all the little tricky bits on the termagant brood, so just need to a few tidy ups here and there and then they are ready for their gloss coat and basing:




Have also done the wash in the chitin joints on the zoanthropes, so they are done too.

Next up after the termagants are finished, I'm trying to decide between painting up the two lictors or a carnifex. I'm currently leaning towards a carnifex

Going to be an awesome looking brood thats for sure, I vote Carnifex btw.

Time for an update.

All the previous completed models have had the chitin joins reglossed after they were washed, and it has blended it better and the models are looking really good! Unfortunately the photos failed, so next update I'll have a group shot of what is completed so far, which I'm going to put in the first post and update that photo each time I complete a brood/MC.

In the meantime my brother saw this blog and asked me to have a crack at his Chaos Lord in terminator armour. So I said why not, it's all good practice for me. Brother wants him done up like pre-heresy Emperors Children, so that's what I'm working towards.

Here is the said model... first base layers done with a bit of drybrushing on the cloak fur and rock.




So next update will hopefully be next layers of paint on the lord along with the termagant brood all glossed and based

Cheers.

Looks good so far. Nice, clean painting.

Agreed, nice and clean so far, looking forward to what you do with the layering

In Hive Fleet Ngaro news, I picked up a Flying Hive Tyrant and Warrior Box for pretty much half price today, so added to the construction pile!

With Chaos Sorcerer have done second layers on most parts, the purple over the base is much more Emperors Children The cloak and skulls have had extra coats put on, and I dry brushed the grey spikey bits with a charcoal grey colour which has come out nice.

Not sure if I need to do more on the gold, as it looks ok with only one coat? My next steps from here are some highlighting on the cloak and skulls etc before applying washes.

Here is current progress photos:

And UGH... I've just seen those mold lines on the power pack vents on the back... I'll clean them up for my brother I think because they will bug me!

Update time.

My flying hive tyrant and warrior brood have arrived, so added them to the "too make" pile

I have been doing a bunch of looking around here in NZ to try and find some spray on gloss varnish, and looks like I found a shop that sells Krylon Clear Coat Acrylic which a lot of people online seem to recommend, so I will buy a can of that and get my termagant brood finished up.

In the meantime I have kept working on my brothers Chaos Sorcerer in terminator armour.

Since last update have done another layer on the cloak (50/50 gory red/blood red), some more work on the skulls (50/50 dead white/bone white), and tried to tidy up the eye on staff and shoulder (50/50 Gold yellow/sun yellow) along with a small bit of black on the tip of each spiky bit to give them a warp fire scorched look. Next up I'm going to do a bit more highlighting on the same things, along with some more work on the gold as it is patchy in places. Once these are done then I'm going to do some washes, at this stage I am thinking mostly using sepia, what about blue on the armour? Might go ok?




Cheers for checking in

Starting to see that cloak really start to come together, how much more time will you be putting into it?

Hi Knightley,

I am really happy with how the cloak is turning out thus far. As to how much more time will I put into the model. Well my plan is:

Highlight cloak, skulls, eyes and weapon some more. Tidy up the gold, then give the model a wash with mainly sepia wash, maybe a blue for the armour, then do a bit more highlighting and I'd hope by then it would be about done.

How long will that take me... no idea, several more hours left to go I'd imagine, I guess it will take me as long as I need to make it look good

So had a finecast Lictor bought for me as a present. Thought I'd put it together.

Annoyed at the quality of this model... the connection nubs at the end of the rending arms were almost non existent and had huge holes where resin was missing, and took a bunch of extra work with putty to fix the issue. Might be a one off, but is my first fine cast build and not terribly impressed.

Anyhow, here it is (bursting from the trees haha), posed differently from my other lictor and has a bit of rock to stand on



Brothers in arms...



Next up will be an update on the termagant brood, finally got the gloss coating done and working on basing now.

Really interesting paint scheme for your Nids there Mad . Looks like a really natural insect-like carapace. Great job!

With your Lictors have you pinned any of the joints? I had to pin most of my finecast as the connections were terrible.

I know it was a ways back, but you mentioned that you were looking for gloss spray. Don't forget to check your local hardware store or home paint shop - they often have gloss enamel in spray for woodworkers and metalworkers. I get all my primers and sprays from the local paint shop. Cheers!