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I've finally decided start a Tyranid army, and have the Tyranid swarm box on the way by mail. But I'm still deciding on color Schemes. I like the idea of having a fluffy paint scheme, so since I'm not too into the fluff other than some reading in the codex, I thought I'd ask you guys.

What do you think when it comes to tyranids and camouflage? My idea is that they evolve and adapt when conquering new planets. A "old" Tyranid doesn't change chitin and carapace to camouflage itself when arriving at a new planet, but when they've been there for a while they spawn new tyranids with the new evolved camouflage colors better suited for the environment. This way i could more easily differentiate between troops and say one troop came from the other planet and the other have recently been produced. This way I can try out a couple color schemes too, instead of having to stick with one scheme on all my models.

Am i totally off here?

na that works

Tyranids you can be fairly felxable

GodDamUser wrote:
na that works

Tyranids you can be fairly felxable

Have you seen anything about adaptation and evolving and camouflage in the fluff?

 killerpenguin wrote:

GodDamUser wrote:
na that works

Tyranids you can be fairly felxable

Have you seen anything about adaptation and evolving and camouflage in the fluff?

there are plenty of examples... First and foremost the Lictor

GodDamUser wrote:

 killerpenguin wrote:

GodDamUser wrote:
na that works

Tyranids you can be fairly felxable

Have you seen anything about adaptation and evolving and camouflage in the fluff?

there are plenty of examples... First and foremost the Lictor

Yea, I've read about the lictor. I was thinking more of a general thing for the species.

 killerpenguin wrote:

GodDamUser wrote:

 killerpenguin wrote:

GodDamUser wrote:
na that works

Tyranids you can be fairly felxable

Have you seen anything about adaptation and evolving and camouflage in the fluff?

there are plenty of examples... First and foremost the Lictor

Yea, I've read about the lictor. I was thinking more of a general thing for the species.

The Tyranids in the Anphellion Project sport highly effective jungle camoflage. Their progenitor fleet is Behemoth, but the Tyranids that spawned on the moon itself were well adapted for the local surroundings.

They are tyranids! Alien! Whatever camouflage they have is their business!

Seriously though, my thoughts on tyranid camouflage is based losely on an earth animal. Since tyranids will move from one region to another, no specific pattern will ever become suitable for all occasions. So what's a lizard bug to do? So for my army the answer was: the zebra.

You're thinking 'what the...', right? I chose dark red and yellow striping, but the principle is the same - it's not so much to disguise oneself in the environment, but to disguise individuals amongst the horde. Zebras stick out like a sore thumb when alone, but if you've ever seen pictures of them running as a group it can be very difficult to focus on any individual, thus making them harder to target during an enemy's hunt. Other patterns could work as well but stripes are particularly effective.

Just paint them how you like. Tyranids answer to nobody!

 killerpenguin wrote:
I've finally decided start a Tyranid army, and have the Tyranid swarm box on the way by mail. But I'm still deciding on color Schemes. I like the idea of having a fluffy paint scheme, so since I'm not too into the fluff other than some reading in the codex, I thought I'd ask you guys.

What do you think when it comes to tyranids and camouflage? My idea is that they evolve and adapt when conquering new planets.

Well, almost no planet is going to be so homogeneous that any one camo pattern can work everywhere. Tyranids using camo need to pretty much adapt it on the spot. This isn't a huge advantage - because almost everyone has sensors that can pick up heat/movement, meaning that only Lictor/Tau stealth is worth anything, from a game mechanic perspective.
But if the hive mind decided it was needed, every nid could play octopus if it wanted.

how do you guys think this would work on the chitin?

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1191/8042/products/1_db83fc30-8d81-4a2d-9b97-2e85824dd255_grande.jpeg?v=1458091256

Tyranid adaptations can be pretty broad in terms of camouflage, it would make sense for them to take on at least some colouring from their surroundings after the first few attack waves.

I also vaguely remember reading somewhere (it might have been one of the Ultramarines books) about some of the nids on an ice world evolving to have fur so that they could last more than a few minutes in the sub zero temperatures.

 Afrodactyl wrote:
Tyranid adaptations can be pretty broad in terms of camouflage, it would make sense for them to take on at least some colouring from their surroundings after the first few attack waves.

I also vaguely remember reading somewhere (it might have been one of the Ultramarines books) about some of the nids on an ice world evolving to have fur so that they could last more than a few minutes in the sub zero temperatures.

Thats cool, i also heard they developed some sort of fat sacks on their carapace to withstand laser shots from lasgun fire.

I don't see any reason why not. I definitely like the zebra example

They may not evolve exact camouflage but maybe on a ice world they take on tones that more mimic the planet as waves learn, or evolve a basic pattern to help break up shapes of larger nida so a enemy cannot identify the big bugs as easily or maybe semi dazzle that was made so you could not easily work out a targets speed or direction for firing solutions.

Does not have to be advanced active cammo predator style.

 John Prins wrote:

 killerpenguin wrote:
I've finally decided start a Tyranid army, and have the Tyranid swarm box on the way by mail. But I'm still deciding on color Schemes. I like the idea of having a fluffy paint scheme, so since I'm not too into the fluff other than some reading in the codex, I thought I'd ask you guys.

What do you think when it comes to tyranids and camouflage? My idea is that they evolve and adapt when conquering new planets.

Well, almost no planet is going to be so homogeneous that any one camo pattern can work everywhere. Tyranids using camo need to pretty much adapt it on the spot. This isn't a huge advantage - because almost everyone has sensors that can pick up heat/movement, meaning that only Lictor/Tau stealth is worth anything, from a game mechanic perspective.
But if the hive mind decided it was needed, every nid could play octopus if it wanted.

Agreed, there are certainly more stealthy things in 40k but they tend to do so by active means rather than just being the color of the grass.

There is no such thing as "old tyranids" when they first arrive on a world. All tyranids die, are absorbed as gruel with everything ekse, and reproduced as need demands.

Every nid is tailored to their situation in as much as tyranids need to be. The aforementioned​ fur and fat. Sometimes that means camo. But mostly they seem to not bother. Worlds tend to fall simply to overwhelming numbers within a week or so. Its only rare worlds that put up more of a fight.


That being said, every splinter feet reinvents its colors based on any number of factors constantly. More than any other army you cN paint nids however you want.

 Lance845 wrote:
There is no such thing as "old tyranids" when they first arrive on a world. All tyranids die, are absorbed as gruel with everything ekse, and reproduced as need demands.

While they are uncommon.. they do exist.

For reference you have Old One Eye, and where he tends to stomp, you get broods of Hormagaunts hatching (as hormagaunts tend to lay eggs during a invasion, to help with reinforcements)

GodDamUser wrote:

 Lance845 wrote:
There is no such thing as "old tyranids" when they first arrive on a world. All tyranids die, are absorbed as gruel with everything ekse, and reproduced as need demands.

While they are uncommon.. they do exist.

For reference you have Old One Eye, and where he tends to stomp, you get broods of Hormagaunts hatching (as hormagaunts tend to lay eggs during a invasion, to help with reinforcements)

Old one eye is a single Carnifex that was never reabsorbed. He is supposedly still running around Macragge. Any other example of OOE being spotted on another planet is a new OOE that has been regenerated fresh and sent back out. Same wit the Swarmlord.

There is literally no way for a hive ship to get nids off a planet alive. They have no ships or shuttles to ferry from the surface to orbit. Once Nids have been deposited onto a planet the only way for the biomass to get off is to hitch a ride with another species ship (Genestealers) or for it to drag itself into a digestion pool and add it's biomass to the gruel.

Hive Fleet Gorgon was able to spawn Hormagaunts in droves that had highly camoflaged carapaces, the Tau needed Battlesuit sensors to detected them as they could literally not be detected by the naked eye.

Tyranids are highly adaptable. If you can think of a biological trait that would prove useful in any situation to the Hive Mind, chances are, that adaptation has already been used a dozen times with sucess.

Also, they also make new Nids for the next planet, its much easier to transport your warriors when they are a pile of digested sludge and remake new ones that are better suited to the new planet. Its much smarter to do this when your troops are also your source of fuel for your ships, and your source of food, and you can mak new ones as easily as the Nids. Why keep them in stasis slumber for 10 years when you can just grow all new ones and use the old existing ones for food.

If I remember right they do have some "old" Tyranids because some are kept alive/in stasis on board the ships as a skeleton guard to kill intruders before more Tyranids can be spawned.

pm713 wrote:
If I remember right they do have some "old" Tyranids because some are kept alive/in stasis on board the ships as a skeleton guard to kill intruders before more Tyranids can be spawned.

Tervigons are kept awake as they can instantly spawn termagants and sound the alarm.


The Dawn of War 2 novelisation by Chris Roberson also has small creatures that are a cross between a Ripper and a White Blood Cell for dealing with Tarkus and co. It also has large Warrior like creatures but their exoskeletons are molten and dripping, as if they were Warriors who were woken early from their metamophesis. Their blood and dripping skin can melt through power armour.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

pm713 wrote:
If I remember right they do have some "old" Tyranids because some are kept alive/in stasis on board the ships as a skeleton guard to kill intruders before more Tyranids can be spawned.

Tervigons are kept awake as they can instantly spawn termagants and sound the alarm.


The Dawn of War 2 novelisation by Chris Roberson also has small creatures that are a cross between a Ripper and a White Blood Cell for dealing with Tarkus and co. It also has large Warrior like creatures but their exoskeletons are molten and dripping, as if they were Warriors who were woken early from their metamophesis. Their blood and dripping skin can melt through power armour.