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Hi friends, hope you’re all doing well! I’ve been trying to come up with some ideas on ways to make my tyranid characters stand out from the rest of my army. It’s kind of disappointing that tyranid hqs and characters don’t have that much more detail and wargear options than our other unit's. A SM character might have a special sword/helmet/armour or even pose to make them look really special but our hive tyrants have the same old war gear as our other monsters and the only special weapon any character has is the swarmlord with its bone sabres. In any case what do you guys do to make your Tyranids HQ’s/Characters stand out. Thanks for the feedback!

In the olden days, I'd use colours that couldn't be found on my termagants, genestealers, etc. - maybe keeping carapace colours the same but any flesh you could paint in a colour that stands out. If you've gone for a dark, sleek Alien-inspired look for the troops, maybe paint the heads in a pale colour and use blending to merge it into the more common flesh colour on your troops.

Or flashes of colours like you'd find in male birds versus females, in nature it is to attract a mate but maybe in Tyranids it could be to allow an easy visual of a dominant creature from a distance (to induce a response of "Follow that monster!" to friendly critters).

Could always add unique patterns to their carapace.

Make use of effects like a glow for the eyes.

Go slightly brighter with highlights to make them pop a bit more than the rest.

More scenic base that is slightly raised.

Could even throw some smaller critters on their base to help show the command aspect more.

Generally, your big bugs are kept around a lot longer and last a lot longer than your gribblies, so darker, more leathery flesh, weathered or beaten chitin carapaces or scarring is something you'd see more of than something fresh out of a spawning pool.

Painting wise, if you're elevating your standard for HQs and the like, added highlights, tones and what not to make your beasties stand out.

Fully custom kitbash them or buy 3rd party.

The first Tyranid Prime I made was a kit bash using a Spawn of Cryptus Brood Lord as a base.

-Cut off the feet and added hooves.
-Trim off the top of the head and put the Prime head piece on it.
-Reapply the head spike from the spawn to the Prime head crest.
-Add tyranid extra carapace pieces along the back and on the upper legs
-Use monstrous Scytal and a bio cannon or Death Spitters.
-Use the hose from a monstrous biocannon as a tail and add the prime tail bit to the end of it.







My Swarmlord in a Forgeworld Hive tyrant with some modifications.
-Added Back vents
-Added a split end tail
-Added mandibles (made from rending claws)
-Added extra bits to the head crest.
-Bone Swords from Hydracast.

It's been mentioned already but yeah, if you can't do it with wargear, the options are through paint job and/or basing. For instance giving the paint job a few more steps to include a brighter hue and additional highlights to help it pop on the field. Also with basing, give them a little more elevation and add some detials to the base, like skulls, fallen enemies, heads and helmets, weapons and armour, etc. A little extra effort on a base can really bring a mini to life and give it some character and dynamism.