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NEW ARMY



So far I've amassed a decent army or ultramarines and orks. I've been wanting to do something new, and I had my eyes on a few different armies.
Deathguard ended up second on my list, since the potential for the conversions was really attractive, but the painting would be more marines and green, things I have done enough.
Tyranids is an army I have been interested on for a while, since in gameplay it does allow for different builds, the conversions can be really interesting, and the painting could suit my style. The new models for 10th also where a big call, so I got some models and started testing a few ideas.

Although my painting style is quite cartoony, I wanted my tyranids to look a bit more scary, and the art from the 3rd edition codex looked perfect. Luckly for me, Trovarion miniatures released a video with this exact paint scheme, and has been a huge influence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UFIH6BKejg

Following the video loosely, I ended up with something Im happy with. The idea for this army is not necessarily win any painting competition, but to have something visually interesting and effective to the tabletop, with a mid level of conversions and some fun proxies here and there.



When it came to the basing, I wanted to look as an already conquered planet, with a fleshy rocky ground. I achieved this by mixing superglue and white glue, giving a mix that has a few minutes of working time and can be modeled with organic results.
It is also possible to make bubbles and other effects, making the bases much different from what I've done before.





But to be able to play with tyranids, first I need to have enough painted to do so!
I started as everyone did it in 10th, with ebay half tyranids lots for cheap, and got a few more awaiting paint, which would come later.
Not before long, I built and painted my first batch.



Tyranid Prime:
Although I really dislike the vanilla model, I see the potential of the miniature. I have done 2 conversions making it miles better than its original pose. Overall the painted version has everything I envisioned for this army: A simple yet effective conversion that accentuates the character of the model, an effective and eye catching paintjob, and an interesting base.





Psychophage

Probably one of the best models of the started box is this one. Without conversions it already looks great, meaning that any duplicates of this model will be hard to match the great original pose.
One thing I've sometimes disliked about tyranid armies is that they can be a bit hard to read, looking like a mesh of 2 colors, rather than separating elements visually. The chosen color scheme for the army helps read the models, visually distinguishin weapons, flesh, armour and effects. This way, just by looking at the model, I can tell if it is more melee (firy red), ranged (plasma green), armoured (turquoise) or squishy (flesh).
For my first one I did some slight modifications, mostly giving it a big rock on the back to exaggerate the angle of the monster even more, or perhaps showing that its climbing down from it.
The big base also allowed me to play more with the fleshy textures, alien eggs and victims of the tyranid swarm. As I get more practice, I'll try more ambitious ideas.





Von Ryan’s Leapers

Although the previous is probably the best model of the box, my favorite are the leapers. Really easy to make small bit swaps, dynamic poses and much stronger than expected considering how thin the plastic is at places.
Cant wait to paint a next batch to have at least 6 in my starting army.






Termagants

Nothing spectacular about this guys. A bit of a pain to build 80 of them in a row, fairly relaxing to paint as long as you dont try to get them perfect. Great opportunities to experiment with the bases, sometimes getting gems like bubbles inside bubbles.
For the ripper swarms I went for some 3d printed versions with small conversions. I do not have pictures of the final ones for some reason, but you get the idea.




And those are my painted Tyranids so far, let me know your thoughs! Any feedback is greally appreciated, starting an army is always a mush of desicion making and experimenting.

I like the scheme, they look like tropical beetles.

Looks really good!
The large ones looks beautiful. The smaller ones looks a bit cluttered because the bases kind of blend with the model rather than contrast to them and bring out the actual model.

Just nitpicking, the army looks great.

Wow. Really amazing work here. I really like the Psychopage, such an intimidating model when it has a paint job like that!

The bases look great too. I would have never thought to mix super glue and white glue - the finish is very organic as you say. I'll bank this idea should I ever need to do something similar.

 Zambro wrote:

The bases look great too. I would have never thought to mix super glue and white glue - the finish is very organic as you say. I'll bank this idea should I ever need to do something similar.

Yeah, mixing diferent glues and liquids gives interesting results. Superglue is the what hardens the mix and usually I do a small layer after everying is dry, but white glue, UHU glue, even water and superglue give different textures and mixing times.

Great work. I really like your painting style.