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The idea is very simple. Tyranids are an army of hive mind monsters with thousands of subspecies that don't have artwork, so you can do a lot of things with them. Some people have decided to represent them with models of insects or spiders, but I have had a different idea. Sea shells. Sea shells have a number of advantages that these other concepts don't have. The first is that they're very cheap, and at the same time detailed "models". The second is that they are already "painted" so you don't have to worry about bringing a grey tide to the table. And lastly, they come in thousands of different shapes and sizes, so you can pick and choose what you like, and easily diferentiate your units.

Still, you can't just bring shells to the table without any changes, right? You have to explain how they move, and show easily identifiable weapons. Luckily there is an easy solution to that too.These things:

Like the shells they are cheap, come in many shapes and sizes, and do not have to be painted. They can represent melle weapons, explain how the model moves on land, and details can be glued on their ends, like eyes or ranged weapons.
I considered doing an army like this myself, but a few things prevent me from that. One is that I don't really play 40k anymore, so I wouldn't bring the project to completion after finishing a few models. Another thing is that I really like painting, and I wouldn't be able to prevent myself from painting it, even if it's not grey. That would take way too long to finish when I have actual grey models to paint. I had considered not sharing this with you and blowing everyone away with a finished army, but that's too SHELLFISH
So I guess I'll just plead with you.
Please someone make me do this for you. That would make it worth my time.

You're a genius or a madman!
Do it, but please record your opponents reaction to you dumping a bunch of shells on the table