Over the last couple of days I finally cracked open the Tyranid Swarm box and assembled the 95 models it contained. It was a slow and tedious process, but doing them all together let me mix and match a lot of the pieces from the termagants, hormagaunts, and gargoyles to get a nice variety of dynamic poses.
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| That's what 135 gribblies looks like fielded all together. Barbed Heirodule hanging out in the middle for scale |
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| Alternate angle. Getting all of these guys painted is going to take a while... |
As of now I have a massive backlog, since I made sure to buy plenty of extra models so that I can field a wide variety of formations and armies - I didn't want my Nids to get pigeon-holed into a specific play style so I went all out and got over 5000 points worth of various models. No matter what the opposing force, I will have at least some reasonable formations and unit combinations to field that should be effective.
As of today, I finally have all 5k+ points assembled and sitting in a display stand that my gf so kindly got me for xmas. However, only 1300 or so are fully painted.
I'm out of practice, not having painted anything for 10+ years prior to getting back in to the hobby this winter, so its been a slow process. I feel like i'm getting more proficient at getting the Tyranids painted up to a decent standard without spending too much time, so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to pick up the pace and have more and more fully painted in the coming weeks.
Below is my list of assembled models. The underlined entries are fully painted.
1x Deathleaper
2x Flying Hive Tyrant (magnetized) - 1 is painted
1x Swarmlord
1x Tyranid Prime (magnetized)
1x Tervigon (magnetized - can also be fielded as a Tyrannofex)
60x Termagants (20 devourer, 20 spine fist, 20 fleshborer) - 20 are painted
40x Hormagaunts
6x Ripper Swarms
5x Tyranid Warriors (magnetized - can also be fielded as Shrikes) - 3 are painted
16x Genestealers (8 are painted)
1x Broodlord
2x Tyrannocytes
6x Mucolid Spores (3 are painted)
3x Zoanthropes w/ Neurothrope
3x Hive Guard
3x Malanthropes
3x Venomthropes
1x Hive Crone
1x Harpy
1x Dimachaeron
30x Gargoyles (20 are painted)
18x Spore Mines (6 are painted)
2x Carnifex (magnetized, can also be fielded as Stonecrusher Fexes)
1x Trygon
1x Mawloc
3x Biovores
1x Exocrine (magnetized, can also be fielded as Haruspex)
1x Barbed Heirodule
2x Vengeance Weapon Batteries
The Hive Fleet Behemoth contingent has grown quite a bit and I have some pretty interesting options for composition in a variety of games sizes... but I really need to get more fully done since I am interested in entering some upcoming tournaments that require the entire army to be painted.
I leave you with a few shots of my fully painted models - about 1300 points worth as today. Please excuse the poor lighting and photography, I'll try to get a better setup next time around.
Have some tips on colour scheme, painting, photography, etc.? Let me know, I'd love to hear your feedback!
Yeah dude I've got some tips ;)
ReplyDelete1) When taking a picture with any camera set it down on something stable; don't hold it in your shaky hands while trying to get your shot. Also put it on a timer, so that you don't have to physically press the button & shake the camera itself.
2)If your time is worth anything to you, investing in an airbrush is a huge HUGE time saver. Especially when it comes to a horde like THAT. http://www.airbrushing4u.com/ This guy knows what he is talking about, is local and has *good* prices. He started off doing commission work for murals in buildings and is extremely knowledgeable. You can just walk into his shop and he will set you up, and you're on your way! The longer you put it off the more you will kick yourself in the butt when you finally cave :P
The work you have done so far is very impressive! It's just scary that it's hardly a dent in what you have already laid out for yourself :D Good luck my friend.
Thanks for the feedback! I've been seriously considering getting an airbrush for at least all the basecoating, but I've read that it isn't advisable to use them in living areas. I'm living in a 1 bedroom condo with the gf right now so I'm not sure how I could make it work :/ any suggestions?
ReplyDeleteLuckily for me I have a room dedicated to hobby-ing, but I can't say not having one would stop me. The only issue I have really come across is using airbrush primer. If you open all of your windows, turn on a fan and put a mask on the airbrush primer is do-able. For regular paints all you really need to do is open the windows (if you're a pussy ;). Haha but no seriously some paints are toxic so you need to try your best to not inhale paint particles.
DeleteDepending on how loud of a compressor you get your gf might strangle you before all of those gribblies are base coated, but like I said you can't go wrong when purchasing from airbrush4u. You want a compressor with a tank on it, a hose with an inline water filter, and a gravity feed dual action airbrush. The air brush will be around 80-150, compressor shouldn't be any less than 200 (or you will be losing major functionality).