Oscar Painted Tyrant Guard & Biovore

So Oscar wanted to paint a couple of Tyranids at the weekend, so these are the results of that. His dry-brushing technique os getting pretty good, though he did end up using a too-wet brush on the guard's neck, thus getting paint in the recesses - not to worry, this is one of the best ways to learn, and not really a problem.

WiP - Mawloc conversion

So with the new Tyranid releases I've got back to our Tyranid swarm and been doing a bit of "updating". This has included painting up a Venomthrope and Pyrovore, and today has been updating a Mawloc conversion we first put together over a year ago. This was put together from some of the Mawloc parts left over from Oscar's Trygon kit, but I was never happy with its old-style scything talon legs. With the spare fleshborer hive legs from the Tyrannofex, however (which look quite spade-like), I thought it would look better. New chest and carapace pieces from GS also make it fit the theme of the current tyranids better, and I sculpted the interiro of the awesome maw with GS to blend the elements in and put the tongue (a classic style Hive Tyrant tail) in. Stuck in a home-made crater and with its base-coats on, you can judge for youselves...

Obviously we need to finish painting, and the crater needs rubble adding to complete the look of the Mawloc bursting from underground, but overall we're pretty happy with the effect - the massive fleshborer hive arms look substantial enough to propel it through the earth and haul it out when it bursts from underneath ready to devour all ahead of it.

The Venomthrope is a slight departure from our normal Tyranid scheme, basically just a green-washed and white-dry brushed version to give a paler, more sickly and toxic-looking creature. again, fairly happy with progress so far (though I wish I'd filled the joins in the rear before painting!).

The Pyrovore, on the other hand, is fairly standard. Tubes were washed in yellow and sacs, mouth, edges of tubes etc in red to create a look of acidic and noxious fluids irritating even the resistant tissues of the host tyranid organism. Tubes and mouth areas are also glazed to give a slick appearance, though this doesn't come out that well on the pics.

Tyranids!

Received my order from Total Wargamer today - Tervigon/Tyrannofex and Hive Tyrant/Swarm Lord kits...Oscar and I did unboxing videos, the first of which is on YouTube already.

As for the kits...well, the Tyrannofex/Tervigon model is HUGE. I think it's pretty good value when you compare it to other kits, like the Carnifex for example (or the HT/Swarmlord, as discussed below!). It's cleverly designed and builds very nicely, and I love the weapon options. The Tervigon is nicely done too, though of course GW have designed it so you can't build it in a way that you could make it versatile. I think GW "attitude" (if a company can have such a thing, being ephemeral at best) is pretty poor here, and rather cynical. How much would it have really impacted sales if they'd made a more versatile kit that clever gamers could field as a Tervigon or Tyrannofex with the aid of a few magnets? Most people probably have a preference, and some might be running multiple Tervigons or Tyrannofexes, so multiple purchases would ensue anyway. Many wouldn't want to go to the bother of magnetising anyway, so how much would it hurt it to show it's thinking of its customers, rather than its profit line (which is pretty large anyway)? Even if this wasn't the intention (which I doubt), it doesn't create a good "feel"  -someting I've noticed increasingly on forums.

I've also something of an issue with the Hive Tyrant/Swarmlord kit, too. Coming at the same time as the Tyrannofex/Tervigon kit, you naturally put them side-by-side and think, "hang on a minute, this only cost 2 pounds less than the Tervigon". It's a nice kit, and much more convenient for conversions etc, and the wings are nice, but still. The Swarmlord parts really only consist of a very slightly different head and four arms - I was hoping for maybe some different legs (to make it taller and more imposing on the battlefield) and the forked tail from the artwork at least. The head just looks like a Hive Tyrant variant and the bone sabres are also disappointing, being weedier than a standard HT bonesword. You could change them, but then you just paid 33GBP for this!!!

The Hive Tyrant flying parts are nice - the wings and huge-clawe legs with flying tail shows some thought and design put in - which again makes you think why did they put so little effort into the Swarmlord - one of the Tyranids only "named" characters? The way the torso is split means they could have made some additional parts to provide a beefier section for it - but they didn't.It all fits together well, but it just shows a bit of a lack of imagination really, I feel.

Overall then, whilst being great kits and models, GW new Tyranid releases have got me thinking more about getting out of 40K and looking at another games system...one that is a bit "nicer" (for want of a better term). My recent experiences with FSA have only strengthened this, and in the current economic climate I think GWs insensitivity is massive. Now they just need to release 6th Edition 40K with loads of rules changes that completely alter the way armies play, to finally torpedo my enthusiasm for their franchises.

On the painting bench - Hive Tyrant

Well, today I thought I'd deviate from prior posts (which have all focussed on FSA), and go back to 40K. With the recent "second wave" releases of Tyranids, and reading the latest White Dwarf, I've had a kick to my enthusiam about the Great Destroyer, and opted to get some monstrous creatures painted up.

First is a Hive Tyrant, complete with bone sword, lash whip, scything talons and adrenal gland. It had previously got to the stage of being base-coat sprayed and washed, with a bit of the carapace also being painted. Big, unattractive white primer areas still existed on the bone sword, so time to get him done. This is the old metal kit (I, like many others, am not a fan of Citadel's so-called "Finecast"), so limited in posability but still an imposing model.

Taking photos of minis with flash always changes how they look, but you can see the basics on this - basecoat on carapace now done, adrenal gland base done, added eyes to bonesword and lashwhip, main coat on body done. Next up is the parts on the sides of the vents, then the carapace wash and detailing, adrenal gland and "wet" areas (mouth, eyes etc). Some wash around the veins too...