Those last weeks I've been busy with lots of things at the same time: exams, job interviews, family... and regarding the hobby, I've been working on lots of projects (all at the same time): imperial guard commissions, my eldars (I have two serpents half-finished already hehe), Space Hulk, my GD project, Blood Bowl... and of course my tyranids.
Even though I'm not pleased with the last changes made to the army, I like my bugs too much to simply put them in the shelves and forget them. I've managed to design a 1.000 point list that will require minimum additions to my current army. This will allow me to keep playing small games with them while I finish the rest of my projects and feel like working more seriously with Tyranids again.
For the list I need:
- Two Hive Guards: great minis indeed, but a real pain to assemble. I will say it again: a real PAIN. The arms and legs didn't fit well in their holes and I had to pin most of them and use loads of greenstuff (greystuff in my case, as I'm using now super sculpey). That took me lots of hours, and even a phonecall to my local GW store just for the sake of complaining. Eventually I got both properly assembled, this afternoon I'll base them and tomorrow they'll be primed.
- One Trygon: no comments on this, simply a great mini with great rules and a relatively low price. Already assembled and primed, I have to paint it - I estimate between 6-8 hours.
- One Tyranid Prime: hah, there is no specific model for this bug. I suppose that GW wants us to get creative for the moment, and although I'm not too fond of self-made conversions - strange for a tyranid player, ins't it? - I picked the glove up and started thinking...
First, I wanted a close combat oriented leader, with a main role of "character killer", so twin boneswords were an obvious choice, and I decided to complement them with a pair of scything talons (because those are cool and came for free). I also decided to give him toxin sacks to maximize the chances of causing a wound (watch out Wraithlords out there!) and nothing else, so I could use it as a dangerous and at the same time cheap model.
Once the main options of the model were chosen, came the period of innovative design. I wanted it to stand out among other warriors, but didn't know very well how to do so if it was going to share most parts (arms, legs, torso...) with them. Then I read an article on the GW webpage and I found the solution. But that meant using lots of pieces and spending a considerable amount of money, unless...
... unless I could take advantage of some models I had laying here and there, and at the same time order some bits from one of those online stores that trade with GW kits (thanks Bits & Kits UK for that), and look for something special on e-bay. So I took my old Death Leaper - got it a couple of years ago, when the model appeared for the first time, and had only primed it - and chopped its arms and head, so I could use its legs and torso (with the plus of a cool looking stinging tail). Then I ordered a couple of scything talons and a head from the Ravener kit, because they are bigger and more vicious-looking than the ones in the Warrior kit, and the head has side mandibles and those look great too. And for extra armor, I gathered a couple of armor plates and toxin sack upgrades from my own bit box (full of different biomorphs after years of collecting nids).
And then I arrived to the most delicate point of my conversion: the boneswords. I had simply no idea of how to do them, and was thinking on doing something similar to this (thanks Bigred from BOLS) when while having a look on e-bay I found a perfect solution: a bet on some old plastic Tyranid Warriors from the Space Hulk set... that I won! I simply cut the hands with boneswords and attached them to the typical deathspitter set, adding to the arm with the weapon the back piece of its counterpart to make them more balanced. And tada! The model was finished!
I'll prime it tomorrow with the Hive Guards so I'll have it ready for painting... hope I'll manage to have it ready for gaming in no more than a couple of weeks!
Even though I'm not pleased with the last changes made to the army, I like my bugs too much to simply put them in the shelves and forget them. I've managed to design a 1.000 point list that will require minimum additions to my current army. This will allow me to keep playing small games with them while I finish the rest of my projects and feel like working more seriously with Tyranids again.
For the list I need:
- Two Hive Guards: great minis indeed, but a real pain to assemble. I will say it again: a real PAIN. The arms and legs didn't fit well in their holes and I had to pin most of them and use loads of greenstuff (greystuff in my case, as I'm using now super sculpey). That took me lots of hours, and even a phonecall to my local GW store just for the sake of complaining. Eventually I got both properly assembled, this afternoon I'll base them and tomorrow they'll be primed.
- One Trygon: no comments on this, simply a great mini with great rules and a relatively low price. Already assembled and primed, I have to paint it - I estimate between 6-8 hours.
- One Tyranid Prime: hah, there is no specific model for this bug. I suppose that GW wants us to get creative for the moment, and although I'm not too fond of self-made conversions - strange for a tyranid player, ins't it? - I picked the glove up and started thinking...
First, I wanted a close combat oriented leader, with a main role of "character killer", so twin boneswords were an obvious choice, and I decided to complement them with a pair of scything talons (because those are cool and came for free). I also decided to give him toxin sacks to maximize the chances of causing a wound (watch out Wraithlords out there!) and nothing else, so I could use it as a dangerous and at the same time cheap model.
Once the main options of the model were chosen, came the period of innovative design. I wanted it to stand out among other warriors, but didn't know very well how to do so if it was going to share most parts (arms, legs, torso...) with them. Then I read an article on the GW webpage and I found the solution. But that meant using lots of pieces and spending a considerable amount of money, unless...
... unless I could take advantage of some models I had laying here and there, and at the same time order some bits from one of those online stores that trade with GW kits (thanks Bits & Kits UK for that), and look for something special on e-bay. So I took my old Death Leaper - got it a couple of years ago, when the model appeared for the first time, and had only primed it - and chopped its arms and head, so I could use its legs and torso (with the plus of a cool looking stinging tail). Then I ordered a couple of scything talons and a head from the Ravener kit, because they are bigger and more vicious-looking than the ones in the Warrior kit, and the head has side mandibles and those look great too. And for extra armor, I gathered a couple of armor plates and toxin sack upgrades from my own bit box (full of different biomorphs after years of collecting nids).
And then I arrived to the most delicate point of my conversion: the boneswords. I had simply no idea of how to do them, and was thinking on doing something similar to this (thanks Bigred from BOLS) when while having a look on e-bay I found a perfect solution: a bet on some old plastic Tyranid Warriors from the Space Hulk set... that I won! I simply cut the hands with boneswords and attached them to the typical deathspitter set, adding to the arm with the weapon the back piece of its counterpart to make them more balanced. And tada! The model was finished!
I'll prime it tomorrow with the Hive Guards so I'll have it ready for painting... hope I'll manage to have it ready for gaming in no more than a couple of weeks!
