My Tyranid army was a smattering of old 3rd Edition and Space Hulk models combined with 4th Edition models as I added on to the force. The history of this army goes back to Necromunda. We picked up some Genesteelers and other Hybrid models to use for certain missions when the bugs were occupying the hive. Years later, when I was closing my store, one of my customers sold me his entire collection for $100. I took the opportunity to sell my Tau on EBay (a money-making move) and to sit on the Tyranids as my "just in case I need to play 40K" force. They went to the battlefield when I moved to Kansas and fell in with the Topeka Legionaires, who mostly played 40K.
The Legionaires boasted several players who played mechanized armies and I found it frustrating that I could never beat them on the battlefield. Thus, in my frustration, the Tyranids were sold off in exchange for my most recent army, the Iron Warriors. Therefore, the history of this force for me runs from about 2003-2007.
This Showcase is specifically to highlight the models and any painting tips I may have used on them.
Most of my large Tyranid models were given the capability of swapping out weapons configurations by using Rare Earth magnets to hold them together. These shots show two of the configurations most often used for my Tyrant. The Tyrant was painted late in the game when I was trying to tie the old purple color scheme into the newer, earth tones scheme. Thus, the brown and purple scheme was born out by necessity.
This Broodlord dates back to early 40K days and was the leader of the Tyranid insurgency in our Necromunda Hive. With the reinstatement of the Broodlord to 4th Edition 40K, he became a regular presence leading a cohort of Genesteelers in my army.
About half of the Warriors were glued together by the previous owner, so I had to adhere to their weapons configurations. The other half were fitting with magnets so that I could change them up. The paint scheme is relatively simple, with a black primer base, a white dry brush and then successive washes of browns and reds to get that blended, natural shell look.
Warrior close-up showing magnets and weapons configuration options.
These Lictors were painted by my brother Duncan years ago.
They served as "guest monsters" in many Necromunda adventures.
All of the Genesteelers were of the purple and blue Space Hulk variety from back in the day. For simplicity's sake, I used the purple ones as the cohort for my Brood Lord while the rest serves as normal units. These were effectively the only real solution I had to deal with opposing mechanized units since my big bugs tended to get singled out and eliminated early.
These Genesteeler Hybrids were frequent antagonists during Necromunda Hive invasions. In the old days, being wounded by a Genesteeler resulted in a gradual morphing so that victims became like the tyranids themselves. In contemporary 40K games, I simply used these models as cheap Gaunts.
Likewise, these old Gaunt models were simply used as cheap "Spinegaunts" rather than trying to distinguish the different weapons they carried.
Spinegaunts were the cheapest option for a tyranid Gaunt, so I used them in large numbers to try and overwhelm the enemy and bog them down with sheer numbers.
I envisioned them as being one of the "transitional" units from the old school purple models to the newer, organic colored units. These are simply base coated in grey with colored speckles on their hard outer shell.
These Hormagaunts are one of the first units I painted after purchasing the army (before I had any idea of a unifying color scheme). Half of them are converted Termagants from a box set. All of them needed to be mounted on bases with heavy washers to keep them from tipping over. It came in handy for transport, though, as I place a sheet of magnetic material in a tray and all Hormagaunts and Genesteelers could be stored and transported standing securely upright on the tray.
I used 2 tones of grey as an undercoat to create the various hues, then washed the entire model in a green ink to get the subtle transition of color on the models. This is a quick method I learned from painting Lizardmen in Warhammer Fantasy.
Termagants: Seldom used except in the biggest of battles.
Termagant close-up. I was happiest with the desert Scorpion look for these models and my latest units of Gaunts all had this color scheme. By then, much of the army had all ready been completed, so it mattered little that I had a "unifying paint scheme" so late in the process.
Devogaunts (Gaints with devourers) modified from Termagant and Hormagaunt models. Against legions of Space Marines, these were my favorite configuration as each model could shoot twice on the move and you got to re-roll failed rolls to wound. The idea against Space Marines was to bury them in shooting hits and just let the odds for failing 3+ armor saves eventually wittle down the size of their units before engaging them in close combat.
Close-ups of my Devogaunt conversions. Second from the right has a Ripper head from a Ripper Swarm sprue.
Speaking of Ripper Swarms- here is an old version from the "purple days" that I never even got to rebasing. (It goes to show how seldom I used them). Every now and then I deployed Winged Ripper Swarms, for which I used my Necromunda Ripperjack models (not shown in this showcase).
Ravener unit painted in the same manner as the Warriors (washes over a white drybrush and black basecoat).
Ravener showing magnet attachment for Devourer. I didn't have enough scything talons or rending claws to add to these models, which was a problem since my later configurations didn't use the Devourer.
I had gone through the trouble of procuring sufficient quantities of all 3 spore mine types, but only ever painted up one group since they were most often used against Space Marines.
Original Biovore in "purple mode."
Later Biovore painted in "Desert Scorpion" mode.
I had 3 generations of Zoanthrope in my collection. The original purple model fell to an untimely demise from a gaming table. I held back re-assembling it, figuring I'd update it with a more organic color scheme like this one.
Later still, this one was given a darker tone and markings similar to what I observed on some local beetles.
On the subject of beetles, the one Carnifex I painted up was given such markings. This is an older model painted at the time of the Hormagaunts based on the green wash given to the model. I used various darker tones of green underneath to give the shell the color variation shown here.
The Carnifex was not a popular model in my army as they couldn't keep up with the rest of the force and I ended up using them as relatively static gun platforms (gunslinger mode, with twin-linked Devourers shown). Never the less, it was often singled out and eliminated. The only way around this was to build an army with 5 such models, which would be expensive and render much of my existing swarm obsolete. Therefore, the transition never took place and the army went into retirement.
As a campaign player, if I was going to have a tyranid army, I needed a starship fleet. This is my Hive Fleet for Battlefleet Gothic before it was sold on EBay.
A pair of cruisers. Some one once told me I "drove" them backwards and that the large talons faced the front. It didn't seem very aerodynamic to me and I couldn't figure how they would close with a part of the body in the way, so I went with this version "mouth to the front".
The Hive Ship was the "be all and end all" of the fleet, so I had a pair. They were delicate models and difficult to transport due to all of the appendages off the back. The other one isn't pictured due to the base being broken at the time of photographing.