So, I haven't actually played 40k in a couple of years, since I moved back to Texas, in fact. I was working on changing my list up a bit after the new codex made stealer shock into something between a bad joke and an insult to your opponents dignity.
My army, such as it is, is based off the book Desert Raiders, a book with a happy ending for anyone who loves our beautiful bugs.
It's from the perspective of some stranded Imperial Guards who were trying to sort out a distress call. (Better known as "The Buffet") The Guardsmen have some drama, Nids show up, Nids eat well, happy ending ensues.
Anyways, I recently decided I needed to drag my army out and start working on painting more of my models (I want to move to an MC supported swarm-ish list).
Anyways, here's a few pictures of painted models. (I didn't drag them all out, because frankly, it takes a while, and they need some love after being in storage a while.)
Once I get the newer additions painted, and finish my semi-custom kitbash/modded Tyrannofex, I'll try and get a whole army picture.
Lictor and Hormogaunts
Warriors
2 Genestealers, 2 Termagaunts, 2 Hormogaunts, and a Lictor.
Sorry for the shitty picture quality, my desk is horrid for this.
For anyone who doesn't know 40k, Tyranids are roughly comparable to Zerg. (I've heard rumors that Starcraft was actually heavily based off of parts of 40k, and find it rather plausible, actually.)
Tyranids also happen to be our own iNcontroL's Army in 40k, and he discusses them more in this video.
I like the shininess on the Lictor, looks really menacing and alien-like. Did you use gloss varnish or something to get that? It's a nice paint-job and colour scheme, haven't painted Tyranids since I last was playing Space Hulk (second edition) regularly.
I too have recently gone back to painting, hadn't painted much the last few years, haven't played Warhammer or 40k for a long time and don't really plan to either, but wanted to get back into painting models I like.
On July 09 2012 03:50 moktira wrote: I like the shininess on the Lictor, looks really menacing and alien-like. Did you use gloss varnish or something to get that? It's a nice paint-job and colour scheme, haven't painted Tyranids since I last was playing Space Hulk (second edition) regularly.
I too have recently gone back to painting, hadn't painted much the last few years, haven't played Warhammer or 40k for a long time and don't really plan to either, but wanted to get back into painting models I like.
Yeah, I did gloss varnish the Lictor. Didn't bother with most of my models, though, was trying it out with him, and frankly, I don't want to spend the money on enough to do the whole army with it. When I get back to the painting and stuff, I'll probably pick some up for "special" models.
My wife actually enjoys helping me paint them, too, so it's fun in general. The paint job is pretty simple, I prime in white, do the base coat in Dheneb Stone, then slap down a quick Gryphon Sephia wash, fortress gray for carapaces, Red Gore for bloody claws, and Lich Purple for the eyes and the inside of gun barrels, and Hormogaunt purple for tongues.
Then I just slap down some sand type basing.
Assembly line, it takes about 35-40 minutes to do a single box of troops, once they're primed. The job is simple enough that I can just do one color on all of them, move to the next color back on the first model, and go across the line that way.
These look pretty good, i'm thinking about picking it up, but will people get angry if my models are painted poorly? I have a fine motor control problem and i don't want to tick people off with poorly painted models. Also those look sick, just have to say it agian.
On July 09 2012 04:09 Jaaaaasper wrote: These look pretty good, i'm thinking about picking it up, but will people get angry if my models are painted poorly? I have a fine motor control problem and i don't want to tick people off with poorly painted models. Also those look sick, just have to say it agian.
If people knock your paint job, they're a twat, straight up. Also, I suck at painting. I picked a color set that's really forgiving. The wash I mentioned is basically a really thin paint that picks out fine detail on the model for you.
If you know what edge detect is in a photo manipulation program, think of washes like the opposite. It doesn't stay heavy on outer surfaces, but it fills in the grooves nicely, making them darker the deeper they are.
It's actually pretty easy with strategy like that. Pick a couple of main colors, and use a wash to grab the small details.
But no, unless you're entering a tournament where part of the judging is paint related, or a modeling/painting tourney, people won't knock a paint job in general. And if it's not a tourney, people generally won't even judge if they're completely unpainted.
I used gloss the claws and mouths of my Tyranids actually, I also didn't really want to do it for each model, I collected a small army of them for second edition 40k, but they were never my main army, I used love the old Hormagaunts, I still rather the ancient Carnifex too.
Washes can be used to get glossy effects too, I tended to mostly use washes for painting groups of models, never really for individuals, and now I really only paint individual fantasy models.
On July 09 2012 04:17 moktira wrote: I used gloss the claws and mouths of my Tyranids actually, I also didn't really want to do it for each model, I collected a small army of them for second edition 40k, but they were never my main army, I used love the old Hormagaunts, I still rather the ancient Carnifex too.
Washes can be used to get glossy effects too, I tended to mostly use washes for painting groups of models, never really for individuals, and now I really only paint individual fantasy models.
I'm a terrible painter, so washes are a good compromise between quality and efficiency for me, since they're harder to fuck up with for picking out fine detail.
Ahhhh wk40k, i should probably finish up all the books about the heresy too. Oh and hell yeah sc is based off of wh40k, ive always thought of the eldars as protoss when i read about them, terran marines are astares obviously and zerg are chaos minions ^.^
i was playing warhammer 40k dawn of war 2 - retribution last week you can play as all races and tyranids just roflstomped i went pure range units with melee or ranged leader who regained energy every hit he made, and who lost energy instead of hp when attacked (so was 100% invincible)
if you like tyrannids then you absolutely must play the playstation1 game Space Hulk . its the best game ever. you can watch some , but not all, missions on youtube. but its much better to play , feeling the beep of your detector as they approach and hearing the screams of your comrades and frantic bashing of buttons as a hit might kill you any second as you race to escape
I wouldn't be much of a painter either but I do enjoy it. Anyway if you're painting for an army you don't really need to pick out details too much, you just want them to look good on the battlefield from a distance. Only character models you'd give more attention to I'd say.
Regarding the Starcraft being based on 40k I've heard this a lot too, I think in the early 90s GW commissioned Blizzard to make a Warhammer game but then they didn't like it and pulled out so Blizzard changed the unit names and made Warcraft. I have heard for Starcraft they initially wanted to make a 40k game but again GW wouldn't allow them but I've never seen that verified or anything. While Zerg are similar to Tyranids, they're also based on any bug-like alien, like in Aliens or Starship Troopers and some sci-fi novels and games. There are similarities in the lore for Eldar and Protoss but I don't really think there's any similarity in the actual units, aside from the fact that they're a little more technologically advanced. (Think I've discussed this with you before actually.)
@FFGenerations The Space Hulk board game from '96 was awesome too, I found it more strategic and tense than actually playing 40k.
Don't absolutely need details in your army, but I like them looking good. It feels good to set out a badass looking army, and like I said, assembly lining my paint job doesn't take all that long, so why not?
On July 09 2012 04:09 Jaaaaasper wrote: These look pretty good, i'm thinking about picking it up, but will people get angry if my models are painted poorly? I have a fine motor control problem and i don't want to tick people off with poorly painted models. Also those look sick, just have to say it agian.
In my experience the W40K community is very nice and welcoming, I can't imagine someone would actually be mad at you for doing a bad paint job on your models. Also do realize this costs a ton of money ;-p, reason I dropped it, might pick it up again sometime though.
On July 09 2012 04:09 Jaaaaasper wrote: These look pretty good, i'm thinking about picking it up, but will people get angry if my models are painted poorly? I have a fine motor control problem and i don't want to tick people off with poorly painted models. Also those look sick, just have to say it agian.
In my experience the W40K community is very nice and welcoming, I can't imagine someone would actually be mad at you for doing a bad paint job on your models. Also do realize this costs a ton of money ;-p, reason I dropped it, might pick it up again sometime though.
Main reason my shit's not been used in forever. When the new codex made my list fairly mediocre, I didn't have $300 to throw on a new army.