The Nids are on the move!

This will be the last Tyranid related post on the Lucky 88th Blog,

you will see a link on the right hand side of the page to Hive Splinter Borlin, a secondary blog which will concentrate on all things Hive mind related.

This small splinter fleet has been wandering around unnoticed, until dragged towards the cadian gate by some unknown attraction. The already war torn planet of Borlina is the first to feel the wrath of the Tyranid invasion.


So I experimented with an orange scythe, but in the end I decided the bone coloured scythe was exactly the scheme I initially had in mind. i may darken the base end of the scythes on larger creatures, but for the smaller gaunts I'll keep it simple.



So here they are, looking gribbly.



So if you're a fan of all things scything writhing and gribby, head on over to my secondary blog in the next few days where I shall be kicking things off with a bang, or more like a subterrainean thud!

The Lucky 88th blog will return to usual programming soon (and by that I mean some IG related modelling) but this will remain my main blog, for battle reports and general 40k thoughts.

Scythes, change of colour?

After a bit of a chat on BOLSlounge, I've had a go with a red scythe on another gaunt. I can't decide which looks best. the subtle bone colour was just too subtle, it needed to "pop" a bit more, the red certainly pops.




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My only concern is whether the red scythes will look out of place on the larger monsters, especially with the green carapace right next to the red of the scythe. We'll see when it comes to paint up something big I guess :D

for now. TSINI

Say Hello To the Gribblies!

My first EVER non-Imperial model and I think he's looking pretty sharp


After my steep learning curve with the88th, it's all about the Washes with this army.

Spray Black undercoat, coated once in Khemri Brown foundation. body painted in Bleached Bone, and carapace in camo green. Then wash the armour in Thraka green and the body in Devlan mud. paint up the scythes, claws and teeth in skull white and wash those bits with Gryphonne Sepia. Finally, paint tongue in elf flesh.

Colour scheme inspired by the forgeworld team's Scythed Hierodule which is in these colours, i liked it so much its going on all the army. it also gives a really nice contrast to my 88th, the green and the grey-blue should look nice opposing each other on a war torn cityfight board.


I'm pretty chuffed with this model, it was a tester for the whole army and so far looks as good as I could expect. Still need to come up with some more colours for this model - in particular I think the tongue will need a purple wash to pink it up a bit, and then I might use that colour for all the "poking out piping" on the legs

I'm considering moving all nid related posts to another blog, which will be linked from this one, (along with removing some others that are not really doing anything) to keep it simple to read and separate from the 88th, which will return soon once I get back into the modelling swing.

Cheers, TSINI

Oh yes, Hello and Happy holidays, Merry christmas and a happy new year etc etc etc.

Ok, so i kind of dissapeared for a few months...

october was a busy month for me, what with Forza 3 being released on xbox 360, and then followed shortly by Modern Warfare 2. Then Christmas and new year happened.

So i put aside my 40k for a while, the creative juices had just stopped flowing, so i took a break.

When word of the confirmed Tyranid release schedule reached my ears, it started to get the thoughts flowing, and with the new codex being released last saturday, i got right in, a box of hormagaunts and a trygon are now in my posession, as I begin my slide into gribbly territory.


The Plan

• Make an entirely "no guns" themed Tyranid Army - Scythes, teeth and claws all the way!
  
• Paint it up to look really nice opposing my Lucky 88th Imperial Guard
• Experiment with some new painting techniques
• Improve my basing skills - transfer these skills over to my Lucky 88th, in effect bringing my lucky 88th onto the same bases as my new tyranids will be on.

• 2000 points standard army - 2500/3000 Apocalypse force
• Forgeworld Aplenty (Again!! - poor wallet)

The Army

HQ:

• Hive Tyrant: Wings, 2x Scything Talons.
• Hive Tyrant: Thorax Swarm, 2x Scything Talons

Elites:

• Venomthrope
  
• 
  
• 
  

Troops:

• Hormagaunts (20)
  
• Hormagaunts (20)
  
• Hormagaunts (20)
  
• Ripper Swarm (3)
  
• Ripper Swarm (3)
  
• Genestealers (8)
  

Fast Attack:

• Raveners
• Flying Rippers
• "Scythed Gargoyles" (an upcoming conversion project)

Heavy Support:

• Trygon
• Trygon Prime
• 2x Carnifex: 2x Scything Talons

Apocalypse Extras

• Malanthrope
• Scythed Hierodule
• More gribblies
  

Thats the Rough plan for this army anywho (£450 odd). the lack of guns makes this a one trick pony force, but it does mean i will have no distractions. its just run and eat, i don't have to worry about standing around and line of sight, i should be on the enemy by turn 2, with all the fast moving, and hopefully i will have enough units to bear the brunt of a single enemy shooting phase...

The trygons also add a new twist, by being able to deep strike into enemy lines, And bring on further forces from the same point, my general idea was to simply pop the trygons from the ground, then follow them up with ripper swarms and other gribblies.

The interesting parts will come in at smaller game sizes, i have no idea what a 500point tyranid army will look like, or how it will function (you need at least 2 Synapse creatures to allow you to coordinate your forces, otherwise the enemy simply targets the synapse creature and bam, your army is useless) And whether this force will even be competitive at 1000 points. we will see.

Until next time - i'll hopefully have some pictures up by then.

Cheers, TSINI