# Hive Fleet Colossus



## d0m (Nov 5, 2009)

Good day, chaps!

You might know me from a Grey Knight Blog which I started some months ago. After several games with my 2000 points list of choice I recognized that this style of play ain't really my thing. I played a mechanized Space Wolves force for several years before moving to GK so I changed from mech to 100% shock army to get some variety - it just made no real fun.

Since I was always on the look for some bargains on the bay I more or less accidentally bought a nice Tyranids starter army for some cheap money. It included an old Hive Tyrant, Mawloc, 3 Warriors, Carnifex, 12 Gaunts, a custom Lictor and some ripper swarms. 

Without any real intention I started painting the Carnifex, I really liked the look of the model and it was pretty perfect for some airbrush action. In the end it was a real blast to paint. At first I thought it would take ages to get things right but it only took around 8 hours from priming to purity seal.












I then went on a 9 days holiday trip and packed all my painting stuff incl. the compressor and airbrush equipment to get some paint on the Mawloc. After some critics about the low contrast between the carapace and the flesh parts of the Carnifex I tried a darker brown on the Mawloc. Again, after 8 hours I was able to finish this dude who is around double the size of the Carnifex, yay! The painting quality is a bid behind that of the 'fex but should still look impressive on the tabletop.











Since I was pretty pleased about the fast painting process I got my hands on the custom lictor (counts as deathleaper) to try out how fast I could go without suffering too much quality. The lictor took me less than three hours and it was the first time I thought about switching from GK to 'Nids.











One week went by and I expanded the Hive by, guess what, some additional cheap 'Nids on the bay! 
Here's a small list of what's in the queue right now:

- Hive Tyrant on Foot
- 3 Tyrant Guard
- Winged Hive Tyrant
- 3 Lictors
- around 40 Hormagaunts
- 6 Warriors

All minis except the Gaunts will be painted to a similar standard like the models shown above. I will use Army Painter with some fast and sloppy painting for the Gaunts because anything more complex would give me a sad face.

Here is the first finished test mini of the Gaunts. I gave the first batch 4 different carapace colours to keep them visually seperated during game play. The base colour is vallejo model air sand, teeth are skull white and the blades were made with a tri-fade airbrush gradient. I will paint them in batches of at least 10 so it will take only about 10-15 minutes for each gaunt to be ready for the tabletop.












Last but not least I finished the bases for most of my bigger critters. I used bark mulch for the stones, primed them black and sprayed 2 different greys with my airbrush. I then quickly drybrushed the whole thing with skull white - done. 15 minutes. Lovin' it.












That's about it by now. Thanks for stopping by, comments and critics are highly appreciated!


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## aboytervigon (Jul 6, 2010)

Cool, but those Hormies have genestealer talons.


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

Looking good man! Always nice to see another Nids log. I will be following along.


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Great miniatures man. I really love the vicious color on the claws in sharp contrast to the earthy skin tones. Makes for an incredibly pleasing force to look at...

Also, great camera work. Good use of shadows and light to create some pretty interesting shots.


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## Chaosftw (Oct 20, 2008)

Sir I must say you have done these Nids some justice! Rarely do I see Nids painted like that and I must say that is VERY impressive stuff. I also love the bases, simple yet extremely effective! + rep!


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## NíckUK (Apr 6, 2011)

Incredible paint job there! Will definitely be following this!


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## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

Beautiful work.

Feels wrong using that word for Nids but you know what I mean. lol.

I will have to get the missus to have a look at this thread to give her some ideas for her Tyranids.


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## KaosHerald (Jan 7, 2010)

I mentioned it on your Trygon thread and I will say it again;

These are some great looking bugs! You have done really well with the natural/organic colors, and they have given me inspiration for how I want to paint my Nids in the future!

+Rep for a job well done


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## rayrod64 (Apr 19, 2011)

Amazing job....simply amazing


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## shaantitus (Aug 3, 2009)

Scary looking fuckers. The colors are so realistic and well applied i am concerned they are going to leap out of my pc. Magnificent. I cannot get over how fast you paint gaunts. Jesus that is quick.


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## d0m (Nov 5, 2009)

Woah, many thanks for these kind replies!



aboytervigon said:


> Cool, but those Hormies have genestealer talons.


Aye, but only some of them. As I won't use this army for any tournaments this is not really an issue.



elmir said:


> Also, great camera work. Good use of shadows and light to create some pretty interesting shots.


Thanks mate! So the new desk lamp was good for something!



Viscount Vash said:


> I will have to get the missus to have a look at this thread to give her some ideas for her Tyranids.


I'd be glad these critters could be an inspiration!



KaosHerald said:


> I mentioned it on your Trygon thread and I will say it again;
> These are some great looking bugs! You have done really well with the natural/organic colors, and they have given me inspiration for how I want to paint my Nids in the future!
> +Rep for a job well done


Thanks, chap! If you need any infos regarding the colours used just let me know.



shaantitus said:


> Scary looking fuckers. The colors are so realistic and well applied i am concerned they are going to leap out of my pc. Magnificent. I cannot get over how fast you paint gaunts. Jesus that is quick.


Yeah and it has to be that quick, otherwise it'll drive me insane. Here's the workflow I use for the Gaunts (10 minis at a time):
- Basecoat Vallejo Model Air Sand (10 minutes)
- Brown for the carapace (20 minutes)
- White for the teeth (5 minutes)
- Dip the whole bunch in Army Painter (20 minutes)
- Coat of purity seal (5 minutes)
- Drybrush bleached bone (10 minutes)
- PVA glue + some stones for the base (10 minutes)
- Black for the base, fortress grey + white for drybrush (15 minutes)

All in all roughly 100 minutes for 10 gaunts!


Atm I'm working on drilling my metal minis to pin them appropriately on their bases so no new pictures to show right now.


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## papa nurgle (Jan 11, 2010)

That is a brilliant paint job. You are amazingly skilled! Keep it coming!


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## d0m (Nov 5, 2009)

Thanks mate!

I entered both the trygon and carnifex on CMON, would be awesome if you could stop by and give them a vote!

Carnifex: http://www.coolminiornot.com/285686
Trygon: http://www.coolminiornot.com/287010


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## d0m (Nov 5, 2009)

Thanks to my beautiful kid, Space Marine game and play testing my new bugs I wasn't able make any real process on the painting side. Well, except my finished Winged Hive Tyrant - booyaka!










Another model I bought off the bay. Finding the right colors for the wings was a slight pain in the butt but after several thin airbrush layers I pretty much managed the look I wanted to achieve. The rest of the bug was the same quick process as the previous models. 

So what's next in the queue? I will finally finish the first batch of the gaunts and start to get some paint on the other Hive Tyrant including his Tyrant Guard.


Thanks for watching!


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## Lubacca (Sep 4, 2011)

OUTSTANDING WORK! Nids are some of my favorite characters from 40k, they just look so intimidating to paint properly that I never tried. Thanks for sharing, keep up the good work. I think I have a magnitized Carnifex around here somewhere...


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

Very nice work on the Flyrant d0m!!! Looks great!


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## mad matt (Jul 2, 2011)

Überwältigend! Mir gefällt das Farbmuster deiner Käfer sehr, sehr gut und die Umsetzung ist fantastisch!


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## d0m (Nov 5, 2009)

Thanks, chaps!

Kid at grandma = some extra time for painting, yay! I was able to finish my three Tyrant Guards today, it only took about 5 hours for all models. 
There are still some minor things to clean up but they are ready to hit the table top for now. 
Next in the line: Hive Tyrant on foot.


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## hocky (Jan 31, 2009)

Really like the colour scheme and I can't believe you get those results in such a short period of time. Awesome work mate! +rep from me!


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## Chaosftw (Oct 20, 2008)

Gahhhhh beautiful!! love your work! whats next???


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## d0m (Nov 5, 2009)

Hehe, thanks! 

Next will be the Hive Tyrant on foot, here's a small list of what's in the queue:

- Hive Tyrant on foot
- 3 Lictors
- 6 Warriors
- 2 Hive Guard
- 30+ Hormagaunts

These are the minis I actually need for my 2000 points list.


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## d0m (Nov 5, 2009)

Little update: I managed to paint the bases for all minis except the gaunts, prime all models and airbrush every CC weapon of the little critters. Here's a small pic of my current workspace chaos:










The past models were not equipped with any ranged weapon and I'm struggling to find a suitable colour for it. 
At the moment I tend to use a pale pinkish gradient which should fit quite nicely to the current colour scheme. 
On the other hand a harder contrast would make them pop out like the current close combat weapons. Other colours could be:
- olive grey
- gradient from dark to light grey
- gradient from dark red to orange
- same colours as the current cc weapons

Any ideas?


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## DaStonedOrk (Feb 8, 2011)

nice painting skills and models 
btw are you only painting with an airbrush?


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## d0m (Nov 5, 2009)

DaStonedOrk said:


> nice painting skills and models
> btw are you only painting with an airbrush?


Thanks, chap!

The carapace parts and the close combat weapons are completely done with an airbrush pistol without using any washes, they only receive a slight bleached bone / skull white drybrush. All other parts of the model are painted with my usual GW paints and brushes.

Today I will work on the hive tyrant. As you could see in the previous pic I started aibrushing the carapace and hopefully I'll be done with it by today. 
The next match will be on saturday and this lil' bugger needs to be assembled for it so I got to be fast to have him ready by then!


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## d0m (Nov 5, 2009)

Picturrres! 
There are still some minor things to clean up here and there but he's ready for my next game on saturday I think.


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

Looking fantastic man! I am super jealous at how fast you are able to achieve such wonderful results. Keep it up man!


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## Grins1878 (May 10, 2010)

Incredible... they look absolutely incredible!!

+ Rep


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## d0m (Nov 5, 2009)

Thanks, guys! 

I'm a bit on a painting spree as I was able to finish my two hive guards today. It is kind of a milestone as they were the last T6 critters in the queue - time for a rewarding beer!


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## DocB (Sep 24, 2011)

These guys sure have come a long way from when I started playing back in the rogue trader days!!


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Very awesome with how fast you are knocking them out. Keep it up!


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## JAMOB (Dec 30, 2010)

:shok: I am very impressed. Very realistic looking, and really just well done. The only tyranids i have experience with are "colored" not painted, except for a couple which my brother did quite well such as his "Death Tyrant", which happens to be the most annoying unit of all time ever no matter what in the history of the game. The only good thing is tyrants have no invulnerable saves, so TERMIS KILL THEM AAAALLLLLLL!!!
Sorry for that small rant. Good job with the minis, I am anxiously awaiting your next units. Are you british? +REP, gg


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## d0m (Nov 5, 2009)

Thanks a bunch, guys!



JAMOB said:


> Good job with the minis, I am anxiously awaiting your next units. Are you british? +REP, gg


Hehe, I'm from Germany but learned the good ol' Oxford English back in school. Thanks for the REP!


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## wingazzwarlord (Jun 11, 2011)

amazing minis man and good post i will keep following your work + rep


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## d0m (Nov 5, 2009)

Thanks wingazzwarlord!

It gets a bit scary now since I managed to paint my three lictors today - in under three hours . 
It seems that I'm really used to the painting workflow now and I can't really imagine that this whole project started just one month ago. I never counted me as a really good and fast painter but I finally found the minis that suit my painting style! *happyface*

So with these critters finished there are only 5 warriors and around 30 gaunts left to paint for my current 2000 point force. Yay!


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## Mr.Malevolent (Jun 19, 2011)

First: I quite like the Genestealer Talons on the hormagaunts. It breathes life into the old boys. Mental Note: Get some Genestealer talons for future Nid army. End Mental Note....Also why would it be a problem when gaming?:dunno:

Second: Lovely painting youve done here. Gotta say the color palette is beautiful. Have some +rep for an amazing job!


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## Minizke1 (Feb 7, 2010)

Lictors. <3


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Amazing work.


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## d0m (Nov 5, 2009)

Wooohoooo! The Mawloc made it on the official GW blog *happyface*! I'm pretty amazed that my lil' bug is presented on the official GW website, that'll keep me motivated to paint the rest of the critters!

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/blogPost.jsp?aId=18500033a

Btw... no updates for a while as I'm working on my modular gaming table and some terrain pieces. 
I bought and painted the board two years ago and the look of it always bugged me a bit as the paintjob just wasn't adequate for a 200 Euro plastic board. 
Now the whole thing will be covered with a PVA+sand mixture and all terrain pieces will be integrated into the look of the ground surface. 

I will definitely keep working on the 'nids but the progress won't be as fast as the last month!


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

I thought I recognised them from somewhere. I just wasn't quite able to put my finger on it... Congrats man!


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## Minizke1 (Feb 7, 2010)

d0m said:


> Wooohoooo! The Mawloc made it on the official GW blog *happyface*! I'm pretty amazed that my lil' bug is presented on the official GW website, that'll keep me motivated to paint the rest of the critters!


Grrr.....ninja'd.


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