# Rawrghs Tyranid Horde



## rawrgh

With the start of the 2011 Army Painting Challenge so starts my Tyranid Plog

Tyranids were originally a side army to my Dark Angels but they have rapidly become my favorite, and if I keep to the challenge by this time next year hopefully I'll hve a sizeale painted army.

Anyway heres the army as a whole










Picture is a bit out of date now, I'll retake one next time I get all the models out

We have:

*To Do*
1 Hive Tyrant
2 Zoanthropes 
1 Venomthrope
1 Old Style Zoanthrope
5 Tyranid Warriors
11 Termagants w/fleshborers
12 Termagants with Devourers
16 Hormagaunts
7 old spacehulk Genestealers
3 Raveners
2 Trygons 
2 Biovores


*Completed* (_as of 27/02/2011_)
1 Tervigon
1 Tyranid Prime
20 Termagants w/fleshborers
4 Hiveguard
8 Genestealers
1 Broodlord


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## Meldon

It´s looking really nice! +rep from me


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## Djinn24

Looking good, have you ever thought about trying to get the plates more blue vs black to give them a faded look. Seriously looking forward to seeing more of these posted.


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## Grins1878

Lookin good mate! Loving the contrast of the blue on the black and the black to the beige on the flesh of them.

Incidentaly, how did you do the beige?

+ Repatitis from me!


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## Medic Marine

Awesome paint job mate! keep that coming!


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## rawrgh

OK heres the start of my Termagants. All colours are Vallejo Game Colour unless otherwise specified.

Undercoat with Citadel Skull White spray

Spray on a coat of Bonewhite (Bleached bone in GW colours)









GW Gryphonne Sepia wash. I apply a heavy wash first and then once its dry touch it up where necessary,









Drybrush Bonewhite









Light drybrush of bonewhite/White (50:50)









And thats the body done. I do all this as a batch of 10, but from here on in I work in 2s or 3s

I paint the gun GW Orkhide Shade and the armour plates black
The hooves and claws get a coat of GW Chardon Granite, and the tongue if there is one gets picked out in GW Hormagaunt Purple









Next is another load of washes - Black for the gun and Mud to hooves & claws and the teeth/mouth & eyes









Now I apply the feathering to the armour plates
- Start with 50:50 mix of Hawk Turquise & black
- Next is straight Hawk Turquise
- Lastly a 50:50 mix of Hawk Turquise and stonewall Grey
With finer and finer feathering at each stage as shown (poorly) below









Good closeup of the "Ooops" on the back of this guys head here. Will have to sort that out

Teeth are piched out in bonewhite and highlightied with a 50:50 mix of bonewhite and white nd then finally white
Highlight the guns with Sick Green
Claws are highlighted with a mix of GW Chardon Granite & Khemri Brown and the hooves are slightly feathered with the same.
Eyes are painted mechrite red then higlighted with blood red
Tongue is layerer with GW Hormagaunt purple and then highlighted with Warlord Purple.









And thats it 1 painted Termagant ready for basing. Just 9 more to go now


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## CLT40k

Nice looking bugs!


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## rawrgh

Completed Termagant Step-by-step above


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## Midge913

Love it! I think that I mentioned in your thread where you built the Tervigon I really love the color scheme! The skin and the carapace work well together. Thanks for the step-by-step, as I love to see other folks process. Keep the horde coming... I might motivate me to work on my own:biggrin: +rep


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## rawrgh

Just a quick update as its been a while. Was hoping I'd be posting completed pictures by now but not so. Heres where we are




















1 needs basing and 3 need finishing off feathering / highlighting / details.

Ahh well hopefuly by the end of this week.


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## Midge913

I really like your Gants! I still haven't forced myself to buckle down and paint all of mine. I like what you have done on the fleshborers with the green outlining, it makes them pop nicely. Good looking stuff!


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## rawrgh

I know the thought of how many more of these I've got to paint is worrying....

Only another 11 Termagants to go, but i'd like a squad of Devilgants and could probably do with at least 1 more box of standards. (may get another battleforce actually)

Plus the the Hormagaunts are going to be very similar....

At least I've (almost!) got antother 10 out of the way now so next month I think I'm gonna go for something a bit more interesting. Trygon maybe or Zoan & Hiveguard.


Bigest Lessons learnt from these guys... dont stick the arms on..... painting the guns once theyre assembles is a nightmare :angry:


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## Starbuck

Very nice scheme! I might have to steal it from you though with a few twists The bases complement the models as a whole very well. Well done. + rep


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## rawrgh

Well thats Januarys entry done 










Army consists of 20 Termagants and a Tervigon now.

I was going to wait now and then start my Hiveguard for next month, but that seems kinda against the purpose of the challenge so I'm going to carry on and make a start on my Hiveguard and then maybe to a Trygon of something else for February.

For my Hiveguard I want to do somethign a bit more interesting for the base. I picked up a bottle fo Vallejo water effects on a whim a few months back and its been sat on my shelf begging me to use it since. My vision is a hive huard stood in/over a green slime pool full of skulls.

So I start attacking a base with a knife and some milliput and this is the result 









The smaller bases are for me to experiment with how to get a decent slime effect. Im going to try a few different ideas

Painting green then covering with water effects
colouring the water effects with ink/paint and pouring over a brown/green base. Ill update with progress as I go on.


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## rawrgh

OK had a bit more of a play today for my slime pools and heres the results









Right after adding the water effects









2 hours later

1 & 2 were covered in "Javis Extra fine Ballast"
3 was covered with fine sand (budgy sand for pet shop)
4 & 5 had ballast put in a ring around the edge

All the sand was painted charred brown and then drybrushed with Earth and then bonewhite (same as my Gant bases)

The middles of 4 & 5 were based with Orkhide shade then highlghted with OHS/sick green then sick green around the edges.

Now for the water effects

1 was with mutation green p;aint added
2 was with sick green paint added
3 was Thrakka green ink added
4 was just the water effects
5 was Thrakka green ink added again

Theyre going to take a while longer to fully cure and I think I need to add another layer 
It seems the water effects doesn't like the paint and it shrinks to nothing almost so that pretty much rules out 1 & 2

3 looks OK but my favorite is 4, only thing is if i was to put something in the slime (like skulls) I would need to paint them to make the look green through the slime which may make 5 a bette roption but possibly with more extreme highlights or less ink in the water effects. 

I smell more experiments


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## DrinCalhar

A month ago I would have said I just can't stand the teal look but now I just have to say it looks beautiful.


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## rawrgh

Arrrghhhh... scream... curse....

Water effects are very annoying.... 
while it looks ok in the photos, once fully dried itseems to shrink... a lot and ends up with a little hole in the middle.

6 layers or so later and I think its finally gone, I'll find out when I get home from work.

The effect is good, but takes a long time.

Reading around it seems a 2 part lear resin is a better solution but I really dont think I'm going to do this much and Ive got a bottle full of the valllejo stuff already so I guess I'll just persevere slowly for the 2 or 3 bases I want to do like this.


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## Phenious

You are inspiring me good sir to actually start getting squads completed with base and all. I think I will start a simular thing and set a goal for each month to get something done that month. I also want to try getting a few of those tuffs of grass on my marsh nids, that and some watery effect would finish out the four I have done and for the rest that fallow.


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## rawrgh

Quick update hile im waiting for stuff to dry....

I went for the painting the green on the bottom of the pool and then a quick coat of water effects dyed with thrakka green jsut to put some colour over the skulls. Then I filled the rest up with clear water effects slowly over a day or too. The effects not too bad.










Been working on my first Hiveguard the last few days to go with the base too. I've pretty much finished the body

















But I wasn't really sure what colour to do the gun. 
My first thoughts was green like the Gants fleshborers with yellow detail but I'm not sure if thats going to be quite right 










I'm happy with the green gun but not that sure about the yellow. Maybe itll look better when its all shaded and highlighted. Reds another option but Im afraid that will look a bit too christmassy :biggrin:


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## troybuckle

+rep good work man


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## Midge913

Again I am going to comment on how striking your blue carapace is against your skin tone, absolutely stunning! I also really like how your bases have turned out with using the water effects, good job mate!

As to the gun; I think that the green will work well against the model. I am so-so on the yellow but I have been trying to visualize it highlighted up and I think that a lighter yellow will work. I would definitely shy away from red though. With your color scheme it will look too christmassy as you already mentioned. 

Good work mate!


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## rawrgh

Well this guys almost done. Caused quite a few chips putting the arms on though that I need to sort out. need to wait for the glue to dry first though.



















The green and yellow came out well in the end.


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## Midge913

I agree. The green on the cannon worked out very nicely indeed. The only suggestion that I have would be to do something on the claws and hooves. Perhaps some gray highlights to bring them out a bit. Other than that great work mate!


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## CLT40k

Looks awesome... + rep


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## Khorne's Fist

Really nice scheme for your nids. The green weapons also lend a nice contrast.


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## rawrgh

Thanks guys, yeah it is highlighted but I guess its too subtle to show on the photos. Maybe I just need to add one more lighter highlight. I'll give it a go tomorrow when I finish off the touch ups


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## rawrgh

This month we have genestealers on the table










And heres my test mini


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## alasdair

Im loving those stealers! I must say I adore the blue carapace. 
This is one of the best nid armies I have seen, keep up the great work with the benefit of rep!


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## Phenious

Looking good. You know as one bug player to the next, what do you think about the standard pose of the genestealers? I am thinking I want to cut a squad or two of my unpainted minis to get them in new stances that look like they are lurking more then running, maybe use them as Ymgarl. Just been thinking with having soooo many duplacate models it might be fun to have some more dynamic ones that are just different and stand out when all of them are on the table.


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## troybuckle

Nice steeler man. Can’t wait to see how that broodlord turns out, i’ve been waiting to get me one of those for a while. At this rate your should have no problems with this months challenge.


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## ChaosRedCorsairLord

Is that by chance a 2nd Ed. Zoanthrope I spy behind the hive tyrant in your very first picture?


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## rawrgh

Yeah it is. 

Theres a couple of old metal Termagants too and I;ve alos got a few gargoyles and old warriors


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## rawrgh

Mini update time... its been a while, this month it seems to be difficult to get anything painted, still plenty of time to go though I guess so not time to panic just yet

Anyways Ive managed to finish 4 'stealers so far.










Danm are these things fragile where they join the base... think I've broken 4 so far.

As for their poses, Seems good to me but then the last stealers I saw were the old space hulk ones and they had 1 pose so anyhtings an improvement


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## Midge913

Nice work mate. Every time there is an update I think about how much I like your color scheme. 

I cursed at my stealers more than once for breaking at the base so I feel your pain there. Good work as always!


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## Phenious

Yeah I have found that problem too. Yet another reason I want to bring them down into more crouching and skulking poses. Put their feet on the ground rather then their tippy toes. My hormagaunts are going to go the other direction as they break off, going up on rods to get that leaping feel. At least half of them or maybe only a third. I just want to see them hidding around debris and tall grass rather then being all arms up and running at full speed. My genesteelers are never running out in the open like their pose suggests any way, always hiding in cover and creeping along so as not to get shot to pieces.


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## rawrgh

*The Hive Expands*

Continuing my trend of buying far more models than I have any hope of painting
Over the last week or so I have added the following

1 Zoanthrope (to replace the old style one I have atm)
2 Hive guard
2 Biovores
1 Venomthrope
12 Devilgaunts

To be fair one of thie things I'd like to do is get one of each brood/unit/character in the codex so other than the hive guard & Zoans this advances that goal... thats my excuse anyway and I'm sticking to it 

Going to update the first post of this thread to track where I am with my models too


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## mixykym

Great updates rawrgh...i still have a few old style metal in my 4th edition,.still time to update mine,perhaps in april/may.
continue the great swarm,our numbers will overrun the imperium :victory:

+rep.


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## rawrgh

With only 2 'stealers left to go I've turned my attention to the broodlord











Really need to find a way to sort out the white balance on my camera too


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## Zero Effect

Loving the Broodlord!

How long is it taking you to paint a Genestealer? Broodlord?

Keep the Hive Mind happy and keep destroying the morale of the defenders!

ZE


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## rawrgh

Good question.

I'd guess at around the 2 hr mark of "effort" to paint a stealer. Its a lot of waiting for washes though so I tend to do a litle every day.

For example today I put 2 layers of wash on the last 2 stealers over a period of about 4 hours but it was only 10 mins of work

The broodlords got about 2 hours on him alreafy already though and hes not even halfway done yet 


Edit. Thinking some more

20 mins to basecoat the black and bonewhite
10 mins of washes
5 mins drybrush
30 mins to do the carapace
20 mins for details - claws teeth tongue
+ basing

Yeah 2 hrs is about right. I waste a lot of time messing around though (reading heresy etc ) so it proably takes longer than it should.


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## Master of Sanctity

Awesome looking models, I really like the contrast you have got going on, nice colour choices. Keep at it!


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## Midge913

Looking good so far mate! Can't wait to see him finished. I really like your color scheme and a whole swarm will look great on the table.


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## TheMissus

WOW!! nice bugs, puts my paintwork to shame!
+ Rep(when I can add more I will for def.)


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## rawrgh

Genestealers finished now just in time for the challenge.

Here they are with a closeup of the Broodlord. Now to decide whats for March.




























Edit: Heh isnt t funny I've spent the last few hours finishing and basing this model and never noticed that blue mark under his chin. One photo and it stiicks out like a sore thumb


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## rawrgh

Wow it's been over a month, as I predicted when I posted my before shots this has been a difficult month for painting.

But I've completed DoW2 Retribution and am almost done with Dragon Age 2 

Painting wise not doing so well but after a paintathon yesterday and today I may still be in with a fighting chance

Here they were yesterday










And here they are now










Still a fair bit to do but hopefully I'll make it in time.

But I'm also jumping on the Grey Knights bandwagon and have preordered a few boxes for saturday. Yay more stuff to think about painting :laugh:


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## Viscount Vash

Looking good for a days difference rawrgh, at that rate you should make it.


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## Midge913

No doubt! Good amount of progress for a days work. Looking good man!


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## rawrgh

Been slacking again, grey knights have taken a fair bit of my limited modelling/painting time but I need to put them on hold for a bit now to get this months entry done.

Going to finish my tyranid prime conversion this month, ad here he is ready to start painting




























I copied the lashwhip idea from somewhere on the web, not completely happy with it but I hoping it'll look ok once its painted up


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## Tinkerbell

Looking good, the colours work really well

Looking forward to seeing more

Tinks


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## rawrgh

Well here's some pics of my finished prime


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## Phenious

That's a nice prime. good job.


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## Bane_of_Kings

Nice work, love the colour scheme.


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## troybuckle

Good work man. Did you use Green Stuff to shape that bonesword?


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## rawrgh

Nah it's made out of plasticard


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## aquatic_foible

As lots of folk have mentioned already, I too really dig the colour scheme, sir! It's another thing for my "ideas to steal" folder... :grin:


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## rawrgh

Well I just spent the last few hours merrily spraying bleached bone, even managed to get some on the models although most of it is on my hands I think :grin:











So theres my trygon prime, 11 Termagants, 2 Biovores & a zoanthrope.
Thats the next few months of the challenge ready to start painting now

Think I'll take a new "group" photo this weekend too as Ive got a small painted force comming along nicely now.


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## rawrgh

Making some progress with my trygon, but its slow. Damn these things are big and assembling it all before painting was a big mistake, just cant get to all the nooks and crannies.
So I've almost finished the feathering of the top half jsut one more layer to go










Ive also been making some progress on the magnetising of my Hive Tyrant. 
Still need to magnetise a set of scything talons and clean up a lot of mould lines


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## troybuckle

Excellent job magnetizing the Hive Tyrant. I only magnetised the lower section of mine, thinking that I would only ever run LW/BS, but now I wish I magnetize it all so I can go ahead and get some wings to make it a flyrant as well. Don’t want to make any more work for you, but I think you should go out and get some wings to magnetize:grin:. (I will have to go back and magnetise the upper half of mine… very carefully as not to wreck my paint.)


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## vulkan1793

very nice bro cant wait to see more


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## Karak The Unfaithful

very interesting, I'm looking forward to more


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## rawrgh

troybuckle said:


> Excellent job magnetizing the Hive Tyrant. I only magnetised the lower section of mine, thinking that I would only ever run LW/BS, but now I wish I magnetize it all so I can go ahead and get some wings to make it a flyrant as well. Don’t want to make any more work for you, but I think you should go out and get some wings to magnetize:grin:. (I will have to go back and magnetise the upper half of mine… very carefully as not to wreck my paint.)


Yeah I thought about that and Ive got a sometoy dragon wings in front of me now that I aquired from somewhere. Not really sure how I;d attach them though.










But I think that I'd probably prefer to do a bigger conversion to change the pose for a flyrant rather than a standard walking tyrant with wings comming out of his back.

What other options are there for wings. Been told that balrog ones are good too and theyre only £6.50


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## troybuckle

rawrgh said:


> Yeah I thought about that and Ive got a sometoy dragon wings in front of me now that I aquired from somewhere. Not really sure how I;d attach them though.
> 
> 
> 
> But I think that I'd probably prefer to do a bigger conversion to change the pose for a flyrant rather than a standard walking tyrant with wings comming out of his back.
> 
> What other options are there for wings. Been told that balrog ones are good too and theyre only £6.50


I was planning on combining wings with some talons (Maybe short talons from the Trygon kit) to fit in his upper arm pits. I also would prefer to have a second model flyant, perhaps from forageword, but I think a magnetic wing conversation would work well to, and be much cheaper for now. Looks like you got all the bits you need now, I’d say go for it and see how it turns out!


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## rawrgh

Not looking good this month. Made a bit more progress on my Trygon but what with my son being born on the 22nd I dont think I'm going to make it.

Gonna have a good crack at it tommorrow but theres a lot to do so It'll probably be my first RL ticket used


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## Hammer49

Looking good so far.


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## Midge913

Definitely like the way the carapace is shaping up, and congrats on the munchkin!


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## rawrgh

It's been a while and I don't have much time really at the mo. But heres a couple of pics of my biovore WIP and the trygon.



























Really need a way of taking better pics too


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