Status Update

My ever-dynamic employment situation is nearing stabilization, for better or worse, so I've decided to post a quick progress report on my Nids. Since this is more for my own sanity, I decided to forgo the light box and just use the built in flash...better pictures will come after I'm done basing and applying Dullcote.

Hormagaunts

The hormagaunts are lookin' pretty saucy. I've always thought it would make more sense for these babies to come out of a tervigon, but what do I know. This is probably my favorite GW troop model...they look very dynamic. If it didn't  make such poor strategic sense, I would do a hormagaunt-exclusive army, maybe with some deepstriking carifexes and a swarmlord. I'm just not wild about shooty nids. I know that the fluff supports it, but it still seems sort of a copout that the symbiotes look like guns.

Carnifex & Trygon

The trygon needs basing and a shot of the old Dullcote, but I'm pretty pleased at how it has come out. The 'fex is my altime favorite painted model I've been putting off basing it, but the time is coming...I'd like to have one more carnifex with the scything talons and crushing claws. I'd also like a Malwoc, just because I love the rules and I think it looks great.

Termagants

So these are the termagants from the 8 dollar box, so they are quite "samey". I'm going to mix them with other vanilla termagants from the combo troop box...more on those later.

Various nasties...they are not as red as in this pic.

-Sigh- So the venomthrope and lictor are finished except for Dullcote, as is the tyrant guard (2 more guard are in the pipeline) The swarmlord is awaiting the 4 boneswords from the post below.

Warriors...come out to play...

My 6 warriors, 1 that needs dipping, and all need basecoating and Dullcote.

Spinegaunts and Rippers

Spinegaunts and a single one with a devourer, along with some ripper swarms. I have 5 more ripper swarms primed, and 8 or 9 more gaunts with devourers.

Genestealers

Two units of genestealers with my least favorite model of all time (aesthetically), the broodlord. It doesn't help that I painted him to look like he's wearing a red bikini.

Gargle with Ymargl

My small group of Ymargl Genestealers, a few of which I accidently dropped completely in the dip (it was late)...they will eventually have to be fixed.

Zoanthrope Conclave

And finally, my lovely zooeys, ready for Dullcote.

On the painting bench: another 20 gaunts, one zoanthrope, 2 tyrant guard, 5 ripper swarms, and a unit of gargoyles (you can see them above in the hormagaunt pic). On the modeling side, I have a nearly finished Doom of Malan'tai, and I'd like to model two tervigons, a tyrannofex, and a half dozen mycetic spores. I also need to buy a carnifex and a hive tyrant. But the end is near!

Finishing up the Hive Fleet

I've been distracted a bit by the immediacy of Warmachine: painted up 5 figs and I'm ready to play.

But I've been staring at my 'nids, and they are crying out for completion. So I figure if I formalize it for everyone to see, I can be motivated to finish it posthaste.


Gargoyles
You know what I hate about gaunts and gargoyles? Painting fleshborers. Their fingers are so intertwined in the gun symbiote that it becomes almost impossible to paint with contrasting colors. Had I thought about it before starting, I would have just painted them the body color...either Red Gore or Bleached Bone. But no, I had to make them black. So my 10 gargoyles are ready except for those guns and a dip...but it's going to be a total paint.

Hormagunts
I have about 24 of them unassembled.

Genestealers
One of the first units I painted was a group of genestealers. Not knowing anything about anything, I did 11 of them with normal heads and rending claws, and one with feeder tendrils and scything talons. I have another dozen in the box, and I've procured a few more tendril heads, so I'll do 11 with feeders/scythes and 1 to match the original guys. The Cthulu looking stealers can double as Ymargls.

Hive Tyrant / Swarmlord
I got a great deal on one of these via Ebay, and I was considering magnetizing the arms, but I seriously think it will actually be cheaper for me in time, materials and effort to buy another tyrant. The boneswords for the swarmlord will be purchased HERE at Paulson Games.

Tyrant Guard
Two are assembled, primed, and ready to paint.

Zoanthropes
I have 4 on the bench, primed and pinned, but the little back fins are a colossal pain to attach. If anyone knows of a way other than greenstuff, I'm all ears.

Termagants
I have about 36 of these to paint, with 10 of them almost completed except for the gun symbiote. See the gargoyle text above to see what the hold up is.

Doom of Malantai
I was going to convert a Zooey for this, but I think I'm just going to buy the Alien Brain @ Troll Forged.

Warriors
Three left, unassembled. One may become an alpha.

Wow, I never realized how much is left...but it IS a finite amount. I still have Tervigons to model and paint, but I'm not worrying about that right now.

So after this, I have a full 2000+ points of CSMs and the AoBR set. If anyone wants to suggest a marine and chaos marine chapter, I'd love to see comments. I'm going to do the orks fairly traditionally, so I'm going to have to research them.

In other news, there's still time to enter the giveaway. I don't know if I should be pushing this more aggressively, but you have a huge opportunity here since there are so few entrants. And international folks should not hesitate to enter...I'm a big boy, and I can afford the shipping.  :) Good luck!

Post-Adepticon

Well, Adepticon has come and gone. I took about 300 pictures and took a few painting classes that were quite informative. And thanks to the great people I met there.

I also took advantage of the complete nonexistence of sales tax and bought just about everything I needed to finish my Nids, and I got a complete set of waches plus some other neat stuff.

Click for a bigger pic. This is my workspace as of 5 minutes prior to this post.The funny thin is that my actual "work" desk is directly to the left of this desk.

On it, you can see the assembly line, and it works well for the most part. Those 4 little objective markers in front of the Trygon are from Ramshackle Games, and they are little carnivorous plants.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! No, I mean it this time!

Mishap

I had a small accident yesterday. Remember the hormagaunts from two posts back? Well, I'm at the wash stage of all 16 of them. So they're lined up in a row, and i realize that I'm REALLY late to pick up the kids from school, so I grab my jacket and run out of my office.

What i didn't realize was that the jacket pulled 5 of the 'gaunts onto the ground. When I returned to the office that evening, I rolled my chair straight over them in a tidy line.

Luckily, I managed to make really clean breaks where the hoof meets the base slot. a little superglue fixed up just fine. Will they stand the test of time? Who knows.

Venomthrope: 50%  finished
Trygon: 80% finished.
Hormagaunts: 75% finished.

Next up: Ymargl Genestealers, Termagants, and....NOISE MARINES!

After that, I'm going to tackle magnetizing with my first vehicles...a set of Rhino/Predators.

The assembly line cranks on

Finally painted and sealed the remaining 8 spinegaunts. My nids are starting to look fairly substantial.

Tyranids left to paint::
32 gaunts
16 termagants
8 genestealers
3 ripper swarms
3 warriors
2 gargoyles

It seems like a lot, but i hav a system going.

I am going to Games Plus in Mt. Prospect  tomorrow to pick up at least a Trygon or two and possibly a box of 10 plastic gargoyles. Oh yeah, and the Tyranid codex, which came out today.

Speaking of difficult models...

This metal broodlord has taken 4 pins so far, and if the glue doesn't hold on those scythes, there's going to be six. At least this will fill out the genestealer retinue. The other gargoyles are in the background.

Genestealers, pt 2

DONE (except for a little basework) WITH THE GENESTEALERS.

Click to enlarge.

Now, on to the Gaunts!

Genestealers, pt 1

I finally finished half of the genestealers! Well, actually, I guess I finished 1/6th, since I plan to eventually field two dozen. So to recap my WIP posts, these guys were basecoated with gesso, painted very simply with Bleached Bone, Chaos Black, Gore Red and for the one with feeder tendrils, a mixture of Elf Flesh and Dwarf Flesh. They were then dipped in Minwax Polyshade (Tudor Gloss). I haven't decided whether to Dullcote them.

The bases were covered with PVA glue, and sand from my hermit crab habitat was poured/ I thebn

Back in the Saddle

OK, first of all, I apologize for the horrible lighting in these pictures...my photography skills outside of using a lightbox are waning due to my lack of patience. I used to wonder why people took such bad photos of works in progress, but now I understand. OK, here we go...

Genestealers are laid out and ready to go. Since I've never played Nids before, I had to ask on dakkadakka.com about the arm configs.

Here, you can see the test model (primed GW spray white, Bleached Bone base color, Dwarf Flesh and Chaos Black nails, Minwax Polyshade Tudor Gloss wash/seal), the 4 genestealers primed with gesso, and three that have just been assembled.

 Of course, AFTER I primed all of them, I realized that I didn't attached the extended carapace. Ah, well. They are going to be red/black like the carnifex, unless it makes them look too much like shoulder pads. Welcome to the 80s.