Where I learned to Paint Tyranids: Beasts of War

So when the new 5th Edition Tyranid Codex dropped back in January I was seeking high and low for tips, tactics, and reviews of the Codex to determine where to go with the army and what new models to buy. I soon began to realize the potential power of the Tervigon and the endless possibilities that swarms of free Termagants running amok all over the board presented. But then it quickly dawned on me that at some point, if I wanted to go to the big tournaments, that I'd have to paint swarms of gaunts! Being pretty new to the game, having only really started when 5th Edition began, I had not quite nailed down a basic painting method yet. I had one good technique which was dry brushing, which I perfected on my Necrons, but I never really thought that the first Tyranids I painted this way were very good, and I wanted to do better.

After a few searches on YouTube I managed to find a then budding YouTube Channel based out of the UK called Beasts of War. They gave me a fantastic painting method that I had not heard of before, or more correctly never seen done before, which were the GW washes! I was amazed at the quality of this simple painting method of base coats, wash, and pick out a few details and done was capable of

Here is the video that taught me how to paint my Nids:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqOowCEJNew&p=5EC99B140583ABAB&playnext=1&index=3

I wanted to give these guys full credit for the painting technique, while i was the one putting paint and wash to brush and then model, these guys showed me a simple and effective method on how to paint.

Here are some of the models I have painted thanks to this method:

Here is my Custom made Terigon made mostly from the Carnifex kit, with some spines and mandibles from the Trygon kit and one of those infested bits from the Genestealer kit:



Here are my Hive Guard:



And here is a small units of Hormagaunts:



And for the record, I just added the Baal Red wash to a 15 man unit of Termagants tonight and all they need to be finished is Bone White on the fangs and based and they'll be done too.

I'll post my progress!

Getting Back to Working Small: Painting Hoard Nids

So I have to admit it, I have gotten very lazy when it comes to painting my 'Nid. I can't help it, there are a ton of them that need painted in a 100+ model army! I do not know that I have picked up a paint brush in like 3 months. And I don't know why, I want to paint them, I just have not been motivated to paint lately. My main problem as a husband and father of three is that my hobby time usually breaks down to either play or paint, and I choose play. So, my painting time has suffered for it.

One of the things that makes me the most proud as a 40K player is not the mob of gamers that stand around my table to watch my games, or the people that say to me 'I need to learn tactics from you', it is when someone picks up my custom Tervigon or my Hive Guard and Homagaunts and look at them and say, 'WOW, what a paint job!' The problem with my army is that less then 25% of my army is painted and it is a work in progress. Well, that and I also suffer from army OCD and every month I am dreaming about a new army (This month Blood Angels) and my poor 'Nids suffer from it. While they are my primary army and the one I know the best and smash face with, I am still trying to one-up them for some reason. It is like having a super hot girlfriend at home, and looking at porn on the internet. What the hell are you doing?

I have been meaning to finish the army since 'Ard Boys. I had this sick goal of showing up to 'Ard Boys 2010 with a fully painted 2500 Point 'Nid list, which I failed miserably at. But now with Adepticon looming in a little under 8 months, I will have to have at least 1850 points+ (thanks to my duel Tervigons) fully painted if I want to play in the tournaments there.

What spurred this line of thinking for me was that last night at the game store I got to see my good friend Shawn, who I have not seen in quite some time. Shawn showed up with some of his recently built and painted Orks, and he had done some of the same techniques that I use to paint my 'Nids, base coats and washes. They looked amazing, and I found myself being quite jealous of his army. Shawn has two kids, and yet he has managed to paint a small hoard of Orks since I last saw him. Heck, I even asked him, half joking and half not, if he wanted to paint some bugs for me.

One of the things he told me that he did since he had so little hobby time to work with was work small. He said to me that most nights he only gets an hour or so to paint before wife and kids pull him away, so he works small. Pull out five guys and do skin, then do carapace, then wash, then walk away. If I were to do that, soon, I'd have a ton of models done, five at a time, and they add up fast.

For me to get where I need to be by Adepticon, I need to complete like 20 Models a month. That is not really that hard of a goal to hit. So I am going to do it. As hard as it will be, I will have to put Starcraft 2 down one or two nights a week, catch up on True Blood and Big Love in the livingroom watching and painting at the same time. If I keep up this reasonable pace, I'll be done with plenty of time to spare for Adepticon. I of course will post my progress as I go.

Thanks Shawn! You inspire me! I think we need to setup some painting nights.

Well, I will try tonight to start painting and taking some pics for you all to see.

Riding the Cheese Wagon...

Alright, so admit it. At some point in every Codex Space Marine player's life they look at the other chapters and say, "I wish I could do that." They look at their Space Wolves or Blood Angles brothers and say, "Why can you have 5-Man squads with Melta guns in Razorback and I can't?" The look at 'Dev' Squads that can split fire with multiple Missile Launchers any say, "Hey, that's not fair"

And if you are lucky and decided to go with your own Space Marine Chapter and not a 'Codex' chapter, who is to say which Space Marine Chapter your army is a founding from... this week.

So I am at that point with my Codex Marines. So on Thursday night after debuting my Eldar on the gaming table and crushing my buddy Sean in a kill point mission to only get my skinny Eldar but handed to me in a Capture and Control mission, we did what we always do. We sat around after the games were done and shoot the bull about 40K. We talked rules, tactics, and what we could have done differently.

At some point though, he asked me if I was ever going to get back to my Marines. I started my Marines for a starter army to teach my boys how to play the game. Occasionally I get board with Tyranids and I would break out the Marines just for fun. So they have been sitting on the shelf looking at me wantingly to be painted and played. Now, I have no plans to give up my Eldar, I really want to have 1850 points built, painted, and play-tested for Adepticon this year. But I always have my next project in mind as I am working on the current one. This is why my 'Nids are only 10% painted.

But I was think about getting back to Marines after the Eldar are done, and I wanted to make a Blood Angels list. So my friend Sean was the first to offer up, "You know if you run you're own chapter you could be Blood Angels today and Space Wolves tomorrow and Codex Marines on Monday."

This brought a smile to my face. He's right! For the most part, A Rhino is a Rhino, Vindicator is a Vindicator, a Marine a Marine. Now each codex, BA and Wolves, have some units unique to them, but with some filing and a new paint job I really could make a Marine Army that could Go between Codex, BA, and Wolves. So I am going to do it!

I am going to Start my own Chapter, the Lightning Legion, who Started off as Codex marines when they lost a big part of their forces in a great battle with the Necrons. Along came two other successor chapters to the Blood Angels and Space Wolves to help out and they too also took brutal loses in the battle. Commanders killed, chapter masters mortally wounded. It was a mess. In order to win the battle and the war versus the Necrons, these three weakened chapters decided to combine their forces on the battle field and fight side by side, like a single chapter. This brave plan worked, the they were able to defeat the Necrons, together as one chapter. When the war was over, they had grown so accustomed to each other the the new command structure, they decided to stay a combined chapter. Hence, The Lightning Legion was born.

Game play-wise, you'd pick a codex for that game or tournament, but I plan to paint up this army and start interchanging which codex I am using.

I will report my progress here and show some of the custom models that will have to come from this so that I can have Thunderwolf cavalry next to models on the shelf with wings.

So, is this Cheese? Let me know gang!