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The lost Tyranids

Hivestorm Redoubt

I have discovered that I am very good at sculpting anuses.  This is a slightly worrying revelation given that I wasn't particularly happy with any other feature of my Hivestorm Redoubt.

Access and egress by means of sphincters

Little Shop of Horrors

The best laid plans of mice and men and all that.  I had this really neat idea for my Hivestorm Redoubt involving Acid Sprayers and those toy snakes which are jointed and can be moved around in a slinky sort of way.  I employed all the hobby tools at my disposal: insulation foam, green stuff, plasticard, brass and plastic rods with lashings of hot glue. I was going for a living, organic look with the two bastions of the Redoubt modelled as giant, wormlike maws growing out of the ground and Quad Icarus lascannons reminiscent of scorpion tails.

Feed me Seymour!

Doldrums

Flicking through my new Tyranid codex and trying to build a good list I decided that the best addition to my army would be a non-Tyranid fortification.  What an utterly depressing conclusion to reach.  

This is all I've managed to come up with so far.  Not a very auspicious beginning.

Magnetising your Haruspex/Exocrine

Many people, myself included, tend to think of the new Haruspex as a pile of shite.  Thats not to say they don't like the model.  They would love to build and paint the kit as a Haruspex but prefer the rules for the Exocrine.  Fortunately, GW built the model so that it is very easy to swap the heads and arms and get the best of both worlds.  You can now enjoy painting your Haruspex and scaring the cat with it, but use it as an Exocrine when you fancy a game of 40k.  I was able to magnetise both variants using 9 magnets in total.

Misfiring Synapses

I was prepared to be butt hurt on receiving my new Nid codex. The pre-release leaks caused a furore on the forums.  There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth but I secretly thought that it couldn't be that bad could it?  Could it?

Ok, I built another Exocrine.  Or did I?

More MCs needed

When I posted the picture of Tubbs the Tervigon next to my Exocrine conversion I felt a sudden rush of guilt.  Having already converted two Tervigons, she was the ugly sister as far as I was concerned.  I much preferred Gertie who was lovingly and painstakingly converted and farts termagants out of her arse rather than giving birth by caesarean section (which seems a bit extreme, somehow) .  

Its just a jump to the left...

Exocrine fin

I made my pre-orders for the Harpy/Crone and Haruspex/Exocrine today.  I also bought the codex which means that my family will be eating beans on toast for the next 3 months.  At least I got my fix eh?  

Look at the size of his...  oh, never mind

Endocrine?

Work on the Exocrine conversion continues.  I decided to call mine an Endocrine.  Possibly because I'm feeling hormonal.  I had a lot of fun building the gun (bio-cannon?  I don't even know what they're called yet) which is a heavily kit bashed Tyrannofex Rupture Cannon.  The stickman arms were less fun.  Scratch building with Grey Stuff is interesting but its a bit like clay and difficult to do sharp edges well.  Its easier to just use bits of old models for spikey bits or carve the dried resin into the desired shape.

Fire in the hole

Stickman Exocrine

Well, the Hormagaunts are languishing in hobby torpor.  I have been compulsively viewing Bell of Lost Souls and The Tyranid Hive forums for scraps of rumours about the Nid release in January.  There aren't even that many, just rehashes of models already leaked and endless speculation.  Its embarrasing really, but I kind of wish Christmas would just go away so that "Niduary" (as the forums call it) can arrive.  It doesn't help that I'm working all over the festive season and on out-of-hours support.

Exocrine next to a Tyrannofex.  Thanks to The Tyranid Hive for this

Out with the old, in with the new

I started getting caught up in the hype surrounding the forthcoming Tyranid release.  There are so many different and sometimes conflicting rules postings that it all becomes white noise and I try to just look at the pictures.  I decided to dig out my conversions for comparison.  If the price of the models is anything like the rumours portend then I'll be using my 'counts as' for some time to come.

Size does matter.  But so does price.

Mo Gribblies

Hormagaunts are less exciting than I first imagined.  There are only two poses for all the bodies and legs.  

Some of the more notable poses include the "Thriller","Chuck Norris" and the "Morecambe & Wise Christmas Special".

Bringing a knife to a gunfight

I pulled out my box of poor, neglected Hormagaunts today.  They were the first Nid models I bought and I've always had a soft spot for them.  They were only used (disastrously) in a couple of games where I quickly realised that fielding a brood of 12 just wasn't enough.  I bought more, but I never even finished building them all.  Shame on me.

I need to spend some serious hobby time with these poor wee fellas

The trouble with Zoats

Karl down at the club gave me some ancient GW models the other week (I now yearn to build 'old school' Necrons).  Amongst them was a metal miniature called a 'Zoat'.  I had never heard of Zoats before but he assured me that they were the forerunners of the Tyranid race. I was intrigued.

What the hell is it?

Nailed it

I resolved the wobbly model syndrome on my Ghost Ark by nailing some sense into the flight stand:

Best thing the Romans ever did for us