'nids part 334 - Tyranid Warriors - White pics

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Tyranid Warriors for what seems like forever now but they're finally done.

 

These are the five 'new' ones I got 2nd hand off a variety of ebay auctions quite a few years ago now.

They were a mixed bag of condition that I've really pleased show almost no sign of their previous incarnation, paintjob or build quality.

That's the added bonus of nids, any stray glue globules or mould lines can easily be adapted to fit the paint scheme.

The 4 from the right are all 'glow-ups' - 12 year old models that have had their paint scheme refreshed with my awesome current painting skills.

The one on the left is the Warrior I painted alongside two Hive Guard conversions in December 2020.

That was the benchmark for these, which I could see the improvement since they were first painted over a dozen years back.

The fact they're all now consistent and almost identical to the lone Warrior is such a relief and feels like an amazing achievement.

Here we go with front, back and side view of each model. There's 36 pics so strap in. First up one of the repaints.

Another repaint, I didn't really touch the bases, so they are subtly different with colours, which feels slightly annoying, but it shouldn't because the ground doesn't always perfectly match.

The Barbed Strangler.

The last of the 'old ones' although I think this was the newest of the bunch, painted a couple of years after the previous three, but still outdated in the scheme.

I may regret some of the basing of the newer ones, as I didn't pin all of them to the slate. I'm sure if I drop them I'll soon find out which ones I was lazy with and only relied on superglue...

Rending Claw Warrior. I do wonder what one would have looked like with the Deathspitter in the upper arm section. I was really surprised to realise I hadn't made that option. Certainly on this model it would make more sense as trying to get those claws down to human [prey] height and not interfere with the gun is a challenge.

Every nid player ends up with a load of infestation nodes [as well as Carnifex head halves and gaunt Spinefists]. Having used them for objectives I now need to start using up the rest on bases.

Still a little annoyed about the green glow on the barrels not being quite in the right place, but I'll live with it.

First of the Lash Whip and Bonesword Warriors. A reminder that these are the Tyrant Guard arms, which I got a sprue of in another ebay auction. 

They're chunkier than the standard Warrior ones and thankfully I don't think that detracts from them or makes them look out of place. The two poses are a bit like they're about to over balance, but I was kind of stuck with their second hand poses.

And there we go, hope you enjoyed the closer look at them, the pics needed to be done for my showcase anyway. Prime white pics next and then we can move onto something new, what could it possibly be?

Old stuff day 2022

Morning #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity it's #OldStuffDay 2022. A few years ago now warhammer39999 wanted to join a movement to rediscover lost gems from the world of hobby blogs. To choose one of your own blogposts that you're most proud of, or may not have got the attention it deserved or any thing that may warrant some necromantic blogpost bothering. On top of that you were to share blogposts from other bloggers which you thought deserved the same spotlight of attention before they were returned to their dark nightmare infested slumbers.

Here's some great posts from other bloggers [apologies to the many great bloggers out there I haven't included, you do sterling work too, these are just the ones I was reminded to remember over the last 12 months]:

Who wouldn't want a tutorial on making/sculpting candle?

https://www.thediceabide.com/blog/2014/01/how-to-sculpt-candles

Henry South is an Oscar and Bafta winning film special FX genius. He's also a hobbyist once kept a fascinating blog about his effort. Although he's stopped blogging the great thing is all his content is still there and there are some great posts. This one how to be a better painter may well change your view on paint brushes

http://4gotowar.blogspot.com/2015/07/how-to-be-better-painter.html

Part 2 is available here.

http://4gotowar.blogspot.com/2015/07/

And, as mental health quite often finds itself a concern among hobbyists this may well be of benefit

http://4gotowar.blogspot.com/2015/07/painting-with-depression.html

Alex From the Fang is another loss to the hobby blogging community. His Blog Wars tournaments were my favourite events, although his doubles tournament - Double Trouble was even more fun. Blog Wars 6 was my first attendance, immortalised in this here painting competition

http://fromthefang.blogspot.com/2013/11/blog-wars-6-painting-competition-pic.html

OK, so another one about me [sort of] but it's from a blog that at least is still going and does highlight my long running connection with weemen, not just Siph generously commenting and giving feedback on every blogpost I make [for which I am eternally grateful]

https://weemen.blogspot.com/2013/11/blog-wars-6-some-pics.html

Mike Corr is another blogger who I connected with through Blog Wars and although eventually it wasn't a prerequisite to taking part in the tournament he subsequently would start a blog. If you are contemplating it you might want to think like Mike did and come up with some sort of continuous post. Here he interviewed various other bloggers, 54 in fact. Each one is an interesting take on the hobby from those willing to share their exploits. Well worth checking out the list and you can see I got featured at number 6

http://standwargaming.blogspot.com/p/better-know-blogger.html
http://standwargaming.blogspot.com/2016/05/better-know-blogger-part-6-confessions.html

When I start collecting links for Old Stuff Day it can be early in the year and then when I come to write the blog post I don't always know why I picked the links that I did. For some reason I decided a post on modular gaming tables would be appropriate. Now I did think I perhaps just copied the link from another Old Stuff Day post, and that still may be the case, but I can't find it if I did

http://realmsofminiatures.blogspot.com/2012/04/modular-gaming-table-part-9.html

And to my own blogposts. Having felt disheartened by my foray into 9th edition I thought I'd share some amazing experiences from previous editions that I hope one day to re-experience.

My most epic Tyranid Vs Imperial Knights

My 40k at 40 Birthday Bash

Birthday Bash 2.0 [click through for more reports]

Lastly, I held a terrain competition 6 years ago, utilising funds from my advertising revenue to supply prizes. I'm just over three quarters of the way to doing it again but I'm still pleased with the efforts of those involved.

'nids part 333 - Tyranid Primes & Warriors - TO DONE!

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer on these #Oldhammer Tyranid Warriors, which I kitbashed into Tyranid Primes and refreshing my Tyranid Warriors. For some reason I didn't feel much need for my usual red pics, so I thought I'd combine them altogether.

There was a small drama with the varnishing at the end, which almost derailed my satisfaction of completing them. If I'm honest though it was a batch too far in some respects and I'd already felt it was becoming tiresome.

That said, I'm really pleased with the results and the consistency across all 9, the Primes, Spore Mine and the previous 'new' Warrior from December 2020.

Plenty of rumours are flying around about improvements to Warriors, which could be timely. I had only envisaged these as paying for a Crusher Stampede Battalion but if they're more useful in their own right that's just a bonus.

I may end up regretting some of the upgrades but with 10 done, meaning with 3 broods of 3 I can drop one heavy weapon if needed to recoup some costs. Otherwise there's variety should I ever consider a Kill Team - I keep saying this but we've only ever played Kill Team once and now I'm contemplating nids as well as my Death Guard for a game we never play! 😆

The Primes came out well. I had got Vallejo Environment Moss and Lichen to add yellow splotches on the slate on the one on the right. Although it didn't quite work on it's own - it looked like spilled paint, id did help blend the yellow flock onto the stone.

I spent far too much time debating the spore mine, the little red triggers and if they should be green when in reality it didn't matter. I've loads of these and never use them so I just took the simplest solution and boxed it off.

Primes and their Warriors, I'm so glad they stand head and shoulder above the norm. 

Just imagine if they'd kept the original Warrior proportions rather than going smaller. All of our nids would be so much bigger.

Although I'm really fond of the Venom Cannon Warrior the glow on the barrel isn't quite right, rushing again with the green highlights on the edges rather than in the hollows.

Nevermind, it's an epic brood by my reckoning and will give me plenty to think about in what needs updating from my other older figures.

There's around 30 Termagants that could do with a refresh, but as I have 40+ that don't, which I use ahead of the ones I do there's no urgency.

Pretty much the only things that need refreshing are the 4 frosted Warrior to Hive Guard conversions.

In the mean time I'm going to take a bit of a hobby break. I had wanted to finish the Talonmaster alongside the Tyranids but it was a disruption that might have derailed my progress. I feel forcing myself to delay going back to it will motivate me further to completing it when I do.

Now to explain why the last minute drama - at one point I was very slightly aggrieved that my Army Painter Anti-shine pooled and cracked, like the AK Interactive Matt Varnish. I think I've become aware this can happen with the batch I have at the moment. So I was trying to make sure that any pools of varnish were dabbed clear, but must have missed this - more haste, less speed! Taking into account one of the prime reasons for repainting these was the Purity Seal frosting, to have the varnish go wrong here was somewhat infuriating. Luckily it was only in a few places and easily covered up with a few dabs of paint, as you can see in the above pics.

Here's my Great Big BLESSED VERDIGRIS Stamps of Approval! White pics to follow, which are a little more comprehensive as you get 4 profile views of each model.

#DeathGuard #KillTeam First Plague Marine TO DONE!

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer Death Guard Kill Team. #NewYearNewArmy sort of, well I'd definitely say it's a departure for me. For sure, there are elements that you will recognise from my previous painting exploits but overall I think this is quite different.

The rust effects from my Galvanic Servo-haulers, tar bases from my Nurgle Blood Bowl Team, the sickly pale armour from my Nurgle Rotpsawn and the raw fleshy bits from my Tyranids. I'm really liking the end result.

This is as close to #Blanchitsu as I've ever got, which is an odd thing as although I can appreciate the effort and even the result of John Blanche's work and style I always found it messy. And here I am trying to emulate it is and appreciating the ability to make something as grungy and dirty as possible.

And it's not without its flaws but for that's not a problem with Nurgle - you can hide so much in filth. The key aim for these was something horrific, rusted, grimy, slimy and as quickly as possible. I may not have achieved the latter, but this was no more than a few hours, so it's not that long.

But some of that time will have been spent decision making and now some of those decisions have been made it might be more streamlined next time. Doing all the basecoats in advance to capitalise on subsequent washes and rust effects will speed things up a bit.

Rather than grey stones in the tar pit I wanted to do the red stone of Ferron Proxima, to at least tie them into my fluff. No Khorne Red base edges, that would be daft but I thought the vermilion would work... I'm not so sure. Its such a random tone that's too vibrant. 

I'd originally considered just using red weathering powder, but didn't risk it. Now I'm thinking shade it more, and coat it in Tamiya Clear Red X-27 as if it was bleeding rocks poking through the black tar. 

I'll leave as is for now, see how they all look when completed. I'm pleased with the result and very keen to do another one but despite buoyed with confidence I'm also [typically] wracked with doubts starting again.

As much as I want to paint these individually I may well do some batch painting of basecoats. Afterall, I'm not doing the bases first, which avoids the daunting feeling of starting from a blank canvas. So, having all the basecoats done might make it easier to dip into the actual fun bit of the 'painting'. 

I'll see how it goes. For now, here's the Great Big Minor Project BLESSED VERDIGRIS Stamp of Approval! As you know I don't usually go in for major/minor badges but in this instance the Kill Team will be minor badges and then a major one at the end.

March 2nd is #OldStuffDay

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity, just a heads up March 2nd is Old Stuff Day. More than a decade ago now warhammer39999 wanted to join a movement to rediscover lost gems from the world of hobby blogs and it's still going strong today. The aim is to choose one or more of your own blogposts that you're most proud of, or may not have got the attention it deserved, or any thing that may warrant some necromantic blogpost bothering. On top of that you share blogposts from other bloggers which you think deserves the same spotlight of attention, before they're returned to their dark nightmare infested slumbers.

However, 2022 is going to shake things up a bit. I know a lot of hobbyists don't have blogs, maybe they Twitter or Insta, in which case go back to one of your old tweets and retweet or share one of your oldest figures or the first miniature you ever painted. If you feel inclined to check out the old fuddy-duddy blogosphere for cool posts that's cool too. And don't forget to add #OldStuffDay

So, if you have a blog don't forget to root through your old posts and rediscover those hidden gems. Feel free to use the Old Stuff Day poster by Firstkeeper from DeviantArt. Celebrate Old Stuff Day with the rest of us.