Greetings!

As the blurb says, I'll be talking about all aspects of my hobbying and every army I enjoy for 40k, but for the first blog post...I think its only fair to talk about my first 40k love.

We all had one after all, that first army that caught our attention, and maybe you still have it in your collection.

For me though, it was all about the Tyranids.

So, way back in the mists of time (2001 to be exact) a very young me wanders into a GW store on my own, and purchases a codex for the princely sum of £8. This codex:

I loved this book and a box of gaunts soon followed. Back then, my hive fleet went under a bunch of different names, like Scorpius, but the colour scheme I used was green flesh and purple armour. Though at one point, I do remember the highlight been more pink than it should have been due to human error (I used the wrong paint!) Sadly, I never took any pictures of these and they have long since been sold off.

Of the course of a couple of years, the swarm had grown with the addition of units such as the likes of Old One Eye, a brood of Gargoyles, a mighty Hive Tyrant (complete with badly free hand design on the carapace), a Lictor, 3 Tyranid Warriors , a Zoanthrope, a singular Tyrant Guard, a biovore and a brood of Genestealers. I'd even gotten a Inquisitor scale Genestealer to have a go at but it did daunt me somewhat, so it was sadly never completed.

At this stage however, life had changed somewhat so they, and the hobby,  fell to the wayside. Even when I returned briefly in 2009, the nids were not lucky enough to get a glow up, as I focused on building the Ultramarine army I'd wanted after seeing pictures of them in my brothers ancient White Dwarf collection.

I stopped again, for a much longer hiatus when I and my then G/F now wife moved into our first place. With little to no funds, the figures where packed away and later, sold. I tried filling the void with other hobbies but there was always a quiet yearning.

Now, you might say:

"But you said you came back in 2021? Why didn't you pick the Nids up again then?"

To that, I would say:

"It was Imperium magazines fault."

Well, that part is mostly true, the other thing was that I was waiting to see what their 9th Edition codex would bring. Money stopped me from pursuing it then as I came close to buying the combat patrol so many times.

This year, the stars aligned perfectly.

From the earliest rumours that spoke of the marines vs nid theme, I started drawing up plans, putting money away so I could pledge my aligance to the Great Devourer once more.

Of course, in the run up, I needed a colour scheme, and miraculously, I found a willing test subject, to see if I could redo my old colour scheme:

Everything Seemed to be right but I needed a bigger test, so I could complete it with a base to boot (I was thing White to contrast with rhe darkish colours)

So without further ado, let me introduce the first nid I've painted properly (base and all!) in 19 years:

With their rebirth, came a new name, Hive Fleet Boreidas. A swarm that has set its sights on an Imperium world that's leaving an ice age. I do plan on trying to write some fanfiction to go along with these in the future, so apologies in advance for that...

Whats next for Boreidas? Well, there's the little matter of the Leviathan box I picked up today, and as much as it pains me to leave the Terminators in a primer, the tyranids will come first. Though I need ideas on how to tackle the Neurotyrant's big brain through the lens of my colour scheme...

Of course, I get the box in two weeks time, so the next blog post will be something slightly different, but remember, the Hive fleets are in motion, drifting through the silent void. Hunting, always hunting to fulfil a hunger that we can't even think of. Maybe they'll be landing at your table soon...

Till next time,

Keep painting!