Bitten by the bug

[Kierdale]

I snapped up Lost Patrol when it came out a couple of years back and the scouts (I’m actually a fan of SM scout models) persuaded me to do my Mentors:

And I just glued the genestealers together so they could be gamed with.

Then some time later played about with a Tamiya Clear Blue and Green over Leadbelcher and silver on a Chaos assassin:

And thought to myself “Hmm, I like that. Looks a bit like some shiny beetle carapace..”

And there was my inspiration for a hive fleet colour scheme.

Here is my tester mini.

Leadbelcher spray.

Nuln oil wash.

Silver drybrush.

Thinned Tamiya Clear Blue over all.

Thinned Tamiya Clear Green on upper carapace surfaces. I think this paint needed more of a shake as I did not get as rich a green colour as I did on the assassin. But variation across the squad is fine.

The skin is black high lighted up to a light grey.

The claws, talons and teeth are Rhinox, a mid-brown-I-forgot-the-name-of, and lastly Rakarth flesh. These could have been less rushed ;)

Then gloss varnish over all, for ickiness.

Basing will be ‘jungle’.

These last two show that the underside is more blue than green. Won’t get seen much anyway.

A few questions:

A. Does the black work for the skin? Would black highlighted dark brown have been better? And in that case then a lighter colour for the claws (more of a typical bone colour)? Part of my likes that the skin is coloured like shadow and the claws wood-like.

B. A different colour for the tongue? Pale green?

C. This hive fleet needs a name! Suggestions?

D. And, if it were to become a small army ;), what would 500-points of...say, Kraken...look like? Heavy on the horde. I want a tide of shiny beetles to push across the table with a broom.

[Magos Takatus]

Nice idea! I remember seeing the metallic colours in the Dawn of War 2 army painter and thinking that would make some pretty impressive Tyranids. I think you are the first person I've seen test them out. I think they look good but the glossiness makes it a bit hard to see what's going on. I hope to see you work on some larger 'Nids so I can see the two-tone effect on a larger scale. :)

[spafe]

I would go a brighter red on the tongue, make it stand out with a splash of brightness. Although I get that wouldnt be for everyone

 

have you considered doing a leathery yellow (think the yellow bit of a turtle) for the skin? I like it as is, but in the pics it does look very dark. If thats what you prefer, no issues, but I tend to go for brighter colours on my models as I find when gaming (ie looking at them from 2-3 ft away on a table), if they are too dark they get hard to see any real details. 

 

Just my 2 cents, will be following this with interest

[Xenith]

It looks great, the carapace is excellent, however all the shiny makes the details disappear for me - especially in that third photo. Maybe as it's the eyeless stealer head also. The talons are awesome. What about a matte black/dark grey for the exoskeleton?

[Claws and Effect]

My wife is doing something similar.

 

Her explanation is her hive fleet entered the galaxy in an area with lots of planets but almost no biomass. So they adapted to inorganic material and started consuming minerals.

 

Each of her unit types is a different color, both for the theme and to help identify them at a glance.