Hive Fleet Solerön

[WarriorFish]

Yeah Warriors are a core feature of nids to me, part of that is how nice they look amongst the smaller ones as well as being nice models in their own right. Once I've got the Broodlord done I reckon some more Warriors will be first on the nid list accordingly That said arms, claws, and mould lines aside I did quite enjoy the Genestealers so maybe giving the Broodlord a more substantial retinue is an alternative or follow up?

 

Speaking of lists I have my first game of 9th and with nids lined up later this week. I don't think it's a terrible list and most others will be new to things too so it should be a fairly even playing field in theory

 

I've packed the army since it's all ready, and it is quite an interesting experience... the gaunts are mostly ok numbers aside but the rest gobble up room like there's no tomorrow. When it comes to sticking out limbs the Warriors aren't too bad; the Genestealers are. Monstrous creatures need the old boot box treatment. This is why I collect bubble wrap

[Xenith]

Yea, my carnifex and trygon went in the bubble wrap for the last house move, they just wound't fit in anywhere. I'd really look at custom Feldherr pic and pluck foams at some point when you know you can fill trays with gribblies and you'll want the same models in the same place in the army bag, they're a hivemind send for my Blood Angels. 

 

Also keen to see how that game goes. I havent used tyranids in a game since 3rd ed and am keen to learn!

Edited October 27, 2020 by Xenith

[The Pounder]

Yeah, Genestealers and Tyranids in general are a nightmare to store. You can never have too much bubble wrap!

 

Good luck with your games!

 

Hopefully you’ll do the Hive Mind proud. Please give us some battle reports.

[WarriorFish]

Don't worry I always aim to do a batrep Will likely be less detailed than usual as I'll be busy trying to figure out how to play 9th and nids on top of it being a long time since my last game but I'll do my best. I'm hoping to get a couple of games in with my fleet but we'll see how it goes.

[Reskin]

I personally love the sculpts that GW have done for 'Nids. They look down right scary, and you sir, have made them that much more so. They look nasty! The black spine trim makes them look subtly harmful and deadly. Like most spiders.

 

Makes me want to get out my Nemesis Hammer and start squishing them.

[WarriorFish]

As promised one batrep We kept things light rules wise to learn 9th which included no mission - it was a battle to the death! I was expecting a hard fight being my first game and against the new Marine codex, especially knowing only one Stratagem (the healing one ) but I reasoned that I had the numbers to weather the storm enough so was in with a shot.

Hive Fleet Soler

[Arkaniss]

That was an informative and entertaining batrep :tu: You nabbed a win for your first game too! An auspicious start! I think your 'gaunts did their thing well - that being dying instead of other more important things :P Unless you're fighting other weak things I don't expect you'll see your gaunts doing much damage. Though perhaps they'll do better against an older codex, I gather Marines are sitting pretty right now.

 

A shame about the Warriors, but maybe they'll shine in the next game. Still your army looked wonderful on the table so even if the Warriors didn't do much they did their part in the army looking nice and cohesive

[WarriorFish]

The Warriors did provide some Synapse at least, though it was mostly the Tyrant and his extended range at work there. It was nice not to have to worry about morale and just as well with how quickly the gaunts died. The issue was that they all died pretty much as the rest of my forces were arriving - and not all of them either. This meant that all the attention was soon against my better units and the Marines were no slouches in combat either.

 

I kept the gaunts cheap but they were almost 20% so not an insignificant amount for meat shields I'll see how it goes, still early days and more things to try out plus facing other armies with older codices they will hopefully fare better

[The Pounder]

A great read WarriorFish! Thanks for sharing.

 

What faction are you up against next?

[WarriorFish]

I have no clue when my next game will be Plus we randomise opponents so I don't usually know what I'd be up against so could be against a reasonably fair number of foes depending. I'm hoping it won't be too long to solidify my learning but with scant opportunity I may need to spread games around my armies rather than focus on a particular one, but that's not all bad news - gives me chance to get more models done ready

[WarriorFish]

How 6 months can fly? Hard to believe but here we are - such is the nature of these "interesting times" we live in. At least I can say that I earned a break with my productivity before, but I have a small update in a new addition for my nids:

Obviously this isn't a model, but before you congratulate me on not adding to my plastic mountain for once I should note that I haven't updated here to report my two new Carnifexes I got for my birthday last year I've been looking at sprucing bases up with kits and bits like this for a while and decided to take the plunge with a couple of bits. These should help keep larger bases interesting and keep with the rock theme

Due to the age of my collection I don't have any bases larger than 60mm which do fine with my current basing, but we all know the larger models are inevitable Until then I am hoping to get back to my nids once I've finished off current projects, especially as I have those fexes...

[WarriorFish]

Again, not the most exciting of things but for the new Tyranid painting event I'm starting off small with a couple of Genestealers:

I should get more time later so I can work up to a bit more, especially as I should have finished some outstanding projects by then. The goal is to work to getting one of my new fexes done here but let's see what the fates have in store for me Good to be back on my nids, though I am sure I will need to go back to clean a few missed lines on the many limbs and claws...

[WarriorFish]

Back to my Genestealers quick - primed today and got as far as the main wash stage:

I'll add the mud texture to the base later today ready for finishing them tomorrow :) Then I'll see about what comes next, maybe a few gaunts?

[The Pounder]

Can’t go wrong with more Gaunts!

[WarriorFish]

Finished the two stealers:

Think I'll look to some Termagaunts for next month's challenge :)

[WarriorFish]

I had plans for my Broodlord this month but unfortunately the hope for a base fell through. That means the Termagaunts can step in as originally planned:

I think four is a good number for a smaller project that should hopefully not take too long. I have another four waiting for another month's vow which will bring my total up to 20 which I reckon is a decent number :)

[WarriorFish]

I have made good progress on them, with the wash done they're on the final stretch:

I reckon I should be able to get them done this week, if not early next week Along with my CSM Executioner they are being a nice change after the Defiler which was both a large and a long project. Variety is the spice of life etc, I'm going to see if I can keep the handful of nids going as stop gap projects as they're so different from my other armies

[WarriorFish]

They're now completed:

Highlight stage slows things a bit, but at least the basing is straight forward :P I am mulling over the next project as it depends on a few things... watch this space!

[WarriorFish]

I've been working away on my next model:

I didn't realise the bases had changed, so I'll need to rebase the other fex at some point - no rush though. I've filled the gaps on the back and built up a little mound for him to stand on, I'll glue the legs before aiming to prime later today. I've gone for another Venomcannon for some longer ranged heavy AT but for the third fex I think I should do something different, any ideas?

[Arkaniss]

Another 'fex! Excellent, they look amazing in your scheme :tu: I had no idea the bases changed when did that happen? Are you going to raise the height of all your fexes?

[WarriorFish]

I've made good progress on him, I should be able to finish it next week maybe even before the weekend? I'm pleased with the progress but I'd hope so too as I managed to steal a decent amount of time for it

As you can see I added a bit more to the base prior to priming, this should help me add some height and variety to the base once textured. I'll see about expanding this idea for the next larger base (probably the other fex?), maybe use some of the plastic card I used for my Chaos bases to build some raised areas without relying on sticking random sprues and such in?

That said my Baal Red is almost gone, I will have a replacement arriving but not for a couple of weeks so it depends how well that pot holds out

[Arkaniss]

Looking good so far! I think you won't be able to tell with the base until it's finished. Hopefully it works as using scrap bits from sprues would be very efficient and wouldn't cost you anything

[Xenith]

Rapid progress, great work!

 

The bases havent changed - from what I've heard, the person designing the Baal Deathstorm box thought that all the nid stuff looked better on bigger bases, so while the normal boxed sets for broodlord, warriors, carnifex are 40mm round, 40mm round and 60mm round, deathstorm had 75mm oval, 50mm and 90mm ovals. Pretty random. I agree they look better though. 

 

Right from GW.com today:

Edited August 12, 2021 by Xenith

[WarriorFish]

Yes, the first thing I did was check the GW page to see what's what. Maybe the most telling part was the description didn't mention the base size which it usually does The box I got is the brood one, and it came with the oval base so that's what they're getting. Does give them some extra stability and reduce the limbs issue (always welcome for nids...). I will worry about the previous fex should I ever find a matching base cheap.

 

I have been working on this fex some more and expect to get it finished today all going well

[WarriorFish]

The fex is done :D The base took a bit of time but it was worth the effort:

Alas poor Yorrork (and friends) :P

The larger base along with a bit extra height does make it more imposing, I've also confirmed that I prefer the less "set" colours on larger models for the carapace colours. The third split works well on the normal sized critters, but with more space to play with on the larger beasties having a more staggered split to the colours works well :)

I've found the poses quite limiting with the venom cannon, even a slight upwards incline here didn't offer much more. It won't be an issue though as my third fex will have a different load out. Assuming that doesn't suffer from the same :lol: Any ideas what to take? Stranglethorn perhaps?

I enjoyed the model once again, I think my nids are the perfect army to drop in some models in every few projects to keep things fresh. I have my eye on those other four Termagaunts next to bring them up to a round 20...