Hive Fleet Vapor

[thewarriorhunter]

Hello fellow fraters! I normally hang out over in the Ravenspire working on my Successor Renegade force but I've been toying with the idea of starting a Tyranids project for about six months. I finally decided to take the plunge and start a Kill Team so I found a local player who was looking to rehome some lovely little creatures. I picked up a box of Warriors and Hormagaunts and four Termagants since I wanted some more shooting options. I have no idea what I'm doing or what's good on the table but I wanted to try something different. I've always built my Marines by rule of cool first, rules second, and I imagine that's the approach I'll take to this project as well.

 

The background idea for this Hive Fleet is that they don't physically exist. When Tyranid or GSC activity increases in an area all living beings will have nightmares and that is where this fleet exists. They manifest as horrible nightmares and images that cause the dreamers to be afraid and sleep deprived.

 

The background came from my desire to paint these up in a Synthwave style. I'm not sure exactly what it will look like but I've got a couple pictures that I'm using as color reference and inspiration:

 

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This is the color pallet that I'll be trying to stick with:

 

 

Dana Howl did a really neat scheme on her Nighthaunt. I will probably try this type of smooth transitions all over the models regardless of armor/skin. I'm not sure how well it will come out but I really want to try. I'd like to be able to paint these models mostly with an airbrush so they're fast to get done (my marines take a lot of time and work).

 

 

 

So first up is my built hormagaunts. I tried to give them a little character. I heard a tip a long time ago about heating up their tails with a candle to bend them and make them less uniform so I did that and like the results. I also tried to model a few of them in interesting ways (not that there are many options). I've got a couple talking (synapsing?) with each other and another one about to scissor off the dreamers head:

 

[Xenith]

Great start, curious to see how it'll progress - tyranid carapace is a great place to test out funky blending.

[The Pounder]

Welcome to the Hive Mind here on B&C!

 

Love the idea behind your force, an ethereal type look would suit the theme.

 

I like that you’ll be going for rule of cool, it’s the best way with Nids, as a faction we need some love rules wise.

[thewarriorhunter]

Thanks! I've been talking to some friends about basing and I have an idea but it's going to require learning some new stuff. I think it would be really cool to pour resin bases and swirl in some colors/tints so the bugs look like they're running across ethereal vapors. I have some resources to check out and I know it's doable if I build the molds and take my time. My big concern if I do that is how to attach the models to those bases since the gants have a very fiddly connection point if I remove the sprue-bar.

[WarriorFish]

Good to see a new army starting, and from rescues too I was thinking about doing something with the tails too, it worked great so I might need to try next batch of gaunts I build You don't need to worry too much about variety though, as once you start putting them together all painted up they sort of look more like a larger organism rather than individuals and this is surely appropriate

 

The base connections are small on the Hormagaunts so any form of rebasing will need some thought yes, and they don't have great centres of gravity normally either :confused:

 

Looking forward to seeing your progress especially once you start getting colours on

[The_Chaplain]

Love the synthwave/vaporwave iconic color palette- so very very excited to see how it translates on something organic like tyranids.

[Evil Eye]

This is genius. That colourscheme should be gorgeous, and the background is a brilliantly original idea. I might be tempted to change the name though. How about "Hive Fleet Egregore"? (An Egregore being, according to myth, a demon created and sustained by people's belief in it.)

[thewarriorhunter]

Hive Fleet Vapor was a play on vaporwave which is a similar style to synthwave, but usually a little more pastel in color pallet, and vapors also disappear and ebb and flow. Egregore is a really neat concept that I've not heard of before. I'll need to read up on that.

 

I did get a few bugs primed so I can do some test schemes on but haven't had a chance to get the airbrush out. I've been doing some 1:1 scale re-modeling on my shower but that just got wrapped up last night. I'm hoping to try a few things out at some point this week.

[thewarriorhunter]

Spent a good hour watching Dana Howl videos last night and it's by far the best hour I've spent on YouTube this month. She is a fantastic painter and I learned A LOT. The Nighthaunt I shared in my initial post were done by her and she's also got some squigs that garnered quite a lot of attention. I'm going to try and follow her techniques because 1) she obviously knows what she's doing and is really good at teaching that via video and 2) I always want to learn more and this is a great opportunity to add some more tools to my tool box.

 

Since I watched a bunch of videos I didn't have as much time to paint but I still managed to get two test models fully undercoated. I've got two more to finish up but ran out of time. After that I'll be able to start working on adding colors to see how this is going to work.

 

[thewarriorhunter]

Ruined a couple models trying to block in a scheme today but I guess that's why we test? I don't think the 100% airbrushed and blended scheme will work (for me) because the transitions across different textures will bother me. Overall I'm happy but it does need some refinement. I'm going to make the talons brighter and get a little orange into them, I'm thinking orange at the base blended into yellow at the tips. I think I'm leaving the joints and feet black. Weapons are a big of a concern so I may do up a Termagant to see how that works.

 

[thewarriorhunter]

Tried my Airbrush idea out and it went together a lot better than I expected and was also much faster/easier than the brushes. I need to pick out some details still but the overall tests are done. I'm not sure if I'm set on a single method or if I'll combine elements from both of these. Would love some feedback!

 

[WarriorFish]

Excellent I was hoping this update would be painting pictures and here they are These are striking schemes indeed so will work great on the table top in the number that nids muster, I think the final scheme works best, the yellow works really well as an accent. That said I do prefer the former's body transition a bit more, but the overall scheme will work nicely however you mix it.

 

Looking forward to seeing more, especially when you get round to applying it to larger models

[The Pounder]

Yeah, the second one (bottom 3 pics) looks much better. The more muted yellow works really well.

 

As WarriorFish says your scheme will translate really well to larger models.

 

Keep up the good work!

[thewarriorhunter]

Thanks all! The first one I did more of a cross section coloring and didn't care about texture. The second one I tried to keep the 'skin' purple and the armor blue with the yellow accents. The yellow in the firs tone has an undercoat of orange and then the yellow. I like elements of both and appreciate the critique. Not sure what the final version will look like but for now I'm liking the scheme. I'll play around with pulling out the details like teeth, eyes, and the whatever it is you see under the skin to get the whole picture. I am sold on doing this 100% with the Airbrush aside from some targeted edge highlights.

[thewarriorhunter]

Tested out a base scheme tonight with some spare molds I had lying around from my marines. They look best on the scheme without the orange so I'll be moving forward with that. Might try to keep some orange in on the eyes and exposed muscle fibers, we'll see.

 

 

Now I'm trying to decide which pattern base to go with. I'm a fan of GreenStuffWorlds rollers and am debating between a more random lava pattern or a more rigid hex pattern.

 

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If I go with the hex pattern I'd only be using the half of the roller with the hexes, the rest would be 'wasted' on the nids.

 

http://www.greenstuffworld.com/6073-thickbox_default/Rolling-Pin-Hobby-Roller-Hexagons-Infinity-Bases.jpg

 

http://www.greenstuffworld.com/6072-thickbox_default/Rolling-Pin-Hobby-Roller-Wood-Frozen.jpg

[WarriorFish]

The muscle bits can be a bit annoying to paint, but they do make a difference to the overall model - though don't ask me what colour might work well here :P

 

I think the lava pattern would work better as something more random especially when you get to larger bases. Would you be adding anything else on the bases to spice them up or sticking to the pattern?

[thewarriorhunter]

I hadn't considered adding anything to the bases because I normally don't, aside from a little wear and tear:

 

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Your comment made me think that the Citadel Skulls box might be perfect for this. Skulls of the soon-to-be-dead on the bases would be pretty neat and pair well with the lava pattern. I can place them on areas where there's a bit too much black ground to add more pink pop.

[WarriorFish]

The skulls set is great, I use it all over the place so you won't go wrong with it :tu:

[The_Chaplain]

In my opinion, you should go with the "frozen" greenstuff roller design-- it looks like something is breaking-- like, the shattering psyche/minds of those under assault by the hive fleet?

[thewarriorhunter]

Finally got some work done after being on vacation for the last week. Terms are all built and everything was primed and undercoated today. I'm going to run three devourers in my KT list but wanted to build some fleshborers for some variety and they're cheaper in KT. If I'm lucky I can spray all of these tonight and have them painted in time for a KT game on Tuesday. Warriors aren't started but this picture is 101 points and should be fun to run, if only because I'm clogging the table with units.

 

[WarriorFish]

Good to see a start in earnest! I've gone for cheaper for my gribbles, but you can still put them on the table in number with upgrades. For Kill Team it's more balanced then 40k when it comes to hordes, so in case you're not aware you'll need to watch for break tests as your little nids will die easily. All the more reason to get them stuck in as soon as possible Keep us updated on your progress

[thewarriorhunter]

I'm sure break tests will be a thing. I'm hoping these are all fast enough to get into combat T2 so losses are minimized. When I get warriors added the number of gaunts will go down, and probably the upgrades as well. If I ever buy more gaunts I'll probably run them without upgrades and have a packed board. Edited October 11, 2020 by thewarriorhunter

[thewarriorhunter]

First set of gribblies are done! These were pretty fun to paint up because I could switch back and forth between colors. I got the fleshborers backwards though so I'll have to repaint those when I paint the warriors. I'm still not sure if I want to paint up the muscle bits, if I do I'm leaning towards an orange glaze.

 

I ordered a rolling pin and found some really cool flaming skulls from GSW. I'll use those on random bases to help provide some color and that will give me that vapor effect I wanted in a more controlled way. Very excited for those to arrive in the mail!

 

Edited October 12, 2020 by thewarriorhunter

[WarriorFish]

Really catch the eye in a group, they're going to really pop when you get them in proper number on the table top Regarding the muscle and joint bits I was wondering about them originally but now I've been painting quite a few types of nid I think they're important to help break schemes up and give some contrast. They're a bit like the icons and the like for other armies for breaking schemes up and offering some options.

 

You do have a lot of colour going on so what about a black if you're not fully sold on the orange? Would provide contrast but not compete with the main colours. Could be done the lazy clever method as I've been doing on my claws in the contrast Black Templar too

[thewarriorhunter]

I think black might not pop enough. I'll have to do a few tests to see what I like. Yellow might work as well because it's already on the pallet. My marines take ~20 colors to paint up, these guys are sitting at 6 currently and I'd love to keep it that way :D