Antarius Winter-Spring projects (presently Black Templars and Tyranids)

[Antarius]

So, as I mentioned in my earlier thread, my Heresy project has been scuppered in favor of Warhammer 40.000, as my friends would rather play that.
So, I have begun work on a Black Templar force, as a) I had some lying around and b) I've been collecting "gothic" bits and bobs for ages and I feel that they would be the right army to stick al those skulls, scrolls, etc. on. Also, I'm much more keen on their Primaris models than regular Primaris models, as I feel they still look suitably ornate and archaic (at least they will with the proper amount of extras and a nice paintjob).

So far I've been assembling the core of my army: 3 Crusader Squads, 2 5-man Intercessor Squads and a bunch of characters. I've gone about them in a slightly different way than I usually do, as I figured it might be smarter to prime the shoulder pads and heads separately, so I only really have headless models at present 

Nonetheless, I figured it was time to start a thread, to keep myself motivated. So if you like the idea of non-Primaris-looking Primaris and lots of skulls etc., stay tuned.

I'll leave you with these pics of an idea I'm toying with at present:

Edited February 26 by Antarius

[Firedrake Cordova]

Somehow the candles "just look right" - combined with the skulls, it makes them look like a walking shrine 

[Antarius]

1 hour ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

Somehow the candles "just look right" - combined with the skulls, it makes them look like a walking shrine 

That's exactly the look I'm going for 
I'm actually at a point where I'm worried I'm doing too much with the regular marines, so I hope that means I'm doing just the right amount.

[Antarius]

I got sidetracked slightly by a game of old world and by the arrival of a massive (and very cheap) Tyranid haul I purchased online:

In fairness I already had the Leviathan sprues, a Tyrant, a Tyrannofex and a handful of Warriors, so it's not all new stuff, but still...

[Firedrake Cordova]

Wow, that's a lot of bugs! I hope you have an industrial quantity of bug spray ...  

[Antarius]

On 2/24/2025 at 3:04 PM, Firedrake Cordova said:

Wow, that's a lot of bugs! I hope you have an industrial quantity of bug spray ...  

I'm working on getting other people to adopt some of them as we speak. The rest of them will serve as a cooperative project for the Queen and myself - we spent a couple of hours talking and trying out techniques and ideas yesterday, so we'll see what comes of it. I'm a little bit concerned with her tendency to focus on details, which is a huge part of what makes her such a good painter, of course, but it might be difficult to do on 500+ minis 

So far, we've talked about using mostly "natural" colours and probably doing some simple patterning on the carapace, as well as some speckling on the skin. The idea is that this will make them more yucky and less cartoony than using 2-3 bright colours (although I'm partial to the idea of perhaps using one bright colour for all the squishy bits or similar).
We (obviously) haven't hit on a good colour scheme yet, but I am pleasantly surprised with how much of an effect you can get with just a coat of primer, some very quick stippling and sponging and a single coat of contrast + perhaps a drybrush highlight. All that remains is to find the perfect combination of colours and we're off to the races.

Edited February 26 by Antarius

[Antarius]

So, I finished putting bits and bobs on my Dreadnought: 

It's hardly noticeable, but he actually has a tabard with a Templar cross under the main sarcophagus. I *think* adding anymore stuff would be overkill, but I am open to suggestions 

 

[Firedrake Cordova]

Looks great to me.

 

Part of me was thinking "back banner" but there's nowhere to mount it, and it is "rather 2nd Ed".

[Antarius]

7 minutes ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

Looks great to me.

 

Part of me was thinking "back banner" but there's nowhere to mount it, and it is "rather 2nd Ed".

Thanks! I am pretty happy with him so far, although it took a while to get him from idea to actually glued together.

I do enjoy the 2nd ed. look for some things, but yeah, probably not for this guy 
And as you say, he's all out of places to mount it, as the back is taken up with his sword (from back when he was a sword brother, I guess) and the top is full of candles and the remains of previous pilots/heroes of the chapter.

[Brother Carpenter]

There is still room for some scrolls/crosses/other stuff on his greaves / legs.

The banner pole could be very fashionably mounted somewehere on his shoulders.

 

But all jokes aside, a very very templary dread!

[Antarius]

I think we may be hitting on a colour scheme for our Tyranids: 

The Hormagaunt is a slightly more involved version of the same basic scheme. Or rather, the Termagant is an approximation of the scheme on the Hormagaunt, using only three-four colours and some very quick and easy techniques.

[Antarius]

I also tried the basic concept on a Mawloc's rear end, just to see if it would work on bigger scales. I think it does, although the primer was a colder white and that has a big effect on the tone of the final colour - so that's definitely something to be aware of when I prime the army!!

[Antarius]

Hmm, we did another one and now I'm kinda torn. I like the yellowish skin better, but I like the added separation between scales and skin that the greenish skin provides...

[Rusted Boltgun]

Who's been chewing on Orks then?

I like the scales / skin tone combination.

[Firedrake Cordova]

Personally, I prefer the yellow one.  

Edited February 26 by Firedrake Cordova

[Antarius]

2 minutes ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

Personally, I prefer the yellow one.  

Yeah, I kinda think that's where I'm at too. I'll sleep on it and see what I think tomorrow, I guess.

[Antarius]

I've managed to unload some of the excess minis and made a big portion of my investment back already.
Now, work proceeds on the paint-stripping and priming of the coming hive fleet.

Here's an exclusive look into the gooping/spawning chambers:

[Antarius]

Now I'm at a point where I've managed to sell off all the stuff I couldn't be bothered with stripping, which leaves me with having, in effect, paid roughly 65 euro/55 GBP for the following:

Tyranid Codex
3 Hive Tyrants
1 Swarmlord
1 Tyrannofex
3 Mawlocs/Trygons
3 Carnifexes
1 Exocrine/Haruspex (magnetised)
1 Broodlord
20 Gargoyles
25ish Tyranid Warriors
10+ Ripper Swarms
3 Hive Guard
3 Venomthropes
1 Parasite of Mortrex (bzzzzt!)
1 bunch of termagants/hormagaunts/genestealers
1 pair of "sub-assembly holders" painting accessory (I might actually sell these on...)
1 bunch of tyranid bits, old codexes, cards etc.
a handful of brushes that are okish/good for terrain, stippling etc.
2 big plastic storageboxes that are good for terrain or similar and that would probably cost around 8-10 quid each, if you were to buy new ones
probably some more stuff that I've forgotten at present...

 

To be fair, the stuff from the Leviathan box, as well as one of the Tyrannofexes and the three Tyrant Guard were not part of this deal; they were stuff I had laying around already.
There's still more in the cellar, dunked in crystal soap and waiting to be stripped of paint.

In related news, I've bought some Liquitex crackle paste that I hoped would be a quick and easy (and awesome) solution for the bases, as well as being a lot cheaper than buying the citadel crackle paint in small pots. My first experiment wasn't a complete success, unfortunately, but I remain hopeful that it'll eventually work. Once I've gotten the hang of it I'll write up a post on it :)

[Antarius]

As you can see, the crackle effect is nice enough, but it didn't adhere quite as well to the base as I'd hoped and some of it just came off in flakes.
They do say it can be mixed with regular paint which might/might not help. I guess putting it on a primed/painted base might also make it adhere better, so I've tried that now and I'm waiting for it to dry out.

[Firedrake Cordova]

That's a lot of Tyranids for what you paid - are you sure you didn't have a bag marked "SWAG" and a stripey jumper?   (j/k)

 

More seriously ... if you don't get the desired results with the Liquitex medium, AK Interactive's crackle texture paint comes in 100ml tubs for £9 - might be worth a try?

Edited Monday at 08:19 PM by Firedrake Cordova

[Antarius]

11 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

That's a lot of Tyranids for what you paid - are you sure you didn't have a bag marked "SWAG" and a stripey jumper?   (j/k)

I honestly did feel a bit like it. But I asked the guy I bought from and he did know he was offering a very good deal (and of course, I did a bit of work reselling stuff and stripping paint etc., but still...).

Thanks for the tip about AK crackle paint (I actually really like some of their products; I use their whites and blacks almost exclusively now), but it seems like the Liquitex crackle paste works much better on a primed base, so I think it'll turn out ok. Still need to test if it'll work just as well with some colour mixed in though.

 

[Antarius]

I think we've finally (just about) settled on a colour scheme. Here are the first five gaunts I painted, still some slight variations on their carapace, as I wasn't quite done experimenting, apparently... Still, I don't think it'll matter once there's 40 or so of them running around (and since we're going for a slightly more "natural" look, small variations between individual critters shouldn't really matter anyway). We still need to figure out a colour for the eyes, but that'll have to come later - for now we're at least painting stuff, which is a great leap forward.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

They are lovely - I really like the naturalistic mottled colour scheme, really brings across that they are organic creatures.  Personally, I think the inconsistency in patterning is a strength and strongly discourage any thoughts on standardizing it - the differences between models is part of what makes them look so natural.  Also liking the purpley-pink spot colour on the guns - adds a nice bit of visual interest while being contained enough that it doesn't detract from the overall natural look.  So, I would continue all the variations you have as you paint more models, and continue to experiment within the same limited colour pallet.

 

I think red or green would work nicely for the eyes - add another bit of spot colour and interest.  Or, if you don't want to add a colour, maybe black?  How are you thinking of basing the models? 

 

Do you have any thoughts or plans to differentiate between units?  An easy way to do so (if that's something you want to do) would be by using different spot colours on the guns... of if you want to keep that consistent, by adding a bit of streeky colour to the leading edge (the muzzle?  Not sure on nid-weapon part terminology) of the guns.... something like muted orange on one squad and yellow on another might fit your look and work in that regard.  Again, not something strictly necessary, but a way of differentiating squads if that is something you want to do.

Edited 23 hours ago by Dr_Ruminahui

[Antarius]

Thanks! I am very glad you like it 

I was actually thinking of maybe using a bright green for the eyes.

 

For the bases, we’ll be doing some grey-brown cracked ground effect (assuming I can get it to work, I am still experimenting,  but I am hopeful it’ll eventually work out) and sprinkle with some spots of rock/rubble/gravel here and there to break up the monotony and help some of the hormagaunts adhere better to their bases (this’ll make sense once you see them).

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Sounds good, though I think you want to be careful not to have the bases too close in colour or tone to the models - it might make sense to go more gray than brown for that reason.