Hive Fleet Solerön

[Arkaniss]

They're coming along wonderfully and at a speedy pace to boot. You'll have a couple of squads of 'gaunts done in no time :tu: Yes I imagine it's a bit of a pain on the smaller gribbles but it will be worth it for sure on the larger models for sure. Warriors will be good to see but I'm still most looking forward to a 'fex or Tyrant as they're the really big models!

[Xenith]

Looking great, they'll be super distinctive on the table. What are you thinking for basing?

[WarriorFish]

Thanks Bases will be the churned mud and snow, though I still need to look into branching out for a bit more variety. I still need to test out some melted snow patches and see how best to do some rocks here and there (or how to do so cheaply and easily that is ), but I'm not too worried yet as there's not much base room to work with on the gaunts so I can save it for larger models.

 

Another reason I'm looking forward to the Warriors is a bigger carapace to work on, I've tried adding more definition in the lines but there's so little room on the gaunts especially the Hormagaunt carapace it hasn't come out that well. I don't think it matters much, as they are more of a "in number" look and will be removed from the table quickly enough :lol:

[Xenith]

Oh yea, totally forgot you trialled those. My bases started with snow, you can see the results in my nid thread. I can reccomend valhallan blizzard. Might be able to add lahmian/contrast medium to make it 'slushy'? Dark rocks poking through snow would look very natural, or have the snow deposited in the shadow of the rock, if it's melting. 

[WarriorFish]

Yeah I like the snow texture, more fun to put on than it has any right to be too I was thinking about the water, maybe with a gloss varnish so it is shiny but it's work mixing the two to see what happens too as that could really spice things up to have a gradient of melting especially on larger bases with more to play on

 

I think the rocks have a lot of potential too, I'm just not sure where to start as I've never done it before. I could get some stones from the garden, but as much as that may work I have better things to do with my time

[Xenith]

I think the rocks have a lot of potential too, I'm just not sure where to start as I've never done it before. I could get some stones from the garden, but as much as that may work I have better things to do with my time

 

Slate is actually pretty good for this as they lie pretty flat. I find it more realistic as you dont often see many knee high stones just in the middle of fields (barring bronze age henges). I nicked a larger piece or two from a neighbours garden/patio box when I was out on a walk and smashed it up a bit.

[WarriorFish]

I'm not sure if there's any slate or similar around here, I will ask around :P

[Xenith]

I'm not sure if there's any slate or similar around here, I will ask around

 

If you dont have any luck, let me know. Could always mail you a little grab bag. 

[WarriorFish]

Gaunts are now done

So including the previous six, these are the my nids so far:

Was good fun painting them, wasn't that bad either and I've never painted so many models at once before. I'll be aiming to build some Warriors soon

[The Pounder]

Great progress

 

The grunts are coming together perfectly. Can’t wait to see your scheme on something larger!

[Arkaniss]

That is speedy work indeed! Perfect for hordes of gribblies and to top it off they look great too :tu: I'm with Jud - can't wait to see the scheme on a larger model :D

[WarriorFish]

Medium sized is still larger right?

As these are the old sculpts (2000) I don't have all the options, but from what I can see they are the same bits otherwise. The Devourers are very limited in how you can put them on it seems? Since I think I don't have a great many of them I will need to change plans a bit, but I think that's better anyway. Some slightly cheaper models with Rending Claws for example could work as bullet shields, or perhaps the other way round if I need a bit more combat power plus those points can go towards bio-weapons like this Deathspitter

I wanted the Barbed Strangler but I don't think it existed back then? I'm not sure, I'm still learning some of the model bits So far, age of sprue and cleaning aside, the Warriors were pretty good to put together and will be the same to paint - just as well as I have another 12+ I think. Are all Warrior Troop lists any good?

[WarriorFish]

Warriors are pretty quick to paint up, in some ways more so as there's extra space to get to bits to paint

Got a little bit of assembly done, though technically it was more gluing

Scheme works well, though it might be interesting to see how I adapt it for the spore mines. I reckon I'll get the black contrast paint for the talons and that, see about speeding things up a bit, since I need to restock hobby supplies anyway Not sure how I'll adapt the scheme for them yet but whatever I do they'll surely be the quickest models to paint yet

[Xenith]

Oh man I love warrior sculpts. I need more than the three I have. Will take your advice and paint more troops.

 

As I recall, there was a "monstrous creature" sprue with strangler and venom cannon, and large scytals, which came with the warriors. It meant you could give one warrior hilariously oversized talons...

[Arkaniss]

The Warriors are looking great! So quick too. You'll have an army of 'nids in no time Spore Mines will be tricky to convert the scheme too, maybe paint them individually the black/orange/white rather than try and force the striped scheme on them? Not sure really!

[WarriorFish]

I did check that sprue but they are far too large for the Warriors I don't think they'd fit I've come up with some ideas for the spore mine colours so they will be a quick turn around when I get round to the next bit of priming Speaking of, these Warriors will likely be done soon so the next lot will probably be this weekend. I'm thinking that some more gaunts would be best, if I can get both types up to 20 models that should be a solid core for smaller point games - add in another couple of squads of Warriors and that should cover me and I can return to add more gaunts as and when

 

I should look at HQs too, the metal Hive Tyrant is an obvious first choice though I need to consider weapon load outs but I can have a normal Warrior stand in for a Prime for now I've decided that the two metal Carnifexes will be Screamer-Killers so they can stand out a bit more as being different, plus their rules seem decent :tu:

[The Pounder]

As I thought, your colour scheme looks great on the Warriors!

 

I field a unit of 6 Warriors backed up by a Prime. I've had mixed success with them but if you want to run them make sure you use the Adaptive Physiology trait for enhanced resistance (it's in the Blood of Baal book) it allows you ro ignore AP of -1 and -2!!! Which helps keep them around a bit longer.

 

I'd say keep them coming but I know you'll be bashing them out at speed!! 

[WarriorFish]

Thanks, I'm looking forward to when I get to the largest models to try it out on them I have explored Adaptive Physiology a bit and the resistance one does seem nice especially for Warriors, might be worth a large unit as a sort of lynchpin to other Troops.

 

I've ordered some new hobby supplies including a new spray to ensure I don't stall, so I'll be able to keep working away. I'm hoping the Black Templar contrast paint will speed up and improve the talons and hooves part so I should be able to keep producing more nids

[Arkaniss]

I don't know much about the contrast paints so I will be curious to see how this Black Templar one performs. Is it a straight replacement for the wash you were using?

[WarriorFish]

That's my plan, currently I apply two Nuln Oil washes which requires a bit of delay for drying time as you'd expect I'm hoping this will replace these steps. Plus I have heard good things so expect I can try it out for other things but I'll see how it goes. It is probably a simplification to say contrast paints are a cross between washes and normal paints, but they can perform this role

[Xenith]

Bear in mind, black templar will be very black - For the traditional nuln oil style glaze/recess shade/wash for things like boltguns, I use basilicanum grey. If you want a really hard black, which i think will look great on the talons, black templar will work. 

[WarriorFish]

Thanks, yes I'd be happy with a darker black on them as the Nuln isn't quite there for what I had envisioned and a third coat is "wrong tool for the job" levels My paint order should arrive today and I'm finishing the Warriors in between bits so I'll be ready to pick up the next unit soon

[WarriorFish]

Here they are, good thing about the bases is that they can easily be done in pauses in other things:

One thing I've noticed is that the bases are really needed to make the model look done, for other models you can get a feel for it sooner but not having "faces" in the more human sense means they don't look right until the base is about there.

Here is the swarm so far, which feels pretty good for a month!

It helps that I needed a break from Marines and that nids are very different but the army has my attention with how much I'm enjoying working on them so I will continue to focus on my nids to make the most of this Another three Warriors will be next along with topping up with some more gaunts to go alongside the spore mines, this will put my Troop choices at a good number as a core to build upon.

With the Black Templar arriving today hopefully this can speed things up a bit more, my plan is to get more Troop choices done again afterwards (probably another three Warriors with gaunts to flavour) which should put me in a good position. Then it will surely be time for something larger...

[WarriorFish]

I've been doing some more assembly for the next priming and painting run. I deviated from the original plan a bit as I came up with an idea to work around the two missing pairs of scything talons. The Carnifex rending claws were too big as secondary arms but after testing them as the primary ones it worked much better, they look suitably menacing too. The spinefist ones will be useful for once the squad engages in close combat in particular - the talon and claws Warrior is likely going to be jumping in front of bullets

These are the last of the loose Warrior sprues now, so should be enough work along with the spore mines. Next I'll do another couple of Warriors probably with deathspitters plus the planned extra gaunts to keep their numbers up

[WarriorFish]

All done aside from the bases; I've got them to be ready for the texture paint as I want to get some slate or something on the bases to start sprucing some up a bit:

The Black Template contrast paint worked very nicely on the talons and claws etc, not just quicker in a single coat but a nice black too I've repainted all the gaunts to match so aside from the eyes the scheme is refined I need to get round to experimenting with melted snow as well ready for the larger bases.

I've been adjusting the heads here and there for extra variety, the old box set only comes with two choices for head and face so there's little variation there. Adjusting the tongues goes a long way and the odd nick for damage helps though it's only really visible/works on the lighter two colours. I will try out a bit more damage at some point for extra variety.