A Basic Tyranid Force

I’m still looking for a cheap Tyranid Codex on eBay, but just from looking on the GW site I’ve been able to put a small force together that contains all the compulsory unit types (i.e. one ‘HQ’ and two ‘Troops’ choices).

I’m guessing that this force will be somewhere in the region of 200 to 250 points, and as I said in the last post, these are not really meant to be a well balanced force or anything like that… just a few models for a quick skirmish game to help learn the rules.

HQ : Broodlord

Troops : 6 Genestealers

Troops : 8 Termagants

Someone/thing to Fight!

Since I don’t really know anyone who plays the game, I thought I would try and build up a small Tyranid force so that I can run through a few solo-battles if the mood takes me (just so that I can try the rules out, and maybe give me a better understanding of them) or to loan to anyone who wants to try the game.

I also thought that since the witch hunters book has lists for ‘traitor’ allies - I could also use a predominantly Genestealer force with some of my Guard figures to represent a genestealer-cult type army to give me yet more choices of what kind of army I can field.

So, to start with here’s a look at the Broodlord figure I have made from various plastic parts.

This picture shows a plastic genestealer body with the head removed and replaced with a (slightly larger) termagant head. You can also see that I have extended the right leg a little (as it looked to be a little smaller than the other one) and I’ve also made an incision at the waist and bent the torso into a more upright position. In addition, I have given the illusion of a little more height by having the right foot resting upon a bit of sprue. I have also shown where I have pinned the model for some extra strength. The one at the waist is not really pinned, but rather just glued into the gap (to stop the gap from closing).

And here's the mini with the relevant arms added to match the Broodlord pictured on the GW website. I've also filled in all the gaps with a bit of greenstuff.

And finally, here’s a size comparison shot with a regular genestealer.

As far as painting these guys, I’m just going with as simple a paint scheme as possible (purely for speed) - which is something akin to the monster from the Aliens movies.

Senior Officer Conversion

Up until now I’ve only painted a few metal figures for inclusion in the army, but I’ve since got to thinking that I would like to have the entire lot made out of plastic if possible.

So after the success (at least in my eyes) of my last officer conversion (which I now plan to use as my junior officer in the 1st platoon command squad), I’ve decided to do something similar for the senior officer in my HQ command - and here’s the results:

Once again the legs are regular cadian legs, as is the hand holding the boltpistol (from the sergeant arm). The boltpistol itself is from the space marine weapon sprue I purchased a while ago, and the torso is from the imperial guard tank commander (that came with my Chimera). The head and arms are from a (Warhammer Fantasy) empire militia sprue (the hands originally held flintlock pistols) with the left hand being replaced with a misc. closed hand (I cant remember exactly what it was from) with a hole drilled through it to allow it to grip the powersword.

Hopefully this has given me a reasonably unique looking figure to represent my captain without going too overboard.

More eBay Stuff

A couple of things arrived in the post today…

As you can see one is the Witch Hunters Codex (which cost me £3.19 + £1 p&p) and the other is the small rule book from the new Assault on Black Reach boxed set (which cost me £9.99 + free P&P).

To be honest I’m not really interested in the Sisters of Battle elements of the codex, as all I really want to do is use an Inquisitor as an ally for my imperial guard (which this book will allow me to do). So it would be fair to say that I didn’t really want to spend much money on the codex (as only a few pages in the book are going to be of any use to me), so I’m rather happy with the price as the book itself is in great condition.

As far as the small rule book goes, I know £10 (all but a penny) might be a bit much when you consider it is only half the size of a regular magazine - but I’m on a tight budget, and it has worked out a lot cheaper than buying the £30 hardback. Admittedly, this small booklet only contains the rules (i.e. no background information, modelling tips, etc) …but that in itself is plenty for me to be getting on with.

So yeah …I’ve finally got a copy of the rules in my hands* …so maybe now I can finally start getting to grips with the game itself (at last).

*as I said at the very beginning of this blog, the only experience I have with the game is back in the Rogue Trader days (1st edition).

Finished Officer

A couple of days ago I mentioned the fact that I had managed to break my plastic officer conversion (and mess the paint up a little). However, I did manage to save him in the end - so here's a close up photo of the finished miniature (after 'dipping' and a coat of matt varnish):

600pts = More Veterans

It looks like I can easily increase the size of the army a further 100 points by including a few more veterans.

So here is the first of my new veteran conversions (similar to the melta-gunner I did previously):

And here is another veteran made up from various spare parts I had lying around:

This one is mostly made up of catachan parts (body, legs, right arm, left hand and canteen) with a cadian head and ammo pack thrown in, along with a row of marine pouches. The left arm is from a (fantasy) chaos marauder sprue I think (I’ve had this lying around for years with the intention of making a few D&D barbarian type figures) - which has allowed me to have the miniature look as though he is reaching for the lasgun’s power pack.

More Conversions

Here’s a picture of some of the other conversions I’ve been working on in between painting the chimera.

I was thinking of maybe doing an alternate HQ command squad that was a little more suited to close quarters fighting. Therefore these two guys would replace the regular guardsmen (i.e. swapping lasguns for laspistols and a close combat weapon at no extra cost) and I would also replace the mortar with 2 flamers.

Unfortunately I’ve also managed to break the plastic lieutenant I posted a few days ago. I somehow managed to drop him after the initial dip - which has also messed the model up a little too. Hopefully I’ll be able to save him (fingers crossed).