Tyranid Hive Tyrant

Been awhile since I've updated the blog. Since that last Bloodcrusher was painted, I painted a few more troop units and Zoanthropes for my growing Tyranid army. I am getting very close to that 1500 point mark I set for myself a couple months ago. I wanted to post some pictures of my finished Hive Tyrant, which turned out great. I also will post some pictures of my "in progress" Trygon. Take a look.





I am fairly pleased with this miniature. The modeling of the miniature went fairly well. Aside from some gaps on the back of the model, the pieces fit fairly well. I followed the same painting style and scheme as I did with the smaller bugs. (Read earlier posts for a step by step description on how to paint Tyranids in this color scheme.) I tried something slightly different with the green areas, however. I painted over these during the same time I painted the skin, so these areas were colored identical to the skin. I then applied green wash onto the areas I intended to be green, being careful not to let any wash fall or drip outside the area. The result was a great color that I am very pleased with.



I have assembled and began painting the first of two Trygons that will be in my Tyranid army. This is the Tyranid Trygron Prime model. It is a great kit and the miniature looks awesome. In this picture I have primed the miniature (if you can call it that) and painted on the base color. I can not wait until this is unit finished. It will be a great center piece for the army.

Finished Bloodcrusher

Here is the finished Bloodcrusher. I think it turned out fairly well. The free hand painted standard turned out nice for me. I still find freehand painting somewhat difficult, but nonetheless, I went for it and I am pleased with the result.

Here is the Bloodcrusher rider. The model was painted very similar to the Juggernaut, however, I highlighted the upper areas of the rider's skin with an orange/red mixture. The sword was actually done with a number of layers. First, Red Gore, then I highlighted that with a mixture of Red Gore/Blood Red. Finally I applied Blood Red to the outer edges of the sword and put a line down the middle of the sword.

Here is a good picture of the standard. I went with an original pattern because I plan on using this model as my Battle Standard Bearer. I thought I would throw the Khorne symbol in considering it is a Khorne miniature.

Overall, I am pleased with the final result. The miniature turned out pretty cool and should look great on the table!

Hormagants Finished

I finished my sixteen hormagants for my 1500 point Tyranid army. Check out the pictures below to see them all together. To see how I painted these miniatures, check earlier posts for detailed information. I think these models turned out fairly well and look great all gathered together.





Next Unit: Zoanthrope Brood!

Bloodcrusher Almost Finished

Here are some of the final steps of my third and final Bloodcrusher. When finished, I will post some pictures of the final model. Take a look at the pictures below.



In the above picture you can see that all the bronze areas have been painted in. I follow a basic method for painting bronze. I start by painting the area with a 50/50 mixture of Scorched Brown and Dwarf Bronze. I then paint over that with straight Dwarf Bronze. Then, to bring a shine to the bronze, I make a 70/30 mixture of Dwarf Bronze and Mithril Silver and just lightly brush this over the bronze areas. The result is usually fairly nice.



In this picture there is a good view of the standard. I freehand painted this standard and I think it turned out fairly well. I am not the best freehand painter, but I am satisfied with this turn out. My only suggestion for freehand painting is outline what you want to paint with a very light color or a color that can be easily painted over. Once the basic outline is satisfactory, basically color in the lines, and add details.




You can see here that the teeth and the eyes on the Juggernaut. Basically, I painted the eyes with a deep orange color and highlighted that with Sunburst Yellow. The teeth were painted with Deneb Stone foundation paint, highlighted with Skull White and then washed with Devlan Mud.

It is hard to see, but the standard pole was painted with a mixture of browns. I started with Scorched Brown, applied Bestial Brown, and then highlighted with Snakebite Leather.

My next post will show the finished miniature. I will try to get a nice picture of the rider and explain how I painted it. The rider was painted similar to the Juggernaut, except I highlighted the rider's skin with blazing orange/blood red mixture.

So I am posting some pictures of my latest Bloodcrusher. About six months ago I painted two Bloodcrushers and took a massive break before building and painting the last one. I added some bits to this model to make him stand out from the others. I cut off the miniature's left arm, shaved down the area with a file and then attached a spare arm holding a flag post. I also made sure to fill the gaps with some Greenstuff. This miniature will either serve as a Herald with a BSB or just another Bloodcrusher. Take a look at the pictures below.



I started the model by painting all the red areas with Mechrite Red foundation paint. I also painted the Bloodletter on top with the same color. Before washing the red areas with Devlan Mud, I painted over the Mechrite Red with Blood Red. I just used a quick, watered down coat. After the wash dried, I painted the areas with Blood Red again making sure to leave the edges the darker red color. The red areas are not finished. I need to clean up the red areas slightly.



The metallic areas are easy. I simply painted all the metallic areas with Chainmail, and when that dried I simply applied Badab Black Wash. This area is also not finished yet. I plan on painting over this area with Mithril Silver and then apply a watered down Devlan Mud over that.

I am also finishing up the last four Hormagants for my 1500 point Tyranid army. I have been painting these particular bugs for about 3 weeks now. I'll post a picture of all 16 when I am finished painting them.