The Other Half Of My Warhammer Set
For those of you who keep track of Warhammer 40,000 miniature sets, this next group of miniatures may reveal that I am working through the Ultimate Starter Set and painting two combat patrols for use in Warhammer 1V1 games. Suppose you are unaware of what that means. In that case, essentially, my box set contains two small armies so that one other player and I can take control and engage in grandiose space combat without needing my opponent to purchase and build their army. Warhammer 40,000 is an expensive game to get into, and therefore, I'd never ask my friends to buy into it, making the starter perfect for introducing the hobby to those closest to me. So, what is it that I painted this week?
Tyranids, A Lore Poor Faction
The Tyranids, also known as the Space Bug/Dinosaurs of Death, are a fascinating faction in the 40 K universe. They are led by a singular purpose and directed psychically by their hive mind, making them one of the most dangerous threats to sentient life in the galaxy. Their lore revolves around their insatiable hunger for biomass and their unique ability to evolve rapidly, creating a versatile army of flesh and bone that is slowly consuming the galaxy's fringe worlds.
The Tyranids are classified by various Hive Fleets, each with its warfare methods and singular adaptations based on need and the different alien species they consume. The first hive fleet to make its way into the Milky Way was that of Behemoth, which is the color scheme I chose to paint my little horrors in. Favoring glorious melee combat over enormously sized kaiju monsters or ranged firepower, Behemoth decimated a large portion of human space upon their arrival before being wiped from existence. Still, despite their loss, the Hive Fleet only represented a small portion of the overall Tyranid force and was the opening volley of what would become a galaxy-wide threat.
The rank-and-file infantry of the Tyranid armies are that of the Gaunts. The Gaunt class of Tyranid bioforms come in many shapes and sizes but tend to be small, fast, and brutal creatures that attack in massive swarms. Termagants are the baseline model in the Warhammer 40,000 Starter Set and come armed with bioweapons that fire parasitic lifeforms in the guise of bullets that burrow into the flesh of their targets, rendering down organic matter to be assimilated and reconstituted into more Tyranids, thus turning the corpses of their enemies into fuel for the Tyranid war engine.
However, due to their lack of independence and singular purpose as an all-consuming threat to the galaxy, there needs to be more lore on the Tyranid faction. The faction lacks individual characters and has no culture beyond being a hungering force of swarming lifeforms. You cannot reason with the Tyranids; there is no inter-factional politics and little more of a goal for the creatures than to consume all life in the galaxy and grow their hive fleets. That by no means makes them a bad or uninteresting faction. Still, with their limited lore, they lean heavily into an aesthetic and monstrous reputation to make them attractive to play in the tabletop game. They will always be antagonists in the setting rather than making for exciting protagonists.
Painting Process
The Termagants are relatively simple to paint, being more a test of patience to paint the twenty miniatures rather than being exciting and detailed. Therefore, the painting process is relatively simple and earns its complexity by overwhelming numbers. The steps I took to paint these minis are as follows:
Base the entire mini in red.
Add red recess shades to the exposed flesh portions.
Drybrush with lighter reds and pinks
Base chitinous plates in black
Paint plating in blue
Dry brush with lighter blue and purple contrast paints
Add finishing details of white for the teeth, purple for exposed mouth parts and tongues, and yellow for the eyes (don't forget that as the gun is a living part of the creature, there is an eye on them as well).
I painted the Termagants in batches of ten each; half are slightly darker shades than the second batch. This is because I swapped red paints between the batches, finding those with a more vibrant color scheme preferable to the darker set. However, I could not be bothered to go back and completely repaint the first batch, as the process had already taken over 15 hours to reach the end. Ultimately, I finished with an excellent diversity of color on the miniatures, which adds more character and personality to the individual figures.
Supplies Used
Citadel Mephiston Red (Basecoat)
Army Painter Pure Red (Second Batch Basecoat)
Citadel Berserker Bloodshade (Shading of Flesh)
Citadel Abbadon Black (Plate Basecoat)
50/50 Mixture Army Painter Pure Red and White (Drybrushing)
Citadel Kantor Blue (Plate Base)
Citadel Nuln Oil (Plate Shade)
Citadel Ahriman Blue (Plate Highlights)
Army Painter Matt White (Teeth)
Citadel Leviathan Purple (Tongues)
Army Painter Daemonic Yellow (Eyes)
Citadel Strickland Mud (Technical Ground Base)
Citadel Agrax Earthshade (Recess Shading on Ground Base)
Army Painter Leather Brown (Drybrush on Ground)
My Next Painting Project
So, with the rank and file finished for my Space Marines and Tyranids, what is next? Well, I finally got into my favorite part of miniature painting. I will be taking on an individual miniature of the Space Marine Captain in Terminator Armor, so be sure to join the Brazen Bard Discord or Instagram for more regular painting updates! Moreover, I will be taking pictures to help show the painting process in more detail now that the 'lore' side of the Space Marines and Tyranids is out of the way!
