Armies on Parade 2022 part 3 - Tyranids

This is the third installment / submission to Armies on Parade 2022, but I can take no credit for this one, this is all my 14 year old sons work and knocks the spots off my entries lol :)

My entries number 1 Imperial Knights and number 2 Chaos Knights

 

Time away for good behavior and Showcasing my friends yearly successes in 2022

Yes your right I have stepped away from Blogging for a while, but I have still been busy painting.  I have explored speed painting with interspersed bouts of technique improvements segments.  For a large part of my time away we have been gaming and playing Middle Earth and Battle companies.  Over the coming days I will be showcasing almost a years worth of work including an actual painting on a canvas. 

Today however I want to talk about what a great bunch and talented friends I have, which I have had the pleasure to grow up with since I was a teenager.

Chris Otterburn has spent a large part of his modelling time last year creating Middle Earth's Helms Deep from Lego, yep that's right Lego, to his children's dismay.  Otty also sent Zorpazorp a box of Middle Earth villages he kit bashed which was unboxed live on his channel, in my opinion that's cool.

Dave Western famed blogger from Confessions of a 40K Addict on the other hand has been very busy with his Tyranids showcasing on the Warhammer Community page "This Tyranid Army Looks So Good You’ll Want Them to Eat You" and gearing up for the new codex.  And speaking of new codex, even my son has been doing a bit of painting:-

I have been very lucky to have very good friends who are super talented, eager to improve, bounce ideas about and share knowledge and experience.  We all strive to be better creatives and enjoy our hobbies together.  It is my dream we will work collaboratively under our own company name and workshop and have blogs and Youtube channels, don't tell my wife but that's my retirement plan :)

I thought I would end with a few images of my mates taken over the past few months that literally made me laugh out loud. 

Painting a Trygon with Contrast Paints

Following on from a previous post "Painting Space Hulk Genestealers the quick and easy way" and my son's enthusiasm for painting Genestealers; I thought I would share what happened next.  

My son has finally got the painting bug 'literally' and he said to me "I like Genestealers, but I want to paint a big monsters", I knew this would happen, but anyway.... I spent a few days looking for a suitable monster to buy cheap on ebay and we came across a Trygon for £25 

Not the cheapest but difficult times on ebay at the moment.  He settled on a Trygon because it was big, very big, and then he said could I make a base for him just like the Genestealer bases but.. I want it bursting up from underneath the floor of the space ship.  As it was going to be a one off, I agreed.

So I put the Trygon in some suitable paint remover, and set to work.  I used spare damaged end floor sections from GW's Shrine of The Aquila, plastic girders, Rhino doors and wire mesh.  I shaped them to give the effect of something bursting from the ground and I used sprue underneath the floor tiles to give a little extra depth to the hole.

  

I sanded the edges with a Dremel and used Milliput to fill the gaps

I primed it grey and used black primer on the hole.

As with the Genestealers I primed the Trygon with grey underneath with a white highlight.

I then handed it to my son and said enjoy have fun.  This was a strange feeling to spend a lot of time and effort making something and then give it to someone else to paint.  I was feeling a little nervous and I was wondering whether or not he would actually paint it.  

Well I have to say I was extremely shocked it took him 2 days and he asked for help using the airbrush on the base.  I also helped him with dry brushing the base with silver and the detail of the eyes but that was all.

A part from the base there is no highlights what so ever on this model just contrast paints and an ink wash - AIkhelian Green with a Druchii Violet wash for the carapace, Magos Purple for the skin, Gryth-Charger Grey for the claws and Aethermatic Blue for the tongue.  Also Flash Gitz Yellow over white for the eyes and he is done, quick and effective.  Oh crap, he liked it so mush he spent his own money buying a big bulk order of Tyranids on ebay.... but I said "you haven't finished painting your Genestealer Cults" and he pointed out how many figures do you have that are incomplete? erm.......... and Oh double crap does this mean I have to make bases for all his army :(

Painting Space Hulk Genestealers the quick and easy way

Since lockdown and spending all my time in isolation I have been relying on, and teaching my son how to play 40K, but 7 hours is way to long of a game.  So I cracked open my Space Hulk boxset and OMG I had forgotten what a great game it is.  I still have the original in the loft but the figures in the new one are amazing.  After we had a few games with my son, who has a very small "Genestealer cuts army" turned round to me and said "wouldn't it be great if these figures where painted" and secretly he wanted them for his army, he thinks I'm daft.  But... yes he is right it would be good if they where painted.   

Before we started to paint the figures I decided to buy some of GW's "Sector Mechanicus Industrial Bases" and start trimming the Genestealers to fit on their new bases.  

Last year when my son started painting (before contrast paints came out) he found normal GW paints too thick to use and didn't like painting.   I mixed up some washes for hes Genestealer Cults army.  He painted all hes figures and he was happy with them, so I started to paint the Patriarch in these washes, but I wanted them to look like the ones on the box and also simple and achievable for my son to do. 

I decided to delve into the realms of contrast paint as I think these paints are aimed at my sons level and age bracket and I would be able to get the effect and tone of what I want.  I chose Akhelian Green with a Druchii Violet wash for the carapace and Magos Purple for the skin.  I was happy with the effect with just these three quick coats of paints.  I painted his other Patriarch and showed him how easy it would be.  

He liked the effect so much that we based the original Space Hulk Genestealers and he wanted to paint them and I would paint the Genestealers from the new Space Hulk.

They don't look bad all together 

The new ones all painted.

And the old ones my son painted

Throne of Skulls - Could this be the best looking Tyranid army

Well Throne of Skulls was a roaring success, 5 lads from a small town called Ormskirk in Lancashire, went to Warhammer World in Nottingham, had a blast and won a couple of awards, 8 in total with 3 or us being nominated for best painted army, Chris Otterburn, Dave Western and myself and Dave Western's Tyranids as seen on http://40kaddict.blogspot.co.uk/ winning the award, congratulations Dave your army truly dominated the cabinets.  Although I didn't do too bad my self, nominated for best painted army, I also won the Scribes award (with my Khorne Helmet), best painted Beast (with my Nurgle Deamon Prince), best painted Engine award (with the Hellfly) and finally I won best Chaos Space Marine Player.

Dave Weston's Winning Tyranids

Chris Otterburn's Nids and my Chaos Space Marines, just happy to be nominated :)

 

One of the things that stood out over the weekend was being drawn against Dave's Tyranids on the second game, It stood out because on the journey down Dave asked me for a game on the Friday night before the tournament, I had to admit to Dave that I had been ignoring his calls for a game and I really didn't fancy fighting his nids because they give me the fear, "I'm not fighting you I'll get my ass kicked" was one of the things that came out my mouth, this went down really well and we didn't have 20 minutes of banter and name calling, mostly at my expense, honest :)

 

Now I'm not one for typing up battle reports generally because I cant remember what I had for breakfast never mind what happened on a turn by turn basis on a game I had last week :)  luckily for me Dave writes up all his games and it's worth a read.

http://40kaddict.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/throne-of-skulls-march-2014-battle-2.html