Alien dinosaur bug things from outer space!!!

Or Tyranids, as they’re more commonly known.

Last week my friend Matt sent me scuttling down a rabbit hole, by innocently asking if I had any Imperial Guard models from second edition 40k.  Of course the answer would be ‘no’… mine are mostly earlier than that!

In fact, I’ve not really played 40k since Rogue Trader, despite collecting a few models here and there; I’d never even had or read the second edition.  However, the text conversation that followed led to much googling, acquisition of pdf rule books of iffy provenance, and reading. I can’t say how it compares to modern 40k, but to me it felt very familiar - Rogue Trader with the edges knocked off, and many of the suggested rules I recall reading in White Dwarf.

So I’m going to dig out some of my old guard models for a spruce up and maybe a game or two. However that means mustering the courage for a raid on the attic.  Not a task to take on lightly! In the meantime I had the bug to paint some 40k.  Hang about, isn’t there a box with all the models from Space Hulk and Advanced Space Crusade nearby? Yes there is, including a handful of Tyranid Termagants I’d gathered on a whim some years ago. These were the sort of models I wanted to get on the table, but didn’t inspire the motivation to spend ages bulk painting a unit - but perhaps there was an easier way?

Turns out there was.  I decided to try and come up with a recipe that would allow quick painting of a load of models to a decent tabletop standard. I wanted a look that harked back to the first Rogue Trader ‘nids’, which were a kind of bone colour, rather than the ultra colourful ones from the 90s or the modern purple and white - and maximised use of ‘quick’ techniques like spray undercoats, washes, drybrushing and some contrast paints.

Everything started with a spray of Khemri Dust, which was then washed with Reikland Flesh Shade.  

When that was dry it was time for a drybrush with VJ Iraqi Sand.  Weapons got successive washes of Athenian Camoshade to give them a different tone, and details picked out with red contrast paint (and a bit of Sigvald Burgundy where I wanted things to be a bit more vile). 

The carapace got a layer of Black Templar contrast.  I was originally going to try ‘Deathly Visage’ to give a purple tinge, but it had as much pigment a white coat in a bleach factory.  The black turned out better than I hoped - the tan and sand colours underneath came through and left a nice organic look.

All in all, this lot were done over two evenings, about an hour or two each time.  Leaving me feeling use achieved both my speed and appearance aims 😀.

Now I just need to find bases for a few more Warriors, and muster the Space Hulk genestealers! Oh, and stop the cat drinking from my brush water…

It’s