2nd Edition Exocrine and Biovores TO-DONE!!!

 

Hi folks,

During April I spent some time painting some fire support units for my old school Tyranids. The large one is an Exocrine, produced by Armorcast. I think the Hive Fleet Proteus scheme works on it quite well, particularly the bright green ribbing. It was yet another exercise in "trusting the process"; I was really sceptical about painting the eyes yellow, but heavy black shading around the edges helps to differentiate them from the orange armour.

In 2nd Edition, Biocannon has a whopping 4d6 + 8 armour penetration. On average you are getting 20, which is enough to penetrate the track on some of the heaviest tanks. You still need to roll well to penetrate the hull or turret, but it can manage it with a maximum penetration of 32! The front hull of a Landraider, it's toughest value, is only 22. Penetrated locations continue to take damage every turn, which makes Exocrines the bane of vehicles.

Biovores are only 20 points each, but limited to 1 per 750 points of Tyranids. The reason for that is that they are very effective. Spore mines can mess up infantry, and have a solid armour penetration of 2d3+d6+10. An average of 17 will chew through a track nicely. The kicker is, once penetrated, the hit will continue to do damage, to random locations. So a penetrating hit to the track may lead to a crippling hit to the hull or turret. This makes them excellent!

Next month is going to be tricky, with a bunch of spore mines and gargoyles to do. I am not sure if I will be able to get it all done, but I will give it a shot.

See you across the table,

Marc 

Dark Angels Techmarine TO-DONE!!!

 

Hi folks,

In between 2nd Edition projects I have been trying to keep up some momentum with my urban Dark Angels. I was wondering what my old Deathwatch RPG character would look like if he crossed the rubicon Primaris, so decided to have a go at kit-bashing him. I experimented with mounting the forge bolter and servo arm on a backpack, but decided modelling a separate servitor would look less "busy".

The body is from a Lieutenant model I got cheaply from a magazine. The plasma pistol was a spare I had left over from the Zakariahl model. The other arm I pieced together from the Deathwing champion's halberd, a random upper arm and a Deathwatch shoulder pad my son gleefully donated from his growing collection. The head is from the old Ravenwing upgrade sprue. The backpack is a Devastator sergeant's signum. I figured that would be good for designating targets for the servitor. I tried to paint some kind of lightning motif on the axe-blade, but, well... I have never been particularly good at lightning.

The servitor was made out of an older robed Dark Angels veteran, with the head swapped with a Sicarian Infiltrator, which I thought looked suitably servitor-like and gribbly. Both the heavy ("forge") bolter and servo arm are from old servitor models, with a trimmed down heavy bolter ammo pack to finish it off.

With this pair done I am only two models away from completing my target 1000 point army, with plans for another 500 points of Ravenwing support. Well worth a big stamp!

Now my sights are back on 2nd Edition, with an Armorcast Exocrine well on its way to completion before the 25th April deadline.

See you across the table,

Marc

2nd Edition Genestealers TO-DONE!!!

 

Hi folks,

This month I worked on some classic Genestealers for the 2nd Edition Army Challenge. They were very much a case of "trusting the process", as it was very hard to tell throughout the paint job whether they were going to look any good or not.

I really like it how these old Genestealers share the same design elements on their back as the old Screamer Killer Carnifex; painting the bright green ridges was so satisfying!

Their faces took an entire paint session to do; hours of painting individual tiny teeth. Thankfully, the rest was pretty easy; it's time to roll out the giant bloody stamp!

For April I am working on some fire support with two Biovores and a huge Armorcast Exocrine, all primed and ready to go.  I can't help but feel I am procrastinating, though. The Gargoyles I have to do seem like a much greater challenge than anything else I have left. Ahhh,  well, we'll see how it goes...

See you across the table,

Marc

Dark Angels Suppressors TO-DONE!!!

 

Hi folks,

Another quick post today, just to record the completion of these Suppressors. They were in pretty bad condition when I got them off eBay, to the extent that I figured stripping them all the way back to plastic would be a waste of time. Instead, I just painted straight over the top. I had to gloss varnish the shoulder pads to make them smooth enough for decals.

I have painted them in my standard 3rd Company scheme and given them 10th squad markings. I have no idea if that's a squad Suppressors can be drawn from, it will just have to do.

The basing of the original models was pretty awful, but I didn't think I could safely remove the flying stands to replace them with my usual urban bases. I made a compromise by painting the dirt like concrete and adding some rusted Imperial Knight parts. One base has some left over Venomthrope bits, just to spice things up a bit.

That's it for this army for now, I probably should shift gears and get my next 2nd Ed. Army Challenge unit painted.

See you across the table,

Marc