SW Blood Claws: WIP Squad 1 (paint) and Squad 2 (assembled)

So below I have shots of the 2 Blood Claw units that are part of my ITC army. They are both stock units with a flamer and a power fist/power weapon option for each. Each unit will also have an attendant Rhino transport.

I am mostly done painting unit one. I had originally planned to avoid any yellows in the units but a) I have already violated this "rule" with some of my dreads and, b) I needed an easy way to designate the different units from each other. Unit 1 is mostly done and the palate was a bit darker than I expected. Still they are mostly done and I am good with it for the most part. There are still some details that need to be touched up but the look of the unit is set.

And in case anyone is wondering why the dark skin tones? I have always had a mix of skin tones in my SW army. Not for any PC reasons but simply because I wanted to try working with darker skin tones to see how they would turn out. This is just a continuation of that. And since at 10 men I can only have one weapon (Sword or fist) the two models are actually meant to represent the same Blood Claw pack member. My Ultramarines are an army in which all un-helmeted models are of darker skin tones. This was the continuation of my skin tones experiment and is now a part of that army. Besides I imagine that racism is now really a problem in the dark future. To paraphrase Terry Pratchett, in a universe where you have Orks, Eldar, Chaos, and so on it would make more sense that black and white would work together to beat the crap out of green.

I do not believe I have taken any WIP shots of this unit to show the posing but that is evident in the second set of photos. The beige pieces are those that I had cast. I have numerous copies of the SW shoulder pads and the Blood Claws pads so that all of the shoulder pads are embossed rather than using transfers. On some models you can see the putty work done. It is this that makes marine models a joy to convert. A model can be easily sectioned at the joints, the corrugated portions carved out, the pieces pinned and positioned, and then a wad of green stuff and an x-acto knife are all you need to cover up the work. So on this unit you can see the positioning. And I just wanted to note that I have resisted the urge for years to do a model in a kicking pose. I finally caved but this guy looks more like he is kicking in a door. I can live with that.

Tyranid Harridan: Ready to leave the nest

Or at least as completed as it's going to be. I have already spotted the unfinished muscle bits on the hind limbs and will take care of that. Everything else is done. I said done!!

Good enough to field and it looks like it belongs with the rest of the Tyranid army. This is the last gargantuan creature that I have to paint for the my hive fleet. I swear I am getting back to the Space Wolves now...seriously.

Shot in natural light because I am lazy and still have not prepared a proper photographing area. Something I will be looking into in the coming weeks. Next week will see a stop in my progress as I have a minor surgery scheduled but it should not hold me back too long. Maybe.

Tyranid Harridan:Wings

I had to dig p photos of my hive tyrant to get an idea of the colour of the wing membranes I have used in the past. The model is packed away currently so photos were the easiest option.

I used bleached bone (or the equivalent) to lighten up the purples, the teals, and the grays for the whole model. It adds an odd warmth to the colours as they get lighter. Anyway the sequence shows the change in highlighting the model. It shows the first and second highlight that was dry-brushed on the upper and lower wing surfaces.

Tyranid Harridan: Main Body Carapace

Just some WIP shots of the bone carapace of the Harridan. The finishing involves washes of Reikleand Fleshshade into the recesses of the armoured plates.

Tyranid Harridan: For a December mega-battle

An opportunity to put all of my Tyranid Gargantuans on the field together is too good to pass up, and gives me the excuse to finally start working on the Harridan. The beast is in a colour scheme that matches the rest of the the Hivefleet, though I am debating putting something different on the membranous portion of the wings. So here is the starting work on this creature. I will be asking the other Nid players if anyone has a gargoyle brood that needs a lift.