(This article contributed by EoW forums poster WHITE MAN’S MINIS.)

Tyranids are an enormously fun army to collect and play. I’ve been a fan of them since back when the newest Warriors were pewter, and Tyranids were always my primary draw to the Warhammer 40,000 universe. In my mind, then, there’s only one thing better than a Tyranid model – and that thing is a converted Tyranid model!

This article shows how Tyranid players can go about converting models, using their old models along with their new ones, and using Apocalypse to go all-out with what the Hive Mind has to offer. While at some points the article may seem as much a photo gallery as a text document, the goal is to show how much the Tyranid army has to offer in every aspect of the game. The same principle applies to any army, however; the hobby doesn’t have to stop at your 2,000 point army list. From expansions to Warhammer 40,000, terrain, specialist games… if you really love the army you’re playing, the possibilities are endless. As you read this article try to think of ways that the general ideas for customization could be applied to your own race.

Hopefully you’ll be inspired to whip out the knife and greenstuff or throw down some old classics you thought might look outdated on the battlefield. For the Great Devourer!

Basic Techniques

When converting Tyranids there’s some tricks that really help. The most important ones, especially when converting from non-Tyranid bitz, are sculpting joins and musculature in the carapace. Before working with greenstuff, I recommend everyone get something like the following tool:

It can be found in both Games Workshop and Gale Force Nine sculpting kits, and I’m sure you could either improvise something like it or find a similar item in a craft shop. It has both a flat scalpel-like end and a smooth, rounded end. This is practically the only tool I use when working with greenstuff and it is invaluable.

Tyranids are covered in segmented carapace, much like insects. They have the presumably softer carapace that covers most of their bodies and acts as skin and then a harder carapace (sometimes called chitin) which armors their head, back, and other regions. If you are converting a non-Tyranid limb to fit on a Tyranid it is essential that you carry these features over. Here I show how to add simple features to a Balrog wing so that it fits in with the Tyranid model that will receive it. This may seem basic, but it has been asked about before!

First a simple little sausage of greenstuff is rolled and placed where the join is to be (figure 1). Then, using the rounded end of the tool, the sausage is smoothed into the surrounding skin while the middle retains a ridge. Water is used to keep the tool from sticking (figure 2). If there is too much greenstuff, flatten it out and use the scalpel end of the tool to cut away the excess. Lastly, take the scalpel end and cut down the thickest part of the smeared sausage. Roll the tool out a tiny bit on either side to widen the gap and get a little ridge on either side (figure 3).

Making exposed muscle, as seen on Tyranid limbs, is slightly more complicated but still very simple. Take a ball or sausage of greenstuff and smooth it out as described earlier. Then use the scalpel-end and cut a diamond or oval with pointed ends into the greenstuff (figure 4).

After that, use the tool to make a series of small marks. When these are done you can use the smooth end of the tool to gently round out the corners on the long sides of the diamonds (figure 5).

Here’s a section of limb that uses both a carapace gap and a vent:

Other important Tyranid features are ridges and spiracles (small breathing holes on the head and at the base of the tail). The round end of the tool can be pressed into greenstuff to make regular depressions, easily giving ridges like the official models. Spiracle can be made by making and blending in a sausage, as said earlier, and then poking holes in the sausage. Slowly move the tool around and outward, widening the hole and making a round ridge around it. Here’s a section of model that uses both of these techniques:

All of those should prove extremely useful when working on conversions and trying to keep them “Niddy”. Even more important when sticking true to the established image is the six limb rule. All the Tyranids in the current range (excepting Spore Mines) have six limbs. When adding wings to a model, consider their evolutionary origin. Are they derived from hands, like the Balrog wings? Stick them in an arm slot. Are they derived from armor, like insect wings? Then it’s okay to mount them on the back in addition to the six limbs. Of course Tyranids are infinitely mutable and it’s possible some would have more or less limbs, but it’s considered taboo among many Tyranid converters. If you choose to violate the rule be aware of the fact that it is a large step away from Games Workshop’s established Tyranid imagery and may very well turn a number of people off your conversion. But the choice is ultimately up to you, and if you think it looks cool then go for it!

Extensive Conversions

With those simple techniques you can do a lot with Tyranid models. Tyranids are probably the army with the most extensive conversion possibilities (maybe with the exception of Chaos). Tyranid WYSIWYG is extremely flexible, since things like Enhanced Senses can have any number of appearances. Antennae, extra eyes, organic gun scopes, radar dishes, and elaborate horns are only a few of the ways this biomorph has been portrayed. Why, then, stick with the stock models? Many Tyranid generals go all-out when designing their armies, and every unit has potential for extreme customization. In addition to being fun for you, these models are usually of great interest and envy to opponents (as long as any potential WYSIWYG problems are cleared up in advance!).

If you’ve had the benefit of playing a unit before, think about how it’s used game-wise. I often played an extended carapace, enhanced senses, Barbed Strangler and Venom Cannon Carnifex (often called a Sniperfex) and an enhanced-senses twin-linked Devourer Carnifex (typically known as a Devilfex or Dakkafex). When I went about repainting my army I decided that these models needed a bit of love to denote their veteran status and important contributions to many battlefield victories. If certain purestrain configurations were so successful, certainly the Tyranids would continue evolving them towards perfection, right? Here’s how I went about showing these strains evolving past the standard Carnifex template – don’t consider them conversion tutorials but rather walkthroughs on the thought process behind their design. Take your own model and see where your imagination goes with it.

Reinventing the Sniperfex

In games the Sniperfex typically deploys in cover with good fire lanes and remains relatively stationary, occasionally lumbering out to gain LOS to a certain target. My original model was built from a secondhand pre-assembled Carnifex and I simply tacked on the weapons in the standard fashion.

The first step was to brainstorm what I wanted to do with my revamp. How would the creature evolve to reflect its battlefield role? Because we already have a dedicated artillery beast – the Biovore – that was the obvious place to look for inspiration. After back-mounted cannons were assured, the problem of what to do with the open arm slots arose. I am extremely careful to observe the six-limb rule at all times, and I settled upon a set of ammo-feeding tubes for one set of arms. Originally I wanted to make a set of strong front arms to support the creature, but to quicken the process I settled on scything talons. The first problem with this is that the creature’s weight might push the blades into the ground. To offset this I added a tail grasper (using an old Warrior hand) to presumably grab nearby terrain for stabilization. The other problem is WYSIWYG. I try to follow this as strictly as possible, but I felt the creature’s design made it quite clear that these would not be wieldy in combat. To be sure I consulted my main opponent and ensured that this was fine with him. Like any good opponent, he said of course.

Since the creature usually lurks in cover, I decided to stick an enormous eye on the gun. The eye sockets, then, would have optic nerves feeding back into the carapace and presumably running up to connect to the eye on the cannons. Being mounted on top of the raised weapons would allow it to act as a biological periscope. The eyeless head would then be covered in larger headplates, counting as extended carapace.

After having the main ideas set out the next step was to do a rough fitting. At this point in the converting process I typically hack up all the appropriate bitz, fool around with configurations, and use tiny amounts of Krazy Glue to hold them in place. On the left you can see the result of this fit.

Once the configuration is set, greenstuff is used to secure the parts by gap filling. Next the details are sculpted on top. For this conversion I drew from existing Tyranid aesthetics. The top-rear of the gun has ridges and an eye-design that mimic the Biovore, which was the inspiration for the conversion. The base of the tubes that connect to the Venom Cannon resemble the base of the actual Venom Cannon ammo feed tube. Little details like this, drawn from other models in the range, help keep the conversions consistent with the overall army’s aesthetics.

The picture on the right shows the model right before paint. One of the most important things to do is make sure the greenstuffed parts blend into the actual bits as smoothly as possible. I am not amazing with greenstuff – I sometimes get fingerprints and my work is typically far from smooth. My secret to getting it decent? After the greenstuff is hard you can take a knife to your patchy areas. Slice off any major bumps with the blade until it looks tolerably flat. Then run the blade in a scraping motion down the patch, blade facing away from the direction of the scraping, just as if you were removing mold lines. Fine-grain sandpaper will also do the trick. This helps join greenstuffed areas to bitz and smooths over any inconsistencies like fingerprints. When priming and painting, give these areas especially heavy coats. Some details are better left obscured!

Here’s the final model:

Tune in next week as we show off more Tyranid conversions, including the Devilfex and Brutefex!

Tags: tyranids

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 7th, 2010 at 11:36 am and is filed under Modelling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.