(Continued from last week’s post by WHITE MAN’S MINIS)

Reinventing the Devilfex

My Devilfex plays very differently from my Sniperfex. It’s very mobile, constantly on the move to find and eliminate different targets with its powerful bioweapons. I decided once again to have a back-mounted cannon, this one made from four connected Devourers. This would accurately represent the two sets of twin-linked Devourers. With that idea in place the weapon was roughly converted from spare bits. The more of your model is made from bitz the better, for several reasons. It reduces the amount of sculpting you have to do, ensures the products will stay close to the established Tyranid look, and makes overall assembly and test-fitting much easier. Tyranids have enough organic shapes that with a bit of hacking you can find an appropriate piece for almost any situation. After construction, the weapon then sat in my bitz box for a good many months before I got around to buying a Carnifex to go with it. Sometimes it’s good to vent your inspiration while it’s there; plus, then you’ve got the thing sitting and serving as further incentive to get back to the project before you forget about it.

To embody the idea of mobility I decided to give the Carnifex long legs and a straight tail, with grasping clawed feet to give good running traction. I had seen other Tyranid conversions with tiny vestigial hands or talons used to serve as fillers for empty arm slots, so I decided to make my Carnifex with tiny two-fingered arms. See where this Carnifex revamp is heading?

The same strategy as before was used – the bitz were chopped up and pinned or glued into place before anything really permanent was done. Once the arrangement was satisfactory the greenstuff was laid down. Note the second arm slot was filled with tiny arms bearing sacs, probably producing hormones to accelerate the growth of the weapon’s ammunition. No opponent would mistake either of these arm slots for main weapons – it’s quite clear that the gun on the back is what they need to worry about.

To get an extra-wide roaring mouth a Bio-Plasma head was used with the biomorph cut out and a small tongue sculpted in place. The small hands came from a Genestealer and the second arm slots took the head-sacs of Spore Mines. To add to the illusion of speed, the Carnifex was given a single row of back vents instead of the usual two rows. The idea was that this would lend an effect almost of a racing stripe or a sleek shark fin. This Carnifex would also serve as an Elite-slot Carnifex in larger games, so having less vents could designate it as being a bit weaker and using less energy than a full Heavy Support Carnifex. A metal bit from my collection resembled a smaller vent and was added to the head to carry the effect there. Though all Carnifex are front-heavy, I added a counterweight to the tail to offset the look a little bit. After painting the model was done. Here it is compared to a standard Carnifex, showing how the posture change resembles that seen in the old Tyrannosaurus artwork compared to the newer artwork.

Other Inspiration

Tyranids are known for absorbing DNA from foes, so why not reflect this in your models? My main opponents are Tau, Orks, and Space Marines. The following Carnifex were converted to reflect traits from host races – but mostly as a reason to utilize older models! In this way I get to indulge in a bit of nostalgia, get converting, and have a little lighthearted jab at an opponent all in one.

Krootifex

When I decided to use my old 3^rd Edition Carnifex as a Kroot-inspired beast, my first question was what to equip it with. I thought about the role that Kroot play in a Tau army – typically hiding in cover with their rifles and emerging to initiate assaults against foes. So I settled on a Venom Cannon (plus Enhanced Senses) and Scything Talons. The most obvious conversions are on the head, since that’s where the eye should usually be drawn on a model. A Kroot-like lower jaw was added with greenstuff and the quills were made from Flesh Hooks, ensuring that the final product looked suitably ‘Niddy. For Enhanced Senses I originally planned on sculpting an organic scope onto the Venom Cannon, but then found that Kroot guns don’t have scopes. No problem! A bit of fluff research showed that Kroot quills contain sensory apparatus, so I had in fact already modeled the Enhanced Senses when I added the quills. The gun was slimmed down to mimic the thin Kroot guns and a spike was added to the tip to further evoke the imagery. It was then converted to be held more like a normal rifle (though I made sure to keep an ammo tube present) and four fingers were put on the left hand, as Kroot have only four fingers. Vestigial toes were added beside the hooves, since Kroot have toed feet, and the secondary Scything Talons were kept small since the unwilling DNA donor only has one set of arms. One would imagine the Carnifex stabs just as much with its spiked rifle barrel, as the Kroot tend to do. Overall, the model is distinctly Tyranid but takes so many cues from the Kroot that its origin is immediately evident.

Orkifex

This conversion was inspired because the Screamer-Killer model oozed nostalgia, but the face didn’t fit in with the current Tyranid range. What to do with a slightly off, giant, bellowing green alien whose only purpose is to charge into close combat? Show off its Orky heritage, of course! Legs were reposed to lend a dynamic stance over the ruins of a tank in an opponent’s color scheme, and the face was sculpted over with greenstuff to make it sufficiently Orky. In addition, the upper arms looked a bit weedy and so received some bulking out in the bicep region. The end result looks a bit silly and may not be to everyone’s tastes, but my Ork opponent and I like to field it with biomorphs such as “WAAAAAGH” (Bio-Plasma) and “Orky body odor” (Toxic Miasma). In games with most opponents it would simply be a Carnifex with two Scything Talons.

Brutefex

The Carnifex dubbed “Brutefex” arose not out of possession of an older model, but from possession of an abundance of Carnifex bitz. Seemed like a waste to have spare legs from a Trygon conversion and tons of spare heads and arms and carapaces from other kits. So some Fimo clay was bought, which is a bake-able clay that hardens into a nice easily-cut and filed consistency. A simple body and tail were baked, and a carapace was done in two steps (sculpt basic shape, bake, add ridges, bake). This would be the Marine-DNA Carnifex. Walking upright, heavily armored, rounded shoulders, and a nice mix of CC ability and shooting. The upright stance and melded arms lend this Carnifex the most humanoid appearance of them all. In order to make the root even more clear some sort of Marine trophy will inevitably be part of the final composition. This model is currently in progress, but you can see where the end result is headed!

Cross-Strains

Like the Sniperfex, which was inspired by the Biovore, not all Tyranid conversions have to draw inspiration from other races. With my Leaping-Rending Warriors, for example, the Warriors are presented as being hybridized with Genestealers. Genestealer Acid Maw heads are painted just like my Toxin Sacs (no confusion – Warriors can’t take Acid Maw!), implying that the extra CC punch might come from poisoned bites.

To show the leaping, models have extended lower legs. Look at most fast animals in the real world and you’ll see their legs are similar. The feet have also been enlarged, as they would need to absorb the shock from landing and keep the Tyranid from sinking into soft ground. For a zoology major like myself it’s the little details like this that make Tyranids so much fun to design. It’s easy to envision Deathspitter-armed Warriors hunched over with guns sprouting from their backs like Biovores or Winged Warriors with crested heads, atrophied legs and bladed tails like Gargoyles.

Old Models

Not every old model has to be converted like the Carnifexes to find a role in your army. It’s fine to have a unit of old Hormagaunts running beside the new ones, representing different breeds even if games-wise they’re identical. Perhaps, however, different models can indicate different rules. The three editions of Biovores might each carry different types of Spore Mines, or perhaps the different Zoanthropes have different psychic powers. My personal fluff justification stems from the story of my Hive Fleet as being a relatively small and highly-evolved bunch of Tyranids. I have an old metal Warrior leading each of my units of modern-looking Warriors.

Why would there possibly be mixed appearances within a single brood? The explanation is that these extra-anthropomorphic creatures are more advanced than the others in their brood and act almost as sergeants, providing synapse control which is more tactically developed than that of the average Warrior. Similarly the real “leader” of my swarm is the little old anthropomorphic Tyrant, posed as if surveying the battlefield from atop an outcrop behind his Tyrant Guards while his more bestial winged (4^th edition) brother flaps about and destroys tanks.

In this way the characterful old sculpts make use of their contrast to the more animalistic current models. There’s tons of different ways to integrate these old models into your army, and the most important thing to remember is that they still look great when given a modern coat of paint and perhaps some minor conversions to match your newer models. Take the old Lictor, for example. Can you honestly imagine this wacky thing being taken seriously all the way in the far future of 5^th edition?

Shaving off the protruding lower jaw, the launching Flesh Hooks, and the large knee spikes leaves you with these. Even without any conversion, the models would look great. Take your classics out and give it a shot! They deserve the love.

Come back next week for Apocalypse conversion and Genestealer cults!

Tags: tyranids

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 14th, 2010 at 11:38 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.