Magnets

Most of the Carnifex's components have been magnetized to allow for swapping

The Carnifex is a brilliant model with a huge range of options in the kit. If you’re the kind of 40k player who loves to mess around with different army lists, making a magnetized Carnifex might be a good idea. After all, nobody likes playing proxy models and buying multiple Carnifexes gets expensive. Simply buy rare earth magnets in several sizes. I used 1/8″ dia. x 1/32″ thick for smaller bitz and 1/4″ dia. x 1/32″ thick for the arms (bought online from kjmagnetics.com). To attach magnets a hole was drilled with a pin vise and enlarged with a hobby knife. Then the magnet was glued in place and, where it was visible, it was smoothed over with greenstuff. Using this method the head, carapace, arms, back, and tail were magnetized.

Even with a magnetized Carnifex converted parts are possible. You could build an integrated bioweapon into a magnetic carapace plate, for example. I had an extra head and the leftover tentacles from a Spore Mine, so I made a head with tendrils. Perhaps this could count as an Acid Maw or, if the tendrils sting like a jellyfish, it could count as being Tusked.

Magnetics can definitely be worth their time and, with large plastic models, aren’t at all intimidating. May be worth a look!

Inspiration

Some of the things you’ll see on my models – the clawed feet on the Devilfex, the tongue on the Sniperfex, the long legs on the leaping Warriors – were inspired by other hobbyists (particular shout out to the great members of the Tyranid forum Warpshadow!). Whenever I’m browsing Warhammer models online I save particularly inspirational pictures to a folder. Then they’re always handy when I want to refer back to that one cool idea I saw a month ago, or if I’m working on a conversion and want to browse for inspiration. Sometimes the best ideas come from art as well as models. Here’s some excellent ideas based on the old Epic/Armorcast bio-titans, for those of you extremely old Tyranid fans who may recognize them. Times change, and some people feel that the old slugs just don’t cut it any more.

Mike Fleming (Warpshadow member Snapdragon) envisioned an Exocrine-like Tyranid with a weapon so highly developed that it’s supported by its own legs and is still quite an individual creature.

Warren Beattie (Warpshadow member Vermis) updated the ancient Haruspex, a close-combat monster, to resemble a scorpion. The pincers and Spine Banks of the original are present, but the overall design is much sleeker and more ferocious. It’s easy to envision this beast tearing into a Leman Russ battle tank!

Games Workshop sometimes publishes concept artwork for their models. This art is a great way to see how ideas evolve and contains tons of ideas which – while not used on official models – can be included in your own conversions. Here’s some examples of Broodlord head concepts which you might want to borrow from. This is less than a third of the designs they considered, so there’s tons of inspiration available for those willing to look. Check out the GW website and see if you can find any artwork for your army of choice.

Other inspiration could come from your favorite animals or movie monsters. How about a “Nidzilla” army where every monstrous creature is designed after a Godzilla monster? Even more outrageous, I once did an extremely quick Photoshop to get an idea of what my favorite animal – the Giant Anteater – would look like if it were assimilated by the Tyranids. Just fool around and have fun with whatever you do.

Conclusion

Hopefully this article inspired you either to get back to work on your Tyranids or – if by some crazy quirk of nature you don’t play Tyranids – to start up an army of your own. I’m in the process of brainstorming a Tyranid-versus-Catachan ambush diorama, designing a Genestealer Cult for Necromunda, making a full set of Tyranid terrain and fighting the urge to pick up a Tyranid fleet for Battlefleet Gothic – not to mention an Epic force!

If you haven’t already, at least pick up a Carnifex. Solely for display purposes, of course. Maybe a few minor conversions. After you’ve built it you can decide where you want to go from there…

This Genestealer counts as a Space Marine in Apocalypse games.

With the advent of Apocalypse comes a whole new world of Tyranid conversion opportunities. I thought it would be fun to convert some Genestealer-like Tyranids with guns to play as counts-as Space Marines. Eventually the plan is to give them a counts-as Rhino based upon the Malefactor, an old Tyranid from the game Epic and produced for 40k by Armorcast. The Malefactor was a troop transport and it would be a great challenge to try to convert up a living beast that could carry ten Space Marine equivalents.

Superheavies

The Tyranid Trygon appears in an Apocalypse datasheet, but the Forge World model carries a hefty pricetag. Old Alien toys make a great basis for Tyranid conversions – this Trygon was made from an enlarged Carnifex and the tail from a Snake Alien toy by Hasbro.

This Tyranid flyer counts as an Ork Fighta-Bomma

Superheavies can also be taken from other armies and converted for Tyranid use. Imagine the lumbering monstrous equivalent of a Warhound Titan or a huge scuttling Tyranid Baneblade. To the left is my idea of a Tyranid counts-as Ork Fighta-Bomma.

Note that, while clearly not a Fighta-Bomma, WYSIWYG is still observed as best it can be. The four Big Shootas are represented by four large organic guns on the creature’s shoulders, chest and mouth. The turret-mounted twin-linked Big Shootas are carried by a living turret-beast clinging to the larger animal’s back. The Burna-Bomms are made from acid Spore Mines and the payload of Bomms supposedly drops from the Spore Cyst carapace on the belly.

Genestealer Cults

Tyranids also have great fluff background about working in Genestealer Cults. While representing this in a standard Tyranid army would require extensive counts-as, it’s easy to do in Apocalypse. Simply find an Imperial Guard player to ally with (or use/start your own collection!) and stick some Tyranid banners on the tanks. The tank below has magnets allowing it to play either as a normal tank, fly Tyranid banners, or mount Orky-looking scrap armor.

A genestealer masquerading as a combat servitor.

If you’re really into it, you can convert models specifically for these situations. The infantryman above can play in an Apocalypse battle as an Inquisitor and as such can take a retinue of eccentric models. The Genestealer conversion from earlier can play as a Veteran Guardsman with a meltagun and this fellow to the right can work nicely as a Combat Servitor.

To go with my Eldar army is the following model, which plays using Elrad Ulthran’s rules to represent the potency of an Eldar Farseer amplified by the power of the Hive Mind. A shaved-down Genestealer head with pointy Eldar ears makes him look distinctly like an alien hybrid and the extra arm further betrays his Genestealer heritage.

The sky really is the limit for Apocalypse, and it’s much more fun to play when interesting models and alliances with a story behind them are present. Definitely take the time to figure out who your most common allies are and see if you can find a way to make the fluff work. The models shown here represent the Tyranids controlling their ally through Genestealer Cults, but it could just as easily work the other way. What if a Hive Tyrant was fitted with a mind-control device by a member of the Ordo Xenos or was possessed by a Daemon from the Warp? With access to the most powerful Synapse creature the rest of the swarm could be brought to follow the orders of the other army.

Stratagems and Objectives

Cityfight presented Stratagems which confer bonuses to armies that take them. Many of these – like Power Generator, Ammo Dump, and Medicae Facility – would be relatively straightforward for other armies to represent. But what would a Tyranid Power Generator look like? Because that Stratagem increases the chances that a weapon will hurt a target I based it off the Tyranid Toxin Sacs. The Ammo Dump is designed like a giant Devourer hive, since many Tyranid weapons work by firing smaller organisms. Presumably both of these Stratagems work be secreting some sort of hormone that alters the biology of Tyranids nearby. For Medicae Facility I took the Hive Node from Battle for Macragge and mounted it on a base. I can’t imagine Tyranids healing each other, so I just figured that for every Gaunt wounded there’s a 50% chance that a new one will crawl up out of this hole.

In Cityfight some missions call for armies to plant flags in captured buildings. It’s hard to envision a brood of Gaunts carrying a banner along with them, so instead I converted up some markers to serve as flags. The idea is that these creatures cling tick-like to a larger Tyranid and fall off when an objective is seized, sending out a psychic signal to let the lead Synapse know that the building is under control. Making them was a simple matter of gluing three bitz together – if you want to replicate something, it’s best to use as many standard bitz as possible.

Apocalypse calls for armies to fight over objectives. It was hard to think of a Tyranid objective, but seeing a broken walnut shell while outside inspired me. The loss of a young new breed of Synapse creature would certainly be worth fighting over, both for Tyranids and for enemies.

Tyranid terrain pieces also make good objectives. These large Brood Nest entrances, when completed, could serve as objectives and simple terrain or could be given special rules. Perhaps units can enter one and exit the other, or perhaps they disgorge random Gaunt broods, or perhaps the enemy objective is to get a unit in contact with one so they can chuck a melta bomb down. The pieces themselves are made from an old toy dinosaur egg, cheap Model Magic clay, and pink insulation foam.

Tyranids commonly create digestion pools when they’re taking over a planet, and a digestion pool makes a great terrain centerpiece. This one is made from scooped-out insulation foam and ringed with the tentacles of an old toy octopus. After painting the depression in the middle can be filled with resin water effect or – if you’re stingy – with dries-clear white glue.

Reinventing the Devilfex

The Devilfex's gun sat around for a while before being used for anything.

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.

The Devilfex before paint

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.

The Devilfex next to an ordinary Carnifex

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.

By extending the legs, these warriors look like they're leaping into battle.

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.

The real

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.

The Lictor's original paintjob

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.

The old lictors after some conversion and a fresh coat of paint

Come back next week for Apocalypse conversion and Genestealer cults!

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:

The putty knife is an essential tool for conversions.

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.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

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 original Sniperfex

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.

Fitting the Sniperfex

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 Sniperfex assembled

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!

Total cost: ~$5.00

Materials:

• Plastic cup
• Plastic lining (e.g. garbage bag)
• Plaster (preferably something stronger than plaster of paris)
• Water

Instructions:

This terrain piece is easiest to make for those of you already making plaster casts for other projects. Chances are, you’re going to have some extra plaster at the end. Rather than letting it go to waste, pour the remaining plaster into a small puddle on some plastic lining. Wait for this to harden, and repeat. This will produce the “layered” effect shown. As the plaster hardens in each layer, some of it will drip or ooze down over lower layers. After a couple dozen repetitions, you’ll have a fully-formed “slag tree” ready for painting!

Depending on how much extra plaster you have, you may want to work on two or even three slag trees at a time. If you’re not making plaster casts while doing this, you could make an entire forest in a weekend.

Pictures:

Today we’re starting a new feature (one that will probably last all of 2-3 iterations): Cheap Terrain. Theoretically, this will be a series of articles about cheap (and relatively easy) terrain that YOU TOO can make in your spare time. It’s fun and easy!!! With that out of the way, let’s get on with our first article: Ridiculously easy Tau barricades.

Total cost: $4.00-$7.00

Materials:

• Puzzle ball bank (available from here)

Instructions:

Disassemble the puzzle ball, and reassemble bits of it as shown below. Each individual ball makes one large barricade and two small ones, with two pieces identical to the roof of the large barricade left over. Put a coat of paint on top and add decals to taste.

Pictures:

My main goal is to help those who don’t think that they’re capable of making terrain by showing them how easy it can be by using just a handful of materials and tools that should be accessible to everyone. I’ll be entertaining more exotic tools and crazy techniques with which to hurt yourself at a later date but my first bunch of articles will most likely concentrate on getting decent results with basic techniques and materials so everyone has a chance to have a play.

If you’ve been there, seen it, done it etc. then please hang around anyway, I’d love your thoughts and feedback.

Why?!

Why make your own terrain? A few reasons spring to mind:

1. It’s satisfying! – when was the last time you actually made something from scratch?
2. It’s very green – welcome to the dark side of recycling.
3. It’s cheap! – the main driving factor for most people.

Getting Started

Tools

• sharp modelling knife
• ruler
• wood glue
• pencil

Materials

• cereal packet card!

Today we’re going to make something out of… wait for it… cereal packet card! Hopefully you’re a god fearing cereal eater like the rest of us and can lay your hands on some kind of thin card, it doesn’t necessarily have to be cereal packet card but just any kind of thin card disguised as packaging will do. As long as it’s not embossed then it’s all good, you have no idea how out of place the Kellogs logo looks in the 41st millennium.

You’ll see that you don’t really need a lot; something sharp, something straight, something sticky and something pencily. Oh and something materialy.

For this article, I’m going to keep it simple and make a simple fantasy house / hut / call it whatever you will. It will have 4 walls, a roof, a door and maybe a window if the occupants are lucky and I’m going to make it using nothing but cereal packet card and wood glue.

Working with card, and indeed any other sheet material, is simply a case of ‘flattening’ your design out, take a look at this and try and work out what the hell it is:

Four walls? check… Roof? check… That’s the basic plans for my fantasy house. Let’s make that template a little more workable and less basic:

I’ve added tabs to the areas that will need them and I’ve also chopped the 4 walls into two seperate sections with 2 walls apiece. This is just to make it easier in transferring the design on to the card (as not many cereal packets will stretch to fitting all four walls on in one big long strip)

So if you’re still following me then you should have something that looks similar to the above, it doesn’t have to be a perfect replica, just a basic shape will do with some basic features.

The next step

Now, if you drew your plan straight onto your cereal packet card then bravo, you can skip the next step you clever little bean.. but if you didn’t, just tape the plan on to your cereal packet card, take a pin and poke a hole through the plan AND the card at the end of every straight line (what? no straight lines? use a ruler you tool) – once you’ve done that, simply connect the dots and et voila! As if by magic, your building plan has been transferred to the cereal packet card! It should look something like this:

Now cut that shit out. Use a ruler (preferably metal, plastic rulers have a tendency to enjoy being cut by sharp blades) and a sharp knife and cut your walls and roof out, be sure to cut out any windows and doors as well. We’ll sort them out when it comes to detailing.

You should have something looking like this on your desk:

The more astute of you will notice the ‘A4′ on my cutting board and will then be questioning the scale of this building, yes, I made it a bit smaller than I normally would, mostly for speed but everything is still applicable, even at a larger size.

Before you go any further, it’s worth taking the time to score the card where it will be bent. It’s always best to score on the outside of the bend, i.e. on the side that will be facing outwards. Take your ruler and a knife and gently run the blade across the card, basically make a very slight cut into the card but not through it.

Getting sticky

Next up, the easy bit. Wood glue is perfect. I’ve found it best if you put wood glue on both sides to be joined, wipe most of it away with a scrap of card so that you’re left with a thin coat of glue and then slap them together. They should grip together pretty firmly right from the word go but it’s still best to leave it to cure overnight. Once you’ve gotten everything glued together then it should look something like this:

If it doesn’t, you went wrong somewhere. Go back to the start and try again.

If it does, congratulations! You’ve taken your first step into terrain making. It’s all down hill from here. If you’re worried that it looks a bit like a few sheets of cardboard glued together at the moment then that’s ok… because that’s what it is. I’ll cover detailing with cereal packet card in the next article… here’s a sneak peek. Oooh thrilling stuff.

I got this thick plasticard from another warham; I think it’s 1/8 or 1/16th of an inch thick. It’s very sturdy, but also hard to cut.

Foamcore is the standard for lots of people. It’s relatively easy to cut, but it can be flimsy and it tends to warp.

The 1/2″ pink insulation foam is great because you can carve lots of stuff into it, and cut it into lots of shapes. The downside is it has almost no structural strength, and it dulls knives FAST.

Finally, I use .030″ plasticard for surface details. I’m fortunate enough to live nearby a plant that manufactures it, so I get huge sheets for next to nothing.

The big metal ruler has a felt backing, which is important to keep it from slipping when making cuts. The transparent T-square helps keep lines straight, and the sharpie marker will write on just about any surface.

Clothespins make great impromptu clamps while waiting for glue to dry. The elmer’s white glue is great for most surfaces, but if I’m bonding plastic to plastic I use Methyl Ethyl Ketone. The rubber cement comes in handy a lot, too.

Finally, I’ve been using a utility knife a lot recently. The blades are cheap and pretty durable, which helps make it better than the standard X acto knife.

Next, I’m going to go over the steps I take to cut out a building. This is probably very basic for anyone else who does terrain, but I’m including it for complete newbies. Accuracy is important, and I also like to minimize the various steps I take. Trying to cut out each piece seperately takes forever, and you tend to end up with different sized pieces. This makes assembly difficult. I guess if you’re building Ork stuff that’s fine, but I’m fond of my imperial buildings.

Once you’ve figured out the measurements of your building, you’re going to add them together like the picture shows. This way, when we cut, we’ll end up with all our pieces the same size. Don’t cut yet, though, just mark the dimensions on the foamcore.

The next step is to mark out our windows and doors. Since all the big pieces are still lined up, this will make sure that everything lines up. In a one story building, it’s not a huge deal, but if you’re doing several stories it will look better if everything lines up.

After you’ve marked all the doors and windows, all the lines can get confusing. I like to use different colors of pen to mark things so I don’t cut the wrong thing, and I mark the pieces to be removed with an X.

To minimize the time spent cutting, cut all the way across one line first, making sure to skip the spaces in between. Be careful at this point, but it’s not the end of the world if you end up with a window that’s double width every now and then.

Once you’ve got all the doors and windows removed, you can cut out the big pieces. Again, it’s much easier to do a few big long cuts. I do the longest big cuts first, then the shorter cuts last.

Here is a building I’ve been working on this week. The base is made from foamcore, the bricks and door are from a cut up cereal box. I used spackle on the edges to hide the bare foam.

Next, the base. The base is built from a lot of different parts. I started with a base of MDF board, 12 x 6 inches. I had a big piece of foam about the same size, from some kinda packaging, so I glued that on top. Then I realized I needed a way for models to get up and down, so I built the ramp and glued that onto the side. I had originally planned on stairs, but didn’t have enough room.

One of the big problems with using foam is even after you paint it, it just looks like foam you slapped paint on. The solution is to cover the surface with something. Anything. You can use sand, spackle, paper mache, anything. For this, I used all three. I put spackle over the surface to make it flat. To fill in gaps and cover the joins between the ramp and the foam, I used paper mache.

The ladder on the backside is just bent florists wire, stuck into the foam.

The brickwork is easy to do, and looks great once it’s painted. First, I covered the foam with spackle and let that dry.

Then, I took a Dremel tool, and carved in the shapes of the bricks. Finally, I sanded it down to remove the texture and any rough edges.

I did this on the top and the sides of the big base.

Finally, to make the pink foam look more distressed, I airbrushed Acetone onto it. The Harbor Freight airbrush lets me spray a little or a lot, and since the acetone dissolves the foam, I could slowly distress it further if I wanted.

The next part of the building I made out of foamcore. I used cereal box cardboard for the edges. To do the textured plaster, I stippled the surface with an old paintbrush before it dried.

The framing around the upper window is more pink insulation foam. You can also see how I used spackle to fill in the inside of the windows, so you couldn’t see the seam and the exposed foam.

Finally, the building needs a roof. I used the thick black plasticard to make the basic structure, then cereal box cardboard to do both the wooden planks on the ends, and the shingles. The shingles look a lot more complicated than they are.

Test fit everything to make sure it looks good.

Next, I wanted to even up some areas, cover some seams, and make sure the distressed areas looked good and busted up. So I glued sand onto certain places, and let it dry.

After that, it was just a simple matter of painting. I used an airbrush to apply the base coats, and did so in several layers, lightening and darkening the color with each layer so it wasn’t a smooth perfect shade. Some thin black paint made a perfect wash, then a little drybrushing to highlight. The final step was gluing on the flocking, then some dullcote for protection.

Before

After

Wanna see how it’s done? Of course you do.

Step 1: Prime black

Step 2: basecoat p3 skorne red (blood red + black), menoth white (bleached bone), and boltgun metal

Step 2 (back)

Step 3: wash red w devlan, bone w/sepia, boltgun w/badab black. Generally I use 2 coats, and I mix it with water and matte medium which thins it and makes it cover better. Wash the areas you want gold (iron halo, head of crozius) w/sepia twice to get the gold effect

Step 3 (back)

Step 4: go back and clean up/highlight with the base colors. This works because they are all darker because of the washes now, so when you go back with the base color its now a highlight

Step 4 (back)

Step 5: highlight each color. Red gets mixed with elf flesh, 2:1. Use menoth white highlight to highlight bone (or bleached bone+white). Boltgun gets highlihgted w mithril

Step 5 (back)

Step 6: red gets one final highlight, which is skorne red+elf flesh+a touch of orange

Step 6 (back)

Step 7: time to work the black. Mix black w/ adeptus battlegrey, about 1:1. Use this to cover most of the black, leaving some in the darker areas, undersides of arms, etc. Then use a little badab black to blend the edge of this highlight so it transitions smoothly.

Step 7 (back)

Step 8: this is a thin, edge highlight of adeptus

Step 8 (back)

Step 9: final edge highlight, right on the tiniest highest points. Adeptus + menoth white highlight (or skull white).

Step 9 (back)

Step 10: basecoat gems/eye lenses/seals in dark angels green, basecoat purity seal papers in bestial brown (i used p3 equiv)

Step 10 (back)

Step 11: (blurry photo, sorry) apply iosan green (snot green) highlight to seals and gems/eyes. Wash seal papers with badab black

Step 11 (back)

Step 12: highlight green w/scorpion green, highlight seals with bestial, then bestial+bleached bone

Step 12 (back)

Step 13: finish gems with one more step of green, scorp+white. apply black dot to upper corners, place smaller white dot in that to finish gems. Drybrush base w/adeptus grey, then astro grey. Apply bone white static grass to base, clean up edges w/black. highlight gold areas with small mithril highlights. touch up any problem areas. This motherfucker is done!

Finished!

Finished! (back)

Finished! (back again)

Gorgeous.

Take a high quality pastel chalk used in a lot of art projects and sketching, grind it up to a very fine powder, stick it in a bag, and then charge the shells of human beings that buy them from you after you’ve renamed them from orange to something catchy like Rustgut Ochre and you’ve essentially got weathering powders, or pigment powders, whatever the fuck you want to call them. There are actually a few suggestions saying you can grind down art chalks from craft stores and create similar products, but I haven’t tried it. I got these at a choo choo store! It’s actually a decent bargain. Most are sold in kits of 4 powders, with a general color palette like rust, grease, or mud themed shades for roughly 10 dollars. When you think about it, that’s like 2 Games Workshop paints, so you won’t hear me complaining.


The powders themselves are extremely fine, but also concentrated with pigment. This means that you not only don’t need much of it when you use it, but it’s also easy to scoop some out and work with. I’ll usually get some out with a knife and tap any excess off directly back into the bag. Be careful when handling, as they will stain skin and clothes if allowed to set in.

There’s two ways of using the powders I’ve seen, I’m sure there’s more, so please feel free to comment any tips you’ve got. There’s the dry way, and the wet way. Lets look at some goddamn scythes.

For example purposes, I slapped on white and a quick boltgun metal coat. The powders are essentially enhancers, and will look better on a finished model, but this’ll work for here. Like I said, there’s the dry way and the wet way. It’s like sex: the dry way is subtle and lighter and the wet way is more dramatic and sloppier. For the dry way, simply get a little powder on your pallete. Take a completely dry brush and lightly dab it through the powder while dragging it, apply more pressure if you want to pick up more pigment.

The wet method is more complex. For it, I like to apply a very small amount of water to a detail brush and get a tiny amount of powder on the tip. It will form a small clump at the end, simply dab that on your palette. Believe me, this will be enough. At this stage, it will look like slightly dried out paint, as it essentially is. In this state, it will be very strong and overpower any paint it goes over, or apply more water to thin it. Doing so will create a wash, which will shade the model rather than repaint it. Here’s an example of the dry method with the deepest shade I have.

As you can see, the dry method is almost like a drybush that evenly covers the model, not just the edges, the the metal shows through underneath the entire blade. The wet method however is applied more like paint, and completely covers whatever color was underneath. In this case, the boltgun metal has been totally covered. The shades stack like regular paints too, so I simply applied them darkest to lightest.

Now these babies look like they were blessed by Nurgle himself! Wait, what? God damn I’m a nerd… my youth pastor was right! Anyhoo, the wet method is the top scythe and the dry method the bottom one. The wet method gives a more striking and recent feel to the rust where as the dry method is not only more subtle, but makes the blade appear more ancient and less oozing. Brittle, almost. Here’s two examples of them being used on my fukken Orks, son!

The dry method exclusively was used on the rokkit launcha, followed by some random touch ups with mithril silver and it was ready to go. For the Nob’s ‘uge choppa, the edges were done lightly with the dry method and the runny trails of rust were using the wet method. The faint waft of Gamer Fuel-flavored Mountain Dew and spicy Dorito’s smell on the air must mean you hams want to know what good the black powder is for, and if they can be used on anything besides faggot orks. First, fuck you, orks rule. And second, it’s got it’s uses. I use it on gun barrels to create a more realistic powder burn effect, and it’s also good for toning down colors that might be a little too bright for your liking, like the loincloth on the Nob. Also, heavily thinned down, it creates exactly the same effect as a wash of Badab Black.

This bastion and defense line were essentially drybrushed with the standard codex gray / fortress gray combo and accented with the weathering powders. The black was used heavily on these. In conclusion, I find that I now incorporate the powders heavily in my painting repertoire what with the orks I’m doing, and can see how they could be used with great effect by about any army out there (’cept Eldar, they’re too goddamn pretty). Long story short: totally worth the money. And honestly goons, how often can you say that in this hobby?