Full Army Photo
To be added!
After the Tyrannic War, a splinter fleet of Hive Fleet Behemoth chanced upon the Eldar Exodite inhabitants and rich fauna of an obscure deathworld known to the Imperium as Kukulan. The remnants of the aliens, knowing nothing of humiliation in defeat and feeling only the same hunger which had driven them to Ultramar, descended upon the planet and began feeding.
The Eldar defenders bravely fought to defend their sacred home, however their efforts came to naught when a lone burrowing larval Tyranid, its mind little more developed than a worm's, completely bypassed the defences of the World Spirit and grew in size and power as quickly as it drained the energy of the Eldar's sacred shrine. With the loss of this, the beleaguered defenders were soon crushed by the onslaught of increasingly powerful creatures the Hive Fleet created from the reptilian animals that populated the world.
Now, the planet's ecosystem still produces fodder and prey for the Tyranids, whose orbiting bio-ships exist in a constant cycle of calving and setting off in search of new prey-worlds to devour, leaving their offspring to grow from the seemingly inexhaustible biomass of Kukulan. One day, they may find their way back to Ultramar, though if so this will be not out of desire for revenge or retribution - concepts as alien to the Tyranids as they are to the Adepts of Terra - but rather simply out of an insatiable hunger.
Hive Fleet Kukulan uses the traditional 2E Behemoth colour scheme of Blood Red carapace and Bleached Bone armour, with the fleshy bits picked out with Hormagaunt Purple. Older models are highlighted with Tentacle Pink, but these days I favour a more natural Skull White blend.
Unit Photos
Swarmking and royal guard
T-rex looking alternative Swarmlord accompanied by Hoplite-looking Tyrant Guard.
I used retractable wrist blades, inspired by the depiction of Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, to suggest the Swarmlord's bonesabres. Though I imagine that any instances of Instant Death bypassing invulnerable saves will likely arise from being devoured whole than any psychic headexplodey.
The TG figures are discontinued 3ed Tyrant Guard with GS cheek guards, plasticard crests, and scratch-built bonepikes and shields. I made moulds of the weapons and can cast duplicates any time, if you're interested drop me a PM.
Swarmqueen and royal guard
Hive Tyant and Tyrant Guard.
When I decided to make my swarm a case of Jurassic Park gone really bad, it was obvious how my Hive Tyrant should look. Initially, it had the massive MC talons, but I soon decided that titchy Rex arms would look better.
A shoulder-mounted Venom Cannon came to mind when looking at the classic Soundwave Transformer toy, and was built from a Biotitan arm and plastic VC.
The Parasite of SR388
Alternative Parasite of Mortrex with massive Metroid fanservice.
What can I say, I love the Metroid games (well, the 2D ones. From Super Metroid onwards). When I read the Parasite's rules, I just had to make an homage to Ridley, even if as nemeses go he's more prone to the old 'getting my head kicked in' syndrome than Abaddon.
It wasn't easy, sourcing an out of production Lord of Change head, but when I saw the Space Hulk Broodlord I knew it had to be done. Also used are the wings from Morathi's Dark Pegasus, two leg joints from a Chaos Defiler, a tiny Forge World Ripper (these guys have astonishingly fragile legs, I put several layers of varnish on just for extra support), and some cuttings from a Gale Force 9 Green Stuff tube.
A couple of spare skellies from my Tomb Kings bits box, and we have a standard 40mm round base appropriately filled.
The Doom of Kukulan
Maggot-looking alternative Doom of Malan'tai.
I figured that a giant maggot was prehistoric enough to fit the army background, and since Doomie tends to burst out of a Mycetic Spore in most cases it worked pretty well rules-wise to have the grubber burst out of a giant eggy cocoon. Lowly Ripper done good for himself!
Basically, I used the face off of a 2E Ripper and a load of tail tips from 2E Termagants and sculpted a body from scratch.
The base itself is a cast of a master model I made for Commissar Castings, painted and with static grass added. I can supply packs of five for £7, PM me if you're interested.
Mantisaurs
Jurassic Park-inspired Lictors.
I've always loved Lictors, even if their post-2E incarnations have been somewhat disappointing. Pipe Lictor would make a grand Deathleaper, but I wanna think up something different for Warhammer 40K's most notorious troll, so these two hang out together as a unit.
That's a retro Flesh Hound of Khorne's neck ruff used as a base for the frills, there. And chest-mounted Flesh Hooks always seemed like a bit of an odd location for a grapnel/Hookshot weapon, so in line with my pre-5E Warriors I made the Flesh Hooks hand-mounted, imagining the muscle to extend all the way to the elbow joint area for extra torque.
Lolwut.
Zoanthrope-inspired Hive Guard.
Don't get me wrong, the Hive Guard are nice models, and a close variant would still work well in the prehistoric theme. But with them being a psychic creature, and my Nids having had a lot of Eldar DNA to tinker with, it felt more appropriate to make mine a variant on the 'floaty deathbrain' body type - and put some retro Warriors to good use. Tinkering with stiff wire and Cadians enabled me to build them in floating action poses, giving some Ultramar Defence Force personnel a good seeing-to.
Yeah, they look weird, but I like 'em :3
Pyrosaurs
Like a Pyrovore, but vaguely anatomically feasible.
Sigh.
Pyrovores are a sound concept. Unfortunately, their rules are quite underwhelming, and the official model has this awful bifurcated elbow thing going on that just looks wrong to me. To top it all, they cost over half a Land Raider for a model about as survivable as a Marine and less killy than a Terminator with Heavy Flamer. So, not spending a month's disposable income on a unit with mostly ornamental completist value outside of the odd Apocalypse game.
...I didn't say I didn't want any, though. So, take a bunch of Warriors off of eBay, some bitz and green stuff, and we have a unit that fits in well with the rest of the army.
Campers
Warriors and Spinegaunts.
Remember in 4E, when twin-linked Deathspitters were great for anti-horde?
Remember in 4E, when Spinegaunts were stock cannon fodder?
Welcome to 5E, in which twin-linked Deathspitters are illegal and Spinefists are an upgrade that reduce Damage Per Point against any infantry other than Wraithguard and Plague Marines (do the math - it's true) and remove ability to Glance AV10.
Back of the figure cabinet, to be reconfigured sometime.
Eggs o'death
Mycetic Spores.
So, guess who found a CRATE of Plasma Hatcher egg toys in a local bazaar?
Guess who's got a whole army of orbital drop troops (well, in my fluff they're more like concealed eggs bursting out of the ground, but hey) in the pipeline?
I've got loads of these and can produce more for sale, send me a PM if you're interested. £25.
Steganids
Biovore brood.
Cute little Stegosaur-looking Biovores, made from plastic Termagants and Barbed Stranglers. At some point, I'll covert a load more for Apoclypse fun :3
Titan-tipping unkillable steamroller
Styracosaur-looking alternative Old One Eye.
As a survivor of the First Tyrannic War, I considered it a necessity to give the biggest, baddest Carnifex of all a worthy model. Shame his rules make him so uncompetitive in-game, though being underestimated has led to him having his moments in friendly games.
Stranglerfex
Carnifex with Barbed Strangler.
First try at converting a Fex into a stampeding quadruped. When the model was made, the only CC option worth taking was Scything Talons, which I built as a retractable digit on the forelegs; nowadays, I'd leave them off and count its trampling ability as Crushing Claws.
Rhinofexes
Carnifex brood with enough dakka to kill a small army.
So, I played some Cities of Death games. Decided I needed to remove those buildings them ruddy Marines kept hiding in. Noticed some retro 3E Carnifexes at my LGS. Decided it was time for some running-at-brick-walls tomfoolery. Was pleasantly surprised at the cheap Dakkafex's firepower, and reconsidered their role. So, meet my short-ranged fire support and tank-tippers.
What's that? I can take all three in a single unit now?
Quality.
Venomfexes
Venom Cannon Carnifexes.
Remember in 4E, when a twin-linked Venom Cannon was a Hive Fleet's best bet for taming heavy armour at long range?
I liked the Forge World Leman Russ with hull-mounted anti-tank weapon. I dislike the design idiom of Tyranids carrying organic rifles, I much prefer their guns to be more like the old Epic Biotitan symbiotes. A mouth-mounted weapon seemed to reconcile the two points, and convey brutal recoil.
They're still handy for hunting Nobz and rival swarms' Warriors, but they've never really had a day of glory outside of a magnificent Apocalypse showing where they kept an entire armoured column pinned down by bottlenecking their spearhead with wrecks and immobilised vehicles.
Fire truck's evil twin
Tyrannofex with Acid Spray.
Started off as an experimental T-fex conversion. Decided the weapon was a bit too small for a Rupture Cannon, but it kind of looked like a water cannon or fire hose, which made for a pleasing irony as it came to be used for the unit that hoses blameless bystanders down with flammable toxic acids.
Not the best unit, with a lot of redundancy in taking three anti-infantry weapons that fulfil a role at which the Tyranids already excel, but I've had great fun with this baby.
I made moulds of the legs I scratch-built, so PM me if you'd like a duplicate of this conversion. £70.
Oh good grief
Tyrannofex with Rupture Cannon.
So despite the Acid Spray-bearing T-fex having done a grand job of killing vehicles, it's always had to rely on a well-placed headbutt to do so. Not the role I envisaged for my monstrous creature least capable in melee, so I went and sculpted a BFG. This model was voted Mini of the Month July 2011
.
I made moulds of the legs and weapon I scratch-built, so PM me if you'd like a duplicate of this conversion. £70.
Ankylofex
Alternative Scythed Heirodule.
So, I saw this rubber toy Ankylosaurus in a hobbycraft store. And I had a lightbulb moment. And I got through a LOT of milliput and greenstuff and a bit of my bitz box and a bunch of Battle For Macragge stuff, and came up with this.
The fun I've had with Stabby here... he's tipped Land Raiders, trampled over Baneblades, hosed down more infantry with burning acids than I can remember... best moment was when he finally succumbed to a Guard army firing, well everything at him. Then he reappeared with Replacements, right next to a Marine detachment closing in on an objective. Problem, Calgar?
Coming up...
WIP shots of my current projects get uploaded to the army's P&M blog.
Photos of my Genestealers and Warriors.
More Mycetic Spores. An army's worth.
A Trygon and Raveners made to resemble sewer crocs.
A stack of old Terradon wings being added to Gaunt and Warrior bodies to make an aerial attack force.
Another Tyrannofex, with the awful Fleshborer Hive. Yes, it's rubbish, but I'd like to have all three variants.
Another biotitan, with a Brachiosaur look.
A scratch-built Dominatrix, several feet long from head to tail, with a grotesque pregnant belly covered in Ripper-spewing apertures.
Complementary armies of Ultramar Defence Force, Tyrannic War era Ultramarines First Company, and Genestealer Cult.
Army Lists
To be added!
Why I Started This Army
Well, the Jurassic Park influence has already been stated. I always liked the idea of a prehistoric deathworld getting consumed and spawning a legion of Dinonids. The 3E codex, with its speculation on the link between Eldar and Zoanthropes, gave me the idea to make it an Exodite world, which with the new units in 5E has erupted into all manner of ideas. The pipe Lictor - itself a reference to Super Mario Bros and a means to tie in the Ultramar background and paint a Forgeworld figure I always liked - gave me the idea for sewer crocs as a template for Raveners.
Selling stuff
Whilst everything you see here is a painted model from my collection, I make moulds of some of my original sculpts (all falling outside of GW's intellectual property domains) so that I can duplicate them. Where I'm offering units for sale, they arrive undercoated and prices include basic UK postage; I can easily sell to international buys, but postage will cost more.