Full Army Photo
I will snap a full-army photo at some point... In the meantime, I need to get some matte sealer to tone down the gloss.
In the meantime I will say some Etymology - "Maliades" are Greek Nymphs... not exactly the coolest name for a Hive Fleet, but I noticed that most of them were named after Greek creatures, and Maliades sounded like it fit for a Hive Fleet (even if its meaning wasn't all that terrifying).
Unit Photos
HQ
This is my Hive Tyrant and his Tyrant Guard. They're all metal, except for one of the Guards who is Finecast (and has a slightly-miscast shoulder, but I like it - it looks like battle damage). I love this unit, it causes a lot of damage on the field, but Tyrants are in sore need of an invulnerable save... a 5++ is all I ask for!
A recent acquisition that I've been trying out. The Swarmlord is bloody expensive, but he can be an absolute beast. Even better, he changes the dynamics of a list - I like to run 2 squads of outflanking Genestealers with him due to his reserves bonuses, and his 18" synapse bubble means I get more leniency and maneuverability. Definitely going to be trying him out more often. Also, I've magnetized the Swarmlord so that he can be swapped out and turned into a Flyrant!
ELITES
I know everyone knows how awesome these guys are, but let me reiterate just for the hell of it - Hive Guard are one of my favourite units in the entire game. 50 points for a S8 Assault 2 gun that doesn't require line of sight to fire? And it's T6 on top of that, and can hold its own if it gets assaulted? Remind me again why the hell would I ever take a Pyrovore? Anyway, I've only got 2 of these bad boys at the moment, but I plan on getting a 3rd one eventually... after that, we'll see.
I love my Hive Guard, but I have a lot of room in my heart for Zoanthropes as well. I really appreciate their status as a synapse creature, and their 3++ save makes them really difficult to kill at range. I've had these guys take entire turns of shooting without a scratch. Plus they're the cheapest option for anti-AV14, although their success rate is hit-or-miss.
These guys are severely underrepresented. For horde lists (like mine), their mobile 5+ cover save is invaluable - it's kept my Hive Tyrant and Gaunts alive longer in pretty much every battle I've deployed it in. It's not terrible in combat either, although it's not going to survive very long unsupported. My opponents like to snipe mine, because they know how valuable they are to my list.
TROOPS
My Genestealers and Broodlord. Man are these things beasts in close combat. I used to absolutely hate them because I was running them in very small units. However, I bought another box of them and now they usually last long enough to destroy whatever they want to. I've literally won games because of these guys. Love 'em!
My Tyranid Warriors... man do these guys need a fix. I can't tell you how many times I've had these things get taken out from a S8 pie plate. However, when they don't have to worry about instant death, they rock. One of them has a broken scything talon, so I painted it to look like it had been blown off and he had spewed ichor all over himself. Turned out pretty cool if I do say so myself.
I love these little buggers, I can field so many of them and they can do decently in combat if you give 'em adrenal glands and toxin sacs. Probably gonna get more so that way I can run a dual-Tervigon list sometime.
Hormagaunts ROCK. They are quick little bastards, and can put out so many attacks that they'll overwhelm anything they charge (especially when coupled with adrenal glands and toxin sacs). I've literally overwhelmed Thunderwolf Cavalry with the sheer number of wounds scored by these guys.
Ripper Swarms... man did these things ever get nut-kicked in 5th ed. As if they weren't underwhelming enough (poor WS/BS, vulnerable to blasts/templates, can't capture objectives, very expensive upgrades, etc), but now they will die if they go out of synapse range. I very rarely field these things, but I have visions of a Parasite of Mortex/Tervigon swarm army which I want to bring to life sometime... Got some of those awesome Forge World Rippers though, and they're so cool though that I will *have* to play Ripper Swarms eventually.
FAST ATTACK
I used to have a couple of the old metal Gargoyles... they were a pain in the butt to make back then, and they all broke off their bases. THANK GOD for the 5th Ed plastics - the kit is relatively cheap, easy and enjoyable to build (although painting them is a pain haha), and most importantly it makes them a legitimate factor on the battlefield. Usually I'll utilize them as a distraction unit, deep striking into my enemy's lines to guarantee that they will concentrate fire on them. I will likely try some different tactics at some point though, I want them to actually do something important in a battle for once...
I'm not sure why, but whenever I field these things, people seem to avoid them like the plague. They're great for area-denial in that sense, although they rarely kill anything.
HEAVY SUPPORT
My first Carnifex, which I occasionally run as (the moronically overpriced) Old One Eye. Crushing claws look awesome, but are waaaaay overpriced for what they do - as a result, they're magnetized so I can throw on a venom cannon or something (alternatively, I might just count the crushing claws as a 2nd set of scything talons). All-in-all, Fexes are overpriced for what you get, but they're so cool that I give them a chance anyway.
Aaaaand after that rant about how underwhelming Carnifexes are, I show that I have a 2nd one. What can I say, they have a really awesome model, it's such a joy to construct these things...
...I'll come clean, I actually have 4 Carnifexes. I found a great deal on ebay: 3 Fexes for the price of 1! So I bought 'em up and turned 1 into a Tyrannofex. This particular Carnifex has sustained some battle damage, his carapace has been punctured and is bleeding. His base is also very nice (I especially like the "Private Property" sign).
Of all my Fexes, this would have to be my best-painted one. He's very similar-looking to my 2nd one, in part because the "tusked" Carnifex head is so awesome looking - probably my favourite Fex head after the "regenerating" one (I don't want to over-use that one though).
Group shot of the Fexes rampaging.
I like Biovores, they soften up the enemy so I can come in and feast... plus people are irrationally afraid of Spore Mines for whatever reason. They've been seeing less and less use in my lists as of late however.
My custom-converted Tyrannofex with Rupture Cannon. This was my first attempt at Green Stuff-ing a model, and I think it turned out pretty well. I based the design off of the Codex picture, with my own interpretations and alterations. I gave it a "bio-plasma" head to represent its Desiccator Larvae swarm, and Spore Cysts to represent its Cluster Spines/Stinger Salvo. I believe that the Codex Tyrannofex is portrayed with a Fleshborer Hive, so I took that as an excuse to make the Rupture Cannon look however I wanted it to. I wanted the Rupture Cannon to be like an inverse-Biovore, with the weapon protruding from the creature's chest and its 2nd set of arms holding it in place. Since it fires 2 cannonball-sized projectiles, I made sure that the barrel was fairly wide and bulky. Finally, I clipped its back legs and repositioned them so that the Tyrannofex would stand slightly taller than a Carnifex. I'm fairly happy with the resulting model, I think I did a good job as a first-time sculpter. In fact, I wouldn't mind building a 2nd someday...
MISC
Got myself a pair of Plasma Hatcher eggs which I've turned into Mycetic Spores. I got 1 for the Doom of Malan'tai which I want to get soon, and 1 for another unit - perhaps I will start deep striking cheap Carnifexes to act as distractions.
Performance (5th Edition)
| Year
| Wins
| Losses
| Ties
| | 2011
| 6
| 2
| 2
| | 2012
| 7
| 5
| 4
| | TOTAL
| 13
| 7
| 6
|
|
|
| Versus
| Wins
| Losses
| Ties
| | Blood Angels
| 4
| 3
| 3
| | Chaos Daemons
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Chaos Space Marines
| 0
| 0
| 1
| | Dark Angels
| 1
| 0
| 0
| | Dark Eldar
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Eldar
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Grey Knights
| 1
| 0
| 0
| | Imperial Guard
| 1
| 0
| 0
| | Necrons
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Orks
| 2
| 1
| 0
| | Sisters of Battle
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Space Marines
| 2
| 2
| 2
| | Space Wolves
| 0
| 1
| 0
| | Tau
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Tyranids
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Hybrid Armies
| 2
| 0
| 0
|
|
|
Performance (6th Edition)
| Year
| Wins
| Losses
| Ties
| | 2012
| 3
| 5
| 1
| | 2013
| 1
| 1
| 0
| | 2014
| 1
| 1
| 0
| | TOTAL
| 5
| 7
| 1
|
|
|
| Versus
| Wins
| Losses
| Ties
| | Blood Angels
| 3
| 2
| 1
| | Chaos Daemons
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Chaos Space Marines
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Dark Angels
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Dark Eldar
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Eldar
| 1
| 0
| 0
| | Grey Knights
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Imperial Guard
| 0
| 1
| 0
| | Necrons
| 0
| 1
| 0
| | Orks
| 1
| 0
| 0
| | Sisters of Battle
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Space Marines
| 0
| 2
| 0
| | Space Wolves
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Tau
| 0
| 1
| 0
| | Tyranids
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Team Games
| 0
| 0
| 0
|
|
|
Performance (7th Edition)
| Year
| Wins
| Losses
| Ties
| | 2015
| 1
| 0
| 0
| | TOTAL
| 1
| 0
| 0
|
|
|
| Versus
| Wins
| Losses
| Ties
| | Blood Angels
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Chaos Daemons
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Chaos Space Marines
| 1
| 0
| 0
| | Dark Angels
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Dark Eldar
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Eldar
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Grey Knights
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Imperial Guard
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Necrons
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Orks
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Sisters of Battle
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Space Marines
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Space Wolves
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Tau
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Tyranids
| 0
| 0
| 0
| | Team Games
| 0
| 0
| 0
|
|
|
Why I Started This Army
I started collecting Tyranids in 2003 or 2004, a few months after starting my Space Wolves. I was in Grade 7 at the time, and my circle of friends had decided to start playing 40k. One of them decided to collect Tyranids, but about halfway through the year he abandoned the project and sold the models he had to me (he had a few Hormagaunts, Termagaunts and a pair of Zoanthropes). At the time I wasn't sure if I wanted to collect them, but kept hold of them anyway despite not really doing anything with them.
About a year or 2 later, one of my cousins also got into 40k and decided that he would collect Tyranids as well. I gave him the Tyranids I had since I wasn't really doing anything with them, but (naturally) he soon quit as well. He gave me the models he had, which (in addition to the ones I had before) netted me 3 Warriors, a Biovore and some more gribblies. With my force getting bigger, I began to actually care for this little upstart force of mine. With the release of 4th ed and Battle For Macragge, my forces swelled from the included Genestealers, Termagaunts and Spore Mines. I largely gave up on 40k from 2005-2008 when the local hobby store closed down, but held onto my models, waiting for a chance to get to use them again.
Finally, around 2008, I spontaneously began focusing on 40k again as my friend, Lord Graveline, and I began to play each other infrequently. However, he played Imperial Guard and wanted some Xenos to kill for a change, so I fielded what Tyranids I had. Predictably, my small force was easily wiped out. Hoping to make them perform better, I began to get more models to make them perform better on the field, purchasing a mighty Carnifex, some more Gaunts and some Genestealers. With the release of the 5th Ed Codex, I began to make the Tyranids my primary focus (purchase-wise), and swelled my force to the size that it is today. The army is still under construction, but it is nearing completion and can now hold its own on the tabletop.
If you liked this, then check out:
My Space Wolves army - Andilus Greatsword's Great Company
My Imperial Guard army - Raven Sword
My Lizardmen army - Andilus Greatsword's Lizardmen Army
