Heavy Support

Carnifex - Asteroid & Professor Plum

In second edition, a carnifex was a carnifex was a carnifex. They all came equipped with the same arms and the same pose. The only option you had was how the arms fit on the shoulders. You were going to have a crab looking thing anyway you cut it.

My first carnifex was built this way. "Asteroid," as my son named him, is the blue and orange beastie you see here. Nevertheless assembling the carnifex was a challenge, as was clean up. Once again Games Workshop had shipped out a defective product. I had to file on the groin so much that I think Asteroid is impotent now. I pinned all the arms and the legs to keep him upright - no amount of superglue was going to keep him standing without it.

After assembly (which took 2 days) I painted him. The blue skin was actually a little greener before the dry brushing. I wanted it to stand out more against the blue shell, but it doesn’t. The orange (compliment of blue- not an accident) was painted and drybrush blended onto the blue. As an added dimension, I broke from my "no gloss" policy and painted the shell over with a gloss lacquer. I thought the shine on his shell would ad to the insect like quality of the piece. I think it does.

For my next carnifex I knew I had to make some changes. Asteroid shows one of the major problems with the carnifex design: although a cool well sculpted piece, he’s hunched over so far you can’t see his face unless you’re underneath him. His limited possibility also demands that he’s going to be compact and stout looking.

I wanted him to be rearing up, showing his large frame, awesome maw and vicious claws. I would have liked to make him standing up even higher, as if to spring, but converting the legs looked to be too hard.

So I went to town with my jeweller’s saw. I liberated his ribs from his belly, pinned the two and sculpted in more torso with epoxy putty. This and an aggressive turning of his hip section stood him up. The “fins” on his legs limited me from turning him more.

I cut each arm at the elbow, pinned them into a wide open position and sculpted back the detail. Naturally, I pinned every piece and let the glue cure for a good long time. Even so there was a bit of breakage during the painting which showed weaknesses. I remedied these with a curse here and there and painted the kit.

I’m fond of purple so "Professor Plum" was born. Yellow compliments purple, but I went with a green and yellow drybrush on the scales to keep it bright, but not "girlie." I painted gloss on the shell again enamel look.

Professor Plum is one of my favorite pieces.

Carnifex - Francis

In my first Warhammer 40,000 tournament I came in second. My problem was vehicles! When I originally built up my army, I was concerned with vehicles so I went for venom cannons. Then I found out that monstrous creatures made scrap out of tanks and saw that the bugs do better assaulting than shooting. Then came this tournament and I faced my first skimmers.

Skimmers are very hard to hit in close combat - nearly impossible actually. I wished I’d brought more guns as the Eldar Wave Serpents sped around and shot holes in all my lovely gaunts. A bit of research on the bulletin boards with other Tyranid players told me that I needed a shooting carnifex. I took my consolation money for my second place finish and bought a new 3rd Edition carnifex.

I understand that carnifexes are supposed be big bulky brooding hulks, but as I found on my 2nd Ed. versions of this kit, if you model them hunched over, you can’t see most of the model. I set out to make my model stand up tall and proud. If nothing else, it will be a unique creation. Also, the new design is unbalanced. He doesn’t look like he can stand up without tipping over and in fact, he can’t. By standing up the figure I could adjust the center of gravity and, with addition of a tail he balanced just fine.

I drilled some pilot holes for some wire and used Magic Sculp to fill in the abdomen and give some creative detail there. I sculpted more plates on the neck. I also sculpted a tail that would look like a big version of the gaunt tail, a realistic counterbalance for the large critter.

I went with scything claws and a venom cannon of course. I positioned the claws up menacingly. The wide open pose isn’t as effective as it was with Plum, but it did make painting easier and wasn’t worse than any other pose considering how tall the beast is.

Since he balanced so well, I could put him anywhere on the base. The new bases are much thinner than the old ones. They’re sturdy, but they don’t have any room underneath for a good pinning. I had to rely on glue to hold him in place.

Painting was once again the real challenge. Since I like each species to be more unique I struggled with color. I used the same blue for the underlying skin as I had on the previous carnifexes. For a lark, I went for a Lady Bug scheme and use dark a maroon leaning dark read for the undercoat. It’s a bit more purple and closer to the Warrior color than I would have liked, but I can live with it. I highlighted with Bright Magenta and used some blackened Chestnut Ink for depth.

For the spots, I used my Sotar 20/20 airbrush and shot black on the back. This was harder than I thought it would be but I eventually got it to work. It was a little dull, so I added small white dots with a brush.

For the secondary color I went with black and a light green dry brush for detail. A dark green wash muted the green down into the black for a nice effect. All carapace surfaces were then gloss coated.

The gun was a problem. I couldn’t go with the color of my previous venom cannons, as much as I’d like. It just wouldn’t work. Besides, I wanted something more original. I undercoated the gun with a tan leather and dry brushed bone white over it. This looks terrible, but gives a good base for washes. I carefully used yellow and orange inks in various dilutions to make a bright tie-due venom cannon. It’s the best part of the model.

I did the claws in my usual way, based him, like his brothers on the Planet of Dandelions and welcomed him into the Swarm. He’s been dubbed “Francis” after the misunderstood hard fighting male ladybug from A Bug’s Life.

Zoanthrope (2nd Edition)

This is another example of Games Workshop quickly creating a miniature to fill in army ranks. It’s based on the Tyranid Warrior model but has stunted upper arms and a big head. The 3rd Edition Zoanthropes are much different, more snake-like.

Like with my Tyranid Warriors, I didn’t like the way the head just sat on the shoulders and decided to create a neck. It’s hard to see the neck since the head is so big, but it’s there and creates the greater height and separation I wanted.

Being so similar to the Tyranid Warriors I wanted to give him a similar color. However, I got basically the same color. Even though I mixed different colors for the body, I got basically the same shade as with my Warriors. It’s hard to tell them apart. After two tries I went with it; maybe he’d be mistaken for a Warrior on the battlefield.

I kept the standard claws and face colors I’d gone with for my entire army. I tried to brighten his shell with lighter colors. His crown needed attention. As he’s a psychic cannon, I went with an unearthly shade of crimson purple, carefully applied over a stark white undercoat to give it the brightness I wanted. The light green veins added a good contrast to the red skin and also suggested something a out of the ordinary - like this guy could blend in a crowd at the mall or something. I once again made a unique carapace color scheme as with the Tyranid Warriors. To bring out the detail, I added a bit of blacklining and it was done..

According to the 3rd Edition rules, I’m allowed to have up to three Zoanthropes in an army, so there’s room for more. The new ones are quite a bit different than these old ones. They look like snakes, long and skinny, they don't look like Warriors at all any more.

Zoanthropes (3rd Edition)

Maybe because I didn't think much of the 2nd edition model, but I never thought I’d like these guys. I was wrong. Now that I’ve painted some, I’ve grown to truly like them, plus - they can take out a Necron Monolith.

The 3rd Zoanthropes are so different from the 2nd you can’t tell they’re the same species. The 2nd edition looked like a big-headed short-armed Warrior. It was hastily designed to round out the Tyranid army list. The new ones are very unique, thought out and cool.

I went with a straight purple skin on these guys. It’s closer to my hormagaunt skin color than I’d like but it worked since there’s no blue in it.

The heads had to be as colorful and as unnatural as possible. I wanted the carapaces to scream out - we have psychic powers and, though beautiful, we will hand you your ass on a plate with a side of Ranch dressing, - and maybe some crutons, we haven’t decided yet! The pink and the green fulfill this nicely. I took my time to carefully shade and highlight the carapaces for smooth transition. I’m very pleased with the results.

The models are top heavy, so I weighted the base with as much lead as possible. I also coated them with several layers of Dullcoat, to guard against the inevitable tumbles.

Biovores

You’re allowed up to three biovores in any Tyranid Army. I’ve got mine.

The only conversion I did with these pieces was bend one’s leg up as if her were moving. I tried to angle the guns at different levels, but the figures were limited.

I went with a red brown and dry brushed a light tan (leather) over the skin. I mixed the purple and scarlet purple dry brush for the shell. I like the look of it.

For the muzzle, or cannon of the beast, I painted ivory and then using a very thiin wash of green ink, stained over it. I love the effect I got. I went with the same bright purple I used in the venom cannons for the veins. A little touch up ov some of the raised details, a black barrel and obligatory blacklining, and I had a brood of walking artillery.

Spore Mines

There weren’t different mines in second edition, so all my mines are the same. I doubt I’ll ever be able to feild the entire batch of 11 guys, but they didn’t take any time to paint.

There’s not much to say about these things. I used gloss over the pink tentacles to simulate slime.

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