A Tale of Three Gamers - Jono's introduction and Army Background - Week 1

Hi Folks
coming up is the first of three posts from each of us giving a brief introduction about who we are and also showcasing the background or fluff we have written for each of our forces. When we first thought about the challenge fluff was one of the things I really wanted to include and play with, much to the consternation of the others, but looking at what we have so far I think its worth it and it does add something a little extra to each force.

So here we have the first post, guest staring and straight from his keyboard, here's Jono:

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Well, howdy y'all! As previously said, my name is Jono and I haven't been into 40k since I was about 15(ish). I used to collect Ultramarines (well, SMs painted blue with bright pink faces) but I always loved Nids, which is why I have started again with these.

This all started a few weeks ago when Chris started talking to me about 40k, and as an instant response, I took the mick out of him! To be honest, I spend most of my days doing this, but alas this was just free ammo. Consequently I looked on the GW website, started reading fan sites and well.. bought a Nid battle force that weekend. On the following Monday I then got conned in to joining the challenge, so here I am and here is my Army's background.

Hive Fleet Tenebrae
During Hive Fleet Behemoth’s assault of Macragge, the Hive Mind, convinced of yet another victory, sent out splinter fleets to survey the way for the advancing swarm. In the closing hours of the battle, the Imperial Forces performed an assault on the man Hive Craft in orbit in an attempt to stop the swarms of Tyranids bringing devastation to the Planet's surface. During this lucky hit, the assaulting Tyranid force was thrown into a state of disarray which ultimately gave victory to the Imperial forces. It is believed that during this valiant assault, a 'Norn Queen' was either wounded, or killed. To this day, the Ultramarines believe that the Norn Queen is the embodiment of the Hive Mind, controlling the entire fleet with her will. Be this true, or be it that the target was merely a larger Synapse Creature further up the evolutionary chain nobody will ever know. Regardless of this, the temporary lapse of synapse that ensued caused many of the scouting splinter fleets to fall into a state of dormancy. Many of these dormant vessels and splinter fleets were either destroyed or simply wandered out of Imperium space in to the dead space between the stars. One such splinter was dubbed Hive Fleet Tenebrae.

Hive Fleet Tenebrae was brought to the attention of both the Imperium and the burgeoning Tau Empire when it re-entered the galaxy close to the Quintairn system, where it is hypothesised that its relative proximity to the Ymgarl system (The once theorised home of the Genestealer) and to core splinters of Hive fleet Behemoth resulted in the awakening of the hive ships many decades later. This is the first recorded active sighting of the Hive Fleet and I am sure that it will not be the last.


Next, my Army List for our 500pt challenge..

This list was posted on the back of the bits I have managed to get together and as I still wasn't sure about 40k. My thought process was that that I would get a few bits and if I didn't like it, it would only be a couple of quid that was wasted, as such. One of my friend's little brother had been bought a Tyranid battle force years ago, but never used it. I bought this off him for £25 and then ventured to GW Bedford for a few supplies. Damn GW paints are expensive now!

I got seriously lucky with the boxed set, as I didn't realise that they are no longer £40, but £61.50 for a battle force. A Carnifex alone is now something silly like £27. As it was the old kit, I have the following:

• 8 x Hormagaunts
• 8 x Termagants
• 8 x Genestealers
• 3 x Warriors
• 1 x Carnifex
• X x Rippers (not something I will use, so if anyone wants to trade me some bits for them, I have about 4 bases worth)

Now, I know that this lot is pretty useless on its own BUT it gave me a lot of minis to paint up, and lets face it, for £25 I got a bargain!

I read a lot of guides and joined a nid forum (http://thetyranidhive.proboards.com/) to get inspiration. After a lot of um-ming and aah-ing I decided on the following paint scheme..

 

For anyone interested in how I did them, I followed this guide (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqOowCEJNew) but with the following steps:

• Base coat of Halfords white primer
• 3 x coats of Badab Black wash
• Mecharite Red for the carapace and eyes
• Tallarn Flesh for the tongue
• 2 x coats of Baal Red wash for the carapace and tongue
• Skull white for the bone areas (claws, hoofs, teeth)
• 2 x coats Gryphonne Sepia wash for the bone areas
• I then went over the carapace joins with Badab Black just to add some depth
• Lastly, a bit of Baal Red around the mouth area, not really visible, but it does look nice in the right light.
• Effort!!!

These steps seem to take around an hour a mini, but I am well happy with the outcome! The guide I used was very simple, but excellent. I would recommend it to any new Nid player who can’t paint!

It has now been a week or two since I bought the first box, and that this challenge has come about. I have gone from being a bit unsure about the whole 40k scene to actually really enjoying it. I used to love the hobby and I now regret ditching it! Needless to say, my girlfriend is still not aware of this, and that's how I want to keep it!

I will leave you with this, my first finished mini. Please do comment on the base (or indeed the whole mini), as I was going to do it ash, but quite like the sandy effect.. All critique and comments welcome!

So you’ve had an insight as to what I’m planning so time for some more info. The nids are a lot darker than they look as my pictures are quite heavily saturated (terrible old Fuji bridge camera), but you get the idea! Very proud of them in all honesty and a LOT of work went into them. I may not be the best painter in the world, but compared to my Enchanted Blue (because I didn't used to like the colour ultramarine) blobby SMs, they are practically godlike in comparison!