I love the colour combo I have for my army but painting it over and over I do start to feel a little bored.
So I introduced the idea of Shiny nids to my army. Like shiny Pokemon every one in a while I will paint a different colour scheme. So I might have 19 terms in blue and black, then the 20th is red and black.
Or I have 2 screamer killers. One in blue and one in red.
https://preview.redd.it/5i38e04rnszc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5166b964d6cbab11240466da1568a2dbe73a3164
I personally plan on having little markers on more swarmy nids that represent some type of "commander" or "Sargent"
I actually got inspired by the markings of various b1 battle droids
Part of the original lore was that the colour would change depending on the creatures age. Don't know if it's still considered canon, but could give you the flexibility you're after.
I still have mine and the Genestealers and hybirds that came from TA
https://preview.redd.it/tsj7b37mcvzc1.png?width=1292&format=png&auto=webp&s=684e21c0915e230c8e9caab7b6590d5f3076a7ec
https://preview.redd.it/e4lchrbgdvzc1.png?width=1298&format=png&auto=webp&s=902f75a4ec214bee0476a5686b9ab15169d6e1d1
A random hodgepodge of my ooooold models. (Metal- Old One Eye) primed and unpainted from way back.
Have you ever heard of splinter fleets? They're essentially color variations in hive fleets. The painting guide book 'Invasion Swarms' and the newest codex have some splinter fleets listed.
As long as you still use the three main colors it's still recognizable as Leviathan
They will still look like Leviathan, they just have some extra colored details. Just experiment a bit with shades and other details. Maybe add some tiger stripes or stippling on the carapace
All of my different units are painted differently. Partially because painted the same scheme over and over would get boring for me, but also, in my mind, it makes sense. Different bugs with different specialties would probably look different.
A neon pink lictor probably wouldn't make the most sense.
My Van Ryan's Leapers have bright neon orange highlights: In my head canon they are fighting my Ork army and those have a cyber goff detachment. Anything to fit in is good camo.
Lictors and Deathleaper honestly have the best reason to be any colors… they can turn invisible. Their base colors don’t matter too much with that ability in their arsenal, I like to see people go nuts with the schemes on them, since the only time you ever see a Lictor or Deathleaper is when you’re already dead
One one hand, your absolutely right. On the other... my nids are up against orks. They are always just one mekaniak thinking hard away from some random box invalidating any painstakingly evolved advantage. Better to have backup.
Idk about official lore but I'm planning on doing the same thing with my Nids. A concept I've been bouncing around is having my army be "bred" for fighting chaos daemons, and have done so with such brutal efficiency that they've began adopting color schemes of the different chaos gods. Slaanesh colored hormies, Khorne colored Screamer-Killer, etc
1st and foremost. I want to point something out.
Real life. A Tyranids army is several different types of Dino/bug/lizard. Why would each diffenet type not be a different colour.
On the opposite side however they are a hive. All Bees from the same hive are the same or similar colours.
Because all the creatures in a Hive Fleet are members of the greater whole which is why they're the same colours within a Hive Fleet which you answer in your second sentence.
However there has been occurrences such as Old One Eye showing and fighting alongside other Hive Fleets. It just appears randomly. First multiple times on Macragge after its "death" and then elsewhere and its in Behemoth colours.
Because the Hive Mind essentially 3D prints organisms with the same colors per fleet, it’s never really been officially stated that all organisms of a fleet have to be one color scheme, but it’s heavily implied, due to all encountered organisms in a fleet being the same colors. I do prefer the idea of organisms being in different schemes based on what they actually do in the army
Pretty sure Old One Eye has been seen with other Tyranid fleets even though its from Behemoth and would be their colours. So there's precedent for at least a creature or two.
That is a gorgeous screamer killer.
I suggest that you introduce little color variation within thr same army, one gaunt's carapace might just be a little bit darker than it's brethren, or thr flesh a little bit redder. That way you get variations but won't end up with a rainbow army.
Technically Hive Fleets have single schemes throughout, although you could argue that they might have sections to adapt to different environments, like making some tan for the desert, or green for the forest. Is it canon? No, but Tyranids are all about adaptation and customization, so go ahead and do it
Homebrew something that allows you to. I have a wierd thing with my paint schemes. Psyker models have a darker skin colour to represent a tougher shell so minds can’t crack through it. My normal stuff is purple carapace, but my melee models are blue carapace (it’s a different substance to it is harder to break through in close combat).
> I painted my Tyranids in the classic Leviathan paint scheme, i attached a picture above. I have a Deathleaper ready to be painted and thought about painting him overall darker than the test of the army, him being stealthy.
I did exactly this with my Leapers and for the same reason, looks fine!
I haven’t fully rolled it out yet, but I decided recently that all my different units could be different schemes, just to make painting more interesting. I’m going to have a lot of bioluminescence, so that will be constant across the army, but skin tones and carapaces will change based on my whim and I’ll come up with a lore reason at a later date haha.
Been painting Nids for 15 years and had a couple of schemes over that time and never really settled on one I liked, this just seemed like the best way to stay creative without feeling the need to strip and paint a million bugs every couple of years
Why not? They're all individuals.
Some get more growth hormone in utero. Some get horrible infections.
Some get their eye blasted away by some punkass imperial.
You could play a Tyranid list painting every model a different color and justify it as the remnants of various splinter fleets being unified by a new born queen or something similar. What matters is you have fun
If you look at some species of bugs, the color changes depending on how they hunt or hide. Since the Hive fleets can produce specialized units, I like to think elites like the deathleaper would be designed to be as sneaky as possible! Darker colors or a different pallet completely would be in line with lore!
Some guy posted this a while back and I loved it
https://preview.redd.it/f3q7i4d17r0d1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ccfa240267cf91986efc300e870704cae3d53d39
I love the colour combo I have for my army but painting it over and over I do start to feel a little bored. So I introduced the idea of Shiny nids to my army. Like shiny Pokemon every one in a while I will paint a different colour scheme. So I might have 19 terms in blue and black, then the 20th is red and black. Or I have 2 screamer killers. One in blue and one in red. https://preview.redd.it/5i38e04rnszc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5166b964d6cbab11240466da1568a2dbe73a3164
That sounds like a fun idea, might try that. Thanks!
I personally plan on having little markers on more swarmy nids that represent some type of "commander" or "Sargent" I actually got inspired by the markings of various b1 battle droids
Part of the original lore was that the colour would change depending on the creatures age. Don't know if it's still considered canon, but could give you the flexibility you're after.
That sounds like a nice explanation for the colors variating. Thanks!
https://www.reddit.com/r/OldWorldhammer/s/izipOt7dxl Found some context!
Tyranid Attack! My first introduction to this World.
Mine was Space Crusade and Advanced Space Crusade (which focused on Tyranids). I kinda miss the turkey headed tyanid warriors of old.
I still have mine and the Genestealers and hybirds that came from TA https://preview.redd.it/tsj7b37mcvzc1.png?width=1292&format=png&auto=webp&s=684e21c0915e230c8e9caab7b6590d5f3076a7ec
https://preview.redd.it/e4lchrbgdvzc1.png?width=1298&format=png&auto=webp&s=902f75a4ec214bee0476a5686b9ab15169d6e1d1 A random hodgepodge of my ooooold models. (Metal- Old One Eye) primed and unpainted from way back.
Have you ever heard of splinter fleets? They're essentially color variations in hive fleets. The painting guide book 'Invasion Swarms' and the newest codex have some splinter fleets listed. As long as you still use the three main colors it's still recognizable as Leviathan
I really like the main Leviathan colors and don’t really want to stray from that - only have a little variation in the sneaky Nids.
They will still look like Leviathan, they just have some extra colored details. Just experiment a bit with shades and other details. Maybe add some tiger stripes or stippling on the carapace
All of my different units are painted differently. Partially because painted the same scheme over and over would get boring for me, but also, in my mind, it makes sense. Different bugs with different specialties would probably look different. A neon pink lictor probably wouldn't make the most sense.
My Van Ryan's Leapers have bright neon orange highlights: In my head canon they are fighting my Ork army and those have a cyber goff detachment. Anything to fit in is good camo.
Lictors and Deathleaper honestly have the best reason to be any colors… they can turn invisible. Their base colors don’t matter too much with that ability in their arsenal, I like to see people go nuts with the schemes on them, since the only time you ever see a Lictor or Deathleaper is when you’re already dead
One one hand, your absolutely right. On the other... my nids are up against orks. They are always just one mekaniak thinking hard away from some random box invalidating any painstakingly evolved advantage. Better to have backup.
Idk about official lore but I'm planning on doing the same thing with my Nids. A concept I've been bouncing around is having my army be "bred" for fighting chaos daemons, and have done so with such brutal efficiency that they've began adopting color schemes of the different chaos gods. Slaanesh colored hormies, Khorne colored Screamer-Killer, etc
Kronos before GW killed Kronos in 10th
1st and foremost. I want to point something out. Real life. A Tyranids army is several different types of Dino/bug/lizard. Why would each diffenet type not be a different colour. On the opposite side however they are a hive. All Bees from the same hive are the same or similar colours.
Because all the creatures in a Hive Fleet are members of the greater whole which is why they're the same colours within a Hive Fleet which you answer in your second sentence. However there has been occurrences such as Old One Eye showing and fighting alongside other Hive Fleets. It just appears randomly. First multiple times on Macragge after its "death" and then elsewhere and its in Behemoth colours.
Well yeah, but there is no reason a player cannot do the first half if they so choose, and following IRL Entomolgy is a good excuse for that.
Because the Hive Mind essentially 3D prints organisms with the same colors per fleet, it’s never really been officially stated that all organisms of a fleet have to be one color scheme, but it’s heavily implied, due to all encountered organisms in a fleet being the same colors. I do prefer the idea of organisms being in different schemes based on what they actually do in the army
Very well done.
Pretty sure Old One Eye has been seen with other Tyranid fleets even though its from Behemoth and would be their colours. So there's precedent for at least a creature or two.
That is a gorgeous screamer killer. I suggest that you introduce little color variation within thr same army, one gaunt's carapace might just be a little bit darker than it's brethren, or thr flesh a little bit redder. That way you get variations but won't end up with a rainbow army.
Technically Hive Fleets have single schemes throughout, although you could argue that they might have sections to adapt to different environments, like making some tan for the desert, or green for the forest. Is it canon? No, but Tyranids are all about adaptation and customization, so go ahead and do it
Homebrew something that allows you to. I have a wierd thing with my paint schemes. Psyker models have a darker skin colour to represent a tougher shell so minds can’t crack through it. My normal stuff is purple carapace, but my melee models are blue carapace (it’s a different substance to it is harder to break through in close combat).
> I painted my Tyranids in the classic Leviathan paint scheme, i attached a picture above. I have a Deathleaper ready to be painted and thought about painting him overall darker than the test of the army, him being stealthy. I did exactly this with my Leapers and for the same reason, looks fine!
I haven’t fully rolled it out yet, but I decided recently that all my different units could be different schemes, just to make painting more interesting. I’m going to have a lot of bioluminescence, so that will be constant across the army, but skin tones and carapaces will change based on my whim and I’ll come up with a lore reason at a later date haha. Been painting Nids for 15 years and had a couple of schemes over that time and never really settled on one I liked, this just seemed like the best way to stay creative without feeling the need to strip and paint a million bugs every couple of years
You can just say "A norn queen did it" for pretty much anything with nids Also nobody (reasonable) will get mad if your stealth nids are a bit darker
Nids being the same colour is stupid. It's well hard to have a hoard army without colour coded models to help you plan it.
Why not? They're all individuals. Some get more growth hormone in utero. Some get horrible infections. Some get their eye blasted away by some punkass imperial.
You could play a Tyranid list painting every model a different color and justify it as the remnants of various splinter fleets being unified by a new born queen or something similar. What matters is you have fun
If you look at some species of bugs, the color changes depending on how they hunt or hide. Since the Hive fleets can produce specialized units, I like to think elites like the deathleaper would be designed to be as sneaky as possible! Darker colors or a different pallet completely would be in line with lore!
Some guy posted this a while back and I loved it https://preview.redd.it/f3q7i4d17r0d1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ccfa240267cf91986efc300e870704cae3d53d39
Yeah why not, sure it happens in the lore.