The Painting Fork in the Road

In January I found a paint scheme I liked as a starting point for my Tyranids and rushed to get the job to a table-top standard for a tournament in March with plans to finish all 77 models before the next big tourney. It was a great plan until I started getting complemented on the paint job at Railhead Rumble and received a solid paint score. When I got back home and played some local games, random people shopping at Dragon’s Lair stopped and gaped at my models, offering praise and snapping pictures with their phones, as well I won Best Painted at a local tournament at Wonko’s Toys and Games. That planted the seed of doubt in my mind that I didn’t need to push my paint job further, which would darken the lighter blue color quite a bit, and should just finish the models with the lighter blue in mind. I had approached a fork in my hobby road. Do I switch down the path which was getting me complements or stay the course which would be more involved and may not be as well-received?

Pros to Taking the Fork

Most of the way there with my models and can move right in to fine detail work saving time and energy. This is a huge boost as I plan to add at least 31 models to my 1850 list for the Alamo GT now that Dataslates are allowed in that tournament.

Color scheme has been well-received by opponents, random lookers and tournament organizers. As I said above, I’ve gotten an overwhelmingly positive response to the lighter blue scheme as it is now, so the paint scheme seems to be working as is.

It is a quick painting process that can be replicated on future models easily. I was stunned with how easy the method I used on my ’Nids was. Prime white, hit the exoskeleton parts with two coats of Seraphim Sepia. Hit the shell parts with Drakenhof Nightshade. Paint the talons with Abaddon Black and then the rest is just varied detail work.

Cons to Taking the Fork

Some of the models in my army have already been painted to the next step and would have to be stripped or not look cohesive. This will offset some of the advantage of going with the lighter blue as I’ll either be starting from scratch if I strip the paint or certain Monstrous Creatures will not match the rest of the army.

The original vision for the army will never be achieved. This is the major obstacle for me. Going with the dark, dark blue was the original intent as it appears more natural a color scheme than the lighter blue and the idea was that the Tyranids had adapted to match the terrain on their bases, which the darker blue does brilliantly.

Decision Time

Despite the advantages, I’ve decided to press ahead with the original vision. It looks too good on the base to not follow through and will mean the army has a cohesive aesthetic. So, I’ll be painting furiously for the next month and a half and probably won’t get much practice in with the list but I’ll have a great looking army to play with!