Armies on Parade is almost upon us, and today we’re looking at another awesome entry to inspire your own boards Eddie Eccles’ Tyranids managed to take gold in last year’s contest at Warhammer World and looking at it, it’s not hard to see why! Featuring awesome conversions and a technicolour paint scheme, it’s really something:
Anphelion Beta
Tyranids, by Eddie Eccles
“I always wanted to do a Tyranids army,” says Eddie. “I also liked the idea doing a bright and colourful army, something really alien and weird that would be really striking on the battlefield and really different. In this case, the colour scheme is inspired by something called the peacock mantis shrimp – a ludicrously colourful, rainbow-esque lobster-like crustacean whose bright, unique colouration was a great inspiration for painting Tyranid creatures of all kinds.
“In terms of the board, I wanted something that really contrasted with the bright and colourful alienness of the Tyranids –something harsh, industrial, Imperial, but slowly being corrupted by the Tyranids. I went for lots of beaten metal and corroded pipework, but with bits of alien flora and fauna poking out – and, of course, the digestion pool at the front, which looks entirely alien – nothing earthbound should be that colour.”
Eagle-eyed readers may recognise the posters from the Regimental Standard online. “I imagine these guys were regular readers,” says Eddie. “Before the Genestealer Cult arrived, at least.”
Speaking of Genestealers, Eddie’s Broodlord in all its glory. Eddie’s entire force is made up of vanguard organisms, the first things the inhabitants of a target world will face.
“A big advantage of the Tyranid range,” says Eddie, “is that you can switch a lot of the bits between kits fairly easily.” A great example of the ease with which you can kitbash the Tyranid range is Eddie’s converted Hive Tyrant.
Many of the models in the army have had conversion work done to them, all for the purpose of making the army even more horrific and alien to look at. “I wanted that reaction of shuddery revulsion a lot of people have to things with far too many eyes,” says Eddie. “Or things with none.” Eddie’s Hive Tyrant, for example, is physically blind, using other alien senses to hunt prey.
Once the workers of this doomed world, the Genestealer Cultists all bear the taint of the Genestealer. Fourth-generation hybrids have mottled flesh, whereas the heavily-mutated Aberrants share their alien kin’s vivid hues.
WHAT COLOUR IS THAT, EDDIE?
To get his fantastic paint scheme just right, Eddie used a whopping 80 paints across the models and the board for his entry.
This article was first published in the October 2016 issue of White Dwarf Magazine.
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