There was a moment today, a day when the office was closed for the Day After Christmas (we get that day off--I'm a blessed man in many ways) where I thought about throwing the kids in the car and driving 40 minutes to the gaming store to go look at stuff. And then I said to myself, why? Why bother?
I call it a "Lead Pile" moment, and I think all wargamers get them. It's when your desire for something new and shiny comes smack up against the reality of all the unpainted stuff you have in your basement and how little time you actually spend with the hobby. It is not a bad moment and has probably prevented a few domestic squabbles. So instead of wasting gas and looking around at a store and likely not buying anything anyways, I thought I'd go rummage in the basement. There's a few large blocks of stuff down there.
Back in 2011 I was given a large load of Tyranids by a friend, intended for my son to use in Warhammer 40K. I got a quick start trying out a paint scheme but then it fizzled out almost right away. I got into building up my Brazen Claws and playing with a club at a local gaming store while my son got into other things.
Well, flash forward two years. Right now my Brazen Claws are on loan with another person and I can't make club night anymore. But two days ago my son and I had some fun playing Mordheim, and that got me thinking about trying to get him (and maybe some other people) into playing small games of 40K at my house on the odd evening when I'm free. Nothing too big or too competitive. I already own the rules and have at least one large army to work with, as soon as I get it back.
So that got me thinking about the Tyranids in the basement again, and I went and pulled them all out. Here's a quick pic of what the friend gave me.
If you click on the pic you'll get a better look. It's mix of semi-painted miniatures, assembled miniatures, and miniatures still on the sprues. The painted plastic is probably a loss because it's hard to strip and the other stuff would be easier to work with, at least initially. The pieces that are assembled on plastic, or are metal and can be stripped with Pine Sol are the best candidates with which to start. Here's those figures separated out.
To spare you the hassle of counting, here's what is there:
- 8 Genestealers
- 15 Termagaunts (those are the ones with guns)
- 10 Hormagaunts
- 5 Tyranid Warriors
- 7 Gargoyles
- 1 Carnifex
- 1 Ravener
- 1 Lictor
- 1 Biovore
Now I don't know the math, but that looks like a pretty solid start to a 500 point army. I'll build it up in manageable chunks, possibly alternating with my own 40K army, and we can try to get some small games in as we can. For those who didn't click on the link above, here's a re-post of the pretty simple paint scheme.
