Even More Termagants (And A Substitute Biovore)

 It feels like a while since I posted anything here. Things have been busy and a bit stressful, especially since I've been trying to get the new book sorted out, and I felt like painting something pretty mindless. And what could be more mindless than a fresh horde of termagants, those small cannon-fodder Tyranid beasties?

Some months ago, I managed to buy a fair few old-school termagants off ebay for a decent price. Not only did I get a bunch of plastic monopose termagants (which I like much more than they probably deserve) but there were nine metal hunter-slayers, which is what termagants were called before the first Tyranid army list. They only have two poses - braced for firing and pointing at something - but they're nice enough models. Getting the paint off them was extremely difficult, for some reason. It usually sloughs off older models, but not this time. Perhaps the original owner had used some unusual brand. 

Anyhow, here are the plastic termagants. I don't know why I like these models so much. Maybe it's because they're what I grew up with. Or perhaps it's that they're simple and small: painting them is pleasant and fairly quick. They must be one of Games Workshop's first uses of a ball and socket joint, which enables you to put their heads on at different angles and add a tiny bit of variety.

And here are the metal models. They were also simple and enjoyable to paint. Creatures that are cannon fodder ought to be easy to paint en masse. I feel sorry for Imperial Guard players, who have to crank out hundreds of comparatively complex men in armour and uniforms.

I also painted an old model that would function as a biovore, which is a sort of walking mortar that accompanied the old Tyranids into battle. Unfortunately, as with several of the models introduced in the first Tyranid codex, the old biovore model is pretty awful (and the later ones aren't much better). So, I used the second old Epic dominatrix miniature that I had gathering dust. I painted it exactly the same as the previous one I did. 

That's it for the moment. I've got some fantasy models that I'd like to finish off again, including a man with very jolly trousers. I'm a bit stuck for ideas at the moment, to be honest, but I'm sure that I'll come up with something. I like these old-fashioned Tyranids, although some of the models are ropey and they're extremely difficult to photograph (I think it's the red bodies that the camera finds difficult). 

Anyhow, more stuff next time!