Purple People Eaters

A lot of people got their wargaming start with Games Workshop games/figures/etc and then discovered there's a whole wide-world of wargaming that goes beyond what GW dictates.

I seem to have gone the opposite direction.

Now, I'm not particularly interested playing 40K - the rule book costs too much for something that  I am not convinced is anything remotely close to worth it. One Page Rules are free, or if you want to shell out $5, you can buy the advanced rules PDFs on WargameVault and they get updated for free whenever OPR updates the files. Plus,  I have met several former GW gamers who say OPR is the fun they used to have before GW sucked the joy out of the room.

However, while yes, you can get 3D printed stuff or use models from any company to play OPR, I just happen to really love a lot of GW's sculpts. While aesthetically I prefer the more comical looking models of the 80s and 90s (Orks, I'm specifically looking at you), the current models are things of beauty, and panting them can be as complicated, or in my case, uncomplicated, as desired.

All that is to say, here's an update on my Tyranid termagants:

After priming, a wash with Magos Purple. Call it what you will GW, this is clearly Grape Juice.

Pallid Wych Flesh dry brush, Leviathan Purple applied, Ulthuan Grey dry brush on the purple, Reichland Flesh Shade on the gun bodies. Why can't their paints have normal names?

Presenting the first completed members of Hive Fleet Leviathan

The other side, so you can see the eyeball on the guns. Painted with craft paint! Let the clutching of pearls begin!

There are things  I see in close-up that make me annoyed and I'll go back and fix. Maybe. This is a horde army, individual models will blend into the mass. Even in Grimdark Future: Fire Fight (GD:FF), in a 300 point game I can field nine of them (if using the Force Org rules) or all of them (if I don't use Force Org rules).

And, this arrived Saturday:

Looking ahead (are wargamers ever not planning something more?) I am considering adding a canoness and three paragon warsuits but not until these are painted up. That would get me up to a 1000 point Grim Dark Future list (about 500 points in GW terms as I understand it) to bring to the Georgia OPR group (which, amusingly,  I am an admin on the FB group despite playing one game with the group).

Speaking of OPR, I got in a (solo) game of Plague Marines vs Blood Ravens on Father's Day night using GD:FF

Terrain provided by the neglected army men bin in my son's closet, which contains some things that used to be in my collection (CTS PZ IV, 21st Century terrain bits. The PlayMobil prison is his, but I have it earmarked for my collection :D ). Board provided by the Space Marine boardgame

The forces of Chaos demolished the forces of the Imperium - the one above is the sole survivor.

I used the kitchen table/small space rules for Grim Dark Future: Firefight, which halves all the ranges. However, I may have mistakenly set up the armies on the short sides which put a lot of distance between them (I couldn't be bothered to look at the rulebook PDF which on my laptop and not on my phone where it would be convenient).

 In Kill Team, the thing GD:FF approximates, Plague Marines have a base move of 4" compared to 6" for Assault Intercessors (all of my Blood Ravens are Assault Intercessors). But GD:FF does not give the Plague Marines the Slow trait - so they move the same. But about half of the Plague Marines had rifles vs the pistols of the Assault Intercessors, giving them a decided advantage with so much ground between the two forces.

Up next, more Tyranids! And an Ultramarine Infernus converted to Blood Raven Infernus (the three figures and paint sets come with the Ultramarine symbol molded into the left pauldrons instead of decals) to give the Blood Ravens a little bit more umph if not range (same range as a pistol).