The ravenous Tyranid hordes are available to pre-order right now, and if you can’t beat them, you might as well join them. Warhammer Community regular Tyler Mengel is back with a guide to joining the Hive Fleets in double-quick time, showing us how to get your Parasite of Mortrex table-ready with a mix of Contrast paints and other Citadel paints before its Ripper swarm progeny break down the door.
Tyler: If there’s any army in the far future that’s the perfect candidate for Contrast paints, it’s the Tyranids. They have tons of organic textures, and usually have bright, vivid colours as well.
I considered painting the Parasite in Hive Fleet Leviathan colours, but as I got my start in Warhammer 40,000’s third edition I had to go with Hive Fleet Kraken. I have tons of memories of the relaunch of the Tyranid range from back then, and the cream and red of Kraken were front and centre.
Cream Carapace
The entire model was primed with Wraithbone spray. I then went over this with some Wraithbone from the pot to ensure I had solid coverage.
Next I made a roughly 70/30 mix of Contrast Medium and Aggaros Dunes, to make sure the Contrast paint didn’t tint the cream surface too heavily. This was painted over any of the areas that are going to be the Parasite’s skin – so make sure it doesn’t dry in any weird pools.
This was followed by a heavy drybrush of Ushabti Bone on these same areas.
At this point – before highlighting anything – I decided to pick out the exposed fleshy bits between the skin. To do this I used undiluted Fyreslayer Flesh, which has a very rich brown tone.
To finish off this creature’s cream hide, I edge highlighted all of it with Pallid Wych Flesh.
The Wings
I touched up the wings with Wraithbone wherever colours from the previous steps got a bit messy. Once I had a solid coat again, I painted the wing membranes with a 50:50 mix of Fyreslayer Flesh and Contrast Medium.
By diluting it, I was able to control how it flowed a bit more, which helped keep it away from the bits I’d already finished. I did two coats of this to get a strong colour.
Once this was dry, the membranes got a heavy drybrush of Cadian Fleshtone. It’s inevitable that you’ll get some of this on the “fingers” of the wings, but still try and be as neat as you can.
This was followed by a lighter drybrush of Kislev Flesh. We’re mostly just looking to pick out the tops of folds, to give the wings some depth.
To break up the large, flat areas of the wings I decided to add a mottled look, focused around the areas where the membranes touch the fingers and the body. This was done in three phases, starting with a 50:50 mix of Fyreslayer Flesh and Contrast Medium to paint a splotchy, natural-looking pattern.
I then darkened the mix with a bit more Fyreslayer Flesh, and added some smaller dots once the first stage was completely dry – these were mostly within the splotches of the previous step, but you’ll want to add a few small ones outside of it, too, for a natural look.
Lastly, I watered this mix down heavily so it was really thin, and dabbed some even larger blobs on top of the previous two steps.
Finally, I went back in with Kislev Flesh and painted edge highlights along the edges of the membranes. I also cleaned up any of the fingers that got too messy with Ushabti Bone and Pallid Wych Flesh.
Red Carapace
First, clean up any of the areas that you’re going to paint red with Wraithbone (if you need to). Then give all of it a solid coat of undiluted Blood Angels Red.
To deepen this colour a bit, I made a 50/50 mix of Flesh Tearers Red and Lahmian Medium and covered all of the red areas in two coats.
The first highlight was done with Wild Rider Red. I picked out all of the edges, and then also added the growth lines so familiar to Tyranid players.
These were focused towards the ends of the carapace, so you want to start out a bit thicker and make them thinner as you move in. They typically go about half the length of the carapace.
The red was finished off with a final highlight of Fire Dragon Bright. I used this to add dots to all of the corners, and also picked out some extreme edges.
Final Touches
About 99% of the model is already done! At this point, I picked out the teeth and the spikes on some of the claws with Ushabti Bone. The teeth got a quick wash of Agrax Earthshade, and then all of them were highlighted with Screaming Skull.
I also did a wash of Carroburg Crimson inside the mouth to give it a fleshier feel, and then picked out the tongue with Bugman’s Glow.
Just base the model however you want, and you’re all done! I went for a darker, grey base, using Astrogranite to contrast with the lighter, more saturated model.
These techniques are perfect for any Hive Fleet Kraken model. On the rank and file Hormagaunts and Termagants I would probably leave off the final highlight stage on the cream skin, or maybe just use it on prominent areas like the face. Now with just a handful of paints and a few simple steps, you too can start consuming the galaxy’s biomass!
Thanks Tyler! Pre-order your own Parasite of Mortrex right now to start terrorising Fortress Worlds by the dozen, alongside the deliciously devilish Codex: Tyranids. Thanks to this guide, you’ll even get the model-stuffed Combat Patrol: Tyranids painted up in no time at all.