Every hive fleet spawns its swarms in distinctive patterns – trading on their notoriety to instil fear in their prey – and helpfully, this makes them a lot easier to paint. With the new Codex: Tyranids going up for pre-order tomorrow, we’ve collected some of our best painting guides so you can get a head start on your new swarm – starting with the big bads of the new edition.
Leviathan
As the single largest and most widespread of the hive fleets, Leviathan is sometimes mistaken for the Tyranid race as a whole. Their forces have been found in every Segmentum of the Imperium, leading Inquisitors of the Ordo Xenos to a horrifying conclusion – Leviathan’s tendrils are attacking from below the galactic plane, closing around the galaxy like a pair of unimaginably massive jaws.
One such fleet struck straight for the heart of Terra itself, stripping countless worlds bare of life before finally being stopped at great cost by Ultramarines under Captain Uriel Ventris, with the aid of the renegade Inquisitor Kryptman. Another force surged around Baal and laid waste to the home of the Blood Angels, again stopped at the last moment only with the sacrifice of many thousands of Space Marines.
Now, the Fourth Tyrannic War erupts, and their distinctive purple-and-bone coloured bioforms have struck wherever life can be found. Thankfully, their colour scheme is easy to apply to massive hordes of troops, starting with a full basecoat of Wraithbone shaded with thinned Magos Purple.
Naggaroth Night and Abaddon Black give the carapace and claws a solid contrasting colour, which are also easy to highlight with Warpfiend Grey and Thunderhawk Blue. For the full breakdown, check out our video guide below.
Behemoth
The creatures of Hive Fleet Behemoth were the first Tyranids encountered by the Imperium, with their sudden attack on the world of Tyran giving the newly encountered aliens their name. The fleet ploughed headlong into Ultramar with millions of voidborne organisms, destroying the agri-world of Prandium despite Marneus Calgar himself commanding the defence – a failure that forced him to develop entirely new strategies to combat an unfamiliar foe.
Most infamously, Behemoth struck at the homeworld of the Ultramarines and nearly succeeded in destroying the Chapter in the Battle of Macragge. The entire 1st Company perished in a heroic last stand at the northern polar fortress, and utter defeat was only averted when the sacrifice of the Emperor-class Battleship Dominus Astra pulled the main Tyranid fleet into a warp vortex.
The radiant crimson Tyranids of Hive Fleet Behemoth also possess a very accessible colour scheme, using a base of Mephiston Red shaded with Carroburg Crimson and drybrushed with Jokaero Orange. Their dark blue, near-black carapace likewise starts with Corvus Black shaded with Nuln Oil, before picking up some highlights of Temple Guard Blue to add colour to the black.
Check out the guide below to follow along and find out what else you need to complete your models.
Kraken
Nearly 250 years after Behemoth laid waste to Macragge in the First Tyrannic War, Hive Fleet Kraken smashed into the galaxy and reignited the nightmare all over again. This time, its tendrils fanned out wider than before, and Imperial, Aeldari, and fringe T’au Empire worlds alike felt its claws.
Kraken laid waste to Craftworld Iyanden, forcing its Farseers to rouse a massive number of Wraithguard and Wraithlords in its defence. It took the intervention of Prince Yriel – arriving suddenly from exile to cripple the Tyranid fleet – to turn the tide, and the narrow victory left the craftworld as a gaunt shadow of its former self.
Tyranids of Hive Fleet Kraken most commonly spawn with deep bone-coloured bodies and bright red carapace panels. A basecoat of Wraithbone and Morghast Bone, followed by a Contrast coat of Skeleton Horde on the body and Flesh Tearers Red on the armour gets you most of the way, with a few more details and highlights shown off in the video guide below to complete the model.
Jormungandr
Although one of the lesser-known Hive Fleets, Jormungandr had an outsized impact on Imperial space by employing many new and unconventional tactics – a feat few knew the Hive Mind was capable of. It reserved its forces rather than employing overwhelming swarms in frontal attacks, and favoured preliminary bombardments of Mycetic Spores before undermining enemy defences with Raveners, Trygons, and Mawlocs.
Most notably, Jormungandr attacked much further towards the galactic north than any prior hive fleet, which had otherwise kept largely to the eastern rim. This made it clear that nowhere was truly safe from Tyranid attack, and in forcing a change in Imperial dogma,* it turned valuable eyes away from internal troubles and outwards towards the starless void.
As befits their more subtle nature, the Tyranids of Jormungandr have predominantly black bodies with a sharply contrasting yellow-brown carapace. This is a very forgiving colour scheme with plenty of room for artistic flair, starting with a basecoat of Abaddon Black drybrushed with Eshin Grey, before painting the brighter panels with Averland Sunset and Seraphim Sepia.
The simplicity of these colours let you batch paint a large number of Tyranids extremely quickly, and if you want to learn more about how you can give yours a full Battle Ready finish, the video below has lots on offer.
Gorgon
Unlike the previous four Hive Fleets, Gorgon has largely avoided the Imperium. By consuming lightly defended worlds at the galactic edge, this splinter fleet regained its lost biomass until it rivalled the size of a full hive fleet, and the newly arisen Gorgon turned its attention to the densely packed T’au Empire.
Here, the relentless adaptability of the Tyranid race met its match in the technological advancement of the T’au. Breakneck evolution in weapons and biomass led both forces to trade victories and defeats, until the freak emergence of an Imperial fleet – lost 150 years prior en-route to the Damocles Crusade – threw an almighty spanner into the works.
In the end, the sheer mismatch in technology and tactics between the T’au and Imperial forces – who put aside their differences against the larger threat** – was too much for Gorgon to handle. Though the joint forces believe the hive fleet defeated, new agri-worlds have since come under attack, and suspiciously tainted food with hallmarks of Tyranid poison has begun to emerge at nearby planets…
Like many Tyranids, Gorgon’s swarms opt for a bone-coloured carapace, but this time with vibrant green flesh beneath. A basecoat of Death Guard Green sets it up nicely for a drybrush of Screaming Skull – also the perfect colour for highlighting the carapace – so you can finish off a large batch of models quickly with our video guide.
Which hive fleet will you be picking for your new Tyranids? Have you already sent forth your swarm in the livery of one of the major players above, or did you concoct your own entirely? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter, and be sure to pick up the incredible new miniatures and Codex coming to pre-orders tomorrow!
* At least the Imperium has a history of reacting quickly to changes in long-held beliefs, right? Right?
** You could almost say it was for the Greater Good. Checkmate, Imperium.
