Where it all began for me!

Those of you who know me, will know I adore my Tyranids. So today, I wanted to explain my love of this army to you all!

I was first introduced to Warhammer at a young age when my older brother started collecting, but I never really took a fancy to it at that time. I then became really interested in university when I attempted to paint my first ever miniature, and of course, I chose a Genestealer! I followed the painting guide in How To Paint Citadel Miniatures, as I didn’t know where to start, and this was great for two main reasons: 1) I liked the colour scheme of Hive Fleet Kraken, and 2) it had simple and easy step-by-step instructions to follow! Within a few hours, I had finished my first model, and I was incredibly proud of it. To this day it still gets used within my army!

The next step was to head into a Games Workshop store and decide if I still wanted to do Tyranids or choose a different army. We can all guess what I chose! The first box I bought was Hormagaunts, as from day one, I decided I wanted as many bodies on the table as possible, and I loved the idea of all the Hormagaunts swarming across the table to get to their prey.

Once they were painted, the hobby bug took hold! I expanded my force quickly and even started getting Warhammer-themed presents from my family to help my collection grow. My first year within the hobby was mainly spent painting – I had so much fun building and painting the models that I never thought of trying the game until I stepped into another Games Workshop and was invited back to try my army out. Having successfully won my first game, this set off another round of buying models and getting an army together to play more games in the store!

I still had a lot to learn about the hobby, so when the chance arose to work for Games Workshop, I leapt at it! This improved my gaming and painting skills, and grew my passion for the hobby even further, which allowed my army to expand even further. Being able to talk to people every day about why they enjoyed the hobby and what they were working on helped me get excited for my own hobby, and I often found myself painting one-off models for a new challenge. I started lots of different armies over the next few years while working in stores, but the one army I always came back to was my Tyranids.

There are many reasons I never strayed away from them for long, and the main one is the versatility that the army offers me. They have access to a huge range of models with a great variety of builds. My favourite unit has definitely got to be the Tervigon. I love the idea of the brooding monster constantly bringing new models to the battle. I build my army around having at least two Tervigons as my HQ choices, but I already have another one built at home waiting patiently to be painted and added to the army. Having multiple Tervigons does mean I need plenty of Termagants ready for the spawning, so with 90 painted I should (hopefully) have enough… for now!

Tyranids also have the choice to have monsters with big guns, flying monsters that can rip tanks in half and creatures lurking in the dark, ready to pounce when a hero’s back is turned. They cover all options for an army and allow you to build a force around a type of unit or a style of play. I’ve built armies that focus on running monsters, another which focuses on as many small bodies as possible, and everything in between. I now have over 5,000 points painted, with lots left in my pile of potential, and amazingly, there are units I still have yet to buy (but don’t worry, they’re on the list).

Nothing gets me to paint large numbers of models faster than an upcoming tournament, and a week before I flew out to a one, I realised I still needed 30 more Termagants to finish off my list! Lots of late nights of painting followed, but the army was completed with enough time to pack it up, and it looked great with all the bodies on the table together. That sight is something that helps drive me to paint more. A huge swarm of Tyranids conquering the table is something glorious to behold, and nothing makes me happier!