The return of Xenos Alchemist - Interviewing The Hydra / Simon Schnitzler

Well, it's been a bloody long time since Brother Pink and I put out our previous episode of our fledgling Xenos Alchemist podcast. However, now that I've restarted all the cogitators, re-established our link to the Hive Mind, and moved us off Soundcloud, I'm looking forward to doing a lot more of these. But first: let's clear the backlog of episodes Brother Pink had already produced before we went off the air.

No better way to mark our triumphant return than with an interview with Simon Schnitzler, one of my hobby heroes who is probably better known as Hydra over on his website H Archive, or as 4ydra over on Instagram. Simon and I met way back in 2006, and our friendship has blossomed well beyond the hobby in years since. Still, he remains one of the most prodigious builders of Tyranids I've ever seen, and his hobby brilliance has been rewarded with several Golden Demons.

Though this interview was meant to be about sculpting, we do a fair bit of digging through Simon's hobby history, and also wind up reflecting on our collective love for 90s action figures. Here's the episode for your listening pleasure:

...and if you've been subscribed to the blog for a while now, I wanted to point out that we've shifted our host from Soundcloud to Buzzsprout. Buzzsprout assures me that their system handled this seamlessly, and that anyone who was subscribed to us before should still be subscribed to us now. However, if you wanted to find us on Buzzsprout, you could do that here.

And, as we're dusting off our podcasting muscles, please let us know in the comments below if there are certain topics that you'd like to see Xenos Alchemist take on in podcast form.

The History of Mr. Pink and Modern Synthesist (Podcast Interview with Chapter Approved)

Something a little different today. I was approached about doing an interview by Tibbs, of Tibbs Forge fame, and more recently of his new podcast Chapter Approved. Tibbs is a GW hobby enthusiast after my own heart: he cares more about cool conversions and story than he does about uber-competitive gaming. And its this more laid back, more art-based hobby focus that he delivers in the Chapter Approved podcast.

Anyway. He thought that our interests aligned, so the two of us recorded a skype call, which turned into a bit of a marathon and will be broken up into a few podcast episodes. Over the course of it, we went through my history in the hobby, some of my work on Tyranids, a lot of my work on Dark Eldar and the Haemonculus Coven, and then onto what is probably best described as my ideological stance on the hobby and the importance of being true to what you enjoy.

This first part of the interview concerns how I got into the Warhammer 40k/Games Workshop hobby, and talks a lot about my work with Dark Eldar and the Haemonculus Coven. Tibbs put together a standard, audio podcast, so I painstakingly went through and annotated it with relevant images in the following video.

Have a listen/look and let us know what you think :)

Tyranid Archive: Birth of the Bugs

 

It's been nearly a year since my last Tyranid Archive post, and it's likely time for another, so welcome back to Tyranid Archive Wednesdays!

This is a repost of scans that were sent in to Faeit 212 by Deejay, but for the sake of the completeness of my Tyranid Archive series, I wanted to post them up here as well. They break the chronological flow of the previous articles, but I hope you'll forgive me that!

It's amazing to look back at some of this stuff (apparently from 1992) now, 20 years later, when the majority of the Tyranid line is in beautiful plastic. Most interesting to me is some of the art included, which I've never seen before. Even though these sketches are ancient, there may still be some inspiration for modern-day bugs hiding therein.

Also, this is a nice flash back to when the Genestealer Cults were actual forces. Here's hoping they return to tables again soon!

The Tyranid Archive - 5th Generation (2010, 2012)

In honour of 40k's 25th Birthday this year, I'm working at an ongoing series called "The Tyranid Archive," which is meant to be a historical look back on where Tyranids came from and how far they've come. Here's our last installment, for now, tracking the chronology of the main Tyranid model line's evolution. However, there are some gaping holes in this chronology that I'm trying to get some help to fill (Space Hulk? Genestealer Cults?), so those may be cropping up soon.

5th Generation (2010, 2012)

(Also known as The Age of The Trygon, Great! New Units!...Now Where Are The Models?, and Oh You'll Get Your Second Wave...Someday)

With this article, we're brought up to the current generation of Tyranid models and rules. As it's the one that current Tyranid players are most familiar with, I won't spend much time talking about the rules. However, some notable changes from 4th Generation/Edition for those of you who only started Nids recently were things like the strength and number of shots of ranged weapons going back to being an absolute value, rather than based on the strength/attacks of the creature carrying them. Our Niddy guns hadn't been like this since second edition, and though it makes things a little easier, I far preferred when the creature influenced the strength/attacks. It made for comedic possibilities like Carnifexes totting Str 9 or 10 Fleshborers. Then again, the new system makes things like devourers a little more useful on gaunts

Just like with my 4th Generation write-up last week, I'll be skipping over the tried-and-true models that remained in service from the old codex refresh through to the new one. However, If you're keeping score: Plastic Gaunts, Hormagaunts, Rippers, Warriors, Genestealers and Carnifex; Metal Hive Tyrant, Lictor, Tyrant Guard, Broodlord, Biovore, Spore Mines, and Zoanthrope.

With all those ranked up, you'd wonder what model slots were left to fill in the Tyranid range. Well, that'd be a good question because there weren't any. We had models for every unit in the 4th Generation Tyranid Codex. So how was Games Workshop going to justify a new Tyranid Codex? How were they going to sell new models if people already had access to the whole of the range?

Hive Fleet Moloch: The White Dwarf Articles

UPDATE: Marco Schulze/Hive Fleet Moloch lives again! You can not follow his work on his Hive Fleet Moloch Instagram profile!

I had meant to scan most of these in time for the two original Hive Fleet Moloch articles, but I only got around to it recently. I've scanned the covers of the magazines each article appeared in for reference sake. I feel like they're just further proof that Marco's Fleet was a big deal, and even Games Workshop recognized that. As these pertain to, IIRC, 4th Edition, they are, essentially, nostalgia pieces, but there are some good photos in there, so I wanted to share them with folks.

(EDIT) Someone pointed out that, due to the way Blogger displays photos, these may not be the easiest to read on here. Thus, here's a link to the actual gallery on google photos, wherein you can click on the loupe/magnifying glass above each image to see them full sized.)

White Dwarf 276
(March 2003)
Hive Fleet Moloch Feature 
(from the Nottingham Grand Tournament)

The Tyranid Archive - A Piece of the Hive Mind

Here's something I had completely forgotten about, but just rediscovered and figured was perfectly timely for us going over 4th Generation/Edition of Tyranid models this week. A few years back, when Moloch was better connected with the studio, he managed to score an interview with Phil Kelly and Jes Goodwin on the heels of the 4th Edition codex release. I feel like the article explains itself, and it's always lived on Warpshadow, but I've reproduced it here for the sake of completeness and ease of use. I can't promise that it's aged well, but it does give a unique insight to the minds of the creators. If anything, it's a pretty solid indication of just how open the studio used to be that Jes and Phil were ever allowed to give an interview like this to someone who wasn't employed by Games Workshop.

The Tyranid Archive - 4th Generation (2005)

In honour of 40k's 25th Birthday this year, I'm working at an ongoing series called "The Tyranid Archive," which is meant to be a historical look back on where Tyranids came from and how far they've come. Here's our next installment.

4th Generation (2005)

(Also known as PLASTIC CARNIFEX!)

The 4th Generation/Edition refresh of the Tyranid codex caught me completely by surprise. Moloch, who at that time was pretty tight with the studio, had warned me it was coming. I remember being shocked, thinking that Nid players had waited so long for their codex after the release of 3rd Edition (not, actually, that long now that I look at it objectively), and that there was no possible way that we could be getting new models because Games Workshop had only just refreshed the entire model line. Long story short, I was, more or less, happy with the situation the Tyranids were in during 3rd Edition, and I couldn't imagine how Games Workshop could possibly improve on it.

Oh, how wrong I was.

The Tyranid Archive - 3rd Generation (2001)

In honour of 40k's 25th Birthday this year, I'm working at an ongoing series called "The Tyranid Archive," which is meant to be a historical look back on where Tyranids came from and how far they've come. Here's our next installment.

3rd Generation (2001)
(Also known as the Birth of Mutable Genus or What Is The Least Number Of Genuses I Can Get Into An Army, We Can Get Them For You Cheap, and Screw This Grinfex: Where's My Plastic Carnifex?)

The third edition codex brought with it a whole world of Tyranid evolutions that we still enjoy to this day. It created Scything Talons and Rending Claws where before there were just Random Slashy Things. The strength of ranged weaponry went from being absolute as defined by gun to being variable as defined by the bearer's strength (Venom Cannons, for example, fired at the strength of the creature carrying them +2, and a devourer on a carnifex was Str 8!). We were introduced to the importance of Synapse and the requisite consequences of Instinctive Behaviour. It was the birth of the Tyranid Monstrous Creature, with its ability to ignore armour and roll 2D6 penetration, and it was the first time Tyrants ever got wings. Genestealers, with their armour-munching rending claws, became the bane of many folks' existence. However, you were lucky if your genestealers ever made it to combat because the newly-introduced, Tyranid-specific "shoot the big ones" (no joke; that was actually the name of it) rule meant that our opponents could ignore standard rules for target priority/screening and fire on any Tyranid unit they liked.

The codex was set up in a similar fashion to others of the era, with a complete list of Tyranid creatures at front of the book, allowing a few options per squad, and you could build a full army from that list.

But then there was this mad, secondary list at the back of the book that fell under the heading of "Mutable Genus List," and it detailed the various "Mutable Genus" species of Tyranid (Gaunts, Warriors, Rippers, Carnifexes, and Tyrants).

The Tyranid Archive - Armorcast Tyranids and Other Big Dreams

In honour of 40k's 25th Birthday this year, I'm working at an ongoing series called "The Tyranid Archive," which is meant to be a historical look back on where Tyranids came from and how far they've come. Here's our next, rather large installment. Note: this post has been edited thanks to some feedback from Tim DuPertuis himself. Thanks Tim!

Back in Second Edition 40K days, a couple of companies started dreaming big dreams out in the western United States. They took the designs of the miniaturized super heavy tanks and titans of Epic and made the creative leap of introducing these massive weapons to games of Warhammer 40K...at a scale that was more or less accurate. Their creations dwarfed the models that 28mm wargammers had become accustomed to, and the company that seemed to be selling the majority of these huge engines of destruction was called Armorcast.

Armorcast started in June of 1995 as the brainchild of Tim DuPertuis and Dave Garton.

The Tyranid Archive - Epic 40k

In honour of 40k's 25th Birthday this year, I'm working at an ongoing series called "The Tyranid Archive," which is meant to be a historical look back on where Tyranids came from and how far they've come. As I wasn't sure I'd have time for a Flesh Friday this week, here's a little Tyranid Archive side trip. Apparently there was a goodly amount going on back in second edition, and a complete Tyranid Archive would not be the same without the inclusion of...

Epic 40,000
(Also known as Titan Legions, Warhammer Micro Machines, and Sorry My Cat Ate Half Your Army)


I can't tell you very much about the Epic game system, unfortunately, since I never had any interest in/experience with it. However, Games Workshop did a pretty good job of shrinking down all of the second edition Tyranids into epic models, while also expanding the overall Tyranid line to include some massive bugs that we'd never seen before. Though the designs for the bigger bugs were a bit wacky, and, in some instances, a bit too sluggish for my tastes, they created a space in the imaginations of Tyranid players that has persisted to this day, encouraging people to take on conversions to represent things like Dominatrixes, Exocrines, and Dactylis.

So, without further ado, here are the Tyranids of Epic 40k. Special thanks to Warpshadow member Markconz for providing us with photos of his swarm.

First off, the devils we know:

The Tyranid Archive - 2nd Generation (1995)

In honour of 40k's 25th Birthday this year, I'm working at an ongoing series called "The Tyranid Archive," which is meant to be a historical look back on where Tyranids came from and how far they've come. Here's our next installment.

2nd Generation (1995)

(Also known as Warhammer 40k, The Codex Era, and You Can Have As Many Of That As You Like)

The second generation of Tyranids was ushered in by the army's first codex. What a lovely tome that was, allowing everything from Warriors through to Lictors, Zoanthropes, Carnifexes, and Hive Tyrants access to Tyranid-specific Wargear called "biomorphs." As this was second edition, these biomorphs were not your simple +1 Str improvements, they were mad abilities like feedback-causing forcefields and ranged bioplasma attacks that you could mix and match on some of the larger creatures. They were as far beyond our current biomorphs as a conversion beamer is beyond a bolt pistol. 

The Tyranid Archive - 1st Generation

With a little helpful suggestion from a Warpshadow member, I came up with the idea of cataloguing the genesis of the Tyranid model range since its introduction way back in the fuzzy mists of Games Workshop history. It's something I've always been kind of obsessed with: keeping track of older models and making sure that newer modellers knew where their beloved bugs originated. What's more, this is the year 40K turns 25, so what better time to look back on our beginnings?

Thus, this will be the beginning of The Tyranid Archive, a historical look back on where Tyranids came from and how far they've come.