Army Focus: Hive Fleet Nemain

Back in Second Edition just about the only army I didn't immediately want to build when I first saw it was the Tyranids. A lot of the models looked...awkward. There was talk of them being difficult to build, and the official scheme I found to be uninspiring. 

This changed when I returned to the hobby at the start of Fourth after leaving half way through Third. Suddenly the awkward monster army of the 90s was a horde of gribblies that looked awesome, and a new official scheme that was far more uniform and effective to my eye.

 I knew I wanted an army of them, and I knew I wanted it to be melee focused- despite knowing this would make games much trickier! However my focus was elsewhere and I never got around to it. 

 Then I was lucky enough to come into possession of a copy of Space Hulk. I had played the first edition of the game back in the 90s and loved it but had never owned my own version, and when GW rereleased it I was poor/saving for a house and couldn't justify it. So when I had the chance and spare cash it was a no brainer.

 As with many GW products, Space Hulk was the gateway drug... Soon I was buying Deathstorm when it came out and selling the Blood Angels, then using that along with my birthday and Christmas money to buy a Start Collecting Tyranids box, and trawling eBay for deals. Earlier this year I started building the army, 2000 points of melee monsters, going by the name Hive Fleet Nemain.

Nemain in Irish myth is a goddess- part of the more well known Morrigan- who personifies the frenzy, havoc and chaos or war, which seems to suit an army of melee Nids. I haven't decided which Fleet rules I'm going to use for the army, and haven't actually used it yet!

I debated long and hard on what Tyrant variant would lead the fleet. In the end I went with the Swarmlord, in part because he just looks great but also because he has great utility for a force that needs to get across the table quickly. 

When they brought back Screamer Killers for 8th edition I knew I had to build one. The lower talons are made from crushing claw arms with a talon added.

 I love the idea of Lictors but HATE the current model, I actually prefer the old one! I knocked together this one from a Broodlord, some scything talons, a Ymgral Genestealer mouth and a few random spares...

 Nothing like bursting from the ground and bringing some friends with you!

 What would a Genestealer heavy force be without some Broodlords

I have 30 Genestealers in the army, which I can arrange in a variety of ways. 

With the points reductions in Chapter Approved the army is now shy of the 2000 point total I wanted. To rectify that I'm planning to build some Gargoyles at some point to add even more fast moving harassment factors- I'll have most of two boxes worth left after my Furies conversion I have planned, though I'll be short their wings.... 🤔