I decided to try something new: both in terms of models and format.
With the release of the Indomitus box, I not only took the plunge into Necrons, but also into hobby livestreaming.
And now you can watch me fumble my way through BOTH on this YouTube video! The quality is not stellar as I shot it on my phone, but have a look anyways to see how I make out.
Anyone out there joining me in this new necron plunge, inspired by these stellar new models?
Next up in the How to Sculpt Miniatures video series, we have another guest post from Brother Hydra, This time focusing on how to sculpt ribs. As this is one of the main textures on Tyranids, it's a really useful one to get down.
I've done a number of sculpting tutorial videos over on YouTube, but if you're just getting started with greenstuff, and you have only 3 minutes to spare, here are my quick tips that you need to know. Once you've got these down, I very much encourage you to check out my other video tutorials on YouTube.
Also! If you're already familiar with my tutorials, and you have a suggestion for other videos I could produce, let me know in the comments below what I can help you sculpt.
In this episode of Xenos Alchemist, we talk to Hydra about his most recent passion, Frostgrave, and how he's playing miniature games remotely in this time of Corona. There's a lot about Frostgrave and the idea of miniature liberation. However, we also talk about balancing family and hobby, why we're probably not getting into CAD sculpting any time soon, and how #Blanchitsu and #Inq28 is the equivalent of an artistic revolution.
Even if you're not into Frostgrave (as we're not!), this should still be an interesting listen. We really wanted to have Hydra talk about Frostgrave because its stripped-down approach to rules could be pretty useful for folks who are into Inq28 / AOS28-style gameplay and narrative events.
Based on your preference, we've got two ways to enjoy this episode.
In audio format, like usual:
Or in video format:
However you prefer your podcasts, we've got you covered.
If you're not already following Hydra, you can see more of his work here:
https://www.instagram.com/4ydra/
http://h-archive.com/
And here are the Instagram handles for the other artists we mentioned:
@hivefleetmoloch
@with_teatea
@btwnbolterandme
@thepolysmith
@a_polanscak
Let us know what you thought of this episode, and if you have any questions you'd like to ask us or Hydra, you can share them in the comments below or email modernsynthesist@gmail.com.
It's that time again: time to return to the Tyranid Dominatrix from a Hierodule concept to see how the intervening years can improve on this community concept.
He cleaved pretty close to the classic Forgeworld Tyranid Hierodule model, fixing all of the annoying angry chicken parts of it, but with that he challenged the idea that Forgeworld models couldn't be converted, and he moved the Tyranid Dominatrix concept forward from the classic Epic model...
Back before Brother Pink and I came up with the Xenos Alchemist podcast, we were experimenting with what a recorded program would be like, and what we'd talk about. Those experiments resulted in this: the Proto Tyranid to Xenos Alchemist's fully-formed plastic Tyranid Warrior.
At the time, we called it "Vestigial Twin."
So, as we're busily working away on our next episode of the proper Xenos Alchemist podcast, we thought we'd share this blast from the past with you to tide you over until the next proper episode of XA drops (we'll try for a week today). And I promise that we'll make the wait worth it with double the content...whatever that means!
Until then, enjoy this. It's mostly just Brother Pink and I shooting the shit, mostly talking about sculpting and various materials. Since it's a proto-cast, the sound quality is not stellar, so consider yourself warned!
ALSO! If you actually read this far, I figured I should check if anyone who's been listening to the podcast has any questions or topics they'd like to suggest for us to cover on the air? If so, you can share them in the comment below or email them to modernsynthesist__at___gmail__dot___com.
We've got a brand new episode of mine and Brother Pink's Xenos Alchemist podcast for you today, and this one's a love letter to one of the best xenos races out there: the Kroot! In this episode we catch up on The Siege of Pech: a group project to stage a Krootvasion of the Adepticon 2021 Team Tournament, and we talk a little about what makes the Kroot so interesting.
This will be the first of two Siege of Pech episodes, and in our second one we hope to interview Ironbeak Mercenaries and That Kroot Guy: the two progenitors of this project.
So k0rdhal and I have been joking that we should start up a random podcast. His name's Nick, and my name's Nick, so we mused it could be called "Too Many Nicks!". Wasn't really sure what the focus would be, but for this inaugural episode, we tried doing some hot takes on this weekend's reveals from Games Workshop. Give it a watch and let us know if its the kind of randomness you'd like to see more of. Think of it as a hold over thing until the next proper podcast episode of Xenos Alchemist.
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.
I can't say no to a commission that involves creating a horrible monster. Ostensibly, this one was meant to be a big Tyranid beastie: either a Broodlord or a patriarch for a Genestealer brood that had taken a decidedly Eldrict turn somewhere along the way.
However it could just as easily be any kind of horrible chaos demon.
Usually clients allow me a lot of freedom when developing the design for the beasties they ask me to build for them. This client, however, was pretty exacting about keeping the design very close to the source material, which was this Yugioh card for Lovecraft fan favorite: NYARLATHOTEP!
HORAY TENTACLES! IA! IA! FTHANG R'LEH!
AHEM.
To say I was thrilled by the challenge would be an understatement. Not only did I get to give flesh to an ancient horror, I got to do it in the service of the Hive Mind!
