Hivefleet Hydra - The Dominatrix

Greetings everybody!

In the early day of www.warpshadow.com (well, early from nowadays... we all get old :D) there had been one the one side, compared to todays range, very few Tyranids Models out there.
On the other hand, very talented people crowded there, designing concepts and ideas for all kinds of tyranids.

And since the carnifex was the only biggy in plastic, owning a hierodule form Forge World was one of the biggest thing to have.
By a lucky coincident I came into the possession of a second hierodule.

But, what to do, with a second one, when there is hardly a chance to field even one.





On warpshadow, someone had posted a concept for an updated Dominatrix....
A Dominatrix? No that is not something kinky...

Quoting: http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Dominatrix

"A Dominatrix (Tyranicus praepotens) is the Tyranid Norn-Queen's link to the Tyranid swarms on the ground as the Norn-Queen must stay aboard the Hive Fleet's largest Hive Ship to continue birthing more Tyranid bioforms. This colossal creature is a fearsome opponent, for its sheer mass and panoply of bio-weaponry dwarf that of an Imperial super-heavy tank. The Dominatrix is no unthinking beast -- its level of intelligence is akin to that of the Hive Tyrant, and its link to the Hive Mind surpasses even those mighty creatures. Whilst within range of the Dominatrix's psychic aura, lesser Tyranid creatures become little more than an extension of the Dominatrix's will. As a result, a swarm under the Dominatrix's direct supervision functions with uncanny efficiency and a tactical genius that is beyond compare. Fortunately, such beasts are extremely rare in all but the most advanced and mature Tyranid swarms, for where the Dominatrix treads, doom surely follows."

Until that updated concept, a Dominatrix had only appeared in Epic 40k looking like that:

At some point, some in the olden days of 40k, someone build an 28mm scale Dominatrix:

And now, the concept of the 3rd Edition updated Dominatrix by Warren Beattie

Isn't she a beauty?

With that in mind and a hierodule to spare, I did the unthinkable and put a saw to a Forge World Model, which resulted in the following:

So, follow my progress along the pictures of how I turned that piece of resin into a Dominatrix:

At that point I was pretty much done, but I just didn't like that guns barrel and at some point the riders faces aswell...

That beast done, it was time to make a base. Since in my oppinion, the base is the chance to tell a story beyond the model itself, I wanted something contrasting to the Dom. Since tyranids are based on organic matter, I wanted the base to bring the biggest possible contrast and represent the anorganic sphere. Aside from that, I wanted to show the effect of a tyranid weapon...

 Now, it was only a matter of paint :D

In the end, the Dom won me bronze at the Golden Demon Canada 2007 ...

 

And became part of Bell of Lost Souls Apocalypse Titan Spreadsheets:

That conversion became so popular that Mr. Pink redid it even twice :D
http://www.modernsynthesist.com/2011/04/redux-dominatrix-from-hierodule.html

I hope you enjoyed my little roam though "back in the days"!

Stay tuned!