Paint job: Old One Eye

Posted on by Thomas

Boom!

I just finished my DreadTober 2018 entry, the mighty, mighty Carnifex known simply as Old One Eye. The backstory of Old One Eye is pretty well known I guess, it get stranded on Calth, first frozen, then thawed. It trashes pretty everything until Telion, the master sharpshooter from the Ultramarines downs it with a “one in a million shot”. Seriously, I’m not making this up. Old One Eye is then somehow absorbed by the Hive Mind and released across galaxy as a sample Alpha Beast.

In-game, Old One Eye is a power house. It’s a monster in the most accute sense of the word. It has the all important Character keyword and nine wounds, making it safe from most ranged fire (I guess Telion actually could down it in-game too). It has wound regeneration too so defensively it is way better than your average Carnifex. But Old One Eye is all about the punch. And man, it brings it. With strength 7, five attacks at WS 3+ it might look a bit meh at first glance but Old One Eye is the Alpha Leader, adding +1 to all to hit-rolls for Carnifex models within 6″, including Old One Eye too. So it is functionally WS 2+. And when it charges it get another +1 to hit which means it can use its S14 Crushing Claws at 2+ to hit. Each making 3 damage at Ap -3.

That’s not all, if you roll 6+ on a to hit-roll you get an additional attack. With the bonuses on the charge you get additional attacks with the talons (S7, Ap -3, damage 3) on a 4+ and with the claws on a 5+. You should net something like 7-8 hits on the charge. Yeah, the damage output is quite insane. And if it gets killed, you pop the Death Frenzy Stratagem for 2CP and attack again before removing the model. Massive!

Oh well, Old One Eye is a lot of things but not cheap but it might be the best 200 points in the Codex.

Now pictures! First up the moody black ones …

… and then some crispy white ones.

Stay frosty, kittens!

15 thoughts on “Paint job: Old One Eye”

  1. Very nice, and the moody pictures are just ace as well. I always find the idea of Tyranid characters hard to swallow (not sure why really, something to do with individual personalities being recreated time and time again even though they get digested and reabsorbed by the fleet after every successful planetary consumption) but Old One Eye always get’s forgiven simply for being so cool (even if his backstory really is ridiculous). Nice work on the downed Ultramarine as well by the way, he’s simple but effective.

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    1. Thanks! Glad you like the old bug.

      I actually have no problem with character Tyranids. The are just more rare and more refined types of bugs. The emergence of these hyper-specialist type of organisms fit the fluff. Take Swarmlord or the Doom of Malan’tai, they evolve, gain experience and after being re-absorbed by the Hive Mind they are but another organism. More unique but never truly unique.

      The biggest problem with OOE is that it is never re-absorbed by the Hive Mind. It just goes MIA and suddenly is all across the galaxy. No plausible explanation. It is just weak lore.

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      1. I’d somehow blotted that from my memory but you’re right, I remember the first time I read it thinking “eh, how does he get around? How does he keep moving from one planet to another?” I can picture a genestealer lurking in a cargo hold but I don’t think Old One Eye has lurked in his life. He seems more the rampage-everywhere kind of chap, hardly conducive to gaining stealthy entrance to a starship.

        Still a gorgeous model though. Tempted to pick one up just to paint.

        As for my slight aversion to tyranid special characters, I freely admit, having given it considerable consideration, that it’s really an illogical bias, the lore explains it neatly (Old One Eye nonewithstanding) it just doesn’t quite sit right with me.

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  4. Terrific painting, and I really love the way Old One Eye looks in the moody dark shots.

    I too struggles for a while with the ridiculousness of the fluff for most of the Tyranid special characters, and particularly with Old One Eye. Then I remembered that almost all GW fluff (and indeed, for just about every other game I’ve read the lore for) is also completely ridiculous. So I just bask in the magnificent craziness rather than worrying about why Marneus Calgar takes the trouble to show up for every tuppenny skirmish in the back end of nowhere.

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    1. Cheers! I added some additional lighting when I took the moody pictures this time around and they came out much better. I’m glad you liked them.

      I have no real qualms about the lore in most cases, but Ultramarines are pretty annoying in particular. It’s always last minute deus ex machina type solutions to every situation. There is no real grim dark about them.

      While Swarmlord have a plausible explanation, being absorbed by the Hive Mind and recreated as a special organism. I can buy into that. Swarmlord and Old One Eye aren’t real special characters but an unique option due to being rarely unleashed by Hive Mind. The problem with OOE is that it is never re-absobed by the Hive Mind.

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      3. Nah. They’re a great alternative when you’re too tired to paint and gaming isn’t feasible because of time/weather/people/etc. They’re what I do when others would be watching TV…

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