It’s certainly unusual for me to finish a project so quickly but the first Scout Squad is complete. All the legs were cast in greenstuff (surprisingly easier than resin). Otherwise these are pretty straightforward, I’ll show how I made the torso when I finish the Scout Biker “Lion Rider” squad, it’s simple but effective all the same. The plethora of scout accessories makes it simple to hide any gaps where the torso meets the legs, but the fit is pretty good anyway.

Click the image for a larger version in a new window.

They generally stand (34mm tall) head and shoulders above the regular metal and plastic scout models but are still shorter than the rest of my Actual Scale Space Marines (average 39mm tall).

Completed Project Casting Greenstuff, Truescale Scouts

A few days ago I started work on my first truescale Scouts. At first I just expected them to be a very simple conversion requiring nothing more than slightly lengthened legs. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case as they turned out still too short with long feeble legs.

My approach then is two fold. Increase the height and mass of the torso and make completely new scaled up pairs of legs. The torso is made by chopping the breather tubes from the front of the scout torso component and then completely removing the front of said torso and replacing it with a chest piece from a regular power armoured Space Marine. The breather tubes can then (with a little trimming) fit back on top. I’ll give a full breakdown with pics at a later date.

The legs were a little trickier. In the end I just sculpted fresh legs in the same style and position as the existing plastic legs but so far without any of the details like pouches, ammo or holster. I spent most of today trying to make casts of these legs (I made 2 variants) and much to my frustration haven’t been able to get rid of the air bubbles that are ruining them. I may end up simply making the whole squad’s legs from greenstuff as trying to fill in holes left by air bubbles is more time consuming than making them from scratch.

I don’t think the arms will look too out of place, but I haven’t checked yet. Other than the legs, these are pretty straight forward so I’ll try and knock together a tutorial at some point.

Also in the works is a Scout Biker squad, but instead of bikes they ride lions. I’ve mounted these High Elf lions on bases, with some minor pose alterations and started rebuilding the shoulder armour so it’s less “High Elfy”.

Work in Progress Bikers, casting, Lions, Truescale Scouts

So after much deliberation I’ve settled on Beastmen as my army for Warhammer 8th edition. I like the fact they are one of the least popular forces being collected but I also think I can make them into a great looking army.

My starting point is the theme of the army, which will be Tzeentch. Yes, I know Beastmen’s rules aren’t tied to any one God of Chaos anymore but that’s not important. I’ve always favoured Tzeentch above the other Gods and I’m a real big fan of what was done for Tzeentch in Warhammer Online, a move away from the traditional bright primary colours and presented in the subtler form of the Raven God. As such the Chaos forces from the game will be a big influence on the aesthetics for my conversions and painting.

The first major conversion will be a Doombull who will serve as the “army champion”. The inspiration for this character will be this image from White Dwarf 135.

With a little help from the guys on Warseer I came up with this equipment for him.

Heavy Armour
Enchanted Shield
Sword of Swift Slaying
Gnarled Hide
Shadow Hide
Arabyan Carpet

The Carpet will allow him to fly and will be represented by his large feathered wings. The rest of his gear gives him a 1+ save and allows him to hit first with re-rolls most of the time. The Shadow Hide gift will also influence the final look of the miniature (converted from the latest Doombull mini). I’ll come up with a suitable backstory about this winged shadowy lone minotaur who has been chosen by the Raven God to act as my general’s personal champion.

The rest of the army will be based around big blocks of infantry with subtle references to the Raven God. I also think I’ll be making a Jabberslythe based on this Chaos Spawn from the Warhammer Online game.

It’ll use the Jabbersylthe rules but in terms of background I’ll call him a super spawn

NOTE: I’d also like to build a very small Tzeentchian warriors of chaos allied force also based on the Chaos forces from Warhammer Online. They’ll be more heavily converted than most of the beastmen but they’ll be a lot less of them.

Inspiration and Ideas beastmen, Doombull, Jabberslythe, Minotaur, Raven God, Tzeentch, Wings

I first started playing Warhammer back in 3rd edition where I often fielded Skaven with Chaos allies (back when warriors and beastmen were one army). I also dabbled a bit with High Elves and Goblins but when the 3rd edition of 40K was released I devoted myself totally to it and pretty much dropped Warhammer. From my point of view 40K had become a vastly more engaging game and until now I’ve never really felt the compelled to return to Fantasy.

I had no intention of really paying much attention to the 8th edition release but something piqued my interest and after really delving into it I find my self yearning to to start playing with square bases again. I get the impression I’m not alone either as from what I can gather the gaming community as a whole seems to be showing a lot of renewed interest and I imagine a lot of 40K players will be venturing into fantasy for the first time.

The thing that impresses me most is that the game and its setting feels magical again, in the same way it did 20 years ago. On top of this the improvements to the rules are very impressive. On the whole I’m very impressed and I really want to start a new Fantasy army.

As I say this, I’m fully aware that I probably don’t really have the spare time or funds to start a new (probably large) army especially as the game system I’m developing is really going to need most of my time.

Anyhow, lets pretend I do have some extra spare time. What army should I collect and what am I going to do to make it cool and unique?

I’ve narrowed the choices down to Skaven, Warriors of Chaos, Daemons or Beastmen. Whilst there are appealing things in other armies these 4 have always been my favourites and I can’t see that ever changing. I’m not overly concerned about using the most competitive lists, strong themes and cool conversions are my priority.

Skaven

One of the most compelling ideas for a Skaven army for me would be a pure Clan Moulder army with a large number of Rat Ogres. With the current Rat Ogre plastic kits I wouldn’t touch this army build with a very large stick but the Rat Ogres in the new Island of Blood box look phenomenal. Yes there’s only two but I reckon I can convert them well enough to create large enough variantion to field large units of them.

Warriors of Chaos

Whilst I like the Warriors list I don’t find the models particularly impressive. However, this isn’t a bad thing because it provides the perfect reason for some major conversion/sculpting work. Add to this the fact I prefer find sculpting armour plating fairly straight forward now and that the imagery of the Raven Host from Warhammer Online (which I used to play a lot as a Chosen) is a perfect guideline and inspiration.

Daemons

I only include Daemons in this list because I’m so impressed with the Slaanesh plastics especially the new riders. Other than Daemon Princes and Keepers of Secrets I can’t see much need for conversion work, and on the whole they would be a particularly unique collection of models to put down on the table. They would however allow me to field them in 40K too

Beastmen

I gotta admit I really like the Beastmen plastics, well except for the Crap-otaurs. I guess they could be improved upon but I’d be tempted to not field Minotaurs at all, even though the new edition makes them pretty formidable on the table. I’d probably be inclined to field as many ambushing units as possible and a couple of strong Bestigors as the core of the army. I’d be tempted to convert the Bestigors to make them look a bit more mean looking, but otherwise I’m unsure how I’d proceed with the Beastmen.

These are my ideas and I hope I manage to try one of ‘em. What about you? Interested in the new edition? Planning a new army or some crazy conversion?

As a sidenote I’m hoping that GW’s October mystery box this year will be Warhammer Quest as it would tie in nicely with their increased support to the Fantasy range.

Miscellaneous beastmen, chaos warriors, daemons, minotaurs, skaven, warhammer

He’s not quite ready for painting, as there are a few details that still need cleaning up or adding, predominantly to the shoulder pads. Anyhow, I figured the conversion is close enough to finished to show it off.

The original concept was to have him in this pose with the shoulder mounted CB and carrying a 2 handed thunder hammer/wrench. As I was building him it seemed a shame to obscure the sculpting on the model with a big weapon held in front of him, this was my main reason for switching to a single handed thunder wrench. I also really like the scanner arm from the (Thunderfire Cannon) Techmarine, for some reason, and it fits the torso nicely.

These two images were central to the concept I had in mind.

Anyway here you go. Pretty sure I’ll be painting him up as a Lamenters chapter Master of the Forge (he’ll be my new forum avatar, and I’ll work his image into the banner of this website too).

Work in Progress Actual Scale, Conversion Beamer, Lamenter, Master of the Forge, Techmarine

Hi all, here I have the finished Assault Squad equipped with Mark V armour that I’ve been working on for a while. The complete rebuilding of the legs on all these conversions has really paid off and allowed for some decent jump-pack poses. Additionally the bulking up of the arms has worked out as a really nice alternative to using terminator arms and I think I’ll be using this approach again in future.

Completed Project Assault Squad, Jump Pack, Mark V

Been on these guys for a while now, I didn’t want to just make a rush job on the poses and just make do, so they’ve almost all been repositioned and resculpted.

Click for larger image.

Rather than convert all the arms from terminator arms it seemed far more logical to convert and scale up the existing power armour arms. Because most of these arms come bent at 90degree angles they are always quite difficult to fit on scaled up Marines, especially with the bigger shoulder pads. Most of the arms were cut in half at the elbow and straightened, and in some cases plasticard spacers were used to lengthen the arm too. I then bulked up the forearm and added new elbow pads that cover the cuts and spacers I had made.

Sorry for the poor photo quality, the final models will have individual close ups.

This squad is to go with other Mark V squads that I’ve been working on for far too long to make a complete Mark V Actual Scale army. After this squad will be a devastator squad, some characters and some scouts.

Work in Progress Assault Squad, Jump Pack, Mark V

I managed to make a little more headway with the Master of the Forge conversion, assembling his backpack and thunder wrench.

However, although in game terms a Master of the Forge with conversion beamer is more stand out and interesting, now that I can see pretty much how the finished model will look I’m having second thoughts. The concept seemed just so awesome in my head but now that it’s in front of me I’ve decided to “downgrade” him to a simple Techmarine with a simple servo arm and Power Axe.

I’ll have to purchase a few replacement bits but I think the finished result will be far more pleasing. I still haven’t decided what chapter this guy will belong to yet – Blood Angels or Lamenters?

If I make him a Lamenter, he’ll become my new avatar (my username on forums is usually Lamenter), but if I make him a Blood Angel he can be included in Captain Tycho’s battle company (that I’ll one day get around to making).

If anyone is interested in converting their own MotF, I’ll be finishing the conversion beamer and thunder wrench components and putting them up for sale (£6 for both including shipping).

EDIT: I changed my mind regarding the conversion beamer. I’m going to do a bit more work on it and see if I can get it to a point where I’m happy with it. The CB is something of a rarity on the table, which for me is enough of a reason to pursue it.

Work in Progress Master of the Forge, Techmarine

This will be the first of a number of Conversion Tips posts I intend to make. It occ
urred to me that I’ve enough conversion experience to offer up a number of techniques and tips that I probably don’t offer up in other “progress” posts.

I’ll start with the something that’s not exactly a tip but keep I get asked about it all the time: Clay Shapers.

A clay shaper is a rubber tipped tool that can be used for moving and smoothing modeling putty.

These are the clay shapers I have and they’ve served me well so far but I would like some more, specifically sharp edged ones. These are Royal Sovereign UK brand but I believe that other brands use the same colouring and sizes. The white are soft, grey are medium firmness and the black are firm.

The ones I use the most are the chisel shaped ones. Whilst using them I try to keep them wet and use a dragging/brushing motion (one direction). The size 6 shapers are generally too big for most things but work really well getting a smooth finish on power armour. I personally find the black ones too firm for anything other than adding sharp details.

I so far haven’t felt the need to use other sculpting more traditional tools other than a sharp scalpel, as the clay shapers have proved more than sufficient with the kind of sculpting I’ve been doing.

Not sure what else I can say right now, but I’ll edit these posts as and when I can.

Miscellaneous Clay Shapers

Work is progressing on the Mark V Assault Squad (I took some pics but they turned out blurred, so I’ll take some more when they’re a little further along), but whilst I’ve been working on them I’ve given a bit of time to a Master of the Forge conversion. I’ve been thinking about this particular conversion since I started the site as I had plans to incorporate photos of it into the header for the blog.

As I had a few sets of resin legs spare (with air bubbles in them) I figured I’d use a pair as the starting point and sculpt all the lovely Techmarine stylings over the top of it. The top half of the model is from the Thunderfire cannon Techmarine.

The original concept of the model was to have it equipped with a Conversion Beamer, mounted on his backpack over one of his shoulders, and carrying a Thunder Wrench in both hands, reminiscent of the Rogue Trader era Techmarines. The head is roughly based on the design of the Techmarine featured in Dawn of War 2.

So far I have the main body built and as you can see I’ve started work on the conversion beamer. There’s still some fine detail to add, but I’m having a hard time deciding how the final model will be equipped. I have plenty of techmarine bits, so I may go with a servo arm or possibly even a servo harness instead of the CB. Weapons/equipment could be anything from power axe, thunder wrench, tool box, bionic arm, power fist, auspex/scanner, or any range of the usual Space Marine guns. The final decision will be based on what looks coolest, and I’ve only had doubts about the CB because I’ve had trouble making a good looking mounting on the backpack.

I like to have my models 100% WYSIWYG so I need to decide which codex I’ll be using and exactly which Chapter he’ll belong to. He’ll be either a Blood Angel or Lamenter, so he could end up being a plain Techmarine rather than a MotF and as such could also have a jump pack.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Work in Progress