Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Gitsplitta wrote:@Styrofoam:
I'll make you a deal... if you paint a Corsair for me... I'll paint a Mantis Warrior for you. We'll each figure out how we're going to incorporate the model into our respective armies, and we each do the build so we have what we want gear-wise... but we'll do the painting for each other. That way you have an authentic MW and I have an actual Corsair! We could always paint each other's colors... but that's not the same as having it done by the person running the other chapter... that's much cooler. Perhaps there were some members of each chapter "stranded" with their allies when Badab went to hell. Perhaps not all corsairs were converted to chaos before the end of the rebellion, thus when their chapter fled, they stayed on with the MW's to attone for their misdeeds, or perhaps some MW liaisons to the corsairs became tainted during the war and fled with them. I think it works... as least as far as I'm going to worry about. It is very fluffy and could add some interest to both our armies.

Actually building a tainted MW would be a peach.... I'm jealous already.

Gitsplitta wrote:@Styrofoam04:
Actually, while you could have a tainted mantis warrior in your list, I couldn't have a Corsair in mine as at the time of the rebellion they were the Tiger Claws... not the Red Corsairs. However.... my Mantis Warriors don't yet have any dedicated objective markers. If I put a seriously cool chaos marine blazing away on a 40mm base (as like a Corsair accidentally stranded) it would make a great and very fluffy objective marker for me (trying to capture the stranded Corsair for inte. etc).

Styrofoam04 wrote:That would be really cool. It would be like a Raiding party that was overrun and he is the 'last man standing' surrounded by empty shells, magazines, and bolters! I'll prolly open a WIP and we can work on the details. I'm pretty excited!

After having this conversation with Gitsplitta I have decided to start a wip. I will make paint one of my Red Corsairs to trade for one of his Mantis Warriors. Since his fluff wont allow one to be apart of his army it will be an objective marker 'last Corsair standing'

But before I can start I need as much info and ideas for this project. I havent done much conversion before but this will be a great place to start!

I'm slightly confused - are you making or painting the Corsair? Or both?

Either way, it is a pretty cool idea.

If you are looking for things to include on the base, you could try adding in an autocannon with the barrel melted/glowing red hot (if you are painting it), ripped sand bags (from bullets etc), bits of bodies and rubble that have been blow about by grenades and or from failed assaults, fallen comrades, perhaps the ripped and bloody standard of the Corsairs/raiding party, and plenty of empty brass casing.

I will go through some of my watched threads/bookmarked pages for some tutorials on making various things and see if there is anything fun that might help you.

Chains might be fun - for tying up plunder and slaves.
General basing ideas/tips
Making sandbags - can also enhance them by using some cloth with a good fibre pattern on it to press into the bags.

I'll be making and painting i guess.

Those sound like great ideas and any help and links would be appreciated.
i really like the sand bag idea

I had an idea of having him reach for a bolter that still has a fellow Corsair's arm attached to it. But I dont think it would turn out and it wouldn't be as action packed

I've added a couple of links to my post above.

If you want to bounce any ideas about, feel free. Same if you want any advice on how to do things.

Personally I would arm the guy with a bolter and a bolt pistol, one in each hand. Then have him aiming them at different targets, perhaps as if he is sweeping them across a wall of enemy?

I might be tempted to gouge a couple of chunks out of his armour and GS the underlaying support structure (check out the shoulder pad on the dead guy in the bottom right corner of this image to see what I mean).

If you want to go a bit more wild on the conversion, you could possibly try and pose him crouched down taking cover behind a barricade?

I think you might want to avoid posing him in any way which does not represent combat.

OK Styro.... I'm on board too. If you want, I can post periodic pics of my progress on your mini here too.... though I'll probably run the full WIP on my Mantis Warrior blog.

The only criterion I ask for is that it is mounted on a standard 40mm base, so I can use it legally in any 40k game as an objective. Other than that, the world is your oyster....


Think about what you want for your figure. I'm part of a big gaming group here so can probably scavenge any bits I need to do the modeling that way. You just tell me what kind of marine you had in mind, any gear needed, weponry, etc... and I'll do my best to pimp you out a chaos Mantis Warrior the likes of which this world has never seen! (well.... that's the plan anyway) Anybody with ideas for me is welcome to post them... my blog is here... http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/289929.page.

Good luck Styro... this is gonna be a kick!

When i think of the bolter and pistol idea I think of Boondock Saints and this image (but with power armor)


I might use a space wolves head and have a broken helmet on the ground

The broken helmet sounds like a cool idea.

I also like this idea....but the space wolves heads look a little goofy imo....Id go for a basic bald and give him some nasty scars.

Ive painted some faces I'm not sure which would look best.

I haven't painted the hair yet, that will come later
or should i just use a reg CSM head

LOL, for some reason I can't stop laughing at #1. The mustache...it just....lol. Id use one of the open mouth heads that show some motion, like 13 or 5.
Anyways this is a great project and I hope it goes far! I love swaping Marines between people, If you want another contestant, let me know!

OH, btw, Boondock Saints are AWSOME!

six looks the best in my opinion

I think head number six would look the best.

12 Looks a bit asian.

I might go for 13 and chop off the top knot.

Six looks great... but how are you going to put the cigar in his mouth and the beret on his head?? *grin*

Five, six or seven.

#7 looks like Arnold from Conan the barbarian

#3 or #4 looks the most like the big yin in that photo...

I also started a marine swap PM blog, so make sure you post your progress there as well!
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/305404.page

So far 4 votes for #6 is that the final verdict?

As for the helmet I'd like to hollow one out then add the damage to it. I have a small dremmel and hundreds of small bits, a few ball ones. has anyone done this? Is there a tut? should I hollow out the eyes as well?

Hey Styro... don't forget you need to provide me with some information as well so I can start on your half of the project! I need to know what kind of marine you want and what gear you want him to have... once I have that I can start my part of the bargain...

GS

Ya I'm still trying to fig that out.

What are Mantis Warriors known for?


What role would i use them in?

I guess since he will stand out maybe make him a aspiring champion.

Styrofoam04 wrote:Ya I'm still trying to fig that out.

What are Mantis Warriors known for?

Two lines on this... & since I know you've had the insane patience to plow through my blog, I think you're familiar with both.
1. From the original rule book, the only thing notable about the MW's from dozens of others was the existence of "Tranquility Campaign Snipers", full marines in specific camo w/ bolt guns. You've seen my take on that as Sternguard.
2. Goto talks about "Mantidae", special assault marines that go into a permanent state of battle trance and have to be led by another marine with a "connection" to reality (almost like eldar wraithguard). They're his invention but I'd planned on doing a unit as Vanguard, I think you've seen my prototype there too.

Otherwise they're just a UM successor chapter, so basically anything goes. A reasonable back story is that the marine in question was working closely with the Tiger Claws during the Badab War as a liaison of some sort and became corrupted in the process. I suppose he could have been any type of marine, or be in any type of unit. I have tons of RT era marine parts and can get ahold of plenty of chaos bits to in order to make a really interesting conversion. All I need from you is some general guidance on which direction to head in.

Styrofoam04 wrote: What role would i use them in?

That's the $64,000.00 question. Anything from a trooper to one of the members of your command squad... depends on how prominent you want him to be.

Styrofoam04 wrote: I guess since he will stand out maybe make him a aspiring champion.

As you see fit... just tell me what I'll need to know to correctly build the WYSIWYG model and I'll take it from there. Will have plenty of chances for your input in the process so you're happy with the end result.

The problem with chaos is they don't have scouts or snipers. what I meant was are they more CC or heavy weapons, etc.?

i want this MW to be unique. I might even make a squad based around him. (which goes back to the champion)

My chosen are are made up of blood claws turned after the crippling the Wolf of Fenris. They are called Huron's Wolves.

If they are CC I might use him like Berzerkers?

if they are more Heavy then in a squad of Havocs or another chosen?

or even fast i have a squad of rapters still in the box?

O.K.... assaulty... I can do that. Jump pack? I can rig him like the Vanguard I experimented with... or I can try and green stuff up some actual preying mantis arms and say his "mantidae" style chain swords actually chaos/mutated into real preying mantis arms over the years (chaos still does that to it's adherents, right?).

I can do a heavy too. Just keep in mind that he's going to be a chaosed out Mantis Warrior, not a straight chaos marine. I think you'd want his origins to be clear... not just like one of your existing marines painted green instead of black. Though it would be useful to see a photo of the others of his troop type, that way I can see what his immediate influences would look like.

Most Chaos do, but I don't think Huron dabbles in mutations. The Red corsairs are pirates (renegade marines) they take technology to expand their army enough to take back what is theirs ... Badab! I believe any Mantis warriors that remain would want the same goal for their planet. To be truthfully honest I'm not a fan of the new codex and I'm thinking of using the SM codex instead (but don't tell anyone). Most of my stuff is SM based.

But hey use your desecration I believe anything you do will be awesome! I just need him to be usefull. a killer mantis warrior with mantis claws would be great with berzerkers but its to bad that skull champions can't have lighting claws and to put him in a squad of shooty marines would be a waste. So this is the problem I have; how do I utilize him?

In the old codex I would put your guy in Huron's retinue but I don't have that option anymore.

That's OK Styro, I can wait... Take your time and sort it out, when you think you've got enough for me to get started... just let me know.

If it's not to much to ask I'd like it to be a Raptor aspiring champion. that way i can make the rest to follow suit. and it would be a unique unit.

The mantis warriors can be the speed of the Red Corsairs. they drop in from the skies and tear you apart with their mantis chainswords. Then move on (sounds more like locusts, lol)

I'll prolly have a squad of 5 or more. One with a meltagun and the rest with bolters. And An Aspiring Champion Raptor w/ lighting claws(mantis claws) to lead them

If it is not plausible then I'll think of something else

Nope, that's perfect! (was kind of hoping you'd go in that direction) I already have some ideas for some interesting "deviances" from the prototype to make him truly unique. What size base are they on? Normal or large (i.e. terminator). I've got a neat idea but I think I'll need a 40mm base to pull it off.

I'll start pulling the parts together and get started! Would you like WIP pictures here, or should I keep them over on my MW blog?

lol I can sense your excitement in your text! Go all out, I don't want to hinder your work in any way. I can't wait to see your direction

if you could post here as well that would be cool. It will keep me on my toes and add a bit of competitiveness!

good luck cuz mine is gonna Rock!