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Pretty much what it says in the title. I'm a new guard player who's working on building a large infantry/tank army. I'm going to need several commissars in order to make it work though, and while I already have 2, I will need several more. I bought one of the old OOP metal ones that has the axe, and made one from scratch using parts from command squad boxes. Only problem was that it was a pain to get all the parts working, and the commissar is missing the sleeve on his left arm (looks pretty funny imo) I've attached a few pics below if you guys would like to take a look at him, maybe give pointers if you like. I literally just got into the hobby a couple of months ago, and I'm learning as I go on making these guys.

As to how I made him, used the legs, torso, and commander head from the Cadian command squad kit. I then used the left arm/camo cloak of the sniper arms that are in the Cadian command kit to give him the distinctive cape they always seem to have. Problem is this arm does not have a hand, so I had to cut a hand off of one of my Catachan Command squad arms, glue that onto the arm stump, THEN glue a bolt pistol onto the hand. This was easily the hardest part, as it took forever to get his wrist right. I then ran into the problem that the only Power sword arm in the Cadian box is a left one, so I was forced to use the power sword from the Catachan box... which is bare. I'll probably paint him up so he looks similar to my catachan guys, but it still bugs me. I feel like there's something I could've done better, but I've yet to figure out what.

What I was hoping to ask is if any other IG players have had any luck building/converting commissars from scratch? There's only a couple from GW that have a bolt pistol/ Power weapon setup like I'll be using, and I don't want an army of clone commissars on the board. Even if its based on chopping up some of the old metal ones or something, I'd love to hear it.

BTW, the guy in the pics looks a little rough. There's still a few spots I need to clean up on his cape and sword, but my knife broke and I need a new one. Also, I have a horrible camera, so I had to use my phone for the pics. Didn't turn out too bad, but I imagine its eyesearingly bad to the more veteran dakka users here.

*EDIT* also, the pics aren't letting me put spoiler tabs on them for some reason, I'm trying to fix that now. Sorry for them making this post seem huge. If you attach them are they stuck like that?

Why not just use the baneblade tank commander model? Already in a greatcoat type thing and has the option of a powersword and bolt pistol in the kit. Even comes with a peaked cap

That said, it looks pretty good to me

That would make an amazing Commissar-Colonel Gaunt!

orkboy232 wrote:Why not just use the baneblade tank commander model? Already in a greatcoat type thing and has the option of a powersword and bolt pistol in the kit. Even comes with a peaked cap

That said, it looks pretty good to me

My army is too small for a baneblade atm, although now that I know that, I'll know where to find one in the future. Looked online and couldn't find any of the command guy you're mentioning though. Does he come with legs or would he just be the upper torso?

Looking at some of the other tank commanders online, I can definitely see where you're going with that idea. A couple of them would make good choices, I'd just need to find some legs and a base and I'd be good to go.

And thanks for compliments guys, means a lot especially since I just slapped him together out of desperation with a lot of glue and some judicious use of an xacto knife (kind of how it broke actually ) I also love the idea of making him a Gaunt stand in Squidmanlolz, I've just started reading the books and if I dont screw him up, he could be cool. I've seen the official GW versions of him and I want them really badly as well, they both look awesome. Too bad they're OOP

I don't think they changed the kit around at all. It should come with everything to make the guy, base included.

The only thing I don't like here is his giant muscly right arm, with a proportionally weedy left arm. Like he's been practicing with his power sword too zealously.

Other than that, you've done a very nice job there.

If you're still looking for more, would you be open to using non-GW models? There are a number of options out there that would be suitable as commissars or as the basis for more conversions.

Also, the official Gaunt model is still available in the Gaunt's Ghosts set here, along with the cool Steel Legion commissar.

Zefig wrote:The only thing I don't like here is his giant muscly right arm, with a proportionally weedy left arm. Like he's been practicing with his power sword too zealously.

Other than that, you've done a very nice job there.

If you're still looking for more, would you be open to using non-GW models? There are a number of options out there that would be suitable as commissars or as the basis for more conversions.

Also, the official Gaunt model is still available in the Gaunt's Ghosts set here, along with the cool Steel Legion commissar.

Yes I already use a few 3rd party models. I play at a FLGS, and they're cool with conversions as long as they look the part. I actually use a couple of boxes of Wargames Factory Greatcoat troopers, so I'll try and grab one of those steel legion commissars as he'd be perfect for them. I'm amazed he's still in stock, he's cheaper than the normal commissars and looks even cooler! How does that work?

Thanks for the link, I had been looking all over their site but couldn't find these older figures. I'm going to have to get my store to order a couple!

As for the guy I made, yeah, I hated using that arm, but I didnt have anything else I could use. I should've clipped the base of the sword off where it meets the hand, then glued it to a normal arm instead, but I didnt think about that at the time... oh well, I'll just him with the catachans I've got I guess. Maybe if I can find a normal power sword arm I'll swap it out some day.

Ahh, cool. Here's another couple commissars you might be interested in, right out of the box:

you may want to add sleeves. and maybe fur. But then again i love fur on every model.

A fur cape would be very sexy. Would totally change the theme/background look of the commissar but would definitely make it sexy.

Edit: like those dudes in the Night's Watch if anyone's ever seen Game of Thrones.

here's an idea, but maybe i could use some greenstuff to buff up his left arm, then add some tattered remnants of a sleeve to his right to make it look like he was burned or shot? I've never used greenstuff before but it looks like it would be fairly easy to use.

Also I love the idea of the fur cape, but my guys are mostly DKoK stand ins and catachans, and fur capes wouldnt really fit the theme. I'll probably run this guy with the catachans either way and then buy a steel legion commissar and then a couple of forgeworld DKoK commissars. Fun fact, the Commissars that come from forge world cost roughly the same as the normal ones from gW (at least here in the states) Roughly 37 bucks with shipping for 3 commissars (1 tank commander, 2 on foot) Sounds like a good deal to me!

Hi

This is more kit bashing than scratch building but I hope it helps

I've converted 3 commissars and a lord commissar so far. The CCS box comes with one set of greatcoat legs which I have used on most of mine, I used the Hellhound commanders head for one, a forge world head for another and the last one I used some greenstuff to convert a forage cap.

For one of the commissars and the lord I used capes from the empire pistolier sets. I'm not the greatest hobbyist so i'm sure there are better ways.

Key features for a commissar are the three b's, Black, Bolter and Big hats.