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Well, this is my first ever blog. I'm going to try to stay focused on regular updates, so y'all can see the process.

I wanted to do an IG army that was a little different. Sparing you all the details of my grueling search for decent looking replacement non-helmeted human heads, basically I couldn't find what I was looking for. Then I remembered that IG used to include beastmen back in the olden days, so I decided to go that route. After alot of trial and error with different plastic kits, I settled on mixing Beastmen Gors with Catachans. The Cadians match up ok with Ungors, but I wanted Beastmen, not Ungors. My inspiration came from the following links:

http://chicagoterrainfactory.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/beastmen-conscripts/

I started off with those, and decided to try to give them pants. In the end, they looked alright, just not exactly what I was going for.

Next I found this gem:

http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?p=17856

And that's where our story begins. As you can see below, these are my attempts to emulate the above work. The Catachans match up surprisingly well with the Beastmen, however the Beastmen arms are alot longer, so you can't really use them. I'm still struggling about what to do for the sergeant, because the Catachan's have a terrible laspistol and sword arm, but I'll figure it out. So without further babbling, here's the result:

(This picture was taken with flash.)


(This one without, and then I turned the flash off for the rest of the photos.)






And here is my company commander sporting the "pre-wash" color scheme for the army. He's also there for size comparison pics.



As you notice, the beastmen are a tad taller. To make them, you cut the boots off of the catachans, and then clip the legs off the beastmen. Using the link I showed earlier, I just kinda eye-balled how much I should trim until they lined up, and then just tweaked them as necessary. It took quite a while to build the first one, and some of the catachan legs don't work. (The walking forward and running legs don't match up with the way that the beastmen are standing, and look funny when you try to match the legs up.) This isn't really a problem, I'll just have a couple of beastmen with boots instead of hooves. They will all mix in to the army from a tabletop perspective anyway, and this also allows me to use metal catachan figs with a simple headswap if I want.

And then here's a picture of a kasrkin sporting another color scheme test with the company commander.



I dipped the kasrkin. (I'm quite fond of dipping, having dipped several armies from Orks to Space Marines.) However, for this army, I think I'm going to try Badab Black mixed with Future Floor Wax, as I think the black wash makes the grey look less muddy, and takes some of the "warmth" out of the red, which will differentiate it from the Saim-Hann Eldar army I'm working one, which is Red and Bone with a Devlan Mud wash. (Maybe I'll sneak a few pics in here later.) The grey uniforms will be the base uniform for everyone in the army. The beastmen will probably have Bestian Brown or Scorched Brown skin/hair, and grey uniforms, while everyone else will have grey uniforms with red armor. The tanks/APC's will all be grey with red accents.

And here's my first chimera that I acquired. This one was from a trade, and it's in pretty rough shape. The pictures don't quite do it justice, but the paint is caked on. This fellow will be getting stripped very shortly.





So, next stop will be painted infantry hopefully.

Nice, I would love to see what you do with Ogryns in this. I think its nice that someone actually takes alot of time to do these things.

Sweet! i actually miss the old beastmen IG troopers. i think they look cool as hell!
are they going to be regular infantry or penal troops? can't wait to see more!

Looks good. Is the Karskin indicative of the basing you're using(yes, I'm still prodding around about that)?

Hey, I think I may have owned that Chimera at one point! I also got it in a trade in that condition and never got around to stripping it. Traded it off before I could do anything with it. Glad to see it's found a good home!

Thant's awesome good sir

Sound Idea chappy need to get cracking on my Catachans...nothing like the next three days eh!

interesting.. is this the theme for your team? I also think it would be cool to see some ogryns intheir as minataurs!

looks very good - i look forward to following this

That link is blocked at work, and I'm anxious for an answer so...

Are those 'just' Cadian legs with the feet cut off, replaced by Beastmen feet/hooves?

Alpharius wrote:That link is blocked at work, and I'm anxious for an answer so...

Are those 'just' Cadian legs with the feet cut off, replaced by Beastmen feet/hooves?

looks more like catachan cut off.

Empchild wrote:interesting.. is this the theme for your team?

Nope.

This being our first year, we're each bringing Guard armies, but past that, no real theme.

Maybe next year we'll do something more organized/planned out.

Wow, alot of feedback!

Ok, forgetting who asked what, I'll answer questions to the best of my ability.

- The beastmen are catachan torsos/arms and legs with the boots cut off and hooves replaced. The cadian arms/torsos are too small really, and they make the shoulders look too small. (They work just fine with the ungors, but I just don't like ungors. I'll post some comparison pics tonight hopefully.) I have an idea to use the cadian torsos with catachan arms that may work ok, and use up some of my spare bits. Y'all will be the first to know.

- The beastmen are going to be regular infantry, and there will also be a beastman Platoon Command Squad, and a couple of the Company Command Squad members will also be beastmen. The kasrkin are playing the part of veterans.

- Planty, yes, the kasrkin base is pretty close to what I'm going to do for the bases. I'm very minimalist when it comes to infantry bases. 40mm bases sometimes jazz me up, and I like to use the GW dread bases for 60mm bases. While I like some of the resin offerings, I'd only use them for maybe 40mm plus, and the prices and designs don't really jump out at me any more than the GW 60mm dread and wraithlord bases. *Shrug*

- Minotaur/Ogryns are a very real possibility, as I love minotaurs. The first problem I've run into is that the new Ogryns' heads are not separate pieces. Very frustrating. My first idea was to actually have a minotaur "Count As" the Heavy Weapon Team, he'll just be hoisting the cannon by himself and be on a 60mm base. That may be confusing if I ever decide to do an Ogryn squad, but for Adepticon it shouldn't be an issue.

This kinda takes me to a little bit of the "design philosophy" of this army if you will. One of the things that really jazzes me about this type of conversion, is that I can show a uniformed, yet also futuristic, and regimented look to a Beastman IG army, that goes farther than just "giving beastmen guns". That's what I like about the beastman idea, and is what inspired me from the original Rogue Trader beastman. (He has an Imperial Breastplate for instance.) I would imagine that even though they are "beastmen", per se, they would still be inducted into the Guard like any other regiment, and trained in basic rifleman drill, so they would still operate as a regimented military unit rather than a horde of unorganized rabble.

I think that's part of what makes the conversion more "believable" and effective as well, and that's the effect I'm trying to achieve. I want people to say "Oh, it's Imperial Beastmen!" I don't want to have people mistake this army for Chaos or Renegades. I may change my mind of the color scheme too, and do a more standard Cadian style Khaki and Green. I just don't want the beastmen's uniforms to look silly being all one color since they aren't wearing the armor/breastplates like the kasrkin.

What'd you use for your bases materials-wise?

While I'm still considering resins, I agree about the price(it'll cost me about $62+ shipping for my full force), especially since we still need housing and food fr the weekend.

Not to mention spending moneys...

Platuan4th wrote:What'd you use for your bases materials-wise?

While I'm still considering resins, I agree about the price(it'll cost me about $62+ shipping for my full force), especially since we still need housing and food fr the weekend.

Not to mention spending moneys...

I do it the "GW" way. Sand and PVA glue. Then I use Brown Ink or Scorched Brown, and then a light drybrush of Bleached Bone over the top. Sometimes I add little blobs of static grass, sometimes not, depending on my mood.

Thats one way to make Catachan musclature look right! For the Ogryns the old style ones had seperate heads which could work well. I'm also looking forward tot he Beastmen Heavy Weapon teams and tank crew!

Update time!

First picture is the mangled pile of body parts. These started off as used Catachans that I got from a trade with Polonius. This is the result prior to them receiving.....the treatment......



This next picture is the beastmen supervising the carnage. I know, I'm morbid, and hilarious at the same time.



Next up, as promised, pictures of my Cadian/Ungor mash-up. As you can see, the Ungors match up perfectly with the Cadians.



And another shot with some flamer dudes. Notice the difference in the feet. I tried leaving some of the "bootstrap/guard" thingies that the cadians have. This actually happened because I had accidentally cut an Ungor's foot to short. Oh well. They actually turned out pretty well I think, and are still the same height as the other Ungors.



And finally, since I know everyone is curious, here's a size comparison photo with all of them. The beastmen are just big fellas.



Next up, some paint. And protip for all those watching at home: Close-up photography exposes all your ugly little secrets, like mold lines. Ick.

The beastmen are fantastic, but why're the commander and stormtrooper human?

thanks for the harD work on these. i'm totally stealing the idea for my penal legion troops!

A Great Big Blog of Awesome so far! Keep it up, Dragon!

Good use of Catachan models! Especially good matching of Gor and Ungor heads. Separate platoons I take it? Are you planning on Penal Legion Squads? Maybe Penal Legions for the Gors and Conscripts for the Ungors.

Filthy muties...

Really great job so far James.

The conversions look great and it's nice to see some IG conversions that are not chaos renegades.

Have you thought about what you are going to put in your army list for adepticon yet?

It looks amazing so far, can't wait to see it painted.

These look really, really cool. I'm looking forward to seeing them when your force is complete and painted!

I may have to steal the idea for a penal legion squad

They look very nice.

A suggestion I thought of:

Make some of the beastmen have cut-down horns, a-la Hellboy. I'm sure the Emperor would want it that way. So they "fit in" better

Looking awsome, hopefully I will get to play against you there. Which team is yours? I am on the Four Horsemen.

Empchild wrote:Looking awsome, hopefully I will get to play against you there. Which team is yours? I am on the Four Horsemen.

We're(myself, WhiteDragon, Ozymandias, and Reecius) Dakka Detachment 2.

Although, being DD2 may be silly if DD1 doesn't play.

Quick Update:

Beastman Stormtrooper!

Noice!

Those beastmen rock!

Excellent concept and execution.

Please keep an eye on the mould lines...it would be a real shame to have them spoil the paint process.

I look forward to seeing a bunch of these finished!