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I have found my view on the hobby aspect of Warhammer being influenced by what people share online. Most recently, this has been in the way I have been painting my Nids: I used colours and techniques I normally would not consider, but Dakka was a major influence on me doing it. I also enjoy looking at the conversions people come up with, but I have now seen one too many armies featuring heavy modelling work. I am inspired and want to try my hand at it, even if it takes the rest of the year to get a barely playable force together. The trouble is, I have little experience and no idea where to start. My modelling experience, beyond the absolute basics (eg filling gaps, etc), is far from spectacular. I added wings to a Canoness, habits to some Sisters, and made Inferno Pistols for a couple of Seraphim. Fairly basic conversion work.

With only this level of experience, would I be able to do one of those heavily modelled armies, or should I be trying to build up more experience with smaller conversion work along the lines of what I have done so far? For those who have made heavily modified armies, how do you start such a thing, and what is the way you have gone about your work? For example, do you work on individual models, or whole squads at a time; do you start with units important for playing (eg HQ, Troops), or on units you intend to be the focal points of the army? Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

(Off the bat I will say I have not made a heavily converted force,or really any force for that matter.)So anyway I would say first build up a bit more experience on smaller modelling projects.Also do the army(when you do it) one model at a time on squad at a time.It is already a daunting task to paint a large force,and if you did the whole thing at once it would be worse as you would have to convert every model in some way,shape or form.

Elric of Grans wrote:
With only this level of experience, would I be able to do one of those heavily modelled armies, or should I be trying to build up more experience with smaller conversion work along the lines of what I have done so far? For those who have made heavily modified armies, how do you start such a thing, and what is the way you have gone about your work? For example, do you work on individual models, or whole squads at a time; do you start with units important for playing (eg HQ, Troops), or on units you intend to be the focal points of the army? Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I have a heavily converted traitor guard army and I'm currently in the process of converting a Ork army. I didn't have any experience in modelling or the use of greenstuff before I started these projects. I found it helpful to just start on a single model. You can then try until you get it right and then convert the rest of the force. I normally start by converting a normal trooper, to see if the idea in my head 'works' as a conversion. If it does, I start on the characters for my army as they usually give me the inspiration for the other elements of the army.

Be carefull not to overdo the conversion work. You don't wanna put down the greenstuff and find out you carefully modelled army is in fact a horde of Chaos Spawn.

Take the plunge. a few tips though;

1) - don't worry about your modelling experience, from what you say you're probably more acomplished than me!
2) - pick an army you will enjoy building AND painting, if you only like the one aspect you will end up getting nowhere
3) - consider price - when buying things try to work out what you can use the spares for, especially if you're left with tank hulls etc.
4) - share what you do, the encouragement here is great, and also pop into you flgs with things to see what they think. It really helps.
5) - If you're getting fed up then set yourself a 'treat' for when it's done, or failing that as I always do, switch to another project, but keep it out so it's easy to pick at it. I often find i get on well with some of mine, and then hit a brick wall and it can take weeks to find a solution, but having it on the side of the table makes it easy to try out new bits as you find them.

My things are in my thread (soon to be updated after Guard release!) http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/206015.page

Good luck with it all, post some pics!

I am very shaky with the greenstuff, but I compensate for that by kit-bashing. I have assembled a pretty big stash of random bits, surprisingly many from the fantasy range (<3 empire milita), and use them freely to decorate, swap body parts, gear up etc etc. I use greenstuff mostly to cover gaps that appear when I attach body parts in new angles. It is by far enough to make any army look interesting. I've got a few lousy pics in my gallery and on the cultist blog that's linked in my sig.

I say go for it! Be prepared it will take horrendous amounts of time and tears. Start with one pretty regular trooper or a very small squad. Try out a few limb-swaps, equipment swaps etc etc. Then build an IC. This will give you a feel for how you want your army to look. Remember that a similar paintjob can unify pretty random parts to look like an army.

And I agree with covenant, post some pics and good luck!

You could start by checking out the rules for Worlds at War and build a small team to play that game. These forces can easily be seconded into regular games of 40K. Cut your teeth on that and work from there.

Thanks for the comments. I think I will try my hand at this, once I finish my current painting projects. I just need to narrow down to which of my ideas I want to pursue, and refine how I want to go about it. Thanks again!

Elric of Grans wrote:Thanks for the comments. I think I will try my hand at this, once I finish my current painting projects. I just need to narrow down to which of my ideas I want to pursue, and refine how I want to go about it. Thanks again!

Being an expert of the matter since all 4 of my 40k armies are fully converted, I strongly suggest that you improve your skills first. When making a converted army the last thing you want is the painting to lower it's 'wow' factor and appearance. When I was working on my Grot Rebellion army and I made the first squad I wasn't happy with the painting. So I went away and practiced my skills with a tyranid army that I sold afterwards the techniques I had learnt during the creation of the tyranids and small worshops at my local GW allowed me to go back and paint the 2nd squad up to a much higher standard. See for yourself...

First Squad: http://proiteus.deviantart.com/art/Grot-Rebel-Platoon-34468758
Second Squad: http://proiteus.deviantart.com/art/Grot-Rebellion-Infrantry-Squad-42372423

I'd also recommend when considering which ideas to do first that you go for the easiest. The Grots were my first army and easy to paint due to their green skin, now I'm working on a feral human army which involves human skin which I've found difficult but working on my last 3 armies have given me the skill to do them at last.

Hope that helps. What are the ideas then?

My Orks and Emperors Children are all converted in some way just use converting as a learning curve to clean up any modelling or sculpting skills that need improvement

For example I have a Daemon Prince in the pipeline which is going to have a heavy "Punk" influence as he is going to be going on a mobile stage with a full band groupies etc etc Im going to be doing a lot and I mean a LOT! of sculpting now I cant sculpt for toffee but I am willing to give it a go.

So its all in practice practice practice

I must post a counter point to you Proiteus. You do create the most wonderful looking and inspiring armies and it is always a pleasure to look at your work. It is also obvious that you put much love and enthusiasm into your models.

However, I convert mainly for the fun of crafting right now, expressing my ideas in a medium I can handle and to explore the 40k universe. I sometimes convert things because it improves my gaming. If then I impress people with my moderate skills it is a bonus. I would never have the patience to craft and paint a whole army just to learn tecniques, and then sell it afterwards.

My very first model ever built, a RTB01 plastic spacemarine, even got a slight case of modding. He is of course horribly badly painted (red + yellow + unpainted plastic, no undercoat, no wash, no highlights etc etc). I keep him standing on my workbench at all times to remind me that I had fun then and I still have fun, almost 20 years later. Skill is, for me, really not a factor in personally enjoying the crafting of models.

So my advice to Eric would be: Go for it! Start building the army of your dreams right now. Aim high, your first squad will take ages to complete, and they might look like crap compared to the ones you build and paint in a year. And I think you will have fun all the way.

I would highly recommend that you simply jump in and begin by cutting, gluing, GS and so on. The only way you can get better is by practicing, and in this hobby, the only way to practice is to do.


This warboss was one of my first models, and I put him together by taking a saw to a model. I wasn't really sure if it would work, or come out at all, but there you go. If you just stick in, you'll most certainly learn as you go.

My one tip is, if you plan to work with plasticard, start buying different varieties of tubes and rods and sheets now. When scratch building, plasticard is like an artist's paint. You need more than one color/shape/size.




Newest Boss, 6 Years Later

LOTS of bits. Lots and lots of bits.

Elric of Grans wrote:
For those who have made heavily modified armies, how do you start such a thing, and what is the way you have gone about your work? For example, do you work on individual models, or whole squads at a time; do you start with units important for playing (eg HQ, Troops), or on units you intend to be the focal points of the army? Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Ok, here are a few tips for you:

- Bits are your friends. There's no need to sculpt a new part if you can just buy it. A lot of great heavily converted armies are very simple forces that combine two different plastic kits (like the Bretonian Imperial Guard). Also, look to see what is available for bits ordering- you may find some metal head sprues that change how the mini works greatly. If you aren't interested in making a Rogue Trader force, go ahead and take a look at the non-GW bits manufacturers' sites, and see what you can find. If you want to use GW bits only, make sure you look into all of their game lines (including Inquisitor and Necromunda). Know the lines, and what bits are available to you.

- I would advise that you start out with less green stuff conversions and work towards the models that require more green on them. This might mean that you start out with a focal point mini, it might mean that you do troops first. Working your way up is not a bad way to get to those big crazy mods that you want to do.

I sometimes focus on one model, sometimes on a unit based on how much they need to fit together. When I'm modding an inquisitor, I know that he doesn't need to look like his army, so I mod him individually. When I'm modding a unit in uniform, I'll plan them all out and carry them all out at once, before painting them all.

- Don't be too intimidated to try something you think you can't pull off. Doing something you don't know that you can do is the best way to progress. Push your limits and you'll surprise yourself.

Go for it. I have barely any experiance, about as much as you, but I converted some of my das in my eldar to running. It was pretty easy. Go for it.