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I am curious as to how people feel on the legality and sportsmanship of a few things.

I have converted some 1/35 US halftracks to covered APCs that count as Chimeras. The conversion work includes redone cab front (to accomodate a hull weapon), top cover, including access hatch and turret mounting, and rear access doors. The access doors and top fire point are clearly defined. The turret is converted from the Baneblade lascannon mini turrets and a sentinel multilaser. The profile is narrower, taller and longer than a chimera, but approximately the same total area "foortprint". The hull mounted heavy flamer is mounted off the passenger side front window.

Would anyone have a problem playing against such a model due to the altered profile (narrower front, longer sides)?

Would the weapon placement bother anyone? Placing a template straight on results in the hood and front passenger side wheel being covered. Would extending the barrels before the flame nozzle so that the end is at the very front of the vehicle be better or would that be viewed as modelling for advantage (the mounting is fixed, so there is no concern for using it to pivot a longer barrel for shennanigans!)?

Rule of Cool. If it's cool, I'm cool. You clearly aren't modelling for an advantage, and if it looks half decent, you have a nice looking model on your hands. Its cross section is slightly smaller, but not to the point where it's likely to make a huge effect on the game.

jmurph wrote:Would the weapon placement bother anyone? Placing a template straight on results in the hood and front passenger side wheel being covered. Would extending the barrels before the flame nozzle so that the end is at the very front of the vehicle be better or would that be viewed as modelling for advantage (the mounting is fixed, so there is no concern for using it to pivot a longer barrel for shennanigans!)?

Pretty sure the latest BRB FAQ says you can't self-harm a vehicle if the template overlaps the hull, so it shouldn't be a problem.

I agree 100% with the rule of cool.

You can field anything you want as long as you are doing it in the spirit of the hobby and not to just win games.

I would gladly play against your half track army.

I voted 'Legal as is'.

Narrower and longer chimeras...heck, I think no opponent will complain.

Could you be kind and upload some pics too? It could be interesting.

EDIT: Sadly, I don't think I can vote "legal", "sporting" yes, "legal", not so much.

We have in the BRB 2 rules that make this perfectly legal, along with the lack of an additional rule.

The First rule that makes it legal is "The most important rule" on page 2.

The second is the "WYSIWYG" rule on page 47.

The third(the lacked) rule is that you *must* play with Citadel miniatures (the models rules on page 3 talks about playing with Citadel miniatures, but no requirement to do so is ever given).

Some tourneys may rule them illegal for the tourney itself, depending on both who the TO is and his/her mood at the time asked(I suggest bribing them with Beer or pizza to get them to allow it). I used 7 pieces of banister cut to the length of a chimera with the fronts cut down, and some "turrets" made of Foamcore in a tourney once(there was not a single gun barrel on any of them, although they were roughly painted to match my army).

As far as being Sporting: taller, longer, chimeras make getting the obscured status more difficult(even if they are thinner); and losing even half an inch from your heavy flamer template is preferable to most opponents than using the wider stock model.

GCMandrake wrote:Rule of Cool. If it's cool, I'm cool.

Pretty much this. If your conversion looks good and looks realistic (for 40k at least) then your good.

Without a picture of this (preferably alongside an actual Chimera), I can give no meaningful response.

TBH i just play for fun i'm not overly botherd about "count as "models as long as i know what they are playin as and the opponent sticks to the rules

Sounds like a reasonable model.

Slightly easier to get cover from the front but big side arcs and taller more than offsets that.

Without a pic, I can't respond. From a balance perspective I probably don't have an issue as narrower front/longer sides makes it easier to hit lower AV. There is a hidden advantage in the size of the model footprint, though; mech IG often run into problems with simply having too many chimera hulls to be able to move about easily. If this conversion gives you 5 Chimeras where only 3 would have fit before, I would probably have a problem with it at a competitive event.

From a general gaming perspective, I dislike playing 40k against non-GW models. If it's cool enough, or clearly and distinctly the model that it represents, I'm willing to bend.

sourclams wrote:Without a pic, I can't respond. From a balance perspective I probably don't have an issue as narrower front/longer sides makes it easier to hit lower AV. There is a hidden advantage in the size of the model footprint, though; mech IG often run into problems with simply having too many chimera hulls to be able to move about easily. If this conversion gives you 5 Chimeras where only 3 would have fit before, I would probably have a problem with it at a competitive event.

From a general gaming perspective, I dislike playing 40k against non-GW models. If it's cool enough, or clearly and distinctly the model that it represents, I'm willing to bend.

Agreed on all points.

The halftracks are very similar to this:http://commissar.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=Painting&thread=9613&page=1
Except that mine have a modified front windhsield area (driver has a vision port, passenger has a gun mount) and my turret sits flush on the body (lacks the raised pulpit ring). The base model is exactly the same, though, and there is a pic at the link showing the size comparison.

I have also modeled some as open bed gun and missile carriers using the basilisk cannon, manticore rack and an improvised hydra gun (sentinel cockpit with Aegis quad guns).

I'd play it. I'd say you are actually at a disadvantage with a narrower front & longer side. Easier to hit your weaker side armor now.

sourclams wrote:Without a pic, I can't respond. From a balance perspective I probably don't have an issue as narrower front/longer sides makes it easier to hit lower AV. There is a hidden advantage in the size of the model footprint, though; mech IG often run into problems with simply having too many chimera hulls to be able to move about easily. If this conversion gives you 5 Chimeras where only 3 would have fit before, I would probably have a problem with it at a competitive event.

From a general gaming perspective, I dislike playing 40k against non-GW models. If it's cool enough, or clearly and distinctly the model that it represents, I'm willing to bend.

I'm with this with the caveat that it looks good. Counts as is a nice big opening gw left for folks to do things like this, even taking into account wysiwyg.

jmurph wrote:The halftracks are very similar to this:http://commissar.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=Painting&thread=9613&page=1
Except that mine have a modified front windhsield area (driver has a vision port, passenger has a gun mount) and my turret sits flush on the body (lacks the raised pulpit ring). The base model is exactly the same, though, and there is a pic at the link showing the size comparison.

I have also modeled some as open bed gun and missile carriers using the basilisk cannon, manticore rack and an improvised hydra gun (sentinel cockpit with Aegis quad guns).

The pics linked to look good. If you've measured and placed the hatch so it's the same distance from the front of the Chimera that the hatch is on the stock model, that's ace.

Personally I don't have any issue as long as the model is clearly defined before the game as having XYZ weapons/upgrades. You have done a superb job of converting and painting that kit, and I think as long as it fits the theme and visual of the rest of your army, it's fine by me.

That said, because it's narrower and longer, you can fit more Chimeras in a smaller deployment area, thus making it easier for a full mech force to deploy and move. A TO may take this into consideration when deciding if you can use that model, since it could have a movement advantage, and a blast template fired at the model might be more likely to scatter such that the center hole is not covering the hull, giving you an advantage against ordnance. I'm not sure how much this is offset by having a longer side profile, which makes it easier for ranged anti-tank to tag your lighter armor.

In conclusions, I'd play against you because I think it's all in the spirit of making your army look cooler and more personalized, but in some tournament settings you might find yourself with a judgment against you because someone took offense.

I think it would be fine.


you probably wouldn't get into some Tournaments due to it being a non-GW product.


as long as it is clearly defined as being what it is and all wargear is represented it's ok.