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So I have an flood of Cadian Shock troops and they look kind of...bleh...I really like the way the Kasrkin squads look and I wished they looked more similar to that...

I'm not going to be dropping $42/10 models of Kasrkin to convert to Cadian Shock troops soon so I was just wondering what you guys think I could do to make my Cadians look a bit better. They have the System Trooper heads from PigIron right now. Thinking about maybe giving them backpacks or something? Have any of you guys ever converted your guys or spiced them up a bit that doesn't break the bank? Maybe give them backpacks like the Kasrkin squads..? What kinds should I get? Any suggestions/websites?


Any other ideas?

Expensive, but cool:
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Imperial_Guard/Cadian_Shock_Troops/CADIAN-HOSTILE-ENVIRONMENT-TROOPS-CONVERSION-SET.html

Pig Iron do a few ranges of heads which would look pretty cool and high tech. Not hugely expensive either.

Mister Chaos wrote:
Expensive, but cool:
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Imperial_Guard/Cadian_Shock_Troops/CADIAN-HOSTILE-ENVIRONMENT-TROOPS-CONVERSION-SET.html

Hmm...that does look cool. It's nice to see what they look like with a backpack. Those pretty much look like my guys (Cadian Shock Troop body + PigIron System Trooper head) except mine don't have a backpack.

Any backpack suggestions I could buy in bulk for my guys?

Pig iron also do rather nice techy looking backpacks and I can always recommend Hasslefree for their range of small arms Pretty cheap as well, at about 50p each.

Secret Weapon and Maxmini also do guardsman backpacks

System trooper heads, like these?



Not shown in this picture, but I also slapped West Wind's backpacks on them to kind of give them more pizzaz. The theory is that they've survived to being vets, so they get the cool stuff, while the regular infantry is expected to have such a short lifespan that they're often not given basic gear, like in Fifteen Hours.

I posted a review of the Secret Weapon backpacks and some pics of them on Cadians a while back:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/428451.page

Thanks guys! That definitely makes them look a lot "cooler!"

Who would have though a simple backpack would change them that much

Rainbows and/or Dashing
20% cooler

but seriously, closed helmets, they do wonders
(the Valkyrie pilots are a perfect example)

Check out mantic's corporation bits, they have great little backpacks that are very cheap, and have pretty good detail. Good closed-visor helmets too, they're a bit smaller size but would look great on Cadians.

Something that can really add to the armored look of the cadians that is simple to do is to glue a pair of shoulder pads (can be found in the vehicle kits and most likely through bits sites) on the knees as knee pads. I did one up this way as a test and it really changes the look. Modify the lasgun a bit and you have a completely new look. I will try to dig up the figure and take a picture.

If you don't want to break the bank, Mega Miniatures will sell you the backpacks from it's troopers separately if you email him. I think they cost me somewhere between 25 and 40 cents each. http://www.megaminis.com/

Here's what they look like. They're about the same length as, but slimmer than, the secret weapon packs which are a bit chunky IMHO, but nicely detailed.



Here's a poorly painted picture of one of them on a trooper. The trooper in the picture is about the same size as a GW cadian



If you want to go the PIG iron route, their backpacks are bigger, and about the same price as secret weapon (a buck each) but you also get a bunch of pouches in the deal.


Lastly, check out The Assault Group who make a wide range of packs based on 28mm modern and historical troops. Here's just a few of the packs they offer. You will have to search the individual sections of "weapons and accessories" to find the rest.
http://www.theassaultgroup.co.uk/store/search.php?mode=search&page=3
They sell 10 for about 6 bucks.
The nice thing about TAG is that their figs are a bit chunkier, so while they will likely be a bit smaller than the Secret weapon packs, they're not going to look undersized on GW figs the way that some historical parts and accessories do.

I hate seeing "Fifteen Hours" being used to justify whether or not to give troopers lots of gear...

That said, the "Hostile Environment Kits" are horrible. What you see for the torso and head is what you get. The Cadian Respirator kits are a much better value, as you get detailing bits which you can spread around in a more aesthetically pleasing way. It even gives bits which you can use to slap some stowage onto your Sentinels, Chimeras, etc.

 Kanluwen wrote:
I hate seeing "Fifteen Hours" being used to justify whether or not to give troopers lots of gear...

Daawww... I liked Fifteen Hours. It was ridiculous, but it was my kind of ridiculous.