Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So, I regularly game in my local GW and I really like it there. Great people, great atmosphere, does get very sweaty but hey, so I have no desire to be kicked out or frowned upon by the staff there. Which basically means I'm restricted to using GW Models.

While on the most part I'm happy with this, there are some cases where it'd be far easier to buy from Mantic, or something. For example, I'm quite low on Fantasy Orc Boyz, and I can buy 30 from Mantic for half the price as I can buy GW ones. However they would obvioulsy look like Mantic ones, which wouldn't go down well with the staff.

So, my question is, how easy are Mantic Orcs, and indeed other Mantic (or similar) kits easy to convert into Orc Boyz that resemble GW ones. I have no shortage of bitz (which is one good thing about GW stuff) so that's not a problem. I'm more worried about scale, sizes of joints etc.

Thanks in advance

Well, in all honesty, it really depends. I say find a place to purchase a small amount of the models you intend to proxy & then test them against GW, with GW bits etc. And then paint them & ask for feedback.

I'd just say get yourself onto eBay and get a crap load of them for cheap. Yes, they'll be painted like gak. And yes, they'll probably be assembled with plastic glue in poses that are most unbecoming. But such is life.

Pros and cons. Is it worth buying Mantic miniatures if theirs a good possibility that your masking them doesn't work, and you get told about it anyway? Ends up being a waste of cash and time.

Ok, thanks for your input guys

if memory serves (and my memory is questionable on the best of days), a lot of 40k tournaments only require that models be made up of at least 50% GW bits. so, you could maybe get away with mantic models as a base and then heavily kitbash GW parts onto them.

I think fenrir1997 has the right idea, though. you can run the range of new to used on ebay and, if you're patient, probably score a sweet deal in the process with no worries about compatibility issues down the road.

 varl wrote:
if memory serves (and my memory is questionable on the best of days), a lot of 40k tournaments only require that models be made up of at least 50% GW bits. so, you could maybe get away with mantic models as a base and then heavily kitbash GW parts onto them.

I think fenrir1997 has the right idea, though. you can run the range of new to used on ebay and, if you're patient, probably score a sweet deal in the process with no worries about compatibility issues down the road.

a tournament might allow non gw models but all bets are off when playing in an actual GW store. The policy for in store gaming seems to vary a lot from store to store with some of them being more willing to look the other way. Generally speaking though you get a big from the staff for doing it

Using Gw heads and shields would go a long way towards it, the head is the most distinctly different part of the model. The weapons are also different sizes, so swap as many as you can.

Okay, it doesn't sound too hard to convert, but, as advised, I'll snoop around for a good deal on eBay first

I'm a big proponent of non-GW models, but if you're going to be playing mostly in a GW store I wouldn't stray from GW models. No point in saving a few bucks on non-GW models if the models are bannded from the store once an employee sees them. Most GW stores will outright ban anything that they can tell is not a GW product.

You might be able to get away with a charachter or two, but even that's risky.

I'm doing something similar myself. I'm mixing some corporation marines by Mantic in with actual Elysian drop troops. I'm using EDT heads & weapons/arms on them & then using them as Sgts for my squads to explain the advanced armor. They're very similar in look & about identical in scale.