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So I know marine bits don't work if I want to make IG sized guys. People told me skaven and night goblins from warhammer fantasy are too small. But are all those different types of elves the right size? Are the empire guys the right size? Are the beastmen the right size? I really have no idea. Is there a resource out there which lets me know, or do any of you guys which bits would work for conversions?

What exactly are you trying to convert?

I am planning on 'kit-bashing' I think is the term. So I want to know all of the GW bits that are Guardsmen sized so I can see what my options are. I want my guys to be human looking, so no skeletons or mutants or whatever, unless they can be easily converted to human looking.

I think alot of the empire bits are pretty spot on, someone that knows better can tell you which run a little smaller or a little bigger.

Pretty sure the State Troops get used alot with IG.

Are the elves (high, dark and wood) all close enough in size?



Also, I heard the Lord of the Rings stuff was pretty much all too small. Is that true?

I have seen a lot of conversion of IG done with Empire Pistollier/Outrider heads. Some of the doodad bits from Empire character boxes also work. Hands, and torsos of Beastmen can easily fit Catachans. WoC models, especially marauders are also good source for conversion bits.

Ive used csm, sm, empire, kroot, and some tau bits for the guardsmen conversions i've tried. The sm and csm i used were chests mostly, the empire anything works, kroot for some arms weapons. Tau should work as anything. The marine chests make the guardmen a bit bulkier like the fw renegades.

Anything "human-sized" will work with IG, depending on what you want to convert. So any humans or human-like races should work, E.G. WH40K Tau or WHFB Bretonnians. What exactly are you trying to convert/kitbash? If we know we can give you a better scope of what bits and sets you can really use.

Is there a particular theme your trying to accomplish here or what? I've used Empire bits crossed with IG bits for warrior acolytes a couple times and had success. Most bits are more or less interchangeable. It really depends on how far out you want your stuff to be. I've seen some decent stuff done and even done some decent works myself. But, do what you what.

I'm not sure on a theme yet. I don't have easy access to real life Warhammer fantasy stuff, and it's hard to tell on bits sites what is guard sized and what isn't. I am surprised there isn't a list out there of bits that are the right sized (Not Space Marine or larger). Seems people agree 'Empire' stuff is the right size and Bretonnians too. What about all of the fantasy elves? They seem like a good possibility to me. And the Beastmen? Those beastmen were mentioned but they seem big to me?

Beastmen work well, especially with Catachan arms. Wood elves work well but you kind of need to obscure the very narrow torso and most of the heads are no go. Empire stuff works well in general.

Skaven and Night goblins would make good ratlings. Ogres make good Ogryn.

Interesting. What are ratlings?

And do you think Skaven are definitely too small for guardsmen sized people? (I'd use the torsos/legs and put a different human head on top, obviously the skaven head does not look human).

Ratlings and Ogryns are sub-human races that have evolved from the planets they have been on for X amount of years. They are human, but not enough to be considered "true humans." Like how SPESS MAHREENS are super-human. To sum it up, ratlings are hobbits. Also, skaven are rat people, so using torsos/legs would not work since they aren't human at all.

I'm just going to ask once more, what EXACTLY are you trying to kitbash/convert? The Imperial Guard has no alien races in it, and is made purely of humans and sub-humans, so using any WHFB kits isn't going to really work in WH40K lore unless it's Empire/Bretonnia. Just looking at what's guardsman-SIZED is different from what you can actually use. Sorry if I seem rude, I just want to help in a better way than "these are size A, but these are size B".

 Deunstephe wrote:
To sum it up, ratlings are hobbits. Also, skaven are rat people, so using torsos/legs would not work since they aren't human at all.

It can work depending on what you want to do, such as renegade guard ratlings. There are good pics on dakka and google showing skaven and goblin ratlings.

 Yonan wrote:

 Deunstephe wrote:
To sum it up, ratlings are hobbits. Also, skaven are rat people, so using torsos/legs would not work since they aren't human at all.

It can work depending on what you want to do, such as renegade guard ratlings. There are good pics on dakka and google showing skaven and goblin ratlings.

True, but that's renegade/LatD. I think this guy's trying to go for some regular guard, but we just don't know.

Another reason you can't really use skaven is because they're mostly 1 body with legs attached. The skaven night runners are multi-part torso/legs/tails, so they could work as ratlings if you swapped arms and heads.

OK. How about what army do you want to play? Obviously its an IG or something to that effect. I've seen a proxy army of Tau done using converted IG as stand ins for fire warriors. That work out for the most part. IG bits are more or less compatible with most of GWs inventory. You can find some decent stand ins for IG from other games but, be careful when doing that. 28mm is roughly the scale for 40k.

What do you have around? A hobby shop, GamesWorkshop, or a independent game store? Your selection is mixed based on what you have at your disposal. Find stuff online can be mixed. Though, if you can find any of DreamForges' minatures they make for some nice stuff.

 Deunstephe wrote:
I'm just going to ask once more, what EXACTLY are you trying to kitbash/convert? The Imperial Guard has no alien races in it, and is made purely of humans and sub-humans, so using any WHFB kits isn't going to really work in WH40K lore unless it's Empire/Bretonnia. Just looking at what's guardsman-SIZED is different from what you can actually use. Sorry if I seem rude, I just want to help in a better way than "these are size A, but these are size B".

You don't just seem rude, you are rude! Lol. That's ok though. First things first, I am making GK henchmen, which do have monkeys in it apparently (but I am not asking about how to make alien monkeys here). Second, are you really arguing that elves don't work as humans? Really? Last I checked they are humans with different ears, unless Lord of the Rings lied to me? So IF their bits are the right size it would stand to reason that basically everything but the heads would work for 40k guardsmen sized humans.


I'm really just shocked that there is no list of GW bits out there which lets wanna-be converters know what is the 'guardsmen sized' 'marine sized' and 'bigger'.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Deunstephe wrote:
Another reason you can't really use skaven is because they're mostly 1 body with legs attached. The skaven night runners are multi-part torso/legs/tails, so they could work as ratlings if you swapped arms and heads.

So the consensus seems to be Skaven are too small for regular 'guardsmen-sized' humans. Ok.


Side note, the Skaven Plague Monks have separate arms and heads so I suppose those could be turned into ratlings as well.

Ok, you're building GK henchmen, so that narrows the field a bit. Empire and Brettonian bits are your best bet. If you want to do females, the Elf bits will work for you provided you use the hooded heads and can't see their ears. As a matter of fact, you could make a good Death Cult Assassin that would look like a female "Assassin's Creed" character using the Wood Elf bits. If you're not completely locked in to GW only bits, there are several third-party/after market producers out there with great bits for building/converting. Victoria Miniatures and Anvil Industries are my go-tos for after market parts.

That's a darn good idea for the Wood Elves.

Even though I don't play at a GW store (on the somewhat rare occasions I do play) I'd like to have GW bits...

How rude of you to call me rude! I just wanted to help you out better. I also never argued that elf bits wouldn't work, I just said that for GUARDSMEN they wouldn't work. Now that I know you want to do GK henchmen, then yes they'll work out fine. Also, plague monks are too large to be Ratlings, they have models, as do the Jokaero (alien monkeys that have a fethton of guns in tiny rings).

 Deunstephe wrote:
How rude of you to call me rude! I just wanted to help you out better. I also never argued that elf bits wouldn't work, I just said that for GUARDSMEN they wouldn't work. Now that I know you want to do GK henchmen, then yes they'll work out fine. Also, plague monks are too large to be Ratlings, they have models, as do the Jokaero (alien monkeys that have a fethton of guns in tiny rings).

Ha, you're funny. At least I hope you were joking. Your comment on plague monks is interesting. If they are too big to be ratlings I wonder if their torsos could be used for henchmen aka guardsmen sized people.

Here use these for references: These are projects that I have done. I've done a good bit with models from the other games like Necromunda, and done some conversions using stuff from the sisters of battle line. Also, there is the list from other bit sites to find some different bits to use.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-53085-23553_My%20Jakaero%20Weponsmiths.html

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-53085-24765_Odos%20Xenos.html

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/260250.page

Cool, thank you Kiryu!

Super Newb wrote:

I'm really just shocked that there is no list of GW bits out there which lets wanna-be converters know what is the 'guardsmen sized' 'marine sized' and 'bigger'.

Not only would it be a huge project to actually do, but converters generally make things work. The thing is that it really depends what you're doing, you can use a lot of guard bits to make say marine scouts, yet some bits would just be awkward to try. And some WFB stuff works for guards, or even marines, while other stuff doesn't. You really can't make a generalization of size across an entire range.

No problem. I'd say do a few inquisitors first and try and do his or her henchmen to more or less go with that theme that you want to do with them.

I am going to get some bits soon to test a few ideas out based on what people have said here and the pictures I have found while searchign online. Some Empire stuff mixed with Cadian which will probably be fine. And then to be crazy, one skaven plague monk with a head swap and maybe an arm swap.

Question for you guys, I have never used greenstuff before. I imagine it would be pretty easy to cover the ratish feet of the monks. Just smooth them out so they look like boring old shoes?

GS sculpting can be pretty hard, and I haven't even found a tutorial on how to do boots. If you want some boring footies, then yes, but you're not going to need a lot, so think about what else you can use GS for other than making footies.

Chaos Marauder's work well too if you want beefy arms.

Green stuff is kinda tricky. Be sure to keep your tools and fingers wet when using it. I've done quite a bit of conversions with it. You have to be pretty selective about how much your going to use on any conversion you do. If you find any of the pewter you want to use. GS will help to fill in gaps that may form when pinning the figures. Try to have everything go smoothly. Realize that it takes practice. So, don't get frustrated and just keep going. If you pick up anything fine cast liquid green stuff will be your friend when fixing the F UPs. Liquid Green stuff also works great when you need to do thing with smoothing. When you've sanded something down and its rough, apply a few layers of LGS to fix it. It can turn out decent. But, like I said before your first few times may be rough. So, just be patient.

 Deunstephe wrote:
GS sculpting can be pretty hard, and I haven't even found a tutorial on how to do boots. If you want some boring footies, then yes, but you're not going to need a lot, so think about what else you can use GS for other than making footies.

I am going to go with boring footies, or keeping them as feet but fuilling them in a little in places and cutting off long toe nails lol so they look more human. Hopefully it won't be too annoying.