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I am wondering the legality of sprucing up a normal, cheap model, to take the place of an expensive model. An example would be to take a regular tactical marine and give him an iron halo, greenstuff cape, special helmet, and a lot of iconography and say he is a Chapter Master. Or taking a 5-man tactical squad and giving them white helmets and iconography and calling them veterans. Would these be ok, or would you need to buy an actual Chapter Master and a veteran box?

Thanks in advance!

(Reason I'm asking is because I'm mulling over the thought of making Vietnam IG [and no, not those god-awful catachan] and am hating Pask's model and want to just sub in a regular guardsman for him. I am wondering if I can do that or if I have to buy pask and pretty much whittle him down to a skinny piece of plastic and greenstuff how I want him to look)

Again, thanks in advance!

(Oh, and the reason I asked about the cheap converting is because I wanted to take the question to the extreme)

If the model is suitably converted such that it is clear what it is and it has suitable wargear then very few people will complain.

As above. I doubt anyone will complain, just haev the right equipment, loko suitably more impressive than a standard model, etc.

I do such all the time. Especially for my Orks.

Big Mek is just a Nob model with a wrench backpack.

Pain boy is a metal Nob model with an extra arm glued on his back.

Snikrot is Nob with a gas mask from the Burna boys.

Counts as Sammael is a HH Scimitar bike.

Kahn is the moustache guy from the White Scars upgrade pack.

Mainly I take my extra/un used models and convert something else out of them.

Its a time honored tradition to kit bash an HQ or special character from easier to obtain kits. GW has a bad habit of limited run models, or super expensive limited use models, to which the community has responded over the years by turning lower cost GW models into their more expensive or harder to get cousin. Not only is this exceptable, it is encouraged. Just remember to make your version look like the model it is replacing enough so as to reduce any confusion.

SJ

 Scott-S6 wrote:
If the model is suitably converted such that it is clear what it is and it has suitable wargear then very few people will complain.

That's pretty much it.

I know of a few people who have taken the Necron Praetorian/Lychguard kit and then built them with staffs, tails, and Deathmark heads to make Crypteks. Basic kit is about $35 plus heads were left over from Immortals, allowing for that $35 investment to cover 5x $12-19.

And they look good, too.

I usually buy a vanguard or assault marine kit then kit bash in other parts. Its easy to tell which one the HQ is if he is the only one running.

This might sound like heresy to the newer fans of the hobby but this was encouraged by GW only a wile ago. Take a look at the older codexes and white dwarfs

Here is an example from the old daemonhunters codex.

Before the plastic Veteran boxes came out, this was basically the only way to make Veterans due to the fact that the resin/metal models didn't have interchangable weapons and their default loadout sucked really bad.

Generally most people subscribe to the rule of cool: If it looks cool enough to be a commander/veteran, no one will care. Conversely, if you present me with a Dark Vengeance Bolter Marine and say it's your Chaptermaster in Power Armor and a bolt gun, I'd slap you on the side of your head even though technically that is the correct loadout (A chapter master is deserving of better bling).

Most of my IG commissars are guys in greatcoats(from the cadian command sprue or greenstuff sculpted) with bolt pistol and power weapon/fist(some of those fists are sm); many of the power swords are shaved and carved down sgt chainswords.

My GK Grand master, Librarian, and brotherhood captain are all just GK termies painted extra pretty and with all sorts of extra bits.

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:
Before the plastic Veteran boxes came out, this was basically the only way to make Veterans due to the fact that the resin/metal models didn't have interchangable weapons and their default loadout sucked really bad.

Generally most people subscribe to the rule of cool: If it looks cool enough to be a commander/veteran, no one will care. Conversely, if you present me with a Dark Vengeance Bolter Marine and say it's your Chaptermaster in Power Armor and a bolt gun, I'd slap you on the side of your head even though technically that is the correct loadout (A chapter master is deserving of better bling).

Agreed, barring any fluff chapter that has some specific reason for this.

Also, I have seen a lot of people convert up Count-As models for various special characters to fit the theme. At one point I used a converted Iron Warriors chaos lord to represent Strakken in a Renegade Guard Army (Strakken's profile at the time actually fit that of a bionic'd up Chaos Lord).

 oldzoggy wrote:
This might sound like heresy to the newer fans of the hobby but this was encouraged by GW only a wile ago. Take a look at the older codexes and white dwarfs

Here is an example from the old daemonhunters codex.

Spoiler:

Good old times, with codexes and WD actually pushing people to be creative( and also buy the bits/models needed for the said conversions).

*sigh* Miss those times when GW new it was a game...

Good exemple is my Biker/Jugger Lord.



Ork warbike, DE jetbikes, divers Chaos bits, DV Chosen Champion, even the side blades of Old Doomrider.

There are still models (or models with certain gear loadouts) that there are no Citatel minis for, such as an Ork Big Mek on a bike, or Painboy on a bike. You have to convert these yourself.

As others have said: rule of cool, and let your opponent know what the model is before you start playing.

There are no librarian on bikes, no captain on a bike, and so forth, you are welcome to convert them. GW still encourages converting. That is why the upgrade kits exist