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Being a keen lover of extracting every possible model out of my pile of bits, I've looked upon my fire warrior spare parts, and decided to make myself a fireblade, because what better way to annoy my friends than to have double the pulse rifle shots?

So, I cobbled this guy together.




What do you guys think?
Is he recognizable enough?

He sure is for me!

Heh. It looks like he was in the official Fireblade's pose but then had a few bullets whiz by his head.

Looks good! I would accept it as a Fireblade.

That is very good. I'd happily play against it. Now I want to see it with paint!

It's recognizably different, but I kind of feel like it's one of those situations where it is very obviously an "I had extra bits laying around and didn't want to buy the actual model" situations.


I don't want to just pooh-pooh your idea and execution, as I can't fault anyone wanting to do a kitbash and getting enthusiastic about doing so but I'd like to pose a question if I may?

When you read the Cadre Fireblade's rules and background, what are the parts that really stick out to you?

For me, it's that he's supposed to be:
a) A really good marksman.
b) An inspirational figure to the Fire Caste.
c) A support character rather than a beatstick character.

You've got the marksman part down, as you made what I think is a really good looking Longshot Pulse Rifle.
The support character bit definitely looks appropriate, as it's not hard to envision him shouting at his squad or nearby Fire Warriors to pour on the fire.

I feel like it's the inspirational figure part that he falls flat on. I get that you wanted to copy the pose from the plastic with the Bonding Knife raised in the air, but maybe with the way you've done him he would look better with the rifle aimed instead?

Also, I would have picked a single place for the pouches that you gave him and just stuck to it. To interject a bit of realism: skilled shooters tend to like things in specific places. It makes things become reflex/muscle memory. Think about any war movies you might have seen showing the special forces or "professional" soldiers--before going into battle, they check their gear to make sure everything is in the right spot yeah?

The key, in my opinion, to a well done conversion is to kind of plan it through beforehand rather than just have an exercise in "I had bits".


Hopefully this didn't come off as too preachy or condescending, as I do think you did a good job--but I think with some time and planning you could make something better!

Kanluwen, you bring up a good point about the three elements of the fireblade, and I do feel, looking at it again, that he may be better served by another pose, possibly changing the legs for something standing up instead of the kneeling position here, maybe something where he's stepping up onto something?

Maybe I'll do another one when I get more bits...

I hear your point also about the pouches, I feel that the shoulder one is superfluous...

I'm pretty happy with the blade in the air, myself, as I have many other fire warriors that are in a shooting stance, and this makes him stand out against the rest of the gang...

I'll keep you posted when I paint him up...

Were you using the "new" Fire Warrior kit(that includes the Breacher elements) or the "old" Fire Warrior kit that just had the Pulse Carbine and Rifle options?

If you're using the new Fire Warrior kit, there is an arm for the Pulse Rifle where he has it held up/casually and a pointing arm that look good.

I took the lazy man's route myself for a Fireblade and bought the kit, but didn't like the knife in the air so cut the knife hand and replaced it with a hand from the kit that has a kind of "Ready yourselves to fire..." vibe to it.

Stepping up onto something is a good option. It always makes you look more important to have a soapbox, right?

Without wanting to hijack your thread to show off my own work; I do think this can be a good guide for you in terms of posing(ignore the fact they're Ghostkeels--the principle applies ):
Action pose!

Casual, surveying the battlefield pose!

Only thing i dont like about the fireblade is the blade it self.

its not very..... tau?

Any Tau holding a sword is clearly a Fireblade.

Kanluwen, when the time comes that I get my hands on a ghostkeel, I'm pretty much set on doing the very relaxed version with the cockpit open and the pilot standing on the door of the arm with binoculars or something like that...

Good on you.

My next Ghostkeel is planned on either being a Titanfall splashdown or a kickboxer...

For now tying to inject some dynamism in an old-style plastic xv-8... just bending one leg is already much better...

An here is my missileside, with a missile pod on each shoulder and an adapted rifle...