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Hi my brother is after starting a force of these guys and I'm thinking of getting him a few bits.
He'd like to make a Salamander Primaris unit with an Nocturne Auxiliary force

For this I think he likes the idea of bringing a non-caucasian army to the table, I also think this'd be a nice and distinct.

So does anyone know of some nice heads with African features (inoffensive nicely sculpted), for marines and/or for guardsmen?

And secondly, does anyone have suggestions about customizing the primaris armor to have a salamander theme without resulting to greenstuff?

Also how do you feel the Nocturne would dress? I kind of feel like the Tallarn infantry might be similar, in which case does anyone sell good plastic alternatives?

Interested to hear any thoughts and suggestions!

Can't help with the bit sourcing for auxiliary force.

As far as salamander bits goes. I have a pretty extensive collection and tried a few random things;

1. Scale Pattern - bought a scale pattern maker thing


2. Dragon capes - a few third party makers sell these and it makes a huge difference right away.


3. Thunder Hammers - nothing says Salamanders to me more than beating someone down with a thunderhammer


4. Spears - to each his own but I figure if they hunt drakes then spears would be a natural weapon to use


5. Bases - throw some lava on there and it's instant Salamander(y)


Only some suggestions, but from what I've read they also take pride in their equipment so you can try and reflect that with clean lines and no battle damage;


But they also apparently don't know when to quit so you can definitely go heavy on the weathering as well;

I'm not aware of any African-styled bits from the usual 3rd party suspects, so you might struggle on that front. Perhaps for some guard auxiliary, giving them all gasmasks might be a thematic choice, if they're used to training around volcanic activity with lots of toxic fumes? Though I suppose it kind of hides the fact that it's a non-caucasian army if their heads are covered.

jb1981 wrote:

5. Bases - throw some lava on there and it's instant Salamander(y)

I agree with all your other points, but (as a Salamander collector myself!) I'm starting to get a little fed up with seeing them on lava bases. They fight all in the Emperor's name all over the galaxy, on any terrain. Lava bases just make me think that they're hanging on Nocturne and putting their feet up. Mine are on a light desert-y sort of basing, and I keep meaning to add a few dry tufts to make it into a sort of arid steppe. I find the light sandy colour sets off the green and black really nicely.

Dragonforge has a set, but it would get repetitive fast so it's probably best to have most of the army suit up and reserve these for characters.

http://www.dragonforge.com/Painting%20service/for%20sale/conversion_parts.htm

These are all great points guys, cheers! I've ordered a few bits for my brother.

I really like the suggestion of spears, and the cloaks go without saying, it just makes sense that on a world full of monsters the spear would be the go to.
I don't think I'll be getting a greenstuff roller, but I will suggest it to him.
I'm not a huge fan of FW 's salamanders (or their prices lol), with the fire iconography, but I do like the Pyroclasts design, I can imagine that the scaled face cowl might look awesome on flame-wielding Aggressors or the Hellblasters.

Dragon Forge does do some well sculpted heads, but yeah not really generic enough to be used more than once and maybe a little too gangster for these deathworld natives.
For the Nocturne Auxiliary, I've had a real hard time finding affordable African-esk warrior heads, I've settled for getting some heads and spears from the perry miniatures zulu collection.
Honestly I'm in two minds about them, ii'm thinking dotting the eyes with red will be pretty hard to place on these minis :(


I'm hoping that might go well with some 3rd party Tallarn style heads, as it helps mask their features and suggests a hot dusty environment .

Hopefully they'll tie in together, I'm thinking with red on the heads paired with the green armor will really pop I think.
And if Zulu heads don't work I got these on standby.


Finally for the storm troopers I'm thinking these might work well...

I feel like a golden mask will subtly tie into Africa's history of exporting gold, and tie into the masters of the forge gimmick.

We'll see if my brother can make use of them I guess :p

 CaffeineIsGood wrote:

These look rather good - where are they from?

SmallChanges wrote:

 CaffeineIsGood wrote:

These look rather good - where are they from?

I found them from "Reptilian Overlords" they have a small range, and I've not ordered from them before, but I agree they look cool, hopefully they suit the concept I have in mind

The Zulu heads really aren't too bad I've found, but I wasn't blown away by Anvil's "medieval" torsos they were a little too short to be combined with standard guard arms and legs.

I've added a "power spear" officer there, and I'll knock up an example of an elite and a red turban trooper once I have the bits. The "medieval helmets" look good but maybe need a darker brow.

I feel like there might be a place for black female heads, I could imagine on a recruitment world of the Salamanders a lot of young men (from a small population) would already be aspiring to join the marines, so Dahomey-Amazon warrior women might also be common on a world of monsters.
(Possibly they could be a crusader unit, with some zulu-like shields)
Frankly though the 28mm African heads have all looked pretty gnarly, and a lot of the decent ones are mixed in with Zombie sets or quite expensive.

Anyone know a good source?
Or does anyone have experience sculpting braided hair maybe?