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I am just wanting to see what ideas people have come up with for making Grey Knight Librarians since the Grey Knights armor is highly stylized and to me the standard SM Librarian you pick up from GW doesn't have that stylized feel to it. I bought one of the SM Librarians in Terminator armor and painted him in GK colors with leaving that over sized book emblem that is suppose to go above his head because I didn't like it. At first I was fine with it but the more I use him in regular battles, I look at him and it just seems out of place. All my GK have helmets on, I just don't like ever really painting faces plus I really like GK helmets so yeah, and that have all a uniform look to them but then you seem my Librarian and even though he is painted in the same style, he looks out of place in normal SM terminator armor, with crux terminatus on his shoulder instead of the GK symbol and even with all the book motifs, he looks different from his brothers plus his storm bolter isn't strapped to his wrist.

So dissatisfied, I was looking at my unfinished GK Terminator squad, specifically on of my Justicars for the squad and I had the thought that he kind of looks like the way I imagine a GK Librarian does. He has a book symbol above his head, the way the GK terminator armor is sunk in kind of makes it look similar to a psychic hood. I go to the codex and look at the picture that they have of a GK Librarian and the regular Terminator looks to have more in common with it the codex and the fluff (In the fluff, it makes it out to be that GK Librarian are almost just like regular GK just with the minor advantage of a psychic hood.) than the SM Librarian. The Justicar himself remains unpainted but I was thinking of painting him in a style of a Librarian giving him a blue tabard and a book strapped to his side to give him some more flavor using him instead of the SM Librarian model.

I am also pretty sure that I have a few spare GK Terminators that haven't been put together to make a one a Librarian so I wouldn't have to sacrifice my Justicar but my GK Terminator squad doesn't get used anymore, not cost effective. I guess my one worry is would it be tournament legal if I did this? My Mordrak model is just a regular GK Terminator model that I painted because he doesn't have a specific model. Does it really matter what model I used for my Librarian as long as I point out that it is a Librarian?

The TDA Libby is easily converted into a GK one. Use a knife to cut out the head, replace with a GK Termy head. Add a stormbolter from the GK Termy box to the outstretched arm, using the open hand. If needed, chop off the Aquila atop the staff and replace with hammerhead or Halberd Blade, or replace hand with sword hand.

The problem with that is that I will have to purchase a whole new Librarian model since the one is already done. Even then, I still think it looks clunky. I will have to say that compared to the typical TDA of the SM, GK TDA just looks better and less cluttered. I think that is what bothers me the most about the TDA Libby is the amount of crap just tacked onto makes it look unpractical for battle at all. The amount of decoration on it is ridiculous even with the thing taken off his head. I kind of straight up don't like the TDA Libby model is probably most of my displeasure with the model. The other regular power armor LIbby models look good and less cluttered but the GK Libby has to be in TDA.

Well in that case, the GK Termies will do the job. The is one GK body with a larger 'crest' than the others, probably meant to represent the Justicar. It can work well to represent a Psychic Hood.

As a matter of interest you can also make Grand Master Mordrak, a custom Brother-Captain Stern, and any Grand Master or Brother-Captain set-up.

I could see using the Stern model possibly but the Brother-Captain looks like a generic GK Terminator in a special pose. I think that is the one frustration with the GK model kits, the fact that we don't have many HQ kits besides a hand full of the named characters while the SM gets plenty of unnamed HQ kits along with a good amount of named HQ kits.

I converted the Brother Captain Stern model for mine.

Pre painting to better see the conversion work...

Here it is almost done being painted...

Wow, that is a lot of stuff and just the sheer technicality of it is just awesome. It looks more to the GK style but a little too busy for my taste but it gives me some ideas on how I can convert a Terminator.

 Envihon wrote:
I could see using the Stern model possibly but the Brother-Captain looks like a generic GK Terminator in a special pose. I think that is the one frustration with the GK model kits, the fact that we don't have many HQ kits besides a hand full of the named characters while the SM gets plenty of unnamed HQ kits along with a good amount of named HQ kits.

Well, that he is. But there are plenty of unique bits in the kit to help mark him as a Captain or Grand Master. For example, the larger Psychic Hood piece, a Sword with an =I= on it, a Halberd with plenty of Purity Seals, a tabard, a Daemon's head. He may look like a generic Terminator cuz that's what he looks like. I could just as easily say my Chainsword/BP sergeant is a Captain, or my Terminator Sergeant in my Chapter Master, as long as the gear is right.

Honestly the only difference would be the psychic hood

I think it would be simple to pick up a single GK Terminator, Make a far more beefy hood, and add more book looking bits (like the shoulder pads n stuff) also add more books to his back (or better yet the typical SM Librarian skulls)

Im pretty sure they also still paint there armor blue so thats a thing to make it easier to distinguish.

 Desubot wrote:
Honestly the only difference would be the psychic hood

I think it would be simple to pick up a single GK Terminator, Make a far more beefy hood, and add more book looking bits (like the shoulder pads n stuff) also add more books to his back (or better yet the typical SM Librarian skulls)

Im pretty sure they also still paint there armor blue so thats a thing to make it easier to distinguish.

Well it depends. They don't follow the Codex in any way. The Techmarines don't wear red armour, just a single red shoulder pad with the Mechanicum Gear on it as a symbol of the AM.
Also, when the GK codex came out, the studio team painted up the GK Libby with silver armour and blue robes, as well as touches of blue on the details of the staff handle and the knee.

My suggestion would either be blue robes or details or a blue shoulder pad.

Ah then yeah

Color robes (maybe a shoulder pad) would be the other way for sure to distinguish a lib without gluing a library to him.

Yeah, the only really different according to the fluff for a GK libby vs. a regular GK is the fact that he has a Psychic Hood. Other than that the fluff pictures always have him looking like almost an exact copy of GK Terminator except with blue robs instead of wearing robs that would demonstrate his heraldry. Plus the GK Terminator Justicars and all of the Paladins where book themed pieces situated where it would go on a regular Librarian and mine has a piece that looks like a miniature version of what other Librarians wear so if I paint his tabard blue instead of in his heraldry, he would look like he is suppose to according to fluff. Doing the Psychic Hood is the only thing I would have to do but their terminator armor already makes the GKs look like they are all wearing Psychic Hoods.

Here is my Mordrak to demonstrate my point.