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I am a new player and am just beginning to devle below the surface of this game but I have seen so many "modified" models that I was wondering what the official rule was regarding altering models and weapons on the models. There seems to be so many people modifiying completely unrelated models and calling them what ever they wanted or adding holsters to models and "giving" them pistols etc. Where do the official rules fall in model alteration? While I realise friendly games and house rules likely suspend this concern, i was more concerned about more formal games or even tournaments. To take the conversation one step farther, is there a reason why Games Workshop and Forgeworld models are so different and what does that mean in terms of this overall post.

Thanks everyone!!
Geek

tournaments= TO's call
Anything else, decide yourself.

For me, it has to be the same dimensions, and look like its as tough as it should be. And be painted. And not be paper. or foam cut outs. had that once :-/

If you're playing in a GW store, a certain percentage of the model needs to be made by GW. Models in tournaments need to be WYSIWYG, I believe.

First of all models come equipped with the things they have in their profile. So even if you model the tactical marine with a powerfist he will not have one unless he is the sergeant and has purchased it. Tactical marines come stock with a bolter, a pistol and grenades so they also have them when not modelled as modelling them on every dude would lead to a pretty unified look which some people including me would not like. What's important is the profile and your opponent should tell you them if you are not familiar with them yet.

You are bringing up the Helldrake which belongs to one of the two most conversion-encouraging factions in the game. Chaos is all about mutation and no two models should look the same but conversions are not the same as proxying soda cans for drop pods and things like that. You should talk about this beforehand, make sure everybody knows what is what and if the things your opponent is fielding are too confusing to you, you have the right to say so.

Great posts guys. So I could not say, give my Heldrake a sword (just an example and not something I would do) and tell everyone he has one for use.

You can make it look as cool as you want but it still has the same weapons and stats as a regular Helldrake.

No that would have no effect in game, he would just look way cooler.

No, the post above you already explains this.

If you give your heldrake a sword it would be purely cosmetic and have no effect in game as the heldrake has no 'Sword' option in its profile.

The Heldrake can, however, 'Vector Strike', an attack where it smashes through an enemy unit during it's movement phase. It is perfectly reasonable to imagine the heldrake would be using his sword for his vector strikes (perhaps he wields the mythical Sword of Vector), although this explanation would be a purely narrative thing and have no effect on the actual mechanics of the game.

By the way, when you say heldrake with a sword, do you actually mean helbrute?

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But in all seriousness, and coming from personal experience, the actual build of the model is pretty meaningless, what matters is the army list/codex rules.

If someone told me my marines don't have grenades because I don't have them modeled on, I would slap them with a large fish.

Certain things should be modeled on, like if you're swapping out a model's basic weapon for an upgrade, ie giving a model a plasma gun, you should model him with a plasma gun. This just makes things easier to keep track of. This of course only applies if that model can indeed take a plasma gun... it's preferable if you don't put a plasma gun on a model that doesn't have a plasma gun. Makes things easier to keep track of. As others have stated as well, if I glue CML onto the backs of all my tactical marines they don't suddenly get CML. It needs to be an upgrade that they can take, and that you've paid the points for, if they want to be able to use it. See your codex for details.

Equally, you don't lose weapons if you don't have them modeled on. If I don't want to put holsters on their hips they don't lose their bolt pistols. If a standard bearer is posed without any weapons in his hands he can still shoot his bolter.

Sorry if this seems rambly and confusing but overall...

Make things obvious, but feel free to model for coolness. If you're buying an upgraded weapon for a model, like a plasma gun, put a plasma gun on it. But feel free to have a space marine holding aloft the head of a dead ork and doing a cool pose... we get that he's still carrying a bolter, a bolt pistol, and grenades. But don't expect us to somehow know that he's the guy that bought a plasma gun. Or, a la your example, give a huge sword to a heldrake, make it firing lasers out of its eyes, give it a necklace of UM heads.... just don't try to tell me that they do something that the rules don't allow.

Buy magenets. And just magnetize all the stuff you want to be able to switch out. Magnets come in packs of 100+ and still only cost a fraction of most models.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also there are no official rules on conversions.
GW even used to encourage you to make them in their previous publications.

Thanks guys. I actually do have a Heldrake and I did use magnets on it to switch out the two mouth weapons, and to be able to remove head, neck, both wings and rear legs. I did the same thing for my Plague Drones so that I can switch off stingers and the alternatives as well as the head options. pain in the ass but very useful! makes pieces easier to paint as well.