http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/56.page JForum - http://www.jforum.net Welcome to Timff8’s Modeling Accretion!

After some friendly coaxing, I’ve decided to start uploading some of my conversions here. These are going to be in various stages of completion, sometimes composed of a mix of painted and unpainted parts.

Twice each week I will upload images of a miniature in my collection, and discuss how I made it, as well as my opinions of the unit’s rules at the time of upload, culled from my experiences.

Because today is the first update, I will make it a double post, and upload two miniatures to talk about.

April 26th: Slaanesh Daemon Prince and Vostroyan Primaris Psyker

Slaanesh Daemon Prince:

This is a mini I constructed… a few years ago. It’s a bit rougher than some of my more current pieces, but I’m still fond of it.



Here we’ve got a front-on view, and you can clearly see that it’s converted from a plastic Spawn.



Angled view, showing his wings.



Side-on view, showcasing the wings, which are easily the saddest part of the model.



Under-hoof view.



WHO WANTS A HUG?

Ah, this guy was fun to build. As stated above, it a few years old, so it’s not quite what I wish it was now. The wings are pretty slap-dash.

He’s based off of a plastic Spawn, and as such is a bit smaller than your standard daemon prince. This is because I built this guy right when the daemons book first came out for fantasy, when there was no plastic DP. There were no images of DPs in the book, so I looked up the classic fantasy princes on GW’s site, which were quite a bit smaller than the current model, and based on a 40mm base as well.

The lower set of arms are from the Spawn set, the model’s lower left arm being the bladed arm with the blades filed-down, and the hand re-positioned. The legs are actually the clawed variety, but I sculpted over them to get fuzzy Clydesdale-like hooves.

The head is one of the masks from the Defiler kit, with the right eye and cleft sculpted-over. The horns have been removed, and on the left side one has been replaced with a horn from the Keeper of Secrets set. The head is actually an Ogre head, which has been sculpted to fit the neck, and given scraggly hair.

The upper arms, as well as the tabard, are taken straight from the Keeper of Secrets kit. The pieces of armor on the model’s four shoulders are plates from the Fantasy Chaos Knights kit.

The wings are a pretty simple conversion, and as a result look like a pretty “simple” person performed it. I took the Spawn “wings” and removed the intervening fingers, and cut the Ogre banners to fit the gap. I then sculpted longer fingers of the banners. It looks pretty bad, and if I ever have time, I’ll probably re-0do them.

And now the rules:
Just to be clear, I’m discussing the 40k rules here, not the Fantasy rules.

Ugghhh….
The rules for the daemon prince really irritate me. I really do like the fluff for the Prince. I love the ascendance to power and the complete corruption, but the rules just… really eat.

A base of 145 points isn’t bad, but it could be lower. That’s not really the problem, though. The problem is the stat-line. I have a feeling that someone on the writing team at GW said “for the new book, I want the DP to be sure face-beating awesome in melee!” Then another guy said “well, he’s already got WS7 and cheap S:6, and multiple Attacks…” and then the first guy said “f@*k the weak crap, WS:9, mother-f@*ker!” And then the first guy spent ten minutes high-fiving his bros.

It’s not that WS:9, I:8, A:5, etc aren’t good, it’s that they’re unnecessary. Far more important than making marines hit you on 5’s is being actually able to survive getting hit. The T:5 is the real limiting factor here. It’s just too expensive with upgrades to have bolters wounding you on 5’s. Marines will just gun you down with their standard issue weapons before you can do much of anything. Failing that, a railgun or demolisher cannon will insta-kill you.

It’s not like there isn’t potential here; both CSM and Daemons have some good stuff going for the DP. CSM can grab the Burning Brand or the Black Mace, and Daemons have the gifts system which is pretty nice. Both can grab wings and a 3+ save, too. It just always comes back to the T:5. It’s too soft for its points, and so will always be out-shined by the other HQ slots, in either book.

If you -have- to use one, I'd suggest either:
1: Daemon Prince with Mark of Nurgle, wings, warp-forged armor, Lvl1 Psyker (Nurgle) - Fly around and puke on people.
or
2: Daemon Prince with Mark of Slaanesh, wings, warp-forged armor, Lash of Submission - Fly around and shoot down fliers.


Vostroyan Primaris Psyker:

This is a mini I constructed a while ago for my Vostroyans, way back when you could get them in-store.



Here we have more or less of a head-on view.



View showing his sculpted sash.



View from the back.



View towards his left shoulder.

This guy is something I’m rather proud of, as I feel that I picked the perfect mini to convert him from. He’s converted from one of the metal Vostroyan sniper models, and I love the pose. I removed the gun and the right arm, along with the left arm from the elbow down.

I replaced the right arm with an arm from an IG sergeant, holding a chainsword. The weapon was replaced with a converted power sword, converted from a Fantasy Vampire Counts Skeleton sword. The left arm from the elbow down was replaced with an IG sergeant arm with a laspistol. The small armor plate on the right shoulder is from the Chaos Terminator Lord kit. The sash and hair are just sculpted.

And now the rules:

I rather like the Primaris Psyker. I think it’s a neat unit. He’s bargain-priced, and comes with a great power, a force weapon, and more attacks than a Libby gets. Also, he gets a 5++. Although IG have access to the Divination discipline, which is rather nice, you’ll also be fine sticking with his book powers. Being able to throw up to 12 S:6 shots is brutal, and this guy has killed more than a few rhinos. If nothing else, he gives a squad a bonus to their Deny the Witch, and higher leadership for passing those Order checks.

Sadly, he doesn’t get used much, and for good reason. The Company Command Squad is just an all-star unit, with awesome Orders and the option for a handful of special weapons, that brings bodies rather than a single guy. Really, it’s excellent, and makes the Primaris look rather shabby. However, if you already have a CCS in your list, or can’t pay the full price for a CCS with 3-4 plasma or meltaguns (and you shouldn't take a CCS without them) then consider the Primaris. He’s a nasty little f@*ker that never disappoints me.

Let me know what you guys think! I’ll be back with more models if this goes-over well.
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May 1st: Lost and the Damned Predator

Just to be clear, not all of my models are Chaos or IG, it’s just that those are the ones I took pictures of first, so they get to go up first.

Lost and the Damned Predator

This is a model I started converting to go in my Slaaneshi Lost and the Damned list, so although it counts as a CSM Predator, it looks quite ramshackle and slap-dash.



The front of this beast.



Angled view from its right.



Target's-eye-view.



Left side.



The shameful butt.

This was an interesting build, and as you can probably tell has its roots in the Ork Battlewagon kit. The basis of the tank is the rear half of the wagon, which would normally carry the passengers.

I created a platform out of plasticard and glued the former top of the Ard Case down, creating a crew compartment and central turret emplacement for the guns. I patched over the extra slots and windows with card, which I still have to detail and rivet. You can’t really see without turning it upside down, but the bottom of the chassis, which is ordinarily open, has been boxed-in to enclose the new engine and provide space for the crew. The plasticard rills on the side still need to be detailed, but I’m not sure what to do with them aside form slapping spike racks all over them.

The front ram is mounted on the slanted surface created when I cut off the rear half of the wagon at an angle. Several kits went into this, notably the dozer from the Chaos sprue, the a grill from the wagon kit, lights from the buttresses from the Cities of Death kit, and a rhino door. It still needs a little work.

The turret is the wagon turret, just sawed-down and slapped together. This slap-dash approach worked, but also left a nasty rear, which I need to cover. Plates of card were chewed-up and applied where it didn’t really work, but the front overall looks cool. The autocannon and heavy bolters are from the Predator kit, and I think it looks pretty solid, without those flimsy sponsons.

And now the rules:

The Predator is a tank I’m rather fond of, in almost all varieties. They’re also the reason that I rarely use dreadnoughts in my lists, unless the list calls for a Rifleman.

The side armor of 11 would suggest that they might be a bit squishier than dreads, as side shots are going to be better, but given that they’re largely mid-to-long range tanks, it’s not very hard to present your front armor, and either hide your side armor behind impassable terrain, in heavy cover, or behind another tank. Ideally, 2 Preds can park next to each other, angle right and project their AV 13 to most of the field. AV 13 is a significant upgrade over AV12, given that plasmaguns and autocannons can no longer penetrate you, so using this strategy or through just careful positioning, they’re a bit tougher than dreads.

While dreads can bring the Rifleman set-up, aside from that, their gear is generally worse than an autocannnon and 2 heavy bolters for less points, or an autocannon and lascannon for comparable or less points. The dread can fire more effectively on the move, but given that we’re established that the Pred is going to be a mid-to-backfield tank, this isn’t a huge deal. If you have to re-position, you can move must faster than the Dread, on the other hand; 18” beats 6+D6” any day.

For these reasons, I generally consider Preds to be as valuable as 2 rhinos for armor saturation, whereas dreads are 1.5 rhinos. Not a huge difference, but considering that Preds are often cheaper, it adds up fast, especially when you're building a 2000 point list. As far as weapons for the Pred go, everyone knows that the best set-ups are: autocannon and heavy bolters for cheap anti-infantry, autocannon and lascannons for anti-tank. I wouldn’t use the twin-lascannons and heavy bolters for any reason, but if you are using a book that lets you get it on the cheap (CSM for example) the all-lascannons-all-the-time setup can work okay, with the changes to AP2.

I’ve given this tank a havoc launcher, which is pretty much always a good option. As a blast weapon it can’t be snap-fired, so it’s not too great if you ‘ve got to move, but otherwise it’s fine, and much better than bolting on a twin-linked bolter. I experimented with Warpflame Gargoyles a bit, as 5 points is pretty cheap for what is essentially a free flamer hit every turn, but more than anything, I just forgot to use it. If you’re forgetful like me, don’t buy it.

Let me know what you guys think! I’ll be back in a few days with another set of pics for another model.
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May 7th: Slaanesh Colonel Straken

This is a conversion from a Chaos Space Marine that I use as a proxy for Colonel “Iron Hand” Straken in my Lost and the Damned lists.



Model from the right.



View from the left, showing his smirking expression.



Better shot of his upper body.



Left shoulder.



Lower body.


Now this isn’t a human model per se, but rather a marine. However, given that Straken has a stat-line and gear set that more reflects a marine character than a human, I’m not gonna pretend that it doesn’t work. The base model for this conversion is the Chosen Champion from the Dark Vengeance kit, which I’m sure has been converted to death by now. Either way, I’ve made some alterations here.

I’ve replaced the right fore-hand and power maul with a lightning claw from the plastic terminator lord kit, to represent the absurd Strength and abilities of Straken. The three-eyed head from the Champion was replaced with a High Elf head to create a much more elegant, Slaaneshi feel, and hit top-knot was placed on the helmet in place of the usual horns. The chest plate has had a Slaanesh symbol glued to it, cut from the Slaanesh shoulder pad in the Chaos Marines kit. There is a vent from a marine backpack glued to his gut-plate, representing a speaker. Attentive viewers will also note that he has a standard Chosen backpack, rather than the Champion backpack.

There’s also some greenstuff work going on, although not in large quantities. The right greave has had putty sculpted to represent human skin, stretched and stitched together over his armor, as a grim trophy. The left greave has been sculpted over and sanded-down, to give me a nice big area to paint on. Finally, the left shoulder pad has been sanded-down, and over it I sculpted a bit slaanesh symbol.

And now the rules:

Straken (or Szyszamyr, as my version is named) is an interesting beast. He’s a melee power-house stuck in a non-melee unit, but he has significant melee-buffing powers with a large bubble. If you stick him in an ordinary IG army, he won’t see much use, but in the right list, he’s excellent. Straken’s inclusion opens up a few more options for the CCS itself too. Taking a medic might actually be decent with Straken around, as he can survive a few more blows to take advantage of the rule. When you attach a few bodyguards to benefit from Straken’s buffs, the FNP is further stretched, and the availability of plasmaguns and Straken’s own plasma pistol increase the relevance of FNP.

The benefits to a blob-based army are obvious: park him in cover or a tank in a postion to support a 50-man blob replete with power weapon-wielding sergeants and a Lord Commissar (or better yet, an allied Marine character) and a nasty unit becomes even nastier, with Straken’s unit in the wings should his help be required. Even 20 Guardsmen become a lot more obnoxious with Counter-Attack and Furious Charge, although admittedly less-so this edition versus the last.

Bringing in allies really helps Straken shines, as Straken can make melee units even more powerful, generally making marines allies an even better melee buffer. Space Wolves Grey Hunters may start with Counter-Attack, but Furious Charge helps when they want to make a pre-emptive charge, and while Blood Angels Assault Marines start with Furious Charge, the addition of Counter-Charge makes them far better at swooping-in to receive a charge, versus charging head-long into combat. All other Marines generally benefit from both bonuses, but the above 2 choices are generally going to be the best, because they benefit from +1A in melee combat and are quite efficient. Grey Knights Strike Squads work well too, although they’re not quite as efficient as Grey Hunters, and don’t have the mobility of Assault Marines.

Generally, successfully using Straken is going to fall in to one of two camps: mid-field or mechanized assault. For the former, you’re using him as foot-based support for one or more units that work best in mid-field, like a blob-squad, Grey Hunters, or Grey Knights of various kinds. A larger squad, Medic, and intervening units for cover ensure that Straken sticks around, buffing these units as they move up the board, Straken issuing orders while the units he’s buffing dominate the center of the board. Alternatively, you can put him in a Chimera, unless of course you’re running an all-foot list.

To run an assault list, you’re going to need allies with assault vehicles. Two land raiders with some efficient marine units, followed by Straken in a chimera, let him bring his bubble to the foe, rather than using it as an assault-deterrent. This is probably going to be the weaker of the two options, because while Land Raiders can certainly cover a Chimera, you’re throwing two units, Straken, a chimera, and 2 Land Raiders into one area, making your army thinly-spread across the rest of the field. My experience is that Land Raiders work best on either sides of the board, presenting 2 threats so that even if one is stopped, the other can proceed, hopefully rolling painfully through the enemy backfield.

Really, Straken deserves a better article than I can write, but hopefully this gives you some ideas.
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