Mark 4 Squad Assembled

A new Mark 4 Space Marine armour squad today -- one that I've literally only just assembled in the precious little free time that I have these days. The squad is entirely constructed from parts in the Mark 4 space marine kit with the exception of the sergeant. For the sergeant, he sports a head taken from the grey knights range, a back pack from the chaos space marine range (because it is from Anvilus, of course).

The base topper beneath the feet of the sergeant comes from Anvil Industry -- they're a nice way to mark out some of the more important characters in a squad. All of the squad are posed in a way that I wanted to communicate "activity" by. Many are looking down the sights of their bolt guns. Those that are not appear to be looking at something very in particular in a different direction. All have grenades attached and bolt pistols stowed (from both space marines and chaos space marine parts) and ready for deployment as well. And there is a legion vexilla on the guy who has been silly by removing his helmet. Plus a forge world shoulder pad that I had left over from another project that I wanted to use up!

These will ultimately be painted in Alpha Legion colours and will complement my other miniatures that I've already assembled and been using. Explicitly, I bought them to ensure I could field bigger and more squads of tactical marines. 

Omegon's Man

Deep within a splinter of a Harrowing, Omegon's Man stands ready to lead the Loyalists (or Traitors? We're not entirely sure) of the Alpha Legion to victory.

Featuring a blend of Forge World parts (body of Master of Signals); Chaos Space Marines (head), Space Marines (Arms, Shoulders, weapons) and a shield from Scibor, this guy is effectively going to function as a Praetor (or similar) for Omegon within my Alpha Legion faction. Or perhaps just a squad sergeant for some breachers, or similar. 

The base features a base topper from Anvil Industry, and will eventually get some more attention around the edges with some extra pebbles (etc) to fill in the gap right to the edge of the 32mm base. 

Autilon Skorr Conversion

One of the problems with miniatures produced and available only through official conventions is that they're rare. A corresponding issue is that when they appear on e-Bay, they are invariably incredibly expensive to purchase. 

Autilon Skorr is one such example of this type of issue.

I really like the rules associated with the miniature and wanted to run it in one of my 30k Alpha Legion army lists. So, without wanting to expend a vast amount of cash on an e-Bay purchase for the miniature, I decided to create my own.

One of the features of Autilon Skorr is the power axe. For this, I followed my terminator conversion and attached a chaos space marine terminator axe to a space marine commander chainsword arm -- the one with the angled wrist. 

For the other arm, I decided against the command rod style of implement, and went for a power dagger in an inverse grip (essentially a grey knights power weapon that has been trimmed down to a shooter length). 

Shoulder pads are the Alpha Legion specific icon and the legion centurion, whilst the torso and backpack comes from the space marine range.

Legs are extended for a true scale marine (see the green stuff in the thighs), and the helmet is a cut down chaos warriors one. Since Skorr comes with a lion-esque helm for the original miniature, I wanted one here that was suitably intimidating, and thought the chaos warrior range was not a bad idea for this … and perhaps foreshadowing the Alpha's fall to chaos (or at least, some of them at any rate -- because goodness knows how many of them are loyal, traitor, or anything in-between). 

The base topper comes from Anvil Industry for the curious. And that's about it!

Circular Saw Power Fist Sergeant

Its been a busy week hobby wise for me as I get my Alpha Legion force built for an upcoming round-robin tournament with some friends. Whilst I don't expect to do very well since I've not particularly optimised my army list (I'm introducing a new person to the game, so I don't want to be "that guy" unless they decide to get more serious), I do want a reasonably assembled force. And perhaps undercoated to.

To that end, here is a squad sergeant conversion that I wanted to share. What makes this marine stand out and "pop" on the table top is his "power fist" that features a circular saw. The circular saw is a "Destroyer Arm" sourced from Puppetswar - a Polish company. Although I originally intended that they would just be fancy close combat weapons, they do look good when they "count as" power fists as well. And although they would look fairly standard and not need any conversion knife work on a terminator, they work equally well on a power armour miniature. All that is really needed is to trim the shoulder so that a standard space marine power armour shoulder pad can be glued over the top of it. Which is exactly what I've done here.

The other parts are mostly Forge World (torso, legs -- green stuffed to true scale, right shoulder pad), space marines (left shoulder pad, bolt pistol arm, head) and chaos space marines (back pack -- Anvilus pattern). On the 32mm base, I've attached a base topper from Anvil Industry. 

I like the look and pose of this one. His left arm is fluidly in action, swiping out an arc of death. The bolt pistol meanwhile held in reserve for the correct moment. I better get some painting underway soon.

Vexilla Bearer

Based, legged and bodied, this is the complete, but unpainted, legion Vexilla Bearer for the Alpha Legion force I'm assembling. The parts are as follows:

Chaos Space Marines: Head, torso, arms, pole

Space Marines: Bolter, vexilla, backpack, right shoulder pad

Forge World: Legs (with truescale legs conversion)

Anvil Industry: Barrel drum on the bolter

Metal Alpha Legion shoulder pad (left shoulder).

Base: 32mm, with cork.

Overall, the miniature is actually rather tall. I don't know quite why I should be shocked at this given what I've done to his legs and the approximately half-centimetre of cork on the base. He really stands out and stand tall - proudly propping up the vexilla for the Legion.

Alpha Legion Sniper, with Necron Deathmark Rifle

Another day, another completed Alpha Legion sniper with a Necron Deathmark rifle. This one is mounted on one of the bases that was displayed a few days ago. I think the pose and everything else really clicks well here for me. So I won't write much more and will simply leave you with the image.

Completing an Alpha Legion Sniper (or perhaps Mor Deythan)

Not sure if this one is an Alpha Legion reconnaissance marine, or whether it is a Raven Guard Mor Deythan marine. Or arguably, a Mor Deythan marine that is an Alpha Legion marine in disguise. Or Alpharius himself. Yeah - infiltration. It drives you mad.

The marine follows on from my earlier concept piece with a Death Mark necron weapon. This particular variant is in a running pose and features legs and cape from Anvil Industry as well as the almost compulsory Dark Angels head. 

The base for the marine is a sliced up rhino hatch, covered and edged with some fine sand and a little bit of slate here and there. All that's lacking is the left shoulder pad which is on its way…

Sniper Scout Death Mark Concept

Q: What do you get when you mix together a Death Mark sniper rifle with some 40k space marine parts?

A: A model the is playable as both a 30k and 40k space marine sniper scout model that looks pretty unique!

The model is constructed from necron parts (the sniper rifle), Dark Angels (the hooded head), space marines (accessories, back pack), chaos space marines (arms), Grey Knights (torso), and Anvil Industry (legs, cape).

I'll be using him as part of a recon squad for my growing 30k Alpha Legion forces. I think he really fits the bill rather well. In particular, one of my goals for this army was to convert absolutely everything. In line with this, I also wanted them to have a feel of using xenos weapons and reverse-engineering others. Here, I've taken the lead from Alpharius himself who is described as wielding a spear of alien construction. Like others, I've interpreted this as Necron in origin and therefore decided that some of his sons could be similarly equipped!

Anvil Industry Medieval Legs

As part of my growing Alpha Legion 30k army that I'm building, I ordered a batch of parts and conversion bits from Anvil Industry. If you've not come across them before, then they're well worth checking out - they're a company from the UK and the make some absolutely awesome bits out of resin. What really stands out is the sheer quality of the bits - absolutely free of air bubbles and minor issues that can sometime plague certain better known companies.

One of the bits that I bought were the Medieval Legs, pictured below.

As can be seen, the legs come in a variety of poses (these are the running ones, combined with a pair of kneeling ones - sold separately). The main thing that stands out about them is their similarity to Heresy Era power armour. Indeed, they look like they'd fit in terrifically well with any of the early marks of space marine power armour - and indeed they do! 

Okay - lets be honest, they're not identical to early era power armour. But they do slot in nicely with conversion work for them!

As I've come to expect from Anvil Industry, these bits are absolutely superb. The clean up is minimal - this can be seen from the image. The amount of flash and vents requiring cutting off is low and they're ready to be glued in to place in minutes - no messing around with liquid greenstuff or the like, no need to bother reshaping them in boiling water (although as with all resin products, some cleaning might be needed to wash it clean of the releasing agents). 

I intend to use these particular legs in converting some space marine recognisance space marines (otherwise known as space marine scouts!). But more on that project on another day.

Let's Go!

Today, an example of a posed marine who will form part of a tactical squad. The inspiration here for the marine is one that is gesticulating to his brothers to come along quick - Let's Go and get stuck in over here!

The conversion is created by combining parts from space marines (torso, bolter), chaos space marines (arms, back pack -- clearly from the Anvilus Forge World, shoulder pad, head), grey knights (left hand) and anvil industry (bolter cartridge conversion).

Overall, I'm pleased with this relatively simple conversion and will be applying some truescale legs a little bit later, along with an Alpha Legion shoulder pad to the left shoulder.

Posing Marines for Gun-Kata

I've written a number of articles now on "gun-kata" for space marines (see, e.g.: here) . In brief, this is inspired by Hollywood movies such as Equilibrium and a number of others. Boiled down to its essence, it involves the individual assuming certain poses with guns in each hand so that they maximise their kill zones, whilst minimising potential incoming fire in return. Or at least that's what the background is supposed to be - clearly its science fiction.

But when the idea of gun-kata is applied to space marines, it creates some very dynamic conversion opportunities for the budding modeller. The example below is my latest addition to my range for my growing Alpha Legion 30k force. 

What we have here is a combination of parts sources from space marines (back pack, bolter, bolt pistol, shoulder pad), chaos space marines (torso, head), and conversion parts from Anvil Industry (arms, bolter conversion).

Of these, the arms from Anvil Industry permit an excellent variation in poses for space marines - at least in comparison to regular space marine arms (and they certainly rival, or are arguably better than, even assault marine posed arms). Indeed, it is these arms that ensure such a rich variety of poses in a number of my models I'm building for this force. 

In this particular example, I have the right arm with the standard bolter pointing outward from the body at a reasonably steep angle. The bolt pistol arm is straight, and pointed upward in the air. The idea here is that the marine has just taken a shot with the bolt pistol and has raised his arm, whilst the bolter has just come in to play and he's firing with that now. No doubt, the next pose will be to bring the bolt pistol in to a new position for firing…! I think this combination speaks volume about the dynamism of these space marines, and brings them to life in a way that is not often seen on the table top.

Armillus Dynat

At the recent Forge World Weekender, the model for Armillus Dynat was revealed. I am actually really pleased about this to say the least as it is always deeply unclear if all the named characters will ever get the breath of fresh air (ahem) resin from Forge World.

But on the other hand, I'm a little bit miffed, as I had a good conversion for Dynat on the go.  Here's my attempt so far! I think the Forge World model is superior (obviously), so this model might just be taken apart for spare parts. For the moment though, I thought I'd show him off to the world and see if you like my take on Dynat.

For the model, I've used Dark Angels terminator legs, shaved down and green stuffed over the Angel's iconography. The torso is from Anvil Industry, as it the head. The weapons are from the Grey Knights, whilst the arms are space marines. The right shoulder pad is a chaos space marine one, shaved down so that the chaos symbol is gone, and the left shoulder pad is from Forge World.

The pose of the model that I was gunning for here was one of near-arrogance. At least in a way to encapsulate the Martial Hubris of the Alpha Legion. The power sword is therefore in almost a casual fencing pose, whilst the hammer is readied to deliver the harrowing blow. He also has some grenade accessories ready to deploy. One thing that I think is perhaps missing is an antenna on the back pack. But in hind sight, I'm not so worried about that as I selected a rather high-tech looking back pack from the space marine range to cover the rules for Dynat.

The bald head from Anvil Industry is excellent for Alpha Legion models. I was intending to paint it with a tattoo (as per Extermination's vision of Dynat).

Overall, I think I'm pleased with the way that my model for Dynat looks. That said, I'm not beyond purchasing the real model from Forge World when it is released for sale, as I think that is a great model as well. Maybe I should keep my conversion -- the Alpha's could do with multiple copies of Dynat I feel?

Capes

To convert a bunch of miniatures and make them stand out a bit more on the tabletop, I obtained a set of five capes from Anvil Industry recently.

The image shows four out of five of these capes (one of them reversed so you can see the detail). Every one of them is unique. Although they have been designed with their own range of miniatures in mind, these parts are entirely interchangeable with regular 40k troops. Note in particular the gap at the top of the capes. They are exactly the right size to fit behind the back of the torso and sit snugly under the power pack of any regular space marine or chaos space marine.

My intent here is to use them with some 30k reconnaissance troops as I didn't wish to purchase Forge World's own sniper marines -- I'm going to go for a bit of a different look.  More on that in posts to come!

Space Marine Legion Tactical Squad Member

This space marine is the first of many (well, 20 to be exact) to join my first Legion Tactical Squad. As with all of my space marines that are going in to my new army, he is a conversion.

The parts for him are sourced from Grey Knights (the head), Forge World armour (arms), Anvil Industry (torso, and drum magazine), space marines (back pack) and chaos space marines (the bolter). The pose extols the virtues of the converted bolter to create a pose that suggests an accurately aimed shot at a mid-ranged target. I particularly like the head here. Although it is from Grey Knights and does feature pipework coming out of his skull, the grimace is a particularly interesting one. Moreover, the arms from Forge World create pose that is not typically found amongst regular space marine parts, which is nice. Although I won't be using too many more of the forge world arms in this manner, since I'm going to aim for more of a "gun kata" pose for most of the miniatures in this particular squad. 

Some final touches can already be seen on this marine, including the drilling out of the barrel of the bolt gun itself. I think this is a nice touch to add to all space marines as it really finishes the miniature's pose nicely. Just the shoulder pad left to add. And some true scale converted legs. 

Arms for more Gun Kata Space Marines

After creating my first batch of "gun kata" styled space marines, I found myself in some real need of extra arms. The reason for this? Well, most of the good left arms, I'd already used up and most of the right arms were too (between bolt pistols, and wanting anything other than a traditional bolter across the waist / hip fire bolter pose). 

To overcome this: Anvil Industry to the rescue!

The image displays a mixture of left hand arms (and hands) from the medieval range of Anvil Industry that I was desperately in need of. The casts of these items are wonderful -- Anvil Industry really has quality control of their resin products at an outstanding level. There are barely any faults. And they few that there are, are so minor as to need a magnifying glass to pick them up (or myopic eyesight, and the piece held very close to the eyeball!). 

In terms of the range of poses available, Anvil Industry has this totally covered as well. Some of these arms are straight out, some angle at the shoulder to point in front of the torso, others at more of an angle. Some are bent at the elbow, others are not. Some have hands attached, others have the hands separate. 

To prepare some more gun kata marines, these are the ideal find, and I can very honestly recommend this company!

Bolters Conversion

Following on from yesterday's review of the drum magazine from Anvil Industry, today are a selection of the bolter conversions that are possible with this accessory.

The image shows bolters from not only the space marine range, but also the chaos space marines and Dark Angels. For the conversions, the normal magazine clips were removed and shaved down flush with the bolter itself with a fine file. The drum magazine from Anvil Industry is a three quarters cylinder, hence it fits very snugly on to the body of the bolter with each. A little bit of glue and its complete. The only thing to do now is to glue them on to the arms of some marines. As can be seen, some of the bolters retain a right hand already, but for the rest, I'll have to source the hands from other bits in the space marine and chaos space marine boxed sets.

I think these bolters look great in comparison to regular ones. I intend to use them in a Legion Tactical Squad to make them really stand out from other "ordinary" marines. One of the main reasons for doing this is the "Fury of the Legion" special rule that is only available to the tactical squads -- they basically use up a whole load of bolter shells to fire twice in one round on their targets. And that is what I think these bolters suggest: a whole load of extra firepower available at whim.

Anvil Industry: Drum Magazines

I've been making a number of purchases lately to make some of my new 30k army look unique and pop a bit more on the table top. One of the ways that I'm doing this for my "regular" space marines is to change the bolter magazine. Anvil Industry (http://www.anvilindustry.co.uk) sells just these parts to help make this idea a solid reality.

The image pictures two sprues of 10 drum magazines each, each displaying opposite sides to the other. Each of these magazines will fit on to the side of a regular bolter (or even bolt pistol) to create a weapon that looks like it has heaps of bullets in its drum ready to expend. This is in keeping with the background material for the Horus Heresy, where it notes that latter Heresy developments included large drum capacities to ensure that marines didn't run out of bolt shells in the middle of protracted planetary assaults - particularly in the wake of the Isstvan incidents. 

The drums themselves are resin, and three-quarters of a cylinder in shape. Bolters that they attach to will require a little bit of work, which I'll detail in a future post. Regardless, these are a terrific little purchase as they certainly help regular marines stand out from the crowd. I'll personally be using them on a gun-kata legion troops style squad. 

Dynamic Squad Sergeant Conversion

Continuing building my new space marine army, today I wanted to display a squad sergeant work in progress. To re-iterate: this army will be following the maxim of "no model left unconverted" whilst having dynamism built in to it where I am able. An earlier example of another marine that follows this trend was my "gun kata" model. Both that model and the sergeant displayed here will eventually receive some true scale legs that I've been working on in parallel to these dynamic torsos. 

This model is built out of an Anvil Industry torso as its basis. This is because I wanted this sergeant to have artificer armour, and I think the torsos from Anvil Industry suits this role exceptionally well. 

The left arm is a power fist from the Dark Angels terminators range. I selected this power fist as I liked the pose -- i.e. the clenched fist, and the angle it made at the elbow -- meaning less conversion work ultimately. That said, I have spent some time scrubbing the Dark Angels iconography off of the fist itself as it would not be appropriate for this particular army. The shoulder of the arm is sliced off and connected to a standard space marine shoulder so that I can apply a regular shoulder pad at a later date (as opposed to a terminator shoulder pad). The entire arm is angled out to the torso such that it is almost parallel to the ground. The idea here is that the marine is in mid-swing of the fist, bringing it up from a lower angle and hooking across his body. 

The right arm is a bolt pistol conversion. The bolt pistol has been completely sliced off from the hand and replaced with a space marine devastator melta bomb. To do this, the melta bomb needed its handle shaved off so that it sat flush with the hand, pictured below. 

The final touches were to add a grey knights back pack (the teleporting one!) along with a head. The head is actually a chaos space marines one, but with the top knot removed and filed down flat to a shaved scalp.

Although there is some work remaining (addition of the left shoulder pad, and some green stuff required for the arm pit), this is essentially done and awaiting connection to some true scale legs. Another very dynamic space marine for the new army!

Anvil Industry: Medieval & Renaissance Torsos

Anvil Industry is a great UK company that is producing their own 28mm scale resin miniatures, parts, and (very soon I hope!) some of their own rules and games for their miniatures.

But to the Warhammer 40,000 enthusiast, their parts are entirely suitable for the Games Workshop range as well. So, I recently decided to take the proverbial plunge and purchase a few of their bits. In the image below are 5 "medieval torsos", one "renaissance torso" and a regular Games Workshop space marine torso (front part only). The parts arrived quickly (very quickly in fact!), without fuss, and a very reasonably priced if I'm perfectly honest.

As can be seen, all of Anvil Industries torsos are exactly the same size as Games Workshop's space marine torsos. One could not hope for a better fit to be perfectly honest.

The casting quality is absolutely second to none. I need not mention some other companies that contain regular faults such as air bubbles, warping, poor casting, lines, excess flashes or lacking in detail due to the resin not flowing evenly in to the mould. Absolutely, and categorically, none of that. They're as close to perfect as could be desired in my opinion. And I'm not given to exaggeration. They really are that good! Check out the studs sticking out of the front of the armour in the image - each and every one of them are well formed and cast. Outstanding!

Being at 28mm, the arms and backpacks of regular space marines (and associated ranges) fit perfectly against the torsos. The head indentation is also perfectly shaped for the space marine range.

What uses does this have in Warhammer 40,000 then? Well, for me, they're going to be artificer armour (2+ save). But on top of that, they are ideal for pre-heresy collectors and can look like some of the earlier marks of power armour (and some of the other torsos look perfect for later marks as well- mk8 in particular). I can't wait to get stuck in to these torsos and start combining them with other bits from various ranges to see the results.