New Challengers
Having finished their first job with a minimum of repercussions, the crew has a few days to relax before the fridge starts to get a little empty again, which gives me time to show off a few new recruits.
I hit my local game store the other day and picked up a few figures I thought would be perfect for Five Parsecs. I didn't really have any plans for them, other than making new enemy figures. Although that was up for debate as well.
First was the Hive Scum for Necromunda from Games Workshop. I missed the initial gang box (which gave you 3 of the sprues in this box), but the cost is a little easier to swallow. Wow, though, this sprue is a converter's dream. It's really nice to have 4 "plain" bodies fit for the 40k universe that you can pretty much to anything with. There's lots of weapon options available, even though I didn't end up using any of them, and I really like the detail on the lasgun and autogun. Best of all, it's easy to fit arms from other human-sized models on the torsos with a minimum of cutting.
Next a cool little hacker mini. This is Devo Ranks, Cyberist from Reaper. I thought he was a great model that had one foot in the cyberpunk style (okay, maybe more that one foot) and, with a creative paint job, could fit into the 40k style too. He (she?) would be a good combat-light Unique Individual in case that roll came up. Alternatively, they could run as an NPC if we had to run protection. Plus it was a cool sculpt and cheapish.
On the more combat-heavy side of things is Asanis, Mercury Flyer, again from Reaper. Like Devo, I figured she would be a good Unique Individual to have in case I needed one. She would even be a good rival to have. Again, cool mini, cheap price.
One tiny thing I noticed as I was cleaning mold lines is Asanis even has her tiny little pistol barrel drilled out! Gold star to Reaper for that detail.
Conversion Setup
First thing I decided to do after getting the bodies matched and prepped was to throw together new bases for them. The Hive Scum came with 25mm Necromunda-style bases, but they don't really fit my design scheme. It's the same general industrial flavor, but the ones I've been making forever are just a little different. The Reaper minis came with the lipped style bases which are nice, but I want everyone to match.
The basis for my industrial bases is a mesh grating, for which I use nylon door screen. Originally I used small screen door patches, which were metal, but the nylon stuff is just a lot easier to work with. The metal ones tended to come apart if you weren't really careful with them. Plus, you can get a huge roll of the nylon stuff for a few bucks at your local hardware store. I'm talking a piece big enough to cover an entire door, so you'll literally never run out of it.
To cover the rest of the base, I use a combination of plasticards, one plain and the other a diamond plate, to fill in the space. I add plastic tubes or guitar strings or random techy bits as decorations to make the base more interesting. One note: if you're going to make your own bases, keep in mind the figure the base is for. If they have feet stretched out to the sides of the base, don't put a bunch of bits there that they won't be able to balance on.
After seeing the new corsair models from GW, I thought it would be fun for Ysuranel to have a little buddy. Maybe it could represent his distraction bot. Regardless, I just wanted to add a mascot to the crew. This model is from a box of Cryx Carrion Thralls from Warmachine that I've had lying around forever. I figured I'd make a cool tall base for it to attach to, as I didn't want to use the clear flight stand the model came with. My mini-review for these is they're nice models, and it's fun to work in metal again. However, getting the wings to match up with the bodies they're supposed to be with would be a pain, since they don't have great contact points. So that's why I chose this single-piece model. We'll get to it in another post.
Speaking of modelling pains, my enthusiasm for the Hive Scum models quickly dwindled when I saw how large the gaps were between the two sides of the bodies. You could maybe get away with them, but they were too much for me to ignore, and I filled them in with putty when I glued the two sides of the bodies together. Actually now I'm glad I didn't get the full gang box of these models. That would have been 8 more to fill.
After the green stuff cured and the glue dried, I cut off the excess green stuff and sanded the gaps smooth.
Final Results
First of the Hive Scum is this fellow. I started with the quilted chest armor dude and added the Skitarri Ranger arms, armed with a galvanic rifle. I figured it could be a specialist enemy model for a hunting rifle or something like that. I also added a helmet from the Skitarii Vanguard to tech him up a bit. If he's going to be an enemy, let's keep him a faceless grunt. No need for personality from the guys you're blasting with lasers!
Stepping back, I realized the helmet made him look a little Boba Fett-ish. Blame the Disney+ show, I guess. I toyed with the idea of giving him a cape or a backpack or something more, but decided against it. It's a simple model and that's the idea.
Sometimes in converting you run into kismet, and that's what this guy is here. I've had this head in my bits box for a while, just looking for the right project. It looks like it's from the Stormcast Eternal Prosecutors kit from Age of Sigmar. I didn't even know it was supposed to have a plume until today! If you're a grognard, it also looks like an armored version of Leoplod's Leopard Company from the old Dogs of War line. Love those models as well. Even more, it looks like this guy from the movie Gladiator:
I decided to make him a bit heavier armed, both to fit the gladiator inspiration and to fit the model. The model's a bit thicker than the others, so the heavier weapon fits. The plasma gun came from the Skitarii Vanguard kit, I just had to cut the shoulderpads off and smooth the shoulders down to fit under the shoulder guards. His cybernetic arms even fit the style, both to mimic the vanbraces for the gladiator and as an example of what happens if you fire a plasma gun too many times. I'll definitely be painting his armor in the shiny chrome look like from the movie.
This one was a bit more difficult to figure out what to do with. He's a bit of an awkward pose, and he looks a bit like he's jumping up to catch a football pass. Also, looking at the enemies rules in Five Parsecs, there's not a large chance you'll run into an enemy with a pistol and combat weapon. But in this case, I decided the "rule of cool" took precedence. I wanted to hearken back to some of the old Rogue Trader styles: a touch of ridiculous extravagance amid a lot of grit. Let's call this guy a C-team Rogue Trader. He's certainly not the most successful, but he's got a reputation to uphold, for goodness' sake!
The head and sword arm bits come from the Empire Greatsword kit. I tried a few different heads, but I decided the giant feather was the most appropriate. The laspistol arm is from the Cadian Shock Troops box. I had to throw a ball of green stuff in his neck to raise his head off his shoulders. Actually I pinned his head to the torso and filled the gap in, but I'm obsessive about stuff like that. I added a set of pouches from some random Tamiya Vietnam War kit and a pistol holster that I cut the grip off of. I considered filling in some/all of the cuts and tears in his tunic and pants, but decided to keep the grungy look, all the better to contrast the head and poofy sword arm.
Finally, we come to the lone female torso from the Hive Scum kit. I grabbed the hooded head from the Sisters of Battle Cannoness kit, mostly to continue the theme of the long overcoat. But the what to do with the arms? I didn't want a pistol + ccw combo like the guy above, so I went with a shotgun from the Genestealer Cult Neophyte Hybrid box. I tied a couple of sword and knife arms, but nothing really worked. The momentum of her stride fit with the dynamite arm from the neophyte kit, though, and made her into a good demo expert. Her outfit and hood make her a bit more of a sabetuer than a grenadier, but I gave her a few loose grenades on her hip, just in case the first one doesn't hit.
As a bonus benefit, her kneepads match the elbow pads from the neophyte kit. Kismet again!
And for completeness sake, here's the two Reaper minis on their fancy bases. I didn't do any converting on them because, honestly, they don't need it. Well, I might throw a servo skull on Devo, but we'll see.
Verdicts
For the Hive Scum, I'd give them 4/5. The sculpts look great, and they're a great base for weird conversions. I'm sure some people will do great, gribbly things with them. The gaps are a big bummer, but if you're converting, you're probably going to be using green stuff anyway, so you'll have it to fill in the gaps if you're so inclined.
The Reaper minis also get a 4/5, knocked down only because of the Bones material. I've had only minimal time with it in the past, and this type seems better than the white kind of plastic they used originally. The details are super crisp, but scraping them with a knife left lots of jaggies on the finer edges. They probably won't show in the final painted minis, but the plastic just isn't as good as the hard sprue stuff. The price more than makes up for it, though.
Next time, we'll get into the crew's next adventure. As a note, I finally got them primed, which is a bid step for me personally. They won't be painted for the next battle report, but I'll have to slap some color on them for the one after that. So much to paint, as always.
