Mining HeroClix (part 2)

Very quick update on my HeroClix to Dark Heresy conversions.

Only one conversion for this group. I replaced Morrow's hands and bone knives with WHFB Elf hands with swords.

No conversions for this group (yet), but I swapped out Witchblade and Hydra Medic for Domino and Skullbuster.

Three head swaps from very old IG sergeant heads.

If you want to follow this project from the start, take a look at Mining HeroClix (part 1) and Clowning Around.

Mining HeroClix

In this post, I unintentionally started a larger project. I don't plan to do any heavy conversions with these--Mainly head and hand swaps.

Cabal of Sorcerers:  Psyloke, Umar, Yukio, Rasputin, Diablo. I plan to paint these in one common color a unique secondary color.

Girl Gang 1: Witchblade, Tiger Lily, Echo, Abby Chase, Hydra Medic. Gang 1 and 2 will be painted in the same colors, but I may flop the colors between the groups.

Girl Gang 2: Kabuki, Typhoid Mary, Ashleigh, Shi, Marrow.

Security Team: SHIELD Trooper, SHIELD Agent, Lobster Johnson, Bullseye, Paladin. This group will represent organized thugs, a security team, or possibly officers.

On average, these figures are about 1/5 head taller than a typical 28mm figure and a full head + compared to a 25mm figure. I am ok with that but I realize others would find the scale difference unacceptable. This is intended to be a quick project that will bulk up my modern/sci-fi figure inventory.

Clowning Around

As it seems easier for me to start projects than to finish them, I started yet another one! 

It all started a couple weeks ago, when I had my personal HeroClix collection out looking for the name of a specific figure. Deathbot wandered by to see what all the ruckus was about. He asked if he could play with them and I said yes. A little while later, I walked by and saw one of my HorrorClix bins open and noticed the "circus" folk. I thought... what about a clown themed gang! Something like a cross between a Necromunda Goliath gang and a clown from a slasher movie.

So here we have the first installment of the clown gang. These figs are all from a eBay store inventory. I chose to keep these guys armed only with melee and flame weapons. I thought it would be a nice change up to the usual fair. Also, our Dark Heresy group is headed towards an under water hive on the next mission--Firearms are banned there.

I started hacking up the the figures before I remembered to take a pic. These are all HorrorClix figures. The pair on the left are Jesters, the middle one is a Mime Monster, and the last one is a Luchador.

Here is the group shot. I really like how these are turning out and would love to make a second group of five. Unfortunately, I only have 2 more Jesters. Might have to troll eBay for the rest, or get more creative! Here is a run down the mods so far:

• Jester 1: Removed original arm and added bare left arm from a HeroClix fig.
• Luchador: Pried open his hand and gave him a Skaven flail; Added 2 Flagellant weapons on the ends of the big "stick"; Added a Night Goblin head. I am considering making the nose a clown nose.
• Jester 2: Re-positioned the right arm and head.
• Mime Monster: Removed hands, and added 2 Skaven hands with blades.
• Larken: This is a Ramshackle Games mini. I added a SM loincloth and an Orc choppa to his hilt. I may green stuff a "clown fro".

In addition to the clown gang, I also started 4 other 5-man groups. All of these groups I intend for use in Dark Heresy although I admit they will likely look more suited to a modern setting.

• Cabal: A mix of male/female sorcerer types. I plan on painting them with a common main color and accent with a unique color for each.
• Security: Dudes with guns and light armor. I want them to pull duty as PDF or private security.
• Gang 1: Chicks with guns. Some with light armor. Will be interchangeable with Gang 2.
• Gang 2: Chicks with melee. Some with light armor. Will be interchangeable with Gang 1.

I saved a handful of additional figures that could easily represent a personality, but I probably wont get to them for quite awhile.

In future posts I will detail my progress with the other groups. I have actually removed all of them from their HeroClix bases and made modifications to 3-4 of them.

Constructing Elementals (part 1)

Today is a few pics of figures I painted about 10 years ago. They represent the 4 elements or Earth, Water, Air, and Fire.

You may notice in the following pictures that some of the figures are pre-painted. Yes, I said it! I have no shame in admitting that I bolster my own painted D&D monsters and NPCs with pre-painted figures.

Back when I started our 3e D&D campaign (14 years ago), it was the first time as an adult that I had been GM. One consequence to that was that I had a very limited collection of D&D "bad guy" figures. I had plenty of orcs, goblins and other Warhammer FB creatures, but none of the other standard D&D monster fair.

So I began amassing figures. This created a ton of work-load in the painting department. To offset that, I would incorporate the new at the time D&D Collectible Miniatures Game (CMG). Not only were they already painted, but there were many races and creatures that weren't even available in metal.

Another source I used to make monsters was HeroClix. That was another CMG relatively new at that time. How do super hero figures fit into D&D you ask? Well I will point out a few examples below. There is a skeleton in each of the shots to help show scale.

Fist off, we have my assortment of Earth Elementals specific to the Ent lineage. This collection comprises of 3 GW Treemen, 4 GW Dryads, and 9 WotC Twig Blights (made specifically to coincide with the first 3e module "The Sunless Citadel").

Next we have a trio of more traditional Earth Elementals. The two on the right are Reaper figs (I think). Not sure if it counts as a conversion per se, but I sculpted and painted the bases to look like the creature was made from the ground it is standing on.

The left most figure is a HeroClix Man-Thing re-based and re-painted.

This is the assortment of Air Elementals. The back three are from Reaper. The bases have been sculpted and painted to be part of the figure.

The front row are figures from the D&D CMG line. 

Water Elementals are next. You will likely be surprised to find out where the front two figures came from. They are from a HeroClix Auquaman figure--It is the wave he stood on. I simply snapped him off and glued the "wave" to a new base.

The left and right most figures are from Reaper to my best recollection. They have also had their bases made to match the figure.

The lonely little guy in the back is a D&D CMG mini.

Lastly we have the Fire Elementals. The row of 6 figures in the back are Reaper and double as Wall of Fire or elementals if I am running short--Hey! Can't have too many Fire Elementals!! 

In the middle row we have a Reaper, HeroClix and Reaper fig. As with the other Reaper minis above, the bases have been made to look like part of the creature. The HeroClix figure is a Human Torch. 

The front row comprise two HeroClix and two D&D CMG minis.

Well, that about wraps it up. In part 2 of this article, I will finish off by showing my Golem collection ("Constructing" Elementals... get it? Yeah, really bad).

I can't put my finger on it, but what ever reason is, I am OK with using pre-painted figures for D&D encounters. However, I would never do so (without some sort of converting and re-painting) for a PC or a WHFB/WH40K army.

RPG Mobs - Rak'gol WIP

Here is a proof of concept for a group of Rak'gol figures I will be converting. I am using a HeroClix Brood figure as the base. The finished models will be boxier and less "lizard-like" than illustrations in Rogue Trader: The Koronus Bestiary, but I think they will make a good representation.

Another angle 

The pieces were fiddly enough, I was having a hard time using poster-tac to hold everything together so I glued this one together. I intend to dremel out sockets for the "legs" for a better fit.

I have already sourced enough Brood figures and Tyranid bitz to make 16 Rak'gol in the various ranks depicted in the rule book.

Storage Solutions Part 1

We all love our toys, and we all need a way to store them. I thought I would share my solutions to this great dilemma.

Image used without permission

I have been a gamer and collector of metal soldiers for over 30 years. My first storage solution was the box the figures came in! Back in the day, a boxed set of figures came in a foam tray... look familiar? Maybe someone from Grenadier Miniatures should sue!!

In this post, I will focus on how I store my HeroClix figures. The bags are Totes brand that I found at a bargain store. Sadly, I was only able to acquire 9 of them before they stopped getting more in, and have not found a suitable replacement.

Inside the bag are a mix of Plano, Isis, and Rubbermaid Storage Trays. The trays can fit either on their "spines" as pictures, or flat. If I were store my 40K/D&D minis in these cases I would place the trays in flat. But the HeroClix pieces are light and durable--any minor shifting does not cause any wear.

Here is one bag unpacked. All large figures go in the big shoe box clam-shell trays while the regular sied figures are sorted by team in the divider trays.

All four bags opened.

You can see that one of the bags has one less tray to accommodate books, papers, rules, army lists, etc. I forgot to take a picture of it, but one of the side pouches does not have a storage tray. It has 2 trading card boxes storing all the game cards.

Here are the bags in their resting place. I have 4 other bags storing various collectible miniatures games (CMG). This system is essentially functions like a Battlefoam carrying cases at a lower cost. The CMG figures are much more scratch resistant and can withstand the foam-less housing.

Unfortunately, the cost of this storage solution likely has little relevance to anyone else as this will be hard to replicate. Also, I had the advantage of buying these over the coarse of 3 years about 15 years ago. But for the curious, the cost per bag is $13 for the bag + about $35 for the trays, totaling roughly $384 for all 8 bags.

Ork Boar Riders WIP

Here is a project I started probably about 6-8 years ago. No big surprise--Typical around here!! These are counts-as Orc Boar Riders. While my first foray into the world of GW was WHFB 1st edition, the game never took off with our group. There were a few of us that played on the rare occasion, but that became less and less over the years. I like FB, but my group's gaming time is limited and falls to about 90% RPGs and 9% board/card games. The one percent typically would be Blood Bowl or Necromunda. So not much chance of a FB game!! Directly because of that, the most current FB books I only own the 6th edition Core Rules and the 4th edition Orc Armies book!

Because I rarely play FB, any models I build/paint *must* pull double duty in an RPG function--Weather PC, NPC, Mob, or Boss. Because I have a ton of orcs from other sources, the orcs in the Orc Warriors Regiment box could be put to alternate uses. So, they were used in this project.

The "boars" are a Marvel Heroclix Lockjaw. For awhile I ran an eBay store selling Heroclix, D&D, Star Wars, and Axis and Allies Miniatures. I ended up with a ton of these guys in inventory!  

I believe I have used a mix of Space Ork and Orc Warrior parts. In hind sight I wish I new about magnetizing when I started building these models--Maybe I could have also made alt bodies for counts-as Warbikes? Eh, it would have required different bases too.

Most of the legs were cut apart and then I added greenstuff to fill in the gaps and missing areas. I chose not to sculpt saddles as I was not confidant with my sculpting skills, but in hind sight this would have been a perfect project to build those skills up!

I think this unit will look great when completed!