their kin Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Hey guys, I'm doing a hammernator army right now, and already have a germ of an idea for the next project afterwards. I bought a ravenwing battalion, and am thinking that I'm gonna get 4 or 5 more. Here's the list I'm building towards: Biker Captain w/ combat command squad (maybe) Biker Chaplain 2 biker squads w/ meltas and mm attack bike 3 biker squads w/ plasma guns and hb attack bike 6 land speeder torpedos Anyway, not really worried about list critiques right now, what I am concerned with is how boring the bike kit is. If I don't come up with a way to make it interesting, it'll be the same model 25 times, especially since I'm mounting the special weapons on the bikes themselves (saw someone do that and definitely am shamelessly stealing that idea). So do you guys have any cool ideas or can anyone link me to threads here or elsewhere with some inspiration? I know I don't want to do white scars, although I do think it'd be sweet to do claw marks/tattoos on their armor and skin. Besides that though I want to try and come up with some aesthetic touches to just spruce it all up. Thanks for any help you guys can give me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durus Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Take a look at Desert Eagle's Dersert Eagles (yup). If you search for bikers or bikes in the WIP section you should find some other interesting material as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
their kin Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 Thanks for the link durus. I definitely tried searching but was kinda lost. Looked around on the rest of the interwebs, didn't find anything great yet, but it's just a matter of time. Again, thanks man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wise_crak Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Trikes or quad bikes in stead of attack bikes For normal bikes you could: Make choppers Have the marine standing next to the bike holding something Glue nos tanks on the back White wall tyres Tracks instead of wheels Jet bikes That's all I got :P Wisey :wub: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CainTheHunter Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 I was playing 13th Company SW Storm claw bikers list 6 years ago and was facing the same dilemma. What I did: 1. Mixed in a couple of CSM bikes - if You cut off the spikes and trim down Chaos iconography, they don't look that much chaos. 2. Add lots of pouches and bags everywhere, including the front wheel cover. I also put several bolters and holstered boltpistols there. 3. Which Chapter are You doing? For SW I used several wolf heads from plastic Goblin Wolfrider set. 4. Try dynamic poses with Your bikes - jingling, raising etc. 5. I did not mount special weapons on bike. I used plastic plasmaguns and meltas, and tried to achieve some dynamics - sort of the biker is turning sideways to fire melta, while he is driving by. It took some cutting and gluing however to get the right pose. 6. For attack bike You can always give a boltpistol to the driver, so that he is also shooting or covering the gunner. Also have a look at this awesome Swiftclaw Biker conversion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firepower Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Bikes can be a bit tedious, in my experience. It just takes a deceptively long time to paint, and adding all the extra bits and bobs obviously adds to that time investment. I made things a bit harder on myself by keeping the biker, the weapon mount, and the chassis all separate until they were totally painted (to get all the nooks and crannies easier). That being said, they do look wicked when completed, even with minor adjustments. Desert Eagle's work is definitely the most elaborate biker conversions I know of, so that's a good source of inspiration. These are my own, done for my Templars. Really just some minor conversion work and a few extra gubbins here and there, but it's enough to make them pop I think. http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.p...96588&st=50 If you wanna get really elaborate, some of the ideas already mentioned are pretty good diversions: the CSM bike, extra toys/trophies/relics or whatever flavor your chapter has, adjusting the pose of the biker's legs so that he looks like he's come to a brief stop to either decapitate or blast some poor bugger nearby, etc. There are lots of options, they're just a pain to do most of the time :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriendlyFire21 Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 For the chaplain i did a very subtle conversion that looks very good. I took the sword from the Emperors champion model and replaced the chaplain weapon with it. Its very subtle but gives him a unique look Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShinyRhino Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 I've built and painted 22 bikes so far, with at least 5 more to be done eventually. The key for me has been two things: gear, and freehand. There isn't a ton you can do to the riders, so spruce up the bikes instead. I add packs, grenades, rope, scabbarded blades, holstered weapons, etc to the back of the bike (behind the seat) and the farings. The Scout kit is great for this, as are the stowage bitz on the Scout Biker kit (new, and old). Freehand squad and Chapter markings help a lot, as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
their kin Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 Hey guys, thanks for all the responses! Definitely gelping me get the creative juices going. Point of clarification: I'm a CSM player, pretty exclusively, so this army will be vanilla. As far as specific chalters, I have no idea yet. I do know that I'm not a huge fan kf the savage look, at least not right now, so white scars and space wolves are out (although I'm defintely going to use some of those sweet space wolf bare heads. So awesome and a SW player who's a friend of mine hates unhelmeted space marines, score!) As far as the ideas I'm settling on, here goes: -I have built bikes which are mid-turn, and will build more, as it adds a lot of dynamicism to the model. -I know I'm going to do lots of headswaps, it's the easiest conversion there is after all. -I was thinking of having the captain with a foot down, maybe menacing someone to the side of his bike with his sword, don't really know how well that'll work though. -Bolt pistols to the side would be cool, maybe even firing behind them (super involved conversion right there). -I also have 8 unopened scout bikers. I've never used the kit before, so I didn't know they came with all the extra pieces (thanks shinyrhino) and those bits are definitely getting reappropriated (sucks to be the new guys). -Still no idea on colors. I'm leaning towards a primarily green scheme. With blue or pale purple warpaint? I also love the IA raptors paint scheme with OD green power armor. It's a fun color to paint, easy to work with, and makes sense to my real world military sensibilities Anyway, thanks again guys for all your input. And anything else, you guys through out there would be awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
their kin Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 Here's a quick mock up of a possiboe color scheme, and notes helping to explain it. http://i1195.photobucket.com/albums/aa387/enderci/scraps/f531b2d5.png Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShinyRhino Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Neat! The Maori-style markings shuold stand out nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ein Windir Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Here are a few pictures of my White Scar biker: http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll161/Ein_Windir/army006.jpg http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll161/Ein_Windir/army009.jpg Hope this gives you some ideas. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
their kin Posted February 24, 2011 Author Share Posted February 24, 2011 Yeah shinyrhno, thanks. The only problem i'm going to have is that it will be not getting bored and having variety. Ein, thanks for the picture, awesome conversion work. Where are the bases from? They're awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bewlay Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 I remember there was a piece of artwork, depicting some WS fighting Orks. And they were in funky positions. Problem is I can't seem to find it :woot: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durus Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 I remember there was a piece of artwork, depicting some WS fighting Orks. And they were in funky positions.Problem is I can't seem to find it :) This old wallpaper? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CainTheHunter Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 I remember there was a piece of artwork, depicting some WS fighting Orks. And they were in funky positions.Problem is I can't seem to find it :mellow: This old wallpaper? I didi exactly the same thing with my Storm Claw biker, except that instead of boltpistol, my was firing meltagun. Took some time to get the pose right... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firepower Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 I remember there was a piece of artwork, depicting some WS fighting Orks. And they were in funky positions.Problem is I can't seem to find it :) This old wallpaper? I didi exactly the same thing with my Storm Claw biker, except that instead of boltpistol, my was firing meltagun. Took some time to get the pose right... Yeah, adding a simple pitch of the model (normally a 'wheely' but also tilting side to side or even downward) and then a corresponding tilt of whatever the biker on top is shooting/swinging at will go a long way to adding dynamism, even without extensive conversions. There are a lot of premade bike bases for sale around the internet that could help make things look cool without being too labor heavy (but obviously pricier). Just to name a few: http://www.shop.microartstudio.com/ http://www.dragonforge.com/ http://www.secretweaponminiatures.com/ The fellow in the background is another good example, though it'd be some work to fix the leg I imagine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CainTheHunter Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 I remember there was a piece of artwork, depicting some WS fighting Orks. And they were in funky positions.Problem is I can't seem to find it :) This old wallpaper? I didi exactly the same thing with my Storm Claw biker, except that instead of boltpistol, my was firing meltagun. Took some time to get the pose right... Yeah, adding a simple pitch of the model (normally a 'wheely' but also tilting side to side or even downward) and then a corresponding tilt of whatever the biker on top is shooting/swinging at will go a long way to adding dynamism, even without extensive conversions. Since SM are completely off the anatomy - I mean - look at them, the arms are not where they should be, there are several other issues, in particular, concerning bikers. As soon as You do something with the bike, the handheld gun starts pointing in weird directions. Then, if the horizontal rotation of the body is done, for example, to show that the biker is attacking enemies at his side, - after You put the whole mini together, suddenly, the other hand is too short to reach the bike handlebar... ooops - or to the contrary, it is too long and You don't know what to do with the excess lenght, since You can't repose it or bend it in the elbow... These are some points only to start with... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
their kin Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 Yeah, reposing them (which I'm going to do for sure) is going to be a pain. I think I'm gonna steal arms from the sgt for the tactical squad or from the assault squad, use those to be the short arm of a biker firing backwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultra1k Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 A friend of mine has been working on a White Scars army for the last couple of years. He has some great conversions that might give you some ideas. You can find his log on Warseer here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonforge Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Yeah shinyrhno, thanks. The only problem i'm going to have is that it will be not getting bored and having variety. Ein, thanks for the picture, awesome conversion work. Where are the bases from? They're awesome! Those are bases I make, from my Wasteland II series. http://dragonforge.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
their kin Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 Thanks ultra, i've seen a few people do quads, and i love the underslung heavy weapon. I appreciate the link man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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