Weird Question: Representing a 3+ Save?

[General Strike]

So, I have a conversion idea, and want to use some lightly armored models in place of power armored ones. How do you guys think I can represent a 3+ armor save on them?

[arbogast1]

What kind of theme are they going to have? That could open up some different options for you. For example, an aquatic/amphibious light armor could be represented by very finely crafted scale mail like Aquaman.

[General Strike]

Cawdor esque religious fanatics protected by their faith in the Emperor, wielding broken boltguns on sticks and crude flamers. Using Sisters rules.

[Stoic Raptor]

LOL I think Aquaman's skin probably has a 3+ save, the costume is just about style.

 

Faith in the Emperor is a real thing and it works in 40K.  I don't think it needs to be modeled.

[General Strike]

I suppose their faith gives them the 5+ Invuln save rule, I just need something to represent the 3+ armor save. Maybe ogryn slab shields on their bases, or extra armor bits attached to them, or go really crazy and do a space marine power pack with a wonky dangerous shield generator on it?

[mactire]

Shields with religious icons or symbols. They could carry them on their arms or backs, or just have them standing upright on the bases.

[Knight of the Raven]

A save that didn't exclusively come down to genuine, actual physical armor has always been an invulnerable save for as long as I've been in the hobby. And shields only ever mattered because they housed a generator that emitted a protection field, from assault terminators to crusaders to dire avenger exarchs. And naturally, the save they provided was invulnerable.

Looking at heavily-armored models across the range, what visually separates carapace armor from power armor in terms of rules seems to be that the latter requires every single inch of the wearer's body to be covered to benefit from a 3+ save.

Let's look at some carapace armor;

Then let's look at some power armor;

The former two have places where their armor consists only of fatigues, no matter how tough their material may be thirty-eight millennia from now.

Inquisitors are an interesting source on power armors as well.

Here are Coteaz and a generic inquisitor;



Coteaz as a special character always had power armor—artificer grade at that—whereas the second model comes from a time where inquisitors could choose to wear carapace or power armor. Going by the 'full heavy armor for 3+ save' logic, he'd have carapace armor there, unless wearing a helmet magically makes up for his bare arms.

As it is, to justify a 3+ save, you'd need to cover their entire bodies with armor that looked at least as heavy duty as human carapace armor, because eldar guardians are covered from head to toe with armor so technologically advanced they make power armor look like silex tools and they still only get a 5+ save out of it.

[General Strike]

Soritas power armor doesn't look any heavier than eldar? So that doesn't hold up much.

[Knight of the Raven]

Indeed. The line where rules and visuals meet is pretty blurred. I'd say that the armor still needs to cover the whole body to get a 3+ save, but then I remembered about gromril.

This is a human with a breastplate made out of gromril, the strongest (natural) metal that ever existed in the old Warhammer Fantasy Battle universe;



This is a gromril strongbox with legs;



Both got a 4+ save (without the latter's shield).

So as long as your fanatics look more like the Adepta Sororitas than they do the dregs of the Frateris Militia, things should work out without too many issues.

[General Strike]

I just realized that slab shields add 2 to the armor rolls of the model that uses them. So I could use slab shields on models that look like 5+ armor to rep 3+

[Stoic Raptor]

Soritas power armor doesn't look any heavier than eldar? So that doesn't hold up much.

 

Is Eldar armor considered powered armor?  I don't play them but I was under the impression it was carapace.

[General Strike]

 

 

Soritas power armor doesn't look any heavier than eldar? So that doesn't hold up much.

Is Eldar armor considered powered armor? I don't play them but I was under the impression it was carapace.

I was just responding the Raven's thing saying heavy full body armor indicates 3+ save except with Eldar armor, I was remarking that soritas armor isn't much thicker than eldar. What in power armor makes it have a 3+ save? Cause gravis still only gives a 3+ and higher toughness, but all forms of power armor from soritas to gravis are a 3+. It's obviously not slabs of ceramite cause only the sisters armor is tiny compared to even regular marine armor.

[Stoic Raptor]

Thickness isn't the only factor in armor protection.  Powered armor is a laminate rather than just a "slab of ceramite".  

It's obvious there's more to the difference between carapace and powered armor than just coverage.Part of it is the enhanced reflexes and sensorium, I'm sure.  

 

I don't honestly know a lot about Sororitas powered armor.  I know that for Astartes, the armor is literally an extension of their body and nervous system - not to mention they already essentially have carapace armor installed subdermally.

[Knight of the Raven]

Lore didn't come into consideration in my comment, only visuals, since General Strike was asking how to translate a 3+ save into their lightly-armored models. For instance, an artificer armor's 2+ save can practically be only be attributed to the lore, since a space marine can wear power armor covered with relics, scriptures and carvings or plain, nondescript state-of-the-art artificer armor as far as modeling is concerned.

Speaking of the Imperium and ignoring other factions, from what I can see, the visual threshold between carapace and power armor does seem to be full coverage.

As for the slab shields, the sources of inspiration that come to mind are Braganza's Besiegers from Warhammer Fantasy Battle as well as corsair arbalesters and vault wardens from Lord of the Rings. Expanding beyond Games Workshop, Rhodok soldiers from Mount & Blade and the various pavise crossbowmen from Medieval Total War 2 can be useful too.