Scale models in "counts as" for 40K

[Evil Eye]

 

I've seen people using scale models to make Imperial Guard vehicles out of tanks (for example, dice4thedicegod made a Valhallan Macharius Vulcan out of a 1:35 scale Elefant Tank Destroyer, and it looks fine.:

Thanks!

 

I’m guilty of aircraft too - like the hind Valkyrie

 

 

 

I like this “creative” side of the hobby, but I try and make sure I observe the holy trinity of conversions:

- it’s about the right size /profile

- it has the right weapons /wysiwyg

- I paint it

 

That's pretty cool! I find aircraft are much harder to work into the 40K "look" as most 40K flyers are anything but aerodynamic, and the more refined shapes of real world planes (especially post-WW2) tend to look a bit out of place next to the idiotically (if attractively) designed official models, but you pulled that off pretty well!

 

As mentioned I'm working on making a truly ghastly 1/48 Phantom from Testors (resplendent with excess plastic, raised panel lines and hideous detail) into a Nurgle Hell Talon, and that's gonna be a job and a half. So far I've removed the outer portions of the wings (to be replaced with forward-swept sheet styrene) and have begun work on puttying a Blight Drone esque carapace onto the spine of the aircraft. I've also got an idea of giving it a daemonic jaw grinding open on the underside of the nose (ala IRL "shark tooth" paintjobs, except gone chaotically wrong), holes in the fuselage revealing the guts (figuratively and literally) of the aircraft's engines, and maybe replacing the wing undercarriage with feebly dangling insectile legs tipped with wheels.

[Bung]

The first GW Tank models in the imperial line had been made by using parts of WW 1 scale models, so i wouldnt complain about scale model conversion for 40k / 30k games.

Look up Dave Taylors Blood Pact army for how it should be done.

[Claws and Effect]

I always love seeing clever and well done conversions to make an army really stand out.

 

There is a world of difference between grabbing a cheap model to proxy as something and spending weeks or months on a conversion to make it fit the 40k universes vibe.

 

I have (eventual) plans to do a combined AdMech/Guard army with heavy conversion work to represent the tech guilds of Kiavahr and Kiavahran PDF. They have a bunch of tech they aren't sharing with the Adeptus Mechanicus, so I feel like some of their stuff should look different.

[Goreshed]

@Lucerne I can understand with the cost of this hobby, I do. But to make little to no effort to make the models fit the theme or even game? How does that support the community?

 

@ D3L I should have been more specific it seems. Scale in the models has never been a thing with GW, scale to the model that has been in production should have been what I said.

[Canadian_F_H]

I feel like maybe this convo started off or at least has arrived here because of a certain point that should be highlighted for clarity.

 

"Counts as" as a temporary substitution for testing purposes is one thing.

 

"counts as" when you have built a unit or army that may or may not have existing rules so you "counts as" an army or unit thar does have rules. Ie. Fielding any army of squats would require then to "counts as" something that currently exists in the rules.

 

 

Then there is what i thought we were discussing here all along. Which is converted models. I suppose we can say that we say a converted model "counts as" whatever unit's rules we intend the model to represent. Converting an M3 Lee to look like it rolled off the Ssembly line of some non-standard template forgeworld and counting it as a leman russ is no different than converting any other 40k kit into a leman russ. (i use the m3 lee as an example because it honestly looks more like a leman russ than most non-russ hulled vehicles in 40k do)

 

 

Personally. Its all about agreement between players. If somebody makes too much fuss about a conversion i brought, then they may have just wasted their trip to the shop. I like a good conversion with reasonable effort applied, but aome people just arent that skilled (yet). And if they are skilled i would hope they tried to stick with the theme. Be it 40k, 30k, other GW or non-GW game. But even then, if my Black Templars have to butcher a bunch of Imperial Storm Troopers, or the Spartans from Halo. Then that is fine, we get to do one of those online what if scenerios and its going to be fun anyways.

[Jings]

I think given how broad the setting is, there are some army themes that can only really be done through "counts as" armies. My Guard army, for example, uses Perry Napoleonics with Skitarii Ranger rifles, with heavy weapons on gun carriages because they're cheap as chips, I had the rifles lying around (for the most part ;) ) and they fit the look I wanted (low tech Line Infantry guardsmen).

 

I'd honestly be pretty shocked if anyone had issues with me using them in a game (I don't play at GW stores), seeing as they look to my eye very 40K.

 

40K is first and foremost a modeling hobby. Modern corporate GW has done what it can to rob the hobby culture of the conversion spirit (through CH and all that followed), but it's still going strong. I'm always psyched to see a lovingly converted custom army myself, and unless it's someone just using their WWII armies with no effort to make them more 40K and all the sizes somewhat match up to the official pieces then I think you'd have to be a real stick in the mud to take issue with it.

 

Ultimately it's a hobby centred around creativity and if you're going to gatekeep creativity and confine it to one company's parts and pieces, and would refuse to play with someone who doesnt want to confine themselves, then you don't get it and personally I wouldn't want to spend the 3-5 hours it takes to play a game with someone like that anyway.

 

Can't see the formatting options on my phone, so crude link to an example of my Perry Guard: http://imgur.com/gallery/RzMNJLy