Monday 16 November 2015

WIP: Betrayal at Calth boxed set

When the Betrayal at Calth boxed game came out, I felt it was about time to get back to my Horus Heresy World Eater army. While waiting for the box, I kit-bashed a gladiator themed veteran of some kind. I think he will be the sergeant of my rampagers, if they're allowed to have this weapon combination. I'm not sure, but he will at least be a sergeant of some kind. The torso and right arm are from the Blood Reavers in the Age of Sigmar box, the shield is an ogre belly protector (or whatever the metal things on their bellies are), and the rest are some FW bits I had laying around. I'm quite pleased with this one, so I think there will be a squad of similar looking models for him to lead. 





I also made a pair Contemptor Dreadnoughts. I forgot to photograph them before priming, so that are quite dark, but you get the idea. 


When I got the Betrayal at Calth set, I started to play around with the bits, and made myself a squad of Destroyers. What really annoys me with the box, is that they all have GW's classic Space Marine poses. No running poses, and only one pair of arms able to hold two separate weapons every ten models. This probably works with most legions, but not World Eaters. I want my army to be running towards their enemy, waving their chainaxes around.
Even though they look a bit too relaxed for my taste, the destroyers turned out alright. A thing that is quite great with the set, is that you get a lot of the MKIV helmets with the breathing stripes pointing downwards. These helmets look a lot angrier than the regular ones, which make them work great in my army.


Lastly I made some changes on the Praetor that came with the box. I'm not sure if lightning claws are the best choice game wise, but he looks mean, which is more important.




4 comments:

  1. Hi- I was wondering how you'd approached the arms dilemma with making World Eaters from the Betrayal at Calth box. I'm trying to figure out the best way to do it myself as I wait for mine to arrive. Right now I'm leaning toward buying the pack of resin chainaxes Forge World makes for 40k and mounting them on backpacks (like the combat blades on the plastic sprue that are made to do so), which is unsatisfying in a few ways, especially if it doesn't quite fit. I'd use the more uniform 30k upgrade pack (which doesn't have the Chaos-style trim on the axe heads) but those come five axes and five bolt pistols to a pack, with hands sculpted on.

    Likewise, I haven't worked with a Space Marine kit in ages- are the hands holding bolters sufficiently sculpted (like a ball and socket joint) to easily pose them held in one hand, True Grit-style?

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    1. I think chainaxes are too big too mount on the models' backpacks. I would convert the models to be equipped with either a bolt pistol and chainaxe or just a bolter. Having both a bolter and an oversized axe could work on some models, to represent the wargear of the squad. But giving a whole squad this combination could look a bit over the top.

      I have given my veterans hand held chaiaxes and bolt pistols, and the tactical marines are just boring bolter wielding legionaries. But every legion needs some standard tactical marines.

      The arms that comes with the box works fine. You get a lot of arms that can hold close combat weapons, bolt pistols or bolters in one hand.
      The problem is the static poses of the legs. FW's MKIV squad comes with a lot of running poses, but the one from GW only has static bolter-wielding poses.

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  2. Which bit did you use for the barrel of the Rad Missile launcher?

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    Replies
    1. I used the barrel and the magazine of an Imperial Guard grenade launcher.

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