Character Conversion Ideas

Hey,

My Grey Knight Terminator orders are on they way, and it got me thinking about how I could make the most out of the kits. One think which the current model range is lacking is generic character/HQ choices. However, the Terminator Box set (most of the GK HQ choices come with Terminator armor as standard) will give you the opportunity to model characters depending on how you assemble your army/models. So, the purpose of this post is to outline how I plan to convert the Terminators into characters. I don't really want to spend nearly £25 on a box just to make some characters, however, in my list I have a unit of 7 Paladins (7 is the magic number for these guys, but that's in a different post!), which leaves me with 3 spare Terminators to make characters out of; a Librarian (which you should have ideally in and 1500+ GK list), Grandmaster/Brother Captain (they both serve the same purpose for modelling) and for the final model, I either plan to use it as a Brotherhood Banner Bearer; I don't plan to use the banner in games of 1500 (just 1750+) but I will need the model for when it is going to be used.

Here are the pictures of the 3 Grey Knight Terminator sprue's, I've drawn coloured boxes around some of the parts used for the conversions mentioned above and some of the other interesting parts the kit comes with.

Librarian

Grand Master/Brother Captain

Other interesting parts

(1) 

(2)

(3)

Librarian

For the Librarian any set of legs will work, but what you really want to do is try and get some in a square pose (you want limited movement on the pose) the legs shown in sprue 2 would be ideal. Any torso front should be okay and all the backs are the same anyway, so they don't really matter. For the arms, I'd recommend equipping your Librarian with a Halberd (although the Nemesis Warding Stave will work too for 'counts as') and you want one of them which can be held in an upright manner (the one shown in the blue box). For the storm bolter again, any arm will do, although you want to position it downwards, and with the closed fist. The best pose for the Librarian in my opinion is one of a more static nature compared to the other Grey Knights, you I'm trying to create a pose where the Libby seems to be observing the situation - the difference in pose showing him different from his battle brothers. For the head, I'd prefer the helmeted version on mine, but the choice is yours. Now to make the Librarian stand out as a Librarian; firstly, add some of the books to him (shown in blue boxes on the sprue. I think the biggest way to show you Librarian is a Librarian will be through the paining. Normal Grey Knights have gold lettering all over their armor, for the Librarian, I want to paint it blue (but using the same techniques as you would use for the gold) to make it look like the extra psychic energy is doing something, it should make them stand out! They way I would paint it (this includes the gold):

1. Basecoat the area with a darker shade of what you want (Mordian Blue/Shining Gold)
2. Wash (Asurmen Blue/Gryphonne Sepia)
3. Drybrush in a lighter shade (Ice Blue/Burnished Gold then Mithril Silver)

Grand Master/Brother Captain

The conversion for the Grand Master (and all of his other variations) require much less conversion to differ them from their fellow battle brothers (however, feel free to add extra detail etc. to make a striking leader). What I would do is: add a blank shoulder-pad and have a go at a bit of freehand incongraphy (or just paint it slightly different if you not adept at the art of fine detail painting!),  add some of the purity seals, give him the Justicar loincloth, the hand holding the Daemon head and other striking details that you want. I think that all you need to do to make a Grand Master conversion is to make him stand out form the other Grey Knight Terminators (through it be through equipment, modelling, painting etc.). 

Other interesting parts

I've also highlighted some of the other interesting parts on the sprue which I already have plans for!

• First up is the lights for the apothecary (sprue 3), I have plans to use these (I'll have a few space sets) for objective markers. When I make little comm posts etc. they'll just add to the detail
• The Brotherhood Banner is next, again, I plan to either use this as an objective by itself, or use it on my large 60mm objective (I always do a large objective! You'll get to see that WIP in a later post)
• Finally, I saw, and liked the addition of a servo-skull to the sprue. Considering how vital they will be to any deep-striking army I plan to stick each one to a small base, as you them as the counters, instead of using them as decoration for my models

There you have it! I've gone over the key points for converting characters and how to make the most from your Grey Knight Terminator sprue's.

Stay tuned for WIPs shots of my Terminators when they arrive and other Tactics articles!

Until then...