Saturday, May 14, 2011

House Esher: Hardened Veterans

Moving across country will accomplish a great many things, like finding an old House Escher Gang lying about. So now, for something totally different, House Escher Hardened Veterans:

Yes - that is a power fist. Yes - she loves to use it.

In my bits boxes I found some of the old style Storm Trooper backpacks, and one old ammo back pack, and some others… I didn’t want one specific back pack to be used throughout the squad because I want them to look like a pack of vagabonds, picking up equipment where they finding and then telling officers to pound sand when they get asked about their uniforms!

Because the Hardened Vet Sergeant Can use items typically reserved for officers, I figured, ‘why not?’ So I grabbed a Power fist out of the old bits box, I went with the Space Wolf one because it looks like its reaching out to grab something and with the dynamic running pose of the mini I decided to use for the Sergeant; it really looks like she is running forward to rip your heart out.


The most difficult conversions would be the special weapons! I already have a Heavy Plasma Gunner painted, so that will be a plasma gun and I just need to add the bandanna’s to her, but with the ability to have 3 specials in the squad I had some converting to do… I decided to go with a grenade launcher for the first one, because it’s a versatile weapon and only semi-difficult to convert, I think it came out well. I pulled the front end off the lasgun, ground out the clip and then trimmed the grenade launcher barrel and ammo magazine to fit in their places. A lot easier than Grinding it all out and trying to remold the arms back into place! Kids these days and their plastic minis; wouldn't know what to do with an all metal mini, and I had to walk uphill both ways in the snow to get it!


Next were the basic lasgun troopers! One of the gals had a shotgun, so she stayed as she was, I used green stuff to add head dresses or bandanas to every one of the gals and im experimenting with some sort of shin protector on their legs to beef them up a bit.


I will have to work my way through the squad making the leggings and head wraps for each mini and then finish painting the new mods.

still practicing,

Tallarn

6 comments:

  1. Nice! I like the aggressive pose on the leader especially - the running Eschers were always my favourites.

    You're making me nostalgic for my old gang now...

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  2. Thanks Von! My biggest problem is going to be how to justify (yes, fluff matters) all my different veteran squads in one army. Between the Escher vets, my kilted vets and the 'special forces' vets im going to end up with quite the 'mutt' of an army...

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  3. Not really mate you can use the old imperial guard fluff. When guard Regiments get below a certian strength instead of getting rid of it they merge regiments together. If you read Gaunts Ghost's it happens in that. So you can get away with your diffrent squads being diffrent by using this type of fluff.

    But well done on the figure's they are looking really really nice and will add alot of charcter to your army.

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  4. Either that or they're mercenary recruits picked up from planetary populations, rogue trader outfits or militia units. That's probably how I'd try to sneak it.

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  5. loving the escher. i have many escher gangers included in my own army, but i mixed them in with the other squads.

    @ Dave
    that is the rational i use to justify my entire regiment. basically, i use whatever models i like, as long as they are painted with the same uniform colours. The mismatched nature of every squad actually makes each trooper stand out in a way that many guard armies cannot achieve, but the standardised colours bring them all together pretty well on the table.

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  6. yes of course you guys are right, deep down I know that in a universe full of possibilities there are always ways to do things... I just find myself chasing all these weird IG army ideas when I should just get some work done on the Space Wolves army im repainting.

    I get distracted far too easily and run down these 'hobby holes' when I come up with wacky ideas...

    I just went over 18 years in the hobby and im still playing the same army I started with, i just keep finding ways to expand it lol

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