As many people have noticed before, Mantic’s dwarves are a good base for conversions - four out of the twenty fellows in the box even come with curly beards, so that’s a good start
A failed teenage attempt at a Chaos army has left me with a sizeable bits box, which took care of the weapons and part of the shields (from GW’s marauders and old-time Chaos Warriors). I even found two Khemri shields lying about and found them remarkably apt to be repurposed for the glory of Hashut. However, some of the Ironclad come with fixed triangular shields, so I tried to make some fitting designs for those out of bits and putty.
I decided to give my warriors masks because, while I admired their overall style, I did not like their faces very much (that was the only reason, and I did definitely not go for masks because of a gnawing fear of having to paint faces :)).
I made most of the beards with Green Stuff World’s Roll Maker, which, in my opinion, works nicely (though in the meantime, I have become better at sculpting them by hand, which I intend to do for all future projects). For the sake of variety, some of the fellows got chainmail veils or beard plate instead.
So, here they are!
Part 1: Marauder shields I
Part 2: Marauder shields II
Part 3: Triangular shields I
Part 4: Triangular shields II
Part 5: Khemri shields
Part 6: Command
Four of the Ironclad come in an advancing stance, which sort of interferes with the shieldwall-style stances of the others. So I decided to do something completely different with them and made them some throwing hooks, together with GW’s dwarf bucklers.
Hooks 1
Hooks 2
Thanks for your time, I am looking forward to your feedback!
Oh, cool. Looks great! Don’t think Ive seen these Mantic dwarves converted to Chaos Dwarfs before. Anyway, good job with the masks and shields as well. What system are you going to use them with?
Oh, cool. Looks great! Don't think Ive seen these Mantic dwarves converted to Chaos Dwarfs before. Anyway, good job with the masks and shields as well. What system are you going to use them with?
tjub
Thank you very much, I appreciate it!
There is this rather old thread with an extensive discussion on converting Mantic dwarves:
As to the system, I started out with Oldhammer in mind. However, I discovered KoW along the way and would really like to get into it, but that actually depends on whether I'll find any players in my area. Anyway, I do hope that I get to field the fellows one way or another!
As to the system, I started out with Oldhammer in mind. However, I discovered KoW along the way and would really like to get into it, but that actually depends on whether I'll find any players in my area. Anyway, I do hope that I get to field the fellows one way or another!
Antenor
Ah, I see. You should try out KoW there is a pretty big tournament scene in the US depending on where you are located? Either way its just as fine as a basement game. We play a 15mm adaption localy. :)
Ah, I see. You should try out KoW there is a pretty big tournament scene in the US depending on where you are located?
Well, I'm sitting in Vienna, but still thanks for the hint :D I'll definitely give it a try as soon as I've got a small army together and find some time.
The hooks are brilliant! Can�?Tt wait to see more.
Thanks a lot, I'm glad you like them! Rather amusingly, some time after building these, I took a look at KoW Vanguard and found out that the Abyssal Dwarfs come with a ranged attack called "slavehooks" :)
I'll post some of my blunderbusses as soon as I manage to take some decent photos of them. There are some more finished conversions still waiting to be painted, and I hope that I get around to that soon. Thanks again for the feedback!
These are some really good conversions, I love them!
I’ve got a couple boxes of Mantic Abyssal Dwarves that have been sitting around unbuilt for a few years…and it’s nice to see that you accomplished what I’ve only dreamed about. I especially love your command unit (beautiful shields!) and the hook guys are such a great idea that I hope you don’t mind that one day I’ll probably steal your idea
And cool bases too, they’re perfect.
Anyways, thanks for sharing pics and I hope to see more of your CDs, and I’ll vouch that KoW is a really fun game, hope that you’ll have a chance to play it.
I’m also going to send you slaves, in recognition of how much I love your conversions :hat off
Thanks a lot, I'm glad you like them! Rather amusingly, some time after building these, I took a look at KoW Vanguard and found out that the Abyssal Dwarfs come with a ranged attack called "slavehooks" :)
Antenor
Ah, that is true didn't think about that! Vanguard is a great game IMO, well worth to try out! The Abyssal Dwarfs there are slave hunters, a lot like the old Mordheim Chaos Dwarf war band that was floating around before.
Ive posted some quick battle reports on CDO for our small 15mm skirmishes. :hat off
@Fuggit Khan, any chance we'll see some more stunties from you? Btw, Mantic just said that they will be bringing 3rd edition KoW out this October, followed be a few supplements supporting 26 factions in all. :cheers
These are some really good conversions, I love them! I've got a couple boxes of Mantic Abyssal Dwarves that have been sitting around unbuilt for a few years...and it's nice to see that you accomplished what I've only dreamed about. I especially love your command unit (beautiful shields!) and the hook guys are such a great idea that I hope you don't mind that one day I'll probably steal your idea ;P And cool bases too, they're perfect.
Fuggit Khan
Thanks a lot!
The command unit's shields (from GW's old Chaos Warriors) are just drybrushed with dark red, light red, and yellow. Honestly, that came as a last-minute idea. I wanted to paint them "clean" at first, but could not decide on black or red as a base colour :)
The bases are GW's Astrogranite (texture+debris) with a lot of black shade. In fact, I think I used way too much shade, which resulted in the texture partially dissolving, but well - the end product looks like something you might tread across on the Plain of Zharr, so that's fine.
Please, steal the hooks. Those hobgoblins do keep trying to get away, don't they. :D
I'm also going to send you slaves, in recognition of how much I love your conversions :hat off
Fuggit Khan
Thank you very much! They'll feel right at home in the putty mines. :hat off
Here are some of my Blunderbusses based on GW Thunderers. I actually did those before the warriors, but I kept putting off finishing their bases for a long time. These were my very first attempts at trying to handle sculpting putty, and I like looking at them now and seeing some progress since then
I used these to experiment with different styles. For the weapons, I went with the proven method of combining the thunderers’ rifles with bucklers. There are a lot of Chaos bits, especially Marauder heads.
This is my first Chaos Dwarf ever. It’s based on Xander’s famous tutorial (which made me want to convert CDs in the first place :hat off). The mask is an old Chaos Warrior helmet.
As I had seen beard plate on some GW dwarfs and thought that it looked rather neat, I tried that out as well:
I even tried tusks (but had difficulties getting the proportions right):
And, of course, masks:
For the command group, I used a mixed bag of bits and gave them some gold trim to further distinguish them from the rest.
Only after buying the Mantic Ironclad did I realise that there is a difference in size between GW’s and Mantic’s dwarves. It bothered me at first, but then I thought that they’re not going to be in the same unit anyway. Still, I tried to achieve at least some degree of uniformity by means of a common colour scheme. Maybe I’ll also give the Blunderbusses a slightly elevated movement tray to make up for it
The masks are a brilliant idea. Really like the hooks as already stated by others they came out well and are a really eye catching conversion. Really like your standard bearer as well. Keep em coming!
The masks are a brilliant idea. Really like the hooks as already stated by others they came out well and are a really eye catching conversion. Really like your standard bearer as well. Keep em coming!
These guys are great. The masks are really good. Interestingly they would work well as LoA and could�?Tve mixed with Mantic Abyssals representing standard Zharr Naggrond forces.
These guys are great. The masks are really good. Interestingly they would work well as LoA and could�?Tve mixed with Mantic Abyssals representing standard Zharr Naggrond forces.
Uther the unhinged
Thanks! That's a good idea. I've also been thinking about some fluff to fit the army. I've had some ideas about making it the personal retinue of a particularly insane Daemonsmith, with a few "official" troops from Zharr-Naggrund coming along to keep an eye on him (I'm thinking of the Obsidian Guard here). He might have tampered with his household guards' physique a bit, which could explain why they're so tall, and who knows�?� there might be a reason why they're all wearing masks :D
...I've had some ideas about making it the personal retinue of a particularly insane Daemonsmith, with a few "official" troops from Zharr-Naggrund coming along to keep an eye on him (I'm thinking of the Obsidian Guard here)...
Very nice conversions! I'm especially a fan of the hook dwarfs.
Admiral
Thanks! I'm happy that so many people seem to like the hooks. Maybe I can find a prominent spot for them when I fill the regiment up to KOW horde-size (in fact, the fillers are already built, but they'll have to wait a little while for their paintjob - right now, it's the Obsidian Guard's turn :D)
Oh, you mean "ambitious"...
tjub
Exactly, the kind of ambitious that needs a little "assistance" to stay focused and not get any funny ideas :s
Due to reasons of time, I won’t be able to upload anything finished for a while. But here’s a small update on the work in progress.
I’m in the process of painting my Obsidian Guard. It’s going to be just a small unit consisting of 10 dwarves, converted from GW Hammerers.
My army’s main colours are dark red and brass. To make the Guard stand out from the rest, they’re getting a lot of gold and shiny black plate armour instead. Also, I gave the them a more uniform look as compared to my standard warriors (the same masks and weapons for everyone, only varying Marauder pauldrons on the left shoulder. With some slight adjustments for the command group, of course :)). The masks and axeblades started out as old Chaos Warrior pauldrons and halberds. I’d be happy to know what you think!
