I know a lot of people have used Skaven as base models for Hobgoblins, so I’m hoping someone can answer some questions for me. I apologise for the fact that the answers are probably already out there somewhere, but I’ve not been able to find them - if you can then a link to the answer is fine!
1) I initially thought of using Stormvermin but then thought that if I could get away with Clanrats then they’re much cheaper - though it would mean removing the head (which is separate with the Stormvermin). Any opinions/advice?
2) Are the Stormvermin and Clanrats compatible in terms of size? Could I put a Clanrat arm on a Stormvermin body without it looking out of proportion? (I’d like dual hand weapons which doesn’t seem to be possible with the Stormvermin - maybe Plague Monks?)
3) Do they (Stormvermin or Clanrats) have a lot of sculpted fur? Is it tricky to remove or can it just be painted over?
4) What heads fit the Stormvermin bodies? It looks like the heads have balls which are neither directly under the head (like Space Marines) nor behind but sort of in between. Is it a job fitting other heads on to these bodies?
A lot of the Clanrats have heads very “squished” into the rest of the body, ie lots of cutting and not easy cutting. Also you have the tails very integrated.
If you use Clanrats you probably want to pick and choose body types to use to make the cutting off easier so I’d recommend bitz ordering them really.
2) SV are noticeably larger. You can use Clanrat arms but they’ll look a bit weedy, not off but for supposedly muscular greenskins… touch and go. Keep in mind Clanrats have no left arm options so you’ll have to look elsewhere for those. The SV sprue has 1-2 left arms with a dagger though, but then that’d be noticeably larger than a clanrat arm on the same model.
3) No, but where they have fur the detail is quite pronounced. Paint will not cover it. It’s “just” scraping it off, but still, work.
4) Depends on the head really. Ball joints aren’t that hard to to fix though. Most common Greenskin heads actually have a similar configuration so should fit, kinda.
For 2 hand weapons go down the Plague Monks route. Easy to convert (it’s only about snipping tails), they look great with Goblin or Gretchin heads. Plus, their robes really fit the Sneaky Gits concept!!! Check out Tjub’s models. And M3lvin’s.
Thanks for all the replies, but particularly for this:
Keep in mind Clanrats have no left arm options so you’ll have to look elsewhere for those.
snowblizz
Somehow, I’d failed to notice that the Clanrats only have right-handed weapons. Still, I do have some spare arms from Plague Monks and Night Runners, so I guess I can stick their left hands on to Stormvermin arms (I’ll have to check whether Stormvermin have huge hands like older Skaven or small ones like the IoB miniatures).
I’d seen the Plague Monk conversions - I like those figures (I used some to make Dark Eldar Mandrakes, which I never finished because they’re unfieldable anyway) - but they’re a bit short for my tastes. The hunched backs and dual daggers are almost ideal for Sneaky Gits though.
In the interests of full disclosure, it’s not actually Hobgoblins that I’m thinking about at the moment, but I figured someone on here would know about re-purposing Skaven.
I think most of your questions have been answered but I can chip in on the question about the fur on Stormvermin models. On my conversions I’ve simply left the fur on. This is partly because of being lazy, but the fur is conveniently only sculpted in places where it is easy to imagine the hobgoblins wear fur tunics underneath their armour and shin-armour.
As for the heads, I sometimes had to clip away a rim of armour on the back of the Stormvermin bodies to make my Goblin and Gretchin heads fit better. A little greenstuff to fill up the socket-socket connection would be best, but can be done without.