Tuesday 25 July 2017

All the Short Men - Ratling Kill Team (Part 1)

I guess it was about 6 weeks or so ago when I had the idea. And this was the model that started it all:

'Panadol', sci-fi Halfling psyker from Four A Miniatures.

I'd picked up this lovely sculpt of a sci-fi Halfling psyker sculpted by Paul Muller on a whim. Then I started musing about making a little Kill Team to accompany her - after all, I had half a dozen or so Citadel ratlings that would fit the bill. And then I decided it would be fun to try and make this Kill Team in time for a pre-arranged gaming session of Shadow War: Armageddon with some buddies. Notwithstanding other hobby commitments, the relatively compact timeframe, and the desire to convert and paint a brand new set of figures, I launched into the project with abandon!


First things first. Which faction list would best suit a ratling Kill Team? I elected to go with Ordo Xenos Inquisition because a) I've just finished an Imperial Guard Kill Team and b) it gave me the opportunity to make some dinky little Inquisition figures. Which is cool. Definitely not silly.

I'm going to show you the 'standard' troopers in this post, with the more exotic elements to come in a future post. So here are the first five of this brave, yet tiny warband:


The five ratling troopers comprise three armed with lasguns (or sniper rifles), a specialist with a bolter and a heavy weapons trooper with heavy bolter (or in the case of the Inquisition list, a storm bolter). Two of the figures are completely unmodified Rogue Trader sculpts, while the other three are converted to one degree or another.

Trooper Wylow finds the recoil on his bolter rather tricky to manage.


Wylow is armed with a bolter which replaces the original rifle I carefully carved away. I needed to do a little bit of filing and cutting down at the rear of the bolter, but I think it has come up pretty well.


Next up are Totes 'Chunk' Greatfoot and Kenni B.  Totes was converted from the new Halfling Blood Bowl star player, Crumbleberry, currently a Warhammer World exclusive figure. Kenni B is made from an old fantasy Halfling. I replaced his spear with a Forgeworld lasgun, sculpted his hat, and added Victoria Miniatures goggles.

'Concept' Totes and partially converted Kenni B.




 
Below you can see the work done to transform Totes from a Blood Bowl star, to a chunky and muscular ratling.

The ball arm was cut away below the shoulder pad. I removed all the spikes and added a visor to the helmet.

The ball was cut away from the right hand, allowing it to grasp the heavy bolter. I sculpted a new sleeve to hide the join.

Not easy to see in this pic, but I added an extended part to the rear of Tote's helmet - this matches the helmet design of the unmodified firing ratling in the group. 

So that's the first members of the Kill Team. Hope you like them. I'm hoping to post about the remaining members, including Panadol, before the end of the week.

19 comments:

  1. Those are fantastic! I dig 'em!

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  2. This is a brilliant warband! The use of Crumbleberry as a Halfling Heavy is inspired.

    I'm surprised with such light-coloured feet and dark bases you leave the messy basing process until last! Do you have to go back and touch the paintjob up on the feet up afterwards?

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    1. Thanks Curis. Crumbleberry was as a result of one of those moments where you have a sudden flash of inspiration. I'm pretty pleased with how he came out.

      I've always done basing last. I know other people do it first, but I've always viewed it as the finishing off of a figure. Occasionally I have to touch up feet after, but not very often.

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  3. Well this is certainly different... as always great work on these, and the "Kenni B." conversion is particularly good, the forgeworld lasgun fits very well with the figure. (and makes the original model lasguns seem different enough that they could be sniper rifles as needed)

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    1. Glad you like them. I'm very keen on some of the Forgeworld weapons, I just wish they sold them singly rather than in bundles costing £15!

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    2. Could be worse, you could be in the colonies, and therefore have to pay VAT (needlessly) and shipping.

      If Forgeworld bitz were reasonable (and metal or plastic) I would buy them by the ton, so fortunately for me they are not!

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    3. Urgh, yes, it could be so much worse.

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  4. They're fantastic Jon, the whole gang, way cool :)

    Question about Wylow, which mini did you pilfer the bolter from? I found it quite a difficult task trying to a) find a sufficiently large enough example and b) wasn't embedded in the mini.

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    1. Ah, er, the bolter is a RT era sculpting aid - one of those that were cast up to be used for consistency in size and shape of weapons.

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    2. Oh, you lucky duck :) They're not available are they?

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    3. Only if you turn back time ;)

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  5. So much fun! A smashing idea for a kill team mate - bravo!

    Fit perfectly for SW:A, but more importantly your own setting.

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    1. Thanks Dai! I like doing slightly off-kilter stuff, and these really appealed.

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  6. Wonderful idea, and very nicely done.
    The Psyker is a great miniature and nice addition. She has a great expresssion of concentration.
    I like the conversions for the weapon swaps, the heavy bolter is quite impressive as that heavy bolter can be awkward. Converting the old Rogue Trader metal bolter onto the Ratling is nicely done too.
    Great painting as well, good choice of colours.

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    1. Thanks! Retro-fitting the ratlings to be more of an all-round team (rather than just snipers) gives them a bit of a different character I think :)

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  7. AS with Psyker Pt2, Psyker Pt1 aka Panadol looks amazing!

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