Converting the Grymwatch

[robinlvalentine]

I'm thinking of picking up the Grymwatch warband for Warhammer Underworlds, but while I'm a fan of the lore for Flesh Eater Courts, I'm not a fan of the models, and for me they don't reflect the background well at all. So I'm thinking converting them quite heavily, and was wondering if anyone who'd done similar had any tips.

Inspired by various Flesh Eater Courts conversions I've seen, I was thinking of picking up some Freeguild Guard and a Cawdor gang box to work with. I know the Cawdor bodies are practically cliche for conversions at this point but they just seem a perfect match!

Basically the look I'd be going for is still degenerate and mad, but with more actual vestiges of the noble equipment and finery they think they're wearing, and just generally a bit more recognisable as something that was once human. I guess my goal, really, is to make their delusion a little more plausible, so you can see how they could still believe themselves to be warriors and knights. 

So for example, Duke Crakmarrow seems a good fit for the Cawdor leader's body - I'm thinking I could just put his head on that body, replace the icon thing with the head of the Duke's halberd, and replace the flamer hand, and I'd be pretty much there. Similarly the Butcher seems like a simple head and arm swap with a Cawdor. 

For some of the more hunched ghouls, I was wondering about using their top halves, but replacing their legs with Freeguild Guard legs - the ones without shoes seem like a good fit! I could potentially saw off the top of a couple of ghoul's heads to give them Freeguild helmets, too.

For the 'harriers' (giant bats) I'm tempted to just leave them as-is - there's a few evil looking birds in the range that could fit (for example the crows from the Beasts of Chaos endless spells) but they're all a bit expensive to get hold of for the sake of one model. But open to ideas!

In terms of my conversions skills, I am relatively inexperienced and quite rusty. Since coming back to the hobby as an adult, I've done a few little weapon swaps and head swaps, but nothing as extensive as this, and I have no experience with green stuff. What pitfalls should I look out for? And for sawing up lots of bits like this, is the GW mini saw (which I've got) the right option, or do I need something more subtle?

TL;DR - I want to convert the Grymwatch using Cawdor and maybe Freeguild parts, any advice or tips? 

Edited March 6, 2020 by robinlvalentine

[Tarquin]

Hi,

Sounds like a great idea and I think you're onto something with Cawdor figures being a useful base to start from. In terms of what you ask I thought I'd throw my two cents in to give you somewhere to start:

1) not sure about the GW saw but if it's anything like a jewellers saw then you should be fine. I got a jewellers saw for cheap off amazon and it came with a range of blade sizes. I use the thinner end of the spectrum and have no issues with it causing too much effect to the surrounding area. Of course I guess a modelling knife will always slice through finer but a thin saw blade will allow you to do those big cuts without blunting your knife and causing your hand to seize up with the effort of cutting through a whole figure. For most conversions of arms, heads, etc you should be ok with a modelling knife.

2) I'm the same with green stuff and am just starting o find my feet with it. The best place to start I found was to start by using it to fill in gaps in joints and the like so I could figure out how it works and feels to mould. There are some really great guides on the net and YouTube as well which are life savers!! I always keep my figures wet to avoid sticking and wet the blade or whatever I'm using. it's also good to think about how you mix the two parts as more of one over the other will change the qualities of the green stuff to be more malmble or more firm. It's also worth bearing in mind that it doesn't always have to be done at once and that actually you've got time to sculpt to the standard your happy with and come back to it if not (just make sure this is within the 90 minutes shelf life!!! 😄)

Once you feel comfortable try something simple life fur. This looks visual great and is simple to do, just apply green stuff to what ever needs to be furry, then using the back of my modelling knife (the sharp side is too Fien for my liking) I make vertical dashes in layers, working my way from the bottom of the garment or are to the top.

3) As to figures, Freeguild Guard and hand gunners might work as the are hunched over from what I remember. The main thing will be mixing the heads as you'll see they have a different join to one another and so you'll need to build up the neck or use something like a small plastic ball bearing to construct the main part for he neck and then use some green stuff to make it look like a natural join. Also take care to position the head at the right height as flesh eaters seem hunched and so you don't want any up right noble looking ghouls (much as they might like to think it themselves!! 😂) Flesh eater arms have that shoulder blade bit so maybe it might be better to cut off flesh eater hands and replace the freeguild hands with them?..

The braced legs of the Freeguild with the hunched top of the ghouls should look great and the joining of the two different models will you give you control over the level of 'hunch' so the ghouls aren't too far forward as I seem to remember th ghouls appearing almost bent over double!!!

Hope this helps and cannot wait to see the results!!!

[robinlvalentine]

1 hour ago, Tarquin said:

Hi,

Sounds like a great idea and I think you're onto something with Cawdor figures being a useful base to start from. In terms of what you ask I thought I'd throw my two cents in to give you somewhere to start:

1) not sure about the GW saw but if it's anything like a jewellers saw then you should be fine. I got a jewellers saw for cheap off amazon and it came with a range of blade sizes. I use the thinner end of the spectrum and have no issues with it causing too much effect to the surrounding area. Of course I guess a modelling knife will always slice through finer but a thin saw blade will allow you to do those big cuts without blunting your knife and causing your hand to seize up with the effort of cutting through a whole figure. For most conversions of arms, heads, etc you should be ok with a modelling knife.

2) I'm the same with green stuff and am just starting o find my feet with it. The best place to start I found was to start by using it to fill in gaps in joints and the like so I could figure out how it works and feels to mould. There are some really great guides on the net and YouTube as well which are life savers!! I always keep my figures wet to avoid sticking and wet the blade or whatever I'm using. it's also good to think about how you mix the two parts as more of one over the other will change the qualities of the green stuff to be more malmble or more firm. It's also worth bearing in mind that it doesn't always have to be done at once and that actually you've got time to sculpt to the standard your happy with and come back to it if not (just make sure this is within the 90 minutes shelf life!!! 😄)

Once you feel comfortable try something simple life fur. This looks visual great and is simple to do, just apply green stuff to what ever needs to be furry, then using the back of my modelling knife (the sharp side is too Fien for my liking) I make vertical dashes in layers, working my way from the bottom of the garment or are to the top.

3) As to figures, Freeguild Guard and hand gunners might work as the are hunched over from what I remember. The main thing will be mixing the heads as you'll see they have a different join to one another and so you'll need to build up the neck or use something like a small plastic ball bearing to construct the main part for he neck and then use some green stuff to make it look like a natural join. Also take care to position the head at the right height as flesh eaters seem hunched and so you don't want any up right noble looking ghouls (much as they might like to think it themselves!! 😂) Flesh eater arms have that shoulder blade bit so maybe it might be better to cut off flesh eater hands and replace the freeguild hands with them?..

The braced legs of the Freeguild with the hunched top of the ghouls should look great and the joining of the two different models will you give you control over the level of 'hunch' so the ghouls aren't too far forward as I seem to remember th ghouls appearing almost bent over double!!!

Hope this helps and cannot wait to see the results!!!

Thanks very much Tarquin, really great advice!

The GW saw is actually very different from a jeweler's saw - it looks like this https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Citadel-Saw-2017. I've had mixed results with it so maybe time to get a jeweler's saw instead...

[deynon]

Eventually if you have something that you want to replicate es the head you can try with something like the blue stuff:

If you are intersted about realizing mantles and capes you can see here:

At the end, you only need to try. Eventually make some experiments on cheap model that you arenot interested with before to start with the GriwWatch