Gladiatron customs

[Fatboy Chubby]

Originally Posted by Rich10

I was thinking that Warforged soldiers would work as Gladiatron proxies just as well and they are readily available. For some of the difficult to find heroscape figures/squads, we should form a list of official (or I guess it would be unofficial) proxies.

I could easily see the following:
10th Reg for 4th Mass (with a spash of blue paint)
Warforged for Gladiatrons
Crixus for Parmenio
Roman Legionnaires for Sacred Band
Blade Gruts for Heavy Gruts

Add to the list:

Games Workshop Glade Guards for Aubrien Archers $30ish for a box of 16 figures (unpainted and unassembled)

Ravenloft Spiders for Fyorlag spiders (Auggies 3 spiders for $2.29 plus p+p)

[A_Train]

I think some of the Glade guards would make perfect stand ins for Aubrien Archers at this point.

[robbdaman]

Originally Posted by Rich10

I was thinking that Warforged soldiers would work as Gladiatron proxies just as well and they are readily available. For some of the difficult to find heroscape figures/squads, we should form a list of official (or I guess it would be unofficial) proxies.

I could easily see the following:
10th Reg for 4th Mass (with a spash of blue paint)
Warforged for Gladiatrons
Crixus for Parmenio
Roman Legionnaires for Sacred Band
Blade Gruts for Heavy Gruts

Rocktroll already has a small list with pictures and I've been compiling a potential list of possible "official proxies" for a while now. The trick with most things is the availability, preferably I would rather not use current Heroscape figures for proxies of others. It just has too much potential to be confusing.

[Fatboy Chubby]

Originally Posted by robbdaman

Rocktroll already has a small list with pictures and I've been compiling a potential list of possible "official proxies" for a while now. The trick with most things is the availability, preferably I would rather not use current Heroscape figures for proxies of others. It just has too much potential to be confusing.

That's a very good point that just dawned on me too. It is better to have 'unique' proxies that are not originally from HS to minimse confusion on the actual field of battle..

[Rich10]

Originally Posted by robbdaman

Rocktroll already has a small list with pictures and I've been compiling a potential list of possible "official proxies" for a while now. The trick with most things is the availability, preferably I would rather not use current Heroscape figures for proxies of others. It just has too much potential to be confusing.

I disagree. I have never played 10th Reg and 4th Mass in the same army. Same goes for Blade Gruts/Heavy Gruts, Aubriens/Arrow Gruts, ... Lets face it, these classic figures aren't coming back. If we want to play these figures and we aren't willing to pay ebay prices, its time to proxy.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Gladiatrons-Hero...item4aa81ab374

[robbdaman]

Originally Posted by Rich10

I disagree. I have never played 10th Reg and 4th Mass in the same army. Same goes for Blade Gruts/Heavy Gruts, Aubriens/Arrow Gruts, ... Lets face it, these classic figures aren't coming back. If we want to play these figures and we aren't willing to pay ebay prices, its time to proxy.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Gladiatrons-Hero...item4aa81ab374

That's kind of the whole point, they aren't coming back (unless a miracle occurs and the game gets sold and reprinted) that means that EVERYTHING will eventually be out of print and hard to get. So you can either pay outrageous eBay prices for everything or find cheaper solutions. As far as what combinations you have used that is less relevant, others have used such combinations. I know I have used Blade Gruts and Heavy Gruts together. Really though we can't deem to dictate what one person might use in an army even if it sounds ridiculous to us. The idea is to provide good proxy options for the future when finding any Heroscape miniatures for under $30 might be impossible.

[Fatboy Chubby]

Originally Posted by A_Train

I think some of the Glade guards would make perfect stand ins for Aubrien Archers at this point.

I assume you say 'some' only because of their heads! The GW glade guards have modular bodies, legs, bow arms and cloaks. Only the heads are different, some are pony tailed (perfect) some have a leather helm (not quite as good) and some have hoods up. Choices are use them all and adapt the picture on the Aubrien card or only use the pony tailed heads who when painted will match the stockphoto.

Rather than buying the box set of 16 glade guards you could try sourcing all the bits you need separately on ebay. Either way each figure will be significantly cheaper than epay for Aubriens.

I intend to do just this and will post up a thread of 'how to' and my results when Im done.

I am also going to try proxy glads and the best idea so far is .68's idea of converting Blastatrons IMO. Which can be sourced far cheaper than Glads. The blastatrons will need remodelling by changing their gun arm to a claw and adding a weapon (sword or axe) to the other arm. Again I will post my results and how I did it in the future.

Best guess at the moment is that each squad of 3 Aubrien and 4 Gladiatron proxies will cost around $10 (that will include the purchase of the figure, base, base sticker, paint, glue, weapon arms, postage and my time) but we will have to see if that stands up down the road!

[MikeR]

Originally Posted by A_Train

I think some of the Glade guards would make perfect stand ins for Aubrien Archers at this point.

Great idea, I went to ebay and found a set of 10 fully painted it came to $16 with shipping for what can be used as 3 squads.

[i_r_beej]

Originally Posted by Rich10

I was thinking that Warforged soldiers would work as Gladiatron proxies just as well and they are readily available.

That's a good idea, but the Warforged soldiers are a squad of three and the Gladiatrons are a squad of four. I suppose if you had four squads of WF you could make three squads of Gladiatrons.

[Rich10]

Originally Posted by i_r_beej

That's a good idea, but the Warforged soldiers are a squad of three and the Gladiatrons are a squad of four. I suppose if you had four squads of WF you could make three squads of Gladiatrons.

That's one of the reasons that I bought 4 squads of Warforged.

[Rocktroll]

I liked how the Mage Knight Freeholder Sorcerer and Freeholder Warrior looked for Aubrian proxies. Im currently working on my sqauds and will post them soon

SHORT list Robbdaman????!!! Hah ! go check now :P

[Fatboy Chubby]

OK! I've finished the first conversions. One of the Blastatron figures does not lend itself well to conversions because of his arm and gun placement. So he will stay a Blastatron and therefore 4 Blastatrons will make 3 Gladiatrons and 1 Blastatron.

Weapons come from Warhammer 40k Khorne Berzerkers. I got mine from ebay and there are several shops that sell WH40K bits so you dont have to buy entire boxes! Remember: Make sure to check if you need a left handed or right handed weapon! The original Glads were both left and right handed but converting Blasts is easiest if you turn the minigun arm into the claw/pincer. So you want left handed swords and axes (harder to come by) I bought both and put aside the right handed ones!

3 of the original Glads hold swords and 1 holds an axe. So I will make each squad of conversions the same. The figure I use twice will have one holding a sword and one holding an axe.

Converting the minigun means you leave the stock of the weapon behind, attaching the claws to this stock makes it look like the Gladiatron is holding a weapon. Similar to Sgt Drake's, in that I imagine it shooting out on a chain to catch a victim unawares then dragging him back to the deadly weapon arm.

To make the claw I use the plastic tag that holds a supermarket loaf of bread together. Rigid enough to survive game play and flexible enough to be cut and trimmed to the desired shape. Careful: I broke two scalpel blades by pushing down too hard on a cutting board when trimming them!

I simply cut off the minigun at the end of the barrel and then carved and cut a slot into the stump. This allowed me to slot in the two claw sides. Cut the slot where you want, i.e. horizontal or diagonal. I then used a small piece of modelling clay (greenstuff or miliput) and pushed it into the slot, then pushed the claw in. This gave it enough rigidity so that it wont fall out the first time some one picks it up!

I must confess I have touched up the models a bit here and there, especially the eyes. One set of blasts I have didnt have their heads painted so I have painted in bits here and there. But, the painting is minimal. You only need to paint the weapon arm bolt gun and red. The claw needs bolt gun and silver or chrome and a bit of black that's it!

Cost (not including the paint or the bread loaves!) Is $8 per squad for the weapons and about $8.85 for the blastatrons (from Auggies) Remember I live in Australia so prices include postage from the US for most of the stuff I source. So all in all less than $20 per squad is a lot cheaper than the $40+ on 'epay' for the originals...!!!