beastpack alternative model help

right now my HQ is a archon, sucubus and four grots in a raider, i am looking to be able to upgrade to something better in larger games, so i am looking to pick up a beastpack.

the pack i want has ten dogs and 6 razorwing flocks and of course the five mandatory beast masters
i am going to convert hellions for beast basters and fantasy chaos warhounds for the khymera

those two come in at around $50 and the birds that GW sells would cost another $50 if you split the four birds per kit and make six out of three, though that also makes for some sparse bases that i don't really like.

to go with the pack i am also looking for ideas for converting a baron model because GW has no model for him

any help with this would be great

I have looked for alternatives to the Razorwings myself because they're so pricey if you want to take them in decent numbers. Unfortunately I've come up short there too   Your only hope for getting them at a decent price is getting lucky on ebay I think.

The Baron is actually a pretty simple conversion - I made mine by picking the Hellion with the closest pose to the picture in the codex, then used green stuff to make longer hair on a Dark Elf head (obviously if your green stuff skills are better than mine a bald Dark Eldar head is probably easier). Then I stuck a third party cape on (from a company called Anvil Industries) and painted him in the colours of the Kabal of the Slashed Eye as a nod to the fluff and so he would stand out from the rest of my army, which is red. As long as you make him look sufficiently different to your beastmasters, hellions and helliarchs, you can do pretty much what you like as long as your opponent knows who he is and what his rules are if requested. You can extend and enlarge the skyboard with plasticard and everything if you want to, but I didn't bother because I wanted him ready and painted up for a game that was less than a week away.

For the Razorwings, I decided to go a little off with mine. My Razorwing flocks, instead of using flocks, I built a collection of larger birds as "counts-as". They still work very well, and as large birds work just as well as flocks for the theme of the model. You could always think similar and instead of going for flocks, just use an appropriately sized menacing looking flying creature.

For the Baron, there are lots of conversions out there. A brief search of Google of the Aphotic Gallery will serve you well.

thanks for the help guys, this morning i remembered that reaper mini's makes some cheep mini's that look decent and this is what i found

http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/monster/latest/03479#detail/03479_w_4

i don't know how big they are, but four should fit fine on a single base, not sure about the huge one, they also appear to be mettle, which i am fine with, but i know lots of people don't like it

if you buy "P03479B: Extra Crows" you can get 12, if you put two on each base that is enough for 6 bases, it would be just over $10 excluding shipping   i think this is what i am goung to use for mine and i wanted to share this find with you guys, you could ask your (F)LGS if they can order some, or even to your house

They look like a really good alternative, nice find I had another look myself after posting earlier - a common one seems to be people using tyranid gargoyles, but Forge World flying ripper swarms are also popular (that's what I'll be doing).

Mr Believer wrote:

They look like a really good alternative, nice find :)I had another look myself after posting earlier - a common one seems to be people using tyranid gargoyles, but Forge World flying ripper swarms are also popular (that's what I'll be doing).

The FW ripper swarms are a great idea!, my problem with them are the gargoyles is well ... they both look vary tyranids and there is a big tyranid army in my area, i try not to use models that are to similar to what another army uses(that we have) to keep things different

Bugs_N_Orks wrote:

Edited, no discussion of IP infringement, please.  Thank you, Gob.

[Inquisitioned] is a good idea, but i hold not particular love of the GW models, because, well, they are birds ...

Modded.  Gob.

As kimaera I used some sort of hound from the Confrontation series, the  Syhar Sighthound:

http://www.miniaturemarket.com/confrontation-scorpions-syhar-sighthound-unit-box.html

I bought a pack of four Warhammer Fantasy Skaven Giant Rats, very beastly and i plan to put more pointy things on them, then use them as my Khymera.
They come with square bases though so i had to buy 40mm round bases.

EDIT: double post

kourac31 wrote:

As kimaera I used some sort of hound from the Confrontation series, the  Syhar Sighthound:

http://www.miniaturemarket.com/confrontation-scorpions-syhar-sighthound-unit-box.html

those sighthounds look amazing, allmost like they are a cryx unit

Marrath Schlagschatten wrote:

I bought a pack of four Warhammer Fantasy Skaven Giant Rats, very beastly and i plan to put more pointy things on them, then use them as my Khymera.
They come with square bases though so i had to buy 40mm round bases.

Those look awesome! Not sure if I am sad that they are mettle,  but for $10 that is a great buy. Good find!

reaper have pixtures of "murder of crows" and "extra crows" but not "a lot of crows"

how does "a lot of crows" compare with "murder of crows"?!

I am not sure, I have not ordered yet, and had not caught that. Interesting that they don't have pics for "lots of crows' nor do they describe the differences

I can't even google up "a lot of crows" to compare.

I figured it out!

Murder of crows = A lot of Crows + extra crows.

so "a lot of crows" is 2 less crows than Murder of crows.

You get the whole bunch for £4.61

or extra crows for £.62 and a lot for £4.55

most economical for me, I want 4 bases of them, to probably buy 8 packs of extra crows. 4 per base.

but I think the MoC whole model looks amazing.

Thanks for finding the difference between them! I am looking for four baces in a few weeks, and would love to buy the murder of crows, and at aprox 6.50 USD, it is a whole lot cheeper then the GW models

I've been using kitbashed models made from Talos/Kronos parts (as if I'll ever use those models...) and Reaver jetbike canopies. No-one seems to mind, as they look cool when fully painted, and look like something that could have 5W and rending!


DSC_0114 by the_claw83, on Flickr

I love them!

That bug looks awesome! I can imagine the flesh stretching off if the mechanical frame, tearing sruff up

I was all set on those reaper crows, but it's £15 to ship to england. fuuuuu

Beats $17 per model from GW, but that is overseas shipping for you ... 

I used ripperdactyls myself. They're not all that much cheaper dollar wise, but they look about right for their profile and any excuse to use lizardmen in 40k has to be taken.

quark! wrote:

I used ripperdactyls myself. They're not all that much cheaper dollar wise, but they look about right for their profile and any excuse to use lizardmen in 40k has to be taken.

my problem with the ripperdactyles is that they are ever more sxpensive then the razorwing flocks ... but i agree they are amazing models, might get some from Ebay

I'm buying chickens.

http://blackcatbases.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=437_438&products_id=2669


of course, they don't look like razorwings at all. But they fit my sense of humour, and my opponents wont mind.

notts wrote:

I'm buying chickens.

http://blackcatbases.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=437_438&products_id=2669


of course, they don't look like razorwings at all. But they fit my sense of humour, and my opponents wont mind.

you attack too many chickens ... they have come back for revenge