With the release of new Cadian™ sculpts in the Cadia Stands set by Games Workshop™ it's now time for us to see what new opportunities they present for converting with our Regiment's range of miniatures. Staffer Adam's taking this chance to create four unique 5-man squads utilising a broad range of Anvil bits!
Starting out nice a simple with this one, I've made a platoon command unit with an officer, banner bearer, and sniper. Here are 4 ways you can quickly convert them to add more character:
1. I was very pleased to find out that the new sculpts feature ball-and-socket joints at the neck which are a perfect fit for our existing range of heads as you can see here!
Assembling the new sculpts without the heads, is a fairly simple process when following the instructions, and the new joint allows for a much greater freedom of rotation, leading to some very nice, dynamic poses. I chose to use Pith Helmets for this conversion for an old-school Praetorian feel
2. Removing the included plastic banner was very simple, with just a short section of 2mm plastic rod profile needed to complete the pole and give a firm and easy point to superglue our own Plain Banner in place.
3. A few of the new sculpts come without backpacks, but I wanted to round out the squad's cohesive look, and our Haversacks with bedrolls and Wireless Radio are just the ticket for the old-fashioned style I wanted to create.
4. Lastly, I made a few hand swaps to include the more appropriate Revolver and Sabre style weapons, and added Bayonets to the two infantry support figures, as well as a few Wax Seals. The end of one of the Lasguns was also snipped off and replaced with the longer barrel from our Phase Carbines and a Regiment's Sniper Scope, easily transforming it into a sniper rifle.
Switching gears, I wanted to make a stealthy veteran squad with suppressed weapons and a more modern-day aesthetic, and this can be achieved using the same principles as above!
This time I chose to use our Opscore NVG helmeted heads and the Modern Suppressors with paracord wraps - simply snipping off the ends of the barrels and replacing them. I also decided to convert the guns to solid projectile firing weapons by exchanging the battery packs with Assault Rifle magazines, and adding various sights and rail accessories from the Weapon Accessories sprue, as well as a long barrel and bipod from the Sniper Rifles.
For the squad sergeant I wanted to go even further and added some tactical Chest Pouches to their webbing straps and a Bergen Backpack, again to complete the squad leader's lack, and then a machete hand-swap. Lastly, to really seal the fact that these are stealthy operators, I swapped out one of the fragmentation grenades for an active Smoke Grenade.
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That's two squads that, while featuring only minor conversions, have results that give them wildly different feels from both their original look, and each other!
To summarise our four quick conversion ideas:
- Heads swaps! Be bold - we have a huge variety of heads to fit nearly any theme, just what your infantry needs to get ahead...
- Banners! Fly your colours proudly on a high-quality flag.
- Alternative backpacks - each trooper can carry something useful, it's called multitasking.
- Weapon accessories - it's time to pimp those lasguns; sights, silencers, scopes, mags - we've got them all!
We're really excited about the conversion possibilities ahead, and we'll have a "Part 2" of this blog coming soon where we'll take a deeper dive into our conversion bits and really see how far we can push the compatibility between the two ranges!
Keep your eyes peeled for the next part!
Amazing ideas as always, eager to see Part 2!