H&K 416 SOPMOD (6) [Pistol Grip]

Welcome to another Tom Clancy's The Division 2^TM inspired Conversion Corner!

With all the Agents in the studio, we needed some bad guys to fight (as if Rogue agents weren't bad enough...), so I decided to finally start one of my long-planned projects, slowly building the enemy factions from both games, starting with the "easiest" one, the Black Tusk.

I started with looking at Black Tusk concept art to see what I would use to build models that evoke the same high-tech PMC feel as the characters in the game. All the units in the faction share some distinct elements - the high-tech body armour, form fitting undersuit, balaclavas, and lots of equipment.

I knew we had the perfect legs and torsos for the project, as I used them before for my Zone Stalkers - from the Recon Drop Trooper range. For the arms I went with Militia and Female PMC as I wanted the short / rolled sleeves present in the game. I decided to split the force up into 3 "unit types", Riflemen, Specialists and Tanks.

Riflemen

These models all wear the same Balaclava and use our HK416s as a modern assault rifle with a lot of accessories. I also added some pouches to the panels on their legs to represent extra equipment carried. To hide the sci-fi details on the back of the torso I glued some of our 3D-printed prototype Hydration Backpacks on, and I stuck some plasticard on our small radios from the Modern Equipment pack to represent the touch screen comms gear all Black Tusk operatives seem to carry.

Specialists

The specialists are 3 unique models to represent some of the enemy classes in the game. I had concept art for all of these, so I tried to get as close as possible.

• The Controller uses a Kel-tec KSG glued on a Militia arm with the stock removed, his other arm is from the Drone Controller pack with the Drop Troop Commander's arm console. His backpack is a Phase Lance powerpack with the antenna from a Field Radio. Making his head was probably the biggest challenge in the entire project, as it is a Boonie Hat spliced together with the VR goggle head from the Drone Controllers.
• The Sniper is a pretty straightforward build with a digitally kitbashed Hoodie-Baseball Cap-Sunglasses-Face covering head from the Undercover Operatives pack, and a long barrel HK416 DMR variant with a 12x Scope and a wrapped suppressor.
• The Medic required some creative use of parts! I used the largest backpack I could find (from Modern Civilians), split the bottom shell to use as the medic pouch on the leg, then grabbed a flying Drone and scaled it down to fit. Just sticking a drone on the backpack wouldn't work, and I didn't want to sculpt a drone rail, so after a lot of trial and error I ended up using a part from our poseable Light Mech legs!

 Tanks

For these, I went for a different base body, from the Corporate Security Force core pack and Booster. 

• The Minigun model uses the body from the CorpSec character with ram, and Man-Portable Heavy Weapon arms, as I wanted a heavy advancing pose. The minigun ammo feed was too short to reach the backpack with this pose, so I cut two in the middle and spliced them together.
• The Grenade launcher arms are from the Republic Commando booster pack, with digitally cut CorpSec armour plates overlaid. 

I finished both models with OpsCore helmets, and I didn't forget to add the "shoot me here for extra damage" little red box to the backs!

 Drones

The original plan was 3 unit types, but I thought something was missing - then I remembered how scary those military Big Dogs were in the game, so I had to build one!

• The Warhound is a Big Dog base model, with an Exo-Lord Security Camera head, and a Light Turret mounted on the back, and the feet on the hind legs replaced with brass rod. The MRAD attached to a turret had the magazine replaced by one from the M249, and a Sniper Rifle muzzle brake.
• The Marauder was made from a Quadcopter Drone, with a Shoulder-mounted Tricannon attached to an Exo-Lord Mechanical arm.

The bases were made using my usual method - 50mm base from Marvel Crisis Protocol, 35mm ones are printed bases designed by Nuclear Firefly. I added extra detail to them using sandpaper, Citadel Astrogranite technical paint and printed basing elements from the Modern Urban Scatter Terrain bundle, spent ammo casings and bottles.

That's all for now, hope you enjoyed this Conversion Corner, see y'all later!

Another new game, another crew to build!

With the recent release of Majestic 13, I took the opportunity to build ANOTHER modern military crew (as you can't ever have enough of those). This time the inspiration came from DEVGRU / SEAL Team Six as I imagine they would be one of the first groups to gain access to cutting edge reverse-engineered alien technology.

For the Sponsor of my team I decided to go for Industrial Arms, and my starting Advantage is Weapons Specialists, so I get some juicy bonuses for my weapons AND get to start with two from Phase 2! My starting base will obviously be a Military Command Base.

The models share some common parts like Load Vest / Female PMC torsos, Fatigue legs, Ops Core helmets, Modern Assault Packs, holstered pistols and H&K 416s with suppressors.

Sergeant and Rifleman

These two models are armed with standard Assault Rifles. The arms come from the AR-15 Arms sprue, the Sergeant's arm already had the correct weapon attached, so I only had to add accessories (Holographic Sight and PEQ).

For the Rifleman I used the arm with the LVOA, removed the weapon and swapped it for a H&K 416 - the weapon is just long enough to work very well with the "C-clamp" pose.

I wanted a unique head for the Sergeant, so I used one from OpsCore with Balaclavas with the flipped up NODs from the OpsCore NVG sprue. To mark him as the leader of the unit, I took a left arm from Fatigue Banner arms with the trumpet cut and replaced with one from Tactical Hand Gestures. 

Support Gunners

They are both armed with REtech Gauss Rifles. I could have used our High-Tech Gauss Rifles, but I wanted to make the weapons look more like modified modern weapons, so I opted for LVOAs mounted on Militia and Female Fatigue Specialist arms.

After I cut the mag and a bit of the hand guard from the LVOA and filed down the specialist weapon lower to the three dots the two parts fit together really well with only minor filling required. Then I added backpacks from Fusion Cannons, and small Holographic Sights to keep the accessories consistent within the unit. The end of the specialist weapon lower looked too flat and straight, so I glued PEQs there to make them look more interesting.

Since we don't have any female OpsCore helmet heads with NODs, I cut another one from OpsCore NVG and glued it on, this time flipped down.

 Drone Operator / Medic 

The final member is my Medic, who was built (to future-proof the team) to also be a Drone Operator in case I get to Phase 2 tech and choose the Medical Drone equipment.

I wanted to find a use for Civilian Tablet arms and Modern Comms packs for a long time, and this was a great opportunity. The Spotter drone is modelled flying over her, attached with a pin, and to balance the model out I added a H&K 416 to the other side of the backpack with thin plasticard straps.

She uses the same head as my female support gunner, with the NODs flipped up.

This was a really fun and quick build, from the idea to final gap filling it took me less than a full afternoon!

I haven't decided on basing yet, I will most likely go for my usual urban bases, probably slightly smaller size (32mm) this time.

That's it for now, see y'all later!