Got it right this time

Well, I should be studying for Zoology, but I made a kroot instead....they are kinda similar right? I mean genes that transfer through generations, that's Darwanism....ok yeah, I'm a slacker. However, during my fit of insomnia last night, somewhere around 3 o'clock, I figured out how to make a kroot crouch in my mind. So I did that today. This was one of the hardest conversions I've done simply because most of the major joints in the legs are now greenstuff...and greenstuff is soft. So when you try to fix one area another is destoryed. I eventually got it though. Just like the other one, I can't complete it because I don't have the screen with me, but as soon as I get back home I'll finish and paint at least this one. Enjoy.

Been a while

Ok, it's been a while since I did anything. I decided to do a hunter kindred, sniper on foot. Mainly because I haven't ordered coldones to make into knarlocs. Anyway, the gun is made out of a kroot rifle and a saurus spear. The barrel of the kroot rifle was cut away and the tip cut off, the blades were removed from the business end and the blade on the back was made to look just like the butt of a gun. The front haft of the spear was used, after the spearhead was taken off, to make the longer barrel. I just a small section from the bottom of the spear tip itself and then used this, combined with the back haft of the spear, to create the scope. I also attempted to make him crouch, but I had to abandon that idea and just make his pose more dynamic. I can't finish him here, but eventually I will put a cloak on him made out of screen with moss placed onto it so he looks like a kroot with a bush cloak.

There's a new Colonel in town...

Introducing, the Colonel. Constantly seeking revenge for his ancestors slaughtered by a man of the same name who founded the infamous KFC. Ok, in all seriousness, this guy was a pain to build, a pain to paint, but looks great in my opinion. Oh? What's that? You think it was a waste of time and looks like crap? *objector incinerated by twin streams of fire* Anyone else? Ok, so all the bitz used...Tornado Heavy Flamer (which I now think is meant to go on a dreadnought or something), Orlock Flamer Backpack, Dark Elf Dark Riders Command Sword, Kroot Carnivore Sprue, a piece of paper clip to make the support for the gun (the strap), a piece of paper clip to make the hose that attaches the pack to the flamer, and a TON of greenstuff. I mean, there's greenstuff everywhere on this thing. The hilt of the sword is a piece of paper clip wrapped in greenstuff and molded, the strap from his shoulder to the gun is a piece of paper clip covered in greenstuff, the hose is a piece of paper clip covered in greenstuff and molded, the backpack is held on by greenstuff, the left arm is held on basically by greenstuff because of a HUGE gap formed when I made that arm hold the flamer, the half-sheath for the sword is greenstuff, the part of the cape that makes his clothing look like one piece instead of a cape tied on is greenstuff. I think I used nearly a half a stick of greenstuff on this guy, but in my opinion, it payed off. Oh...and all those nice little details and cool looking things I made on him seemed like a good idea, but apparently I forgot that I would have to paint him eventually and brushes don't magically bend the way you want them too. >.<

Flamer Shaper!

Well, there he is. He's still blurry as usual, but it's cool in person! Ok, so, problems with this conversion. The arms fitting to the gun; resolved with filing and greenstuff. Weight of gun makes it impossible for arms to hold; resolved by taking a paper clip and attaching it from the shoulder to the gun which was then covered in greenstuff and made to look like a strap of cloth or leather. Backpack not connecting to flamer; resolved by bending a paper clip to the desired shape, covering it in greenstuff, and then notching it with an xacto knife. Sword having a hand on it, while model isn't going to hold it; resolved by cutting the pommel and sword off, attaching them with a paper clip, covering that in greenstuff and notching it for a grip, then taking a strip of greenstuff and wrapping it around the top of the blade for a partial sheath. Balance off; resolved by gluing a nickel to the bottom.

So then, this was actually the hardest conversion I've ever done because of all of the plastic-metal joins and the greenstuff sculpting that I had to do. In all, it was a pain to do but it looks cool to me right now. Ah well, I'm sure that it will be better after it's painted.

Painted Shaper

Well, here's my shaper. The pictures are low quality as usual because I haven't figure out an appropriate method for taking them. Yes, he's a different shade of grey than the last one, and yes it's on purpose. I don't want my army to be a giant grey blob so I'm going to make it a multi-shaded giant grey blob! ....with giant chainsaws. Well, the pictures really don't do him justice however, he does need some highlighting...I just haven't decided how to go about doing that yet.

Shaper pics, FOR REAL!

BEHOLD! My glorious Shaper in all of his awesomeness! He is equipped with an Eviscerator (in his hands), grenades (left side), a sawed-off Kroot rifle (back), a pistol (right side) and a charm! He comes fully ready to kick butt and lead his men in the hunt for more DNA! Alright, now to just paint more than the base coat. Oh, by the way, plastic to metal joins SUCK!

Shaper Pics

Well, I'd like to have a bunch of pics of my shaper here but unfortunately the chainsword isn't cooperating and even though it had 5 hours to sit and dry, when I let it stand for 3 minutes to take the pictures of it the sword started to fall. Then, the pictures were so blurry you couldn't even tell what it was other than a grey thing. Ugh...I'll have to figure something out.

The bitz came!

Alright, so I'm a little mad that the little envelope that my bitz came in cost $7 to ship but oh well. The bitz came and I've already got one eviscerator drying as we speak. Unfortunatly, I can't get to work on my shaper council because I left the sprues at home. Now then, something else has been settled as well and I ma glad it has. I had spoken to a few friends about how Miniwarhouse on eBay had basically stolen my money when I ordered 12 kroot from them nearly a month ago. Finally though, things have been settled and I am happy to say that not only am I getting what I ordered, I'm getting my money back, and I'm getting another 12 kroot for free. I thought this was a bit excessive and told them so but they insisted. I am now happy to say that there was just a glitch in communication and that now I have no problem with them.

Expect another pic today of the Shaper with eviscerator!

I actually got one painted!

Ok, so I looked for the one with the most mold lines left to paint today because it was just a test of my color scheme. Honestly, I had no idea what color it was going to be but I ended up with what you see above. The pictures are really bright for some reason even though there was no flash and they're a bit blurry, but I hope that they're good enough.

Good news...and Bad News

Ok, I got Angkhor Prok and my two boxes of kroot (still waiting on the other 12...I'll give the guy to Wednesday before I tell eBay he didn't ship). I managed to build one box of carnivores and nearly finish a shaper. All I'm missing is the chain bit to make the eviscerator and that's on it's way. However, I remembered to bring my finished kroot with me to college but I forgot to bring the other unfinished box. So, it's going to be another 2 weeks before I can get that box to build some vicious kroot (aka my version of kroot hounds). I suppose that this does give me some time to paint my already completed kroot though so I'll look at it like a blessing in disguise....now if I could only come up with a paint scheme!

As for the shaper council (that would be built this week if I had my other sprues >.<) I have decided to do this. Three will be built with eviscerators, while the other two will have flamers and power weapons. This is because 1. flamers are great when you're assaulting large groups with few guys, and 2. the rules for kroot equipment state you can either have 2 single-handed weapons or 1 single-handed weapon and a two-handed weapon. Thus, I can't have a guy with a flamer and an eviscerator. I'll be using the tornado heavy flamer to show my flamers combined with the Necromundo Orlock flamer backpack cause it looks more orky and since knowledge is passed down by orks through DNA and kroot eat orks, it's krooty. I'm also using the warmaster dark elf dark riders command sword for the power weapon...it was $0.75 and looked cool...what? For the eviscerators I'm simply taking a kroot rifle, chopping of the end part, and then gluing the sword part of the imperial missionary chain sword on to the end. Once my bits come I'll start uploading some pics.

He's having a stroke! Of genius!

Ok, thanks to some brainstorming with a friend of mine yesterday combined with some insomnia that helped me work out the fluff, I now have an idea to make my kroot hounds for about a 7:16 ratio. In other words, less than half price.

The Fluff: The strength of the kroot is their ability to absorb the DNA of the opponents that they defeat in battle, and then begin to exhibit desirable traits of the creature after a few generations. However, occasionally a shaper gets to eager in his pursuit of a certain trait and his kindred begin to lose their sentience. Once their sentience is gone, they can no longer make the decisions needed for the advancement of their evolution so then enter a "dead end" evolutionary path where they are essentially stuck in one form. This is how creatures such as the kroot hound and krootox came into being. However, what if a shaper who thought along the same lines as those who created the kroot hounds had more control over his own ambitions and therefore perfected the "hound" form of the kroot so that they were still sentient. Enter the perfect kroot close combat warrior.

The Modeling: This is the easy part. First, I would take a normal kroot, cut his gun away, give him two combat knives (or other close combat weapon like all those extra fantasy bitz I've got), put him into a dynamic pose (to try and exhibit the extra initiative of a kroot hound), and then put red war paint on him just so he's easier to see. You then have a kroot that would fight exactly like a kroot hound.

The Math: Ok, basic kroot is 8 points with no upgrades and the basic hound is 6. From the evolutionary adaptation "Fast Reflexes" we can see that GW believes an extra initiative is worth 1 point. So, a kroot with initiative 4 is 9 points and a hound with initiative 4 is 6 points (hounds are base initiative 4 and do not gain the benefit of evolutionary adaptations). A kroot hound has 2 base attacks, 1 additional on the charge while a kroot as 1 base attack and an additional close combat weapon due to the kroot rifle gaining another 1 attack, and 1 additional on the charge. Thus, a kroot with two close combat weapons would have the same number of attacks as a kroot hound. The rest of the stats for a kroot hound and kroot are the same. So now you may be going, "Hey! Wait a minute! Why is it that if I make a kroot the same as a kroot hound the kroot is 9 points and the hound is 6!" Well, that's because even though their stats are the same, they are not. The kroot is still carrying a kroot rifle thus giving him a str 4 rapid fire gun. Kroot hounds can't shoot. Therefore, we can see that GW valuse this BS 3 STR 4 rapid fire shot at 3 points. So then, by the math, a kroot with two close combat weapons, no gun, and an extra initiative should be 6 points, the same as a hound. SO! Even by the math my theory works out. In addition, 2 kroot hounds come in a blister pack for $10 (excluding shipping, let's assume a big order so that shipping doesn't count) and a box of 16 kroot comes for $35. This means that one kroot hound is $5 while one kroot is $2.19 (rounding up of course). This means that in an army with 20 hounds in a kroot hound pack, 10 hounds in a shaper council, and 2 hounds with the master shaper, one would on average save $85 dollars. It's the choice of 16 blisters of hounds (32 hounds) or 2 boxes of kroot (32 kroot). The choice is your's but I'm going for the kroot.

So What Does That Leave Me With?: This leaves me with a unique army that is sure to draw some attention with kroot in dynamic poses, double knives, war paint, and various other bits of carnage on their bases (IG being killed, Orks being eaten, Eldar being ripped apart, etc. etc...). It will also leave me with $85 extra bucks to do something with, or more if I continue to buy off of eBay. For instance, I just got 2 unopened boxes of kroot off of eBay for under $40 with shipping. From what I can see so far, kroot may be a horde army but if you do them right they can be cheaper than a lot of others (yay no vehicles!).

It's a hound, it's a kroot stuck in a dead end evolutionary path, it's a....tyranid?

Ok, so during my hours of being bored and surfing the net I came across a forum that had this thread in it.

Kroot Mercs.

Great looking kroot, but what I really want you to look at is his hound squad. If you look closely you'll notice that those aren't hounds but what appear to be modified termagants. This conversion doesn't look that bad (to me at least) and it would save a ton of money. 8 hounds for $40 or 16 hounds for $35...which sounds better.

Also, while I was on the GW store I typed in the word "chain" to try and find chainswords to turn into eviscerators, and I found these.

Chain Weapons Sprue 1

Chain Weapons Sprue 2

Chain Weapons Sprue 3

Now that's some eviscerator building material. I especially like the look of chain weapon sprue #2.

Order up

Well, I've managed to procure a few items off of eBay in order to start my kroot mercenary army with. I got the Anghkor Prok model that is going to be used as my master shaper and I probably won't do any conversion to that simply because I love that model and don't want to ruin it. I've also managed to get 2 complete boxes in addition to 12 other kroot on sprues all for half price (yay eBay). At the moment here is how things are going to work. Out of each of the two boxes, 14 shall be kroot carnivores, 1 shall be a kroot shaper, and 1 shall become a member of the shaper council. Of the other 12, 9 shall become hunter kindred, 1 shall become a shaper, and 2 shall become members of the shaper council. That leaves me with a master shaper, a shaper council of 4, 2 units of carnivores 15 strong each, and a 10 strong unit of hunter kindred. That's all for now...and oh...hounds are expensive. I mean, seriously. I need at least 8 of them just for my shaper council which would be $40! I might as well buy another box of kroot for that. GW should really come out with some plastic ones for Apocalypse or something.