Legions Of Ankhira Neferher, This is my kung fu...

Ah yeah, horde o bits, great store. Purchased all my Saurus spears and shields for my old old metal and plastic models from them. Then GW changed the rules so optimum unit was no longer 18 with spears and now I get raised eyebrows at the beginning of every game when i declare they just have hand weapons... sigh...

Forgive the off topic, that giant is quality. You are so right about ebay. It just makes it all happen. The problem is that it lets you get past the phase of not having enough models and on to the phase of having far too many...

Actually, how tall/big are those medusa models? if large enough they could perhaps make the new bow ushabti...

They are Warmaster sphinxes. The scale is normally way off of course, but the sphinxes are almost exactly the same size as the TK horses so they work out great if you raise them up off the base slightly.

I picked up a whole freezer bag full of Warmaster Tomb Kings stuff for next to nothing to use in making frescos and wall carvings etc. I've also got a (very different) chariot of fire conversion on the go and I'm using some of the tiny character models on the chariot fairing so it looks like it has been carved to depict a scene of the tomb king leading his troops into battle.

Think I've missed the boat on the chariot of fire thing, but I'll probably still complete the conversion eventually simply because it looks cool (not to mention that I've already spent a small fortune on that one).


@ Amplebob:

The medusas are only 28mm and stand about the same size as a normal TK skellie (so too small to mix in with the ushabti really). I've put the one pictured on a bigger base because she's the general so that's why that one looks so much bigger. I've got half a dozen GW ushabti lying around ready to build and enough unit fillers and conversions to field a full horde, but I'll probably replace a load of those with the new models when we get the new kits.

Since we've been talking about giants and using conversions as 'counts as' stuff I figured this would be a good one for todays installment. I first bought one of these about 20 years ago but I lost it along with the rest of my first army when my house got burgled. You can still get these on eBay -and I've seen them going for as much as £30 a pop, but there are a couple of places doing them a lot cheaper than that if you shop around a bit. I think this is another Reaper mini if I'm not mistaken.



The shading and highlighting doesn't really show up very well on these photos but I'll try and take some more at a later date. As you can see I haven't done anything to the base on this guy yet because I'm going to try and be a bit sneaky with it...



I'm going to make a couple of interchangable bases for him using magnets so that I can quickly swap them over and use him as either a bone giant, a cool unit filler in an archer block or as another SSC (well he is a stone thrower, right? )

In terms of game mechanics, the top of the head is exactly the same height as the crossbar on an SSC, so it's all good.



Since this model came out years before TKs did there is nothing egyptian about him so I'm going to add these ruins covered with heiroglyphs to add a bit of TK flavour to the model and blend it in nicely with the rest of the army. I like the way it looks like his grabbing some of the rubble and launching it at the enemy.

Depth perception is not likely to be his stong suit being a cyclops, so it's no wonder he misses now and again...

Hope you like him. C&C welcome of course.

Oh, I love that giant, never seen that one before! Really cool, and the base for a SSC count-as look great (where are those rubbles from?)! If I didn't already had 2 SSC I think I would look for one Unit filler is also a cool option, or a Giant with bow option.

I got the same "problem" with my photos, bones just look white and brown/black. I guess bones don't photograph well unless you have proper lighting and a light box.

Is that the D&D skeletal cyclops model? If so my party just killed one of those this weekend, coincidence? I think not

I hadn't given much thought to a giant with bow conversion but I think you're right -this one should work quite well as it is. Cheers!

The rubble was another eBay find.


@ Lakomasoi:
Don't think I've seen the D&D model I'm afraid bud. Pretty sure this is a really old Reaper one from back in the day. I miss D&D.

This is my WIP casket conversion. Needless to say perhaps, I started this one back in 7th ed before true line of sight took a giant wizz in my box of fireworks. It's still in the early stages and there is a ton of modelling work left to do, but I think you can see where I was going with this one.



I quite like the rules for the casket in the new book so this conversion is likely to be resurrected sooner rather than later.



Obviously it's significantly higher than the normal model, but the casket itself is not fixed to the war mammoths and I have retained the normal (TLOS legal) base so that people don't start throwing blocks of cheese at me when I walk down the street.



Although I've drilled out holes in the mammoths feet to fix them to the model, I will probably not glue the pins into the base so I can use these guys seperately as war sphinxes. They also come with howdas and fit nicely onto chariot bases, so I can effectively field 3 sphinxes at once.



The original plan (and one I still might run with further down the line), was to cut this resin thingy I bought and use it as an ornate platform of sorts to rest the casket on. I've already got a load of other small detail bits like candlesticks that I've been hoarding for this conversion but more recently I also had the idea of using the dessicated and semi 'hollowed out' husk of dead arachnarok spider as the 'platform' to sit the casket upon. The spider should sit nicely on top of the mammoths and by putting it on its back at an angle of about 45 degrees the mangibles will form a kind of seat for the (just for show) liche

I've also thought about converting the casket itself into a snake basket and having the liche charming the snakes out with a musical instrument. I think that would fit in with the army theme nicely, but it would break my heart not to use the casket model (love that sculpt). Guess I could always use it as a unit filler like one of the other guys did (or I guess I could flog it on eBay to pay for the spider).

I think the anorak spider idea would work out well but it could also be converted into a Clash of the titans style colossal scorpion as well. Kinda like the idea of having a dead spider as the base but in any event I'll probably need to sell a kidney or something first to find the cash -lol.

Comments, crits and suggestions all welcome of course.

I'm not sold on the Casket sitting between those 2 mammoths, probably because right now it's just that, a Casket sitting between 2 mammoths Also I think it's a kind of 'waste' to use those mammoths like that when you could use them as very cool Warsphinxes. I know you plan to not have them glued there, but what if you want to field both the Casket and 1 or 2 Warsphinxes?

You resin piece though would make a perfect base for the Casket. Cut the two parts at the back, put the Casket at the back with the Liche, and the Guards in front, maybe on the stair, and with all the candles/bitz you have it could make a really great model. Also you idea of a snake charmer thing could be good and is interesting, and remember, you can field 2 Casket at once in regular game so you could definitly do it and not 'waste' the original Casket

Yeah, it still needs a lot of work. I did consider extending the staircase down almost to the floor with a load of ghost miniatures like the VC wraiths rising up out of the open casket and floating down the stairs. I started picking up a few bits for it before it got pushed onto the back burner by 8th ed, but I hadn't even considered building another one...

Agreed. There were no sphinxes when I started the conversion of course, but if I wanted to run 2 sphinxes and a casket I could just use the original (TLOS) base for the casket.

A 2nd casket (or rather, basket) would be cool. Would look great if it had one or two sepulchural stalkers rising out of it I think.

very epic looking!

in my gaming group we have totally abandoned "TLoS" in favour or a simpler system that allows for creativity in the modelling without it affecting the rules. i really recommend that.

it is an awesome looking creation, but im pretty sure that elephants do not have bones in their trunks

Cheers Tsunami

Yeah TLOS sucks, but so long as you can find a point of the model that is the same height as the original model you can get away with it I think. You do give your opponent a slight targeting advantage, but then TLOS effectively means it is just about impossible to hide anything in practice anyway.

You can't really tell from the pics because the models are only undercoated at the moment, but the trunks are sculpted to look like they are made of leather & metal.

sweet. no anatomical problems either. i give this a thumbs up

Where did you get those mammoths, I WANT ONE!

I bought the one on the right about 20 years ago and it cost me about £10 at the time I think. Sadly this was about the only thing I had left of my old undead army after it got stolen.

The one on the left came from eBay and I was lucky enough to get an unbuilt one in mint condition, but this one cost me closer to £30. Was still really chuffed to find one though because a complete kit is as rare as rocking horse poo these days.

A company called Mirliton reproduced these a couple of years ago along with a few other old Reper sculps (the undead war rhino springs to mind), but I think even they have stopped making them now.

Like a few people I've seen, I'm not hugely impressed with the 'donosauresque' look of the new warsphinx scuplt (although to be fair they always look better in person), but for now I think these make for great sphinx models.

Been a busy week or so on the TK front. Lots of painting going on and even managed to get some modelling work done too -just for a change of pace.

I undercoated the scratchbuilt scorp in black just to see how it might look in a black/bronze scheme, but I wasn't happy with it so I've now sprayed a light coat of white over it and left a lot of the black in the recesses to act as a pre highlight. The undercoat has shown up a lot of the detail so I'm looking forward to getting that one done.

I've also been doing some rank and file, converting & painting a 2nd SSC and last night I started painting my carrion conversions. I'll post pics of all this stuff (along with some WIPs I've taken) at a later date, but for now here is an update on my bone giant/unit filler/SSC thingy:





I still need to finish it up a bit with some sand and stuff to hide the giants base but I think he's going to turn out alright. I'll probably get the final touches added to this guy later tonight or tomorrow so I can post some pictures of the finished model.

Hope you like him, comments/crits/suggestions all welcome of course.

Your SSC looks awesome, well I suppose TLOS was awesome for your casket when it got to hit everyone too

The mammoths are old Grenadier models. Mirliton bought their molds and sells the things online at the URL linked here. They even sold me a replacement part for one of my old mammoths (it had been packed in the box with a whole missing side decades ago, I didn't knotice it till a year or so ago when I tried to finally put it together). Click on "fantasy" then "undead". They're going for 30 euro (plus shipping, which from Italy can add up). Still less than a GW sphinx.

The models are heavy old soft lead, which is unusual these days - but it allows you to pose their tusks and trunks fairly easily, but you've got to pin the snot of the the things.

Vallah, love your work! Truly creative and characterful conversions.

I've been thinking about Necropolis Knight conversions and seeing your Warmaster Sphinx gave me an idea. What do you think of this?

TK chariots pulled by Warmaster Sphinx painted up like BIG sphinx and crewed by Tomb Guard models from Stalker/Knight box set. I know the Warmaster Sphinx is small but not too small in comparison to skellie horses...and they seem to fit with the animated construct theme running through the new army nowadays.

Just have to find 5 more Warmaster Sphinx. They are $26 each here in Australia!

Sounds cool mate, I'll look forward to seeing how those turn out. Have you see the chariot of fire Mioumboy did with sphinxes? They worked great on that one so I think you're on to a winner there.

$26 each for warmaster sphinxes though? Ouch! I just picked up this guy last week on eBay (where else?). I got him for just £1.



I'm looking forward to building some of the new snakes too -especially since I saw the ones Shaventitti posted in his thread. Got a feeling a few of those bad boys will be finding their way into the ranks of my army.

Keep us posted on how you get on with your conversion bud.

1 pound!!! (I don't have a pound sign on my keyboard)

I'm feeling sick! Yeah, I trawled through eBay but you must have bought him before I saw it. Good luck to you.

The chariot of fire sounds great. Do you have a link?

I'm liking the sound of the Stalkers too. I think war machines and gun lines are going to be our biggest problem so we must build redundancy into our wm hunters by having a few EBtS units. I'm thinking of using Stalkers with my 2 Tomb Swarm (I've only ever used 2 and they do surprisingly well) and a Tomb Scorpion or two. Can't disgard the attraction of a 70 point unit of light cav nowadays. Scout and Vanguard are too good to pass up. Even if they get blasted by a war machine Turn 1 then they're not blasting something worth more

Don't worry, I found it. Sensational work.

I will unashamedly steal the idea but I won't match the craftsmanship or the artwork. I'll do my best.

Still need 5 more Warmaster Sphinx though!

These conversions are brilliant. I have some plans to make plastic Tomb Scorpions using the Chaos Spawn claw arms, and some tyranid carapace bits...

There is tons of inspiration to be found here.

Those elephants are beautiful and would make PERFECT warsphinx. I would love to put the warsphinx howdah on the back of one.

Do you know if this is the same kit though???



It looks really different somehow (or did you just leave off the armour?). Even the tusks look different from yours...

I am trying to get my hands on 1 of the exact ones you are using.

That particular one is called "Imperial war mammoth" and was (if memory serves), essentially a ripped off version of the grenadier ones. Not sure who made that one but it used to be availlable to buy in GW stores back in the day, so I think it might even be a citadel version.

The (slightly different) mammoths I used are the old Grenadier "Undead War Mammoth" models. A company called Mirliton bought their molds and sells the things online at the URL linked above. If you click on "fantasy" then "undead". They're going for 30 euro (plus shipping, which from Italy can add up). Still less than a GW sphinx.

The models are heavy old soft lead, which is unusual these days - but it allows you to pose their tusks and trunks fairly easily, but you've got to pin the snot of the the things.


ps. Thanks to Entropy for the link.

Janine is my favourite... hands down!
Great job on the conversions mate

Awesome stuff ... well done! I've used that reaper collosal skelly as a bone giant. It's a great model.