A Black Reach Dreadnought by any other name...

[SotonShades]

Hello again, boys, girls and other unsightly followers of BoLS

Well I went to a tournament at the weekend and was finally convinced to buy the Black Reach box set (a second one I might add) so I'd have the smaller rulebook rather than lugging the big one around to tournaments with me. Fine by me, and as any of you who've seen my KoptaForce threads will know, I really like the models the box set comes with, so all the better!

Except one. I do not like the Black Reach Dreadnought. I hate the silly little exhausts. I don't like the hollow arms and something about the sarcophogus always seemed just a little off to me... :confused:

So of course I got home and immediately got my bitz box and hobby knife out. Here's the result, hope you like it;

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6021/5997952409_47f97ff4b1_z.jpg

One thing I've always disliked about all Space Marine Dreadnoughts was the pose. The are supposed to be just as agile as they were in power armour, but then the model is stood there with no dynamism what-so-ever. Well I thought this guy would look better vaulting over a fallen stone column.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6006/5998500326_6ea460f367_z.jpg

So how to fix those piddily exhausts? Mock Ork players by using their trick of lootin' Imperial bitz for their kits and loot some Shoota barrels, with some of the detail back-scrapped off and a few extra holes drilled in.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6013/5997947667_d0172b4f1d_z.jpg

For the sarcophogus, I cut the original off just ahead of where all the pipes go in and replaced it with a plethora of parts; Part of the sarcophogus from a Venerable dreadnought, the torso of a Space Marine tank commander, the head of a Chaos Tank commander and... well part of the original sarcophogus actually! I wanted the wings behind the helmt to help suggest this guy was once a great champion. Further to this I've added detail from spare armour bits from the Venerable dread to either side of the sarcophogus (that word is beginning to lose meaning for me as I keep saying it :P) with scrolls to show some of his achievements and a crux terminatus.

I've also replaced the detail on the left shin guard with a plain Imperial Aquilla, as well as adding further detail to both shoulder guards. All of these were taken from the Imperial Guard vehicle upgrade sprue, but my camera refused to focus on them properly and the BoLS forum seems to think I all ready have 4 photos on here, so I guess you'll have to wait til another time to see them anyway :P

As always I'd love to hear what you guys think; the good, the bad and the outright horrific. I promised a friend (DrLove42) that he could paint a dreadnought for me, as I did a shadowseer for him back in the yesteryears, so I'll leave it for him to show you the pics once I get it round to him and he gets round to painting it.

[DrLove42]

Looks ace. Got my work cut out for me to match paint with model!

And you do have 4 pictures in your post. 3 photos...and one smiley in your opening paragraph. For some reasont hey count as well

[JxKxR]

Dude super sweet! If you feel like it maybe you could cut the "toes" on the foot of the left leg and pose them down a little bit to give it some movement.

[fuzzbuket]

and as brother oldie jumped like a graceful angel of the emperors guidance, and fell flat on his venerable face and spent the next 2 hours waving limbs like a possed until the emperors divine light (in the form of a RAC van ) came to pick him up :P

whilst the conversion is cool and well done it does look like hell fall flat on his face :P

-fuzz

[SotonShades]

Lol deffinitely see what you mean fuzz. Fortunately the model doesn't look quite as much like he is mid fall in real life... something to do with the perspective of the pictures I guess. JxKxR, I might just do that. Simple enough job to clip them off and use a hobby knife to clean up the joins. Cheers for the suggetion.

Had my first game with him today. As a venerable dreadnought he suffered greatly from new model syndrome, and was promptly the first thing in my army to die. Guess you were right fuzz; fell flat on his face as he was shot :P

[DrLove42]

Had my first game with him today. As a venerable dreadnought he suffered greatly from new model syndrome, and was promptly the first thing in my army to die. Guess you were right fuzz; fell flat on his face as he was shot :P

Would like to also point out....the only thing to die. I could not roll for s**t

[SotonShades]

Would like to also point out....the only thing to die. I could not roll for s**t

You killed my Master of the Forge and a few Marines as well!

[Firebird]

Id have to say thats impressive.

[DrLove42]

Painting is going well. Just got the base to finish now. Pictures when its done (Monday hopefully)

[SotonShades]

For anyone interested, I have replaced the Storm Bolter under the DCCW with a Heavy Flamer. I'm sure DrLove will get some pics of my handiwork, but all I've really done is take of the barrels of the Storm Bolter (shame I was so bothered about drilling them) and stuck on two nozzels from IG Cadian flamers side by side. Simple swap but very effective I feel, like so much on this model!

[Pendragon38]

I like you conversion more than mine, I did the same thing and got 2 BR sets. And coverted one dread with duel flamers and a missile launcher and I call them stubby1 & stubby2. Still great work with yours