The Warforge Miniature Modelling and Conversion

A use for the deathwind launcher

Some more rummaging in my bitz bins may have produced something interesting.

I found a deathwind launcher from the new Drop Pod kit that looked like it might do the trick. I sanded it down a bit so it wouldn't be quite as wide (making the front of it more square) and filed the iconography off the sides because it was technically upside-down. It's just loosely pinned on there, but I think it has some decent potential.

 

I think it could be pretty cool, actually. The venting on the back gives it a power-weapon appearance, and with appropriate armored plating on the impact side and top, it might do the trick. Also, flames, of course.

Thoughts? On the final dreadnought, I'm going to repose the arm mounts just a bit so that this arm is out at a bit more of an angle than the stock, parallel to torso pose, so the twist in the hammer's head to one side will look a bit more natural.

Even in death, blah blah blah…

Since I'm putting together a small Salamanders force, I'm using Vulkan in my army. Ironclad dreadnoughts are pretty lucrative to begin with, but when you're suddenly able to reroll all of the ranged weaponry it's got, it becomes a must-have. To that end, I'm building up an Ironclad who will be podding in on Turn 1 of most of my games to try and destroy as much armor as he can possibly reach.

Because he's a Salamanders dreadnought, I'm swapping out the stormbolter on the CCW arm for a heavy flamer - nothing beats that reroll. Aside from that, this is going to be a pretty straightforward Ironclad in terms of wargear. I'm keeping the Seismic hammer half because I think it beats the chainfist for most uses, and half because it's a 'hammer' and that's a big part of Sallies iconography anyway.

To that end, I've been working on the upper torso so far, and I thought I'd share a bit. I've not done much detailing, mostly just setting up the chassis. Some of my ideas are loosely based on the Ironclad Dreadnought Concept Art that got out over at Warseer. I'm referencing that for the torso, mainly; it seems the Ironclad design there has much more squared off shoulders, as compared to the stock dreadnought's slight outward incline. Additionally, since the thing is AV 13, I figured squaring the torso off by adding extra armor plating overtop was the best way to go.

Some pictures:

 

The torso's been squared off with carding, and greenstuff was used to patch up my sloppy seam between the plates on the front edge of both sides. It's filed smooth and flat, so it should be pretty indistinguishable.

The sarcophagus area was slightly filled, as you can see in the pictures, because initially I was going to go for the Forgeworld sort of design where there is a head in a terminator-esque alcove on the front of the dreadnought. I got talked out of this by a couple people, with the rationale that if it's got AV13, it should not be exposed like that, and some sort of monolithic front plate would be much better in terms of appearance. I will be adding some sort of reinforced sarcophagus plate overtop that area, once I figure out what I want it to look like.

The engine on the back was from a Grey Knight Dreadnought that I bought ages ago. I didn't use it on the GK dread because I had a spare engine from a Throne of Judgement which looked much more gothic and fit the Inquisitorial theme of the thing better. The pipes on the bottom of it were also seriously miscast (thanks forgeworld!) so I cut them down and got this thing to fit on the back here. I'll probably do more with it later, but I figured I'd get it out of the way.

Most important thing I wanted to discuss, though, was the Seismic Hammer arm. I was scratching my head for a while there as to what I wanted to do before I dug a furioso arm out of my bitz bins, and it all clicked. the CCW hand from the furioso arm found it's way onto the other arm, while I used the rest of it as a basis for the hammer. I figured it was ideal, anyway, because it already had a meltagun underslung.

The wrist area is capped off by a bit from a Thunderfire Cannon that had four holes. (I had this left over, because I bought a Tfire cannon to use as a chassis for a large Shokk Attack Gun for my orks). I figured I'd borrow a bit more from the CAD art and put some sort of hydraulic piston-y things on the end of each.

Now, this is where I am having a bit of trouble, conceptually. Because Salamanders are big on the hammer iconography, I wanted to do an actual hammer on the end of these pistons - like a giant, scaled-up thunder hammer, basically. I thought it'd be more suiting than the back-massager the Ironclad in the CAD art has. However, I have a couple ideas bouncing around in my head, and I wanted a bit of feedback as to what might be the most viable. Both are pretty much hammers, but different in appearance.

Here's a picture of the base:

Idea number one is pretty straightforward - like a giant thunderhammer, scaled-up to fit on the end of the pistons, maybe with some sort of reinforced plating so that it could either smash with the top of the hammer, or either of the sides.

Idea number two is a bit lower tech. My concept was that perhaps their Primarch, Vulkan, being a craftsman of sorts, had some sort of artistic pursuits, and sculpted things from the volcanic stone on Nocturne in his youth, or spare time, or whatever. That's not really important. What I'm trying to get at is that this very hard, dense, volcanic stone had something to do with the Salamanders primarch. Maybe it was his special posing rock, that he used when he wanted to look particularly heroic. Either way, it's been commandeered by this Dreadnought as a somewhat-sacred beatstick.

 

Both are flamed because, well, Salamanders, and it looks cool.

I am fonder of concept number two, but I'm at a loss as to how I might go about making the stone itself. I want it to be cracked and a bit worn from smashing so many heretics to pieces, yet still retain that general hammer shape. My first impulse says that making a understructure out of styrene and sculpting with greenstuff overtop will let me add the cracks and such properly, but I'm pretty rubbish as a sculptor, and I have a feeling any cracks I try to press into the greenstuff with an xacto or what have you will look ludicrously silly.

I'm sort've looking for input at this juncture as to ideas for the hammer itself, and how I might go about executing said ideas. In the mean time I'll probably work on the legs while I think it over.