Converting Betrayal At Calth - MkIV Marines Swords

The manual you get with Betrayal at Calth is great! But it does at times fail to show the user that attaching some pieces (like the Missile Launcher, and swords) doesn't go together as easy in real life as it does in CAD.

For anyone having trouble attaching all those swords you get with the BaC Marines, here's a solution that may work for you.

You can cut a small notch in the back of the sheathe of the blade, this will allow the sword to 'slot' in to the power cord coming from the power pack mount on the rear of the Marines torso. Allowing you to better line up the two spots on the sheathe were the backpacks lower vents should rest.

Another option, is to simply carve or file off an angle of plastic from the sword sheathe. This is both neater and works better depending on the rear torso you're using. (Remember, watch your fingers!)

 Two swords ready to be attached

 

You'll notice the fit is a lot tighter, allowing you to match up the two vents with the sheathe.

I actually panicked a bit, I wanted to get this article out as soon as I got my BaC box (on release day) as I dismayed at fiddly bits being left off, because they're fiddly. Hope this helps make the swords an option you want to attach to your models rather than leave off because it's a hassle.

Happy gaming!

Converting Betrayal At Calth - Contemptor Dreadnought-

There are many techniques to assemble a dynamic and visually interesting model, here are some tips I have to offer for the Betrayal at Calth models. Starting off with the Contemptor Dreadnought.

First the rather static posed Contemptor Dreadnought Sor Gharax.
What is a simple way a person can repose this model without extensive cutting and greenstuff?

BEND IT! Before you glue the front and back halves of the body, bend the front half of the legs to an angle you would like. In this case, I angled the legs outward to give a stable firing position pose.

Then, place the back half of the legs on the body, and see how much they must bend for you to have a tight fit. Here's where we do some chopping!

Cut off the legs on the back half of the Contemptor (as seen above!), yes this is the small cutting part. Then place the rear half of the legs on the model, and see how much you have to shave off in order to make a perfect fit. No gaps! No greenstuff! If you use just enough glue, the seem will be completely hidden!

What we are doing here is keeping the front leg hip joints intact, by bending them, but cutting the rear hip joints in order to achieve a more dynamic pose.

The final result should look something like this, minus the multi-melta touch up! :P

Happy gaming!

Shaking off the dust...

This is a little late, but here's my first post for this new blog.

Covering a wide range of tabletop genres and occasional rants here and there. Mostly focusing on Warhammer 40k and it's various spin-offs.

Happy gaming!