"Creating An Alien Mount For 15mm From 40K Termagaunt" Topic

Ok. Is this a crazy idea or what?
The 40k Termagaunts are supposed to have 6 legs (4 on the ground and 2 to fight):
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Well, what if I did away with the first set and added eyes (beads) instead?
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How's that so far?

Now, what direction should I take it next?

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Should I make the mouth insect-like, frog-like, add tentacles, or something else? Or should I just give up this madness?

Thanks.

Dan
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CC,

I am contemplating using some Heroscape critters for mounts. There are some large Alien Preditors, sort of like dogs, that I think would be perfect. The critters are rather lean with a very "Aliens" like head that makes them look really cool and different. They would fit in very well with Khurasan's Space Demons in general appearance. The are also a little smaller and better proportioned as a mount than the various Tyranids.

I have a lot of them I got a few years back and was going to use for Heroscape with my nephews when they are a little older or as extra 28mm critters. Since I no longer do 28mm, I was just looking at them the other day and thinking about turning some into mounts for 15mm troops (fantasy or SciFi), but have not yet found any riders that I could easily convert to the task.

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Worth a look and you might find some cheap on Ebay.

Jeff

Awww, he's so cute!

LOL.

But I really haven't done anything with the eyes and face yet!

Dan

I think it is a really inspired conversion so far. I took one look at it and immediately thought of a Chameleon…so that may be a direction to try with regards to building up the face.

Great minds think alike. The crusties strike me as a race that would use beasts. Using the GW Tyranid stuff for a basis of conversion looks prommising. I'm just waiting for Santa to drop off mine and see how they match up.
I've already used beasts for my Phalon army and I like the look. I'm in the process of finishing them off with a Starwars Reek as a heavy weapons mount.
minfigs.blogspot.com
Personally, I would use the Termagaunts as is, just remove the weapons.

Cheers

Mat

CC, Those are great. I would leave them as you have them. I would love to copy your idea. What did you use for eyes?

Thanks,

Al

Thats so simple it just might work! I think they look great. Leave them without mouth or fang or things like that. They could be fed via a nectar sucking tube like a butterfly or something.

CC thats fantastic! great Idea.

I'm curious as to how you'll get a saddle and a rider onto him. Otherwise, it looks brilliant.

A saddle shouldn't be to bad. The Crusties' legs look like they'll spread easily, possible enough to straddle the beast's back. If they don't, build up a raised saddle out of green stuff.
All in all, the Crustie/termagaunt combo should look pretty good when you've finished.

Great idea. You just gave me a reason to pick those up somewhere cheap, hopefully at the Cold Wars flea market in a March.

Consider this idea so incredibly stolen. I have a bunch of these things from the macragge game off of eBay (like 80 or so). The bug like head with the beads is perfect.

Face options:

Mandibles -- fairly standard insect approach
Sucking tube -- like a fly
Circular maw -- like a sandworm type creature
Mass of tendrils -- cthulhubug!
Draining spike -- super mosquito
Left blank -- like the aforementioned butterfly feeding tube

This is such a good idea!

I just realized that I never added what I thought of your work CC! It was late last night . . . .

I meant to say I liked the nice alien look and that the big eyes made it kind of cute and herbivore looking. The kind of critter people would find useful and non threatening as mounts, much like horses. If you were looking for a fierce warbeast, your little guy is a little too cute at this point. In regards to additional changes, I would suggest nothing too big since that would make the critter even larger and it's pretty big now to get 15mm guys on top of. Maybe antenna in the front would add a nice little detail?

Jeff

Dan I have been converting my vast collection of SST warriors with several mods…including extra eyes.

If you want to any more steps, and I really like the look so far, I would go with off set asymmetrical tiny eyes.

Leave the extra tiny eyes, I would think 15-20% the size of the current eyes, close to the same location but different enough to be subtle.

For the mouth, if you have and of the toxin sacs or adrenal glands I would try and fit them there for extra mouth gribblies.

Looks like a fun project.

I think that the original inspiration for the face was the Cicada we have around these parts in the Summer:

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And that was absolutely easy to do!!! I just added the head of two straight pins with a little green stuff and, voila, Phase I is done.

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However, being that the beast is supposed to be from the same planet as the "Prawns" (Crusties), I figured that maybe tentacles or something else needed to be added.

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But I wanted to check with you guys before I went in that direction. Hence my appeal to you guys for suggestions.

As always, you guys are awesome with your creative suggestions and encouragement. When I get back home this evening I'll have to get right back to it and see if I can finish the face. After that will come the saddle and the modified rider.

Thanks again!

Dan

Cosmetically I would heat up the tail and make it droop a bit in the center. right now it is too strait for me.

Other than that I might make some mandibles like this – link

It is a great idea and stolen for my stuff.

Excellent!

Perhaps you could make several "faces", one for each branch of the animal's family tree. One could be left as is, which I think works just fine. Others could follow the suggestions above. Just like there are many kinds of insects and fish based on a body style, this creature could have many variations on a theme.

Keep up the good work.

Jim

Awesome idea! You could also try putting a tripod mounted weapon on its back or add some extra stuff like a radio. They would also make great draft animals.

Very clever, nice work.

I think a little carving of the plastic and a little green stuff could make a nice mouth. It already almost looks like a beaked mouth. If it's alien, I'd go with a mix of anatomical features to keep it from looking like just another bug or whatever.

Looks great!

-Eli

Great idea Dan. I like it as it, with the GW head gone, and the big black beads as eyes. It looks like some kind of aquatic crustacean that has evolved to walk on land, but has kept the eyes as there are for better all round vision (like lizards)

It needs a long proboscis, but other than that, fantastic! The eyes are obviously on the side because it is some kind of grazer. I'm suspecting that it sucks in rich algae from the shoreline, though it can wade if it needs to. The armor is defensive, like an ankylosaurus.

As a riding beast, it's very good. You sit on it rather than straddling it. It's actually surprisingly fast, at least in bursts, but more importantly has great stamina when it walks.

Though not aggressive, they become quite aggressive in the spawning season. Wild ones will occasionally trample a tourist. They breed by laying eggs in the shallows; the males then fight to get to the shoreline to fertilize them. After hatching, they spend their first five years in a tadpole-like form (similar to this: link ), before morphing into the fine adult specimen that CC has on display.

Be advised that exportation of living samples (or producing such form gene samples) requires a license.

Wellspring,

Wow. I love that background. You are certainly a wellspring of creativity.

Thanks!!!

Dan
PS. Check out this page, with props from the Outer Limits' "Sandkings":
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What about instead of saddling up one of these things, the insectoid 28mm figure "surfed" it with a few reigns… kind of like a dune sandworm.

If you can bend the buggy-beastmaster's exoskeleton to give the appearance that he's hauling back on the reigns, then it could be even more impressive than being down in the saddle.

Thanks CC. Like I said, it's a great conversion!

Perhaps consider bolting/screwing on sections of the carapace for hand/foot holds, a riding cushion, and Bob's your uncle.

That termagaunt conversion is great. The only thing I'd even consider adding would be some short mouth tentacles so their biology mirrors that of the crusties. How do you plan on creating a rider?

Another crazy suggestion of mine:

TMP link

Dan

Other ideas here:

TMP link

Dan