A closer view of the amazingly detailed scratch-built train from the Battle of Cold Steel Ridge.
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A scratch-built Ork Flakka Dakka Gun made for the Klan Factory Game. |
cratch-built models, as their names imply, are built almost completely from scratch, using whatever components you have to hand.
Almost anything can be used, ranging from spare bits left over from completed models, to specialist modelling materials like plasticard and plastic rod, and through to left over packing materials and containers. Quite a lot of Studio terrain started life as a tub of margarine or the polystyrene packing for a piece of office furniture, not to forget Rick’s old deodorant bottle tank! Apocalypse includes numerous example of scratch-builds, from the Ork Flakka Dakka Gunz used to defend the Kan Factory (see page 177 of the Apocalypse book), through to the amazingly detailed Armoured Train used in The Battle of Cold Steel Ridge battle.
I will refrain, again, from providing advice on scratch-building models, other than to say it’s best to start off simple and work up from there. A good place to start is with scratch-built terrain features; for example, you could make a bastion fitted with left-over guns and weapons from your bitz box, or an anti-aircraft battery like the Flakka Dakka I mentioned earlier. Avoid getting too carried away at the first attempt – it’s better to have a small piece that’s finished than a large piece that is never completed.
CONVERSIONS
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The Classic Imperial Guard Sentinal can make it back on the battlefield in Apocalypse. |
he other place you can find new model models to use in Apocalypse is, strange as it may seem, by using the old models you may have in your collection. Over the years the Citadel Miniatures range has grown and evolved, and this means that quite a few of us have models that are no longer directly covered by entries in the current Codexes. The desire to allow players the chance to dust these old classic models off and use them again was one of the prime motivators for writing Apocalypse, and I therefore heartily encourage players to search out the older models in their collections and figure out ways to use them again.
I’m not going to give detailed advice about how to convert models, which is better left to the expert modellers in our Studio and web hobby teams. What I will say is that simple conversions are both quite easy to perform, and can produce really great looking models that are very easy to incorporate into games of Apocalypse. Because of this they represent an ideal way to start designing your own models. Once you’ve made one or two simple conversions, then complex conversions or scratch-building a model will seem much less intimidating.
Next: Creating a Datasheet
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