Simple figure Conversions by Helen Bachaus
I received a lovely e-mail from Paul Ward asking if I’d like to contribute an article to Matakishi’s Tea House. Well, besides being surprised at such an honour I said yes!
I’m a collector/gamer/researcher of WW1and some WW2 and now also venturing into Pulp. I mainly write articles on historical WW1/WW2 adventures and submit these to the Lead Adventure Forum (LAF) for interest. In addition, I’m now in the first stages of painting my own figures with the assistance of my friends at home and the good folks on the LAF. I also dabble in simple conversions of figures since we game with many hundreds of figures its nice to have a few variations of the same figure for character. Whilst there are a few missing items from the Brigade Games range I decided the best and cheapest way was to do some conversions of my own utilising my excess figures.
I’ve been conducting simple conversions of the Brigade Games (BG) WW1 figures designed by Mike Owen and they are great to work with. The majority of the figures are a simple cutting off the head with a craft knife and re-attaching onto another body. Other figures required cutting off limbs and re-applying weapons. Most of the inspirations come from the happy folks on the LAF and utilising my Osprey books as well.
With WW1 becoming more popular and with new figure and rules forthcoming I thought I’d share with you a few tips to get better mileage out of your BG figures currently available.
All figures shown in the photos are all Brigade Games figures unless otherwise stated. My thanks to Drew for teaching me his way of painting figures.
German Sailors/Command/MG in Cork Helmet and Campaign attire
Simply, using sun helmets from the BG German Command or MG figures. The officer with his pistol in the air was utilising the other naval command figure (holding sun helmet in left hand) in the pack and cutting off the hand (give a little extra sleeve when cutting) holding the pistol I simply re-attached onto the other naval command figure after I'd cut a crease in his elbow joint and bending the arm to a higher position and severing his right hand ready for the new hand holding the pistol.
original figures. Click photo for larger version.
Converted MG crew with sun helmets.
Original packs.
Converted with head swaps.
These two make the third figure.
German Command/Character/in Slouch Hat/Peak Cap/Helmet
Again with these figures it was simply re-attaching different heads from the range.
German European MG team operating a London War Room Revolving Cannon and German MG with slouch hats
Use the mg team straight from the pack hauling the mg with drag ropes as the crew operating the revolving cannon. This allows for some light artillery for your force. Simple head swaps for the remainning command/character.
Revolving cannon and crew.
Original figures. Click photo for a larger version.
These two become the gun crew.
Austrian/German Advisers
For the Austrian adviser I used the Asienkorps command figure with the broom handled Mauser. I carefully cut away the hand holding the Mauser and after cutting and drilling the hand of the other Asienkorps officer in cap reapplied the hand and Mauser. A sun helmet from the other German BG European command set in the African range was then applied. The German Adviser was just a simple head swap with a Turkish officer.
ANZAC/KAR Command
Simple head swap conversions to give the command additional variation.
Click on picture for a larger version.
I’m a collector/gamer/researcher of WW1and some WW2 and now also venturing into Pulp. I mainly write articles on historical WW1/WW2 adventures and submit these to the Lead Adventure Forum (LAF) for interest. In addition, I’m now in the first stages of painting my own figures with the assistance of my friends at home and the good folks on the LAF. I also dabble in simple conversions of figures since we game with many hundreds of figures its nice to have a few variations of the same figure for character. Whilst there are a few missing items from the Brigade Games range I decided the best and cheapest way was to do some conversions of my own utilising my excess figures.
I’ve been conducting simple conversions of the Brigade Games (BG) WW1 figures designed by Mike Owen and they are great to work with. The majority of the figures are a simple cutting off the head with a craft knife and re-attaching onto another body. Other figures required cutting off limbs and re-applying weapons. Most of the inspirations come from the happy folks on the LAF and utilising my Osprey books as well.
With WW1 becoming more popular and with new figure and rules forthcoming I thought I’d share with you a few tips to get better mileage out of your BG figures currently available.
All figures shown in the photos are all Brigade Games figures unless otherwise stated. My thanks to Drew for teaching me his way of painting figures.
German Sailors/Command/MG in Cork Helmet and Campaign attire
Simply, using sun helmets from the BG German Command or MG figures. The officer with his pistol in the air was utilising the other naval command figure (holding sun helmet in left hand) in the pack and cutting off the hand (give a little extra sleeve when cutting) holding the pistol I simply re-attached onto the other naval command figure after I'd cut a crease in his elbow joint and bending the arm to a higher position and severing his right hand ready for the new hand holding the pistol.
original figures. Click photo for larger version.
Converted MG crew with sun helmets.
Original packs.
Converted with head swaps.
These two make the third figure.
German Command/Character/in Slouch Hat/Peak Cap/Helmet
Again with these figures it was simply re-attaching different heads from the range.
German European MG team operating a London War Room Revolving Cannon and German MG with slouch hats
Use the mg team straight from the pack hauling the mg with drag ropes as the crew operating the revolving cannon. This allows for some light artillery for your force. Simple head swaps for the remainning command/character.
Revolving cannon and crew.
Original figures. Click photo for a larger version.
These two become the gun crew.
Austrian/German Advisers
For the Austrian adviser I used the Asienkorps command figure with the broom handled Mauser. I carefully cut away the hand holding the Mauser and after cutting and drilling the hand of the other Asienkorps officer in cap reapplied the hand and Mauser. A sun helmet from the other German BG European command set in the African range was then applied. The German Adviser was just a simple head swap with a Turkish officer.
ANZAC/KAR Command
Simple head swap conversions to give the command additional variation.
Click on picture for a larger version.
