Necron Swizzle Sticks

[darnott]

I've been thinking about how to convert some Warriors into Lords and Crypteks. If I field a Lord, then he will probably have the upgrade to a Warscythe. If I field a Cryptek, then he will probably have a Staff of Light, or a Harbinger upgrade bearing an Abyssal Staff or a Voltaic Staff. I want some means to interchange the staffs and pole weapons.

The diagram on page 83 in the 2011 Necron Codex has some Wargear. While looking at the Staff of Light and the Rod of Covenant, "swizzle sticks" popped into my mind for what they looked like. Why not Necron swizzle sticks for wargear interchange?

In the assembly of a Warrior, if I cut the right arm holding the gun at the wrist, then I can glue a small piece of styrene tube to each of the wrists as hands. I should be able to arrange the arms in their shoulder sockets to receive a styrene rod through the styrene tube such that the styrene rod is near or on the vertical. The best combination for me from my experiments with rods and tubes is Styrene Rod #222 of 1/16" (1.6mm) and Styrene Tube #224 1/8" (3.2mm).

What ornaments should be on the swizzle sticks to represent the different weapons? I want to make the ornaments as intuitive as possible to my opponent as to function and/or name. Some ideas are as follows:

- Warscythe: An edged weapon on the side for a close-combat weapon as per the diagram.
- Abyssal Staff: A teardrop shape (painted glossy back?) to represent a Template weapon.
- Voltaic Staff: A piece of frayed steel wool (painted bolgun metal?) to represent Haywire shooting.
- Staff of Light - A bluish-white orb (perhaps to symbolize a white-dwarf star?).

Any suggestions for ornaments on Necron swizzle sticks?

Doug

[Rosscoe]

Long as its identifyable to what you are attending it to be war gear wise I wouldnt see an issue with what yea got going.

[Joyous_Oblivion]

I'd just shell out for the models, or not use them until the models were in hand. Somethings it pays to just pony up the cash, as the models look good, and it won't look like a warrior with plastic tubes for arms.

[WuZhuiQiu]

I think that he's proposing to use tubes instead of hands, and then to slide weapon shafts into the tubes.

A better option for swapping weapons might be to model hands that are holding brass rods over which styrene tubes with different end-pieces can be slid. That way, the hands will still look like hands.

[darnott]

I think that he's proposing to use tubes instead of hands, and then to slide weapon shafts into the tubes.

That's correct.

A better option for swapping weapons might be to model hands that are holding brass rods over which styrene tubes with different end-pieces can be slid. That way, the hands will still look like hands.

Hmm, I will think about this.

Doug

[Thanos33]

Instead of putting in the time to think about conversions of multiple models and kits, use that time to log an extra hour at work and just buy the cryptek's

[Matt Varnish]

Because thats way too easy, this is to make sure he cant use this army at GW like the Genestealer one

[darnott]

Instead of putting in the time to think about conversions of multiple models and kits, use that time to log an extra hour at work and just buy the cryptek's

The GW website has just the one type of Cryptek, and it costs $19.00 in Finecast. This Cryptek has a Staff of Light in the left hand, and something in the right hand which appears to be some form of a Resurrection Orb. But, that cannot be a Resurrection Orb because Crypteks do not have Resurrection Orbs. Maybe it's supposed to be a Cryptek with a piece of Cryptek Wargear after an upgrade to a Harbinger Discipline. No, this Cryptek cannot be one after the upgrade to a Harbinger Discipline, because this Cryptek has a Staff of Light. Every upgrade of a Cryptek to a Harbinger Discipline replaces the Staff of Light with a staff/stave which is 'common' to the Harbinger Discipline for the upgrade.

From the army lists that I have done, if I take a Cryptek, then I upgrade the Cryptek to a Harbinger Discipline. So, if I did buy the Finecast Cryptek for $19.00, then I would have to convert the Staff of Light into the staff/stave applicable to the Harbinger Discipline. If I'm going to have to do a conversion, then I might as well do the conversion on a Warrior which has a cost under $2.00 for me (as I want at least 5). Furthermore, the theme of my army is skeletal T-800 terminators which Warriors provide, but the rest of the Necron miniatures do not fit into my theme as they have inapproriate ornaments and costumes. For example, skeletal T-800 terminators do not have tiaras.

Also, I feel that buying an overpriced product from a retailer just encourages the retailer to sell more overpriced products.

No $19.00 Cryptek for me.

Because thats way too easy, this is to make sure he cant use this army at GW like the Genestealer one

When I play a game of 40K, my belief is that the game is between my opponent and I. We determine the parameters for the game. My Genestealer Cult army was a 'counts as' army using the GK codex with a mixture of GW models from the past and the present. When I was told by the manager of GW Bayshore that I had to use "the correct models on the correct bases", then this directive violated my belief that the game was between my opponent and I. If my opponent has a problem with the GW miniatures on the GW bases which I am using, then that's between my opponent and I.

If I convert Warriors to use as Crypteks, then I can see myself getting the same directive from the manager of GW Bayshore. But, my belief still remains the same that the game is between my opponent and I. So, GW Bayshore is not the place for me.

Given that consumer 3-D printers are on the horizon, I do not see GW Bayshore lasting any more than 3-4 years. So, my prediction is that GW Bayshore (or GW Ottawa) will be gone in or by 2015. For those of you who play at GW Bayshore, enjoy it while you can.

Doug

[Matt Varnish]

Funny ppl said that about GW Bayshore about 10 years ago now when St Laurent opened up as a Battle Bunker.

While my comment was kinda snarky in retrospect, I guess its just baffling to me why some people would go out of their way to make things as "borderline" as possible in terms of modelling. When I used to manage a GW Store, I can;t tell you how many times little kids would come in with lego pieces glued on to Predators etc.. and thats fine, we tell them hey, just try and use existing parts, hell I recall giving a kid a metric crap tonne of bits (my own, not store write offs) so he can "properly convert" his Predator and Dreadnoughts with GW stuff rather than use LegosTM or other dollar store toy stuff that looked super cheap. Its been many moons, but he is on this board, active as ever.. Whats up Pete?! Yes you can get me a drink!

However, this was helping a kid out who simply didnt know any better. Its when i see ppl just hell bent on giving GW as little money as humanly possible (which is their right) by making conversions (which is their right) which for the most part look like absolute garbage (again, their right) trying to justify it to others that I have a problem with it. I haven't seen any of your stuff, so I can't make a judgement, but take it from me, the former KING of converted armies.. if a conversion looks bad, it really really drags the entire army down, and lessens your opponenst enjoyment of the game if he has proper looking stuff. At least it does/did for me.

So if your swizzle stick arangement looks great, post some pics, prove me wrong. If its like the other army that generated a huge thread a few months back, well.. expect the same response I guess.

[Steel Paladin]

I, for one, welcomed my previously-new Squat overlords.