I was in Bryant Park in NYC last weekend, and happened across a craft fair. One booth, sponsored by Metal Park, had a variety of impressive metal sculptures made from an assortment of recycled motorcycle parts. There was a life-sized replica of the Predator monster (for a mere $12,000), and many other recognizable characters. I picked up this sculpture of a crawling Alien, thinking I could mount it on a wall in my house, like it was just waiting to pounce. Since then, I have begun considering other uses for it.
One of my favorite hobby artists runs the blog Musings of a Metal Mind. Mark Hoffman's work is both awe-inspiring, as well as refreshing. In my opinion, the aesthetic he often achieves is a 40k equivalent of the sculpture displayed above. The bio-mechanical influences of H.R. Giger are lost on neither source, and the look really does fit with the "grimdark" world of GW games. Could such metalwork find a place on the GW gaming table?
It would be easy to just plop this sculpture down on an apocalypse board, and call it a tyranid superheavy. However, I was actually considering going a bit further... Could the idea of "recycled" components of the STC variety be incorporated in a new way? While it is true that Mark Hoffman has certainly succeeded in doing this before, I wonder how far it could be pushed...
Part of me wishes that my next project was not so involved, as I am already eager to pursue this line of experimentation.
As for my next project, as stated by Neil in the most recent Hobby Tactics segment of the 11th Company podcast, I am in the process of building and converting a Dark Eldar army entirely out of Skaven. Low strength, low toughness, high initiative and a propensity for poisoned weapons? Sounds right to me! I have custom sewer bases, Forgeworld Chinnork Helicopters to be converted into Voidraven bombers, filthy combat-drug injectors, ramshackle Reaver jetbikes, repeater hand crossbows as splinter pistols, and a silly steampunk flying steamengine of death to use as the Dais of Destruction. While I am not saying the codex OR my army list is competitive, it will certainly be a challenge to create and paint, and should make for a truly unique gaming experience. I will post pictures as soon as there is something worth sharing. Till then, fear the imminent arrival of...
The Kabal of the Fursaken
Spawned no doubt from the twisted experiments of Haemonculi Coven N'imh.
ReplyDeleteThere's an awesome store in the main stretch of downtown Toronto with nothing but this stuff.. including life size. Aliens, Spiderman, Predator, Boba Fett, etc..
ReplyDeleteRats out of the bag!
ReplyDeleteHurr.
Hrud, I like it.
ReplyDeleteThe alien would make a good Hirophant if you put those nice bio guns on it.
There was that Gaunt's Ghosts plot that involved a corrupted STC, which would certainly make for a neat jumping-off point for a Chaos army (mmm... Dark Mechanicus).
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to those 40k skaven!
These aliens make great additions into the 40k universe--though I agree they need significant modifications to make them suitable. In a pinch, they can work as a "counts as," but if you take the time to convert them up like Hoffman, they're amazing.
ReplyDeleteSonsoftaurus: Nice Nimh joke. I had considered working that into the title, but thought that it would be too obscure; thanks for proving me wrong!
ReplyDeleteGrimnar: Skaven are actually not Hrud. If you search the Lexicanum site, you will see that Hrud are actually mushroom people with tentacled arms. If I could envision an easy conversion, I would have considered building a Hrud army a while ago, but the shape of Hrud is too unlike anything present in the GW model range, for now.
Matt: I think I need to read that Gaunt's book. I like the idea of a titan made from a mishmash of rhinos and land raiders. Voltron knock-off maybe? =D
Warhammer39999: I honestly don't see myself converting the sculpture; I think it would look too cool as wall art. I certainly hear you, though. It's a shame, because while I love the Tyranid Forgeworld rules, I am not a huge fan of the current aesthetic they pursue.
i think the gaunts ghosts book it was in is 'first and only' that #2501 was refering to.
ReplyDeletethink necron type guy, with extendo claw arms.
like a necron became possessed.
I remember reading that the Zenology book the picture came from didnt fit exactly into the Background. The Hrud back before that book were ratlike beings way back before 3rd edition, essentialy space skaven, Gamesworkshop was careful to keep the idea as vague as possible as they didn't want to have another Squat (fantasy style) army from being adapted to 40k. Hrud were space skaven until they decided they wanted to separate the idea.
ReplyDeleteAs such that idea is forever what I cling to.
N'imh... that takes me back.
@Mephistopheles: Yep, that was "First and Only" alright.I bought the omnibus, not the individual novel, so it took my old brain a minute) It was a corrupted STC that literally cranked out Chaos Robots--well, "Men of Iron Without Souls, but you get the idea.
ReplyDeleteA Chaos Titan made of Land Raiders would be horrifying.
And expensive.
And horrifying.
Correction, Mark:
ReplyDelete"A Chaos Titan made of *OOP Land Raiders would be horrifying."