Two versions

One of the things that got me started on refurbishing and expanding my Space Marines force was the Duke Gerard figure from Reaper.

I use him as a Space Marine Captain, armed (after much deliberation) with a Relic Blade and Storm Shield. The sheathed sword is hidden behind the shield, so I removed the hand holding the bolter I originally equipped him with and gave him an empty hand instead.

A while later, I thought it would be good if I could field a figure with the Captain Sicarius stats, so I decided to buy another figure. However, I wanted it to represent the same person, the idea being that it was the same captain of the company, but equipped differently. Fortunately, the new figure I got had similar hair to the Duke Gerard figure, and to further the mimicry I ripped the wings off the original figure and magnetised it so it can be used on either figure.

So here they are.

Reaper Duke Gerard Conversion Part 4

And he's done!

Reaper Duke Gerard Conversion 2 Part 1

I showed my friend the Duke Gerard figure and Blood Angels Death Company weapons bitz I got for him, and he asked me to help him convert it to a proxy for Mephiston - we both agree that the back banner on the Duke Gerard figure looks better than that of the GW Mephiston figure.

Again I start by cutting off the tab and then drilling holes to fix the figure to a resin base and its hands.

Once more I filed off the crosses on the shoulder and hip pads, and removed all the rivets.

I shaved the lion head motif off the chest, and glued a blood-drop decoration shaven off a bolt-pistol in its place, as requested by my friend.



Instead of the shield and bolter combo which I have chosen for my previous figure, my friend asked for a power-sword and bolt-pistol combo instead. This meant I had to clip and file the hilt of the sword in the scabbard of the figure. It wasn't easy given the way the figure was sculpted, but thankfully the mess is partly covered up by the back-banner, and it was on the rear of the figure. We did run into the problem that the sword blade was wider than the scabbard, and did not in fact look like it can fit inside a scabbard, but I guess we couldn't expect everything to be perfect.

Here is the figure shown with the weapons dry-fitted. The 'official' Mephiston holds the power-sword in his left hand, but we only had a spare right arm with sword. He also holds a plasma-pistol instead of a bolt-pistol, but my friend liked the winged blood-drop motif on the bolt-pistol.

A left-oblique view showing the pistol.

A right-oblique view showing the power sword.

Reaper Duke Gerard Conversion Part 3

A day-off allowed me to go to the local store to get a bottle of Dark Angels Green, which at S$6 a bottle is probably the most expensive paint by volume I have bought...

But I like it - it's heavy and covers well on the first pass.

The armour and the cape are done. I'm not quite sure what colour to paint the 'leather' parts. Once the belt and sword and pouch are done, I can fix the back-banner and shield on, and we'll be done!

Shown here with back-banner and shield dry-fitted on.

Shown here in oblique to show the insignia/decals on the shoulder pad and shield.

Reaper Duke Gerard Conversion Part 2

I don't have a bottle of Dark Angels Green with me, but I reckoned I could work on the other parts of the figure anyway...


The detail and expression on the figure was good, and it was easy to paint. I wonder if I should give him a little grey hair. The definition on the resin base was also clean and sharp.



For the back-banner/wing-cross thingy I decided to use non-metallic colours. This is not an attempt at NMM - I just thought it would look better.

I decided to give the bolter a subdued look. The main body of the bolter is a dark gunmetal, with the grips being matt black/dark grey. The sling was also painted in black/dark grey. I dry-brushed a little more silver on the magazine to reflect the increased wear that would be found that item.

At this angle you can see the hole I have drilled through the flash-suppressor.

Reaper Duke Gerard Conversion Part 1

I came across this Reaper miniature and thought it would make a nice character figure for a friend who is starting a Blood Angels army. I have a small Space Marine force painted in Dark Angels Green myself, so I decided to get one for myself too.

The figure comes in 4 pieces plus a 25mm square base. The hands are moulded to the shield and the axe.

Being a Crusader, the figure had cross motifs sculpted onto the shoulder pads and hip plates - I filed these off because my own Space Marines chapter did not feature a cross motif, and I also cut off the bits of rivets which did not make sense on a Space Marine armour (I know, I know...). I then cut the tab off and drilled a hole in the right foot, so I could mount the figure on a scenic resin base.

A Space Marine bolter arm cut off at the wrist provided the sci-fi flavour for the figure - this particular arm came from a Blood Angels bitz lot, so I had to slice the blood drop motifs off. I drilled a hole in the hand to fit a pin, and also drilled through the muzzle and the flash-suppressor holes. I had picked a bolter with sling.

This is what the figure looks like primed and dry-fitted together.

Viewed from a slightly oblique angle, you can see how the way the cape and sling are sculpted and the way the figure is positioned on the resin rock base give it a dynamic pose.