I have been collecting figures to adapt Combat Patrol(TM): World War II for science fiction skirmishes. I have the Woodbine figures from the movie Aliens, the Sergeant Major’s Miniatures Firefly crew, and a bunch of Reaper Bones science fiction figures. Chris pointed out that for an open-field type science fiction skirmish we needed some vehicles and support weapons. I am working on a a scratch-build APC (more on that when I finish it). Someone directed me to Pig Iron’s Web page, where I ordered a bunch of heavy infantry with support weapons. Until those arrive, I found this box of Games Workshop Warhammer 40k support weapons. This weekend I assembled and painted them. The interesting thing about this box of figures is that it comes with crew for three weapons, but enough parts to make three each of several different weapons. I guess you are supposed to choose which weapons you want to build; however, I wanted to be able to use any mix of them in a game. As a result, I assembled them for maximum flexibility, sacrificing some aesthetics. The figures don’t look as much like a permanently-mounted two-man crew any more so that I can mix and match them during a game.
With a sharp hobby knife I scraped off most the GW wings and skulls to make them more generic. There were MANY to scrape off.
There were also a bunch of extra canteen, rifles, ammunition, and other bits. When I build my space ship, I will use them to equip the arms room.
Even though the flexibility meant that the figures didn’t fit as nicely behind all the weapon, and some of the poses are a bit off, I am happy with the final outcome.
