Bretonnian Blood Bowl Team Conversion

[EmperorNorton]

Several years ago I saw a converted Blood Bowl team that used the Bretonnian knights on foot from 5th edition as Blitzers. That seemed to be a great idea, which I am now trying to copy as I'll finally get to play in a league again.


On the third one I clipped the weapon and repositioned the hand, which turned out to be more difficult than I had thought, so on the fourth one I just clipped the weapon and left the hand as it is.


This one was more complicated as normally his sword is connected to the body over the whole length, so I had to carve it out and resculpt some of the details. (Looks somewhat messy as the mini was primered, but it should be okay once I spray it again.)

Sadly I could not procure the fourth knight on foot, so for my fourth blitzer I had to do something else:

This is the upper body of the Green Knight on the legs of one of the plastic humans from the Blood Bowl starter. The legs aren't ideal as I had wished for something more heavily armored, but I didn't find anything better in my bitz box.

[EmperorNorton]

My first catcher was made from a halberdier and the hands of the plastic catcher who had to give his legs to the Green Knight. The problem with this one was that he had a sword hanging by his side. That meant after removing it I had to resculpt some of his chainmail.


The halberdiers normally carry shields on their back, which IMO would be a great place to put the player numbers.

That means I have to figure out where to put a shield on my blitzers. I thought a small shield on the shoulder would be okay:



Maybe that looks a bit too clumsy, but I want to avoid sculpting shields/shoulderpads myself.

So far I have planned to convert the minis from the M@A command sprue and a Mordheim Ogre and I'm waiting for some conversion sprues from Impact! Miniatures.

Comments and suggestions about what minis to use are extremely welcome!

[Inquis. Jaeger]

Great stuff! Always nice to see conversions of BB players from WHFB models. I did it myself with my Orcs. Nice imagination and the skills to pull off some characterful conversions. Keep it up!

[EmperorNorton]

Great stuff! Always nice to see conversions of BB players from WHFB models. I did it myself with my Orcs. Nice imagination and the skills to pull off some characterful conversions. Keep it up!

Thanks!

I've finished two more.
I always wondered why there were these monk-like guys on the Bretonnian command sprue, but I think he'll look good at the line of scrimmage:

The hand holding the ball came with Heresy Miniatures' Dark Lord Dwarf Va'durr.

For this one I used the Impact! Miniatures conversion sprue, but only the hands rather than the whole arms:


I hope I can get a Thrower and a couple Linemen done tomorrow. Then the only thing missing will be the Ogre, which should be in the mail any day.

[rev]

haha these are awesome!

love it cant wait to see em painted

[Count Sinister]

Excellent conversions, Emperor Norton, and a great idea - I love blood bowl teams with a twist, particularly when they are made from WH fantasy models. I'm in the middle of converting the Mordheim Sisters of Sigmar into a Norse team, and I have to say, the Impact miniatures conversion bits are just what I need (can't sculpt hands!). I'll check them out, so thanks for alerting me to them!
Looking forward to seeing more of these - any thoughts on the colour scheme yet?
As for the knight's body on the plastic blood bowl legs - I think it looks good! Keep going!

[Saulot]

Very impressive! I rarely see Bret Knights as Blood Bowl teams so good job there!

Can't wait for painted minis!

[EmperorNorton]

Looking forward to seeing more of these - any thoughts on the colour scheme yet?

The team colours will be the classic bretonnian heraldic colours of blue and red with some details in yellow.
I will try to keep the peasant players in dark shades of brown and grey, though, and have the shields that will sport their player numbers as the only bright spot.

I also thought about giving each of the knights different colours, but that would probably defeat any chance of them looking like a team.

[EmperorNorton]

Here are the Throwers:


The way he holds the ball looks a bit strange, but that I can't change. Overall I like his expression very much, though.


He still needs a little work, smoothing over the transition of the arms with some green stuff, but you get the idea. Nothing says successful Quarterback like an eyepatch.

[The Wildchild]

Couldn't you just rotate the hand 180 degrees to give you the American Football throwing stance you're looking for?

Great log so far...really interesting concept!

[EmperorNorton]

Couldn't you just rotate the hand 180 degrees to give you the American Football throwing stance you're looking for?

I actually looked at several pictures of Quarterbacks throwing and was surprised to find that they have they have four fingers on top of the ball and the thumb under it. (Never have thrown a football myself; have to try that sometime.)
Both my throwers hold the ball in the same way; what you see on the first picture what could be confused for more fingers are actually the stitchings on the ball. What I thought was strange was that his grip on the ball is too far in front, like it's slipping from his hand.
I guess I better take some pictures to show what I mean. I'll do that tomorrow, hopefully together with a couple more Linemen.

[Gaftra]

i can never endorse people making converted blood bowl teams enough, these are looking great and im excited to see them painted

[jimmyk@mac.com]

The hands look weird because your using the left harm on the right side, or the other. Im pretty sure this is the problem, they look great though.

[EmperorNorton]

The hands look weird because your using the left harm on the right side, or the other. Im pretty sure this is the problem, they look great though.

No, that's not it, either.
I've actually tried to take on that pose myself to check if it's physically possible. It is, but now I'm starting to wonder if that is normal behaviour or if I should go have my head examined.

[EmperorNorton]

Couldn't you just rotate the hand 180 degrees to give you the American Football throwing stance you're looking for?

I guess you were right after all. I repositioned the arm and although it still doesn't look perfectly natural it's better than before.



The green stuff needs to be filed down a little once it's completely hardened.



Here I just hope the arms won't suddenly fall off.

[EmperorNorton]

And I have finished more Linemen:


Similar to the first one, maybe too similar, but the body looks like he'd be great as a blocker.


He leans back like he's dodging from a punch.


He, on the other hand, is just about to punch somebody.

[EmperorNorton]

And although I didn't want to do it originally I have put small shields on the figures that didn't already have one. Had to do it with green stuff as the plastic shields I could have glued on were too large.
It will be a challenge (a pain, rather) to paint the numbers on these.




That means I have 13 players done, a third Catcher is planned (currently stripping the miniature I need of a bad paintjob) and I'm still waiting for the Ogre to arrive.
I might need an additional Lineman, but not for some time.
Considering these are my first conversions I think they are pretty okay.

i can never endorse people making converted blood bowl teams enough, these are looking great and im excited to see them painted

That's nice of you to say, but don't expect too much.

[Harry]

Wonderful stuff.

[The Wildchild]

The throwing arms look much better...kind of winding up for the throw.

Love the new linesman...they're class!

[EmperorNorton]

Thanks.

I've tried a little something on the "Green Knight", because I wasn't happy with how the legs looked.



It would have been strange if he wore his robe in his pants, so I tried to add it on. I wanted to make it longer, but that didn't work. The disarray of a short robe below the belt, however, was within the realms of possibility.

Yay or nay?
I'd like to hear an opinion on that while I can still scrape it off easily.