Original upload date: September 27 2015

In the past I have always used the majority of the original model in my conversions, and all PP parts or putty in the hopes of disambiguation. However, when the new conversion rules came into effect I was inspired to try something outside of my comfort zone. I decided to turn a Minions unit into Nyss, and the Croak Raiders seemed like a good fit. I’m planning to paint these girls up with green caustic war paint (to account for their Vitriol rule and as a visual reminder that they are Croaks). I will probably get these knocked back from tournaments, it will be up to the TO, but I honestly don’t play competitively very often anyway.

Without further ado, here are my Feral Nyss Raiders:

I like the idea that the unit is primitive (cannibalistic warrior women!) to reflect their Minions-background, so the Circle Tharn Bloodtrackers were a good starting point. Their bodies are the same size as Nyss, and they have cool bone shards that help with the feral look. I needed to remove their shields, as they are not proper Croak weaponry, and remove their heads as that is easily the most identifiable part of the Tharn model. Removing all of that hair was the hardest part of these conversions, especially since I don’t own a dremel tool so it was all done by hand.

The Raider on the left, the leader, shows all of the basic changes that I did to the unit. After removing the shield I had to resculpt the attachment point. I removed the heads and bulky hair and replaced them with Dark Eldar Wych heads. These are elfy and help with the bone-shard feral look I was after. I also added a sculpted Oil Gourd to her belt so that all weaponry was shown on the figure. Raider number 2 has these basic changes as well as fire sculpted onto her thrown weapon. It was very difficult to saw the head off and leave the attached weapon intact. Raider 3 has a sculpted flaming brand added and Raider 4 has flames on her weapon as well.

Raider 5 is the same sculpt as 2. I re-angled her throwing arm, drilled the weapon haft out of her hand and replaced it with an Oil Gourd, and also raised the angle on her other arm. Raider 6 is the same sculpt as 3. I changed the angle on her weapon arm and replaced her closed fist with an open hand I had in my bitz box. I put another Oil Gourd into this hand. Raider 7 is the same sculpt as 4. I did little alterations to this body variant as I already liked the movement of her throwing action. I just added flames to her weapon.

For Raider 8 (sculpt 2), I cut the original weapon away and swapped it with Raider 9’s arm (sculpt 3). I then added a flaming brand, closing the fingers around it. I hope it looks like she is setting her weapon alight. Raider 9 (sculpt 3) has Raider 8’s original weapon. I gave this one a hood because some of the Croaks have leather hoods. Raider 10 (sculpt 4) also has a hood and a flaming weapon. Those tiny gourds were especially difficult to sculpt!

I’ve never converted a whole unit before and I doubt I will again any time soon! I know a lot of people will complain that they are not recognisable, but as I’ve said, once I paint them with Croak coloured war-paint I hope it will be a little more obvious.

Thanks for reading, likes/shares/comments are appreciated!