There's Nothing Wrong With Sharing...

Conversions and 'Counts-as' have been a part of our hobby since pretty much it's creation for a variety of reasons...Perhaps the model you wanted just didn't exist, had the wrong weapons or equipment, you just wanted something a little bit different or you're using models from one system to play another and tweaks were needed...

The issue with such projects is that the more extreme incarnations of them is that they make require some time to explain to your opponents or may nor be 'legal' at certain events. Events such as tournaments often have strict rules about how much of your model can be made from other parts...especially if those 'parts' are from another companies models. These restrictions can often apply even in painting competitions and though this is in some ways understandable it is an unfortunate bane to creativity. Fortunately not all events have these restrictions though those that don't tend to be organised by newer companies who appreciate that a more inclusive spirit that brings people from a number of different hobbying backgrounds together is much more likely to result in a new customer for them.

For example, there's a local hobbyist currently creating a Bioshock themed Warmachine army using a wide variety of models though the main alternative to actual Warmachine models are those from the Malifaux system as they share a Steampunk vibe with Bioshock and without this project it's unlikely that he'd have been introduced to Malifaux to quite the extent that he has. Now I doubt it'll ever be usable in a Warmachine tournament though it's possible aspects of it could be made into a tournament usable Malifaux crew, lol. His progress is being documented here should you be interested.

I recently helped out the gentlemen at Titan Games run their stand at the UK Games Expo and there were also representatives from both Prodos Games and Mantic Games on the stand offering demonstrations of their respective products. It was interesting to see that though they both at there most fundamental level attempting to convince people to buy their own product ranges there was still considerable co-operation between the two. The Warzone Resurrection demo table had Mantic Games Terrain as a part of it...

...and both companies were directing customers to each others product ranges if they seemed more suited to the customers tastes and there was a free exchange of ideas on a wide variety of subjects ranging from the best way to run a demo team through to opinions on game design, marketing and pretty much everything in-between...I'd like to hope that this is the shape of things to come, rather than a one-off...

Games Workshops attitude of ignoring other systems, prohibiting them from being played in their stores (if you're lucky enough to have a local Games Workshop store that has an area you can actually play in that is) and not allowing them to be used at their tournaments and events is (in my opinion at least) extremely short sighted. There's enough space for everyone in my opinion and if your product is good enough then it shouldn't fear competition...

...anyway...back to my original point...

One of the reasons I enjoy Malifaux so much is that the relatively low model count and the vast number of genres that it includes in it's background material enables conversion, proxy and counts-as projects to be integrated fairly simply within it. Though there are certainly many systems around now that allow certain levels of cross-over they do for the most part require a minimum level of familiar ground. I have (for example) seen a great deal of Games Workshops Warhammer Fantasy armies re-purposed for Mantic's Kings of War and conversely I've seen people playing Warhammer Fantasy with Kings of War models (mainly I would think due to the fact that they're a fraction of the price while still being of great quality overall). Using another companies products can enable you to create a unique feel for your own army in a hobby where certain hobby companies have a distinct style that you may want to put a different spin on. One of the House of Paincakes authors is creating a zombie Imperial Guard army using a combination of the new Games Workshop miniatures and one of Mantic Games's bundle deals...

The above models are a mash-up of two different Mantic Ranges (Kings of War Ghouls and Zombies combined with Warpaths Corporation Troopers and Enforcers) and though they're from a single company they do nicely illustrate my point...

Though cost does come into this somewhat (Both Mantic Games and Prodos Games model ranges are considerably more cost effective than Games Workshops though there are others that are too) I think the greater issue is that it's rare for a model to exist that matches exactly the idea we had in our heads. If (for example) you were a big Firefly fan and wanted to recreate the crew of the ship as lets say a Deadzone Strike Force, a 'Counts-As' Perdita Ortega Malifaux crew or a Wild West Exodus Posse then you're probably going to have to create that using a variety of model manufacturers products and even if there is a company that does such a model range they might not fit your idea of how they should look, the scale might be wrong or possibly they're just a bit crappy. This is exactly how my Hellraiser crew came about...The Hellraiser models available were all of a more action figure scale...

...and what I wanted was something around the 28-32mm scale. So I created my own...

For those of you new to my blog, those are my Hellraiser themed crew, using heavily converted Games Workshop Dark Eldar that I used as a 'Counts-as' Sonnia Criid Malifaux crew...obviously some 'Counts-as' projects are more complicated than others...more of them can be found here if you're interested...

...which was very enjoyable though quite time consuming. Though we all enjoy different aspects of our hobby it is necessary to have a bit of imagination to gain the full positive experience of it. Now admittedly there are people who select their army, crew or whatever based entirely on what's going to win without any real regard for how it looks but I like to think that they're in the minority...or at worst they're easy to identify from a distance and avoid but for the rest of us there's some investment of our own ideas and fantasies invested in our forces. Whether that is in the form of an unusual paint scheme for your Warmachine army, a custom Space Marine Chapter or Eldar Craft World, some strange Malifuax crew made from Scooby Doo models*, or an army of 'Despicable Me's' Minions crowbarred meaningfully into a game system it's these sort of projects that push the boundaries of our imaginations and our hobbying skills and these enhanced abilities will serve us well in all aspects of what we do. It's these projects that most capture my attention when I see them on blogs, forums, Facebook groups and the like and though I can appreciate an attractive paint-job on a standard unmodified model it's the ones that have had that extra level of effort put into them that usually catch my eye.

*I genuinely might be doing this, lol.

It is for this reason that the rapidly increasing number of game systems and model companies that are currently springing into existence (though I may have Kickstarter burn-out at the moment...) gives me hope for the future of our hobby and though I wouldn't want to see Games Workshop disappear I do think that they're going to have to seriously consider their strategies when compared to some of the new ideas, balanced systems and interesting models that their competitors are bringing to us. Especially when those companies are happy to support one another rather than pretending that they don't exist.....

If any of you reading this have any good examples of interesting conversions or creative cross-overs then I'd love to hear about them in the comments section...

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.