Back in 2016, I had finally completed an original Ral Partha “Rooman War Party” (#01-044) from 1977. This effort culminated in my building a 21-figure phalanx of pike-armed anthropomorphic kangaroos, replete with Australian 7-pointed stars on their shields.
At that time, I also began to see that others, like the wonderfully named Imperial Rebel Ork (IRO for short) were doing amazing “kit-bashes” and conversions with different models. Of course, IRO uses plastic, and I’m more of an old school metal guy. I also was getting more into retro sci-fi figures and using them for skirmish games. I was inspired by IRO and Azazel (both Aussies) to push myself to do my own conversion. So, I combined two figures – a Ral Partha Rooman (25 mm scale) and a Reaper #80010, “Nova Corp Sergeant” (28 mm scale), made a mold, and cast a bunch of “Space Roomans” (in metal of course). You can read about that somewhat massive project here. Getting around to painting these took a bit longer, and even my good friend Buck Surdu painted some that I gave him much quicker than I did.
Azazel is kind enough to run a monthly community painting challenge – and October’s was “Unit-ed October”, and focused on units. So, I took this opportunity to get these done. Of course, this effort was slightly affected by some gaming and the Red Sox winning the 2018 World Series (YES!), but I got them (the Space Roos that is) done by October 31st, 2018. I will use them in Combat Patrol™ games.
I decided to paint the Roos similar to the way I did the Roomans, except that I wanted a more dusty and dirty look to them, as they are intrepid infantrymen (infantryroos?). I also wanted to convert a couple of figures per squad (yes, a conversion of a conversion) to carry different weapons. In this case, I used a grenade launcher sprue from RBJ miniatures to make two Roos into grenadiers, and a different RPG sprue from RBJ to make two other Roos into anti-tank troopers. So my 28-figure platoon would consist of:
- Platoon Leader
- Platoon Sergeant
- 2 Space Roo Squads consisting of:
- 1 Squad Leader in each squad
- 2 teams of:
- 1 TL per team
- 4 Space Roos with assault rifles/blasters per team
- 1 Space Roo per team with either a grenade launcher or anti-tank weapon
Two squads make a light platoon, but I think that they will be a potent elite fighting force on the tabletop. Also, these Roos are equipped with body armor on their torsos, and importantly, jet packs! I will also give them a higher rate of movement similar to what I did for the Space Phraints (1½ cards of movement). I cleaned and filed the models, and prepared them for conversion and priming by mounting them on 1″ steel washers.
I had a tough time reorienting the arms of the RPG-armed Roos, and I needed to break them and use green stuff to create a proper pose. Pinning was not feasible unfortunately. I also used green stuff to mount the grenadiers’ launchers and to give them bandoleers of grenades. The grenadiers looked fine enough for the tabletop, but I was unhappy with the RPG Roos, as they looked “Popeye” like in their arms. As the Space Roos body armor gives them an angular body look, I decided to use a series of very small 2 mm polystyrene chips to create an “armored look” over the arms by affixing them with Gorilla glue.
I ended up double priming these figures, as I knew that I would need to fix much with brushwork and painting. For example, there was a large indentation on the Roos’ left feet (paws?) that I needed to paint over. I thought that a thinned brush priming followed by a thinned airbrush priming would help. I think it did.
For their base colors, I went with a yellowy/sandy look for their armor, which I thought would reflect a desert or dusty deployment.
One of the issues I really want to focus on when I build a platoon is to make it easy for the players (some of us with “experienced” eyes) to see and identify a figure’s squad and team. I got some steel punches, and some jewelry stamps to make 1/4″ and 5/16″ placards that I could mount on the figures’ bases.
Next, I washed the figures twice with Citadel “Agrax Earthshade”. I then mounted the RPG’s with Gorilla glue.
Lastly, I used a whole bottle of Citadel “Armageddon Dunes” to fill and shape around the bases and let them dry and harden. The placards were mounted into this paint. Then I gave the bases a wash with “Agrax Earthshade” and two different dry brush applications (Polly Scale “WWII German Armor Light Tan” and Vallejo “Light Brown”). Then I gave everything two coats of matte varnish.
After adding some tufts from Shadows Edge Miniatures for even better identification, the platoon was finally done (I LOVE their tufts). I am happy with it, given the work and effort it took to bring it to life. So, now, appropriately, I will share with you some eye candy!
I am looking forward to seeing these guys in action soon. I appreciate your looking and hope that you enjoyed this post. I always read your feedback, so please let me know what you think in the comments section at the bottom of this post.
I dedicate this post to all my Aussie friends!
PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, WASHES, AND FLOCKING USED:
- Citadel “Imperium Primer”
- Vallejo “Surface Primer – White”
- Vallejo “Flow Improver”
- Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
- Testors “Universal Acrylic Thinner”
- Vallejo Mecha Color “Sand Yellow”
- Vallejo Game Air “Red Terracotta”
- Citadel “Flayed One Flesh”
- Americana “Bleached Sand”
- Americana “Black Tie – Satin”
- Vallejo “Black”
- Vallejo “US Dark Green”
- Tamiya “Copper XF-6”
- Tamiya “X-20A Thinner”
- Tamiya “XF-49 Khaki”
- Vallejo Game Air “Weiss”
- Tamiya “Gun Metal X-10”
- Vallejo Game Air “Steel”
- Vallejo Game Air “Beasty Brown”
- Vallejo Mecha Color “Light Steel”
- Vallejo Mecha Color “Dark Steel”
- Vallejo Mecha Color “Metallic Blue”
- Vallejo Game Air “Electric Blue”
- Vallejo Mecha Color “Metallic Green”
- Citadel “Hexwraith Flame”
- Vallejo Mecha Color “SZ Red”
- Secret Weapons Washes “Just Red” (ink)
- P3 “Brown” (ink)
- Secret Weapons Washes “Armor Wash” (wash)
- Citadel “Nuln Oil Gloss” (wash)
- Citadel “Agrax Earthshade” (wash)
- Gorilla Glue
- Citadel “Armageddon Dunes”
- Polly Scale WWII “German Armor Light Tan”
- Vallejo “Light Brown”
- Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matt Varnish”
- Shadows Edge Miniatures 6 mm “Dark Forest Red” (tufts)
- Shadows Edge Miniatures 6 mm “Dark Blue” (tufts)
- Shadows Edge Miniatures 12 mm “Wild Tufts” (tufts)
Thanks again for looking and for your feedback! ESPECIALLY AUSSIES!
Mark A. Morin 
That’s a lot of work you have put into creating these little chaps but the end result looks brilliant Mark. You will enjoy playing with these thats for sure.
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Thanks Dave. If only they were in stores!
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That IS a lot of work! The end result is that they’re very… Tau! XD
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All I know is Tau is GW stuff, but thanks for the feedback and for looking!
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Yes. Their high-tech segmented tan armour is very similar to the original “studio” GW Tau army scheme.
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Crikey! This project is a little beauty. Thanks for sharing, Cobber.
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Thanks now I have another Aussie slang term! Back at ya Cobber!
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You know we don’t actually speak like that right? Haha. Plus my accent is even more messed up because I was born in England. I have a bastardised English Aussie accent hehe.
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😁 just trying to make ya feel at home!
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Another great unit up and running, so well done in getting them done in time! Nice figures! I like the tufts for the leaders as well!
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Much appreciated JNV. I probably should have done them a while ago, but like all things hobby, other stuff took priority! Glad you like the tufts, helps a lot I have found without distracting from the figure. Shadow’s Edge Miniatures tufts are far better than Army Painter and in a wider selection (and I get nothing from them for saying that!).
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I might just look for some of their tufts! I like using them on larger mini bases and scenery. Thanks Mark!
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They glue to my bases so easily and without using extra glue, which I found was needed with the Army Painter stuff. Plus their range of colors blew my mind.
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Great stuff, Mark! I really like the RPG Roos.
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I really am happy to hear that. I was most worried about those.
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Those are fantastic- should give you plenty of good games in the future.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Thanks Pete. Glad they are done!
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Thanks for the shout out man. These are as whacky as they are cool. A fine job my friend. You’d have to have one of the quirkiest collections of minis in the world haha
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I meant it, your conversions are epic. Yeah, I have that wacky streak hobby wise. Luckily, my supply of weird stuff is still quite deep!
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Hehe cheers mate. Whacky is cool
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Just when I thought a “21-figure phalanx of pike-armed anthropomorphic kangaroos” couldn’t get any weirder, you time jump them forward into the realms of Combat Patrol to go up against killer robots and gun-toting ducks. Congratulations on completing yet another totally unique project!
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You made me laugh Subedai! I think there will eventually be more weird stuff to come! I think the Space Roos will be pretty badass on the tabletop. Stay tuned as they say, and more madness to come. Thanks again!
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These are wonderfully crazy Mark, I love what you’ve done! Please tell me they’ll have a special bounding charge attack in-game!
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Glad that you found them fun! I do have that as a matter of fact. They will move 1.5 cards, and they’re going to be elite, so they will haul some serious ass (ie have a great ability to move). Not for nothing, they also will be able to jet pack 3x per game which is 3 cards of movement. Most figs move 1 card at a time for comparison in Combat Patrol. They also do have the spiked tail rings, which will com into play in melee.
Hmmm, is “haul ass” an American-only slang term?
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Sounds perfect, and yes it is, but very familiar from the movies 😉
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They look great, some great conversions too 👍
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These look fantastic, Mark – and so much bloody work to create them as well. The armour looks really effective in its finished form as well. In fact, the paint scheme that you’ve gone with would be a perfect base for Desert Auscam if you’re so inclined at some point down the road. 😉 (I’ll show how do do both Temperate and Desert when I create the tute down the line).
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Thanks Az, I remembered the basic tone you had on some of your Auscam infantry a few months back and I was going for that. As I worked the models, it became apparent that I would need to compensate for the lack of casting crispness while making the figures basically uniform in appearance. The Rooman portions were essentially castings of a casting as I could not bring myself to destroy an original Ral Partha Rooman, and even the Nova Corp torso had some issues. Glad you like the final product. Painting older 1970’s and 1980’s era metal castings or even my recasts is a bit different than painting today’s stuff for sure. I need to look for casting errors AND painting errors!
I am greatly looking forward to my resin tanks this month for a different modeling experience as if I only do my recasts and conversions I’ll end up looking like a creature from IRO’s imagination. 😁
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Wow it always amazes me the amount of effort you put into these projects of yours, that and the fantastic results you always end up with, top work as always Mark!
Cheers Roger,
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Thanks Roger! Getting them into a game is the ultimate goal, though as you know that road is somewhat twisted and long.
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Brilliant!
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