Friday, January 3, 2014

Catachan Jungle Fighters WIP: Sly Marbo (A Conversion)

I had made a conversion for my version of Sly Marbo a few years back. I have seen many really good conversions by other modelers on the internet. My conversion is of a female jungle fighter that possessed very similar fighting abilities as the legendary Marbo. I have since renamed her Lila 'Calamity" Jane ;)

And I've finally got her painted up in most of the base colors. As per usual, the mini will still need basing and highlights.
The miniature I based Jane on is from Reaper Miniatures called Peaches Biker Girl. She is sculpted by the very talented Mr Patrick Keith. I gave her a faded greenish color scheme on her fatigues for that Vietnam jungle look. The Ripper pistol is made from a bolt pistol with a round plastic attached below as the magazine.
The Demo-Charge was made from another GW bit from my bitz box. I think it may have been from an IG signal pack, and a lamp bit from the Black Templars sprue attached. I pinned the Demo-Charge to the base so its removable once it had been used in-game.
The knife is from the Space Marines tactical squad sprue, while the tree stump is a bit from the Bretonnians Men at Arms sprue.
Back view of the model. I had fun painting the mini. And I feel it's got a lot of the character I was looking for to represent a fiesty, devil may care attitude from a one woman army lol!

Some Fluff!
I also wrote a bit of hastily put together fluff for some backstory on Jane.
Guardsman Lila Jane was not a native to the Deathworld of Catachan.  She was however a survivor an equally hostile environment, the cargo ship Sarenko. Unknown to the crew, the Sarenko had been infected with a Tyranid organism known as a Genestealer.

The crew was slowly eliminated one by one. When the captain realised the extent of the threat, it was too late. They made a last stand on the cargo ship's bridge. Lila's parents were part of the crew who valiantly fought the Genestealers. Miraculously, Lila did not die. As the ship drifted through space, Lila somehow not only survived, but she managed to over the years cleanse the ship of every genestealer. The Sarenko eventually limped its way towards the system where Catachan was located. The Imperial waystation immediately quarantined the ship. Lila snuck on board the station and stole a vessel which crash landed on Catachan itself. 

When she was finally cornered by the Catachans themselves, her fighting prowress so impressed them that they let her go. Over the years, she demonstrated her adaptability as well as skill in jungle warfare. The Catachans accepted her as one of their own. She was responsible for countering many ambushes on the Catachans by native wildlife and saved many lives. She eventually joined the Catachans and became part of their fighting force, albeit a rather independent one.

The Catachans themselves had reported the occupant of the crashed vessel as deceased, the remains burnt beyond recognition during the landing.

Hope you had a fun read, and that it has inspired you to convert your own Sly Marbos as well.

Cheers!

2 comments: