Bolt pistols on SM infantry models

[Just_Me]

Hey everyone, after playing a little Halo recently, watching some gameplay of marines swapping weapons from the upcoming "Space Marine" game, and reading some of the Deathwatch RPG books, it occurred to me that marine power armor should (and indeed according to the fluff CAN) maglock weapons and equipment to their armor at various hardpoints. This gave me the idea for a simple conversion for a jump-pack captain with a relic blade:



I wanted him to be able to hold his axe with two hands, but I wanted to clearly show what his ranged weapon was.

I liked the way this came out enough that it got me thinking recently about the rest of my marines. Tactical squads, Devastator squads, Honour Guard squads (actually, most every infantry squad in the codex) have bolt pistols for default wargear, something I really liked in the "new" codex, but almost always forget when I'm playing because they aren't modeled on in any way. I never really like the holstered pistols that come on some kits because they really don't look anything like substantial enough to hold a bolt pistol (and it's hard to actually tell what's "in" them in the case of characters who could conceivably have something different). So I decided to get myself a bunch of bolt pistols and fix that, give all the models that have them bolt pistols maglocked to their armor. I've gone ahead and outfitted about half my marines this way, and I'm waiting on some more pistol bitz to arrive, but I'm beginning to have some doubts about how it comes off, in some cases I think it makes them look very cool, but in others I'm less sure that it actually looks like it's supposed to (i.e. that the are locked onto the power armor with some kind of magnetic or quick release hardpoint) and not just like a poor modeling job.


Honour Guard


Tactical marines



Because I figured that I might be too close to the idea and my own models to really see it in an unbiased light, I figured I would ask you folks what you thought of the concept and how clearly it comes across.

[lobster-overlord]

it definitely seems more reasonable than trying to figure out how they put those huge guns into those tiny .... holsters that they include on the sprues.

They look fine to me.

John m.

[tongalad]

you mean that bolt pistols in the 41st millenium are NOT collapsible?

[ankhcitizen]

Mag locks are definetly supported in the fluff, so that perfectly fine, great looking army by the way.

[Xenith]

Very cool, Id hard edge highlight the guns with a little codex grey to make them visually distinct from the armour, though, they kind of get lost in the black a little.

[RealGenius]

I've always been hesitant to put the pistols on my Marines, but these look really good. And nice and simple.