Conversion Corner: Blackstone Fortress Eldar Ranger

Now I know where snipers come from.

Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress is filled with a lot of excellent models; I was a little disappointed with the Eldar Ranger due to her awkward pose and over-sized weapons. After playing our first game of Blackstone Fortress, the barrel of her rifle broke off, and we decided it was the ideal opportunity to convert it more to our liking for Conversion Corner!

Most of my efforts were focused on downsizing the ranger’s weapons.

The brunt of my efforts were spent converting a newer and smaller rifle for her. The first order of business was to reduce the rifle’s size. I did this by removing the barrel and significantly cutting down the main body of the weapon. I trimmed off a lot of the extra cables and protrusions to make the rifle seem more organic and streamlined. I used Albion Alloys brass tubing to replace the barrel of the rifle. To keep the general Eldar aesthetic, I used the eye-piece from her rifle's scope (which I removed due to its size) to create a muzzle break. I also replaced the scope of the rifle with a smaller one that I found on an old Malifaux model. Finally, since she is not firing her rifle, I resculpted her finger to be off the trigger.

Some modifications were made to the ranger’s body armor to make it look a little more like a body glove rather than additional armored musculature.

Aside from the rifle, I was also not too thrilled with the power sword and how the ranger was brandishing it. On top of that, the scabbard on her back is too small to fit the blade. To remedy this, I cut off her hand holding the sword and replaced it with an open hand from one of the plastic Sisters of Silence. I replaced the scabbard on her back with a sheathed blade that I converted from an Elysian Drop Troop knife, modifying the hilt with a piece from the original oversized power sword. Finally, I did a little green stuff work to modify her torso to make it look like her body glove is made out of cloth or some synthetic fiber.

The ranger’s original power blade was massive, so large that it really could not fit in its designated sheath.

My converted rifle is significantly smaller than the original. As a reference here is the barrel of the stock rifle.

Although the the pose of the Eldar Ranger is not perfect, by modifying her rifle and removing the sword from her hand, I think the model looks a little more natural. I also no longer need to worry that the model’s rifle will break every time I use the model in a game! I am happy with how this first Blackstone Fortress conversion went; but there is still a lot of work I need to do on the model. Perhaps in the future I will do similar conversions to improve some of the other models from the game!

- Adam Wier