Hybridising

I'm sure many of you will have seen the latest releases form GW. They have certainly upped their game recently and the gene stealer hybrids are very tasty indeed. However, being the kit fiddlers that we all are, the first thing I thought about was "will these arms fit my confrontation figures?" So as the good lady wife and gone out for the evening I decided to get the blu-tac and the clippers and and have a go at man lego with my new toys.

The first three are Tech Gangers sculpted by Marc Copplestone. The set i bought was the Neophytes and are armed with shotguns and autoguns giving a nice choice of basic weapons. The sets are designed so that each pair of guns (shotgun and autogun) share a left arm. This saves space on the sprue but means that if your going to borrow arms from the set you'll have to build something to replace it. Nothing too difficult for a modeller with a modicum of skill but something to be aware of. These guys fit the guns really well. They are just the right width across the shoulders and the arms are scaled pretty spot on for these figs. I'd have no qualms about using these for my techs.

The next set are Roy Eastlands Bounty Hunters. Roy only did a few mini's for GW, apart from these guys there were some Space Marine scouts and possibly the Helmawr gangers as well. These figures are a bit wider across the shoulders and the posing is a little awkward. As Steve Casey mentioned on FB when he showed his figures earlier, there are no real shooting poses, more hanging around looking cool poses.

The shoulder armour is also a little bit more obtrusive when on these figures. The designers have done a great job of making the armour reflect the gene stealer armour plates but here they add extra bulk to the figures. They may need a little shaving down to look aesthetically pleasing as well as bit of cutting to fit more comfortably on the figures.

Lastly there is the Hive gangers sculpted by the Perry brothers. Again, the armour on the shoulders and the elbows adds bulk to these figures. However the poses do suit these more dynamic figures.

The running guy look a little odd and careful consideration to how to arm him would be needed. These are more delicate figures in comparison to some of the others but I reckon these arms are will be pretty damn good with a little bit of slicing and shaving so I will probably be purloining them.

Lastly we've got some some single arms in the pack. There are others (hand flamer, bolt pistol etc) so you do get plenty of choices in the pack and for your leaders or experienced gangers it's well worth considering some of these to arm them with.

So, overall. If you've been worried about the arms to use on your confrontation figures since 1991, the answer has finally arrived after 25 years. Get stuck in.