There’s a lot in common between Warhammer 40,000 and multiplayer military disaster sim Helldivers 2, like blasting hordes of aliens, massive friendly fire casualties, and a huge debt to both Robert A. Heinlein and Paul Verhoeven’s versions of Starship Troopers. No surprise then that some fans, like model maker Dumb Robot Stuff, create custom hybrid miniatures that combine the two.
DR Stuff has a history making conversions that blend Warhammer 40k with other IPs, including an excellent Titanfall mech and pilots made from Adeptus Mechanicus Pteraxii. He says “making sure there’s enough similarities” between the models you’re working with and the design you’re trying to match is key to keeping the scope of a conversion project manageable.
With “its small squads completing objectives”, DR Stuff found that Helldivers 2 kept reminding him of Warhammer 40k Kill Team; even more so as he most frequently faces off against Necrons and Tyranids, dead ringers for the Terminids and Automatons.
“I’m often just inspired by stuff I like”, he explains, and the concept of making a Helldivers Kill Team from the visually similar Kasrkin models “was too good an idea not to do something with”.
He’s made a full video documenting the process of the build, above, and you can find more photographs of this and his many other great projects via his linktree.
The conversions are built primarily from the Astra Militarum Kasrkin kit, “which was already pretty similar looking to Helldivers, with both the armour style and similar iconography”.
He’s used parts from other Warhammer 40k factions “here and there for more specific details”: you should be able to spot a T’au Empire railgun, an Adeptus Mechanicus autocannon, a missile launcher borrowed from the Space Marines, “and some fancy leader helmet details from the Arbites Kill Team”
The capes are made from Greenstuff modelling putty, “an important part of the Helldivers design I had to at least try to include”. The project took “about a month in total”. “It can be time consuming, but I enjoy the building itself”, DR Stuff says.
He already has his eyes on the upcoming Tempestor Aquilons being released in the third edition Kill Team box set. “They’d make a great base for another squad of Titanfall pilots, or even some jetpack-equipped Helldivers”.
Got some custom Helldivers miniatures and want a new set of rules to play them with? Read up on Riftway Cataclysm, an interesting and completely free indie game that’s can be played with any miniatures.
Source: Wargamer
