Converting WWI-inspired Krieg with Anvil Industry Heads [How I Paint Things]

The endless ranks of the Astra Militarum carry a lot of standardized kit. Lasguns from one Forge World will supply countless millions of Guardsmen across the entire Imperium, so even while there's no single standard uniform for humanity's defenders, you'll find it doesn't take much to change the look of a kit entirely to put your own spin on a concept - from Krieg to Brodie, perhaps, or whatever brave new world your converted Guardsmen hail from!
Kutami supplied the plastic Krieg kit used to create today's video. Check out their range of miniatures and hobby supplies here: kutami.de
Grab your own Brodie heads with gasmasks or any of the other awesome variants available from Anvil Industry! Purchases made through this affiliate link do net me a small commission off the top of any orders made, at no extra cost to you: anvilindustry.co.uk/?affiliat...
00:00 - Intro
01:12 - A Quick Word on Assembly
02:25 - Painting Time!
12:08 - The Finished Guardsman
Thanks to Producer level Patrons Alan Nuttall, Kyrie Crawford, Trainboy, Fred, and Jimmy - as well as all the other Patrons that made this video possible, and Exit23 Games for recording equipment that helps keep the channel ticking over! Find out more at the following links:
/ sonicsledgehammer
/ sonicsledge
/ sonicsledgehammer
ko-fi.com/docwholigan
exit23.games
Grab your own Sonic Sledgehammer mug (or more!) from Redbubble! www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/841... Note that shipping is charged according to where the product is made, so those charges will be higher or lower depending on where you are in the world - this, unfortunately, is something I can't control!
THE BASE: Stirland Mud, drybrush Ryza Rust and Eldar Flesh. Stipple both these colours onto trousers and greatcoat to make him look grubby and dirty. Middheim Tufts and paint the base rim how you like!
PAINTS USED:
PRIMERS:
Zandri Dust (Citadel)
CITADEL:
Zandri Dust (Base)
Tyrant Skull (Dry)
Ushabti Bone (Layer)
Baneblade Brown (Layer)
Dawnstone (Layer)
Morghast Bone (Base)
Leadbelcher (Base)
Castellan Green (Base)
White Scar (Layer)
Death Guard Green (Base)
Karak Stone (Layer)
Administratum Grey (Layer)
Screaming Skull (Layer)
VALLEJO:
German Camo Black Brown (or Rhinox Hide, maybe Thondia Brown)
Black (Abaddon Black)
VARNISHES:
Vallejo Matt Varnish Spray

[@HighEyeWorkshop]

I know your 'very special' catchphrase is said with a little irony, but your videos are actually pretty special. Your style is so relaxing and yet engaging.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Thank you! 😃

[@metajock]

I really like the way the coat turned out. Thanks!

[@stevepickering5978]

Very nice indeed.

[@georgemartinez1720]

Great job

[@torros1839]

The "It makes it difficult to use 3rd party heads" is probably the exact reason they don't use a different neck joint

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Yeah. Yeeeaaah. I'd love to give them the benefit of the doubt, but yeeeeaaaaah... 😬

[@inttruders]

Why? You already bought the model so why would they care if you put a different head on it? I am not sure what this does for them.

[@zackcook5123]

@@inttruders basically it comes down to pettiness. Games Workshop want to own as much of the process as possible. Making alternatives awkward discouraging people from using the alternative. It's very silly honestly.

[@jmaccsarmiesofmiddleearth]

Aww man they are classss

[@timothyyoung2962]

Man, I really do like the Anvil Industry head on the Krieg body. Ups the World War look to the mini.

[@danelmore2783]

Excellent video!

[@Hobbyrepubliken]

Kitbash vid fuck yeah!

[@loupiscanis9449]

Thank you , Troy . 🐺

[@awoiaibert5043]

This is why we watch Sonic Sledge, superb!

[@furiousv775]

8:40 is when the tutorial really starts.

[@nickdavis5420]

Ohhh what a treat !!!

[@AF-kj2zl]

Anvil is such a great resource for converting. Even just simple stuff!

[@irishtom30]

WWI style equipment always seems very fitting for the Imperial Guard

[@johnkelley9877]

The figure looks great! I like the color scheme and the new head does add a lot of interest to the model. Thanks for sharing this.

[@kirotheavenger60]

I already did this exact thing, including Anvil's Brody heads! Although I used regular, not gasmask, head. I went with English Uniform for the coats though, I know it's not quite right for British overcoats but it's more commonly known.

[@paulofreire7520]

Love it, my man. Very cool! 👍🏻

[@robisonwells1]

Love the look of these. I had plans for doing a new Space Marine army toward the end of the year, but I am more and more convinced it's going to turn into a Krieg army.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

There's always room for more Guard armies in the world... as for room on the shelf, that's up to you! ;D

[@DukeExeter]

Brilliant! I've been thinking of trying this but with Kepis or Adrian helmets to make French looking Kriegers

[@SVerbruggen]

These would actually look like the troops of the Armée d'Orient, the french units operating in the eastern theater during the First World War. They are well portrayed in the movie Capitaine Conan.

[@escaperealityhobbies]

Outfreak'nstanding! What else needs to be said? :)

[@8ofcups763]

I like that figure. He reminds me of Warzone trenchers.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

A couple of folks on Twitter mentioned the same. I hadn't noticed until it was too late, it seems! 🤣

[@galacticbananastopmotions7292]

Could you paint a Krieger in an early ww1 German colour scheme. ( red lines along edges of the coat, camo helmet). If you can’t that’s fine but I think it’s a cool idea no ones tried.

[@davidstone-haigh4880]

That is such a cool conversion. Just subbed!

[@seanfisher5503]

Dude I started doing this with my guard a little while back now, they look awesome so I'm going to do it with many many more The anvil industry resin bits are so good I'm hoping to do some interesting stuff with my heavy weapons teams with their stuff Keep up the good work man thanks for showing the guys over at anvil some 👍 love

[@anotherzingbo]

I bought some of Anvil Industry's Brodie helmet heads (plus some field cap and side cap heads) for my Veteran Guard kill team back when Octarius came out. I've only recently managed to build 3 so far and am yet to start painting so your video is well timed! One tip: I found that a 3mm drill bit is very useful when removing the neck from the GW models in order to fit the Anvil Industry heads. I am perhaps inclined to go for a many shades of khaki look for my models, I quite fancy an overall drab look for them. So most of the fabric parts will be one shade of khaki, the armour and gun casings another shade and what you painted as leather may get painted as khaki hessian on my models. I know it won't be as visually distinctive as your model is but my mental image of WWI British soldiers is of them arrayed in a very uniform set of colours so I do want to go for something like that.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

If it helps, I can thoroughly recommend the Vallejo Panzer Aces Canvas for what it sounds like you've got in mind. For that worn, OD khaki blanco look, you can't go wrong with it, and it'll add just a tinge of green to the equipment surrounded by brown.

[@anotherzingbo]

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio thanks for the recommendation! I'm not sure whether my local Vallejo stockist will have that though, they may just do Model Color and Model Air. I'll check, though.

[@alessiodecarolis]

My guess? It seems right out some dystopic future's illustration from late'20s/early''30d, when most people tought of future wars as a WWI's repeat (luckyly they were wrong!). In some comics there were also biplanes & Zeppelins!

[@M50A1]

It's a neat look for sure

[@TashiMortier]

Somehow this still gives me a Fallout Vibe :D I like it!

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

I can see it! The NCR line infantry guys, right?

[@TashiMortier]

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio Yeah :D

[@tycondrius23]

very cool . I wonder if the wargames atlantic mask heads from death fields les grognards would look good too ?

[@matthewlatchford4761]

Fantastic vid SSS! Its nice to see this as a proof of concept for my idea of continuing my Eoforwich 39th using krieg models as a base! Although originally completely ready to do it as soon as I could get my mits on the krieg models, I've been a bit on the fence as I was not sure if the heads would fit since I had recently heard just how slight the new krieg heads are. but this prooves its a goer! thanks man! was also thinking of cutting off the mask filters and grafting the krieg hoses on but by the look of it, that would be a bit of a cowson to get to line-up nice and true. well , more of a cowson than it already is hacking the neck and collar about anyhow..?

[@Sleepyhippie]

Been kitbashing cadian heads on mine and it’s a bit messy but works well enough. Might need to green stuff some scarves or other neckware where it’s not quite right (which will be a new skill for me) but happy with the results of my first few.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

It'd be nice if they'd been a little more considerate of kitbashing with these designs, but it doesn't hurt to sharpen up some classic skills when it comes to converting stuff again!

[@AleksMardel]

hi sonic! love the video, was wondering why you highlight the coat pre shade, but highlight the armour after the shade? any particular reason or just personal pref

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Mostly it's to get that slightly rougher texture on the coat. If you drybrush first, shade, then do your clean-up as you go, you'll save a lot of time versus trying to highlight the coat traditionally or carefully drybrush around it for the same effect.

[@AleksMardel]

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio ah lovely thank you!

[@guardbrandon5005]

What would be a Vallejo alternative to death guard green?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Something like US Dark Green or Green Grey might be close?

[@davidmckay335]

Looks great! What colour did you base it with?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

All listed in the description!

[@ConfusedCat-ex5jq]

how did you file down the torso to fit normal heads? I would like to do this but dont know where to start.

[@josemarialuxangarcia1723]

I would love to watch a video where you paint a Republican Spanish soldier. Not from the Spanish civil war but from the people who fought in France against the German invasion. Check "La Nueve" for example :) Love your videos

[@peterclarke7240]

Is the scale not quite right for the Wargames Atlantic "Les Grognards" minis? Just wondering, as they have the old "tin hat and gasmask" combo, but I'm not sure if it would work on a GW Krieg body.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

The Grognards are about the same size, but they've got the same ball and socket joint as most sci-fi miniatures I've found. Interestingly, the Wargames Atlantic French WWI infantry have plenty of spare heads with a flat neck joint that fits much more close to flush. It's still not a perfect fit - a little trimming of the body and collar is still necessary - but it's not much work, especially with plastic.

[@peterclarke7240]

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio Ok, interesting, thank you- I've got a box of Les Grognards that I'm planning as sort of Traitor Krieg proxies, and I've been wondering about getting some of their WW1 minis as tank crew or to make the squads look a bit more rag-tag. Might look into a box of Kriegs as well just to mix things up a bit.

[@aegrisomnia]

So instead of german ww1 death corps you have british ww1 death corps.