Kitbashing Sepulchral Stalker Weapons

Here's a quick look at how I made some new halberds for my Sepulchral Stalkers...

 

With the recent additions, my Tomb Kings army is up to about 1250 points, and I'm steaming ahead with the next expansion. I have a box of Tomb Guard, and purchased some Sepulchral Stalkers. I decided that I need a bit of a break before I start another infantry grind, so I'm working on the Stalkers. A handful of these, or Necropolis Knights will take me to 1500 points, and then I can add the Tomb Guard or some chariots.

 

 

As I was looking over the sprues and thinking about how I could personalize the unit, I decided that I didn't like the weapons. They are supposed to be halberds, but these are all mismatched "things." I prefer my troops to be a little more uniform in their appearance.

 

 

I've had these spare weapons form the Undead Legions Morghasts since the End Times, and I decided to use them to scratch-build some new weapons for the Sepulchral Stalkers. I started by trimming off the bottom hook at the front and sanding the blades into a curve, which resembles a Kopesh, with the barbs evoking the fangs of a serpent. 

 

 

I trimmed off the hand, but left a little of the handle, which I filed round and drilled a hole into so I could pin it onto the new shaft of the weapon.

 

 

I made the haft out of a 2mm thick styrene rod. To conceal and strengthen the attachment point, I made a collar out of a section of 3.2mm rod. I drilled into the end of the rod with successively larger drill bits until I had widened the hole enough to fit the 2mm rod. (Using a tube to start with would have been easier, but I didn't have any tube of the correct size.) Before cutting each collar section, I filed grooves into the ends with the edge of a small half-round file.

 

 

The weapon shaft was pinned to the blade, and the collar fit over top of the join. The metal pin in the neck of the weapon also allowed me to bend the join a little to make sure everything was straight and aligned. 

 

 

The next step was getting the stalkers to hold the weapons– I clipped their hands free from the original halberds, and carefully drilled through them along the line of the remaining bit of weapon handle.

 

The hands were then slid over the weapon shaft.

 

 

I left the hands free of glue for the moment so I could make sure they line up with the arms in the later stage of the build. On the end of the halberd, I attached the bottom of the Morghast blade's handle, drilled out to fit over the styrene rod, and I added a small ring cut from the same rod that I made the collars out of.

 

 

Here's my small arsenal of new Sepulchral Stalker halberds, ready to go:

 

 

'Til next time!