Question:
Sorry to bother you all, but I was wondering what 40k units Ishould buy next. I have a limited buget, and I need realisticsuggestions. I don't mind building an army up over time and any longterm strategies would be good. Thus far I have 3 ten man SM Tac squadsall with rocket launcher and flamer, plus an extra 5 man tac squad withnothing extra in way of weaponry. As you can see I am very flexible inway of army selection. My opponents are mostly new players too, atleast to 40k, with a wide variey of types (Ork, Eldar, Tyrannid, SM, andan annoying one who plays a IG tank army), so anything is possible.
Answer:
I was actually wrong about the box having two different weapons, but you canorder a different arm from GW for 4 bucks, a lot cheaper than a secondDreadnought. I haven't actually done this with a Dreadnought, but I havedone the swap thing with Hive Tyrants and Tyranid Warriors and it works verywell. It does take a little investment. First thing you need is a Dremeltool or similiar rotary tool. This tool has a ton of other uses around thehouse besides working on minis, but thats what we REALLY buy it for. Add thesmallest collet available (collets are interchangeable and are what hold yourdrill bits) and buy the smallest drill bit available. Most good hardwarestores (I go to Ace Hardware) will have the accessories and dremels (don'tget the battery charged mini-Dremel, I burnt the contacts out in 20 minutes). The drill bit I use for working on minis looks like mechanical pencil lead,its that thin.
I would try this before you paint the miniature, I did it afterwards andended up retouching. First drill a small hole in the weapon arm about aneigth of an inch deep. Angle the hole up 45 degrees from how the arm willhang off the model. Start the hole in the exact center of the joint. Take anormal paper clip and snip off a straight piece about 1/2" long, this is yourpin. Place a drop of superglue on the hole in the arm and insert the pininto the arm. Let it dry. Now drill a hole 1/2" into the Dreadnought'sshoulder, this one at a 45 degree angle down into the socket. Make sure youstart the hole in the center of the joint so that it will match where thehole in the arm is. Use a small file to clean up any rough edges on the armor the shoulder. Now the pin should slide inot the hole on the shoulder.The 45 degree angle will keep the arm from swinging loosely and by making thehole in the shoulder a little deeper than the pin, the arm should fit snuglyinto the shoulder socket. Now your Dreadnought is ready to paint. Just adda pin the other weapon arms you have and you can swap out your autocannon foryour multimelta depending on who you are fighting.
Take your time and be carefull with the Dremel tool (30,000 RPM can reallyscrew up table tops, fingers or miniatures). Like I said, I have done thiswith Hive Tyrants and Warriors. It lets me increase the flexibility of myarmy without doubling up on expensive models. I can't see why this wouldn'twork for any miniature that has a variety of weapons to choose from.
