Mortis Pattern autocannon dread conversion


Mortis pattern dreadnoughts... supposedly the only ones who have access to them are those Chapters collectively known as "The Unforgiven."
Figures the only ones who can't have them in terms of actual game play are the Dark Angels and "The Unforgiven" Chapters. But I'm not going to get into that again. This is about how I made my Mortis pattern conversions.

The pic above was a simple conversion. The right lascannon arm required no work at all and the left arm is actually a missile launcher arm with a set of spare lascannon barrels (from a second lascannon arm) glued onto the face of it. Took no time at all.


(Click on image for larger version)

But this second guy took a little more time. Out of all the dreadnought patterns out there, I think this is the best looking one.



I'd seen a conversion similar to this before, but it didn't strike me as having the right "feel" to it, so I never really looked seriously at making the conversion for myself.
I figured I could just oder the arms from Forge World and be done with it if I really wanted to. Then I looked at what it would cost to get the arms from FW. A little too much for me.
Then I stumbled upon the Aegis Defense Line at my FLGS (Game Vault) and took a look at the contents of the box. It had the right pieces and it looked like I could actually do the conversion without much trouble. So I picked up the last box.
It's the first "mini" I've bought for myself in over a year.

As soon as I opened the box up and took a look at the sprue, I knew I could pull it off without any trouble. My only concern was the scale of the guns in relation to the rest of the model.


For the right arm, it was the back half of the lascannon arm I cut up for the previous conversion. For the left arm, it was another missile launcher arm I wasn't using.


Some trimming of the gun barrels and cleaning off the face of the arm and I was all set. I glued the ammunition rolls right to the side.


Then I discovered the one problem I had with the whole thing. I was using the AoBR dreadnought body and regular dreadnought arms. Who would have known the two are not compatable? Unbelievable.
My quick fix was to take a piece of index card and "wrap" the pin to give it just enough additional thickness to hold the arms. The index card, once soaked in superglue becomes solid like plastic and the "regular" dreadnought arms fit prefectly now.

And as a side note, you can't get the dual lascannon weapon loadout unless you use Forge World rules. I think the only version you can get by way of the Codex is the Autocannon pattern. It never ends.


Ron, From the WarpIf you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!