Sunday 26 February 2012

Heroclix SWAT Troopers

I was going to review some West Wind SWAT troopers today but I've decided to keep them for a later date (although not too late) and instead have a look at my Heroclix 35mm scale SWAT troopers. Way back in the past when Heroclix was in its infancy their sets contained superheroes, supervillains and non-super types, like cops, criminals, ninjas, etc. The figures I'm reviewing today come from the first couple of Heroclix sets that were released.

Only one of these figures is not a conversion, and he's the trooper at the far left of my two photos above. He is dramatically posed, leaning back as he fires his 5.56mm Colt M16A2 Assault Rifle from the shoulder. This rifle is standard issue with the Washington DC Emergency Response Team (ERT). In addition to normal SWAT operations, the ERT assists U.S. Secret Service with presidential and VIP functions and transportation, including crowd control. Assuming he is an ERT operative, his pistol would be a 9mm SIG-Sauer P226.
Trooper 2 has had a leg and body swap with trooper 5. In every other respect he is identical to Trooper 1, although I have painted him as an African-American.
Trooper 3 was originally armed with a Big Ass Pistol in his left hand. I decided to cut it off and give him a large entry shield, which are much bigger and more robust than riot shields. I remodelled his left arm with Milliput modelling putty. His entry shield is a spare one that I got from Foundry Figures. Foundry always include spare small items with their Street Violence blister packs, like guns, shields, traffic cones, chainsaws, etc. With the amount of Street Violence packs that I bought, I soon amassed a nice collection of parts for my bits box. Every modeller needs at least one bits box! The grenade that this trooper is about to throw could be a Flash-Bang Grenade, Smoke Grenade or a Tear Gas Grenade. It most definitely won't be a High Explosive Grenade!
Trooper 4 utilises the legs from Trooper 1 and the body from Trooper 5. The sculptor had given him a riot shield, which I did not like, so I replaced it with one of my Foundry entry shields. This means that all of my shield carrying SWAT Troopers are identically equipped.  He is wielding his baton aggressively over his head. I also painted him as an African-American to further distinguish him from Trooper 5. Note that because of the leg swap, I was unable to save his sniper's rifle, slung across his back, so that got cut off.
The only conversion that I made to Trooper 5 was to replace his riot shield with a Foundry entry shield. His sniper's rifle is the 7.62mm Remington 700 and you can see it slung across his back, out of the way, as he wades in with baton and shield.
These are quite dramatically posed. They certainly are heroically scaled, (they stand about 33mm tall measuring from the soles of their feet to the tops of their heads) which will put some of you off them. However, scale-wise, they do fit in well with the RAFM SWAT Team and with the Foundry SWAT Teams. I like tham a lot and I do like the idea of having enough troopers to form a four man team of shield carrying troopers. The fourth person in this team appears in the Foundry SWAT Team Suppression set (Trooper Harris). 
Sadly, these figures are now long out of production but they may crop on the likes of e-Bay or other online auction sites. Good luck on hunting them down if you really want them.

26 comments:

  1. Howdy Vampifan! These SWAT dudes are a little gem. I love to score useful clix stuff as well since it makes for a fast way to get more troops on the table. Especially Zeds. I have a store that frequently has used singles laying around in a bin for .10 cents apiece and this is a great way to get a bunch of prepainted Zeds together. It is amazing how much clix stuff will make an acceptable Zed.
    I'm off to nose around for batreps on your site to see how you've been doing your Zeds. My group is getting too comfortable with the regulars and we need a shake up. Time for some Uber Zeds.

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    1. Hi, Willy! Long time, no hear. It's great to have you back, my friend! Clix figures for ten cents? Man, I wish I lived next to you.

      By the way, the quickest way to check out my previous batreps is to click on the ATZ Batreps tab at the top of the page. You'll find them all listed there for you. I hope it isn't too long before LTL Mom and Dad see more zombie action and do what they do best - kick plenty zombie butt!

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  2. Woah, another SWAT team... and others incoming! :D

    Every time I wonder how many minis you have! :D

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    1. Thanks, Zerloon. Yes, there are more SWAT Troopers for me to review. Although I should be finished next month.

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  3. Great job on the conversions. I like your use of the entry shields. Great paintjobs as usual. How is progress on the Police Station? All of your fans are patiently waiting for the unveiling. Are you building up to it with all of the SWAT reviews? :) BTW, I'm now reading "Patient Zero". Thanks for the recommendation.

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    1. Thanks very much, Joe. I was going to tell you about the police station project when I post my next Monthly Musings in three days time, but dammit all, I can't wait. It's finished! As soon as I get it photographed I'll do a massive review of it. That should occur very, very soon! Yes, I was building up to it with all of my SWAT reviews. No surprise there, I guess.

      I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying "Patient Zero" so much after my recommendation. I'm a big fan of the Joe Ledger series.

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  4. Heroclix works just fine! Well done on the conversions Bryan, they really look good.

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    1. Thanks, Johnny. I'm very happy with the conversions. Replacing the shields was definitely a good move.

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  5. Nice looking SWAT members, and you've done some good conversions for them. You have a significant amount of SWAT, enough to deal with most uprisings, I would think.

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    1. Thank you, Adam. yes, they can deal with most situations... except a zombie apocalypse.

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  6. These look great and without knowing what the originals looked like, its impossible to tell that they're conversions - a sign of a good conversion.

    Crims will ruin the day they venture into your city with the number of law-enforcement officers you have !

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    1. Many thanks, Joe. The criminal element should fear my law enforcement officers but we all know that most criminals lack common sense!

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  7. I actually wouldn't have had clue that thse where converted Bryan top stuff you've done a cracking job sir!

    I bet the criminals quake in there boots

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    1. Thanks for the compliment, Simon. Actually,my criminals are pretty dumb and still think they rule Mayhem City.

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  8. My dear friend, I'm always amazed by how many painted miniatures you have!! But, please, just for me, make a little post with the one you sculpted... Pleaaaaaaseeeeeee!!!!!! :)

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    1. I'd be only too glad to, Gnotta, but I'm afraid you need to be more specific about the "one" that I sculpted, because I have actually sculpted many figures. You can see my Vampire: the Masquerade player character that I sculpted years ago in this post -
      http://vampifansworldoftheundead.blogspot.com/2011/01/vampifans-illustrations-03.html
      I fully intend to showcase many of my own sculpted figures in the future. I do have some street cops and detectives that I sculpted but no SWAT Troopers, so I could review them fairly soon, seeing as I'm currently concentrating on all things police.

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    2. In fact I meant the ones.. Poor english struck!! ;P

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    3. Ah, suddenly that makes a lot more sense! Well, the answer still remains, yes, I will post reviews (note the plural there) of my own sculpted figures. I think I have more civilians that I've sculpted than any other category. Anyway, I'll dig out my police figures and show you them first.

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  9. Very cool figures, very nicely painted Sir!

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  10. Nicely done vampifan, paint work is good.

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  11. Love the baton wielding riot shield chaps. Well done. The blogging community's re-paintin of clix has inspired me to give it a go and I have to say that, despite the initial reservations when you oftern forst look at a figure you realise they are pretty useful, especially when you can pick them up cheap, very nice indeed.

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    1. Yes, Adam, they are worth checking out, especislly if you can get them cheap.

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  12. I like the poses more than anything even though normally I wouldn't but they're not bad and you're lucky to have them as you said....

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    1. Actually, I do feel lucky to have them. Their poses are very dramatic. There's nothing static or wooden about these guys.

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