The New Kroot Lone-Spear Being Transformed Into A Space Marine

Upon unsealing the brand-new Warhammer 40K Kroot Lone-Spear, my brother came to mind right away. He’s not some cannibalistic bird, but he does have a great army of Salamanders. He has customized resin bases to reflect the lava and magma of Nocturne, and he has transformed Captains with Heavy Flamers and riders on Cold Ones—fantasy dragons that the Dark Elves formerly rode.

In case you haven’t noticed, the Kroot Lone-Spear is perched atop an axolotl. Although it’s a neat model with some quirky regulations, it struck me as ideal conversion material as someone who doesn’t play the game but wants to give their brother a little something. If this Kroot killed me, I was going to make it into a Space Marine.


My conversion guidelines are straightforward. It must blend in with my brother’s army, which calls for helmeted heads, lava bases, and firstborn armor because he didn’t want to draw attention to the Salamanders’ jet black faces. When he reads this article, he can also obtain the model. He’s a relatively casual gamer (complimentary) and an unsupportive moron (derogatory), therefore he doesn’t look at much of my stuff (sorry, Pete).


This is beginning to resemble one of those recipes where you have to read through 2,000 words of someone’s autobiography before you can find their “Perfect Grilled Cheese,” but I had to justify my choices—such as not using a Primaris model and choosing this unusual basing—lest I have to deal with 1,200 emails criticizing my choices when I wake up on Monday morning.

Warhammer 40K Kroot Lone-Spear Conversion

I have to criticize this decision: the Ravenwing Command Squad provided me with the only proper legs I possessed. Since I was short on time and couldn’t find a place to get a firstborn bike squad these days, I meticulously removed all of the Dark Angels imagery from the legs.

I did the same to the breast, sculpting additional Salamandery flames in its place using Green Stuff after removing the Ravenwing symbol. I haven’t freehand sculpted anything in a long, but after they’re painted, they should look okay. An ungainly flapping cloak was also given by the Ravenwing legs.

Since it would be impossible to remove this, I chose to stuff different packs, pockets, and equipment into the opening. This hunter, a Salamander, is someone who requires his bits and bobs and will hunt alone himself for months at a time in order to find his victim. A Green Stuff loincloth, to be painted to match his robes, filled the gap at the front of his legs.


I hollowed out the banner-carrying hand from the Ravenwing Command Squad and replaced it with a brass rod using a Hand Flamer and head from the Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard kit, which I had various components of in my bits box. The figure was completed with some Green Stuff purity seals and Belial’s sword, which I replaced on the original model because it appeared more generic than the one from the Deathwing Knights kit. As an homage to the original Kroot model, I felt he required a spear, and it works brilliantly, giving the model some much-needed height.

He may have somewhat wide legs and an excessively bent head, but he is still an axolotl-riding Salamander. Now he just needs an appropriate basis.

The Recipe for Lava Bases


I had searched online for resin bases that were the right size, but they were all too costly, the wrong size, unattractive, or all of the above. Luckily, it wasn’t too hard to make the base myself.

I began by placing bits of cork on the base of the Lone-Spear. I constructed the axolotl as naturally as possible, dry fitting it to make sure it would hold. Next, I applied a thick layer of Vallejo’s Diorama FX Earth Texture on the cork. This paint is similar to Games Workshop’s Striland Mud technical paint, but it is also less expensive. To hide the rough roughness of the foundation, I applied four coats of varnish to the uncorked sections. This was going to be my lava—hot and silky. And just like that.

The Salamander Lone-Spear painting


A veteran of the Chapter, the Salamander Lone-Spear may perhaps have been sent on a mission to retrieve his Primarch Vulkan’s missing artifacts. Maybe he’s the right-hand marine of Vulkan He’Stan, carrying on the Song of Entropy hunt when his boss gets called away on business.

My brother makes Salamanders armor, although I’m not sure exactly how he does it—he mostly follows the box art. Due to time constraints, I decided to use a “slap chop” approach, priming the Lone-Spear black and then drybrushing it white. I then created a basic paint job using ordinary paint and contrast paint. Despite my lack of time, I managed to freehand the Salamanders Chapter symbol on his shoulder pad. However, my brother’s army already has personalized resin shoulder pads, so I imagine he will want to replace it eventually.

An axolotl miniature was too good to pass up. I enjoy converting models (check out my Dark Mechanicus for some messed-up monstrosities). I hope my brother is as pleased with the outcome as I am. Pete, have fun with it. Should you ever come upon this.