In case you were wondering, some of the parts to make my groovy Rough Riders were sculpted by Rob at Curious Constructs.

Friday 14 September 2012

The BIG WIP Post!


With a few of the Troths off my desk I thought it was about time to look at what else is going on.

So what have we got? Two Praetorian officers, a sergeant, walkers, some cavalry and a Queen.



Staring with the coolest stuff first- the cavalry!
I have been coming back to these off and on since I finished my first lot. It takes quite a bit of time just to get the horses ready and build the lances so I'm ok with their slow progress. 




These 5 use pistoleer heads, Curious Constructs Lancer Torsos, legs and arms, and my scratch built hunting lances. 


Chevau-Legers Lanciers of Avar III
"Avar III have a privileged class which spends a great deal of time on horseback whiling away their leisured hours with equestrian sports and hunting."
Much respect and honour to anyone that recalls where those words came from (its not my own fluff).

These chaps will have green jackets with a red front, collar and cuffs. The helmet will be black (possibly dark silver highlights) with a back feather. 

Next up, two more riders. These guys will be Red Lancers.  Red jackets with dark blue fronts, collar and cuffs. Probably a red cap but it may end up dark blue.

I also tried out a Cadian based converted rider. The head piece was cut from a Perry mini French Napoleonic carveryman. I brought a box of them to use the heads, but the scale was too small.
The head and torso was from the Cadian command sprue. The shoulder guards were from a tank commander.   

A trumpeter from the Napoleonic set may also get salvaged. The arms are a bit small, so I still haven't decided on him yet. (he is just blue tacked together for the time being). 




I can't have loads of different Calvary units without including a few Attilan Rough Riders! I had to do quite a bit of filing on the horse, but finally got him to fit. The lance arm is from a warhammer knight.


Col. Ackland is still on the work bench but hasn't progressed yet!

Out of the last batch of hunting lance I still have a few left so there are certainly more riders to come. 

From left to right, Dragoon Guard (using Curious Construct parts), more Attilans, and a Terrax Guard (using some old Rogue Trader mounted commanders)




With the Rogue Traders, I think they look better on Attilan legs in terms of scale. I also have a few normal RT troops to mount as well and a Commissar.

I was thinking of doing a group of 5 cavalry modelled off the Praetorian Hussar pic in the 3rd ed Imperial Guard codex. I think the ammo belt needs to be a bit smaller. I was thinking of giving him a holstered shotgun to justify having the belt.

There are lots of other option too. I will do a small group of individual veterans to add diversity.





I still have loads of other torsos to play with and I'm sure there be more heads and bits to keep me going thanks to Rob and Vic. 

Top line: Curious Constructs
Left side: Victoria Miniatures
Bottom: Games Workshop



Curious Constructs WIP


 Next up, Walkers!


This chap was modelled with the Polish Winged Lances in mind. 


The headlights are from a Vox caster and the torso is a cut down tank commander. A tank hatch plate fits nicely over the arms. 


Now that it has been on my work bench for a while I don't mind the look of him without the side plates and wings, like this:

Or Just the side plates:

And with the wings:

So what do people think? With or without wings and side armour?
Once I have decided I'll do a full squadron of them.

Praetorian Officers 
Here we have the 'crazy' Colonel August and his steadfast XO for the 40th Line Regiment. They will count as Creed and Kell, but whether Colonel August is a tactical genius or madder then a March hare is debatable!

He is probably yelling something ridiculous like, "Come and get me Ork horde!" or "They can't hit us from there!". Then again he may just be running around crazily flailing his arms or executing two aids at the same time (I was in a funny mood when I made him).

I have started repainting the banner. I'm just painting over the original banner. It's a bit faded and painted banners look better than printed ones. Easy to change the XXIV to XL on the bottom too.
Psyker Queen
Back on our Queens Birthday long weekend I met Victoria Lamb (of Victoria Miniatures) at a small local hobby convention. Along with a firing line of Vic's guard I couldn't pass up grabbing a Queen Victoria mini too. She will get a pair of glowing eyes and be used as a psyker primaris.

Sargent's Power Swords
Lastly, (if anyone is still reading), I have been dabbling with my 40th line power swords.
I'm still not sure about them! I repainted one blue again and then worked up reds, oranges and yellows to get a different lightning effect.

 I'm actually thinking maybe I should just leave them blue. Any ideas?

So that's it for now, lots of cool projects on the go!

Any advice, comments, concerns and suggestions always welcome. 

15 comments:

  1. Mate thats alot of Rough Riders, but I like your idea's for them and your conversion work looks great. I have gone off the idea for rough riders in my Army due to the new rules, I just feel they won't have the same punch as they used too which is a shame.

    I love your sentinels and I say go with the wings as it looks diffrent. Have you decided on your colour scheme yet for them?

    I like the idea behind the queen being your physker that will look so cool when it's done. Also I might have to steel your idea of the converted commissar holding the banner. As I haven't done my Commissar Dave yet for my army, which will go with the new Praetorian models I have got from Victoria Lamb. I have got so many ideas at the moment I can't wait to get home and turn them into reality.

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    1. Commissar Dave! Good to hear from you again! Lots of rough riders? It's a Cav division so I get to have as many as I want LOL! Yeah, with the new rules I'm really struggling to work out how to use them well. I can kill stuff but I'm just not making their points back to make them worth while. Sadly no more charging terminators :( For me I don't mind though. I tent to probably win too many games anyway so I'll pull them out when I think I need a bit of a handicap and when my regular opponents have lost too much. plus they will be fun in big apocalypse games.

      That's one vote for the wings. I think they will be grey to match my horses, but not sure yet.

      Feel free to use the idea of the Commissar holding the banner- I really don't think there is such a thing as stealing when it come to this sort of thing anyway. :)

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  2. That's a LOT going on sir!

    Loving all these Rough Rider ideas, especially those grizzled looking vets! I too have some RT riders to stick together, though I've yet to get around to figuring out what I'd like to do with their arms (Original RT or better posed contemporary arm sculpts?) and lances.

    I LOVE LOVE LOVE your idea for Primaris Psyker! I'd seen that mini a while back, but never in a lifetime would I have thought to make such a fun use for her! Can't wait to see your paintjob. :)

    Excellent post, excited to see where all these projects end up.

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    1. Thanks Dai! With my RT (and all my RR) I'm really trying to 'modern' them up, so new arms and new horses. It was essential really for me- so they fit well together. If you do have the original arms they have that real retro look so it is a tough choice.

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  3. O and as for Sergeant's Power Sword.... Never been a fan of electricity effects on power weapons. (Not a fan of blue either, but I guess that's me.) But seeing as you're looking at it, I'd stick with Blue and no effects.

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  4. There is some cracking ideas on here, almost too many for one post! My favourite is the Kell conversion using the Commissar model, its so simple but looks awesome. The Creed and Sentinel conversions are also awesome, without even mentioning all the cavalry work your up to. For me it would be wings and side armour.

    I don't think I have ever seen the Praetorian Hussar picture, do you know if its online somewhere?

    Its totally a personal thing but I really like the simple plain blue colour power swords.

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    1. Ha thanks, the Kell was just a random distraction - no planning or anything. It was amazing how much better he looked with a different head.
      So that's 2 votes for the wings.
      The hussar picture, no I don't think it is online (apart from here). The original was just a tiny drawing on a page full of different guard regiments.

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  5. Go for the wings, I think it looks great. Have you tried the wings on a plastic sentinel? The old metal ones are cool but I wonder if the newer ones might look better. The hussar picture comes from the old old guard codex 4th edition I think. I really like the ammo belt idea, It'd be interesting to go for a replica of that picture with the chainsword, gloves and trousers over the boots.
    I'm looking forward to seeing how you go with all these projects!

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    1. 3 votes for wings- I think they are locked in. I could go plastic sentinels... How this all came about was that I have about 20 of the metal ones but never got enthusiastic enough to paint them up. I like the look of them but I really felt that they needed something to balance them a bit - hence the addition of the front armour and gun. I don't think I'll do them all like this, just a squadron or 2.
      I totally agree about replicating that picture. I am re doing the ammo belt and sculpting a bionic monocle for him.

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