Mounted Storm Troopers - 1st Carabiniers, Brimlock Dragoons

In the interest of actually posting on my blog regularly, here is the 'work in progress' up date on one squad of my Mounted Storm Troopers. 

First of, 'Mounted Storm Troopers' do not exist, so lets review how this conversation plays out, through the fashionable and entertaining medium of gif's....

I said, a squad of mounted Storm Troopers.

I'm putting storm troopers on horses.

You're right, there are no rules for storm troopers on horses.

No, I'm not crazy, I simply made rules up for them so we can use them in our game.

....

Yes you can do that. They are called house rules. People do it all the time.

You can actually play 40k however you want, the rules are just a guide line.

No, I'm not making up 'death star' units to try and win every game. I'm just putting storm troopers on horses cos they look cool and it would be fun to see them on the table.

It's actually pretty easy to base the unit stats off other existing entries and work out an appropriate point cost.

And no, I'm not a tournament player. I play for fun. I don't mind who wins just as long as it is not too one sided and we both have fun. Don't you wanna have fun?

You know, you are free to make up some rules too.

So, what do you think?

[pause]

And then we all go play games and have fun!

[I'm sure you all will be interested in the rule details. I have been working on a 'rough rider codex' for a very long time now and I'll post it up soon. My mate Frothing Muppet is currently giving it a look over and suggesting a few tweaks, suffice to say I don't think it is too far off, so watch this space.]

Soooo now that I've clear that up, back to the Mounted Storm Troopers!

This unit has been named after my favourite 40k novel Imperial Glory. The heroes of the story are the 11th Brimlock Regiment; a consolidated mechanised dragoon force. The regiment includes two companies of Horse Dragoons - as the author Richard Williams describes them; "The Horse Dragoons wear gold and silver ceremonial armour and are nicknamed "tin bellies" by the regular infantry. Brimlock cavalrymen are typically highly religious and are devout followers of the doctrines of the Imperial Cult. They are also highly disciplined and consider themselves an elite unit."

I decided that Brimlock might also have elite heavy cavalry filling the shock role of storm troops. Armed with Hotshot Lascarbines, the title of Carabiniers seemed to fit them well. In terms of fluff for this particular unit, after earning themselves glory and honour in a brutal campaign, the severely reduced regiment was deemed too small to be effective. Rather than consolidating the highly specialised veterans into another horse dragoon regiment, the regimental colours and a hand full of cavalrymen returned to Brimlock to reform the regiment. The remaining survivors were granted the honour of joining the Macharian Thunder Guard, a specialised formation of the best veteran cavalry within the Imperium.

I imagined these men looking like Napoleonic French Carabiniers with shiny cuirasses and red plume helmets. Here is an illustration of the historical reference for my conversion. It comes from one of my favourite Napoleonic books 'Armies of the Napoleonic Wars An Illustrated History'.  

And here are a few other pictures from the net.

I last worked on these guys at the beginning of the year. All I got to was assembling the main bits. I always planned to go back and tidy up the details.  Here is how they were.

It is worth a look at what the horses were originally like. 

I filed off the chaos star and spikes, cut off the chain reins, added some pouches and gear then narrowed the saddle width so my riders would fit. I filled in the rips in the saddle blanket and added the triangular corner that had been torn off on some sides. The blanket still didn't look right so I cut it off square.

Next I calved in a stripe or seam on the edge and cleaned it all up with liquid greenstuff.

With the horses all preped I started painting them while I continued with the riders.

Over a spayed base of white I started with a thin coat of Adeptus Battlegrey.

Then worded up with various other greys in combination.

Here is a later one next to an earlier stage.

Being no expert painter and only having fleeting moments at my desk I just kept feathering in lighter colours until I was happy. I gave them a wash all over then started highlighting again. I'm sure after this batch I'll sort out some sort of process.

On my original set of horses I gave them a strong brown ink/wash to give them a darker look. I'll try and do the same to these too.

Slowly getting there.

Back to the riders. They needed power cables for their Hotshots. Cutting this rainbow ribbon wire into strips worked well.

It was easy to bent and kept its shape too.

This is where I am currently at. I have started added large cuffs to the sleeves and tidied up all of the joints with green stuff. I had used a bare Catachan arm set on one rider and so I had to give him sleeves too. A little bit more work on the riders and I can start painting them as well. 

Before signing off, I received a bits order from Curious Constructs. I have to point out that the chainsabres are awesome in the flesh.

I also grabbed a set of desert infantry and renegade torsos.  I can't wait to build some riders out of these guys!

I was going to use plastic chaos swords on the riders but the chainsabres look so good I think I will swap and use them instead. 

Here are comparison shots with both swords sitting in place.

You have to agree that those chainsabres are stunning.

Cheers for stopping by and checking these guys out. It is nice to be back in the saddle making  progress, even if it is intermittent and slow going.