| I've always loved the concept of rough
riders as part of the Imperial Guard. But the Attilans, though cool
in concept, were just a bit too cartoony for my tastes. Some of the
historical lines had nice cavalry models, but they were too small to match
the scale of the 40K miniatures. Since I was in for a conversion
either way, I chose to adopt a Prussian Hussar style for my rough riders-
and one model made it all possible, that being Captain Chenkov.
I set to purchasing several Chenkovs and mail ordered some rough rider
legs. I had plenty of armored horses lying around, but I wanted a
more rugged look for them. I achieved this by mail ordering some
of the new Wood Elf horse head and tail sprues, and splicing them
onto the bodies of the barded horses. Then I added equipment from
various other plastic miniatures (mostly from Warzone plastics).
I'm very happy with the result, despite the cost of all the materials! |
 |
|
|
Two of my rough riders are equipped with shotguns and swords.
This shotgun arm is from Uriah Jacobus. Since I planned to use my
rough riders along side my Valhallans, I adopted a green color scheme.
I mixed up a dark green for their coats. White fur trim on the Pelisses
went well with the green., and I painted the Shakoes black for contrast.
I used red and gold for the trim, and painted their equipment rust to look
like leather and wood. The horses are a dark brown, with white markings.
The barding is black, drybrushed grey and detailed with gold rivets. |
|
|
This rough rider is equipped with a Meltagun. I used one of the
plastic meltaguns from the Ork Weapons sprue, and spliced on a special
cross-handle to enable the rider to carry it. The speed and maneuverability
of a horse makes it much easier to get targets into range! |
| The rough rider Captain is another special conversion. I used
a White Wolf Knight leader model , which made the conversion easier since
he was already a mounted model . (This is the same model that I used
to make one of my Inquisitor conversions, but
the Inquisitor had to be converted to a foot model!). I removed his
left arm (difficult since it was close to the body) and replaced it with
a space marine arm equipped with a chaos plasma pistol from the new plastic
Berzerker set. The skull hat is made from part of Uriah Jacobus'
banner pole. The Eagle back banner is from an old Imperial Guard
standard bearer miniature. I used a similar color scheme as my Inquisitors,
so I could swap the foot model for the mounted model if need be (although
I like the contrast the yellow and black make with the white and green
troops). The horse was assembled and painted in the same manner as
the other rough riders. |
 |
|
|
A side view of the Captain. The wolf pelt gives the model a rugged,
Hussar-like appearance that goes nicely with the other rough riders. |
|
I can't imagine a Commissar passing up an opportunity to keep
an eye on a large mass of Imperial troops. A steed makes it that
much easier- not to mention the intimidation factor of a power sword backed
up by a thundering charge? This is one of the new Commissars, sawn
in half at the waist and attached to a set of rough rider legs (which just
happen to be nicely detailed with little skulls along the coat hem).
I painted up a stock version of the Commissar to represent the model when
on foot. |
|
|
Although I used the Elven horse head and tail again,
I used a cloth barding horse body to help the Commissar stand out from
the rest of the Rough Rider troops. The crowned skull details on
the flanks of the horse are simply plastic shield bosses from the
Imperial Soldiers regiment boxed set. I had to bend the bosses into
a slight curve for a better fit, then glued them right onto the horse.
The Commissar's horse is all black (in contrast to the brown horses of
the Rough Riders), and the typical black, red and yellow color scheme makes
it clear that this model means business and cannot be ignored. |
