A Guide to Kitbashing Rough Riders - Pics, Links & Prices

[Ranulf]

So, I'm a bit of a fan of Rough Riders. I'm an Australian that grew up in a rural area with horses, and those aussies with an interest in our military history are rightly proud of long tradition of mounted infantry regiments in the Australian army. From the slouch-hatted bushmen that served in the Boer War to the infamous charge of the Light Horse at Beersheba, there's an imagery to horseman in war that captures the imagination.

 

My 2nd Ed Imperial Guard army had a single squad of Attilan Rough Riders.

 

My 3rd Ed Imperial Guard army had a Squadron of Attilans supported by a squad of Tallarn Rough Riders.

 

I missed 4th through 7th editions and when I came back to the hobby in 8th I found that my beloved horseman had all but disappeared, with the exception of an Index entry. No new miniatures, no access to the old miniatures and then when the new Codex dropped - nothing at all.

 

Granted, there are the Death Riders of Krieg, which are awesome miniatures with some badass rules to back them up. However, they're Forgeworld, they're expensive as all get up, the mounts are a bit of a diversion from actual horses and I just wanted something closer to my original Rough Riders.

 

So enters the world of third-party miniatures.

 

Originally I had thought to work up tabletop version of the Australian Light Horse but the new line of Dress Uniform troops from Anvil Industries caught my eye. Before long I had a theme in mind - Napoleonic in terms of era, a combination of French Cuirassiers, British Dragoons and perhaps a touch of the Prussian Hussars all helped on by watching too much Charge of the Light Brigade, Sharpe's Rifles and The Duellists.

 

To quote Tennyson:

 

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon in front of them

Volleyed and thundered;

Stormed at with shot and shell,

Boldly they rode and well,

Into the jaws of Death,

Into the mouth of hell

Rode the six hundred.

 

In the end, the French Cuirassiers theme won out:

 

 

 

 

For those that want a touch of Krieg:

 

 

For those that like a little more starch in their britches: 

 

 

 

The good news is that the bits used in the kitbash are compatible. The arms and legs from Mad Robot Miniatures blend seamlessly with the torsos and heads from Anvil.

 

Furthermore, the riding legs fit to the horses from Perry Miniatures with just a slight material removal from the back of the saddle - I basically shaved about 1mm from the bedroll at the back of the saddle in order to seat the rider properly. The one sticking point - those used to heroically-scaled miniatures might find the horses slightly too small in scale. I collect historical miniatures, so it looks close to right to me, but I can understand the viewpoint of those that disagree.

 

As a point of note, the shafts for the Hunting Lances are just brass rod (supplied by MadRobot with the tips) and can be trimmed to length - which I haven't done yet. Also - I'll be mounting them on 40mm round bases as it 'feels' like the right size base.

 

When I put them together properly (once i've decided on torsos) i'll add holstered laspistols and chainswords to the saddles to tie them closer to the 40K aesthetic. 

 

 

Now for the list of bits featured and links:

 

MadRobot Miniatures.

 

Imperial style lance arms:

 

https://madrobotmini...products_id=314

 

Imperial style riding legs:

 

https://madrobotmini...products_id=315

 

Hunting lances:

 

https://madrobotmini...products_id=316

 

 

Anvil Industries. 

 

Calvary Helmets:

 

http://anvilindustry...cavalry-helmets

 

Stahlhelm with Gasmask:

 

http://anvilindustry...ahlhelm-gasmask

 

Cuirass Torso:

 

http://anvilindustry...m/cuirass-torso

 

Hussar Torso:

 

http://anvilindustry...rm/hussar-torso

 

Perry Miniatures

 

British Light Cavalry horses:

 

https://www.perry-mi...roducts_id=3297

 

Note that VictoriaMiniatures also does a Rough Rider conversion kit: https://victoriamini...rsion-kit-resin which looks pretty good. I love the stuff from Aunty Vicky, but MadRobot won for me based on the cuff details on the arms.

 

The true beauty of this setup is the modular nature of assembly - in theory you could use any of the Anvil head/torso bits with the MadRobot limbs (Steve also does riding legs with fatigues and bare lance arms) to cover a host of different rider types from different regiments/worlds.

 

 

The injury to your wallet:

 

So to break down the costs for a squad of ten Rough Riders, something that is always a worry when kitbashing 3rd party bits:

 

Mad Robot Rider Lance Arms (Imperial) x2 (10 pairs in total) = $10 (USD)

Mad Robot Rider Legs (Imperial) x2 (10 in total) = $16 (USD)

Mad Robot Rider Hunting Lances x 2 (10 in total) = $12 (USD)

 

Perry Miniatures British Light Calvary Horses x 4 (12 in total) = £14.00 (GBP)

 

Anvil Industry Torsos (Cuirass or Hussar) x 2 (12 in total) = £7.00 (GBP)

Anvil Industry Heads (Calvary) x 2 (14 in total) = £6.00 (GBP)

 

Total price (approx exchange rates) $76 (USD) or £55 (GBP)

 

Not cheap, not overly expensive. Compared to Forgeworld's DKoK Death Riders at 10 for $192 (USD) or the Mad Robot complete Rider Squad at 10 for $130 (USD)

 

Well that's it, hopefully it is of some help to those of you looking to take the plunge but were worried about intercompatibility of the bits. 

 

Good luck and good hunting! 

 

 

-Ran

[Colonel Cross]

Damn. I wish I had known these options before I went my route. I didn't like Victoria's miniatures kit so I went way off the beaten path.

[Dosjetka]

Fantastic. Thank you for compiling and sharing this with the community, Ranulf. :tu:

[Ranulf]

Thanks Dos. I hope to have one painted up with all weapons represented in the next week or so.

 

If I can make up my mind on colour schemes.

 

-Ran

[brettfp]

This is really cool and really well written :) great job!

But if you're talking about aussies doing cool stuff with horses then you cant leave out man from anowy river ;)

[MrZakalwe]

These look rather good and as I'm looking at kitbashing my own at the moment, thanks for the inspiration.

[Major_Gilbear]

Perfect - well done, and thanks for the review! :D

[Cap'm Heckus]

For horses, my favorite kit is still the GW Outrider/pistoleer. Good rider-to-horse scale and lots of useable extra bits. Works well with cadian parts too.

 

Edit: reasonably priced too.

Edited February 8, 2018 by Cap'm Heckus

[Ranulf]

For horses, my favorite kit is still the GW Outrider/pistoleer. Good rider-to-horse scale and lots of useable extra bits. Works well with cadian parts too.

 

Edit: reasonably priced too.

 

I like those GW horses (IIRC they may have been sculpted back in the day by the Perry twins who did the horses above) but the cost was prohibitive. For ten i'd need two sets, so $58 (USD) or £35 (GBP). Unless you wanted to build Medieval/Renaissance Rough Riders from the parts in the set, you'd still have to shell out for riders.

[Cap'm Heckus]

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/gallery/image/201592-rr-alt-view/

 

I used cadian torsos just fine with the empire legs.

[Ranulf]

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/gallery/image/201592-rr-alt-view/

 

I used cadian torsos just fine with the empire legs.

 

And they look good. 

 

However, the whole point of finding a much cheaper source for the horses means that it opens up more options for different regiments if you can swap in different third party legs/arms/torsos/heads that are typically bought as bits. Buying those Outriders (Freeguild) box sets, if I didn't want to use the legs/arms/torsos/heads, means a lot of wasted bits and money.

 

For example, if I wanted 10 Mordian Rough Riders, I'd need two sets of GW Outriders plus legs/arms/torsos/heads from third party. I'd be great if GW had a bits service that sold said Outrider horses at a reasonable price, but that option is gone and the few times I've seen them come up on eBay you'd swear they were made of gold. 

 

-Ran

[Kinstryfe]

To add a teeny bit for the more evilly aligned among us, Marauder Horsemen can make decent looking eeeeevil Rough Riders. The legs blend in fine, you just add torso head and arms as desired. Horrible pic attached.

 

Edited February 9, 2018 by Kinstryfe

[Reviler]

You say evil, I saw loyal imperial troops from a feral world.

[librisrouge]

Anybody seen good bits for sci-fi rough riders? I’m contemplating making Solar Aux rough riders but the mount is a challenge.