Howdy, are there any or cowboy-esc stuff in warhammer

[Witherking17]

I like cowboys as next as the next guy, I literally live in Oklahoma dude, I got plenty of hats and boots, I'm wondering if there's any faction that has cowboy miniatures or should I just make a fan-made chapter in the imperium. I really like the blood angels and Krieg but if I possibly could play with sum cowboys that would be awesome. But I gotta go protect my home from bandits and forest demons, just sum normal Oklahoman stuff, and then I'm set to wrangle up a tornado or 2 while drinking sum good old jack on my horse with the rest of my posse.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Can't think of any space marine cowboy related chapters - the most "cowboy" 40K models are all xenos.  The ones that come to mind are the Leagues of Votann Yaegers with their dusters and revolvers, plus the Genestealer Cults Kellermorph with his revolvers, a model that is frequently converted to have the hat as well (I a seem to remember a previous version that did have a hat, though that might just have been a GW featured conversion).

 

And welcome!

Edited Thursday at 04:14 PM by Dr_Ruminahui

[Alby the Slayer]

A themed space marine chapter would be very cool but quite difficult to create.

 

As @Dr_Ruminahuisaid, I think your best chance would be leagues of votann or genestealer cults. With some kitbashing you can create some pretty neat "cowboy" army.

 

Also Imperial guard, come to think of it.

 

See you space cowboy.

[phandaal]

Also keep in mind the 40k galaxy has more than a million different planets inhabited by humans, and a lot of those have Imperial Guard regiments. One of them might wear cowboy hats!

 

If you find some good cowboy-themed bits you can always kitbash them with GW kits to make your own cowboy regiment.

 

Closest example I can think of is Victoria Miniatures space Aussies. Not exactly the same, but you can see how that kind of rugged look might translate over to 40k.

[HeadlessCross]

When Vanguard Vets could take two pistols, they would've been your opportunity. 

[Dark Shepherd]

Thunderwolf Cavalry are bitey horses :)

[Arikel]

Out of left field a bit, but a sisters army with imperial agents support might do with some conversion work. While they don’t really do mounted units, both armies showcase a number of units and minis that dual wield pistols.

 

heh, could even paint the armoured stuff in splotched black and white Holstein pattern camo ;)

 

pretty sure you would need to source cowboy heads from a 3rd party site though, if you wanted hats. Anvil industries has some.

[Jukkiz]

It all depends what you count as "cowboy" really.
Some models like Admechs pistol bois surely can be counted as one and i´ve seen some conversions with kellermorph wearing cowboyhat

[Dr_Ruminahui]

If its the background that you are more interested in rather than the aethetic (it doesn't sound like that's the case, but if), then Necromunda may be the setting for you - its essentially the Wild West but 40K and in the ancient ruined underbelly of a city.  None of the models (except maybe the hive scum) really have that aesthetic, though - older versions had ratskins, which were essentially native american Indians, but those have been removed in the current edition, likely due to their depiction being problematic as it contained many of the tropes and stereotypes of Indians inherent to the wild west mythos.

[SvenIronhand]

Enforcers have cowboy hats on their new upgrade sprue, I think…

[Brother Tyler]

Assuming you want to focus on the Warhammer 40,000 game or the Kill Team game, I recommend the Astra Militarum as an option. While the poster boy Cadians are closer to modern military forces in appearance, the regiments of the Astra Militarum are drawn from across the breadth of the Imperium and regiments often bear armor, weapons, and wargear that is emblematic of the culture and technological level of their homeworld. You can see examples of the diversity of the Astra Militarum in the images below.

 

On 10/14/2025 at 9:33 AM, gideon stargreave said:

All of this. Some of the coolest lore from the past was in the illustrations and associated text. I do not care a fig about finding more information on the Defenders of Sebastian VI, but I’d love to build some eldar hunters for imperial university collections 

 

Necromunda provides another good alternative, whether you want to go with the Ash Wastes or hive gangers.

Edited Thursday at 11:26 PM by Brother Tyler

[LameBeard]

I would echo the Anvil Industry tip - they have a space cowboy range I think, and tend to sell bits. You could probably have an imperial guard army with head swaps and the odd weapon swap and have a cowboy feel - although do cowboys ever go around in such big groups?  Maybe Kill Team or Necromunda would have more of a cowboy feel.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Posse's could get quite large, and outlaw's grouped together in what were essentially gangs on horses, so larger groupings of cowboys acting together has some historical legimacy (for whatever that matters).  For example, the gang of cow boy outlaws Wiatt Earp tussled with, I seem to recall, where deputized as a posse of 50+ horsemen to go after him at one point (law enforcement in the wild west could get complicated).

 

That said, I would imagine an imperial guard army would better represent a bunch of cowboys being conscripted/recruited into a miliary organization (kind of a 40K version of the Roughriders of Teddy Roosevelt and San Juan Hill fame) than the cowboys in their "natural" organizations.

 

I would agree that the small groupings of Kill Team and Necromunda seem be a better feel, though - it fits the wild west stereotype better, even if the wild west reality was considerably more complicated.

Edited Friday at 12:29 AM by Dr_Ruminahui

[jaxom]

If you are okay with non-GW parts, Anvil Industries has Western Style Hat Heads and Victoria Miniatures has a number of similar heads (though they're more Australian in style).

[Grotsmasha]

Was also going to suggest Victoria Miniatures, but yeah, they're more Aussie than Cowboy.

 

Van Diemen's World Devils

[crimsondave]

If it’s visuals you’re looking for, cowboy Space Marines are gonna be tough without looking silly.

 

Guard is definitely your best bet for visuals.  I understand what you’re trying to do.  My homebrew Guard is the Lycian Gray.  I’m from the south, born is MS, raised in AL, now live in SC.  My family is dairy farmers from MS.  So I made Lycia an agri-world with a guard regiment made up of a bunch of farm boys who are very religious.  One of my Colonel’s has a cowboy hat.

 

Now if you want Space Marines there is an outside the box option that’s not cowboy but very Oklahoma.  The original Dark Angels (like way back in the 80’s and early 90’s) were Native American based.  I’ve heard just about everyone from OK is at least part Native American.  Dark Angels ended up as Space Knights but they kept the feathers and headdress type helmets.

 

You could make a Dark Angels successor chapter and embrace the classic lore to the max.  There an old story published in 1990 called “Deathwing” that tells the story of how the Deathwing fought off genestealer cults who invaded their planet.  It actually tells how the Deathwing ended up with all bone colored armor.  One of the main characters was even named “Cloud Runner.”  Just a thought.

 

https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Deathwing_(Short_Story)

[The Praetorian of Inwit]

A cowboy space marine chapter would be cool. Good luck with it.

[apologist]

The Rogue Trader/early second edition Rough Riders (pictured below), owed their name to Teddy Roosevelt's 'Rough Riders' (the 1st United States volunteer calvary), who were partialyl drawn from cowboys – as you can see from the guardsman on the lower left of this picture, this inspiration was nodded to by the cattleman's hat on one of the two basic Guardsman sculpts.

 

 

I think Imperial Guard cavalry would be a great place to start for this theme, perhaps using third party heads like these from Anvil Industry or these from PuppetsWar.

 

Victoria Miniatures Van Diemen's world models are modelled after Australian and New Zealand forces, but they'd be a great place to start, too. In particular I think the horses Victoria sells would be absolutely ideal, as they're beautifully sculpted and more fitting in their equipment than the Attillan or Death Korps equivalents from GW.

 

The appeal of Guard – for me at least – is that they're so wonderfully open to different themes. Cavalry-specialist regiments make a lot of sense for worlds that have limited fuel or manufacturing capability, or whose terrain is better suited to horses. 

 

+++

 

If Guard don't appeal, then I'd agree that Genestealer Cults have a lot of 'Wild West movie' touches that might lend themselves to an 'evil cowboy'/ 'rustler gang' feel – and if you want to play the goodies, then the rules would still be quite well-suited to some conversions. You could use dirtcycles rules for mounted troops, and then you've got shotgun-armed neophytes for the broader posse, kelermorphs as gunslinging heroes etc.

[smart_arse]

Boylei Hobby Time made a video about this exact topic:
 

 

[Gorgoff]

I may throw in these:

https://puppetswar.eu/catalogsearch/result/?q=Gunslinger

 

 

[grailkeeper]

The old necromunda (I'm not familiar enough with the more recent version) was heavily themed around cowboys. The theme did not show up in the models, but did in the spirit of the game. There were a lot of outlaws and homesteads and things of that nature. 

 

 

[phandaal]

1 hour ago, Gorgoff said:

I may throw in these:

https://puppetswar.eu/catalogsearch/result/?q=Gunslinger

 

 

 

Totally forgot about Puppetswar! They have a ton of 40k-compatible Western/Cowboy bits.

[crimsondave]

Chapter Master Arthur Morgan.

[Doghouse]

I think space marines are actually am extremely viable option and far more practical to make than a guard army. 

 

To be honest, in a game with space Vikings riding giant wolves, literal space vampires, motorbike riding Mongolians and one chapter that even is turning into humanoid sharks, one chapter literally burst into flames and survived, the list is endless and the idea of a Stetson wearing space marine is tame in comparison by far to most.

 

The hat itself could have huge cultural significance to the people of their home world, it doesn't have to be cheesy Woody, Clint Eastwood or Lone Ranger type stuff you could quite easily make it work with a little forethought.  It's no different to wearing a beret or any other form of hat or markings.

 

Imagine a harsh desert death world that raises migrating Grox herds to due extreme temperatures on the side of the planet as it turns to face the sun so they forever have a burning horizon of death at their backs. Throw in that the unimaginably vast herds of migrating Grox are used as food for a local Hiveworld or Imperial planet and basically single cycle as the planet surface turns to the dark side facing dormant monstrous creatures erupt forth from beneath the surface to attack the caravans of Grox herders in a nightmarish never ending battle for survival.

The Stetson style head gear is used to protect their heads while allowing visability and keep the glare of the horizon from their eyes as they fight pretty much every living thing on the planet that is trying to kill their herds.

 

Work in something about how heavy pistols are used for ease while riding horse like creatures and job's a good un.

 

40K is only limited when people lack the will to indulge in their imagination.

 

[sbarnby71]

Could go way off the reservation and go with Necrons, those puppet war heads makes me think of Cyber Bounty hunters, that might look very cool with a small kill team force, if you could get some dual holstered pistols or give them double barrelled shot guns.

 

Another idea would be Imperial Agents and create an Inquisitor and their warrant, I think you could use any base models you wanted and give them a cowboy slant with hats and stuff.

Edited Friday at 05:44 PM by sbarnby71
Extra idea