My take on Dwarf Cavalry

[Pattus Magnus]

I couldn't find 28mm dwarf cavalry figures that fit my vision for a fantasy project, so I kit bashed some. Broadly speaking, I wanted fully armoured riders in dark ages style equipment that were mounted on horses. I used the ex-Grenadier plastic spearmen and Wargames Factory plastic horses as the base for the figures.

I wrote a step-by-step describing the process, which has been published in Issue 460 of Miniature Wargames. If you're interested in adding some dark ages flavoured cavalry to your dwarves, it might be worth a look.

[Codsticker]

Very clever! The WF horses are a perfect choice for Dwarf or Halfling cavalry.

[OSHIROmodels]

They look great 

[Tactalvanic]

Superb repurposing idea for those Dwarfs

Always consider them and the Orks brilliant for kit bashing, cheaply bulking out an army etc, with some extra units, but never thought of cavalry.

Stealing that idea for later   

Was always saddened that they never got the opportunity to expand on the range of them.

Thank you 

[Pattus Magnus]

Codsticker, I didn’t like the WF horses when they were originally released, but they do work well for certain conversions like these. I hadn’t thought about using them with halflings, but I bet the Wargames Atlantic plastics could be used on them!

Oshiro, I admire your work, so it’s great to get your feedback!

Tactalvanic, I agree completely that the ex-Grenadier dwarves and orcs are great starting points for kit bashing (or as they are for unit filler - most of the heavy infantry in my Dwarf army are those guys). I think they’re often overlooked, but I have seen a few threads on LAF where people where folks got great results with them. I’ll certainly be using them again!

Thanks all for the positive comments!

[AKULA]

Excellent kitbashing 

[Pattus Magnus]

Akula, thanks for the compliment!

Come to think of it, I actually wrote another article about 10 years ago about spicing up the ex-Grenadier plastics, it is in EM-4's "Combat Zone Chronicles".

http://combatzonechronicles.net/cozoxc/flattery.htm

I also did some converting with the orcs. I don't have an article or pics of my own, but one of the fellows in my gaming crowd took some pics of them at the time and they're on his blog.

http://imostlypaintatnightmostly.blogspot.com/2012/05/hail-caesar-fantasy-game.html

Like folks commented, these old mono-pose plastics have a lot of potential.

[Neldoreth]

I couldn't find 28mm dwarf cavalry figures that fit my vision for a fantasy project, so I kit bashed some. Broadly speaking, I wanted fully armoured riders in dark ages style equipment that were mounted on horses. I used the ex-Grenadier plastic spearmen and Wargames Factory plastic horses as the base for the figures.

I wrote a step-by-step describing the process, which has been published in Issue 460 of Miniature Wargames. If you're interested in adding some dark ages flavoured cavalry to your dwarves, it might be worth a look.

Damn man, that's awesome that you got your article published! I might have to find that issue and check it out

Also, it's amazing that you finally got a use out of those old Wargames Factory figs... I don't think Warlord ever produced those horses again after they bought out the rights to all the Wargames Factory stuff.

The figs look excellent with the EM4 plastic dwarfs and the horses... but did you use the EM4 legs too? Or something else?

excellent stuff, inspiring. I still have nine of those badger-mounted mantic dwarves buried somewhere waiting for paint...

thanks
n

[Pattus Magnus]

Neldoreth, thanks for the comments! The legs are mostly from the original figures. I explain it in the article, but the gist is that I cut the legs off, trimmed off the tops to be flush with the boots, carved off the inside so that they sit closer to the horse (and carved the side of the horse a bit), then added a small spacer so that the legs and feet hang at an angle. It’s probably the most labour intensive part of the conversion, but I think it adds to the final effect.

[vodkafan]

The MW issue is in the shops now....those conversions are so so good! 

[Pattus Magnus]

Vodkafan, I’m glad to hear it is in the shops and the article looks good, I actually haven’t seen the final layout myself yet (my copy will be in the mail for a little while yet). I’m not surprised, though, the folks at MW make a good looking magazine.