In our fantasy world I have a state, Ruvia, that is based on Early Imperial Rome. The forces are largely human but when I was browsing the internet I came across Roman style dwarf troops. However, these were in the standard Legionary armour and so did not fit with the "story" of Ruvia. So I started looking about for suitable figures to convert. As I was looking to add a cohort of 24 figures I chose Oathmark dwarves as they were armoured in mail. This suited my idea that the dwarves would be auxiliaries rather than Legionaries. The problem lay in "Romanising" them.
The bodies were fine, the weaponry (spears) was what I wanted but what about shields and heads?
In the bits box I had enough Republican shields and Late Roman oval shields as well as Warlord Games Auxiliary helmeted heads. But what about beards? The Romans were mostly clean shaven or had short beards. I wanted a "Dwarvish" look. So I experimented with adding green stuff beards and attaching beards severed from the dwarf heads. This was taking ages so I compromised.
The Prefect would be a sutable metal figure if I can find one. The Centurion, Optio, Signifer, cornicen and a few others would get dwarf beards reiforced with green stuff and some might bet green stuff breards. The rest would have short "Roman" berads hidden by large Republican shields. Not a brilliant solution but a practical one.
Work in Progress:
Centurion, Cornicen, Signifer
Optio (with a hammer rather than the traditional club/mace) and two auxiliaries one hiding his "Roman" beard and the other a plastic one grafted.
Now for the rest of the cohort.