Any ideas for 1/72 cold-one riders (or similar)? First experiments added!

[Hobgoblin]

I was surveying the contents of various 1/72 storage boxes yesterday and realised that I've got more than enough figures to put together a 1/72 army of dark elves (or 'Twilight Kin') for Kings of War and the like. Dark Alliance and Caesar elves will make up most of the infantry, I've got some good character figures from Elheim, and there are plenty of demons and gargoyles that can be roped in for the special units. And Dark Alliance Amazons will serve as witch-elves with a suitable paint scheme (I don't think anyone will notice the ears!).

But cavalry is another matter. I do have some of the very old Citadel cold-one riders, which have very small dark-elf riders - sufficiently small to use with 1/72 figures without much problem. But I've only got two or three, I think, and their mounts may end up being requisitioned by Slann and lizardmen; I have more of those riders, which are destined for a Salamander army.

Now, the most obvious choice for dark-elf cavalry would be the Dark Alliance modern mounted Amazons; there are a couple of velociraptor mounts in each box, so two boxes would permit a cavalry unit with a leader using a black unicorn or albino lion as a mount. I could use each box as is, but I'd rather have the units looking less zoo-like if I can help it!

But it occurred to me that there may well be alternatives out there - and that they might be known to the LAF hive mind. At a pinch, I might be able to use Dark Alliance riders on mounts from another company. I'm not necessarily wedded to lizards as mounts, but some sort of evil beastie would be nice (demonic horses? giant insects?). Ideally, I'm after evil-looking beasties with 1/72 or slender "true 25mm" riders.

Any ideas much appreciated!

[Hobgoblin]

Tamiya velociraptors might be one idea - though I'm a little uncertain as to the scale:

[dadlamassu]

Maybe some small toy dinosaurs like these or similar:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09NBQZQVB?tag=track-ect-uk-794697-21&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1&ascsubtag=ecSEP3mdq9zlb46tzm2

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks! Yes, that's certainly an avenue for exploration, and I might find a use for such creatures in the Salamander/lizardman army too.

[fred]

Pendraken has these 15mm dinosaurs  https://www.pendraken.co.uk/n15fan-l4-nlizard-rider-with-spear-5184-p.asp

30mm tall, 53mm nose to tail, 20mm to ‘saddle’

Magister Militum also have a wide range of dinosaurs in their 10mm range

[Pattus Magnus]

The Reaper Bones ‘raptor pack’ would probably work and they’re not too ridiculously priced.

https://www.reapermini.com/search/raptor/latest/44081

As mentioned above, pound shop dinosaurs might also do the job (and might have a few types that could be used as trained beasts, if dark elves field those).

[Hobgoblin]

Pendraken has these 15mm dinosaurs  https://www.pendraken.co.uk/n15fan-l4-nlizard-rider-with-spear-5184-p.asp

Thanks! Hmm - the goofiness of those one-eyed beasts might rule them out for dark elves - but then again, they might be made to look truly horrific with the right paint job! And they'd certainly work in the Salamander army. I have a few of the spearmen from that range, which I was planning to use with other types as lesser lizard men.

Magister Militum also have a wide range of dinosaurs in their 10mm range

That's a good call! We have a few of those in the house, and I've been urging my son to paint them up so that we can intersperse them with classic cold-one riders for the Salamander army. The prices seem to have gone through the roof, though - I see the Spinosaurus is selling for £15 (!) at the moment. We have that one, and it's not much bigger than a 28mm horse. Perhaps it's the price of the lead-free metal; most other Magister Militum stuff continues to be very competitively priced.

Nevertheless, if we base them individually, they'd work to bulk out cold ones whether those had elven or cold-blooded riders.

The Reaper Bones ‘raptor pack’ would probably work and they’re not too ridiculously priced.

https://www.reapermini.com/search/raptor/latest/44081

As mentioned above, pound shop dinosaurs might also do the job (and might have a few types that could be used as trained beasts, if dark elves field those).

Ooh, that's another great call! I'll need to do a careful comparison of those and the Tamiya ones for scale.

And yes, trained beasts interspersed with actual cavalry seems a good way to go. If nothing else, that would be a very easy way to bulk out the DA mounted Amazons.

[Hobgoblin]

Another angle I've been looking at for this is 'conversion by paint' of Ottoman sipahi and other Renaissance cavalry. I reckon these guys (for example) would make pretty good dark elves - I'm doing mine with blue-grey skin and white hair.

The slightly unnatural horses that some 1/72 sets have could be used to advantage (undead/demonic horses). And anyone who objects to moustachioed elves clearly hasn't read enough Poul Anderson!

I'm quite keen generally on 'conversion by paint' for fantasy gaming at this scale - it's in the noble tradition of Gygax et al, who used 1/72 Romans as orcs with 25mm humans, if I recall correctly: Chainmail has a section on such practices.

[Hobgoblin]

Or even Napoleonic dragoons or cuirassiers. The higher technology level would work pretty well, I reckon, as would the tall crested helmets. Hmm ...

[MysteryMachine]

Hi Hobgoblin. I was thinking about dark elves in 1/72 as well. I completely agree with regard to the possibility of Dark Alliance Modern Amazons as witch elves - painted up in appropriate colours, they will fit right in. I haven't given much thought to cold one cavalry so far. Battle Valor 15mm Scalians have cold one-style lizards, but they also have lizardman rider legs modelled on, so might not work with dark elves.

Have you given any thought to how to acquire or convert dark elf crossbowmen? I am struggling with ideas here.

[102-year-old-man]

if you could somehow get this old board game: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1081/die-schlacht-der-dinosaurier

All minis inside are almost exactly 1/72 scale

Maybe you can find some at ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/133809623331

[Hobgoblin]

Good call on Battle Valor - I have quite a lot of their 'Orcians', which are perfect for Uruk-hai in 1/72!

I hadn't really thought about crossbowmen; the KoW rules have archers rather than crossbowmen, so I'm just going to be using Dark Alliance and Caesar bow-elves.

If I were going to use crossbows, I might look at the Burgundian crossbowmen from Red Box, as they at least have slim builds and relatively fancy clothing and armour:



I recently acquired some metal 1/72 Wars of the Roses armoured crossbowmen from Tumbling Dice; quite a few of those have sallets or visored bascinets, so they look quite sinister and not at all 'peasanty'. That might be another option; the ones with kettle hats could be green-stuffed to look a bit more pointy and elfin, I suppose!

Tumbling Dice also do liveried crossbowmen; I suspect they'd look less sinister, but there might be opportunities for conversion.

Otherwise, I'd look out for the 'poncier' crossbowmen in late-medieval and Renaissance 1/72 sets and try to up their elvishness through emphasising the costuming (dark greens, purples, black and silver, etc.).

[Hobgoblin]

if you could somehow get this old board game: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1081/die-schlacht-der-dinosaurier

All minis inside are almost exactly 1/72 scale

Maybe you can find some at ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/133809623331

Wow - that looks amazing!

[JollyBob]

The old Ral Partha raptors and velociraptors on this page:

https://www.ralparthaeurope.co.uk/shop/animals-and-prehistoric-c-59/

Might work as they are more 25mm than 28.

[Hobgoblin]

The old Ral Partha raptors and velociraptors on this page:

https://www.ralparthaeurope.co.uk/shop/animals-and-prehistoric-c-59/

Might work as they are more 25mm than 28.

Yes, those look like they might work very well - thanks!

I took a lunchtime cycle to the local model shop and emerged with some Italieri French dragoons and some Tamiya velociraptors. The velociraptors are quite big (1:35) - a bit longer and lankier than the original cold ones, I think, so I'm wondering whether they might work as "cronebound fiends" on 50 x 50 bases while the dragoons on demonised horses could make up the "cronebound abyssal horsemen" in KoW. The profiles for each would seem to fit nicely. There are sufficient riders in the dragoon box to give me a full KoW regiment of horsemen and a horde of fiends. Now to dream up some wild colour schemes for the horses!

I'm quite tickled with the look of the dragoons as dark elves - the fancy, nineteenth-century uniforms look suitably decadent set against medieval comparators, but the sabres and tall, plumed helmets mean that they're not too incongruous.