Monday, December 26, 2011

Building the Poor Bastards

There are so many choices for bits and models out there on the internet.  I wanted to start my search by making GW tournament legal units... and for this I started the "great kit bash"

I was looking for three things really
  • Long Coats (Sure WW1 Brits did not really wear these, but I wanted something like this for them)
  • Brodie-Style Helmets
  • Bayonets... bayonets... bayonets

 Empire Archer Bodies with the legs cut off are perfect to me

Thanks to GW Boxes I have tons of these.
Snip off the legs above the boot and I had the tough looking mud-slogging boot look.

While not exactly a Brodie Helmet, these Kettle helms from the Bretonnian Men at Arms line look gritty enough for me. And they are easily found at various bits companies

Considering that bayonet charges were still used (Suicidally of course), these guys all had to have bayonets.  This was tough because only a third of the Cadians had that option.  Trading and scrounging pay off though.


Finally, to add a sense that these troopers have to lug EVERYTHING with them, I ponied up the money for Forge World Cadian backpacks.  If I was better at GSing, I probably could have just made them, but not at the moment.

___________________________________________________________________________

This is what I had to work with in the beginning... I will have pictures of finished troopers in my next blog.  Also I will have the differant model companies I used once I ran out of tournament legal resources, and had to resort to non-legal.  Frustrating, but it happens.

4 comments:

  1. Looks good to me so far! I think you should think about removing the shoulder pads from the arms, it's easily done with a modelling knife. I think your biggest challenge will be making them look 40k enough at the moment. GW not allowing other models is a bit of a pain, if I'm buying knock of space marines sure don't let me, but something like Brodie hats or kilts which they don't make... Well not letting us use them is just a bit spiteful I reckon!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have completed a few since beginning the blog. Originally I thought of eliminating the shoulder pads as well... but after a few "injuries" decided to just accept their presence. Thank you for following by the way. Good to have you aboard.

    It takes away from the world war one appearance, but it adds a 40k touch I think.

    I have been following Colonel Gravis for a time, and he has been putting a lot of Victoria Lambs products on his blog... very interested in them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello mate, I like the look your trying to create and looking forward to seeing what you come up with! If I hadn't fallen (Expensively!) back in love with Praetorians what I was thinking of doing was a British WW2 Infantry guard battalion conversions. You definitely need to make your way over to Victoria Lamb for some brodie helmets, I got some from her and they are ace, exactly what your looking for! She does some other good stuff, you may want to consider using her arms as they don't have shoulder pads or even her victorian torsos are cool and may fit with your WW1 theme. Shop around for bits, ebay bits shops can be expensive and you'll often find getting some non GW stuff from one of the many companies new is a lot cheaper (and way cheaper than FW!) Secret weapon miniatures do some nice looking back packs, I was going to get some but I admit I haven't seen them in the flesh yet. Maximini is another place you definitely want to take a look, greatcoat legs are there (review on Gravis's blog) I think they look fantastic, just what your looking for I would think, they also have some gasmasked brodie heads that you might fancy. Anyway good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have taken a liking to Victoria, she makes some good mini stuff. My most recent purchase from her was her Rough Rider bits... I bought the Brodie Heads and made me some nice cavalry. Every WW1 themed army must have cavalry in my mind.

    Mounted my cavalry on GW Wargs though... just did not seem dangerous enough on horses. Pics next week.

    ReplyDelete