Alternative Rohan Royal Guard models

Ardboe · **Posted:** Thu Aug 23, 2012 8:46 am

Hey everyone,
So after recently purchasing what will be my 24th khazad guard im now shifting focus to my rohan army. I play WOTR mostly and forking out for those khazad guard has really left a bad taste in my mouth and looking at the price of those royal guard (£65.60 for 4 comps!!

) I figured its time to look at some alternate models here. Ive considered converting some riders but that would be extremely time consuming and im just not that great with green stuff, plus I want a model that will look distinct from the normal riders! Anyway ive narrowed it down to these guys and I would really appreciate your input!

(gripping beast)

(perrys)
http://www.warlordgames.com/store/hail-caesar/war-of-the-roses-1455-1486/mounted-men-at-arms-1450-1500-plastic-boxed-set.html
http://www.warlordgames.com/store/hail-caesar/dark-ages/dark-ages-norman-knights-plastic-boxed-set.html
I also really liked these:
http://www.ebobminiatures.com/products/pikies.jpg
http://www.ebobminiatures.com/products/fantasy.htm#1
Well thats it, which do you think would be best and why, and if you know of any better proxies by all means post a pic!
Cheers,
Stephen

Pindergorn · **Posted:** Thu Aug 23, 2012 11:26 am

Have a look at Gripping Beast also. They have several ranges that are suitable for Rohan. Early Saxon, Late Saxon, Anglo-Danish. The Early Saxons even have some mounted models.

samoht · **Posted:** Thu Aug 23, 2012 11:30 am

Deifintley not the gripping beast knights or the warlord mounted men at arms. Their medieval style clashes horribly with the viking style of the Rohirrim.

I would go for either the Perry figures or the warlord dark ages norman knights.

Those ebob ones are fantastic but once again they clash with the style and don't look very royal looking. They are peasant soldiers.

Ardboe · **Posted:** Thu Aug 23, 2012 11:43 am

King Ondoher wrote:

Have a look at Gripping Beast also. They have several ranges that are suitable for Rohan. Early Saxon, Late Saxon, Anglo-Danish. The Early Saxons even have some mounted models.

I looked through gripping beasts stuff but i found that while the models were great the horses were way below par, they'd stick out like a sore thumb unless i got my hands on some gw horses! I really like theyre vikings on foot models, some great potential dunlendings there methinks!

samoht wrote:

Deifintley not the gripping beast knights or the warlord mounted men at arms. Their medieval style clashes horribly with the viking style of the Rohirrim.

I would go for either the Perry figures or the warlord dark ages norman knights.

Those ebob ones are fantastic but once again they clash with the style and don't look very royal looking. They are peasant soldiers.

Hey, im starting to think along the same lines myself. Will definitely have to stick with viking-ish models for this maybe green stuff some cloaks in there. Do you think those horses will go on the round cavalry base though? Yea all of ebob's stuff is awsome I just wish he would make a larger range! Was actually thinking those pikemen would be great for men-at-arms of dol amroth.

Anyone ever do similiar conversion to this?

Jamros · **Posted:** Fri Aug 24, 2012 12:48 am

To be honest I don't really think anything mentioned really fits the bill for the Rohan Royal Guard, or even Rohan in general. Rohan draws strongly from Anglo-Saxon appearances, but I'm not sure you would find anything that would blend in well enough--or would be "royal" enough to fit the bill. Plus, the Anglo-Saxons didn't use horses all thst much! I would recommend trying to find some mounted Romano-British miniatures.

fingolofthedalish · **Joined:** Sun Aug 19, 2012 4:18 pm **Posts:** 46

http://www.crusaderminiatures.com/prod. ... =13&page=1
http://www.crusaderminiatures.com/prod. ... =13&page=1
What about these guys from crusader minatures?
If you wanted to make them very unique to normal riders you could even give them hoplite heads
http://hoardobits.com/wgf/WGF-GREEK-SHEAD.jpg

samoht · **Posted:** Fri Aug 24, 2012 12:23 pm

Ardboe wrote:

King Ondoher wrote:

Have a look at Gripping Beast also. They have several ranges that are suitable for Rohan. Early Saxon, Late Saxon, Anglo-Danish. The Early Saxons even have some mounted models.

I looked through gripping beasts stuff but i found that while the models were great the horses were way below par, they'd stick out like a sore thumb unless i got my hands on some gw horses! I really like theyre vikings on foot models, some great potential dunlendings there methinks!

samoht wrote:

Deifintley not the gripping beast knights or the warlord mounted men at arms. Their medieval style clashes horribly with the viking style of the Rohirrim.

I would go for either the Perry figures or the warlord dark ages norman knights.

Those ebob ones are fantastic but once again they clash with the style and don't look very royal looking. They are peasant soldiers.

Hey, im starting to think along the same lines myself. Will definitely have to stick with viking-ish models for this maybe green stuff some cloaks in there. Do you think those horses will go on the round cavalry base though? Yea all of ebob's stuff is awsome I just wish he would make a larger range! Was actually thinking those pikemen would be great for men-at-arms of dol amroth.

Anyone ever do similiar conversion to this?

They should fit on the GW round bases just fine. You'll just need to glue them on and maybe use some GS for strength. If you need to trim anything to make them fit then it shouldn't be much of a problem.

Also, those pikemen would be great for Men at arms of Dol Amroth. If I was making a Dol Amroth army I would probs use them myself.

Telchar · **Posted:** Fri Aug 24, 2012 2:55 pm

I'd take the Perry Normans, and give the RoR shields

Jamros · **Posted:** Fri Aug 24, 2012 3:21 pm

Another pitch for Romano-British cavalry:

http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/ca ... ts_id=1235

http://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/prodd ... 01&cat=162

http://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/prodd ... 04&cat=162

http://edmontonwargamer.blogspot.com/20 ... brits.html

http://edmontonwargamer.blogspot.com/20 ... brits.html

http://edmontonwargamer.blogspot.com/20 ... unted.html

Ardboe · **Posted:** Tue Aug 28, 2012 1:08 pm

Well, after a lot of research into the rohirrim and just about every toy soldier company out there i think ive decided on this:
The perry's norman knights:

And one of these two shields from gripping beast(I like the oval because it ties in well with Theoden and eomers oval shields):

Just think, a few green stuff plumes on the helmets, maybe a few cheek guards, some amour on the horses heads and some cloaks on the riders backs and theyd be pretty great royal guards! For a fraction of the price I might add!

It was tough picking the normans, because as many of you pointed out anglo-saxon or romano-british would match up with rohirrim much better. Unfortunately I wasnt impressed with the mounted sculpts of other miniature companies and I think the horses are probably the most important part of tying these models in with the regular riders of rohan! So thoughts?

Telchar · **Posted:** Tue Aug 28, 2012 5:39 pm

I look forward to seeing them (assuming you'll post them at all).

Ardboe · **Posted:** Tue Aug 28, 2012 7:30 pm

Aw yea well I'm buying 3 knights on thurs so I will definitely put up some wip pics! :-D

Ardboe · **Posted:** Fri Sep 21, 2012 11:37 am

Ok finally getting things moving with these conversions. Ive just recieved the norman knights in the post so heres a few pics along side a rider of rohan for comparison:

And heres the same model with a kite shield, i was originally going to use rohan shields but i must say the kite looks pretty sweet! Will have to ponder this one!

So the next step is the cloak and plume will post pics as soon as i finish! :-D

Ardboe · **Posted:** Tue Sep 25, 2012 4:14 pm

Well here is the knight with a cloak and helmet crest, not the worlds finest sculpting but i dont think it looks half bad!

Now Ive already sculpted the plume, just need to glue it on once everythings hardened and paint it up!

Lord Hurin · **Posted:** Tue Sep 25, 2012 4:57 pm

Looking good! I still think that Old Glory's Romano-British would have been better for Royal Guard as they have a similar scale-mail. It looks as though the knights aren't attached to the horses, is that the case? What about the shields?

Ardboe · **Posted:** Tue Mar 26, 2013 8:55 pm

Hey guys,
Sorry for the hiatus, I always start one project get distracted and then end up starting another. Well Ive come back to my budget RRG and finished the first conversion. Since the last photos were taken Ive green stuff-ed the cloak some more and obviously painted it up aswell. Let me know what you think! :-D

Hirumith, the Grey Knight · **Posted:** Thu Apr 04, 2013 3:39 pm

Well you've certainly done a good job of tying them in with your army! Initially Normans wouldn't have been my first choice, but your conversions have changed my mind - they look good.

On a related note, and not to rock the boat, but if you're still looking for more options, I didn't see Musketeer Miniatures mentioned here. For RRG, I would suggest the following packs:

General and Standard bearer and Heroes from their 28mm Goths/Germanic range.

Cavalry Command and Armored Cavalry (also available in a unit deal) from their 28mm Early Saxons range.

They meet several of the key criteria for RRG for me: open-faced (at least mouth/chin) helmets, beards, and many with scale armor and/or helmet plumes. You would obviously want to add putty cloaks, but the end result would, hopefully, be similar to the official models and the conversions you've already done.

Ardboe · **Posted:** Fri Apr 05, 2013 12:24 am

Thanks man! :-D

Cool minis, that banner bearer is awesome. Theres a ton of options out there for RRG conversions and It seems I've made a pretty unpopular choice for mine. I have to say however in my defence, that I chose Perrys because they make by far the best horses and i promise the next one I'm cooking up is looking a lot better. Im a complete sculpting noob but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it!

RangerofTheNorth · **Joined:** Tue Feb 15, 2011 6:54 pm **Posts:** 483

Hirumith, the Grey Knight wrote:

Well you've certainly done a good job of tying them in with your army! Initially Normans wouldn't have been my first choice, but your conversions have changed my mind - they look good.

On a related note, and not to rock the boat, but if you're still looking for more options, I didn't see Musketeer Miniatures mentioned here. For RRG, I would suggest the following packs:

General and Standard bearer and Heroes from their 28mm Goths/Germanic range.

Cavalry Command and Armored Cavalry (also available in a unit deal) from their 28mm Early Saxons range.

They meet several of the key criteria for RRG for me: open-faced (at least mouth/chin) helmets, beards, and many with scale armor and/or helmet plumes. You would obviously want to add putty cloaks, but the end result would, hopefully, be similar to the official models and the conversions you've already done.

Do you or anyone know how West Wind Productions fantasy line , lines up with the sbg? I'm particularly interested in the humans and high elf miniatures. The orcs and dwarves are obviously oversized for war hammer proxies

Hirumith, the Grey Knight · **Posted:** Fri Apr 05, 2013 11:40 am

Ardboe wrote:

Thanks man! :-D

Cool minis, that banner bearer is awesome. Theres a ton of options out there for RRG conversions and It seems I've made a pretty unpopular choice for mine. I have to say however in my defence, that I chose Perrys because they make by far the best horses and i promise the next one I'm cooking up is looking a lot better. Im a complete sculpting noob but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it!

No, I think you made a great choice! The only reason I said I wouldn't have started with Normans is that I'm a lazy converter, but I think yours has turned out great. Definitely looking forward to seeing more.

RangerofTheNorth wrote:

Do you or anyone know how West Wind Productions fantasy line , lines up with the sbg? I'm particularly interested in the humans and high elf miniatures. The orcs and dwarves are obviously oversized for war hammer proxies

No idea, sorry. At a glance, I guess to me the humans look a tad chunky, but would probably make decent Dunlendings, but the elves look pretty tall and slim. I don't have any of the models, though, so I'm afraid I really couldn't say for sure.

Alternative Rohan Royal Guard models

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