Freeguild of Ghur: The Beast Within (Kroot Conversion)

[AthlorianStoners]

So I made a post over in the order thread about starting this army up, and received a lot of brilliant feedback and enthusiasm. With that being said, I’d like to start working on this army ASAP and am looking for anyone’s tips/hints/ideas. 

Mill be finishing up my Death army this week (FEC) and amnexcited to start this new order army. 

The lore I have for the army (so far) would be this:

During the age of myth, a large city was established in Ghur. As the age of chaos dawned, the inhabitants of this city fought fiercely, the natural environment of Ghur saving them from the worst of the dark gods predations. Over generations, the natural magical energies of the realm of beasts warped and mutate the inhabitants of the city, until they reflected the harsh environment they swelled in. Now, I’m the age of Sigmar, they fight for the lords name, their faith in him and azyr havjng becoming and paganistic religion, worshiping idols form their past as great treasures and heirlooms. 

The ideas I have thus far are: 

- Kroot Carnivores as Handgunners. This is a pretty straight forward jump, as their weapons style and posing is fairly similar. What I would like to add here is some Azyrite symbology and a Banner. I’m thinking of using an Orcish or Ogor Banner for the tattered looked and painting Azyrite symbols on it to convey the idea that this is an old, worn and treasured heirloom from their past connection to Azyr. Similar singular items such as a sword or a piece of heraldry may also be included. I’ll be looking at maybe 20 of these, and use them as a starting point for the army to get a handle on how to paint them and model them. 

- Kroot Hounds as Gryph Hounds (Allied): Again an easy transplant. Not much to convert here but a useful visual key.  The standard 4, or perhaps 8. Unsure as of yet.

- Krootox as Demigryph: Seemingly one of the more expensive units that I’ll field. As such I want them to feature more conversion. To do so, I will remodel the riders, so they will be equipped with a lance and shield. Grot or Orc weapons may be the goal for this, as I want to keep that savage look. The gun will also be removed from the Krootox’s back. To differentiate the Krootox themselves, I’ll give them various armour pieces, taken from a mix of different order units and made to look salvaged and scraped together. A unit of three will suffic here I think. 

- Kroot Carnivores as Greatswords: To do this unit, I’ll use the Carnivores kit again. From there, I’d like to modify some bloodleyter swords and add them to the kit. Expanding from there id like to make them more bulky to distinguish them from the Handgunners, and maybe modify their heads somewhat, perhaps sculpting some forehead armour with plumes. A unit of ten should work here. 

- Kroot Shaper as Freeguild General: moulding more of a tattered cape seemingly on the cards here. 

Tzaangor Shaman as Wizard (Allied): An idea I’d like to see through, converting a Tzaangor Shaman body with a Kroot head. The disc of Tzeentch would be replaced by a large chunk of forrested earth with an Azyrite symbol scratched in. The idea here being this is an old Azyrite comet sent with the Freeguild when they first arrive long ago, that has been awakened to use its energies for battle. A fun idea that has me excited. 

Great Knarloc as Freeguild General on Griffon: The centrepiece for the army. Unsure of how to work the wings into the model. May leave them off and explain its flight as more of “leaping bound”. I’m terms of the rider, I’d like to give him a shield and runesword. For the sword I’d want to use an actual Azyrite artefact, maybe a Stormcast sword then. The gun and secondary rider would be removed I think and saved for future conversions.

thay brings me to just over 1000 points, which is cool as my gaming group do the +/- 250 to the point limits.

please let me know if you have any more ideas! Love to here them.

[Lucio]

An interesting concept and you've got a pretty solid handle on what you're doing.

I'd consider how you'll fill out some of the other army roles as well, the freeguild needs some solid blocks of Freeguild Guard, so have some spear or sword weilding Kroot as well, Beastmen Ungors could be a good source of weapons (includes bows)

[AthlorianStoners]

6 hours ago, Lucio said:

An interesting concept and you've got a pretty solid handle on what you're doing.

I'd consider how you'll fill out some of the other army roles as well, the freeguild needs some solid blocks of Freeguild Guard, so have some spear or sword weilding Kroot as well, Beastmen Ungors could be a good source of weapons (includes bows)

Oh that’s a great idea thank you! 

I actually have never played against Freeguild or used them before so I’m unfamiliar with what is a good unit to use. 

[Avatar Rage]

I really love this idea. Best of luck to you. I cannot wait to see picks.

[Thundercake]

This is an ace idea! I hope you can find the great Knarloc. I wish they still made the regular knarloc riders.

[AthlorianStoners]

5 hours ago, Avatar Rage said:

I really love this idea. Best of luck to you. I cannot wait to see picks.

Thank you! I’m doing the planning now hopefully have updates soon. 

2 hours ago, Thundercake said:

This is an ace idea! I hope you can find the great Knarloc. I wish they still made the regular knarloc riders.

I’ve got a few on watch on eBay, but I think ill have to wait until I’m longer into the project to justify buying one. 

[AthlorianStoners]

*Cross post with the Let’s Chat: Freeguild thread

I’m now well underway into the planning stages and I’m at a loss as to what I should actually take in terms of warscrolls to build the army. What’s good and in what numbers? What should I avoid? 

My current plan was something like this: 

1 General on Griffin 

1 General on Foot

1 General on Mount  

1 Battlemage (Allied) 

10 Archers 

20 Handgunners 

20 Greatswords

3 Gryph Knights 

4 Gryphhounds (Allied) 

1 Hellblaster Volley Cannon (Allied)

That doesn’t bring me up to the full 2000 points but it’s a start.

what else should I get and what do you think of the current list? Please any help is appreciated  

[flamingwalnut]

20 hours ago, AthlorianStoners said:

*Cross post with the Let’s Chat: Freeguild thread

I’m now well underway into the planning stages and I’m at a loss as to what I should actually take in terms of warscrolls to build the army. What’s good and in what numbers? What should I avoid? 

My current plan was something like this: 

1 General on Griffin 

1 General on Foot

1 General on Mount  

1 Battlemage (Allied) 

10 Archers 

20 Handgunners 

20 Greatswords

3 Gryph Knights 

4 Gryphhounds (Allied) 

1 Hellblaster Volley Cannon (Allied)

That doesn’t bring me up to the full 2000 points but it’s a start.

what else should I get and what do you think of the current list? Please any help is appreciated  

Interesting conversion ideas, excited to see how they pan out. 

For the list, a few suggestions. First, two Generals aren't needed. General on Griffon is good, and the mounted General has a fantastic command ability, and the flag is wonderful. But since you have little need for two flags and you only get one command ability, you can drop the General on foot.

Second, Freeguild loves bodies. I woulf suggest a big block of 40 Swordsmen to protect all your squishy shooters. Give your General on Horse the Indomitable command trait, put Mystic Shield on the Swordsmen, and they will pretty much NEVER die. 

Other than that, seems solid. Gryph Hounds are interesting, but they can be flimsy. Either way, good luck!

[AthlorianStoners]

1 hour ago, flamingwalnut said:

Interesting conversion ideas, excited to see how they pan out. 

For the list, a few suggestions. First, two Generals aren't needed. General on Griffon is good, and the mounted General has a fantastic command ability, and the flag is wonderful. But since you have little need for two flags and you only get one command ability, you can drop the General on foot.

Second, Freeguild loves bodies. I woulf suggest a big block of 40 Swordsmen to protect all your squishy shooters. Give your General on Horse the Indomitable command trait, put Mystic Shield on the Swordsmen, and they will pretty much NEVER die. 

Other than that, seems solid. Gryph Hounds are interesting, but they can be flimsy. Either way, good luck!

Thanks for the tips! The large block of swordsmen is daunting haha but it seems everyone says go large blocks. 

[flamingwalnut]

20 hours ago, AthlorianStoners said:

Thanks for the tips! The large block of swordsmen is daunting haha but it seems everyone says go large blocks. 

I get ya. It is a BIG reason I looked for a more elite second army, just to let me have a game without moving 100+ models. For starters, 20 Swordsman is fine for small games, and with buffs you can even cap out at 30 dudes and be fine. The handgunners might actually be more important to max out due to their +1 to hit for unit size.

Another thought is to consider mixed Order over pure Freeguild. Wanderers would fit the guerilla tactics of a beastial kingdom in Ghur super well. Stormcast can also fill in a lot of gaps and keep numbers down, either through actual Stormcasts, or buffed up Kroot wearing ancient and worn ancestral armor. The new Daughters of Khaine's Khinari could fit as the old Winged Kroot from back in the day. Maybe some cavalry units as Kroot Centaurs? Lots you can do with it. 

[AthlorianStoners]

6 hours ago, flamingwalnut said:

I get ya. It is a BIG reason I looked for a more elite second army, just to let me have a game without moving 100+ models. For starters, 20 Swordsman is fine for small games, and with buffs you can even cap out at 30 dudes and be fine. The handgunners might actually be more important to max out due to their +1 to hit for unit size.

Another thought is to consider mixed Order over pure Freeguild. Wanderers would fit the guerilla tactics of a beastial kingdom in Ghur super well. Stormcast can also fill in a lot of gaps and keep numbers down, either through actual Stormcasts, or buffed up Kroot wearing ancient and worn ancestral armor. The new Daughters of Khaine's Khinari could fit as the old Winged Kroot from back in the day. Maybe some cavalry units as Kroot Centaurs? Lots you can do with it. 

Yeah I knew this was gonna be expensive when I started. I play BCR and FeC so a big army is new to me, but I’m excited. 

Mixed order could be an option as I expand, for sure. The first 1000 points I’ll build as pure Freeguild and see how i go from there 

[AthlorianStoners]

First update time! 

I have three kits of Kroot Carnivores ordered, as well as a box of Ungors to use for weapons (10 spears and 10 bows is just great. 

I also purchased some Knarloc riders off of eBay but I have a suspicion they’re castings. The seller said they weren’t and since the kit is no longer sold I’m less apprehensive than I norm ally would be. Update when they arrive.

[AthlorianStoners]

Having finished my last army, it’s full steam ahead over here. First ten Handgunners are done, as is the General on foot. Conversions here are minimal atm, though there will be some small details added. 

colour wise the plan is a pale green/brown skin tone with black head spikes. The head spines will have colour accents depending on rank and role. 

Random pieces of weaponry and armour will be coloured as if faded Azyrite armour, representing the passage of time and heirlooms passed down from azyr.

the rest of the army, and where the real conversion work begins, will probably be as follows: 

the list is chosen more for conversion opportunities and variety of units versus competitive playability.

The conversion ideas are now as follows: 

- archers will have bows and hands taken from beastmen kits, standards and command units will also be taken from the same kits. 

- guard will also take their spears and shields from beastmen kits. 

- the prosecutors will be converted to be flying, with gargoyle wings and spears.

- the battlemage will be a converted skyfire, floating on a magical rock. 

- the Greatswords I’m unsure of weapon source. These will be more heavily armoured and I may take them in a h it of 20 if I enjoy building them.  

Please leave any ideas or suggestions you have below, I’d love to hear them!

[Swooper]

This is such a great project! Really looking forward to watching it come together.

[Lucio]

Did occur to me earlier that the Gorebeast from the Chaos Chariot kit may he a boon for you when it comes to building riders, particularly to give you some variants.

Also Google has thown up this site, now 99% sure these are castings because they include listing the Games Day Kroot shaper but it might help

http://all4wargames.com/category/kroot/

 

[AthlorianStoners]

2 hours ago, Lucio said:

Did occur to me earlier that the Gorebeast from the Chaos Chariot kit may he a boon for you when it comes to building riders, particularly to give you some variants.

Also Google has thown up this site, now 99% sure these are castings because they include listing the Games Day Kroot shaper but it might help

http://all4wargames.com/category/kroot/

 

Oh damn that’s a great idea thank you! I wonder how it’s size compared to a Krootox. I’ll defintely check out that site as well. 

4 hours ago, Swooper said:

This is such a great project! Really looking forward to watching it come together.

Thank you! I’m really excited for it and it’s got me so enthused by the hobby, even more than any army I’ve done previously.

[Thundercake]

On 4/7/2018 at 12:53 AM, AthlorianStoners said:

- the Greatswords I’m unsure of weapon source. These will be more heavily armoured and I may take them in a h it of 20 if I enjoy building them.  

Why not use bestigor axes, you are already going with beastmen weapons for the others, or keep the regular greatswords and just rust them up or something.

 

[AthlorianStoners]

10 hours ago, Thundercake said:

Why not use bestigor axes, you are already going with beastmen weapons for the others, or keep the regular greatswords and just rust them up or something.

That’s a good, using just the melee weapons from beastmen kits. Thanks, I’ll use that  

small update, ordered another kit of Carnivores, a kit of Kroot Hounds and a kit of Ungors.

[AthlorianStoners]

Huge update guys, got a lot of work done!

so I have the first “tester” units for my Archers and Guard almost complete. Still have some more conversion work and finetuning to go, but this is the general gist of what they’re going to be like. 

Heres a few solo guys from each unit to give you a sense of the asthetic. 

So I’ll start with the guard. Spears and shields in a hoplite like pose. Each of them also have a cape/sash from the Kroot kit that will help distinguish them when painted.

 

Next up are the Archers.  Wet happy with these as fitting the arms on at the right angles took a lotttt Of work. 

As shown previously, the Handgunners are essentially the base kit. They’ll be the only units with the Kroot shoulder pads, and probably with all the knives and sidearms. 

This was an impulse conversion but I’m very happy with the results. A battlemage made out of just Kroot Carnivores parts (minus the cloak which is from the giant kit). 

The Kroot Hounds as Outriders. I still need to get a fifth one to fill up the unit. First time using fine cast and I hate it

And then this is the group shot of everything I have now.

I’ll do some lore and background in a seperate post. Advice, critiques and ideas always welcome and encouraged!

[kenshin620]

Really cool start!

[AthlorianStoners]

34 minutes ago, kenshin620 said:

Really cool start!

Thank you! Really loving this project.

[Melcavuk]

Really great work

Might be worth building up the bases on those hounds to get closer to the height of the outrider models. I'm not sure how your local meta is but I'd end up getting complaints if the model was of a lower (or easier to hide) size than the original model. Its part of why my werewolf is posed on a fallen pillar.

[AthlorianStoners]

4 hours ago, Melcavuk said:

Really great work

Might be worth building up the bases on those hounds to get closer to the height of the outrider models. I'm not sure how your local meta is but I'd end up getting complaints if the model was of a lower (or easier to hide) size than the original model. Its part of why my werewolf is posed on a fallen pillar.

Yeah I’m working on converting up some riders, possibly from goblins maybe. If not I’ll drfitrly build them, even just to fill the base out some more.

[Melcavuk]

Ghouls might work. I did an old ghoul riding wolf conversion with a little leg bending and some greenstuff. They’re suitably lean that with a head swap they might pass for kroot 

[Thundercake]

love it so far. only two things I have as critiques I have is that I don't like those shields, they seem to thick. I dunno what else could be used, maybe serpahon shields but its a minor thing. Also, that mage looks more like a general with a stately war banner to me. I don't see anything on him that says magic to me.