Non-empire Freeguild

[Hedgehog39]

So I have a strange notion to try to make a mixed Order or Cities of Sigmar force to take part in the NOVA Open narrative campaign. However, I'm not a big fan of the faux holy Roman empire look that the standard freeguild models come with.

Anyone tried to kit-bash human infantry with GW bits? I was thinking that the militarum tempests scion bodies might be good for greatswords, and chaos marauder legs don't seem to have any overt spikes that would need trimming.  Can anyone make any recommendations? 

[Evangelist of Cinders]

kitbashing is a pretty unlimited thing, more material,skill, ideas and theme are more limiting sometimes then the kit options(one day i'll be able to make Yan Lifida  freeguild but not  till my skulpting is better), with out ideas for what theme your leaning toward I'm gonna be broad and eclectic with my suggestions.  the key is to make sure folks can tell what it is unmistakable as what it is and for some a little bit of  extra to make sure its not just a proxy model(not required but frowned upon) for NOVA though I understand some ease and time may be of the essence.

hot water to bend things, greenstuff to make fur,cloth and chain-mail over loose joints, plasticard for plate can also help if bodys seem too squat extending things a bit. A cheap set of jewelers files or a dremel are a god send

all that said as someone whom loves to kitbash older kits tend to be easier to work with as more dynamic poses tend to make swapping parts harder. the tempest scions if i recall have separate flat arms(as oppose to ball or pin joints that others have) just like the great swords and definitely should be able to interact with each other with ease. same is true with most old plastic imperial guard kits, bretonnian heads and the like. the marauder pack I will warn came make some torsos look like they are squatting rather then moving or in formation.   SKitarri and necrumunda kits may also work  just clip and file off the hoses and more scifi stuff, add some fur or chainmail and a few broken watch parts for a clock work theme but i havent worked with those avoid space marine kits except for bits, even the tactical parts can seem like mutations on other gw minis

keep in mind scale may all be the same but it doesnt always work model to model there are tricks you can do . here for scale ideas are some WiP free guild experiments of mine with the stormcast as a reference. on the left is a frostgrave body, perry historical and a sister of battle head(i think) and old empire bits giving an idea how bulk and placement can move historical 28mm into heroic scale, middle bretonnia bits unknown arms joints that were too short for the bretonnia  body covered the awkwardness with filing and some greenstuff chainmail(i'm in no way a good sculptuure). last one 80s perry miniture empire head and sword, used plasticard for the shield and to extend the metal coif to the neck so the head fit the scale arm extended with a paperclip pin and greenstufff

[ if your club and NOVA allow it perry minitures mixed with bulkier GW kits and Frostgrave bits also look great}

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/10/04/converting-your-own-free-city-oct-4gw-homepage-post-3/

is an interesting article on how army theme is important for making kitbashing work all the better.

Edited February 5, 2020 by Evangelist of Cinders
word choice

[Hedgehog39]

I spoke with the NOVA Open coordinators and they indicated that if there was a model in production, that I should use that. However, in the same list of examples, they had someone asking for approval to use a creature caster model as a greater daemon, so I asked for clarification about using Deus Vult or Warlord Games minis as stand=ins with approval.

Barring that, I'm thinking that I'll try using imperial guard legs and saw off the torsos for freeguild guard and see if the effect works. For greatswords I think I'm going to try tempestus scion legs with the standard greatsword torsos.

[Evangelist of Cinders]

a heads upon the deus veult stuff, it can look really small compared to Heroic 28 scale stuff;especially the cavalry where a fully mounted knight is barely larger then a bretonnian warhorse . Planning out things if you want them to not look misshapen next to GW minis. the Cadian shock troop legs are defently separate from the torso though they have that tunic shirt. a Head and arm swap or a lot of converting should be all you need. when the kit first came out GW bragged about how easy it was to  convert and kitbash  units with it

Here is Peachy's Ventrillian nobles using a head swap and a napolionic paint scheme while this is a 40k conversion using an AoS to make things  look more old fashion it may give you an idea. some filing off aquilas adding fantasy bits and painting would grain and you could have a free guild with a similar build

the model i have next to the stormcast is a frostgrave body with perry mini historic for the arms and some of the gear. the bulk of the gear helps it fit the scale but most historic models don't have layers of fur and leather. the last is a perry twin sculpt from when warhammer was closer to historic scale and it works by again the armour of the men at arms mini helps

https://www.ozdestro.com/beardy-hammer-blog/kitbashing-frostgrave-perry-miniatures-the-mix-works

is a fun blog on post on kitbashing the perry miniture war of the roses, mercenaries with frostgrave I did a similar thing for a morheim campaign and we got about 60 minis out of it with good planning  of head to body ratio and some GW bits that helped them fit the setting, and scale, even standing next to GW AoS minis

I havent worked with warlord minis but they fallow a similar historic scale instead of GWs heroic.

[zilberfrid]

The Tempestus scions are also on my radar for human Kharadron, their bodies really look good for this.

You could look in LotR kits, Hobbit stuff seems rather detailed, though they are not as exaggerated as Warhammer stuff (they look like humans).

Frostgrave is brilliant, having females with functional outfits.

[Double Misfire]

Duncan Rhodes' Solakain Spearmen are pretty famous, they've even got a video on how to convert them:

 

With the new(ish) Warcry warbands it shouldn't be hard to come up with unique barbaric or classical looking Freeguild if that's a theme you're keen on.  

[JackStreicher]

On 2/6/2020 at 7:48 PM, Double Misfire said:

Duncan Rhodes' Solakain Spearmen are pretty famous, they've even got a video on how to convert them:

 

With the new(ish) Warcry warbands it shouldn't be hard to come up with unique barbaric or classical looking Freeguild if that's a theme you're keen on.  

Oh well, had I seen this video before it would have made things quicker

 

my version of the Hoplites called „Warriors of the Hollow Sun“

[Evantas]

For handgunners from Tempest's Eye, I used Cadian guardsmen with Pistolier heads, so that they look like they've been influenced somewhat by the technology of the Khadaron Overlords. 

 

 

Edited August 28, 2020 by Evantas