WH40k: Cadian Rough Riders

Hello again faithful readers. I am going to present to you today the reason I had to post a filler post the other week. I have finally finished the Rough Riders.  I have posted several work in progress posts on these guys in the past, from the time I built the first guy to the time I painted the horses.  Last weekend was the Buffalo Beef and Wing Brawl.  A local singles, highlander tournament held by a the Beef and Wing game club.  It's always a blast and this year it was the only tournament I attended.  So, I finally had a true reason to push these through as painting is judged.

The entire squad.

I have always wanted to have a cavalry squad, despite how poor they are cost wise.  Point for point I am better off using something else, but it's guys riding horses in the year 40,000 anf they have explosive lances.  They're just too 40k to pass up.

Standard bearer and Sergeant.  No real rules for the flag but hey, it looks  cool.

Painting the horses was a challenge as I have never had to paint anything remotely similar. I tried to add variety with the sergeant having the fanciest looking horse.  That said I feel now I could have done a better job.

These guys are also holding their pistols. One has a wounded arm and the other a bionic hand.

One thing I think I have improved during painting this squad is the process for infantry flesh.  I wrote down what I did so that I can repeat it and I think that of all of my squads they have the best flesh.

Magnetized riders with lances.

Two of the riders have megnetized arms allowing them to carry their lances, meltaguns, or plasma guns.  I scratch built all of the lances from some skeleton spears and plasticard.  The legs I bought from Curious Constructs.

With Melta guns.

I did a bit more chipping and gouges on their armor than I have in the past.  I hope that this helps to break the monotony of their flak jackets and helmets.  With my guardsmen I tend not to go too crazy on detail.  I save that for special characters and the like.

With plasma guns

Going forward I think I am happy with how the troopers look, but not so much some of the horses.  I will probably paint my remaining guardsmen in this fashion.  However, once I start on my mechanicus troops I will either use my airbrush to do zenithal shading or wet blend them for a much more finished look.  The focus of my guard is always the tanks and characters.  The endless masses of troops should just blend into gray.  Thanks for stopping by!