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I know this is a topic that has been discussed many a time, but I've been looking at things I could use to build female imperial guard. The only two things I've come across so far that look good were

Shadowforge mini's sci-fi conversion pack

http://eurekamin.com.au/product_info.php?currency=CAD&products_id=12209

and Chapterhouse mini's Abbithan Banshee Guardswoman

http://chapterhousestudios.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=77_125&product_id=163

However both look kinda vague and I'm not sure about the quality of them, in such a state I turn to the wisdom of Dakka, does anyone know how well these kits work/ if there are any better kits than these?

Are you looking to do a whole army - or something to mix in with GW figures?

Probably the Latter, I'm running a manpower IG army atm and was interested in making a few mixed squads

In that case...it is the only option that is readily available...however, not one that I am a fan of.

The figures will look more female than male...though to me, they always look more like men in drag due to the other features besides the chest that make a female look female.

If you can find some of the old Phoenix Club Cadians - they are a better option. They were legs, chest and head - with those parts being in the right proportions...as well as a bit shorter than the regular IG. Even those were not that great due to the arms/shoulders being taken from the regular IG. If my memory is correct, after Phoenix disappeared - the same figures were released for a time by Lost Clan...which is also lost now. Not sure if they moved on from there as I haven't really been watching those too closely.

If you were running Catachans - the Shadowforge Marine Special Ops are a pretty good fit. Same general Rambo/Vietnam pulp look to them. Copplestone Female Troopers as well for that matter. Although a bit shorter than GW - it works well enough due to the whole male versus female issue.

The Politburo Workers are not a horrible fit. There are some definite design differences between them and Cadians (which I assume will be your base male figures) - but a lot of those can be countered with matching paint schemes and a little conversion work (blousing the pants over the boots - and of course swapping weapons).

Yeah, from what I've seen the chapterhouse stuff seems kinda skinny and clashes a lot with normal guard arms, and while the sci-fi conversion pack seems to look a bit nicer than the chapterhouse mini's, the lack of legs makes me think I'll need to sculpt/find different legs AND arms to avoid them looking like drag queens... sigh

Too bad it looks like the Pheonix Club Cadians are gone from the web, I can't find anything on them earlier than 2010...

Keep an eye out at Victoria Miniatures. She is reportedly working on some female IG.

I've no idea how far off it is, but Raging Heroes have been talking about doing a kickstarter for female guard for a while now, at the moment all we have seen is concept art.

I've bought some character pieces from them and was really happy with the quality, I'll be interested to see how a larger scale project goes.

http://www.ragingheroes.com/pages/kickstarter-news

P.S: They have already done 3 commissar style female models.

http://www.ragingheroes.com/collections/complete-collection/products/kurganovas-sf

I recently found that taking catachan legs and shaving the belt off, attaching to a cadian torso, fill gaps with GS and sand down tend to create feminine hips. Only problem left is finding heads.

On the subject of finding heads, I've heard one of the hardest things is finding arms that don't have manly man hands (thus making the woman seem like a gorilla). Anyone know convenient ways around that?

Also, thanks to everyone who's chipped into the thread here, it's given me a lot of awesome resources to work with. : D

It depends on how much work you want to put into it and how much money you want to spend.

Using sacrificial hands from any female miniature from other companies works fairly well - though that gets costly. Some of the GW figures have smaller hands than the IG (Eldar for example...both regular and Dark). You can also pick up hands and arms from certain retailers who sell bits for their existing miniature lines...like this one:

http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/hand/sku-down/P30001E

If you use alternate hands though - you end up having to shape them up a bit to hold their weapons. If you use alternate arms - you end up having to work those over to add shoulder pads and jacket sleeves.

I don't think I have seen arms/hands as an option in any of the female kits that are currently out though.

Maybe these heads?

http://statuesqueminiatures.shop033.com/p/7618481/sma002-resistance-fighters--helmeted-heads.html
http://statuesqueminiatures.shop033.com/p/8543976/sma007-resistance-fighters--cracking-hairdo-heads.html
http://statuesqueminiatures.shop033.com/p/8543979/sma008-resistance-fighters--beret-heads.html
And the rest of the shop also has some nice female fighters. Some might work as special caracters like an commissar or something.


And as far as hands go you probably need to sculpt them yourself as i don't think that there are much other minis out there where you can get fitting hands and arms for a decent price But if you don't have problems to spent some money DE arms/hands might work fairly well.

Sean_OBrien and btldoomhammer never thought about using DE parts for the arms, I have a bunch of extra parts lying around so I may try combinding DE hands with guard arms over the weekend. Too bad DE arms are so goddamn muscular.

 btldoomhammer wrote:
Maybe these heads?

http://statuesqueminiatures.shop033.com/p/7618481/sma002-resistance-fighters--helmeted-heads.html
http://statuesqueminiatures.shop033.com/p/8543976/sma007-resistance-fighters--cracking-hairdo-heads.html
http://statuesqueminiatures.shop033.com/p/8543979/sma008-resistance-fighters--beret-heads.html
And the rest of the shop also has some nice female fighters. Some might work as special caracters like an commissar or something.


And as far as hands go you probably need to sculpt them yourself as i don't think that there are much other minis out there where you can get fitting hands and arms for a decent price But if you don't have problems to spent some money DE arms/hands might work fairly well.

those are the best female heads I've ever seen.