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I've been in love with the Death Riders since I first laid my eyes on them, awesome models beyond a doubt. The DKoK army I field is always having at least two units of five of the lads. But since the new rules in "Siege of Vraks" gave us the Death Rider detachment I'll be giving the guys even more love.

At the moment I have 28 Death Riders. 15 of them painted up, 5 being undercoated and 8 which are in various stages of being build. Let's start with some pics of the guys I've painted over the last 1,5 years. BTW: the guy with the flag is a little different now. He killed a Flyrant (with two wounds left) during a game, being on his own after his comrades had been killed. I was so proud of him I made a little medal out of greenstuff for him .



All nice and dandy, ten of these guys make for a nice squad on the table. But I had 28 of them and the uniform and static pose of them somehow bothered me. So I decided on making them a little bit more dynamic. First of all I used hot water to change the pose of the rider; turning his body a little to the side, moving it more forewards so he is hunched over the horse's head to simulate speed and changing the stance of the horse's head as well.
This worked fine with the rider, but didn't work out as well with the legs of the horses. They broke.

Well, obviously I wasn't happy with that at all. But from one thing came another and before long I was going ahead with some real conversionwork. Cutting the legs up in two or three places, pinning them together again and then applying loads of green stuff to get the legs right again. It is quite a lot of work but I am happy with the results. The conversionwork on the first five is done now and they have been painted up. Over the next couple of weeks I will continue with the other 8. And then.....get more. 40, 50, 75. I am not sure where I want to stop with this


The lads on the table during a nice game yesterday



Automatically Appended Next Post:
First off the galloping riders. They are the same models but due to the bending and cutting they have a completely different pose. I like them but think there is perhaps a little too much 'action' to create an entire unit galloping. So the other ones will be slowed down a bit and look more like the one on the railroad base. Amazingly that model is quite stable and sturdy, even though it is standing on just one hoof.
From the amount of places which have greenstuff you can see where I had to break and pin the legs to get another pose. Since these models were 'prototypes' for me I wasn't as careful as I should have been. Resulting in broken scabards, bended reins etc. During the painting process I discovered there were some parts I missed. Will fix these later when I am greenstuffing again.





Next up is my absolute favorite model so far. I just love the aggressive pose. This was actually easier to do then the galloping ones. But of course you can only have a certain number of prancing horses.





And a mounted commissar. Simple conversion but IMHO it is very effective.



The models are painted up now, but I did not make any pictures of them yet. So when I do I'll post them.

Awesome work on those horses! How much time did it take to position all their legs?

Your Commissar looks pretty awesome as well, although I think he should have a bolt pistol rather than a puny lasgun; although his death stare probably has the same effect as a bolt to the face

Finally made some time for some pictures. Alas I didn't use the good light today so had to do with some lamps. Hence the somewhat crappy pictures. A well.

First of is the commissar.




This is my personal favorite, a mounted sergeant.








And some galloping Death Riders.





The last of the bunch is setting off for a jump.

Looking great a bionic limb on a officers horse would look good too

Those models are really something special.

Very nice work. Those turned out really well. I'd love to get some if they didn't cost more than my small Ork army for ten models, lol.

Thanks a lot for the nice comments guys!

 Veteran Sergeant wrote:
Very nice work. Those turned out really well. I'd love to get some if they didn't cost more than my small Ork army for ten models, lol.

They cost a lot of time to make but actually it isn't that hard to do. The only funny thing is that it takes more time to model them then to paint the actual models .

Over the last days I've been working on some more Death Riders. First of all there will be a model for a Platoon/ Company commander, based on the normal infantry platoon commander. Next to that I've cut up a normal death rider and added a radio to his back and a bionic leg to his horse, this will be one of the models for my HQ. Last are a jumping horse (landing on the front-legs with a bionic hind-leg) and another galloping model. I think four models are more then enough to greenstuff and paint at the same time.

Here are some WIP pics on the progress of my Platoon/ Company commander. The horse has a bionic hind-leg, (some ork bit) and is running at quite a pace. I am not happy with this base yet, so that will be changed. This model took me some 1,5 / 2 hours to build so far. Then it is on to the greenstuff. First a layer for the big gaps, then the detail.

Brilliant conversions. They're subtle and well-executed to the point that someone unfamiliar with the original sculpts would believe you bought them that way. I'm also impressed with anyone who takes a niche army concept and decides to go full blast with it. A full Rough Rider platoon with 40-60 horses would be an awesome sight.

Just beautiful...

Awesome stuff! Can't wait to see more man, loving the conversions, makes your DKOK stand out from all the others

Thanks a lot chaps. A lot of my time has been spent on building my Malcador, but I have started with the Greenstuff stages on the three new riders I am currently building. Here's one of them, the most dynamic model so far, I think.

Singleton Mosby wrote:
Thanks a lot chaps. A lot of my time has been spent on building my Malcador, but I have started with the Greenstuff stages on the three new riders I am currently building. Here's one of them, the most dynamic model so far, I think.

Yeah, that definitely qualifies as dynamic, LOL! Not sure if it's possible at this stage, but the rider should be leaning back just a bit more, almost in line with the horse's front legs. Otherwise, great conversion

These are breathtakingly good mate. Detail is amazing. Great job very impressed.

Looks jawdropping. I love the 'rearing to strike' lancer!

I've been pondering Death Rider lancers (despite myself!) since I heard there was such a detachment in the new Vraks book, and this may have pushed me over into getting it.

I approve of this, but my wallet does not!

Yesterday I finished my Armageddon pattern Medusa. Some artillery support for the Death riders which will be used as a medusa (assault lost) or colossus (siege list). All the tanks are in the same German grey pattern, with the smaller centaurs having desert yellow stripes. Of course I want to have a 1000 points cavalry army somewhere in the future . But that will take time. And the lads will always need their support.

A couple of WIP pictures of the Riders. The models have been Greenstuffed, undercoated and are now getting some base colors. Far from ready but I guess it will give an idea of the model's pose.

I've been having a little trouble with the flesh of the bionic leg (the part adjoining the metal). Anybody for some tips?

Death Riders 16, 17 & 18 have been done. Unfortunately I am struggling with getting some good pictures of them big-time. So, here are some pictures, which do not really do the models justice.

This is the Platoon commander; lieutenant Heinz Lhass. His horse received a severe wound during the storming of trench K-890 two months ago. In such an occasion Krieg infantrymen are quickly dispatched with by a quartermaster, since they can be replaced quite easily. The same is not the case for the mounts of the Death Riders. On Krieg as well as Vraks, horses are rare. Hence they are not only augmented with inbuilt stimulants, but also 'rebuilt' with bionic limbs or organs. Lieutenant Lhass' horse had lost one of his rear legs which was replaced by a bionic leg instead. As you can see additional tubes for the stimultants are running to the lower part of the leg. The wound has healed quite well and according to the lieutenant his horse now performs better then ever, having gained a strong kick in the hind legs which allows it to jump further and gallop quicker.
Lieutenant Lhass has spent his lance during the initial charge and is now galloping for a follow-up attack brandishing his sword and laspistol.








The second model is corporal Napier. Here seen entering no-mans-land in and charging towards the renegade enemy. As might be obvious, his horse suffered a horrendous wound during a previous action. The entire hind-quarters was blown away in a big explosion which also wounded the corporal himself. Through intricate medical bionics, use transplantation and worse vicissitudes, a horse which should normally not be alive, let alone in active service, is now charging the enemy again.

Some more heavy artillery support (almost) ready for action.

Forgetting using my orders is a stupid habit of mine. So in order to remember the new "Dig in!" order and show which units are dug in I made a couple of counters:

Looking great . The new rust stalker kits will be a good source of bionic legs for the houses too .

Really good stuff, the horses eye lens came out really well.

Amazing! Can we see a group shot of them all together so far :-)

Awesome work! Really dynamic and impressive poses and models!! Love the DKoK and your really doing them justice!

Thanks a lot lads! I've almost finished three more which will make the total of Death Riders 21 (still 29 to go). If I can find the time today I'll make a groupshot of the lads.

Great job man! Love the dynamic poses, and I especially like the dig in markers.

Thanks a lot Ustrello!

Wasn't able to make a picture of the full (21 men) platoon, hope to do so tomorrow.

But here is the new addition to the platoon. 4 Deathriders, almost finished. The first and third (from left) are marching their horse at a slow but steady pace, the one on the left is a squad leader. The horse second from left is charging at quite a fast pace, with the rider striking the lance at its target and the horse swerving his head away to avoid the impact.
The model on the right was an experiment. The idea was to give the Death Rider Company command squad, which all are at easy, a new model with a horse laden with supplies for the HQ. The sergeant is holding the horse by the reins and awaits orders for the next move of the HQ squad.

I'll try to get some better pictures tomorrow and include the other 18 riders as well

Superb stuff!

Wow these Riders looks absolutely amazing , especially the bases, I'm assuming those are all custom made? I'm thinking of starting a DKoK army as well, a Death Rider Squadron to be precise. I'll also have to think of a way to create a proper command squad, I'm thinking of using a space marine company flag as that one does not have sculpted details on it as I wasn't looking forward to paying another 30 pounds just to get my hands on a platoon or regiment banner. Although, on a army that will already cost 1000 pound I suppose 30 extra shouldn't be that much of a problem . How did you get your hands on the commissar though? I have been looking but as it was a gamesday exclusive its pretty much not available anywhere :( (one site sells it for about 20 euros but I'm fairly sure that is a recast).

Nice rough riders!