Feudal Guard ideas?

[Pyrotechnics]

I'm looking to convert my guardsmen to look more feudal. I'm currently using Cadian models, and my scheme is black flak armour, red fatigues. I've been thinking of greenstuffing armour plates onto the fatigues, and giving officers swords (proper ones, not chainswords.)

But now I humbly request your input, people of the forum! Have any of you done anything like this before?

[Gerner]

Buy a bretonian kit. It will make a world of difference!

[Pyrotechnics]

That's an option, I suppose, but I was looking for ways to make my existing guardsmen look more feudal, as I really don't have enough money to burn on other kits. I've got some Green Stuff that I can use for this, though.

[commissarbob]

Head swaps at the very least. Floppy renaissance style hats would look good, maybe even pot-style helmets. Heraldric crests on the shoulder could work well too.

*edit, add more...*

Some other things that could be done with minimal fuss is round off the carapace on the torso and smooth out the corners on the shoulders. Added chainmail via greenstuff would also be a step in the right direction. It really depends on how much sculpting you want to do.

[heavyfishcannon]

Just buy the handgunner set, they have some muskets, and floppy hats, for you to use. Really, the whole Empire range should be your friend for this army!

[egon]

The Bretonnian Men-at-Arms works wonders as trenchers. Just give them lasguns and grenades and you're set.
Also small things like throwing in a few swords or bearded heads here and there works wonders.
If you want a more "Feudal Cadian" feel to your army try to get your hands on some Empire and black templar bits. They both have lots of purity seals and other heraldic bits that adds some feudalism to your troops. I've found a bunch of what looks like small Crrux Terminatoris (The skull on the cross) that would look good as shoulder emblems for officers. You could also put them on tanks as identification markers.

If you want a cheap and easy, make sure that all of your guardsmen have some sort of heraldic markings. It can be something as simple as painting the left shoulderpad yellow and the other white (or whatever you decide are the heraldic colours of your army) to a free-hand coat of arms for everyone.

To me, lots of colour looks really outdated (since every modern army uses camoflauge) so a stark, contrasting colour scheme for your army (it doesn't need to be neon bright, just two colour the contrast well) will make it look older and therefor also feudal-ish.

Good luck and remember to post pictures!

[Pyrotechnics]

I've modeled some Green Stuff shields that I'm playing to have hung on the backs of officers who do not have a free hand, and on my platoon commander (whose left arm conveniently fell off recently) I'll cut the straps from the command sprue's broken arm / arm in sling and use it as a shield arm. I've also replaced one chainsword with a greenstuff sword (that was hell to make). I'm thinking that maybe squads in groups of 3 would have a different heraldric symbol on their shoulder, representing which of the noble houses they belonged to (or were peasants serving under). 2-3 squads in a blob is the highest number I run right now due to lack of infantry (I only have 50 Guardsmen right now) with a couple of veteran squads. I've even thought up a bunch of fluff explaining their general armour scheme, but I'll post that tomorrow. Too tired right now.

[vulpine]

Maxi mini have a head set with old age helmets for a straight head swap. Mebs do the carapace metal so they look milder and dropped on. They could then be given las guns. Mebs they are used to black powered but when shipped out these weapons are exchanged for good old lasgun and training while traveling.

[Pyrotechnics]

So, after some thought I've decided to put this on hold. I don't have the money to spend on Bretonians and I'd rather just do easier conversions / modelling things that are fun and look good for now, I'll probably return to this idea later on as Penal Legion proxies (more suited for melee) when I have more modelling skill. This made me realise that I really need to practice with greenstuff before trying something this ambitious, but hopefully I'll be able to do it later.

[egon]

Talk with the people at your LFGS. Perhaps someone there wants to swap some fantasy heads'n'bitz for something you have.

You could always start out with maybe just a command squad of feudal gaurds (the officers always wants to look a bit fancy) and work your way from there. Whatever you chose, good luck!