Black Knights

[Prometheo]

Ok, I am unsure if this has been commented already. In case it is, feel free to flame my noobishness.

On my VC army I am trying to stay away from cavalry, but I was thinking today on some cheap alternative to GW's partially metallic models. Mainly since I don't like the models very much.

Here there are some guides about converting Empire knights but what about using other undead? It sprang to my mind that there are GW plastic kits for both wight guard (with some awesome armours, IMHO) and Kehmrian cavalry. It seems pretty obvious to just glue the upper torso + head of a wight to the horse+legs+lance arm of the khemrian. Hell, the wight sprue has some awesome shields which would nicely add some cohesion to the whole thing.

The only meh-ish thing is the bare look of the legs then. Missing the metallic kilt thing that the original models had. Maybe the shield will draw attention from them. The upper part should look heavy-armoured enough, I hope.

The good points is that the spine thing is already done in both minis, and the gluing should be pretty easy and effortless.

What is your oppinion? It is 8 Black Knights and 10 skellys (I guess) for 2 regiment boxes. Sounds cheap enough.

 

[Bug16]

It sprang to my mind that there are GW plastic kits for both wight guard (with some awesome armours, IMHO) and Kehmrian cavalry. It seems pretty obvious to just glue the upper torso + head of a wight to the horse+legs+lance arm of the khemrian. Hell, the wight sprue has some awesome shields which would nicely add some cohesion to the whole thing.

This is what a lot of people have done.

The only meh-ish thing is the bare look of the legs then. Missing the metallic kilt thing that the original models had. Maybe the shield will draw attention from them. The upper part should look heavy-armoured enough, I hope.

If it was me I'd greenstuff some very simple flat plates that I would put on the front of the legs just to balance the armour a bit on the top and bottom of the figure.

The good points is that the spine thing is already done in both minis, and the gluing should be pretty easy and effortless.

The legs on the old Khemri plastics are thicker than the bodies/arms on the new Wights. It doesn't look that obvious once they're built but it's a consideration for some.

What is your oppinion? It is 8 Black Knights and 10 skellys (I guess) for 2 regiment boxes. Sounds cheap enough.

I'd definitely use the Wight boxed set rather than the skeleton boxed set for this conversion. This means that you won't have any spears but you can easily buy these from bits sellers. I certainly wouldn't buy the metal black knights!

 

[Prometheo]

Yeah, I suspected it was so obvious that everyone would have tried.

I have checked the thing with the legs and you are right. I certainly hope that the green stuff will make it unnoticeable. Thank you for the hint

About the skeletons, what I meant is that after creating the 8 knights I have 10 pairs of legs around (wights), and 2 wight chests, plus 8 khemrian chests. It seems easy to make 10 skeletons with those things, at least using some surplus weapons from other sprues (I still have some weapons and shields from my other wights, which I am equipping with a 2h-weapon).

 

[The Dark Sheep]

About the skeletons, what I meant is that after creating the 8 knights I have 10 pairs of legs around (wights), and 2 wight chests, plus 8 khemrian chests. It seems easy to make 10 skeletons with those things, at least using some surplus weapons from other sprues (I still have some weapons and shields from my other wights, which I am equipping with a 2h-weapon).

This is where your plan might go awry. Because the "old" tomb kings skeletons are slightly larger and of a somewhat different design. Thus the model would most likely look out of proportion. Though it is worth a try if you can get hold of the bitz.

 

[Josef]

for the legs just use GS to make and dress or kilt of sorts, look at my plog for some pics...

 

[Darkos]

I've build my BK using khemri cavalry and grave guard. You can see some pictures here:

https://www.vampirecounts.net/showthread.php?tid=4802

For legs, you can use any armored legs (empire knigths, dark elf riders, or the like) if you don't like the naked ones.
Also, Gamezone minis sells awesome skeleton riders, in metal, and about 10 € per model, but it's worth to consider.

For the skelly conversion, i had much the same problem. Khemri are sligthly bigger, but i managed to hide it by gluing some of the spare armor suits in skelly sprue (the excess bulk looks like heavy armor). You can even use them as additional GG. If either don't fits you, you can ever use the bits for some cool basing workout.

Hope i could help

 

[Sersi]

That conversion works fine. I have 20 converted up. The new skeletons and grave guard spines, are not much smaller that the tomb king riders. Not even noticealbe really. My advice go to ebay and bits order some skeleton spears you get like 12x for $1. Your can also bits order the Grave Guard and tomb king rider parts but honestly just buying the entire boxes will be cheaper.

You can just GS the leg armor, capes, and kilts as has been said; but some 0.1 mm styrene sheet from your local Hobby store would be easier to make the leg armor.