Kislev: How Would You Build An Army Now?

[Stormwind]

My first game of Warmaster was a 1500 point aside straight battle between me with Chaos versus my veteran friend with an honest GW Kislev army.

It seemed like a lot of fun to be able to focus on the War Wagon as a mobile fortification - and it made me jealous that this is now a rare army - with only the steppe archers available, pushed into the Empire section on the GW site.

I've fiddled through different catalogues and seen various hussars and such - but I figure one of you has already done the hard work and figured out how to proxy a Kislev army using non GW products.  So - I thought I'd rely on your Hive Mind and straight up ask - have any of you worked out the best units - could a newbie like me build a convincingly "kislevite" army using non GW models right now?  It seems that bears and war wagons are the hardest things to proxy...

[jchaos79]

My advice is you look for renaisance polish - russian -  hussites - steppe nomads like. The catalogue is a good way to surf into units for searching proxis http://sg.tacticalwargames.net/forum/index.php?topic=4118.0

I suggest something like this:

Knights: This is based on polish winged hussar form XV-XVI century. It is as easy as take that reference. Pendraken has two references (the original and now a second pose), also irregular has this item.

Horse archers: here you can put everything russian or mongol. GW has the steppe archers, pendraken has horse archers in the renaissence polish range, TB line has a beauty range of mongols.

Bowman: TB line has great mongols archers on foot. I recommend use the streltsi of Great Northern War - Ok they have arquebuses and not archers, but I think they work very good for kislev missile weapons.

Axemen: Here I go also for miniatures of 18th century again for the Great northern war -  not the regular ones with tricorn but the levy troops. I need to see more figures, because I do not have a code entry in mind.

Bear: wolves are a possible proxi. But lets see if Eureka or pendraken makes our day.

War wagon: Hussite warwagon

[Lex]

Go Green !!!

Extra benifit...  2 for the prize of one !

[pw]

Some great suggestions there from one of the forums most knowledgeable figure-spotters. If you get most of the miniatures from non-GW sources, then perhaps buying a pack of bears on ebay won't be so appallingly expensive as a 'treat' to finish off the army. I've seen them go for relatively low prices (around £8 and for very high prices).

My Kislev army is the result of a lot of trading and ebay buying, it took about three months to pull together but I don't think I actually spent much, certainly not more that it would have cost to buy a simialar sized army from GW (though I did let go of some nice models I already had but didn't use). I rather enjoy the process of tracking these things down (hence my new move into Man O War!)...

[Stormwind]

OK so this blog compares 10mm War Wagons:

http://mightyminiatures.wordpress.com/2011/01/06/comparison-of-hussite-war-wagons-from-different-manufacturers/

The Kallistra one looks good - but the scale might be slightly too big.  I love the artillery one even if that's not technically what the GW one is armed with.

These Archers like you say from Tridente B. look suitable:

http://www.tridentebologna.it/dettagli_E.php?id=TB4216
I can't seem to find the streltsy in 10mm, I would be fine except the shooting rules for Kislev are weak so maybe gunpowder models would make me overconfident... ;-P

For Horse Archers these look promising:

http://www.tridentebologna.it/dettagli_E.php?id=TB4175  That's the mongols...
http://www.tridentebologna.it/dettagli_E.php?id=TB4183  But I think these Eastern European ones appeal more to me.

OK so I had a look - google provided images for the Hussars even though the manufacturer didn't...
http://www.pendraken.co.uk/Renaissance-c12/16th17th-C-Polish-sc42/

That leaves the Bears and Axemen, I guess I'd have to see the GW ones in the catalogue too to compare with other third party ones.  Thanks for your help, Chaos!  This is academic at the moment, but I would like to know that I have options. =)

[Dave]

Bears are pretty much identical, stat-wise, to flagellants. So that's an option. Crazed Kislevi berserkers?

For axemen you could use the Mongol horsemen on foot, just give them a shield or something to make them look armor 6+.

[pw]

Perhaps some BOFA Wargs? Here's a pic I found on TacComms:



Based the other way round they might look pretty good, icy tundra wolves... Players would certainly have no problem working out what they are.

[Edmund2011]

Bears are pretty much identical, stat-wise, to flagellants. So that's an option. Crazed Kislevi berserkers?

Good one!  I like it!

[David Wasilewski]

If you can wait, I'd be tempted to wait and slowly hoover up units from e bay. It took me nearly two years, but I maanged to collect a 3K force of original Kislev. Some were cheap and some were expensive - it balanced out as being not much more than buying a new army from GW.

On the other hand, there are some excellent suggestions for proxies above!

Dave

[Stormwind]

@David
Hrrm, whenever I've seen Kislev on eBay they've always gone for quite a high price.  Maybe if I'm patient I might be able to get odds and ends!

@ PW
I like the suggestion of the plastic Wargs - people occasionally throw up sprues from BOFA on eBay for reasonable prices.

[Claus]

You could use Araby units and do it in a different more icy colour.

Skip the peaks of their heads use a little green stuff on their turbans to make them look like fur. ... just an idea ....

[jchaos79]

I will take some strelits shots from pendraken in the next days and put them in the catalogue.

[azrael71]

Patience and Luck!
They crop up from time to time, undervalued and mis-identified.
The green solution is a good one, but you will always know they are not the real thing

Took me about 5 years to get mine, ended up getting them from BT at cost and to be honest, they still aren't painted and the games I have played with them, they are  a VERY average force.

[Stormwind]

Who are BT?  Is that a webstore trader?

[jchaos79]

BarterTown