"Hobby Horse Sabot bases for 25/28/30mm RPG figures" Topic

So does anybody out there produce (or can offer tips on making), "hobby horse" style sabot bases that can be used to make a standing RPG figure look mounted?

My current D&D GM is quite a drive away and has his own collection of 28/30/32mm RPG figures so I've been avoiding hauling out my own collection, which is mostly 25mm from the 80s.

But at our last game session we hit the problem I had solved years ago: All the characters are mounted but all the figures are on foot. We did the usual contrivancese with pairs of dice under the figures to show us mounted, pairs of dice in rows to show picketed horses when we camp, etc.

I'm not ready to go collect and paint a mounted version of every one of his RPG figures plus a lot of large riderless horses to give him (at least not yet), and the ones I have already would be too small.

But I'm thinking a set of "hobby horse" figures might be very helpful. I'm thinking a long base with a horse's head and part of his forequarters in the front, a 30mm or so gap behind where a figure on foot can be set (base and all), and a (possibly removeable) rear with a horse tail and part of a horse's rear quarters.

Something like:

@\__/~

If you see what I mean, where @ is the head, ~ the tail, \ and / the fore/hindquarters, and __ the space where the figure's base would be placed.

Any suggestions?

If none, I'm sure I could make some. Can anyone recommend a source for inexpensive plastic horses in scale with 25/28/30/32mm RPG figures? Plastic because I need to cut them up and inexpensive because I'd need a lot to be effective. Smaller than the figure scale might be better for this than larger.

How about GW Lord of the Rings Rohan mounted as conversion figures? 6 horses (+riders!) per box in plastic, £12.00 GBP GB price – thats the easiest generic 25/28mm plastic horses I can think of

Phil

If I have to pay full price for wargames figures and cut the horses down, I'm thinking either the upcoming Wargames Factory Roman Auxiliary Cavalry set ($20 US) with 12 horses and riders, or possibly their Celtic Chariot set ($20 US again) -- that only has 6 horses but with 3 chariots and 14 crew, there must be a ton of useful bits left over.

In principle the plastic LOTR cavalry sets are a good way to go, since true 25mm is on the smaller side which is good for this project. But 12 GBP is what, about $17 USD US? for only 6 horses. If I can find them half price or something, then we're talking!

If you can live with -- maybe even prefer, based on what you said -- smaller scale horses, just pick up a box of 1/72 scale medieval or ancient cavalry with a bunch of plastic horses in it, from Esci, Imex, italieri, etc., etc. There are a ton of companies making those kinds of figures, though they cater more heavily to horse & musket and modern eras than ancient and medieval, still there's a lot of ancient and medieval troops available. I think that would be the most inexpensive way to go -- but the horses will be small. Still, it's not like larger horses will look "lifelike" using your proposed system, so the stylized effect might not be so bad.

Mad Guru, I've been thinking pretty much the same thing. Need to find a local source for 1/72 scale boxes so I can look at a few before buying. Guess I'll call a few local model shops.