"Ok guys, SF troopers mounted on horses " Topic

What sort of troopers would you most like to see mounted on normal earth horses? Not post apoc, I don't really make that, I mean spacefaring and all that good stuff. Only thing it can't be is felids as the sculptor of those is booked up for a while. It can be something I make, or something I don't yet make!

Do you really mean horse riders?

To narrow it down . . . are you looking for:

* Futuristic human riders on actual horses (Earth plus)?
* Futuristic human riders on alien mounts?
* Alien riders on alien mounts?

CC

In a lot of sci-fi books etc horses are taken to colonies (usualy as embryos) to help with earlyish labour and general transport. Frees up your tech space for survival tech etc.

So first suggestion would be mounted human colonists. I'll leave that to you to decide how 'colonists' would look in your setting.

Starguard had Amerons on horseback I believe. They were mainly a colonial force that relied on them for transport on less developed worlds.

Apemen on horses.

It's so original an idea, I may pitch Hollywood with it.

Colonial militia.

I'll bet we'll take horses (or horse fetuses) with us when we mount a major colonization effort of an earthlike world. Not to mention cows, oxen, etc. Sure, the planet will likely have analogs, but hey, we'll EAT those – horses already have millenia of domestication and breeding going for them.

I think colonial militia mounted and on foot would be great. Guys in fatigues and work clothes, maybe with slouch hats. I woudln't give them swords or go all fantasy with it – I'd give them pistols and carbines. And definitely make dismounted versions.

You could also make light wagons for CASEVAC and horse packable Gauss MGs or light fusion guns . . . this stuff would be really neat mixed in with an assortment of civilian trucks and multi-wheel drive vehicles.

Cast 'em and I'll put 'em in Tomorrow's War. The Republic of Arden will have mounted scouts!

Apemen! Apemen! Apemen!

Goldwyrm, I like how you think. :)

CC
PS. But you would need dismounted versions too!

My second is for Ape Men. Heck everyone has been wanting Ape Men in 15mm.

After that I wouldn't mind seeing some of the Garn on Horseback. :) I think lizards on horseback would look really odd.

I pretty much agree with Shawn of Ambush Alley Games. Maybe a few in light armor to represent the militia officers or retired veterans, but mainly standard BDUs and clothes with light infantry weapons. They could also represent a planet so far out that bringing in fuel or other tech was just cost prohibitive versus horses.

Interesting idea.

Jeff

Serious high tech military wouldn't use horses, except perhaps for scouts: no armor, fatigues, survival gear, binoculars, communication devices, small personal arms, plus utility gear (knife, hatchet, spade). Might have some sort of mortar team in truly rugged terrain.

For armed militia/colonists, no or little armor, plus caps and hats, pistols, shotguns, rifles. Clothing would be jumpsuits, work clothes, light jackets, etc.

For colonial armed forces (local security forces), they'd probably be equipped similar to modern mounted riot police: helmeted, armored vest, and with pistol and with a short barrel automatic rifle/carbine or grenade launcher.

For backwater colonies, there would probably be at least one "desk jockey" type who's bigger than the horse. (I passed one of these while walking to a local sporting event. They guy was easily 300 lbs. of gut flab. I felt sorry for the horse.)

I think the Garn would just eat the horses. And they look to big for a horse. I can see them on some sort of lizard mount though.

Colonials and apemen would be great. Of course we'll need apemen without the horses too.

I'd like to see some guys that look similar to the Holnists in 'The Postman'… they're not exactly raggedy post-apoc scavengers in the Mad Max sense, but have a look that isn't easily tied to an existing or pre-existing Earth culture. I guess they're kind of an updated ACW look?

If you had a separate arm they could be armed with projectile weapons, laser carbines, or lances if you prefer. I suspect a lot of people would use them as IG Rough Riders, the current Mongolian ones are useless to me.

BTW I personally would use them for both sides (Imperial and Genestealer Cult) in a feral or medieval 40K setting I'm working on. If they didn't look exactly like what I want I'd still be able to use them somewhere :)

EDIT: Upon reflection I suspect this is a 15mm thread… I keep forgetting the Felids are 15mm they looked so cool.

Interesting suggestions, thanks. I may end up with something like what ambush alley games suggested, making some riders for my insurgents (who are actually a form of militia set up to oppose the Control Battalions of the genocidal overlord). So they'd have tracked trucks for transport and heavy weapons carriage (basically Technicals), and cavalry as lighter mobile troops. Armed with pulse rifles, basically.

Glad I posted this, as I had considered putting some freaky alien on horseback! Gorillamen are another alternative, but not sure how they'd fit into my background.

Think riot police with short range weapons (carbines, shotguns) with visored helmets. Colonists who resemble ACW rebel cav but armed with modern weapons in broad-brimmed hats or "baseball caps." Horses with respirators? Armor for rider and horse would resemble flak jackets. Yes…barded horses.

Dr. Mathias,

I love that Holnist look:

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It would work for those that want to do non-PA SF as well as for those who do PA SF.

CC
TMP link

Khurasan Miniatures, don't really want to take you very far off subject, but have you ever considered making the Gor series in 15mm? You could have the different city states (Greeks, Nomands, Norsemen etc…)…the Priest Kings (giant bugs)…The ape like enemies The Kur…even space ships to transport folks between Earth and Counter Earth…just a suggestion.

Yeah Jammer that is pretty much a whole new line of stuff, and I've already got a more sci fi-ish line that is in play right now. Never say never though!

… Oh and an early 20th C pulp adventure range AND a cinema sci-fi range just beginning. Stop him before he does it again!!!

The "Tallarn" look (minus the ridiculous mega weapons) wouldn't be bad either, and could be used for PA and non-PA SF:

link

That, or the Holnist look, would maximize sales potential for Khurasan.

We can throw all sorts of suggestions, but we still don't know what Khurasan's vision is nor his parameters.

CC

I'd got with mid-tech level humans, wearing flak jackets, fatigues, armed with a mix of lances and lasguns or assault rifles. Give them helmets with visors, that makes it obvious they are sci fi. These would probably be colonial planetary defense forces.

Ideally, you might eventually do second version, using the same riders, but instead of horses, supply some alien analog to a horse, like a velociraptor-like creature.

I gave the basis for suggestions in the initial posting. Within the restrictions I asked for, it's pretty wide open.

How about something like the Warzone Bauhaus trooper.

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I know there was some cool art work for the Warzone Bauhaus Venusian Ranger on horseback.

I am also wondering if maybe the horse would need some type of breathing device attached.

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Watch "Firefly". colonists/bandits with variety of modern weapons riding horses.

Forget horses, how about dirtbikes or quadrunner type vehicles for the cav scouts of the future?

Gorillamen are another alternative, but not sure how they'd fit into my background.

Forget the background and go for the sales! :)

I know one miniature manufacturer that rues the day he decided to do a game system rather than just minis. It seems that having the minis as part of a game or game background makes some people ignore them since they are "less generic" and they apparently can't get past the part where they ignor the "official" background and do their own thing. Not sure why this happens, but I've seen and heard enough to know it does.

The Warzone guys have too much armor in my opinion.

I think Jon wants to use the horses since he has a large supply from his historical ranges and would not need to have additional sculpts done or additional molds made.

Just my two cents.

Jeff

Forget the background and go for the sales! :)

Indeed. The only background I care about from most manufacturers is the one behind pics of painted minis.

Take the Tibetean range and remodel with AK's.

(The apostrophe is for the OFM. If it's in the wrong place he steams, used correctly he beams. Win-win :).)

The initial Battlestar Galactica series, they were on at least one planet where the local militia/colonists were mounted on horseback…don't remember if they were normal (earth type) horses or not…remember a cylon riding one.

I also like the idea of the horses wearing some obviusly sci-fi gear, like a breathing apparatus.

It would be cool if the horses have some high-tech armor too.

Khurasan: "I gave the basis for suggestions in the initial posting. Within the restrictions I asked for, it's pretty wide open."

Ok, thanks for that. Let's see:

* "Troopers . . . mounted on normal earth horses
* Not post apoc
* Spacefaring and all that good stuff
* Can't be is felids
* Can be something I make, or something I don't yet make!"

Since you already have some sort of "background" in mind (one that obviously does not include "gorillamen"), what are you really shooting for in that "background"?

Human-only "troopers"?
Non-human "troopers"?
Heavily armored "troopers" on big horses?
Light "troopers"?
Does "normal earth horses" mean no breathing apparatus?
Near future "spacefaring"?
Distant future?
All human universe, styles and tech?
Human-Alien universe, styles and tech?
Desert environment and garb?
Something for a small niche (game system) or something that could emcompass multiple periods and genres?

CC

Troops in battle armor, on sand lizards = yes (like those Sandtroopers in the Star Wars movies).

Horses = no, for me, but I can see how some might want them.

Maybe something like this:

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Definitely need the clown fish though.

I like the idea of futuristic looking knights adapted for a hostile environment: so the horses in armour and breathing gear, the riders also in armour but with power-lances and no shields.

I'd go for sci-fi knights too.

"The initial Battlestar Galactica series, they were on at least one planet where the local militia/colonists were mounted on horseback…don't remember if they were normal (earth type) horses or not…remember a cylon riding one."

They were normal horses. Also, didn't the pigmen ride horses as well in that episode where the planet forces Starbuck to be it's sheriff? Granted, these planets were rather low tech compared to the colonies, but there were horses.

Nausicaa had horseclaw cavalry; horseclaws evolved from horses following the apocalypse: link

How 'bout this for SF troopers on horses – but Special Forces, not Science Fiction:
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15mm or 28mm?

I'd love to see heavy horses like the cyber-horses from Vampire Hunter D or the Escaflowne movie in either scale, preferably 15mm.

close-fitting body plating, breathing gear, etc. can't you just see the sparks flying?

JammerMan,

Is this the one you meant?

link

CC

Hey willthepiper, if I do make insurgent cavalry, and that's not definite yet, they might end up looking quite a but like one of those SF guys! Many of my insurgents will wear wool caps like that.

Pictors, lol, look at that guy!!! He looks sort of familiar.

As to the horses themselves, normal earth horses without any alterations. They will just have normal furniture and a modest square saddlecloth.

Hmmm maybe one of he Karks should have an arm like that. I guess I could do a conversion.

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I am thinking this would look great on a horse

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:)

Anything for you, Tom!

Triathlete2000

Anything Warzone based in 15 mm would Roxxx !!!!!!

Yeah, I was thinking the 'special forces in Afghanistan' look. Perhaps uptech/sci-fi-ify the weapons and battle-rattle (a la Mark Copplestone's near future line, where the guns and gear look recognizable but not like any real guns/gear).

You *could* go the GW route of sci-fantasy versions of historical units (ACW, Napoleonic cav, Cossacks, etc.) but that would be a bit…obvious…

I just noticed that if the GW Cadians didn't have armor and shoulder pads, they would almost pass for the Postman's Holnists:

link

CC

You *could* go the GW route of sci-fantasy versions of historical units (ACW, Napoleonic cav, Cossacks, etc.) but that would be a bit…obvious…

Yeah, not gonna take that route ….

I would use them. It seems everyone makes armored troopers its the irregular stuff I am interested in. These could prove quite useful for Ambush Alley Scifi.

Pack horses and mules for the rations, ammo, tents, comms, and crew served weapons…

I still think it would be better if the horses were armored, or at least have some sci-fi gear, like gas masks or respirators. Otherise, all you are making is something that could easily be converted from existing historical miniatures.

Doesn't Peter Pig make modern mounted in the AK47 range?

Can we have the riders and mounts seperate castings so we can swap and kit bash at will?

JDE