Rough Riders and Ogryn Assault troops storm the Tau Cadre linesBy Suneokun
Let me just take a moment to nail my colours to the mast - right, hold on, OUCH! Unlike much of the GW 'boarding' community, compared to the 'blogging' community, I'm very positive about GW making a profit. I run my own business, and I get quite frustrated with the 'Oh they're raking it in, greedy swines!' arguments online. Perhaps I'm old enough to remember what the old price versus quality models balance actually meant (back in the early 90's) when 3 lead marines cost £2.50. The downside was that it was actually a remarkably lonely hobby - since the internet is really the lifeblood of such an insular passtime. So when young teenagers whinge about the prices, I point out that Tyranids and Tau are actually very cost effective. That said, I have one bug-bear ... Overpriced and Ancient 'specialist' models. I'm not talking about special characters here, but outrageously overpriced models that you only really have in your army for fluffy reasons. With Guard it's Rough Riders and Ogyrns. I've always wanted them ... ever since I first saw them ... I even bought 5 rough riders in 1992 at full price of £2.50 each and they were RUBBISH! Both as models and as playing pieces.
So how come they're £7 a head now? And Ogyrns are £12 each?!? So I went in search of Warhammer FB! Over in Warhammer Fantasy Battle you need LOTS of horsies or LOTS of Ogres to make an army - so they can't charge silly prices. Thus formulated a cunning plan involving conversion, greenstuff, the internet, lycra and origami. Ok, maybe not the last two.
The concept was to convert the Ogryns from Warhammer Ogres (thereby saving in the region of £55) using greenstuff and ingenuity. I have to give a mention to my sources, which have been great value for money.
First of all there's Gifts for Geeks, Dustin does a fantastic job from his discount store in Leicester and cutting 25% off most prices means I can get 25% more than I expected! Thanks to the great prices at GfG's I was able to produce completed Roughriders for just £2.05 each! The Ogre Bulls came in at a cost effective £15 for all six. Since six is the maximum number of these blighters allowed in a Chimera - this was perfect!
Next up is the ever fresh bitzbox. A great source for supplemental plasma guns, powerfists (when in stock) and melta weaponry - not to mention the occasional empire lance and in my case a pot full of dreadnought storm bolters. These weapons were fitted onto the Ogre Kingdom 'spiky fist thingies' (that's a technical term kiddies - don't use them at home) to create a Ripper Gun substitute. To compensate for the lack of a 'Ogryn-proof' weapon - I also gave each model something really BIG to hit things with (like a Lascannon).
Finally, but not least are Products for Wargamers (another local shop to me) that stocks 40mm bases at £1 for 10! Some sound advice online had me scurrying for 20 bases. I rebased all my Tyranid Warriors and Ogryns and have 6 bases left for Ripper Swarms - total cost: £2.30.
So that's that, I created 10 Rough Riders and 6 Ogyrns which should have cost me £142 for two units. Instead I've spent under £55 and got 20 Guardsmen into the bargain - so that's Rough Riders @ £2.05 each and Ogyrns at £3 each. Plus a lot of labour (when is that not involved anyway?) and some random vehicle bits and greenstuff.
Finshed result - priceless! (Let me know what you think).
