Female Guardsmen!

[chicop76]

I found some heads today which I think look real nice.

This is a very old project I've been waiting on forever to do. This is some of my hold ups.

1. There is a sprue of guards ladies which look awesome. From the picks they would be a nice add. I just don't like the legs. Anyway I don't know how to obtain them. Also I havn't seen how they look fully painted. The final problem is they look gw enough, but they can also be seen as a whole differant model.

2. Mad Donna and the Esters was another look at making lady guardsmen. I seen some conversions and think for Catchacans they would be perfect. The problem I see is they are all metal and have extreme hair tyes. After lots of work with metal they can come out looking good, and some green stuff. As a side note they have gw weapons which make weapon converting a bit easier.

3. Female guardsman torsos which I can buy is out there. I seen them and don't really like them. It's almost like I could just use a normal guardsman instead.

4. The regular body is tooo bulky for a female. After long searching I have discovered that the Elysian troops from Forge World bodies seem to be perfect. The bodies are slender enough compared to regular guardsmen to be seen as female. I don't mind not having curves which isn't an issue. I might make one or two have some curves and use dark eldar female torso's and green stuff to pull the effect off.

5. The major hold up now is waiting for the new codex to come out.

Right now I am looking at making Veterans and or my Elite hot shot options as females. I havn't really decided which to do yet. Also what weapons should I give them is another issue. Originally I was thinking two veteran squads. The bonus of using Elysian Drop troops is I can also use the jet pack for grav insertions, again great for Karsikans. The down side to the storm troopers is that I was thinking to make them suicide jumpers which I think would be messed up if they was female.I am still strongly leaning towards veterans.

However I seen some awesome female models which would be perfect. Also chapter house have a conversion kit. In the long run I want gw/fordgeworld models in case I migt use them in tournaments.

[Boscolamb]

I just recently bought, assembled, and have painted a half squad of Chapterhouse female guardsmen, using the same heads you have pictured above. The heads are a tiny bit small, but I prefer them to the Chapterhouse heads. After a while, the heads (I think) look pretty good.

I could attach a photo of them so that you could see how they appear?

[ElectricPaladin]

I think it's true that given how much body armor guardsmen wear, and how small the scale we're talking about is, you could easily put a girlier head on a normal body and have it come out ok. The different and structure and proportions of the hips and legs might trip you up, though.

[chicop76]

I just recently bought, assembled, and have painted a half squad of Chapterhouse female guardsmen, using the same heads you have pictured above. The heads are a tiny bit small, but I prefer them to the Chapterhouse heads. After a while, the heads (I think) look pretty good.

I could attach a photo of them so that you could see how they appear?

I would really love to see how they came out. Go ahead and pic away. When you do so please put regular guardsmen in the pic as well, so I can get a sense on how big the heads are.

I looked at the bodies on the chapter house site and they added new pics to give a better ideal how they look. However when I get the chance I will pic up some pics I thought where cool. The problem however after long debates I would like them tournament worthy. I like chapter house work, but the female mods from them are a completely differant model and it would be hard to justify using them. Unlike the salamander upgrades which only make slight mods to pre existing models.

@ Paladin: the Elysian troops are much slimer in detail than normal guard models. I seen female heads on cadian bodies and don't really like the look. After lots of research the top so far is what I decided so far. I would like to see pics to give me better ideals and figure out what I want to do.

[Ravingbantha]

When doing females in armor you have two choices, you can either go for a typical look with seperate breast cups (ytpical look for bras), or a realistic look which at best might have a single hump (think sports bra). Having seperate cups may make them easier to tell they are femal, but is not realist. As I learned sometime back from actual armorsmiths, having seperate cups like tends to channel a blow inwards and up to the throat. Armor should be desiged to deflect a shot away from the body. Look at modern day women in Body armor and you will see that they basicly wear the same thing guys wear.

[chicop76]

When doing females in armor you have two choices, you can either go for a typical look with seperate breast cups (ytpical look for bras), or a realistic look which at best might have a single hump (think sports bra). Having seperate cups may make them easier to tell they are femal, but is not realist. As I learned sometime back from actual armorsmiths, having seperate cups like tends to channel a blow inwards and up to the throat. Armor should be desiged to deflect a shot away from the body. Look at modern day women in Body armor and you will see that they basicly wear the same thing guys wear.

I agree. Which is why I elected for a less bulky armour type to represent females compared to a more bulky c|ian armour type. I have played with the thought of breast armour for a more female look. HOwever at the end of the day I can settle for less bulk and for a female face.

However doing jungle fighers I think having brest is more realistic which is where the metal Escher models are up for cosideration.

GW does have the last chancer female model which I think look silly and the female grenade launcher which doesn't look bad. I figure I will do a few cadians first and do a few jungle fighters. My goal is to wait and see what GW does before I model a bunch of females. Right now I am looking for heads more than a differant body typw. I may go with warmachine and anima tactics heads as well for diferant looks.

[Ravingbantha]

I agree. Which is why I elected for a less bulky armour type to represent females compared to a more bulky c|ian armour type. I have played with the thought of breast armour for a more female look. HOwever at the end of the day I can settle for less bulk and for a female face.

However doing jungle fighers I think having brest is more realistic which is where the metal Escher models are up for cosideration.

GW does have the last chancer female model which I think look silly and the female grenade launcher which doesn't look bad. I figure I will do a few cadians first and do a few jungle fighters. My goal is to wait and see what GW does before I model a bunch of females. Right now I am looking for heads more than a differant body typw. I may go with warmachine and anima tactics heads as well for diferant looks.

If your doing jungle fighters just remember those ladies are tucking their assets away in a sports bra. so think single ridge over twin lumps.

[SotonShades]

Apart from Catachans, or other similarly clad regiments (i.e. little more than a tank top) I don't think you really need to worry about the female form once in combat fatigues.



These ladies seem to be about the same shape as their male counterparts, visually. Sure they might be slightly shorter, but given that every Catachan is the same height, and every Cadian is the same height, and every Elysian... I don't think such minor differences are particularly well represented in minis anyway.

As a little experiment, is anyone good with photoshop? Could they put some rugged male faces on this pic, see if they still look like ladies without the feminine facial features?

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

Even when clad in figure-obscuring gear, there are some proportionate differences - the most notable one being that shoulder width tends to be slightly less than hip width, while in men, shoulder width tends to be slightly more than hip width.

So, I'd recommend sanding down the shoulder connection points a bit.

[Boscolamb]

Having spent time comparing Cadians vs. Chapterhouse females, I think you'll see the slightly smaller frames make a noticeable difference. Yes, the breast armor is a little bit unrealistic, but this is fantasy, and it definitely makes them distinguishable from their male counterparts.

I took photos last night, but didn't have time to go online and upload them. I will try to do this weekend. (Damn images kept coming out kind of blurry and I couldn't zoom in real close, but they do give a good size comparison.)