Mounted Heathguard from Conquest and Fireforge

Since my last post I finished the four extra mounted heathguard made from Conquest and Fireforge sprues.

Fireforge Mounted Sergeants

These two knights are made using Fireforge horses and torsos.  To keep them in theme with the Norman/1st Crusades models in the warband, I used heads and shields from Conquest Games' Norman Knight sprue.

All the conversion work was done with a hobby knife and file. Whilst it isn't perfect, I am very happy with how I was able to match up the heads and neck onto the Fireforge torsos.

As the riders had sheathed swords I used a Fireforge mace and Conquest knights hammer for the weapons, rather than go the spear / lance route.  Unfortunately the sword sheaths are easily bent and I had to continually straighten them!!

To match the saddles of the rest of the knights, I cut down the saddle horns front and back so that they were not to obvious.

Conquest Medieval Knights

These use the horses and torsos from the medieval knights sprue.  Like the Fireforge figures I ended up using Norman heads and shields instead what was on the knights sprue.

I was surprised to find that the medieval knights used a different system for matching their heads to their shoulders than the Norman knights and infantry sprues.  So I used the same cutting and filing process as I used on the Fireforge figures.

 I also used one of the Fireforge swords arms which match up really with the Conquest torso.

Overall

I was pleasantly surprised with how well the figures and horses painted up.  The horses were very easy to paint and I think I preferred the plastic horses over the metal ones from a painting perspective. I will be more than happy to mix and match plastic and metal horses in future, including swapping riders over if they will fit.  The Conquest and Fireforge riders seemed interchangeable once the saddle was cut down, but I decided to keep them on brand.

Side by side I think that all four manufactures blend really well together. Aside from the missing shield bosses (which I may add in later), I would struggle to tell the difference on the gaming table.