Much apologizing - it's been again quite a while since my last update even though I promised to be more active. I'll begin first by confirming that GW did, indeed, send me a full Rohan commanders box as a replacement for the error in my existing box (two captains, no King's Huntsman). Kudos for them - I didn't even need to send anything back. Think what you may of their business, but at least their customer service excels.
Meanwhile, I had plan B and C to get a King's Huntsman by converting an extra figure of Hama (replace sword with a bow and add a large quiver), or by converting the Finecast banner bearer into a bowman. In the end, I decided to do both despite having the real deal now – here’s a pic of the converted figures:
Ex-Hama is on the left, with sword replaced by a Gripping Beast bow (in two parts, with a pin connecting the two halves through Hama’s hand). Hama got a tall quiver made with green stuff and the top of an orc quiver. Gripping Beast sword gave two hilts to be glued on the tops of empty scabbards on both figures. As said, the other converted King’s Huntsman is the Finecast Rohan banner bearer – a section of his banner pole became the quiver, and he also got a GB bow replacing a sword.
I made a number of horns from green stuff; here’s the Royal knight with hand slightly repositioned, holding a horn, as well as another with the banner stolen from the aforementioned Finecast banner bearer, now acting as a king’s huntsman:
Two companies’ worth of regular oathsworn militia got green stuff behind their helmets – and were thus promoted to the Royal Guard:
There’s a hornblower in that photo, too - though I was too lazy to convert him to actually be blowing his horn. Instead, it merely hangs by his side. The same deal with about 10 riders:
Finally, a handful of riders were robbed of their shields (or the central stub, anyways) converting them to outriders. Here are two examples:
Here’s a photo of the basecoating process, done outside during the last few warm autumn days:
As you can see, I did quite a number of movement trays, too, using my dwindling supply of Tamiya Dark Yellow spray cans, as well as a much cheaper can of Army Painter Dunkelgelb (although the color match to my yellow grass terrain is not as accurate as with Tamiya).
Almost all of the Rohan warriors and riders got a spray of Army Painter Angel Green on their backside – makes it faster to paint ‘em if they already got green cloaks:
Horses are still being cleaned and assembled:
