Ungol Horse Archers

The Ungols are a largely nomadic people who inhabit the northernmost part of Kislev.  They, along with the long scattered Ropsmenn, were the original inhabitants of the land now known as Kislev, but they were overrun and largely subjugated by the invading Gospodars beginning in IC 1494. Today, the Ungols roam the northern most reaches of Kislev and can be counted upon (usually) to supply rotas (squadrons) of horse archers. These horse archers are said to be second only to those of the Elves and they roam at the fringes of Kislevite Pulks (armies) screening and  scouting. 

In battle, they serve as skirmishers, unleashing a flurry of arrows into the foe and then retreating, but they are not effective close combat troops. This was well-demonstrated at the Battle of Manzhorod (IC 2522) when Ungol horse archers caused great losses to the Kurgan army as it advanced over the River Urskoy.  Once the sorcery of Surtha Lenk caused the Urskoy to freeze and Kurgan horsemen were able to get across the river, however, they rode the horse archers down, slaughtering them.

This is the first of several units of Ungols in my collection:

There is nothing overly fancy about them and they are just standard GW Kislevite horse archers on GW horses, which are probably too chunky to be real steppe ponies, which is most likely what Ungols would ride.  The legs are a mix of the original styles cast by GW (the figure in the back left corner and the standard-bearer) and the second generation of horse archer legs complete with scabbards and shashkas (everyone else).  The figures with the newer legs were slightly modified, with the tops of the bows cut off the quivers for the figures holding their bows and the sword pommels and handles clipped off the scabbards of those brandishing shashkas.

Three additional pictures:

This is a close-up of the command group.  It is a bit hard to see, but the champion has a green jacket, faced red, but the other figures are dressed in a mish-mash of clothes.  I mostly used various shades of Citadel and P3 brown, washed in Citadel's Argax Earthshade and sometimes their Saraphim Sepia as well.  I then seal all my figures in a solution of mostly water and a little floor wax and finish the process by applying a matte spray to kill the shine.  I'm a little surprised, in fact, that these figures look as shiny as they do in these pictures as they are much duller in person.  

Here is a close-up of one of the rank and file. 

One of the other things I did with the Ungols was clip and thin their swords.  GW has the Ungols wielding very large, thick, swords, that seem pretty out of place on a light horseman.  They are all also out of proportion to the scabbards on the  second generation Ungol legs.  So, I shaved and clipped and filed the swords down to something more roughly approximates the size of the swords that would be carried in the scabbards.

Most my Ungols ride horses pained in various shades of brown, further reinforcing (I hope) the grubby, ad hoc, nature of units of Ungol horsemen.  This rider, however, has a horse with both a white muzzle and star.  I got this technique from the Kislev army section in Warhammer Chronicles 2004 and which also appears in the Kislev army book supplement published by White Dwarf.