SteamPunk / Engineer's Army

[CaptainSarathai]

So, I was thinking about some cool steampunk type conversions for a SteamTank, and I started to wonder what other conversions I could use to build an army based around a similar theme.

The idea would be a small detachment of solders (about 1500pts) that is used to defend the Engineers colleges. Sort of like a house guard. These troops would be equipped with the best and most cutting-edge weapons that money could buy, and would be a highly elite force. However, I want the whole army to look dirty and grimy, as they are constantly bathed in soot and have been campaigning for a long time.

In game terms, I would probably be using a lot of the metal Vostroyan models from 40k. As they are metal, it wouldn't take much to mount them onto square slotta bases, or even just stick them into the new round-base movement trays that they made for the Lord of the Rings game. I'm not sure if I would file off the hoses and tubes or exclude the gasmasks from the models, although I would obviously paint them up in metallics so that they didn't look too terribly futuristic. I wouldn't use Heavy Bolters as Repeater Handguns or Grenade Launchers as blunderbusses, but I would stick to lasguns = rifles and dremel out the "eye" of the barrel so that it wouldn't look like a lasergun.

My 2 questions are these:
--Would you play against this army, or would you be offended by my imposition of 40k models on a Fantasy game?
--What other conversions could be done? Vostroyan models all have the tall bearskin hats, and I'm not about to buy hundreds of them for headswaps. The army would likely be a gunline to begin with, but with cavalry support. What types of conversions can you think of to allow the inclusion of units like Swordsmen or Greatswords into the units? And what kind of conversions would you expect to see on cavalry, if anything?

[Cannibal God]

Well I can only answer the first one, I know little to nothing about voystroyan heads.
and yes, I would definitely play against an army like that, I think the more themed the better. Tournaments might be a bit iffy, but if you explain to me before the battle what each model represents etc, I'd be happy to game.

[CaptainSarathai]

Well, I'm thinking that Vostroyan models would be handgunners for sure, with their lasguns. For fluff/conversion sake I was considering giving their officers Hochland Long Rifles, but I might have to find a way to convert the Heavy Bolter into some kind of small, tripod mounted gatling gun to use as a Repeater Handgun, just to utilize the two members of the squad who are laying down to use the weapon.
Obviously, outriders are outriders, pistoliers are pistoliers, and a Stank is a Stank of course.

I'm glad you'd be willing to play against an army like this. I realized that gasmasks are legit in WHFB- the skaven globadiers wear them. There's no reason why soldiers fighting in and around the massive foundries of an engineer city wouldn't wear them to keep out fumes.

As for Vostroyan heads, they have Russian style moustaches and facial features sort of like the old Kislevites, but they wear tall hats that look like squared off versions of the "beef eater" Queen's Guard hats at Buckingham Palace. They look a little less like cottonswabs though, lol.

[Hindenburg]

I would play against it. It sounds like a very interesting army and Steampunk is never wrong.
As for conversions. Hmm. The vostroyans might need some stuff removed. They probably have grenades on their belts and such. Would you remove the lasgun clips or leave them? If you're good with greenstuff you could add bearskin hats and monoggles and things like that to the swordsmen and greatswords, maybe?
As for cavalry conversions I think it would be cool if the champion would ride on a mechanical steed.

[Izzinatah]

Steampunk is absolutely fantastic and I would love to play/play against a steampunk themed army. It's hard to resist painting cogs all over my own army. But I do have some vostroyans, and i'll warn you that they do have a lot of modern equipment - water canisters, generators on their backs, modern pouches everywhere, grenades/. And lots of eagles. But good luck! And post pictures if you do!

[CaptainSarathai]

Honestly, I'd probably leave all of that stuff on the models. The las-clips would be easy to remove, but I think I'd probably keep them. I like the looks of the guns, and if anyone asks, it's the engineers attempt at building another automatically loading weapon- sort of like a darkelf repeater crossbow.
The grenades would get GSed into more pouches, that wouldn't be overly difficult. Pouches can stay, and the generators on their backs would be fine, considering that I'm claiming the masks were built so that they could operate near foundries and other noxious fumes.
The water cannisters are another easy copout: Steampunk novels are centered around the victorian era, whereas most Empire armies are from the Renaissance. I wouldn't complain about moving the date up a bit, as they are technologically advanced.
The wings have no signifigance in WHFB, they can stay.

I won't be giving my champions mechanical steeds, although I already plan to have 2 Repeater-pistol wielding Engigneers on Mech.Steeds riding with my Pistoliers.

The army isn't going to have many conversions really. Those are metal models and well... they're tough to work with. I just like Vostroyans, and hate 40k, if you want to get down to the bottom of this.