A Couple of Special Weapons

Oh boy do I love these miniatures. The flamers are just great, with their subtle allusions to the flamer design to come, the fuel hoses, the long barrel are all interesting. The weird chainmail shoulder pads. I love the head with the cap backwards, the cap was surprisingly fun to paint due to its shape.

But most of all, most of all I love the sunglasses and cigars. Just check out the squat on the right, so full of 80s attitude, and his goggles were the perfect canvas for the sky-earth reflection. I am excited that the heads in this range repeat a little because it means I get to paint this guy with his teeth gripping his cigar two more times! Possibly my favourite mini in the range

Squat Sergeant

 

This was a very enjoyable paint job, rather than batch paint I treated myself to painting this model as an individual and put a bit extra into his base, raising him up and getting some more features and contrasts in there. Additionally, to make him stand out I avoided contrast paints and washes more than normal and did not use a zenithal highlight before painting. Instead tried to highlight up rather than tone down to make him a bit brighter and take advantage of the brighter highlights and smoother transitions I was able to create having spent more time.

His gloves are red, following the cover art of Ork and Squat Warlords which I based my colour scheme on. It was a real trick to do his medals, it is a feature of most squat leader models including the exoarmour squats and I am not sure I am a huge fan of splashing a bunch of random colours in there to make them look right. I am happy with the details on these ones but I will have to think a bit harder on how I do them in the future with other models.

The fluff: This is the second of my leaders, Darri Arnasson, second in command and figurehead of the Clan Egil, the rival clan to that of Gurni Gundersson. There is an uneasy truce between the two as they put aside their family' generational feud to investigate happenings on Abyz III.

Darri is a fierce warrior and represents the interests of the younger members of the Miraz Dur Stronghold at a spritely 145

Imperial Navigator

This one was a bit of a palette cleanser, slowly working through the blackstone fortress models with some friends. I jumped at the chance to do this guy, i have actually painted a converted version of the model previously for the leader of my Delaque gang. 

I wanted to spend more time and paint true to the john blanche concept art, it was a real pleasure and i think i really improved on my ability to do cloth textures and NMM on this one

Synthesiser squat

 These were a real treat to paint, I really enjoyed the character of the Perry sculpted squats in this lot (all except the flamer squat). I love the pose with the giant bolter in the middle, it really highlights what I love about these squats. Mostly it is their ridiculous cute proportions.

I was also very happy to get my hands on a synthesiser squat, though I am not super satisfied with my paintjob, I think I may be adding hazard stripes to the speaker on his shoulder in the future.

The standard bearer's are also an old favourite of mine, it seems to be pretty difficult to find the command models unfortunately so I might have to make do with a few less than I hoped. I love the commanders with power fists so fingers crossed one turns up, I am keen to use one of those models as my named leader but we will see

On another note, Contrast paints are so amazing for painting hair, I feel like I have gotten a really good effect by combining different contrast paints with contrast medium to get different tones

I have also been trying to put blocks of yellow on the command and special weapons models to make them stick out which I think works, the standard's laspistol for instance balances the orange on the large standard. I will have to be mindful though because I think adding too much yellow might become overwhelming with the other bright primary colours in the scheme, maybe it already is haha

New Squat Announcement!

 So GW has announced a new range of Squats! Which is awesome! If only so I can finally purchase a Squat codex. It's nice to be excited for an upcoming release, I feel like I haven't had the privilege for a long time.

Source: Warhammer Community

Additionally, this could mean the release of some particularly Squatty artillery and tanks, maybe even a super heavy! Which I would love to get my hands on, it is all wait and see right now though there are rumours about a thudd gun being involved in the release.

I have been a bit excited all weekend, sort of can't sit still. It is not often that something comes along that jump starts that childhood excitement

Obviously the models will be completely out of scale though their size and shape remind me of the squat ammo jack model that was released for Necromunda. Hopefully we do at least get some padded jackets and cigars

I actually really like the direction they have taken them and will definitely splurge on the box when it is released. Not sure if I can paint that many of the new digitally designed models though, it is awfully repetitive compared to the old stuff

Living Ancestor

 So this is a heretical post. I never much liked the old squat living ancestor models. They are charming but I am not sure they represent how I imagined them when I read about them. Something about the collars, and how able bodied they look. I did however come across an amazing use of an old model, I unfortunately don't have the name of the person who came up with the idea anymore, but the model from the old citadel dwarves is just amazingly characterful. I did a small conversion to give the model a force axe but the pose and gimmick I wanted to keep intact.

 'Old Fuselah' the Living Ancestor

I wrote up the following fluff to go with him as he is one of my character models

Fuselah is a living ancestor (Squat Living Ancestor) and the trusted advisor of Gurni Gundersson XVI. He is a spry 650 which allows him a long memory but also the continued ability to express himself coherently, a trait that becomes increasingly rare at advanced age. Though prone to long meandering tales of questionable relevance to what is actually being discussed, he does often provide valued insight.

Of bent and wizened stature, Fuselah is capable of bouts of uncharacteristic agility, seen only in Squats a quarter of his age. Provided he has remembered to tuck his 5' long beard into his belt.

Campaign narrative

 A few friends and are doing a tale of four gamers with these 40k armies, where essentially you build armies concurrently and play games as you reach each army point value milestone: 500pt, 750pt, 1000ptm, etc. Having deadlines certainly helps me hit my hobby goals and gives me a way to keep motivated if I hit a lull.

To tie it all together I put together an outline of the narrative of our campaign and we will build on it each game session and put it up on the Trello to allow people to edit and add their backgrounds for their armies. This outlines the general motivation for each faction:

The planetary governor of a recently settled imperial planet Abyz III has become overly ambitious and overthrown the incumbent authority on his planet. He has declared himself king and surrounded his royal palace and the central hive with an enormous void shield.

A warp storm has also erupted in the system, a phenomenon quite common in the region, far from the imperial homeworlds, cutting off all communication to nearby systems.

Black Templars
Black Templars were in the vicinity of the planet when the uprising took place three years ago and have been ordered to reconnoiter with an inquisitor leading the counter insurgency on Abyz III and provide assistance in restoring order on the settlement (an Amalthanian inquisitor). They have recently landed and are seeking his whereabouts after not having any contact with the group or the imperial force to which they belong as a result of the warp storm in the area.

Custodes
An imperial inquisitor was on the planet and tried to lead a counter revolution with members of the priesthood. This was a failure. A final message sent by the inquisitor was intercepted by an imperial crusade force:
“Governor Darra has taken sole authority…We await final assault.. I discovered a plot to invade the Emperor’s palace and reclaimed the plans. I personally destroyed them and anyone who had seen them.”
The possibility of the inquisitor remembering even a part of the plans is too dangerous to risk, a contingent of custodes has been secretly sent with orders to kill the inquisitor and any who try to aid him.
Since the message was received, a warp storm erupted, this has thwarted any attempts to communicate with the planet or other imperial forces

Squats
The squats of Miraz Dur have lived peacefully on Abyz III ever since 6,000 years ago, after being cut off from the imperium, having to trade with the Orks and Eldar just got to be too much and they said enough is enough. They shut the doors of their stronghold and became self sufficient living completely underground. The citizens have never been happier.

Until now, a massive void shield has suddenly appeared through the middle of the stronghold. It is time to dust off the grudge book, someone just made the list!

Death Guard
His corpulence, grandfather nurgle has planted deep seeds in Abyz III, life is hard and short on the unforgiving colony, it didn’t take long before despair and worry overcame the hope for a new start on a new imperial planet.

Nobody knows the how the population began worshipping a benevolent floating pudding, but out here it started to not sound so crazy. The promise to relieve the hivers of their worries and uplift them into immortality was too tempting to dismiss and the population was ready to grab hold of something. Recently, these ideas have spread to the point that work has ground to a halt. Govenor Darra seized the moment to assert his control of the hive. However now the populace seems to be coming down with afflictions at a rate never seen before, and his own household guard, once uninterested in the new religion, are increasingly being found with pamphlets titled “the pudding is coming - ten reasons you should believe”.

5th faction

Another inquisitor is also present on the planet. Unbenownst to others involved, Inquisitor Tillinghast has surruptitiously been the architect for many of the events unfolding on Abyz III, carefully nudging events towards disorder and conflict (an Istvaanian inquisitor). Tillinghast has managed to establish a far reaching political presence and has many allies.