THE
WARP STORM

“You can run, but you’ll only die tired.”

“Whom did ye call short-arse?”

Here are some Squats I converted and painted some years back. The armoured ones are Mantic Forgefathers with helmet faces in particular resculpted. Note double skull kill markings on the marksman’s helmet.



“I’ll cut ye down to proper size, tally!”



Badoom! Broadbeard, a loudmouth one-Dwarf illegal radio station sending live from his heists and battles. My character in a Kill Team-RPG campaign. More here:





WIP

“Need a light?”



Beep…! Beep…!

This terrain piece’s name goes along the lines of “Mining operations network (MON) Omnibeacon” and I’ll explain my thoughts about it once it’s finally painted and photographed with something better than my backwards cellphone.

It is entirely built out of plastic caps, plasticard, some “pins” of various shaped, small nails, super glue and a little greenstuff. It was a Christmas scratchbuild. Of course, like an iceberg it’s supposed to be 9/10 under ground, since it’s a Space Dwarf construction.



Art

“The stronghold oldsters back at home might not have approved, but around these parts there aren’t any stronghold or oldsters. Or home, for that matter. Chap, in the Biker ‘guilds’ you’ll be your own man, with your own ride far away from safety and responsibilities. Us outriders have our own customs, so thus you’ll have me with this spiky, radical beard style, see? At least I didn’t tint it teal.”

“Life is a trampler. I like to keep a rug of a beard around to better receive life as it is in the hallway.”

"Pal, come now. Really? If you think I look weird now you should’ve seen me before the flamethrower accident."



And finally a drawing:



Squat Power Boarder

A mercenary prone to casual violence, Trough Mac Broigum has served the psychopathic Rogue Trader Tyrel “Destroyer” Cathek for over seven decades of ceaseless voyages between distant stars. As his master has cut a bloody swathe through long-lost Human colonies and Xeno worlds alike, so has the abhuman Trough served Cathek with savage glee.

Trough Mac Broigum has participated in more xenocides and extermination campaigns than most senior Inquisitors can lay claim to, and he has often been at the forefront of the burning and slaughter. Trough leads an sabotage squad of Squat clansmen who have mastered the difficult vehicle known as the power board, a self-propelled ride capable of great leaps and even some limited flight.

The Squat power boarders are experts at striking through backstreets and narrow alleys after heavier units have opened a breach, rushing through urban mazes and space station corridors to deliver a lethal cargo of demolition charges, incendiaries, gas canisters, neurotoxins or virus bombs to soft strategic locations (such as waterworks or aeroprocessors) in the midst of population centers. Trough and his ilk will celebrate every triumph of mass civilian extermination with strong beverages, and will constantly retell their most daring feats of martial power board acrobatics in the face of enemy resistance.


Drawn for Oldhammer Art Contest II. Usually I base my doodles loosely on official sources at best (these fictive worlds are always best for freewheeling exploration and imagination of one’s own), but this one was different. The Squat Power Boarder is a reference to three things from Book of the Astronomican: The tabards of Rogue Trader troopers, the signum of Tyrel “Destroyer” Cathek, and the power board of Stugen Deathwalker.

“Kickee Cool” on the boots was a nonsense catch-phrase which I used for a Shadowrun Dwarf kickboxer during a short RPG session. I know nothing about Shadowrun, but I made said dwarf (with neon hair & beard implants, constantly shifting glowing colours) with the wacky spirit of Rogue Trader 40k in mind.





Comments and criticism are as welcome as always.

Cheers!

Some really impressive stuff here mate best squats ive seen by far!!!

Like James said, these are really cool. Although the guy on the right of the second picture seems to be missing his legs!

I do rather like how everything seems to come with some level of backstory, and often drawings as well. So you do it simply for personal pleasure, or do you find that it helps with motivation, creative inspiration etc?

Haha, thanks a lot, lads! It's for personal pleasure, or perhaps one could call it creative overflow (probably the most accurate way to describe it). I often get inspired to write and doodle when converting and painting miniatures. Ideas spawn more ideas.

Cheers!

It's something that I never really thought about much years ago, but these days I've come to see that even just a little bit of 'fleshing out' can make a surprisingly big difference, be it to a model or a while force. Admittedly though I don't delve in quite so deep as some (yourself included), but that may just be a lack of creativity!

It's a lot of fun. :)

The most systematic I've seen someone go about this fleshing out must be Reaver of Uzkulak's army log on CDO. Just marvellous amounts of conversions, drawings and backstory. He's actually compiling a story book for his army! Above and beyond anything I've seen before.

Also, creativity is largely a habit, or a muscle that can be trained. The more you go that extra mile, the easier it becomes to come up with new ideas of all sorts.

Cheers!

Have to say its really impressive. Id like to get abit more into the back story of my minis and being abit less mechanical with them.
Do you play much gaming with them too? Do you find that feeds the narrative?

Do try it out! It's fun to come up with backstories.

We rarely play, sadly. Most of my wargaming actually happen at tournaments. Sometimes we play at home when certain friends visit, but we did play some rather narrative-heavy stuff last time we had a Kill Team campaign. The Badoom! Broadbeard character is from there, all built around his theme of being loud.

And it does feed the narrative. My little brother is excellent at playing in character for immersion (when he doesn't go full out on mechanical efficiency), sometime choosing foolhardy and daring paths because it happen to suit his background theme.

I think it's hard as my only real playing experience is from matched play so its not narrative style at all. Ive got two vehicles/monsters which have names though so its a start!

@James : Naming stuff is the first step to glory. ;)







Squattish Grav-Jack

Grav-jacks are gravity repulsor units fitted to landbound vehicles, treasured and rare through the Imperium of Man, yet commonplace among the Kin of Squats. A halfway house between a skimmer and a groundbound tank, a heavy vehicle equipped with grav-jacks may fire up the anti-gravitic engines to lessen ground pressure. A light thrust may prove sufficient for the vehicle to escape becoming mired in mud, marshes, crystafields and still more alien kinds of treacherous soil. Yet should the vehicle run stuck, a strong thrust will be employed to lift it out of the trapping ground. Grav-jacks have limited energy and will require recharging via the vehicle's batteries between uses, yet grav-jack patterns employed by the Leagues of Votann have been noted to be powerful enough to function as grav-chutes for heavy vehicles during their entire descent through atmosphere, something which is far beyond the wilted abilities of Imperial relic grav-jacks. Grav-jacks are believed to have originally been designed to move freight-containers during the Dark Age of Technology, and a lot more can be found out about them here.

The basis for these extensive conversions are the tracks of a resin Ramshackle Gnu armoured transport vehicle. The rest of the behemoth build is yet to be finished.