Seeing as the Tyranids tried to wipe out these stout warriors , but failed... and then Photobucket tried again, but failed:

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/610017.page

... the Dwarfs of Inso's Reach, have banded together again and will be reborn in a new topic with no Photobucket placeholders. This will effectively be a topic with completed (sculpting/converting wise) units, rather than being filled with WIP posts.

The WIP aspects of this project will be posted over at:

http://insosworld.blogspot.co.uk/

As it stands, the Army is composed of two main detachments; One from Astra Militarum and one from Adeptus Astartes. The upper, elite leadership (which includes Exo Squats and Hearthguard) will be made up of 'counts as' Adeptus Astartes units and the rest of the army will made up of 'counts as' Astra Militarum units.

This army will not be an 8th edition WH40K, army because I won't be buying the rules or codexes for 8th edition. It will be geared towards the rules and organisation of 7th edition.

The Exo units of the Dwarfs of Inso's Reach are the highest level of warrior that the army has. The leader and his captain are joined by a host of Exo armoured warriors as they take to the field. These 'count as' a Chapter Master, Captain Lysander and a Terminator squad (From the Adeptus Astartes codex):







The main components for these are Bodies from Mantic Forge Guard ( http://www.manticgames.com/mantic-shop/deadzone/forge-fathers/product/forge-guard-wpu.html ), chain-blades from Anvil Industry ( http://anvilindustry.co.uk/The-Armoury/Close-Combat-Weapons/Chain-Glaives ), a head from Statuesque Miniatures ( http://www.statuesqueminiatures.co.uk/p/9064683/sma304-heroic-scale-female-heads---veterans.html ) and some GW terminator weapons.

Here is a scale comparison with a space marine and a squat:



At the moment, I don't have any finished Hearthguard units but they will be made up of 'counts as' Scouts from the Astartes codex.

The core of this army is the stalwart Squat warrior. These stout warriors form into the squads, platoons, companies and regiments of the grand armies of the Squat home-worlds. Normally, they will have been selected from the mining communities and inducted into the military but there are also many soldiers who forego their traditional path in favour of a military career. Needless to say, the Squat armies are full of hardy fighters that shouldn't be taken lightly.

The basic building block of the army, is the company. A Company consists of a company command squad and a number of platoons, dependent on the task at hand. For heavy fighting, there are more likely to be less platoons in a company so that there is a strong leadership base. When simple garrison work is required, a company may have many platoons.

The Infantry companies will be made up of old Squat plastics (from GW) with special weapons from GW Imperial troops and heavy weapons from Anvil Industry ( http://anvilindustry.co.uk/AFTERLIFE/Republic-Taurus-Gun-Tractors ). Comms packs are from Mad Robot ( https://madrobotminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9_17&products_id=168 ). The Squats will have sculpted arms and additional features. The Sentinel Squadrons are converted from Vulkan Battlesuits ( http://shop.prodosgames.com/en/bauhaus/49-vulkan-battlesuit.html] ) with additional weapons from GW Centurion kits or Anvil Industry.

The core of this army will 'count as' units from the Astra Militarum Codex (in this case, company command squads, platoons and armoured sentinel squadrons).

This company will have three platoons of troops but at the moment, only two are finished:

Company Command Squad:



First Infantry Platoon:



Second Infantry Platoon:



Normally, the platoons will consist of infantry squads with support elements consisting of heavy weapon squads. In addition, further support elements may be added and this company has two Armoured Sentinel Squadrons to enable a little bit of extra tactical flexibility:

First Sentinel Squadron:



Second Sentinel Squadron:



The third platoon is being assembled at the moment and will consist of assault infantry with support from Rough Riders. This will enable the two infantry platoons to form effective fire-bases while the assault squads and rough riders are able to take the fight to the enemy.

As with all armies, there are those among them who have survived many conflicts and have honed their skills to the next level. Those warriors are the veterans.

This army has two veteran squads. The first is made up of enigmatic warriors from a bygone era who have survived far too long as a result of the substantial repairs that were made to them, after they barely survived the Tyranid incursion into their original home-world. Sadly, they were horrendously wounded with amputation and acid burning being the most prevalent wounds. As their home-world died in the cataclysm of self detonated plasma reactors, these mortally wounded warriors were barrelling away from the planet in giant ARK ships, along with all the other survivors. The wounded were so close to death that the Squat medics were powerless to save them but managed to chance upon a Mechanicus world. Bargains were made and the mechanicus took the wounded away. Soon, they returned with many cybernetic replacements and enhancements that would enable them to not only survive, but become the mentors for future soldiers who may have to face the same terrors that these stout veterans did.

These veterans are the Veteran Tyranid Hunters. They are converted from GW Skitarii with self cast helmets:



The females of the Dwarfs of Inso's Reach choose to fight together in their own groups and use their cunning and ingenuity to get the best results. While the men waste good time and money drinking, these tough, merciless warriors hone their skill at arms and have become some of the best fighters in the army. They are made from standard Squat bodies with GW imperial special weapons, a Mantic hammer and heads from Statuesque Miniatures ( http://www.statuesqueminiatures.co.uk/p/9036653/sma303-heroic-scale-female-heads---berets.html ):



There are plans to add a further veteran squad of male Squats but they haven't been started yet.

Support is an important part of any army and the Squats of Inso's Reach are no exception. As well as the veterans and sentinels, there is a need for more specialised units.

The berserkers take the field as 'counts as' ministorum priests. They don't wave around a book and chant litanies like the priests do... they just go berserk and charge headlong into the enemy; inciting blood-lust in their brothers and sisters and encouraging them to fight harder (some parts are from Mantic Games Fantasy/sci-fi Dwarf sets):



There are times when there is also a need for psychic abilities and the Squats in this army don't have any. This is where their allies, the Beastmen, step forward to fill the gap. The Beastmen shamans have joined the Squats of Inso's Reach for fame, travel and the opportunity to hone their abilities on the field of battle. They are proud warriors who are more than willing to fight along side the long suffering Squats because they feel a shared past of mockery and ridicule and want very much to prove that they are worthy of so much more (these are heavily converted GW Tau with imperial kit):



Where there are machines, there will always be the need for engineers and this army is always accompanied by the engineers guild, in some form or another. The engineers are able to repair, rebuild or repurpose all sorts of machines and are accompanied by their trusty robots who aid them with heavy lifting and close support. This is a 'counts as' Engineseer with servitors and gun servitors (Parts are a mix of GW Imperial, Tau and Necron with the tracked units coming from Anvil Industry):



The engineseer is particularly helpful when armoured vehicles take to the field. They enable them to continue fighting when other armies would be unable to repair them. Here is a Leman Russ 'counts as' and a Chimera 'counts as' (both are converted 1/35th scale Tamiya kits):





That is this little topic all up to date now. I have left the standard hearthguard out because full units haven't been finished yet. I expect that the next unit to arrive will be some more abhumans... namely Halflings

Awesomeness all the way through.

Is painting any kind of distant possiblity?

Subscribing to this thread because those models look great. Nice work!

Beyond awesome

I think I remember commenting on how awesome the greenstuff work was - still applies! Looks great.

Cheers

Painting is a tricky one. I am trying to get some painting done... ANY painting done... but I just can't seem to get my head around it, at the moment.

I am trying to paint a few Primaris marines, in the hope that it may spark some enthusiasm for painting so time will tell on that one.

It doesn't help that I am in the throes of starting up a little online shop for selling some of my sculpts...

With every army, the auxiliaries play an essential role. In this one, Halfling snipers scout forward of the main army; harassing and confusing the enemy with their excellent hit and run tactics, backed up by sniper rifles and camouflaged suits:




Theses sculpts were sent away for casting and have returned:



When life gives me a chance, they will be available to purchase from here:

https://insoemporium.blogspot.co.uk/

You will also be able to get legs that convert Terminator armour into Exo armour from the same place so keep an eye out:

I have started painting the first batch :




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Almost finished :

The squad is finished now:



This is the remaining batch of casts... all 49 sets (245 snipers ):



Hopefully, they will be up for sale soon

The latest update on the Halfling Snipers is that I should be getting the ball rolling this coming week. Here's the information:

https://insoemporium.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/another-update-snipers-and-legs.html

I have got some news if you want to get hold of some of these...

Halfling Snipers: https://insoemporium.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/halfling-snipers-for-sale.html
Exo Armour Legs: https://insoemporium.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/exo-armour-legs-for-sale.html

It's a clunky way of doing things but it's a start

Hey mate, great to see you have got these up for sale! Gonna grab a set of set snipers as soon as I get paid.

Excellent sculpting. Can't wait to see this finished up!

Cheers

Someone mentioned mini Wookies (Ork 56 over on Frothers) but I didn't want to be a copy-cat so I made something different :



Seeing as sales have dried up, it makes sense to do something else with them ... so I made a counts-as Jokaero

In other news, I have actually started painting my Squat army... I know... crazy talk !

Anyway, here's a rough base-coat on my three Berserkers (count as Ministorum Priests):



Next will be a tidy up, wash and highlight... but I'll be doing that one at a time (so I can see finished progress ).

So much win.

Love the exo-suit conversion. And the sentinels. And, well, everything else, really...

Cheers

I have now painted the Jokaero :

Dang, that is nice. Good use of the classic mantic throwin' dog too.

Cheers

The first Squat for the army is now painted. This is a Berserker (counts as ministorum priest):

The next one:

Your Jokero sniper makes me think of the Morlocks from the 1960s Time Machine movie:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5_S4eGrczdQ/maxresdefault.jpg

Great stuff Inso.

Cheers,

CB

Cheers

I've just finished the last Berserker and this one just hits you with his close-combat-dog :

Now that I have some snipers, a Jokaero and some priests, it's high time I got my arse in gear and started painting some of the basic troops... so that is what I have done . Here is the first (rough) base-coat on the first squad of No.2 platoon:

I've started the next veteran squad. These will all have berets. The main weapons will be shotguns and meltaguns. There will be a comms trooper and the sgt will have upgraded close combat weapons (probably a bolt pistol and power weapon):

I am lost for words at how cool this whole thread is. You're definitely a very skilled sculptor!

Subbed to this thread, will be watching for more updates with interest!

Ready for arming... then arming :

Those mini Termies are quite cute. Have you seen the Legion of Steel vehicles? They might work well for you.

The pint sized Tartaros termies are adorable. In a fearsome, manly, space-dwarfy kind of way.

Some really nice conversions here. Lovely sculpting and old-school sentimentality to the designs.

 Inso wrote:
Ready for arming... then arming :

It's the scarecrow army

I'll be building my own vehicles... as nice as those Steel Legion ones are, they don't fit my theme for this army

Scarecrows? ... Hmmm

The troops are now armed so next up will be a layer of putty on the wire before I start sculpting the arms properly :

Remember this?:





Well, all of the leg casts have now been sold and I won't be casting any more. That said, I have had an offer for the green so it is likely that it will be sold and may be cast up by someone else in the future. Sadly, there wasn't the demand for me to keep casting them :( .

First layer of putty on the arms, ready for the next stage which will be hands :

I decided that I wanted Sly Marbo in my army so I have started to convert one... this is still WIP :

Here's the finished Sven Marbo :

After a random suggestion on another forum, I have decided to add a few extra elements and turn Marbo into a Vanguard detachment

In order to do this, I have started a Sgt Harker conversion and plan to also convert a platoon commander with a command squad... and give them a Valkyrie to flit about in.

With this in mind, I have just received a Corvus Blackstar from the postman and will be converting that into a slightly smaller (Squat sized) Valkyrie.

The troops will be reminiscent of the rescue team in the Predator movie... so there will be a few little design cues from the film, added to the little unit.

It will make a nice little self contained detachment for my army with no other reason for existing, other than the rule of cool

Love all the conversion work! Really wish I had stumbled onto this plog awhile ago so I could have grabbed some of those legs!

I look forward to seeing what else you do! Keep up the great work.

Cheers

Preliminary symbol removal is complete ... I just need to sand a few things down and it will be ready to be assembled ...



The Corvus Valkyrie has started .

My 'counts-as' Valkyrie is now converted and assembled:



(It hasn't got the heavy bolter upgrade).

Very cool idea !

There is a treasure trove of Squatty Goodness here !!

Cheers

This Valkyrie will give me the chance to recreate some nose art I painted on a helicopter while I was in Kuwait. Luckily, Airfix made a model kit at 1/48th scale so I will be able to use most of the decals from that kit on the Valkyrie.

Here's my (slightly larger) nose art :

Awesome sculpting work on Sven Marbo

Cheers

He's joined by a very WIP Harker in this pic... although it would appear that I had so much fun building the Valkyrie proxy that I felt the need to keep building... so I have started to build some amphibious transport vehicles :



I have another Hanomag on the way so that I have enough for a platoon (1 each for the command, 2 infantry squads and a heavy weapon squad). If these turn out OK, I may have finally beaten the curse ...

A little bit further. I'm just waiting for the fourth kit to arrive so I can get it to the same standard as these and then work on them all together:




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Sgt Harker is getting there now :

An update on Harker. His flat head will be getting a nice hat... :

Chewing tobacco and wearing a hat, makes you a Sexual Tyrannosaur! Sgt Harker knows...

Harker is finished :



Next will be Dutch (platoon commander ).

It looks like GW want to help me in my Squat project at last :

https://youtu.be/Oc0-8BBkkq4

love the transport and Sgt Harker mate , well done !

Should be some nice options for you to work with if Necromunda Squats turn up !

Great work on the Squat figure of Harker.

Cheers,

CB

In a rather interesting turn of events, I have sold the Halfling sniper greens to CP Models:

https://cpmodels.co.uk/

They will be cast in metal at some point in the future

A WIP competition sculpt of a Squat berserker:

Another nice sculpt Inso.

Cheers,

CB

Love the squat merc team!

Really amazing sculpts, and vehicles are cool too!

Cheers

The merc team is on a bit of a hold at the moment while I clear a few other things... but I mean to get back to them as soon as I can

The vehicles are something I always struggle with... hopefully, the next ones you see will be my amphibious transports

In more sculpting news, I have finished the competition sculpt now:

Something for the army again; this time, it's a pair of Dreadnoughts to go with the Space Marine component of the organisation. Obviously, I can't just get a dreadnought or two. That would be too easy... so I bought a box of Mechanicus robots and here we are. Still WIP but I am getting there :

Your stuff never fails to amaze. Why he hell aren't you sculpting minis for a living??

Cheers .

I'm not sculpting for a living but I am getting a steady stream of commissions that take up a lot of my hobby time

The guns have been added. Next will be detailing :

Amazing looking work again - looking forward to see how those guys turn out !

Cheers

In today's little update, a top hatch, handle, front vent and some eyebrows have been added. Just for the record, the arms and top weapons are not glued in place yet... and the bodies are not attached to the base (so the pose hasn't been fixed yet) :



I will be fettling the bodies and getting them finished before moving on to the arms .

SO good man :-)

In other news... the Squat Berserker has been sold to Short Wars now . He will be available from here in good time:

http://www.shortwars.co.uk/

The miniature in question didn't fare particularly well in the competition but the ones above it were worthy of being there. Here's my now posted Berserker:



As for the Halfling snipers... they can now be found for sale over at CP models :

https://cpmodels.co.uk/product/ru13-halfling-snipers-full-gillie-suits/

Most of the money from the sculpts I have sold has gone to charitable causes so everyone is a winner

Nearly finished :

These are now as finished as they will ever be. Thorsen on the left, Ranulf on the right :



They will be glued down and then I will prime them as soon as the weather lifts

Fantastic!

Cheers

I have now primed the dreads:



Now that I have got as far as I can with them, I thought I'd see what I could find in the loft and managed to uncover my Bullgryn squad. Only one of them had been converted... and he didn't have any weapons but luckily, I had thought about that earlier and bagged a lot of Bullgryn bits from EBay. With the bits already available, it was merely a case of a bit of sawing, drilling, pinning and gluing and I soon ended up with this:



He's a converted, Mantic, Dreadball Ork with GW weapons. He still needs some putty work to fill gaps and sort out a few niggles... but he's pretty much there . I have another four sat in a box beside me so I have enough for a squad of five. Tidy .

Those squat Dreadnoughts look really nice mate !

These are amazing. How the hell do you do what you do with greenstuff? It's incredible!

The competition sculpt (Squat Berserker) has been cast up and I was sent a couple of copies so I painted one up:



A bit of back-story :

https://i.imgur.com/2lt2MPo.jpg

Do you ever field these guys as a count as Space Marine army? I'd love to see a Squat BatRep.

I don't game ... so, sadly, no bat-reps from me.

The army is mostly Astra Millitarum, with Space Marine elements (the higher level command units).

 Inso wrote:
I don't game ... so, sadly, no bat-reps from me.

The army is mostly Astra Millitarum, with Space Marine elements (the higher level command units).

Shame, you could create some really beautiful battles with this army.

A proxy Leman Russ (WIP):

Looking good, but needs MOAR RIVETS.

 Briancj wrote:
Looking good, but needs MOAR RIVETS.

My army isn't as rivety as a standard GW Imperial army... In fact, it uses rather a lot of countersunk-head screws and rivets that blend in to the surface of the armour

I have a very limited amount of Imperial kit and tend to use Squat built kit instead... and my Squats aren't particularly fond of humans :(

 Inso wrote:


My army isn't as rivety as a standard GW Imperial army... In fact, it uses rather a lot of countersunk-head screws and rivets that blend in to the surface of the armour

HERETICAL TECHNOLOGY DETECTED.

The Dreads remind me of Rogue Trader.

Cheers,

CB

Captain Brown wrote:
The Dreads remind me of Rogue Trader.

Cheers,

CB

Cool ... That was my intention (a mix of the old style Dreadnoughts and Squat Exo Armour).

Just need some decals to arrive now :



I've ordered some decals from here:

http://domsdecals.com/

and another two tanks from EBay. They will be converted to be the same as this one.

... and so it begins again . Two more Punishers have arrived:



I have the pens, I have the lascannons and I have the sprue for the punisher cannon.

Once they are converted, that will be the first section of the tank company complete. Then another two lots of three and a command tank .

Those tanks work quite well for Squats, good find mate !

Any idea what you will use for transports ?

At the moment, I will be converting some 1/35 scale German half-tracks (I have four that I have already started).

That said, I am almost tempted to get more of these tanks and just make a top panel for them that has space for a small turret and some lasgun ports... the jury is out at the moment

Skdfz 251 Hannomag Half tracks ? They would be a good choice ! I got a bulk buy of 3x Chinese copy Airfix 1/32nd scale Hannomags from ebay, they'll be awesome if i ever find the time to convert them !

If you look back through this thread, you'll see a previous attempt but I have decided to go with a tank version by chopping the front off and losing the wheels but keeping the tracks.

 Inso wrote:
If you look back through this thread, you'll see a previous attempt but I have decided to go with a tank version by chopping the front off and losing the wheels but keeping the tracks.

I like the version you did on page 1, but I'm sure whatever you go with will look the part !

Love those tanks, just perfect for Squats and Grots. Strangely enough I've been looking at these recently as well as the Meng Kids flyer range (The Lancaster bomber is on my 'might purchase' list).

I had seen the Meng toon range a while ago and thought that the tanks looked a bit too 'chibi' for what I wanted... then I saw the King Tiger, with its longer wheel base and thought that it was just what I needed.

It is almost exactly what I was aiming for with my earlier attempt at a 'Panther Russ' conversion (from a 1/35 Panther - also shown earlier in this thread).

Just a quick post to show off the second painted tank:



The third tank has been washed and will start this week. It'll be getting a visible tank commander to denote it as a lead tank but he won't be a tank commander, rules wise... he'll just be a normal tank (he'll just have a normal helmet rather than a significantly leader-like hat/helmet).

See? I can paint things occasionally

Still no decals... but the supplier is always fairly slow so I won't worry just yet

"See? I paint things occasionally!" -- Should be our motto.

Very cool stuff in here. The squat valkyrie is boss, but those dreads are awesome indeed!

As for painting , that's just that thing people do after the good bit isn't it?

Well, I will say that these two tanks are pretty much all I've painted this year (apart from a Dwarf)... so I am happy to just get that far !

I've started work on Punisher number 3 today. I have converted the guns and will be putting the green stuff on at some point.

The problem I have now is how I can build 3 plasma cannons that look enough like plasma cannons to count... but different enough that they have been made by Squats rather than humans.

My 'scavenger radar' is on maximum at the moment .

Lots of good stuff I'm sure I haven't commented on, happy to see you powering along and producing really impressive, consistent work

But mostly popping in to commend the striped down blackstar in particular, that coat of paint shows how well you were able to dequisition it, wow!

- Salvage

Two tanks? Not sure I even have a finished tank....

I seem to recall the old squat plasma weapons has a more circular cross-section than humie built versions. Maybe build around a bolt or large screw, the thread will work as the coil when parts are covered as it will guide the fact it's a continuous line. Instead of a vented muzzle, maybe an adjustable nozzle, like a thruster?

I would suggest using a flange or square-driven bolt, with a bit of tubing and wire for the coils.

Similar to this:

https://www.grainger.com/product/GRAINGER-APPROVED-Architectural-Bolt-1JYJ9

Love the medals on the walkers best of all.

Cheers

I've got a little bit further now. The platoon leader has been sculpted so I can now get on with spraying the turret and finishing the painting :



Still no decals though :(

The first command tank is coming along:



... and this arrived:



Squat Knight Titan proxy, anyone?!

 Inso wrote:
Squat Knight Titan proxy, anyone?!

I'm a believer! Also that tagline

- Salvage

Loving the imaginative repurposing. Will really look the part when done

Wow. That is a gloriously ancient mech from the late 70's early 80's. GLORIOUS.

Now that mech does look interesting.....

Cheers .

I will be bulking the mech out so what you see is very much the 'skeleton'.

I will be changing quite a lot of it... but not until I have finished the tanks

With that in mind, I have started to convert some plasma-cannons :

Looking forward to see what you do with the mech !

Chopped up Pens and other genre model kits provide some of the best parts for conversions !

The mech will be on the back burner until I have finished my tank company... so I don't see me touching it for a good couple of months yet. That said, it gives me plenty of time to think about how I am going to convert it ... Pinterest has been very helpful.

At the moment, I have washed the sprues for the next three tanks and have finished the basic green-stuff work so they will be ready for assembly and priming very soon.

I have also fitted the barrels of the plasma cannons to their mantles, primed them and they now look like this:



I think they will work perfectly .

Unfortunately, the weather is slowing me down today because i can't get any spraying done... but that aside, I have managed to assemble everything, ready for spray painting so that's a bonus :



I have not glued the base, hull, turret top or turret base together because I will need to take them apart for spraying and fitting the wheels . Hopefully the plasma-cannons look OK. You can see that the nearest tank has it's top hatch glued open. That is ready for another little tank commander .

Plasmas all look fine

Amazingly so for being pens!

- Salvage

Cheers

I try to make the conversions simple yet effective. It took a lot of digging to find pens that looked right... but the 'coils' I happened across whilst queuing in Primark (they are hair ties ).

I managed to get some paint on the first plasma-cannon tank too:

Now the third tank is finished (apart from the commander and decals) and the first of the plasma-tanks is base-coated, ready for a wash:



Hopefully, the first plasma-tank will be ready for decals by the end of the week... but who knows?

Just decals to go on the first platoon... but I reckon I'll leave the decals until all the tanks are painted :

Here's a high quality (Windows Paint) mock-up of the markings for my tank company:



I have all the decals I need for all ten tanks. The yellow shape changes for each platoon/command so there will be 3 triangles, 3 squares and 3 circles with a diamond as the company commander.

I have all the decals except the names... but I have LOTS of decals which can be altered for that... or I can just paint the names (so they are properly individual).

I beg of you, proper Imperial Vehicle Squadron Identification Stripes. They need them. For the Emperor.

 Briancj wrote:
I beg of you, proper Imperial Vehicle Squadron Identification Stripes. They need them. For the Emperor.

My Squat army has been let down by the Imperium... when they called for help with fighting a Tyranid invasion, the Imperials didn't respond. As a result, the use of Imperial equipment is limited and they would certainly steer away from using Imperial markings.

There is so much inspiration and creativity, not just using Green Stuff but making your own miniatures!?!?!? The Halfling Snipers are unbelievable!!!!!!!!

I'd much rather have metal Squats imho, but I am in awe of your army sir .... I came back to check in on the Squat tank commander; he looks the part!

 Inso wrote:

 Briancj wrote:
I beg of you, proper Imperial Vehicle Squadron Identification Stripes. They need them. For the Emperor.

My Squat army has been let down by the Imperium... when they called for help with fighting a Tyranid invasion, the Imperials didn't respond. As a result, the use of Imperial equipment is limited and they would certainly steer away from using Imperial markings.

Well, to be fair, these markings are rarely used, nowadays, and would be more a symbol of honoring the True Imperium, from before the Dark Millennium.

--B, troublemaking

 Briancj wrote:

 Inso wrote:

 Briancj wrote:
I beg of you, proper Imperial Vehicle Squadron Identification Stripes. They need them. For the Emperor.

My Squat army has been let down by the Imperium... when they called for help with fighting a Tyranid invasion, the Imperials didn't respond. As a result, the use of Imperial equipment is limited and they would certainly steer away from using Imperial markings.

Well, to be fair, these markings are rarely used, nowadays, and would be more a symbol of honoring the True Imperium, from before the Dark Millennium.

--B, troublemaking

My Squats do not honour the Imperium in any of its forms... whether modern or before the Dark Millenium. They have their own way of doing things and don't feel the need to copy the Imperials.

 Inso wrote:

My Squats do not honour the Imperium in any of its forms... whether modern or before the Dark Millenium. They have their own way of doing things and don't feel the need to copy the Imperials.

SO MOTE IT BE, AS IT WAS WRITTEN IN PROPHECY.

This blog never ceases to impress the heck out of me... those tanks are exceptional!

Cheers .

My original plan was to chop up 1/35th panthers and use those... but they were a lot of effort and it was difficult to get a group of them to look the same (because of the conversion work).

Finding these Meng tanks was a real piece of luck and I am so glad that I took a chance on them because they are really simple to convert (just weapons) so that they all look unified.

They are also cheaper than my original option and less than half the price of a Leman Russ tank from GW.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
First plasma tank done (apart from decals) with the second one now on the table :

Looks great. I just found this new version thread so glad to catch upon the new stuff. I look forward to seeing what you do with the cute Griffin kit you got there. I'm also tempted to get your Ratlings to add to my IG.

Cheers, I'm glad you are enjoying the army build .

I am thinking that the Griffin will end up very influenced by this one (I found the image on Pinterest):


I love the proportions and general look of it .

If you want some of the Halfling Snipers, PM me and I'll send some of the miscast ones I have. They only have the odd hole here and there so will be easy to fill .

That is a cool mech. I love the design of the Griffin, also a classic. I love the helicopter-esque canopy reminds me of a Hind or something. Looking forward to your take on it.

"Where's my air support?!" ...

"Where are we!"

Looking great, fantastic sculpting as ever. I made a tiny start on your Rats in my blog, probably won't paint them just yet but soon tm.

Cool ... it's funny you should mention rats...

I needed a break from painting tanks... and to be honest, it's a bit humid for painting so I decided to build a few Halfling Snipers:



This is three squads of ten, all washed, cleaned up, filled and based, ready for priming .

The good thing is that this means I have ticked off three boxes on my organisation chart... and three platoons now have their ten-strong sniper units .

... and then there were six :



With the completion of this little platoon, I now have six Leman-Russ proxy tanks finished (apart from decals). Now I have to start all over again with the next three and they will be getting Battle-Cannons .

As long as it was just a few snipers....not say 30

Russes look great, love the exasperated commander - although he looks more ratling than squat, is he the squat equivalent of Donald Sutherland in Kelly's Heroes

He is a she... and she is called Anja

The remaining four tanks for the tank company :



The one of the left is waiting for an Agrax wash, the one next to it is waiting for priming/base-coating, the one next to that is waiting for a commander to be sculpted before Priming/base-coating and the opne on the right is the overall company command tank and is waiting for a commander and hull weapon to be sorted out before priming/base-coating.

The weather has been humid so I have avoided most of the painting/sculpting and have just been assembling and gap-filling. I think that I will need to replenish a few paints (namely the green spray) to finish them all... but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Nice work , I really like the look of those King Tigers and they suit Squats to a T

Cheers .

Everything has slowed down a bit... mostly due to the lovely sunny weather. That said, I am still doing bits and bobs. Currently, I have two tanks all dirtied up, ready for stippling:



With the tank commander for the third tank finished:



His tank is mostly sprayed green, apart from the turret and a few bits of equipment (that will get sorted today ).

This particular tank commander is looking at his digital map while wondering how the hell he ended up so far from where he should be .

Nice solid progress.

Didn't realise that was a digi map though. Thought he was looking at a whiskey decanter wondering where the contents went

Fantastic stuff dude.

Love the meng tank conversions

Very nice...loving those eyebrows.

More great sculpts and conversions. Great stuff Inso.

Cheers,

CB

Inso you are very talented! I was following this project for a while but recently saw the snipers you sent over to Randy McStab in the flesh - they're fantastically detailed for such small minis.

Keep up the good work.

Cheers .

The Ratlings were a slow process to sculpt. each layer of leaves had to be sculpted and then left to dry before the next layer went on... luckily, it didn't really involve textures or musculature or anything too demanding to sculpt so it wasn't difficult... just time consuming.

Back to the tanks... and with the tank commander sculpted, I have progressed and all of the tanks in his platoon, are now decal ready. I just need to finish painting the tank commander :




Automatically Appended Next Post:
All painted up now:

Great work dude

Cheers .

The tank company has stalled a bit so I have started on something new to keep things ticking along:

Can you still get those exo armour legs you made on page one anywhere, to go with termie armour?

Andykp wrote:
Can you still get those exo armour legs you made on page one anywhere, to go with termie armour?

No. I sold the green to a private collector and I don't think he had plans to get them cast for resale. Sorry .

No worries. Cheers for the reply. If only I had your skills with the green stuff.

Just posting to tell you I recently started a facebook group about squats

#squatslivesmatter

JmOz01 wrote:
Just posting to tell you I recently started a facebook group about squats

#squatslivesmatter

Link?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/902145336635955/

note it is REALLY NEW, and is only a few pics of my project right now, but seemed like it would be a fun place to share pics and stuff

A small amount of progress on the proxy Chimera:



Just weapons to go now. I will be going for Heavy-Bolters in the turret and the hull because I asked around and the verdict was pretty unanimous !

Awesome scratch work, dude looking forward to seeing it finished

I've finished the build and have started putting a bit of paint on now:

The paint really pulled that build together! Well done, dude.

- Salvage

Cheers .

Now it's painted (except for decals):

Man, those are really superior! Great unified aesthetic, I love the symmetry in the details.

I really like the Chimera conversion, looking nice and real worldy.

I hope it's not too much of a threadjack but here are some of your Ratlings finished..



I can delete the pic if it's not appropriate just let me know. I enjoyed doing these a lot, great sculpts. Furher pics on my Blog if you want to see more.

 RandyMcStab wrote:
I really like the Chimera conversion, looking nice and real worldy.

I hope it's not too much of a threadjack but here are some of your Ratlings finished..



I can delete the pic if it's not appropriate just let me know. I enjoyed doing these a lot, great sculpts. Furher pics on my Blog if you want to see more.

This isn't a thread-jack... it's a bit of an awesome interlude .

Very nice work on those. They certainly look the business .

I hate squats but this is awesome! Love it

Great job on the chimera

Cheers .

I am glad that i managed to get the Chimera proxy how I wanted it... and that people actually agree with my choice of direction for it . I really wanted it to fit in with the rest of the armour and (in my opinion) it does .

So... Onward and upwards...

The company command tank has stopped. I can't even look at it for now... every time I mix putty, I can't bring myself to use it so it gets wasted. With that in mind, I felt that I needed something to keep things ticking over and I suddenly realised that I had the perfect thing... my Spearhead Detachment.

My Spearhead detachment consists of the following things:

HQ - Tank commander.
Elite - Engineseer and servitors in a Chimera transport.
Heavy Support - 3 tanks (battle-cannon).
Heavy Support - 3 tanks (punisher cannon).
Heavy Support - 3 tanks (plasma cannon).

Seeing as I already have most of the list finished, I just need to finish the Engineseer unit and the tank commander... seeing as I can't work on the tank commander, I have dug out the Engineseer and servitors to work on:

Before:



For work in progress, I will refer you to the relevant blog page:

http://insosworld.blogspot.com/2018/07/water-from-sky.html

It would appear that I have finally started to paint a few miniatures again...

Painted:

Always satisfying to see paint pull a conversion / scratch build together Squad looks great!

- Salvage

Cheers .

Here's Jecub 'Sure-Grip' Mikkelson:



He's the Squat Engineer Guilds-man.

There are more images of the team (plus other stuff) here:

http://insosworld.blogspot.com/2018/08/another-week-of-summer.html

Very nice, as always

Cheers

So... now I am painting things, I thought I'd give some Halflings a go:



I decided to follow Randy McStab's example and paint small areas of different coloured leaves on the Ghilly suits... hopefully, it shows up .

These are attached to the first Infantry platoon so I have dug out the command elements to paint... namely a Primaris Psyker (Jedi Beastman), Platoon Commander and Command Squad.

I have just primed the troops and have started to paint the Psyker (because he was already started).

This painting push will be to try and complete the whole platoon; which consists of:

Primaris Psyker.
Platoon Commander.
Command Squad.
Infantry Squad.
Infantry Squad.
Heavy Weapon Squad.
Armoured Sentinel Sqn (3 walkers).
Chimeras (4 vehicles).

The good thing is that the troops have a lot of colours on them so they will be entertaining to paint . Hopefully, I'll be able to get the platoon done (I may stall on the Chimeras because they haven't been converted yet... the rest is all ready for paint).

They look great, I think that it helps to break up their silhouette and makes them look less homogeneous.

I look forward to seeing your infantry squads too, I like that green hold colours and painted my ancient Epic Squat army that way.

Cheers . I saw your snipers and they looked really effective so I followed your approach and it has worked out nicely .

I have a mix of greens for the army but the Dark Angels green will be for my 'marine' proxies and special units... I have a plan !

This week, after finishing the Snipers, I got on with painting the Primaris Psyker for the first platoon:



I've also started painting the Platoon Commander and his Command Squad. They are still WIP but there is a pic over at the blog:

http://insosworld.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-dwarfs-are-on-their-way.html

I've got a little further now... they have been washed and are ready for the highlighting now .

Snipers looking good, and the beastman shaman is great, that is a fun sculpt you produced there.

Cheers ... he's now got some friends ...

The first infantry unit is complete... this is the command section for the first platoon:



Primaris Psyker, Platoon Commander and Command Squad.

The first infantry Squad is now on the painting table .

The troops are moving along nicely... here's another WIP:



There's lots more info on my blog, including all sorts of useful links :

http://insosworld.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-platoon-is-growing.html

Another day, another bunch of finished stuff . Here is the first infantry squad for the first platoon of the army :



Also... if you remember this...



You may want to follow the blog link to see what has become of him :

http://insosworld.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-day-of-badger.html

 Inso wrote:
You may want to follow the blog link to see what has become of him :

http://insosworld.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-day-of-badger.html

Worth the click

Very pleased to see paint on these lads, feel like it's been years in the making. Nice, clean paint at that

- Salvage

Cheers

4 years (so far)... and still lots to finish

Great work there Inso.

Cheers,

CB

Love how much character these guys have.

Love this stuff- the tanks nicely round out your army, the tank commanders are particularly great, but the Engineseer and his bots really take the prize. Amazing little set of figures.

Cheers

I am glad to be painting these... after four years of work on the army, it was about time some of the troops saw some paint .

I have a second infantry squad at the 'base-coated before tidy-up' stage and have just finished a sidekick for Chuck... I think I'll call him Bruce Leaf...





The army still has a long way to go, with lots of conversions/scratch-builds to be done... For starters I need to convert 13 more Chimeras, 10 veterans, 3 Sentinels,31 troopers, 1 Primaris Psyker, 20 Scouts, 10 Terminators, six Landspeeder Storms, a bunch of jungle characters, Schaefer... the list is still long... probably another 4 years yet !

I also have plans for an Adeptus Mechanicus detachment with a Titan of some description... so that will be fun (including some characters and elites).

Then... there's the air force...

I am so impressed as never before!

I've struggled to get any hobby done recently... but I managed to get out on my bike, so it hasn't been all bad. Since the fly-screen has been added, my bike looks the business :

Very nice, looks like a Harly with the fly screen!

It's been a while but this project doesn't disappear... it just keeps changing (as is usually the case)... especially when some new miniatures turn up . This is Big Olaf:



He's not been officially attached to the army yet... but there are certainly stirrings in the warp (EBay) and this may well end up as a very individual character model, with a particularly loyal body guard .

The Dwarf is from here:

https://www.hfminis.co.uk/shop?product=resin-master-%252d-privateer-go%252dtrek~hfmaster-sf138&category=sci%252dfi-%26%0D%0Aweird-war~resin-masters-%252d-sci%252dfi

Hes bloody cool, no doubt.

I hate squats but you've made me love the work youve done.

I absolutely love all of these conversions, great way of making an Imperial Soup army while still maintaining a strict and strong theme! Love it!

Olaf is quite nifty, i like his swinging beard

Well done Inso.

I especially liked the painted Squats and your Squat Rough Riders on the previous page.

Cheers,

CB

Beautiful Squat dude

Cheers

I am currently awaiting the arrival of a second, slightly larger individual, who will be joining this one... probably as a bodyguard? It will all become clear when I get the miniature and can see it in the flesh, so to speak .

Big Olaf has a friend, you know... it's a Bulgryn bodyguard!



He started life as this:



and is quite big:





I got him from here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DWARF-LORD-Miniature-for-Wargames/143002175003?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2648

That is a big dwarf.

 RandyMcStab wrote:
That is a big dwarf.

I was aware it was bigger than a Squat when I ordered it but when it arrived, even I was a little surprised at how big it really was.

I quickly knew that it was a perfect choice for a proxy Ogryn Bodyguard... it'll be a disabled Squat in a robot suit or armour though (just using Bulgryn stats).

There will be some background fluff to go with it .

Differently-abled.

Sounds good, my Ogryns are robots I made out of 'Ramshackle Games' robot kits.

Big Olaf now has a friend...



Snorri the Giant.

Snorri glared across the field and saw the warboss, bold,
And as he glared, his anger rose and then his blood ran cold.
He knew the Warboss must be stopped, before he reached the gate,
So his ancestors infused with him and filled his heart with hate.

He leapt from off the parapet, with axes in both hands,
And as he charged the Warboss, he was joined by allied bands.
The sound of clashing steel rang out, when the enemies first met,
And in the guild's librarium, began the bravest story yet.

Snorri fought the mighty Ork, with fury rarely seen.
His bravery, the kind of which, had rarely ever been.
He brought the monster to the ground, and cleaved off his raging head.
And he stood upon the Warboss corpse as it lay there, clearly dead.

Alas his triumph was short lived, as Orks are hardy foes.
And though its head was clearly gone, it's axe, it slowly rose.
And with a final death strike, the blade met Snorri's head.
And Snorri dropped down on the field, the Squat was surely dead.

Snorri's lifeless body was, removed from off the field.
But there was the slightest heartbeat, and the hope he could be healed.
All the guilds around the lands were called and asked for aid,
But the best of all the medicae, failed and were dismayed.

Poor Snorri was alive in mind, but his body was a shell.
His arms and legs were useless, he felt he was in hell.
But a Squat called Jorgen Bursmith, had an idea in mind.
And he built some special armour that would leave his woes behind.

Now Snorri, he could fight again and he made sure that he would,
And his fame was too important, so his guild ensured he could.
But his size was far too great now and he needed to be seen,
So the guild made him a warden and he was sent to guard the Queen.

In time, the legend of the Squat, in massive armour spread...
Of the cybernetic warrior, who refused to lay down dead.
His name "Snorri the Giant", with shield and gun in hand,
Who defends the royal family, the Guild and all the land.

This thread...so good ...

 rayphoton wrote:
This thread...so good ...

Thank you .

I am trying to keep things a little varied but also keep everything unified... to make things interesting .

I am currently working on the last of the tank company tanks... hopefully, I'll have some pictures to show off very soon.

I have just finished sculpting my tank company commander:



More musing, here:

http://insosworld.blogspot.com/2018/12/a-little-bit-of-sculpting.html

Great work, as usual

This thread is SO much fun to watch!

--Brian

Thanks ... I'm glad you are enjoying the trip .

I've started painting the latest tank now... still WIP but it's a start:

Great work - Big Olaf and the commander are really outstanding examples of space dwarf kind!

Cheers ...

Just decals to go now :



1x Tank commander with Vanquisher.
3x Punisher.
3x Annihilator.
3x Battle Cannon.
1x Engineseer Chimera.

I think I need to add a Hydra for a bit of air support... so that will probably turn up at some point .

Fab stuff, especially your acquiring about 10% of the world production run of that World War Toon/Meng Panther

I know that I have always said "no bikes" but I managed to get a bunch of Mantic bikes and I thought that they could be Hearthguard Bikers (Spacemarine Scout Bikers) to add to the "high echelon" (Spacemarine) part of my army. Obviously, a small amount of conversion is necessary to make them fit in with my other Hearthguard... so that is what I have started doing .

I have snipped the unarmoured torso off the rider and have added a Steel Warrior torso (trimmed down) and head. I have also beefed up the legs and added the standard arms. I still need to convert the arms but as a test conversion, I think it is working so far...



Existing Hearthguard troopers:

I like the bikes.

Cheers ... They fit the bill, don't they?

I'm calling this bike finished... after all, I have another 11+ to go so I want to keep things relatively simple :



Now... on to the next one

There's nothing like a big hobby slump to make you try and finish the more obscure things that lurk on your work-bench...



This is Dash Hound... a speedster to go with my little collection of superheroes:



I have also been painting Primaris Space Marines... which isn't something I would usually do. Hopefully, I'll get back to sorting out these bikes sometime soon:

I do not understand why 'Ape' is not named and painted like 'Alf'.

 Briancj wrote:
I do not understand why 'Ape' is not named and painted like 'Alf'.

It's easy to understand... I chose to use him as a superhero so I painted him differently and changed his name. Why just be the same?

BECAUSE ALF, DAMMIT!

They all look great as a group, wonderful work!

--B.

Where did that Alf mini come from? That would make a great little gift for my brother.

 monkeytroll wrote:
Where did that Alf mini come from? That would make a great little gift for my brother.

It used to be available from 4A miniatures (I think):

http://www.fouraminiatures.com/page2.htm

But it doesn't seem to be in the shop anymore. You could maybe try contacting them, to see if they can find one for you?

Cheers, there's a couple of fun little guys I might have to pick up from there.

Man, your motor pool is growing like crazy! Snorri and Olaf are easy favorites, even without the poetry. How is this army on the table? Any battle reports or in-game photos? Wonderful work!

 MacPhail wrote:
Man, your motor pool is growing like crazy! Snorri and Olaf are easy favorites, even without the poetry. How is this army on the table? Any battle reports or in-game photos? Wonderful work!

Cheers .

I don't game... I just collect, convert and paint .

In more Squat related news... I appear to have started a bit of sculpting again ... Dutch is nearly finished ...

Who's Dutch? Well... I could tell you but he ordered me to "Get to the chopper!" ...

To be continued ...

Shouldn't "Dutch" be a Space Marine character? After all, he should be driving a Predator...

 Briancj wrote:
Shouldn't "Dutch" be a Space Marine character? After all, he should be driving a Predator...

Probably not in a Squat Astra Millitarum army ... Maybe if this was a Space Marine army...

See? That's what I'm SAYING. He's out of place!

 Briancj wrote:
See? That's what I'm SAYING. He's out of place!

These are Catachan Squats... if Arnie, out of the Predator, was anything from the WH40k universe, he'd be a Catachan Jungle Fighter ... he doesn't need power armour or tanks to kick arses.

Definitely not out of place.

I have Poncho on the sculpting table next... he's the one with the grenade launcher .

Love that Dutch conversion (well more of a sculpt). Lovely reconfig of the RTB01 bolter too, so much cleaner then my version on my SM Lieutenant.

I did some Predator inspired stuff, in my Scout Killteam, such a great film.

Poncho has been added now . Next up is Hawkins; the comms specialist...

The sculpting on these really IS quite impressive.

--Brian

Inso,

Some more nice sculpts.

Cheers,

CB

Love Blaine. Great hommage!

Cheers .

Hawkins is nearly finished and I've now got Mac on the table.

I've been thinking about how to depict Mac (he's on the table now) and I realised that there were two moments in the film that really stick out for me... first was the scene where he is shaving (not applicable... my dwarfs have beards) and breaks the razor and the other one is where he stabs the scorpion on Dillon's back... now, on Catachan, the scorpions would tend to be bigger so I have a little leeway on size but it would certainly be a shame not to include one on the end sculpt...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZgfBDWYjZE


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Hawkins :

Brilliant. Makes me want to go watch the film again. 80s action and sci-fi are my go-tos after the family is in bed and I drag out the hobby stuff for an hour of painting before I crash. Aliens is the default, but Predator is due...

Your sculping skills are awe-inspiring! Poncho's grenade launcher barrel needs a bigger hole though.

Love all of your work on these little lads - we are all spoilt for choice with Squat inspiration at the moment.

Your sculpting is fantastic, really first rate. If you have a top ten tips or summink do feel free to share with those of us that are less proficient (but keen to steal tips from the skilled)!

Cheers .

I have enlarged the whole in the grenade launcher barrel as well .

Mac is finished... just Dillon to go ...

Great work! Lots of character in that face.

OMG it is awesome, always likes such references to immortal cinemas

Dutch should be Colonel Striken I suppose )

Cheers .

In order to include them in a Vanguard detachment, the list of the team is as follows:

HQ - Billy - Marbo
Elite - Blain - Sgt Harker
Elite - Dutch - Platoon Commander
Elite - Hawkins/Poncho/Mac/Dillon - Command Squad
Air Support - The Chopper - Valkyrie

Sure... the only way is to add Anna as an astropath maybe, thats helps move Dutch to HQ )

I won't be adding any more members to the unit... certainly not a psyker ...

Now that Dillon is finished...

The finished team:



Next up... painting...

Very characterful there Inso.

Cheers,

CB

Cheers .

Seeing as I am in the mood for sculpting at the moment, I have dug out a veteran unit that just needs arms sculpting and also a plastic body to build Colonel 'Iron-hand' Straken from.

I'll post some pix once I have got a little further with Straken... but here is the WIP veteran unit (with shotguns from Anvil Industry):

A finished Colonel 'Iron-hand' Straken today :

Brilliant. Straken has so many great iterations, and this one tops the list.

Awesomeness.

Thank you .

I've hit a firework moment .

You know? When you want to focus on one thing but there are so many bright and sparkly ideas out there that you spend all your time watching and thinking... and no time actually DOING? Yep... it's like that at the moment.

I've got Ogryns in the form of Minotaurs on my mind...

...so I've ordered some cheap, Russian, 54mm Minotaurs ( http://www.tehnolog.ru/images/forthcoming/art_minotavri.jpg ) to act as donor models for the project. I've ordered 12 so there will be plenty to mess around with / chop up... and they cost £13.00 including postage so not very expensive at all.

I've also pre-ordered 3 lots of Ambots (six models in total - https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Necromunda-Ambot-2019 ) to convert into Hearthguard Assault Frames (Space Marine Centurions)... and I must confess that I am extremely keen to get my hands on those ...

... and that means that I have sort of lost my sculpting muse and have stopped sleeping . Creative processes, eh?

 Inso wrote:
I've also pre-ordered 3 lots of Ambots (six models in total - https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Necromunda-Ambot-2019 ) to convert into Hearthguard Assault Frames (Space Marine Centurions)... and I must confess that I am extremely keen to get my hands on those ...

YESSSSSSSSSSSS that kit looks so delicious, good on you. Unsure why I haven't ordered any myself yet, probably because I'm not 100% on what I'm using them for? Plus the Ambull itself is battering at my wallet

 Boss Salvage wrote:

 Inso wrote:
I've also pre-ordered 3 lots of Ambots (six models in total - https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Necromunda-Ambot-2019 ) to convert into Hearthguard Assault Frames (Space Marine Centurions)... and I must confess that I am extremely keen to get my hands on those ...

YESSSSSSSSSSSS that kit looks so delicious, good on you. Unsure why I haven't ordered any myself yet, probably because I'm not 100% on what I'm using them for? Plus the Ambull itself is battering at my wallet

It could be that you just need to see a few scale and comparison pix to make your mind up. It also helps to know where in the big scheme of things, you are going to put them.

I am lucky because my army has two distinct factions (Astra Millitarum and Adeptus Astartes) so I have a few options. My one worry is that these Ambots end up bigger than the dreadnoughts I have built... it doesn't help that my Sentinels look almost as brutal as my Dreadnoughts and I really want my Dreads to look tough as nails (I'll probably end up giving them a gnarly paint scheme... with teeth ).

I will be converting the Ambots (but not too much) because, straight away, the waist is a bit spindly and the head is too bug-like. The rest should remain mostly the same.

When they arrive, I will be sure to get them photographed and compared for scale .

 Inso wrote:
When they arrive, I will be sure to get them photographed and compared for scale .

Bless Sorry wallet

This happened (five complete shotgun vets):



... but now the ambots have arrived... this happened as well:



There is more information on my blog (as usual):

http://insosworld.blogspot.com/2019/03/happy-camper.html

DUUUUUUUUUUUUDE

Ambot is so good, cheers for the scale shots

Thanks and no worries ... you should like this then :

Finished Hearthguard Assault Frame Squad:

Beautiful squad of bashbots, so tasty Nice little missile pod additions.

Cheers ...

I have now finished both units and have included two Sgts with 'omniscope' conversion from bits of the kit .

I have included a note for each of the poses and all of the four possible poses are shown. For info, the right arm only fits in one position, whereas the left has two.

Anyway... here are the two units:

NICE!

Awesome conversion on the ambots dude

 JoeRugby wrote:
Awesome conversion on the ambots dude

Cheers .

Another distraction...

I decided to dig out a few Arkanauts to add to my 'Big Squat' project.

So far I have these:





But have now finished these two as well:





I have also dug out three more Kharadrons and have started work to convert them in to close combat warriors with las-pistols and axes/swords. It's early days on those but I am getting there .

A bit late to the party, but those ambots rule!

Great work.

Jesus... great work!

FTL

BIG SQUATS! (To the tune of AC/DC's "Big Guns")

--B.

The river has run dry.

In a bit to get things moving, I've started something new...

... a proxy Primarch ...

 Inso wrote:
The river has run dry.

In a bit to get things moving, I've started something new...

... a proxy Primarch ...

You tease sir...

 fasterthanlight wrote:

 Inso wrote:
The river has run dry.

In a bit to get things moving, I've started something new...

... a proxy Primarch ...

You tease sir...

... Squat Superhero called War Golem ... Uses the stats for Guilliman ...

Nice work Inso.

Cheers,

CB

A bit of sculpting for a competition. It's going to be an infantryman at rest and it is also VERY WIP ...

Progress on the Squat sculpt :

Here's how the sculpt has progressed :

I wish to buy all your Squats.

I'm sure you would... but they are not for sale ...

Just hair, beard and hat to go now :

Have you ever considered making a set for casting purposes?

 Briancj wrote:
Have you ever considered making a set for casting purposes?

Many times... but it stalls due to weaponry. I would need to have unique weaponry and that would mean that I would have to design and sculpt each one. Then, in order to keep things uniform, I would need to get the weapons cast up so that each miniature was holding an identical weapon... THEN, I would be in a position to start sculpting the miniatures... and I hate making weapons... so things don't get started.

When I do competition sculpts, I tend to sculpt melee weapons but have the pistol weapons holstered so I don't have to sculpt them ...

I have used existing weapons (on license/with permission) but they got mixed responses... this one (Hannibal) is one I made using a Hasslefree Miniatures weapon (with permission):

http://www.grekwoodminiatures.co.uk/IndividualCharacters.php






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Finished except for the basing tab :

Yanno, that all makes sense.

Thanks for the explanation, I will continue to live vicariously through your blog!

Brilliant work! I love the way there's an expression sculpted under the beard, attention to detail.

Tabbed up and ready to be counted amongst the competition entries :

I have started another one... for the same competition...



This one will be a standard trooper with a rifle of some description.

This is mind boggling. I can't even sculpt a bloody helmet. Love the character to these little guys, that last one perfectly fits the avuncular, eccentric British colonel type....

HOW do you do this??? I suspect a deal with dark forces....

Cheers ... The answer is "lots of practice". I've been sculpting (on and off) for over 30 years and I still call myself an amateur.

A bit more progress:

Another distraction ... This is the first of many and is a conversion of an "Avatars of War - Dwarf Seeker":



He is still WIP because I am waiting for my Anvil Industry order to arrive so that I can finish it . I plan to convert the whole box so there will be 20 of these (when I eventually finish them) :0 ...

They should fit in well (size wise) with the rest of my army:

Your sculpting work is continually impressive... have you done any videos or tutorials on the process? I love seeing the step-by-step... I always get too impatient and screw up something that hasn't set yet, but I also struggle to "see" the finished product when all I've got is a rough armature. Thanks for sharing all this great detail... your photography, btw, is no slouch either!

Thank you

No tutorials, I'm sorry to say. I don't have the time or patience for it.

I rarely have a finished miniature in mind when I start a sculpt (unless I have to)... normally, I just go with the flow and see where it takes me .

The second one... now with added back-pack :

Back to a previous unit and I have finished the shotgun veterans:



I have now started on the Primaris Psyker (Jedi Beastman) for the third infantry platoon:

The Beastman Jedi is getting there now... Just the head and arms to go :



I've also dug out the command squad and platoon commander, ready for them to get their arms as well .

In yet another dramatic turn of events, I decided to do a little bit of reorganising and have trimmed down a Battalion in to a Vanguard Detachment.

That meant that instead of needing to convert 10 terminators, 5 scouts and 6 scout bikers, all I needed to do was convert 1 terminator Sgt (for 2 squads of 5 terminators, instead of 2 squads of 10) and 1 scout biker sgt (for 2 squads of 3 rather than 6). It also meant that I could shed the scout squad because the choice wasn't mandatory any more ...

... With that in mind, I have already converted the Terminator Sgt and now have 2 squads of 5 Terminators. In the image below, each squad is accompanied by a terminator captain:



The terminators will be Squats in Exo Armour .

As an aside, I have now started to convert the scout biker sgt and he should be ready by the weekend (Squat Hearthguard Bikers).

Awesome squats as ever inso. Will the first sgt be getting more of a beard? He looks a bit fresh faced for a veteran warrior. That said I always imagined dwarfs/squats as being able to buy status

Inso,

I salute your inspiration making all these figures.

Cheers,

CB

gobert wrote:
Will the first sgt be getting more of a beard?

If you're talking about the termi with the stormshield, I'm pretty sure she's female Which doesn't invalidate your comment, she may well need more facial hair, she is a space dwarf afterall!

Loads of great work Inso, inspiring how long you've worked on this project yet keep making new concepts and minis. Particularly excited by the new jedi beast, always dug your previous one(s?)

Thank you for your kind words .

The Terminator with the hammer/shield is a woman and will not be getting a beard (I don't agree with the "female Dwarfs should have beards" stance... sorry). The male captain has a large beard but it is tucked into his armour.

The Beastman will be getting a bit more love now because...

The Vanguard Detachment is now complete . I have finished converting the Sgt Scout Biker (Hearthguard Biker) so I now have two little bike squads:



The Vanguard Detachment consists of:

Terminator Captain (Exo Armoured Squat Lord)
Terminator Captain (Exo Armoured Squat Lord)
Terminator Squad (5) (5 Squats in Exo Armour)
Terminator Squad (5) (5 Squats in Exo Armour)
Scout Squad (5) (5 Squat Hearthguards)
Scout Squad (5) (5 Squat Hearthguards)
Scout Biker Squad (3) (3 Squat Hearthguard Bikers)
Scout Biker Squad (3) (3 Squat Hearthguard Bikers)
Centurion Squad (3) (3 Squats in Repurposed Mining Suit)
Centurion Squad (3) (3 Squats in Repurposed Mining Suit)
Dreadnought (1) (Squat Dreadnought)
Dreadnought (1) (Squat Dreadnought)

Now all I need to do is paint everything .

I still have all of the miniatures to convert for the original Battalion but I can do that 'as and when' now... this exercise ticks two boxes: 1. I have a finished detachment and 2. I am free to continue with the last of the infantry platoons.

The end is in sight...

Today, 3 Ogryn finished :



These complete the veteran Vanguard Detachment .

I have finished the second of my competition sculpts :



Just needs a basing tab now...

I reckon I might sculpt a few more... Hmmm...

Very nice sculpt there Inso.

Cheers,

CB

Cheers

Both competition sculpts together :



I've started a third but it won't be done in time to enter the competition...

A WIP Hydra:

Like if they ever made a KV-2 anti-air gun!

Great sculpts Inso.

Cheers,

CB

Nice AA tank there inso. Reminds me a bit of a tracker Rapier but with guns instead of missiles.

Great work on the competition sculpts. I love the jolly face of the hammer chap. He looks satisfied with his days labours!

Cheers .

Finished (except for decals) :



That means the whole company is done (except for decals)...

1x Tank commander: Vanquisher-Russ.
3x Plasma-Russ
3x Battlecannon-Russ
3x Punisher-Russ
1x Hydra
1x Engineseer (+4x Servitors) in Chimera

Woo for hitting a project milestone!!!

So... in another one of my random moments, I decided that my Squats needed a Primarch proxy... this is a Roboute Guilliman proxy :



He's converted from this:

That's a BIG dwarf! Love it!

That's great, really funny. Needs a backbanner! ;p