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First post, please be gentle

My Background

I originally got into Warhammer way back with issue 104 of White Dwarf and had many happy times playing 40k Rogue Trader. After a 20 year hiatus, I recently picked up a copy of White Dwarf on a whim and it rekindled all those old memories. Back in the day I played Dark Angels (green was the only paint I could get decent coverage with in those days), Harlequins and Squats, so it got me wondering how these races had evolved with all the huge units in play these days. Alas, I find that by beloved Squats have been munched on by Tyrannids so they are pretty much non-existent these days.

Well, that's not going to stop me wondering what an Apocalypse or 40k game would be like with a bunch of massive Squat war machines rolling around the battlefield, and I'm not the one for following the mainstream, so I'm going to put some of my scratch building skills to the test...

This Project

The plan is to create a playable force of squats, updated to current standards. I'm guessing that GW wouldn't be keen on using rival miniatures in their stores, so I expect everything will have to be based on their products or scratchbuilt. Given that I'm making the jump from the 1st edition to the 6th edition (and things seem to be more regimented these days), if anyone has any ideas about rules I could use for these (i.e. equivalent units in official army lists) I'd appreciate any help you can offer.

Infantry

Having had a cursory glance around the internet, I found some Space Wolves that looked like they could pass for angry dwarves and grabbed a bunch of badly painted marines on ebay. An IPA soak later and cutting out/resculpting sections of waist and knees and I think I have something that passes as a heroic 'space dwarf'. The marine on the left is how I got him on ebay (after an amputation); the squat on the right is from the old box of plastic squats. My updated squat is in the middle, which I think would work out about 5ft tall; maybe a little tall for a squat, so I may go a little shorter, or have these as the hardcore elite.



Vehicles

In addition to infantry, I'll be scratch building the following based on the Epic models:

Land Train
Termite/mole
Goliath Mega-cannon
Iron Eagle Gyro-copters
Overlord Airship
Colossus/Cyclops

The first vehicle I've started on is the Land Train. You can see the basic shape in the following picture and there's lots still to be done. The slopes on the sides need to be fitted in addition to the tracks and all the plating and detailing. I've cut enough chassis parts for four cars although depending on how long it takes to detail one car, I may just make a mold and cast it in resin. I'll attach the armaments by magnets so they are interchangeable. The size is very similar to my very old and beaten up Rhino (it wasn't stored well), although it will be a good sight taller with support weapons attached.



There's not much to see at the moment, but C&C is welcome, and don't be offended if I can't implement all your improvements; sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day. Also, don't expect a fully fledged army in a couple of weeks - as well as kids, career and a sideline of customizing action figures/mecha it may be a slow and steady Plog but I'll get there in the end

This project looks real promising. Subscribed and good luck!

Okay, Squats. I'm in.


So are you doing them as "Counts As" Marines, or something else?

Subscribe for awnsome reasons XD. The trooper size is good, the landtrain was unknown to me until now.