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“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!

As always KNC, your greenstuff work is exceptional. The Squat with the techpriest dominus body is just fantastic.

The knotwork on the scenery is top notch.

Mate!! These are really good! Excellent conversions and painting!

@Olthannon: Thank you most kindly, sir! It's fun to make.

@Ragsta: Thanks a lot!







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.

You've done a great job of mixing that more traditional aesthetic with all the runes and some industrial utility with all the tools, pouches and railing.

As always, super impressed by your sculpting work. Very cool project.

@Mr Nobody: Thank you very much! Gotta go practical. My first plastic Warhammer models (6th edition Dwarf warriors) were made inte pack animals with all the gear I glued to them. Not only shields and weapons in hand, but loose crossbows, axes, pouches, pipes, tankard, bolt quivers, horns and kegs. Lovely stuff. I've never deviated from that vision of overequipped and overloaded Dwarfs, regardless of setting.

@Olthannon: Thank you kindly! Most appreciated.



Ral-Terak Combine Warrior

The Hearthkyn Warriors of the Ral-Terak Combine live up to their League's reputation of being armed to the teeth and tooled to the temple. True to maximalist Kin design, this line infantry do not only bring potent firepower, thick armour and voidsuit self-sufficiency to bear. It also bring tools, sidearms and gear aplenty. This stack of equipment is topped off by adornments ranging from ancestor medallions, through individual runes to Kindred markings and League heraldry.

- - -

This is a test conversion for basic Squat infantry built out of the new Leagues of Votann kits. The NASA-punk elements will in due time be matched with converted Mantic Forgefathers and converted Kharadron Overlords, not to mention Warhammer Dwarf conversions along the style of Rogue Trader Squats.

I have long pondered shortening the legs, trunk and arms of the new Kin miniatures, but eventually I decided against it. The difference in size and proportions will be down to diverging branches of Squats, carried into their cloneskeins. The long millennnia of divergent physical change and traditional wargear design was then brought into full view when two minor Leagues combined to form the large Ral-Terak Combine, an acquisitive and ruthless astral mining conglomerate willing to fight the denizens of hell itself for mining rights. Rock holds.

As regard the new Leagues of Votann models, I was not content with the sizeable length of upper arm left without armour on the Hearthkyn Warriors. I played with the idea of gluing 7th edition WHFB Dwarf facemasks beneath the pauldrons, or sculpting a segmented plate. In the end, I decided to add a a sliver of overlapped quilted armour, as a nod to Rogue Trader Squats. Obviously space Dwarfs will need entrenching tools, and so I cobbled together a quick spade design that could be mass-produced with some ease. Ergo the lack of sharp corners. The base is covered with hints of various xenoid flora and fauna.

Huge thanks to my brother EEJR and my friend JAB for unexpectedly giving me the largest Warhammer present I've ever received (aside from a Warhammer fortress from our father, given to me and my brother in 2003): A Leagues of Votann army set, complete with a fantastic new codex, one of the best things ever written for Warhammer 40'000. Now that is solid worldbuilding.

Really nice detail sculpting, the flora and Dwarf iconography is great. I'm looking forward to seeing more. I think you made an excellent job of making them look tooled up and on an expedition.

@Olthannon: Thank you most kindly, glad to hear! My brother might have talked me into switching basing to starship floors using rolling pin and green stuff. We shall see. I might even combine installation floor basing with outdoors basing and tie it all together on a display in the distant future.





Ral-Terak Combine Sagitaur ATV

As is standard practice with all vehicles of the Ral-Terak Combine, this Sagitaur (nicknamed Gustr, meaning puff of wind) is heavily ornamented and carries plenty of baggage and equipment for expeditions. Since the Sagitaur is but a light scout and transport vehicle, it lack grav-jacks altogether, unlike the heavier wains of the Ral-Terak Combine such as the Hekaton Land Fortress.

- - -

Warm thanks to Eisenhans for gifting me this Sagitaur kit when it was brand new for Christmas 2022 A.D.

I immediately set about cleaning mouldlines and assembling this joyful moon car, filling in gaps at once as they appeared when parts were glued together. It was all but assembled, and then life threw a big spanner in the works, and most of my home had to be packed down into boxes for renovations and upgrades. After a hectic and draining 2023, I have finally started to catch up with health and various projects again. The Sagitaur was the first of my own miniatures to be unpacked when I two days ago decided that I should work on my own collection for once. Everything in green stuff and bits taken from 7th and 6th edition Dwarf kits were added on over two days, and suddenly the vehicle was finished as regard assembly and conversions. Painting will have to wait until I have decided upon a colour scheme, but I am unusually eager to get this buggy painted.

The new Squat background is fantastic. Some of the absolute best ever written for all of Warhammer 40'000 from Rogue Trader and onward. The background and visual nods to the Dark Age of Technology happened to play into my hands so strongly that I am laughing all the way to the bank. Unbelievable free goal served on a silver platter by official sources, so to speak.

As to looks, Games Workshop did great work when designing the Sagitaur in particular, and overall I am impressed how well the NASA-punk aesthetic works for Squats in general, reminiscent of Terrans from glorious Starcraft. The aesthetic is not a perfect fit, but that only means that Games Workshop left me a challenge to make the aesthetic threads come together in a knotwork of futuristic design, runes, ancestor medallions and an abundance of baggage and tools. And big beards!

Seeing Olthannon's wonderful conversions for his Kin in general and his Sagitaur in particular spurred me to unbox this vehicle and copy his conversions. I have built nothing as fine as his trailer, but I hope to eventually walk in his tracks on that count as well.

Kin is kin. Rock and stone!

Formidably good conversion skills here, dude, an absolute joy to see updates here again (and realise that I've commented here before! Hahahaha I'm losing it I must be!) Ragsta

Awesome stuff all around!

That grav jack just screams Rogue Trader. I like your style man, keep it up

First of all, I'm absolutely honoured to see you using my Sagitaur conversion. Your added dwarfy details are great, love the banner as well! I was very tempted to add one in but left it in the end. I might do that with the next Sagitaur I get.

My favourite part of Warhammer is seeing how people make their own custom armies and create their own world around it, so I find it awesome to see something of mine inhabiting someone else's world!


Looking forward to seeing more of your superb creations KNC!

KNC,


Great to see another Squat fan. Some of your figures I have seen before. Really like your green stuff work.

@Ragsta: Haha, thanks a lot man! Most appreciated. Comment here all you like.

@tauist: Thank you most kindly! Happy to hear that.

@Olthannon: Thank you very much. Your Sagitaur conversion with trailer is ace, and was an instant save for the reference folder. I always make sure to check out your log whenever I look in this section of DakkaDakka. I am always amazed and humbled and glad when my ideas or tutorials get used by others, and especially when they develop it further with their own creative twists.

@Colonel Jacka: Hail, Kin! Thanks a lot. Glad to hear.





Impaled

"Da stunty kept bounceen aboot like a squig whun we kicked 'im. Zoggin' fat un, ha! Den da stunty stayed put afta we chugged a stake in 'im. Hur-hur!"

- Vox-thief recording of the boasts of Ork Nob Harbak Facebiter following the sacking of Kin mining outpost Gygi 11 on Frijdrak Quadralis in the Badab Sector, Ultima Segmentum

- - -

Sculpted as a gift for a friend's mad Mega-Gargant build.

- - -



Stoppage

"Thordrûk, get the hammer hose! A3 has clogged up with viscous."

"Hit a Caryllian semi-clay stratum again?"

"Nope. Natives this time."

- Vox-recording captured from Tracked Stripmining Mill-Hulk (TSMH) Lokhnårflagynning Gamlr of the Ral-Terak Combine, a League of Votann responsible for eradicating 93% of all Imperial colonists on Sjöfn Minoris

Boar: Export Model Hekaton Land Fortress by Ral-Terak Combine

It's a-chargin' in a rut!

- - -

This Hekaton Land Fortress is not built for my own army, but for a friend's collection. Let us call him the Count. I assembled it, with magnetized weapons to be added later, and he will paint it. I took the chance to go to town with some fun decoration on this export model, although if I ever get a Hekaton for my own collection you can count on it sporting far more customized details.

Looks absolutely fantastic KNC! Love the sculpting, adds such a lot of character.

@Olthannon: Thank you most kindly! Much appreciated.



Hound: Export Model Sagitaur ATV by Ral-Terak Combine

Sic 'em!

- - -

As with the previous Hekaton Land Fortress (Boar), this Sagitaur is not built for my own army, but for a friend's collection. Let us call him the Count. I assembled and converted it, and he will paint it later on. Having assembled a Sagitaur for my own army before, it turned out that I needed no instructions to fit this vehicle together. Fun kit.

Continuing with the enemy-insulting and foe-crushing themes of the Count's Boar Hekaton, I took the chance to depict a Slaught Dream Eater and a Breg-shei ground under the wheels. No official depiction of the Breg-shei exists, wherefore I attempted to carefully reconstruct them for Malfunction following all available descriptions, both in M31 and M41.

Raven, Bull, Ram, Pony: Export Model Einhyr, Grimnyr and Brôkhyr Equipment by Ral-Terak Combine

The makers cast us from the crucible from the very beginning.

We have always been cloned.

We were crafted to mine the heavens.

Grasp and ken.

Delve deeper.

All is toil.

All springs from toil.

A fine burden.

Weighed and wanting.

Sparks upon the anvil.

Rock holds.

Debt must be paid.

Doubt becomes debt.

Claimed in sweat, kept in blood.

A grudge stands.

Strike truth.

On heavy scales.

Harken in quiet.

Talk till regret.

- - -

The above sayings are Kin Truths that I came up with while cobbling together the pictures here. They will see use in future essay writings and stories. Enjoy.

As with the two previous vehicles, these Einhyr, Grimnyr and Brôkhyr models are not built for my own army, but for a friend's collection. Let us call him the Count. I assembled them, converted a few miniatures, filled in gaps and sculpted various runes and ancestor visages. While the vehicles are splendid models, the Einhyr and Brôkhyr are parts of the Leagues of Votann range that I am left wanting for more when looking at, although not as much as with the Cthonian Bezerks. I will share feedback for the kits here below.

The Grimnyr miniature is so well-detailed straight out of the kit that I found no need to add anything, not even to the C.O.R.V. robots. The only thing I could have wished for, was for it and the entire Leagues of Votann miniature range to be shorter and sporting the classic spherical Warhammer Dwarf and Squat proportions, from before tall Lotr movie Dwarves played their influence upon Warhammer Dwarrows.

The Brôkhyr mining exo-suit concept is great, and all the individual parts and sense of depth in the kit were a treat to see and assemble. Yet the sum of their parts come off as lacking something in my eyes. There should be something more in there that makes the model pop, but I cannot place my finger on what. Often, things like these come down to heads. If I ever get Brôkhyr models of my own in the future, I might try to convert big mining helmets and see how it pans out.

The Einhyr are more questionable in my eyes. Sure, I love the sleek visual tie-ins with both the Dark Age of Technology and Power and Terminator armour alike. And as a lifelong fan of Starcraft I will always welcome designs reminiscent of Terran Marines. But the overall look doesn't cut it for me as a Squat exo-armour suit. I note that the models look more appropriate for that when viewed from behind, for they are indeed chunky and wide. Tall height for a space Dwarf aside, I believe that the Einhyr exo-armours could be made to work better for Squats if one was to bulk out their waist to rotund thickness. When viewed from the front, the Einhyr have too slim waists for Dwarfs. I am pondering various armour additions to the waist and extra codpiece bulkiness that I hope to try out in drawing or modelling in the future. I am an ardent friend of linking Squats to Dark Age of Technology mankind, and I will grant Games Workshop that the NASA-punk aesthetic works a lot better than expected. Nonetheless, there is room for improvement. Often some extra decorations will do the trick, but with some miniatures the silhouette need to be bulked out to looks right for Homo Sapiens Rotundus. Besides, I like the revolving shoulder-cannons, although something protruding behind the right shoulder would have made for some better symmetry. A sensor, teleport beacon or ancestor face sticking up should do the trick, and I plan to doodle or convert such in the future for my own collection.

In the meanwhile, the Count has now received the hard core of a readily modelled Squat force, along with an invoice from the Ral-Terak Combine.

Rock holds!

Looking good, great work with the green stuff.

Karak Norn Clansman,

You always do great green stuff to make your figures unique...when you don't build a how model from scratch that is. Those scratch builds are always cool to see.

Cheers,

CB

@Colonel Jacka: Thank you kindly, Colonel! Normally I'd write "for the Emperor!" or "Ave Imperator" here, but in this case "the Ancestors are watching" will fit better.

@Captain Brown: Thank you very much, Captain! Speaking of which, have a new scratchbuild that I quicksculpted over the last days while sick with cold:



Squat Bomb

Harken! Baseline humanity is flimsy, fickle, false and frail, for mankind is always prone to blow like leaves in the wind. Trust them not. In comparison, Squats are reliable, strong and tough, akin to mighty oaks. Kin are after all stout and stalwart beings, calculating and constant, dour and stubborn, meticulous and methodical in everything that they do. Their exacting lives revolve around toil, perfectionism and results, and Gnostari pour their dogged souls into all of their hard work. As such, when the fruits of their labour again and again turn out rotten, and their efforts end up wasted and flawed, such a cycle of repeated failures in life-toil can break a Heliosi Ancient beyond repair. For what good is a Homo Sapiens Rotundus when their life's worth of toil, ingenuity and exploration end up as a failed equation to report back to the Ancestor Core?

When a Squat become thus loaded with debt, waste and failings, the effect on their mind is akin to the fall of a mighty oak, and the shattering of their identity and sense of self is utterly devastating to such a hard-working perfectionist. What emerges out of such a fall is a Broken Kin, known in the tongue of the Demiurg as a Kreimnyr or a Sleivyr. For these shunned outcasts there remain nothing but to seek death and absolution in battle so as to escape their crushing guilt and monetary debt alike.

The crazed Kreimnyr will usually affix their beard and hair in outlandish styles and dye them in all kinds of vibrant and even neon colours. These mad Kreg will then strip naked and gird themselves with explosive vests. The more spectacular their death, the better. And so Squat Bombs can be found dangling under the wings of Iron Eagle Gyrocopters and other aircraft of the Leagues of Votann, yelling curses while the speedy winds chill their flesh cold enough to kill a baseline man. For these Broken Kin, doom awaits. Thus Grome suicide bombers are dropped away from on high together with inert munitions, to reach personal oblivion and rain death upon their claim-jumping foes in the most eye-catching fashion possible, as screaming fat, hair and bomb-belt plunges to the ground like a heavy stone.

Such is the tragedy of the Squat Bomb.

- - -

The Imperium raise a Human Bomb? We can do one better!

There's some great sculpting going on in this thread .

The bomber is great... a nice addition with a hint of Rogue Trader madness .