Given that 8th edition doesn't even have rules for the recent Necromunda Squat releases (let alone these 25+ year-old models), this is the furthest I could get from a practical decision. Even in the world of hobby wargaming, spending money collecting an army's worth of figures that you can't actually play with is a bit... niche.
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| Space Dwarfs plastic kit box art, Paul Bonner(?). © Games Workshop 1989 |
On the other hand, I have actually played a couple of games with the little guys, as Necomunda has rules for Venators, a custom warband where you pick from a selection of profiles. One set of these are clearly intended to be Squats, with a Move of 3" and Toughness 4. So it could be worse.
I came up with a colour scheme based on some of the classic schemes, and have been working my way through the collection in bits and pieces, mostly as palate cleansers. Not doing these sequentially means that there has been a bit of drift as I forget the exact colours I use, but the nature of Squats means that this can easily be handwaved as a matter of custom gear or individuality.
Including these guys, I have five squads of eight. 40 vicious little space dwarfs, ready to go. Just need to get around to putting my Fandex: Squats ideas on paper (me and everyone else), do a couple characters, and I could probably give someone a friendly game of 8th edition with them.
Anyway. The past couple of days have been filled with smoke, so I haven't been able to do any undercoating and therefore work on the projects with which I wanted to open 2020. However, this squad were already undercoated! So!
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| the boys, ready to crack open some cold ones |
Squad leader.
I experimented by painting his chainsword with an orange/blue diamond pattern. It didn't turn out the greatest, but that's why I did it on the chainsword: After weathering it to hell, it looks pretty good.
He has a chestplate with moulded pecs. Combined with his helmet's crest, I decided to paint the chestplate gold like some kind of future Roman centurion. In space. And a dwarf. These miniatures are insane and fun like that.
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| (please ignore that I forgot to glaze his glasses before the photoshoot. it's done now) |
Gunner.
The separate heavy bolter for these guys is a fucking pain, but he looks okay.
Grenadier.
There is a very good reason that I don't paint eyes, but this sculpt looks really weird when you don't at least given it a red hot go. I know, because I didn't on the other one.
Rifleman with boltgun.
I experimented with some tattoos on his rough miner's skin. They don't look fantastic, but they do look like tattoos that he got twenty years ago and then took absolutely no care of, which works for me. My first time trying tattoos, and it can only go up from here.
Rifleman with boltgun. This is my second time painting this sculpt and that axe-onet is really awkward. I do like his helmet? felt cap? and strange backpack, though.
Rifleman with lasgun.
This is adventurer miniature 3, an armless metal sculpt with plastic arms and weapon.
The squat plastic arm/weapon sprues are horribly expensive, by the way, but very few modern manufacturers make arms that match these old guys, as scale creep has rendered these dwarfs smaller than modern Ratlings. I'm not a huge fan, as they are quite clumsy sculpts due to the limitations of early Citadel plastics, so I cannot wait for someone to release an affordable alternative. Uscarl Miniatures in France has some that are reputed to fit, but they are wildly expensive to get to Australia, so I will live in ignorance.
Rifleman with lasgun.
This is actually a dismounted biker, another armless metal sculpt with plastic arms and weapon.
I adore the 'overweight 80s bikers' aesthetic the classic Squats had. Can't get enough of it. I haven't painted any of the bikes yet because I haven't settled on how I'll do them, but I cannot wait. Anyway, this guy is just a regular infantryman. It adds to a rag-tag, mercenary look, having a few guys like this scattered throughout.
Rifleman with bolter.
Finally, this guy isn't a classic Citadel sculpt. He's Eric the Space Dwarf, available from Old School Miniatures. Sitting down, he's the same height as the Citadel miniatures, which means he's actually a little taller than them. You can't notice (because he's sitting down!), so they all works together.
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| Space Dwarf firing boltgun, [artist uncredited], Codex Imperialis, p.74. © Games Workshop 1993 |
I have never had a bad time painting these old sculpts. They are fun, filled with character, and relatively easy. Even when a little blurry or vague, my paint style lends itself to sketching in something that the eye can glide over and find it acceptable. There are definitely more squats coming to this blog, never you fear.
These aren't the first miniatures I painted this year; before the smoke got too bad, I risked undercoating a couple of miniatures. They will have to wait for another time...
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