Squat troopers.

I've been busy painting a lot more Squats, this time mainly Las-Gun armed Troopers, but also a few others. These are just the ones I have based, I've painted at least this again, and they are just awaiting basing and photographing.

In addition I have been doubly distracted. Firstly there has been talk on the Oldhammer Facebook Group about painting Bob Olley sculpted miniatures, and so I have made a start on, guess what, more Squats! This time his IC501 Iron Claw range. I have found a very quick and easy way of painting them which I think looks good. It gives them a look of Chaos Squats, so the plan is for them to be the army of Warlord Thargrim 'the red', Tratior Squat Commnader, from a quote in the 1989 Squat army list. More on this later as it is more of an on/off side project.

Speaking of Tratiors, my second distraction is to return to sorting out my Rogue Trader Tratior Legions. I started this a few years ago, but after a painting related problem with the Nurgle Marines, I kind of ran out of steam. I have been paint stripping old miniatures, buying up odds and ends, and am preparing to sort them out into their repesctive Legions. However, I will finish the current Squat project first.

Enjoy :)

Squats!

'Owen Garand' and 'Roth Bergmann'.
A pair of Squats with Bolters. I think I made the varnish a little too strong, but it might be better than them chipping.

Rear view, showing both wearing the original seperate backpacks.

'Sgt.Bylcow' from the Heavy Weapon Crew range, and 'Mauser Von Dreyse'.

Rear views.
'Mauser Von Dreyse' is the same sculpt as the 'Lewis Gunn' miniature, but armed with a Bolt Gun.

'Gatt Gunslinger' (left), and two 'Maxim Bang'.
Again, 'Maxim Bang' is a variant on the 'Lewis Gunn' sculpt.

Five 'Lewis Gunn'.
He seems to be one of the standard basic sculpts from which several of the original Squat releases were sculpted. As an aside, there seems to be a lot of cigar smoking in t he Squat Military! Perhaps that's really why they only have a move of 3", they are all sort of breath!

Heavy Weapon Crew.
On the left  'Gunner Karl' armed with a Rogue Trader Ork Heavy Flamer, which I intend to use as a normal Flamer.
On the right is 'Gunner Keif', with a Conversion Beamer.

Rear views.
I like how the yellow flamer tanks turned out, I painted them to look like old plastic tanks. 

Bob Olley IC501 Iron Claw Squats.
I am painting them as a Chaos Squat Army of Khorne, and so picked a very straight forward red paint scheme, using a limited palette of red, black, gold, and Iron: the colours of Khorne!

Next update will be on the full range of the RT302 Space Dwarf/Squat Command range.

Squat Mole Mortars.

I've been painting more Squats. I have a lot of infantry awaiting basing, but for now some of the  artillery.

One of the two iconic weapons associated with the Squats is the Mole Mortar, the other of course being the Thudd Gun. The Mole Mortar was released with two Squat crewmen. For those of you unaware, the Mole Mortar was a very sneaky weapon, being a Mortar which fired it's projectile underground, bursting up through the ground to explode.

I have three of these. Two have the original crew, the other I have added spare Squats to crew. I have kept the painting broadly in line with the early Rogue Trader look. They, like all the Squats so far, have been fun to paint, and quite quick to do. These took only a couple of hours.
Enjoy :)

 Mole Mortar battery.

 The first of the original crew supplied, the 'Firer'.

 The second of the original crew supplied, the 'Loader', with ammo round. He also has a twin ammo pack on his back.

Replacement crew, ' "Blish" Browning' (left), and 'Capt. Khyrk' (right).
I chose "Blish" because he has a handset of somekind, and I chose 'Khryrk'  because he looks pretty cool, he looks like a crewman, and I had one spare!

 Mole Mortars.
I based them on a 40mm round bases.

The original miniatures from the 1980's release advert.

Next blog update, more Squats!

Lots more Rogue Trader Squats.

More early Rogue Trader era Squats, but alas I still have'nt purchased a new camera, so the photographs are a little so-so.

I've been busy. Over the last couple of weeks I have painted 21 Squats and a Thudd Gunn. Well, I've actually painted more than this, but the others are awaiting basing. I am really enjoying painting these miniatures. They are very quick and easy to paint. I've found with the Squat ranges that it is very simple to make the same miniature look different by varying the painting on each of them, whilst still keeping within the overall approach, in this case the early paint schemes used io the inital Rogue Trader Squat miniatures. It does'nt take long to paint two or three of the Squats of an evening after work, so I am making good progress, and having fun whilst doing it. As I am working within the Hylgar's Hell-Raisers army list, I have started targeting which Squats to paint so I could start completing some squads.

Enjoy :)

Some of the couple of weeks painting.

 Seven 'Smoothbore Sten' miniatures.

 Three 'Luger Gerlich'.

 Two 'Gal Von Benko', and one 'Enfield Chambers'.

 From the RT302 Squat Command range, 'Uzi Marakov' (left), and 'Brew Ithica' (right).
These will be used as sergeants.

 Rear view.

  'Barry Schmeisser' and 'Koch Wesson'.

 He's Dead!!!
'Ross Von Dormus'.

The two RT303 Heavy Weapon Squats, 'Gunner Kief' (left), and 'Gunner Karl' (right).
They are armed with the original separate Imperial Heavy Bolter (also used on Ork Dreadnoughts).

'Thudd Gun'.
Well, not strictly speaking, it's actually a Rogue Trader era cannon made in France by AGMAT, who produced miniatures under license. It was also released under the name of 'Imperial Autocannon', and it seems to have been available for a time. I can't recall where I bought mine, but I think it was the late 90's or early 2000's.

 Side view.

 Rear view.

 The gun crew.
It did'nt have a crew with it although it was sometimes supplied with an Imperial Guard crew. I have chosen to used ' "Blish" Browning' , and 'Loader Grigg' (from the RT303 Heavy Weapons range). Grigg is carrying a large encased ammo magazine over his shoulder, so I thought he fitted the role nicely.

 The entry for Squat Tactical squads in the Book of the Astronimican (1988), page 73. These are the most lightly armoured of the Squat squads.

 Tactical Squad using mainly 'Smoothbore Sten'.

Tactical squad using a mix of 'Gal Von Benko', 'Enfield Chambers', and 'Luger Gerlich', all the Sqauts armed with the AK-47 looking las-gun.

Next update will be more Squats!!! I have Mole Mortars and more infantry as WIP.