The Squat army is finished! I started the army in December and finally finished the basing this morning. :)
From a previous post on my blog ( http://goblinlee.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/the-brighthelmstone-stronghold-squat_5.html ) I named the Squat army the Brighthelmstone Stronghold, after my home city of Brighton and Hove.
The colour scheme I finally settled on is predominantly painted using Vallejo English Uniform, with the green colour for the equipment is Vallejo Brown Violet. To add variety, some of the equipment, caps, and odd and ends were painted other colours, but not too much as to ruin the overall basic colour scheme. I also had an idea to have the Squat army as a 'English' style opponent to my 'German' looking Space Ork army here: http://goblinlee.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/rogue-trader-orks-luggubs-drop-legion.html .
I have enjoyed painting both of the armies. It was great to finally have got the Squat army painted up, and in a colour scheme which I think suits the miniatures, has it's own theme, was'nt too 'busy' or complicated, and has a unified feel. The army is made up of a mix of the the orginal RT03 Space Dwarves, the plastic box set and the metal miniatures which accompanied the release, and the Iron Claw Squats. I wanted to keep the composition of the army 100% Rogue Trader, which I was able to do as I had collected a lot of the miniatures at the time, or some during the 1990's. I only had to pop onto e-bay to pick up the odd one or two things to fill gaps.
I do have 5 exo armoured Squats too, which I have not included in the army as I might use them as an optional unit swap for this army, the basis for a sixth Brotherhood, or the core of a small Chaos Squat force.I also left out the Commisars as I felt they were not important to the army and can be painted up at a later date if needed.
I organised the army according to the old Rogue Trader army list in White Dwarf #111 because it seemed the most fitting use of my Rogue Trader miniatures. I had done the same with the Space Orks, and thought it the most appropriate list to use. Jevis Johnson suggested Squats be used as proxy miniatures for an Imperial Guard army, and if I wanted to they could be re-organised for a 6th Edition game.
The army consists of five basic sized Brotherhoods, each one consisting 29 miniatures, making 145 Squat Infantry. There are also 2 Squads of 8 bikers; 5 Heavy Weapons Trikes; 5 Support Weapons with 2 crew each; 2 Robots; 7 Squat Independent characters, and 1 Human Tech Priest.
The update on the army is picture heavy. Saying that, I have not taken as many photographs as I could have, nor have I tried to list each and every miniature in the army. I have given an overview of the army, and picked out interesting miniautres as I went. I also took a few photographs of the back of the miniatures as a lot of them have great details that people who don't own them are unaware of from catalogue pages.
Enjoy :)
The whole army.
Side view.
Brotherhood One.
Each Brotherhood in the army consists of 1 Warlord, 4 Hearthguards; and 3 Combat Squads of Squats.
The Combat Squads are armed with Las-guns, one trooper has a las-cannon, and the Squad Leader has a Las pistol.
Warlord and Hearthguard.
The Warlord, centre, is an Iron Claw model named 'General'. I decide that although he is not different from the other Warlords in the army that he is the Army General, as befitting his orginal discriptive name :)
The other two models
Two more Hearthguard, one with a Metla gun, the other with a Flamer.
With some of the Special weapons or Heavy Weapon Troopers I painted some of the gloves and or equipment different colours to give the impression of protective clothing needed for using the weapons.
Combat Squad 1.
3 Las gun armed troopers.
3 Iron Claw minatures, the centre one being the Squad leader.
The two troopers with Las guns remind me of a pair of odd adult twin brothers I knew when I was a child who both had big ginger beards.
Rear views of the three Iron Claw Las gun armed Squats.
Combat Squad 2.
3 more Iron Claw Squats.
Rear views.
'Gatt Gunslingler', and the Squad leader made from the wounded Squat model.
Rear view of 'Gatt Gunslingler' showing the little backpack, and a side view of the plastic heavy weapons trooper with a plastic Las cannon.
Combat Squad 3.
Iron Claw Trooper and Squad Leader 'Brew Ithca'
All three type of the RT03 Space Dwarves models armed with the AK47 style Autoguns.
Brotherhood Two.
The Combat Squads are armed with Bolt guns, with two Heavy Bolters per squad, and a Grenade Launcher in each, with a Bolt Pistol for the Squad Leader.
Warlord and Hearthguard.
Warlord and Medic.
Two Iron Claw minatures as Hearthguards.
Plasma gunner, and the back view of the Medic.
The Las gun and the back pack are the same style as the Human Imperial Army/Guard ones from the early releases.
Combat Squad 1.
Squad Leader, Grenade Launcher, and trooper 'Owen Garand'.
The Squad Leader is the Casualty model, pinned in place on the base to look like he's running, and with his bullet wound filled in!
Back views of the Grenade Launcher and 'Owen Garand', showing the seperate metal jump pack that came with the 'Owen Garand' model.
Plastic Bolter and Heavy Bolter troopers, showing how I stuck the guns on them.
The Bolter were spare one from the RTB101 Space Marines, and the Heavy Bolter is a modified plastic one from the Squat box set.
Combat Squad 2.
Plastic Bolter Trooper and Squad Leader.
The leader is a plastic body, and a Drastik Plastik Dwarf head from the 1980's.
'Mauser Von Dreyse' and 'Colt Stoner'.
Combat Squad 3.
Another converted plastic Squad Leader, and a Grenade Launcher.
The Grenade Launcher is a converted Chaos Space Marine one carried on the shoulder of the metal heavy weapons trooper.
The other two are troopers, showing the slight variations in the paint scheme.
Brotherhood Three.
The Combat Squads are armed with a Bolt guns, two Heavy Bolters per Squad, a different heavy weapon option in each, and a bolt pistol for the Squad leader.
Warlord 'Vikas Ingram', and an Iron Claw Standard bearer.
Rear views of the above.
Two more Iron Claw Hearthguard.
Slightly closer view of the should pad detail from above, and 'Waltha Twelvebore' with a flamer.
Combat Squad 1.
Squad leader, and converted Heavy Plasma Gun from an old Epic Titan Weapon.
Side view of the Heavy Weapon convertion, and 'Sgt. By Lcow' on the right.
Heavy Bolter, plastic on the left, metal on the right.
More plastic troopers with Bolters.
Combat Squad 2.
'Barry Schmeisser' and a converted Missile Launcher taken from the RTB101 set.
Rear views of the above.
'Barry Schmeisser' backpack is all one piece and the same as early Space Marines.
'Capt. Khyrk' and 'Lee Hotchkiss'.
Rear views of above.
More Plastic Heavy Bolters.
Combat Squad 3.
Multi Melta trooper and Squad Leader 'Heckler Smith'.
Brotherhood Four.
The Combat Squads in this Brotherhood are armed with Bolt Guns, the Heavy Weapon in each is a Heavy Plasma Gun, and the Squad Leaders have a Bolt Pistol.
Hearthguard with Metla Gun, and a Warlord with Billowing Cloak and a Weapon that can be used to represent all manner of basic weapons.
Both are Iron Claw.
Hearthguard with his broken Las-Pitsol replaced with a Rogue Trader era Space Ork Bolt Pistol.
Also a rear view of the Warlord.
Two more Hearthguard.
Rear views of the above.
Combat Squad 1.
Trooper, Heavy Plasma Gunner, and Squad Leader.
The Heavy Plasma gun is a metal version converted to be carried by a plastic model.
Combat Squad 2.
Squad Leader, another Heavy Plasma gunner, and Trooper 'Mauser Von Dreyse'.
Combat Squad 3.
The third converted Heavy Plasma Gunner, and the rear view of 'Mauser Von Dreyse'.
Brotherhood Five.
The Combat Squads are armed with Bolters, one in each Squad hasa Conversion Beamer, and the Squad leader has a Bolt Pistol.
Warlord and Hearthguard.
I gave the Warlord Rogue Trader arms to look like armoured/bionic arms, and an Eldar Melta gun as in the background the Squats traded with the Eldar and Space Orks. The Hearthguard as a Power Axe from the Space Ork box set.
Two more Hearth Guard with Ork and Eldar weapons.
Back Views.
Combat Squad 1.
Metal Squad leader from the 1989 release, and a converted 'Colt Stoner' carrying a Conversion beamer.
Rear view of the Beamer trooper, and a plastic trooper.
Combat Squad 2.
Conversion Beamer Trooper holding the Beamer as he would a Heavy bolter on the heavy weapons arm.
On the right is a Squad Leader.
Combat Squad 3.
Squad Leader 'Krag Johnson', and another Conversion Beamer conversion.
Guildmaster of a Mk14 Bullock Jetbike.
I plan to use the jetbike as a proxy for a normal bike as you cannot have Jetbikes in the list.
Painting wise, the miniature look very 'Gangsta' and so I painted him up with lots of gold and pimp-ish clothing.
Back view.
The other Giuldmaster in the army.
On the right is a Tech Priest advisor from the RT601 Adventurers range.
Adeptus Mechanicus Squat and Servitor.
I plan to use both of them Techpriest advisors.
I really enjoyed painting up both these two. Note the servitors tool bag.
Rear views.
Robots.
On the left is a Cataphract, on the right a Colossus.
I have named them Amy and Sheldon :)
"You're in my spot"!
Bombots, made from Paranoia range Bots. These are optional extras for the army in case I decide not to use one of the support weapons.
Living Ancestors.
Left is one of the actual Squat models, the other two are from Citadels Fantasy Dwarf ranges.
Thudd Gun and crew.
An iconic weapon for Squat armies.
The crew memeber on the left came with the gun, the one on the right is a loader model. named 'Loader Grigg'.
Two Mole Mortars and crew.
Close up of the crew.
Rear views showing the spare Mortars encased on the loaders back.
Two Tarantula teams.
Two of the crew are the ' 'Blish' Browning' model, one is the dead Iron Squat, and the fourth is a spare Thudd gunner.
' 'Blish' Browning'.
Rear view of ' 'Blish' Browning'.
Dead, sleeping, or drunken Squat from the Iron Claw range.
Bikes!!
Two Squads of 8 Guild Bike Squads, and 5 Heavy Weapons Trikes.
Squad 1.
Squad 2.
Squad leader for Squad 1.
He is a converted Warlord biker model with a Drastik Plastik Dwarf head, and seated on a modified exo-armoured Trike.
Squad leader for Squad 2.
A converted biker model seated on a modified exo-armoured Trike.
For the Guild biker Squads I only used the all one casting metal bikers, of which here are one of each of the range.
I understand that the centre right one was meant to be John Blanche.
I enved up painting all of the goggles a green colour to suggest a visual display on the inside.
5 Guild Heavy Weapon Trikes.
I used the bikers requiring platic arms for the drivers, and a mix of bikers/adventurers for the gunners.
Trike 1.
Trike 2 with an Adventurer gunner.
Trike 3.
Trike 4 with an all metal driver.
Trike 5,
with the Mutli Melta replaced with a spare Las Cannon mount from a Rogue Trader Ork Wartrak.
Rhino stand in.
I found an old Ground Zero Games resin APC from the 1990's, and painted up to act as an alternative Rhino model. I added the twin bolters.
Orks vs Squats.
'German' style Space Orks battle it out against 'British' style Squats.
With the Squats now completed I am unsure what to paint next. I fancy a nice light project, so might tackle something easy. :)
