Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Squatting or Forming the Guard

Due to my items arriving I continued work on my regular and veteran guardsmen. These models were what I started out with and were always meant to be the core of my Imperial Guard army. Now finally all are assembled so no more empty bases on my table as reminders where models still need to be added.
Each and every Squad has its own Vox Caster as well as a Special Weapon trooper carrying a Plasma gun. My reasoning behind having a Vox Caster is that I might not need them but if I do there is no need to scrounge for bits when that time arrives, the Plasma gun is based around the Squats being generally more technologically advanced than their human counterparts (with my luck this means my Squats melt a lot!).

Platoon Command Squad; two Plasma Guns, Vox and a Banner.
Infantry Squad 1; Heavy Weapon Team, Vox, Plasma Gun

Infantry Squad 2; Heavy Weapon Team, Vox, Plasma Gun

Infantry Squad 3; Heavy Weapon Team, Vox, Plasma Gun
Heavy Weapon Squad; Mortar Teams
I actually messed up during assembly and ended up with one regular Squat trooper less than I needed so I demoted the model originally converted as the Platoon Command Officer to the unit Sergeant for Infantry Squad 3 (behind him if you look carefully you can see a model I was going to make the unit sergeant at first). I do realize that the names of the Squads are not very imaginative and they will most likely get proper names in time.

Veteran Squad; Vox, three Plasma guns
All the models in my Veteran Squad are wearing capes which I might try to paint up with a camouflage team so they can serve properly as Camo Cloaks. At the moment this unit is the only one I am sure of that I want to run as Veterans. I do have twelve B'dass models as well but I am still not sure as to what their purpose is going to be, at the moment it is either Veterans or regular Infantry. Something similar about the Warmachine models, though they are definately Veterans and possibly Stormtroopers.

Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corpse with a regular Squat for size Reference
I did assemble my unit of Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corpse, though I am leaving off their shields until after I get them painted up, attaching the shield now will make it a lot harder to paint it properly. Also the Squat in the image above belongs to Infantry Squad 1, which is why there are only nine models in the unit as I forgot to put it back for the group picture (Oops).

Iron Hand Straken, and two spare Plasma Gunners
With the arrival of my bits I also finished my version of Iron Hand Straken and I equipped two Squats with my last metal plasma guns in order to potentially field a Command Squad with all plasma weapons equipped.

Possible Ogryns, with an actual Ogryn for scale
So I came across the model on the left on Tabletop Fix (damn you Falk!) and just loved the Bioshock vibe the model has. It is called a Hardsuit and is available from Recreational Conflict. I do like the model but I still need to toy around with it's posture and the arms and legs seem to be a bit too thin for my liking. The model on the right is a Grizzly Exosuit from the Starship Troopers range, which I envision as actually being operated from a Squat seated inside the bulk of the machine. Problem with the Grizzly is that I would love to get my hands on some more models but they are now Out of Production and Out of Stock at Mongoose (where I purchased the five that I own now). So if anyone can point me to finding some, id be appreciative.

Hardsuit
Grizzly Exosuit

In my eyes both are viable options, so if anyone out there has an opinion feel free to share and enlighten me.

I did paint up my first Squat model as a test to see if my color scheme works alright as well as to test some of the Army Painter stuff I got in. I went with a brown and gray color scheme, I figured Earth and Rock tones would work for them, I did the metals in Dwarf Bronze as opposed to the usual Boltgun Metal. At the time of writing the model is still drying from paint and me 'splashing on' the Quick Shade - Dark Tone, so once it has dried properly I'll dose it with anti gloss and take a picture.

So far so good.

7 comments:

  1. The problem i can see with the Hardsuit is that everyone and their grandad is going to ask you "Why have you got Big Daddies in your Squat army?" everytime they see your force.

    The Grizzly seems to have a more "squatish" aesthetic to me, although its limited availability will be a pain in the backside no doubt.

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  2. Just a thought as well, maybe check out some of the Rhulic warjacks from Privateer Press's Warmachine. Some of them could certainly double as exosuits and would be a lot easier to get ahold of.

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  3. I actually did kind of look at those and they are indeed fantastic models especially the Ghordson Driller and the Ghordson Basher. The biggest issue I have with those models though is that they are quite expensive as opposed to both the Grizzly and the Hardsuit. I do appreciate the input though and will be forced to keep eyeing those Warjacks now....

    ..Damn.

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  4. The bioshock suit drives your theme if you do choose it, and it might be a bit jarring with the dwarf base miniatures you're using. I do think it's the better model, and more like an ogryn (the other is a bit too weaponed up), but you have to make it fit into the rest of your units somehow.

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  5. I do think the Hardsuit looks like a possible miner suit of sorts, but the Grizzly does seem like it can hold a complete Squat inside in a sort of walking tank (similar to a sentinel but with more triggerhappy pilots).
    I do have 5 of the Grizzly Exosuits, but I have even more of the Hardsuits, I guess ill just assemble them all and decide later.
    Regardless of my choice they should both be fun to paint...
    (maybe I should swap parts...add a drill to a Grizzly...)

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  6. There are also the Holocaust Judges from Mongoose's Judge Dredd range. They are just Grizzlies with a few doo-dads. Cut and paste for info:

    http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/miniature/detail.php?qsID=2057&qsSeries=65

    I too prefer the Grizzly suits for your army. The Bio-shock one is exceptionally individual and would draw all the attention.

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  7. Hey Inso, and thanks! I had actually forgotten about them, they do seem very similar to the Grizzly version. The biggest problem I see with them is having to modify the 'face' area of the Judge, but...I do think this is extremely doable. And like I mentioned above I do like the idea of attaching the drill from the Hardsuit as they come with a choice of drill arm, gun hand or a regular arm.

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