Build me an army worthy of....

...Squats!

Alright so here is my request: I would like to see what you could come up with in regards to a playable army using the models I have at my disposal. The army size I leave up to everyone to choose for themselves (if I get any takers that is).

I am aware there is a chronic shortage of Troop Transports amongst my owned models, but is mostly due to a chronic shortage of money in my wallet.

I am also still conflicted whether or not I will use alternative models instead of actual Chimeras. Especially seeing there are kits out now to convert official GW Chimera’s into wheeled versions which I like a lot more than their tracked cousins. This also goes for my use of AT-43’s Red Blok Dotch Yaga stand ins for my Basilisk.

Even though I have quite a number of Kolossus from AT-43’s Red Blok, I have already semi-abandoned them as viable stand ins for Hellhounds due to their smaller than expected size.

The reason I listed all of the models grouped as I did was in order to provide as many possible links to images of my army so you can get an idea of what you are working with (although most of you have seen these pictures before anyways).

Like most forums and such I would ask that you do not list the cost of every component in an army regiment, just list them with the total cost of the unit. For an Infantry Platoon for example the costs for a Command Squad, Regiment and Regiment.

Even though I have lost my faith in some of the models for my Squat army, I will list them anyways because one of you might have a good idea.

Classic
- 2 Living Ancestors (Pictures  One and Two)
- 5 Officers (Picture)
- 3 Sergeants (Picture)
- 3 Officers, Vox Caster and Standard Bearer (Picture)
- 9 Squat Troopers (Picture)
- 4,5 Exo Squats (Picture)
- 4 Heavy Weapon Teams (Pictures: One and Two)
- 10 Squat Bikers (Pictures: One and Two)

GW(ish)
- 1 Techpriest / Enginseer (White Dwarf Model) (Picture)
- Colonel ‘Iron Hand’ Straken (Picture)
- 5 Model, Platoon Command Squad (Commander, Vox Caster, Standard Bearer, two Plasma Gunners) (Picture)
- 30 Infantry (3 Infantry Squads, 1 Veteran Squad) (Pictures: One, Two, Three, Four)
- 3 Heavy Weapon Mortar Teams (Picture)
- 2 Leman Russ Executioners (Picture)
- 1 Basilisk (Picture)
- 1 Stormlord (Picture)

Other
- 10 Servitors (Converted Epic Landraiders, 4 Plasma, Pictures: One, Two, Three)
- 12 Guardsmen (B’Dass Troopers, No Picture)
- 2 Commissars (B’Dass Commanders, Picture)
- 10 Ogryns (Grizzly Exosuits / Holocaust Judge, Picture)
- 20 Penal Legionaires (Avatar of War, Dwarf Bezerkers)
- 10 Stormtroopers / Veterans with Carapace Armour (Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corps, Picture)
- 4 Sentinels (Robogear Werewolves, Picture, the model on the right)
- 3 Basilisks? (AT-43 Red Blok Dotch Yaga, Picture)
- 9 ??? (AT-43 Red Blok Kolossus, Picture)
- 3 Valkyrie / Vendetta (Robogear Condors, Picture)


* Most of the images are mine....but not all of them. So credit goes to the owners of each image.

Of course if you do not want to bother don't worry about it, at least you can take a look at the models I have collected so far. Thank you all for reading, appreciate it, you are what keeps me motivated.

Squat Test Model

 As I am not too sure on how the images will look once uploaded to the interwebs, Ill just run through the colors used. What I used are the following:

- Color Primer Leather Brown (Army Painter).
- Charadon Granite (GW Foundation)
- Dheneb Stone (GW Foundation)
- Elf Flesh (GW)
- Chaos Black (GW)
- Dwarf Bronze (GW)
- Quick Shade - Dark Tone (Army Painter)
- Anti-Shine Matt Varnish (Army Painter)

I started out with the usual basecoat, I picked brown because I wanted to stick to earth tones. Earth tones relate to their miner and industrial side as well as relating back to fantasy.

This was followed by picking out the seperate colors, making sure to add a dark gray almost black to offset the mostly brown of the uniform. The haircolor was made greyish for the simple reason that I do not have too many colors that would work as hair. Lasgun was made black and originally I was going to go with the traditional boltgun metal but partly due to Viktor von Domm from Dakka I decided to give Dwarf Bronze a go to get a more Steam Punkish feel.

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.

No News is Good News?

Hello,

Just a very minor update about nothing really. I am still waiting for my bits and such to arrive to actually let me do some more converting and assembly. The tools I ordered arrived and as soon as they did I realized I need to get my hands on a fine saw of sorts in order to continue a conversion I got waiting.

I did get in a Thunderlord from Avatars of War, to serve as another HQ slot or whatever I can make of him. He is depicted to the right here. In fact I was so tired of waiting I actually started assembling my 40 armless human Imperial Guard as well as tinkering with my Assault on Black Reach Space Marines.

Thinking about maybe making a small Deathwing Army....

Save me!