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Chaos Squats Hero on Black Shadow: Taming the Rust Monster

April 14, 2012, 10:25 am
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Here we have another Chaos-Squatified Imperial Guard Special Character, this time the Attilan Commander Mogul Kamir. Like the others, the Hungry Ghosts incarnation swaps the horse for a motorcycle. Unlike the others, this Chaos Squat has the body of the dreaded Rust Monster (from the mid-80s Citadel Advanced Dungeons & Dragons series). He has been renamed Gemist Knarst and integrated firmly into a Vincent Black Shadow with floppy weak legs (Tyranid Spore Mine tentacles) so he cannot escape.

Your basic Rust Monster is a bunch of lumpy rocks and probing antennae. Plus the mysterious propeller tail. So it was a fairly obvious idea to provide some additional probing antennae (from the Dark Eldar Talos) and other sensors from some Eldar, Dwarfs, and Battlefleet Gothic. The lumpy rock pattern was amplified with some Lizard Men Saurus Shields covering the back tire, the top of a Nid Spore Mine, a Tomb Kings Standard top, and a heavy-on-the-rivets Dwarf war-machine bit from the WFB 7th edition boxed rules set.

But then there's the face. The Rust Monster has a tiny almost unnoticeable head, relying on touch instead of sight. Which is a bit preposterous for a cyclist. And so I expanded on that foundation of preposterity: I had a sprue of the plastic Space Dwarfs with a miscast head, just the front half with melted facial features. Someone less silly would have tossed it aside, but I saved it for many years, until it could be nestled between the Rust Monster antennae to form a blind mutant biker. There was also room for a ridge of hair (Trolls) and some cyber-sensors.

However, that melted face blind biker demanded a bike with multiple fully formed faces. The Tomb Kings Standard provided 6 nice skulls, and a ridge of spiky tooth-shapes similar to those on the Saurus shields. Pointing the way is a pointy-nosed goblin-faced metal shield from the 1987 assortment.

Since I don't know the meaning of "too many", an armored Gnoblar Head was slapped on the front of the Dwarf war machine bit. And a couple more heads are dragging from ropes in the rear (Vampire Counts). The ropey pattern of their ropes along with the similar styling on the Dwarf Machine accentuate the ropey look of the Rust Monster tail.

And that is how you ensure you don't finish painting your tanks.
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Fleas the Size of Rats Sucked on Rats the Size of Cats: Citadel Scale-Creep

April 28, 2012, 10:00 am
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Hungry Ghosts just got a few of the latest edition of Imperial Guard Ratlings, and they are quite robust fellows. We'll let the pictures do most of the talking...

 And ten thousand peoploids split into small tribes...
Squat Adeptus Mechanicus flanked by Ratlings Mark 3 flanked by Ratlings Mark 1, and a wee little Marauder Miniatures Halfling stuffing his mouth at the left end.

Cute how they kept the traditional Ratling poses. Not so cute how the new Ratling looks like he could eat the old Ratling and still be scrounging through your fridge for leftovers. It's always Hunger City when you're a grotesquely large mutant Ratling.

Could strap that halfling onto the rifle instead of the scope. Scope's less greasy though. Less gassy as well. Doesn't want you to guess how many cheesy puffs he can fit into his mouth...whose idea was it to use the halfling instead of the scope?

Steel Legion Officer, Mighty Ratling, Drunk Dwarf Miner, Scrawny Space Dwarf, 
Embarrassingly Large Gotrek Gurnisson, 
Embarrassingly Small Space Marine Captain with Terminator Honors.

R.O.U.S.'s? Rodents of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist.

Power Fist, Dwarf Fist;
 A Steel Legionnaire becomes 
Delicate flower.

But I'm a Terminator! Chaos Terminator! Eye of Terror Terminator!

I'm a HORSE! Quit whining.

This is why the Iron Claw Squats Hover Car is also known as the Halfling Cloud Car.
This is why Squats and Scrunts don't mix.
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Chaos Squats Get a Big Red APC Soviet Army Surplus!

June 9, 2012, 10:00 am
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The Hungry Ghosts have adopted a Big Red Armored Personnel Carrier from the defunct Soviet Union. Purchased from the Red Army's Annual 1 May International Worker's Day to 8 May Victory in Europe Day Red-Tag Sale, it is a welcomed addition that has soothed Hungry Ghost's lingering sadness at never getting a Star Wars Rebel Cruiser or a GI Joe APC while a Beardling. But the first foreign nation Hungry Ghosts went to was the USSR. You can still buy a Rebel Cruiser, but you can't do that anymore.

 Here we see the Burnt Scorpions Storm Troopers charging from the rear to battle some pesky Eldar. The more observant webizens may notice that there are more Burnt Scorpions than in the past, but we'll get to that later.

 Our APC is made from a Soviet T-34/85 hull. Our T-34 was designed in the late 1930s and hit the front lines of The Great Patriotic War (aka the eastern front of World War II) in 1940. Designed by Mikhail Koshkin and Alexander Morozov, the T-34 is the tank with the 2nd largest production number of any tank (the T-54/55 is first) and is still in use by Terran armies today.

This T-34/85 was transformed for the Warhammer 40K universe as an APC by using a 1/35 scale model (compared to the roughly 1/72 scale for Warhammer). The turret was replaced with 3 smaller 1/76 Sherman Tank turrets, and the original main cannon was shortened and placed in the front. Assorted Warhammer guns and vehicle bits were added as well.

 This produced a vehicle that a bunch of Squats could plausibly fit in. Unlike certain other Bag-of-Holding 40K transports.


All of this work was done by Time DuPertuis of Armorcast, originally intended for Ork use, but we will not hold that against him.

What is nice about the T-34/85 conversion is that it has a symmetry unmatched by other military vehicles looked at by Hungry Ghosts on eBay and elsewhere. 


The length is about 2x the width, the width is about 2x the height, which is about equally divided between tracks and armor. The hull is about equally divided between the front Dakka-Dakka zone and the rear Berserker-Box zone. The angle of slope of the front and rear armor is also symmetrical. 

This 4-fold symmetry of 1:2 relationships yields the number 8, the number of arrows in the Chaos Star and the Sacred Number of Khorne. And thus we shall name our APC The Mouth of Khorne.

 So what does all this accomplish? Fulfillment of Hungry Ghost's desire to have a land-version of the Korean Turtle-Ships (Geobukseon or Kobukson) used against Japanese invasions by the legendary Admiral Yi Sun-sin in the late 16th century. They were based on 15th century Turtle-Ships, and intended for use as a close-assault vessel.


Here we see another Turtle-Ship. There is debate as to whether Geobukseon were the first ironclad vessels used, but no debate that they had lots of spikes and dragon heads attached to the front that released noxious smoke or cannon fire. Dragon heads and lots of spikes are mandatory for any armored vehicle in the Legios Moriad XIV, so the final form of The Mouth of Khorne will more closely resemble the mighty turtle.


The Hungry Ghosts will tolerate no comments about Dwarfs and Turtles sharing speed-impairments; all comparisons shall be regarding powerful armor and an ability to traverse even the roughest of terrains.

Another view of the Burnt Scorpions emerging from The Mouth of Khorne. Hungry Ghosts is still not sure what the final carrying capacity for the APC will be. But it probably won't be finished for a couple of years, so there is time to think about that. A Chaos Squat equivalent to the Imperial Crassus Armored Assault Transport may be thing to do.


One more just because.
Learn more about Geobukseon here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_ship



 
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Crimes Against Miniatures: Too Much, Too Little, Too Terrible

June 10, 2012, 10:00 am
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Today Hungry Ghosts would like to delve into an important matter that is that barely surfaces within the miniatures painting and collecting communities. We've all seen it. We all say someone else did it. Well, someone else did it, but it's still wrong. Hungry Ghosts is talking about Crimes Against Miniatures.

Gaze upon the Horror. Yes, they are crappy plastic Bloodbowl Orcs. But this shouldn't even happen to crappy plastic Orcs.

But gaze upon the Horror. This is no ordinary accidentally tragedy: Someone had to think up this color scheme - this 6-color scheme. The arms suggest that they knew that Orcs are generally considered to be green skinned. But they picked out the feet for some light blue splatter. Then they just slathered the faces in the same blue as most of the upper body.

Who paints feet special and not faces? Who?

If you have keen eyes, you may see some green upon the neck of the Orc on the right. Yup, neck painted green. Different green than the arms.


Who paints feet and necks special and not faces? Who? Who?

And green, purple, blue, light blue...what clashes with all of these colors? Orange! How about some orange spikes? Ok, could be reasonable. Now that crotch isn't getting enough eyeball time, so let's make it orange.

Who paints crotches and feet and necks special and not faces? Who? Who? Who?

It gets worse. A Dwarf. One strongly suspects that somehow these monsters were meant to be on the same team. Also with 6 colors plotted out. And the face is now picked out to be the same stupid color as the padded shirt? 

Which makes Hungry Ghosts wonder whether the Rogue Trader Space Dwarfs shopped at the same clothier as these Bloodbowl teamsters?

And the bases! But the kicker is that the green Orc skin and Dwarf boots is Elfin glitter metallic green! Glitter skin and bright orange crotches- were these Orcs moonlighting as hookers?

From the same lot of misfit minis, two more Bloodbowl Dwarfs. Now we go from a demented-impressionist-with-no-arms painting style to really-doesn't-give-a-ratlings-ass splatter.

"Mommy we need bumblebee costumes for our school play about aminals and pwants!"

"Gaarggh. Here, yer done. Stop botherin yer Mother durin her date wiv Jack Daniels."

"Is Jack Daniels our Daddy?"

"Might as well be. Sure, Jack's yer dad."

All together now.

What's that? Did someone say "But how can I help fight these Crimes Against Miniatures?"

Glad you asked. For just pennies a day, we can provide a Fire Dragon Firing Squad to melt these pathetic monstrosities into grayish goop. 

Act now! Sanity Points are being drained as we speak!

The Fire Dragons of Craftworld Uacwansu have agreed to volunteer their time to do this dirty but necessary work. They ask only that the cost of Fusion Gun Fuel be reimbursed by your charitable contributions. You won't find that kind of giving spirit just anywhere folks.

So won't you join Hungry Ghosts and these gracious Eldar in combating the scourge of these terrible horrible malicious very-bad-and-not-at-all-good Crimes Against Miniatures? 

Paint jobs so bad they make happy little puppies go blind with a single glance. 

With your help, we can continue our mission to track down and exterminate these woeful beasts wherever they may be. Whether it be paint as thick as rotten mayonnaise, as chunky as chili, inappropriate enamels, oils, or gouache we can end this menace to puppies and art together!  

 "Phallic symbol? What phallic symbol?"

"Never heard of one of those. It is some sort of magic rune?"

"We're just firing our space guns, sir. White hot blasts..."

Too learn more about phallic space guns, please consult your local David Bowie.
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Storm Trooper Lammoth, Plasma-Packing Marauder

November 24, 2012, 10:00 am
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It has been a shamefully long time since we had a new Hungry Ghost post, and the last one was a bit of an infomercial. But the Hungry Ghosts have moved from Kastle-Khorne-by-the-Sea to the Tower of the North End to Allstone Rock City over the past few months. So busy-busy-busy etc., but dribs and drabs of painting has also occurred.

 So yes, number 9 for the Burnt Scorpions Storm Troopers squadron, Sruïhoth Lammoth. Lammoth is a plasma weapons specialist, finishing off the allotment of special weapons troopers allowed in the squadron.

Lammoth has had a bit of converting. He started life as the eloquently named MM90/5b from the Marauder Chaos Dwarfs series, the model with the separate crossbow.
(http://solegends.com/marauder/mm90cdwf.htm)
The crossbow has been eliminated, replaced with an ornate Plasma Gun. It fits over the arm-stub so no harm was done to the basic Marauder body, leaving Lammoth with a Plasma Gun for a right hand. Those wise in the ways of bits will immediately notice that we have an Epic 40K Imperial Knight Paladin cannon-arm as the base of the weapon. It has an Eldar Fusion Gun tip with a couple of crescent-shaped additions from a Goblin standard (I think).
The plasma-fuel is supplied by a pair of well, fuel canisters also from the Eldar Fusion Gun. Organic-looking cables are attached to the fuel tanks, organic appearance supplied by being Skaven tails.
As it happens, those wriggly cables feed back into Lammoth's arm, leaving some question as to what exactly is fueling the Plasma Gun. One of the little mysteries of Chaos. The protruding appendage on the elbow is part of a Dark Elf Warrior arm.
Lammoth is a bit short even for a Dwarf. Since I decided to leave the WFB big-hats Chaos Dwarfs out of the army, I converted Lammoth to give a nod of the head in that direction. His hat is one of the heads from the Empire Wizards sprues, with the head bits carved out. It has a nice skull on it. This mini was sculpted with a weird bump between his squinty eyes, which was supplemented with some curved horns attached above the eyes (Orc-origin).
 Lammoth was also sculpted with what has been described as "weird hair tufts sticking out of his helmet". They are still weird, but have been overshadowed with an Orc Hair Squig flowing majestically in the wind. And fezzing up the hat.
By this point, we can see that Lammoth is getting a theme of curved/arc shapes that complement his innate facial features and beard. Lammoth has also been painted with the Fire Dragon Crimson-Go Fasta Red-Blood Angel Orange-Hobgoblin Orange scheme that is a frequent feature of the Hungry Ghosts.
This scheme was mixed with areas of Beaten Copper with a purple ink wash to it to blur the boundaries between flesh and metal. Contrasting blue breaks up the pattern and gives a bit more visual interest. The blue was used on areas that were more easily identified as humanoid body parts, the arms and the boots, making them seem to be less linked to Lammoth, distorting his form a bit more.
From the left, we can see the same blue used for Lammoth's other arm and boot. 
The Beaten Copper returns for the furry vest he is wearing.
So hard to resist making things complicated...Lammoth's left arm features the hand part of an Eldar Guardian Arm (Rogue Trader version). Another metallic tuft of fur is at the joint of the Eldar hand and Dwarf arm, with another thin cable running along the underside of the arm, also taken from the Eldar Guardians. To have more things sticking out, I slapped a Tau Fire Warrior helmet antenna on Lammoth's left elbow.
As Lammoth is concealing a Las Pistol under his Plasma Gun, the cable and antenna result in the left arm having the features of the right arm, but scaled down.
Which leaves a lot of empty space on the base, which is unacceptable at Hungry Ghosts Central. Time for another Giant Space Rat. This time the rat is painted in the same color scheme as Lammoth, his metallic head spike mimicking Lammoth's arm-tenna and the Chaos Spawn Eyeball protruding out of the rat's head and over the boundaries of the base.
By now, most loyal readers will have noticed Spc Lammoth's other friend, projecting upward and outward proudly devoid of flesh. The curved branches next to the skull provide a pleasant echo of horns, as the skull re-emphasizes the skull on Lammoth's hat. 
You can never have too many skulls.
 This Chaos Dwarf was sculpted in an odd hunchback posture, with his shoulders about level with his eyes. The posture of the skeleton gives an inverse curve to Lammoth's spine. It also makes his Big Hat seem smaller.
The skeleton tree comes from the Wood Elves Dryads sprues, and has been planted in an unfortunate human's boot, melding life and unlife.
The projecting curved branches complement the bulging cables on Lammoth's right arm. The alternative color scheme was just because I felt like painting some wood and bones in a more naturalistic tone than the zany color explosion that the Hungry Ghosts tend to have.
Some views from above show how crowded the base has become.
And how big that rat's mutant eye is.
Plasma Gun in its full glory.


Burnt Scorpions Storm Troopers Squadron Assembled
(with Chaos Spawn Inquisitor mascot)

Accompanied by Gunnery Sergeant Chhattisgarh

Lammoth with Bragollach and Udûn

Who couldn't love that face?
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Warhammer 40K 25th Anniversary Squats Grudge Master

December 14, 2012, 1:30 pm
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As we conclude our Rogue Trader reminiscing upon this 25th year of Warhammer 40K, Hungry Ghosts brings forth a Special Edition Space Dwarf to mournfully memorialize the greatest loss to the Emperor's Oubliette.

Standing before the Red Door of Anger is the Legios Moriad XIV Grudge Master. The Squats were abandoned by the cruel overlords of Games Workshop after their glorious victories throughout the Rogue Trader era; after teaching the Imperium of Man the secrets of metallurgy and warfare from their Forge Worlds. For this, they were betrayed. How could Space Marines stride mightily across worlds when they can't fix a flat tire without invoking some mumbley nonsense about divine wrenches? Because their brains are too simple to remember righty-tighty without a psalm, they had to pretend that it had to be Magick to fix a flat. Thus, those who could work a beer-tap without a servitor had to be taken out of the picture.

But simple it would not be, as the little green troll would put it. The Space Dwarfs stubbornly remained as the Second Edition appeared, with a provisional army list included in the Codex-in-a-Box (along with the most awful Space Marines ever conceived).

8 Squats were sculpted, who stealthily hid under mountains deep and world's of power armor smushing gravitational force, to reappear at times of great need. Without capering about like glam-rock lunatics like those Black Librarians. Just 3 Champions, 3 Berserkers, 1 Trooper, and 1 Exo-Armor Commander; the 2nd Ed Squats can be seen here: 

This Trooper and 1 Champion appeared in the 1994 Dark Millennium rules supplement and a Warhammer painting guide. As we can see, he is firmly in the grasp of the Primary Colours Period of GW in-house painting style that ruled the early 1990s. (picture borrowed from the website above)

The 40K 2nd Ed Squats also looks more than a bit like the WFB Dwarfs of the period (4th-5th Ed).
 
Champion with Winged Helmet

 Champion with Horned Helmet

Berserker with Cybernetics, like a Slayer who ate some Anvils


Our Grudge Master Neiër Grevess is a sturdy fellow with a fine beard, standing in a vigilant position. He brings improved weaponry and enhanced armor compared to most of the Rogue Trader Squats, a Bolter and what would best be classified as Carapace Armor.

Grudge Master Grevess had a slotta-tab that broke off, leaving little bits that fit nicely into a sci-fi interior terrain base that was given out to Adepticon attendees, so no intentional harm was done to the rare Squat trooper. But of course he was converted a bit. Two skull medallions were added to the shoulder armor, Space Marines purity seals with the little banners removed. His bumpy beer can grenades are sculpted on.


On the other side, 2 more skull medallions from SpaM purity seals. Also a skull chained to the belt, from the WFB Empire Flagellants. A small symbol of Khorne fit nicely between the armored shoulders, from the Bloodletters sprue.

A pair of triangular bits of armor featuring more skulls were added to the tops of the shoulder armor, Dark Elf donations with the ends chopped off. The bolter got a nice little bayonet with 3 prongs, a High Elf helmet decoration bit. The Squat Trooper is a compact miniature with most parts attached solidly to other parts, so not much opportunity to play around with, unless you're prepared to do some major reconstructive surgery. But there's always room for more skulls and pointy bits.

For the Special Anniversary Limited Edition Squats Grudge Master, I tilted the paint scheme toward that of the Primary Colours Period he was sculpted during. And BRIGHT RED was the signature tint of the time, so MSgt Grevess has red armor with highlighting moving toward orange, and not much of his ink wash shadowing him. His blue accessories pop out toward Space Wolf, and his Beaten Copper metal trim and Bolter were melded with some gold, but also with a bit of Bad Moon Yellow, a bottle from the early production of the color which is very translucent. The Grudge Master's bountiful beard flows at the lighter end of the typical Hungry Ghosts hair scheme, somewhere between the red of the armor and the gold-copper hue of the accessories.

In addition to hewing toward the color preferences of the era, the Grudge Master is there to be noticed. He is a bold bearer of the truth that Squats survive and thrive despite efforts to erase them from the history of the galaxy.

But the minimal amount of flesh that can be seen is black. Every Chaos Squat can use some black.

Grudge Master Part 2 will appear tomorrow.

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Warhammer 40K 25th Anniversary Squats Grudge Master II : Based and Debased

December 22, 2012, 9:00 am
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The Hungry Ghosts have a tendency toward elaborate basing, and the Grudge Master is no exception. In fact, the Grudge Master's base is integral for Anniversary Grudging purposes. It also takes the signature base-bits-sprawl over the edge to new levels.

As we can see, the front of MSgt Grevess's base features heads of great enemies. Prominently spiky is an Ork Nob severed head, who also shares the Hungry Ghosts' love of skull symbols (let's face it, just about everyone in the 40K universe has a skull fetish). The Orks were the last to mention the existence of the Squats in the 40K universe. Despite the enmity, the Squats must grudgingly note that minor respect in their Book of Grudges, though the mocking term "stunties" was used (White Dwarf 289 p.108, Feb 2004).

A second Great Enemy appears to the right, a severed head of a Genestealer, of the early 1990s plastic variety. The color scheme is a reversal of the Grudge Master's, a slippery blue hue pocked with red and yellow pustules. 

 Peeping out from the side is one of the cute little Skaven rats that come with the Hell Pit Abomination.

And another little rat on the other side. Both bear the same fiery fur that marks the beards of the Hungry Ghosts.

We can see that the severed Genestealer head has left a sticky mess on the floor. Another mess was the moulding of the teeth - no gaps between the right and left sides, just big creased mashing surfaces like wooly mammoth molars. Seems that Genestealers crush their nummies instead of tearing them apart as Imperial propaganda would have us believe.

The rats rest upon the hands of former allies, one upon the gloved hand of a Space Marine and the other on the putrid rot of an Imperial Guard meatshield. The hands of those who offer false friendship are severed like those of the thief: indeed the theft of trust can be worse than theft of gold. They are left for the vermin to do with as their dirty little minds see fit.

So too with the cast-off weapon of the enemy. The bastardized version of the lasgun given to the humans by the Squats as a welcoming gift to a dangerous galaxy points to the past, broken as the promise it symbolized.

But what can you expect from a species with such a tiny skull and tiny brain? Seriously, though, GW design team, is that a child skull? Monkey? Pixie? Khorne is not impressed.

Our Grudge Master, so fraught with symbolism already, has more symbolism to unleash. From above a carefully crafted Chaos symbol is revealed, the diagonal axes formed by severed heads paired with severed hands (and pointy rat snouts), skull embossed arrowheads upon the Grudge Master's shoulders, and lastly the barrel of the lasgun pointing behind while

Facing forward is the skull, bedecked with golden laurel wreath, dedicated to Lord Death, whose fires glow from within. Death will come to all, to some it will come soon, from the Grudge Master.


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Storm Trooper Gundabad, Chaos Squat 10 of the Burnt Scorpions

December 24, 2012, 12:08 pm
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Storm Trooper Wuakanda Gundabad is the 10th member of the Burnt Scorpions squadron, completing the unit.

Gundabad was not a particularly complex creation. He is the Squat Warlord from the Hearth Guard gang with some well needed arms. Dressed like he comes from Halloween Town, Gundabad has perfected the ''rrrrahhh brrraaaainnnnsss!" gait of the serial killer zombie.


But he is not without pizzazz: a swank Khorne medallion hangs from his neck. From the front, at least, it de-emphasizes the fact that Gundabad is one of the fattest Squat models, with his belt of metal nearly hidden by his flabby belly. Look at that curve. Khorne medallion from the recent plastic Bloodletters.


Gundabad gives a creepy vibe by having the same color scheme all over, basic black supplemented by fiery orange. Armor trim, hair, skin, which is body and which is flesh? Is there anything in that armor? If there isn't, why is he so fat?
Now you've been confused long enough that Tpr Gundabad has you in his sights.

Gundabad's heavily armored right arm is an unholy combination of the weapon arm of Space Elf Sgt Mael Nightwing (first Eldar I ever bought!) and a trimmed down Ogre Ironguts studded metal fist. Both enhance the ridged design of the Warlord armor, but it's the fist-studs that provide a sweet candy corn look. I also like how the shrinking sections give an impression of modular parts extending forward as needed.

But what's going on with Mael's weapon arm? We know it's the first format for the Eldar Lasgun, but what purpose does the wrap-around bejeweled armor serve? Three of the other Eldar have the same Lasgun with no need for extra metal or ceramite or Bone Singer's wraith-woven wool or whatever Eldar armor is made of. Is it some sort of Power Lasgun? So he can't lose it, like those mitten strings little kids have? I don't know. But I do know that the difference between that chunky weapon and the slender arm makes that mini break easily. Hence the availability for the Gundabad conversion.

Ain't no modular extendability for the left arm. I suppose we can call it an arm. A long spindly mess of metal and meat with mutant teeth and nubbins of unclear purpose.

Also unclear where that arm comes from. At some point Dark Eldar bits started becoming like Tyranid bits and I just buy cheap and spiky bits without paying attention to what they come from. I thought DE Talos since I bought a bunch of those bits, but can't spot it on the sprue. Nope, not Mawloc or Tervigon etc.


There it is: Skaven Hell Pit Abomination. I could have edited out all that above, but want  my dear readers to feel some of the desperate difficult search time need to ID bits in an era of No Catalogs.

Anyway Hell Pit Bomi's lower jaw bit is spiky, creepy, and curved the opposite way from the horns to provide a high visibility counterbalance.


Gundabad's ensemble is completed by a dee-luxe cape made of Salamander leather, trimmed with the fluffed up circuitry of Leman Russ, and a dragon emblem made of fire trapped in a time-stasis field.


Accompanying our Storm Trooper is the 4th and final Mouser from my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles blister pack I bought many many moons ago. 

Mouser pokes out nicely from the barren patch of the base, even if he is dressed like 
a New York Mets fan.

Lying at the feet of Gundabad is a blood-stained Sisters of Battle fleur-de-lis icon, from the 40K resin basing accessories pack. Never have the emperor's trinkets come so cheaply.

Just kidding, they get more expensive all the time. I'd provide a graph but can't find a long enough Y-axis.
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Of Space Marines and Armadillos

February 25, 2013, 9:00 am
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By now, the story of Games Workshop's attempt to envelope the well-worn term "Space Marine" in its intellectual property dungeon is well-known. Hungry Ghosts is not interested replaying the indignant arguments against this action. While, yes, Hungry Ghosts is wordy, he also likes to let pictures do the talking.

So let us turn back the clock to an earlier time, when GW was not so keen on respecting intellectual property rights. The year is early 1989. The scene is the back cover of White Dwarf 110. The crime is unlicensed and unattributed use of the intellectual property of another for commercial purposes.

 Here we have a merry band of Space Marines who have found themselves a nice tank. But where did they find that tank? Why, they found it on the shelves of the local toy store. Because it is the Armadillo Mini-Tank from the GI Joe series of action figures made by Hasbro. 

The Armadillo was originally released in 1985, and was available in various forms throughout the rest of the 1980s, and came back in the late 2000s. The Armadillo appeared in the GI Joe cartoon, comic book, television commercials, trading cards... So many places that it is almost impossible to believe that Games Workshop did not know that they were using a product from one of the most popular toy lines of the time manufactured by one of the world's largest toy companies.

But...

It seems that our Armadillo, known to thousands and thousands of boys as the GI Joe Armadillo, quite the popular choice for battlegrounds such as my backyard, is merely a "converted...toy tank model". As opposed to an IP-protected commercially successful product that should have been licensed for use from Hasbro. Or at least identified as what it was. I knew exactly what it was when I bought my copy of White Dwarf 110 in 1989, as my own Armadillo was lurking somewhere in my closet, and even then wondered how GW could use such a popular product for its own purposes without noting what it was.

Now, we do get told that the tank was "converted". But that converting consists mostly of painting it black and removing the roll bar. Or maybe the roll bar got lost, as YoJoe.com points out that it was an easy-to-lose piece.

Here is our link to YoJoe.com, containing a wealth of information about our Armadillo, including a nice Left Front Isometric picture of the tank from the same point of view as the White Dwarf photo.

(It also has a picture of the cover of GI Joe issue 37, featuring the Armadillo being airlifted under the Dragonfly helicopter over an amusement park with Flint leaping off to attack Xamot at the top of a roller coaster. Yeah. Despite Xamot's machine gun pointed his way. And Flint having an M16 and pistol. And the multitude of weaponry on the tank and the assault helicopter.)

Are we being unfair? Are we picking on the little guy, just trying to make it in a tough market? Should we think that maybe GW didn't have the intellectual property savoir-faire to know what it was doing?

Nah. There's the first page of White Dwarf 110, with a slew of IP notices. Games Workshop had already licensed the IP of many other companies - Judge Dredd, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, Runequest, Dr Who, Paranoia, Lone Wolf, Dungeons & Dragons, Eternal Champion... in fact GW got its start as a licensed distributor of US roleplaying games for the UK market.

We could say that the Armadillo was an "oops" moment. But that would mean that we'd have to ignore all of the pieces of Zoids, Transformers, Macross, Gundam, and other toy lines that made frequent appearances in Warhammer 40K photos in the late 1980s and early 1990s. And Dark Future, a game blatantly based on a certain popular film series that was nearly unplayable without unlicensed use of Matchbox and Hot Wheels toys.

 So, Games Workshop, stop being a dick. Space Marines existed decades before you did, and you had no compunctions about encouraging the use of the intellectual property of others to fill the gaps in your own product lines for years, despite your full awareness of intellectual property rights.

Mark Ratner, 1977, FanTac Games (picture not taken by me)

Epic Space Marines Drop Pod, first version, from 1991 Blue Citadel Catalog

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Squats Epic 40K Update

July 22, 2013, 9:00 am
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Just a brief update to the Hungry Ghosts revue of the Squats models for Epic Warhammer 40K. Though Hungry Ghosts is on the mission to paint all of the Squats miniatures for Warhammer 40K, he has no foreseeable prospect of assembling and painting an Epic 40K army.

So the Hungry Ghosts Epic Collection is destined to be kept in nice blister packs for posterity.

The Epic 40K models are interesting from a packaging point of view. As the range of miniatures expanded in through the first half of the 1990s, Epic miniatures were produced with a special package insert, despite the fact that the rules for the game remained a sprawling mess. 

Rules were fractured into the Epic Space Marine set, which covered Space Marines, Orks, and Eldar forces, released in 1990, with some cardstock building terrain to fight for.


After that, White Dwarf was a source of regular rules updates to include other major factions – Chaos, Squats, Imperial Guard. Many of these updates were gathered into the Adeptus Titanicus book.

The Epic Titan Legions set came in 1994, with new rules updates. It also brought forth the mighty Imperator Titan and the Mega-Gargants of the Orks, as well as a gaggle of plastic Imperial Knight Titan Paladins (nice bits for Squat conversions). And continued to include not very impressive cardstock buildings.

Entire armies were available for Chaos, Alaitoc Craftworld Eldar,


Imperial Guard of Barbarius Prime (with some Ultramarines allies) and Squigbreff's Ork Horde


But the Epic Titan Legions rules were not enough. Thus rules supplements appeared for the various faction – Armies of the Imperium, Chaos and Eldar Renegades, and Ork and Squats Warlords (deliberate pairings of ancient enemies), and Tyranid Hive War.

But that is all prelude. Here we have our new additions:

The Overlord Airship in its blister pack.


 The mid 1990s brought full color inserts for the Epic range, displaying the Overlord in glorious assembled and painted form.

So too with the Goliath Mega-Cannon.


– as with the remainder of the Epic 40K models.

 Where's Our Land Train? Yes, We Know Trains Generally Remain Land-Bound.

Meanwhile, both the 40K and WFB miniatures were shafted with most boring packaging, red for new releases and blue for older miniatures, with no inserts. Yawn.

An unwelcome trend toward less and less differentiation for the sake of cheaper printing costs. Echoed by the awful "we're just standing here" plastic troops of the time.

This was a let-down even from the earlier packaging, shown here with the Mole. The Mole came with a small Thudd Gun, making the claim that this was an “Imperial” armament an even more Grudge Worthy action.

 The Imperial Lies did not cease with the new packaging.

Most images are from the 1996 Epic 40K Catalog, which also taunted the Eldar enthusiast with Exodites and new versions of Grav-Tanks and Flyers that would be scrapped when Epic morphed again to become Epic 40000 in 1997.


Thus, our Epic 40K products from the 1990s foreshadowed the packaging for the transformation from metal miniatures to Finecast miniatures of today. Truly an advancement in packaging, as for the rest...

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Historia Squataticus Supplement: Squats Summary from 1994 to 2004

July 23, 2013, 9:00 am
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A Comparison Squats material and game-design decision-making from 1994-2004 in White Dwarf and The Citadel Journal (Historia Squataticus Appendix 1)

This table provides a year-by-year summary of the treatment of the Squats from the release of Warhammer 40K 2nd Edition in 1994 to the final reference in 2004. Both 40K and Epic are included in this comparison of White Dwarf and Citadel Journal information.

Living Ancestors Never Forget

YearWhite DwarfThe Citadel Journal
1994Frequent Epic, not much 40K.Same as White Dwarf
1995Continued Epic without new minis, not much 40K.Continued Epic, including 40K/Epic crossover rules
1996Incidental Squats 40K & Epic but no really bad news until end of year's report that the new Epic 40,000 would not have the Squats included at the start.Frequent 40K and Epic material
1997Only incidental pictures and references, reported as a former army when Epic 40,000 appears in Spring.Squats Army List for Epic 40,000 published, reports that Squats left out because they could not get them right in time (same with Epic Knights) but high level of response from Squats generals demanded an “unofficial” list until an official army list was developed.


Squats rules included in 40K and Necromunda articles.
1998Febuary issue (217) notes that greatest concern from Warhammer players is “What's happening to the Squats?” but does not address the issue. Later in the year, 40K 3rd edition is announced without any mention of the Squats, but it also massive underestimates of the impact on usability of older models and units, Squats or nots.Squats featured in several articles for Warhammer 40K, but a Convention Report from late March states that the decision to exclude the Squats from Warhammer 40K 3rd edition has been made, but that they are planning to revive them for 4th edition.


So it seems likely that the decision to keep the Squats out of 40K 3rd edition was made in late 1997 or sometime in 1998.


We can speculate that the decision evolved from trying to reintroduce the Squats to Epic 40,000, but cannot be certain, and there are no known prototypes or unreleased Epic Squats items from the late 1990s. There are also no known 40K Squats from the time either, the 8 Warhammer 40K 2nd edition Squats were done in 1993 or 1994.


But it also clear that GW did not plan on totally eliminating the Squats in 1998, and instead hoped to bring them back to Warhammer 40K (eventually) and Epic 40,000 (hopefully sooner).
1999NothingDiscussion of how to use Squat miniatures in Warhammer 40K by Jervis Johnson, Warwick Kinrade, and others. Squats are mentioned in all but one of the 1999 issues.


Johnson reports that Squats have been left out of 40K 3rd Edition because the designers have failed to come up with enough good ideas about how to make them into a distinct and coherent army.


The general recommendation is to use Squats as Imperial Guard stand-ins or as units within human-dominant IG armies.
2000January issue (240) features the “Eaten by Nids” customer-service fail by whoever was responsible for the Letters page.Mostly comments in letters from readers.
 
However, the final issue from the year reports that Epic Squats infantry sprues are available again; the metal vehicles have likely been continuously available as well.
2001NothingJust one comment in a reader letter.
2002NothingThe last year for the Citadel Journal, with Warwick Kinrade mentioning the Squats “Counts As” article from Issue 33 (Late Summer 1999) as a favorite.
2003NothingCitadel Journal no longer published.

2004Increasingly jittery denials of Space Skaven fail to fully assuage guilt over treatment of Squats, leading to an editorial error in the February issue (289) leaving a reference to the Squats of the Forge World Golgotha being conquered by Ork Warlord Ghazghkull Thraka due to insufficient support from alleged Imperial allies.


Warhammer 40K 4th edition is released in the fall with no revitalized Squats.		Citadel Journal no longer published.


The Grudge Master Remembers.

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Chaos Blister Packs from the Dawn of Warhammer: C35 Chaos Warriors

September 24, 2013, 8:00 am
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Today we will take the first brief tour through some blister packs from the early days of Warhammer Fantasy Battle and 40K from the Realm of Chaos. Weirdness abounds in a time of poor quality control and questionable contents.

 Here we have a blister pack of 4 Chaos Warriors from the RC3201 Series.

 They are solid metal beasts of Chaos. Three are old sculpts, old enough to have integral shields. The upper two are old enough that they first appeared as drawings in the Spring 1985 Citadel Journal.

 Upper right, the "Evil Warrior" and the unnamed fellow in the middle.

Hungry Ghosts also has Corsair, Champion, and High Assassin. Axe Lord is in the mail. Back to the pack.


Back in the early days, not so much thought was given to making sure that only necessary bits were included without any excess. So we can see here that even though three warriors have integral shields and the fourth has a giant axe, there is still a plastic shield sprue hidden under the Chaos Warriors.

More curiously, we have plastic crossbows in there. Why? The Winds of Chaos Blow Strange.

 Here we have Jagglespur, from the C35 series as well, shown in the 3rd Citadel Compendium from 1985.


And Fenris and Harrowhound as well...
... as too many others


Anyway, Jagglespur has some illustrious stylistic inspiration -

 Pallas Athena by Gustav Klimt

 Gustav Klimt Pallas Athena Detail

Back to Jagglespur...

 And Klimt's Judith Holofernes, and several thousand years older, an Assyrian frieze.

So we have some inspiration. But look at how much nasty flash is on this mini. So much for quality control. As well as messy casting being a sure sign of a recast mini.

Back to Judith Holofernes, just because.
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Squats in Specialist Games Rules and Magazines, Promotional Items, and Novels: Historia Squataticus Appendices 5 Through 10

September 25, 2013, 8:00 am
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Squats in Epic 40K Rule Books, Codexes, and Boxes
Historia Squataticus : Appendix 5

Adeptus Titanicus Box(Epic 40K 1stEdition)
Included basic rules for battles with Titans and plastic Warlord Titans. I am not sure if any Squats material was included since there were no Epic-scale Squats miniatures available at the time.

Space MarineBox (Epic 40K 1.5 Edition)
Added basic rules for infantry and vehicle use. It also included Infantry and Transport vehicle sprues from the 3 available Epic Armies – Imperial, Eldar, and Orks. These were the boring sprues with basic troops and transports, Space Marines troopers with Rhinos and Land Raiders, Ork Boyz and Battlewagons, Eldar Guardians and Falcons (though this was the first appearance of the Eldar Falcon). 
 
At this point, I don't believe that any Squats-specific materials were included. But by this point the various Imperial Tunneling vehicles were available, so there may be some Squats related fluff comments.

Big Old Epic Armies Boxes
The earliest infantry sprue supplements were large boxes of what today would be an inconceivable bargain and variety in one set.

The Epic Armies Battle Group box contained 20 sprues.
5 of the second Space Marines sprue, with Command, Land Speeder, Assault Troops and other troop types.
5 of the Imperial Guard sprues, from when Beastmen were part of the gang and Guardsmen could fly like Space Marines. And Robots for both Marines and Guard.
5 for the Eldar, Aspect Warriors, Warlocks, Scouts, Harlequins. And in another case of Epic being the vanguard, the first rendition of the Eldar Support Weapon (labeled Grav-Mounted Vibro Cannons on the box) and Vyper (labeled Assault Jet Bikes).
And finally, 5 Chaos sprues, from when Chaos was wise enough to field many Chaos Squats in Power Armor with Bolters (5 per sprue) yet dumb enough to include Trolls and Minotaurs. Yep, Space Trolls. Why not some lesser daemons instead? We will never know.
Both Chaos and the Imperial Guard fielded Beastmen at this time, both of the boring Goat-Man type. IG Beastmen used Space Halberds or the popular Las Pistol and Space Sword combo that lasts to this very day. Chaos Beastmen used a Space Axe and a Space Shield.

The Epic Armies Attack Force, also containing 20 sprues, was a replay of the sprues in the Space Marine set, 5 Ork Boyz and Battlewagons, 5 Eldar and Falcons, and 10 Space Marines, 5 each of the Rhino and Land Raider sprue variations.

The Epic Armies War Horde box (20 sprues too) included the newer Ork sprue, featuring Command, various Odd Boys, Gretchen, Boar Boyz and the like. The Stompers sprues were also included, with their Mole Mortars. This box also included the Squats sprue, full of Battle Brothers, Thudd Guns, Bikers, and other masters of the battlefield.

All of the Army Boxes featured advertisements for the all of the Army Boxes, as did the Epic Battle Titans box. Thus the Epic Armies Battle Group, Attack Force, and War Horde Sets all show or mention Squats on the bottom half, as did the Battle Titans box.

In the early 1990s, there were large boxes of 10 sprues for the existing Epic armies, with some armies getting two (So there was an Eldar Legion box of Guardians and Falcons and an Eldar War Host box of Aspect Warriors and Support Weapons, but no Tyranid sprue was available at the time).

These boxes advertised the other boxes on their bottom halves, so the Squats Army, Chaos Horde, and Stompers are shown on the Eldar Legion box and the others. These boxes varied in color, with the Squats Warriors box being red.

At this point, the going name was Space Marine, maybe, as the Space Marine box itself was also advertised as “the core game of the Epic Hobby”.
Codex Titanicus: This book contained all of the supplementary rules that had been published in White Dwarf since the release of the Space Marineboxed set. I don't think there was any new material in here. This was the trend at the time, similar to the Warhammer 40K Compendium and Compilation books, as well as the 3 Orks books (Waaargh! The Orks!, 'Ere We Go!, and Freebooterz (Yes, beardlings, there was a time when Orky kultcha was so varied and detailed that 3 full books of material existed (5 different army lists!). Even an angry Squat will shed a tear in his beer at the horrible degradation the Orks have experienced since the turn of the century. Almost better to have been dropped from the game than turned into green gorillas with no sense of the value of a good set of teef.).).

If you believe the cover of this volume, this game with little men and many names was known as Epic Battles at this point. One must suspect that the Epic Naming Committee had been stuffed with representatives from the Tzeentch faction.

Epic 40K: Early 1990s Rules Supplements
Soon enough, the already scattered rules of the game-of-many-names were replaced by boxed sets full of rules, army cards, special power and weapon cards, counters and other cardboard critters designed for specific pairs of armies.
First released was the Armies of the ImperiumRules box, which included rules for the Squat-sourced Termite, Mole, Thudd Gun, Mole Mortar, and Hellbore. There were undoubtedly a plethora of comments about the Squats in here, but I do not own the set to provide the details.
The Ork and Squats Warlordsbox included rules and cards for all Squats troops and vehicles available at the time.
The Renegades(Eldar and Chaos) box featured rules and cards for Chaos Squats. More specifically:

Page 8 notes that allies are permitted, with Squats among potential allies of the Eldar.

Page 45 is a full-color battle scene pitting Chaos against Eldar, with Chaos Squats present on the high ground. Page 48 displays A Mighty Army of Chaos, including again our Chaos Squats, as well as some traitor Imperial Guard.

Page 66 supplies rules for the Chaos Android, more-or-less the first incarnation of the Necrons, but more-than-less a direct grab from the Terminator film.

The Chaos Android's “cunning construction is a secret known only to certain tainted Squat fabricators” working with Chaos Sorcerers, resulting in “a tiny bound daemon, [as] an animating spirit imprisoned within its plasteel shell [which] hates being trapped in this way and will do anything to escape”.

Page 69 details the critical role of the Chaos Squats within the Armies of Chaos:
“Chaos Squats are the armourers and artificers of the armies of Chaos. With devilish cunning they construct weapons and engines of war which defy sanity. Each new creation is magnificently built to evoke the correct aura of terror and majesty. It is thought that the Chaos Squats are responsible for the maintenance and construction of Chaos Titans and the fearsome Daemon Engines of Khorne.”

In addition to the technological masterpieces, “Chaos Squats also fight with unparalleled ferocity in the field of battle, favouring heavy fire power to slaughter their foes.”

Page 72 disperses the mystery, reporting that “the Cannons of Khorne are one of the most hideous engines of destruction created for the Blood God Khorne by the Chaos Squats.”
The back page provides the data sheet for Chaos Armies, including the stats for the Chaos Squats and their war machines.
The Tyranids Hive Warbox was the last released. I have not seen it, so can't comment on the contents. Though I'd bet my beard that it doesn't say anything about over-abundant snacking upon Squats.

Titan Legions(Epic 40K 2nd Edition (sort of))
This is another item I don't have. These rules were designed to be compatible with the existing Army Rules Supplements sets, so there is most likely an assortment of Squats content. The Titan Legion box included Imperial and Ork sprues and Titans.
Sometime around this point, the boxes of infantry sprues for the various armies were reduced to 5 sprues each, with the boxes featuring only information on the army inside. The Squats box is now orange, like the Super-heavy Vehicle boxes.

Additionally, in the early to mid-1990s, Epic 40K blister packs included color inserts featuring assembled and painted examples of the models on the front and brief black & white assembly diagrams on the back side. The borders to the color side of the inserts were the same orange color as the Epic Squats boxed items. The blister card backs were the mid-90s Citadel generic style - a Red back for new releases and a Blue back for older models.

I am not sure when the Squats blister packs and boxes were removed from the shelves and available only by mail order, but they were most likely off the shelves by the time the Epic 40,000 box of rules and miniatures appeared in the late 1990s.

Epic 40,000(Epic 40K 3rdEd)
Published in 1997, this edition contains only wisps of Squat possibilities.

Page 41 of the Rule Book contains a picture of a Khorne War Machine with a strong Squat-like appearance.
 Coincidence or Evidence?
Sure, he's converted, but look at those faces

The Battles Book page 112 provides a brief history of the Epic-scale gaming saga, noting the grotesque complication that had been erected by the many supplement, with the mighty tower of rules becoming too impossible to maintain under the weight of the Titan Legions edition. The saga mentions the Squats Warlords rules supplement in its retelling.

The Armies Book contains much vague implication. Pages 24-25 provide the details for the Adeptus Ordinatus machines. These are known to have been supplied by the Squats to the Adeptus Mechanicus. Specific reference is made to Ordinatus Golgotha, named for the Squats Homeworld it was first deployed upon against the green hordes of Ghazghkull Thraka. Page 43 reports that Imperial data reports that Thraka was killed during the Armageddon campaign were false, as Thraka reappeared to continue his battle on Golgotha.

The Tyranids are described as “so utterly apocalyptic that nobody is safe, whether they are human, Ork, Eldar, or any other race” (page 95, emphasis added).

The book ends with encouragement to players to innovate: “if there's some troop type or army choice not in this book you should have a go and send it in [to White Dwarf]!” (page 111).

The wait for Squats rules would not be long, with an army list appearing in Citadel Journal issue 20, from Spring 1997, mere months following the release of the Epic 40,000 game. As reported “the demand from ardent Squat players was overwhelming” (pages 32-46, quote from page 35).

Squats in Space Fleet and Battlefleet GothicRule Books, Codexes, and Boxes
Historia Squataticus: Appendix 6

Space Fleet Box: Nothing in the very brief rules pamphlets. There were no specific space ships released for the Squats.

Battlefleet Gothic Box: I don'thave BFG but it is most likely Squats-free. The same is likely true for the Armada, Invasion, Planet Killer, or Warp Storm supplements, as well as BFG Magazine.

Squats in Other GW Boxed Games
Historia Squataticus: Appendix 7

There have been numerous boxed games released by Games Workshop's, particularly between around 1985 to 1995. Many of these were under license (Judge Dredd) and are irrelevant for our purposes - though it is easy to imagine some Chaos Squats constructing a Radioactive Materials Mining, Manufacturing, and Mutation Facility in the Cursed Earth. Many others were based on the Warhammer Fantasy World (Oi! Dat's My Leg!) and would also require some warping of the space-time-cardboard continuum to involve any Squats.

Other games based on the Warhammer 40K Universe may have some Squats content, but none included Squats as a major feature.

Most prominent were Space Hulkand its supplements - Deathwing, Genestealer, Space Hulk Campaigns, Tyranid Attack– and Space Crusadeand its supplements – Advanced Space Crusade, Mission Dreadnought, Eldar Attack. These games featured combat inside of space ships between Space Marines and an assortment of foes, most commonly Tyranids, but also Eldar, Orks, and Chaos. 
 
It is possible that Chaos Squats played some role in these games. Fluff-wise, the Chaos Dreadnoughts that were released for the games would have been engineered by Chaos Squats.

Smaller games include Battle for Armageddon (and supplement Chaos Attack), Bommerz Over Da Sulfur River, Doom of the Eldar, Lost Patrol, and Ultra Marines. Again, the most likely way that Squats may have made an appearance is as part of a Chaos force.

Squats in Specialist Games Magazines
Historia Squataticus: Appendix 8

If a publication or issue is not listed here, then I don't have it. But there is little reason to expect Squats material in Necromunda's Gang War, Battlefleet Gothic Magazine, or Fanatic.

Epic 40,000 Firepower
Issue 4 (2000): Termites, Moles, Hellebore rules p. 34-36. Letter on p. 38 refers to Squat Army List appearing in Epic Firepower 1.

There were only 4 issues of Epic Firepower before the change to Epic 40,000 Magazine occurred.


Epic 40,000 Magazine
Issue 2 (2000), p. 18-22: Rules for Super-heavy Vehicles, including the Leviathan.
p. 44: Index of issues indicates that the Squat Army List appeared in Epic Firepower Issue 1.
p. 48: Mini catalog with pricing includes Squat metal models – Leviathan (8 GDP/15 USD), Colossus (9 GDP/15 USD), Thunderfire Cannon (2.50 GDP/3.50 USD), Cyclops (10 GDP/17.50 USD), Land Train (7 GDP/12 USD)and Berzerker, Dragon, Bomb, and Mortar Battle Cars (1 GDP/2 USD each, that's a big gap between that Land Train price and its Battlecars), Goliath Mega Cannon (6 GDP/10 USD), Overlord Armoured Airship (6 GDP/10 USD), Iron Eagle Gyrocopter (1.75 GDP/3.50 USD). No indication as to whether both variants of the Land Train Engines and Battle Cars are available.

Issue 3 (2001), p. 16-17: Reader letter hoping for Squat Army List and production of Squat Titans. Jervis Johnson reports that Squat Titans are something he “can't see us ever doing”.
p. 19: Index of issues indicates that the Squat Army List appeared in Epic Firepower Issue 1.
p. 24: Mini catalog with pricing includes Squat metal models – Leviathan (8 GDP/15 USD), Colossus (9 GDP/15 USD), Thunderfire Cannon (2.50 GDP/3.50 USD), Cyclops (10 GDP/17.50 USD), Land Train (7 GDP/12 USD)and Berzerker, Dragon, Bomb, and Mortar Battle Cars (1 GDP/2 USD each, that's a big gap between that Land Train price and its Battlecars), Goliath Mega Cannon (6 GDP/10 USD), Overlord Armoured Airship (6 GDP/10 USD), Iron Eagle Gyrocopter (1.75 GDP/3.50 USD). No indication as to whether both variants of the Land Train Engines and Battle Cars are available.


Necromunda Gang War
Gang War Issue 2 (1999) Reprints optional rules for Squats in Van Saar Gangs from Citadel Journal 19, on p. 18-23.

Gang War Issue 4 (Jan 2000) p. 4-12. “Hi-Ho! Squats Miner Gangs” as Outlanders, featuring Prospector/Leader, Miners/Gangers, and Slaggers/Juves. Special Equipment includes Mining Demolition Charges, Chainjack, Mattock, Shovel, Lascutter, Rock Drill, Sonic Cleaser, Miner's Map; also Outlaws Trade Chart.

Squats in Games Day, Golden Daemon, and Promotional Items
 Historia Squataticus: Appendix 9

None of the items below have any Squats material. If a publication is not listed here, then I don't have it.
UK Games Day and Golden Demon Programmes:for 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2010 - No Squats.
White Dwarf Presents Golden Demon Winners:for 2003, 2005, and 2006 – No Squats.
Skulz Collector's Cards: UK 2000, North America 2001 – No Squats.
Forge World Catalogs– Nope. But the Mole Mortar and Thudd Gun have made symbolic returns in the Imperial Guard Death Korps of Krieg army.


Squats in GW Novels, Graphic and Otherwise
Historia Squataticus: Appendix 10
 
I have not read any novels, and only a couple of graphic novels. Since they were largely produced after the Squats were dropped from the ranks of playable armies, there are most likely only a few brief references.

For example, the Warhammer 40K Lexicanium provides an article on Planet Golgotha, which notes that the novel Gunheads, by Steve Parker makes reference to “curious artistic depictions in ancient ruins” on pages 228 and 234.
 
This dubious retconning parallels the cover-up of the Endor Holocaust in the Star Wars Universe (look it up, beardlings).
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Dark Hammers Hardened Veterans Chaos Squats Preview

September 26, 2013, 8:00 am
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Dark Hammers Hardened Veterans Work In Progress

Pirate Vox Operator and Mutated Pirate Trooper


 Banner Bearer Chaos Squat with Tentacles, with Extra Tentacles

 Dark Hammers Commander Gygax and Flamer Trooper Adventurer 2

 Dark Hammers Commander is the Maxxev Space Dwarf with Added Bits

Melta Gunner Kyuss, Pirate Bismarck Devotee and Over-Accessorizer

 Adventurer 3 and Plasma Gunner with Horns and Spikes

Pirate with Hook-Arm and Slicey Additions

 Last Hammer, another Squat Pirate

This Hungry Ghosts post brought to you by American Pickers
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Chaos Squats 40K Special Character Chikibi Chhattisgarh, Hungry Ghosts Gunnery Sergeant

October 12, 2013, 8:30 am
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It has been a small amount of time since we last saw a completed Hungry Ghosts Trooper. Well, small if one uses the Entish Calendar. But here we have Gunnery Sergeant Chikibi "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" Chhattisgarh. He is our equivalent of Imperial Guard Gunnery Sergeant "Stonetooth" Harker.




Chikibi is quite the monster, a Papa Smurf - Genestealer Hybrid; a Papa Smurf - Genestealer Hybrid with a Heavy Bolter and a bunch of grenades.

 This is what he once was. 
 
 More than a bit like this fellow.














So Chikibi is mainly formed from Squat Adventurer 5 supplemented with a pair of Rogue Trader Tyranid Genestealer Arms. Both are the double-arm type, with the skull-cracker claws for the top arm and the shooty humanoid arms below. He has been given a traditional greasy zombie skin tone and red eyes to emphasize that, yes, he does want your brains.

While on the topic of wanting brains, Hungry Ghosts would like to direct your attention to a recent archaeological find of several 4000 year old corpses from Seyitömer Höyük in Turkey with remnants of brain tissue present. Apparently, they were victims of an earthquake, which started a fire in the settlement, but buried these villagers in a way so that the heat of the fire could reach them but not the flames. The result was brains boiled in their own juices, with the fatty myelin sheathes of the brain, combined with metals in the soil, creating a decay-resistant gooey gob of brain in each skull. 

Earthquake rubble, fire, skulls, and metal have been staples of the Chaos Dwarf Cookbook for millennia, and now we have the millennia-old brain jerky to prove it works. Your Elf Waybread and maggoty hardtack will last for months, perhaps years, but not this long.
http://tinyurl.com/brainboiled(Article in New Scientist)
http://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/334353(Link to full text with pictures)

 If you are a fellow enthusiast of using paint colors that aren't made anymore, Chikibi's zombie skin was made from your standard Blue Grey and Space Wolf Grey, with some generic white. But the key to the unsettling slick tone (which does not photograph well) is the obscure Ash Wastes Grey, from the Epic Battles Paint Set (Horizon Blue works well too). Codex Grey and one of those nasty high-particulate 1990s washes in dark green was used to distinguish the merely dead hand on the base from the zombie flesh of the Chaos Squat.

 

With the addition of a nice pipe filled with Chaos Tobacco (WFB Dwarf bit), Chikibi is done from the front.



  From the back, we can see that Chikibi proves to be the most well-prepared Squat Adventurer, with his bulging sacks of, well, let's just leave it as "stuff".

Chikibi is also impossible to surprise, as he (literally) has an extra pair of eyes on the back of his head. Yes, Bruce the Bat may not have the greatest set of peepers in the ocular sense, his auditory peeping can detect the slightest hint of future victims. And he has a keen sniffer.

  From the back, we can also see that Chikibi's color pattern has been reversed. In place of the white beard, Chikibi has a black bat hanging down. In place of the black pipe, Chikibi has a white tail curving up (from a Flesh Hound).


Now more pictures of Chaos Squats fun and games.
 
 With Living Ancestor Commissars

Commanding Chaos Squats Storm Troopers

Leading the Assault Against the Pointy Ear Menace

More Storm Troopers





Wrong Adventurer-Turned-Special Character
Time for Bed.
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A Word From Our Sponsor With The Grudge Master

October 13, 2013, 8:30 am
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Hungry Ghosts is cranky today due to elevated pain levels that are being very resistant to combative maneuvers. So we will take a small excursion to focus on one of the background players on the Hungry Ghosts team (literally).

 Continuing the tradition of using ancient t-shirts that no longer fit, this year's Hungry Ghosts troopers have been displayed on a 1992 Pantera Cowboys From Hell shirt.

 Wie So... our former field of battle was a Judas Priest Painkiller shirt, from 1990.

But this Rider of the Metal Monster, Breathing Smoke and Fire, due to incarnation in form of a nylon-cotton blend, got rather icky after two years in a basement apartment in Chicago.

The replacement comes from the tour supporting Pantera's second album, Vulgar Display of Power.

This album was renown for, in addition to general awesomeness, the name of its 4th song. Coincidentally, such is the default mood for the Hungry Ghosts army. Though The Grudge Master confidently brings it to a new level of power.

 Purchased at the September 4 1992 concert at the Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan (opening act, a then-unknown White Zombie), Hungry Ghosts wore this shirt at the start of his orientation at college the following day.

This shirt is also the "Diamond" / "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott Memorial Shirt. A powerful influence on the heavy metal guitar sound for over a decade, Dimebag was murdered by an audience member at a Damageplan concert in December 2004 in Columbus Ohio. Three others were killed and seven wounded among the band and audience who did not refrain from acting:

The gunman,  Nathan Gale, shot Abbott 3 times to the head, the third shot killing him instantly. Gale continued shooting, killing three others and wounding a further seven. Gale fired a total of fifteen shots, stopping to reload once and remaining silent throughout the shooting.
Jeff "Mayhem" Thompson, the band's head of security, was killed tackling Gale, as was Alrosa Villa [concert hall] employee Erin Halk. Audience member Nathan Bray was killed while trying to perform CPR on Abbott and Thompson. It was rumored that one crowd member leapt in front of the gunman, saving the lives of several band members. Damageplan drum technician, John "Kat" Brooks, was shot three times as he attempted to get the gun away from Gale, but was overpowered and taken hostage in a headlock position. Tour manager Chris Paluska was also injured.
Seven police officers came in the front entrance, led by Officer Rick Crum, and moved toward the stage. Officer James Niggemeyer came in through the back door, behind the stage. Gale only saw the officers in front of the stage; he didn't see Officer Niggemeyer, who was armed with a shotgun. He approached Gale from the opposite side of the stage to avoid hitting the hostage and fired a single shot just as Gale looked towards Niggemeyer, striking Gale in the face. 
 
Continuing the spiral of history, Dimebag Darrell and the other members of Pantera recorded Light Comes Out of the Black with Rob Halford of Judas Priest for the 1992 soundtrack to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie.
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Chaos Squats 40K Special Character Chikibi Chhattisgarh, Hungry Ghosts Gunnery Sergeant, Volume II: The Title-Lengthening

November 5, 2013, 12:01 am
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Back from a word from our sponsor, but still scatterbrained. When Hungry Ghosts was in college, wearing our sponsoring Pantera Cowboys from Hell shirt, he was friends with a professor who enjoyed discussing Greco-Roman architecture (cause that was his job) and one such discussion topics was the "Yeshua ben Pantera" theory. For those lacking in Semitic linguistics skills, that means "Jesus, son of Pantera". 
The "Jesus, son of Pantera" theme had been in religious studies since the 2nd Century AD, and 'twas for centuries dismissed as pagan lies.
 Then came the construction of the Bingerbrück Hauptbahnhof at (for the time) the boundary of the Großherzogtum Hessen and the Rheinprovinz of Preußen in the late 1850s. This turned up a Roman cemetery containing a burial marker with an inscription belonging to a Roman soldier bearing the name
Tiberius Iulius Abdes Pantera
From Sidon, a city well known in biblical days, including for its place in Jesus's preaching tour of the region. Who is said to have lived 62 years, with 40 years of service in the Imperial Legions. But little else is known. Hungry Ghosts is also watching Die Römer im Südwesten (Germany) right now. Which is where Bingerbrück is. One of those places that are important that you've never heard of, Bingerbrück was the target of at least 7 major bombing missions in WW2.
 
Before...
 
 After.
Bingerbrück is the link from the left-bank Rhine railway to the Nahe valley railway, should one desire to travel from Mainz to Metz. Which is perhaps a surprisingly popular thing to do, or to prevent others from doing. Even the Swedes attacked in 1632.

Now that we have mentally traveled from the southeast frontier to the northwest frontier of Imperial Rome, when we last saw Chikibi ... he had been spontaneously mutated into another character,
Marbo Machinder
"strength in purity" the dwarf with the necrotic arm disagrees
 

There he is, coming through the door...
 
Here we have the left shooty-side of Chikibi. He is wielding a Las Pistol from the old Rogue Trader Squat/Imperial Guard weapons sprues (yes, sometimes someone actually uses one of them). Of course Las Pistols mostly suck, so Chikibi's humanoid wrist is wrapped with grenades...
 
 ...all the way...
...around.
Now you're thinking "Hey, sure he's got four arms, but two of the three others have skull-crushing claws and the other has a gun so big it needs its own character sheet strapped to it. So what's he going to do with those grenades?"
If Chikibi is somehow reduced to relying on his grenades, he will use his Chaos Gift of Sheer Anger to ram that fist into whatever passes for a mouth of whatever put him in the state of Sheer Anger, always hits/no saves, and pops the pins with his Willpower.
He's been told the arm will grow back. It will grow back.

The weird shape of Chikibi's shoulder-region made finding the right bit of armor not a problem at all, because I used another piece from the Ancient Skeleton Army sprues.
Cavalry armor breastplate!

Didn't even have to change the rotation from the sprue.
So our crunchy-crunchy claw-arm has a wide range of movement available through the waist ridge of the plate, while the las-grenade arm pokes out as intended by the Undead, the left arm side. Chikibi's head can rotate about thanks to the curved edge for the right arm, and his rounded sack full of sugarplums and children's dreams is accommodated by the neck section. A frame joined unto a fearful symmetry.
 
The symbol on the breastplate is a variant of one of the Hungry Ghosts symbols:
But even with the smallest tip pen, it still looks a bit crammed, and is nigh impossible to photograph well.
Here we have an older picture, before the addition of the symbol. It is not terribly satisfactory either, with its expanse of red. So what to do here...

More pictures: With The Grudge Master
 
 Catchin' Orks
 
 Combating the Other Green Menace,
well, mostly brown, in this case.

The Grudge Master fears no flame.

Winters afoot...


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The [Tau] Empire Strikes A Curious Resemblance.

December 13, 2013, 2:14 am
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These are not the Tau Fire Warriors you're looking for...

 Move along...

Really now. We're not even listening.

 Did that head close? 
We're not sure what head you're talking about.

We admit nothing.
Keep your grubby paws off of our Space MarinesTM(C);No Backsies;TSNHH*.



*Totally Seriously Never Heard of a Heinlein.
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Squats Fly Again: Hungry Ghosts Take to the Skies

December 19, 2013, 3:42 am
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From searching the murky depths of the galaxy...well, from our eBay alert for "space dwarfs"...we find more evidence that Squats once flew through the air like, um, like GW had left over hover boards from their Judge Dredd range.

There they are, hovering mightily behind the mass of infantry from the Space Dwarfs box, who have had some fun with the Orks box judging from their weapons and other goodies.

They truly hearken back to the age of deodorant canister orbital landing craft. We've got some popsicle sticks glued atop what I'm going to guess are chic Capri Sun bendy straws. Or Tootsie Pop sticks. Drilled with a delightful lack of regard for what becomes of the excess bits of plastic. And one is painted silver!

Hungry Ghosts must divert to a recurring puzzle: what the hell is going on with that paint? We'll do some boots here, some visors too. Let's not forget to use all the primary colors. Pick them with our eyes closed, that'll be fun. Somewhere Art is crying.

And here is the original illustration, hover board whizzing above the fray, making one wonder what the drawing looked like before being cropped to fit into the book, or magazine, I forget.




The Legios Moriad XIV has its own experimental air force of devious intent and malicious construction. Their mechano-tentacles know no boundaries.

Our program is overseen by Hungry Ghosts Dark Adeptus Mechanicus Wyrm Vulkaan. DAM Vulkaan has been working with his own personal flight system as well as guiding the general research and development program.

With the loyal assistance of some early prototype air crew. (Which are a Scrunt Hover Craft Pilot from Olley's Armies and a hybrid Paranoia Robot torso with Epic Eldar Nightwing fusilage.)


Below, we can see that the anti-grav propulsive systems have matured from light to heavy load bearing to ferry about the tools and parts as needed for experimental purposes. (assorted plastic bits and Dwarf Master Engineer with Handgun Backpack)
In the back, we can see the most ancient of the Squats' experiments in aerial activity, the Iron Claw Cloud Car. The technology of the time limited the propulsion system to pilots of Beardling age. Unfortunately, Beardlings are not the most cooperative of workers, having the stubbornness of Fully Bearded Dwarf Warriors but the teamwork capacity of an Eldar Ranger. Their small size has led some to confuse the pilot of this model with a Halfling, which only makes them more likely to zip off in a pout.

Here we can see another early test subject, developing a lightweight and speedy system that unfortunately demanded that the test subject have the lower half of his body replaced for the sake of science. (Scrunt Vehicle Driver on Tau Shield Drone bottom part with the rest of the Epic Eldar Nightwing as a directional guidance system (ok, it's a fancy rudder).)

And the Beardling Cloud Car has already reversed trajectory. How do we reach these kids?

Also a very experimental Bloodletter-Tyranid Gargoyle hybrid. Sometimes (=always) the Ad Mech works under the influence of substances. 
Plus he's evil.

 We have found that an early commitment to the program provides an excellent motivation for success. You do have to be careful about how insistent you are, and to whom you are insisting.

Our half-a-Scrunt utilizes one of the early Rogue Trader Space Dwarf Jump Packs. These were only produced for a short time, and only for 3 Space Dwarfs - Gatt Gunslinger, Roth Bergmann, and Owen Garand (in the picture). Garand and Gunslinger were modified to have a small leather/cloth type backpack in place of the peg for the jump pack at some point in the late 1980s, Bergmann just disappeared from production forever.

Of course, the aerial program that is the most advanced is a giant sized version of the old Space Dwarf Jump Pack. The Hungry Ghosts have assembled a team of Squats without acrophobia, equipped with intricate personally designed power armor, with a monster jet pack attached (from Chapterhouse).  They are similar to those used by Space Marines of various colors, but systems with the power to launch a mutant giant clone humanoid across a battlefield can send a sturdy Squat so much further.

The Hungry Ghosts have contracted the services of an outside consultant to advise the Skagerrak Skallen Fangsters Aerial Assault Squadron on the art of flight dynamics and the all-important landing-without-dying.

Half Daemon, Half Dragon, Half Machine (you can do that if you exist in multiple dimensions simultaneously).
Known only as The Drakoniak, payments must be made in blood or oil, but isn't that always the way? There are whispers of a world called Krymn, or Krull, Kakrakkis? but rumors are for the Elves.
(We have, in plastic, a Chaos Space Marine Torso, Imperial Space Marine lower body and left leg, Tomb Kings Chariot Driver Tabard, Dwarf Regiment Dragon Head, Rogue Trader Eldar Melta Gun with SM Scope, Saurus Left Arm, Right Leg from Epic Knight Paladin with a bit of its gun arm added to the Melta Gun (the Epic Knight Paladin is the Skeletal Horse of the Epic range), and metal Dark Eldar Scourge Wings, Pink Horror Tail, Necromunda Pit Slave Shears Arm, 2 CSM Shoulder Pads).

Here's our Skagerrak Captain Kytzia Anaya, from the Heartbreaker Miniatures range of evil Dwarfs (not sure exactly what they are called). He is quite an impressive fellow without any modifications, and his relatively large stature seems earned, as well as kept in proportion with his head and limbs unlike certain other company's ever-embiggening Dwarfs that are half head and no legs.

He is joined by another Skallen Fangster with a very nice skull head. Other than the Captain, the Skagerrak's are a series of Chaos Dwarfs called Ewal Dvergar, available from a fellow named Clam in Denmark.

A few more Ewal Dvergar in view. They are single piece bodies with separate heads. They also come with various axes and such and simple shields, which are unnecessary in the Grim Dark Grim Darkness of the 41st Millenium.

Here is how they fit in with the old size Squats (Iron Claw here) and Chaos Dwarfs - the Marauder line is the type they were intended to fit with. They were a special commission for Clam, sculpted by John Pickford, a noble influence upon the world of miniatures, dwarfs especially.

Another look. Aside from the close-combat warriors, there are also some grenadiers, one is on the left. He also has a few champion models available. The one I have is the fellow holding the hammer in some of the pictures.

Overall, there are 2 sets of 8 close-combat warriors (only the first is seen here), 2 sets of 3 Grenadiers, one out of stock until February, and 3 Champions. There are 10 heads in each set of 8 Warriors to go with 4 body variants.

These are nice miniatures, but are not intended to be an ongoing commercial venture for profit. So if you want some, you should act soon. Here's the website: http://claminiatures.blogspot.dk/p/how-to-get-some.html

And here's the Legios Moriad XIV Experimental Atmospheric Combat Division all together. The Legmor Exatcodiv, if you are an enthusiast of Soviet-style contractonyms.

And here we can spy in the background an ultra-secret prototype jet bike. It is rumored to be derived from ancient Slann technology. But, of course, they don't exist. 
And neither do Squats.
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Chaos Squats 40K Special Character Chikibi Chhattisgarh, Hungry Ghosts Gunnery Sergeant, Volume III: The Dragging-Outtening

December 31, 2013, 4:02 pm
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Now we will finish having fun with Gunnery Sergeant Chikibi. Based on Catachan Imperial Guard Gunnery Sergeant Harker, Sgt Chikibi's main weapon is also a Heavy Bolter used without the need for a loader assistant.

Strapped to the lower right arm is the 'Terrordactyl', which is huge enough to have a mind of its own. Which is good, because Chikibi has 4 arms and a prehensile tail to think about. Also not spilling his pipe.


Terrordactyl is based on the Heavy Bolter that came with the Rogue Trader Space Dwarfs weapons sprue. It has been given life with eyes created from some inset gem bits from some creature that did not deserve such finery. Terrordactyl is part Tyranid like Chikibi. In this case, the claw comes from an Epic Lictor. The large spikes at the rear also come from the Tyranid Biomorphs sprue, with small spikes snipped off of the Dark Eldar Warriors that everyone was super-happy to get in the 40K 3rd Edition set.
The "rear leg" is a sword handle from a mid-1990s Orc Regiment sprue. Of course, the ribcage and spine are from the venerable Skeletal Horse. And I still have a baggie of Skeleton Army bits for the future.
The color of the body of the weapon comes from using a very old version of Bad Moon Yellow, right out of the Ork & Eldar Paint Set, that is translucent and good for nothing other than acting as a glaze over darker shades.
 
The last thing seen by enemies of the Hungry Ghosts.

Maybe this.

Assessing the possibilities...
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