They are proud, fiercely independent and ready to defend
their Homeworlds.  | The complete
brotherhood.
Beware, picture is huge! |
A short history
of Squats...pardon the pun! The Squat race has been created in
the earliest days of Warhammer 40'000 universe, in the beginning of Games
Workshop. At this time, Warhammer 40'000 was more or less a transposition
of fantasy in the far future - a typical way of perceiving science-fiction
in the 1980s. It had the advantage of giving a newcomer a sense of
familiarity and the drawback of being more or less silly if you thought
about it, with Space Elves, Space Dwarves and Space Orks. As those two
universes were growing apart, new races were added for each setting -
Skavens and Lizardmen for Fantasy; Tau, Necrons and Tyranids for its
futuristic counterpart.  | Tau
diplomats enter in commercial negociations with a Squat
Homeworld. |
In their army list for the gothic sci-fi universe of
Warhammer 40'000, Squats weren't taken too seriously. They were riding
Chopper Bikes and relying on field artillery; they were ace mechanics,
stubborn and angry. It seemed that every Squat was smoking a cigar and
wearing a cap, as if Games Workshop tried to publish Codex: Short-Sized
Hell's Angels. Of course, the poor quality of Squat army list and
background led to little commercial success, which in turn caused GW to
allocate few resources to improve its publication. This vicious circle
finally ended in the cancellation of all this product line, despite a
small but very loyal fan base.After years of complaints and questions
asking for the return of the Squats, the official stance became "Squats
won't ever return, because they have been eaten by Tyranids", a kind of
joke to reply the "S" question (When will Squats return? - Never!) Yet,
under the name of Demiurg, the Squat race still seems to exist in fringe
publications from Games Workshop, like a couple Battlefleet Gothic space
ships or concept art from Jes Goodwin. The only sure thing is that if
Squats ever come back to life it will be under a different name. The
Book of GrudgesEpic scale Squats have never been ridiculous, but
since the Epic line became out of print as a whole this characteristic was
of little help to save them in the mainstream game. Contrary to the
Warhammer 40'000 army list, Epic Squats featured plenty of characterful
rules and fascinating units: Gyrocopters, armored Land Trains, Tunnellers,
and even huge, nearly mythical fighting machines like the Colossus or the
Cyclops. This armored might was backed up by a stubborn infantry made of
Clan warriors, Berserkers and Thunderers under the command of Ancestor
Lords and helper by Engineer Guilds. Designed by Andy Chambers and despite
his obvious love for Orks, Squats' bitter ancestral enemies, the army
list featured an inspiring variety.  | It
always starts like that... |
Since Squats are foverer living in
the collective memory of the gaming community, I had a powerful urge to
include them in my Epic armies. This army would be a tribute to those
veterans remembering the Squats and to NetEpic community, a set of rules
where Squats still stand strong and keep their deserved place among newer
races. Believe it or not, Squats are so characterful that they have been
an inspiration for me years ago when I considered playing Epic and later,
when I fell for NetEpic.So, I'd create a large Squat force: several
brotherhoods and Guild squadrons, plenty of Super Heavy vehicles, a real
showcase of what this proud race stood for, before being sadly wiped out
at the stroke of a pen. Infantry and CavalryPainting a
complete Epic army is a daunting task. To keep my motivation intact, I
usually start with the infantry: when I launch myself in a new project I
am full of energy, an energy most welcome to address the dozen of Epic
stands awaiting work. As soon as this step is completed, painting the rest
of the army is a breeze. It's far more rewarding point-wise to spend time
on vehicles and super-heavy tanks, yet a true Epic army must have a bit of
everything. A force without any infantry would definitely lack something,
and starting work on Titans and other amazing units is the best way to
ensure that rank-and-file soldiers will never be
painted.  | A solid core of
warriors. |
There are three types of Squat infantry, from light to
heavy: Berserkers, Warriors and Thunderers. They usually form a
Brotherhood with a company of each, Squat warriors being the most
numerous. Command units are composed of Heartguards and Warlords in
Exo-Armour. Since the miniatures are a bit frail (Thunderers being an
exception) I wanted to put banners on every stand to handle them. Futhark
rune lore was handy to draw that many banners, even if the number of
stands implied meant I invented many additional symbols. At first I
intended to build several Brotherhoods with a distinctive paint schemes
but I didn't manage to find enough suitable patterns, so Brotherhoods
would differ just by the color of their respective banners: red, blue,
yellow and green. This separation of color would spread to all other units
so I can build a very coherent force or a mix of different Strongholds
depending on the occasion. Only Red and Yellow brotherhoods are complete;
other units have been mostly created to fill Land Train battlecars or
Hellbore assault tunneller. To highlight command stands, banners received
plastic bits coming from the Warhammer Fantasy Dwarven shield
sprue. | Fast units and field
artillery. |
Squat is often seen as a defensive race yet they
feature a number of fast units ("cavalry") composed of Guild engineers
riding bikes and trikes perfect for a massive assault. They have an
excellent short-range firepower and are led by Guild masters in Exo-Armor.
Those were painted in typical Dwarf colors - Brazen brass and Bronze Gold
- while riders had the same pattern than their infantry counterpart: dark
red body armor, yellow cap, grey gloves and boots.Finally, no Squat
army should be considered complete without some field artillery - the
Squat Grand Battery is the cheapest company available, yet able to pour an
endless barrage of fire on enemy units through Thudd Guns and Mole
Mortars. I added further support units of Thudd Guns with different
shades, just to expand this firebase should need arise and to give each
clan some batteries with color consistent to his
own.  | An Ironbreaker
company. |
Flyers, Tunnellers and other marvels from the
GuildSquats have little middle-range armor and rely rather on
superheavy war engines when possible. I created two Rhino squadrons for
transportation of warriors in assault - those Rhinos have certainly been
built from a Standard Construction Template bought to the Imperium, but
they were painted with enough runes and contrasted colors to give them a
strong Squat feeling. Apart from those odd transports, Squats barely need
to move - their Goliath mega-cannons are shelling the enemy from miles
away. Should aircrafts pose a threat, Thunderfire batteries are here to
solve the problem, since Squats are not fond of aerial
dogfights.  | Overlord
Airship. |
Slow-moving flyers are better represented in Homeworlds
with three different units: Observation Balloons, Gyrocopters and Overlord
Airships. The first is a new creation introduced in NetEpic. They allow a
better pounding of enemy forces while directing barrages. I created those
miniatures from Man O'War Dwarf balloons which were just perfect for this
usage. Gyrocopters are medium-sized skimmers relying not on arcane
anti-grav technology like Eldar Falcons but rather on massive turbines.
Gyros often act as forward observers for largest Squat artillery
platforms, like the famous Colossus; otherwise, they flank enemy units.
Their firepower is good but their armor not enough to withstand a front
assault.
Things are different for the massive Overlord Airship,
specially designed to pour a rain of death on infantry and armor alike
while staying out of reach of most incoming fire. Even if hit there are
good chances that a shot passes harmlessly through the gas chamber. A
number of close-range weapons are present to fend off flying attackers.
Yet, the Overlord is very expensive point-wise and I think I will rarely
field the Air Corps with its three members - which did not prevent me from
painting the whole! Since each Airship acts independently, each was
painted so it appeared only loosely related to the
others. | Diving to
victory! |
Tunnellers are another characterful addition to Squat
forces. What could be more impressive than an underground assault, where
massive trepans break ground apart before unloading a crowd of angry
Berserkers behind enemy lines? Well, this vision is a bit optimistic
considering how random an underground trip might be, but I found the
miniatures so beautiful that they had to be included in some Clan army.
Tunnellers exist in three different sizes - from the lowly Termite to the
intermediate Mole and the legendary Hellbore - but it's not necessary to
have everything. With one Hellbore and two Moles I could already transport
50 stands of infantry! Apart from the neat paint job, the interesting
detail is that I used magnets to have those units fully
articulated...PraetoriansIn their barren homeworlds, when
distance and volcanic activity do not allow existence of safe tunnels,
Squats rely on large armoured Land Trains to navigate across dangerous
wastes between Fortresses. Those track-mounted superheavies move their
cargo under the security of thick armor plating and mount a number of
cannons to repel any creature mad enough to attack. In battle, all cargo
wagons are replaced with a selection of Battlecars specially designed for
war. A single Land Train can pull up to seven Battlecars belonging to
different categories, from the short-ranged Flamer battlecar to the
dreadful Radioactive Bomb launcher (yes, it's a tactical nuke!) Since
Squat Strongholds own only a small number of Battlecars, Land Trains
generally field a mix of different variants. I had enough miniatures to
create two trains, one with two of each "regular" Battlecar, and another
with "specialist" Battlecars introducted with NetEpic (landing platform
and recon Gyrocopter, shield generator and anti-aircraft battery.) I first
added magnets everywhere so the convoy would hold together with magnetic
power, then designed a different paint job for each Land Train and
Battlecars - I did not need to mix Battlecars between the two Engines
anyway. The
three Specialist Battlecars implied a bit of conversion. The Iron Eagle
battlecar was made of a Gyrocopter (obviously) and a Colossus landing
platform. The two other battlecars included plastic pieces taken from Epic
Ork miniatures - forgive me, Squat Grand Warlord!! The Fireshield,
containing energy boosters for the Land Train shields, included an ammo
magazine from an Imperial Autocannon (28mm scale) and the Skyhammer was
made of spare Macro-Cannon batteries from the latest Imperial Warlord
Titan version. Normally, the Skyhammer battlecar is supposed to fire
missiles but I found this array of AA guns pointing to the sky a suitable
alternative. There are less tales to tell for other Praetorian units, as
they did not imply any massive conversion or even addition of magnets.
With some spare Dwarf bitz, I considered making them "über-dwarf" but
renounced since original models were already of Squat heritage. Yet, I
wanted to add banners of some sort; being slightly tired of painting each
of them, I relied on a Man O'War Dwarf banner sheet for a quick
result. Complete armyI started this army in january 2006 and
it took well over six months of free time, but the painting was made in
parallel to the design of the massive Squat Stronghold used as a
background in some pictures. It's my largest Epic project so far, and by
far. I think I will cool down a bit a play more games before starting the
next army, but who knows...
created on 09 Aug 2006
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