How might Squats return to the setting?

[Noserenda]

I think they learned their lesson with the damn Fyreslayers... At least i HOPE they did...

Edited January 19, 2022 by Noserenda

[Marshal Reinhard]

I hope they drive up the distinctiveness of squats if they do make a return. While not a xenos race but in fact an abhuman faction (assuming no wide sweaping lore changes), the squats have been their own thing for far longer than the Imperium has existed, so making them weird and maybe 'xenos' for all intents and purposes. And not just fantasy dwarves in space. Or midget biker gangers.

[TheVoidDragon]

I hope they drive up the distinctiveness of squats if they do make a return. While not a xenos race but in fact an abhuman faction (assuming no wide sweaping lore changes), the squats have been their own thing for far longer than the Imperium has existed, so making them weird and maybe 'xenos' for all intents and purposes. And not just fantasy dwarves in space. Or midget biker gangers.

Fantasy Dwarves is space is their theming though, i don't think that should be changed just for the sake of it if they return to a larger extent. The biker theming is something that was apparantly part of the reason they were removed so that side of things should be lessened a bit, at least.

[Marshal Reinhard]

Yeah, 40k is fantasy in space. We have space elves, space orcs and space undead. We're not getting away from that. 

 

What I'm saying I don't want them to JUST be fantasy dwarves in space. Do something interesting with them

[SvenIronhand]

Yeah, 40k is fantasy in space. We have space elves, space orcs and space undead. We're not getting away from that. 

 

What I'm saying I don't want them to JUST be fantasy dwarves in space. Do something interesting with them

There is plenty you could do that's interesting with Squats, leaving aside the issue of whether or not WHFB Dwarfs are different enough from the stock tropes. You could run with the "Tyranids laid waste to the homeworlds" stuff. And you could show how that's affected the survivors. Some Squats might be pro-Imperium, others might want revenge on them out of a perceived sense of abandonment. 

 

[Wulf Vengis]

Imperial Squats

Chaos Squats

Squat Mercenaries for Tau

Neutral Squats for allying with Eldar

Squats as far as the eye can see.

[phandaal]

Imperial Squats

Chaos Squats

Squat Mercenaries for Tau

Neutral Squats for allying with Eldar

Squats as far as the eye can see.

Tyranids with beards.

[Wulf Vengis]

Ah Yes the mythical "beardnid".

 

I say bring it. I missed out on Squats because I introd in 3rd but I've always felt they had some REALLY cool looking war engines (specifically for Epic).

Give us the Squat War Train, bring on the Squat assault bikes. By glory show us the unlimited range of the Squat heavy artillery.

Edited January 20, 2022 by Wulf Vengis

[Ulfast]

GW did a wonderful work with the Genestealer cults models when they where releases a couple of years ago so I believe they can give the same treatment to the squats. Together with som crafty talent writers I think they could bring a new and awsome army to the 40k. The squats would really fill the role of something new and at the same time old, diffrent from most regular armies and bring a diffrent look to imperial armies. It could be really good and fun. I know for a fact that if the bring them back I would start to collect them. but Gw need to do what they did to the cults, give them a whole new range that fill all the role an army need. I bought fyreslayers and I regret it as, GW so far has not done anything new for them since the start and the army feel incomplete.

[LemanPuss]

I miss the squats

[Orange Knight]

How would the Squats look and play on the tabletop?

 

An Imperial Guard-like faction, but with high powered short-range weapons and large, unwieldy thunder hammers in combat? What would their niche be, that isn't already covered by another faction?

 

And will they have a steam-punk or retro futuristic look, or something more gritty?

[ThePenitentOne]

Think I might have said it in this thread already, but I want them to lean into Living Ancestors- particularly those who ride on the backs of Trikes or in the sidecars of their younger kin. The bespoke Crusade content is all about what an aspiring squat hero has to do to earn the title of  Living Ancestor.

 

Aside from that, I like the old squat tech- those land trains were awesome. 

 

Exo-armoured elites- a little less egg-shaped this time around.

 

And mercenary rules- I really like the idea of them being able to team up with Imperium, T'au or Eldar. Not 100% sold on chaos... but the old fantasy bull centaurs kitted for 40k would kick so much a$$ they'd need to sculpt donkeys.

[Noserenda]

With Kharadon overlords existing i think the one thing we can (thankfully) be sure of is any Squat revamp will not be steampunk :D 

I would probably look to build a mix of bikes and exo armour and drop their IG equivalent stuff entirely. One of the specific problems they had in the old Studio was that similarity to Imperial Guard. 

So avoid Imperial Guard, Avoid Kharadon Overlords and avoid the temptation to head more Mechanicus. Its tricky! 

[Marshal Reinhard]

I'm still hoping for squat + men of iron = True. Edited January 26, 2022 by Reinhard

[Wulf Vengis]

I imagine that when Squats return we'll finally see the origin of those babycarriers the Grey Knights (and to a lesser extent the sisters) use. Those things feel very "dwarven" to me.

[Orange Knight]

An interesting idea I've just had:

 

How about weapons that increase in Strength as they get closer? For example there could be a "Squat rifle" that is utilised by the rank and file. Str 3, Range 18, but at ranges of 9" and below the Str is increased to 5.

[Slave to Darkness]

Im worried that they may change Squats too much from their original iteration, but my current stunty army was built for games of 1st edition so if they are too different I guess Ill end up with 2 Squat armies. :wub: 

Grimm better be the big named character though, not every day you get a Squat thats been in the Imperial palace. 

[RipOffProductions]

I think an interesting gimmick for them would be if their larger vehicles would loose their movement at their lowest stat-line, basically turning them into fortifications.

or just have that 'lesser' fortification as a cheaper option for your army in lower point games?

[Wulf Vengis]

I like these ideas, from the weapons changing strength based on range to vehicles becoming fortifications or having that as an option in their profile. These all sound super fun.

[TheVoidDragon]

I'm still hoping for squat + men of iron = True.

I really hope not. The Men of Iron are something that should stay in the background of the setting, not turned into a common part where the mysteries of them get revealed. UR-025 was enough already.

[Slave to Darkness]

 

I'm still hoping for squat + men of iron = True.

I really hope not. The Men of Iron are something that should stay in the background of the setting, not turned into a common part where the mysteries of them get revealed. UR-025 was enough already.

 

Agreed, if they drag back stuff too far in the background then were gonna end up in modern day lol. I guess they could bring in exploding Samsung phones as some form of grenades. :lol: 

 

Bringing background stuff into the setting and making it playable often looses its shine, the Heresy has lost some of its magic as its not all myths and legend, and the return of  Primarchs to the tabletop just make 40k feel like 30k but with bigger space marines.

[TheVoidDragon]

 

 

I'm still hoping for squat + men of iron = True.

I really hope not. The Men of Iron are something that should stay in the background of the setting, not turned into a common part where the mysteries of them get revealed. UR-025 was enough already.

 

Bringing background stuff into the setting and making it playable often looses its shine, the Heresy has lost some of its magic as its not all myths and legend, and the return of  Primarchs to the tabletop just make 40k feel like 30k but with bigger space marines.

 

So many things have already been revealed that should not have been. Some people seem to really want to have everything answered and it just takes away the mystery and intrigue that makes the setting interesting in the first place. We've already had huge things that shouldn't have been answered (especially not so blatantly), like the entirety of the Horus Heresy and how the Primarches really were, the reasons the Tyranids were drawn to the Galaxy, or if a Primarch would ever return. Turning yet another foundational mystery of parts of the setting into another typical part would be a terrible move I think. The Men of Iron shouldn't be turned into something that's just there now and that's that, they should remain in the background.

Edited January 29, 2022 by TheVoidDragon

[jimbo1701]

I’ve never been sold on the notion that squats are goofy and no longer fit the setting. They had some solid background, the necromunda models show they can be made to look good on tabletop and I firmly believe they can update them with a new angle to not duplicate existing armies. Only problem I foresee is that genecults pipped them to the post with the whole mining / biker angle. They should focus on large vehicles such as a smaller version of the land train, artillery, gyrocopters, bikes, tunnellers. Make the infantry slow but tough and with some decent weaponry.

[Wulf Vengis]

Perhaps Squats return as a hard counter to the GSC. Specifically designed to hunt down cults devoted to the great devourer and eliminate them in an ancestral vengeance type of way.

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

Yeah, 40k is fantasy in space. We have space elves, space orcs and space undead. We're not getting away from that.

 

What I'm saying I don't want them to JUST be fantasy dwarves in space. Do something interesting with them

i think the trick and the hard part is making them fantasy dwarves in space AND giving them an IRL inspiration, but aside from Viking I’m not really sure what would work well. Maybe a Celtic vibe? They had had runes right? Dwarves like runes…beardy hairy sci fi techno Druids in space?