How might Squats return to the setting?

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

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?

I posted somewhere, maybe here or Reddit don’t remember but I think they should use shotguns/blunderbusses for their iconic weapon on an iconic unit, with multiple profiles.

Assault 1 20” S5 AP-1 D2

Assault2 18” S4 AP0 D1

Assault1 16” S6 AP-2 D d3

 

Could be the profiles. Slug, shot, mini-grenade

 

I’d personally like to see them roughly equivalent to scions, but slightly more durable and short range except for artillery

Edited February 1, 2022 by Inquisitor_Lensoven

[Slave to Darkness]

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.

Do they have a dataslate of grudges??

[Cyrox]

I honestly think there's a chance they could be folded into a large Astra Militarum codex, much in the way of the Aeldari book they've just announced that also has Harlequins and Ynnari.

 

If they do come back, I'd like to see a high focus on tech and with a model styling along the lines of Ragnir Gunnstein and Grendl Grendlsen from Necromunda. Especially Grendl, he is an awesome looking mini.

 

If they end up being more than just a Kill team, I'd hope bikes were low key and they focused more on buggies and bigger vehicles. Someone mentioned a mole-mortar style transport that could burst up from the ground to deliver angry squats, and that is a great idea. I can imagine a kit where its coming out of the ground.

 

Troop wise I'd hope for something Grendl like, plus Exo armour and mining gear/high tech stuff. Ideally they'd play as quite a slow moving but hard hitting, tough to kill army.

[Wulf Vengis]

@Cyrox: Something like these?

I had suggested similar for GSC but it would totally work here too.

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

I’d also like to see a big transport that looks somewhere lol a dump truck

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

I honestly think there's a chance they could be folded into a large Astra Militarum codex, much in the way of the Aeldari book they've just announced that also has Harlequins and Ynnari.

 

If they do come back, I'd like to see a high focus on tech and with a model styling along the lines of Ragnir Gunnstein and Grendl Grendlsen from Necromunda. Especially Grendl, he is an awesome looking mini.

 

If they end up being more than just a Kill team, I'd hope bikes were low key and they focused more on buggies and bigger vehicles. Someone mentioned a mole-mortar style transport that could burst up from the ground to deliver angry squats, and that is a great idea. I can imagine a kit where its coming out of the ground.

 

Troop wise I'd hope for something Grendl like, plus Exo armour and mining gear/high tech stuff. Ideally they'd play as quite a slow moving but hard hitting, tough to kill army.

if they put them into a large IG dex I think that would kill them as an army tbh

[Wulf Vengis]

It would most likely kill them as a faction without a subfaction codex in the vein of GSC or a supplement like the firstborn chapters of marines.

 

I'd kinda like to see GW embrace the idea of mercenaries in their owncodex that might include ratlings, squats and kroot as possible allies to most other factions (similar to the original knights codex).

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

It would most likely kill them as a faction without a subfaction codex in the vein of GSC or a supplement like the firstborn chapters of marines.

 

I'd kinda like to see GW embrace the idea of mercenaries in their owncodex that might include ratlings, squats and kroot as possible allies to most other factions (similar to the original knights codex).

personally I think they should be completely separate from guard.

Guard already have ratlings for their short subhumans.

 

As I understand the old lore they were part of the imperium but were more like a protectorate than a real formal part, and it’s been thousands of years without any meaningful contact with the imperium, so it makes sense to have them as a completely separate faction that has a rather ambiguous status with(in) the imperium.

[Slave to Darkness]

@Cyrox: Something like these?

I had suggested similar for GSC but it would totally work here too.

Yeah we had these back in old epic, I think one was called a Termite and cant remember the other one. Im sure there was a small and large version.

[Slave to Darkness]

Yep, the Mole and the Termite. 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BWisKNgouhw/US1kYPfMiuI/AAAAAAAAC2c/OHa3DEQMC5g/s1600/Epic+Space+Marine+Warhammer+40K+Squats+Tunneling+Vehicles+1996+Catalog.JPG

Turns out FW do a Termite, would be nice to get that in plastic. 

[Cyrox]

They are the ones! I remember them from epic now! 

[Cactus]

I found a Squat in the latest episode of Hammer & Bolter, "Artefacts".

[Slave to Darkness]

Isnt that the Necromunda Squat?

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

I found a Squat in the latest episode of Hammer & Bolter, "Artefacts".

yeah I think it was wolf lord rho who made a video about it a while back

[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

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?

 

Or maybe think outside the box and not have them have runes at all?

[ThePenitentOne]

RE: Men of Iron

 

I think if they did it right, it could still be okay? Like no full units of Men of Iron, but maybe one type of Squat unit allows you to include one (as a body guard for a character maybe?)

 

RE: Where they will go

 

Someone said it earlier about the guard dex- I'm feeling salty about the way Harlies have been wrecked by the poor decision to combine them with the CWE dex, so right now I'm inclined to say- they will probably come back as part of the guard dex in a way that makes no one happy. They will have no subfactions, no bespoke Crusade rules and while you will be "able" to field them as a stand alone army, it will be perfectly clear that you are not intended to do so.

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

RE: Men of Iron

 

I think if they did it right, it could still be okay? Like no full units of Men of Iron, but maybe one type of Squat unit allows you to include one (as a body guard for a character maybe?)

 

RE: Where they will go

 

Someone said it earlier about the guard dex- I'm feeling salty about the way Harlies have been wrecked by the poor decision to combine them with the CWE dex, so right now I'm inclined to say- they will probably come back as part of the guard dex in a way that makes no one happy. They will have no subfactions, no bespoke Crusade rules and while you will be "able" to field them as a stand alone army, it will be perfectly clear that you are not intended to do so.

if they do that then I hope it’s just an exploratory release type thing, and the following edition they’d do a full stand alone release if they sell well.

[TheVoidDragon]

RE: Men of Iron

 

I think if they did it right, it could still be okay? Like no full units of Men of Iron, but maybe one type of Squat unit allows you to include one (as a body guard for a character maybe?)

 

RE: Where they will go

 

Someone said it earlier about the guard dex- I'm feeling salty about the way Harlies have been wrecked by the poor decision to combine them with the CWE dex, so right now I'm inclined to say- they will probably come back as part of the guard dex in a way that makes no one happy. They will have no subfactions, no bespoke Crusade rules and while you will be "able" to field them as a stand alone army, it will be perfectly clear that you are not intended to do so.

I don't see what them having men of iron would add in the first place, really. I don't have too much of an issue with UR-025 in Blackstone fortress, because that's a Man of Iron who's disguised as an Imperial Robot and the Mechanicus therefore doesn't know, but both them and squats feel like they should stay as their own distinct entities rather than having two mythological elements of the setting for some reason tied together. Squats are meant to be pretty much extinct and something that when a Mechancus vessel encountered one of their ships was just in complete disbelief, and the men of Iron are something even more so sought-after, so to have them both suddenly show up again in the lore together would seem a bit clumsy.

[Antarius]

They already have full faction rules in Necromunda.

 

Why do you think the Delacque are so tall and keep their coats buttoned so tightly?

[phandaal]

 

 

RE: Men of Iron

 

I think if they did it right, it could still be okay? Like no full units of Men of Iron, but maybe one type of Squat unit allows you to include one (as a body guard for a character maybe?)

 

RE: Where they will go

 

Someone said it earlier about the guard dex- I'm feeling salty about the way Harlies have been wrecked by the poor decision to combine them with the CWE dex, so right now I'm inclined to say- they will probably come back as part of the guard dex in a way that makes no one happy. They will have no subfactions, no bespoke Crusade rules and while you will be "able" to field them as a stand alone army, it will be perfectly clear that you are not intended to do so.

I don't see what them having men of iron would add in the first place, really. I don't have too much of an issue with UR-025 in Blackstone fortress, because that's a Man of Iron who's disguised as an Imperial Robot and the Mechanicus therefore doesn't know, but both them and squats feel like they should stay as their own distinct entities rather than having two mythological elements of the setting for some reason tied together. Squats are meant to be pretty much extinct and something that when a Mechancus vessel encountered one of their ships was just in complete disbelief, and the men of Iron are something even more so sought-after, so to have them both suddenly show up again in the lore together would seem a bit clumsy.

Definitely do not include Men of Iron with Squats. Think people speaking in favor of this are thinking along the lines of Dwarves building stone or iron golems and whatnot. Would be cool to see an analogue for this in the Squat range, but it should be non-AI robots in that case.

[Ulfast]

I think it would be cool to use something like Dragonslance did with there dwarves. In the series they have both hills dwarf and mountain dwarves (lets not talk about gully dwarves). Both where good in crafting but had special skills. Hill dwarves where used to nature and mountain dwarves where mer traditional with stone and mortar. 

 

Something similiar in 40k would be diffrent clans (or units) that are good with diffrent things. Like scouts, scout machine, light armoured (hill dwarves) and then more heavy tanks, armour, slow but durably.

[phandaal]

(lets not talk about gully dwarves)

 

Bron is a hero of the Aghar!

[Jorin Helm-splitter]

RE: Men of Iron

 

I think if they did it right, it could still be okay? Like no full units of Men of Iron, but maybe one type of Squat unit allows you to include one (as a body guard for a character maybe?)

 

RE: Where they will go

 

Someone said it earlier about the guard dex- I'm feeling salty about the way Harlies have been wrecked by the poor decision to combine them with the CWE dex, so right now I'm inclined to say- they will probably come back as part of the guard dex in a way that makes no one happy. They will have no subfactions, no bespoke Crusade rules and while you will be "able" to field them as a stand alone army, it will be perfectly clear that you are not intended to do so.

 

Not going say that Harlies didn't lose stuff they clearly did, but it wasn't quite that bad for them either.

 

I think with Squats you'll see them show up in Necromunda first, and if those do well they will get a Kill Team. Then if the Kill team does well they'll look at them as something to expand. Its like the new corsair models I think if that kit does amazing they will get some more love. 

Edited March 7, 2022 by Jorin Helm-splitter

[conscriptboris]

I hope this isnt another Imperial Faction, and end up a faction of the Tau. Squats became fleet based after the Imperium failing to come to their aid, join the Tau against the Imperium..

 

Or! Squats essentially being Fantasy Dwarves, they locked themselves in their underground fortresses have have fought an underground campaign against the Nids. Having secured the underground facilities, they rebuilt, and are now back into the fold. However a side effects, all the planets of the squats were disconnected from each other for centuries, so now they are essentially rival factions. Having developed and unpacked more STCs in their underground fight against the Nids, leaving the Imperium to accept them back into the fold, but the AdMech aligning Forge Masters aligning to different Squat Faction leaders to get hold of STCs...but not matter what, they will unite against Nids (and elves!..)

[Slave to Darkness]

Id rather they become guard+ than turn to the greater good. Its not like the Imperium didnt help them, more like they couldnt. Doesnt mean they cant hold a grudge against the imperium for not doing enough, after all the Squats helped out in the Heresy and all that.

Edited March 7, 2022 by Slave to Darkness