Did anyone prefer the older Skitarii, such as in Titanicus?

[Petitioner's City]

Hey all, was just wondering if anyone will try to create the older, more wild, more bestial idea of Skitarii, seen in Titanicus or suggested in old Blanche/RT images? 

 

 

Emerging, slowly, majestically, Lord Gearhart of the Legio Invicta and First Princeps Bohrman, side by side, conducted in their amniotic caskets by dozens of adepts and skitarii. The Legio Invicta adepts wore damask robes, and spurred the upright caskets along with their mechadendrites and manipulator poles. The Invicta skitarii, a throwback to more savage times, were fearsome beasts, striped and extravagantly marked, their armour built for threat, their genes selected for bulk. Muscular arms gleamed in the odd light. Heavy boots thumped in marching unison. Weapon limbs snapped up to salute as one. Feather plumes, ivory ornaments, leopardskin capes, modified fangs. The skitarii roared at the sky like predators, as fearsome and bestial as Space Wolves. 

Feist shuddered. The skitarii thumped their fists against their breastplates and howled again. Barbarians, Feist thought, so unlike our own. How can we be bred of the same stuff? They are like another race.

 

 

Hosts of the skitarii marched with them, rowdy and alarming. To Etta Severin, the skitarii seemed the polar opposite of the Guard or the PDF. They were gaudy, bestial, loud and brutish. They chomped for war, and uttered terrifying group yells of testosterone-fuelled antipathy. They were also non-uniform. She had never seen such a hybrid mix of feathers, furs, inbuilt weapons, claws, augmetics, engineering fangs, plumes, body armour, decorations and jewels. She knew that Gotch was nonplussed. He simply did not know what to make of the barbarian skitarii. They were not common soldiers, the type he had been trained with.

 

I really like the new images and ideas in the codex, but I wondered if it limited how differentiated Skitarii forces could be. There doesn't seem to be much room for these bestial brutes...nor their own armour:

 

 

A three kilometre-long convoy of skitarii armour had led the processiontanks and guntracks and mobile Hydra platforms. Vultures and, higher up, Thunderbolts, had skimmed down the line of the convoy like dense flocks of migrating birds.

 

Although maybe this could count:

 

 

The skitarii of Legio Invicta swept into the yard like a flash flood. Gaudy giants in plumed and jewelled armour led the way, sprinting headlong, axe-bills raised and integrated weapons firing. Thick ranks of charging hypaspists followed the screaming elite, blades locked and stave weapons lowered in unified fans and pike lines. Bright banners trailed above them, both cloth flags and hololithic emblems projected from emitter poles. Amongst the surging ranks, Gentrian saw the four- and six-legged construct bodies of weapons servitors moving at full stride

[Charlo]

The thing about Skitarii is that they are pretty much made as to the commanders taste, it's a it more of a general term :) the ones in the new are just what I suppose is the main kind from Mars, Ryza etc

 

Though I would love to see a mix of the beast men and Skitarii kit!

[Lord Daidalos]

Try kitbashing Ruststalker and Infiltrators with some Fantasy-Chaos-Barbarian or Space Wolves bits and they get quite the thing I remember from Titanicus... ;)

[Petitioner's City]

Yeah those are good ideas, and I agree!

 

i just got fed up at the 'this version is the only version' model that perpetuates when a codex is released and becomes the new sole source for defining a faction (see how the 40k wikia article on skitarii has been revised to essentially summarise/plagiarise the codex, and not integrate older ideas and things outwith its paradigms - maybe that will happen with time, but I'm not sure I think it will).

 

I completely believe that in a galaxy-sized (empire within an) empire, variety is key, not monosyllabic or universalising definitions, formations and identities. The Blanchian skitarii in Abnett's Titanicus differ from equivalents in Mechanicum and the kind of pseudo-skitarii in the Shira Capulnia novels and so on...that's kinda what i wish the new codex offered, not just in rules, but in vision and possibility and stretching the envelope of visual and formal and structural possibility. 

 

The new codex does say that 'without exception the skitarii have pallid bodies of puckered flesh and sutured cybernetics.' although the next paragraph does say variety in form is characteristic, but it is not really apparent in the rest of the codex. I guess it just feels limiting. 

[Emperor's Furor]

Yeah we were discussing this in another thread, I like the the tech thralls from forgeworld, they seem to be more traditional, never know though they may introduce the more bog standard trooper yet.

[Battybattybats]

I always preferred the tech-guard to tech-barbarian style so the new stuff suits me better personally. But i whole-heartedly support anyone's custom army to fit the other background. I am hoping we might see some gene-bulked combat-servitors as well as gun-servitors in the next codex which people might be able to barbarian-up with some decorative conversion, and Forgeworld might always come to the rescue for players wanting that too.

[Leif Bearclaw]

See, I always took the Titanicus Skitarii to be something entirely distinct from other Skitarii forces of the Ad Mech (Skitarii being the official term for Ad Mech soldiery). Titanicus shows us the Titan Skitarii, dedicated formations designed to support the Legio at war. Of course they're going to be a different beast to the guys who guard the forges all day, or even those who wage more conventional war. The more bestial demeanour is then easily explained as the influence of the Titan's belligerent Machine Spirits The Titanicus guys are also harder (no way were those Skitarii T3 4+ save) than their peers both because they're an elite (blessed to walk in the shadow of the God Machines) and being Titan support, they're sent to the most dangerous battlefields around and therefore need a boost to stay viable.

[CommodusXIII]

I think you're going to see a wide variation in Skitarii in the fluff, just as you would for Imperial Guard.  The current release shouldn't be taken as the only canonical approach to the army, just as Cadians or Catachans aren't the only approach to Guard.  Just because you don't have Savlar Chem Dogs models, that doesn't mean that they aren't a viable approach for the skilled hobbyist.

 

At the same time, GW can't design every possible approach.  There's a ton of variation in the SM and IG lines, but those lines have been around for decades and have dedicated followings.  Putting out two approaches to the Skitarii halves the market share for each, and is quite the gamble - if one proves vastly more popular than the other, you'll have a shortage of one and a wasteful surplus of the other.  Sticking with one approach initially guarantees success - as we've already seen with the Skitarii release.

 

Personally, I'd love to see you take a more feral approach to the Skitarii vis a vis Titanicus.  Mix in some bits from the Kroot, WHFB or even LOTR.  It be a unique and visually-engaging take on the army!

[marshall Egregorius]

I actually like elements of both.

 

For example I am basing my skitarii warlord off of the sicarian ruststalker princeps because that model looks exactly like how I pictured the secutor from the "priests of mars" Black library series.

[CommodusXIII]

I used the Sicarian as the basis for my AdMech Culexus Assassin for a similar reason.

[Petitioner's City]

Very thoughtful responses here, thank you all! 

[Kilofix]

Anyone know where to get animal skull bits for more feral Skitarii? I've been checking the WFB line but haven't seen anything yet, even with Beastmen.

[CommodusXIII]

Tabletop Art has an animal skull set, and a fantasy skull set that may also be of use.

[shandwen]

The skitarii from Cain (maybe eisenhorn?) series were described as wearing red robes, carrying hotshots, and augmented. So these are very close to those guys.

[Petitioner's City]

I don't think Skitarii were ever in Xenos, Malleus or Hereticus. The Magos in Malleus had no skitarii, only servitors (if that). In the Shira books, the temple of the biologis magos had servitor soldiers, and the rogue magos from the trader fleet had something similar to some of the Inquisitor flagellant designs (oh I miss inquisitor and its creativity as a sanctioned thing, although Inq28 is an amazing culture). I tried reading Cain but I found them a bit stupid, like a '40K greatist hits' album cum cheesy action film - which is their purpose, but it felt juvenile. 

[CommodusXIII]

I tried reading Cain but I found them a bit stupid, like a '40K greatist hits' album cum cheesy action film - which is their purpose, but it felt juvenile. 

 

I couldn't get into Cain until I got into Gaunt's Ghosts.  The 'juvenile' tone was necessary mindbleach to get over the depression of the Ghosts, and the Ghosts a dose of realism to get over Cain.

[marshall Egregorius]

I thought cain, if a bit immature, hilariously funny.

[Targetlock]

by the way there is loads of Skitarii background in the dark heresy role-play books by fantasy flight games, the lathe worlds book is the main adeptus mechanicus source-book full of inspiration, there is also plenty of ideas for dark mechanicus throughout too :)

 

I personally prefer the tech-guard look and I'm not too familiar with the techno-barbarian, always imagining the soldiers cold and efficient like cogs in a well oiled machine :)

 

but do what you like :) variety means more fun.

[SW1]

Would the ratskins from necromunda be suitable for this?

 

http://necromunda.wikia.com/wiki/Ratskin

 

They're extremely feral looking and have laslocks.

[CommodusXIII]

Now that's something I haven't seen in a long time... It's a good aesthetic, but unfortunately any models you find will be in small quantities and with dated sculpts.

[Battybattybats]

Space wolves bits might prove useful. I was considering those for 1st ed Will Rees style animal-skull-headed techpriests but then Draykavac came out. I do intend to revisit the idea in a future conversion though, the techpriest with the chainsaw blade sticking out of their animal skull face is too iconic not to make a version. Also old fantasy skeletons had a beastman skull with optional horns on the sprue so some of those might still be available second hand.

[SW1]

Now that's something I haven't seen in a long time... It's a good aesthetic, but unfortunately any models you find will be in small quantities and with dated sculpts.

I've got a few packs/gangs of them somewhere and never known what to do with them. So may try updating them at some point.

 

Space wolves bits might prove useful. I was considering those for 1st ed Will Rees style animal-skull-headed techpriests but then Draykavac came out. I do intend to revisit the idea in a future conversion though, the techpriest with the chainsaw blade sticking out of their animal skull face is too iconic not to make a version. Also old fantasy skeletons had a beastman skull with optional horns on the sprue so some of those might still be available second hand.

Got some of those beastmen skulls and horns somewhere in the bits box. I've got a stupidly large vampire counts army which I didn't use any of those skulls.

 

Think post ETL I may have to have a look at doing some Admec units. ;)

[Vel'Cona]

I really like the new Skitarii and the visual style they bring to 40k, because it's different but doesn't starkly contrast with the core faction (Imperial Forces). The new models are generally very high quality and detail too, if somewhat busy.

I can see why some may prefer other depictions, though; that's fine! There are plenty of ways to convert the Skitarii models (head swaps, limited arm swaps, mix and match with Sicarians, etc.) to depict whichever brand of Skitarii you prefer. For my money, I think feral/beastlike converted Skitarii would be pretty cool, and I think it would work well even if you had to do some ally-wrangling to get the unit that matches what you're looking for.

In short, the sky's the limit!

[Gorthaur]

I didn't really care for the more feral/animalistic skitarii depicted in some writings. To me I always looked at them as being everything blanche did for them. And I think Jes Goodwins sketches did a great job taking those wild ideas into sketches that were refined into the models we received. Busy is what the mechanicus aesthetic was all about. I almost think in some areas they aren't busy enough, but theres only so much detail you can do with these plastic models. Forgeworld also did a really got job, in some ways better than gamesworkshop. If one thing is for sure there is a difference in how grimdark forgeworlds take is compared to GW.

[walter h]

The description in Titanicus, sounds more like a A deptus Biologist , force. Genetically engineered soldiers designed for use.