How might Squats return to the setting?

[Skaorn]

With GenCon behind us an several confirmed rumors on that deleted rumors list confirmed, I thought it might be fun to discus one of the more far out claims from that list (sorry, don't have the quote): the Squats are coming back.  We have nothing beyond that so we don't know if they'll be returning as a full army, a unit for AM, or a Kill Team.  What would you like to see?  How would you like them to play? Do you think this rumor still deserves a lot of salt?

 

I personally hope that Squat is shorthand for Demiurge.  A while ago it seemed like if GW was going to return to space dwarves, it would be as something new and the Demiurge were the likely prospect (sorry, don't have the quote).  This was before Squats showed up in Necromunda though.  Still I'd like another non-imperial army and would like the T'au auxiliaries to get some love.

Edited April 5, 2022 by Brother Tyler
Added the "Leagues of Votann" tag

[Dark Shepherd]

Dollars to donuts its a kill team, and or at a push a guard unit option

 

If they sell like hotcakes then maybe range gets fleshed out

 

Id be pleasantly very suprised if they were a codex let alone in the next 5 years

[Dosjetka]

If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say they'll pop them into a box with something else for a minor system (Kill Team, Necromunda, etc.) or a new board game, and then decide whether or not to expand based on sales (like Genestealer Cults).

[Lord Marshal]

I feel like if it was a Kill-Team release, Leaker Chad would've specified such considering The List was pretty upfront about Sister Novitiates vs Pathfinders being a Kill-Team boxset.

[Dosjetka]

That's a fair point. That said, anything after January 2022 was generally quite vague (with the exception of T'au and CSM) so it could still be that it's a small(-ish) release to test the waters (unless they're using data from the last survey and it shows that there is great interest in Squats/Deimurg).

[Marshal Reinhard]

I thought I heard it would be squats with men of iron. That has the potential to be interesting. I think GW has enough talented sculptors and designers to pull off interesting 'space dwarves' that will amount to being more than midget biker gangers.

 

I'd be cautiously optimistic to the idea. While I still, on the whole, prefer truly alien additions when it comes to factions, it's completely undeniable that 40k's roots is warhammer fantasy in space, and we have space orcs, space elves and space undead. Space dwarves have a place, especially if they do something interesting and uniuqe with them

[Old-Four-Arms]

FWIW, over at War of Sigmar, Bob has mentioned a Thudd Gun for the Squats as well..

 

bob Mod  Stormfire • a month ago • edited

Squat could be limited to KT like a squat mercenary team...But a very very trusted source talked about a thud gun so ...

Edited September 20, 2021 by Old-Four-Arms

[Valkyrion]

I must've been under - or hit on the head by - a rock, because I've no idea what you guys are talking about....has there been 'unconfirmed' squat sightings that I've missed?

[Old-Four-Arms]

Several rumours were posted (about a month ago IIRC), but were later taken down at the request of the initial poster..

 

PM sent..

Edited September 20, 2021 by Old-Four-Arms

[Valkyrion]

Ah, I'm with you. With it rearing its head again today I thought something more recent had happened. 

Edited September 20, 2021 by Valkyrion

[Special Officer Doofy]

If squats came out they would be the first <Imperium> army I would collect since I joined the hobby in 3rd edition. They would have to bring back the train!

[LameBeard]

‘men of iron’ you say? Wasn’t there a rumour engine image which looked sort of like squats but also mechanical leg. I know we like to joke “squats” at every rumour engine, but this could be the double bluff.

 

They may bring back the train (so big it stretches across the whole table) but surely squats will have left the Imperium after their betrayal? At best uneasy allies and in some semi-detached status? More interesting for the storyline and setting than just more Imperium?

Edited September 20, 2021 by LameBeard

[Skaorn]

MAybe they could do the train as a few pieces of factional fortifications similar to the T'au shield wall

[Dark Shepherd]

Ok Thudd Guns would make me think slightly more of a range...so at worst definitely Guard units like Ogryns

 

Looking at their Epic units a fair few seem like they would too big such as artillery or Colussus or Cyclops or Blimps. Maybe land train at a push

 

Other than thay their units are?

3 Infantry types, bikers, trikes, gyrocopters, thudd guns, mole mortars

[MARK0SIAN]

I think it would be interesting to have the squats return as a bitter enemy of the imperium. They felt abandoned and sacrificed when the imperium didn’t save them from having most of their race eaten by the Nids. In the time since they’ve been rebuilding and researching forbidden tech and have either found a way to create men of iron or have allied with a hidden faction of them.

 

They return, not as an imperium faction but a completely separate faction.

 

If it’s just going to be imperial dwarves in space then I’d rather they stay squatted to be honest. When they said they got rid of them in the first place because no one was particularly excited about writing them or could think of an interesting angle for them I really felt that was a good call.

Edited September 21, 2021 by MARK0SIAN

[Guest Triszin]

We know squats/ a squat is on munda, so high chance they appear as a kinda force in munda.

[Dark Shepherd]

We know squats/ a squat is on munda, so high chance they appear as a kinda force in munda.

Squats would be a curveball as a new House. Can see GW going with KT and 40k for them though cos $$$

[apologist]

Kill Team seems absolutely perfect for testing the waters on the viability of ranges. I think it's no coincidence that Kroot have turned up as a separate faction in Kill Team; and they're another perennial 'always the bridesmaid, never the bride' faction. Couple that with the engineering for the Kill Team sprues we've seen so far, and I think there's a good sales model. 

 

The boxes are very versatile – the Death Korps are able to be built as a standard Infantry squad for 40k as well as the more specialist veterans; and likewise the Kommando sprues will serve double-duty in 40k. From GW's point of view, Kill Team coupled with the new WD and Warhammer apps allow them to make releases for one product (Kill Team) and get a second bite at the cherry by filling gaps in the faction.

 

Consider the kroot, for example: a release for Kill Team allows GW to tick off a number of very old SKU for 40k (Kroot, kroothounds and krootox) while adding more options (different weaponry/equipment/upgrades), too. A bit of clever planning puts the Krootox on the smaller 'half-sprue', allowing both it and the kroot warriors to later be reboxed for an 'official' 40k release.

 

The same would apply for squats. Quick low-risk one-shot that lets them see the reaction. If they flop, no 40k release, or fold them into Guard. If they're a big success, you need only release a couple of characters and a bigger kit (e.g. vehicle, thudd gun etc.) or two to make a mini faction like Custodes or Genestealer cult started out as. 

[Jings]

I personally hope that Squat is shorthand for Demiurge. A while ago it seemed like if GW was going to return to space dwarves, it would be as something new and the Demiurge were the likely prospect (sorry, don't have the quote). This was before Squats showed up in Necromunda though. Still I'd like another non-imperial army and would like the T'au auxiliaries to get some love.

I'm in the "demiurg ARE squats" camp myself. Really love the idea of the Squats teaming up with the Tau because the Imperium didn't help out with whatever wiped them out, especially after ADB dropped a little reference to it being his headcanon in an AMA a couple years back.

Edited September 21, 2021 by Jings

[MARK0SIAN]

 

I personally hope that Squat is shorthand for Demiurge. A while ago it seemed like if GW was going to return to space dwarves, it would be as something new and the Demiurge were the likely prospect (sorry, don't have the quote). This was before Squats showed up in Necromunda though. Still I'd like another non-imperial army and would like the T'au auxiliaries to get some love.

I'm in the "demiurg ARE squats" camp myself. Really love the idea of the Squats teaming up with the Tau because the Imperium didn't help out with whatever wiped them out, especially after ADB dropped a little reference to it being his headcanon in an AMA a couple years back.

If they do bring them back then they are definitely not going to allow them to be called squats, they’ll need some copyrightable mouthful name so Demiurg would fit the bill nicely.

[TheMawr]

demiurg isnt exactly a copyrightable name... Id say squat is more copyrightable

[Brother Tyler]

They'll be retconned to having a truly copyrightable name like Sukowatts or something similarly silly.

[Halandaar]

I'd also love to see them as a non-Imperial faction, I think that's a lot more interesting and allows them to be quite technologically divergent from the Imperial stuff we already know.

[MARK0SIAN]

demiurg isnt exactly a copyrightable name... Id say squat is more copyrightable

You could be right about demiurg. Maybe they’ll follow the AoS pattern and go for two names. We can incorporate Brother Tyler’s and end up with Demiurgian Sukowatts :)

[Lord Marshal]

The problem is that from a sales perspective, Imperial armies are pretty much all decent sellers at worst. Compare that to Xenos armies who have the potential be flops - Harlequins and GSC don't exactly fly off the shelves. I could very easily see a marketing guy telling the design team to lean into Imperial-Squats over Xenos-Demiurg just because they'll obviously sell a lot better.

 

Since 8th GW have been 'compartmentalising' everything down Imperial/Chaos/Xenos lines as well. I don't see them suddenly having an Abhuman outlier. I think at best, it'll be stated that the WhateverTheTrademarkedSquatNameIs sometimes clash with Imperial forces, but that the chaos unleashed by the Great Rift has forced them to be absorbed/become closer to the Imperium. At worst, they'll just soft-retcon Squat planets as having been part of the Imperium since the Great Crusade and that any outliers/separatists are swiftly crushed.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'd much prefer non-Imperial and/or Demiurg to yet another Imperial army, but I wouldn't hold my breath after some of the Squat-like Rumour Engines.

Edited September 21, 2021 by Lord Marshal