SQUATED!

The time has come to sell on my dear old squats.

I've mentioned before that I fell back into wargaming playing a 15mm FUBAR campaign with a couple of mates. This was great fun. We jointly created the back story for the planet we were fighting over, and we would take it in turns to GM/host games (so the players never knew their opponent's mission objectives). Each game was designed to move the narrative along. There were many memorable battles; a brutal shoot out between tech-ninjas and fascist goons in a labyrinthine downtown slum, a scramble for an alien artefact in the jungle zone causing a stampede of toy dinosaurs, a Seven Samurai-style defence of a mining facility where the defenders could move through underground tunnels to ambush the attackers... 

My whistle had been well and truly wetted. I'd enjoyed painting the 15mm guys and fancied having a go at some 28mm minis. And of course, being a contrary sod, I picked a totally dead faction! Considering I didn't have a clue what I was doing, and was using Tamiya paints with wood stain for shading, they actually came out OK (albeit with the classic 'fried egg' eyes).

Sadly, their unpainted comrades were sold on to help pay for new break shoes and the project came to a grinding halt. In the last several years I've used them once - for a random game of Stargrunt - so I think it's now time that these venerable warriors were enjoyed by someone else. But before they ship out, I thought I'd take a few snaps for posterity.

The first 'Space Dwarf' release for Rogue Trader was the RT03 range (1987) sculpted by the Perrys. From left to right: Lewis Gunn, Colt Stoner and Smoothbore Sten.

These were followed in early 1988 by the first release of Bob Olley's Iron Claw Squats. A lot of the sculpts still had that early-RT space pirate vibe going on. From left to right: unnamed (and yes, that is a shuriken catapult), Lt. Yarvin and Gulbar.

The majority of my little force are drawn from the second Iron Claw release (1989). These coincided with the release of the RTB10 Space Dwarfs plastic boxed set and have the same classic aesthetic of lasguns, flack jackets and helmets with blast visors.

Finally, we have Gunner Keif from the RT9 range (1987) packing a conversion beamer and a squat medic (1988). I believe both are Perry Twins sculpts.

Cheers

Snake Cults and Pig Men

It's been a busy ol' month so far. I have managed to squeeze in a bit of painting time. Not as much as I would have liked, but isn't that always the way?

Anyway, first up we have a classic Jes Goodwin beastman sculpt from the 1988 Realm of Chaos range. I was very pleased with how he came out.

This is from an era where Citadel stopped naming their minis in the catalogue, so he is uninspiringly identified as '022004'. The miniature did. however, feature as a Combat Card (GW's 1992 take on Top Trumps) where he is called 'Gregor-Kurt the Twin'.

Now, it has been said, somewhat unkindly, that the snake-arm mutation looks a wee bit like a sock puppet. To this I say, well maybe it is! Maybe Gregor-Kurt is a worshiper of the Warhammer equivalent of Glycon.

In our world, the cult of the snake god Glycon was founded in the mid-2nd century CE by Alexander of Abonoteichos. Glycon was a large snake with human features and hair on his head, who would whisper prophesies to Alexander in a human voice. Alexander claimed he had discovered  Glycon in Macedonia, brought the snake god back to his home town in Paphlagonia, built a temple and set himself up as a mystical healer and Glycon's oracle. Initially Alexander and Glycon specialized in fertility treatments (allegedly Alexander was quite hands on), but it was when the Antonine plague ripped through the Roman Empire that the cult really got going. Alexander claimed that Glycon had whispered to him a charm that would, for a fee, protect his followers against the plague. In the midst of a pandemic, Glycon's magical protection proved incredibly popular.

Late-2nd century statue of Glycon from Constanta, Romania

The cult spread rapidly. Cult inscriptions have been recorded as far apart as Antioch in the south and Londinium in the north. Emperor Marcus Aurelius even asked Glycon to foretell the outcome of his war against the Germanic tribes north of the Danube. Someone who was having none of this, though, was the satirist and realist Lucian of Samosata. His treatise Alexander the False Prophet doesn't pull any punches. Lucian called out Alexander as a fraud and a grifter, citing frequent examples, and exposed Glycon as an elaborate sock puppet hoax. 

The cult has been revived in modern times by comics legend Alan Moore, who says he worships Glycon as he's unlikely to start believing 'a glove puppet created the universe or anything dangerous like that'.

So, what would a snake cult look like in the Warhammer world? I think we all know exactly what it would look like.

Rexor and Thorgrim from Conan the Barbarian (1982)

EDIT: A buddy pointed out that Warhammer: The Old World has, in fact, just introduced the Chaos Marauder cult of the Slithering Serpent (a proto-Slaanesh warrior lodge, apparently). So I went and had a peek at the models to see if they looked anything like Thulsa Doom's lads. They totally do!

I've also made a start on some command models. This musician is from the first Heavy Metal Hordes Kickstarter from last year, sculpted by Aaron Howdie.

He's a pleasingly chunky fellow named Craic Lyn. He probably scales better with the 4th ed. beastmen rather than their '80s brethren, but the aesthetic is Oldhammer through and through. For those interested in a comparison, here we have (from left to right): Broo (1983), C27 (1985), CH4 (1987), Broo (1983), 3000/6 (1994), HMH (2025).

While I've struggled to find time to paint, I seem to have found plenty of time to buy stuff! I've added enough beastmen to the lead pile to keep me going for a good while. And even though I have PDF versions, I finally weakened and rebought WFB 3rd ed. and Warhammer Armies (I blame Mike from the Warm Ale and Mud blog for this). It's been a particular joy to have a physical copy of Armies again. I loved this book as a kid and it still hits the spot. The previous owner has also carefully inserted the errata from White Dwarf, which is very helpful.

Cheers