After their summer adventures in the foreign lands, the ranger squad of the Heavy Industrialist Union have finally got the last bits of paint and have even gained a friend in the process.
If you want to read their summer adventures, here they are :
I hope you'll excuse me the poor photos but I haven't bought another camera and have to take my pics with my wife's phone for now (Christmas should hopefully solve that matter...)
Although it took me almost 3 months to complete this little war band, I had real fun with them. The aim behind building this gang was to have a team of scouts or rangers, the sort of squats you send on remote locations to explore hence the limited militaristic look of them and the fact that 2 of them don't even have weapons.
The collection is composed of many sources, with Iron claw squats. First on the left is the Major MacHammer, the expert in all things about combat and warfare. He has little competence aside and often gets poked and japed by his teammates but when it come to battle, he knows the stuff.
On the right is Erlin Thormek, an idealist adventurer who wants to travel the universe and discover new places for the sake of his people, his parents are high members of the Union.
You may remember the squat on the right was looking like a snow man when I got it :
But Acetone worked its magic like always :D !
The 2 next squats are part of the adventurers range and they are the only model of the war band that came without arms. I used plastic modern IG (or astra militarum) arms severe in many places to reduce their length and I gave the old one the shotgun that went with a Dark Vengeance cultist champion.
I have to say the old dwarf may very well be my favorite model of the band, he really has that weathered look and that resolve I like to see in my characters. The second one is funny. I thought interesting to make him the spotter because he has an eye patch, I can imagine the endless jokes "keep your good eye open !" and all. On top of that he sports a fishing vest which honestly must have many use in hostile environment.
On the left, the told Dwarf is "Granps" Bergen, he is a renowned adventurer that has travelled the galaxy for ages and has seen (and even discovered) most of its wonders.
On the right, Thren Magava, specialist in repairing thing, setting traps, scouting and all sorts of things. he has lost an eye to a drunken ork long ago and he keeps a strong grudge about it towards all orkoids.
Last 3 are regular squats with the 3rd coming from the imperial adventurer range. The first on the left proved very pleasant to paint but for the strange right arm see back pic). Middle guy is meant to have a backpack but I left that as some sort of device and did not mean to add anything to it.
1st on the left is Gillan McUmber Jack of all trades with a specialization in alien fauna and flora (and the many ways to get rid of it with his huge defoliant tank).
2nd in the middle is Prelvey Estlis, engaged as a geologist and prospector for mining resources. His skills and competence are rather low but his way of handling tough situation and the fact he's the most resourceful squat around make him a central piece the team.
Last on the right is Gorin Bernstein, emerit pilot whose piloting has saved his crew members nearly as many time as his poor sense of direction has put them in danger...
As members of the scouting corps of the Heavy Industrialist Union, I wanted to give hem some sort of mark or special device. I had no idea what to do until I realized in case of doubt, what better way than to go back to the source :
Using material from the Book of the Astronomical, I mixed the devices for the Engineer and Pioneer companies to make my own. And it's truly like that that I imagine my team. A bunch of specialists and technicians that can handle tough situations when need be.
I have to add that this squad took some time to paint because I only had 6 of them and it somehow felt wrong. Mostyn on the old hammer forum kindly offered me the 7 squat and hence helped me finish the gang.
But 7 squats... I know what you're thinking, they have to have a lay accompanying them right ?
Well... I'm working on it, don't worry !Next time, I may very well entertain you with some bounty hunter specialised in psykers and mutants from the underhive ...
Very nice JB! The muted colours give them a solid, practical look. The skin tone in particular is very nice - works well with the white beard on the old Squat.
ReplyDeleteSo what exactly does the pilot drive? Some kind of transport is needed :)
That's a very good question, 2 options are fighting in my hand right now, one for a ground transport, the other for a antigrav... time will tell, let's just hope it will be in little time !
DeleteGreat stuff! Your paintjobs really bring out the details and keep everything nice and clean.
ReplyDeleteThanks ! Photos don't help seeing the details. I feared the used of too many primary colors would make th band messy but it turned out OK in the end, glad you like them.
DeleteIf it helps your decision on transport, I'm making a full anti-gravity attack wing for my branch of the Industrialist's - in my mind, being technologically superior means actually using superior tech! :D of course you could just give them a tractor...
ReplyDeleteHuuum, still don't know, the way I se it the HIU's strongest asset is its political organisation and belief in a just society, that said the mastery of land and air are equally vital. I'll probably go with the land transport first then, I intend to do both anyway and they'll be generic enough to be used by any of my RT war bands.
DeleteThe union grows, we shall prevail comrade !
Some lovely choices of colours there, JB. It proves that gangs/squads etc needn't always be decked out in identical clobber.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ed !
DeleteI wasn't sure about where this would lead at first but the use of the 3 primary colors to tie them all together worked in the end.
Next model will have a severely more restricted palette ;)
Hooray for the return of the HIU! They look great! And thawing out suits Erlin Thormek very well!
ReplyDeleteI think he liked getting out of this carbonite cell too !
DeleteThey look great, splendid details!
ReplyDeleteThanks ! Details are the sculptor's thing, those details on the Bob Olley squats were just mind blowing (and eye blowing too). Helps work on a steady hand !
DeleteThats a nice looking group of adventurers JB, good work.
ReplyDeleteThanks, though I'm not planning on making a huge squat liberation army, haveing a RT setiing without a fistful of them would have felt worng wouldn't it?
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