Space Dorf Kill Team

Earlier today, GW put out a video that may or may not be hinting that Squats are returning to 40k. I responded to the community tweet with the truth: Squats aren't "back;" they never left. 

Nothing is really set in stone for 40k—that wibbly-wobbly-ness is why you can have Your Dudes. And for me right now, my dudes are these:

Astra Militarum Rotundus

I haven't worked out all the names and lore for these guys yet; but these Sky Dorfs in space are an elite squad of Tempest Scions (complete with a Tempestor). I have all the optional load outs that I might run in any fire team—including coms, medic, banner, all gunners types, and a healthy number of basic troopers. 

I still have nine spots left on my roster, which might wind up being a unit of basic militarum Squats. These would be built from the bodies of a Blood Bowl dwarfs with weapon leftovers once I build a full Krieg Veterans team. But that is contingent on actually building up a full team from the sprues of the two boxes of Octarius I've picked up on various sales. This seems a big ask—especially when I most likely will play neither Krieg nor the basic militarum (why would I do either over Tempestus Squats?).

In any case, stay tuned as these dudes slowly get names and personalities while they earn their stripes on the tabletop. 

Squats: Sky Dorfs in Space

It's been a while. With the release of AOS 3.0 and the 40k 9th edition I fell off the hobby train for a good long bit. 

AOS 3 hasn't been particularly kind to the Kharadron Overlords from what I can tell. Most of my strategies and build aren't really going to work. The 2k list I had been building ballooned up to 2200 points and lost all the synergy that made it work. Also, with the ban of third-party bits and bobs, I'm not even sure if my Khardron Overlady Arkanauts are even legal at this point. Generally speaking this burned me out on the whole sky dorf thing. I did however go off and paint a bunch of Ork Boyz—at least until that became untenable in 9th edition 40k.

But, then they released the new Kill Team box with some very fun Ork terrain. I wound up picking a box at PAXU for half off with a coupon. I have the terrain and a standard Green Skin team complete. (Yes, I know it comes with the Kommandos, but see above all the Boyz I have laying about.) Just this past week I figured out that the team I really want to run and which has spurred the resurrection of this blog: SKY DORFS IN SPEESH! That's right, your dear professor is going to build Squats.

So here is the plan: I am going to kit bash a Militarum Tempestus Scion box with a Kharadron Overlord Arkanaut box to create a Militarum Tempestus Rotundus Kill Team. One Tempestus Scion box contains all the weapons needed for a full Kill Team of two Scion fireteams, while one Akanaut box contains almost enough bodies. I will need to get a Tempestor body from somewhere—probably a Blood Bowl trollslayer with coat billowing out behind his action pose. 

Speaking of Blood Bowl, I might use the bulk of a Blood Bowl Dwarf Giants team to bash a Guardsman fireteam, just in case I don't want to run double Scions. However, I need to find a cheap source of lasguns with bayonets before I can work on that. Right now it looks like too much money for a fireteam that I will most likely never run.

The basic strategy of the build is based off the guide to Astra Militarum Kill Team tactics posted over at Goonhammer (LINK).

So this blog is back in action, and still dealing with sky dorfs—just now of the 40k variety.

Dagnai Holdenstock

No, I don't have a copy of the aptly named Cursed City. I did however pay an eBay scalper roughly the price of a Jakkob Bugmansson to get a Dagnai Holdenstock.

Part of me wanted to paint this guy in a style that would really set off his coat, but instead I opted to a more muted scheme that fit better with the rest of my army. As evidenced by this shot of Dagnai, Jakkob, and Bjorgen.

I have no idea what role Mr. Holdenstock will have in my current army, but I'm glad to be able to add him to the roster. 

Arkanaut Ironclad

 I finally finished up my Ironclad. With this, I now have a serviceable 2000 point army. I've been working on it between other projects for the better part of three months, so I'm glad to finally put finish her. Here are some shots.

The keen-eyed might notice that I've got one extra Arkanaut on the bridge. He's a special boi I hope to talk about more at a later date. Just wanted to get some shots up of this monster of a vessel.

Kharadron Overladies for Fembruary

Wasn't sure I was going to manage getting these posted in February, but here are my custom all-female Kharadron Arkanauts.

The heads for these Kharadron Overladies are from an Etsy store called FlagshipGamesUS (LINK). They looked a little small when I first got them, but they wind up looking fine when actually on the bodies.
 

In order to differentiate the leader more easily, I used the topknot from a spare Stormcast Eternal I had lying around. 

Other than the head swap I've left the models as-is. The armour suites that the Kharadron wear are quite padded so any differentiation of silhouette would be hidden by the the padding. Additionally, I didn't really think that the usual "all women in heels" aesthetic that is found in so many wargmaes was something that the no-nonsense Kharadron would really have any time. A lack of beards would be enough. I found the post "Female representation in wargaming" by Between the Bolter and Me really helpful in making these design decisions (LINK).

Finally, as alluded to in the title of this post, this is my submission for Leadbaloony's Fembruary Challenge to paint more female figures. (LINK). 

2021 Hobby Bingo

So in addition to participating in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (LINK), I think I'm going to do Hobby Bingo this year as well. I nicked this one from Table Top Standard (LINK), but it ultimately derives from GW's White Dwarf. 

Completing a boxes 10 points, completing a line is 50 points, and the entire board is 400 points—though I'm not sure if these are cumulative points or not. 

Since the competition technically started on New Years Day, I have several of these I can already check off. Also, a quick perusal of my Twitter feed will show that I've painting a lot of Orks and other various sundry that don't show up on a blog dedicated to Sky Dorfs. I sort of want to make this KO specific, but I don't think I have enough models yet to paint for my army to fill in the card or line. So, I'll probably be more indiscriminate. 

A Plan Brewing

Bjorgen Thundrik took a deep pull from his tankard. He tried to hide his expression, but his eyebrows involutely raised in surprise at the quality (and alcohol content) of the beer he sampled. There was no doubt that this abv in this mug was higher than even the customary Duardin draughts. 

Across the table in the dimly lit back corner of the Blue Drake Tavern, Jakkob Bugmansson XI smiled into his own cup. At this point in his career he had become quite accustomed to the reaction he could read the across the face of Profiteer.

"So, do we have a deal then?" he asked as we swirled the sweet amber poison around in his tankard.

Bjorgen looked the brewmaster steady in the eye as he drained the rest of his mug before speaking. "To give credit where it's due, this is an amazing ale you've got here. But, I'm still a bit cloudy as to why you're coming to me with an offer of exclusive distribution. I'm just a retired Profiteer whose hung up his armour and retired to running a little tavern."

Jakkob put down his mug and leaned closer to Bjorgen before speaking in a voice lower and laced with humour. "O come now Thundrik, we both no better than that! Sure you've got this seedy little bar on the edge of outsider ring here on Barak-Nar, but you've got similarly placed whole-in-the-walls on both Barak-Zilfin and Barak-Urbaz; and you're looking to purchase another on Barak-Zon as well. I don't know what this is all about, but I want in."

Before Bjorgen could protest in surprise, Jakkob then also added, "And I also want to stick it to Grungsson. I know you can't stand him either, so I figure whatever you've got planned will involve ruining his day. For that reason alone I want in." 

With that Jakkob leaned back from his conspiratorial stance and finished the rest of his mug while eying Bjorgen.

"Alright, Bugmansson, you've got a deal. I can't tell you what all you're in for as of yet, both you seem to have your finger in the wind. My tavern will definitely benefit from your brews, and my Gunhauler from your navigational. Pour another round and let's drink to our new partnership."

I recently finished up Jakkob Bugmansson XI. As can be deduced from the above piece of narrative, I plan on running him with Thundrik's crew in a dedicated Gunhauler for flanks and objectives. 

I painted the brewer using the same tones as the rest of the army, but with a less pronounced blue than on the bulk of the Shiny Bois. I figure the brewer would try to keep his armour more or less allegiance neutral, being the savvy business-dorf that he is.