New project time!
Starting a 40k army for me is always difficult. I have trouble mentally committing to the multi-year, on again / off again relationship that is required to actually finish it. So after going through the list of possible factions what army could possibly hope to hold my attention?
Why this one of course!
To kick things off let me explain the underlying psychosis, err... motivation behind committing to work up a long defunct race.
1) Nostalgia - nothing takes a person back to the halcyon days of the late 80's early 90's like a defunct 40k army faction... especially one as characterful as the Squats! They also have the huge benefit of being totally unsupported by Games Workshop so I can just about guarantee that they will not be revisited anytime soon. Although recent releases makes me worry and wonder.
You know you've been gone a while when even a meme maker can't get your name right.
2) Novelty - Squats are only rarely seen in force on the tabletop anymore. Which is great for someone who wants to have that one of a kind outfit to wear to the big dance! The uniqueness of an army is a huge selling point for me... That's the reason I went through the trouble of working up a full Fluff Scale Marine army. Squats are definitely odd enough to meet my required standard for tabletop weirdness... plus I get to heavily convert and scrathbuild their tanks which is awesome!
It's so nice to be different!
3) The Therapeutic Value - now we're heading into the zone of ultimate weirdness. I'm 'the' poster child for Games Workshop. I've accumulated every faction for almost every game they've ever released... However, like any good rebellious child I continually stay aggravated at the company over their corporate shenanigans. So why not relieve the stress from this love-hate relationship by working up a tongue in cheek 40k faction for the race that they have blatantly and very publicly disowned? So many opportunities... the 'tone' of this project is evident in the roughed out banner designs below.
You gotta purge that negativity!
Err...
4) They meet the policy of "No 40k Faction Left Behind"... so YAY SQUATS!
Soooo... where to start with such a big project? Personally I like to map out some army banners. This gives me a chance to set the tone and gives me a rough guideline for some of the centerpiece models. I sketched these out over a lunch break.... I'm thinking I'll need to make the banners themselves out of Greenstuff which will take a little extra effort but adds a nice touch.
Here's the first pass at the army standard design
And a second very rough design I worked up for a smaller, character back banner...