When I originally put my squat pirates together, I knew that they would need something to ride around in. My initial thought was to buy a second-hand Action Force Roboskull and adapt it, but it turns out that vintage toys are collectible and expensive, so I would need to do something else. I ran with the flying skull theme though, and put together what I've been calling the Jetskull.
| Squat pirates prep the Jetskull in the landing bay of their mothership. |
On Saturday just gone I attended the inaugural Lead & Steel event at The Outpost in Sheffield - a new and hopefully regular event on the Oldhammer calendar. I took part in a multiplayer game of Necromunda set in the badlands town of Far Corfe (more on that in the next post). The game required a small gang plus some vehicles. I decided I was going to use my squat pirates, but needed a few more vehicles to accompany the crew and their only existing vehicle, the Annihilator. First up - some powerboards!
| What's that in the background? You'll have to wait until the next post. |
I'm confident that if I did a quick poll on 'The Most Likely Heavy Support Option For Squat Pirates', a giant mechanised walking skull with guns in its eyes would come pretty high up on the results. Happily for me, Mammoth Miniatures recently released the Grobnik Annihilator from the Gardens of Hecate range.
I'm bookending my hobby output quite nicely by finishing off the year with the last 3 squat pirates from the crew that I started in January. I'm really pleased to have got this iconic set of 10 squat pirate sculpts painted with a couple of additions (a squat adventurer, the dwarf pirate and of course the big ugly ogryn). I do have some transport planned for the crew, but for now they'll just have to put their boots on the ground!
The last 3 additions are a nice selection. There's a Time Bandit-esque squat in retro pilot gear, a classicly styled crewman with headscarf and eye-patch, and the frankly maxed out fella with the braided beard, hook and horned hat.
Trouble traditionally comes in threes, and this kind of trouble is the shortest, hairiest kind! Latest off the workbench is another trio of squat pirates (leaving just three more to try and finish before the end of the year).
Part of the reason that there's been such a gap between my last squat pirates and these is related to arms. The metal bodies were intended for use with the plastic squat arms, but unfortunately the plastic arms fit poorly, cover nice sculpted details and don't match aesthetically. As a result, I've spent a long time trying to work up the arm right solution for every squat pirate using bits donated from other models.
I love adding exotic outliers into a project. Usually these end up being little imp like companions who ape the costume and trappings of their crew, but in the case of my squat pirates, I decided to go bigger rather than smaller. After all, a nasty crew of beard-wearing space corsairs would probably welcome a larger, nastier beard-wearer. Especially one with a feather in his hat!
Another small group of Captain Grugari's Dreadstorm Privateers have made it off the WIP to bring the piratical crew up to a respectable six in number!