The Rotted Hearth Infantry Platoon Part 1: Command Squad

The Rotted Hearth Infantry Platoon is the core of the Hungry Ghosts army, containing nearly half of the troopers my current 1500 point army list. The Platoon includes the Command Squad in front, a Special Weapons Squad to the left of the Command Squad, a Heavy Weapons Squad along the wall and 2 Infantry Squads on the right side of the picture. The platoon includes minis from Space Dwarfs by the Perry Brothers with and without separate arms, Bob Olley's Iron Claw and Citadel Squats, a couple of the plastic troopers from the Space Dwarfs boxed set, and 3 Chaos Dwarf War Machines. We shall begin our tour with the Rotted Hearth Command Squad.

The Command Squad includes Captain Hister smoking a pipe in the center, with Platoon Standard Bearer Wynnet with mug of beer to his left and Platoon Vox Trooper Quogue to his right. Special Weapons Troopers are on the ends, Trooper Canarsie wieldingMeltagun and hammer, and Trooper Speonk with Heavy Flamer.

First is Captain Red Hister, armed with Bolter and Power Clamp. The Captain is made from one of the plastic bodies and heads from the Space Dwarfs box, which was also the source of his right arm. His fanged Bolter is from the 40K 3rd Edition Space Wolves sprue, and his pipe from a WFB Dwarf sprue. The Clamp Arm is Space Marine Servitor Arm 2.

Captain Hister is joined by the Rotted Hearth platoon's mascot Lenny. Lenny is a Squig Hound with a Medal of Valor earned for biting things bigger than a hobbit but smaller than a halfling.

The back side of the plastic Space Dwarfs were a bit barren and unencumbered by the adventuring equipment and gadgets weighting down the metal Space Dwarfs of the time. I added some bulk with some oversized gunpowder canisters from the fantasy Thunderers. I also slipped in another 80s OTC bit and replaced his right ear with one of the head antennae from a Robotech Veritech battloid mini from Dark Horse.

Next is Vox Trooper Pol Quogue, armed with Lasgun. His body is another variant from the plastic Space Dwarfs box, as is the standard issue Lasgun. His body and gear include several WFB bits-- His head is from one of the recent Dwarf Miner sprues, the arms are from an early 2000s Empire Militia sprue, and his noose is from the Empire Flagellants. He is also wearing a chain on his belt with Khorne symbol from the Berzerker sprues. And if you look closely, you will not see one of the floating skulls that do not frequently appear on 40K battlefields.


To create Tpr Quogue's Vox apparatus, his left hand was replaced by an Auspex, and a Dark Angels devotional icon was corrupted for use as his backpack, with Epic scale Banner Poles as antennae.

This is Rotted Hearth Platoon Standard Bearer Steve Wynnet. He is a converted Iron Claw Squat 27. I've added a beer mug to his left hand, from the Dwarf sprues, and a Rat & Turnip snack at his side, from the Bretonnian Archer sprues. To make the standard, I removed Tpr Wynnet's Chainsword, and added Khorne symbol of the Hordes/Warriors of Chaos sprues.
Trooper Wynnet, displaying a golden skull symbol atop his hat. To ensure the creatures of the sky know that he is GRIMDARK no matter time of day nor number of suns in the sky. +1000 XP and -1 Charisma to those who notice Steve Wynnet is an anagram for 27.

This is Special Weapons Trooper Tong Canarsie, armed with Heavy Flamer. His body is the Squat Adventurer with Hannibal-Lecteresque facemask. This mini was released along with the other Adventurers in White Dwarf 113, but WD 113 is the only ad for him, so he may be rarer than the other Adventurers, who were continued into the 1991 Blue Catalog.

His right arm with mighty warhammer is from the WFB Empire White Wolves sprue. It works well with his striding pose, to make him look like he is lunging at the enemy. The White Wolves and Empire Militia sprues are both very good sources of arms and accessories for the Squats who need some variety, or just lots of warhammers. You can never have too many warhammers.

We get a closer look at Assault Trooper Canarsie's cybernetic Heavy Flamer that replaced his left meat-flipper. This gun is a rather rare metal bit, the Battle Cannon arm from the short-lived Epic Imperial Knight Baron.

Since I like this Adventurer and his bumblebee coloring so much, here is another view from the rear. Another Squat well-prepared for lengthy stints on the battlefield.

The second Platoon Command Assault Weapon Trooper is Rinter Speonk, armed with Meltagun. His body is Hearth Guard 3, the last variant of the Hearth Guards on foot. His Meltagun comes from a plastic Epic Imperial Knight Paladin. The firing pose is enhanced with a left arm from a Tyranid Termagant, with greenstuff fingers gripping the barrel.

Around the back, we can get a closer look at his Meltagun and his mighty gold chains. The positioning of his gun and left arm and his lack of a backpack created an unbalanced look to the overall appearance of the mini on his base, so a Mordheim street lamp was used to fill the empty portion. It works well with the Standard, Vox, Warhammer, and Bolter of the rest of the Squats to create a heightened profile for the Rotted Hearth Platoon Command.