We all know that a warrior as powerful as Col Iron Beard doesn't really need bodyguards. But more Space Dwarfs are Better. Today, the second of Schtarken's wing-dwarfs, Lt Kipper Kabeljauw. Though potent, Iron Beard needs his wing-dwarfs and supporting Khorne Renegades, as he is faced with quite a large group of Champions of Tzeentch and Slaanesh.
In contrast to the usual Hungry Ghosts practice, three of the Chaos Champions were not painted by me (or converted in the case of the winged warrior), but came from the cyberseas of eBay already finished. Except for the disk-rider, who has been on my shelves for many years.
Back to the Squats. Lt Kabeljauw is another of the White Dwarf 108 series of Squat Warriors. Kipper is armed with both a Bolter and a mystery pistol, ensuring that he was dropped from the roster before the 1991 Blue Catalog. Also tough to modify, Kabeljauw was instead painted in a shimmery-zombie style, with the white-on-red eyes of the damned.
Thus, Lt Kabeljauw is the ideal foe for the (never permitted even in the crazy Rogue Trader times) Mind Flayer that has popped up on the battlefield: his zombie-brain is both immune to flaying and hungers for the sweet thought-spaghetti hidden in the head of the Ithilid.
Like the other troopers in Col Iron Beard's command unit, Lt Kipper is in a shooting-while-moving position that fills most of the area of the base, so he was also just given small pieces of debris to pass by on his way to the kill (IG cannister).
To give Kipper his glossy appearance, a smaller range of colors was used, with the metallic tones closer to the color of the clothes, and stronger highlights. The sculpt of the mini also gives it natural shadowing in various locations as well. A similar paint style was used on the Space Pirate Nightwing to a lesser extent.
The equipment on Lt Kabeljauw's back provides the opportunity for the metal of the guns to continue across the shoulders, with the orange gloves and tunic blending with the metal. His blue helmet was given multiple highlight spots to increase the glossy appearance, while his boots almost disappear into the base debris providing a bit of a forward gliding motion to his positioning.
The stance of the WD 108 Squats allows them to be placed as flanking on either side of Col Iron Beard, working with his out-stretched weapons and arms. While his wing-dwarfs take the flanks, Schtarken's pet rats stare-down the enemy with their stern forward gaze.
