Iron Claw Squats 40K Special Weapon Squad Part 3

Now for the last two Iron Claws Special Weapons Troopers, Gavos (also known as IC 23) on the far right, and the Squat known as IC 24 Plasma Gunner in the center.

Here is a picture of the advertisement for the complete set of 32 Iron Claw Squats from White Dwarf 100. As the text box at the top says, the Squats are "renowned for their ferocity, courage, and hardiness" in spite of Imperial oppression. They are also "Easily the most numerous of the abhuman races [and] clans and individuals may be found throughout the galaxy." Doesn't sound like a race easily exterminated by Tyranids or anyone else.

The Iron Claws Special Trooper Chewri Crrot with his Plasma Gun. He is another very compact miniature, but size means little when a bolt of plasma is headed your way. And Tpr Crrot is wisely wearing protective eye-gear to shield himself from the white-hot glare.

Special Trooper Crrot as seen from the Terminator's vantage point. Chewri's allegiance to the Moriad XIV force is displayed on his helmet. This lettering and similar markings on the other Squats using a .20 mm Sakura Micron pen rather than paint.

Spc Crrot's size allows him to take cover snugly behind the severed arm of an Imperial Fists Terminator Marine. The arm is from the Black Reach-type Terminator that came free with one of the White Dwarf issues a while ago. I have added assorted battle-damage, some bullet holes, and most obviously most of a Space Marine Power Axe from the 1990s plastic assault weapons sprues.

Last for the Iron Claws squad is Trooper Gavos Belochrobathes, another Squat Warrior with a mysterious gun that counts as a Lasgun for dice-rolling purposes. Tpr Belochrobathes is standing behind the left leg of the same Womble Space Marine whose right leg is on Tpr Szlezen's base.

Tpr Belochrobathes has experienced some serious head trauma, as shown by his golden head that matches his golden gun. As the Squat Docs say, if beer don't fix it, gold will. Gavos also has a rather puffy shirt. Good thing he is a pirate. That's a battered helmet on his base, a little reminder of Gavos's head injurious past, from the ever-bountiful Skeletal Army sprues. A most magnificent Fountain of Death, those sprues are.

Another picture of Gavos, Chewri, and Chorby cavorting with the Flesh Hounds. The Iron Claws troopers' funky names are derived from your author's delvings in search of the perhaps mythical land of White Croatia.

Finally, another brief trip back in time to the sprawling mass of creativity spawned in the early Rogue Trader days, slowly whipped into coherent armies over the early 1990s. From the Winter 1987 New Releases flyer. Space Slann, Space Zoats, and Jetcycles for all!

Iron Claw Squats 40K Special Weapon Squad Part 2

Today we look at two more troopers from the Iron Claws Special Weapons Squadron, Special Trooper Shuv and Trooper Carpað, also known as Iron Claw Squats 7 and 13.

Special Trooper Chorby Shuv is armed with a very large Flamer, and has taken his fashion advice from The Great Pumpkin. On Tpr Shuv's base are the remains of an Imperial Guard Flamer.

From this angle, some minor modifications to Chorby's weaponry are visible - one of the little mysterious circular thingies on the front of the Flamer is a plastic bit from some vehicle. The large forked exhaust pipes are also from some vehicle, but I forget which one.

One more look at Chorby with a pair of Khorne Dogs from the Realm of Chaos era. The Flesh Hounds use Hindquarters 1 and 2, Forequarters 1 and 3, and Heads 3 and 6.

Next, Trooper Charwin Carpað. Though his gun looks like a hair-dryer, we count it as a lasgun. This Hungry Ghost looks like he has been lurking beneath the sea, and his beard is most suspiciously colored. Carpað says it's from eating too many Wood Elves, others say his grand-mama was from Innsmouth.

Tpr Carpað from another angle, showing his potato-masher grenade, and prominent scowl. This is one angry looking Squat. Perhaps it is because he wasn't shown on the Rogue Trader flyer, and had to wait until White Dwarf 100 to debut (along with the other 2 Iron Claw Squats holding grenades, and the Plasma Gunner- 24, 25, and 29).

Charwin from the back, with part of a WFB Chaos Warrior/Marauder Club painted to look like a lighted signal pole.

One more picture of our Iron Claw Squats combating the Eldar menace, joined by some Chaos Orks from the days when Orks were fun. (Ork Freebooter Chaos Champion, Madboyz 5 and 7, Weirdboy 1 and the Snotling Shamen)

Iron Claw Squats 40K Special Weapon Squad

Another month, another post, my typing fingers are getting blisters. Such is the price of a spine full of wires. But whinging is for pointy-eared cookie makers. So on to the Chaos Squats.

Here is the second Special Weapons Squad for The Rotted Hearth Infantry Platoon. The name "Iron Claw" is just too good to pass on, so I have named the squadron the Iron Claws. Our band of Squats contains a bunch of odd-looking weaponry, making them most suitable for a Special Weapons Squadron. This is also typical of the Iron Claw Squats IC301 series that Bob Olley sculpted for Citadel in 1987, the year the first Warhammer 40K rule book was released, Rogue Trader.

Here we can see the first advertisement for the Iron Claw Squats, from the Rogue Trader Part Two flyer. Back then, each mini had its own name. That didn't last long, as that path leads to silly names, sci-fi author puns, and general madness once enough minis are out there.

We start our Iron Claws squad with Squad Leader Elgard Bugien. As with other Iron Claws, I've resisted the urge to convert these minis in a way that involves cutting bits off of them, due to their rarity. But their compact form leaves some nice space on their bases for relatively large bits, and I also could not resist some small converting by adding bits to the Squats.

Squad Leader Bugien doubles as the Iron Claws unit flag-bearer. It is the two-tailed comet staff-top from the plastic WFB Empire Wizards bits. Those Wizards have great bits for many an army. Bugien is traversing the battlefield near an empty Imperial Guard fuel canister. His dragon-headed gun counts as a Meltagun for game purposes.

Bugien from the back, displaying his battle-gear with the Comet-Flag fitting snugly betwixt his Melta-fuel pack and his canteen. What does a Zombie Chaos Squat keep in his canteen? A question best left unanswered. Sgt Bugien is also known as Iron Claw Squat 9.

The next Iron Claw is Trooper Zor Szlezen. Szlezen is wielding an Eldar Shuriken Catapult. In the Rogue Trader era, access to weapons was much less restricted. In our new model armies, we count the less weird and threatening looking weapons as Lasguns. Nonetheless, the viewer may notice some clowns in the background interested in where Tpr Szlezen obtained his shuri-pult.

Also known as Iron Claw Squat 3, we see Zor nonchalantly ambling by the remains of a RTB01 Mark 6 Beekie Space Marine. There will be no prizes given to readers who notice that the Skeletal Horse has made yet another appearance.

But Szlezen's uniform colors provide an opportunity to lay to rest a false linguistic nugget, namely the "Nothing Rhymes with Orange" claim. "Orange" rhymes with "Whore's Minge". Done and dirty.

One last picture for today, our Iron Claws surrounded by Eldar, ready to fight til the end. You would think that causing the collapse of your civilization, cataclysmic convulsions throughout the cosmos, creating a new and most useless Chaos Power, would lead to a bit more humility, but you would be wrong.