Hungry Ghosts Headquarters: A Visit to Kastle Khorne, Part 1

Today we begin our journey into the full insanity that is the Legios Moriad XIV Expeditionary Force, and lear why so few Hungry Ghosts get completely painted- so many Space Dwarfs, so many conversions, so many vehicles, so much other weird bits of sci-fi funkiness, that distraction looms heavy, heavy on a mind that needs to find a special place for each and every little thing.

Like our mutant Scrunt to the side, Hungry Ghosts has a problem with self-reinforcing feedback loops that leave the floor covered in bits, and many a World War II documentary on the dvr unwatched (I saw them already anyway).

Now our visit to Hungry Ghosts Headquarters will show the extent of the madness.

Here we are on Level 1 of Kastle Khorne. This level holds all of the Hungry Ghosts troopers who have been fully painted. Plus their mascots and corpses, and various hangers-on. Like our loveable medical team, Doc-Bot KillMaim666-74445369 and Nurse Dammit Getoverhere, seen below.

Can Doc-Bot KillMaim666-74445369 feel our love for it?
His limbs are stained with those who asked that very question.

Do they look like they need a foot to you?

HG-HQ-Level 1 features the Hungry Ghosts Command Squad, its Squat Advisers, and non-Squat allies, such as Ambassador Lucifuge Redfinger von Khorne and Ghoti "Gravy" Chunckx, the Master of the Cuisinatorium. Redfinger will eventually play the role of Commander Creed if I ever actually finish an army list; Gravy Chunckx will continue to be entertaining fluff.

To review our forces, the Hungry Ghosts currently consist of:
General Jengiz Stalkarlik with his Command Squad and Advisers;
Battle-Brother "Badger" Machiner with his Venom-Whip;
most of a second Command Squad led by Col. Tony "Iron Beard" Schtarken;
2 squads of elite Storm Troopers, the Burnt Scorpions and the Black Frost;
our Hardened Veterans of the Blood Fist squad with their Termite transport;
the Thunder Chiefs Rough Riders (2 are not quite finished though);
and the Rotted Hearth Infantry Platoon under command of Captain Red Hister,
with the Black Stars and Iron Claws Special Weapons Teams,
the Miracle Workers Heavy Weapons squad,
and 2 of 4 planned Infantry Squads- the Blood Eagles and The Underdeepers.

The Rotted Hearth Platoon before the addition of the Iron Claws Special Weapons Team

Hungry Ghosts Level 2 is a crowded swarm of works-in-progress and units yet to be assembled and painted. We have our trio of Special Characters on the way-

Gunnery Sergeant Chikibi "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" Chhattisgarh

Captain Baast Aarde Winters

Colonel Tekja Ras-El-Dugmit

Level 2 also features the rest of the Rotted Hearth Platoon, including a second Heavy Weapons squad, the Lava Kings, composed entirely of freakish mutants. A preview of 4 are shown above. The Rotted Hearth will also grow with the addition of 2 Infantry Platoons, the Night Weasels and the Black Hands.

Adding more color to Level 2 is the River Bottom Nightmare Band, a Penal Legion led by Overlord Lobsang Wangdak and composed of assorted Ork and Human Mercenaries that I've had since the 1980s, plus some other rabble that we'll see more of later.

Level 2 also includes many other elements of the Hungry Ghosts. Crowding the shelf are Infantry Platoon 2, the Spectral Beards, including Command Squad, 2 Special Weapons Teams - the Last Dragons and the Steel Cobras, 2 Heavy Weapons Squads - the Terror Bears and The Red Dawn (taking the high terrain upon the Space Dwarfs Box), and 3 Infantry Squads - Captain Tweek's Rock-Eaters, the Bloody Beards, and The Raven Kings.

The Hungry Ghosts Dark Adeptus Mechanicus Wyrm Vulkaan and his Servitors (Epic Imperial Knights) are also to be seen, as well as a mix of sword-wielding loonies who will become Ministorium Priests, on the lower right side. Hiding on the left side rail are 7 of the 8 unreleased 40K 2nd Edition Squats. So, aside from a few exceptions to be seen soon, the Hungry Ghosts Army includes almost every Squat made, plus many converted Chaos Dwarfs and Imperial Dwarfs, assorted mercenaries and bots and troopers made entirely of bits.

Which means I had to create a 3rd Infantry Platoon with Space Dwarfs from other miniature manufacturers, who occupy most of the left side of HG-HQ-Level 2.

The Diamond Hards Platoon squadrons lurking on L2 are 5 Infantry Squads:
1. the Heresy Battle-Brothers, consisting of the Dwarf Miner from Heresy Miniatures and the 9 Space Dwarfs made by Harlequin Miniatures,
2. the Cold War Mountaineers, consisting of the 5 Space Dwarfs from Velard Miniatures of Moscow and 5 of the Fantastic Miniatures Space Dwarf Troopers and Heavy Weaponeers sculpted by Bob Olley,
3. the Black Reapers of the Highlands, consisting of a Dwarf Lord from Reaper Minis and 9 Highland Dwarf Fusileers from Black Tree Miniatures,
4. the WYLSMF Berzerkers, consisting of 5 of Bob Olleys Pirate Scrunts and 5 of his Fantastic Miniatures Berzerkers and a Heavy Weaponeer,
5. the Lords of Anarchy, consisting of 3 of Fenryll's Space Dwarfs and 7 of the Biker-style Space Dwarfs from Enigma Miniatures.

And slipped in another elite squad, the Warp Storm Troopers, including 7 of the Enigma Power-Armor Space Dwarfs and 3 of Fenryll's Power Armor Space Dwarf Mutants.

That's a lot of Squats. And other Space Dwarfs. Here are some ancient Chaos Terminators, Flesh Hounds, and converted Champion of Khorne, to cleanse the palate:

Tanks to Come!

Space Dwarfs beyond the Galactic Fringes: Enigma Minis Power Armor Dwarfs

Not content with imitating GW's motorcycle gang themed Squats, Enigma Minis also aspired to produce some Space Dwarfs in bulky power armor...called Marines. I guess the lawyers got them before they "discovered" Imperial Army Space Dwarfs with lasers.

Here we see what I think is one of each miniature from the Enigma Marines series, 1 Lord, 2 Heros, 1 regular Marine, and 3 with special weapons. Below is a comparison with our friendly neighborhood Standard Squat Servitor.

Bigger and chunkier, and not incredibly well cast or varied in design, but still better than those Bikers. Something about those little wings on the helmets and their round little bellies makes me think of Space Ducks. What follows is a brief review of the individual troopers.

This is the regular Space Dwarf Marine. As the picture shows, the SD Marine comes armed with a power axe that is supposed to be stuck into the hole in his left hand. A honking huge axe as big as the marine, artfully jutting out perpendicularly from the plane of the marine's body. The Inquisition records imply that very same strain of the stupid-pox that inspired these axes also afflicted Jes Goodwin the week he designed the Phoenix Lord Fuegan.

Note the machine pistol and prominent shoulder pads. Not even trying. Here he is from the back.

Next, one of the Heros. I'm not sure if they were given names by Enigma; we'll call him Mr Boom because he has a grenade in his left hand.

Mr Boom kind of has the pose of a bank robber who is threatening to blow himself up and take you all with him if the police don't let him out. Has the smell of one too, very strange.

Here he is from behind, in his "don't make me shoot my way out of here" pose, with an assist from the Armorcast tech wall segment's door.

The second Marine Hero, we'll call him Mr Itsallyourfault. His left arm is a separate piece, and that head's going to be a tight fit in his helmet.

Mr Itsallyourfault from behind, not sure how he gets the tangled ball of yarn look to his hair, but several Skaven have expressed their admiration.

Now comes the Marine Lord, we'll call him General Zod. He is going to shoot his way out of here regardless of what you do.

Zod's gun has more bullets than the rest of the dwarfs, so he gets to wear the magic cape.

Like the Marine Trooper, General Zod also came with a Power Axe of Perfect Perpendicularity, one far more elaborate and huge. It's broken because it is poorly designed and cast. Why so big? What inadequacy are they compensating for? Did they really find it in a Bloodthirster's garbage heap?

Enigma's special weapon marines, all the same pose, just different weapons. The round metal bases shown in the picture are the bases these minis originally came with, giving the appearance of the slotta-base while defeating the cost savings.

Comparison of what I think is the Meltagun Trooper with the S3 unit. The weapons are separate pieces that stick onto small spikes in the trooper's hands, the reverse of what was done with the axes.

Here are the special weapons bits all together. The top gun is a Plasma Gun and the bottom is a Grenade Launcher. They are strangely shaped and not very pretty to look at, nor is the casting of this trooper's legs.

That's about it for my collection of Enigma Space Dwarfs. There is also a vehicle called a Quad Bike that comes with a driver that I don't have. There are also 5 hero types called Heavy Dwarfs that have specific names of Scottish style.

In penitence for these short comings in my space dwarfs collection, here are some Paranoia Doc-Bots fixing up some injured Squats, while our Standard Squat Servitor lends some assistance.

Space Dwarfs beyond the Galactic Fringes: Enigma Minis Biker Dwarfs

It is already 20 July, and your Chaos Scribe has been busily painting and converting Chaos Squats. But we have reached the point where all the finished Hungry Ghosts have been discussed, while there are many more in progress. However, to conquer his self-imposed hurdle of 5 posts or more per month, your Chaos Scribe will take you on a tour of Space Dwarf miniatures from beyond the Citadel & Iron Claw Squats series. Then we will return to the new members of the Hungry Ghosts legion.

We will start with the first, and the worst. In the early 1990s a company named Enigma Miniatures produced a variety of chunky, heavy sci-fi gaming miniatures, some of which ran afoul of Games Workshop's intellectual property lawyers. Today, we look at the first Enigma subspecies.

You can see why GW had some issues with these: out of a universe of possibilities for Space Dwarf designs, they go for beardy little space bikers. These guys are made of a harder metal than Citadel, chunky and prone to scratches. Compare them to our Standard Squat Servitor (aka the S3 unit):

There is our S3 on the right, smaller, thinner, less round, and more detailed. Here are some closer photos at the Enigma biker-style space dwarfs.

These are the 5322 series Space Dwarfs with Power Gloves. Back view is below.


Below are the 5321 Series Space Dwarfs with Shotguns and Bulletproof Jackets.

Next are the 5320 Space Dwarfs with Flamer and Blaster.


Finally for the bikers series, what I believe are the 5323 or 4 Space Dwarfs with Rocket Launchers or Heavy Bolters, but without the weapons. Front:

Back

Finally, one more comparison to our S3 Unit to illustrate scale:
These guys are just too ugly and too unimaginative to bother painting.