Squat If

Dwarves, but space?

When Rogue Trader first appeared, it was pretty clearly a Fantasy Armies But In The Future game. Most if not all of the already-established Warhammer races were there. Men were obviously the Imperium, Elves became Eldar, Halflings turned into Ratlings, and the Dwarves became the Squats. 

Sometime later, GW decided that Squats were history. From having a decent (if now rather dated) product line, they became an unfortunate footnote in the annals of 40K. Officially, Tyranids overran and consumed their homeworlds, and that was it for them. 

Unofficially, GW didn't feel that Dwarves were a good fit for 40K - too derivative (not that it stopped them in Fantasy) and too much of a straight lift. They were still ork-hating, beer-swilling miners, and if they had guns instead of crossbows and the word 'power' stuck to their axes, well, it wasn't quite enough to satisfy Jervis Johnson and other design team noteworthies.

But what if? What if the rumours that those mysterious T'au allies, humanoid miners called Demiurg, are really the paltry survivors of the Squats? 

Or what if the supposed leaked release schedule on Chainsword and Bolter, that suggests that Squats are coming back, is true?

Lions ate him?

Aren't You A Little Short to be a Stormtrooper?

That GW distaste for the original Squats is probably fair enough. They weren't terribly distinct in terms of lore, and even the name doesn't do them any favours. It's not exactly redolent of epic derring-do and grimdark ferocity, somehow. Plus the Space Wolves have kind of taken over the whole Norse Runic Saga side of things. 

The original Squat army basically gave you slightly tougher Imperial Guardsmen (indeed, the original models had the same weapon sprues, lasguns and heavy bolters, as the Guard had). Not too pricey, but not exactly well-equipped. Better in melee, but not really tooled for it. 

So their 40K lineup wasn't terribly distinct from the Guard, who they were often depicted as allied with or fighting alongside. Despite that, they have got a certain cache with gamers of a certain age. You only need to look at recent models from (for example) Atlantic Wargames or Hardcore Miniatures (or even GW themselves, not to mention the Kharadron Overlords!) to see that there's a market for them. Proxied into a Guard Army isn't the most uncommon way of finding them now.

They did have bikes, though. And they had heavily armoured characters and bodyguard squads, and they had unexpected psykers in the form of their Living Ancestors. Tons of cool armoured vehicles, too, but only in the Epic 40K line. 

All that right there? Surely that's enough to prove that GW are bringing them back with an original, all-new army list, right? 

How might it look? This is my brief attempt to once more peer into the future and see what's coming. 

Swarthy and Dwarthy

Keeping them fairly unchanged from their origins isn't really the biggest issue. Take away their stoic grumpiness, beard obsessions, hatred for Orks and beer and they aren't really dwarves, but I'm quite willing to be impressed by whatever clever fluff replaces it. Probably out for revenge, one might imagine? +1 to hit Jervis Johnson?

The bigger issue is probably making them unique on the tabletop. An army with something 40K doesn't already have is tricky. Guard have solid lines of light troops and heavy tanks. Necrons and Space Marines have armoured elites who don't yield in the face of great odds. Genestealer Cults have all the mining equipment. What's left for the Nu-Squats?

Personally, I'd give them bikes. 

Bikes as a troops option is something I don't think is around elsewhere for 40k. Maybe even grav bikers - not as fast as other races, maybe, something in the 8" range. Tougher to make up for it, good armour, multi-wounds, of course, and variants tooled for ranged or close combat work to give you some options.

The big forked easy rider look would be a solid pick, and packs of those would be a very distinct look on the table. If the Squats these days only travel in their huge, hermetically-sealed and armoured Land Trains, disdaining to set actual foot on the feeble soil of other worlds, you've also got a lore point to build on. Not dissimilar to the Kharadron Overlords, I guess, but I don't think that's a bad thing - crossover players who like their lore might buy in, plus the conversion compatibility would be nice.

If you really want non-vehicular troops, you've got cheaper groups of infantry with decent toughness, high Ld, maybe good armour too (riot shields could make for a Dwarven shieldwall look), with weapons that might not be exceptional (I'm thinking shotgun-style assault stuff and of course axes) but aren't going to be a pushover. Melee-oriented Scion equivalents, I guess, if I needed a shorthand. 

They were from high gravity worlds, back in the day. Grav weaponry could be their go-to for heavy and specials - good against high armour targets. Maybe Grav Grenades to slow down chargers, strats to slow down or fiddle with your opponent's movement. Maybe even bring back Mole Mortars and Thudd Guns!

HQ choices? Well, some kind of Guild Master or Clan Chieftan for your go-to fighty character, and the Living Ancestor for a psyker (with their own discipline, of course). All with the options to be bike mounted. Lieutenant equivalents - Engineers to boost and repair vehicles, Clan Leaders to boost the line, maybe some kind of medic with healing booze. 

The old Exo-Heathguard go in Elites, along with whatever minor psykers, engineers, bannermen and such you fancy. Fast attack gives you the Heavy Weapons Trikers, maybe some Gyrocopter type gun skimmers, deep-striking mining drills and the like.

Vehicles all come in the Heavy Support section, and maybe the army gets some kind of bonus in terms of Detachment composition here, like a few extra slots. A Land Train, of course, with various kinds of carriages that bring either ranged firepower, artillery or transport capacity (even for smaller vehicles and bikes, because driving into the back of a moving lorry like Knight Rider did is clinically proven to be cool). If you shoot away the main engine, the rest keeps coming but slows down - but maybe you'd rather blow off the back carriages to reduce its firepower?

The bigger tanks (Cyclops or Colossus) could be scaled down a little if you don't want to go full Lord of War with them. Overlord Airships and Blimps for Flyers, maybe a Goliath Mega-Cannon in there somewhere. Have I missed anything?

Oh - rules that give bonuses against Orks and Tyranids, of course - rerolls or resistance to morale in some way. And maybe bonuses when they're outnumbered too. Or maybe that's not interesting enough - something like the buff and debuff that Eldar have against Slaanesh, so they fight like hell but they're also scared of losing what little they have left. If they do have foot troops, they might have quite low Ld to reflect wanting to get back in the van asap. 

Even if they are Xenos, perhaps some kind of way of allying with either Imperium if you missed the good old days or T'au if not, or some kind of implacable hatred of both their once-allies for being beardless. That's Grimdark enough. 

See, I reckon there's a place for them in 40K. Not as slow as they once were, not very numerous but extremely determined to reclaim a part of the universe for their own. Blocky brutalism in their design ethos, plus armoured beards. Tell me you won't be tempted to buy in when they return?