Sailing the Astral Seas - Squat Pirates

Over the years I have mentally ordered squats according to their coolness. I was never keen on the faux Celtic/Viking feel of the Warlord and Hearthguard, so they're at the bottom of the scale. I love the wildly exotic Iron Claw squats from the hand of Bob Olley, where the ordered militariness of Perry sculpts leaves me cold. But squat adventurers are great (because they're rogues and bandits, and I like rogues and bandits). 

Top of the pile in my book are the bonkers and anarchic squat pirates. They're dripping with pirate clichés (peg legs, fancy hats and hooks). Why any short statured space pirates should be wearing outfits that ape buccaneer clothing from the 17th and 18th centuries is anyone's guess. But then it makes as much sense as Ork Freebooters sporting the styles. Which is no sense at all, but also absolutely perfectly logical!

So I'm launching on a new project without any real purpose other than self-amusement, and am putting together a squat pirate crew which hopefully will be painted over the next month or so.

The first three models that I've tackled are from a sub-group of six squat pirates that I converted around about 18 months ago. Unfortunately I didn't take proper WIP pics of them, but five of the six figures are shown below in their unpainted states.

Of the five shown, four are uncatalogued squat pirates sculpted (I think with 99% certainty) by Colin Dixon. I added a selection of hands or arms and sculpted additional details to suit the models. I'm particularly happy with how the coat of the captain came out.

The pistol wielding hook-handed squat is actually a pre-slotta dwarf. I replaced his right arm using a plastic squat hand and laspistol, sculpting the bare arm over a short length of wire.

The original dwarf - perfect for a squat pirate makeover.

The Dreadstorm Privateers led by Captain Grugari Whitebrow are feared by the crews of cargo haulers and civilian transports throughout the Latief Cluster and the Prembrian Nebula. Their fast and heavily-armed cutters can easily overhaul sluggish transports, and the squat pirate crew are notorious for their fearsome appearance and brutal retaliation where captains refuse to surrender.

Captain Grugari Whitebrow.

Billan the cabin-hand.

Bosun Mitrug.

Lots more to come with this project (if looking at my shelf full of WIPs is anything to indicate!). Hopefully in a few weeks, the crew will be significantly larger than the trio below.