Warhammer 40K: The Old School Squat Armylist
Where did the Squats originally come from? Let’s take a look at their old school minis and armylists! It’s the history of the Squats!
Leagues of Votann are back in Warhammer 40K for good. But they were gone for a LONG time. The last time the Squats got a full army release was circa 1993. Almost thirty years later Games Workshop has finally tossed the Squat Clock in the dumpster and brought them back from the dead…but there were a lot of hints and glimpses along the way. Let’s go through the history books.
All oldie, but a goodie…
Leagues of Votann
It took thirty years, but finally GW did return the Squats to us as the newly imagined Leagues of Votann in 2022. They came back with all kinds of new lore wrinkles such as AIs, Cloning, living in the galactic core, and more. They have a very different aesthetic than anything else in the 40K universe, being high tech, but not in that Japanime T’au way. However they still had some callbacks to their original Squat heritage in the miniature range. Here’s just a small sample of what we got a couple years back:
Necromunda – The “kinda” Return of the Squats
These Squat Mercs were released for Necromunda back in 2018. The squats have slowly but surely been trickling into Necromunda since the full army release. That’s all GW had teased to the community as proof the Squats were even canon, besides some vague teasers in lore. We hadn’t had a verified Squat sighting in a long time. Then on April 1, 2022 this happened:
Keep in mind that was “April Fools” — which had a lot of fan wondering if this was all an elaborate ruse from GW…but that’s another topic. Anyhow, Squats used to be a full army way back in the day. Today, we’re taking a closer look at what they used to be.
Meet The Stunties of 1987
The Squats were originally mentioned at length with multiple pieces of artwork in the Rogue Trader hardback that kicked off Warhammer 40,000 all the way back in 1987.
They made an early splash and had a decent range of miniatures in those early days of the Grimdark. Here is a color plate of sample Squat Brotherhoods from Book of the Astronomican in 1988.
Let’s fast forward to 1993 and take a look at the Squat range at that time, once it had some time to grow. It was a very different world with GW rapidly expanding their early 40K plastic kits and ranges. Take a look at this early spread to get an idea of the game’s factions and major kits six years after it launched.
Who still has some of these kits on the tabletop?
Onto The Squats
Here we see two major ranges of the early figures. Up top are the older minis that are fully metal, including the multi-part exo-armor ones (a Squat analog to Terminator armor). Down below we see the hybrid kits that came with the main metal body. Included a sprue of squat arms and plastic weapons in each blister — more on those sprues below. You can say one thing about Squats: they certainly had distinctive headgear. Check out “Pirate”!
Now we move onto the bikes and heavy weapons. Note the bike with multi-melta which was the Squat’s version of the early Ork buggy and the Marine attack bike. There are also exo-armor bikes for some heavy armor and speed. These bikers would be reimagined as Leagues of Votann Hernkyn Pioneers decades later. Below are the heavy weapons that would fall into disuse once the plastic heavy bolters and las-cannons from the Imperial Army sprues became widespread. They would be reinvented as Thunderkyn in the new Leagues of Votann list.
Next, we hit the big central kit needed to build your squat army: the Space Dwarfs plastic box. This box gave you 36 bodies and a ton of the arm and weapon sprues. This was the bread and butter of putting together your Brotherhood and then rounding it out with the metal models for the specialists.
Some close-ups of the plastic arm and weapon sprues. The weapon sprue was shared with the early Imperial Army range. Take a close look hobbyists and modern Cadian lovers – that is what the early gamers of the Grimdark think a lasgun/laspistol should look like.
The OG Squat Armylist
Squat Rogue Trader Armylist sample
Rogue Trader
The most shocking part of the demise of the squats was that they were a full-fledged faction in Rogue Trader. They received many miniatures, background, full army lists, and plenty of attention. They were just as much a part of the universe as say T’au Empire or Necrons are today. Squats had some of the most evocative artwork in the game. Here a couple of classic Paul Bonner pieces:
Squat 2nd Edition Armylist sample
Squats in 2nd Edition – 1993
The Squats made a short (no pun intended) appearance in the racial background section of the core 40K rulebook. They would appear referenced in other factions’ codices yet never received one of their own. The writing was on the wall.
Squats in EPIC
Strangely while the Squats were waning fast in 28mm 40K, they were growing and thriving in EPIC where they finally grew into a distinctive force at 6mm. GW designers would say that EPIC offered the scale and “breathing room” that let the Squats really shine. Their army was slow, but emphasized extreme toughness, high firepower and had battlefield morale that would make a Space Marine blush. You had to kill almost every single Squat in a formation before they would even consider running.
Then, of course, you have to factor the incredible “Rule of Cool” power of things like the Land Train, Overlord Airship and the giant Goliath Mega-Cannons. There were simply an amazing faction in EPIC! Hopefully some of these will return in time via Forge World.
A glorious Squat army in EPIC circa 1992
3rd Edition – 1998
The Squats made no appearance in the core rulebook and were never seen again, apocryphally eaten by the Tyranids – until their shocking 2018 Necromunda return – and triumphal return at Leagues of Votann in 2022. It’s been a whirlwind ride for the Squats!
~Any other “Lost Races” you want to see return to 40K – and tell me why it’s Kroot Mercenaries.
