Fluffenhammer Community - Homebrew Hobbying

The call went out a few weeks back for the community to talk about the various head-cannon lore and stories that spin out of building your armies. The narrative drive is always going to be the engine that fuels my hobby time, and creating stories for the games we play is always going to be a fun way of spending time. Whilst we await the Fluffers to drop in more of The Good Stuff, I thought I’d take the time to display my pre-Votann Squats force.

The Roboktonn Conclave are first and foremost, Tyranid hunters and exterminators. After the system they had colonised for mining was utterly ruined by that ever-ravenous Xenos race, the survivors of Golrikstone’s System regrouped into whatever space-worthy vessels could fly and began the long process of chasing the splinter Hive Fleet “Thullu”, skirmishing every closer with as close to constant whittling attacks as could be made. Gridnstord Roboktonn, the head of the fleet and Ghrim Heir to his people, refuses to acknowledge any other outcome other than the utter decimantion of wither, or indeed both, of these forces. Of course, lfe in the 42st Millenium is never so simple, and along the slow trickling death of the Tyranid forces, The Roboktonn Fleet has had to deal with Ork Rokks, Genestealer Cultist infilatrators and an enraged Ambull that was sleeping in a Space Hulk that was scoured for parts.

Over time, distinct personalities began to emerge from the various ships within the fleet as the chase continued. The Skyboarders of the Tryptititan, The Tank-Forges of The Irunhilde, the Speeders of Bhlurrian’s Folly. Each took on the passions and obsessions that are inbuilt to the Squat race, focussing on a single train of thought and expanding outwards to create technologies and weapons of every increasing volatile violence. Creations like Big Bertha (named after Chief Forgebuilder Isengar Brahwl’s mother) became commonplace in the Roboktonn Forces., dealing out destruction in a manner the Imperium watched with envious eyes.

Gridnstord was horrendously injured whilst driving the final blow to the Pirate Nob Grakka Sharkebit, and had to be installed in the Honoured Ancestor construction which allowed him to both remain as Fleet Commander, as well as take to the battlefield in a very durable form. His eldest son, Sharac, who had taken the mantle of Hi-Techologist became the carer for this new body, and followed his father (and smartly, the Hearthguard that followed them both) to make sure the Ironskin body was kept in the most serviceable (and murderous) manner possible. The Imperium have questions about how much organic material is left in Gridnstord’s new form, as Imperial Inquisitors have noticed Automina troops have entered the ranks and have concerns about the Squats having Abominable Intelligence. The Squats of course, have not allowed any secrets to fall from the fleet, not any agents of the Imperium to enter. It is not for them to judge, nor speak about after all. Guild Master Tobelchek of The Metraplek Has often responded to the Human race by suggestions of a trade. An allowance of agents to come into the fleet in exhance for troops and weaponry to help the Grand Scouring of the Tyranids. So far, no answer has been forthcoming, and distrust of the Imperial Allies is growing. It is with the Tau that the rugged Squats have managed to find common ground however, passing various concepts and designs back and forth under the Demiurg Accord. This allows the Roboktonn fleet to dock at Tau outposts for repairs and resupply (in small measure do to the forty or so ships of the Fleet being much too large for the average Tau outpost to deal with) with some, aged and tired members electing to stay at such places to upgrade the outposts for return visits by the fleet.

However, further horror was visted upon the Roboktonn in the form of the Genskine Curse. The world of Genskine was a solid victory over the Tyranids, as the Fleet were able to arrive before Hive Fleet Thullu, and set up a blockade, burning large amounts of the organic ships on entry into the system. What managed to land was bombarded into dust over the course of a week, with fewer than a million human causalities. It was also a world with a strong Tzeenchian Cult at it’s centre, and the sheer arrogance of the Squats in the disruption of magical properties of the world caused The Many Eyed Lords to conjour a punishment most foul. The Roboktonn took ores and metals as payment for saving the world, and over time, that cursed payment wrought changes of some members of the Squats, causing skin to harden, and the need for Honoured Ancestor suits to allow them to continue to have use. These are the majority that stay in the Tau stations, locked in servosuits to better serve the Grim Heir for the future.

To this day, The Roboktonn still hunt the Tyranid. Hive Fleet Thullu may have been wiped from the Galaxy, but more remain, and Gridnstord has the time, will and need to bring the hammer down on all that crawls forth from the Bio-Vats

The Hearthguard

First and foremost, I wanted the Hearthguard to look unwieldy and somewhat, well, ridiculous. Terminators in a shorter scale that had some of the Exo-Chickens from the Fifth Element. Dumb, but brutal.

How well that came across, I leave to you to decide.

The Skyboarders

There is, somewhere back in the mists of time, a piece of artwork of a Squat holding a surfboard. That is, without any doubt, the reason I went down this path. The only reason.

The “energy blasts” came from some transformers figures I bought for dirt cheap, mostly for tech-looking-parts, but then my 2 year old son stole them and they live in his Scooby Doo Mystery van now. The boards were built from plasticard with gribbles from the bitzbox of all shapes and sizes. I planned to run these guys as Jump Back Assault marines, but never managed to get a build that worked as well as I hoped.

The Big Bertha

I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I wanted something that resembled the old Super Heavy Tanks of EPIC!. As much as trying to recreate the Levathian or the Cyclops appealed, I felt I had to go smaller. As a result, Big Bertha was born!

Bertha was built from a leftover Rhino and Leman Russ, with plasticard and gribbles from the bits box filling in all the seams. I was reminded of the second of the Cybertron games from High Moon Studios during the build, and how they spoke about some vehicle moods being “a fast, armoured fist”. This was more than likely in the forefront of my mind when adding in the plates upon plates of armour.

The Troops

I very much considered the old quilted flak jacket, sculpted over the Kharadron Overlord bodies. The heads mostly came from Ramshackle Games with some 3D printed parts to add variation throughout the units

I very much decided early on to go for white beards all round, as a way to signify these fellas are all of a certain age, and spend the majority of their lives in spaceships chasing down the Tyranid fleets.

Everything from Space Marin bionic arms to Imperial Guard boots to Ork Bitz went into the creation of these units. On the field, they run as Firstborn Marines with an inch removed for movement. I ran them once as Dethskull Orks, and whilst fun, it didn’t work as well as I would have liked. Though, they did demolish a Tyranid force in three turns.

Which was nice for them.

The Longrange League

The Honoured Ancestor

The Biker Brotherhood

The Fasttrak

This ugly beauty was built from a Repressor with Leman Russ tracks. and then, as usual, plasticard and gribbles.

A lot of plasticard.

I do adore how this one came out. The idea of a fast moving, turbo charged super-quick rocket-engine tank firing row after row of misslile appeals to some childlike wonder part of me. You can’t see some of them in the gallery, but there are over thirty missiles ready to fire.

And The Rest