What does Veeky Forums think of Space Dwarfs?

>They didn't offer anything different from the Imperium besides being short

Their "thing" was massive siege engines....which couldn't be fielded in 40k.

They also did technology well, not being retarded but like the dwarf engineers guild they did it reliably but without innovation.

Still better than the autistic martians

Those beardless ones are called brokkrs. They are considered to be weirdos anyway.

>Space Dwarfs
meh
I like 'staches and beards, I guess?

>Squats
It digged the pionner aspect, the bikers, the constant struggle against the orks, the desertic planets.
The repurposing of civilian tech to go to war.
The engineer guilds/living ancestors/fortresses reminding me of some sort of soft mafia.
In the end, I feel like it was the most american faction.

>without innovation
They invented warp fission, though.

squats are a symbol of what made gw great during it's peak in the 80s-90s.

a friend had a squat army back then, one of the aesomest units he had were surfer dudes on hover boards.

And bikes and trikes! That silly manoeuvre where they do a 180 degree turn, pointing their rear-facing gun at the enemy, was pretty fun. Gimmicky, but fun.

Feels like the Squats mostly got killed off because, once you take away the few things they had that were unique, they occupied the same sort of design space as the Imperial Guard. The changes to the game in third edition (forever may it be cursed, etc. etc.) covered the coffin they were shoved into in second edition in concrete.

That and the models were kinda goofy looking.

>2004 forum post by Jervis Johnson

I know I shouldn't get drawn on this... but... can't... resist

Seriously, a couple of points just so you can have an informed debate based on the real reasons that Squats are no longer available. Be warned, it is going to be hard reading for people that like the Squat background.

First of all, Squats were *not* dropped because they were not selling well. There were then, and are now, plenty of other figure ranges that sell in the sort of % quantities that the Squats pulled down, especially when you look across all of the ranges produced by GW rather than just those for 40K.

No, the reason that the Squats were dropped was because the creatives in the Studio (people like me, Rick, Andy C, Gav etc) felt that we had failed to do the Dwarf 'archetype' justice in its 40K incarnation. From the name of the race (Squats - what *were* we thinking?!?!) through to the short bikers motif, we had managed to turn what was a proud and noble race in Warhammer and the other literary forms where the archetype exists, into a joke race in 40K. We only fully realized what we had done when we were working on the 2nd edition of 40K. Try as we might, we just couldn't work up much enthusiasm for the Squats. The mistake we made then (deeply regretted since) was to leave them in the background and the 'get you by' army list book that appeared. With hindsight, we should have dropped the Squats back then, and saved ourselves a lot of grief later on.

1/3

Anyway, the Squats made it into 2nd edition, and since we were doing army books for each of the races, we started to try and figure out what to do with them. Unfortunately we just couldn't figure out a way to update them and get them to work that we felt was good enough. The 'art' of working on an army as a designer is to find the thing that you think is cool and exciting about an army, and work it up into a strong theme. This 'muse' didn't strike any of us, and so, rather than bring out a second-rate product simply re-hashing the old background, we kept doing other army books instead, with stuff we did feel inspired by.

Now, while this was all going on for 40K, we were actually doing some rather good stuff for the Squats in Epic. On this scale there was a natural tendency to focus on the big 'hand-made' war machines the Squat artisans produced, and this created an army with a feel that was very different to the biker hordes in 40K. However, this tended to reinforce the problems we saw in the Squat background rather than alleviate them, underlining what we *should* have done with the Squats in 40K.

In the end (and it took years to really get to the roots of the problem) this led to a realisation that we were going to have to drop the Squats in their 'Squat' form from the 40K background. There was little point having a major race that we weren't willing to make an army book for, and their inclusion in the background meant that people kept asking us when we'd do a Squat Codex. Instead we decided that we'd write the Squats out of the background by saying that their Homworlds had been devoured by a Tyranid Hivefleet. This would give us the option in the future to return to making a race based on the Squat archetype for 40K. This race was given the name of Demiurg, and a certain amount of preliminary work was done to get a 'feel' for what the race would be like. At present the only hint of the Demiurg in 40K is the Demiurg spaceship for BFG.

(3/3)
However, we do have this race 'in our back pocket' as a possible new race for 40K, or an interesting character model in Inquisitor, or whatever. So far the Demiurg have lost out to other projects, and it may be that their time never actually comes, as they will have to win through on their merits, not simply because we once made some Squat models in the past. At present, I have to say that it is more likely that they *don't* make the cut than do, as there is a certain prejudice these days to simply taking races from Warhammer and cross them over to 40K like we did in the early days, so it may be that the Squats/Demiurg end up remaining a footnote in the history of the 40K galaxy. Only time will tell...

I'll finish off by saying that whatever we decide to do 'officially', there is nothing stopping players with Squat armies from using them, either in Epic or 40k for that matter. There is no GW 'rule' against using old Citadel Miniatures, as long as you use them with existing army lists and in a way that won't cause confusion for other players. I recommend taking a positive stand by saying "Have you seen these cool old models? They're called the Squats and GW used to make them back in the late eighties/early nineties. I love 'em, so I count them as Imperial Guard and use them with the current rules..." Put like this I can't imagine that anyone would stop you from using your army.

Best regards,

Jervis Johnson
Head Fanatic

Logically, people engineered to be small make more sense for space exploration, and for combat in near-future where low-profile is more important than being intimidating.

If I were to reboot the Squats, I'd make them a faction of fleet bound space miner abhumans, that have no homeworld, and only exit in various, rag tag fleets and in fortress like space stations that orbit lonely suns.
I'd make them a faction whose origins is in the Dark Age of Technology, and who possess poorly understood powerful technology, but extremely few numbers. Unlike the admech, who have the whole tech cult, the space dwarfs/squats/whatever wouldn't really worship technology in itself, however they would still revere it to some degree. Because of countless generations of living in space, being able to maintain, and sometimes, jury rig technology that is keeping them alive, they would have a very pragmatic view of technology, willing to adapt it into new functions, change it (to the best of their abilities), and even adopt alien technologies, if they get them working.

Army wise, I'd make them be generally powerful, but few in number and slow to move. Basic infantry would be squat guys in armored space suits, with powerful weaponized mining tools, like laser cutters, explosive launchers, drills etc. Think marine equivalent armor, but less mobility. Maybe give them all slow and purposeful by default. Some elite infantry could be jetback units, for more mobility (space suits with jetbacks), and even heavier space suits, equipped with heavy weapons, like massive laser cannons (for cutting up asteroids etc).
They would also wield a lot of remotely piloted weaponized mining robots (no AI), as their heavy support units, which would fill the role of their tanks for the most part. They wouldn't have wheeled vehicles so if the vehicle in question doesn't have legs, it would fly instead. Their transport unit would be a some sort of orbital VTOL landers, evolved from vehicles intended to scout large asteroids, and deliver mining crew on site.

Aesthetic wise, they would be rather bulky, heavily industrialized looking, with a lot of ducktape keeping it all together.

As of 6e Squats were canon again, they were still butt fucked by Tyranids though. So now there are two races of space dwarfs, one human and one alien (Demiurg). This could be a good rivalry.

>didn't fit
Given how little was set into stone & how Necrons used to be Chaos Androids, I question how they couldn't be adapted.

>Necrons used to be Chaos Androids
Metal skeletons aren't unique. Chaos Androids are made by Chaos Squats, and are daemon engines.

Neither are space bugs, Elves, etc. The Necrons used to be something very different. Many things were different. If changes like that & Oldcrons to Newcrons were allowed, I see no reason to why the Squats can't have something similar.

I like the Squats, I was just saying. By all means, give them and Chaos Squats a revamp.

They need a revamp. I'm surprised that the Tyranids didn't provide an opportunity for a revamp. It can easily be seen as an excuse to literally destroy the old & have the survivors do their own grimdark thing to survive.

I like to think that the fleet sent to "help" the squats after the nids were there showed up in system, scanned the surface for structures, and went "whelp, nothing left. Poor bastards" and left. Not aware, or not caring that squats build subterranean holds...

Some more ideas, because I got nothing better to do.

Squat Miner (infantry)
Bs 3 Ws 3 S 3 T 3 W1 I 2 A 1 Ld 8 Sv 3+

Special Rules:
Stubborn, Relentless

Basic weapon:
Laser cutter
Range 24'' Strength 5 AP 4 Rapid Fire
>Weaponized handheld mining laser intended for cutting off ore.

Specialist weapons:
Stake Launcher
Range 18'' Strength 6 AP 3 Rapid Fire
Concussive, Armorbane
>Weaponized handheld mining tool, that launches steel tipped stake like rods, filled with explosives, which embed themselves at targets, and detonate on command.

Mining Laser
Range 30" Strength 9 AP 2 Heavy 1
Lance
>Heavy mining tool, intended for cutting trough the surface of asteroids

Heavy Stake Launcher
Range 24" Strength 6 Ap 3 Salvo 2/3
Concussive, Armorbane
>A larger version of the stake launcher, that can launch it's charges at greater power.

Pistols:
Stake Pistol
Range 12"
Strenght 6 Ap3 Pistol
Concussive, Armorbane
>Smallest type of Stake launchers.

Plasma Torch
Range 12" Strenght 8 Ap 2 Pistol
Melta, Gets Hot
>Handheld mining tool intended for melting trough hardy obstacles.

Melee weapons:

Power Pick
S+1 AP 3 Melee
Unwieldy
>The mainstay mining tool for extracting ore.

Power Hammer
S+2 Ap2 Melee
Specialist weapon, Concussive, Unwieldy
>Blunt mining tool intended for smashing apart hardy obstacles.

Power Drill
S+4 Ap1 Melee
Specialist Weapon, Unwieldy, Armorbane, Two Handed
>Heavy mining tool used to drill trough even the strongest layers of rock.

Power Fist
Sx2 AP 2
Specialist Weapon, Unwieldy
>A mechanized gauntlet sheathed in an energized field. Useful for handling molten substances. Can be used to smash apart obstacles as well.

Gear:
Armored mining suit (3+ sv)
Blasting Charges (krak granades)

For every 10 models in a squad, 3 models can replace their Laser Cutters with either Specialist weapons, or with a Pistol weapon and a Melee weapon (or only a melee weapon, in the case of the Power Drill.)

these are cool ideas user. Deathwatch overkill has a statline for weaponized mining lasers, and lascutters are an actual weapon from horus heresy book 1.

I could see them making a unreasonably extensive use of demolition charges...

>They would also wield a lot of remotely piloted weaponized mining robots (no AI)
They could have basic drones as troops since their are low in numbers.
Also, maybe they could have AI. Very rare non-Men of Iron AI that serve as knowledge keeper. Would explain their distance from the Imperium. Dwarves have old grudge books, they have robot-datatellers

Thanks m8. I just got inspired by imagining a militarized force of asteroid miners.
Here are a bunch of other ideas.

Prospectors (Jetpack infantry)
Bs 3 Ws 3 S 3 T 3 W1 I 2 A 1 Ld 8 Sv 4+
Stubborn, Scout

Donning lightly armored space suits, to compensate for the added weight of their thruster-packs which have been modified to work in planetary gravity wells, the Prospector Squads form the mobile vanguard of the Squat forces.

Basic Weapon:
Laser Cutter

Gear:
Thruster suit, blasting charges.

Options:
For every 5 members of the squad, 2 members may exchange their Stake Launcher for a Specialist Weapon, or for Melee weapons and a pistol. May buy meltabombs.

Demolishers (Jetpack infantry)
Bs 4 Ws 3 S 4 T 3 W1 I 2 A 1 Ld 8 Sv 3+
Stubborn, Split Fire

Demolisher squads are equipped with heavy combat exosceletons, that incorporate both powerful thrusters, as well as mechanized weapon rigs, that allow them to wield additional weaponry with ease. They also utilize compact, targeting matrixes installed into their suits allow them to co-ordinate their firepower to great effect. They are hard hitting forces that strike at the heart of the enemy with devastating firepower.

Basic Weapon:
Twin Linked Laser Cutter

Gear:
Thruster suit, Weapon Rig, (confers twin linked to any shooting weapon equipped by the unit.), Targeting matrix, blasting charges.

Options: Every member of the squad may exchange their TL laser cutters for specialist weapons, or melee weapons, can buy melta bombs, and hunter seeker missiles.

Those are pretty good ideas. I actually sorta agree on them having some AI, though probably not completely sentient. Some sort of data cataloging, and processing computers, that the Squats nearly revere due to them keeping the ancient lore of their people.

Thanks m8. I just got inspired by imagining a militarized force of asteroid miners.
Here are a bunch of other ideas.

Prospectors (Jetpack infantry)
Bs 3 Ws 3 S 3 T 3 W1 I 2 A 1 Ld 8 Sv 4+
Stubborn, Scout

Donning lightly armored space suits, to compensate for the added weight of their thruster-packs which have been modified to work in planetary gravity wells, the Prospector Squads form the mobile vanguard of the Squat forces.

Basic Weapon:
Laser Cutter

Gear:
Thruster suit, blasting charges.

Options:
For every 5 members of the squad, 2 members may exchange their Stake Launcher for a Specialist Weapon, or for Melee weapons and a pistol. May buy meltabombs.

Demolishers (Jetpack infantry)
Bs 4 Ws 3 S 4 T 4 W1 I 2 A 1 Ld 8 Sv 3+
Stubborn, Split Fire

Demolisher squads are equipped with heavy combat exosceletons, that incorporate both powerful thrusters, as well as mechanized weapon rigs, that allow them to wield additional weaponry with ease. They also utilize compact, targeting matrixes installed into their suits allow them to co-ordinate their firepower to great effect. They are hard hitting forces that strike at the heart of the enemy with devastating firepower.

Basic Weapon:
Twin Linked Laser Cutter

Gear:
Demolisher suit sv+3 (confers twin linked to any shooting weapon equipped by the unit.), Targeting matrix (grants split fire), blasting charges.

Options: Every member of the squad may exchange their TL laser cutters for specialist weapons, or melee weapons, can buy melta bombs, and hunter seeker missiles.

Those are pretty good ideas. I actually sorta agree on them having some AI, though probably not completely sentient. Some sort of data cataloging, and processing computers, that the Squats nearly revere due to them keeping the ancient lore of their people.

I can tell you came to the hobby long after Rogue Trader. 40K was gonzo and silly in those days. The whole damn setting was contrived Warhammer fantasy battle in spaaaace.

I say definitely some A.I. in secret. There Squats were here before A.I. was declared abominable intelligence.

As each elder squat is about to pass away, their memories are scanned and uploaded into the central intelligence matrix. This matrix is an AI which passes on the wisdom of their forefathers and makes sure no grudge is forgotten... Of course, no-one alive remembers WHY these grudges exist, but there must be a good reason, right?

An idea for a drone unit. Probably an Elite, or a Fast attack choice though.

Spider Drone (beast)
BS 2 WS 3 S 3 T 4 W 1 I 4 A 2 Ld 7 Sv 4+

Compact, mining and asteroid survey drones, directed remotely by Squat operators, and by their own simplistic mechanical minds, the Spider Drones are one of the type of mechanical constructs the Squats use to supplement their low numbers. Their arachnid like body allows them to rapidly move across nearly all obstacles, and find their way into the midst of the enemy, where they can sow terror.

Shred, Feel no Pain.

Weapons:
2x Mechanical Claws.
S+1 Ap 5 Melee
Rending.

Compact Laser Cutter
S 4 AP 4 Pistol

Options:
May Exchange Mechanical Claws for a pair of power claws, which have the following profile
Sx2 AP 2 Melee
Unwieldy, Armorbane
May Exchange Compact Laser Cutter for a plasma torch.

I love these ideas.

Fits well with them, and would actually make them decently culturally distinct from Imperium and Admech. For the Squats, the AI represents their ancestors, and history, which dates way before the age of the Imperium.

Should have added that the Demolisher suits allows one to wield two melee weapons. Two Power Drills, for maximum Drilling.

I say that Squats should have more emphasis on machines or robot-Squats they control through some brain implant which allows them to see what the machines do. It'd not only be an increase their numbers but also an anti-Tyranid countermeasure & useful in mining. Older & higher ranking Squats have more experience commanding machines. Young Squats can only command a squad's worth or one tank at best, millennia-old ones can command armies & override control from younger ones if needed.

That's a good point.
You could have so that the majority of Squat troops are actually robotic drones, that, while inferior to actual Squats themselves, would be far more numerous/expendable.
The flesh and blood squats could occupy various specialist roles, while more mundane, and simple ones would be occupied by their drones.

You could then have various HQ units, whose role is to control and guide the robots. Some sort of "Machine Sympathy" rule could be at works, which allows the "operator" to improve the functions of the machines he is guiding.

Machine spirits user. Any & all of their Machine Spirits are from dead Squats & carry whatever grudges they have in life. Dorfs honor their ancestors.

>some Squat warmachine wont stop hounding a bunch of Eldar, whose meddling caused the Squat whose spirit now inhabits that repurposed mining drone, to lose a very mineral rich asteroid.

It'd be an ironic parallel to the Tyranid Hivemind(s) while giving them something more distinct. I say that the Squats should also have an emphasis on Dark Age technology, older shit that the Imperium forgot how to make. Maybe there's even an old vs new within the Squats like the Quarrelers vs Thunderers' Crossbow vs Gun, one side clinging to past glory while another desperately tries various grimdark attempts to make new technology.

It wouldn't be out of place for 40k nor the Dorfs. Remember that one pass the Dorfs declared vengeance on & endlessly mine until each rock is crushed?

Some more ideas for drones.

Miner Drone (infantry)
BS3 Ws2 S 3 T 4 W 1 I 2 A 1 Ld 6 Sv 4+

The Squats utilize great swarms of these simpleminded drones, to aid in the excavation of asteroids and comets. They can carry a wide variety of mining equipment and tools, and with the skilled direction of a Squat Machine Operator, a squad of these drones can be a force to be reckoned with.

Bulky, Feel no Pain, Move Trough Cover, Slow and Purposeful.

Weapons:
Twin Linked Laser Cutters.
Charge launcher (basically a short range grenade launcher that lets them chug out blasting charges.)

Options
May Exchange TL laser cutters for TL Stake Launchers or TL Plasma Torches.
For every 5 units in the squad, 2 may exchange TL Laser Cutters for either Mining Laser or Heavy Stake launchers.

Agreed.
Their relationship with the Imperium could be somewhat strained, though still nominal allies in the greater scope of things. Admech would probably hate them though, for having unsanctioned tech, and not letting Admech get their hands on their tech.

>You could then have various HQ units, whose role is to control and guide the robots.
This reminds me somewhat of Vampire Counts where you had a General who controlled and maintained the undead horde, if he died the army would start to crumble. At least it was that way when I played VC ages ago.

Something like that could work.

The Squat Drones could have some sort of rule that represents their dependency on outside control. Maybe something akin to the old wraithsight rule the Eldar wraith constructs used to have?

The Dorfs were, despite close relations to Sigmar's Empire, still their own organization. The Squats have enormous amounts of anomaly from the Imperium anyway. We should get to see the technology that stopped even the Great Crusade. The Squats had so much potential.

Agreed.

It's a shame that GW probably won't bother retooling them, and adding them back to 40k. It's not like it can't be done, this thread alone is proof of that. The asteroid miner angle would be an excellent way of adding dwarf themes into a scifi setting, and it would also ad a faction with a rather unique niche into 40k. There ain't that much going on in the void of 40k, outside of big fleet engagements. Most focus of 40k is in planetary combat, and the lore reflects that.

When I first heard that their reasoning for the Squats' removal was "We couldn't think of how to progress next", I was under the impression they couldn't come up with a way to make a story about a chainsaw-wielding ninja who rides a firebreathing skyshark dueling an army of Wolfenstein-esque Mecha-Hitlers interesting. There's so many directions to go with this.

This is how I sort of imagined Squats and your description there is fucking dope. From the little I know about Squats, I think they could fill a cool sort of niche and the industrial aesthetic taken to its 40k conclusion could be amazing.

Squat exoskeletons are compared to tiny terminator armor so I could see squat armies as having small, elites squads of like 5 man troop choices with 2+ armor, but also a bunch of construction equipment in the form of drones and flying jetpacks as you said. Their "thing" tactically could be some unique stuff like being much better able to fix their vehicles, being able to burrow around in miner drill thingies and having turbo tank shocks that can bust open land raiders, remote exploding drones, and give them the ability to effect terrain like build pillboxes, remove ruins, etc. A sort of weird area denial army good at repairs and demolitions/bombing things which doesn't really exist in 40k atm, although I don't know much about the adepticus mechanicus army so if they play like this . . .

>I don't know much about the adepticus mechanicus army so if they play like this . . .

Nah, they don't play like that.
They do have relentless infantry, but their main thing is being shooty as fuck, and having a bunch of special rules that let them alter their stat block to make them better at shooting, or melee, for a turn for example.

40k really does need a "the terrain army" then, squats could be great for this. imagine being able to pop up barriers on turn 2 after you've move forward, lay down sand pits, spray burning pools of promethium onto the field that makes dangerous terrain and fucks hordes, have turbo dangerous tank shocks as your main AT, and fliers that drop crater-spawning bombs

although this sounds like the rules argument army from hell

>being able to burrow around in miner drill thingies and having turbo tank shocks that can bust open land raiders,

Fuck
Yes

These ideas already posted here + basically making the Squats into Rock Raiders of 40k, would make me start a Squat army asap.

Seems like a perfect time to post my squats (salamanders) drop pods.

What sort of Dark age of Technology weapons should the Squats have then?
The weapon ideas here have just been basically weaponized mining tools.

Man, if 40k was community driven it'd be so much better.

Not necessarily senpai.
For every good idea coming from any given community, there are 10 far, far worse ideas, that also tend to be far more vocal.

Gravity devices, controlled explosives, whatever kills Orks & Eldar.

i kinda prefer the mining tools slant though, at least for some units. maybe just their tanks and walkers could have more DAOT stuff?

>The whole damn setting was contrived Warhammer fantasy battle in spaaaace.

Oh, I did I'm only 23, and I know.

The thing is that they just didn't really survive the re-design of the setting that IMO kinda needed to happen if it was going to get anywhere beyond fringe status . In the "new" (and more permanent) 40K, there was no real place for them at the table that wasn't already fulfilled by another type of race, and they just couldn't be worked without a major overhaul that would radically change how they function.

also, they have to have a flyer like this that can be built to transport a vehicle, two walkers, or a 10 man cabin.

Them wielding a lot of gravity manipulating devices would make a lot of sense even from the mining tool angle. Being able to move around asteroids by altering gravity fields etc seems to be right up their alley.
Grav guns being rather common seems suitable.

The basic weaponry of the Squats should be repurposed mining tools imo. However, their elite units, and heavier warmachines could have some DAoT tech tricks up their sleeves.

Don't forget a beer distillery.

I love them. I own a ton of the models, and if rumors re: Forgeworld prove true, I'll be able to field them legally again.

What, some morale boosting AOE? On a skimmer/flyer? Who would be daft enough to do that? (eyes the dark angels suspiciously)

you already can, Solar Auxilia with the Survivors of the Dark Age and Abhuman Helots special rules.

> Who would be daft enough to do that?
Dworfs

They aren't just miners, they had to survive against whatever was thrown at them in high-gravity worlds with harsh atmospheres. I say their armor needs some mention & so does their history with trading with Orks & Eldar.

What do you think of the ideas in this thread?

Their origins on high gravity worlds gives even more reason for them to have all sorts of gravity manipulating technologies. Maybe even more exotic stuff than Grav guns.

Reinforced: Units with this special rule are only injured by weapons with the Grav rule on a 5+. Units with this special rule are Slow and Purposeful.

GW writers are basically the same as fanfic authors, except their shit becomes canon. Veeky Forums has made some pretty good regiment ideas before. Muh cyberpunk disco hive worlders included.

If GW basically agreed to select the ideas they liked the most and rewarded the contributors with something of little value, like decals, it would be a positive thing overall. I'm sure most of us would do it 4free anyway.

Wouldn't something that originated from a high gravity world be rather fast on a world with lesser gravity?

I say they should get some special materials for bullets. Maybe something considered rare by the rest of the Imperium is commonplace for them. They'd get special weapons with special metals or special ammunition thanks to their mining.

it depends on how it functions.
typically speaking, moving fast on a high gravity world would impart more force on an individual/ increase the amount of stress on a person/object. slow and steady allows you to spread out that force over time.

Things like exoskeletal armor and power armor, need to be calibrated depending on the amount of weight they're expected to carry. It is likely that they would not have the range of motion/be calibrated properly for high speed movement.
With that in mind, let's remember that squats are from a high-gravity environment. I propose that all squats profiles be improved to T4.

Would some sort of "inverse" grav weapon make any sense?
As in, the lighter the armor of the target, the more the thing is gonna hurt?
I'm sorta imagining a weapon that basically lessens the gravity in a given area, potentially flinging fuckers with light armor into the orbit.
Or would that be too silly?

Some kinda Force Push? An Elder Squat Psyker who can manipulate Gravity to lift things like a Jedi?

on the other hand, squats outside their armor would very likely be like aquaman on earth's surface; faster, tougher, stronger due to the reduced pressure/gravity.

Good point. They should be tougher than Eldar or Humans.

I think that GW should've just gone with the massive satirical setting they had and embraced the squats.

I don't think that they should have psykers desu. Instead, that role should be filled by some sort of elders, who know how to wield arcane DAoT tech. Dworfs in fantasy didn't have magic either, instead they had rune priests.

But yeah, some sort of gravity manipulating device, that could blast fuckers straight into space if they fail to grab onto something due to them suddenly starting to float away.

>let's remember that squats are from a high-gravity environment
>faster, tougher, stronger due to the reduced pressure/gravity

Should the fact that their core worlds were nommed by nids be kept in?

Because if we go with the asteroid mining angle, the above doesn't necessarily mean that all Squats were destroyed, just that they no longer posses their homeworlds. The high gravity stuff would still apply, because Squats would obviously keep all their space ships and stations in a comfortably high gravity state via gravity manipulating tech.

I wonder if the Tyranids truly ate those worlds. The Squats aren't even on the endangered list of Abhumans. Maybe there's more to the story than we thought.

Like
Said, it's not like the imperium is bunch of useless twits or anything and nothing has been misreported before... wait

Are the Squats being kept in reserve? I wonder what the Emperor is planning. Heck, I wonder if the Tyranids or Abbadon get to Terra first. Maybe they'll run into each other.

Here is an attempt to fluff and give rules to that device.

Gravitic Nullifier.

The Gravitic Nullifier is an arcane device from the Dark Age of Technology. It is capable of negating the effects of gravity on any objects by projecting a field of power, that causes everything caught in that field, to rapidly lose the effects of gravity. This loss of gravity is faster, the lighter the weight of the object is. Because of this, warriors donning light armor, are at the greatest risk when facing this device, as the loss of gravity is near instantaneous, granting them scant few seconds to grab onto something, before they start rapidly floating away at increasing speed. Warriors with heavier armor, have more time to notice the effects, and grab onto something before being rendered weightless.
The effects of the field are only temporary, and when it ends, the victims of the field will feel the full weight of gravity again, usually while floating very high in the sky.

Strength 8 Ap - Torrent
Gravitic Nullification, Grab onto something!, Ignores Cover, Concussive.

Gravitic Nullification:
Weapons with this rule wound their targets as follows. First, check the armor value of the target (targets with no armor value have an armor value of 6 for the purposes of this rule), then minus that armor value from the strength of the weapon with the Gravitic Nullification rule, to see the roll you need for a successful wound. For purposes of instant death, the weapon's strength is still compared to the target's toughness.
For example, a mob of Ork boyz, with an armor save of 6, is hit by the Gravitic Nullifier. The weapon's strength of 8 minus their armor save of 6 results in 2, thus the roll needed to wound the Ork boyz is 2.
No armor saves are allowed against a weapon with this rule, instead, one must take an initiative test to avoid wounds caused by this weapon.

Grab onto something!
Any unit that suffers successful wounds from this weapon must go to ground.

lol, that's amazing

Thanks.
I came up with that on the fly.
Sorta wonder if the "Grab onto something" rule should state that any squad hit by the weapon needs to go to ground. But as I made it a torrent weapon, I thought that it would be a bit too easy to force a squad to the ground.

Maybe if it was a blast weapon instead.

another question, what about fearless units? They CAN'T go to ground.

behold the anti-fearless beatstick!

Mayde me think of the red alert soviet terror drone. Those were nasty shit.

Another gravity thingy could "attract" targets to a point. Like something that shoot before other weapons and take every models under a 5 inch template a mass them together base to base, THEN you fire your other template weapons.

Le cant say squats XDDDD

On topic though, im sad GW decided to try and push them into obscurity.

Grab onto something rule's purpose is mostly to indicate that folks who are hit by the gravitic nullification field, but manage to grab to something before floating away, are desperately clutching onto the ground, tree stumps, ruins etc, to avoid floating away.

Though, the mental image of a bunch of space marines, who are so fearless that even floating away into orbit isn't scary enough for them to clutch onto the ground, is amusing.

This
I am still irritated on no end by some of the Shadowrun Dwarves