XV8(ish) Kroot Salvaged Suit

o/

XV8(ish) Kroot Salvaged Suit

I had an idea some ways back to make a Kroot-salvaged-crises suit commander, but put that on hold as the forth-coming Tau codex was rumored to include a Kroot HQ choice. No such luck (despite the interwebz drooling over the idea). GW, instead took an odd turn with the Kroot, making them into yet another shooting unit (because the Tau were obviously lacking in those...) and by doing so, all but completely eliminated any HTH ability for the Tau.

Nice. 

Further more, Kroot Mercs fighting for whomever, whilst fluffy as it is directly mentioned in the Kroot's fluff, can't be done in an actual game w/o a meddling Tau HQ tagging along: 'No, no, you're supposed to be fighting for the Greater Good, not profit. No, please stop eating the dead, its, its so…' (followed by the sounds of a Tau vomiting up his/her breakfast), etc. Ironically, the recent Tau Riptide/Broadside dataslate pimps the Tau out to anyone who will fork over the $$$ for all of those pricey kits.

Hrmph, that sounds kinda mercenary to me…

 

Anyways...recently RTVoril gifted us with a crises suit torso, that was sans-arms and weapons (the legs were partially supplied, albeit separately). He figured we could scrounge up/order the necessary bits to make it battle-worthy. Indeed I did just that, though not as he imagined I'm sure. Instead I ran my idea by my GF, she liked it and gave me the go-ahead and thus her Kroot now have an XV8(ish) Salvaged Suit!

I had to remove the head/sensor unit as a Kroot could never fit into such a tiny cockpit, no doubt that won't help with the missile pod's accuracy. I plan to paint around the Kroot body to make it look as though there's a hole cut in the top of the crises suit. Also, I couldn't get the one arm to fit right to the suit's top, hence he's holding a rifle ala' the IG's famous 'Drive closer so I can hit them with my sword!' cliche. As you can see, aside from the crises suit torso, IG & Ork parts were added to the suit to finish it out. I guess this Kroot was lucky enough to survive a game of the updated Carnage scenario in order to find such an array of parts laying around!

No doubt following the above mentioned carnage, the (soon-to-be) Kroot pilot first filled his stomach with some deliciously fresh Mek boy meat (with a side of grot oiler perhaps?), and thought 'Oi! Lets get some uv dat scrap an' fix it up good & propa!' Speaking of the Kroot eating habits, its best not to think of what happened to the suit's original pilot when this XV8 was lost in combat. Rather…well lets just say that this Kroot devoured the XV8's 'instruction manual' and we'll leave it at that!

I'll field this as a Shas'vre if only an elite, otherwise an HQ for an all Kroot allied contingent. Its armed with scavenged IG weaponry in the form of a missile pod and onager gauntlet. Not quite a Dreadnought CCW, but far better than what a Sentinel gets out of that saw blade! Also, considering the ramshackle amalgamation of parts, its probably not the safest thing to operate, especially amidst an on-going battle. So if the enemy gets a lucky hit on one of its myriad jury-rigged systems, then they may set off a chain reaction and…KABOOM! The resulting explosion would be much the same as say…a Failsafe Detonator, lol.

Other bits and bobs were added as well (probably making this thing a nightmare for me to paint). There's a searchli--um, I mean Blacksun Filter, Kroot stowage, including dinner cooking via the jetpack nozzles and best of all (no doubt in hopes of constructing yet more Kroot salvaged suits) a good ol' tow truck-like hook and chain.

I doubt this will be a game-changer by any means, but it'll be fun to use anyways, and will keep the Tau from having to fight for something other than their ideology which would be anything but fluffy...