A Curious Construct(ion) project...

o/

Huzzah!

So, a little over a year ago, good ol' Col. Gravis launched a little kickstarter campaign for a steampunk gun carriage set. All to happy to fund a fellow blogger (and get a cool looking toy in the process), I backed it as did many others. The gun, and its many options arrived relatively close to on time (unlike say, Palladium's Robotech Kickstarter debacle-in-progress).

Anyways, when my gun carriage arrived, the army it was intended to go with had already been sold off on ebay (so typical of me), and so sat unused for almost a year. Aside from my small Grymn force, I lacked any human-based infantry to field it (I can't see Spess Mahreenz using steampunk weapons...though considering the Mechanicum's clockwork technologies, I could be wrong in my thinking). My Grymn are kinda too futuristic looking (and small) to go with it as well, and my cultist horde (currently on ebay) didn't use heavy weaponry either.

Then the other day I had an idea for it. Sadly, my idea was inspired by a news report on the tragic war in the Ukraine, where the Russian separatists raided a military museum for its exhibits (to presumably send back out to the front lines). Whilst I intend to use the Grymn as both IG/AM and Tyrant's Legion auxiliaries (more on that in a later post), I pondered: What if the Grymn were locked in a war that was going badly, and had to resort to similar steps?

Despite their technology (roughly equivalent to the Imperial Guard/Astra Militarum), against any given opponent in the 40k universe, these little guys/girls would be at a distinct disadvantage. Short statures, reduces their perspective on just about everything, war included (and look at just how well that worked for the Squats!). For an example, the primary infantry heavy weapon of my little collection is the light machine gun (read: Heavy Stubber). Basically I'll pay the heavy bolter price for an inferior weapon, such is the cost of proxying. The Grymn are simply too small to haul heavy bolters around…or are they?

Here's the basic idea, the Grymn will be removed from her separate base of course.

Besieged and desperate, the Grymn have resorted to raiding their own museums for antique (but still deadly) weaponry. Also, lacking in troops to man these cumbersome artillery pieces (which to these little guys, is exactly what a Heavy Bolter is, albeit in the direct fire support role), they've likewise rounded up their menial support bots to use as gun crews under the direction of a gunnery specialist.

Listen up you miserable little drones!

The Grymn miniature range lacks any minis that would be suitable as the typical gun crew of an Imperial guard sized heavy weapon. Typically, a heavy bolter IG base has 2 guys firing a gun too large for them to realistically move. Kinda like the Leman Russ turret that has a barrel so big, there's no way the crew could load and fire such large shells in such small turrets.

So in 'forging my own little narrative' (my guess is GW was hoping I'd use more of their products than just a 60mm base), my 'gun crew' is more of a little vignette depicting a (probably none-to-happy) Grymn soldier giving her new charges a crash course in the use of antique weaponry! Indeed, I'm sure that being put in charge of an obsolete gun, and a crew that will probably function like the robotic version of the Three Stooges at war would certainly sour her mood. Especially when you consider their (or rather her) life expectancy on the grim-dark battlefield of the future!

Rather than paint all three bots in a uniform color scheme of my Grymn forces (no longer white and O.D. green, but a much easier red and brown),  I'm tempted to paint the newly drafted gun-bots in a variety of colors (leaving the one that's already painted as is). I figure that it would best represent their various former occupations (i.e.: gardener, laundry folder, paper pusher, toilet scrubber, or whatever), as well as the tastes of their previous owners. Rather than simply programable machines, I see these little bots as being more like C-3PO from Star Wars (i.e.: a sentient A.I., replete with their own personalities and quirks).

Things will be busy around here the next few weeks (we'll only be able to get to the FLGS once in August!), but hopefully I'll be able to get this done sometime soon.