Mr. Dangly Bitz

 As the convoy of Knarlocs came to a halt, the Kroot Shaper took in his surroundings. The scouts had chosen well, deep beneath the canopy they were hidden from Imperial aircraft, and well beyond the range of their artillery. Yes it would do. With a gesture his warriors set about making camp, hobbling the Knarlocs so they wouldn’t wander off, and securing their human prisoners to several large trees.

Humans...such sad creatures. Their Fem Fa’Tau allies referred to these as Catachan Jungle Fighters. The Tau spoke as if they were a dangerous foe in the forests. The Kroot had balked at the notion and rightly so. Like all, typical humans, these were poor opponents. A loud and boisterous lot, oblivious to their surroundings...clearly they’d felt safe from any threat and were taken by total surprise with nary a shot fired, still the Shaper was curious.

I'm really pleased with how this mini turned (despite the 'brass balls').

Their leader, ‘Sarge’ his men had called him, was separated from the rest for interrogation. All of the prisoners were stripped naked to ensure no blades were hidden to allow them escape, a lesson hard learned a few weeks earlier in the campaign. The man’s body language was defiant, his eyes seethed with hatred.

Taking a moment to wrap his alien tongue around the human language, the Shaper spoke."Brass balls...what means this?"

"W...what?" The prisoner was instantly dumbfounded.

"We tracked your patrol, for long while, you spoke loudly and gestured (pointing to the man’s groin) you say BRASS BALLS! Loudly, many times...what means this?"

Still confused the sergeant gave the worst possible answer to the Kroot. "It means I’m brave. A fierce warrior."

"Brave. Fierce Warrior." Repeated the Shaper, his eyes lighting up with delight!

With a deft motion, almost too fast to follow, a blade was in the Shaper’s hand, the man’s ‘bravery’ was sliced from his body and the Shaper popped the morsels into his beak and began to chew!

He pondered his meal...not the most delectable part of the human anatomy...perhaps he ought to have washed them first. Normally, they fed these along with the other scraps to the hounds.

The prisoner however was wailing far in excess of what the Shaper thought appropriate for losing such a small piece of his anatomy. Further still, many of the other prisoners had cried out as well, and all were watching with emotions ranging from panic to abject horror!

Brave. Fierce warrior...maybe there was some connection after all. 

*****

In the early dawn, the Kroot broke camp in preparation for another raid on the humans. As what was left of the human carcasses were strapped back onto the Knarlocs, the Shaper tinkered with his kit, mulling over the previous evening.

Ya know ya wanted
to see 'em...

The rest of the prisoners, despite having been bound at the wrists and ankles had fought savagely to avoid their leader’s fate. So much so that two Kroot warriors suffered injury in the process of butchering the humans in preparation for the night’s meal.

The Shaper secured two, brass colored containment spheres to a preserved paw, taken from a wild beast, killed some time ago but kept as a talisman. He then strapped these to his lower torso, with the spheres dangling between his legs. They felt awkward. Brass Balls...so strange humans were.

*****

...aaaaand there you have it folks, the backstory of ‘Mr. Dangly Bitz’, my Beloved Wolfy’s first, and thus far only (I think) converted mini. She’s quite proud of her customization (I’m notta fan even though I realize its something of a play on the fact that 40k is largely a guy’s realm). Its always annoyed me that we had to look between the legs of the various Kroot  minis to figure out which one was the Shaper (meaning I rarely bothered).

Kinda hard to see, but the banner is
from the 11th Catachan.

With a bit of patience I eventually I found an Ethereal’s hover drone cheap on eBay and added it to her conversion making Mr. Dangly bitz instantly recognizable. No doubt the drone was bartered as partial payment for services to the Tau Empire. Handles were added for ease of tying it to a Knarloc for transport/storage when not in use, and the markings are most likely a signature/symbol of ownership.

The Shaper’s metallic coloring came out a bit greener than I wanted, but looks alright I suppose. I was aiming for the blues, greens and golds of a peacock. Now with another Tau mini in the completed column, I suppose I ought to work on Kushial’s dreadnought a bit more. Especially since I know Neverness eagerly awaits facing it!