Squat (Warhammer 40,000)
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In the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000, the Squats are a dwarf-like race descended from the humans that colonised high gravity worlds. Separated from the rest of humanity over the millenia they evolved their own distinct morphology and culture. The Squats were made largely extinct by a Tyranid invasion of their Home Worlds, leaving only small pockets of embittered survivors throughout the galaxy.
The Squats were the equivalents of Dwarfs for the Warhammer 40,000 universe much in the same way as the Eldar serve as Elves and Orks bear a striking resemblance to Warhammer Fantasy Orcs.
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[edit] Biology
Squats evolved from the human miners and explorers sent to reap the mineral wealth at the centre of the galaxy. The high gravity environment, combined with the punishing mining conditions eventually changed their morphology. The subsequent generations became gradually shorter and stockier. The Squat Home Worlds were isolated from the rest of humanity during the Age of Isolation. When they were reunited with the rest of the Imperium the Inquisition launched wars against them in the belief that they were aliens. Eventually the Squats were accepted, along with other abhumans, as being human in nature. They are now considered a separate race, though they are fundamentally human.
[edit] History of the Squat Home Worlds
The Squat Home Worlds were colonised during the Age of Founding (known to the Imperium as the Dark Age of Technology). The planets were rich in minerals and ores the Imperium desperately needed, and so ships full of miners and explorers were sent out. The worlds were high gravity with brutal environments. The settlers dug deep into the bedrock of the planets to survive, and so the first strongholds were born.
The Age of Trade, which lasted for almost three millennia, saw a decrease in the warp storms isolating the Home Worlds. The Squats traded with the Orks and Eldar during this period. The Age of Trade was ended in an enormous attack on the Home Worlds by the Ork Warlord Grunhag the Flayer. The Squats pleaded for assistance from their Eldar trading partners, but were rebuffed. This lead to the enmity against Orks and Eldar that lasted through the Age of Wars into the current Age of Rediscovery (or Age of the Imperium). The Inquisition launched wars against the Squats in the belief that they were aliens, but eventually the Squats were accepted, along with other abhumans, as being human in nature. Many Squat Strongholds joined the Imperium, but this was not to last. The final Imperial Squat Strongholds seceded from the Imperium during the Age of Apostasy (M.35). The Home Worlds, however, maintained trade and mutual assistance with the Imperium, trading military hardware, allowing Commissar military advisors to join their armies, and sending recruits to the Adeptus Mechanicus. In the forty-first millennium, a Tyranid hive fleet (it is unclear whether it was Leviathan or a tendril of Kraken) swept through the Home Worlds, destroying the Squats as a power in the galaxy.
The Squats carried grudges for millennia, and none so strongly as against the race of Orks, who betrayed the Squats on more than one occasion and inflicted many losses upon them in war.
[edit] Technology
Squat technology is based upon the heavy mining equipment they brought with them to the Home Worlds. During their isolation from the Imperium they adapted it for other uses, notably exo-armour which was engineered from heavy mining suits. Squats continued to innovate and invent while the Imperium sank into a dark age.
As a result, the Squats have developed technologies such as neo-plasma and warp cores far in advance of anything the Imperium owns. Some Squat technologies were absorbed into the Imperium, especially tunneling vehicles and weaponry such as the Termite.
In Warhammer 40,000 Squats had a similar armament to Imperial armies, coming with las and bolt weaponry as standard. Armies also included squads in exo-armour supported with bikes and trikes. Squats were characterised in Epic with colossal war machines, including the Land Train (which supported many different cars, including the Dragon Car, the Berserker Car, the Mortar Car and the Rad Bomb car), Leviathan (used as a mobile infantry transport, capable of holding almost a hundred squats within), Cyclops (a spaceship weapon mounted on a Colossus chassis and used originally to devestate rival Squat warlord's war machines) and Colossus.
[edit] Epic game
Within Epic the squats were well equipped with super-large equipment but poorly served with smaller vehicles.
- The Leviathan together with the Cyclops ("Hellfury Cannon" equipped Titan-killer) and Colossus variants were mobile fortresses.
- Land Train was an "engine" car and a number of towed "battlecars" to make a form of armoured train.
- The Goliath Mega Cannon and Thunder-fire cannon were both very large artillery pieces, the Mega Cannon being used to devastate positions far from the artillery lines and the Thunder-fire being used as a massive flak-generating anti-air defense.
- The Overlord Armored Airship was one of the larger flyers, with Gyrocopters supporting them from below.
By comparison to the other factions, the Squats were never given a Titan-like war-machine.
[edit] Removal from the game
The Squats have been out of the current games and model production by Games Workshop since the 1990s. The release of the third edition of Warhammer 40,000 in 1998 marked the removal of the final elements of the Squat rules from the game. The last miniatures to be released by Citadel were the Epic Squat war engines (such as the Goliath Mega Cannon) in 1994, though the release of Warhammer 40,000 scale had stopped some four years previous in 1990. Though no new models were released, sales did continue at a low level through retail stores and through Mail Order for several years until they were eventually entirely discontinued.
In terms of the game backround, the Squat Home Worlds were attacked and devoured by the Tyranids of hive fleet Leviathan. However, the few Squats not on the Home Worlds survived on, typically as either pirates or members of the Imperium's armies. As no actual Squat-specific background material was published after 1993 this pivotal moment in the race's history has only ever been briefly mentioned or referenced, and so not much is known.
Many say that they are the major victim of Games Workshop's attempts to make Warhammer 40,000 a totally original world and not just Warhammer Fantasy in space. The Squats had thrived in early Warhammer 40,000's dark but slightly silly atmosphere - where characters and planets were named after pop singers and cake manufacturers . Games Workshop's official stance, however, is that the Squats were dropped because they felt dissatisfied with their established background and army design.
Squat miniatures go for relatively high prices on eBay and fans reportedly bombard the games developers regularly with what is called "the Squat Question". Many other model making companies have been producing space dwarf models for a long time. Some players have written their own rules for Warhammer 40K so Squat armies can be played. However popular this trend has proven to be, the official ruling from Games Workshop is that only 40K miniatures can be used in GW stores and GW-sponsored tournaments.
A statement on why the Squats were dropped was given by games designer Jervis Johnson on 28 July 2004. In a Squat-themed thread on a popular Warhammer 40,000 message board, he posted an official response to the Squat Question. Summarising, Johnson said the race was removed from the Warhammer 40,000 universe for the following reasons:
- The designers felt that the "Dwarven" concept was not given justice, and that the Squats were more of a joke race.
- There existed a design disparity with the Warhammer 40,000 and the Epic-scale renditions of the race, which prevented there being a cohesive vision of the race.
- Despite the efforts of the design team, they were unable to think up ways to revitalize the concept.[1]
Jervis Johnson's statement also confirms that the Demiurg began as an effort to re-think the concept of Squats, after their annihilation, and that the concept might one day be expanded on.
Some people still use Squat models for their army, and use the rules of another race to play them (usually Imperial Guard, because by using certain weapons and doctrines they can simulate Squat rules). Although they are no longer in the game, squats are still mentioned in the current Ork codex; they are mentioned by a nickname instead and through context (the mentioning of their Home Worlds). (Note: this is because the Ork Codex has not seen a significant redraft since before the Squats were removed.)
[edit] References
- Ansell, Bryan (1989). Warhammer 40,000 Compendium. Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-869893-71-9.
- Priestley, Rick (1992). Warhammer 40,000 Battle Manual. Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-872372-53-8.
