Project Draftdodger – Part 2

See here for part one. Today’s subject: Ratling Snipers.

 

As is my custom, I would like to provide context towards these models in a somewhat informal manner. Ratlings share a similar origin to Ogryns, both in and out of universe. They are also transplants from the old Warhammer Fantasy setting, justified as a stable human subspecies rather than mutants, the product of technology or chaos bullshit. Whereas the use of Ogyrns by the famously xenophobic Imperium makes some sense, there is no other dumb muscle as beefy or as available, the hobbit-inspired Ratlings are a much harder sell. In fact, I keep visualising some Imperial recruiter weeping openly into their recaff at the sight of them. Ratlings tend to have the physical prowess of an obese child, and the mentality of a Midlands farmer whom grows unspecified "herbs" as a secondary income. Its harder to imagine a people less suited to the GRIMDARK of 40K, and I would not be surprised if a lot of them ended up as servitor components. However, the lore says these people actually end up in the guard as regimental cooks, or as snipers. They also have a reputation for petty theft, hence their inclusion in my Chem-Dogs force. Mechanically, this is a unit GW seems to be pushing of late, with a recent Killteam box which happens to include a delightful doggo. I was tempted, but I digress. This means that they have a few more gimmicks than it used too, but there still seems to be something of a cost/performance issue. They are the only Guard unit with the Infiltrators rule, are effective with sniper rifles, and get a shoot & scoot rule, all of which is good. They however die very easily, don't do that much raw damage, and are competing with heavy weapon teams. It remains to be seen if the new codex will see them overcome that perception. Which, incidentally, is why I'm only making 5 of them for now.

 

 

These Wargames Atlantic SneakFeet are obviously a good proxy for Ratlings, but due to the timing, it doesn't have all the same bits as the killteam box. Notably it has a selection of submachine guns instead, which, thinking about it, is probably a better choice for these titchy fellows if not GW legal, but there you go. There is also a not insignificant amount of character at play; these models look a bit "Santa's Elves" by way of NATO, with pointy ears, but also a frying pan and a pipe smoking head option. I love the frying pan. I did however find the hair tricky, especially on the feet, with the latter being concealed with some mud effect paint. Overall, these are fun models that lend themselves well to my style, although they do come in an unhelpful ratio of 24 to a box, 4 to a sprue. 

Towards the end of the week, I started working on some Combat Engineers. The other Krieg units have something of a question mark hanging over them just now, so I was holding off, and I wanted to take a swing at the more unusual weapon types. Assembly of the initial prototypes went well, and I hope to have more ready for batch painting soon. I will however save the discussion on that for next time.

See you soon.