What's On Your Table: To submit your work, please send up to 8 pics to natfka@live.com
I started playing 40k just before the second edition of Space Marine was released so it was always present in the White Dwarfs I read as a kid. Despite not having the time or money to play both, I always looked on with interest but when the Squats were updated for second edition, I fell in love. I'd always liked their 40k models but the epic army was on the next level. I remember reading the Battle of Golgotha (featuring Ghazghkull & Yarrick!) battle report over and over. Squats were the army I always wanted but never had.
Fast forward the best part of thirty years and I'd started playing 40k again with some work colleagues after a lull of a decade or so. One day, out of the blue, a friend gave me a box full to bursting with the short-arsed blighters - infantry, old-school metal vehicles, everything. It was a friend-of-a-friends', apparently, something they'd been clearing out. Trouble was, I knew how much the contents of that box was worth (I'd occasionally stalked Squats on ebay over the years) I couldn't believe someone would just give it away so much. I didn't dare use them! For the next couple of years I left it in my desk drawer, untouched, half-expecting it to be taken back at a moment's notice.
Eventually, another 40k-playing ex-colleague mentioned they still enjoyed epic and would love to play again. Deciding that I'd waited long enough, I finally bit the bullet and started to paint the army I'd always dreamed of owning. It took a year or two of painting on-and-off to get this far, what with 40k (and even AoS) sticking its nose in and disrupting my plans. We've played a bunch of games, my Squats against their army of Nurgle-corrupted Space Marines & Titans, and they've all been brilliant fun - the epic system is beautifully simple (if a little vague at times). I've learned to hate vortex missiles with a passion, as they have the unerring ability to delete my big boys in a single hit, unlike other Titans. We've always intended to look at the successor systems - Net Epic, Epic Armageddon, etc., but for the time being we've stuck with the old second edition.
The army is a decent size now - about 4,000 points. I've a Leviathan & a Cyclops to paint up, as well as another land train and a boat-load more infantry, if I want to go bigger, but I'm very happy with where it is now.
Cheers,
Richard May
