Way back in the days of 3rd edition 40k, when men were real men, women were real women, and fuzzy little creatures from Alpha Centauri were fuzzy little creatures from Alpha...

*ahem* sorry...

Anyway, back in the day, attack squigs were a very common sight. In the 3rd edition Ork codex, any Ork with access to the armory (ah, remember when codexes had armories? *sigh*) could have his very own attack squig... or three. Warbosses, Nobs, Mekboys, you name it; they could all stomp thier way into battle with a small entourage of attack squigs if they chose to do so.

In the new codex, the attack squig has become a item of wargear available only to a select few HQ choices in the Ork army. What does that mean for some of us old-school ork players?
 

It means that many of us have trukkloads of these cuddly little balls of claws and teeth laying around, and not much to do with them...

...or do we.

"Wait just a damn minute" I though to myself, "trukkloads of squigs!"

An idea started to take shape in my devious little brain. What if I used them as a 'counts-as' trukk boy mob.

If a grot mob is driven into battle by a Runtherd; then squigs, being far nastier than grots, would need something far nastier than your average Ork to keep them in line. A Nob at the very least.

This grizzled Ork would no doubt be sporting scars, and possibly missing digits, from handling squigs all the time.

I just happened to have a spare Kommando Nob laying around, so I used the body as a base to work from.

The fact that the model already comes with a bionik right hand fit perfectly with the look I'm going for. I figure he lost it to a hungry squig at some point. I also gave him a powerklaw, just to show that he means business.

I used a head from the old metal Nobs Boxed Set, carved a large gash over one eye, and built up a nasty looking scar with green stuff.

The addition of the 'squig' back banner from the new plastic Nobs Boxed Set and a squig from Warhammer Fantasy completed the look. Now all he needs is paint.

Here he is all painted up. I really like the way the squigs complement the model, tying the red colors together from top to bottom.

Here he is from the back.

With a Slugga on his hip, a Powerklaw on his arm, and a Shoota and Choppa slung on his back, there isn't much this bad boy can't handle.

The group shot.

Now that the mob is complete, it's time to work on their ride...

Like most of my other Ork vehicles, I started with the chassis first.

The grey plastic I-beams are from Plastruct. This site is a must for anybody seriously interested in scratch building. They have a great selection of goodies that you often can't find anywhere else.

I also used styrene tubing of various diameters to make the axles and suspension.

As you can see from this side shot, I've jacked up the rear end to give it that "hot rod" feel.

Work has begun on the power train. I managed to score a cheap wartrukk engine off of eBay, that'll make a good start.

I'll also be building a custom radiator and some other super-charger type gubbins to make it faster :-)

I'm thinking about a big cage in place of a passenger compartment to hold all the squigs.

I've started on the body work. There's still a lot to be done, but you can see where I'm going with it.

I decided to go with an 'armored box' design for the squig compartment. It will have bars on the windows and a bunch of holes chewed in it by the time I'm done.

Here's a shot of the squig compartment. The tailgate is hinged so the squigs can pile out faster.

All good to go with a load of squigs!

Update 12/8/09

After a bit of a hiatus, I'm back to work on the ride for my squig mob.

I started by adding some detail to the engine and crew compartment...

... as well as getting the driver and gunner in place.

Then next step was to detail the squig compartment. I wanted it to look well used, hence all the scratches and patched up armor plates.

I also added some chains and a couple of rolled up tarps to add to the "lived-in" look.

I've kept all the components seperate so I can get them painted easier.

Here's a final shot of the trukk with all the components in place.

Next step... Paint!

Here's the Trukk with the painting complete.

Here's another shot from the gunner's side.

From the driver's side rear.

The 'Beware Uv Squigz' sign is my favorite part.

And from the gunner's side rear. I actually magnetized the passenger compartment of the Trukk so that I can build a 'regular' one in the future.

That way, if I want to field a 'normal' mob of Trukk Boyz as opposed to the squigs, I don't need a whole new trukk. I can just swap the passenger compartments, using the same chassis.

And here's the entire Squig Mob, standing with thier brand new ride.