+inload: Rekrootment drive +

+ Kroot – Kindred of the Bloody Moon +

+ WIP Knarloc Rider +

+ Kroot. Kroot. Krooooooot! These charismatic aliens have entranced me since they were previewed, years ago. I even went as far as writing a rather ham-fisted attempt at a Codex that I sent in to the GW studio, and received a very kind hand-written reply from Andy Chambers. Like their Tau sinister overlords absolutely equal trusted partners, I've started – and failed – a few attempts at a Kroot army; as I've never quite been able to capture what I wanted to from them. As a result, while I've painted about two dozen Kroot over the years, they've been all over the place. To my regret, I long ago sold the Greater Knarlocs and majority of the Knarloc Riders I owned – but such is life. +

+ Here, then, is my latest attempt at the Kindred of the Bloody Moon. This army has been so long in the making that I have no records of when it started. A quick noospheric search suggests that I'd painted a test model back in 2008(!), so it's been a long time coming. +

+ Fourteen years later, we might finally see a proper squad – or in this case, a Kill Team or two. Fellow PCRCer Omricon and I are going halves on the new Gallowdark Kill Team boxed set, and I'm snapping up the Kroot (and Naval team, though that's an inload for another day). I'll be using these to allow me to get some playable models on the table. +

+ The sprue pictures on the GW website make it look like there are lots of spare heads and bits – perfect for snazzing up some of the older Kroot Warrior models. I'm no sure yet how many this will allow me a to make, but I think I should end up with a decent little core force for 40k, too. +

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+ Painting kroot +

+ When painting skin, I like to get as much variety in as possible. Here, while the squad is all orangey-brown, individuals are brighter, duller, more muted and so forth. I've used a variety of different paints and approaches. Note that I've also primed them with Halfords' khaki spray – part of their camouflage range. That's to give a nice light earthy tone that's not too stark. It all adds up to give a natural feel – and speeds things up, too! +

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+ Dilemmas +

+ Not everything I'd planned has a use in Kill Team – not least these two Krootoxen, which have (as far as I can see) been unceremoniously dropped from the 'get-you-by' list in the Compendium. Neat little models, these are both cheap ebay rescues; one resin, one metal. The metal one was a pain; the original had been a fairly poor cast (though from what I remember, the Krootox models were infamously a bit crap to put together), and the rider had snapped off his fragile ankles. +

+ I ended up taking him completely to bit, removing the superglue, drilling and pinning the leg (and gun) to make it a bit more sturdy, then using greenstuff to rebuild the lost shin and fill gaps. While it's not quite up to the quality of the original sculpt, I think my repair work will be fairly unobtrusive during games. +

+ I felt the models looked a bit cramped on a 40mm base (not to mention that there's been quite a bit of 'scale inflation' since the release of these supposedly hulking models) so am going to rebase them. The two options are a small oval cavalry base [vizref=above], which I think better fits the shape of the model and looks a bit sleeker; and a 50mm base [vizref=below] that gives the beast a bit more presence and burliness. Not quite sure which I'll go for yet. The PCRC have chimed in with some good notes, but I'd be interested which you think looks better, too. +

+ And finally... +

+ A knarloc! Not one of my long-lost originals (shame, as I spent a lot of time converting and reshaping one to be my Master Shaper), but a FW original bought from a friend of mine many years ago. +

+ He's sat half-painted for a long time, and this seems a great chance to finish him off – I'm basically gathering together odds and sods of lost kroot from the past fifteen years; very fitting... +

+ I chose a particularly yellow-tinged orange for the kroot rider to help him stand out, and a deep, dark red-brown for the knarloc itself. Since knarlocs, krootoxen, kroothounds and similar krootforms aren't part of the kindred itself, I'm not restricted in any way on their colouring, so I'll probably have fun with some patterns. +

+ Well, that's it for the moment. If you don't see more kroot here soon, give me a poke, or we might be waiting another decade and a half! +

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