+ inload: Kindred calling +

+ The Kindred of the Bloody Moon make haste to Paradise XXII +

+ WIP Baggage Knarloc and kroot gunslinger +

+ Ahead of their deployment to Paradise XXII, the kroot Kindred of the Bloody Moon receive some reinforcements – and a little warpaint. +

+ Pictured above are the results of a second box of the new Kill Team Kroot together with some older metal Kroothounds, along with a few 3D printed extras designed by FelixtheCrazy and printed by generous Lucifer216, and some accessories from the original Kroot Carnivore kit. +

+ The kroot background has a lot of appeal for me – on the one hand, they're savage flesh-eating aliens, but on the other, they've got a great tribalistic and explorative angle. They're self-reliant and self-improving, with a culture based around very different values from any of the major factions in 40k. Perhaps most appealingly, they're not an overblown galaxy-ending influence on the broader stage – merely an exemplar of the many, many hundreds of minor xenos that riddle the 40k galaxy. It's a refreshingly understated and surprisingly thoughtful area of the background, ripe for development. +

+ Kill Team: Into the Dark expanded a little on the Kroot background, and provided us with some insight into their motives and way of war – and it's little snippets like this that really set my mind alight. Of course, the beautiful models and cool aesthetic really help, and I don't think I'd be anywhere near as interested if Brian Nelson hadn't made such a great job of sculpting the first batch of the basketball-playing parrot-Predator creatures. +

+ Painting +

+ The Knarloc – a 3D-print from the ever-awesome Warmtamale – is painting up nicely. Thus far I've been concentrating on developing texture on the skin, and having a whale of a time. While most of the non-Carnivore Krootforms in the Kindred vary in colour, I thought orange would work nicely for this Knarloc, so he's clearly a relation of some sort. +

+ The face has been worked up a little more than the rest, but there's still plenty to go. You'll spy some chalky highlights here, which I'll be softening down with glazes – possibly oils, once I can research how they're likely to interact with printed resin. +

+ ...and there's more on the horizon, as Warmtamale also printed me these rather charming Knarloc riders and variant kroothounds, pictured alongside some of my recent Steel Legion for The Ashes of Armageddon. As an aside, I think it's great how the 'digestive-evolution' concept of the Kroot not only allows but encourages variations on the models you use. Just like Tyranids and Orks, this is an army that lends itself to using older and third party models. +

+ You'll also spot a holy Kroothawk in the centre – perhaps destined as an objective marker! +

+++

+ Gaming +

+ Out of interest, I worked up a quick 10th edition list using the models at my disposal – it comes to 810pts. +

Faction: Tau Empire

Detachment rules: Kauyon

Units: 

• Kroot Shaper – 40pts
• Precision of the patient hunter – 20pts
• Kroot Shaper – 40pts
• Kroot Farstalkers – 70pts
• 1 Killbroker, 9 kroot, 2 kroothounds
• Kroot Farstalkers – 70pts
• 1 Killbroker, 9 kroot, 2 kroothounds
• Kroot Carnivores (10) – 55pts
• Kroothounds (4) – 30pts
• Kroothounds (4) – 30pts
• Kroothounds (4) – 30pts
• Krootox Riders (2) – 70pts
• Great Knarloc – 100pts
• Knarloc Riders – 110pts
• Ambull – 85ps
• The Archivist – 70pts

+ Background-wise, the Kindred aren't associated with the Tau, so it's more themed around mercenaries rather than auxiliaries. You'll spot a couple of units that come from the 'Legends' rules – the Ambull and Zoat – because this seems the perfect project to include all the weird and wonderful models that I've collected over the years. +

+++

+ Models + 

+ I had a lot of fun building these models. Pictured here's some sort of personality bearing a polearm/religious banner or similar. When playing around with bits, sometimes it's nice to not have too many fixed ideas! +

+ Pictured alongside another recent purchase, the Catachan with grenade launcher that had a limited release. While she's a relatively slight figure, even in the context of the 2nd/3rd-edition period, it's clear how tall and intimidating a kroot would be to a human. +

+ Having a couple of kits and variant bits allows you to build fun little variations like these sharpshooters. +

+++