"Khurasan previews the Guncrabs" Topic

The Guncrabs are a separate species within the Stikk military forces, serving as a form of bio power armour and are used for assaults and clearing built-up areas. They are also incredibly resistant to hazardous conditions so really do fill in for what humans might use power armour for.

Spacejacker's splendid paintup!

Sculpted by the amazing Ben Siens, I should add. Three poses.

Just wow. Got any ideas when they will be released?

Yes, they will come out with the rest of the Stikk stuff, sometime in March.

Armed Horseshoe Crabs… wonderful!

Close ups please!

Wow. Those are fantastic – should be good fun to paint, too. Looking forward to them.

March . . . I have to wait until March . . . .

Thaose have to be some of my very favorite critters to date in 15mm. They have a really nice alien look that is just menacing enough. They are very similar to GW's critter, but different enough to make them standout.

The good news is I will have my bonus by the time they are out and may have caught up with work to have a little time to paint them and the Stikks.

Great work Jon and Ben. Oh, the painting is great as well!

Jeff

(P.S These might work well for Harkilons to use with Alien Legion forces . . . . . )

I usually the resist the temptation to drool at khurasan releases (its really hard!) but these guys are just awesome, love the sudden expansion in the number of alien races – can't get enough of them.

Also, they look convertible to tyranids – bonus.

btw, khurasan, make some not-tyranids in 15mm please!

Not going to happen, of course. Some of my models might have been inspired by pop culture images but copying hobby products in a whole different affair!

Very cool!

Not going to happen, of course.

Agreed. We like Khurasan far too much to see them run afoul of the evil horde of Lawyers. Nothing is scarier than that . . . .

Jeff

I will say this. Wit hthe number of bugs out there, making your own 'nid proxies should be a simple matter of cut and paste conversions.

Buy some bigger space demons with guns, add some extra limbs taken from some other bug, greeblies to taste.

Yer good!

-Eli

Really nice aliens. Will look good with my Crusties as mercs.

Spice with a few sponks for really heavy support.

Sponk + support weapons from Stikks or other bio-tech aliens = support Sponk!

I will say this. Wit hthe number of bugs out there, making your own 'nid proxies should be a simple matter of cut and paste conversions.

Agreed… everything to make Tyranids in 15mm already exists, and Khurasan makes most of it.

Things like scythe arms are actually pretty darned easy to make yourself. A little wire with a loayer of putty and you are golden.

Glue on to some Space Demons or these guys and you have Gaunts. Or you could buy some the Mantid aliens from Khurasan and cut off their scythe arms.

-Eli

very nice

I can't tell but are they 4 or 6 limbs. I was going to get the Stikks anyway for an Invasion USA game anyway, but this is the icing on the cake. Great job again Jon.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really don't how you do it; the stream of amazing stuff you put out never seems to stop!

-Will

Not too keen on the Stikks, but the Guncrabs look cool enough to warrant building up into a full range on their own.

I can't see why people don't just use Tyranids as 15mm Tyranids.

They're alien monsters making them scale independant. You might want to use rippers as your base infantry rather than gaunts, but the Tyranid Warriors would make good large alien proxies, and a Carnifex would truly be a sight to behold (some kind of massive bio-titan).

Alternatively these crabs would likely proxy as very VERY nice infantry and still tie in nicely with the larger Tyranid models (especially with that lovely looking carapace).

On an unrelated note, these crabs look fantastic. Reminds me a little of the alien crabs from "Old Man's War"

Jon,

OK, so while I continue to cool my heels waiting for the Jasmine Throne Foreign Battalions to come out, as a "consolation prize" to assuage my frustration, do these "Guncrabs" ever go rogue now and again and take service with the JTFB?

If they do, I may just get a small head start on my JTFB project…

I mean, they'd be bit of a bargain for Her Majesty to equip, as they're already fully armored (just add comm gear, gun, and a coat of paint for IFF purposes…).

Leland R. Erickson

P.S. Do you make a separate set of 15mm assault rifles BTW? I have some figures in need of heavier armaments…

Will, that's the easy part. Fulfilling orders, now that is hard! It's all I've done all weekend and I'm still 25 order behind….

Although to be honest part of that is due to stock shortages, the other bane of my existence.

The fun part outbalances that though -- getting models I like created, sharing cool stuff, and seeing people have fun gaming with it!

"Although to be honest part of that is due to stock shortages, the other bane of my existence. "

I try not to contribute too much. ;) Aim to make my orders more between releases…..but you keep releasing stuff at too steady of a rate.

That said, can't wait for these. The Stikks are looking cooler and cooler. How big are these compared to the normal Stikks though?

I absolutely love these.

It'd be really cool if you made some Guncrab head swaps that conveniently happened to fit on GW gaunts.

Wolfprophet, these are not giants, they are just a very little bit bigger than a 15mm human. Their thing is they are massive and armoured, not huge. If they were huge they could not do their job, storming built-up areas etc.

Excellent. Even if they were much bigger, it wouldn't put me off them. It just means I would need a larger diameter base to put them and change the particular role I put them in. :)

nice but they scream tyrannid rip-off to me, not crabs. saying that, I'll still get some :-)

These guys are largish but not enormous. They are on 20mm round bases if that helps anyone with the scale.

It's not easy to see in the group shot, but they have 6 limbs, the smaller ones are vestigal but you should be able to see them in the close ups coming soon.

I did these in Bone to match my existing Khurasan and Micropanzer bugs, but they would look excellent in orange and make great Harks!

"nice but they scream tyrannid rip-off to me, not crabs. saying that, I'll still get some"

Yes, because Heinlein didn't conceive the idea of a chitin armoured alien critter with a frickin' laser gun in the 1950s before the inventors of current Tyranids were even a glimmer in the eyes of their parents.

;) Though, Ben Seins did seem to take the overall shape of the torso straight off the current Warrior.

'Yes, because Heinlein didn't conceive the idea of a chitin armoured alien critter with a frickin' laser gun in the 1950s before the inventors of current Tyranids were even a glimmer in the eyes of their parents.' I never knew the 50's – but I know what you mean ;-) No way I'd support GW these days with the way they've gone :-(

I was just surprised how much like the current 'nids the carapace of these looked – not very crabby. Damn nice sculpts though

I would say that the resemblence to 'nids ends at the carapace. they do not have the freaky Giger alien faces, vented arms, sleestak pincers, etc.. nromally associated with 'nids.

-Eli

"No way I'd support GW these days with the way they've gone :-("

With what I've learned about the company….supporting them isn't a bad idea…but it's way way better to work for them than be a customer….. A lot of former employees are telling me the company gives a lot of love to their staff while they give the rest of us a big middle finger.

"they do not have the freaky Giger alien faces"

I actually took one look at them and thought to myself… "Release the KRAKEN!" :P Seriously, look up the new Clash of the Titans kraken from the end of the movie, then try to argue that these look like 'nids. Lol. Less possible by far!

Although, anyone else think that these would work pretty well with the Pelagic dominate line? They remind me vaguely of horseshoe crabs. That being a case to present, they could double duty as both assault troops and amphibious troops if the crabs in question they're based on are aquatic and not pubic. Hahahahahahaha.

I used to work for them Wolf – low pay, even by store worker standards, but at the time a 50% discount and the ability to go to the factory and buy stuff at £20.00 GBP a kilo – I so wish I had gone up there before I stopped working for them (I had to get a real job paying real money).
I hear they are about to re-jig their paint line – whatever they do it's likely to cost more so I'd advise people to stock up on stuff now :-)

I honestly don't understand the "rip-off tyranids" statements, (and frankly that phrase is pretty inflammatory, as it often implies a lack of quality) while they share some design elements with 'nids, I personally see just as much Garthim in their design (which is a good thing)

(Hmm, I wonder if anyone makes 15mm Skeksis…Rrawwk)

maybe rip off was too harsh – just the carapace is almost identical to the recent 'nids.

Gokiburi – look at the Harook from Mad Robot Miniatures.

Strangely enough I have just shown these to the sculptor of the Harook, and the first thing he said was 'they are the new tyrant guard' – think that makes my point :-) In fact he's now sitting here looking at both and saying they are exactly the same…….

Is that what the sculptor of Mad Robot's Kroot had to say?

Mad Robot's Harook are not Kroot. The Kroot do not have long beaks. the Kroot do not wear hi-tech armor or carry advanced energy weapons. Other than have crests of spikey hair there isn't much of a resemblance at all. For that matter, despite being based after avians, the Kroot really bear very little resemblance to birds at all.

They are less Kroot than Khurasan's guncrabs are Tyranids.

Here are some images of the the GW Tyrant Guard

Not seeing too much of a resemblance other than the general style of the carapace. but it's a carapace. Where did GW get the inspiration for theirs?

-Eli

"Although, anyone else think that these would work pretty well with the Pelagic dominate line? They remind me vaguely of horseshoe crabs. That being a case to present, they could double duty as both assault troops and amphibious troops if the crabs in question they're based on are aquatic and not pubic. Hahahahahahaha."
-Wolfprophet

That was the first thing I thought. Assault troops for my Karkarines.
My second thought was the Garthim (man, I want some non-Garthim in 15mm)

I hope I can get these at the same time as the new poses for the Karks.

Mad Robot's Harook are not Kroot.

Of course, that's what a member of the Mad Robot team would say, isn't it?

You seem to have missed my point though. Ever heard of the expression, "what's sauce for the goose …"?

Not applicable here –

Two reasons…

A) I am no longer with Mad Robot. Steve and I parted ways a short while ago. A fact that was anounced on Mad robot's blog – link .

I will not discuss the specific circumstances of the parting, but it was not my choice. I enjoyed working with Steve and had hoped for a much longer partnership than we had.

B) For the idiom to apply there would have to be some indication that a double standard had been applied. there is nothing to indicate that this is the case.

Now, if you intended the idiom to be directed at GW for their constant delving into the great colelctive consciousness of fandom and IP to set their sticky fingers on other people's IP, then sure, it might apply.

I do apologize for perhaps derailing this thread, but I grow tired of folks calling "rip-off" any time there is the vaguest resemblance to another product.

This is an old hobby and for many this hobby is a business. As an old hobby, there is increasingly less wiggle room
for new ideas and so there are bound to be some elbows rubbing.

As a business, sometimes you need to go with the trends and produce those things that you know there is a market for. This will also bring about some rubbing of elbows.

-Eli

How many poses? Any followup pa cks planned?

For my take, I would simply say that all of these figures draw from the same simple source, Nature. Whether they be Tyranids, Guncrabs, Spugs, Ixx or some other kind of Space Bug Monster, they all draw from the natural world around us and the things that we know. None of these are truly "Alien" looking since we see in them many of the same traits we see in animals that we are familiar with. It is those aspects that draws us to such creatures and from which they draw much of the terror and horror that their visage brings to our imaginations. It is from the familiar that we all look to for our bogymen and monsters. In this way, many companies create creatures that have similar attributes and features because they know their customers expect them. While we often opine for something "different" and truly "Alien", if someone were to bring it to market, it likely would not sell as well as some would like us to believe because it is actually too "Alien" to trigger the subconscious responses that we naturally look for in such creatures. With all of that said, it is simply a case of everyone working from similar blueprints that make so many products look similar rather than companies seeking to steal IP from each other. In the end, they are all taking their IP from the same simple source, the natural world around us.

So can we know get back to bugging Jon about getting these and the JTFB figures out?

Jeff

That was the first thing I thought. Assault troops for my Karkarines.
My second thought was the Garthim (man, I want some non-Garthim in 15mm)

More troopers for my JTFB for starters. More recruits for my 15mm House troops project (ie., it's my House, and I'll hire whomever I damn well please to do my dirty work for me to better protect my loyal subjects and my cushy job while they're all at it!).

The carapace is a segmented carapace. They occur in nature so often as to be a frikkin' cliche' and if you don't believe me, take it up with him:

He's a crack shot with an anti-matter carbine… careful! He's got a mean look in his eye!

Leland R. Erickson