Hello everyone!
I've recently joined the facebook group, and once I was there, I realized that wargames atlantic takes, or at least used to take suggestions, so I shot my own suggestion in their mailbox.
That suggestion was for space ratmen (40K skaven) as it seems to me like a niche only touched by stls and veer-myn. With veer-myn being very hard to make look good with kitbashed equipment for games other than "Deadzone".
I feel like it's something that would fit the existing range well, and have a proven audience. But I don't know what you guys think, so I'm asking here, would you guys buy this theoretical ratmen box if it had good options for both death fields and GW games? Answer what you think about this idea below and vote in the poll!
Personally, no. They're not a favorite of mine. Same thing with cat ladies, and other Terra centric animal-people hybrids. That being said, I dont have any ill will toward those who like those kinds of things. They're just not my cup of tea. Hopefully you get more votes. Would like to see more engagement on the forum.
What's the market for them? Death Fields models tend to be bought for use as IG proxies for 40k, and some wierd war/alternate history type of stuff. "Anthropomorphic rats" doesn't really fit that bill, per se.
Comparison to rats is always viewed as unflattering, so modelling them after a particular historical or modern nation or their military is kind of a no-go, and Mantic have already cornered the anthro-rats armed with stolen/discarded mining equipment and scavenged/cobbled together weapons market; so what's their style/aesthetic/motif going to be?
@Stephen Sutton
IG proxies are kinda the skeleton key here. There are loyal and heretic armies made of various "modes", like beastmen, cyborgs and other. Rats of all others have the massive advantage of Skaven being quite popular and non existent not only in 40k universe, but being rather hard to get by in general, especially in plastic.
Rat creatures can be clearly used for roles like Tzaangors/40K beastmen or in skirmish forces (IG having their own "ratling" squad? XD)
Maybe when the beast boys box of the Damned comes out they'll have more information on the market potential.
While you can build a 40k rat army with skaven box and enough Sci fi bits, it's rather expensive prospect. Mantic is quite high on the stylistic spectrum so I'd love to see what WA would cook with their slightly less flashy style.
And stylistic... First, I believe WA Designers and sculptors would work something out! Maybe no descriptive ww1/early ww2 inspired conscripts with enough of own color to not bring specific nation. Also, it can be done in less dismissing way, both Games Workshop and Mantic rats clearly go for dirty and aggressive swarms. WA shown they can get such topics in a fresh way, especially on their 3D front. 1PageRule goes so far to just make them kinda normal faction, with jackals giving that more feral vibe than rats.
I can't say I personally would buy it, but I don't think it's in any way a bad idea. skaven are QUITE popular, and I literally just had a conversation with a friend who wished ikkit claw was in 40k. if you want some lore, maybe you could go for something silly rather than them being mutant humans. After all, maybe the aliens just kidnapped anyone who caused enough deaths, and so maybe the rats that spread the black plague could count? then, they got supplemented with the hardy and vicious trench rats from ww1. IDK, maybe this is getting too silly, but I wouldn't worry too much about the lore. We already have space confederates and space nazis, so who cares?
