Squatted: Difference between revisions

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**Necron [[Pariah]]s. The biggest casualty of the great [[Necron]] Retcon of 5th Ed. Thanks for that [[Matt Ward|Ward]]...
**Necron [[Pariah]]s. The biggest casualty of the great [[Necron]] Retcon of 5th Ed. Thanks for that [[Matt Ward|Ward]]...
***Same can be said about Necrons' supposed predecessors, [[Chaos Android|Chaos Androids]].
***Same can be said about Necrons' supposed predecessors, [[Chaos Android|Chaos Androids]].
**The Ork [[Goff Rokka]]s. Too wild to last...
**The Ork [[Goff Rokker]]s. Too wild to last...
**[[Daemon Prince]]s of [[Chaos Undivided]] are in a semi-squatted status, as [[Be'lakor]] has been retconned into being the only Undivided prince, meanwhile we know jack shit about the "true" alignments about the two Undivided Daemon Primarchs, [[Lorgar]] and [[Perturabo]].
**[[Daemon Prince]]s of [[Chaos Undivided]] are in a semi-squatted status, as [[Be'lakor]] has been retconned into being the only Undivided prince, meanwhile we know jack shit about the "true" alignments about the two Undivided Daemon Primarchs, [[Lorgar]] and [[Perturabo]].
*In Warhammer Fantasy:
*In Warhammer Fantasy:
**[[The Chaos Gods of Law]]... not like they did shit anyways.
**The [[Chaos Gods of Law]]... not like they did shit anyways.
**[[Malal]], though his Squatting had more to do with legal troubles rather than GW shifting gears.
**[[Malal]], though his Squatting had more to do with legal troubles rather than GW shifting gears.
**The [[Tomb Kings]] once [[Age of Sigmar]] came around. No, [[Ossiarch Bonereapers|those new skelly-boys]] do NOT count.
**The [[Tomb Kings]] once [[Age of Sigmar]] came around. No, [[Ossiarch Bonereapers|those new skelly-boys]] do NOT count.

Revision as of 08:13, 23 August 2022

"There is nothing new besides what has been forgotten."

– Marie Antoinette

"I forgot"

– Games Workshop, probably

"To be Squatted" is a term used by the folks /tg/ to refer to a specific army/faction/subfaction/character/game being, for a lack of better words, abandoned or ignored by Games Workshop. Something that some may consider inevitable due to the fact that the company has many games under its belt, with each a myriad of factions and sub-factions, with their spin-offs which also have their own sub-factions, special characters, etc. But also! They have a considerable amount of lore to consider and to write books about.

But, what IS IT really to be squatted? Is it to be cancelled? Forgotten? Discontinued? Let's dig deeper into this rabbit hole.

Origins of the term and definition

The term "Squatted" owes its existence to the Squats, or now the Leagues of Votann, back when they were nothing but dorf bikers in outer space. This was back when Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy were significantly lighter in tone and presentation, so the idea of something as ridiculous as the Squats was passable at best. Not that the game was once happy-go-lively, it was just more-or-less aware of its sheer ridiculousness, henceforth, the game was prone to use caricatural representations of its characters and lore. But more often than not, the universe was still taken very seriously. At least, to a certain extent.

The Squats were, at the time, a joke. Or what essentially boiled down to a joke. Since they were the 40k equivalent of the Dwarfs, that meant GW significantly downgraded the race itself to fit in the canon of its counterpart game. So we went from a proud race of grudge-holding strong "men" of small stature with a culture so alien only ONE human managed to grasp a fraction of it to a race of short angry space bikers who were, essentially, a degenerate off-shoot of humanity. Yeah, not really a good concept for your then whole new and exciting space war-game, especially if you wanted it to be darker, bigger and more serious than your existing fantasy one.

In terms of rules, the Squats weren't even really unique, matter of fact, they didn't even counted as an army at all! It was only in Epic that they took a more significant role, where they truly shined as a faction of its own. But Epic being an alternative to the base game, the Squats didn't have a significant presence in the tabletop scene. People remembered them for being funny and kind of goofy when compared to the rest of the edgy, warmongering and flamboyant cast of Warhammer 40k.

And so, after a small appearance in 2nd Edition and a few mentions here and there, the Squats just... disappeared. Well, Games Workshop hinted at the idea that the Squat homeworlds were "eaten by the Tyranids" and called it a day, or rather, a sufficient excuse to get rid of them. For a long time any mentions of the Squats on the official forums would get your account instantly permabanned, and asking about them at official GW events featuring Q&As was likely to get you escorted out by security. This resulted in a long-running joke within the community that talking about the Squats in any capacity resulted in a visit from GW's wetworks team, often mid-sente*BLAM*.

There was a half-hearted attempt to bring the Squats back with the Demiurg, but it wouldn't be until 2022 that Games Workshop officially unveiled their return. First with Necromunda's introduction of Squat mercenary Grendl Grendlsen (the first Squat miniature in over two decades) and the Ironhead Squat Prospectors, but most notably the Leagues of Votann (with Grendlsen and company being descendants of the cleanup crews sent to repair Necromunda after the Horus Heresy). Despite their namesake no longer retconned out of existence, the term "Squatted" still applies to a lot of things in Warhammer that simply just got dropped without any mention at best, and straight-up disavowal from GW at worst.

Other infamous things that have been Squatted

  • In 40K:
    • The Zoats. Originally some sort of scout race for the Tyranids, they were wiped out by the 'Nids after the Hive Mind deemed them a liability (read: They weren't popular so GeeDubs fed them to their in-universe garbage disposal). Only returned with the Blackstone Fortress game.
    • The Eldar Bonesinger. Only got a limited-edition datasheet and then to oblivion...
    • Necron Pariahs. The biggest casualty of the great Necron Retcon of 5th Ed. Thanks for that Ward...
      • Same can be said about Necrons' supposed predecessors, Chaos Androids.
    • The Ork Goff Rokkers. Too wild to last...
    • Daemon Princes of Chaos Undivided are in a semi-squatted status, as Be'lakor has been retconned into being the only Undivided prince, meanwhile we know jack shit about the "true" alignments about the two Undivided Daemon Primarchs, Lorgar and Perturabo.
  • In Warhammer Fantasy:
  • In Warmachine: The entire Protectorate of Menoth. As part of the massive lore shakeup that Mk4 has insisted on sticking to, the entire army has been dissolved and incorporated into other armies, rendering irrelevant quite a bit. Paints a pretty dreary image to the supposed revival...