Fall of the Apes - Part 1

One of the inhabitants of the forests of Locust 4 are the Squatches. Rumor is they were brought here as laborers, however they are much more cunning than they first appear and eventually won their freedom. Despite looks they are a rather advanced species who prefers to live in harmony with nature. However when push comes to shove they will brandish a weapon like any other to defend their own. As such, these days can be found among many crew's working from the Locust sector... and in some instances running as a full pack.

A group of "native" Squatches welcomes home those who lived among the aliens.

It's been over a year since I backed the Space Apes III kickstarter by Adam Devitt. Being a fan of all things scifi I knew they'd be a great addition to my collection. Planet of the apes, Wookiees, Yeti's, Bigfoot; there's plenty of reasons to have some scifi apes in the collection. So it was about time to put some paint on them and get these guys to their intended use! 

Right off the bat I knew I wanted to have some fun with them. I had already converted one model for my Eldar Adventuring party, a special albino ape turned gladiator. So I looked to both Planet of the apes, and Star Wars Wookiees for inspiration. Then I got to work having fun with all kinds of transparent colors. 

For painting I used a range of options from Citadel, Monument Hobbies, and Army Painter. I find each works slightly differently, so experimentation is helpful. Contrast colors and speed paints work well for a base, but the transparent colors from monument weren't transparent enough for me. I added some of their glaze and wash medium and got a better flow. On the other hand I felt their shades were a bit to thin for how I used some of the citadel stuff. Good to know for later!

While you are painting apes, why not paint some others? Most skirmish games I play these days need all sorts of roles added to them. So I pulled out some of the great monkeys from Ramshakle Games patreon. Then I thought of the head from the stargrave crew, so I whipped together a female body for her. Finally, I had picked up this citadel mini from the Judge Dredd line knowing the day of an Ape crew would come. 

The jumpsuit on the Northstar mini was painted green as a nod to planet of the apes. I painted the citadel ape with a double use of adding him to the still growing human mercenary crew. Finally the monkey in overalls got an orange jump suit like my orks becuase that seems to be a world theme. I tied all the models together with dark colored weapons inspired by Star Wars, and blue shoulder pads or other parts. Finally I gave them all blue eyes... another nod to Planet of the apes. 

I'm really happy with how they came out. Next time we'll tackle the command crew for the apes!