AuthorNateHA-Flybywire I was chatting on the discord about the Demiurg, and I promised to tell folks about how they came about. I figured while writing this that it would be a fun story to bore the rest of you with. Before the Tau were a thing and the Necron fleet was going through all its teething issues (different conversation), a New Threat Alert was posted in one of the early BFG magazines with a silhouette of what we would later learn was the Demiurg Stronghold. The inside scoop was that the new model would finally bring to life the Fra’al battleship we’d all been waiting for, even though it didn’t look anything like Che Webster’s awesome kitbash (another different conversation). Andy C contacted me to try out a profile for a new race and ship he wanted play tested, but he specifically didn’t want me to know what the model looked like, except that it was battleship-sized. With only this in mind, I play tested it using a 10Hp resource harvester I had recently kitbashed using a SM shoulder pad, various Imp bitz and (wait for it) a multi-point pen! Tau didn’t exist yet (another different conversation) so my son and I play tested it consecutively as an ally for Imperials, then Chaos, then as an objective 3rd player that we rolled randomly to control. I emailed my tweaks and results back to Andy, and for awhile I heard nothing. I found out the same time everyone else did that I was play testing the New Threat Alert, which was cool, except that I was really looking forward to getting a Fra’al battleship!
Once the Stronghold hit the street, Andy C told me to come up with a profile for a Battlecruiser-class Demiurg ship, but again I wasn’t given a model or photos to work with. I found out later that it was because the model by Warwick K’s crew at Forgeworld wasn’t done with it yet. In any case, I again got to see the new model the same time as the rest of the world, and I discovered it to be rather …small. I put together a new profile that was more WYSIWYG to the actual model, but Matt Keefe told me the fans liked the 8Hp profile so it was staying as-is. I found out later that Jervis J. wanted the whole concept killed off because “No Space Squats, ever!” Ray Bell and I got to see a single concept bust for what they look like, but nothing came of it. They were reptilian-skinned alien… space squats. Much later, my 6Hp profile redo became the Demiurg Citadel in the 2010 Compendium. Because the Demiurg were never supposed to be a standalone fleet, they ended up never getting escorts. The rationale became that as commerce vessels, they would contract out other races if they wanted or needed escorts. A true Demiurg escort would be more like a really shooty transport than a true warship. When the Tau came out, it was decided to attach the Demiurg to them to give them a fleet (of sorts) of their own. Another tidbit: back in the day, I was a big Homeworld fan, and I slipped in a subtle homage with my reference to the Tau’s name for the Demiurg (Bentus’la). Bob H caught it and called me out when we submitted it to GW, but Matt Keefe gave it a pass so we left it in. Last tidbit: Che Webster did a fantastic job building his Fra’al Battlecruiser first outlined in Planet Killer Magazine, but most of us don’t have a bitz box as deep as he had to kitbash these. If you take a good look at the model, he used a very old (pre-3rd edition) Necron Destroyer sled, two Imperial battleship spines, an SM battlebarge rear hull and engines, Retribution battleship sensor wings, assorted other bits, and parts off a Blackstone Fortress for the bridge and Warp Cannon. He made two of these! Beautiful models, but very expensive kitbashes unless you have a bottomless bitz bin. (Turbidious note - I have all the bits and an article waiting on how to make one of these, thanks to another writer here, Justin, so youll see one of those in the future) Minus the Necron iconography, any of you brilliant 3D modelers want to take this on? I’d love to, but I have a bunch of unfinished STL projects I’ll probably never find the time to get done. You make it, I’ll buy it. ++ MESSAGE ENDS ++ (Pic - Turbidious)
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AuthorA place were your army/fleet background and pictures can be published. Would ideally like to help contribute to the sectors narrative but its not necessary Archives
February 2022
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