August Battle Pack Preview | Skumgrot Sky Raiders (Patreon)

The Sentinels of Primus have taken to the battlefield, and now I want to share a preview of the upcoming Battle Pack for this August - the Skumgrot Sky Raiders!

When I sat down to work out the theme for the next Battle Pack, I grabbed a notepad, thought for a minute, and then wrote one word:

Then I thought for another little bit and added two more words:

Behold, the creative process!

With this monumental task complete, I proceeded to sketch up some designs.

The Skumgrot Sky Raiders are troublesome, cunning, borderline psychotic humanoid creatures that pilot ramshackle flying machines they use to conduct piratical attacks on the unwary sky vessels of other races (or each-other if they can't find other targets, or if they get bored, or if they just feel like it). Skumgrot Lootahs are expendable goons sent hurtling over the side of the Sky Raiders airships, ideally landing on the enemy ship so they can start stealing anything that isn't bolted down (or, if they've thought to bring along some wrenches, anything not bolted down very tightly).

Skumgrots show a surprising capacity for crude engineering, which is mainly used to keep their unstable flying machines air worthy. But there's usually enough scrap metal and spare-parts lying around that the skumgrot engineers can slap together a couple of jet packs for some of the more insanely suicidal members of the crew. These Skygitz launch themselves into the air and rocket towards the enemy ship at high speed, typically smashing into it and detonating spectacularly. If the skumgrot remembers to detach themselves from the jetpack before impact and manages to land on the deck of the enemy vessel, this is considered an optional bonus.

Every raider crew needs a skumgrot to be in charge, keeping the raiders flying ever onwards to new victories. They need to be tough, cunning, and smart enough to know what they're doing, or at least loud and confident enough to make it seem like they know what they're doing. These skumgrots are the Nasty-Sky Kommandahs, who get the best loot and the snazziest jetpacks (which sometimes don't blow up!) Nothing inspires a crew of skumgrot raiders to enact greater carnage like their Kommandah swooping down onto the enemy from above, jetpack engines roaring and screaming abuse at the enemy, the crew, nearby clouds, and just everything in general.

The Skumgrot Sky Raiders are my take on the classic goblin, coupled with the nearly as classic elements of crude ramshackle engineering that the little buggers are frequently depicted as masters of nowadays. My goal is to create a pack of goblinoids with crude technology that would fit in fantasy settings employing steampunk and magitech, as well as more purely scifi settings. I also intend to have variant heads for all skumgrots that feature both stubby and long noses, to match goblins from various existing styles. 

The Skumgrot Sky Raiders Battle Pack will feature a gaggle of Skumgrot Lootahs, with optional variants that can be given jet-packs to make Skumgrot Skygitz, and a Nasty-Sky Kommandah to lead them all into battle. Plus an arsenal of modular grotty weapons and a set of sculpted bases depicting the deck of a skumgrot sky-ship!

Keep watching for sculpting previews coming soon!