November Preview: The Evolution of the Skjalos Guard

Evening all! I thought it was probably about time that I show you guys what I've been working on besides big robots' instructions.

November's release will see the rebuilding of the Skjalos Guard Slaughter Corps, rereleased as Skjalos Legionaries, and to celebrate that, I thought it might be nice to see how their design has evolved.

Their first venture onto Solwyte Studios was in the form of the Skjalos Regiments kit, including las-pistols, las-rifles and a number of improvised weapons, including butchers' cleavers and industrial pipes. Heavily layered torso, shoulder and leg armour protected them, using a combination of helmets and masks to protect their heads. 

Supplementing these, in December of the same year, came the first variant of the Regiments, the Hunters. This was a major redevelopment of the original kit, including much better proportions, more detailed armour plating, and the introduction of their much darker side, with their dismembered victims hanging from their armour with heavy chains. This remains one of my favourite kits I've made, to this day, but I know I want to do more with them later this month too; this kit also featured the first Skjalos shotguns and sniper rifles, though these have been somewhat refined since!

Their next entry was as the Skjalos Veterans, a kit designed to compliment the Regiments with variant bodies, and more stripped back armour to allow them more freedom of movement - realistically, the Regiments' and Hunters' armour was so constricting they couldn't actually sit down in it! This kit also saw the introduction of the more Roman shoulder armour that has stayed as a defining part of the newer kits.

Until recently, the Skjalos Guard's main kit, the Slaughter Corps kit, was the direct replacement for the Regiments, including a tonne of body poses and weapon options and additional wargear, but notably, it suffered from the same horror that has plagued it and every predecessor in its lineage - horrifyingly large weapons. I mean, look at the size of the rifle in the Skjalos Veterans kit - which is the same as that available to the Slaughter Corps.

So, now we come to the latest entry, the Skjalos Legionaries. New, accurately proportionate bodies, with paint-friendly detail scaling, and a better balance of busy detail and cleaner surfaces, with the introduction of chainmail underneath their breastplates, poking out under their belts, ends of their arm sleeves and in their new coifs. In addition, to compliment the industrial look of their newer vehicles, their shinplates, tassets, groin and torso collar pieces have been reinforced with struts, and their shoes and gloves have seen a full overhaul, plus the puttees on their shins have been finished with correctly-folded fabric (a very small detail, admittedly, but it makes me happy).
Most importantly, their weapons are correctly proportioned! Included in this upcoming kit are options for long-barrelled rifles, or short-barrelled rifles with foregrips and bayonets, for your more optimally short-ranged firepower, plus options for shotpistols and flamethrower pistols, and additional options shotrifles and shotpistols upgraded to blister carbines and blister revolvers. And new sniper rifles and assault rifles. And shotguns.

So there's some new stuff in this kit.