We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

UPDATE: SQUATS ARE BACK—FOR REAL!

So it wasn’t an April Fool’s Day joke after all. Squats are back! But I don’t know what form they’re going to be taking. The trailer looked very Space Hulk and the outfit of the Squat that they showed looks much more like a space suit than the traditional Squat quilted jackets. So what game are they for?

I thought they were going to be a special Kill Team, like the Corsairs—and they still might be—but could we really see Squats in Space Hulk? That’s super weird.

We’ve written at length about Squats in Warhammer 40k, their past and present, but we haven’t dived much into the Squats’ future. But it seems like Squats are–maybe–getting ready to make a reappearance in the Warhammer 40k lore.

In this article we are going to discuss the Squats 40k rumors, what we do know about currently existing Squats in 40k, and how we could imagine Games Workshop releasing Squats for Warhammer 40k in the near future.

UPDATE: EITHER THEY’RE BACK OR IT’S AN APRIL FOOLS JOKE!

As of April 1, 2022, it appears that Squats are back!? But is this real or is it an elaborate April Fools Day joke? My opinion is that it’s real, for a couple of reasons. First, they put a lot of work and art and time into this trailer, which seems like too much for an April Fools joke. Second, and more important, they showed that logo, and I think the logo–going to the trouble of making what seems like a legitimate logo–is the clearest sign that these Squats are the real deal.

I don’t know about the rest of you all, but I for one am VERY excited.

Where Did The Warhammer 40k Squats Go?

40k Squats were destroyed, almost entirely, by the Tyranid Hivefleet, presumably Hivefleet Behemoth. This is an unusual move for the Tyranids, because Tyranids are all about consuming as much biomass as possible, and Squats, according to the lore, do not come from worlds with a lot of biomass.

In fact, it is the nature of the Squat homeworlds that made the Squats what they are, physiologically-speaking. They are Abhumans, which are essentially humans that have evolved rapidly over millennia into different forms (see also the Ogryns and the Ratlings). Because of the fact that they lived on resource-rich, stony worlds, these Abhumans evolved their space-dwarf-like traits.

This is why Squats are big into mining, building big stone fortresses, and never are mentioned doing much in the way of farming. So it does seem weird that the Squats would have been the target of such a specific attack by a swarm of Tyranids. But, that’s what the lore says, and that’s what the lore remains.

Why Were Squats Removed From the Game of Warhammer 40k?

The reasons for this can be found in a forum post attributed to Jervis Johnson (which can be found here) in which he said that the Squats never translated well from fantasy into science fiction. They were, from their inception, a direct copy of fantasy dwarves: from their love of mining to their love of drinking to their grudges against the Eldar and Orks to their stubborn behavior.

According to Jervis Johnson, the Games Workshop team simply didn’t like 40k Squats that were so completely unoriginal. (He also alluded to being very bothered by the name “squats” which I don’t know if that’s a politically correct thing–a slur for little people–or if it’s just a juvenile and unoriginal name for them.)

Anyway, the gist is that Warhammer 40k Squats were erased, literally, from Warhammer lore. In some of the novels that existed at the time, the Squats were actually edited out so that it would appear as though they had never existed at all. (As a sidenote: I’d just like to point out this as one of the MANY times when Games Workshop has chosen to change their lore when the needs suited them. They have done it before, they will do it again.)

Speaking of changing the lore, the Squats were brought back to Warhammer 40k, or at least mentioned, in the 6th Edition of the game. They were not brought back as a playable force or given rules or models, but they were named among the Abhuman subspecies.

Have Squats Already Reappeared in Warhammer 40k?

As a matter of fact, there are squats alive both in the current lore and there are even models for them. In the lore, it was said that the Tyranids ALMOST entirely wiped out the Squats of 40k, but that the Imperium took control over those homeworlds and either protected the Squats or absorbed them into their ranks. This doesn’t seem like an entirely impossible thing to have happened as the the Imperial Guard are the ones who make use of Abhumans in their ranks.

But more importantly, there are Squat models which have been reintroduced in just the last few years. The first 40k Squat to be released was Grendl Grendlsen, who was one of the single characters in Necormunda: Underhive. That was in 2018, so not in the far distant past, and given the slow pace at which Games Workshop does things, it could have definitely been a test–dipping their toe into the waters–to see how the Squats would be received by the fandom. (Spoiler: they were received very well.)

A year later, Forge World came out with a model named Ragnir the ammo-jack, a mercenary who can be hired by any Necromunda faction. He’s a beautiful sculpt, and this one was in 2019, so you can kind of get the feeling that there could definitely be more Squats in 40k’s future. Two in Necromunda really seems like a test.

What Are the Rumors About Warhammer 40k Squats?

In Psychic Awakening, we got a Squats 40k sneak peek: In a snippet of lore, a printout of a transcript, there is a stilted mention of “That …essel belongs to… Squa…“

That vessel belongs to Squats? That’s more than a single Necromunda character. That’s a big sign that there are Squats in 40k in big enough numbers to have their own ships. Could they be a new faction?

Jump to 2021 and we get the BIG news: there was a leak that appeared for a very short amount of time on a single blog (Bolter and Chainsword) that seemed to layout a lot of Warhammer 40k’s upcoming releases. A lot of things were mentioned which, at the time, seemed unexpected (and some of it still does) but in the meantime some of the surprising rumors have been CONFIRMED to be true.

It starts with the new Ork releases, which, we indeed did get. It then says that there’s going to be a Black Templar boxed set in September–which was announced at Gen Con 2021. So, so far, so good.

There’s also rumors of a Custodes and Genestealer Cults boxed set in December. In light of current things this could be a Warhammer 40k thing, or it could be a Kill Team box, as they just announced the T’au and Sisters of Battle box. Could be.

There’s word of a T’au book, but then a lot of stuff for Chaos Space Marines (they go into a lot of detail about the Chaos Space Marine stuff–there’s even rumors about Emperor’s Children or World Eaters). There’s even word of a “massive” Eldar update.

But what about Squats 40k rumors?

This document, which SEEMS to have credibility, Squats are announced without a release date.

Does this mean that Squats are coming back to 40k in 2022? It’s hard to say because this is all rumors, but Squats definitely COULD be coming back.

(More context about these rumors can be found on Chapter Master Valrak’s channel, who has been pretty reliable about the rumor mill lately.)

What Squat alternatives are there?

In the meantime while we’re waiting for Games Workshop to re-release Squats, there are other options.

One that looks great (and really mimics 40k Squats especially in their quilted uniforms, are the Space Dwarves from Hardcore Miniature. They look great and they are the closest thing you’ll come to replicating official Squats that I’ve seen.) You can view them on Hardcore Miniatures website.

For a much cheaper option, which looks great (though have a slightly different style) I am personally a fan of Wargames Atlantic’s Einherjar Infantry. These are dwarves with lasguns and axes, but at a fraction of the price of the Hardcore Miniatures Space Dwarves. You can buy them from Amazon.

What do you think? Are you excited to see Squats make a comeback to Warhammer 40k?