I never understood Tarantulas. Firstly, I couldn’t see where the name came from, as I could only ever count 4 legs. Or 3 in the case of the plastic Space Crusade versions. But then again, the Rapier Laser Destroyer looked nothing like a rapier, the Chimera didn’t have a lion head or snake tail, and the Basilisk didn’t slither along the floor. (The Mole Mortar fired shells that burrowed underground like moles though, and the Hellhound spat flame though, so there is reason to suspect some logic). Having 4 legs I reckon they should have been named after something with 4 legs, like a Rhino. Hang on…
The other reason I didn’t like them was they always seemed shoe-horned into armies. It was fine in Rogue Trader where the Universe was vast and under-developed, but by the time 2nd ed rolled around they were just included as afterthoughts in the codices. The way they hovered off the ground and performed pop-up attacks didn’t gel with the state of anti-grav tech in the 40K universe. They were forgotten, until Forge World seriously beefed them up and revamped the concept. I’m glad they’ve done the same thing to the Thudd Gun too, I’m just waiting for the Rapier Laser Destroyers.
You may have noticed I’ve started adding a couple of links to other notable Squat sites on the right. I hate the idea of new gamers looking for Squat info and coming across, erm, across gems like this from 1997 – Mike’s Page – and this Squat Pitt. Have a poke around.
