Hi! So... I'm in the process of writing a massive Bestiary for Lustrian beasts. But even before that I looked a lot into Warhammer's older and often forgotten lore from old version (stuff that has been clearly not canon for a long time, but also not unusable by us current writers) and found this guy: The Carnivorous Snapper, described as follows by Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st Edition: Carnivorous Snappers are the last remnants of a race of great lizards from the days when reptiles ruled the Known World. They are fast-moving and ferocious, but extremely stupid and are sometimes used as hunting beasts by Lizardmen, although it is thought that they once walked the surface. The Carnivorous Snapper is a bipedal reptile, about 10 feet long from nose to tail and standing about 5 feet high, although - in combat - it can rear to a height of 7 feet. Most of its weight is distributed around its hind legs and it has a heavy tail, which is uses to balance itself while running. Its forelimbs are small and almost useless. Colour varies from dark green to dark brown. I instantly fell in love with this pudgy guy, and got to work on actualizing him to "modern" warhammer fantasy's feel. Just like how the “Cold One” is based on dromaeosaurs: And the carnosaur is Lustria’s tyrannosaur: The old image of the Carnivorous Snapper made me think of old illustrations of ceratosaurus(which is also my fave dinosaur): So my idea of the modernized carnivorous snapper would be the lustrian version of the ceratosaurus: A lightly armored, three horned bipedal predator with clawed forearms of a size large enough to be used in hunting. A mid-zized predator to bully cold-ones and stand up to young carnosaurs, but not big enough to compete with carnosaur adults or hunt the mightier herbivores of Lustria. Elements of the design: Now, there’s some elements I wanted to keep and that I didn't want to keep from the original description: That I wanted to keep: Fast moving and ferocious: I wanted it to be a mid-sized theropod. So obvious. Sometimes used as a hunting beast: Obviously since I want it to be a mount I want to keep how useful it is.Specially since I plan on some Saurus and lizardmen-aligned humans on riding them. Bipedal, weight on the hindlegs and heavy tail: All normal traits in theropods. That I didn't want: Extremely stupid: A lot of Lustrian creatures are typecast as dumb lizards because of how old the lore is and old paleontology tropes. I don’t want to keep that, especially because it’s a companion to the main character of one of my stores and that would just not be an interesting dynamic. Size: The old version of this creature is really small, literally the smallest “large carnivore “ of Lustria and that would make no sense(it seems to be even smaller than a cold-one), specially if it’s to be a rideable animal. The size I image is is between 7 and eight meters long and about 2,50-2,75 meters tall. Forelimbs small and useless: All lustrian theropods have large and very useful forelimbs, so while I don’t want it to be as big as those I still want it to have useful claws, doesn't make sense for it not to have the same traits as its cousins. Colors: I just want to have it be more varied in colorations, like all the other Lustrian creatures.
Having all of this figured out I contacted the artist Alex Viera and we got to working on a full redesign for the Carnivorous Snapper based on ceratosaurs and horned theropods from all over media: First Sketches Completed Lineart Finished piece with the coloration I personally wanted
What do you think? I think we did a great job but obviously the deisgin is tailored to what the CS was like in my brain. What do you like of this design? What do you think we could have changed to get a better design?
I absolutely love this, the work of the artist, and you reviving this old beauty. Had no idea it existed, very very cool. My only C&C would be i think it should be pudgier to maintain that classic feel. Right now it feels a bit too close to the cold one and carno (Edited)
I like the modern touch alot, there are quite of old dinos to work on for example dragon turtles, and colossadons, even great wyrms. Id also go far with adding troglodytes aswell for another caste for the lizardmen.