Terrain idea: Drukhari Vessels

I am planning out a project for some dark eldar Drukhari terrain. I want to bring a slave vessel to the gaming table, a ship that can provide cover and a cool centerpiece for the board when I bring my army out to fight my friends.

As Drukhari generally are raiders and fight on enemy turf, Drukhari themed terrain can be difficult to fit into a battle driven by narrative unless taking place in the Webway.

So I want to create a slave transport or a space craft that I can put on the tabletop. After doing a lot of size comparison in Battlefleet Gothic Armada II between the Razorwing Jet Fighters and different ships, I've come to the realization, that even the smallest and most easily built escort ships are the length of a dining table.
That means I'm looking for a mid point between that size, and the size of a Razorwing.

As I could find no pictures or descriptions of any vehicles of this kind myself, I've decided to ask you all for your thoughts.

I am currently thinking of going for a slave barge of some sort, that would be inspired by the Raider and Ravager models. They would be as wide as a Voidraven Bomber and a fair bit longer. I could make it quite a bit taller than other ships available to us, and make griddles in the floor with hands reaching up through the holes. As illustrated in the attached drawing. I may also take inspiration from Jabba the Hutt's slave barge as well.

Otherwise I am definitely looking to hear your thoughts on this and would love to be inspired by any lore or images you can direct me towards.

I would also look at the tantalus something that big might end up more like a tri-maran.

As for it as a terrain piece I'd suggest it being on the ground with loading ramps and with slave cages being loaded etc.

Aesthetically you would want the ramp to be facing your side of the table. So keeping it symmetrical so you can just flip it around with out changing any tactical effect based on who gets what side of the table would be a good idea to consider

I've been thinking about this type of idea for years too! Lemme dig up some of the reference shots I've collected...

Personally, I think that the grates on the bottom of our standard raider would look good (good as in thematically on point) if it was full of prisoners. That being said, our raiders are obviously too shallow to hold anything without *Dark Eldar Technology Shenanigans*

So maybe if you found a way to vertically extend the hull, that would work?

I personally imagine something straight out of Path of Exile
https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/File:The_Slave_Pens_area_screenshot.jpg

Thanks for all the feedback.
I agree that the Drukhari might go for something similar to the Tantalus. The cataraman design is very in line with the sleek and lightweight aesthetic of our army.

The reason I wanted to go with something thicker and taller, is because of my thoughts on size and efficiency towards the amount of captives a slave barge could contain. We'd need a large hull with plenty of space for plenty of captives.
The aesthetics are an important point though, so I could (and probably should) revise my design to reflect the Tantalus more.

In terms of gameplay I've thought a lot about what Nogrim said. It's a good idea to place it on the ground and think of how I can make it a more fair table top piece, when I build it.