Heresy & Heroes

Well, it’s been too long since I updated this blog with an actual finished miniature, and so this week I bring you my Delaque Gang Leader. I picked up this old Necromunda mini from Ebay and it was really fun to work on, as well as being a great trip down memory lane and a chance for me to practice my ‘feature base’ skills. Let’s take a closer look.

Back in those days of yore (well, 1995) when Michael Jordan decided that baseball wasn’t for him, Quebec decided not to leave Canada, and while Britain was slowly turning grey under the leadership of John Major, Necromunda was released and that made me a very happy 12 year old (I’m feeling pretty old right now). While Van Saar were my gang of choice, I played a lot with Escher, Cawdor and Delaque gangs as well, and the Delaque’s were… a bit dull. Oh, they had good fluff, but they were just sort of generic baldies. So why pick them to work on? Because it’s a challenge.

I also wanted an opportunity to do a fancy base, and so that’s why I picked the gang leader. I had the idea of a guy shooting through a rusted, broken archway, and that seems to have worked out quite well. There’s also a pipe leaking ooze (I love Nurgle’s Rot – such a fun paint), some wire, spent shell cases, a skull (but of course) and a few other little features on the base that help to set the scene. It makes it a bit of a showpiece, and gives the whole thing a bit of height with that ruined doorway. And soooo much rust. Well, this is the bowels of the Underhive after all.

Back to the miniature, and I can say again that working on a metal miniature is as much fun as ever, in that it’s not that much fun at all. It still amazes me how un-detailed everything in metal was back then. But then that can make it fun when you’re adding your own. On this miniature, I’m quite fond of the tattoos (Dark Reaper is a great paint for this), snake-skin scabbard, the coral snake motifs on the lapels and gun, and the back of his coat. In fact, the coat itself I’m very fond of. It’s definitely got that thick, sheepskin sort of feel to it. I was going to go with a snakeskin lining but that may have been overkill.

I now want a sheepskin duster. I just do. I’m not even sure they make them, but I want one. It’s a really cool coat and I’m particularly happy with the way this came out. Also, there’s that snake design on the back, and the stylised ‘D’ on his shoulder that worked out quite nicely too. Also, XV-88 has to be one of my favourite Citadel paints. Ok, it looks a bit like diarrhoea, but it’s such a rich, thick colour that makes very short work of painting leather like this.

And this is the image I had in my head when I started. You can just about make out the ‘Thug Life’ style tattoo on his stomach, and that snakeskin scabbard I was talking about. I imagine him hunting some Goliath or Escher gang member through the tunnels of the Underhive and peering round every corner, gun-barrel first. Also, the green glasses remind me of Archer (Retinas! Seered like tuna steaks!) and also, If I ever want to paint Rick Sanchez, this would be a pretty good miniature to use – just need to green stuff some hair on him and it’s a big slice of Wubba Lubba Dub Dub.

Anyway, that’s that then. Also, let me know what you think of the images – trying out new phone camera and different lighting. Oddly, although the background’s a bit creamy, this captured the true colours on the miniature a lot better than the fancy camera with daylight spots did – I think I need to play around with my white balance. Hope you enjoyed it. Back to the long slog of the Blood Angels for me now, but I may do a bit more Necromunda work in the future. We’ll see. Onwards!