




“The walls are barbed, and thicker than a heavy ore crawler. They stretch high into the toxin-choked haze, their peaks lost in the sickly clouds that spread across the world of Necromunda. Beyond them, the unspoken horrors of a madman’s folly slumber. But sleep within the ruins of Hive Secundus (as was) is fitful and tortured by visions; visions of a saviour.
Patrols of Ash Waste Enforcers circle in patterns at the base of the titanic walls. Many know that the Second Hive was lost, but few of them know the truth. Their ignorance is a flaw in their strain. For patterns are predictable, and even these mighty walls have cracks and hollows large enough for a man, or something more than a man to pass through.
And so on the darkest of nights, when the distant lights of Hive Primus are but a gentle hazy glow in the suffocating murk, they stir. The servants of The Four Armed Emperor slip silently through those cracks and hollows, and when the predictable patrols have passed, they move like hunters into the dark ocean of the ash wastes after dusk. Some are caught, but others pass through the nets, and they always head toward the lights…”
– Hiver, Jayzen Smiter (trying to scare his grandchildren)
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And so the Genestealer Cults have arrived in Necromunda and I have to say that they are very interesting. I’ve been pouring over the White Dwarf rules for this latest faction and I like them. Certainly enough to start work on a gang myself (already underway) because they are presenting something quite different.
They have a real glass cannon feel to them. Neophytes are as slow as Goliaths but have only the physicality of the Escher. But they are capable of bringing some very cool weapons to the fight. The mining laser is going to be a terrifying proposition for anyone to have to deal with, while things like the webber make everyone on the opposing team vulnerable to being taken out.
Add to that access to hand flamers and needle pistols with their toxin traits, and you’ve got some mean fire power. But given their choices in hand to hand combat, you should be scared of them there too. If they get their charges off, you’ll be facing mauls, picks, hammers, chainswords, boneswords, toxin claws… they’ve got a really impressive arsenal to choose from, but if you get the drop on them, they’re somewhat squidgy. Just an opinion based on initial readings – I’ll need to play some games with and against them first.
But enough of all this tactical nonsense. If you saw the woeful state of my humbled and hobbled Goliath gang right now, you wouldn’t listen to a damn thing I had to say on the subject of tactics. But you are often keen on my name generators, so here you go:
Same rules as before, but with a little bit of a format change-up to make things a little more varied and a little more culty. You take the first letter of your first name to generate the first part, then add ‘of the’, before using your surname to generate the second part. If you initials are DR, you could be leading the Deserving of the Rictus Maw. Or if your initials are ES, you could be taking charge of the Emissaries of the Silent Shadow.
The names hopefully mix in the arrogance that nearly all cults exude, and the promises that only the genestealer menace can offer. The above format also allows me to play around with a few more words and make things a little more descriptive too.
More on my painting projects soon (hopefully) and I do hope that you’re having plenty of fun with your games and your painting. Onwards!
I now have a few games of Necromunda under my belt, and I am very much enjoying it. I really like the activation system, and its the perfect length of game at the right level of intensity for me. I’ve played each game with Goliaths, and though I have lost as many games as I have won, I’ve had the chance to make some observations about my gang. A lot of this may not be new to you, but I want to emphasise these learnings in this – my top 5 list of things I’ve learned about playing with a Goliath gang.
Speed (Or The Lack Of It) Kills
When your raison d’être is to charge headlong into combat, swingin’ you spud jacker about (saucy), being hamstrung (almost literally) by 4” basic movement is a pain. It’s often only an inch less than most of your opponents, but that’s doubled over a double move action, and it does make getting into charge range a tad hazardous. That’s why the tactics card that gives you +2” of movement (and an extra attack) is an auto-include.
The Jagged Aggressors begin to advance into territory that a Brat Gang has claimed for themselves…
If you’re playing outside of Zone Mortalis, or your players enter any large open spaces on a ZM board, you really need to use cover to stay alive. And your first move for each fighter pretty much has to be a double move. You need to get up the table as fast as possible, but keep close to walls and behind cover if you can.
The Renderizer Is Amazing
Easily my favourite weapon so far. I’ve not had a game where it’s failed to cause at least one Out Of Action. A Champion, with the Bulging Biceps special rule is lethal with this thing. Add that +2” charge/+1 attack card that we mentioned earlier, and this guy can make it into the fray at a blistering speed, and everyone is pretty much terrified of him. That weapon rips people to shreds, and you often get that satisfying feeling of rolling all the injury dice in your set.
But, while he can make up this ground, it’s important to not leave him isolated. I’ve done this twice, and ended up losing him to withering fire and, in one instance, he then got coup-de-gras’ed by a measly Delaque Juve (he is now ‘humiliated’ in the campaign I’m in – a fitting punishment). The weapon is amazing, but maybe ensure it’s safe to strike out and use it, and that you use the buddy system too.
Click
I’ve already mentioned one great card, and in many games, you get two. If the choice is yours, take click. As soon as someone fires that weapon you’re scared of, throw this down and they’re out of ammo. Of course, they can reload, and there are cards that counter this, but it’s worth taking all the time. Don’t like the look of that heavy stubber? Click. Scared of that flamer? Click. When you’re a Goliath who wants to deal with a little less firepower when charging across the board, this card is a cracker.
The Jagged Aggressors creep into Escher territory, trying to use as much cover as possible…
Oh, The Krumper
I really want to like the Krumper. But it does suffer from needing two actions to use it, and coupled with its very short range, the trick is to get somewhere in cover and wait for your opponent to get too close – think of it as an ambush predator. Give the Champion carrying it Nerves of Steel, and you can stop him getting pinned (it’s so annoying when you get into a good spot and he gets pinned – it basically means you can’t fire his weapon), and give your leader the Overseer skill and you can double activate him, but that’s a lot of effort to spend in just getting that weapon to be viable.
The krumper in my gang also suffers from a Dice Gods curse – he has managed to get a few shots off, but every time the damned thing missed. I’m going to persevere with it – if only for the rule of cool – but I don’t see it being a star of the show unless someone is really stupid/unfortunate enough to get within 3” of that thing.
With their gang unable to weather the storm of Escher firepower, the Goliath forces make a courageous and dignified retreat…
You’re Not As Tough As You Think You Are
When I first started playing with them, I think I had a few things in my head that made me think that each one had the toughness of a Contemptor Dreadnought. Yes, T4 is a good bonus, and furnace plates are a nice thing to have, but they won’t save you if you’re stupid enough to let multiple guns draw a bead on you. Yes, you can weather more hits from lasguns and autoguns, but you’re not invulnerable to these by a long shot. I’ve lost more than a few fighters thinking “oh, he’ll be fine out there in the open with all those Eschers still to activate – what are they going to do with those puny laspistols, lol” – that’s something for me to work on right there.
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And those are my key takeaways (as the cool kids are saying these days) from my brief time as a Goliath gang player. I’ve got a couple of long campaigns ahead of me, so we shall see what more I learn, and if I can take these lessons on board and get a few more wins out them. Might even try and do you guys a battle report if I can remember to take photos. Onwards!
What’s this? A 4th finished miniature in five weeks? From me!? That’s right – I found some speed from somewhere, and that means that today I can introduce you to my interpretation of Gor Half-Horn who you may have noticed has taken some inspiration from another rather infamous Bounty Hunter.
When I picked up Gor from Forge World, I guess the words “Bounty Hunter” jumped into my head and pulled out an image of Boba Fett. So, I set about working out how I could conjure up the look of the Mandolorian Menace while working with a Beastman abhuman from the Underhive.
I thought about trying to make a helmet for him, but that idea died a death when I realised my greenstuff-sculpting skills really aren’t that good, and that he already has a rather cool head. So instead, I chose to use the colour palette from the Fett-man and apply it to Gor. That’s why my version has grey fur – to create the look of that jumpsuit. Beyond the grey, I realised that Boba Fett is actually quite colourful, with reds, yellows and of course greens appearing across his armour. At one stage I was worried that Gor was going to end up looking a bit too much like Robin Hood, or some of the older Marvel Doc Doom illustrations, but it turned out fine in the end. Colourful, but not out of place.
I also managed to sneak in a couple of adapted Mandolorian symbols, and while the camera might have a little trouble picking these out, they’re actually missing half a horn – clever, eh? Well, I thought so. Though trying to fit the illustration onto the chainsword blade was a bit tricky – the surface was just a tad too thin. Still, you can see in the below image that it turned out alright.
I also worked out a nice trick for painting yellow (which others may have worked out long ago) which is to use watered down Seraphim Sepia wash to darken Averland Sunset ever so slightly lower down on the armour plates. I’m going to remember to use that a bit more in future as it definitely helps to put a bit of depth into yellow which is of course a notoriously tricky colour to master.
I really like the plasma pistol on this model – it’s so nice to have this type of weapon not be dominated by the coil, and it’s such a unique design too. I went for a non-Fett colour here, using Dark Reaper as a base, and applying the little tally freehand (it’s hard to spot in these pictures) on the nearside was fiddly but rewarding. For the base, I used the same techniques as I’ve used on my Goliath gang, and it was was kind of nice for Forge World to include a skull on this one, rather than having to add my own.
There you have it then. My bounty hunter who resides in the 40K galaxy while looking like something from the Star Wars galaxy. Two of my favourite things combined.
And speaking of two of my favourite things combined, I’ll be heading up to Nottingham for the Horus Heresy and Necromunda Weekender from Saturday so if you’re heading along as well, keep an eye out for me – I shouldn’t be hard to miss. A full review of that event next week. I actually don’t know what’s next on the painting table for me, but I dare say we’ll all find out sooner rather than later. In the meantime, I hope your own painting and modelling efforts make you happy. Onwards!
This is just a very brief update from me today (more fun to come later in the week). Did you see the Warhammer Community site this weekend? Did you notice a certain pair of name generators turn up? And a couple of names, like my name and the name of this blog? Did ya!?
That’s right – Some lunatic in Nottingham actually thought it would be a good idea to get me to contribute to actual official pages (well, I may have begged them to let me do it but whatever). I wrote a piece for the Warhammer Community website (egotistical corporate sellout that I am) and it was a real thrill to see my name, and the name of this blog on an official GW website. I was tickled screamer pink.
It was lovely working with Nick over at the Community team, and hopefully that won’t be the last bit of work I do for that website – the responses have been quite pleasant so far (by and large). I hope, my loyal and adoring fans, you’re as happy seeing my name appear in this milieux as I am.
I still haven’t managed to truly appreciate it all yet, due to the fact that I spent all of Sunday (when the post went live) playing the non-GW affiliated Twilight Imperium from Fantasy Flight games. It’s 12 hours of fun and pain that I’m still recovering from. But, when my brain is working properly again (I need another 10 hours of sleep and a gallon of water), I shall go and properly read the article. Seriously though, I now thing of 2,000 point games of 40K as light and breezy!
Check out a new take on my Necromunda name generators that I did for GW, and have a splendid, fabulous, amazing and awesome week. Onwards!
It’s time to smash some stuff up with my Goliath gang leader completing the gang that I will take into my first Necromunda campaign. Bash ‘The Destroyer’ Bonebreaker is here to lead the Jagged Aggressors into the depths where his power hammer can cause maximum damage, if his combat shotgun doesn’t blast his enemies apart before he gets close enough. This hulking brute represents the end of my initial Goliath gang, as the six that are now done clock in at 995 credits with their added gubbins. What’s more, this allows me to create the warriors I need as campaigns go on, and take advantage of any weapons sprues that Forge World might be releasing in the future.
I went with the Power Hammer because it’s both fluffy and fantastic in a fight. It also looks brutal, and I decided to give it a weathered bronze look to set it apart from other weapons in the gang. And the respirator mask puts the leader out on his own as well. I had to chop and change the combat shotgun with the combi-plasma in order to get it onto the same mini as the hammer, but that was easy enough. And of course, as is now my signature with any leader, sergeant, boss, champion, etc, I added a lone skull to the base.
I like the idea of this guy striding, unbowed and uncaring into the heart of the fray, blasting his enemies apart with shredding buckshot, before swinging that monstrous hammer to crush and cripple any foe foolish enough to try and take him in close combat. It takes advantage of the Goliath’s fantastic strength and the leader’s attack stats. And I really can’t decide which part of this miniature is my favourite, in terms of my painting. I’m very happy with both weapons and how they look, so maybe I’ll pick those as my highlight, but there are other bits I’m equally pleased with.
It’s been a really fun project to work on, and I look forward to expanding the gang in the future with more weapons and maybe even some juves (rumour has it that Forge World are working on this kit), but for the time being, and until my campaigns kick on, that’s this project done!
And so there are the Jagged Aggressors! Looking pretty good (if I do say so myself) in their initial iteration. My camera has just about been able to cope with all the metallics going on which is alright, though they do of course look better in the flesh. I’ll be returning to them a few times in 2018 I dare say, but from this little project alone, the Necromunda miniatures get a huge thumbs up from me. A joy to paint.
Next up from me, well, I have a few smaller projects I want to work on (there’s some very exciting things coming), and then eventually, I’ll crack on with the Eschers. In other news, I’m off to the Heresy/Necromunda weekender in early February, so I’ll be picking up whatever’s new from there, and will of course be reporting from the event as well. Stay tuned for all of that, but in the meantime, I hope you have a great week of painting. Onwards!
Turning up the heat in the Underhive, my new Goliath champions, Fraggorn Wrenchshouter, and Zaktarg Fragmaker are now complete and ready for action. With the kit’s coolest weapons options – including the controversial krumper (is its range too much of a problem?), they’re now ready to join the rest of the gang. Let’s take a look at the two big boys of the Jagged Aggressors gang.
Fraggorn is a true monster, hefting the beast of a weapon that is the krumper, along with an oh-so-useful combat knife strapped to his back. He’s a great looking mini, with that teeny-tiny cigar hanging from his lips, and a very nonchalant stance, he looks like a real menace. He was a fun miniature to work on, and that weapon does look super cool, even if its very short range might prove problematic in a game that isn’t using a zone mortalis-style setting. But hey, sometimes the rule of cool beats all.
The cigar wasn’t too much of a problem – I know there are a lot of stories about people losing that piece, but if you clip it (gently) and assemble it straight away, it’s really not an issue. And it was fun to get the colours right on that – you can’t really see it on the photos here, but I think I nailed the burning end’s oranges and greys pretty well. The combat blade is from the Betrayal At Calth box, and it’s nice and oversized which is perfect for this Goliath. And like all the others, he’s of course dressed in those utilitarian greys and browns.
My favourite weapon in the whole Goliath kit has to be the Renderizer, and Zaktarg Fragmaker is wielding it with a grin. That axe would look amazing on a Chaos champion too, so I may save one to add into another army or onto a character at some point in the future. I really like the grinning face, and while you can’t quite spot it in these shots, I gave this champion silver teeth with a bloody red wash around them, just to make it extra menacing.
I gave him a couple of grenades – some more traditional frag grenades instead of the huge stick-bombs. They’re a cool bit, but I just couldn’t make them fit on this model in a way that looked good. I also added some snake chain to the base to represent some sort of power cable. I’m going to enjoy watching this chap pulverising his way across the battlefield.
And all of that leaves me with one more gang member to go before the Jagged Aggressors are ready for their first campaign. I’ve put the first few licks of paint onto my leader already, so stay tuned for him – he’ll be appearing on this blog soon. So with all of that done, I shall leave you to enjoy your own painting and modelling efforts. My your brushes never lose their points, and your paint pots never dry out. Onwards!
A few people have asked me how I put painted the trousers on my Goliath gangers. They’re in a worn leather style that’s perfect for coats, cloaks and more, especially if you don’t want to do shiny black or clean brown leather. So, I’ve put together a very quick, basic tutorial for these that you can use as a reference. Here goes…
Step 1: Undercoat – Rhinox Hide
The Rhinox Hide spray is perfect for undercoating Necromunda miniatures. It’s a nice solid colour that can lend plenty of depth. I sprayed up all of my gangers with this before starting.
Step 2: Basing – More Rhinox Hide
At the moment, you’re establishing a nice, uneven but matching base and while the spray is perfect for an overall undercoat, it is a tad darker and more matt than the Rhinox Hide that comes from the pot. Add the paint from the bottle to the areas that would get hit by light, but don’t be too neat with it – we want plenty of unevenness here.
Step 3: Wash – Agrax Earthshade
The paint my spellcheck likes the least, add an all over coat. Be a little more liberal with this than you’d usually be with a wash, but only a little.
Step 4: Detail – Rhinox Hide / XV-88 (1:1 Blend)
Here, you’re going to be doing a swirly, dry-brushing sort of action across the trousers. You only need a light touch, very little water (if any – the cardinal sin!) in your paint, and very little on your brush. So yeah, I could have just said drybrushing. I don’t know why I didn’t. I woke up at 4am today and listened to a disappointing cricket match so bear with me. Do that, here, and you’ll be good.
Step 5: Detail – XV-88
Now, you want to do similar to last time. Ensure you catch the raised areas and aim for the higher light catching parts again, but be more conservative with this one. Very dry drybrushing called for. And keep it a bit uneven too.
Step 6: Wash – Seraphim Sepia
Cover the whole lot in Seraphim Sepia. And you’re done! Let it dry and soon, it will look like this:
Well, the weapons and rest of the miniature won’t magically change into something completely different, but your mini’s trousers will look like they’re made from old, worn leather. Or cloak, hat, coat – whatever you’ve used this technique on.
I’m getting through my Goliath gang now, so expect more pictures of those guys soon. I hope you found this post useful, and that your own painting projects are coming along as you’d hoped or better. Onwards!
My Goliath Gang for Necromunda is up and running, and the first three gangers are done. Say hello to Hulkras, Smargrill and Porgsmash of the Jagged Aggressors. Their names come straight from my name generator, and while I’m not the biggest fan of “Porgsmash”, I’ll stick to them for the rest of the project. Let’s take a closer look-see.
Being Goliath, and having a name like Jagged Aggressors, I wanted these guys to have a thoroughly utilitarian, industrial feel to them. Therefore, the colours are browns and greys, and there’s plenty of weathering too. In fact, their rusted armour reflects the rusted walkways that they’re standing on – as it was Goliaths that probably made those walkways in the first place.
Smargrill is the specialist of the gang and the first guy that I painted. He’s wielding that lovely grenade launcher and a brute cleaver – I really think it’s key for each Goliath to have a good close combat option as that’s where their strength really lies, but they need brutal ranged weapons to help get them there. It’s an important balance to get right. I’m really happy with the worn leather look on the trousers of all of these minis, and it was really fun to go a bit more over-the-top with the rust and verdigris. Normally I have to be quite restrained with the rust but with this lot, I let the paint brush have some fun.
Hulkras is next up, and his Spud Jacker shows how far I went with the rusting and weathering. I figured the Goliaths would put older tools to work as weapons as newer, better kept kit would be needed in the foundries. It’s a great looking bit though – GW did a great job with that. And in the top picture, you can see he has the jagged whitish line on his leg plate. This is the symbol of the gang, but I didn’t want to overuse it – these guys are all function first, and fancy details a distant second.
And here we have Porgsmash. If you think the gun looks a little bit different, that’s because it’s from the Ork grot kit. Turns out Goliaths and grots have a pretty similar taste in firearms. Actually, the one criticism I’d have of these kits is that the options don’t give you quite enough flexibility. Some weapons only appear on left hands, others on right hands. A bit limiting if you’re not too comfortable converting things. But other than that, it’s a cracking set of sprues and I’m loving this project.
Those are my gangers. Initially, I’m just building a six man gang as they’ll be going into a campaign in the new year, and I want to have options further down the line, especially if Forge World are going to be releasing some weapons sprues later on. Also, I want to get on to those Escher ladies at some point in the not too distant future.
Next up for me will be my Champions so expect those as the next painted pieces from me. I hope you enjoyed checking this lot out. Oh, and I should say that I tried the rainbow mohawk look for them, but it didn’t quite suit, whereas the red hair looks a lot better. But that’s enough from me. I hope you’re enjoying your painting as much as I am enjoying mine. Onwards!