I am back again! I know I said last time that you should expect more posts from me and that didn’t happen, but I’m back now and the hobby mojo is strong with me. What’s more, it has taken me back to the Underhive and so I’ve been working on some new Dramatis Personae for Necromunda, including this special lady…
First off, I have to thank GW for sending Lady Haera in my direction. I had loads of fun getting grimy and gribbly with this miniature, and it inspired me to start creating a few more things for the Underhive too. I kept her very dark and wanted to push the decaying Imperium theme with her look. The weathered bronze armour, oil washes all over the place, the rusty floor and minimal lighting… it was loads of fun.
And it’s a really nice kit to put together too – mostly very easy and almost no mould lines that I had to worry about. Well done to those at Forge World working in the resin mines for getting this one so spot on.
But as I said, she also inspired me to work on a few other creations too. Let me introduce you to my Beastmaster…
I am a firm believer that every miniature is a Necromunda miniature and I’ve had this idea since the Cursed City box arrived with me (it’s just taken me this long to do anything about it). Give him a gun and a cattle-prod and those beasties around hime become potential companions for Hive Scum and Nobles alike. What’s more, he has some retro Milliasaurs to keep him company (thanks to @VioletSun on Instagram for those).
And then there’s this sorry so-and-so – a basic Hive Scum/lasp-pistol-for-hire who’s just kickin’ around in his rusty breaches. This guy helped to remind me about how fun it is to just cobble some bits together to make a basic dude, and that really is a joy when it comes to Necromunda. But from little joys, we must now turn our attention to giant horrors. It came from the Sump…
I really like the idea of the Sump. This underground sea, its shores lapping in the perpetual darkness, is home to all sorts of mutated horrors and I think this may be one of the biggest beasts down there (or is he…?). This was so much fun to put together, and I now have a plan for a mad doctor who helps to create these brutes, forging them from the mutants that he can snare in the shallows.
It’s mainly the Vargskyr from that same Cursed City box, but between some ork, dark eldar and AT titan kits (as well as plenty of unknown bits from the bits box) I’ve created a monster who snares his prey with his harpoon gun, and then carves them up with his circular saw. How’s that for grizzly? 🙂
And so I am firmly back in the Underhive and looking forward to creating some more horrors from the depths of the Underhive in the near future. Onwards!
Get them engines revvin’ folks! G-Dubs were good enough to send me the brand new Goliath Mauler kit, and I’ve been having a lot of fun getting my Necromunda groove on over the last few weeks. So buckle up, as I show off my brand new wheelz!
First off, I just want to say that this is the coolest looking “bike” GW have ever brought out. It has that predatory look, an industrial heaviness about it, and it brings a new meaning to the term “Chopper” (or should that be “Crusher”?). It’s a laid back Harley-style killing machine, with a brutal beefcake astride it and I was very excited to get this put together and painted. I should say, the box comes with two, but I’m saving the other in case I want to do something fancy with it one day – I have plans…
I’m sure we’re going to see Ork warbosses and Khornate champions riding these machines in the coming weeks, and I for one am looking forward to seeing those conversions, but in the meantime, I’ll talk to you about building it and painting it.
It’s a dream to put together, with very little faff and some well hidden mould-lines too. If you want my advice though, keep the driver and handle-bars separate when painting and affix together when both components are completed. I didn’t do this and made my life a little more difficult than it needed to be.
I started off with the main chassis first employing a modified version of a favourite rust technique best demonstrated by Pete The Wargamer. Along with the steps he demonstrates in the video, I added some oil washing and some other steps, but it produces a great result when you want something to look rusty and old.
If I was doing this for a compeition, I’d want that engine block to be Chrome, but I’ve never tried that and this is more for my own enjoyment than anyone else’s. I was quite happy that I painted in the speedo and fuel-guage – and of course he’s going hell for leather.
The ash wastes themselves were painted first (after I made some grooves to illustrate where the tracks and chompy-wheel had bitten into the surface) and then I hit them with some weathering powder. Well, actually I hit most of it with some weathering powder, to illustrate the dustiness of the wastes. That was a lot of fun.
And that’s more or less all the fun stuff covered. This was a lot of fun, I love the model, and will definitely going back to my 2nd Mauler when I have the time. Onwards!
Well, this is like Christmas as far as I’m concerned. Games Workshop are very well aware that I am a huge fan of Necormunda, and I am thrilled to be able to share my review of the Necromunda: Ash Wastes with you, after they graciously sent a copy out to me. This is one hell of a box.
And by “hell”, I mean, of course the Ash Wastes – a blasted, desolate region of Necromunda’s plateaus, deserts and dangerous places. Vast expanses filled with nothing, except for dangers of course. If you thought the Hive cities were lawless places, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Ok, so let’s start at the top. This box is huge, and just like the last big Necromunda box (Dark Uprising), it’s not going to be cheap – you’ll be able to find out how wallet-unfriendly this is by heading over to the GW site. If you wanted a cheap way into this game, this is not going to be for you. It’s a box for the established faithful who have money to burn and the desire to burn rubber. Is this fair on everyone who wants to get involved? Well, probably not, but you get so much in this box, it would have been mad for them to set the price any lower.
The good news for folks who want the models is that these should be released on their own soon enough, and of course you can pick up the Orlock gang set already. If you’re looking to get your nose into Necromunda, buy a gang box, their rules, and the rulebook, and do it that way. If you’re like me, and you already love this game, this box is just fantastic.
The first thing we see are the sprues – I’ve mentioned before how I’m a big fan of getting straight to the plastic, so plus points there. And on a quick side note, the box smells amazing. I know that’s weird, but new boxes from GW always have a “new box smell” and the odour here is delicious. There are 10 big sprues in this box and a big chunk of it is scenery but there are of course the Nomads and the Orlocks too. This is one of the reasons that this is such a heavy box, but it’s not the only reason.
Behind the mountain of plastic, we have the Ash Wastes book, and it’s a cracker. It looks gorgeous for a start, it weighs a tonne, and I like the subtle brownish hue that has crept into the design to set it apart from the scuffles that are settled in hive city. It starts off with a lavish map and a great chunk of lore, but it’s not too long before we get into the meat of the matter – the rules.
I was really interested to see what would inspire the vehicle rules, and while I had my fingers crossed that it would be akin to Gorkamorka (or a straight up copy of that rule set), it is in fact, far more sensibly, akin to older editions of 40k and the Horus Heresy, but with some important quirks to set them apart and make them feel like Necromunda. For a start, Hull Points are back, as are front/side/rear armour values. The Handling stat (HND) is a nice addition though, and that does have a whisper of Gorkamorka flavour to it from what I can tell at first glance. The vehicle actions that you can pick from also lean on Gorkamorka a little for inspiration, and while it’s its own thing, I think these rules look fun, flavourful and tactic-friendly too (always a hard balance to strike). I for one can’t wait to see what vehicles and mounts the other gangs get – hopefully we’ll see some of that on the digital Warhammer Fest that’s soon to happen.
There have been a few changes to how cover works in the Ash Wastes too that make sense. Obscured bases are less of a thing here, and this removes the claustrophobia that the Underhive engenders, replacing it with a sense that cover is scarce, vital, and occasionally booby-trapped. I also really like this picture below – I think it’s both funny, but also a good visual reminder of sensible gameplay.
Other highlights include the “Seasons” mechanic which brings a weather system closely related to Blood Bowl to Necromunda, and official rules for a “Rolling Road” style-game are great to see included here – those games are always a bit silly, very fun and nicely brutal. Also, the scenarios included in this book all look like winners to me. Plenty of familiarity about them, but there’s a newness to them too. All in all, top work from the rules team here.
While reading the book, it did also strike me that Necromunda really isn’t designed as a gateway game like the other skirmish offerings from GW. It’s complex and involved. I’m not saying one doesn’t spend plenty of time planning out a Kill Team or picking out a deck for Underworlds – many people do, but those games both have “out of the box” options to help newer players into the game with minimal fuss. Necromunda remains a game that is absolute fuss. You have to love the fuss to get the most out of this. There is a lot of admin that can’t really be avoided, and the older style of Warhammer rules that the game is based on really gives it a tougher-to-try-out sort of feel. Would I introduce someone to tabletop gaming with this game, or this box? Absolutely not. But would I encourage every experienced veteran to give it a go and have a lot of fun times? You bet I would.
Returning to the box, what’s left is a great assortment to help people get playing straight away (despite my last paragraph, this is in fact a whole game in a box). Dice, measuring rulers (I do miss “whippy-sticks” sometimes), a playing surface, bases, tokens and assembly guides. What a great selection. Seriously, if you want to treat yourself, and you love some Necromunda, I would recommend this. I’d recommend it a lot.
As for me, I will be getting to work on the “mega fleas” and I think the Nomad gang is a must for me. I like the aesthetic and while the Orlock Buggies are tempting, those damn giant fleas – can’t get them out of my head. They’re gorgeous, and they look straight forward enough for me to put together. Also, I’ll just reiterate that the vehicle rules in here really do look like a lot of fun. Tank slapper. Lol.
Can I fault this box? Only if I’m being picky. Maybe having another new tribe would have been nice, but I guess the Orlocks offer familiarity. And the price is going to cause many an internet grumble, but for what you get in this, it’s not actually as astronomical as you might think for what you get and the price of plastic these days. No, I’m calling this box a win for GW. I’m in love with it a little bit, so if you’ll excuse me, I am going to spend the next few hours dreaming of life in the wastes (it’s quite easy when you live in the midlands). Onwards!
It’s been a while since I’ve put together a good old fashioned name generator for Necromunda (over three years to be precise) but as it’s the festive period, and because we’ve recently had the release of the Underhive Outcasts Gang and the associated rules for them, I thought I’d roll up my sleeves and have a go again. In fact, I had always meant to do this back then but I never got around to it, but now that you can take Outcast gangs, and Venator gangs for that matter, I think it’s about time I righted this wrong. So further below, using the same old system, we have a way for you to come up with a name for your new gang if you need a little help or inspiration.
Speaking of that, I had thought about using mother’s maiden names, the name of the street you live on, or some other method, but thought it would just look like a phishing scheme so I stuck to the tried and true first initial of your first name, first initial of your last name method. It’s worked well for us until now and if it ain’t broke…
What was really fun about this for me was thinking back to the above expansion that appeared in my youth, and also the Kal Jericho novels that I still recommend to people all the time – wonderful enjoyable reads (especially if you imagine Kal has the voice of Archer, Scabbs is Cyril, Yolanda is Lana… essentially it’s Archer does Necromunda and it’s one of my favourite things to do). You might see some nods to these products in the chart below…
Anyway, that’s all a lot of ado, so without further ado (given we’ve had so much ado already) here’s the name generator for you:
So given that my initials are “JA”, I could name my gang the “Junkyard Assassins”, but if, for some reason, that didn’t quite sit right, I could switch it round and go for “Ash Waste Jackals”. Both not only give me names to work with, but they also provide a little flavour I could tie-in to the makeup of my gang, how I paint them and how I base them.
Now, if you’re still looking for a name for your gang that is one of the more traditional Necromunda Houses, you can find some more name generators on this site:
Well, I guess that means that’s all. Huh. I could have sworn I’d written more of these… maybe I did and I never got a chance to post them up. I shall do some digging and see what I can put together!
If you do use this name generator or any of the others linked here, or any of the others that are found on this site, I’d love to hear about the results you got and any thoughts you had on them, so do stick a comment down below. And if I don’t post here again until after Xmas, have a happy, healthy, safe and fun winter break. Onwards!
What a weekend. Games Workshop not only sends Dungeon Bowl my way (and you can check out an unboxing post for Dungeon Bowl here) but they also sent me the new Necromunda releases to enjoy and review as well! And I have been waiting with baited breath for this release – it’s perfect for me, and so I’m here to tell you if it lives up to the hype. Let’s take a closer look at the Book of the Outcast, and the kits that accompany it.
Why Outcasts? Why Now?
Necromunda is, hands done, the best world-building game that Games Workshop produce. It is a game that lives most comfortably in campaigns and creativity, and though it’s a fun one-shot sort of game too, it really shines when you can build a world to live in and occupy for several games (or even several years) in a row. And we have been provided with all manor of legendary fighters and gangs already, from the houses of Goliath, Escher, Van Saar, et al, all the way through to having the ability to create swashbuckling bounty hunters that help to forge the legends of the Underhive.
But we’ve never just had basic dudes. Just folk. People who live here and have to put up with gangs of religious zealots, spooky spies, poison-perfecting femme fatales and all the other lunatics, punks and psychos that Hive Primus can produce. The average Joes and Jolenes who might eventually get completely sick of having to deal with all of this and one day pick up an old lasgun, a blunt knife or an autopistol and form their own gang. That’s what this release gives us – the basic blokes, hard-grafting girls, and other simple, decent folk of Hive City. And I love that.
The books itself is amazing. Absolutely jam-packed with lore that helps to flesh out the setting beyond the famed houses. I could point out hundreds of examples of this being done here in this book, but I really like these pages that define the differences between outcasts, outlanders and the rest:
That right there. That’s the good shit. That’s the sort of thing that makes this book magic. For gaming purposes, your gang might not change too much, but when it comes to defining how they are, how they act, the society the dwell within and even how they look, this is gold dust. When I first read that piece, I spent a good couple of hours debating what I’d go for if I was going into a campaign with a posse of loners, desperados and last chancers. And in this book, you have so many ideas to work with and get inspired by.
And when you start to create your gang, further choices have been incorporated into the rules for building a band of underworld outcasts. You get to choose their affiliation, and the choice you make will affect how your gang interacts with other gangs, resources and rules in a campaign and you have five options to choose from ranging from the unaffiliated ‘clanless’ who represent the untrustworthy elements of Hive City, to a criminal organisation who are, well, even more untrustworthy to be fair. But the heart of this mechanic, is for me, in the ability to be aligned with Clan Houses, Noble Houses or a mercantile guild. Why not have your house affiliated with House Delaque and make them shifty, ranged weapon specialists? Or make them brightly coloured Escher enthusiasts? Whoever you pick, you get access to their house weapon lists, and potentially alliances with them, so pick wisely.
That’s such a great way to further theme your gang, and as a hoarder of bits myself, it’s a great way to use up some weapons, heads, and other paraphernalia from the Bits Crate (upgraded from a box – I got a lot of bits, man). And what’s more, the get access to hangers on that you can add to your gang, adding yet more flavour. So if you want a criminal gang affiliated with House Orlock that hangs around with an underhive trader and a slopper, you got it! Or would you prefer some deviant outlanders that keep an eye on things in the Underhive for House Ty? You’ve got some great options in these pages.
There’s a lot more to this book too, with the Outlander campaign looking particularly juicy, and the Wyrd Powers very entertaining (if terrifying in some instances). There’s a whole mess of cool looking character profiles and personalities available too. There is so much in this book that I love, that it’s almost impossible to find any negatives!
…And yet, I do try and bring a little bit of balance to my reviews, so I do go looking for them. In truth, within these pages, there are no negatives that I’ve spotted, but what’s starting to concern me about Necromunda, is the amount of pages. I like that every gang gets its own book – that works great for me. But Necormunda is not 40k or AoS, and in this game, details and planning, especially on the part of the arbiter matter a lot more, and so said arbiter needs access to all of these books. If someone wanted me to play in a Necromunda campaign tomorrow, I would 100% say yes. If someone asked me to plan a Necromunda campaign, I would politely decline at the moment. There are so many books that you need now to run a campaign and for many that is a great deal of fun, but for me, it feels like too much. What I’d really like is an Arbiter’s Helper sort of book – a tome with all of the scenarios, trading posts, skills and a glossary of all the rules from all the books so far. If that sort of book comes out, I’d be prepping a big campaign tomorrow. As it is, I don’t have the patience to pour through that many pages.
So with that out of the way, I just want to reiterate that I love this book, it’s probably my favourite lore-building resource for the game so far, and I cannot wait to start thinking of more gang ideas based on these pages. Well done to the entire team who put it together.
The Kits
Then there are the kits and there is an awful lot to be happy about here. As mentioned, I am a huge fan of having these simpler fighters in the Underhive setting, so let’s start off with the Outcasts gang kit.
I really like the ingenuity here. What you get in the box is three small, identical frames with lots of mix and match parts. There are plenty of heads and weapons to help you create 12 fighters just from what’s in the box. They fit the setting masterfully, and yes, if you want to make some more Chaos Cultists, they’ll probably do a very good job there. If I’m being honest, I probably expected just a little more from this kit. I think of how Necromunda sprues are usually bursting with options and while you have plenty of choice here, it’s not quite on the same level. That being said, these are generic Underhivers – they do not need to have the same sort of frames that the Gang Houses get – this works absolutely fine. I’ve built a few already and here’s one that I had the chance to paint.
I kept the paint job quick and easy (there’s no need for this guy to look to fancy for me), and I know for sure that this lasgun-wielding dude will be providing back up for some of my more expensive Bounty Hunters one day in the near future. It was a very intuitive and simple build – each character is made up of 5-6 parts. Great if you just want to get some grunts glued together. So it’s not a super special kit, but it does the job it needs to do very well and you get enough options to keep things interesting.
Next up is the market. I knew there was a reason I’d been stashing all those guns that didn’t have hands on them! By far my favourite thing about this set are the weapons racks, but the whole kit is full of fun. The market stalls look excellent, and the crates and containers work really nicely. There is a minor scale-issue with the coins and mugs in that they’re a bit big for the minis, but if you made them the same exact scale as the minis, you’d not be able to see the coins and the mugs would be daftly tiny. I like to think of these as mugs and coins for Ogryns – makes tonnes more sense then, and they too look great.
If you are building your own physical slice of the Underhive, you 100% should get this kit just because of the variety it adds. Also, there are some super fun rules for using this scenery in the Book of the Outcast so it will certainly be a real pleasure to work with.
So there’s my in depth review of the Book of the Outcast, and the kits it comes with. A great little release for Necromunda this, and I’d say the book especially is a must have for anyone who loves to create the grittiest and grimiest of the Underhive. Another ‘well done’ to all involved. Until next time; Onwards!
“Murzon Kyro spent his youthful years lurking around the Imperial Fists Interests atop the Spyre and eavesdropping on every conversation he could. It is believed that from these noble warriors (or more likely their serfs) he first learnt of the Xenos warriors known as (according to Imperial classifications) Striking Scorpions. He became obsessed by the idea of them and would, years later, spend part of his family’s fortune obtaining weapons from the Van Saar, and toxins from House Escher, as well as developing his own body through clandestine methods to match the speed, armament and abilities of these warriors (or what he thought these warriors to be based on his approximations). This is what first brought him to my attention, but after the death of his brother, Arfiz, Kyro Murzon has descended into the Underhive looking for answers presumably, and as such, has slipped beyond the light of the Emperor’s Inquisitive gaze. He is now said to haunt the shadows of the crumbling depths, and is growing quite the reputation as a lethal entity.”
– Inquisitor Thor Henshu (Ordo Xenos)
Long ago, I attended a Horus Heresy and Necromunda weekender at which Andy Hoare did a Q&A and someone asked if we would ever see Xenos representation in Necromunda. Andy responded by saying, essentially that, Genestealers aside, no, they likely wouldn’t show up because this is a very Imperial setting. However, he went on, the idea that some Spyre brat has heard of the Aeldari, and wants to emulate them, is a viable one, though he wouldn’t have seen one so his efforts would be based on clandestine research and hearsay. All of that has been percolating in me for, I think, 5 years now (or is it 4 – 2020 ruined my sense of time-keeping) and this is finally the result of that – the Stalking Scorpion.
For a start, it’s great to be back working on Bounty Hunters again. I do love making them and it’s been a while. Secondly, it is amazingly satisfying and therapeutic to bring this idea to life after all this time. It has been scratching and gnawing at the back of my hobby brain for an age now, and it’s wonderful to finally exorcise it and make it a real thing.
It was such a fun premise to work with. What would a Spyre-brat who desperately wanted to look like, and fight like, an exotic alien do to make that a reality. For a start, he could afford Van Saar weapons and tech to enhance him. He might have done research into what a scorpion actually was, and found out about their venomous nature, so he would engage the Escher. He would have worked out, and dreadlocked his hair, and he would have found illegal information about how these aliens operated. Why a Striking Scorpion? Because they’re my favourite Eldar unit of all time.
So for this kit, I took the Eversor assassin and did some chopping and changing with a few Van Saar and Escher bits. I also had to make his locks and each one is a very thin strand of green stuff. I then used one of those weird spine things from the Van Saar and turned it into a tail because I thought Murzon would have seen those images of scorpions and presumed Striking Scorpions had tails. I used the Striking Scorpion colour palette and adapted it slightly for the grimy world of the Underhive and I ensured he’d have glowing red eyes because I just think that would look cool and the idea of gangers, hive scum and bounty hunters alike being terrified at the sight of those eyes in the dark was really fun.
There’s a shot of those dreadlocks for you. “Fiddly” doesn’t even begin to describe it. I also thought long and hard about how to emulate the Scorpion’s Bite, and that’s where the shoulder mounted needler comes in (which our bounty hunter here calls the “Scorpion’s Sting”). I like the idea that it follows his eyes and is slaved to the laspistol trigger. And the laspistol is there because I really didn’t think a Shurikan catapult would make sense in Hive Primus.
I’ve got a few more Necromunda Bounty Hunters in the pipeline so I’ll get round to them at some point. I think I’m now at 24 and I quite like the idea of at least hitting 30, but I’ll see how I go. I’m also now very much drawn to the idea of creating a Van Saar gang as their design (which initially I didn’t love) has really started to grow on me. We’ll see. Onwards!
Well, we’re used to getting the occasional snippet from GW when it comes to new releases, but we’ve had an avalanche of information come through from Nottingham in the last 24 hours (and who knows if we’ll be getting even more soon). This is all down to GW’s appearance at GAMA, the big board games trade show, and it’s damn sporting of the company to share the official vids and photos with us, rather than having us all squinting at leaked, grainy bits and pieces. So, while I may go into a bit more detail in the future on all of these things (or at least some of them), let’s take a quick look at the massive dump of new delights that has graced us this week.
Chaos Blood Bowl Team
It’s great to see something new coming out for Blood Bowl. It feels like it’s been a little while since everyone’s favourite fantastical football game got something new, but that’s not actually true. It’s just that we’ve seen so much of everything being released lately, our brains are no longer capable of grasping the basic concept of time.
This looks like a team for brutal players who like an elite group of monsters who are seriously capable of stomping down the opposition. I don’t think Doom Lords players will be worrying too much about the actual ball in their games. I’m even tempted to pick them up and create a new incarnation of the legendary Chaos All Stars.
I’m liking the mix of Chosen and Beastmen in here. I dare say there’ll be some different roles involved, but combined with a Minotaur (or some sort of terrifying Warrior/Daemon special character maybe?), they’re going to be hard to knock over.
Kill Team
This is one of my favourites. I’ve always liked the Kill Team format because it’s so quick and intimate. It really feels like GW have been listening to the fanbase here. Blood Bowl, Shadow War and Necromunda have all performed so amazingly over recent months, that it makes sense for the folks in Nottingham to revive the long-running 40K skirmish game now.
Kill team is so quick and easy to play. It’s yet another great gateway game to get new people into the main game and its bigger battles, but its also great for us veterans too. If you’ve had a long game, but you’re still in the mood for more dice rolling, but the store is closing soon, Kill Team provides a great opportunity to get your gaming fix in.
And with 8th Edition rules, I dare say it’ll be even faster and more flexible. It’s a great game for learning the fundamentals of your favourite squads, and getting some insight into familiar and unusual opponents alike. I can’t wait to pick up this update.
Van Saar
Now, you know I’ll be talking more about this in a later post. Don’t worry, the name generators are being planned as we speak, and when I get some more images and insight into their background, I’ll put a full post together.
In the meantime, I’m enjoying the professional and polished weapons, sombre expressions, and fantastically manga-sci-fi-inspired armour of those survival suits. I love the multi-eyed helmet, and whatever that heavy weapon is… well, this has got me very excited. Regardless, this represents an amazing update on possibly the ugliest gang from the last iteration of the game. Frankly, they now look like one of the fanciest in the new game. Excellent stuff!
And There’s More…
But I won’t cover any more of it in this post. If you want to read and see more about GW’s GAMA wares, and get the more official details, I’d suggest checking out the community website. You’ll find many fun things to ogle at. Add Forgebane to all of this, and we’ve got plenty to be excited about. I hope you are as giddy and gleeful as I am. And now that I’ve given you three posts in three days (possibly a record on H&H), I shall leave you to enjoy your toy soldiers in peace.
“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)
=][=
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!