necromunda

All posts tagged necromunda

New Necromunda – What’s In The Box

Posted by johnnya10 on 31/08/2017
Posted in: Thoughts and Comment, Uncategorized. Tagged: . 7 Comments
They’re here! The first images of the New Necromunda Box Set and gangs have appeared on the Warhammer Community site and they are looking good! Let’s disect this image a bit before we move on to looking at the gangs of House Escher and House Goliath.
Necromunda 2017 Box contents
Well, I’m glad I didn’t chuck my templates. 😉 Yep, the trusty markers are back in business, though I think I prefer the green ones that I’ve got to the rust orange ones here, but it’s good to see these fellas back after a brief absence. Tales of their demise were greatly exaggerated it seems. So does that mean the rules will be more closely linked to Old 40k than 8th edition? I can’t wait to find out.
And we have a board. This is interesting, and from what the article says, there are more than one way to play: Either using the board, or playing on your tabletop with multi-level terrain. This is sensible, as it makes Necromunda both a gateway/entry-level game (kids can buy it, play on the board included with unpainted minis) while those more hardcore of us can take the miniatures to the tabletop. Time to get building those crazy walkways and pumping stations folks!
There will be some useful looking bulkheads and doors in there too, which is a nice touch and great for any of us wanting to craft our own scenery. And do I spy some new Underhive-specific objective markers in there? Why, yes. I believe I do. Winning. On top of that, we have our two gangs, some dice, markers and various rules-related paraphernalia. This looks like an excellent set which I imagine will be priced around the £85-95 range. Pricey for pocket money, but not bad when hours of fun can be had.
So how does it compare to the old days?
old necromunda boxed game
I know exactly what you’re going to say. You’re going to put on your rose-tinted glasses, stare back into the warm depths of nostalgia and talk about how the Necromunda scenery from the first box set of the game was amazing, and I am going to totally agree with you. At the time, it was frankly groundbreaking. It transformed so many tabletops and became almost as iconic as the gangs themselves. But I challenge you to take a look at it now, compared to modern GW scenery, and even scenery made by other companies and tell me that it looks as good. The bulkheads have actually aged extremely well, but the cardboard, not so much. It was flimsy and wobbly and while it looked amazing to my young eyes way back when, I can acknowledge now that it wouldn’t quite be good enough. And yes, GW want us all to buy more scenery kits, but that’s hardly a shock. Just consider what you could do with all the terrain pieces now available to you…
Beyond that contentious point (I know some of you will still be spitting bile about not getting that kit again), it’s a general upgrade of everything. Everything’s a little more polished which is what one can expect these days, and the models are better too. Speaking of which…
house goliath gang 2017
house escher gang 2017 necromunda
How good do these gangs look?! The Goliath gang will be so much fun to paint. I’m thinking tattoos, bright mohawks and a lot of rusty, red armour for mine. And as for the Escher gang, I’m sure my regular readers know well my predilection towards 80s fashion and animal print so you can expect to see plenty of that from me. But as good as they look, this isn’t what’s got me most excited. This paragraph from the press release has made me very happy indeed:
“One of the best things about Necromunda is building a gang and equipping your gangers with wargear, and each kit is absolutely packed with options. There are weapons for any situation, from classics like the stub gun to more esoteric choices like the repurposed industrial equipment of House Goliath or the chem-weapons of the Eschers.”
Options!! In a box set!! Get those teeny-tiny magnets ready folks because everyone’s going to be swapping gear and weapons around here. Everything can be unique and of course if you’re rich in bits too, you can do so much more! Slaaneshy Escher gang? Why not. Mork-following Goliaths? As you please. Necron affiliated Van Saar? Hells Yes. Renegade Cawdor, Wig-wearing Delaques, mutated Orlocks… the possibilities are endless. This is fantastic news and I cannot wait to get going with these adaptations.
So what are your thoughts on the box? Happy with the way it’s looking? Got any ideas for your gangs? Excited by all of this? Not as much as I am. November can’t come soon enough. Onwards!
charlie kelly dancing gif

Know Your Necromunda: Part 2 – More Inhabitants Of The Underhive

Posted by johnnya10 on 24/08/2017
Posted in: Thoughts and Comment. Tagged: . 8 Comments
ratskins escher white dwarf
In my last post, I covered the six main houses of Necromunda’s Underhive, but there are far more inhabitants than these illustrious gangs alone. The deeper you go, and the closer you get to the Sump, you’ll find all manner of monstrosities lurking in the darkness, while some other monsters are sent from on high to bring more light to our dingy lower levels. In this post, I’ll detail a few more inhabitants of Hive Primus’ lower levels…
Ratskins
john blanche ratskin
Ratskins are more of a tribe than a gang. These native inhabitants do not seek warfare or even contact with the violent gangs, and instead seek isolation within the depths of the Hive. They are peaceful and spiritual and have few qualms with anyone. However, just like in those movies where the guy who couldn’t take any more had to take one more thing, and that makes him pick up a gun, some Ratskins go Renegade (or become ‘Badskins’) and decide to take arms against (or sometimes for) the gangs. Light on their feet and light on guns (they don’t got no heavies) they use speed and aggression to win their fights. And if PETA thought 40k was lousy with animal fur, wait until the cop a load of these guys. More animal skins than you could shake a power sword at adorn their shoulders.
ratskins box
In a pretty blatant nod to Indian scouts (Ratskin scouts are solo characters that gangs can hire) and the whole Native American culture, these are the true natives of Necromunda who view the Hive as a God. If true, that God has some serious ≥#@€ing explaining to do. Still, I wonder how they got the skins of those rats…
pickle rick gif
Adeptus Arbites/Enforcers
adeptus arbites enforcer
100% definitely not Judge Dredd, these guys represent the sparse law enforcement available to Mega City 1 Hive Primus. These non-Judge-Dredd-looking guys occasionally have to dirty their boots by venturing down into the lower levels to serve some justice to unruly gangs, and when they do they bring the thunder. Shotguns, bolters, power mauls and even armoured personnel carriers are deployed by the law in these parts and they don’t even remotely resemble Judge Dredd. They’ve got better armour and more resources but they don’t know the hive as well as its more permanent citizens so they often find themselves being ambushed which is something that would never happen to Judge Dredd not like they look like him anyway. When these chaps show up, all the gangs take notice.
old school arbites
They did eventually get their own Necromunda miniatures (complete with a robo-dog) but they looked a bit naff, and so have a picture of the old 2nd Ed Judges Adeptus Arbites instead – they’re pretty much the same thing any way – they just look better. P.S. Not like this guy:
judge dredd gif
Redemptionists 
necromunda redemptionist
You know what’s a great idea? To go into a chemical filled cramped space under ground and set fire to everything. Well, that’s what these fellas are up to most of the time. Strongly related to House Cawdor (though Cawdor view this lot as uncommitted amateurs) they venture into the Underhive to bring the Emperor’s light to the unbelievers below. They hate mutants, they hate psykers and they generally hate anyone and everything that doesn’t follow their creed, and they do all this while being dressed in bathrobes with flame decals. One can see in them a resemblance to the members and victims of the Spanish inquisition as rendered by the likes of Francisco Goya, and this blogger would argue that they are some of the best looking miniatures to come from this iteration of Necromunda.
necromunda redemptionist miniatures
So, if you like setting fire to things and then clubbing them with a mace, these are the lads to get the job done. They’re also very handy at drumming up civil unrest throughout the hive so they’ve got that going for them too. Not the friendliest of folk though.

xmen pyro gif

Spyrers
john blanche spyrer
Wherever there are poor folk struggling, there are always some rich bastards playing a game, and Hive Primus is no different. One day, some loaded Patriarch obviously had a bright idea that went something like this; “We should send the boy into the Underhive to make him a man. We’ll spend loads of money on making an armoured suit and weapons from off-world xeno-tech and classified Ad Mech specs that even the Adeptus Astartes (and even Iron Man) would be jealous of, and throw him into the depths and see how long he survives. Should be a lark too”. And that’s how Spyrers became. From the nimble Jakara to the flying Yeld, and from the over-armoured Orrus to the assassin-like Malcadon, the Spyrers are rich kids that are sent into gang territory to survive as part of some sadistic character building exercise. Almost one-man-gangs themselves, they’re a pain to get rid of, and if a ganger does kill one, they may have to answer to the Patriarch or Matriarch of the family who has even better weaponry than the Spyrers.
necromunda spyrers
Spyrers have some of the coolest looking miniatures of the game and some very fun weapons. You don’t need many of them to take on a gang, though you do feel a little sorry for the hateful little brats when they do fall. But only a little.
tony stark gif
Hired Guns
necromunda bounty hunter
This is a bit of a catch all term really and some of the things here may not fall under the ‘hired guns’ section of the original rulebook, but they all serve that purpose. There are lots of loners who end up plying their trade or scratching a living in the Underhive. From rogue bounty hunters, to wondering wyrds who use their psychic powers to protect themselves, and from beastmasters who tame the nightmarish creatures that live in the dark, to pit slaves who have nothing left to lose. And then there are the scum. Tragic cases, fools, escaped convicts and psychopaths who will fight for any house willing to pay them. It’s hard to say how many of them dwell in the depths but there seems to be an endless supply of humanity’s dregs to fill the ranks of gangs who want them.
necromunda hired guns
These were always a great tool to use in more narrative driven games. Like a rogue beastmaster unleashing wave after wave of monsters, or a pyromaniac wyrd burning everything down so your gangs were constantly having to run around to avoid the flames. And the scum are a nice cheap option to have if you’re building a gang over time.
robot chicken boba fett gif
Scavvies
necromunda scavvies
It’s fitting that we end with the Scavvies as they represent the very bottom rung of the Underhive ladder. In fact, If you got off the ladder, and dug a hole fifty feet deep beneath it, that’s about the level that the Scavvies sit at. These are the folk who have for too long been in close proximity with the toxic waste and ooze of the hive’s Sump. All mutated and in constant pain, they are the nightmare of the Imperium, the Redemptionist cult and all the juves that didn’t finish their greens before being sent to bed. From the monstrous Scalies and their harpoon guns, to the rotting corpse-like gangers and cannibalistic Ghouls, each Scavvy is a twisted visage of humanity that would shatter even the most flattering mirror. They even have scavvy dogs – packs of mutated puppers that regard ganger flesh as highly as a pedigree pooch might regard Winalot.
necrumnda scavvies miniatures
If you like random mutations and bad horror movies, then this lot will do for you. They were loads of fun to paint as I recall and could probably be used to bolster your poxwalker ranks in 40k too. Now there’s a saving.
toxic avenger gif
=][=
And that’s your lot. I could have added a few more, but this about sums up the majority of the Underhive. So if you’re not looking to play as a ‘noble’ House, there are other options available to you, and plenty of variety within those. Personally I’m looking forward to seeing the return of Spyrers the most. And if Forge World don’t release them, I dare say it would be fun to kit bash one together. But for now, I shall leave you to plan and scheme on what you’ll be taking as you venture into the deep, dark places of Necromunda. Onwards!

Know Your Necromunda – The Gangs Of The Underhive

Posted by johnnya10 on 17/08/2017
Posted in: Thoughts and Comment. Tagged: . 9 Comments
necromunda underhive poster
With everyone now losing their minds over the new edition of Necromunda coming out at the end of the year (are men in their 30s still allowed to have Christmas lists? I’m asking for a friend), I thought I’d take you through the denizens of the Underhive over a couple of articles. After all, it was so long ago that the original game came out that some of you young’uns might not be so familiar with it at all. And to all my fellow old fogeys, you may well enjoy a little trip down memory lane. So, who are the gangs of Necromunda…
House Orlock
house orlock badge
Also known as the House of Iron (because they mine iron – real original guys), these are about as close to the idea of a ‘normal’ gang as you get in Necromunda. Each one a cross between a man who dresses like John Rambo with fewer muscles, and a sheet metal worker, these guys are responsible for producing the the lion’s share of the Iron for Hive Primus. Despite having a ‘regular joe’ look, and not being afraid to double-denim, they’re plucky fighters who can hold their own with the more extreme and interesting inhabitants of the Underhive. The only beef they have in extremis is with the duster wearing Delaques due to a deal going bad and the small matter of an assassination.
orlock box
They represent ‘the human element’ of Necromunda and while some would see their design as being a bit boring, they’re really there to give us a human perspective. I always thought Imperial Guard players would like this gang because, like the now-named Astra Militarum, they’re just guys. Guys with guns in a a place where everything is trying to kill them. That gets a thumbs up from me.
rambo gif
House Goliath
house goliath badge
Nothing says ‘Necromunda’ quite like a juiced up, gym-obsessed looney who only wishes he had more arms so that he could carry more blunt instruments and loud guns. The Goliath gangers are the epitome of Underhive brutality. They really are all about drugs, muscles, mohawks and clothes designed by a blind Megadeth fan in the late 1980s. But boy are they tough. Clan Escher find them particularly distasteful and wars between the two gangs are legendary. Imagine that guy at the gym that everyone’s scared of, shot full of steroids and speed and wielding an enormous chunk of metal as weapon. That’s these guys. Subtlety is not their strong suit.
house goliath miniatures
Goliath gangers are a cross between heavy metal artwork, punk hairstyles and the bad guys from more than a few Judge Dredd comics. If your game is all about brute force, and you regard manoeuvrability and stealth as being someone else’s problem, then these are the chaps for you.
necromunda original artwork
House Escher
house escher badge
Noteable by the fact that all their gang members are female, House Escher look like that girl that you just don’t have the balls to ask out or take home because she really would eat you alive. Escher men are weak, diminutive little runts and so it’s left to these underworld Amazons to protect their territory and do the heavy lifting. They loathe the ‘Meatnecks’ of House Goliath (which is odd as I’m almost certain they listen to the same music) but they tolerate House Orlock a little better. Cruel, sadistic and haughty would perfectly describe their personalities, while cunning and speed define their tactics on the tabletop. Even with six inch serrated heels, these ladies can run rings around a lumbering Goliath.
escher gang
House Escher’s gimmick was that they were female warriors and it’s sad to say that this is likely to continue. The loud hair and leopard print aside, it’s still a novelty to have girls on the tabletop (as the actress said to the bishop) in this day and age – something that will hopefully change more with time. Not having a moan, but I do wish we could have a few more female sculpts in the 41st millennium – I’m getting a little tired of painting dudes.
escher illustration
House Cawdor
cawdor badge
Religious nutters, mad monks, and righteous zealots all, House Cawdor is pledged to the Redemptionist faith and their faith is their shield. This cult of hooded hooligans don’t play well with others and while they don’t seem to mind the Orlocks too much, they’re usually actively trying to kill everyone else who doesn’t follow their creed. Apart from burning mutants and heretics, their only other hobby appears to be the recreation of the ‘Pilgrim’s Spire’ which was a domed tower too far above them in Hive Primus’ upper reaches. They’re obsessed with this spire and to them it represents heaven itself, which is rather sad considering their proximity to the sump.
cawdor miniatures
These guys are along the lines of cartoon villains. Masked and hooded (it’s considered quite the faux pas to reveal one’s face in public within Cawdor society), they have a slight touch of Doc Doom about them, if Doc Doom had been in the Wicker Man. There’s more than a hint of hooded executioner too.
cawdor illustration
House Van Saar
van saar badge
The Underhive’s gun-nuts, House Van Saar is all about the money and the murders. These guys are staggeringly rich in comparison to the other main houses of the Hive Primus’ lowest levels. How come? Because they don’t just like guns – they make them. They can take discarded Imperial Weaponry and turn it into something very special indeed, and the more illustrious houses are willing to pay top dollar for these bang sticks. Looking like sci-fi car mechanics, they’re not the most aesthetically pleasing of gangs, but they sure do know how to shoot good. And where better to test your weapons than in the city’s bowels where there are mutants to hunt and gangers to gun down. Not that they take any visible joy from it – they’re a stern, sombre and somewhat downbeat lot.
van saar gang
In terms of their looks, they just resemble soldiers really (which fits in as they are known to fill the ranks of Necromunda’s guard regiments from time to time) but they’re a bit boring as I look at them now. Hopefully this will change soon…
van saar illustration
House Delaque
house delaque badge
Dusters, dark glasses and bald heads. Imagine a whole gang of dudes that look like Cypher from The Matrix. House Delaque are among the deadliest assassins in the Underhive because, having dwelt in its darkest depths for so long, their eyesight is particularly sharp, even if their dress sense leaves something to be desired (though the long coats are handy for concealing weapons). Universally disliked by the other gangs (and downright loathed by the Orlocks), Delaque members do not play well with others, mainly because their stock and trade is information. Yep, these guys are spies. Snakes (as indicated by their badge) in the grass. The ruling houses of Hive Primus like to keep tabs on whats going on within the lower levels and they get all the gossip they need from the sneaky, stealthy members of this very creepy gang. And no one likes a snitch, right?
delaque gang
Most gang members avoid Delaque territory because even by Underhive standards it’s rather dingy, and the likelihood of getting shot is pretty high too. These snakey, sneaky bastards will kill you and tell everyone about it, so best not to trouble their doorstep. Would you let them give you an ocular pat-down?
mac duster
=][=
And those are our main players. These were the original six gangs from Necromunda and back in the day, I had my own Escher, Van Saar, Cawdor and Delaque entourages. Boy, was it a fun game to play, though it got even better when the other inhabitants of these lower levels were added. In my next article on Necromunda, I’ll look at a few of the later/smaller additions, but for now, I’ll leave you to ponder which gang you’ll be bringing when Necromunda returns. Onwards…
Who was your favourite? And who are you looking forward to bringing in the new edition? Stick a comment below and let me know.

The Descent Into Theta-7 – A Necromunda Short Story

Posted by johnnya10 on 30/03/2017
Posted in: My Fluff Writing, Uncategorized. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

black and white delaque leader

It’s always nice to flesh out a character that you’ve painted with a bit of a backstory, and that’s just what I’ve done for the miniature above. I’ve named him Viskar, and you can enjoy a quick read about him below. Enjoy!

=][=

Nargo pounded down the ruined hallway, his boots thudding against the ancient, rust-covered metal as he descended further into the darkness of Theta-7 quadrant. His right hand gripped the cooling barrel of his heavy stubber, long since run dry of ammunition and now only useful as a club, while his left applied pressure to the wound in his side. His running had become more of a stagger as red life spilled through his fingers. Worse still, it had ruined his favourite tattoo. The enemies of House Goliath would pay for this night’s treachery.

“Damn Rats” he spluttered quietly, a whispered shout in the darkness, as he rounded the shattered vertical pipe of an old pumping station that had been abandoned after its malfunction hundreds of years ago. Theta-7 was common territory, caught between the boundries of Goliath, Delaque and Van Saar, like dead vermin in a trap that even the psi-vultures wouldn’t eat. It was even darker than The Sump, and a thousand corridors spread out from its toxic core.
“Damn those Rats” The words forced themselves from between his gritted silver teeth as he paused for breath by an abandoned security shed. The Ratskins had made their oaths to Goliath before the assault on the Delaque stronghold, but when the slugs started flying, the filthy bastard mutants had disappeared into the shadows, and the brutes of Goliath had been cut to pieces by the ranged guns of the waiting ‘Baldos’. Nargo had seen a juve sliced in half by a lascannon beem, before watching his leader, the mighty Frakkosh, burn to nothing in an instance as a heavy plasma blast had taken him square in the chest.
And that had been it. Even the largest brute lost his nerve then, and Nargo had been the last to turn tail and disappear into the darkness of Theta-7. He wasn’t built for speed, and the weight of his ammo pack, even when empty, and the hulking heavy stubber in his arms had made running all the harder, even before that slug had cracked his ribs. Where the hell had that shot come from, he thought to himself. All the chem-stims and pain-supressors wouldn’t stop him from bleeding out in the grim darkness of one of the underhive’s most Emperor-forsaken sink holes.
His fellow brutes long gone ahead of him, he came to a halt and slumped down onto a heap of debris. He didn’t care about the barbed wire tearing into his back as he slid a little further down still into the detritus. Where had that slug come from, he thought again. He could have sworn that he’d given them the slip somewhere around the Verti-lifter platforms. And as he scrambled through those claustrophobic tunnels and hallways, he’d made as little sound as possible. But despite all of that, searing pain had leapt out of the perpetual night and bitten into his flank with ferocity and cruel enthusiasm.
He felt the stubber’s barrel slip from his fingers as he ran short enough of blood that his extremities tingled as if he had injected some of the Doc’s best ‘Pulse-Up’ chems, and his head felt heavy. He could almost see his soul slip gently from his flesh, climbing up towards a light high above him in the smog-choked night sky of the underhive. And it was as his gaze moved upwards, that he noticed the green eyes staring at him out of the black, and the bolt gun barrel trained at his head.
-=-=-=-
Viskar ran down the hallway without making a sound. Even his long trench coat didn’t stir audibly as it flapped through the stale air of the long, dimly lit corridor. His eyes operated perfectly in these low levels of light. Typical, he mused, of a dead head Goliath to run into the darkness of Theta-7 when he was being chased by a Delaque. They really were all idiots.
As he sprinted silently through the narrow space, following the trail of chemical-thick blood that his pistol had gifted him from the brute’s torso, he grinned. Paying off those treacherous Ratskins had been the right thing to do after all. When he got back to his House’s territory, he’d have to apologise to Colbera. Viskar had no misconceptions about trusting the rats of the underhive, and would rather have executed them as soon as they had shown their faces, but for the price of a rundown track-loader and a barrel of nutrient slime that was a decade too old to consume, he had to admit that their information had been useful. Colbera had been right about that, and that irked Viskar a little, but with the chase on, all was forgiven.
House Goliath had almost been insultingly foolish, thinking they could take territory from House Delaque with so few men, and for that, they would all pay.
The blood trail lurched around the side of a tall, vertical pipe, large enough to fit two Arbites Repressor vehicles though long since shattered and abandoned, and he followed it into the gloom. To a Delaque’s eyes, the dank and murky hole at the centre of the unwanted Theta-7 district was a well lit room, and even if he hadn’t been wearing his goggles, his vision would have been near perfect in this trash heap.
He stopped suddenly and silently. Behind an ancient, broken barricade of discarded ferrocrete slabs, he saw the oversized and studded boot of a Goliath. His eyes could see through the gloom the slightest movement – a slight shudder around the heel indicated that it was still being worn and not simply a discarded item. He could just make out the laboured breathing of his injured prey, and he could smell the sticky vitae pooling below an over-muscled, perspiring body.
Still without a sound, Viskar swung himself up an ancient and disused stairway. He wanted a better vantage point to shoot from, but more than that, he was smart enough not to let a Goliath, wounded or not, get anywhere near him. If he made himself visible on ground level, the downed monster might still have enough spirit left to charge for him, and that would likely be a short fight indeed.
He moved across a creaking ramp that once crossed the expanse of Theta-7 but now ended abruptly in a rust covered gateway – half an arch that sat atop a mound of debris. A lone skull sat just beneath the parapet, gazing out into the darkness of the underhive beyond, while a thick, green ooze lazily sloshed from a broken pipe beneath the platform. From this point he looked down at the slumped figure below.
The brute was huge, his body covered in unnatural muscles and ornate skin ink. His heavy weapon lay on the ground and for all the colour in the Goliath ganger’s mohican, his skin was palid, and looked as if it would be cold to the touch. Slowly and quietly, the Delaque romoved the bolt gun from his jacket, pulling out the shoulder stock and drawing a bead on the bastard’s face. In that moment, the Goliath looked him square in the eyes.
-=-=-=-
In the second that transpired before Viskar pulled the trigger, he saw the soul of the man, on route to stand before the Emperor, or whatever Hell-monster the Goliaths prayed to, and he saw nothing more than a man. A lost, ruined and hideous man, but one who had come to be like that because of the underhive. Because of the endless gang wars, punctuated all too sparsely with brief and uneasy periods of truce. Because of being born at the bottom, beneath Necromunda’s gargantuan ash clouds, and not in the rarified atmosphere and gentility of the upper spires. He might have been a friend in another galaxy, or on another world. Neither of them would ever sail between the stars, see the great, mythical Astartes in war, or drink the finer chemohol that the governor classes chugged down with every meal. Viskar saw Nargo as a brother he would never know. But he still pulled the trigger. There could be no mercy in the underhive.
=][=
I hope you enjoyed that. Let me know what you think in the comments below, and thanks for reading!

Delaque Gang Leader – Into The Underhive…

Posted by johnnya10 on 29/03/2017
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling, Uncategorized. Tagged: , . 4 Comments

Delaque Gang Leader

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.

necromunda delaque

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.

leather jacket miniature

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.

necromunda miniatures

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!