No it’s not a Britney Spears themed gang, but it is yet another one! How did this happen? I wasn’t planning an Escher force! Damn models just lying about waiting to be built!
Inspiration struck again and I couldn’t stop building until they were finished, and as such the Hive Angels were born…
This lovely leader will serve as my Leader, the Prophet of the Angels, she who preaches the true path.
I’m counting the Drukhari blade as duel stiletto swords and still need to figure out a way to model a shotgun on there.
She’ll be backed up by her champions, the icon bearer…
And the Crusader…
Then there are all these lovely ladies to help out…
As you can see I’ve gone heavy on the wych weapons. I have a hefty amount of Druhkari bits, and I really love all thier weapons. It also fits the aesthetic I was going for perfectly.
The wings are from a few different sources, but mainly the aquilla icons from the Imperial vehicle upgrade sprue.
I’m going to pop these to the side for a bit though, lots of projects to be working on and nothing left lying about to build!
Things took a bit of a turn with my Necromunda projects. The Van Saar hangers-on are under coated and ready for paint, I even got a couple of bounty hunters prepped. But then the Underhive box arrived.
I ordered it mainly for the Zone Mortalis tiles, for playing this version of the game but also to use for backdrops for some photos. I was going to sell the rest off to recoup a bit, but a seed had been planted. ‘Why not just build a new gang? It will be good to have two.’ Said that voice in my head. All it took was a quick look at their options to cement the idea…and thus the Vatforged were born…
This is Arn, the leader, and his pet croc, alongside his twin brother Vito.
Both birthed from the same gene-vat, they were born into the Goliath way of life. Arn took to it like a fish to water, rising swiftly. Vito struggled to begin but with the help of his brother, he has fought a hard and bloody path to earn his place.
Still a bit of green stuff work to do on these to polish them off but what you see here is pretty much how they’ll look.
Next up is the rest of the gangers…
I went for a bit of a mix with these and still want to add a bit more, especially the tank tread armour as I’m especially pleased with how that looks. I’m thinking of continuing that theme to Arn, and replacing the crotch chains with treads.
But then that voice spoke up again, ‘Why not do an Escher gang as well?’. Well, I might as well…
I’ve been busy with a lot of other projects and dealing with some health issues but I’ve still managed to find a little time here and there to add some more fighters to my Van Saar gang.
I’ve added another champion, with combi-plas, shield and power stave. A powerful shooter but someone who can also deal with threats up close.
I’ve also added to the ganger count with 4 new bodies. 1 Lasgunner, 2 Las-carbines and a Suppression laser. This alongside my other couple of gangers gives me a good solid base for any other additions I want to make.
Next up for painting though, it’s going to be the hangers-on. These are likely to be very different from the Van Saar, so should be an interesting change of pace.
A brand new expansion book coming alongside the brand new, and plastic, Kal Jerico & Scabbs. The Book of Peril adds various new and funky elements to campaigns and standard games as well as resurrecting some of the iconic elements found in the original Necromunda.
The book itself is shorter in length than the big ones, more akin to the Gang War books but features a good variety of content, Guild alliances, Badzones, Venators, Badzone trading post and a spattering of new Dramatis Personnae. So let’s delve in and see in more depth what’s on offer…
Guilds
The mainstay of the fluff in the book is focused on the strongest and most powerful Guilds of the Primus underhive. It’s all a fantastic read, finding out the Guilds functions and how they add to the economy of a hive, or how they might interact with gangs, such as the water Guild coming to reclaim an overpayment of water, ‘the Guild apologises for the clerical error, and wishes the survivors well’!.
Eight guilds are represented in all, Pyros(promethium), Nautica(water), Pallidus(corpse), Sanguis(slave), Gelt(coin), Lux(electro), Temperium(air) and Munda(iron).
This background comes alongside the rules for making alliances with 6 of these Guilds. The Air Guild and Electro Guild currently unavailable.
The alliance rules only take affect in campaigns, with no way to use in skirmish. They offer you the opportunity to receive a benefit alongside a disadvantage from the guild. For instance the Iron Guild will reduce the rarity of firearms as well as thier cost from the trading post, but will ask for all the weapons and war gear from your dead fighters. There are ways around these, or additional benefits, but these will require you to test the alliance, a chance that the Guild will break the deal and leave.
Each alliance offers another opportunity, a delegation from the Guild. Favouring lower reputation gangs, a roll in the pre battle phase will determine if you are joined by a delegation. A small force, 3-4 models, that can give you an edge in the coming battle. Operating as a sub-gang, with thier own leader.
Each delegation offers it’s own unique twist and characterful links to thier Guild, whilst remaining at a good power level so as they don’t feel like they could make or break a game, but could give a weaker gang the edge they need to stay in the game.
Badzones
The badzones and environment rules make a very welcome return, adding an unpredictable element to your games.
The badzone rules can be split into three main categories, Battlefields, terrain and events.
There are 6 main badzone battlefields for gangs to play on, Ancient Manufactorum, Stygian Depths, Sump Sea, Dome Jungle, Warp-tainted and Unstable Dome, all offering thier own unique twist to how the game will be played.
These all change the set up of the game giving special instructions on what to do. For instance the Sump Sea is played above ground level and encourages you to build an area with lots of walkways and paths from one side to the other. The ‘floor’ being the sump sea that can suck fighters down to thier doom.
They are a great selection but thier are some restricting factors. Two Badzones are Sector Mechanicus only, and a couple do require some elements of the Badzones Terrain to really have full effectiveness.
Badzones Terrain covers rules for nearly all the Games Workshop terrain available so far. So rather than just offer you some cover, there’s a lot more opportunity for interaction. Cranes can now be used to pick up or damage enemies, barrels can be shot at to make them explode, flamers pulling fuel out of pipelines. The rules here offer so much to add character to your games and give a feeling of the underhive being alive and real.
Badzone Events are where the real random factor kicks in. Twenty different events can affect you and the opposing gang. You roll, or draw if you have the card deck, at the start of the game and the start of each turn there after adding multiple effects over the course of the game. In the end phase you roll a dice for each one to see if they dissipate, or they dissipate automatically after they’ve been around for 3 turns.
There really is a huge variety to these, from the classic Toxic Downpour to Brainleaf outbreaks(zombies!), they’re that random element you can never plan for. For instance my Van Saar where tackling a Sump Sea game, something they were already struggling with with thier low initiative, when high winds struck. The Gang was all but blown away into the sea!
Badzone Trading Post
A new selection of trading post goodies, brings back some old favourites. The new selection is fairly small offering a selection of new ammo and a small offering of war gear.
It’s the wargear that’s really got me excited. Old classics like the Blindsnake Pouch and Ming Vase make a return. In fact most of the wargear is fluffy, offering fun and interesting mechanics during a campaign without seeming overpowered. Such as the Necromundan Giant Rat, an alternative exotic beast that any gang can take. It’s not as funky as the house specific one but is cheap and more importantly very common.
Venators
This sees the Venators join Chaos Cults and Genestealers with some up to date rules and some awesome background. They remain much what they were, a build your own gang template. There is a clarification on Houses and House legacies. Venators can take brutes, but only the generic ones, Ambot and the Ogryn Servitor. House exotic beasts can can be purchased by those with that house legacy.
Dramatis Personnae
Another selection of famous names of Necromunda are brought to life with 9 new bounty hunters:
Kal Jerico & Scabs the most infamous of the lot and you can tell with the cost to hire the pair!
Freikstorn Strix an ex Van Saar who’s utilises his winged jetpack and harpoon gun to hunt his prey.
Shadows of Cattallus, noble brother and sister duo, a duelist and sniper.
Mortanna Shroud, a very powerful psyker who talks with her skull collar.
Apollus Cage, an ex Orlock with a chip on his shoulder.
Thaetos 23-2, a slightly less potent psyker.
Rex Spires, the demolition expert and his partner, Vorgen ‘Gunner’ Mortz, a stubber wielding ex guardsman.
Conclusion
A must buy for those who love to add more fluff to your campaigns, if you play Necromunda more competitively it may not be the book for you. It offers a vast array of ways to spice up and add variation to your games.
It’s also a fantastic sign of things to come,as more thematic ways to play is nothing but a good thing for the future of Necromunda.
A new idea for monthly blog posts I’m going to do covering the games I’ve been playing.
As well as tabletop war games I also really enjoy board and card games. I’m going to take a look at all the games I play over the month and give a run down on what happened, my favourite parts etc. So without further ado let’s take a look at the first…
Root
This one landed late last year after a successful kickstarter and has already won widespread acclaim and its fair share of game of the years. It’s not hard to see why once you’ve had a shot.
The combination of beautiful and quaint artwork, simple backstory and engaging and thematic gameplay really make this game into one of the gems of your collection.
After just a few handful of games I’m really keen for more, and getting the opportunity to try each of the factions and thier unique play styles. I’m going to revisit this in a bit more detail in the future, but I would highly recommend you give it a bash if you can.
Blackstone Fortress
I’ve been keen to give this bad boy a go since its release, and a mate picking it up this month provided that opportunity.
Essentially a dungeon crawler board game, the game offers the chance to adventure into new and unknown areas of the 40k universe, with some fairly unique offerings in the player characters.
I enjoyed this one a lot, whilst it seems to lack the true RPG elements of other dungeon crawlers, it does offer a challenging experience and a good amount of interesting gameplay mechanics. It also offers that tantalising tease of the sealed envelope to open, only once you have completed the fortress.
Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth
I’ve managed to give this one a full play through and now onto another, which I think tells you that I’ve been enjoying it.
Another dungeon crawler, but this one in a very FFG style. It has elements of other games such as Imperial Assault, Mansions of Madness and Descent and really feels like a culmination of some of the best elements of those games with some of the worst mechanics shifted out.
Like those other games it does also include, and require, an app to play. This speeds things along tremendously and really eases the amount of ‘paperwork’ involved. We also found that due to familiarity and the help of the app the rulebook was only looked at once or twice a session, a great testiment to the ease of use on offer.
Necromunda
I’ve been slowly working away on a few projects in between jobs this month, and have managed to get a couple of games in. No campaign yet, but we’re working up to that slowly and once we’ve had a chance to really get to grips with the rules.
This weekend also saw the release of some funky new additions. Most notably Kal Jerico and Scabbs, but also a brand new book! I’m really excited to see what this has to offer and will be taking a look soon.
Another month and another good amount of models to add to the total. I’ll admit this month was really hard, some mental health flair ups took me by surprise, so I’m more proud if this total than I normally would be. Any other time I would likely have not completed as much as this and it’s a good step in the right direction.
This month I worked on some Lord of the Rings in the form of the Pellanor fields box and some Warg Riders as well as the Dungeon Doggies for Tabletop Gaming magazine. Take a look at the minis below…
June’s issue of Tabletop Gaming is in shops now and inside you’ll find much guide on painting the awesome Dungeons & Doggies miniatures. Check them out below and buy your copy here.
