Thursday 19 February 2015

The Rise of the Reeves

Our local Necromunda campaign is continuing fairly swiftly and now that I'm four games in I think it's time for an update.

Despite doing rather well in all my games and causing substantially more casualties than I've received, I've managed to bottle all but one of them as soon as I had three down fighters while my opponents were passing back-to-back bottle rolls... *sigh* At least I can console myself with the knowledge that I've caused a fatality in every one of my games!

As you can imagine, this hasn't been ideal for gaining territories. On the other hand I've had nobody die on me so I haven't had to spend my meagre income on replacing people and have a decent stash saved up. But now that other gangs are gearing up it's time to join the arms race.

So say hello to Kip.

My name is Kip and I'm a local thug

Necromunda was written with a strange disconnect between the rules and the models. In the case of the Cawdor gang this means all their gangers and leaders were sculpted with basic weapons despite having Combat as one of their skill tables. For those not in the know, you get a (very important) bonus attack for having two pistols/combat weapons but cannot claim this if you are carrying a basic weapon such as a lasgun or autogun.

They aren't the easiest models to cut up and re-arm either because most are (sensibly) holding their weapons in both hands, besides which I just don't much like cutting up old models. So I've had to look at alternative options to bulk up the gang again.

This time I dug up an Orlock ganger, gave him a Fairy Power Spray bath, a new mask to wear and put him into appropriate gang colour. I have to say I'm pretty pleased with how he turned out. I feel like there's a good mix of colours and textures on the model and he doesn't look too out of place with the rest of the gang. Also, the mask blends in quite nicely because of the bandanna that all Orlocks wear.

Kip demands that people appreciate him from all angles

In the long run I'm going to try and plug some more gaps in the range with members from the other gangs. I reckon a Goliath or a Redemptionist should be up next as an extra combat-focused character.

What do you think?

9 comments:

  1. Added the mask to the bandanna worked particularly well. If I were you I would be tempted to add another Orlock just to repeat that good look :)

    Nice work :)

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    1. Thank you very much. :)

      I might try and pick up another Orlock or two to add in. I'm particularly fond of the leader with Meltagun for maximum levels of overkill!

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    2. Well the way you are assembling this gang its easy enough to cherry pick your favourite sculpts from the range if you want. I like the Orlock heavy bolter, I would likely go out of my way to get that model into the gang for example.

      Im looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

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  2. I've always thought it was wierd that for a game which revolved around evolving models, changing armaments and customising gang members so many of the models were inappropriately armed and almost totally non-convertable! You've done a good job here and I look forward to (taking him down) having a good look when I invade your territory next week! Nothing personal, just bored of fighting Delaques! And we haven't properly met up since New Year...

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    1. Ha, I was seriously considering knocking on your door this time but figured you didn't have enough territories to make it worthwhile. Oh well, I hope you like Old Ruins. :)

      He'll probably survive the battle though if my last game was anything to go by. He got through some tunnels and then failed four stupidity tests in a row which meant that he just spent the entire game sitting and drooling quietly behind a shipping container...

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    2. You can't have the archaeotech horde... Not that I ever get to use it... round five and I've had two games. No XP or income for the Militia! :)

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  3. What I don't get - after my chat with cj - is why you're all so hung up on using the original models rather than using whatever you wanted.

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    1. That's a bit of a weird question because it seems to imply that I'm deliberately not using the models that I want to be using and I'm unreasonably restricting myself to the originals.

      So firstly I ought to say that I already use the models that I want to use, and they just happen to be the originals. As to why said models are originals as opposed to any of the countless (excellent) alternatives available on the market - that's down to nostalgia and aesthetics.

      Most of these models were released when I was first getting into the game but couldn't afford to buy them. I fondly remember getting a couple of blister packs as a birthday present and being thrilled! Needless to say that didn't go far in terms of model count. I'm now in a position where I can just buy exactly the models I want and that's pretty exciting!

      I also remember looking at and coveting all the armies in White Dwarf (back when it was more than just a catalogue) and at the time owning them seemed just like a pipe-dream.

      For the Necromunda models specifically, they have a certain quirky, cartoony clumsiness to them which I find quite appealing. The giant ham-fists and simple faces are enjoyably easy to paint and some, like the Scum with Plasma Pistol, have stood the test of time very well. There's also something to be said for ease of recognition on the battlefield.

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