Howdy scummers! It’s Monday, and around these parts that means it’s Necromunday. This week we are talking about stuff we actually did in 2021! Let’s take a look back at what we managed to accomplish this year.
Games played
SRM: I only got to play two games of Necromunda this year, but I played them in style at DYLON’s ham barn. I was in town for a wedding and regrettably a suit was a more important thing to fit in my bag than a case of models, so I borrowed some of Dyl’s Cawdor and we had a night of gaming. The beers consumed to dead Cawdor ratio was roughly 1:1, and buddy, we had a multitude of beers. I had a ton of fun not only playing with one of my closest friends, but also using the trash bois for the first time. Those long rifles do work, especially when facing off with Van Saar who are happy to outrange and outmurder you at every opportunity. I don’t remember all the specifics (see: beers consumed) but I do specifically remember using their various miracles to pull off some wackadoo moves. Bleeding out to use an extra move miracle so my Confessor could chainsaw a fool? Owns. Leaping from a building and gently gliding down to a loot casket, only to open it and explode? Peak Necromunda. Having said Confessor get headshotted by a Van Saar sniper, only to roll a 66 on the injury roll and have his instantly permadead corpse fall a good 6 storeys down to the ground? Peak DYLON’s house gaming. I sincerely wish I got to play more Necromunda this year, but from my brief check-in I can confirm that Necromunda still Necromundowns.
Greg: I also only played two games of Necromunda, which were actually my first two games of it ever. My stupid gang, the Klaisus Enforcers, 1312th Precinct, didn’t do so well. The first game I had almost all my gangers taken out of action by Eschers, including poor patrolman Jimmy McNulty dying for real when I didn’t have enough credits to pay the doc. The only bright spot was a subjugator wailing on a bunch of frail junkies while tanking all their hits. My second game was against Primaris Kevin and his Van Saars, trying to steal a bunch of loot. I got my hands on two crates, and they both exploded as soon as I tried to open them. A guy fell into a hole because I forgot that you could do that in Necromunda. The final insult was Rick Deckard, shield-subjugator extraordinaire from the first game, got murdered by a pack of birds before doing anything. I bottled out as soon as I could, and that was that. So I’m about as good at Necro as I am at 40k, I guess.
DYLON: Hoooo boy, 2021 was a big year for games. I managed 31 games of Necromunda, many of which were games testing out new gangs, new rules, different campaign mechanisms and finally playing in the Lost Zone Campaign run by Dan. I tried out a bunch of new stuff with the House of Artifice book against Cody’s Orlock and Ogryn gangs, before I moved on to my Cawdor and he, his Delaque. Our most recent game sticks in our memories as one of the best, back-and-forth games we’ve ever had, with so many Cawdor seriously injured due to web guns yet the trash people coming back to rout the Delaque in the end. And I can’t forget the weekend we got the Necromunday crew together in the Hambarn for a weekend of Necromunda. Great games, great people, and great beers. Cannot wait to do it again.
Dan: Unfortunately, I did not get a ton of opportunities to play Necromunda this year. By my count I only got 5 games, and 4 of them were in Dylan’s Ham Barn! However, they were extremely high-quality games, played against Dylan, Fowler, and Cody. Before this year, I didn’t have my own terrain setup at home, and so I generally always played Necromunda on the old cardboard tiles. I have my own 3d terrain at home, now, but nothing could have prepared me for Dylan’s insane terrain setup! Games at his place are singularly amazing because of this, and while it might be hard to move and place models at times, there’s nothing like playing Necromunda at the Ham Barn!
I also learned two important lessons this year: long rifles are really good, and don’t ever let a Nacht-Ghul get close to your leader!
Fowler: This is going to sound extremely familiar, but I only got in three in-person Necro games this year… at the aforementioned Ham Barn! This was the first time I got to put my Manwolfs on the table, as well as the first time I’ve been able to get a game of Necro in with Dylon, Cody, and Dan! Back in 2019 I managed to get Warmonger (most games played) in my campaign. Fingers crossed that 2022 has a similar number of games in it, especially as I have some wild stuff in store for the players in my upcoming campaign.
Hobby progress
SRM: I painted a whole-ass Escher gang that I still haven’t gotten to play with. My gang, The Sisters of Mercy, are largely just a collection of goth puns and suboptimal weapon loadouts. I started with a test model, got cracking on some regular gang sisters for her, and then worked through my hoard of plastic and resin Escher bits. I fleshed out the gang with the new releases from House of Blades before eventually petering out. I still have 5 gangers and a few resin models left to build and paint for them, but haven’t found a ton of drive to do so with the lack of a local Necromunda scene.
I also painted my Mercator Sanguis Slaver Entourage. I pre-ordered these guys the week before the US initially shut down for covid and only got to them this year. When I first unboxed them I looked at the massive resin flashing between each chainsword tooth, sighed theatrically, and put them back in a box for a year. Once I got over myself and actually built them though, painting the crew of loathsome weirdos was actually a ton of fun, and a great place to practice the technique I’d picked up this year: Blending. I’d had a wet palette for a minute, courtesy of Goonhammer’s own DYLON, and Necromunda models – especially weirdos you’ll only paint once – were the perfect canvas for it.
Lastly, I got to write up and paint up some models for Goonhammer ‘96 week. I plucked some Oldhammer Orlocks and Goliaths out of my old Necromunda starter set and painted them up in classic style, Goblin Green bases and all. Aside from just being, well, really tiny compared to the modern equivalents, their no-nonsense approach to detail meant they painted up quickly. I don’t know if I’ll do a third gang of Goliaths, representing the 90s as opposed to the 2000s and 2010s that my other gangs do, but I could certainly be convinced for Goonhammer ‘97 or whatever.
I regret to say I haven’t gotten to play with any of the models I painted, but they’ve been a ton of fun to cleanse the palette between my 3000th and 4000th point of Ultramarines.
Greg: Time isn’t real anymore so I painted either my entire 11-model gang, or zero models, because I can’t remember if I did them late last year or early this year.
Fowler: Double shield guy was from this year, somehow.
DYLON: Weirdos. I made and painted so many in 2021, including all my idiots for the Trading Post I’m constructing. And then there’s all the minis painted to expand my gangs… In building a Trading Post, I decided I wanted vendors for all the major goods that can be bought in it, so I kitbashed 8 vendors to use in addition to a couple existing minis I had for all 10 stalls.
And then there’s the other guys I made and painted up.
I expanded both of my existing gangs, adding some new Van Saars models from the Champion and Neotek kit, converting one into an Augmek with Plasma gun, one with a Plasma Cannon, and one into a Prime with Bolter. I built a Subtek out of the Neotek that only needed a little greenstuff and one Neotek on a hoverboard.
My Cawdor saw the largest boost with the Redmptionist kit being released, but also painting up a large contingent of regular Cawdor. I also got around to the Headsman finally.
And then terrain. I started 2 large projects this year, my Trading Post and a hab block, both of which are sitting waiting for details. I did manage to build and paint a few other things, a water tank made from a tin can, a completely Cricut cut elevator shaft building, and a shrine. I also painted up a gang relic built by @Sol_Vince on Instagram. I also made some new barricades, and found that I still need more…
Dan: Due to writing for this website and the seemingly endless tide of black-armored Space Marines that I “need” to paint, I only managed to paint three Orlocks this year: 1 Arms Master and 2 Wreckers.
But buying counts as hobbying, right?! If did manage to snag an entire Cawdor gang and all the fixin’s for 2022. I have a plan with them, and I can’t wait to get them built and get a test model painted. Cawdor are currently the coolest gang in town, and I’m very excited to dive in!
Fowler: My favorite project of the year was my second batch of Manwolfs. This time around I added a suitably badass Roadboss, an Ambot, an Iron Automata, an Artel W cyberdog, and a grip of vehicles inspired by Commander Cheapskate’s Anarchy Road campaign. I keep feeling the temptation expand this to a Crusade “Genestealer Cults” force…
I, too caught the classic Orlock bug during Goonhammer ’96 week. My inspiration was the hazy memory of the gang I got a demo with at Scholars in Bridgewater (or maybe some place in Abington?) about a zillion years ago. These models are great and it was a joy to paint these up in a quick scheme. Nighthaunt Gloom over zenithal prime = instant 1-step mom jeans!
The last Necro project I finished this year was the Manwolfs Hab Container Playset. This ended up being absurdly more detailed that I originally set out for it to be! There’s multiple transfers, freehand, plenty of bits box deep cuts, and the last of my hand-whittled skateboards (I’ve smartened up – I cast them now!). It’s a fun piece for the display cabinet and it’s pretty usable on the table with two balconies and a removable roof.
Nurgle willing, I have a campaign starting up in late January. In preparation I just finished assembling a Munitorum Munitions Hub, an Underhive Market kit, and a grip of Dark Uprising terrain. Next up after that is a secret gang that I will showcase here after my campaign gets their reveal! 2022 will see another (and potentially sizable) set of Manwolfs and hopefully a worthy table for them to shred on.
da lost z0ne
Dan: In January of 2021, I posted the first Lost Zone article, regarding the Trading Post and Black Market. It came from a series of James Hewitt’s tweets and a conversation with some of the Goonhammer crew over a hobby hang during the Christmas holiday. With the help of the Necromunday crew, I “finished” the ruleset in June, and threw in an update in October. The vast majority of my work for goonhammer dot com last year has been on this project.
In fall, I started a Lost Zone campaign for some of my locals and goonhammer folks, and I finally got to play some Lost Zone games! Good news, Scummers, I had fun! The Lost Zone rules are the kind of Necromunda I love playing: hard-scrabble gangs struggling to find even the most basic of life-supporting supplies in the Underhive, with a campaign system that isn’t based on the highly-problematic Dominon model. I really enjoyed the chaotic ways each gang geared up, and the heavy emphasis on skills instead of everyone just hoarding XP until they can get more Toughness. If you haven’t yet, give the Lost Zone a try! As always, feel free to drop us a line at necromunday@goonhammer.com and tell us how it’s working for you!
2022 is going to be kind of weird, especially for me. My wife and I are having a baby in February, so I imagine I won’t get a ton of gaming in for the 1st half of the year or so. I hope to get some time to update the Lost Zone for the Book of the Outcast, and to maybe even try the Outlander campaign that’s described in that book. It looks like it has a ton of promise! I’m trying to keep expectations and commitments light in 2022, but I’d like to give my Cawdor gang a shot, once they’re fully painted, naturally, and hopefully continue playing my favorite skirmish game with the cool people in the goonhammer orbit!
And that’s all we’ve got! We all sincerely hope that everyone gets to spend a lot more time slamming hams in 2022. Thanks for reading, and may your lasting injury rolls for leaders always be snake eyes.
