Welcome back, Scummers! During the week, it was revealed that Dan, Cody, Dylan, and Fowler all plan on building new gangs in 2022 independently of one another. Because of that, we’ve decided to ask each one to detail their plans and progress in a new article series we’re calling: A Tale of Four Scumlords! Very original, we know. Let’s read on and see what each of them has in store for us in 2022!
Dan: Many regular Necromunday readers will no doubt remember that I got really, really excited for Cawdor after House of Faith was released. At the end of 2021, I went and bought all the fixin’s for a post-HoF Cawdor gang: 2 Cawdor boxes, 1 Redemptionist box, both resin Weapon packs, the resin Cawdor head kit, bomb rats (even though they’re a trap choice), Sheen birds (even though they’re a trap choice), Rattus Tatterskin, the Headsman, Klovis the Redeemer (and his little dingus man), and a Stig-Shambler.
Do I have more money than sense? Absolutely. But fear not, I have a plan! I’m not much for magnetizing, especially on weedy Cawdor arms, so I tend to build multiple options from the jump. But for that, I need to turn to one of my favorite things: spreadsheets!
The Plan
The idea behind this gang is that they’re a bunch of insane nihilists who follow the Path of the Doomed. Specifically, they adhere to the tenets of the Cult of the True Resurrection and believe that the Imperium, including the Emperor, must be destroyed so it can be Reborn. You can imagine how this might rub other hivers the wrong way. So for this gang, I’ll need a solid core of Cawdor gangers with the best basic weapon in the game, and then plenty of juves to act as bullet sponges and to fill out all the extra Juve spots that a Path of the Doomed gang can generate during a game. So, I did some planning!
Each Cawdor box makes two sets of 5 bodies each with 2 sets of intended weapons. Each weapon pack adds two more options for each of the 5 bodies. What I’ve done is choose the best builds for this gang based on my needs as outlined above. This isn’t 100% final, however, as I’m sure inspiration will hit me halfway through the process and I’ll end up changing my mind on a thing or two. I’m also making a fighter with a two-handed hammer, a weapon I generally do not like, so I can field a Hive Preacher, which I like a whole lot. When all these models are built, I’ll be looking at 19 Cawdor fighters and one hanger-on.
For my box of Redemptionists, I’m planning on building most, if not all of them straight up, no conversions. I’d really like to get a grenade launcher in there, so I might head over to my bits box and see what I can come up with, but that will ultimately be a game-time decision. It’s too bad that the shotgun-wielding body is the easiest to convert to a grenade-launcher, as I like that guy, but we’ll see!
There aren’t a lot of options in the various resin kits that I bought save one: the Stig-Shambler’s weapon. This has been the subject of some debate over on the GH discord. Heavy Flamer or Twin Heavy Stubber? We were getting good and worked up in our respective camps, but then primaris Kevin pointed out that the Twin Heavy Stubber was damage 2, and that really ended the discussion. I’ll be building mine with the stubber, and I guess we’ll have to continue the search for a reason to use a heavy flamer.
The Color Scheme
For color, we’ve got 4 elements to work with:
- Masks
- Cowls
- Secondary Clothing
- Redemptionist zazz
I usually make funny gang names so I can do puns with fighter names and joke around with my friends, but I’m somewhat enamored with the horror brought by psychotic religious fanatics and I’m going to play this one pretty straight. The gang will be called the Grinning Skulls, and I want to do two things with their masks and faces: First, I’m planning to paint their masks to look like bleached bone, and second, apply black and white skull face paint to the exposed parts of their faces. Think Pentagon Jr. from pro wrestling. I think that would look sick as hell, so I’m doing it.
For clothing, I want to do purple cowls and gray secondary fabric. I think those would do well to set off the bone/skull motif, and would look great all dirty and torn. When it comes to clothes, Redemptionists are like Cawdor who shop at the nice mall. They’re going to get some extra colors in their stylish robes, and yellow is always a nice counterpoint to purple, so I think I’ll lean in that direction. I’m thinking flame patterns at the hems and whatever stoles or wimples or whatever can end up yellow, too.
Well, there you have it, Scummer! What I’ll be doing in necromunda for 2022! Next time, I’ll post pictures of my built models and go deeper into the reasons why I built them the way I did!
DYLON: New year, new gang. Having expanded both my Van Saar and Cawdor in 2021 (with more to do…) I’m ready to embark on a new underhive adventure.
I’ve been going back and forth over the past year with my next gang and I’ve settled on Goliaths. I recently washed all of my Forge World stuff including both head upgrade kits, 2 weapon upgrade kits, a sumpkroc and the ‘zerker. I have a spare Krotos Hark that I will mine for parts. Along with all the plastic kit offerings I have collected a few choice bits that I’m going to use to convert up a Forge Tyrant, namely some Tartaros Terminator shoulder pads and Abaddon’s cloak. Combine those with a Stimmer body and I think I may have a proper, bulky boi.
What’s my gang composition going to look like? Well…. I tend to go by the rule of cool, though I’m really trying to remember to think about what each ganger will do. I’ve built an initial gang, keeping within the Lost Zones parameters as follows.
Forge Tyrant with Bolter and Power Axe with Carapace Armor
Forge Boss with a Bolt Pistol and Renderizer and some gene smithing
An unborn Stimmer with a pair of Pulverizers, a stimm-slug stash and gene smithing
A Specialist Bruiser with Grenade Launcher
Bruiser with Combat Shotgun
Bruiser with regular Shotgun
Bruiser with Stub Cannon
And a Bully with Stub gun, knife and Smoke Grenades
We’ll see how they fare and if I can figure out how to make them work. Beyond the core gang, I’ll make some extra options, maybe a rivet cannon, and extra Bully or two.
As an extreme oldhammer-appreciator, I have to go with the classic mid-90s bright red and hazard stripes.
Yes, my Tyrant must have a chainsaw hat. So, bright red, bright mohawks and mostly black and metal where the hazard stripes aren’t. No matter what, I have a pretty quick method for Necromunda minis these days, so I expect lots of contrast will get used to work through these guys quickly.
I don’t have a name for the gang yet, but I tend to try for some alliterative thing with the leader’s name, but I’ll take any suggestions.
Cody: Unlike some other people, I don’t plan to start new gangs or armies. They just sort of… happen to me. And despite it being a time of new habits and resolutions, I am right back at it with a brand new Escher gang appearing on my desk.
Now I’ve always loved the chemmed-up, toxin-wielding, catlike Escher and I especially love the mid-80’s punk-goth vibe that their hair and armor evoke. With that in mind, I wanted to make a gang that leaned heavily into their chem/toxin/drug rules and paint them in a riot of vivid colors.
So I picked up the basic gang box, the upgrade set, and the prospects and champions box. With the exception of a grenade launcher and a Kymerix, these three boxes had everything I needed to make my starting gang:
Gang Queen: Stiletto Sword, Plasma Pistol, Mesh Armor, Skill: Step Aside
Deathmaiden: Venom Claw, Needle Pistol, Mesh Armor, Skill: Lightning Reflexes
Gang Matriarch: Plasma Gun, Mesh Armor, Skill: Dodge
Specialist: Lasgun, Mesh Armor
Sister: Lasgun, Mesh Armor
Sister: Lasgun, Mesh Armor
Sister: Shotgun w/Acid Rounds, Mesh Armor
Little Sister: Stiletto Knife, Autopistol, Flak Armor
It’s only the first week of January and I’ve already built almost all of these ladies! I built 9 more models beyond the starting 8 so that the gang can grow over the course of a campaign or if I want to try different starting gang builds. With the eventual purchase of a Khymerix, my completed gang will have a total of 18 muscle punks.
I don’t have a name for the gang yet, but I really like the Wyrd Sisters gang from the books. I love a wychy vibe so I might go with that and name my gangers after appropriate wychy people or things. But I’m also thinking of something dumb like “Helle’s Belles” or “Toxic Love.” I’ll probably figure it out as I’m painting and bringing a bit of life to the plastic.
Speaking of the paint scheme, I’m thinking fairly standard to start with: Yellow armor and black clothing/leathers. Where I really want to go crazy and challenge myself is the hair. I’m going to try and use contrast, some wet blending, and other techniques I’m not overly familiar with to try and nail that in-your-face neon hair. We’ll see how it goes! I’m really looking forward to setting these ladies up against Dylan’s Beefy Boy Goliaths and playing a classic Necro grudge match.
Fowler: Think of my new gang as “the enablers”. There are plenty of amazing models in Necro that have a hard time seeing the table; either because their rules aren’t great, or because their rules are solid/good but they are WAAAAY to big of a spend for a Dramatis Personae. With the new Outcast Gang mechanics, it seemed like a great time to make a base crew that could play host to any of the Necro weirdos that I throw at it! And most importantly, I really dig the Outcast models!
My general plan is to use two boxes of Underhive Outcasts. This project will be bleeding over a bit into some work making noncombatants: imperial citizens, traders, and other ne’er do wells that can populate a Downtown Dustup table. Ideally, I’ll end up with one sprue of civilians, two sprues of leader/champ/kitbashed weapon options, and as many cheapo dirtbags as I feel like building!
Keeping with the enabler theme, I also plan to paint a bunch of the Necro weirdos I have hanging around – notably Lady Credo, a Vandoth the Fallen kitbash… and I should probably paint that Kal Jericho dude.
I haven’t decided on a color scheme yet, and am debating between a darker scheme and a bright one. Stephen May’s excellent Water Guild Outcast Gang has me thinking that a bolder scheme may be the way to go here! Even with extensive kitbashing, these models come together quick! Here’s what I’ve done up so far:
Outcast Leader: Plasma Pistol & Power Maul
Outcast Champion: Plasma Gun & Stub Gun
Outcast Champion: Long Rifle
Outcast Champion: Bolter & Chainsword
Outcast Champion: Long Las
Hive Scum: Autogun & Autopistol
Hive Scum: Laspistol & Chainsword
Hive Scum: Autopistol & Flail
I am PSYCHED to build more of the standard loadout Hive Scum figs. They look great and are a breeze to build! While I am waiting for the next box to arrive, I’m going to put in some work on neglected dramatis personae in the shame pile, and get some more scatter ready for the table. You can never have enough. No idea how I am going to name these jerks yet, I still need to find the right inspiration!
And that’s all we’ve got for this one! Next month we will have another Tale update for you. In the meantime – got any burning questions? Need arbitrator advice? Want recommendations for the best O Scale picnic tables for your fast casual Underhive diner? Drop us a line at Necromunday@Goonhammer.com!
