Welcome back, Scummers! Long overdue, Dan, Cody, Dylan, and Fowler return for an update on their new gangs for 2022. Let’s read on and see how pathetic their progress has been over the past 4 months.
DYLON: I started off the year full of ambition and thinking that if I focused I’d get something like 3 gangs painted. Well… the terrain bug hit again and I’ve spent a good chunk of this year building terrain. Back in January, I sat down and got all my Goliaths assembled. I was fortunate enough to have all the ForgeWorld weapon and head upgrade kits as well as the plastic upgrade, so I had loads of options to build my gangers. I used tons of the FW and upgrade heads, though there are some great options in the base kit. I converted three prospects into bullies with a variety of Orlock, Space Marine, Corpse Grinder and OOP metal weapons.
I was fully planning to head-swap the Zerker, but I realized I actually like the head, with one modification, carving off the nose ring. I also left off the Ambot head, knowing it would break off instantly.
The last mini I built was my Forge Tyrant. Ages ago I saw the masterful conversion by stevepaintsandsculpts on Instagram and knew there was a hueg opportunity to make something cool. Riffing on what he did, I started collecting bits; Abaddons cloak, Tartaros Terminator shoulder pads. It’s based on the more-static Stimmer body, with half-arms grafted on for the chainsword and cigar hands, a FW head and a little greenstuff to get the cloak to work. The skulls on the shoulder pads are from Ork boy helmets. I love him and he’s going to be a nightmare to actually play with because of how swept back his cloak is.
I’ve been lazy and I still need to fill the gaps in my sumpkroc, but the rest of the gang is primed now. I even started to paint them, with a batch of four completed. I referred to the old box for my paint scheme and while I wanted to lean on Contrast to speed things up I realized that a good amount of the paintwork had to be done traditionally. So, Corvus Black pants, Black leathers, Nostalgia 88 Bilious Green hair glazed with Warp Lightning. I did use Contrast for the red armor and the yellow on the guns.
I’ve managed to get through all my terrain I had primed, so I think the rest of the gang will be getting painted soon.
Cody:
Like most people who suffer from hobbying ADHD, I started out strong with my pack of toxic punk pals until brighter, shinier toys distracted me for the last month or so. Hopefully, I’ll be back on them after I’m done assembling my new Ash Wastes models!
Having assembled and primed my Escher gang back in Jan/Feb, I’ve been putzing about with painting them. My paint plan has been to follow the same procedure I used for my Delaque and Orlock gangs: paint the models that come from the gang box in one big batch and then paint the Leader, Prospects, and Champions (and any extra weirdos) in a second smaller batch. This usually helps me stay focused, consistent, and motivated and allows me to make most of my stupid mistakes on the unimportant jerks without worrying.
As these gals are my fourth gang, I’ve been feeling less inclined to go all out on them (AKA I’m lazy). So I’ve been opting to experiment with a variety of Contrast paints for hair, skin, and a few other bits and bobs to save me some time. I really want to get a clash of different colors and tones but still tie them all together with yellow cloth and black leathers. Splashing Contrast in no particular color scheme on the hair has been very liberating, and I’ve really enjoyed the various fades and styles I’ve gotten.
For the yellow cloth, I waffled between Contrast and traditional painting, before ultimately settling on a yellow that requires several layers. I just like it better than Iyanden Yellow on cloth and I’ve saved a buttload of time using contrast for skin and hair. So why not be a little more detailed with the cloth? I’ve stalled on the black leathers because my FLGS hasn’t had Corvus Black in for weeks, but now that I’ve got some I’m hoping I’ll be able to kick on with those.
Hopefully, the next update will see this initial batch of kick-ass rainbow-punks finished and I’ll be moving on to the Death Maidens and company!
Dan: Has my progress been pathetic? Yes. Do I have a good excuse? Also yes. Scummers, meet my excuse:
In our previous article, I outlined my plan behind this gang. You will not be disappointed to learn that I did not deviate from the least with this plan! I had one box of Redemptionists, 2 boxes of Cawdor, the Cawdor head upgrade kit, and both of the resin Cawdor Weapon Packs.
That’s not everything for this gang, but I made an executive decision to work on the Stig-Shambler, dramatis personae, and critters at a later time, possibly as a treat. Since I’ve talked at length about their efficacy in our Cawdor article, I do not feel bad about this. To be honest, as far as brutes and stuff goes, I’d much rather pick up another Ambot kit to make a Grinning Skulls-style Ambot and a Scrapcode Corrupted Ambot before the Stig-Shambler.
Anyways, to get started on this project, I cleaned release agent off of a bunch of resin, and while that was drying I started gluing plastic stuff together. I started with the Redemptionists first, and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the sculpts and the depth of detail. We’ve come a long way from the metal sculpts of the late 90s! However, I want to preserve a lot of the details on the Redemptor Priest and Deacons, so I had to take the coward’s way out and prep some sub-assemblies. I’m sorry.
I did not do any conversions with the Redmpetionist kit because I want to build and use all of the options that come in the box. It’d be great if the box had a grenade launcher, but whatever. I’ve got the heavy crossbow in the Cawdor box, I’ll be fine. Next up: Cawdor bodies. I had set up my planning spreadsheet based on body types, so before I got into weapons, accessories, and heads, I went and built all 20 bodies. Enjoy this slightly creepy picture of a bunch of headless, armless Cawdor bodies.
After that, I went nuts with heads and weapons. It was a ton of fun, actually, building all these guys up. If I could get away with putting together models all day, every day, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
First off, I built a guy with a two-handed hammer. Listen, I know. I’ve been bashing (lol) the two-handed hammer for years on this website. But here’s the thing: I wanted a Hive Preacher, and a Hive Preacher comes with a two-handed hammer. Is the weapon, at the very least, sub-optimal? Yes. Does the rest of the Hive Preacher’s rules make up for it Definitely yes. Not only does a Hive Preacher count as 3 fighters for determining Faith Dice, but they let you add d6 Faith Dice before the first battle round, allowing you to use Articles of Faith on turn 1. So, the Hive Preacher is happening. I also gave him a spiffy head with multiple candles because I wanted him to stand out amongst the other Cawdor gangers.
Next up: Leaders and Champs. For leaders, I wanted a beefy combat guy and a cheapo option, so I made two: One with a chain glaive and reclaimed autopistol, and one with a blunderpole. The blunderpole fella can double as a ganger in campaigns where the chain glaive leader appears. Cawdor leaders can be pretty mean in combat, so I was really excited to get the chain glaive, one of the gang’s better options, on this model. I also gave both models examples of the more flamboyant heads available to this gang in the hopes that they’ll stand out more from their compatriots. With the champs, there was a 100% chance that I was making a heavy crossbow champ, since it’s one of the best weapons in the whole game, so I gave him my favorite Cawdor head with the grinning grotesque, as he’ll make it into just about every game I play with these loons. Last year, at Dylan’s, he showed me (by shooting my poor Orlocks) how good a long rifle can be on a table with a lot of verticality, so I built a long rifle champ! I gave him a head with a bionic eye to reflect his expert marksmanship. Last, one of the resin weapon packs comes with a heavy stubber. Stubbers lag behind a lot of other gang’s heavy ranged options, but not in the Cawdor gang. Here it’s one of the better long-ranged options, and plus, the model looks cool as hell.
On to Gangers. Or Brethren. Whatever. You’ll notice my restraint here in only building 6 (including the cheapo leader) blunderpoles. What can I say? They’re just about the best basic weapon in the game, and are an iconic staple of any Cawdor gang. I also built a couple of reclaimed autoguns and what I guess is a sawn-off shotgun, though it doesn’t much look like one. I also wanted them to be visually distinct from Bonepickers, so they’ve all got hoods or more complicated masks on.
Finally, we have bonepickers. Every Cawdor gang should have plenty, since you get d3 extra each battle. Also, they’re extremely necessary for standing in front of your more valuable fighters and catching all those nasty bullets. Flails are great for Bonepickers since they’re +1 to hit, and I like axes for the +1 Strength. I gave them all the “low profile” masks and heads to make them stand out from the rest of the gang, too. I wanted them to look lesser or younger or more inexperienced.
Well, there they are! 26 Cawdor and Redemptionists ready for priming and eventual painting.
I have a couple of projects to wrap up before I do it, but the next step is painting a test model! I’ll probably end up doing both a Cawdor and Redemptionist test model since I want them to be somewhat visually distinct from one another. I’m very excited about this project, and I can’t wait to get a little dirty with these paint schemes. Until next time, Scummers!
Fowler: Wait, I was supposed to work on something, wasn’t I?
No wait that wasn’t it.
Nope, not that either.
Oh no, I still need to finish painting the rest of that box.
Huh, I still need to do a gang showcase for those dudes.
Oh yeah, I made some DIY oval Zone Mortalis bases from pressmolds – for future Outcast and Orlock Atalan Jackal kitbashes. Outcasts… OUTCASTS!
Oh that’s what I was supposed to be doing. Fam, there has just been too much good stuff coming out. While I have fleshed the crew out, I still want to throw in another sprue worth of out-of-the-box builds for some cheap bodies. As you can see, I have made generous use of the new Guard sprue – which IMHO is currently the best kitbashing source for Necro! This was also a great excuse to use the Goliath GSC leftover dudes for some easy autogunners. As mentioned before, I am also planning on doing up a couple of dirtbikes as well. The sassy gang leader makes me so, so happy.
If I manage to only get waylaid by one or two additional gangs: expect more buds, a bike or two, at least one Dramatis Personae, and maybe even something tall for them to fall off of.
And that’s it! It looks like some of the class decided to take the assignment seriously. Don’t worry folks, the beatings will continue until morale improves. We’ll see you in another 4 months! Want to send words of encouragement / disdain / etc? Drop us a line at Necromunday@Goonhammer.com.
