Necromunda - Painting and playing

I may have mentioned somewhere that I was lucky enough to receive the new Necromunda box set for Christmas and split it with my brother, Blazmo, of Tabletop Apocalypse. We've both been building and painting the gangs and managed to get our first games in last week. I have to say it was an absolute blast!

Hoyt Bennett of the Bennett Brothers

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get any of my gangers painted for their first outing on the tabletop. But the excitement of playing the game spurred me on to finish painting my first gang Champion; namely Hoyt 'Bulky' Bennett, pictured above.


For those who aren't familiar with the new Necromunda, a starting gang is made up of a gang leader and can include a number of gangers, juves and champions up to the value of 1000 credits (basically points). This usually gives a gang size between 6 and 10 models. Juves are basically wannabe gangers who are inexperienced and poorly armed but learn quickly and are cheap to hire; whereas Champions are experienced fighters with powerful skills and with access to better weaponry. Hoyt himself is armed with a mighty Renderizer (ok I know it's a converted chainaxe but it's close enough) and a stub gun; both of which he failed miserably to use on his first outing as he spent most of the game pinned and rolling about on the floor.

The semi-painted Goliath Champion menacing an Escher ganger

The game itself is very dynamic as gangers variously get hit, pinned, wounded and eventually taken out of action. As with the original Necromunda, there is a lot of laying your models face down/up to show the state of their various injuries. So long as you're careful though it doesn't seem to cause them any harm.


The boxed game includes a number of boards which can be used for zone mortalis style play. Something both Blazmo and myself thought we would avoid but which was surprisingly enjoyable to play. So much so that we will probably use this format for most of our games. The game also comes with a set of scenery (mostly bulkheads and barricades) which can be seen pictured above. Big thanks to Blazmo by the way for painting all the scenery in record time and making our games all the more immersive.

Peakaboo! I couldn't resist this photo.

If you've read much about the new Necromunda online (or N17 as it's often called) you may know that there are a number of rules errors in both of the source books (Underhive and Gang War). Games Workshop have advised that an faq is imminent but until it lands it is probably best to play the game with a series of gentleman's agreements in place (much like the original ruleset!) Still, it hasn't spoiled my enjoyment of the game any; if anything, I think it encourages people to play more in the spirit of the game.

Hoyt again.

Painting wise, I've really enjoyed breaking away from the grimdarkness and trying to paint some bright, cashing colours in more of a second edition style. With this in mind, I've gone for a nice lime green paired with a red spot colour and some hazard striping. I'm not totally happy with the hazard stripes but you only get better at these things by doing them! So I'm determined to put some on every member of the gang. The base was inspired by Blazmo's excellent terrain with a rust/verdigris style that works nicely for the underhive.

Also Hoyt.

As for the future? Well I'm working on painting my gang leader at the moment and I sincerely hope to get more games of Necromunda in soon. Check back soon for more updates.

Hobby Butterfly - Horus Heresy Night Lords Legion Praetor

As some of you may have realized by now, I am a bit of a hobby butterfly. Despite my commitment to building and painting Tyranids for 8th edition I have gone somewhat off piste and started fiddling with my Night Lords again. What can I say? Sometimes a project just calls to you and I am always too weak to resist.

Ahriman?? Never heard of her!

I've had the Ahriman miniature from Burning of Prospero hanging around for a long time (since the release day in fact!). I had a few ideas of what to do with him but nothing that ever materialized into a plan. However, on a whim, I started cutting the parts off the sprue and before you know it, the terrifying vision above was born! The tricky part is that, unlike the other miniatures from the Burning of Prospero, this guy screams 'Thousand Sons'. The miniature is absolutely covered with scarabs, runes, scrolls and other sorcerous paraphernalia. Perfect for the planet of the Sorcerers, but not very fitting for a son of the Eighth Legion! This led to a great deal of cutting and scraping with the hobby knife to remove the symbols from his shoulder guards and chest. I also removed the scarabs from his staff and replaced them with a couple of skulls. Thank you polystyrene cement!!


The larger bits of conversion are more obvious. I cut away the kopesh blade from the top of the staff and replaced it with a thunder edge pattern chainsword to make a massive Nostraman Chainglaive. The reaching hand was replaced with a bolt pistol and the head was replaced with one from the ancient GW Night Lords conversion kit.


I'm not quite finished with the build just yet. A few areas need a bit of green stuff and I want to add a few more grisly trophies. However, I am looking forward to getting some paint on him to really bring the model to life.


Stay tuned for the next installment where I will undoubtedly have gone off on another tangent and be kitbashing some other random miniature.

Betrayal at Calth

Bam!

Ok, so this isn't exactly breaking news, but I thought I'd write something about it anyway because GODAMMIT I'M JUST SO EXCITED!!! I've been out of the country for the last week or so and I missed all the breaking news; then I came back to see Betrayal at Calth splattered all over the rumour sites. 

I'm not exaggerating when I say I was on the phone to my local pusher immediately (ok, maybe pusher is a little harsh, perhaps dealer is more appropriate?!) I've simply got to have one of these, the miniatures would make splendid additions to my Night Lords and it would give me another GW board game to share with (infect) my local board games group.

Now much has been said about GW releasing one off, limited run type board games (although I'm hearing this won't be limited). I've read many complaints and disparaging comments about the quality of the games, the miniatures and the pricing of both. I for one, believe that the quality of GWs miniatures has gone from strength to strength in recent years. If you think that any manufacturer in the world can match the quality of GWs plastics for the same price point then I urge you to go and pick up a copy of Dark Vengeance. The detail and casting quality on those Chaos Chosen blows my mind every time I pick one up. Not only that but they're snap-fit models to boot! Anyway I digress.

The point is that I'm very excited to see the new Heresy plastics; I can only imagine that the quality will be sublime.

Moving on to the game itself, which it seems is playing second fiddle to the miniatures in the minds of most fans. Judging from my past experiences of GW board games I can say that I'm looking forward to this side of Betrayal at Calth as well. I am fortunate enough to own both the latest release of Space Hulk and Execution Force and I can say that I've enjoyed both games thoroughly. They both work well with two players but can be easily adapted to accomodate teams of players on both sides (IMHO the best way to play Space Hulk).

Now speaking of pricing, we all know it's going to be £95 (here in the UK). That's a lot of money, it really is. But is it good value? Many people have compared price points with the Heresy range from Forge World. Obviously it works out cheaper if you look at it this way (though estimates of exactly how much seem to vary wildly). For me, it was a no-brainer. The miniatures fit nicely with one of my fledgling armies and the fact that I can customise them with legion specific shoulder pads and trophies etc means that it will be easy to make them unique. Essentially, for anyone looking to start playing battles in the Age of Darkness, Betrayal at Calth should be an obvious starting point.

Whilst I'm on a bit of a pro-GW rant. Lets talk about the modern iteration of 40k, with a particular nod to rules writing and in-game balance. If you float around these here internets (like I do) then you're bound to have come across a swathe of comments, articles and general whining about game imbalance, codex creep and generally stuff just being OP or UP etc. Now I'm the first to admit that the game isn't balanced; I'll even go so far as to say that GW intentionally uses this imbalance to sell shiny new models. But I ask the question, has the balance of the game improved or worsened over the years? The overwhelming answer has to be yes, massively. I've played most editions of 40k (I missed Rogue Trader and 3rd Edition) including a lot of 2nd Ed (which I still play regularly.) Comparing the 2nd edition rules with 7th shows a clear improvement in terms of rules clarity, cross-codex balance and points values. Don't believe me? Dig out your old 2nd Ed stuff and get a couple of games under your belt without wearing your rose tinted specs. I guarantee you'll agree before the end of turn 2.

Alright, rant over, the message is this. Yay GW! Please keep making and improving shiny toys that I want to buy!

Painting Blood Rage

I'm guessing you've heard of Blood Rage the new(ish) board game published by CMoN. If not, you probably expected this post to be about some sort of painting equivalent of road rage brought on (most likely) by an excess of grey plastic (or metal if you're one of those guys) and an inability to get those fine highlights looking just right.

Says it all really.

At any rate, it's a beautiful looking set of miniatures (vikings and creatures of mythology) which spend their time massacring one another over an equally beautiful board. Sadly, I don't own a copy of this game. Even more sadly, I haven't had a chance to play it yet.

Fortunately, my good buddy Dave has got himself a copy along with a bunch of other goodies from the kickstarter. A few weeks back I was salivating over the miniatures and he kindly offered to let me paint one of them. After the initial shock of being entrusted with someone else's precious miniature. Followed by the initial outrage of only being offered one of them. I was delighted! After some discussion, I chose/was given the sea serpent. You can see the final results of my finished work below.

Rawwwrrrrr!!

Bursting up from the depths of my kitchen table.

I went for a fairly muted palette that involved various hues of (Citadel) Rakarth Flesh. Painting the water gave me some pause, in the end I went with my gut - painting it blue, washing down with Drakenhof Nightshade and highlighting up through turquoise and into white. After a goodly application of gloss varnish the result is quite pleasing.

Check out the detail, not bad for a board game!

Teeth!

I also used this as an excuse to experiment with some opalescent medium that I've had kicking around for a while. I mixed it with a purple glaze and used it on the weird tendril like things coming out of his head. The photos don't really show it, but the colour changing effect is quite nice. I hope to find an excuse to use it more often in the near future. Other than that, the paint scheme was quite straightforward; mostly a basecoat, wash down, highlight up sort of affair. Hopefully Dave will like it when I eventually get it back to him and perhaps he'll entrust me with more of his minis in the future (hint hint.)

Same teeth, different angle.

Oh, and on an unrelated note, I did finish my Dreadtober Carnifex before the end of October (honestly, I really did!) I'll put some pics up in the next couple of days.

Space Hulk - After Action Report

Yesterday (a dreary Sunday afternoon if ever there was one) I was fortunate enough to be invited for a painting session with my gaming buddies. I arrived to a scene of utter carnage; apparently they assumed I was the messiest painter ever and had covered the entire floor of their living room in newspaper! After a brief double take and my patented quizzical stare I manfully got on with painting some more Night Lords. Good progress was made by all involved but as the evening drew in I was getting antsy (and hungry!) so we duly broke out the Space Hulk and ordered lashings of Chinese food.

Space Hulk is a game I've struggled with in the past. Try to play it with a hardcore wargamer and they'll complain that it's too simple. Try it with a casual board gamer on the other hand and they complain that it's too much like a war game! Regardless, it's a game I have a soft spot for and so I've continued attempting to foist it upon anyone who will even remotely entertain the idea. For this game we played as a group of five, three playing the Blood Angels and two playing the Genestealers. I chose the exterminate mission simply because I hadn't played it before.

The Exterminate map - Scary!

In this mission, the five Blood Angels begin play scattered across the map. Their objective is to either block the Genestealer entry points by standing near them; or to kill all of the Genestealers. The Genestealer objective is simple, kill all the Blood Angels! The Blood Angels have the deadly Assault Cannon and are led by the utterly useless Sergeant Gideon.

Derrrrrp!

The game started with a bit of confusion as I failed to tell the Blood Angels players that they could win the mission by killing all of the Genestealers (sorry guys!) This caused some aimless shuffling by several of the Terminators as they wandered up and down corridors. Sergeant Gideon was particularly impressive as he walked round and around the same room, opening and closing the doors as he went. Needless to say, the Blood Angels command point totals were dismal at this stage (he was probably distracted by all the doors.)

After a few turns some of the blips began to reach the Terminators and the game began in earnest. I took command of the Genestealers coming from the South entry areas and Keith took the North. Facing off against an Assault Cannon on overwatch was always going to be messy and I took heavy casualties as I attempted to rush the southern rooms. I did however manage a lucky kill as a Stormbolter jammed and one of the Terminators was brought down. Keith played a much more stealthy hand and moved his blips through the tunnels to the far North causing a lot of backtracking and overwatching from the Blood Angels.

As we moved into the mid-game I finally accepted that I was going to have to try to force a reload from the Assault Cannon. I duly expended my Genestealers only to have the Assault Cannon retreat into the central area just out of reach. How frustrating! Meanwhile, the Terminators to the North were attempting a retreat towards the central area and Keith managed to kill one of them with a well timed rush.

The last few turns saw two terminators hunkered down in the central room and Sergeant Gideon bravely hiding behind them retreating down a dead-end corridor. Once again, we realised that the newly reloaded Assault Cannon was only going to be silenced by throwing bodies at it, so I attempted another mad rush. Slowly the ammo counter dropped and the bodies of Genestealers piled up. We were starting to get low on bodies and I was considering running away and forcing a draw. Finally there was only one round left in the chamber, a stray Genestealer rounded the corner, the dice were rolled and came up a four, a four and a four! The Assault Cannon had exploded! Instantly killing the wielder and slaying the Terminator standing next to him! All that remained was for the last seven Genestealers to kill Gideon (now firmly wedged in the dead end) and the day would be ours!

Grimly seeing his fate, Gideon was put on Guard and awaited the final rush. Come and get it alien scum! Expecting an easy victory, Keith and I hurled the Genestalers forward only to have the first few crushed by Gideon's mighty hammer, this wasn't going to plan at all! This must have emboldened the Blood Angels players and they sent Gideon forward, hammer swinging away, and squished a couple more precious Genestealers. This forced us into an interesting position; it was the final turn of the game. If Gideon killed the last three Genestealers the the game would end in a Space Marine victory. On the other hand we could just run away from him and force a draw. We decided to go for broke and so the final combat of the game began. I've fictionalised it below for your amusement.

Sergeant Gideon strode forwards over the broken bodies of his foes. He was already bleeding from several wounds; the vicious strength of the Genestealers proving more than a match for his indomitable armour. Ahead he could make out the ruin left from the malfunction of the squad's assault cannon. Brother Leon had died a hero, expending every round with pinpoint accuracy and reaping a fearsome tally of alien lives before his weapon betrayed him. As Gideon approached the mouth of the corridor he was greeted by alien eyes glittering in the blackness. Raising his battered shield he charged forwards. The Genestealer pounced, its six clawed limbs propelling it forwards with inhuman speed. The thing hammered into Gideon's shield knocking him backwards whilst clawing madly at the edges of the shield. With brute strength, Gideon slammed his arm sideways into the wall, trapping the Genestealer beneath his shield and ruthlessly crushing it. Too late he noticed the other two Genestealers creeping out of the darkness; his enhanced senses only just saved him as he flinched backwards from the grasping talons. One of them ripped through his ceramite pauldron tearing the flesh and muscle beneath. Gideon roared with righteous anger, swinging his hammer and smashing the Genestealer into the deck. It disintegrated messily, alien ichor painting the walls in a sickening spray. The last Genestealer lashed out with its claws, tearing the hammer from Gideon's grip along with most of his hand. He gasped in pain, even his genhanced body unable to mask it. The momentary distraction was all the Genestealer needed; it raked his head and torso with powerful blows, crushing armour and rending flesh. Gideon's world was suddenly nothing but flashes of light and ringing tinnitus. He tried to rise, to strike with his weapons, when had he fallen to the floor? Above him he could see the rictus grin of a Genstealer as it opened it's fanged maw to reveal a glistening ovipositor.........