Come to Papa - a Scavvy Champion

Building on the three scavvies from my last post, I wanted to add in some cool characters to the gang. Obviously the Scavvy King will make an appearance down the line, but he can't be the only scavvy of note. That's where Papa Zhon comes in. I picked up the palanquin-less Nurgle champion an age ago, and he's been patiently waiting for the right project to come along. I reckon a motorised chair for an aging scavvy is exactly the right use for him!!

Papa Zhon directs his scavvies to collect more valuable scrap.

Nasty Scabs - Confrontation Scavvies

After several months of painting Bob Olley figures, I wanted a bit of a break, so decided to get back on with the Confrontation scavvies. I've now just got the Citadel figures to do. These were sculpted by Jes Goodwin, with three seeing general release and a further seven being unreleased.

All hail the Scavvy King (no, not that one)!

Back with the Sinkhole Boggarts, my Marauder-themed scavvy gang. This time I've finished off their leader, who I'm currently calling Ned Crundle (TBC). I probably spent far too long thinking about this figure, but ultimately I'm happy that he fits nicely with the Marauder aesthetic.

The stinking Sinkhole Boggarts, led by Ned Crundle with his unstable plasma pistol

Big Lad with a Big Club - Scavvy Scaly

Although scalies only became part of the scavvy gang in Necromunda, I liked the idea of including one in my Confrontation era Marauder scavvy gang. I could have used a 1990s or 2000s scaly, but I wanted one that fit the Marauder aesthetic. That meant digging out a suitable Aly or Trish sculpt. I looked at a lot of orcs, ogres & trolls, but ended up settling on the brilliant Talisman Troll sculpted by Aly. I had to modify him of course!

Grolch is regularly used by the Sumphole Boggarts to protect their miserly stash of 'valuables'.

Sinkhole Boggarts - More Scavvies

Between the Citadel and Marauder scavvies, there are plenty to make up a full gang. The different in sculpting styles is petty evident however, so I decided to build out two gangs: a 'Marauder' gang (I'm calling the Sinkhole Boggarts) comprised of Aly and Trish sculpts, and a 'Citadel' gang (name TBC) comprised of Jes sculpts. As there are only four official Marauder sculpts, that meant I had to start converting some more to bring up the numbers.

A ranging group of scavvies seek riches amongst the piles of scrap.

Even Scummier Scum - More Confrontation Scavvies

After painting up two of the four Marauder scavvies last time out, it made sense to paint up the remaining pair (as a side note, this means I have now painted all 20 Confrontation miniatures produced by Marauder - showcase to come in the near future!).

At the Bottom of the Pile - Confrontation Scavvies

It's with a little apprehension that I embark on a final Confrontation journey. The only gang I've not yet painted are the scavvies - once I've completed a scavvy gang, I will have "completed" the Confrontation range. At least I've saved the best 'til last!

I plan to paint the scavvies in a couple of chunks. First up are the four Marauder scavvies sculpted by Aly Morrison. Aly's sculpts are always fun to paint with nice chunky details and characterful faces. I started with the two sporting fancy headgear!

A pair of scavvies scour the underhive for gear.

Psyker Killers - Confrontation Gang Final Additions

As I'm closing in on the end of the Confrontation project, I've decided to do some gap filling. This essentially means finishing off any WIP figures and making sure each gang is at least 10 models strong. After a bit of a stock-take, this meant that I needed to paint 3 more psykers, 3 more Helmawr, 2 more maniacs. Plus the Scavvy gang of course.

Step 1 was to get those psykers done. I had already converted one some time ago, but had conversions planned. So I got out the figures and the greenstuff and bashed them out.

Ulanti Top Brass - Elite Leader & Champion

It's funny how you can warm to a project over a few weeks isn't it? I really didn't enjoy painting the first Confrontation Elite gangers, but I'm closing off the project with a final pair, and they were a lot of fun to paint up. This time round it's a bit of an imposter-leader model, plus a champion with the coolest heavy weapon there is: PLASMA!

Elite gangers may not be upper-hivers, but they are definitely classy!

Ulanti Reinforcements - More Elite Gangers

In spite of not having enjoyed painting the previous batch of Elite gangers, I decided that I needed a bigger gang. So I took some of the duplicate ganger bodies and did some head swaps / repositioning to give me some more variety.

The Elite Gangers of House Ulanti

Although the Techs, Brats and Ash Waste Nomads from the Confrontation game got most of the limelight, much of the setting was about hive gangs. The few figures that were produced were split into four gangs which have become known as Dogskins, Hunters, Maniacs (or sometimes Maniax) and Elites. The Elite leader is an iconic miniature with his gnomish hood, pelisse and pit bull. I painted him back in 2015. But the other three gangers are pretty uninspiring. They don't really have a strong visual identity compared to the Hunters or the Dogskins. Maybe this was the reason they'd been in my WIP pile for several years!

However, in search of a quick post holiday project, I pulled them out, added some arms and got them painted:

Whistle for the Big Dog - Final Dogskin gangers

A final pair of gangers to bring my Confrontation dogskin gang up to ten members strong. This means that I can field them as a Stargrave crew, and have just about enough members for a short Necromunda campaign.

Hammer of the Hounds - Yet More Dogskins!

Part of the fun in building these Confrontation gangs is converting or adding in models that fit the look of the original sculpts. Today's pair of Dogskins includes a gang champion that hopefully fits that bill (as well as a standard Dogskin ganger to fill out the ranks!).

Flea-bitten & Feral - More Dogskins

I had hoped to finish my Dogskin gang over Christmas, but plans changed and they're still very much WIP. Nonetheless, I've finished another pair to bring my total up to six.

Typical gang behaviour - picking on the weak and vulnerable.

Beware the Pack - Confrontation Dogskins

Another group of 4 Confrontation models, which technically just leaves scavvies and the Elite gang to go. Of course, 4 figures isn't a gang, so before I get round to anything else, I need to paint up more figures for THIS gang. And which gang is it? The feral proto-ratskin gang that are generally referred to as Dogskins.

Technological Limits - The Final Tech

Hot on the heels of the pair of Marauder techs from a few weeks back is the very last tech ganger I needed to paint for a full set. 

Tech gangers sculpted by Mark Copplestone.

A Sign of Good Fortune - Caryatids

According to Confrontation and Necromunda lore, the small blue, winged creatures known as caryatids are are considered a sign of good fortune - they attach themselves to successful and charismatic individuals. They're one of those cool little sidenotes that add colour and interest to a setting (as well as now having an in-game function if you're playing modern Necromunda).

Caryatid by Stephen Tappin, published in White Dwarf #132

Tech Savvy - Marauder Tech Gangers

I'm steadily chipping away at my Confrontation collection - latest to be done are the pair of Marauder tech gangers that I should have painted at the same time as the other two, but didn't!

Dead or Alive? As Long As There's a Fee - Confrontation Bounty Hunters

There have been many Citadel sculptors, but I really wish that Roy Eastland had stayed with Citadel longer than he did. He was responsible for the delightfully chunky non-Copplestone tech gangers, the flamboyant puffed sleeved space marine scouts and a handful of skeletons. And that was about it! The highlight of Roy's output for Citadel for me though is the small set of five Confrontation bounty hunters. They are brilliantly grizzled and hard-bitten characters, with eccentric hairstyles and exotic gear - 100% Confrontation in fact!

I painted up one of the five as The Doc a few weeks ago, whilst another of the set was painted a few years ago as The Wolf of House Ulanti. I decided to paint up the other three and get the set completed.

Bounty Hunters Back From the Future

I'll start off by saying that in general I'm not that keen on pop culture mash-ups. I prefer my Star Wars, Superheroes, Dune and Thundercats neatly compartmentalised and separate. Every so often, something happens and my willpower drops. I end up painting a RT pilot as Buck Rogers. Or a space pirate and weretiger as an alternate universe He-Man and Battlecat.

For no particular reason, I recently dropped my guard and ended up doing something I hadn't really intended, and is firmly in mash-up territory.

Notorious bounty hunters MJ MkFlay and The Doc