Rogue Trader Meets Necromunda With a Bit of Inquisitor!

 Hi!

Well I've been back to work for a week and it's been fantastic but also fantastically busy which has left me exhausted when I get home and in no fit state to deal with any hobbying but I've spent a bit of time looking at the possibility of combining Rogue Trader, Necromunda and Inquisitor into a game that I'm thinking about trying to play.

It sounds a bit mental but I'm thinking of incorporating some elements from each, essentially the core game of Rogue Trader, the combat style of Necromunda and the D100 dice shenanigans of Inquisitor.

I'm not sure how it will work out but I'm hoping to get the characters and scenario written up over the coming days and try and play the game this weekend. 

To be honest, I'm not quite sure where the idea has come from but I'm keen on trying to see how different elements of each game work together. It may work perfectly well or be an unmitigated disaster but it will be interesting to see how it goes as Inquisitor Fisher and co are pitted against their old foes, the Orks as the followers of the possibly deceased Uruk the Unruly seek vengeance upon the forces of the Imperium. 

I suspect it will involve at most a half dozen figures a side and will be a heavily scenario driven but we shall see how it turns out and I hope to post some ramblings about the process as I get things put together so watch this space and until then, All the best!

Necromunda and Inspiration Lost

 Hi!

I recently spotted a cheap stack of Necromunda books on Ebay and managed to snag them for a really good price and when they arrived I found myself struck by just how inspiring the old GW stuff used to be!

I managed to get the Necromunda Rulebook, Sourcebook, Outlanders, Getting Started and the Painting and Modelling pamphlet.

Now I will be taking a more indepth look at the awesomeness of the rules and sourcebooks in the future but I found myself really drawn to the Painting and Modelling pamphlet that was included in the original boxed set.

It's literally an eight page booklet but it's full of awesome stuff that I can't help but feel GW is now missing. You get a simple guide to painting figures up to a decent but not unachievable standard. It also gives you a few examples of conversions:

I've got a few of the old Necromunda Goliath and Orlock plastics and for their time, they were pretty good, even if the Goliaths had arms like gorillas and I really miss the simplicity of plastic figures. You can paint up a force relatively quickly and easily but the new super detailed stuff seems to me to be just too much. I don't need a lowly grunt to have as much detail as the mightiest of heroes! 

There's also a section on the brilliant cardboard terrain and how to make it a bit sturdier:

I love the old cardboard terrain GW made back in the day. It allowed you to have a great table to fight over without spending an absolute fortune. Yes it may be not super realistic but I'd use it today in a heartbeat if I had it as it really gives the claustrophobic feel of Necromunda's underhive simply and easily. 

Finally, it even includes a bit on how to make some simple terrain of your own! Remember when GW actively encouraged you to have a bash at making terrain from household materials resulting in most of us having a box of assorted tat to delve into when we want to make stuff? 

It's simple and easy but fun to make and I'm hoping to have a bash at making it myself! Gone are the days when GW encouraged such creativity and inspiration as now its all about super expensive plastic scenery kits resulting in so many boards beginning to look the same. 

Remember the old pics from White Dwarf with utterly amazing handmade terrain like this:

I personally find this sort of thing more inspiring than looking at the new stuff. It's got so many small details that draw the eye and while it's stunningly made and painted, I do think I could aspire to making something similar with a bit of work!

Finally, there's the back cover with some lovely 'Eavy Metal gangers, Goblin Green bases included:

If you can find it, it's a really inspiring little pamphlet that one can find all manner of inspiration for their hobbying and I plan to use it as the basis for some industrial terrain for my Inquisitorial agents and possibly the odd gang or two to fight over.

I've got a load of supplies stashed in my bits box and a fair amount of small odds and ends already done but need a load more to really give the cluttered and ramshackle battlefield of the far future and plan on spending the month of May in a bit of a terrain making bash.

I've also been keeping my eye out on possible bits and found this at Lidl:

With a bit of work, it will be getting turned into a raised gantry and cost me £5.99 and I'm looking forward to getting to work on it!

Hopefully I'll have some more posts in the coming days with a load of terrain as well as some more indepth dives into the Necromunda books but until then, All the best!

Specialist Games You Say?!

Hi!

Well I'm back from work and having survived the torrential rain and driving wind, I find the interwebs ablaze with apparently confirmed rumours that Specialist Games is being relaunched by Games Workshop.

While there seems to be rather a lot of skepticism floating around there, I quite like the idea of classics like Necromunda, Battlefleet Gothic and Epic making a comeback.

Epic Goodness!

Looking at the rather scarce information floating around, it does look like GW is concentrating initially on the more 40k elements of the specialist games range (with the exception of Bloodbowl) but how will the new games, if indeed there are, differ from the classic 90's and early 00's classics?

Well one would suspect that the quality of the miniatures, scenery and books will be far higher than of old with Forgeworld taking over design and production. One also suspects that this will result in prices going up rather a lot from the golden days of yore which will no doubt result in lots of frothing but is hardly surprising as GW looks like it's aiming at a boutique and specialist section of the market.

I have my suspicions that some of the games may well change beyond recognition from their predecessors. Just taking a brief glance over the style of the artwork and setting gives some indication that the games are going to be more gothic (possibly GRIMDARK) than before and I even suspect that GW may take the leap from 6mm to 10mm scale for Epic.

Before the wailing and gnashing of teeth begins, just take a look at the likes of Dropzone Commander and the quality of the sculpts they produce. Could GW do something similar? I have my suspicions that they can indeed, especially if it gives them the opportunity to go for some really impressively detailed vehicles and war engines.

Similarly, I foresee interesting changes and developments happening in their other games with rumours of Battlefleet Gothic being ported back to 30k and the Horus Heresy and instead of lots of releases, is it more likely that GW will go for everything in one box like their new game (whose name escapes me now!) and Dreadfleet is anything to go by. It would be nice to think of a more fleshed out range but I do have memories of rumours from a couple of years back with regards to something similar.

Needless to say it's far too early to get too excited or enraged about the whole business but it does sound like we are in for an interesting time in the hobby.

All the best!

Redemptionist Fanatics!

Hi!

Following on from my Laserburn kick of last week I have also finished basing some crazed Redemptionist cultist types.

 Red Redemptionists!

They are the 15mm.co.uk fanatic figures but the sculpting on them is pretty dire so I reworked them as best as I could by adding more interesting pointy hoods and beefed up some of their guns.

To make matters worse they are on the larger end of the 15mm scale and have VERY thick bases so I incorporated some rock formations for the crazies to stand on so they dont look quite so bad.

 Fanatics with firepower!

I've always had a soft spot for the Redemptionists in Necromunda and took the opportunity to add some flames and checked leggings on them to liven things up a bit. I gave the two heavies a yellow hood to identify them more easily and their leader gets a fetching black one. He's actually a mercenary but I wanted a different sculpt and used him instead with just a head removal and pointy hat he looks ok!

Wile going through my miniatures collection I also rummaged these fellows out of a drawer:

6mm Scale Goblins!

I had originally painted them back in my Leviathan days as a possible way of playing the game on the cheap and in a limited space, sort of a travel Leviathan but never completed the project. I have several more bases of the little fellows kicking around and may yet expand them a little with one or two warbeasts to liven things up but we shall have to see!

Oddly enough, the sculpting quality, especially on faces is excellent and the Irregular Armies website really doesn't do the range justice as they have some lovely sculpts and I would recommend folks take another look at the range!

All the best!