Project Log: 'The Nomad Legion', Necromundan IG army

Ben_S wrote:

Tiresias wrote:

Ben_S wrote:

Yeah, look forward to seeing the end result.

And boy those old Cadians take me back. I wish there were more plastic IG kits, rather than only Cadian and Catachan. They used to have 5-6 different types.

e-bay has the answer you're looking for!

I think GW still sell the old metal ones actually, but I don't want to buy them myself (I don't play IG) - I just miss that variety. It would be kind of like if GW decided to stop making any space marines except Ultramarines and Blood Angels.

Well, actually these plastic models are GREAT to convert with, cut and paste them up in a thousand different variaties. Want Cadian flak armour and zombie heads and arms? 2 kits and DONE! :-)

Not so easy to do with the metal models...

Yeah, but wouldn't it be even better if you could get plastic Mordians or Tallarn? Then there would be more styles of zombies that you could make...

Mind you, there are other manufacturers. I'm converting some Wargames Factory shock troops into Delaques at the moment. They'd make good 'greatcoat' IG, unless you want to play in a GW store.

Ben_S wrote:

Yeah, but wouldn't it be even better if you could get plastic Mordians or Tallarn? Then there would be more styles of zombies that you could make...

Mind you, there are other manufacturers. I'm converting some Wargames Factory shock troops into Delaques at the moment. They'd make good 'greatcoat' IG, unless you want to play in a GW store.

Agreed

Speaking of which, I recently posted my 541 point sale on the local GW store Facebook page, seemingly they threw it back off. Must be policy not to allow clients to trade between themselves, as in that way it means less profit for GW. Can't say that makes me too happy...

Maybe you should put up an ad in the Barter Port. Lots of people like older models, and somebody should be interested in them.

http://www.thedarkcity.net/f16-the-barter-port

Looking good!

I quite agree that the Escher plasma gunner and the IG officer with the monocle are still two of the best minis GW has ever produced. The Eschers were easily the best Necromunda minis (Jes Goodwin, 'nuff said) and the IG officer just has a ridiculous amount of character.

Hey people, I've got a question on painting scheme:

Here the ash waste nomad which is the farthest 'gone', after I found myself the right spray can. (with autogun, 'counts as' lasgun, as any Necromunda veteran knows... And no, this is not a GW model)



The question at hand now is the following:

- do I need to camouflage all green and sawdust, or is it OK as it is?
- would I keep the gray fatigues as they are, and then complement with earth tones, or should I turn to browns for instance?
- brand new imperial weaponry, given to them to help them fight, or more the rusty variety?

The big plus with gray fatigues is the fact that it saves up on enormous amounts of painting, but it might become a bit dull?

What do you think? Next step, painting boots and rifle black?

EDIT: something like this? A member of the blue gang, clearly (I am going to work with minimal colour coding to break the camo pattern slightly and to differentiate between the 3 different gangs and the band of the warlord)

Looking good so far. I like the flesh, but I think all the grey looks rather plain at the moment. I'm not sure what you're thinking of with your questions though, so I'm not sure I'm able to help much on that front. I'd suggest black boots/rifle and some form of camouflage though.

Yeah that grey may be boring, but remember: these are some extremely poor people, comparible to tribes living in the most remote and inhospitable areas of the Earth (like deep Sahara or -40 degrees celcius permafrost Siberia). All they have is some mutated cattle, rusty shacks for houses, some old weapons and carefully maintained relics, and their pride. And they are irregulars, a semi-independent tribe, not regular army troopers with uniforms and so on... The grey is just the same colour as the terrain they wage war in.

How to reflect that without making them all too bland???

I think the 'less is more' approach might be good here, as I hope it will look good in the end result, but please contradict me if you feel otherwise...

To strengthen this idea, I have had this picture on my pc for ages, of just plain green camo Cadians, seemingly right out of real life... I really like them, however it is not the flashy uniforms we are used to...

As a good night present, a not so very sharp picture of my second painted nomad, from the same manufacturer as the first.

Pleased about it! I just knew I never had to get rid of those mini's!



EDIT: lacking, once again, a newspaper to accompany my morning coffee, I got to painting another nomad. The middle model used to be a Steel Legion trooper, now he is ready to be ugly in the wastes...



Great looking model! Now THAT's what brought me to Necromunda in the first place!

Blue squad reinforcements, bringing them to 5! 35 models to go :-)

I tried the 'lord of bones' approach of George Martin's wildlings on the right model, but it lacks something... In any case I won't be looking backwards, the paintbrush has decided, this is how he or she is...

Because he or she is not totally 'right' in my book, I will vary with the breastplates and the helmet - inverted helmet colours (bone helmets, black visor) and rusty metal or leather breastplates. See what that might give! 40 very different models, I guess...



EDIT: next to the Imperial officer and the Escher plasma gunner is that Tanith Ghost riflewoman on the left a great model too!

EDIT 2: blast it, now I have put my mind on a rough rider squad too...

EDIT 3: so, after a blast of assembly-line-painting, blue squad is finished! They may not be perfect, but they look suitably semi-savage, at least... A mere 55 points, gang leader with long rifle and 8 gangers...

A question by the way how to put down 14 basic rough riders without spending a fortune or needing to buy those stupid Atillans? Mechanizing them would not be a bad idea though, especially as I already have 2 quads. But then the same question applies: where to find suitable models (non-GW, as I don't find them in their collection, although converted Marauder Horsemen might do...)

Something like this would be cool, however I am far less talented...

Coming along nicely. Was still unconvinced by the first painted dark elf head, but seen as a group they look better.

As for rough riders, what exactly is the issue?

Where to get horses? Wargames Factory do some cheap cavalry, though their horses aren't the best (to put it mildly) and rather small. You could look at other historical ranges: Perry's and Fireforge have new knight kits, but I don't know whether the horses can be made without barding. Sticking to GW kits, you could go for something unusual, like cold ones or elven steeds.

Or is the problem the riders? There I'd suggest a kitbash between whatever's supposed to ride the horses you used and your regular IG parts.

Ben_S wrote:

As for rough riders, what exactly is the issue?

Where to get horses? Wargames Factory do some cheap cavalry, though their horses aren't the best (to put it mildly) and rather small. You could look at other historical ranges: Perry's and Fireforge have new knight kits, but I don't know whether the horses can be made without barding. Sticking to GW kits, you could go for something unusual, like cold ones or elven steeds.

Or is the problem the riders? There I'd suggest a kitbash between whatever's supposed to ride the horses you used and your regular IG parts.

Solved! This seems to be the solution :-) http://commissar.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=Painting&thread=12262&page=1#256157

My sergeants / gang leaders will get those 2 quads I have left over...

...Bringing that 400 point list down to 35 infantry and 14 bikes...

Those are well done, but I don't particularly like using bikes instead of cavalry - I know IG don't have bikes, but it looks like a recipe for rules/WYSIWYG confusion to me. But it does suit ash waste nomads, I grant.

Ben_S wrote:

Those are well done, but I don't particularly like using bikes instead of cavalry - I know IG don't have bikes, but it looks like a recipe for rules/WYSIWYG confusion to me. But it does suit ash waste nomads, I grant.

Yeah I know - but how to maintain any viable cavalry in a waste filled with toxins? Indeed, to give all horses respirators?

You could go for something like Gorkamorka muties...

Ben_S wrote:

You could go for something like Gorkamorka muties...

got a good link?

I COULD cut up my Kislev Winged Lancers, are no rules for them anyway... But that chainmail is not really what's needed...

The old, OOP models can be seen here:

http://www.skarloc.de/g/sander00.jpg

But I've seen conversions based on steeds of Slaanesh/cold ones.

Basically my point was just that some kind of horse-like animal might survive, even in the ash wastes.

Thanks. Although I could hardly use my mounted Slaanesh deamonettes I guess :-)

Finally 'assembly-line-painting' hugely augments my speed, yellow squad coming up!



AND, I discovered a great source for cheap rough rider bikes on: http://shop.ramshacklegames.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=16&products_id=266&zenid=0579ed8b4c3ade8cdd800dc43f319d87

However I do feel that an apology is in order... I came here to build a wych cult, temporarily lacking the money but having a mass of unpainted mini's in my cupboard made me build on my IG army instead, and now I am spamming IG on a DE forum... Even more so, the IG virus has bitten me again...

If anyone feels irritated by this, please tell me...

A Raider to be bought and painted in august, promise!

Tiresias wrote:

I discovered a great source for cheap rough rider bikes on: http://shop.ramshacklegames.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=16&products_id=266&zenid=0579ed8b4c3ade8cdd800dc43f319d87

Silly question perhaps, but are you sure the bikes are included? It says "The set contains enough parts to make 8 rider bodies and arms. The set can be used to make a biker gang or riders for beasts."

Ah, looking at their other products I see you linked to the wrong thing (hope you realize). The link you gave was just to the riders; bikes are included in this one:
http://shop.ramshacklegames.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=16&products_id=267&zenid=0579ed8b4c3ade8cdd800dc43f319d87

Tiresias wrote:

However I do feel that an apology is in order... I came here to build a wych cult, temporarily lacking the money but having a mass of unpainted mini's in my cupboard made me build on my IG army instead, and now I am spamming IG on a DE forum... Even more so, the IG virus has bitten me again...

If anyone feels irritated by this, please tell me...

I don't see why, it's posted in the appropriate place.

Ben_S wrote:

Ah, looking at their other products I see you linked to the wrong thing (hope you realize). The link you gave was just to the riders; bikes are included in this one:
http://shop.ramshacklegames.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=16&products_id=267&zenid=0579ed8b4c3ade8cdd800dc43f319d87.

Hehe yeah sure, as long as I get the bikes in the end!

very good price if you ask me! 10+ rusty bikes coming up!

Tiresias wrote:

However I do feel that an apology is in order... I came here to build a wych cult, temporarily lacking the money but having a mass of unpainted mini's in my cupboard made me build on my IG army instead, and now I am spamming IG on a DE forum... Even more so, the IG virus has bitten me again...

If anyone feels irritated by this, please tell me...

A Raider to be bought and painted in august, promise!

You are a regular contributor elsewhere on the forum Tiresias, it's not like you are totally shunning the True Kin. We all get bitten by the bug to take up another army from time to time, and as Ben_S noted, you have posted this in the right place.

This is a hobby that we are all afflicted by and we all enjoy seeing each other's work regardless of which Lesser Race it belongs to. Your work is good and deserves to be seen, and your development of this project is very interesting.

Don't worry about it.

Thanks!

So to indulge the Capital Sin of loving lesser races once again, here is the finished 'Yellow Stag Militia'



Right now the ashgallow plains nomads number 20 strong, the next and last squad will be purple, the HQ golden (the rough rider bikers are undecided at this point)



20 more models and I am (temporarily) done on my nomad platoon...

And then I have decided NOT to sell my grenadier models after all, as they are truly ancient AND cool. Instead I'll put them down as 'ash waste arbitrator' storm troopers, the police of the wastes. Too expensive pointwise for my taste (133 points for 8 basic models), but way too cool to get rid of. Together with my 37-point 'The Wanderer' commissar, these 'waste police' come down to 170 points.



Once again, it is not perfect, but it is good enough for me...

Quote :

Consolidating a relative peace on the Ashgallow Plains

Since untold centuries, the wastes around the Necromunda hives had been very similar to underhive clan structures: anarchic, lawless and ever changing, just as the waste dunes themselves. Rival gangs of nomads had fought against each other just as much as they had fought against guilder caravans crossing the ashes, only sporadically banding together under the leadership of charismatic clan leaders or to defend against outward agression. Even after the Ashgallow Armistice, ancient rivalries between different villages and tribes had continued unabated.

Erstwhile, Imperial justice had been minimal in the wastes, as the presence of their agents had been marginal at best. Little point in organising some sort of law and order, if the agents enacting these laws were ambushed and killed almost on sight by furiously territorial and independent nomad tribes. Only a few elements of Adeptus Arbites and companies of bounty hunters paid by hive guilders patrolled the wastes, playing a cat-and-mouse game with the nomads to eliminate the more talented or infamous figures, and thus, keep the clans divided to limit their threat to Imperial assets.

Even after the Ashgallows Armistice had been signed, and ambitious or unlucky nomads signed up in the Nomad Legion to fight for their God of Ashes, the Emperor and the continued independence of their tribes, the diverse clans remained hopelessly divided amonst themselves.

And then appeared the mysterious figure now known as 'The Wanderer'. Little is known about this enigma, although rumours abound. Some say he is a commissar appreciating the freedom of initiative in the Wastes above the strict hierarchy within his order. Others say that he is a banished bounty hunter with ulterior motives, a Hive noble or a guilder our for power. The only thing that is known, is that he appeared in the camp of the nomad clan leader now known as 'the Cardinal of Ashes' and offered him a power sword of enormous value and an undeterminable age, and helped him to band multiple clans together under his rule, in a short campaign of diplomacy, warfare, bullying and outright assassination of rival warlords.

Even though today the nomad clans remain splintered as a whole, 'The Wanderer' managed to help bind many tribes under the charismatic leadership of 'The Cardinal' to the Imperium in a loose pact of mutual protection and uneasy respect. With the help of the newly commissioned Necromundan PDF forces protecting the primary road between Hive Primus and Hive Secundus, the Cardinal has carved out a strong power base and has eliminated or subdued even more rival tribes opposing his command. And now, hive guilders and PDF commanders alike consider the joint tribes under the Wanderer and the Cardinal as to be their primary source of trust and security in the wastes - limited and unreliable as it is.

For the first time since anybody cares to remember, a confederacy of nomad tribes in the Ashgallow Plains is starting to grow prosperous and powerful and is condoned as such most of the time by the Imperium. No longer do the Necromundan steel legions need to fight against the combined anger of the tribes - they can just leave the main bulk of the fighting to the nomads under the Cardinal. A matter which suits governor Helmawr, the guilders, the PDF and the commissariat just fine. It only remains to be seen what would be the end of the ambition of both the Wanderer and the Cardinal: are they truly as loyal as they seem to be? Are they actually satisfied to rule over wastes of ash dunes and garbage piles, or does their ambition reach beyond controlling these poor assets?

Quite a story for a basic commissar with a boltgun, amounting up to 37 points... But a good way to open the road to my rival bands/squads under the command of a commissar, and this squad of 8 (undercoated) Adeptus Arbites ash waste storm troopers... (hotshot lasweapons only, they are expensive enough as it is, even without assault weapons. AP3 weaponry and infiltrating tactics should do the trick...)

Something like this: if I play 3 squads and rough riders without the commissar, I think of roleplaying rivalry amongst them and trying to outdo one another in deployment and kill ratio. If I put down the commissar, I can band them together in one blob under his command and consider them to be sort-of controllable - the second option being without a doubt the better option playing most larger games, especially against my DE.



And the next five are underway! Purple squad coming up. As purple seems to give a bad contrast on grey, I will augment somewhat with white.