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

OK, as I have used up my monthly GW allowance but want to continue modelling and painting, I am going to switch my attention from my 'Void Scorpions' ( http://www.thedarkcity.net/t3029-void-scorpions ) to my 'Nomad Legion', an Necromundan ash waste based Imperial Guard army meant to mirror my Dark Eldar army.

First things first: I grew tired of many of my models (the tin cadian and steel legion models), plus I lost enthousiasm for my massive amount of custom-built vehicles (jeeps, trucks, a helicopter, dune buggies, a German WWII halftrack - cool but a never ending source of discussions with opponents whether or not they were 'legal'...), so I was forced to reduce my army to a core of 400 points.

It looks like this:

- HQ with lieutenant with power weapon, 2 meltaguns and 2 plasma guns
- infantry squad with flamer
- infantry squad with flamer
- veteran squad with flamer in a Chimera with multilaser and heavy bolter
- 2 scout sentinels with multilasers

I am off painting them, all except one finished infantry squad and the veterans.

But how to bring the 'nomad' back into this regular army?

Years ago, I converted a squad of Necromunda ash waste nomad veterans, using green stuff capes and the dark elf heads and spears. This gang had a decent effect playing Necromunda, and I used them on the 40K battlefield as well, but then GW changed the rules and veterans lost their ability to have a CCW and a laspistol (...). Now my great looking unit is just sitting there...

This is what I am going to do:

- I am going to build a second infantry platoon, led by captain Al'Rahem, who gives the whole platoon 'outflank'. This person will be renamed 'Neverburnt, the Cardinal of Ashes', as the charismatic figure leading the ash waste nomads - a guerrilla warfare specialist.
- I am going to cut up my old nomad models to save money and arm them in a correct fashion. One special weapon squad with sniper rifles will be the least headache, since the models are already legit.
- The unit needs something 'special', so I think I will be giving them priests or something, this still needs to be decided.

To be continued!

OK perhaps the wrong forum, but a first question anyway:

Page 96 of the IG codex offers a way to replace a platoon commander by a unique character, in this case Al'Rahem for 70 points.

Does anybody know if I just have to pay the 70 points instead of the 30 for a regular platoon HQ, or do I need to add the 70 to the 30???

EDIT: never mind, it will just be 'add the cost'.

The true nomads will be added like this:

- Lord of Ashes (Al'Rahem, outflanking infantry platoon) (100 points)
- Cardinal of Ashes (priest with eviscerator) (60 points)
- 1 ash waste nomad with laspistol, close combat weapon and vox caster (5 points)
- 3 ash waste nomads with laspistol and close combat weapon (spear...)

- squad of 10 ash waste nomads with boss (50 points)
- squad of 10 ash waste nomads with boss (50 points)

Then, I will take a 'forward sentry' ash waste nomad veteran squad with 3 sniper rifles and a vox caster, for 120 points.

Not too much to re-convert, luckily...

The idea is that the ash waste nomads play a rear guard infiltration role, with the veteran squad in range of the Lord of Ashes' orders using the vox caster.

EDIT 2: after years of inactivity, I have finally rebuild my IG army list using only the models I like and want - 1885 points! Quite a heap of models, considering my tendency to run minimalistic squads... I just cannot part with some, like my ten 'alternative armies' storm troopers I bought 21 years ago...

I think I will convert the tin steel legion troopers to ash waste nomads, however if anybody wants to take the tin cadian troopers off my hand, I might be willing to deal.

OK let's try a comparison of 1200 points IG-DE, with a question: who do you put your money on? All IG troops have flak armour and frag grenades standard. Note that both lists are fluff-oriented (as that's just the way my heart ticks...)!

For the same amount of points I can replace the standard Leman Russ with a LR Exterminator, so perhaps the same question applies whether that is more effective against DE. Likewise for the placement of the commissars - I could just as well add both infantry squads together and give them each a commissar, it costs me nothing extra, yet I understand it adds to effectiveness.

Forgive me, it has been ages since I actually played 40K...

Quote :

NOMAD LEGION, NECROMUNDAN IMPERIAL GUARD ARMY, 1200 POINTS

COMPANY HQ

- captain with power weapon and refractor field (60)
- commissar with boltpistol and power fist (50)
- company medic (30)
- 3 veterans (0)

INFANTRY PLATOON

- lieutenant with power weapon (40)
- 2 plasma gunners (30)
- 2 meltagunners (20)

- sergeant, flamer, 8 troopers (55)
- sergeant, flamer, 8 troopers (55)
- mortar team (60)

'LUCKY' VETERAN INFANTRY SQUAD

- veteran sergeant, veteran flamer, 8 veterans (75)
- in a chimera with heavy bolter (55)

ASH WASTE NOMAD INFANTRY PLATOON

- Lord of Ashes (Al'Rahem, outflanking infantry platoon) (100)
- Cardinal of Ashes (priest with eviscerator) (60)
- commissar with plasma pistol (45)
- ash waste vox caster with laspistol and spear (5)
- 3 ash waste nomads with laspistol and spear (0)

- ash waste boss with 9 nomads with lasguns (50)
- ash waste boss with 9 nomads with lasguns (50)

ASH WASTE NOMAD VETERAN SQUAD

- veteran ash waste boss, 3 veteran ash waste snipers, 1 veteran ash waste vox caster, 5 veteran nomads, all with snare mines and camo cloaks (making them stealthy) (120)

FIRE SUPPORT SCOUT SENTINEL SQUADRON

- 2 multilaser scout sentinels (70)

LEMAN RUSS MAIN BATTLE TANK

- Leman Russ MBT with battle cannon and three heavy bolters (170)

Quote :

VOID SCORPIONS, DARK ELDAR WYCH STRIKE FORCE, 1203 points

- succubus with hydra gauntlets, with 9 standard bloodbrides in a raider with dark lance and flickerfield (257)

- wych with hydra gauntlets, with 9 standard wyches, in a raider with dark lance and flickerfield (180)
- wych with hydra gauntlets, with 9 standard wyches, in a raider with dark lance and flickerfield (180)
- mercenary warrior with splinter cannon, with 9 standard mercenary warriors (100)
- mercenary warrior with splinter cannon, with 9 standard mercenary warriors (100)

- reaver with heatlance, with 2 standard reavers (78)
- reaver with heatlance, with 2 standard reavers (78)

- ravager with 3 dark lances and flickerfield (115)
- ravager with 3 dark lances and flickerfield (115)

OK I just painted my Nomad Legion command squad, of a lieutenant/captain with power weapon, 2 meltaguns and 2 plasma guns.

I really love that officer! It's one of those models which look good no matter what you do with it. He seems like somebody who doesn't even flinch while his men are cut to pieces by all kinds of horrible aliens...

Like the colour scheme, I've always thought red went well with grey, they look like gritty veterans. Nice effect on the plasma coils too. I'm guessing the numbers are transfers?

The_Burning_Eye wrote:

Like the colour scheme, I've always thought red went well with grey, they look like gritty veterans. Nice effect on the plasma coils too. I'm guessing the numbers are transfers?

Transfers, yes. However sad that may be, I am not an expert in painting...

To translate the IG code here: left arm '317th brigade' or some such, right arm 'C' of 'command', white stripe on helmet depicting 'private'.

And yes, 'gritty' is the right adjective for an ash waste based army...

If you're interested, this is the back story to this army, written perhaps 10 years ago.

Quote :

Necromundan Army Intelligence Report

SUBJECT : General Alexander, count of the Ashgallow Plains, general of the 317th Necromundan Brigade, nicknamed ‘The Nomad Legion’, Necromunda.

AGE : 56

REPORT : Lord General Alexander was born Nikolas Alexander and the son of the wealthy caravan trader and nobleman Igor Alexander. He was born and raised in the Ashgallow Plains, the ash plains between the Necromundan hives Hive Primus and Hive Secundus. His clear talent for human resources and his inherent charm kept the ash raiders in the sector from attacking his fathers caravans, and business flourished. Soon Alexander led the caravans himself and earning a small fortune out of the dangerous trade.

At age 26 however, the Ashgallow Plains burst into open rebellion against governor Helmawr. Reason for this was the inauguration of a new secretary of finances in Hive Primus. Not willing to tax the rich spire nobles, the taxation policy changed to bludgeoning the lower hive inhabitants into becoming serfs. This was done through the extensive use of the Planetary Defense Force. Fighting in the lower hive turned into a smashing defeat for the PDF, since the inhabitants fought with all their might and used the terrain to their advantage. When the gangs amassed to attack the hive spire, a full truce was signed in haste, since the nobles saw their assets threatened.

The money had to come from somewhere though, and now policy turned to the ash nomads. The secretary had lost a lot of credit for his actions, and so he played the game in a different fashion : he arranged an inquisitorial crackdown on anti-imperial sentiments in the Ashgallow Plains. Inquisitor Radec, the son of a Necromundan spire noble, was brought into the fray. He was noted to be a fanatic who could make his own mother rebellious and frowned upon even by the Inquisition itself. But he held the title and together with a few armoured divisions he set out to conquer the Ashgallow Plains for the governmental treasure coffers. Even as he met the first ash nomad gang leader, his head was blown off by a nomad’s bolter.

The secretary saw his chance for war and convinced the governor that this was an act which was to be punished. The armoured divisions rolled in and destroyed village after village before the ash nomads scattered, promising to turn the grey ash into bloody red mud. Torching every village as they retreated, the nomads lured the army divisions deeper and deeper into the ash plains. Guerilla units then sneaked back behind the tanks and started ambushing supply columns. The army itself could not intercept these lightly armed nomads who just sneaked in and out of sight. Underfed and with a lack of supplies, the hand of the commanding general was forced to accept the battlefield he was being lured to by the nomads. Battle was joined in an area infamous for its ash dunes. Most tanks got stuck in the ash. They were quickly blown up by the nomads, who dug out of the plains where they had been hidden for days. With cheap grade demolition charges, all that was left of the armoured column was reduced to burning rubble in a few hours.

The ash nomads society had been burned, but along with it had gone the cream of the Necromundan armoured divisions and also the supply routes between Hive Primus and Hive Secundus, as the nomads had been furious and blind in their destruction of the ‘hivers’. The caravan routes guarded for generations by the Alexander family and others were littered by corpses and burned out trucks, and both hives began to feel a distinct lack of important goods.
When the Alexander Trading Company was close to bankruptcy, Nikolas Alexander got his chance for a new life : to quell the rebellion, the governor activated the ancient fuedal system, demanding all his loyal subjects in the Ashgallow Plains to deliver troops for the army. Not having anything to do while sending out a caravan would mean more graves to dig, Alexander gathered his men, put them all on horseback and joined the army.

Within a few months, Alexander was noted for his extreme leadership and knowledge of terrain and hit and run tactics. The army command had few other options than to promote the young man to commander as soon as it was clear that the other fiefdom troops listened to his judgement first and to high command second, mostly meaning that the missions were all out successes for Alexander. As the hatred and jealousy of the generals toward the young and talented Alexander grew day by day, Alexanders’ scouting force, which he had dubbed ‘the ash raiders’, drove the nomads into mountainous terrain and cornered their leaders while the nomad warriors surrendered after a pitched night battle. The generals grumpily congratulated Alexander for the all out victory and ordered him to slay all nomads and to put their heads on pikes. In response, Alexander ignored these orders and signed a everlasting peace between the nomads and the Imperium.

Needless to say, High Command was furious. Alexander and half of his men found themselves on a transport toward the asteroid belts, where they could resume their command – as part-time penal legion officers and miners in a vaccuum zero gravity mining colony…

Not much is known of Alexander in the seven years to follow, as the penal legion commanders do not take much interest in keeping records on the convicts. Seemingly however, Alexander managed to pull off victories at 18 different warzones, while in the end af full 7% of his men stayed alive, a remarkable record for any penal legion unit. He earned the code nickname of ‘Ash Wolf’.

In the meantime on Necromunda, things had grown hot. As they had ordered Alexander, the generals had put the heads of all nomad prisoners on spikes. They enforced even more strict measures against the nomads. As rebellion rose even more brutal on both sides, the army generals issued a large reward for every ash nomads head brought in by anyone. The nomads were to cease to exist.

The response of nomad nations outside the Ashgallow Plains was as could be predicted : everywhere nomads began assaulting caravans, plundering all weapons they could find, and launching an all out attack on all hives on the planet. Most were repelled by the underhivers, but on Necromunda Prime, the underhivers cleared a path for the nomads. They had not forgotten their fate from ten years earlier. Units from all over the planet, and the penal legionaries from the asteroid belt were rushed to defend the hive spire. A bloody war was fought in seven floors of the hive, with gangers collecting their own bills among other gangs as well.

At this point, a lone commissar who had been responsible for law and order among the divisions who had fought ten years long against the nomads, appealed to Helmawr, the governor of Necromunda, who was besieged in the hive spire. His name was Tolstoi. He stated that eventually the nomads could be pushed back, but that the nomads had been too fierce to let them be crushed. They could better serve the Emperor against heretics. He said to the governor that there was only one man in the entire sector who had the stature to end this mess, and that this man served as a penal legionnary 143 floors lower.

Within a day, Alexander was declared tempory battle leader of the Necromundan forces in Hive Primus. Immediately, he collected his men, refusing to even listen to the grovelling officers who had once banned him, and then did what has since then adopted by counter insurgency officers all across the galaxy : he released all of his men at once. He told all officers to let them go. And then he ordered a week of complete cease fire.

Four days later, a delegation of hive and nomad gang leader stood in the battlefield, waving a white flag. They were willing to forget all what had happened the last ten years and retreat to their own grounds if the secretary could be handed over to them. The governor, who had been monitoring the battlefield for the complete cease fire period, accepted to the terms. Within an hour, life in the lowerhive had resumed as normal, and all that was left was a torched dozen of floors.

Commissar Tolstoi captured some of the ex-penal legion troopers to find out what had happened, and realised after the interrogation that releasing the prisoners was an act of strategic brilliance : they had returned to their families and told their story. As fast as mouths can speak, the whole underhive and the gangers had refused to wage war on the only man who had been willing to accept their honourable defeat and let them keep their f dignity and independence. With one stroke, the war had ended. Not a single bolt had been fired.

The commissariat and the army leaders had a problem now : what to do with the war hero ? Send him back to the penal legion ? They would cheer him like a returned liberator. Execute him ? The gangs and nomads would forget their promises and stop at nothing to kill every spirer. Leave him army command ? Out of the question, this man was too dangerous already.
A workable compromise was struck : Alexander would be allowed to raise a single brigade as he saw fit, which would then be added to the Necromundan Expeditionary Forces (NECEF) to fight in every war zone. If he was killed, so much the better, if not, it would only reflect on the blazon of Necromundan leadership. Besides, it would kill a lot of heretics.

Since then, Alexanders ‘Nomad Legion’ has fought continuously for almost twenty years.

It's finally starting to look like a real army! Here my first infantry platoon (minus the last 5 models), the 'Lucky' veteran squad, and a painted sentinel (my preciousssss!)

Been rebuilding my IG army in order to finally make it 'mine' - out go the tin cadian figures I grew tired off, and the Ogryns (which I like, but I find no use for them within the 1500 limit I have imposed upon myself).

So, if anybody is interested to buy 541 points of metal IG mini's, you can always send me a message! It is a full HQ, a full infantry platoon (25 models), 3 lascannon teams and 3 ogryns, some painted, some converted. First come, first served!

Now, on my floor lie all of the models to build a 35 strong ash waste nomad platoon (or should I say 'warband'?), which will be my biggest conversion project ever! I have self-imposed the following rules on this 'warband': www.sg.tacticalwargames.net/fanatic/31awn.pdf . So whatever I put down must also conform to these rules: respirators, hive-busting weaponry, dark elf spears and heads (ritualistic death masks) and also primitive camo cloaks (green stuff) used to blend into the surrounding terrain (to depict the 'outflanking' rules of the Cardinal of Ashes, my own captain Al'Rahem variation. So in essence this is a coalition of legitimate Necromunda gangs.

This will be a flurry of cutting up mini's which would break some hearts, including mine, up until the point where I can say: this is a unique and playable platoon/warband, and the cherry on the cake of my 1500 point IG army (which will be closed off indefinitely after that, as in 'finished').

The full list (all with flak armour and frag grenades):

Quote :

NOMAD LEGION COMPANY HQ:

- captain Ashanti-Helmawr, with power weapon, laspistol, refractor field (60)
- company standard bearer (15)
- company medic (30)
- 2 veterans (0)

NOMAD LEGION INFANTRY PLATOON

- lieutenant with power weapon and laspistol (40)
- 2 plasma gunners (30)
- 2 melta gunners (20)

- squad with sergeant, flamer and 8 troopers (55)
- squad with sergeant, flamer and 8 troopers (55)
- 3 mortar teams (60)

NOMAD LEGION ASH WASTE NOMAD WARBAND

- Cardinal of Ashes (captain Al'Rahem, outflanking infantry platoon) (100)
- 2 ash waste plasma gunners (30)
- 1 ash waste meltagunner (10)
- 1 ratskin scout (fluff value only) (0)

- gang with gang leader, long rifle (sniper) and 8 nomads (55)
- gang with gang leader, long rifle (sniper) and 8 nomads (55)
- gang with gang leader, long rifle (sniper) and 8 nomads (55)

NOMAD LEGION 'LUCKY' VETERAN SQUAD

- veteran sergeant, veteran flamer, 8 veterans (75)
- in a chimera with multilaser and heavy bolter (55)

FIRE SUPPORT SCOUT SENTINEL SQUADRON

- 2 scout sentinels with multilasers (70)

CLOSE SUPPORT SCOUT SENTINEL SQUADRON

- 2 scout sentinels with heavy flamers (80)

ANTI-TANK SCOUT SENTINEL SQUADRON

- scout sentinel with autocannon, scout sentinel with lascannon and hunter-killer missile (100)

NOMAD LEGION GRENADIER SQUAD

- grenadier sergeant, 2 grenadier flamers, 7 grenadiers (with carapace armour and shotguns) (110)

LEMAN RUSS MAIN BATTLE TANK

- Leman Russ MBT with battle cannon and 3 heavy bolters (170)

LEMAN RUSS EXTERMINATOR

- Leman Russ Exterminator with exterminator autocannon and 3 heavy bolters (170)

Wow, that's a fair few vehicle's your going to get.

The look good so far, heep up the good work.

Cavash wrote:

Wow, that's a fair few vehicle's your going to get.

The look good so far, heep up the good work.

That's the vehicles I actually have at this point... Just figuring - why buy more and more stuff, when the stuff I have is unpainted and/or I play them only once in a blue moon? And: why did I buy or convert them if I am not willing to use them?

Well yeah this IS a fluff list... But at least now I really really like it, even while going down in defeat

At least I have my über-cool sentinels! They will surely save the day

And I desperately long to see those nomads do a hit-and-run attack like they were ill-equipped Afghan hill fighters against the Russians... (if only they had something else than rusty autoguns / lasguns!)

EDIT: so THAT is what a finished infantry platoon looks like! I never knew...



Added to the (painted) 'Lucky' veteran squad, that just leaves me 2 sentinels and a Chimera in order to bring a fully painted 400 points army to the 40K-in-40-minutes-battlefield. A good beginning!

Haha, I never realized how awesome these 'Tanith Ghost' models were to make ash waste nomads with - a basic head swap (dark elf head, 'ritualistic death mask') and they are good to go! Here an undercoated tryout plasma gunner for my nomad HQ...



Definitely one of the greatest parts of the hobby (for me): how models come alive in a unique fashion by successful converting and painting, even more so if you manage to turn these individual figures into a uniform army. Hopefully I get to make this warband look like they just emerged from the lifeless wastes as one warband on the prowl!

EDIT: still unpainted except for undercoat, yet freshly-converted coolness-to-be, my Nomad HQ:



from left to right:

- one of the coolest model GW ever produced, this Necromunda Escher plasma gunner has finally found her home (removed backpack, added green stuff cape)
- this ratskin scout makes do with a green stuff scarf. He has no special playing value, except rationalize part of why the nomads 'outflank'
- the Cardinal, my Al'Rahem version and the leader of the nomads. Was an old officer model, added plasma pistol, dark elf head and green stuff cape
- metal Cadian meltagunner lost his helmeted head to gain a respirator, plus a green stuff cape
- Tanith ghost plasma gunner, original model with a dark elf head swap.
-

Wow, that was some frantic converting! All of my greenstuff is now history, but I doubt I'll ever need it again (since I am slowly closing up my armies, while only really expanding on my Dark Eldar)

Here is the combined pride of my ash waste nomad warband! (and yes, this is ONE troop choice, you gotta love IG )



40 models in all, all with some sort of respirator (meshed scarfs, death masks, gas masks) and all with capes (actually they are no more than blankets to block out ash storms and to hide from enemy recon).

The rear row is my HQ, but not all models are used on the battlefield: I've got a converted commissar and an extra plasma gunner for alternative army builds, plus 3 'juves' for when part of this warband will one day make it back to a real Necromunda battle... So the end build is 35 models and a commissar, using up almost all of my models!

I am especially pleased with the steel legion troopers! Before I did not really like them, now that I sawed off their helmets and put regular (top) heads instead, they look great, if I may say so myself.

I guess I will save myself a lot of hassle and help make this warband more uniform if I just sawdust the bases and the back of all capes in one go and then go off to find myself a dark grey spray can for the undercoat... Not an idle idea, since I used the models of about 5 different builds and manufacturers, I think... Making them 'one' will need some thinking.

Endlessly reconverting these models over the years will sadly make some models thick with paint, removing some of the finer detail, but sh*t happens I guess...

You have put an incredible amount of thought and effort into, I am really looking forward to seeing it all finished, Your painted platoons and command squad look great so far, as do those converted Tanith Ghosts. It's a little hard to see the Steel Legionnaires, some close-ups would be great.

Cheers.

Gobsmakked wrote:

You have put an incredible amount of thought and effort into, I am really looking forward to seeing it all finished, Your painted platoons and command squad look great so far, as do those converted Tanith Ghosts. It's a little hard to see the Steel Legionnaires, some close-ups would be great.

Cheers.

Thanks! Actually it was an idea which grew over the years, playing (and loving) an actual Necromunda ash waste nomad gang helped in wanting to give me more of this.

Last time I played my IG against Tyranids, the opponent asked 'why I had painted my troops in all these different uniforms', and sadly I had to agree. I guess I just lost interest in this hodge podge army, and it had to be remedied at some point, which is now! No longer do I have 10 different builds, I have only 2 (the plastic Cadians, which are regular Necromunda army troops, and the irregular nomad guerrilla fighters - plus the Lucky veterans, but they don't count, being survivors of a dozen warzones rewarded with a special status, but being 'regular' enough.)

I would like to paint some more, but I have lost precious time needed for urgent real life stuff as it is... I guess I need to shelf it for a while now...

EDIT: (hopefuilly the last thing I am going to do about this today, but...) I just build two 400 point lists, one consisting of the nomad warband with 4 interventionary sentinels, the other consisting of the regular infantry platoon with commissar, mortars and 2 AT-sentinels. Why? To either play them against each other, or to combine them in a 2x2 player battle, to get new players (like a friend who only plays WFB orks) into the hobby. That damned head of mine found it 'very important' that I did not add to the one list stuff which was already in the other, so I could put both down at the same time...

As an old-school IG player with a mixed army of RT/2nd edition IG/current Cadians, I approve
I haven't seen that Escher plasma gunner in YEARS! Great stuff.

Evil Space Elves wrote:

As an old-school IG player with a mixed army of RT/2nd edition IG/current Cadians, I approve
I haven't seen that Escher plasma gunner in YEARS! Great stuff.

She is great, isn't she? I bought her just because I loved the model, now, finally, I can paint her up and give her the honoured place she deserves!

(for all clarity: this model)



I thought to make her a Dark Eldar xenos mercenary, but she'll stay imperial after all...

(Jezus this gets really schizofrenic at times, empathizing with troops to kill other troops I empathize with... )

EDIT: @ Gobsmakked: you asked for a picture of the steel legion troopers? I finally got one of them to pose, more or less (closeups aren't sharp). Cut off the top of the head, with the helmet, put top of Empire Militia head on it instead, then make a cape, which I now sanded with sawdust to become identical to the base - the profit of a father who used to work with wood...

Now he looks pretty raw and primitive, just the way I want him to!

Some nice work. I always quite liked the idea of a 'hodge podge' IG army, with units/platoons drawn from various different planets, but it's also nice to see a unified force - especially one based on Necromunda and with so much work gone in to them.

I like the old Escher (their whole range was great) and Ratskin scout. Got any other Necromunda figures in there?

Personally, I'm not so sure about the dark elf heads though. I like them in themselves (used them on my dark eldar), but they don't quite fit ash nomads for me. I'd probably have gone for Wargames Factory shock troops or Warzone figures (both of which I have some of to hand), unless you're bound to GW-only. But it's just a matter of preference really and I'm sure yours will look fine once painted up - it's hard to see much in these photos.

No I am not bound GW only, that rubs against my opportunistic soul, especially with all those other great looking models around. Never really liked money-grubbing either, so the path GW is taking doesn't really, ah, help my loyalty towards them... A free market goes both ways.

Well I figured that the dark elf heads would make great black/bone/white 'masks of death', which these semi-animistic and semi-savage people would don just before they go of to war, to victory or death. A bit like scalp-taking or some such with the indians. I might have done it better in an other fashion, but it is done either way...

Other Necromunda models? Let me think... Ah that Escher juve with bludgeon and autopistol, but she is delegated to Necromunda-games only. But I DO have some Wargames Foundry models in there, for instance a few of these: http://wargamesfoundry.com/fantasy_ranges/single_packs/street_violence/, and also some of Confrontation, two snipers (and my future succubus ), an 'Alternative Armies' commissar I bought 21 years ago (getting old...) and a few models I honestly don't know where I got them from...

But I never had many true Necromunda models, as I first played regular Imperial Guard squads within the Hive... I have, however, integrated the background ideas of Necromunda totally into this army. Like the captain 'Ashanti-Helmawr': a stiff-upper-lip-aristocrat whose noble mother clearly married into the ruling house of Necromunda. Ambituous younger son, probably. It's little stuff like that which makes the hobby 'tick' for me for a large part: to add to the story.

Case in point...

Quote :

The Ashgallow Armistice

Years ago, a not-too-wise Imperial secretary decided to bludgeon the Ashgallow Nomads into debt slavery. The Ashgallow Plains are the area between Hive Primus and Hive Secundus on Necromunda, and as such widely used for trade. Regular raids on caravans had made the nomads into hated savages for many influential guilders and Spire nobles, so the target seemed logical - even while the used tactics were ineffective.

In the following conflict, eventually the Ashgallow nomad villages were burned down after their inhabitants had fled. Seemingly, this could be considered as a victory for the Necromundan Steel Legions leading the attack, if it weren't for the constant counter attacks by guerrilla nomads using both the terrain and self-constructed meltabombs to burst the tanks open at every opportunity. Eventually, a full elite Necromundan armoured division was lost in this conflict. The gains? A never ending waste only holding any value for dedicated prospectors who cost just about as much as they would ever hope to scavenge.

After this bitter conflict, Necromundan high command understood that any attempt to subdue or obliterate the Asghallow nomads would bring with it a cost which could never be compensated by any decent profit margin. Even if the nomads would be destroyed totally, it would just bring a deluge of ambitious underhivers into this area to take up their trade and take over their homes. At least alive nomads would defend their turf from other gangs, and could be reasoned with up to some point. Or, as an ancient saying said: 'better the devil you know...'

So finally brigadier general Alexander, whose involvement had been crucial in bringing the Hive Primus Emperor's Day Uprising to a hold, was ordered to sign an everlasting peace with the nomads.

The following armistice was agreed upon:

- the Ashgallow nomads would be excempt from Imperial taxation in exchange for a regular tithe of able men and women to serve under their own officers in the newly formed NECEF-317th 'Nomad Legion' Brigade, under the command of brigadier general Alexander himself.

- all raids on caravans between Hive Primus and Hive Secundus had to stop.

- the nomads had to support Imperial agents, such as priests and commissars, and had to accept the Cult of the Emperor as a primary creed, under the provision that their 'God of Ashes' would be condoned and that every Imperial agent had to be approved by the nomad Council of Elders. If an agent was not approved because of unrespectful methods used, that would only mean a new agent was selected and presented. Refusing the acceptance of Imperial agents would make the armistice moot and invalid.

As it happened, both points I and III were relative successes: the nomads thrived in the following years, even as their sons and daughters fought for Necromunda across the galaxy. Regular contact between Imperial agents and the nomads meant that lucrative trade and new ideas and technology became within reach. Some nomads even enlisted in governmental schools.

Point II, on the end of raids on caravans, however, was a blatant failure. While people starve, they don't tend to care much about the personal property of another. Raiding caravans remained a constant source of both nomad income and internal strive among the tribes. Whole peoples shattered under pressure from within, with sons taking up the piratical trade their fathers had forbidden, and gangs of youth scattering in all directions to look for guilder caravans to plunder.

So governor Helmawr enacted a new measure: while the Nomad Legion freed up some troops from Imperial duty, a small part of the regular Necromundan army was cleared for other duties. So 10 infantry companies were stationed in outposts at 100 mile intervals on the main road between Hive Primus and Hive Secundus, both to protect trade and to aid friendly nomad tribes against unruly rivals. These outposts quickly grew into mobile guilder settlements and market places, oases of relative luxury amidst an endless sea of waste and decay...

Sawdust platoon! Aka, the nomads before the feared attack by the dark grey spraycan-of-doom

(the grey model on the top right being the ever-stubborn ratskin scout...)



Ah and whoever is interested, I still have 541 points worth of these kind of models and 3 ogryns for sale... Just send me a message if you'd like them!

Awesome cloaks. It's a great way to make your army unique.

I imagine that they'll be brilliant when they're painted up.

Cavash wrote:

Awesome cloaks. It's a great way to make your army unique.

I imagine that they'll be brilliant when they're painted up.

Thanks! I truly hope so too...

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.

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!

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.