++ AUGUSTUS b'RAASS ++ pre-heresy BRASS SCORPION p.247

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Let's add Lady Inquisitor Tanya von Degurechaff to the force, employing the girls as extra muscle (meat shields) for her mission to destroy all enemies of the Imperium. You want crazy? Tanya will

- with psychic energy-induced MUSHROOM CLOUDS. Edited February 4, 2019 by Bjorn Firewalker

[Augustus b'Raass]

Cheers for the many comments, everyone!

 

I've been down with a massive case of the flu  and a light concussion for the last couple of days - as it turns out, accidentally banging your head against the shower wall isn't the best idea. I won't get into too much detail, but it was a silly incident where a certain someone had soap in her eyes, wanted to do the same to me, and thus stuck her hands right into my open eyes - which resulted to my reflexively pulling my head back and against the wall. The next moment I was on the floor and not understanding what happened! looool I've never been knocked out, but I can tell you now it's quite strange. 

 

Anyway, I thus haven't been able to do any painting, but I have received two mailed packages - one from eBay and one from Forgeworld.

 

The eBay package contained this:

I indulged myself and bought a lot of every metal Escher miniature ever produced (with two juves even as doubles!). It was quite expensive, but I decided to not hold back on Necromunda to force me to play a game that involved fewer miniatures - so that I didnt have to buy and paint so many.... oh wait. FAIL!

From Forge World, I bought the Escher head upgrade set , as well as the 'Kira the Huntress' bounty hunter miniature. She'll form the basis of one of my two beginning champions:

 

Here's my other Champion miniature, with the FW upgrade champion head:

 

I enjoyed putting these together so much that I decided to do some more converting - for when I will eventually get specialists with bigger guns - with a Webber and a Heavy Stubber:

 

Both weapons are from the Neophyte Cultist kit - a fantastic source of bits, and a Necromunda gang in their own right! 

 

I hope you like them!

 

Let me know what you think, and thanks for looking. 

 

Cheers

 

Replies:

 

@ Gederas: Isn't she? Well, Juves are children, right? Juve being short for juvenile? 

 

@ guardian31: I already have two with pink hair - the autogunner and the leader. So next will be Purple hair indeed!

 

@ Bjorn Firewalker: Thanks, buddy

 

@ Eldrick Shadowblade: Totally go for it - it's where I found mine as well ;) 

 

@ teku, Bjorn Firewalker and Quixus: Harley Quin's outfit is hardly applicable to my colour scheme, in either configurations of her:

Besides, it's a little on the nose, wouldn't you agree? But I might try and see if I can make it work...

 

@ Pandoras Bitz Box: No worries, we all have our ups and downs when it comes to regularly posting here... I'm glad you're back! Also glad you like the gals!

 

@ Midnight Runner: Haha indeed they are! 

 

@ SanguiniusReborn:  He's back! And Jesus Christ, Tiny Tiny sounds like a super annoying spoiled brat! Like, she runs circles around Boxxy. 

 

@ DuskRaider: DONE!
 

@ Bjorn Firewalker: But she looks so normal! 

[Gederas]

Cheers for the many comments, everyone!

 

I've been down with a massive case of the flu  and a light concussion for the last couple of days - as it turns out, accidentally banging your head against the shower wall isn't the best idea. I won't get into too much detail, but it was a silly incident where a certain someone had soap in her eyes, wanted to do the same to me, and thus stuck her hands right into my open eyes - which resulted to my reflexively pulling my head back and against the wall. The next moment I was on the floor and not understanding what happened! looool I've never been knocked out, but I can tell you now it's quite strange. 

 

@ Gederas: Isn't she? Well, Juves are children, right? Juve being short for juvenile? 

 

@ SanguiniusReborn:  He's back! And Jesus Christ, Tiny Tiny sounds like a super annoying spoiled brat! Like, she runs circles around Boxxy.

I always expected Juves to be teenagers, as in Juvenile Delinquents. Whereas that Juve looks like she's under 12, y'know? :lol: Also sorry to hear about the flu and concussion. Though, is it bad I laughed when reading the description of how it happened? Like, that course of events sounds like something you'd see on the Three Stooges :lol:

 

RE Tiny Tina: She sounds annoying, but she's probably one of the best characters in that game..... Aside from Mister Torgue and Krieg.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

@ Bjorn Firewalker: But she looks so normal!

Tanya von Degurechaff's a psyker who must pray to God to maximize the power she can use in battle- power comparable to an SADM, if what we see in the manga adaptation is any indication. She also has finely honed survival instincts, meaning she'll consider the average Escher ganger's fashion choices "the New Normal," and dress herself the same way, to delay the moment an enemy scout or sniper recognizes her as something he should focus his attention (and shots) on. At worst, just bathe her in her enemies' blood- bloodstains work GREAT in making a model look unsettling, as any Khorne worshiper knows.

[teku]

@ Augustus b'Rass:  I would go for the hairstyle alone (the 2018 Suicide Squad Harley )to be honest. Outfit would be difficult 

[gaurdian31]

Sorry to hear about the flu/concussion, glad you are feeling better! Can't wait to see the new gals painted up. Maybe a few more with multi-color hair as well? And I will second the Tiny Tina, she is a great character and an Escher based on her would be great!

[Augustus b'Raass]

Cheers,  gang!

This week saw me having my first proper (so Sector Mechanicus) Necromunda game in almost two decades! It featured my Escher gang 'the Pantera Pixies" against my buddy Willem's nameless, faceless yet four-armed Genestealer Cult. Ups and downs for sure, among which the most prominent incidents:

- He flamed my Leader and a Ganger in turn one, the leaders survived, but the burning Ganger fell into a pit and was put out of action in the subsequent turn...
- His Grenade Launcher put one of my Champions out of her misery turn one - lost her first wound from the grenade and then knockback SPLAT against the wall! 
- My wounded Leader (laspistol and Stilleto sword (so with a five attacks and a parry)) charged his Ganger who had a flesh wound. She missed everything, and was subsequently headbutted Out of Action by the single unarmed counter-attack! NOOOOO
- My shotgunner survived a charge and two rounds of combat against one of his gangers with a Pick, then proceeded to headbutt that ganger Out of Action - she then turned around and Acid Shot another one of his Autogun Gangers in the face - DEAD!. 
- Although one of his Gangers survived two Gas attacks by my Chem-thrower, it was finally put out of action by my second Champion (using her bare fists!)

 

Pretty epic indeed. Here's some pictures of the battlefield:

 

 

 

 

It convinced me that MDF terrain is really the way to go. And even though this terrain sufficed and as it was cut by Willem's buddy on his MDF-printer, there was a wait for that (as everybody in the group wants it and he can only cut so many MDF in so much time...). So I couldn't constrain myself and bought a small fortune of MDF-terrain for both Sector Mechanicus and Zone Mortalis from TTCombat (https://ttcombat.com/collections/industrial-hive):

Hidden Content

Oh dear...

 

So yeah, you can say I'm thoroughly hooked on Necromunda, as I was when I was but a teenager. My gang did far better now that most of it is painted, btw. Here's one of my champions (armed with a combibolter/needler, as well as not-bought yet Stiletto Knife and Autopistol):

 

Here's the last member of the gang that still need paint, my similarly armed other Champion (based on the Kira the Huntress FW Bounty Hunter)

 

My gang's rating, cash, and experienced had a major boost because of this battle, which I won, and so I'm thinking of adding some long range support. There's a couple interesting things I'd like, and I decided to build them.

 

First up is a Grenade Launcher, because let's face it: one of the best weapons in the game due to blast weapons with knockback. I love the FW head upgrade, so characterful. 

 

Next up is a ganger with a long-las - which is a pretty decent weapon with a good range. Combine it with Photogoggles and some kind of sight, and she's dangerous indeed!

 

When I looked at the stats for the Long-las, I also noticed the autogun variant, which seemed slightly better. And since I have plenty of plastic gangsters left, I made one for her as well! 

 

I'll keep you posted on the terrain when it gets in, I'm stoked to receive it and build it!

 

Cheers!

 

Replies:

 

@ Gederas: Well, Juvenile delinquents can be 12? 

 

@ Bjorn Firewalker: Well, if she dresses like any group she belongs to to blend in, then there's very little I can do to signify that my Escher miniature is her, right? Sorry mate, I'm just not feeling it. I don't know the manga, have no feeling for the character. I understand you do, but I simply don't so I don;t think this will happen.... 

 

@ teku: That's a good point. I am trading with a friend to acquire the Brettonian Jester head, so I can make an original Harley Quinn!

 

@ guardian31: Again, I realy don't see how I'm supposed to make an Escher miniature look like a character that dresses like her surroundings to blend in - then, I can say that literally any of my miniatures is 'her'. 

[Jukkiz]

Not sure about necromunda gangs, but looking at this autogun"sniper" variant, i think the barrel is tiny bit too long. Hey, it´s your model and looks great, heck all of them look lovely. My gun nut gears are always grinding when i see lovely conversions though.


Edit, now that i look at it, just snipping the iron sight part could work too.
 

Edited February 7, 2019 by Jukkiz

[gaurdian31]

Tiny Tina is someone from the game Borderlands 2, not a manga. I think the closeness in name with the character Bjorn suggested might have led to confusion. Here is some info on her from the Borderlands Wiki https://borderlands.fandom.com/wiki/Tiny_Tina . At the same time if you don't want to include someone like her that is understandable. 

[teku]

cool man! glad to hear that!

Now necromunda is tickling me too... thanks for that!

And yeah Zone mortalis is cool. Making the terrain myself. Slow project at the moment 

Just to need to fix a date with the Lasercut machine....

Edited February 8, 2019 by teku

[Augustus b'Raass]

Hey gang! Been a couple days. Busy with preparing for a holiday, a house-moving, and some family stuff - and Necromunda. Holy crap Necromunda. This game just really jives with my taste of pass-time - I'm thinking it's because it's the perfect blend of wargaming and roleplaying. 

 

I had another fantastic Zone Mortalis game with MDF walls at a buddy's house, and BOY was it a massacre! My Escher gang (the Pantera Pixies) is 9 strong, while his Delaque gang has 10 members. In the end, I just had a Champion, a Juve, and a Ganger standing, and he only had his Leader up! He bottled out, finally. And then, my luck was incredible: only 2 of my 6 casualties were to miss the next game, and all of the six where unharmed. I then managed to capture one of his gangers and which card did I draw from his deck? His leader (who has had two upgrades, and was armed with a Master Crafted Flechette pistol, a regular Flechette Pistol, and a Web Gauntlet - that ganger alone was worth over 300 credits - so at least 150 at the Guilder). "Kadjing!" you might think - but I felt a bit sorry for my buddy. I wasn't going to not let this be to my advantage, though, so I offered to let the Leader go if he'd leave his weapons to my gang. He accepted, so now I have some nasty equipment that is impossible for Escher gangs to acquire normally -you can't even buy Flechette Pistols or Web Gauntlets from the Trading Post!  

I gave my Juve the Web Gauntlet - she'll be upgrading her Weapon Skill after the next battle, and with her speed and the Web Gauntlet's nasty ability to Web enemies in close combat, she'll be coup-de-grace'ing gangers like crazy! I created a miniature to reflect her, made from a classic metal Juve with Stub Gun and pick. The pick was cut off above her right hand, the pistol was cut from her left hand and pinned in place on top of her right hand, while the Delaque gang's Web Gauntlet bit was fitted onto her now stubby hand - incidentally, the Web Gautlet bit is empty  -so I glued in a tiny hand to make it look real!

 

The tales of my luck continue when I decided to buy a slopper with my credits. As you can immediately use the slopper, I rolled and BOOM - a six appeared, meaning one of the only two gangers in recovery could play in the next game (incredibly lucky, since the six was rolled for my Leader - phew!) I made a miniature for the slopper as well, made from the same classic metal Juve as above. This time, her stub gun is replaced by a kitchen (fighting) knive, and the pick head was replaced by a spoon. I'm thinking I might sculpt an apron on as well, and perhaps I'll even add a sculpted pot! :D

 

I bought a whole lot of Mesh Armour and some Chem-Synth for the gangers with Toxin and Gas weapons (Flechette Pistols anyone? ), but also a Long Rifle for the ganger that had her Ballistic Skill upped to 3+ - that'll come in handy. Thanks to Jukkiz, I improved on the previous conversion:

 

I hope you like these girls! This might be the last post in the coming weeks, as I'll be leaving for a week-long holiday in Morocco soon, and will be busy moving house after I come back. So hopefully somewhere in the second week of March! Untill then, take it easy!

 

Cheers!

 

Replies:

 

@ Jukkiz: You're completely right, dude! Thanks for letting me know. I always appreciate comments like yours, so please feel free to criticize my work. I never take it personally and always see it as an opportunity to perfect my conversions and paint jobs. Thanks for helping me get to the next level  - and please let me know what you think of the finished Long Rifle?!

 

@ Guardian31: Cheers for the info, but I'm gonna sadly pass. If I'm not familiar with something, I have no feeling for it, and so there's no reason for me to include it in my miniatures, I'm sure you'l understand :) I'm getting old so Borderlands is something waaaaaay beyond my experience. I'm so old, I know just one Pokémon by name. 

 

@ teku: Duuuuude a buddy of mine has a lasercutter and he's designing the most amazing stuff. Sadly we all want his terrain so there's a long wait. Even more sadly I have zero patience and a hole in my pocket, so I just spent GBP220 on MDF terrain for both Zone Mortalis and Sector Mechanicus. But oh lord will it be awesome!

[Dragonlover]

Can vouch for the TTCombat stuff, I use it myself at home. The Escher are cool, impressed with how well the old and new stuff all blends together!

 

Dragonlover

[Viridia]

Words can't express how much I'm loving all the 'munda stuff. Fantastic work! Are you looking at any other gangs at all, or concentrating on your Pantera Pixies?

[gaurdian31]

I totally understand not wanting to use a reference when you don't have knowledge of the reference itself. I just wanted to be clear on who was being referenced.  The new gals are looking lovely. Can't wait to see them painted up!

[Augustus b'Raass]

Instead of packing for my flight, I decided to paint. Here's the last thre gals of my Escher gang complete:

 

Meet Tella Siris, Champion of the Pantera Pixies:

 

Next up is my newly leveled-up ganger, Fenka Vex. I rolled the +1BS for her, so I bought her a Long Rifle!

 

And lastly, my juve Rosalia Shik. I told you how I got two Flechette Pistols and a Web Gauntlet from a Delaque gang, in exchange for the release of their captured leader? The juve got the gauntlet. I initially wanted to spend her 5XP on +1M, but I decided to wait just one more game and spend 6XP on +1WS muhahahaaaa

 

And here's the gang in their entirety!

 

Now for some Phyrr Cats...

;)

 

Cheers!

Replies:

 

@ Dragonlover: Yeah the metal and plastic go very well together. I'd say the old Escher metals are the best at that for sure.

 

@ Viridia: Just concentrating on the Pixies for now, but I do have the Goliaths from the starter set. So I might as well give them a go. 

 

@ guardian31: What do you think of them? :)

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the House Escher members.

[Augustus b'Raass]

Cheers, Bjorn. :)

Today my package of Malifaux Hoardcat Pride arrived, and I quickly set to work assembling them - they're perfect Phyrr Cats for my Escher gang!

[Nemac Vradon]

Really liking the Esher Gangers you've painted Augustus, plenty of inspiration for when I finally get around to painting mine. The Hoardcat Pride are very cool too and seem to be the perfect scale. If I can trouble you for the recipe on the bases it would be much appreciated. I tried something similar with Leadbelcher and the brown dry paint that is the same colour as Gorfang Brown (I can't remember the name) but they didn't look quite as good as yours :).

 

Nemac

[gaurdian31]

Man they look good together! The juve with the web gauntlet is probably my favorite out of the newest batch. The new cats are great too. How do you plan on painting them up?

[Augustus b'Raass]

Thanks guys! While on holiday in the beautiful country of Morocco, I was contacted by GW if they could share the picture of my Kria the Huntress FW miniature, which I converted into a regular champion, when they spotted her on instagram. It's so weird how that stuff works. God I feel old..

 

Here's the link to he picture on my instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt4NIxxB0fp/

 

Hidden Content

 

Anyway, I'll be super busy with moving house. So I'll be having absolutely zero time to get to work on this Necromunda terrain MDF order...

 

 

Which sucks, as I am massively looking forward to assembling, individualizing, and painting these. 

Cheers

 

Replies:

@ Nemac vradon: The base recipe is as follows: basecoat AP Gun Metal (GW Leadbelcher). Basecoat the 'ladder' pattern with GW Balthasar Gold. Wash all over with Agrax. Then spray with GW Mournfang Brown or GW Skrag Brown in three places along the edges. Paint the edges with AP Matt Black. Done! Easy, no?
 

@ guardian31: Thanks! Yeah the juve turned out great, no? I'm planning on painting them up in the same way as I have the fur pelts adorning the ladies. But that would make them into simple panthers... this will require further thought - which I will have plenty of as I'm moving house and have zero time to paint in the coming weeks.
 

Edited February 25, 2019 by Augustus b'Raass

[Hungry Nostraman Lizard]

Great job on the FW feature! 

[teku]

Best of luck with the move and congratz on the FW post!

You'll build it soon enough man ;)

[Vairocanum]

It was a pleasure to catch up on all the new stuff you posted, everything looks awesome! Hope you enjoy your vacation and good luck with your move!

[Atia]

Awesome progress on your Necromunda goodies Auggi - and it's great to see you doing projects based on your games! That web gauntlet looks so cool on your Juve 

[Augustus b'Raass]

*Hi everyone! Over 6 weeks have passed since my last post, and boy what a time I have had! There's a LOT to tell, so I'll just di some headers.

  Moving House

I bought my first house together with someone (the GF) - and boy does combining budgets make a lot of difference. We bought a beautiful house, in Amsterdam, with room for several kids, AND a mancave! Granted, I had to promise that I'd also make the room useable as a home cinema, but hey, I take what I can.Actually this room was the most work to finish - it literally involved sawing a hole in the roof. While it took only two days to build the outer structure of the dormer, making the inside not look like a bom had exploded took considerable more time. But now that it is finished, I am very happy with the result. I actauly improved upn the previous iteration of my mancave/studio, throwing all GW boxes away that I had so far used to store all my plasticv and hobby stuff, and replacing them with proper plastic see-thru boxes - with labels! So satisfying. Behold!
 

 

 Necromunda Gaming
My Escher gang has done extremely well up until the last game. All of my ladies had one or more advancements, they're now all equpiped with mesh Armour, Respirators, Drop Rigs, and those that have poison or gas weapons have Chem Synth. Mighty dandy, you would think, but remember, your opponent can get an extra tactics card for every 100 points of diferecne in gang rating. So it really doesn't help that my gang's rating was 2100+ and my last opponent had an Orlock Gang with a rating o somewhere slightly above 1600 - and had two champions with BS2+, a Heavy Stubber, Fast Shot, and an Leader with Overseer nearby. It was going to be a rough game. I did roll 11 on the House Favour, so I trained 3 gangers and lo and behold my excellent sniper ganger (more on her later) got an extra 5XP, to spend with the minimum of +1 for the game on another advancement). Two of my three Champions also got 2 extra XP.  So the game starts. Luckily, I was about to take them out - I had priority, and started with my BS2+ Sniper Ganger (I was incredibly lucky to have rolled +1BS for her twice in a row, and remember, she had just gotten an additional 5XP) with a Long Rifle with Infrascope. So he played the card where he gets to interupt that and shoot instead, shoots her OOA and rolls a 65 for her. I didn't have enough cash to bring her to the doc, but luckily, I had just spent my credits on a Rogue Doc. So no problems there, I thought! He then proceeded with his second shot of the game to shoot my champion - the one with +1 Toughness, +1 Ballistic Skill, and +1 Movement, so a grand total of 20XP invested. She goes out of action immediately and OF COURSE he rolls a 66. Dead. D. E. D. Dead. I ended up narrowly winning the game, though, and got some good cash out of it. So I brought my ganger to my newly minted Rogue Doc. And promptly rolled a 1. Dead. D. E. D. Dead. My best two fighters, with a combined XP of 41 between them, both dead in one game. By the same Orlock Champion. You can imagine my dismay, and will understand that I put a 100 credit bounty on his head. Awesome times, though, and I still LOVE Necromunda. In fact, allthe rest of this post is about Necromunda!

 Necomunda Zone Mortalis Terrain

As you might remember, I invested heavily on MDF terrain. I have been building and painting it like crazy, these past two weeks, and now I have a complete set of Zone Mortalis terrain from TTCombat. I bought a set of the Iron Labyrinth Ultima and a set of Iron Labyrinth Beta. This is what it looks like from afar:

 

It's not quite finished, as I am still waiting for a set of Stencils I bought off Etsy, to put on top of and on the side of some wall sections. Also, the walls and barricades from the Necromunda box are still in the making. Incidentally, these are a bitch to paint! I've been working on them alone justbas long as it took me to complete that entire set of terrain!
Luckily, they're almost finished now.

 

 Necromunda Sector Mechanicus Terrain

With the ZM finished, I started on the Sector Mechanicus terrain from TTCombat. This stuff goes together like a dream and is so incredibly nice to work with. I'm never buying that expensive crap from GW ever again. Except for Plasma Tubes. Because they are cool! Here's what I've build so far: two reactors, a flight of stairs, a platform, and a set of walkways!

 

 

 

Hurray!

Necomunda Terrain Painting

I've made incredible advancements with speed painting my terrain, using a technique displayed by the guys from Dingues de Jeux. They've not only upped my lackluster command of the French language, they've also introduced me to the world of Molotow edge highlighting and rust streaking! Watch this video from 6:39 and you'll see what I mean...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwYBzSdKR7k

 

And I invested heavily in that too...

 

 

  Necromunda Modelling

As my gang needs some extra muscle, I was thinking about adding a brute. Everyone is getting Ambots these days, but I find them to be a little lackluster. They're not immune to pinning AND slow. An Escher ganger with a lasgun could keep it effectively at bay long enough for her sisters to complete objectives or kill the rest of the gang. No, I need something special. So after buying a new champion and a new ganger, I'm saving my credits for an Escher Khimerix! Now, there's no miniaturer yet, but the fluff basically lets it be whatever you like. At first, I ordered a Grymkin Gorehound Light Warbeast from the Hordes game.  

However, that took waaaaaaay too long to arrive (in fact, I still don't have it) and I'm impatient. As I was quite impressed by the artwork in the Gangs of the Underhive book, I went on a quest to create a six-legged monstrosity. Here's what I've come up:

 

 

 

 

Obviously it's not finished -I still need to fix the musculature and the fur, but the basic idea is there. What do you think? :)

Cheers!

Replies:

@ Hungy Nostraman Lizard: Thank you!

 

@ teku: I know right.... ;)

 

@ Vairocanum: Cheers, buddy! Everything worked out fine!

 

@ Atia: Thanks, Atia! I know right? She's feared for sure - although in five games all she has managed to do offensively is shoot my leader in the face after she got too much Ghast in her own....