The Worst of the Worst

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you'll know that I have periods of extreme enthusiasm for specific projects followed by long, sometimes very long, fallow periods.

Therefore, when I made the decision to jump aboard the Badab War project train, I was caught between wanting to do things properly in terms of the Tale of 4 Gamers challenge, but also wanting to strike whilst the iron was hot in terms of harnessing my enthusiasm.

My answer to this conundrum was these guys...

I can hear what you are thinking: how do very old Necromunda Goliaths (oh my God, are those the horrific plastic ones?) fit into a Space Marine Chapter?

Well, it's like this. The Tyrant's Legion is an army formation from the Imperial Armour: The Badab War books which combines Astral Claws Space Marines with regular human troops. Most of these are clearly intended to be Imperial Guard...sorry, 'Astra Militarum' models, however there are also Renegade Marauder Squad. These represent the scum, pirates, xenos and heretics the Astral Claws allied with out of desperation, and one of the suggestions for using these on the tabletop is Necromunda models.

Obviously I could, and still might, just use my Orlocks and Ratskins, however, I was looking for something to paint and all I had available was these guys: the plastic Goliaths from the original release of Necromunda.

They are famously bad models. No necks, weird musculature, massive hands and arms that reach down to their knees (this is particularly bad with the posable pistol arms). Combined with this, the plasma gun conversion is a really rough one I did over twenty years ago when my standards were much lower.

The four metal models are marginally better in terms of proportions and detail, but actually have more weird musculature happening. Unlike most models in the old Necromunda range, these guys don't hold up, and the less said about the chainsaw hat, the better.

They were not fun to paint either as there's not really anything to work with on the plastics. I tried contrast paint for the skin, but it didn't sit right, so they've ended up with more cartoonish skin.

As ever, I set about trying include some racial diversity, but that has backfired as well. I need to probably work harder in layering the skin on these guys, but I don't think I care enough about a unit that is going to be used as cannon fodder.

In short, I'm less than proud of how they came out.

The blue accents on all the models are to tie them into the wider Astral Claws theme, but also gives them coherency as a Necromunda gang.

In terms of basing, I've gone for Astrogranite technical paint, drybrushed lighter grey and washed with Drakenhof Nightshade. This gives a generic rubble vibe whilst also giving some colour for the mainly silver Space Marines to contrast with.

There's a reason I originally plumped for the Orlocks in the Necromunda starter box, but it is good to get paint on these guys. I'm not sure I'll personally use them as a gang, but they do mean I have a second basic gang without additional rules to lend out if necessary.

Also, I have these guys ready to bring into my Tyrant's Legion later down the line of the Badab War project. What stats I will use I'm keeping to myself for now.

Acquired: -71

Painted: 295

Lead Mountain: 681