Necromunda: House Escher Gangers 01

As I continue to showcase my old and new Necromunda figures, in these next two posts I'm going to focus on my favourite Underhive gang - House Escher. In this post I'm reviewing my original Escher gang - Catherine's Cut-throats. Without further ado, here they are in their entirety. Because this was my favourite gang, all of the figures were named but not all of them were used. That said, 18 of these 24 figures were used in my mid-1990's campaign. This gang just grew and grew. 😃

At the far left is a ganger called Angela Santiago, who is armed with an Autopistol, a Power Sword and a Knife. This was one of the two leader figures provided but I much preferred the other one so this figure became a standard ganger.
Next to her is actual gang leader, Catherine "Cut-throat" Kurtz. She was an incredibly successful leader, who in her first seven gang fights won every one! That impressive achievement went unequalled in my campaign. She is armed with a Plasma Gun, a Las Pistol, a Power Sword and a Knife. Check out her rainbow coloured hair, which I love! This gang is so colourful!
To her left is Corisande Gothique, another ganger and the gang's medic. She is armed with a Las Rifle, a Shotgun, a Power Sword and a Knife. I should mention that she was not an official Escher figure, but an old Citadel Rogue Trader figure whom I drafted in. I added the Power Sword to her from my spare parts box. To me, she just looked like she should be an Escher ganger.

Next in line are the gang's three heavies. Third from the right is Sabrina Wilde, who is armed with a Heavy Plasma Gun, an Autopistol, a Short Sword and a Knife. She was hard as nails and a stone cold killer!
To her left is Dee Dee Deathbringer, who is armed with an Autocannon, an Autopistol, a Short Sword and a Knife. This gang was unusual in that had two heavies on its roster.
The heavy at the far left is Nadia Mendoza, armed with a Las Cannon, a Las Pistol and a Knife. She was not used in my gang. She is another non-official Escher figure. Originally, she was an Imperial Guards-woman. Yes, in those days Citadel did make female Imperial Guardsmen. Why they don't now still baffles me. This figure was not converted in any way, merely given an Escher style paint job. I like her a lot.

Next up are the first six of twelve official metal Escher gangers. I don't know why, but back then Citadel produced more metal gangers for House Escher than any other gang... not that I was complaining! These six gangers specialised in ranged combat. At the far left is Venecia Secura, who is armed with a Shotgun, Autopistol and Knife. She was not used in my gang.
Standing next to her is Annabelle Armalite, who is armed with an Auto Rifle, a Silenced Autopistol and a Knife.
Third from the left is Juliette Delacroix, who is armed with a Las Rifle, a Las Pistol, a Short Sword and a Knife.

The ganger with the mint green hair is "Shotgun Shelagh" O'Shaunessy who is obviously armed with a Shotgun, as well as a Short Sword and a Knife.
Orange-haired ganger, Zoe Sussido, is armed with an Auto Rifle, a Las Pistol and a Knife.
At the far right is Melissa Nightingale, the gang's best sharpshooter, who is armed with a Las Rifle with Telescopic Sight, a Las Pistol and a Knife. Whenever I was setting up my gang I'd always try to place her on the highest point possible.

This next batch of gangers all excelled at melee combat. At the far left is Kirsten McCoy, who is armed with an Autopistol, Frag and Krak Grenades, a Sword and a Knife. I'm not sure, but I think she was the only Necromunda figure who was sculpted holding a Grenade.
Next to Kirsten is Fiona DeVille, who is armed with a Las Pistol, a Flail and a Knife. The Flail is a most unusual weapon in the Underhive.
Third from the left is Siobhan Sawyer who is armed with an Autopistol, a Chainsword and a Short Sword.

Third from the right is Pomayla Jatarri, who is armed with a Plasma Pistol, a Club and a Knife.
To her right is Gabrielle Swiftsword, who is naturally armed with a Power Sword, an Autopistol and a Knife. She was the gang's best close combat fighter. Only Catherine, the gang's leader, earned more experience than her.
Finally, is Jade Maskarra, a new recruit to the gang. She is armed with a Las Pistol, two swords and a Knife.

Finally, we come to the juves. At the far left is Becky Buck, who became a highly skilled ganger and infiltrator. She is armed with an Autopistol with Silencer, a Pick and a Knife. Her colour scheme was loosely based on the comic book heroine, Tank Girl, whom I thought she resembled.
Next in line is Hoso Purdey (oh, so pretty, geddit?) who is armed with an Autopistol, a Club and a Knife. She was not used in my gang.
Neither was the next juve in line, Salma Cruz, who is armed with an Autopistol, an Axe and a Knife. Note that I added her glasses.

This next juve, Carryanne Fairchild, is not a Citadel figure. I can't remember who originally sculpted her but she was heavily converted by me. I added her shoulder pad, twin MAC10 Machine Pistols (which I classed as Autopistols), her ammo pouch, her tiger print loin cloth and her boots. Given that amount of work on her, she was used in my gang but was added much later in the campaign, so she never advanced beyond juve status.
Second from the right is Kayrin Rasavi, who is armed with an Autopistol and a Knife. She was not used in my campaign.
Nor was the final figure in my collection, Rula Villaseca, which is a shame. I love this sculpt. The way she is clearly struggling to hold that massive Plasma Pistol is just so cute. She is also armed with a Knife.
When I played with my Badland Bastards Goliath gang, I never cared whether I won or not. I just wanted to have fun with them. But with Catherine's Cut-throats, this was my favourite gang and I so wanted to succeed with them the most. These were my babes. I put my heart and soul into painting them to the very best of my abilities. Luckily, I did extremely well with them They finished top of my league when my old campaign drew to a close. When I started out with this gang, one of the first things I did was to hire a bounty hunter to aid them in their first few games. Her name was Amazonia Gothique, elder sister of Corisande. The experience and high stats she provided made a big difference in those early games and I was surprised so few other players didn't follow suit. I'll show you Amazonia in a latter post. She left after five games, by which time my gang had earned plenty of experience. Such was the reputation of Catherine's Cut-throats that late on in the campaign, they were awarded Watchmen status, a high honour indeed.
Obviously my views about these figures are biased but honestly, they were some of the finest sculpted Citadel figures for Necromunda. The fact that they are the only all-female gang in the game immediately drew me to them. I had such a blast playing with them in my campaign and coming top was simply the cherry on the cake. Do I prefer these old figures to the new plastic Eschers? Yes, I do. The new plastics are gorgeous and have so much conversion potential but they look more muscular to these ladies. These old figures are pure gold, in my opinion