Sunday 20 May 2018

Necromunda Bounty Hunters & Hired Guns 01

Here I present a selection of my bounty hunters and hired guns from the original Necromunda skirmish game. These 28mm scale figures were all produced by Citadel Miniatures for Games Workshop. Bounty hunters and hired guns could be hired by any gang. They usually had better stats than starting gangers but the downsides were they could not advance in experience and they had to be paid each time they took part in a gang fight.
These four heavily armed men are all bounty hunters. I'm afraid I don't have names for them as none of them were used in my original Necromunda campaign. The muscular chap at the far left is armed with a high-powered Las Rifle, a Chainsword and in holster and sheath, a Laspistol and a Shotgun respectively. Note that he has a cybernetic left arm.
The next bounty hunter has a Wild West vibe about him with his long duster and cowboy hat. However, his weapons are very high tech with a pair of Bolt Pistols (one with a scope sight), a Shotgun and a Sword. He has a bionic left eye. I really like this figure a lot. He looks so cool!
Second from the right, this green-haired bounty hunter is armed with a Shotgun and an Autopistol in a holster on his right hip. He has a cybernetic right arm and a bionic right eye, and he is wearing a respirator.
The bounty hunter at the far right is heavily laden with all sorts of gear on his back and is the only one out of this quartet not to have any cyberware. He is armed with a Bolt Gun, a Bolt Pistol with scope sight, a Shotgun, an assortment of Grenades and a Demolition Charge.
Next up are the hired guns. These are much less skilled than the bounty hunters but are also much cheaper to hire and make for good cannon fodder. The three to the left are unnamed scum. At the far left is a guy who clearly works out as he shows off his bulging muscles. He is armed with an Autopistol and a Plasma Pistol.
The elderly gent next to him is armed with a Knife and a Flamer Pistol in his hands and an Autopistol in a holster on his right hip.
The fat dude in the centre of this group is firing his Plasma Pistol in a two-handed grip. He also has a Knife in a sheath on his left side.
The other two are special characters - the famous Kal Jerico and his sidekick, Scabbs, both of whom appeared in numerous stories in prose and graphic novel format. Born the son of Necromunda's Planetary Governor Gerontius Helmawr and Heleana Jerico, Kal left the luxury of the spire for the life of a bounty hunter in the Underhive. As well as hunting those with bounties on their heads, Jerico often has a bounty on his own due to his unorthodox methods, leading as often as not to trouble finding him. He resolves these situations using his trademark debonair swashbuckling style, relying on quick wits and his good luck more than brute strength. Ambidextrous, Jerico wields two laser-sighted duelling Laspistols as his trademark and carries a trusty sabre. He also uses Photon Flash Flares and Frag Grenades to escape from unpleasant situations
His trusty and unpleasant companion, Scabbs, is a half-Ratskin, and he is armed with a Stubber Pistol. These were limited edition figures and as such are very rare. They were not part of the original range of figures but appeared much later.
One of my favourite characters and sculpts is "Mad Donna" Ulanti, the renegade noblewoman. She was once D'onne Ulanti, twelfth daughter of old Sylvanus, patriarch of the Noble House Ulanti up in the Spire. Sylvanus wanted to keep her pure for a convenient political marriage sometime, so he kept her locked up in a needle-thin tower on the outside of the spire. Some say Sylvanus used to slip in there to torment her, others say it was living amidst the unroofed skies that drove her crazy in the end. Whatever it was, her character defects only became apparent when she first met her husband-to-be and gouged his eyes out with a fork as they shared a banquet. As he lay screaming, the guards rushed in but didn't know who to shoot so sweet D'onne shot them both with the count's own pistol and then escaped the palace in all the confusion. She kept going down until she reached the hive bottom, and it was there that she was taken in by an Escher gang and her career as a gang fighter began with them. She soon got a reputation for craziness and she carved up a lot of people who got in her way. Eventually, she left the Eschers and drifted away. She is now available for hire for any gang except Goliaths, Redemptionists, Scavvies and Spyrers. She is armed with a Plasma Pistol, Laspistol and Chainsword. She has a bionic right eye, a replacement after she gouged out her own eye when a bartender called her "pretty!"
The last three figures are all bounty hunters. The woman standing next to "Mad Donna" is Amazonia Gothique, elder sister of Escher ganger, Corisande Gothique (see here ). She is armed with an Autogun Rifle and a Chainsword. This is a figure that I converted from a very old Citadel fantasy female Chaos Warrior who was armed with a Battleaxe and Shield. I cut off the tab on her left arm to fix the shield to and removed her Battleaxe and sculpted her an Autogun to replace it. The Chainsword was added from my spare parts box. When I ran my original Necromunda campaign, I recruited Amazonia to my Escher gang right at the start and she stayed with them for their first five gang fights and proved to be a real asset, as she helped them to victory after victory.
The two figures to the right went on sale round in the early 2000's, when GW redesigned a lot of the figures for the game, not very successfully, in my opinion. These two were amongst the few that I did buy then. The woman, second from the right is armed with a Bolt Pistol with scope-sight and a long Dagger. The woman at the far right wields a Combi-Bolter/Melta Gun and a pair of Laspistols in her holsters. She is wearing a respirator and is carrying the severed head of one of her victims. I do like this pair but they have never seen action with me. I may just use them when I start my new Necromunda campaign, in which case, they will get named.

44 comments:

  1. Good grief there's some detail on those miniatures, Bryan, and what a haul you have too. I was tempted to pick up Kal Jericho recently when "GW" had him and Scabbs back up for sale, but as its been so long since I read the character's comic book exploits I eventually decided against getting him (the price didn't help either!).

    The amount of different bits and bobs, colours and patterns you've picked out on these is simply breath-taking and its clear you were very taken with "Necromunda" when it originally came out. Glorious posting - one of your very best, ever, imho :-)

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    1. Thank you ever so much, Simon. "Necromunda" was and still is my favourite GW game, and so my enthusiasm for it is very high. I did notice that Kal, Scabbs and "Mad Donna" were available for sale recently but was glad I already had them because they sure were expensive.

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  2. Fab collection. These imo where what really flesh out the imagery of the Necromunda world for me. I to loved the bounty hunter in the duster. I wished he wasn't holding the shotgun the way he was it look a little awkward but that is my only niggle I don't like about him.

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    1. Many thanks, Simon. I can only agree with your comments. Well said, sir!

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  3. Great collection of underhive scum Bryan, Your Amazonia Gothique was also a limited edition figure based on the John Blanche artwork used as a cover for White Dwarf, they later released a model based off her in the chaos warriors range with some modifications

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    1. Thank you kindly, Dave. I have very fond memories of that John Blanche painting you mentioned. My Amazonia is the original limited edition figure.

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  4. What a great collection of old school Necromunda minis! I love it! Mad Donna, Kal Jerico and the rest - just lovely to see these all again. You can also run the new Venator gang in the current White Dwarf straight away! Your enthusiasm for Necromunda shoes through and is very infectious! Great posting.

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    1. I much appreciate your comments, Undercoat. Yes, I do love "Necromunda". It has been many a year since I last subscribed to White Dwarf so any new content sails right over my head. I'm afraid I know nothing about this Venator gang you mention.

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    2. The Venator gang consists of Bounty Hunters and Underhive scum. Might be worth picking a White Dwarf up, it is the one with new sea elves on the cover, as it has all the gang rules etc. As I said, I do enjoy these trips down memory lane.

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    3. Thanks for that info, Undercoat. I don't need to get the White Dwarf mag as Phil kindly sent me a link to the article that appeared in the mag. Isn't the Internet wonderful?

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  5. http://www.sodemons.com/rhrare/confrontation/index.htm

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    1. Thanks, Phil. What a blast from the past. I have some of those figures and have posted them on this blog as perp gangs for the "Judge Dredd Miniatures Game".

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  6. https://spikeybits.com/2018/05/necromunda-venator-gang-wd-rules-revealed.html

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    1. Much appreciated, Phil. I've saved that page for future reference.

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  7. Ahhh necro scum the real meat of a necro campaign as players scrabble to be ale to afford them (both scum and bounty hunters) Just to make the next morale threshold while the Mad Doc has some of the gang in the infirmary!

    Brings back some memories!

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    1. You're absolutely spot on there, Clint. Oddly enough, in my original campaign, none of my other players ever hired bounty hunters or underhive scum for their gangs, but I did, and it proved to be a sound tactic.

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  8. Some nifty painting there, especially the mad Donna bunch, not sure why I noticed but the stockings are very effective.

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    1. Cheers, John. Somehow, I was always good at painting women's stockings. What that says about me I'll leave up to you to decide! ;-)

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  9. Kal Jerico looks the business mate. In fact all of them look great ;-)

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    1. Thanks, Andy. Kal is quite a hard-ass character. I've read all of his adventures and I do like the guy.

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  10. What a great collection of scum (in the nicest way of course!), the four ladies at the bottom would have to be my favourites, and I well remember Mad'Donna from back in the day, she was one of those mini's that I thought about buying on several occasions but never actually got round to it, sorry now of course. though I think my overall fav is the lady with the bolt pistol and long dagger, that is a lovely figure, I really like her!

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thank you kindly, Roger. For me, the four females in the last two photos are all outstanding figures and are my favourites as well. You have good taste, sir!

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  11. Stunning collection of minis Bryan - a real trip down memory lane and a treat for the eyes!
    Picking up on John's comment, I've NEVER been able to paint stockings effectively - any chance of passing on a few hints pretty please???????

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    1. Hi Greg. I now employ a few methods for painting stockings. First up is finding and using a colour you wish to replicate. Foundry Drab Shade 11A is a good starting point. Second, use layers of Citadel inks like Seraphim Sepia, Reikland Flashshade or Agrax Earthshade. The more layers you use, the darker they will appear. Ink washes are good in that they pool in recesses like the back of the knee but leave raised areas like the knees looking lighter. Thirdly, I sometimes do fishnet stockings and for them I draw on the mesh pattern with a fine-nibbed Rotring pen. I hope this helps. Don't be afraid to experiment. Depending on the shade you want you may have to mix colours. Note that "Mad Donna's" stockings are slightly lighter than Amazonia's. This was deliberate.

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    2. Many thanks for that Bryan - my mistake has been to use washes directly onto the flesh tone I'd painted the legs.
      I'll get myself some FDS11a and have a go :-)

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    3. You're most welcome, Greg. Actually, I use my ink washes on top of the flesh tone as well, so I wouldn't call that a mistake.

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  12. LOVE them! ;O) My favourite Bounty Hunter from my Necromunda days in 99 was a version of Barb Wire from a heavily converted Escher, good times!

    BTW: I've found a picture in the net of the "soon to be Goliaths" from GW' Dark Future game from the early 80s:

    http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/33/13-160518224803-33126627.jpeg

    :O)

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    1. BTW 2: Vampifan, do you know these girls?

      https://elladan-shop.de/Miniatures/Dark-Future

      :O)

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    2. Hi there, Edu. Thanks for the kind words and links. I have those "Dark Future" figures in my own collection but because they are 20mm scale, they've been hidden away for many a year.

      Those Elladan female gangers are superb. I had never seen them before but I reckon they'd make excellent Escher Juves. Many thanks for bringing them to my attention, mate. :-)

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    3. You're always welcome, pardner! ;O)

      I've already ordered the Elladan girls... not really sure where I'm gonna use them, but you know... Maybe in a 28mm version of GW's Dark Future game??? :O)



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    4. I rather liked "Dark Future" as a game, but it saddened me that GW went for 20mm scale vehicles and figures and not 28mm scale.

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    5. Exactly!

      If they relaunch it, I hope it they go with 28mm in order to match their recent Necromunda figures! ;O)

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    6. I very much doubt it'll happen but if it did I'd be all over it.

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  13. Great set of models Bryan full of character :)

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  14. I think the way to deal with those bounty hunters is to toss an egg towards them. When they catch it, the extra weight ought to be enough to topple them over; they look perilously overloaded already :-) !

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    1. Ha, ha, ha! I think you could be right there, Hugh!

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  15. Fantastic collection and painted with lots of character. Love them!

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