Sump Trawlers - Meet the Crew

It's a dirty job, but some's got to do it.

"Ha, you think we wear these suits as a fashion statement?! Tell me boy, have you ever been down into the Sumps? The lights don't work right down there you know. Some days it's just you, your shoulder lamps, and kilometers of tunnel, flooded with Emperor knows what sort of toxic sludge. A hundred cycles or so ago I was down there and we had ourselves a little hivequake. Collapsed the floor beneath my feet and I went under. Sergey found me a few hours later. My legs were crushed under a girder, my lamp had broken and I'd long since screamed myself hoarse. The hi-vis flash of my suit in the dark caught his eye. And saved my life. So you can keep your fancy vest and your polished boots. This thing may be uglier than a grox-hide coat, but I wouldn't trade it for the world."

- Natasha, sump trawler

Oh man, this gang has been fun to build. My local Necromunda league started up suddenly, so I had to work with what I had on had, and decided to build an unorthodox Orlock gang. Conveniently, I think they work pretty well for Mare Solum as well, with hi-vis being important on stormy seas.

The paint job was my first experiment with copper, and I must say that the GW Nihilakh Oxide is pretty amazing. Drucchi Violet continues to be my "magic shade" though, as I used it on the orange and copper on the suits, the silver on the weapons, AND most of the skin-tones. Anyway, let's meet the gang!

Ivan Ivanovich. Leader.

Equipped with: mechandrites, jury-rigged plasma-welder, disdain for young punks 

(servo claw, plasma gun, plasma pistol)

 

 

 

Casimir. Champion.

Equipped with: more dynamite than patience

(shotgun, stub gun, blasting charges)

 

 

 

Natasha. Champion.

Equipped with: harpoon launcher, a whole lot of sass

(harpoon launcher, autopistol)

 

Decker. Juve.

Equipped with: great hair, limitless ambition

(autopistol, fighting knife)

Misha. Juve. Mechanic.

Equipped with: welding torch, industrial saw, Imperial Infatryman's Uplifting Primer

(hand flamer, chainsword)

  

 

 

Nicholai. Ganger.

(dual stub pistols, dum dum rounds)

 

 

Valentine. Ganger.

(autogun, demolition charges)

 

 

 

Katniss. Ganger.

(autogun, stub gun, chainsword)

 

 

 

Emilya. Ganger.

(longlas)

Sergey. Ganger.

(shotgun, axe)

 

Phew, that was a lot of photos, not all of them high-quality. But you take what you can get in the tough world of the underhive.

Cheers!

Sump Trawlers - The Beginning (WIP)

Quick preview of a gang I'm working on that should serve double duty. Their primary use will be as "Orlocks" in a local N17 campaign that kicks off this weekend, in which they'll be members of a guild that patrols and maintains/repairs the labyrinth depths of the sump levels. But they'll also probably get some screen time as a Mare Solum crew on the open seas!

Left to right: ganger with autogun and demo charges, juve with autopistol,

champion with blasting charges, champion with harpoon gun



Better angle on the juve

 

Creepy servitors!

Unfortunately, since the servitors don't get to be in the gang yet (they'll be hanger-ons later), and I'm planning on starting with eight models, that's another four that I need to finish building before Sun. And somewhere in there I need to find time to paint at least one model as well to meet the first-day requirements. It's going to be a busy week!

Inq28 - Palatine Spires - 2018 Adepticon Event

 

The daemonhost, Saint Marchesa the Martyred, surveys the Spires

Excerpts from vox recording, believed to have been entered by Inquisitor Amindian Galdicti, current whereabouts unknown...

3 301 998.M41

"Last night the Saint came to me and whispered that the Emperor, in his wisdom, had granted her a vision. Amongst the Palatine Spires, floating above the smog of Necromunda there lay a Cardinal, interred in darkness. There was light in the darkness, and from the light, Chaos was born into the hive, released by hubris and greed. Our holy task was made clear to me: I must prevent the Cardinal's rest from being disturbed."

3 337 998.M41

"I have arrived on Necromunda with a small cohort of followers. I would have come alone, but Interrogator Kar'ral insisted on accompanying me, along with a pair of penitents he requisitioned from the Ecclesiarchy. The Saint is with us of course. Her presence is a comfort I would scarce do without. We have begun our investigations as to the whereabouts of Konieczka's remains."

The Daemonhost Saint Marchesa and her bird minions are my creations for this event.

Inquisitor Galdicti and Interrogator Kar'ral were kindly lent to me by Jonny Lashley.

Vince Michaels provided the two penitents.

Thrilled that their contributions allowed me to participate!

3 339 998.M41

"We have located the cemetery, but it seems we may be too late. At least one other inquisitor, a rouge trader, envoys of several navigator houses, and potentially others are already converging on the location. The Saint tells me that we must be swift if we are to carry out the will of the Emperor today.The stage is set, and all the actors have taken their places."

Starting to look like a gaming table



Beautiful building made by Vince

 



The cemetery is populated with mausoleums, and the smog is laid



 

Main spires made by Jonny; they came complete with internal lights and speakers!



 



 

 

 

3 340 998.M41

"As we approached the cemetery it was clear that we would have to purge the heresies of our rivals with sword and flame. Adjacent to our approach a rogue trader converged on our position atop a mobile platform.

Vince's lovely warband on their unorthodox transport.

Almost immediately a heavy combat servitor leapt from their conveyance to the building upon which we stood. With silent grace, the Saint moved to intercept it. The rest of us continued toward the cemetery, confident that the light of the Emperor would protect her.

Unfortunately for the servitor, a lucky 6 from the "Saint's" power sword cut it down before it could get a chance to activate again. Very lucky for me though, as I didn't want to be on the wrong end of its heavy stubber!

As we advanced, we exchanged light fire with the Trader's retinue. Kar'ral was struck by a harpoon and I lost track of him in the swirl of battle. Their attentions soon shifted though as a navigator flaunted his witchcraft to teleport a band of warriors below our position, and another Inquisitor approached from the other end of the cemetery. Across the twisted paths the roaring engines of a gunship were heard; my rivals were moving swiftly. Too swiftly.

Rob's Inquisitor heads toward their objective. I declare them radical and unclean!

Isaac's dropship menaces Jame's noble and T.J's mechanicus. Luckily it stayed away from me for most of the battle!

The next moments were a blur of close fighting among the mausoleums. Apparently none of us were able to predetermine exactly where the cardinal was interred. Among the roar of gunshots, the stink of promethium and burning flesh, and the screams of the wounded and dying we searched. Clouds of smoke and poison floated between the crypts, hiding both our objective and each other in the mist. It appears that I had allies here after all; a cohort of the Adeptus Mechanicus guarded a central elevator shaft from assaults on several sides. Unfortunately, they were soon overwhelmed, their bodies and spirits broken. I prayed to the Emperor and the Saint then that I would not break so easily.

Isaac's forces landed and spent most of the game keeping James out of the cemetery entirely. Sandwiched as they were between James and T.J. though they were fighting a battle just to survive.

Moments after fighting back an assailant I heard a loud crack, followed by the crash of falling stone. The heretical inquisitor opposing me had discovered and unearthed Konieczka!

There were ~20 crypts, and Rob managed to find the right one on his second or third try. By this point over half the total possibilities had been searched for.

All fighting ceased for a brief moment, then the roar of battle and fervor returned, redoubled. All made haste toward our target. Others to try to steal what unclean secrets they could for themselves, me to try to stop the heretics from escaping with their foul reward. The Trader appeared directly before me, and I set him alight with the flamer hardwired into my frame. I smiled grimly as he burned, but soon turned my attention back toward the casket. Something was happening...

Blurry shot of forces converging

The very air and stone warped and rent as one of the Inquisitor's servants spoke a word in an ancient and blasphemous tongue. There was a flash and a thunderclap, and all fell to their knees. I experienced a brief sense of deja vu as I wondered whether there hadn't previously been a man confronting the heretical acolyte, standing where the air now rippled with dissipating power? No, I thought as my mind cleared, there had never been a man there at all. As the Inquisitor got to her feet in triumph, and the acolyte turned toward another adversary with ill-intent written on his augmented featured I myself began smile. For immediately behind them, accompanied by the beating wings of the Emperor's will, floated the Saint, returned at last to the fray. A mouth opened once more to speak, but blood instead of blasphemy poured fourth from the heretic's gaping jaws. A holy blade, warded against the daemonic now protruded from his chest. As he slumped to the ground I felt the tide of battle shifting."

- end transcript

Yeah, the spires were taller than the players. Coolest table I've ever played a wargame on!

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get too many pictures while the fight was ongoing, and only remembered key events that directly impacted my cohort. But rest assured, the whole table to rife with conflict, intrigue, and surprise! I didn't manage to stop the exhumation, or the blasphemous words held in the Cardinals mnemonic implant from being spoken, but I did manage to immediately slay the model who transgressed, and with my daemonhost no less. So I'll call it a moral victory. We ran out of time here, and decided to call it so we could clean up. A great thematic endpoint!

Overall this event was amazing, and exceeded almost all of my expectations. Everyone had great cohorts with fantastic models, great character, and some fun rules. We did a lot of looking things up and winging it, since many of us hadn't had a chance to play with the new Necromunda rules before. They stood up well to the test though, and I'm definitely looking forward to playing more games in the Inquisimunda framework. After my first foray into the Inq28 world, I have to say that I'm hooked!

Huge shout outs to James Ward for organizing everything, writing the story and the rules, and for making the sky cemetery. Also Vince Michaels and Jonny Lashley for their terrain contributions and for lending me models, and everyone else for smaller bits of terrain and for coming out to make this story happen!

Rules:

Codex Palatine Spires

Concerning Daemonhosts

My cohort

Epic - Battle Report - Ghaz Orks vs Adeptus Astartes - 3,000 points

Had a game to test out allowing Epic-UK powerfield upgrades in the NetEA Ghaz Orks list. Apologies in advance for the poor photo quality; there's a lamp placed just over the table that played merry hell with pictures.

The orks' list, very heavy on battle/gunfortresses, with 9 activations:
- 415 - Warband: 2 Nobz, 7 Boyz, 3 Grotz, Flakwagon, Battlefortress w/ Oddboy and Power Fields
- x3 355 - Warband: 2 Nobz, 6 Boyz, 2 Grotz, Battlefortress w/ Oddboy and Power Fields
- x2 325 - Blitz Brigade: 2 Flakwagon, 2 Gunwagon, Gunfortress w Oddboy and Supa-Zzap
- 570 - Stompamob: 3 Stompas, Supastompa, 2 Flakwagon [BTS]
- x2 150 - 3 Fighta Bommas

...vs the marine list, which was relatively straightforward/traditional, with 11 activations
- 450 - 6 Tacticals, 1 Hunter, Rhinos, Supreme Commander [BTS]
- x2 400 - 4 Terminators, Chaplain
- 150 - 4 Scouts, Rhinos
- 225 - 3 Land Speeder Tornado, 2 Land Speeder Typhoon
- 250 - 5 Land Speeders, Chaplain
- x2 200 - Thunderhawk
- x2 275 - Warhound
- 175 - 2 Thunderbolts

Objective placements marked in red.

Orks - deployed in a line across their midfield with the stompamob in the woods on the blitz.
Battlefortresses rolled 4,3,3,2 for powerfields, stompa got 2.

Marines - Terminators in thawks, tacticals in ruins on the blitz,
scouts, titans, and speeders all clustered behind the woods.

Turn 1 - Marines win initiative
M - CAP T-bolts
O - Blitz brigade on far (Ork's) right doubles and targets Scouts. Kills 1 stand for 2 blast markers
M - Warhound advances and targets the activated blitz brigade, killing 2 gunwagons for 3 blast markers
O - Warband doubles up past the corner of the cathedral and targets unactivated warhound for a blast marker
M - Tacticals advance further into the ruins, target the activated warband for a blast marker and strip 1 power field
M - Retain w/ t-hawk and air assault the just targeted warband. Lose 1 terminator and the t-hawk in exchange for the entire warband except the battlefortress
O - Warband doubles and targets warhound - takes down a void shield and adds another blast marker
M - Warhound rallies - targets warband back, stripping a power field and adding a blast marker, then removes a single blast marker of its own
O - Deja-vu: warband doubles and targets warhound - takes down a void shield and adds another blast marker
M - Speeders advance to within supporting fire range and target warband, stripping a power field and adding a blast marker
M - Retain (SC re-roll) and engage w/ second speeders, pulling in speeders and terminators as supporting fire. Strip all power fields and do 2DC to the battlefortress in exchange for 1 speeder. Orks lose 2 boyz to hackdown
O - Stompamob advances, fires at speeders, 2 kills, 3 blast markers, catches terminators under BP for another blast marker
M - Scouts fail to activate and instead remove all blast markers
O - Last warband advances and disembarks to target speeders, killing 2 and breaking them
M - T-hawk goes on CAP
O - Blitz brigade advances and targets unshielded warhound, misses, breaking it w/ a blast marker
O - Fightabombas ground attack the broken speeders with defective bombs, doing no damage after the t-bolts intercept and splash one
O - Fightabombas ground attack broken speeders. This skwadron remembers how to fire and wipes them out.

Ork end phase - both fightabombas fly off the ork edge. Everything but broken battlefortress rallies.
Marine end phase - T-bolts fly off the ork edge, taking a blast marker, t-hawk stands down. Everything but the broken Warhound rallies

Battlefield at the end of turn 1

Turn 2 - Marines win initiative
M - Warhound sustains on blitzbrigade, killing 1 flakwagon
M - Scouts retain and double onto the objective behind the woods, targeting the blitzbrigade and breaking it
O - Stompamob sustains targeting the speeders (and clipping the terminators) but rolls 4 ONES! Blast markers placed
O - Warband retains, engages terminators in btb; kills all three for 3 boyz, a nob, and a grot
M - Speeders marshal, targeting the warband that just engaged, stripping the last power field and adding a blast marker, then removes 2 of their own blast markers
O - fightabombas on CAP
M - Tacticals sustain on unshielded battlefortress w/ warband inside, 3 hits, 3 failed saves, a single  stand of Nobz emerges cursing and broken from the flaming wreckage
O - Fightabombas ground attack scouts, killing a rhino and placing 2 blast markers
M - T-hawk ground attacks unactivated blitzbrigade, kills a flakwagon and places 2 blast markers. Fightabombas intercept, losing 1 to the tactical’s hunter, and put a damage and 2 blast markers on the t-hawk
O - Blitzbrigade engages speeders; wipes them out for loss of 1 gunwagon
M - T-bolts ground attack blitzbrigade, trade blast markers
O - Warband doubles onto the objective behind the woods and shoots scouts for a blast marker
O - Warband engages scouts with just the battlefortress within 15. Scouts wiped out for no loss.

Ork end phase - fightabomas leave without further harassment, both blitzbrigades rally, neither broken warband remnant does (SC re-roll), but they move to allow for T3 objective contesting
Marine end phase - t-hawk takes heavy flak on the way out, but no damage, warhound finally rallied (SC re-roll)

Battlefield at the end of turn 2

Turn 3 - Marines win initiative
M - Warhound sustains on warband, rolls abysmally again, and kills 2
O - Fightabombas fail to go on CAP and stand down
M - Tacticals double to claim blitz and a second objective; fire on blitzbrigade for a blast marker
O - Fightabombas go on CAP
M - Warhound advances, targeting blitzbrigade; kills a gunwagon, a flakwagon and puts a damage on the gunfortress, breaking it (this was wrong, I think as damage should be to WE or non-WE targets) 
O - Remaining blitzbrigade doubles to the two woods objectives and shoots at warhound, placing a blast marker and stripping a shield
M - T-bolts ground attack a warband, taking flak on the way in and destroying the damaged battlefortress
O - Warband doubles (staying on the objective) and targets warhound, adding a second blast marker and stripping the last shield
M - T-hawk and terminators air-assault the unactivated warband. CAP fightabombas and flakwagons make a valiant effort, but the damaged t-hawk stays alive long enough to deliver the terminators into combat, where it is promptly SHOT TO DEATH BY GROTZ. Unfortunately for the orks, that’s the only casualty they inflict, while the terminators rip the battlefortress to shreds with their powerfists and mow down a few orks for good measure. When terminators up by 5 and kill another 4 with hackdown
O - Stompamob doubles, maneuvering themselves to contest 2 objectives and get into the marine half, bringing marines from 3 victory conditions to 0. They target the tacticals, destroying a rhino.

Ork end phase - fightabombas fly off, the lone nob behind the church from a broken warband rallies, the other broken formations fail to do so.
Marine end phase - everybody rallies and the t-bolts fly off

(sadly I forgot to take a picture here)

T4 - marines win initiative
M - Terminators march to the blitz
O - Warband doubles next to the warhound and fires, stripping a shield and giving it a blast marker
O - Retain with blitz brigade, double behind warhound, miss with zzap gun, warhound breaks anyway
M - Sustain on broken battlefortress, put one damage on it with a blast marker, 2 hits take down power fields
O - Stompamob decides to engage the tacticals, because ORKS. They kill 2 marines in exchange for a stompa, making a tie combat. They win by 4 on the roll-off through, hacking down two marine.
M - T-bolts ground attack, killing the rallied nob, which cleared the objective for the warhound and racked up some more points
O - Desperate fightabomba run against the terminators on the blitz, blast marker
M - Warhound fails to activate, fires on the battlefortress for another automatic damage
O - Desperate fightabomba run against the terminators on the blitz, blast marker

Ork end phase - fightabombas move off, and a miracle set of rallying! Broken gunfortress rallies to contest the blitz, broken battlefortress rallies, only 1 warband left broken.
Marine end phase - t-bolts move off, everything rallies to contest both ork-held objectives.

(and this picture was blurry enough to be completely unusable)

Final result: 0-0 win to orks on VP (1650 vs 1420)

Final thoughts: the marines were a little hesitant with the second t-hawk after the first one's Leroy Jenkins move got the terminators stranded and later wiped out, both of which hurt their game plan. On the orks' side the warbands did pretty well for themselves. Powerfielded battlefortresses are expensive, but very useful, and certainly seem like a viable choice. As T2 proved, you certainly still need to think about whether to leave the boyz embarked or not after weathering that first turn of shooting. After the game I also took a look at the UK ork list, and it seems that the list I played would have been a legal UK-Ork list, except that the UK stompamob would have been 25 points cheaper. There's really not a lot of difference between the EA and UK lists as things stand.

Final conclusion: definitely allow the powerfields upgrade for EA Ghaz.

Inq28 - Cult of the Drowned Machine WIP

"01001010 01101111 01101001 01101110 00100000 01110111 01101001 01110100 01101000 00100000 01101111 01110101 0110010 00100000 01100111 01101100 01101111 01110010 01111001 00101110 00100000 01000100 01101001 01100101 00100000 01110011 01101111 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01101101 01100001 01111001 00100000 01101100 01101001 01110110 01100101 00101110..."

- Looped recording found loaded into the vox-banks of the Multus est Mare, a fishing trawler found drifting empty 13 kilometers west of Leviticus Anchorage. 28 crewmembers are unaccounted for, and presumed dead. An encrypted translation, stored on a data-slate in the water wardens' 182nd precinct archives reads as follows: 

"Join with our glory. Die so you may live. Join with our glory. Die so you may live. Join with our glory. Die so you may live. Join with our glory. Die so you may live..."

Work has officially started on the Cult of the Drowned Machine. This will be a warband or set of NPCs for the Mare Solum waterworld project. I'll be writing some in-depth (pun totally intended) fluff on them at some point, but for now the general gist is a sort of mysterious, undead, and waterlogged dark-mech like force that worships a god know only as the Drowned Machine.

I'm taking a very piecemeal approach to construction right now, just sort of fitting things together and seeing what sticks. I've put together, then taken apart or extensively modified at least 4-5 different models so far. Some of the survivors appear below.



I tossed this together last week. An okay start.

Made from a Mantic zombie, a Tyranid adrenal gland, and some forgotten chain bit.

I almost pulled it apart to start over. Instead it became this pitiful wretch.

The first servant of the Machine that I created. It's lost an arm and gained a head,

but otherwise has stayed relatively unchanged.

Made with a Mantic zombie, FW scyllax guardian-automata parts, and part of a trygon mandible.



Skreee! First attempt at using a mold to texture a base. Came out kinda janky,

but I'll cover that up with puddles and bolted-on sheets of metal (aka plasticard).

Made with Ruststalker legs, the skeleton torso from the GW ghouls kit, 

a Tyranid adrenal gland, and the tentacles from a spore min. 



Not sure what's going on with this one. It may or may not make the cut.

Made with something from Warmahordes and a trygon tongue-spike. 

Cute little mandible arms!

(He won't stand up on his own yet, hence the tweezers)

Made with FW scyllax guardian-automata tendrils, a Mantic zombie,

a daemontte claw for the arms, and misc wires 

 

He's another one that I'm not sure about right now.

It might just need greenstuff work and final details, or a bit more a re-think.

This monstrosity is still heavily wip. Very much just seeing what sticks in terms of aesthetics.

So far contrains FW scyllax guardian-automata parts, a tervigon birthing sack, some cables, and a Kataphron servitor arm.

Size comparison with some Saga Vikings.

I don't think even brave hearthguard would like to meet this beasty!

Cheers!

Saga - Pagan Rus Warrior Priest and Hearthguard

Finally back to painting Saga after a few months of distraction. Still don't have a process that I'm fully comfortable with for these guys, but I'd say they're coming out alright. And it turns out that audiobooks, while not normally something I go for, are a great way to zone out for a few hours and crank through some progress. I've finished two more points for my Rus vikings, bringing me up to a respectable three. Just eight more warriors and the warlord to go for a playable four point force!

Warrior priest of Odin, accompanied by his mystic ravens

This was a simple conversion of the Gripping Beast Jomsviking Warlord model.
Weapon swap to spear and shield, and some fur around the helmet and chainmail coat.
The two over-sized ravens were sourced from the Zombicide Murder of Crows. 

First point of hearthguard. For some reason the skin especially on these gave me a lot of problems
and I'm not super happy with it.

Models are a slightly converted Gripping Beast Jomsviking, a Gripping Beast Pagan Rus Varjazi,
and two slightly converted models from Saxon Miniatures Viking and Saxon Warlords packs.
Shield transfers are, of course, from LBM Studios. 

I'm hoping that I'll manage to find a partner for the Saga Doubles tournament at Adepticon in March and get to bring these guys. So far though it's looking like they may be limited to more local pillages for the foreseeable future.

Cheers!

Inq28 - Ash Wastes Strider (WIP)

Sometimes you see a bit of inspiration and just KNOW. In this case, I ran across this piece of art by James Flaxman years ago. At the time I had no idea what I'd do with it, but saved it off in a gallery of inspiration, knowing that someday it would come in handy. I probably scrolled past it 50 times or more over the course of the years until one day I was explaining my creative process and it just sort of hit me. I suddenly knew exactly how I could create an homage to the piece.

Just look at this adorably creepy little guy
And there's plenty more Inq28 inspiration where that came from

Parts list so far:

- Ghoul torso, arms removed (Mantic)

- Zombie legs (Mantic)

- Slaanesh Hellstrider blade arms (GW)

- Chaos Cultist gas mask (GW)

- Skaven Stormvermin spears (GW)

- A bit of metal cable (Dragonforge)

A little more tech-horror than the inspiration image, but of course, that's what's "beautiful" about 40K.

The pose ended up reminding me a lot of the landstriders from Dark Crystal 

Not sure if it'll get spikes or something similar to the piercing stakes.  

May add bandages where the ankles meet the spear hafts, may not. We'll see. 

A mysteriously anachronistic warrior for scale.

Unfortunately, this little guy is pretty low on my priority list in terms of getting finished up or painted. But when I finally get around to making a warband of ash wastes travellers he'll get the love he deserves.

Cheers!