Gods in the Underhive (Nurgle)

I'm supposed to stay awake for a few more hours after falling and concussing myself due to fever-induced vertigo, so it feels like a good time to write about Nurgle.

The Book of Ruin offers a few suggestions about narratives for Chaos-corrupted House gangs, but it feels to me like they went for the low-hanging fruit. In the case of Nurgle, their suggestion was regarding Cawdor, since they basically spend their lives picking thru filth heaps anyway. But consider:

- A Goliath gang who have shifted their definition of strength from what they can overcome to what they can endure. Every time they take pride in shrugging off some damage or pain, Nurgle's hold on their souls tightens just a little further. There's probably also some potential to draw from the line in Hammer to Fall, "Build your muscles as your body decays", but that just popped into my head, so I haven't thought further along that line yet. 

-  A Van Saar gang, their immune systems shredded by the radiation from their faulty tech, discover that, somehow, the diseases they are left wide open to no longer affect them, even tho they have clearly not been cured by any means.

- Orlocks are kinda Cawdor-lite in this specific regard. Not a whole lot I can think of that's really cool here, just that they probably cracked open something while mining that they really should have left alone.

- House Delaque was created by a plague of dream sickness, which puts them pretty squarely in Nurgle's wheelhouse from the word go. But even beyond that, there are some interesting possibilities. The things they do for the Silent Ones frequently take them to the deep, dark places of Necromunda, where all manner of foulness lurks. Further, the Silent Ones might well be careless about something that was harmless to the original Delaque species, but is highly infectious for humans.

- House Escher bring to mind a subtler taint, reminiscent of the Dan Abnett short story Pestilence. Spreading Nurgle's plagues thru tainted chem deliveries, perhaps even focusing on medical supplies for extra irony.

- Corpse-Grinder Cults: What, you think Khorne is the only one who benefits from a Hive being filled with piles of rotting flesh? The focus here becomes less cannibalism, and more just about gratuitously leaving rotting meat all over the place for decay to take its course. Altho not leaving the cannibalism angle out entirely; perhaps only consuming the dead once they have sufficiently "ripened". The angle for Escher works here, too, spreading the diseases thru the food supply rather than chems. Also some cool potential modelling opportunities using Blightking parts, and perhaps an insectoid aspect to the masks rather than the standard hornéd beast look. 

Well, hopefully none of y'all catch anything like this shit I've got, and until next time, y'all have a good one, y'hear! 

Modern Art in the 41st Millennium

This piece, which has been variously reported as being titled "My Triumph", "Don't Worry, I've Got it Entirely Under Control", and "Agh! Run! Run!", Was first exhibited in 879.M41 in Necromunda's Hive Secundus.

The piece is by Magos Biologis Hermiatus and an unknown Corporaptor hominis assistant, and is considered an example of both installation art and performance art. It is a mixed media work, comprised predominantly of misappropriated Archeotech, xenobiological samples, and hubris.

Altho difficult to confirm, it is believed that the piece, or at least what remains of it, is still on display in what's left of Hive Secundus.

***

There we go! Only took me four years to get around to doing the second one. I have to admit, I was extremely nervous when I started taking the clippers to the clear plastic part, but it ended up working out pretty much perfectly. The various differences between the two also mean that the fact that I ran out of the old purple ink that I used inside the tank on the first one and had to substitute Army Painter Purple Tone didn't matter as much as I was worried about, either.

Until next time, y'all have a good one, y'hear! 

Princesses of the Dawn (Part 1)

Due to various health issues (not least, getting covid twice in the past year and a half), I haven't really been able to do much tabletop gaming in quite some time. But I recently reconnected with an old gaming buddy thru Twitter, and he's going to be able to roll up here some time in the new year and I have enough space, energy, and terrain for us to get a few Necromunda games in, so I've started working on a gang to use in a 2 person mini campaign.

I have a bunch of old metal Escher models sitting around that I've used as Chaos Cultists for years, so I'm rebasing them, repainting them in a more coherent scheme, and doing a few conversions to bring them more up to date with what are non-terrible options in House of Blades. In the case of my Leader here, she doesn't actually have an option for the maul this model was originally armed with, and mauls are pretty terrible in Newcromunda anyway. The Shock Whip is much cooler. 

(I've gotta be honest: I've kinda had a crush on this sculpt since I first saw the Escher model range like 25 years ago. Still think she's absolutely gorgeous, and wish I could manage a better paint job to do the model justice, but essential tremor and exhaustion put some hard limits on my capacity for detail work. The maul is technically illegal here, but unlike the first model, it's much harder to remove, and contributes more to the badass vibe, so I'm just going to ignore it rules-wise and have her just armed with the pistol.)

One of the conversions that's not strictly necessary, but I find it really hard to justify paying 15 credits for an Autogun when I can get a Lasgun for 5.

Hard to go wrong with a Plasma Gun, and this is another sculpt I've always been a huge fan of.

I decided to keep this one cheap, but she looks badass enough that I kinda feel like I should have given her a Plasma Pistol and made her a Matriarch or Death Maiden instead of just a Ganger. Hopefully I'll get lucky and be able to promote her at some point. Gonna try to get a better pic of her fur cape at some point, too. Really happy with how that came out.

I primed a bunch more bases today, got two more gangers who are almost done except for still being on 90s Goblin Green, and then I'll pick out another half-dozen or so to fill out the roster and give me some options for expansion. Until next time, y'all have a good one, y'hear! 

Marta the Second

My skill set doesn't often lend itself to fan art, but on rare occasions, I'll find something I can work with to get close enough. I was idly browsing thru bitz stores on eBay a while back when I realized that Voidmaster Nitsch had a cool uniform that could work as the basis for Marta Dyas from Gideon the Ninth. I really want to do a model of Gideon herself at some point, but I don't have a good base model in mind.

It's not perfect, by any means. There was too much gun-related gear that was going to be too hard to clear off (cleaning up her left arm after removing the shotgun was enough of a pain), so I guess those are like canisters and a pouch of necromancy materials that she's carrying around for Captain Deuteros or something.

I really do love the detail on the Rogue Trader models, even if it is an absolute pain in the neck to paint. I can see a bunch of spots that want touch up, but I just can't deal with it any time soon.

Can't really see much from this angle, but I still liked it as an action shot. The impression I got from the book was actually that the Cohort uniforms were mostly white with red trim, but when I did the actual Elucidian Starstruders, I did white for the uniforms there, so I wanted to change it up this time. 

I'm not usually a fan of this base, but it seemed way too on brand for the Nine Houses not to go with it here. The Second isn't as "all bones all the time" as the Ninth, but they all do that shit to some extent. 

Not sure what I'm going to flit to next, but when I do, I'll be back to share it here, whatever it ends up being. Until then, y'all have a good one, y'hear!