How I Paint Stormtroopers

After last months game of Star Wars Legion, and the fact that my Stormtroopers looked rather pitiful, I decided to do a test model to see how I could effectively paint them. Stormtroopers should be very easy to paint but somehow have proved challenging, both for Imperial Assault and now Legion.

(Apologies for the shocking colour balance on the photos!)

Originally this leader model had been spray undercoated (poorly) with GW Corax White, which is actually more of an off-white. I found a similar paint pot and gave the model a good undercoat of Celestra Grey.

Then I got started on the White. Relatively thin consistency was applied to all the armour plates, leaving shadows and joints untouched. This continued for several layers, repainting over the armour, concentrating more and more on the highlighted areas to get a (sort of) gradual effect. I went back with a thicker white to the purest highlights to make sure it was a pure white.

Then came the tricky bit – painting all the black elements of the under armour, vents, etc. These we highlighted with sparing amounts of Mechanics Standard Grey then a tiny bit of Administratum Grey. Once dry it was washed back with some thinned Nuln Oil, which was also used on some of the deeper recesses in the armour.

The red shoulder pad was base coated in Khorne Red and highlighted with Mephiston Red.

Content that this was complete. I covered the base in Astrogranite Debris, highlighting with Dawnstone and Administratum Grey. I then daubed a mix of snow flock and PVA to a large proportion of the base (my Hoth theme) and left it for 24hrs to dry.

To finish, I gave the whole model a matt spray varnish then went back in and brushed on gloss varnish to the armour plates.

Overall I'm pretty pleased with how he came out, although it took an age – an hour or so per evening over a large part of the working week. Not sure how practical that is for the remaining three squads, but I'm prepared to put more effort into the leaders, so I'll continue with those first.

The Empire Invades Pevensey

So given that Mr Awdry had a birthday last week, myself and Bull braved torrential rain on Saturday to visit Awdry Towers and participate in a first game of Star Wars Legion.

I had spent the last week feverishly painting my Imperial troops… and failed miserably. Mr Awdry on the other hand managed to paint most of his troops and build an Ewok village and Imperial bunker. In truth I had spent the majority of my available time reading through the rules and watching gameplay videos (which proved far more useful).

We started with the basic tutorial and went through everything step-by-step. It proved to be quite an exciting game. Han Solo showed his roguish tricky side that we all love (or not, grrr) and Vader turned out to be the intimidating, deadly presence I had hoped (albeit moving at a pedestrian pace).

After a brief interlude for pizza and a chinwag, we jumped back in – Bull taking over the command of some of the Rebels – with lots of our shiny extras, including a rather slick looking snowspeeder. My Imperials had nicked the win in the last game, but it was not to be this time. The flyer proved to be a tough and deadly addition to the Rebel lineup and a distinct lack of cover on my side of the table left my Imperials exposed from almost all directions.

Despite being disappointed that my shiny purchases had not lived up to expectation, I came away quite taken by the game. On paper it's rather 40k like, but in reality it's not – it shares more in common with Imperial Assault and X-Wing (which is to be expected). There are a few neat mechanics and overall it feels balanced (though I still don't quite understand why a trained, "precise" and more expensive Stormtrooper is a worse shot than a Rebel trooper!)

Expect to see more Legion stuff coming soon(ish).

Painting Lord Of The RIngs Undead

So my painting exploits. limited as they are, have settled upon my Lord of the Rings models. I've got some base colours down on the Uruk-Hai and even pulled apart the Mordor Troll to turn him into an Isengard Troll instead, but that's for another post.

As an aside from all that brown paint, I decided to have a go at the Army of Undead… or at least the first ten models. They were sprayed with GW … White spray (which is actually light grey, and a pig to use at it leave bobbles on your models if the temperature is not optimum) then I touched up the undercoat with Administratum Grey (above). Then came the cool bit.

I saw a blog post somewhere a while ago (though I cannot remember where or find it for love nor money) a neat trick about using the GW technical paint Nihilakh Oxide for undead, so I thought I'd give it a go. It's quite a thin, runny paint so I put some on the palette then lathered the model in it to see what happened. Oh yes, these guys were swimming in it (quite literally when I knocked over the stupid paint pot!)

After leaving it for a while to dry I got to survey the results.

I really like where this is going. The colour in the photo is a little off as it's still quite green like the previous image, but looks good.

I suspect I should have painted the models white before applying the Technical paint as this would have made the high areas, and overall colour brighter. Having said that I'm happy to leave that for the King of the Undead to make him stand out more.

I MAY go back in with some thin white highlights along edges, but this would open the door to shading and another layer of the oxide…

I'm happy for this to be a quick win – Hurrah, I painted something!!

There are still another ten of these guys not yet built but I'll probably go back to my Uruk-Hai until I can order the King of the Dead to lead them. I also managed to acquire Saruman to lead my Uruks, as well as Lurtz and a couple of the Uruk Captains, but I'm in no hurry. I'm happy to have something I can post about!

October Construction

Having acquired both the Lord of the Rings starter set and the Star Wars Legion box set within the last month, there was only ever going to be one outcome – construction!!

Not being able to decide which to build first I decided to build both at the same time. And the outcome is as expected…lots of grey models. Of course this was all further complicated by the fact that I purchased an additional box of Uruk-Hai Scouts for LOTR and Imperial Scouts for Legion.

However, this has proved to be a very relaxing past time over the last month (which was needed) and will shortly involve actual brushes and paint. I currently have two basecoated units of Stormtroopers (waiting for a light grey wash), half a unit of undercoated Uruk-Hai Scouts (due a brown basecoat) and a unit of undercoated Army of the Dead.

The rest of the models consist of the remaining Uruk-Hai Scouts, a Mordor Troll, two units of Morannon Orcs, a unit of Rohan troops, then Imperial Scouts, Darth Vader and Scout Bikes.

I hope to post some images of the painted units as they progress, but which will happen first I cannot say.

Star Wars Legion – Getting Started

As soon as this game was announced there was an inevitability that it would appear in our house at some point – a 40k-esque wargame but with Star Wars characters – I'm just amazed that I held out so long.

I was at the Tabletop Gaming Live show at Alexandria Palace a couple of weeks ago on my birthday, and saw it being offered for a ridiculous £55. At that point the restraint melted, almost buckling completely as I threw in the Boba Fett expansion as well, and I came home a happy man – happy birthday to me. I'd seen the videos, read the blogs, but now I would finally get to see what was in the box.

The first thing to greet you when you lift the lid is Vader's mug staring at you. This is the rulebook and I have to say I've struggled with it a little. It doesn't seem as clear as the Imperial Assault rules were – maybe because it's a different game, maybe because I'm a year older and my mind is going, but I had to resort to third party YouTube videos to get the drift.

Removing the rulebook and token sheet reveals… lots of plastic bags!

This felt like a bit of a let down. The outer box itself is stunning and maybe I was expecting to have an unboxing experience like the recent GW releases, which in turn is trying to emulate what Apple does with their products. This felt very bargain basement cheap in comparison – all your bits in ziplock bags and chucked into a box to take home. It did not match the quality of the outer box, or indeed the Imperial Assault experience.

Then I was hit with another blow. Six years ago I wrote a blog post about unboxing a Warmachine Cryx starter set. My main criticism was the material used to produce the models – a sort of plastic resin – which didn't really work with plastic glue (my adhesive of choice) and meant working with excessive amounts of superglue.

Guess what – yup, same material here. The issue I have is how are models without tabs supposed to stay on a base when they're simply superglued in place – it's a disaster waiting to happen. It would mean that I have to pin virtually every model to it's base.

On the upside, the models are that little bit bigger than Imperial Assault which means we lesser mortals have a fighting chance of picking out the amazing details.

The stormtroopers are almost all 2-piece models and go together relatively easily. There are a set number of poses and I thought it was an opportunity missed not to have these a little more posable – my two units are going to look identical without the intervention of some fancy painting.

The big winner for me though has to be the Boba Fett additional model. He came in a host of pieces, which was quite radical compared to the models in the main box, but went together very nicely. I wasn't sure of the pose when I first saw it, but once the model was together it was a winner.

In fact, I don't even feel the need to add the clear plastic flying base – I'm just going to pin him on his base. I'm really looking forward to painting this guy!!

Given that Mr Awdry has now joined the ranks of Legion owners, we can look forward to a game or two next year I think. I have firmly decided to base my models for a snowy Hoth environment, and will (try to) build a few bits of terrain to match. I will also need a new snowy gaming mat (shame!).

I think had this been any IP other than Star Wars then this box set might have found a home in the back of the gaming cupboard never to be seen again. However, once the models were built (the bit I normally enjoy but didn't this time) I am looking forward to getting some paint on them.

Getting Started With Age Of Sigmar – Storm Strike

Age of Sigmar was something that never appealed to me. GW decided to defy every gamer's belief and bin Warhammer, and AoS was the replacement – a pseudo 40k set in a multi-realm universe where pseudo Space Marines (or rather their fantasy equivalent) once again took centre stage. I wasn't interested. I had a fleeting interest in Warhammer as a game, loved the world it was set in and really like the model range that was developing. That had all gone now and I was cross, so lord only knows how the avid Warhammer gamers felt!

However, time heals many things and, as I don't play much of anything now, I find myself taking a greater interest in many things I would never have considered before. I have a handful of the new AoS miniatures as part of my Shadespire collection and really liked those, so found myself browsing the AoS range. Long story short, I am now in possession of the £25 Storm Strike Starter Box and the £5 "Getting Started with AoS" book and model.

STORM STRIKE

This box set have everything you need to get started at the most basic level. It comes with a handful of sprues that provide half a dozen or so models each for two players, as well as dice, rulers, a gaming 'mat' (poster!) plus basic rules and background fluff.

I have to say I'm mighty impressed.

First of all it was £25 (…actually I bought it from an online supplier and it only cost me £20)!! That's everything for the same price as a box of marines. The models are stunning – they may be 'easy-to-build' variants, but they're great and come with ridiculously lavish bases.

I have only built the Stormcast Eternals at the moment but it took less than 20 minutes to build the lot. The 'army' is the size of a Malifaux crew, which is my preferred model count, and they are chunky things – very solid. The gold coloured plastic is a little garish but that should only spur me on to paint them (or at least undercoat them!).

The rulebook is a printer version of the basic PDF that can be downloaded for free online – it's a light version of the rules so you will probably need to invest in the big book if you're sticking with it. There is also a build/paint guide and the main Storm Strike book. This main book is like an old-style 40k codex, so reasonably thick and well printed/finished. It contains lots of intro stuff, plus an extensive section on how to build, paint and game with your miniatures.

The thing that really impressed me with the main book though was how the scenarios (sorry, battleplans) are laid out and develop. It's basically a step by step intro to the game and in some instances may only have a single miniature on a side. Each battleplan focuses on or introduces you to a new rule and by mission 4 you're using everything in the box. The book rounds off with where to go next, as well as going into some depth about the background to all the units/factions involved in the box set and the universe they inhabit.

This is one of the best miniature wargame starter box sets I've seen. It was priced perfectly and had enough info and intrigue to provide great value for money as well as draw in a new player (even someone as cynical as me!). They do have two other starter sets that are closer to £50 and £100, which give you more models and even the full hardback rulebook, but this felt like a true starter set aimed at complete starters. It doesn't involve great investment and would make a superb Christmas or birthday present (shame my wife won't venture into a GW store!).

HOW TO GET STARTED

I'll be honest, the only reason I bought this was because there was a 'free' model included for the £5 pricetag. A stunning, single sprue Stormcast caster dude, the likes of which would normally retail for £15-£20. It was a no-brainer, even if you're not that interested – he'll be awesome to paint (£5!?!).

Immediately I jumped in and started to build him. Very straightforward to put together even though he's not an 'easy-to-build' model. He did come with a tiny pile of stones that were starting to float, to add to his base. I could see straight away that they would have snapped off very quickly, so clipped them and just stuck down the base stone to plug the gap in his base instead. His base is not nearly so elaborate as the models in the Storm Strike box set.

The Get Started book is very similar in size and finish to the Storm Strike book (even has the same image on the cover to confuse me even more) but has even more info packed into it. There are sample armies, a battle report, lots of background info as well as in depth explanation of the different painting techniques employed. It goes through the basic rules in principle, laying out the different phases without giving any actual rules away.

This was another win for me. It is the perfect precursor to the Storm Strike box set, and a great introduction to not only AoS but fantasy/skirmish miniature wargaming in general. It allows you to dip you toe in without spending more than your lunch money. I would have loved something like this way back in 1990, and I know it's the kind of thing my son will pour over for hours (when he's a little older).


Alas that's not the end to the GW fan-boy. Next time I'm going to go through the GW Battle of Pelennor Fields box set for the new Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game rules. Yes, I jumped in with both feet!!

Donnybrook Witchfinder

I've had almost 3 months away from the blog doing 'stuff' but felt compelled to add a random post after yet another top drawer day of gaming at Awdry Towers.

You may remember our last major outing to the Congo – Michael goes all out to construct a gaming table that sucks you into the narrative and builds the tension via email before we even leave home (and yes, we get homework!). It really is a pleasure to take part in one of Michael's adventures.

So he's been going on about doing a Witchfinder game for well over a year now, but things had stalled somewhat. When we managed to get a day booked into the diary back in June for the first Saturday in August, I suggested that Witchfinder might be a welcome change of pace. And so it came to pass.

The gaming table in all its glory

I love the fact that Michael decided to abandon his original plan to use the Witchfinder rules he's purchased and decided to mould his game around the Donnybrook ruleset. That's the sign of a true creative mind!

Now, I'm not a fan of the old blackpowder and flouncy hats era, but Solomon Kane I can buy into, so I took a leap of faith (so to speak). The rules themselves are…odd. They use the now very common practice of using different sided dice to represent different ability levels – D6 being your recruits and D12 being your heroes.

The Witchfinder leads the Poachers

Anyway, Michael had gone full tilt and created a raft of characters and units, very colourful and rather cleverly named, for us to use with their own rules and abilities lifted from the rulebook. Very excellent stuff.

Now, I'm not a fan of the random. I'm a bit of a control freak you see. That comes from being a tournament player for so many years where you tried to eradicate or circumnavigate random events as part of your strategy and tactics. It also comes from writing my own rules – too much random can leave the player with a feeling that they're on a passive ride with no influence on the outcome. Donnybrook flies in the face of wisdom and creates a game that is so random and chaotic you have no choice but to embrace it. You certainly can't have a serious game with these rules because you cannot have any real form of control over the outcome. Balance?…pah!

Activation is determined by drawing cards from a deck containing all of the characters and units taking part – the activation deck if you will. That's all fine, a very good mechanic. However, there is a Turn Over card in there too, and when drawn the deck is reshuffled and you start again. The outcome of this is that a single unit or character can go several times in a row, or in my case, not have a go at all for several turns. This creates an immense amount of imbalance and randomness – and that's before you throw the random event card in there too (which on one occasion sent an entire unit of Bull's troops home because they missed their families)!!

So as you can see the hilarity was never far away. Even when you were on the wrong end of the random you kind of had to smile. The big finale was a great example of this. I had finally beaten Michael's Villagers by the skin of my teeth, his last unit the Angry Mob in full flight towards the table edge. Up pops the Random Event card and attempts to drop a new unit of elite troops emerging on a flank as a relief force for the Villagers – luckily for me Michael didn't have enough models to fulfil the criteria, so it turned out to be travelling performers instead, else I would have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory no doubt.

Evil is coming!!

Needless to say, we had a fab time. We played three games during the day – same scenario – which meant we each got a couple of goes playing as well as a go being the dealer and overall games master.

In the first game my Villagers managed to hold off the advance of Bull's Cultists, despite some early losses. After lunch Michael's Villagers were swept aside by Bull's Cultists, only to be beaten again (only just) by my Cultists. So the Cultists have definitely broken through the outer defences and the village of Muchwhinging could soon become the focal point of the next skirmish.

The Witchfinder and Doxy face off against the evil Gareth of Oldham

We learned a lot about the rules and had them down by the end pretty much. We definitely missed a couple of things out, and we felt the characters were generally underpowered (aside from the doxy's stiletto heel through the chest of my vampire hero!!) but a great time was had by all.

It was such a good day that I've been inspired to create a fully immersive experience of my own for another time – stay tuned for more on that!

Bull has written up a fantastic piece about the day – read it here!

A Zombicide Start To The Weekend

So it turned out there was an Exit guardian!

I haven't played ZOmbicide Black Plague in some time. We reckon it's probably been at least six months which, considering it's our go-to game, is strange. I haven't played Green Horde since it arrived at Christmas, I only opened the box to get a look at the models up close.

That all changed this weekend.

Friday at work, being the last Friday of the month, was Free Project Friday and Team Social Afternoon. We ended up playing Zombicide Black Plague in the meeting room – an 8-player mash-up with many first timers and all the big monsters. It was fun, took a while and realised I'd forgotten a lot of the details in my absence from the game. There was lots of cheating in the end to ensure we won, but it won over a couple more admirers so no doubt more gaming in the future.

An opening win with Green Horde, by the skin of our teeth

To be honest that was the warm up, because the morning after myself and Bull travelled to the now very shiny Awdry Towers to get our first taste of Zombicide Green Horde. I'd heard lots of tales about how the new version plays but you never know for sure till you try it yourself.

We managed to get through the first game with a win, but it was touch and go at the end. The game felt claustrophobic and the swaggering confidence often seen when playing Black Plague was gone. The hedge and water mechanics were good additions – don't end the game in the water end of a map, it's a nightmare. The trebuchet was awesome, though it didn't see any action in our opening game.

Game 2 was a challenge indeed. So much so we had to press the restart button after a few turns in as we had made some fatal mistakes in our early strategies. Take 2 was going swimmingly. We had got to the trebuchet and were pretty much owning the board. However, as we confidently headed towards a second victory, fate stepped in to slap us in the face. We ran out of runner models, meaning all runners on the board get a second go – combined with a 'runners get an extra go' card flip we were wiped out in a single turn within reach of the finish line.

Our problem was two-fold. We were using just the contents of the Green Horde starter box, so no fancy weapons and limited zombie models. It meant we didn't have the volume of dice when attacking to clear out the masses of zombie models coming at us. The majority of weapons were only hitting on a 4+ at best, so even a handful of dice was only going to get you so far.

Needless to say we all had fun and thoroughly enjoyed a re-introduction to Zombicide.
There will be more to come!

Imperial Assault – 3 Player Battle

Thursday this week saw a reintroduction to Imperial Assault, as Ryan and I showed Rich the ropes –He took to it like a duck to water!

We hastily put together three Skirmish armies – Imperials, Rebels and Scum (sorry, mercenaries). Using the 4-player Hoth board layout, we lazily chose the deployment areas nearest to our seats. We were concerned that Rich would be piggy in the middle and get battered on both sides, but we needn't have been concerned – he just went gunning for Ryan who realised he'd chosen an awful deployment zone and was boxed in completely.

Rich got the honour of using the newly acquired Boba Fett mini for the first time. He was one of the stand out characters of the game, able to inflict a lot of damage and heal himself quite nicely too. The Wampa and Nexu also proved to be intimidating, even if the former was something of a one-hit wonder – Fugs taking it down with prejudice after it scored its first kill.

The Nexu on the other hand was having a whale of a time, actively looking to Cleave as many Rebels as he could. The Rebels were gradually losing number under a devastating assault by the Mercs – Fugs just couldn't get out of his deployment zone and ended up retreating to where he started.

In the meantime the Imperials, led by the simply awesome Vader, marched slowly from the opposite end of the board. Rich had left a couple of Tusken Raiders to hold a console in his deployment zone, and these were both dispatched by Vader in a single attack.

The Mercs were getting low on numbers now, after the Rebels rallied. But just as Fugs thought he could see some light the Imperials arrived, strolling past Boba Fett to take up the fight with the Rebels. Seeing that things were about to go south quickly, Fett took the opportunity the fall back and ensure he would at least survive the game.

The Imperials had been nicking the points along the way, finishing off units that were already on the ropes. As such it didn't take long to Vader to claim victory, with the Rebels on around 18 points and the Mercs on a misrepresented 6.

It was a great way back into Imperial Assault, all in preparation for us starting a campaign game next week. Stay tuned!

Necromunda: Opening Exchanges

We'd had a week or so to prepare, and now it was time to see how this new edition of Necromunda actually played!

Last Monday I had a day off, so Bull and I arranged to have a gaming day. We managed to get three games in as well as the post game bits. I'd brought my new MDF terrain, and it made a superb centrepiece to the gaming table.

Game 1 was a very cagey affair. Bull had his heavy on the mdf silo tower which gave him excellent line of sight to pretty much the entire board. My guys were hunched at the bottom of the stairs, preparing for a three-pronged attack (though no idea how that would actually pan out).

My two big shooters – Ganger and Boss both with Grenade Launchers – made their way up the stairs to the main platform, flanked by a couple of Gangers in support. My Hammer-wielding Champion went left, supported by a couple of Juves. The remainder went through the middle and to the right.

The mission was simple to kill the other guy, without taking too many casualties yourself. I was having the expected day – lots of awesome shooting, knocking guys down, but nothing going through to cause any concern to my opponent.

We managed to knock the Orlock Heavy on his backside, right after he ran out of ammo. Then my Grenade boys managed to deck (almost) the entire Orlock gang thanks to blast templates!

One of my Juves was hit badly, then hit again and went out of action. Not long later a second dropped. I managed to take out one of Bull's Gangers before the Orlocks pulled out.

One of my Juves missed game 2, the other was going to have to see the Doc – but he wanted to charge me more than the Juve was worth, so we let him die and recruit a new Juve!! No mercy!!

Game 2 was a "Defile the Relic" mission, but we hadn't got more than a handful of turns in before both Gangs failed bottle tests!!

Still, more xp and cash going into the pot.

We rolled for game 3 and got Sabotage. The Orlocks would be defending a piece of terrain in the middle of the board and my Goliaths (with their huge bulk and 32mm bases) would be sneaking in to destroy it hoping the sentries didn't detect them.

In fairness, despite a lack of any kind of strategy, my boys got quite far in before the Orlock Juve got the fright of his life, walking round a corner to literally fall over the Goliath Boss!

Once the alarm was raised it all kicked off – my boys were trying to shoot the terrain piece, the Orlocks trying to shoot us! Eventually the terrain piece blew and I had to survive the rest of the turn so I could Bottle out and escape. It was a blood bath. No inch was given. It really was a free for all. I was lucky to escape with a couple of casualties, both of whom will miss my next game. Bull also lost a couple, with similar end results.

We went our separate ways, after totting up the cash and xp, to contemplate how to spend our winnings. I blew through a lot of cash, upgrading key models. I also managed to get a Move increase for my Boss and a Toughness increase for one of my Gangers. I have no doubt Bull has done the same, so the next game will be ramped up to a new level.

Have a read of Bull's perspective of the day…

…as we prepare for round 2!!

Necromunda 2018 Begins

When it was announced that GW were re-releasing Necromunda, Bull and I were very excited. We had played a campaign many years ago, Bull having played several in the past with many fond memories. The release of (essentially) a board game version came as a bit of a surprise and disappointment. Necromunda is all about the 3d environment, that's one of the core aspects to the game, along with the campaign and character progression. Imagine my surprise then when it turns out there is no campaign in the main rulebook!

I had no interest in getting invested in this new version, until Bull presented me with the boxed game as a Christmas present. I went out the following week and bought the Gang Wars supplement (another £20 for the campaign and 3d environment rules!). I had a read though the books but, in true GW style, the rules were overcomplicated, leaning heavily on random elements and the layout and order of the information within the books made no sense – user experience is a thing now! People like myself get employed to make UX as smooth as possible. Of course there were the obligatory typos and lack of proof reading expected in GW publications. My friends at Anvil Eight Games take such care and attention to ensure the wording in their books is as clean and easy to read as possible, it's proofread to death and still hits deadline – GW has much bigger resources yet seem not to care for such things. Frustrates me beyond belief.

Nevertheless, Bull and I got a date in the diary to have a go, but we needed some seriously 3d terrain. In the same week I 'discovered' Red Beam Designs. They had some of their hive style mdf terrain on offer and I couldn't resist. When the parcel arrived I was overwhelmed by the mass of mdf pieces and it took me three evenings to get through it and create my pieces of scenery. I then added the magnets that were part of the package and… it was beautiful. A very well designed piece of kit, that could be broken down into smaller chunks and rearranged as I wanted thanks to the magnets. I was blown away – storage will not be an issue. Alas, I read not 24hrs later that Red Beam is closing down, which is devastating. Their kit has been so well thought through and the end result is awesome. Shame.

Alongside the terrain building, I had list building to complete. The gangs now are much more characterful, which means I am very restricted on what weapons I could take for my Goliaths. To add insult to injury, having completed my list I discover that the sprues don't have a very good weapon selection. I had to tweak my list to fit what was available on the sprues (which is actually two of the same sprue). I had only 1 – ONE – stub pistol available, with a very odd arm angle, and no – NONE – fighting knives. Bull had a similar experience with his plastic Orlocks – they weren't created for campaign players at all. Given that weapon swaps and upgrades are part of the game, it wouldn't have taken much to create a set of plastics that could swap out weapons easily – not here, if you're not building the models on the front of the box you're going to struggle. Plus there's no visible variations between Leader, Champions, Gangers and Juves – they all look the same.

I managed to get a crew together that I was reasonably happy with. Models built (though not painted – no time!) and I was ready to go. On Monday this week we finally took our first steps into the new look world of Necromunda.

To be continued…