Wednesday 23 May 2018

Big Boy Techs - A Serious Arsenal Upgrade

If I think back to previous versions of Necromunda, the weapon that everybody feared was the plasma cannon. Now I quite like plasma weaponry in the new version of Necromunda too, and it just so happens that Van Saar Tech gangs have access to plasma cannons through their House list. So it would be rude not to take one, right?

I've been keeping the final Roy Eastland tech sculpt back to use as a heavy weapon ganger - with his chunky frame, shades and cigar stub, he's perfect for a cool-as-ice champion capable of blasting any opposing ganger into oblivion.

He might be thickening around his middle, but very few folks are willing to suggest that Zepto loses some weight.



I have actually done very little to Zepto - not much more than attaching a pair of the classic plastic Confrontation bare ganger arms and equipping him with a conversion beamer as a plasma cannon stand-in.


I did sculpt a few elements just to tie everything together: a hem for his sleeveless t-shirt at his right shoulder; a thumb on his right hand; the fingers and the tech doodad on his left hand. I also added the cable running from his conversion beamer just to try and integrate it further into the model.




I forgot to take a picture of the differences between the lasgun and lascarbine gangers from my last blog post, but I remembered this time: 

Sinclair with his short-barrelled lascarbine, and Grogan with the classic long-barrelled lasgun.

Hopefully it's pretty clear that there is a difference between the two weapons and their barrel lengths. I think it's very possibly a greater visual distinction than the actual lascarbines and lasguns on the plastic Van Saar kit!

The Data Kings take up commanding positions as they enter the manufactorum sector.

14 comments:

  1. This guy's story comes naturally, just look at him for 2 seconds and you just know the kind of guy he is. That's the kind of models I like best.

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    1. Thanks JB! A heavy with a heavy gut is just the right kind of heavy for me :)

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  2. I'm always torn between the old-school convention of mounting the heavy weapons onto a mini's shoulder and the modern one of them hefting it two-handed and kind of squatting to bear the weight.

    Most of my kit-bashed heavies have gotten their weapons from the current Genestealer Hybrid box, so they're the latter, but I do have some RT-era heavy weapons that would do well on a shoulder mount.

    Part of me thinks that the difference between the mountings should have more to do with the range and function of the actual weapon - I can see something like a heavy stubber needing to be fired from the hip to suppress enemy targets, whereas surely a las-cannon or plasma cannon would benefit from being shoulder-mounted as they need to be targeted better and kept level.

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    1. I absolutely agree with you - low-slung weapons are very cool, especially anything with a high rate of fire like the heavy stubbers or perhaps a heavy bolter.

      I did actually play around with the idea of him holding this differently, but the static front-on pose almost dictated an old school shoulder mounted weapon. And as you say, he needs to hold it steady and aim ;)

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  3. Very nice! Although I might have added a few scorch marks to his apron... given the temperamental nature of a plasma cannon!

    And the conversion beamer is a perfect plasma cannon stand in.

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    1. Perhaps he's just very careful with it! Very, very careful!!

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  4. He does look like a solid, no-nonsense Heavy. Your gang is looking awesome!

    I really want to take the new Necromunda system for a spin, but it's hard working up any enthusiasm in my regular gaming buddies for some reason.

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    1. Thanks very much!

      Necromunda appeals to me because it's a skirmish campaign system. I guess for folks who want to play one-off massed battles or other different flavours, it might be a hard sell. I can only say that it's fun and really worth a run out.

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  5. I love all these conversions, but this guy has a lot of character. He truly looks like he should be firing a big "fuck off" gun.

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    1. Any miniature with a paunch and cigar stub definitely should be firing that big fuck off gun!

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  6. Nicely done axiom ... nicely done :)

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  7. Yasss... Love 'im! So much cool badarse attitude in this sculpt and paintjob.

    Oldschool Conversion Beamers always seemed a little too close to the aesthetic of Plasma cannons to me, yet seemed a better candidate to represent the heavy Plasma option. That thing is going to terrorise your opponents tho, gawd awful things to face.

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    1. It's funny that conversion beamers and plasma cannons looked so similar - I would have thought going for a different look for the conversion beamers would have avoided confusion. I confess I'm looking forward to placing templates of plasma-y death!

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