The ‘Iron Plate Pact’ are a Necromunda Goliath starting gang and the first gang I’ve assembled and painted since the games re-launch.
Which is a bit strange now I think about it as I have always been an avid fan of Necromunda’s diverse and eclectic melting pot background for all things Warhammer.
As I write this it has only been a couple of days since Games Workshop announced the return of the Squats (note: not League) as a new gang set. So why now? Simply because the local club is about to kick off the second season of their ongoing Necromunda campaign and although I missed season one, I am determined to get some skirmish gaming in this year. The Necromunda Goliath plastics have been sat un-used since I got them, so seems fitting they should be my first starter gang.
If nothing else they are ‘theoretically’ resilient and forgiving to mistakes while I learn the ropes all over again. By way of apology I am making sure they have their full colours before the first fight night.
Paint approach
Necromunda is not what I would say is my normal style of painting, but is an opportunity to be a little more ‘loose’ and have some fun with the miniatures. I am partly taking this approach because there isn’t loads of time before the campaign starts, but mostly because the last few large armies I’ve done have burned me out a bit and I want to get some hobby mojo back before I reboot Heresy painting next month.
Contrast paint is my saviour!
To work fast I recommend giving each a strong zenithal pre-shade in white ink over black with an airbrush and complete all the skin-tones in a single pass. Textures can be blended and stippled as you go. I kept to a simple palette of beige, adding cold a warm colours to the palette to add to the base mix as required. Mostly magenta, sunny skintone, ice yellow, green fleuro and verdigris. Glazing Rhinox Hide as the base for darker skin tones allowed me to mix things up a bit.
The rest was a mix of translucent shades, glazes and selective quick stippling. If it didn’t add anything at arms length I ignored it, so no eyes or weapon detailing in this pass. This is all about mood and characterisation.
The bases I painted a mix of heavy contrast paints and patches of rhinox mixed with metallics. Application of rust tones and pigments over this gave me a pleasingly warm finish that suits the Goliaths nicely.
Some airbrushed tamiya flesh adds a dusty element and helps blend boots and armour into the scene. For contrast I gave the gang bright, almost gaudy burgundy furnace plates tinted with red contrast paints and blue inks. Same went for the turquoise shin plates and bracers. Super quick, relaxing to paint and most of all they are ready for the opening nights gaming.
Meet the gang
The starting Goliath gang consists of Biff Havana (Forge Tyrant), Zekiel ‘the preacher’, Hotshot, Mad Jack, ‘Sashimi’ Bob, Grox Macready, Muzz ‘the mouth’, Bull, Jorik ‘the cleaner’ and ‘Spud’. The latter is my gang lookout and an original metal ‘Juve’ from the games very first iteration in 1998. He is tiny compared to the others so I absolutely must include him and lookout seemed a good fit.
This will absolutely not be the only gang I put together for Necromunda. That’s a certainty. For now though I’m focusing on securing my newly formed collective of forge bosses, bruisers and stimmers some territory and the start of what I’m hoping to be a lucrative opportunity to make a name for themselves in the underhive.
How did you do the names on the base rims?
Ahh, those ones I did using ‘dry transfer’ sometimes called dry-rub transfers. They come on a clear sheet as letters and I just use a pencil to transfer them from the sheet to the base rim.