Weekly Waffle #338 – Left behind
22nd June 2024
For this week’s Weekly Waffle I have stayed with the Necromunda theme that has now become the norm for me, and I think it’s going to stay like this for a while to come. I think the only two things that will break up this routine in the forceable future would be that I either loose my Mojo, or when Puppets War release their latest addition to the film vehicle line. The mojo seems to be holding up at the moment so I think it’s going to be the vehicle build that will mix up the painting routine . I’m probably going to bang on about this until it is released but I’m really excited for this next vehicle. I don’t know who is responsible for these builds but whoever it is, is doing a fantastic job and has me completely hooked on what they are doing. My bank manager may not be happy with them but I had the chance I would be getting my hands on everything they are doing at the moment. But that is for the future and this week is about the under-hive.
I have been sticking with the hired guns mainly because I don’t feel I have the time to get a full gang painted up in a single week but one or two minis is something I can manage at the moment. The challenge this week was which hired gun to run with, because I did have a bit of mad splurge a few weeks ago and got my hands on quite a large batch of Forge World miniatures. Having spent a couple of weeks working on the Water Guild theme before switching to the spies for a bit of class this week is bringing us back down to the under-hive. After all that is where all the fun is.
I’ve managed to work on something dear to my hart there in the form of Grendel Grendlsen who is actually described as a Squat and not Leagues of Votann. This is special because I am one of the few special ones who bemoaned the loss of Squats all those decades ago. And that really makes me feel old that it was actually decades and not just years ago that they disappeared from the lore of 40k.
Grendl Grendlsen was a Squat Banner-jarl in the famed Vega Rams mercenary company, when he came to Necromunda as part of the honour guard for the Arcadius Dynasty Rogue Trader, Constant Gerrit.
But while Grendl’s liege was entertained in the undreamed-of luxury of Planetary Governor Helmawr’s Palace-spire, the Abhuman members of Gerrit’s household, including the entire complement of the Vega Rams, were required to remain in Hive Primus’ Stranger’s Tower, as they were forbidden to set foot in the Hive proper. This would prove fortunate for Grendl, as he was not present with Gerrit when a low-yield atomic charge, planted by a rival House, completely destroyed the wing of the Palace-spire the Rogue Trader was staying on. However Gerrit’s death subsequently gave way to a household purge of his servants and Grendl was forced to seek sanctuary in the Underhive of Hive Primus. Once there, Grendl quickly established a new life and found gainful employment as a bodyguard to various Underhive figures. At length, he earned the right to practice as a sanctioned Bounty Hunter, and now serves any master who will pay his fee. Despite the dire circumstances of his coming to Hive Primus, Grendl has become famed for protecting his charges from their rivals and subsequently claiming the bounty on the would-be assassin’s heads, and so far there has been no shortage of foolhardy rivals eager to test his skills and his infamous hammer.
He is reasonably diminutive and stocky in stature – he’s a Squat, after all – he’s impressively well organised and kitted out, far beyond some of his rival bounty hunters. From head to toe he carries loads of equipment: pouches and bags are attached to his belt (along with a few grenades…), his boots and coat are padded and well-armoured and he even features some nice tactical eye protection. He also carries a large backpack featuring sensors, and in his hands are the essential tools of his trade – a bolter in one hand, and his legendary power hammer in the other.
When it came to painting him I stuck with the Warhammer Store colures for the most part. I didn’t try and exactly match them but just went with the feel. It was a nice change from what I’ve been painting that made it feel fresh and interesting to paint. Overall I really like how it turned out and think it will be a good fit into any sort of campaign. But what do you think.
You can find more Necromunda mins from a few faction on my Necromunda Gallery here.
Also this week on the gaming front I got to have a look at One Page rules in a skirmish game. So basically everything fits on a double sided piece of A4 paper. One side has all of the rules and then the flip side has all of the special rules. But even here the special rules are quite generic and apply across all of the factions so you don’t need to spend half of your life understanding all of your own special rules. So even when you think you have got to grips with things your opponent comes out with something yo have never heard of. This takes things back to just getting your minis on the table and having a good game.
The game got off to a bit or a rocky start and some of the rules seem very unusual compared to a standard game of combat patrol. But by the end of the game I think everyone was getting to grips with things and whilst at first view a game between Orks and Marines seemed very one sided. Marines have a two up save. The end result was a draw so I don’t know if that says the players were mediocre or the game is balanced. I would go with it being a balanced game that has a lot of potential for quick games. Whilst I have still been painting things for 40k even though I haven’t played a game in years. These one page rules could see me dusting off my minis and actually having a game.
I not sure how much they cost if you want to go on line and get the official download but it’s massively cheaper than the Warhammer offering. I think it was about $15 last time I had a look. As a minimum you need the core rule book and your own factions codex which at the time of writing this is going to cost you about £89 . £42 for the core rules, £37 for the Codex and then another £10 for the Index cards. All of which is before you even pick up a miniature. So something that you can download for a fraction the cost and is much easier to get your head around is really welcome.
That’s it of this week’s weekly waffle and will be back next week with what will probably be more of the same in that I’m still working on Necromunda Hired Guns. So until then I hope you all have a good week and I will see you all back here again next week.
