Necro Miner Day

Did you know there was a nation Miners' Day? Well, consider this a public service announcement.

Elsewhere, I painted even more Necromunda. 

Usually, when I get commission stuff, I do all the donkey work for other people first. This time, I broke that rule - I'd only recently finished the Squat Prospectors, and I wanted to complete the group before I forgot how to paint them, so to speak. 

I've struck Forge World resin gold here, some brilliant models indeed! Unlikely to see a lot of use in games, sadly, but who cares when they look this good. 

He’s got a bone to pick with you and a pick to bone you with.

You've already seen the Champion with a Mining Laser and backpack Circular Saw. Here's the Squat Claim Jumper, a ludicrously under-costed Hanger-On who comes armed to the nines and accompanied by his Techmite Autoveyor. 

These guys got the same red treatment as the last lot, but I tried bright yellow instead of faded beige as the contrast colour. I liked it so much, I actually went back and put a yellow glaze on the plastic models too. Looks good, and avoids the slight worry in my head that they were too close to the colours I'd used on my Cawdor. 

Two named characters next, the Grimjarl brothers. Orrin is a short-ranged blaster with perhaps the most fragile dendritic arm currently in my collection. It's totally coming off the minute he spends any time in a box or on a table, so enjoy it while it lasts. 

He's also got a Techmite pal, an Exovator apparently, which is quite a punchy little dude for its size. 

This Techmite Occulus is the floating spy drone of Orrin's brother Ursus. Ursus is a sniper with a rifle taller than he is; it's completely overpowered for pretty much any Necromunda game (high strength and damage and rapid fire), but that's what you're paying for. 

Both these two are what's called House Agents - you have to ask them nicely if they'll be on your team for a single match, and even then pay them money (based on a dice roll) for the honour. If your gang's reputation is too high, they won't help you, so they'll tend to help underdogs more often. But underdogs may not have the cash to hire them as often, which I think leaves them in an odd place overall!

Finally, this is the Vartijan Exo-Driller. There I was, assuming Vartijan is a made-up name, but it turns out to be the Finnish for Security Guard (approximately). This brute has rules that give it bonuses as a look-out, which therefore makes sense. 

It comes with options for a heavy bolter or heavy flamer. I went for the flamer (no magnets, I don't like drilling resin), but am slightly regretting it - the bolter does make it even more expensive in-game, but also gives it better range and hitting power. Especially as the thing comes with a built-in template weapon, some kind of seismic blaster that I think must be the grenade-launcher-looking thing on its shoulder, so the big bolter is probably the smart choice. 

Squat Prospectors have plenty of firepower already, though, and having a great thunking brute to power forward and draw fire while you set up your kill zones seems like a plan to me! 

Here's the whole team - more than I'll ever need!

I didn't just do squats. There's room in my summer for more than just dwarves. 

This is one of the original lead milliasaurs from the original game, one of three that came with an Outlands Beastmaster. It's the original paintjob from the late 90s, and it turned out that I still had the same pot of green metallic paint. 

They've had a glow-up, alright! Quite a lot bigger than they used to be, too. 

Here's their trainer, who's a lovely nutter bristling with Forge World detail. 

And here's a trio of giant rats, also original 90s, given new bases and some varnish to stop their original paint flaking off. 

And that's all for now!