Necromunda ’95! – Ratskin Scout With Shotgun 2 (Neglected Model September ’18)

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Necromunda Ratskin Scout With Shotgun 2

Another Neglected model found in a figure case towards the end of September was this Ratskin scout, from the original release of Necromunda back in the mid 1990s’. This model was released in 1995 or thereabouts, and is a Michael Perry sculpt.

Necromunda Ratskin Scout With Shotgun 2

I had of course painted about half of it, and basecoated about 95% of it, but when I got it out of the case, I decided to completely paint the skin in a more ruddy tone, repaint the pants from the dark green that they were in originally with a brown leathery colour, redo the browns on the boots, and then try to differentiate the human skin tones from the similarly ruddy tones I’d used on the skinned rat. So… almost everything, only retaining the rat fur and using the rest as base coats at best.

Necromunda Ratskin Scout With Shotgun 2

Once the model was complete and ready to be sprayed, it took a dive from the little tray I was carrying it on, necessitating a trip back inside to have the damage repaired (hair, shotgun, shoulder pad) Luckily it wasn’t too badly mangled and was fixable.

Necromunda Ratskin Scout With Shotgun 2

I also decided to give him some simple warpaint, though I kept it fairly minimal. Enough to suggest the Native American influence on this line of models, but also pretty generic and a bit reminiscent of American Football players’ greasepaint (yes, I know they wear black). There are some pretty amazing Native American face/war paint designs online, so I think that’s something I’ll definitely revisit in some form down the line.

50 thoughts on “Necromunda ’95! – Ratskin Scout With Shotgun 2 (Neglected Model September ’18)”

  4. Excellent work, the skin tone is very native american, and the other colours compliment well with still being defined. There was another person back in the early 80’s that wore that face paint Adam Ant, looks a lot different now and is a wargamer in the south east of Britain

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    • I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think of old Adam when I was painting it. Funny to think of him playing toy soliders like we do, but then again it always is when famous people turn out to be wargamers – Shayna Baszler for one is a 40k player!

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  8. Yep, very nice! The whole colour scheme blends together well but with enough subtle variation between the different components! I’d have comfortably failed to get that right, so well done! The face paint really sets it off!

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  12. The Ratskins are really cool sculpts. I particularly like them as someone from the US, where stuff drawing on Native American imagery is so often stereotyped to a ridiculous degree, but these are actually pretty good in that regard, being a subtle nod in that direction without outright misappropriating features or symbols of any particular group. Your paint job follows along similarly, doing a great job of evoking that aesthetic and characterizing this fighter without leaning on stereotypical imagery.

    That said, the purpose of the eye black worn by some athletes is to reduce the effect of glare from strong sunlight or stadium lights, so using white instead would probably be kind of counter-productive from a functional standpoint 😉

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    • Yep, I know that (just don’t always want to write the extra details) but it’s still a visual link, which is the more important thing.
      The (mis?)appropriation of indigenous culture thing always strikes me as interesting, given that pretty much any and every bit of European and even Asian culture and imagery is appropriated and adapted all of the time – regardless of whether it’s ancient or completely modern or anywhere (and everywhere) in-between. I remember a fairly recent kerfuffle about Lego’s Bionicle: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/oct/31/andrewosborn
      I can’t say I agree with that verdict, and not for any silly anti-political correctness rationale, either. As long as terms and imagery used aren’t deliberately offensive, then anything should be fair play without “cultural guardians” telling people what they can and cannot use.

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      • Cultural appropriation is definitely a complex topic, and there aren’t any easy lines to draw. But a lot of what matters is how it interacts with various cultural dynamics. And in the US, there are some long and well-documented traditions of using stereotyped imagery of various cultures to reinforce their social status as being below that of whites. And the various Native nations got hit with some of the worst of that. I’m not talking about vague “someone might be offended” here, more “This kind of stereotypical imagery has actually been used to justify violence against these people up to and including literally taking children from their families on a massive scale and beating them for speaking their native language, and the invasion and conquest of recognized sovereign nations.” So whenever I see something drawing on their imagery, there’s always a moment of “Oh god, is this going to be something horrible?” and then, in cases like this, a sense of relief when it’s actually pretty good.

        Sorry, didn’t mean to go on quite such a rant there. But the use of Native American imagery by others has a really nasty history, and I wanted to be clear that my earlier comment wasn’t just some knee-jerk reaction. The use of Native American imagery is so often blatantly racist that it really is something worth noting when it’s done tastefully.

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  14. I think this is one of my favourite models in your collection. Starting off with a Perry sculpt I have always loved, giving it so much definition with just lots of different shades of brown has been very successful and is spot on for the character. I think the white stripes under the eyes make sense, because in the Underhive he will want more light to be reflected into his eyes to see better in the gloom.

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    • Thanks Subedai! I really do need to excavate the room where I store my minis and see if I have any more of these old Ratskin sculpts. And then very quickly decide if I should keep the outdoors “dirt”-styled basing, or redo them with “necromunda” tech-bases.

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    • While reading through these comments, I’m starting to wonder if I have any more than that other scout that I definitely know that I have… could I have the actual gang box stashed away somewhere?

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    • Thank you Mark! Is it a good thing or a bad thing that I can’t actually recall any Adam Ant songs? I was pretty young during his heyday, and his music hasn’t stuck around in these parts like some of his contemporaries, like Split Enz have…

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  17. Oh crap, Azazel’s doing Necromunda. Good thing I’ve gone back to trying to paint Dwarves this month! ;P

    Yea, I’ll say that’s a really nice mini all the way around. I like the colors you ended up using, though I’m sure you could have pulled it off with green pants just as well. The brown was smart though, as the pants look like crude leather. Will be interested to see what you do with some more freehand warpaints, if you decide to. I’m also curious to see what this guy would like matched up with a Wookie. Like an awesome apocalyptic/remote outworld team?

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    • I think we’ll see a fair bit more of Necromunda in the next 12 months. I’ve been thinking about my “big picture” painting goals for next year, and I think finishing the several hundred neglected models I have hanging around here is going to be the overarching focus for 2019. So then I can start painting cool, new models in 2020.
      I’ve got something quite similar to freehand warpaints about to happen with a bunch of figures on my desk, though a little different. Different enough that I’ve not ever seen anyone do anything similar. I’m sure that he could be hammered into an adventure alongside a wookiee, especially given how popular scummy underhive places seem to be in the Star Wars universe…

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      • Well, my dream basically came true with the last announcement. Some cool looking Delaque minis, but better than that…two consolidated rulebooks! That gives me a lot more incentive to play and really learn the rules. Now, to just get some more Van Saar done…

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      • Yeah. Even though I knew that they were gonna do that I still bought the Gang Wars as they came out (and never even had time to browse them). I’ll pick up these proper updated rulebooks as well, of course…

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      • Yeah, on reflection I should have waited, but there’s a FOMO involved, clearly because you never know when something will be discontinued and never come back in any form…

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      • Indeed, and if everyone played the waiting game, it would most likely be discontinued. Wow, didn’t know “FOMO”! That explains a lot of my collection habits, haha!

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      • Yeah, I only learned it was a thing recently (the acronym, not the concept) :p
        And yes, though probably as long as figure sales remain healthy the books willl continue to come…

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  20. Pingback: Necromunda ’95! – Ratskin Scout with Autogun and Pick (Jewel of July) | Azazel's Bitz Box.

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