Necromunda ’95! – “Catachan” Gangers with Lasgun; Autopistol and Chainsword (Michael Perry, 1993-4)

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Jungle Fighter with Lasgun 4, 0437/1, Jungle Fighter Sergeant 1 0437/4, Necromunda 1995, Ganger with Lasgun, Ganger with Autopistol and Chain Sword, Michael Perry, 1993-4

Yeah, I liked using Catachan models in my Necromunda gang. Here’s another (two) of them – in fact this was the first of the Catachans to be used as a ganger (the Blue Camo dude from last week was actually the last of them). From memory, the first of these two models was the model with the Lasgun. I think he may have picked up some close combat skills, and despite GW telling us back then that we needed to keep our models WSYWIG, there was no way I was going to chop up or otherwise fuck with my models once they were finished. I did have a suitable model to turn the guy into a Close Combat specialist, though – so I simply got a Catachan Sergeant and gave him a pistol swap. The Chainsword was probably just a regular sword. I can’t recall, but it was close enough in my estimation and nobody ever complained – so all good (remember – these were the days before a wide range of easily accessible plastics!)

There is a little 1990’s “conversion” at work here on the “Sergeant” model, since he originally had a headband and an eyepatch, so I carved the eyepatch off and carved an eye into the face of the model with a scalpel, and turned the headband into a bandanna by carving the top of it (and his hair) down. I also swapped out his bolt pistol for the Autopistol (from the metal Necromunda Weapons sprues of the day).

Jungle Fighter with Lasgun 4, 0437/1, Jungle Fighter Sergeant 1 0437/4, Necromunda 1995, Ganger with Lasgun, Ganger with Autopistol and Chain Sword, Michael Perry, 1993-4

I’m pretty sure in later campaigns, the CC-oriented model was used to designate a juve starting with CC kit, later graduating to a full ganger and the right to carry a lasgun. I’ve got a vague memory about him having the sharpshooter skill as well (was that the name of it?) so it could be that the rifleman was painted first to be that ganger after picking up that skill in the first campaign and the CC happened in the second – and then the juve use in the third. I can’t recall – we played a LOT of Necromunda back in those days – and it was fucking glorious!

Shout-out to Ara, Jared, Matt, Ange, Brad, Aman, Josh, Dave and the rest of the gang from those days who will never see or read this.

These two models were fully painted, but needed touch-up and paint repair from wear and tear over all those games, as well as entirely new bases, so they still count as “completed” because renovations to 2019 standards have always still counted. While they’re entirely suited to tattoos, these two won’t be getting them as they’re also time capsules from 20 years ago, and besides, they’d need to match perfectly for when I use them as the same guy as opposed to twins, or clone-brothers, or very close gym-bros. Just one more rep! You can do it, brah!

21 thoughts on “Necromunda ’95! – “Catachan” Gangers with Lasgun; Autopistol and Chainsword (Michael Perry, 1993-4)”

    • Thanks Dave. I recall that I wanted the webbing to stand out from the black fatigues and clothing. All-black clothing and gear looks impressive in real life and in movies, but it doesn’t translate so well to tiny little miniatures! 🙂

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  4. Funny how they changed from requiring people to swap weapons to letting them stay the same right as they introduced a line of Models that made it far, far easier to do those swaps. These guys look pretty badass, tho the pattern on their bandannas was kind of messing with my eyes, and it took me a little while to figure out that they didn’t actually have some sort of weird fancy helmets added.

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    • It just took a couple of years (just a couple!) for it to filter through that most people don’t like fucking up their nicely painted, completed models just because the in-universe character went from a lasgun to a shotgun or the like. 😉
      The bandanna pattern is the “Grendel” eye-pattern (in bandanna form).

      It’s a tiny bit more awkward on the “Sergeant” model, since he originally had a headband and an eyepatch, so I carved the eyepatch off and carved an eye into the face of the model with a scalpel, and turned the headband into a bandanna by carving the top of it (and his hair) down. I should add that into the post, actually…

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      • Yeah, it’s more the combination of bad eyesight and a small monitor on my end that made it look weird, I think. Once I figured out what was going on, it looked cool.

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  7. I can see why Necromunda is remembered so fondly when I see well-painted minis like this. Using the Catachans works really well as I would have just assumed they were regular old Necromunda sculpts. Of course, the excellent tones, especially the dark colored pants really helps set the proper mood too 🙂

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    • I think they do work as 40k models – the main problems with them I think were the “official” pasty white guys with red-bandanna paint scheme, followed by the overly-chunkified plastics wearing the same outfits. I’ve got some old-school ones I’ll post up sometime (hopefully between now and the end of the upcoming AU summer) and you’ll see what I mean…

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