2020 Hobby Review

Not having to commute to work the last eight and a half months combined with the launch of 40K 9th Edition and its utter lack of connection with my hobbying mojo meant 2020 became the year of Necromunda.  I had started the year full of earnest hobby goals and trying to actually do more hobbying that just buying and assembling models.  The year definitely turned out to be more productive that probably any previous year.

I started out focused on my Steel Legion IG force thinking it was small enough that I could actually complete assembling and painting it.  Made a bit of progress before pandemic lockdowns and other distractions led me astray.

Steel Legion force.  Mostly metal with some officers coming from a combination of Anvil Industries plus Mad Robot Miniatures heads.  Mobile mortars for heavy weapon teams from Victoria Miniatures.

Another long running IG force are my attempt at Arbites.  Originally conceived using the old rules where you could upgrade non-veteran units with carapace and running lots of veterans units with shotguns.  In 2019 I'd finally settled on Anvil Industries regiment bits to get the carapace look but the 8th edition IG codex had stripped them of official rules to spam carapace but I still liked the concept and I love the Arbites so I dabbled a bit more.

I even got another semi-decent concept of using Genestealer Cult allies as the Detective/Special Forces branch of an Arbites precinct.  There would be some modeling carryover from the main Arbites force visually for some of the GSC characters along with Aberrants as Ogryns and maybe a brood brother counts as unit as a breacher squad or some other such thing.  That plus the ridgerunner vehicle as a patrol/scout vehicle were very appealing. 

I got a few of the characters modeled up but again ran out of enthusiasm and inspiration as the shelter in place continued and economic impacts began to be felt in our family finances.  That and the drop of 9th combined to just crush any remaining interest in 40K.

I avoided pandemic hobby interests like gardening or baking and instead picked up my Necromunda books to read a bit closer and brainstorm some terrain and other underhive hobby activities.  I also fortunately discovered the Sump City Radio podcast which explores the depths of Necromunda lore, modeling and gaming while also doing very creative audio segments as an underhive radio station with a diverse set of characters that they and their friends voice which includes news and atmospheric reports for the dome they occupy along with sports, listener advice and other interesting and funny segments.  The second half of 2020 ended up being all Necromunda as a result.

Only have the Sump City Radio station broadcast tower so far but the station building and fenced in yard should come soon.

Sump City Radio also got me excited about the "House of..." books released for four of the original six gangs through their tactical reviews and enthusiasm for the content.  

My 2020 Necromunda hobby output.

Lots of conversions started...

...many inspired by the "House of..." books.

Painted models for 2020.

Arbites Detective Branch - Magus and Biophagus

Psyker Detective Heath - Tried to make some modifications to a metal fantasy model to bring it more in line with 40K.  A GSC Magus has an autopistol, cultist knife and force stave.  The kukri in her belt takes care of the knife while a Scion command rod becomes the force stave.  She's busy manifesting a psychic power so the gunskull will be her pistol.  It's more of a needle pistol in look with one of greatest bits, a more ornate double vial of who knows what from the Dark Angels Veterans sprue as the ammo feed, but it fits with a detective potentially working more quietly than the standard Arbite in carapace armor racking their shotgun in the middle of the street.

 Magos Krieger is a Mechanicus magos biologus assigned to the Arbites detectives divison.  He'll run closely with the Ogryns who will count as the Aberrants in the force to boost them in game.  I gave him an Escher chem thrower arm as the injector goad while a Mechanicus radium pistol counts as the auto pistol.  The little servo arm coming over the shoulder is a camera recording the combat for later analysis 

The magos and their counts as alchemical familiar.  More usage of the double vial as extra ammo since a single vial is the ammo for the injector goad.

Counts as Patriarch - Judge Press

Less time commuting and more time walking through my neighborhood the past two weeks has given me time to brainstorm more modeling ideas and even follow up with a conversion or two to see how things might work.  Below is a picture of Arbitrator Judge Press built to serve as the Patriarch of a counts as Genestealer Cult force.  Counts as forces are always fun to brainstorm and in this case the intimate local knowledge and the ambush/skirmish nature of the GSC seemed like it would work well for representing how the Detectives and Specialized operatives of a large enough Arbites precinct might function on the battlefield if it had to transition from everyday life to a war footing.

Judge Press and one of his psychic familiars.
I knew the GSC Patriarch was perched on a pipe so I built up the base for
him to stand on.

Then I found the Patriarch model from the Deathwatch Overkill boxed set for
a quick size comparison.  I'd forgotten how big the Patriarch model is on it's own.

So I went back and added some more height to the Judge's base.  Much better.
The downside to counts as modeling is that you can't always match the
presence of the original model.