Welp… one week later and it’s official, the Goliaths have been announced to be receiving their new Necromunda Journal and a line up of champion miniatures.
The closeness of these two announcements has be actually believing that it’s more likely than not that both these journals, models, and card sets will probably all go up for sale on the same date. Be it a week from Saturday (August 22nd) or perhaps even more likely, on the 5th of September, just to draw things out a little and so that GW has a Necromunda release in September. It would also make sense that both gangs in the new launch box get their journals with their gang tactics and special skills and special sauces (Genesmithing and Chem-Alchemy) at the same time to maintain parity.
I could be wrong… but I doubt that I am.
Looking at these models… I know I had doubts about the Escher sculpts, especially the one wearing a cat pelt but… I am just not crazy about these sculpts. I’m not stupid enough to say that I’m never getting them, I probably will at some point. But, unlike the Escher where I plan to buy a box or two on day-one, I’m holding off on any of this plastic for the time being.
There are a couple of reasons.
Firstly, I don’t love the sculpts. There’s something… off about them in a way I can’t describe. Like they’re either too big or too small. I’m also not a fan of the grafted weapons instead of hands. It just reads “servitor” to me and less like a bad ass fighter. The guy from the launch box, with the two hook hands has me just wondering, “How does he wipe his ass?”
The guy from the launch box, with the two hook hands has me just wondering, “How does he wipe his ass?”
I really hope those hooks can be replaced with regular hands. For, you know, his downtime. Because, wow, that’s a rough card to pull as a ganger. He gets a stub cannon. He gets an axe. You… get your hands cut off and replaced with hooks.
Look, I know Necromunda is a dark place but… jesus…
Secondly, maybe because I don’t love the sculpts but it just doesn’t inspire me to add them to my existing Goliath gang. What niche would they fill that I need right away? And if I did add them, would they fit in? I know paint can hide a myriad of sins but if there are scale problems too…
Which brings me to my third thing, which is that I hadn’t planned on building the Goliaths that came with the box right away because I wasn’t really sure what to do with them either! Not that any one of these things has me making promises I probably won’t keep. And this might all be solved by the journal.
Unlike with the Escher, where I’m worried that these specialist gangs are trying to tamp down on interesting list building, they might actually open some doors for me in terms of inspiration in ways to use these new models. And, then, rather than adding to my existing gang, I might just build a fresh one, based on the specialist gangs profiles instead. I have a lot of other things to work on, so I’m not going to run out and do it right away but it’s possible that’s the solution to my inspiration problem.
Look, like all Necromunda players, I like to bitch and moan. But, the truth is, I’m happy the GW hasn’t just not forgotten about Necromunda but that they’re actually continuing to support it with new releases for gangs that haven’t seen anything new in a long, long time. So, no, I don’t love the sculpts… but I sure love that GW is releasing them…
