One of the things I love most about Necromunda is the design language. And, number one on that list, is the hazard stripe. For my wife and me, seeing a hazard stripe these days has reached the level of me seeing one, getting excited about it, pointing at it with the excitement of a child, and her delicately patting my leg to acknowledge that, yes, she saw it too.
But, laugh at me if you will, the hazard strip motif is a real thing, and doubly so in the Necromunda hobby.
I think what honestly make them fun is that they can be put almost anywhere. You can put them on armor, you can put them on the ground, you can put them on placeable terrain.
One of the fun things I did with my Gallowdark terrain was to put hazard stripes on the little caps that hold the walls and bits together. It was an inspired choice that I don’t think I realized exactly how much work it would be. I attempted to mitigate it a little by taping them together using model masking tape roughly in the pattern of a hazard stripe and then applying the yellow.
This actually was successful though, because the pieces weren’t exactly flat, there was some leakage and cleanup was always required. So that’s why I applied yellow first. It’s a lot easier to apply black of yellow than the other way around. But the end result is that, for me at least, the terrain just screams more Necromunda than derelict space craft now.
I also applied them around the intakes for my Escher jet bikes. This might be the least controversial place to put them as it’s arguably the most appropriate location and, if all the hazard stripes have told you anything, it’s that Necromunda really is a safety first culture.
And then there’s the hazard stripes on my Goliath Mauler. This one really begs the question, is there such a thing as too many hazard stripes. And, as I think this proves, the answer is a resounding, no.
It’s a strangely versatile design element that can work on terrain, characters… anything! And the best part is, it just screams “Necromunda”.
(And lest anyone say, “Oh, but what about the Iron Warriors?” Go away. Just… just… go away.)
