Do you remember Hive Secundus?
Come on! It wasn’t that long ago. If anything, you probably remember the cool black and turquoise dice.
Yeah… that edition.
Big promises were made. From the original Warhammer Community article describing the box and the setting:
Rob: Once the Hive Secundus box is released, we’ll follow it up with the Book of Desolation. But the releases don’t stop there – Hive Secundus is a new setting for Necromunda, and we have plenty of future plans to expand the existing gangs, add new ones, and even explore other areas of the planet…
Interesting… “future plans to expand the existing gangs…”
Also from the same article:
Alex: We did our best to keep the fittings the same for the new kit; we always try to make new kits compatible but not to their detriment, so there are compromises. If we think a particular pose is cool enough, we might not be able to make it fit with every existing arm or gun – but most of the range will fit just fine, including all the heads.
Obviously, this is referencing the new Van Saar sculpts they made for the release box. But it’s interesting that they’re described as new sculpts that are mostly compatible.
If this is ringing any bells, it should. Because guess where the gangs in the new box came from?
I have it confirmed from two sources with direct knowledge of the box’s development that both the new Goliath and Escher gangs were originally designed as Secundus incursion gangs. But, when the box didn’t exactly meet sales expectations, those planned releases were scrapped and funneled into this box as gang additions.
It makes sense when you look at them from that perspective:
To me the Goliaths bear an obvious design connection to the Van Saar gang in terms of new weapons and dynamic poses. Also, all three are eight fighter sprues. You even have the guy with whatever tool that is to either administer treatment or take samples or… ewww… both?
What’s a stumper for me, as an Escher player, is that the Escher gang actually looks severely underpowered for an Incursion gang. I see a lot of toxin needle weapons, which are great against normal dudes but higher toughness and armor becomes a real problem, real quick.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about what I think is a heavy flamer. That could be fun. Or terrible! But definitely funny, one way or another. And I think those fist things are the Escher bio-injector/sampler thing. Although, that’s also a weird choice. If anyone was going to “punch” someone with a medical device, it seems much more in character for it to be the Goliaths, no? Escher are known for many things but going toe-to-toe with an opponent is not one of them. In fact, I think they usually avoid it.
I’d hand them a medal for really leaning into the “Escher” of it all
But I will say, if someone rolling up their first Escher gang came to me and said, “I’m creating a gang with three needle weapons, auto-guns, twin guns blazing, a shotgun, a heavy flamer, a girl with a whip and some throwing knives, and some punchy thing. Could be cool. Could be eh but I like the punchy thing.” Well, I’d hand them a medal for really leaning into the “Escher” of it all with the toxin and then try to talk them into something a little more sensible. Like a 5 credit lasgun or three. Not to be mean! Just from my experience of having played them for a few years and having seen what worked!
The two things that have me excited for the new release are actually both on the same model. The one with the black shawl. You can see her body double as the one with the punchy weapon, whatever that is. This says two things: first, the shawl is optional, which is sweet. Here’s hoping the sprues are mirrors and I can have two of them. I’d love a gang of shawl wearing fighters! But, second, I love the additional weaponless hand. I know we have a pointing hand in one of the kits but there are very few weaponless open hands. So I’m excited about the modeling possibilities here.
Anyway, more than enough words spilled for a Sunday morning! I just wanted to share what I had learned about where these new gang sculpts originated… showing that work is never wasted, sometimes it’s just redirected onto something else.
