If I’m going to work on my Cawdor gang then one model deserves attention more than any other; my stigshambler. It was November 2018 when I first put this lumbering mutant duo together (and please don’t say “mutant” in front of the rest of the gang, they’re quite touchy about these things!) and they quickly proved to be one of my most popular conversions, not to mention one of the ones I was most proud of. Here’s a reminder of how it looked the last time we saw it, back when it was still bare plastic.
The stig-shambler is the house brute for Cawdor (each House on Necromunda having access to a unique brute – the Goliath Zerker or Escher Kymerix for example). To quote my original post;
For those unfamiliar with the background, House Cawdor take a dim view of all mutants, knowing that any aberration from the human norm is proof positive of a corrupt and evil soul. As with so many Imperial institutions however their tolerance increases markedly if the individual can demonstrate their usefulness. Those on the borderline are “Stigs”, marked by the stigma of mutation but not true mutants and thus spared the pyres so long as they can work towards the greater glory of Him On Terra.
A Stigshambler combined two such Stigs; one physically frail but intelligent, the other bulky and strong but lacking in the wits needed to survive long in the Underhive. Indoctrinate Master-Blaster into a life of religious fanaticism and you’re most of the way there.
When I first started this blog I thought – somewhat naively – that any readers would be primarily interested in the same models or ranges that I was. However in recent years I’ve discovered that quite a few come from a much broader range of backgrounds – whilst generally still interested in miniatures – and that saying “look what I kitbashed” might not be enough when the reader in question is unfamiliar with the stock models. As a result I’ve been trying to include pictures of the unconverted versions of converted models, demonstrating my workings as it were. In this case however it’s hard to know where to begin. The main body of the big guy comes from the Ironjaws Brutes and as I painted a couple of them recently they can stand in to demonstrate.
After that however it all gets a bit busy, the head and axe are from the putrid blightkings, the arm with the shaken fist from the ork nobs, the gantry (and the little guy) from the ogre gluttons (the little guy being essentially a gnoblar with a headswap for a Cawdor head), the gun is from the Orlocks, the loudhailer from an Imperial guardsman and various other odds and ends from wherever I could scavenge them.
Anyway, let’s get to the meat of the post and take a look at the finished model at last.
I think I got the scale for him about right, he doesn’t look too weedy next to a Goliath ‘zerker (which reminds me – I really need to paint that guy!).
And he certainly towers over the rest of the gang.
If this crusade is going to show the underhive they mean business however a stigshambler won’t hurt but a few more gangers will be invaluable, and as I have quite a few of those on the desk I’ll aim to tackle them next.