Sunday 20 February 2011

Blast from the Past.

Hey all, awhile since I posted. I know TKE will be interested in this as he told me once he loved the figures. As an avid collector I was digging through my Storage Container.... yeah long story but never ever have a really good job in your early 20's with a girlfriend who works for GW..... sigh... I should have bought two houses by now.... anyways.... for those who are old enough to remember..... and for those who are not old enough to remember.... get out of my way, my wheelchair will run you down... damn kids.

Pristine in wrap. Circa 1989. Necromunda 8th advancing.



History Lesson! Command is yellow! Red is Tactical, Blue is Support and Green is Assault! Yes that's right you damn kids... Green is Assault! Colors are the Necromunda 8th original. He is 5th Squad of 2nd Company, a Tactical Company. How can you tell? Read on below.
Ok brief History Lesson for those under 35....

Imperial Guard had Assualt Squads, Command Squads, Tactical Squads and Support Squads... sounding marineish? It should! The chest badge denotes Company. A single color would denote 1st Company, 2 colors as this guy has splitting behind the "5" means he is a 2nd Company trooper. The red line on his helmet is how you tell he is a tactical trooper. The badge on his right breast is the one denoting his army or the current campaign.  The spider symbol is blown up from his wrist which you cannot make out. It is the spider ink on his wrist... to denote is former Gang Membership of the famed Necromunda Spiders Gang.... which is why the 8th Regiment is called the "Spiders" as that is where they are recruited from.

Now Assault squads you say? Support Squads? In the day.... the Guard were broken into Company sized units... so there was a Company sized Support Unit made up of guess? 4 heavy weapon troopers and 6 others... sounding familiar? hmmmmm. So for example, a Company might be 10 support squads of different types.  Assault Squads were 10+ strong and everyman had a chainsword and laspistol... oh and yeah, they couldhave jump packs. (MARINES STEAL EVERYTHING!!!!)

Luckily in the 1989.M41 everyone had the same haircut... this was to make the men less attractive to each other and ease sexual tension.


4 troopers with heads. You can tell GW have come a long way with how much of space is left on sprues in 2011.


Weapons Sprue.... Liking the shoulder mounted Lascannon? Real Guardsman could fire em from the shoulder in the good old days.... and lasguns! I'll show you 80's retro!

Now we move to some metal.... Orderly, Commander, Medic, Grenadier, Captain. On the second row is the same figure front and back... the HUMAN BOMB. Yes back in the 80's it was ok to have HUMAN BOMBS..... hmmmm political comment anyone?
The Penal trooper of 1987.... bald, sexy vest and perhaps some type of leather pants.... sounds like he got lost in a bad area of town right?

If TKE likes I will keep an update going as they are painted and done..... May the 8th Necromunda rise from the ashes.... and retake the glory that was the Guard.... in 1989... before this word... CHIMERA.

Then again....

I can remember when these were 9.99 each in Australia... thats ten bucks or 6 pound approx today. LOL! and you got 12 paints per set back in the day.

3 comments:

Dethtron said...

you know those don't look half bad compared to the plastics they put out in the early 90s. Weird that they did a quality backslide. I've still got some of those wretched single posed skaven that I can't bring myself to do anything with.

suneokun said...

The Imperial Guard Box, the 'beaky' marine box and the Ork Boyz box were a revolution! 30 models for circa £12.

Genius!

The models were shoddy, the detail was laughable and the postures all looked like they were taking a dump ... but the opportunity for conversion and the 'spares' were awesome.

Ork box - powerclaws, powerswords, plasma pistols, guns and plasma cannons, check!

IG with 10 lascannons, check!

Smurfs with Missile Launchers and Powerfists - check.

Happy days...

TheKing Elessar said...

Firstly, it's pretty hilarious - great article.

Particularly - "Luckily in the 1989.M41 everyone had the same haircut... this was to make the men less attractive to each other and ease sexual tension."

Although, IIRC, the Necromundan 8th were wiped out to a man defending Warmaster Solon as he retreated from a world during his Crusade. The regiment number was retired as a mark of respect. :p

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