Necromunda – Goliath Maulers

Along with the latest supplement for Necromunda - Cinderak Burning, the next House to receive vehicles are the Goliath with massive bikes, the Maulers. We've already seen the Outrider Squads from House Orlock and were teased about House Escher's Cutter Jetbikes at Nova earlier this year.

Vehicles to Necromunda 2017 are a bit of novelty, just added this year with the Ashwastes. For Necromunda veterans of the mid 90s, this is the first time we receive "proper" officiala rules, as we had to make do with what we had, which meant house rules based upon Gorkamorka and some snippets from Citadel Journal. Especially if you take a look on how Necromunda started the relaunch. Gone were the days of bulkhead terrain, you played on a flat surface and now we're not just out in the open, but quiet mobile in our gang warfare.

Let's take a look at the Goliath Maulers. This is a 37 EUR kit, covering two vehicles, pretty much like the Outriders (but I assume that the Escher Cutters will be four like the Nomad Dustback Helamite riders). Necromunda boxed sets are known for using identical sprues with options, this is the same case here, we have two identical sprues for the bikes, along with oval bases and a black and white instruction. No decals in here.

The sprue is tightly packed and filled to the rime. Quality of the casting is without complaint, minor mould lines which are easily removed due to the mechanical design. You can spot some of the options right away, yet I was looking for some variation for the drivers, but more on that further below.

We've built multiple vehicles on this blog before and we start with the  tracks again. The Mauler "bikes" of House Goliath are half-tracks by design definition, as you have a wheel in the front and a track section in the back. This is covered as Hybrid Drive in the Cinderak Burning supplement and gives you  the option to choose between wheeled and tracked rules when interacting with difficult terrain.

Assembly is pretty forward and I was amazed that they did actually layer some of the detail, as you have finer details on parts, that you probably wouldn't spend that much time looking at.

The massive front section of the Mauler bikes gives you two options, a fat wheel or a grinder-like spinner in the front. These are not A or B variants, but you add the wheels ontop of the other variant, if you want to.

You'll need a mid-section that connects the massive front with the back, along with secure the stability by an addition piece on top. The teeth / "spurs" in front, count as the power ram upgrade available to the Mauler bikes.

Beside the front wheel option, the other one for the bike itself is the weaponry. The Mauler comes with a basic setup of twin-linked bolters (which is optional) or can be further upgraded with twin-linked grenade launchers loaded with frag and krak grenades.

Next up the rider himself. These are Goliath Road Thugs, covered in the Cinderak Burning supplement as well. Unfortunately, these do only have the option to choose between four heads and two different mohawk designs. The Road Thugs do have access to a Bolt Pistol, Hand Flamer or a Stub Gun, but none of these are included in the kits. I assume that you are meant to convert these by using the main gang frame. The way the hands are cut of would probably allow you to, but the angle of arms would make fitting a hand weapon rather difficult.

Now these are put on their seats, by adding the handlebar and back of the seat. As the handlebar comes with pre-sculpted hands, converting the Thugs into not having both hands on the bar, is additionally difficult.

And those are the spare parts, you're adding to your bits box once you're done building the two Mauler bikes.

For scale comparison it made most sense to compare this to the most numerous of the Imperial Bikes, the Space Marine bike of the firstborn. And as the Cargo 8 Ridgehauler is shown transporting various goods and items through the ash wastes, we had to put one on the flat bed for scale. I can see that.

The completely assembled Goliath Mauler from different angles. I have to say, that model gets speed across.

Conclusion

Mixed feelings about this. Honestly. As a kit for itself, it is well designed, creates a proper footprint model wise. And I can see this as a model used aside from Necromunda, for example for Khorne Berzerker Bikes or a special hog for your Ork Waaagh-Boss. Proper kit to begin with, no questions asked.

But it lacks a bit option wise. Yes, it has the two different front wheels, but that is pretty much it and there are multiple things that makes you question this. For example, it has 11 different options listed in the latest Necromunda supplement, that are not covered in this kit. Along with the options for the driver, that aren't included either. For a skirmish this is odd, especially as we're speaking of gang warfare. Imagine a biker gang, yes, they have something that ties them all together, like their colours and type of bikes, but each and everyone is an individual. And that's what is lacking from this kit. For an army project, as mentioned above with using these for maybe alternative Chaos Bikes, that is absolutely fine, but with a rather small group of miniatures it lacks individuality. It could cover more variety. Something that from the preview pictures alone the Escher Cutters cover in a more convincing way.

At 37 EUR it is priced along the other Necromunda kits and that is still in reasonable range. Once again, the range is itselfs hardest competitor. If you're familiar with the Ork Warbiker Mob, that is an incredibly fine kit offered by Games Workshop from the Ork Range. Just 3 EUR more expensive, covering a third vehicle and offering a lot of options (you can see it in detail in our Speed Freeks review on the blog) along with being compatible with the broader range of Ork sets, so you could easily add weapon option from the boys and nobs kit. That leaves the question, why not design these in a way, that they could make use from the regular Gang Box or Upgrade set? You can probably convert them with some additional elbow grease, but you're still left with a handle bar with both hands on it.

As for further use of these. If you combine them with for example the Corpse Grinder bits, I am pretty sure they make for a great Khorne Cult on bike, maybe with a bit of stretch some kind of mobilized Renegade Militia from Bodt during the Horus Heresy.

Warhammer 40,000 and Necromunda are brands by Games Workshop.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.