Necromunda – Outland Beastmaster with Ripperjacks

The addition of Beastmasters to the new edition of Necromunda was announced with the Book of the Outlands earlier this year, and in mid of December we got actual pictures and not just artwork for these units. The first to come is the Outland Beastmaster with Ripperjacks.

This is not the first time for "animals" to support an Underhive gang, there are for example the Escher Phyrr Cats and Goliath Sumpkroc already available. As this is an addition to the core range, the product is distributed by Forge World and casted in resin and not with injection mould plastic. For that reason you will need super glue for the assembly and it is recommended to wash off the parts in luke warm soap water to remove any release agent, that might still be stuck to the parts.

The blister covers a single Beastmaster with two Ripperjacks for a RRP of 42,50 GBP / 53 EUR.

And I am quite happy about the re-release, as I am a huge fan of the classic 90s Necromunda, and the Beastmasters were part of this too, but a variant of Wyrds back then. There were three different models of the Beastmasters, and three different kind of beasts to handle, giant rats, millisaurs and ripperjacks.

In the Book of the Outlands you even find updated, more detailed artwork of the Millisaur, along with a Beasthandler. That is the only updated information on these before the release of these models.

The models are spread across multiple cast. You get 8 small strips the individual pieces are attached. As it is often the case, a few parts broke of these strips, but stayed unharmed. Minor mould lines and a few fleshs, but nothing to difficult to remove. Much cleaner compared to the Wy'Tari Stormcaller. There are three round bases included in the blister, two 32mm and one 25mm.

The instructions and basic rules are part of the printed material that are included in the blister. The instructions are not that helpful, as some parts like the "hair" / "feathers"-thingies on the head of the Ripperjacks look pretty much alike and I did a bit of guess work to determine, which goes where.

Clean up went easy and quick. Assembly as well, but I recommend glueing the "legs" of the Ripperjacks to a base, as the whole model is top heavy and it makes it easier for the glue to settle. Fit is overall okay, here and there I recommend a bit of gap filling with putty or green stuff.

The Ripperjacks are huge as you can see in direct comparison with the Beastmaster, who is quite tall himself.

In these close ups you can see how clean the cast is (I still need to git rid of mould lines and shavings here and there), but beyond that I am amazed that there are no print steps and they really cleaned up the master before casting. Something that was a bit of a problem with some of the Titanicus resin kits, like the Questoris Knight.

A scale comparison of the classic and new models. Around 25 years between them, and as you can see from the scale in the background, we've left the area of 28mm a long time ago and in "proper" 32-35mm area, along with more realistic proportions, especially the hands and faces have become smaller.

The assembled trio, quite the frightening posture of the Ripperjacks. As this is resin, you could probably easily rearrange the wings with a dip in warm water.

Conclusion

The new design of Necromunda is pretty wild, and in this case we went from the very Alien facehugger inspired Ripperjacks to something completely new, and much, much larger. These beasts are terrifying. While I have my "problems" with Necromunda being a bit too high-tech for my taste (the low-tech aspect of an Underhive gang war appealed to me a lot), especially with some of the Van Saar options being more sophisticated than what the Adeptus Mechanicus has to offer, the overall design isn't as grim dark as other parts of the Warhammer range and have their own style. You get a lot of personaes from Forge World to cover more than just the gang fighters. With a lot of content formerly only being part of Citadel Journals and Gang War magazines, them now closer embedded in the system via the supplement is a clearer way to go and it gives players more options. And all these have their own house-related or independend designs, for example the Beastmaster in this set has no Imperial gear, there is no STC las pistol on his belt, or the helmet giving you a Warhammer vibe. Even the skulls are missing from this kit. I like how he repurposed parts of the animals as his clothings, for example the cloak being animal skin, mandibles on his helmet along with the spear that keeps them at distance but motivates them as well, if needed. I can't wait for the Giant Rats and Millisaur to be released, as I am curious about the reinterpretation of those as well.

Production quality is proper, a bit of numbering on the parts would be appreciated. As for the price, in all honesty, that's a though one - 53 EUR is quite the mark up on this kit, especially if you compare it within the range itself. The Underhive Traders are 44 EUR, 20% less with 3 models as well, or the Van Saar Champion with 3 Cyberarachnids (a very similar role) is "just" 36,50 EUR. I honestly don't think that this price is justified.

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

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer