I had the opportunity to work with Garfy on the recent Necromunda: Hive Secundus release. Necromunda is one of my favourite games. Sadly, I have not had much opportunity to play the latest edition, this is something that I am hoping to rectify next year. However, I always follow the releases with great interest and have often purchased some of the gangs and models just because I love the characterful sculpts so much. I find they are perfect for using in narrative games of 40k as well. 

This site contains affiliate links you can use to support Tale of Painters. As Amazon Associates, eBay partners, and partners of our partner shops we earn from qualifying purchases. Thanks :)

The specialist games that Games Workshop produce are fantastic. These standalone games are set within the established unique Warhammer universes and are bursting with character and narrative. Unlike the larger battle games range, there is no requirement for the hobbyist to have to paint (grind) through lots of “hard graft” rank and file units before you can game with a nicely painted force. Just pick a box game you like, build it up and you have all the figures and rules you need to get playing the same day. For that, the Necromunda: Hive Secundus box is perfect, as Stahly pointed out in his review and unboxing.

Our Necromunda Hive Secundus diorama

I’m going to be brutally honest straight out the gate, Garfy did most of the heavy “hobby” lifting in this project and did a superb job. He built and painted all the scenery, check out his “making of” post here. He also painted the Malstrain Genestealers, Tryamites, and Brood Scum. This left me with the Orrus Spyre Hunters, Van Sarr Tek-Hunters and the Caryatid Prime (possibly one of my fave minis ever!)

Necromunda: Hive Secundus diorama by Garfy and Dunk, cinematic shot
All photos taken by Garfy

At the start of the project. I came out of the blocks fast, building the models and enjoying reading about my gang so I could understand more about them before approaching my painting. I always find this approach really helps me with my hobby projects. I am a visual person, therefore, when the models are built and I can hold them in my hand, I can get a feel for how I want to tackle the painting process. Secondly, narrative and storytelling are by far the most important thing to me in my hobby, so understanding and enjoying the rich background helps me visualise how I want the finished models to look.

However, although starting well, the dreaded “analysis paralysis” took hold. I started to second guess myself and began to overcomplicate and overthink the project. Before long a few weeks had gone by and all I had to show were two pages of badly written notes and not a single drop of paint had been used, not good! I needed to kick start this project and quickly.  I picked up the phone and called Garfy who shared some super helpful guidance that got me focused and back on track. Now all I had to do was execute. 

Van Saar Tek-Hunters and Orrus Spyre Hunters on white background, painted by Dunk
These models were kindly provided by Games Workshop

The goal of the project was to produce a narrative driven cinematic scene showcasing all the action that takes place in the depths of “Hive Secundus”. In this grim dystopian setting, Garfy and I agreed the mutated humans and Genestealers needed to contrast well against the greedy Van Saar Tek-Hunters and their Spyre Hunter pay masters.

Necromunda Orrus Spyre Hunters, painted by Dunk
Caryatid Prime on white background, painted by Dunk

It was important to show the regal nature of the wealthy Spyre Hunters and this is reflected in the colour choices I used to paint them. The Van Saar Tek-Hunters although not as wealthy and important as the Spyre Hunters, still have a significant amount of quality weapons and gear, some of their kit even keeps their polluted and sick bodies alive during hunts for hidden treasures. 

Four Van Saar Tek-Hunters on white background, painted by Dunk

I have a lot of experience painting grey/blue armour having enjoyed painting my Space Wolves collection. As I had to make up lost time I leaned into this experience to increase my efficiency and speed when painting the body suits of the Van Saar.  It was important to use a nice contrasting colour for the weapons and details to make them stand out against the cold grey blue armour. In this instance, I chose green as it gave a nod to the official box artwork colours used and I felt the green reinforced the sickly feel I wanted to convey my Underhive Gangers. 

Four Van Saar Tek-Hunters on white background, painted by Dunk

How to paint Spyre Hunters & Van Saar armour

Spyre Hunters Red Armour:

  • Undercoat: Chaos Black spray
  • Basecoat: Balthasar Gold and some Rinox Hide mix 80/20
  • First highlight: Retributor Armour, making sure to leave some of the previous layer showing.
  • Second highlight: Liberator Gold – use this sparingly targeting areas that will catch the light most on your model. This is to avoid covering all the careful work done developing dark to light gold transition in previous layers. When finished this should provide a nice gold with some tonal variance. 
  • Lastly, I painted an all-over thinned glaze with Baal Red Contrast. Contrast paints have a high pigment count so make sure you thin this paint well to allow the hard work you did on the metals to show through. When finished it should give you a polished “sports car” red look or similar. An optional final stage here could be to gloss varnish the red armour should you want to really sell this effect. In my case I was happy with a more matt look and feel. 

Van Saar Tek-Hunters Grey Body Suits:

So that’s all folks.  I hope this article was useful and you like the finished models and cinematic showcase photo Garfy and I produced as much as I do. 

Remember… “Life is cheap. The bullet is king. And in the shadows of the hive, only the strongest endure…”