Necromunda – Plasma Reactors

What's next after the Blood Bowl Chaos Team? Well, I intend to paint a 90s Necromunda gang and got into the vibe by building a "retrofitted" terrain piece of the repurposed pump from Killteam Octarius. And as mentioned in that article, I need absolutely more than just the bulkheads from the classic range. I gathered some inspiriation of the years and with the announced price rise of the Games Workshop range (along with different terrain kits going OOP without prior notice), I stocked up on some of the kits.

As I know some of the terrain sprues from the Kill Team Killzones I covered in reviews (and those had an amazing value back when they were released, but they got more expensive and they lowered the content), I deconstructed some of the builts I found online and made a brief of list of what sprues / parts I'd need. Usually some of the larger terrain sets are a proper deal, like the Battlezone boxed sets, and if you can grab these at 20% off or more, they provide you with a proper stock to begin with filling your table. I stumbled across the Charadon kit and it covered a lot of the parts, that I wanted to use, only missing another set of a haemotrope reactor. But as these were released via Conquest as well, I grabbed one for cheap on eBay. The stack of piles above covers further sets, that I bought cheap as they were left over stock. But for this article, these two sets are the major part donors.

I saw a conversion using the incinerator, of which are two in the Charadon Battlezone, in mid of two of the haemotrope reactors, creating somekind of larger energy source, that I would call plasma reactor. The first time I saw them, was 2018 on a Warhammer World diorama, between Dark Angels and the Force of Nurgle, along with further projects all over the web and on social media;

• Dakkadakka - Crablezworth Refinery Terrain
• Reddit - DrLove42 Ferromantic Plasma Reactor
• Bolter&Chainsword - Marius Perdo Loplog
• Yaktribe - Sobek - In the Sumps of Bartertown

So, I didn't went for the cheap version, using only one haemotrope and using the halves on the end, but the "proper" variant. As you can see from the tinted plastic, one of the sprues was from the conquest. I build the halves of the incinerator and tried out different orientations. Among them the long, flat lying which I want to cover in a different build.

The diameter of the incinerator matches the sides of the haemotrope very well, you just see a gap as they don't fit flush on the surface. So either you fill in that gap or we remove those parts, that cause the gaps.

As the design is embossed, cutting along it is rather simple. Just make sure you have a proper stable surface to work on and a sharp tool. The pieces you cut away can be used in different terrain building projects, so try work as clean as possible.

Unfortunately the lower part is still protruding too far, for a proper alignment. So it's best to trim these. I tried with a cutter and plyers, but a dremel is the easiest way to modify those section. So I grabbed the matching head and went to work.

I aligned the incinerator with the sides and glued the surfaced. So ensure a proper bond, I used some rubber bands to keep a bit of pressure on the pieces, while the glue settled.

You can add a few further bits on the kit, like the connection pieces for the pipelines and further exhausts. I inverted the door for a more mechanic look, and some of the pipeline mounts.

Why did I want to build this specific piece? First of all, it creates a proper foot print, it creates a blocker for line-of-sights and it makes sense on a table. It is a an energy source, you could activate it, you could blow it up and with the "fuel containers" that are part of the pipeline work, it is something that could be used as an interactive item or objective during a game (for example bring it there / activate it / steal it from there and so on). And design and size wise it is still a fit for the older miniatures.

Of course it is not finished. I am thinking about adding two levels to it, a small plattform on the side, along with a terminal and maybe a further plattform on top, with some railing. Maybe something along the lines that DrLove (see above) did using the Necromunda parts, as I have access to them.

So, what do you think? Any suggestion or ideas to add to this one? Another benefit of using these, the measurements are compatible to eachother, so the heights of this fits most of the height of the other kits once their build. This won't be the last one, I'm already two further buildings / terrain elements. So stay tuned.