On the surface, Warhammer 40k is an extremely heterosexual power fantasy, a flat stage on which turgid Space Marines eject streams of bolter fire into the yonic maws of fleshy alien monsters. In the same universe you will also find things like the spin-off game Necromunda and the warrior women of House Escher, gang fighters who would look right at home making ‘Hey Mama’ memes on lesbian TikTok. On Monday Games Workshop revealed a new kit to build an Escher Gang Queen and five Gang Champion models, plus a pair of enormous Phyrr Cats, because of course they’re cat moms too.
In case you’re unfamiliar with Necromunda, it’s a skirmish wargame set in the industrial hell of a mile-tall metal hive city. Players control paramilitary or criminal gangs instead of the military Warhammer 40k factions, each with a distinctive gameplay style and remarkably well coordinated dress code: think West Side Story with plasmaguns and power swords.
Most gangs in Necromunda are drawn from a single House, which, when you delve into the lore, isn’t so much a subculture or criminal enterprise as it is an ethnostate. House Escher gangs aren’t exclusively female because of a recruiting policy, but because about 1,000 years before the events of the game the fallout from a particularly nasty gang war ravaged their genetics. Most Escher males die shortly after birth, and those who do live are profoundly fragile.
The Escher aesthetic riffs on cybergoth clubwear, the furs and feathers of the Amazon myth, and just a little bit of OSHA-compliant health and safety gear. The hairstyles are pure ’80s Big Hair. In case you can’t tell, I like these minis. If this kit is made of plastic models it will make for a good follow-up purchase from the new Necromunda starter set, due to release in a fortnight – if the minis are resin then they’re going to be expensive. They look plastic to me, but I’ve been wrong about ‘Munda models before.
Also releasing alongside the new Escher champions will be ‘Underhive Journal: Escher, House of Blades’, a softback supplement that will contain background lore, “two new kinds of gang lists to build around – Wyld Hunts who favour menageries of lethal creatures, and Chymist Cults who produce many of the virulent toxins used by their peers”, as well as gang-specific content for campaign play like unique skills and territories to battle over. It looks very similar to the Tactica Journals for Warhammer the Horus Heresy or Arcane Journals for Warhammer: The Old World, and if it’s priced accordingly it will cost $29 / £17.
Do you have a Necromunda gang to show off, or are you keen to find an underground society with a surprising amount of queer subtext? Come and say hi in the Wargamer Discord community!
Source: Wargamer
