The Gearhead Gang
Madcap engineers and mercenaries, the Gearhead Gang enjoys bringing an eclectic mix of high tech and low morals to any encounter. Jet-packs, Gamma Cannons, and the use of Robots gives them a distinct edge in battle and even the Brotherhood of Steel has had to give them their due.
Grigori
Most who encounter Grigori assume that he wears his modified hazmat suit to protect himself from the deadly radiation projected by his "Gamma Cannon". This assumption is incorrect.
In point of fact, Grigori wears his suit to protect his companions from his very own body. This is required because Grigori is a glowing one, a powerful ghoul that constantly radiates terrible radiation. Grigori has against all odds, maintained his sanity and taken advantage of his condition to power his devastating Gamma Cannon.
As founder and leader of the Gearheads he is feared by foe and friend alike, not least because the last time his leadership was challenged he simply removed his helmet and irradiated the challenger to death.
Also, Grigori's Russian accent is a bit of a mystery...
Making Grigori was a creative process... I had a Courser model from my Vault Tec Bundle and really didn't see the need to keep him unmodified. I'm unlikely to run a institute faction. I should also admit, that I despise painting flesh tones, so giving the model a helmet nicely avoided it!
I started by adding the helmet, a left over from an old Brother Vini enclave lookalike model. Too small for power armor in FoWW scale, but great for this model. Then I added the rifle bit after not-so-carefully snipping off the laser rifle he originally held. Finally came the backpack... a mixture of left over parts, including the flamer of a My. Handy. The rifle and the backpack both came from AT43 jetpack armored troops.
I'm very happy with how Grigori came out, and I came up with his backstory halfway through painting him... just in time to give his eye lenses just a touch of green!
The Valkyrie Sisters & Co.
The Valkyrie Sisters are Grigori's most loyal and intelligent gang members and uniquely engineered themselves useful jet-packs and they each use them quite differently.
"Brunhilda Ironfist" uses her jet-pack to close with the enemy, firing her laser pistol at close range and slamming into melee with her cybernetic power-arm.
Meanwhile "Pixie" likes to hang back and out of the fray, using her jet-pack to launch her to a useful vantage point where she begins dealing lethally accurate purple beams of fire from her modified laser sniper rifle.
Backing up the sisters in any major conflict are the other members of the Gearhead Gang:
Charlie in his Robot Armor and Eyebot Helmet providing plasma rifle fire support.
Hades, usually found flanking the enemy so he can douse them in his homemade napalm flamer.
And of course, Neddy "Nails" likes to stay a bit back and keep the robots working. Anyone who gives him too much trouble tends to meet the business end of his modified nail pistol!
With such an eclectic array of weaponry and personality it is unsurprising that the Gearhead Gang can count on local communities to donate food, water, and amenities in exchange for their expertise in engineering or extermination...
...whichever the locals may prefer!
The Gearhead Gang was a lot of fun to build and paint, and pretty time consuming! It all started when I decided to convert my Brother Vini enclave lookalike power armor and Eyebot into a Fallout 4 Rust Devil. Ultimately, I didn't want to create a bunch of custom robots just yet, so I decided to make a less "raider" faction and more of a professional outfit of misfits. So to speak.
Following up from Charlie, came Hades... who was inspired by my desire to use an old Dust Warfare pilot's head. The Head was a bit large, so Hades needed extra armor plates and a bigger gun to bulk him out... he still looks a bit lanky, but I kind of like it... he almost strikes me as a "plague doctor" and he "cures" the waste in hellish flames. Hades required some serious arm hacking... which meant one of my other miniatures would be missing an arm... hence how the Valkyrie Sisters began with a figure needing a new arm!
The jet-packs are an old Starship Trooper Mobile Infantry powered armor backpack, with the wings of a AT43 jet-pack attached to either side. Follow that up with a head swap and a elongated laser rifle and there you have it!
Oh... and I suppose I should mention Neddy Nails. Honestly, he was just a swapped gun for an old miscellaneous Warhammer 40K pistol of sorts. Decided it was a nail gun. I kind of assume Ned is the quiet squirrelly type!
