Nuclear Renaissance Forces: The Mutants

Hi!

Heres the last of the current factions from the Wastelands: the Mutants!

The mutants are not really a faction as such, or even a gang. More a group of similarly afflicted unfortunates thrown together by shared circumstance who congregate about the Great Vent.

The Mutants are a byproduct of the Renaissance in a more literal sense than any other inhabitant of the wastes, bearing the physical deformities inflicted by the background radiation so prominently that they have become their defining feature. Few mutations are beneficial, most are crippling afflictions, or at best horrifying abnormalities, although a rare few can be put to practical use, mainly in the field of dismembering ones prey.

The mutants have no distinct hierarchy or leadership. They exist as a gestalt organism, a shambling herd. Migrating about their lands grazing. Grazing on human Flesh. The mutants are not just an unsightly rabble of freaks, but a horrendous pack of ghouls, incapable, or unwilling to subsist from agriculture or scavenging, preferring to prey on their fellow man.

What makes them all the more hideous is that most are not mindless zombies, but fully sentient beings with a grim understanding of the atrocities they commit on a daily basis. This not only makes their sickening acts of survival pre-mediated murder, but ensures that they can make use of their victims technology. Whilst they lack the resources or know how to develop a great deal of technology themselves, they are never short of vehicles looted from their last meal. Where it not for the resources to be found around the great vent few would venture near it, and the mutants would have no source of sustenance. But mans greed keeps him coming to the Vent seeking riches and thus keeps the mutants fed, ensuring they remain not only as grim sentinels watching over their radioactive realm, but also as a grim reminder of the consequences of mans continued greed.

The Mutants background is quite interesting combining all the best bits of zombie, cannibal and mutant horror. I quite like the idea of collecting up a force of deranged mutants out for human flesh! I can imagine them having vehicles festooned with grizzly remains and trophies while the mutants themselves wear rags looted from the dead and fielding all sorts of rusty weapons!

Having loved the old Judge Dredd comics which often featured bands of muties wandering the cursed earth or undercities theres plenty of inspiration to be found and theres also loads of manufacturers out there with suitable stuff!

Miniatures wise Ramshackle produce some nice bits and bobs, especially the mutant giant called Chicken:

Chicken!

In the poisoned wasteland, mutation is widespread and common. Mutagenic chemicals coupled with diverse habitats shape the flora and fauna. Humans are of course subject to the whims of nature and so vary tremendously. The most common differences in people tend to be those of height. The cavern dwelling peoples tend to be squat in stature, with whole generations being no more than four feet high. At the other end of the scale, its common to encounter giants, often reaching well over 9 feet tall. Chicken is such a man.

The mention of cavern dwellers allows the use of all sorts of squats, grymn and scrunts from other manufacturers and Ramshackle also have Filthy Bob:

Filthy Bob

Hes ugly, smelly, rude and bad tempered. Having said that, there ain't nothing he can't drive so hes always in work. Spends his earnings on pies and beer.

Ive got a couple of useful mutant miniatures already after rummaging my bits box and culled from my fantasy collection, by adding the occasional zombie, wierdo and unusual miniature I should have the beginnings of a good mutant raider force!

All the best!