Necromunda - Putting together a gang!

[Squirrel]

Many happy hours spent playing Necromunda over the years ... I actually started collecting some 15mm miniatures (from Kurasan) recently to start playing again.

Cheers,

Kev

[Vulpine]

Cash = Time x Fun I think Necromunda is quality (unless you need to find the bits for a board)

£25 can get you a gang! Hours of fun, as I have said, I'm already attached to my D12 possy! The game is quick passed also so it's neaver boaring and as your guys are untrained scum it's often a very random game.

I would say its one of, if not THE best game I've played. A few small faults but all can be solved with house rule's.

[Squirrel]

Certainly one of GW's finer moments.

Cheers,

Kev

[Fenton]

It was a fun game, though we did find if you lost a couple of games you had no hope in doing much in the campaign as the others got too far ahead..same happened in Mordheim

[Steve J]

Ah Mordheim, so many happy memories of that game . Easily do-able in 10mm I would have thought, but must not get distracted by the thought of this!

[Luddite]

Certainly one of GW's finer moments.

Cheers,

Kev

GW produced an excellent set of skirmish rules that have been replicated across various genres.  the same engine powers:

Warhammer skirmish

Lord of the Rings

Mordheim

Necromunda (its predecessors and successor rules)

Legends of...(the old west, the high seas, the Great War, etc.)

Gladiator

Etc.

These rules are an excellent skirmish set and really come alive into a truely great gaming experience when they are used in their 'campaign' modes.

When they stick to these, GW are top notch.  When they deviate from these rules and try to do other things using the core concepts of this skirmish set things fall apart.  Their core games for example (WFB and 40k) degenerate with each iteration and are currently unplayable drivel designed solely to 'shift units of Failcast'.

Its a real shame GW down't support their skirmish sets properly - but then i suppose they just don't generate enough sales.

[GordonY]

GW is run by the bean counters.

"Sales are falling!"

"Change the rules so that they need a unit of 20 of these at £12 each or they lose."

"It'll be in the next issue of White Dwarf boss."

"Peel me a grape and light my cigar will you?"

[Vulpine]

I put it down to these two things....

1)
I used to go, "hay dad, these models you got me from GW look fab, by me the rules and me and my mates can play!"

Now it's "wow, these rules are nasty, better buy the models! Pants there £12 per guy! How come hes the same size but due to him being harder he costs more*?"

2)
When you zoom the microscope out you lose detail. For exsample:
Inquisitor - Necromunda - LOTOW : High detail squad based, so 25mm+ models required
2nd-3rd ed 40k - Old fant : Skirmish so 25mm (down to perhaps 10mm) models required.
New mass army 40k/fant: 25mm is now ridiculous, 15-10needed!

Why oh why are they zooming out on 40k and fant, making bigger armies and keeping the scale the same!??? (I know the answer*)

Another thing ill say is, if they want to increase it at that scale do as warlord games have done, large units of men for around £1 each. Why don't GW do that with Orks, guard, guardians etc.... (I once again know the answer*)

*=£££££

[Rothgar68]

I've got a project that is still waiting for more work, but it's similar to Necromunda.

I definitely wanted the ganger aspect of it, as well as the campaign stuff.

I started collecting a large amount of 15mm characters.. That's when Blasters & Bulkheads came out..

It's a campaign/RPG system for Space Opera type stuff..

So instead of just gangs fighting, I can run a rescue the princess scenario or a rob the security payroll scenario as well..

Still up in the air about which ruleset to use, but I'm hoping to have some great tales from the spaceport bar.

[GordonY]

There was no need as Vulpine said to "zoom out" the 40k/Fantasy rules.

Those sized actions already exist and are produced by GW, Epic 40k/Warmaster.

Trouble is those do not produce many sales at all as they have priced themselves out of the 10mm market, but looking at their prices I now know why Hawk Wargames believe that they are at a competitive price point.

[Vulpine]

Well, there are plenty threads on ranting about GW (I've started a few my self) this was suppose to be a in charictor tutorial... So.... Ahem...

....

.... ahhh! There you are again my fellow scummer and swap rats!

So now you have your gang together but you need to ask old Vulpine how to arm your vagrants?

I won't go into detail on evry weapon ill concentrate (for now) on your basic weapons and the main pistols, it is sometimes hard to pick between them. So after talking to my Ratskin sidekick Luddite (Lud, please chime in if yoi disagree with anything) these are some of our conclusions:

Lasgun Vr Autogun :  This is actually rather cut and shut, the Lasgun is -1 save mod, and has the best ammo role going. The down side, compared to the auto gun, the cost. 25%more...But 5pts seams worth it to me and Luddite. But if you have totted your roster up and you need to shave off 5pts I think that this is the place to do it.

Boltgun: Stats wise it's a Lasgun with +1St but its ammo role is bad. Put it this way, if your unlucky enough to role a 6 and have to do an ammo role, you need another 6 to unjam it. I have a nasty wound due to my boltgun jamming!

Shotgun: At first glance it might be overlooked. Only good up close I here you say? The scatter ignores cover, if your -1 to hit long the cover might have been -2 or more, your already 1 up on other weapons. Also, due to gangers needing help to stay on there feet you usually find them together and the scatter can catch two guys! Solid shot is a right laugh if the enemy is near an edge as it knocks them over and it's strength 4. For all the Ammos I like the man stoppers, st4 no minus to hit long -2 to armour and unlike the other additional ammos it's still an ammo role of 4+.

Auto pistol Vr Laspistol: This is once again straight forwards but this time I think the cased ammo as it over the Zipping lasers. Both cost the same and the stats are almost identical. The Laspistol is -1 at long range, the Autopistol ain't. However the Laspistol has a better ammo role (1/3 better). For me the auto pistol takes it. As a hold out I reckon the auto pistol, as the chance of you jamming to pistols in one ge is unlikely... Although, you could look at it as, my main weapon jammed, better draw the las pistol, it won't!

Stub pistol: first up, stub pistol, stubgun sounds like a riffle to me... At 50% cheaper than the las and auto pistol it is a good cheap hold out. It is 2 less than the other two pistol to hit at short, and a addithional -1 tonhot at long. if a juve has this wepon its unlikly to hit. It does have the option to make it st4. Something the auto and las can't do. This brings the total cost to match the las and auto, but it's still inaccurate and now if it jams it explodes!

Bolt pistol: Stats are very similar to the Autopistol. It has strength 4 and -1 to save mod but once again it a 6+ ammo role and its 5pts more. That's all I can say about the bolt pistol. For me, if it was a 5py upgrade for the auto that was st4, SvMod, 6+Ammo would I? It's better than the dum dum upgrade for the stub.... But I still think 5pts here and there could be a Lasgun instead of a Autogun and so on....

So I hope this helps arm your gang to the teeth and you can set them loose in the deep depths of the spire!

Vulpine

[Luddite]

Ratskin?!?

You'll suffer for that outrage...

Broadly agree mate.

Essentially in Necromunda the weapons are 'horses for courses'.  Each has pros and cons.

Lasgun/Autogun
Personally i think the lasgun wins hands down.  Its the go-to weapon of the game.  Good range, ultra reliable, decent killing power vs average Joes, and armour piercing to boot.  also can be upgraded with hotshots later on.
The autogun wins only if you can't stretch to those extra 5 Credits...

Boltgun
Status weapon, to be avoided.  The ammo roll kills.  Sure it packs a punch but its expensive and you WILL need a second weapon for when the damned thing clicks out.

Shotgun
I'm still making my mind up on this.  Range ain't great (4" optimum before your on -1 to hit), but scatter is really useful for pinning those enemies who are lurking in cover.  Its also versatile with scatter and solid and can be boosted with special ammo (although you gotta watch the ammo rolls on those babies).
Overall i think you do need one or two of these to sort out enemies in cover.
Plus...shotguns just look so cool eh?

Autopistol/laspistol
Both have their uses.  Laspistols are better up close as they suffer at range, and are useful backups for special weapon crews.  Again, ultra reliable.  Autopistols are better for Juves and with their longer range, for backups for heavies (who will no doubt be in a stand off situation and will need a bit of range in their pistol).

Stub pistol
Cheap rubbish.  That's about it. Sure you can boost them up with dumdums but they'll likely explode.  Only Juves should ever be given one of these, and only if you don't like your juves.

Special weapons
Flamer
Good, solid short ranged choice.  Brutal effect, not need to roll to hits, etc.  But, you'll get maybe 2-3 shots at best from it.  So although cheap, your chap will need a backup weapon for when it flames out.

Personally i favour the plasmagun.  Solid mid-ranged mobile killing weapon, that can wind up to a maximal shot turning it into a brutal heavy weapon with sustained fire to take down that tough target.
Simply too lethal and versatile not to be taken.

Heavy weapons
Why would you take anything but a heavy stubber?  S4 does perfectly well and with such a high sustained fire rating, its the go to heavy weapon for me. 


The key thing i think is building in a mix.

A couple of fighters with Pistols and swords for hand to hand work
A shotgun or two to pin down enemies in cover
A good stock of mid ranged reliable las guns.
A small selection of 'killing weapons' (either a heavy stubber or two, or a few plasma guns.

Build that into a starting gang and you should have enough flexibility to take on any scenario.

My initial plans are here by the way.  http://luddite1811.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/in-grim-darkness-of-far-future-there-is.html

[Vulpine]

Ok ok Ludite, you ain't a ratskin, your a Scavy.

One thing to point out on the shotgun, man stoppers are still 4+ ammo role. An awesome upgrade!

Boltgun, agreed, it's a symbol. But like the shotgun it's all about the look.... What leader would go without a weapon that's also used by the sisters of battle and Space Marines? I also think the bolt pistol is the same.

Flamer, to be fair how many times (if you did not have to role ammo role) would you use it in a game anyway?.. Unless you sat there torching the downed bodies you took out earlier.... BBQ

Plasma, if you have to reload (it depends on firing type) it means you will also get two-three shots per game? But it is true that it will kill all it hits and you can fire it all the time at Low power. That with bs4 would be mint!

Heavy weapons... Yeah, I'm using two Hev stubbers at the moment! It's keeping my enemy at bay while on over watching and this basicly pins them all without firing a shot! It's also good at firing at the enemy also! Although, I am considering a heavy Bolter! Do two wounds mean that the enemy must make two wound roles (so they either stay down with flesh wound, stay down, get up with two flesh wounds of go out?) but it also wounds on a 2 and can get a max of 6 shots! 60pts more than the stubber, however ammo role 6+ so Lasgun should also be taken instead of a pistol, so really I look at it as 75pts for the upgrade.

[Vulpine]

D12 possy:

http://img3.imageshack.us/i/imagegynl.jpg/

http://img41.imageshack.us/i/imageiil.jpg/

http://img819.imageshack.us/i/imagedawx.jpg/

http://img825.imageshack.us/i/imageizc.jpg/

[Luddite]

And mine ready to paint http://luddite1811.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/in-grim-darkness-of-far-future-there-is_30.html