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So my initial starting into the world of the gangs was hindered a bit by my rule book being in German! Thankfully GW are sending me a proper English one now though its still somewhere in the post, so some of these questions might be a bit on the basic side as I've just not got the rules to get a good idea on things just yet.

1) Tactics cards - I've been casually reading that there's a fair bit of debate on how best to use these, with some casual level arguments being to enforce a "one of each type of card only" rule in decks; esp as the only cards most players might end up with duplicates of, are the ones bought in the main boxed set (and that's only if you hold onto both "halves" of the cards rather than going with another person and splitting the box).
I also gather that, annoyingly, GW put different "all factions" tactics cards into the different faction card boxes; so in theory to get them all you have to buy into each gangs own card box - which sounds rather a silly/abusive move on GW's part.

2) When it comes to tokens How practical are the ones in the box in terms of size, number and function. Do you find yourself using around half; all or that they are just not worth it. Are there any you find you need more of. Also are you putting them on the cards or onto the models themselves on the battlefield - or a split.

3) I'm guessing, rather like warmachine, it helps to paint/mark the front arc of each model on the base itself, speeding up use of the firing arc token.

4) When it comes to tokens and templates and battle accessories are there any you'd recommend or find yourself wanting/using. Eg Widges are often popular in 40K and AoS.

5) Is there a good reason to buy more barricades and bulkheads or do you find that the local scene often jumps right into 3D games rather than playing out 2D or is it a bit half and half (I'm aware this might well change area to area)

6) Has anyone found the ideal way to store lots of spare weapons/guns/arms/bits outside of lots of plastic wallets.

7) On a similar line to 6, has anyone found any good (I would assume has to be 3rd party at present) hip mounted weapon attachments for models (since all the GW weapons are currently hand mounted, barring a few blades on hips)

1. We played about 3-4 times while GW1-GW4 were coming out. The continuous, often conflicting changes to weapons and equipment finally frustrated us. We never got to the point of being comfortable enough to use the cards.

2. The tokens seemed to be plentiful and worked well for our games.

3. You could paint the arcs if your potential opponents are super competitive. We just gave each other the benefit of the doubt.

4. The stuff in the box seemed to do the job well. Don't know about extra items.

5. There's a good game to be had using just the boxed set. In fact, I'd almost rather play the thing as restricted to the sewers since it simplifies things including set up.

6 & 7. Got nothing.

 Overread wrote:
So my initial starting into the world of the gangs was hindered a bit by my rule book being in German! Thankfully GW are sending me a proper English one now though its still somewhere in the post, so some of these questions might be a bit on the basic side as I've just not got the rules to get a good idea on things just yet.

1) Tactics cards - I've been casually reading that there's a fair bit of debate on how best to use these, with some casual level arguments being to enforce a "one of each type of card only" rule in decks; esp as the only cards most players might end up with duplicates of, are the ones bought in the main boxed set (and that's only if you hold onto both "halves" of the cards rather than going with another person and splitting the box).
I also gather that, annoyingly, GW put different "all factions" tactics cards into the different faction card boxes; so in theory to get them all you have to buy into each gangs own card box - which sounds rather a silly/abusive move on GW's part.

2) When it comes to tokens How practical are the ones in the box in terms of size, number and function. Do you find yourself using around half; all or that they are just not worth it. Are there any you find you need more of. Also are you putting them on the cards or onto the models themselves on the battlefield - or a split.

3) I'm guessing, rather like warmachine, it helps to paint/mark the front arc of each model on the base itself, speeding up use of the firing arc token.

4) When it comes to tokens and templates and battle accessories are there any you'd recommend or find yourself wanting/using. Eg Widges are often popular in 40K and AoS.

5) Is there a good reason to buy more barricades and bulkheads or do you find that the local scene often jumps right into 3D games rather than playing out 2D or is it a bit half and half (I'm aware this might well change area to area)

6) Has anyone found the ideal way to store lots of spare weapons/guns/arms/bits outside of lots of plastic wallets.

7) On a similar line to 6, has anyone found any good (I would assume has to be 3rd party at present) hip mounted weapon attachments for models (since all the GW weapons are currently hand mounted, barring a few blades on hips)

First, if you have the rulebook, I assume you have the box set. It's chock full of useful stuff. But, many (most) gamers don't buy it. So, they use the online rulebook, and forgo tokens. Which works, too. That said, generally, rulebooks get passed around on game nights. And, no opponent refuses to use my tokens. They are helpful reminders of who is on fire, who has Flesh Wounds, etc.

1) I dunno. I have the basic cards from the box set, and have bought gang cards as I acquired gangs. And, despite all that, I still make the mortgage payments, and contributions to the kid's college funds. I easily spend two or three times the cost of the gang cards each time I take the kids to a drive though. You can live without the gang cards. But, I like them. They are slightly more situational, but are better conforming to that particular gang. For example, I almost always take the two Goliath tactics cards that give me a longer charge range. But, if my Leader had overseer, I wouldn't. Instead, he is a combat monster, so he doesn't stand around directing others. We don't allow duplicate cards. And, have banned the Pit Fall card. Other than that, they are great!

2) I do use the tokens, I like the reminders. I generally put them next to the model (there's only 10 or so in a gang). You never need them all (in two player games). Your whole gang (and the opponent's whole gang) aren't going to be out of ammo and on fire with Flesh Wounds, all at the same time.

3) I've been playing N17 campaigns since it came out. Yesterday was the FIRST time I used a fire arc template. To judge if my Goliath Leader got his 5+ Frontal Arc Furnace Plate save (he didn't). But, then my opponent remembered he had forgotten the shooter needed to previously take a previous Nerve test. Good sportsman that he is, he generously took it, and she failed and ran (like a little Escher girl). And, the shot never happened. I measure arcs from the direction the model's head is facing. They hardly ever matter, and I don't know why they bothered with them, anyway.

4) Nope.

5) I have NO good reason to buy extra stuff. And, yet, I do. I LOVE the Zone Mortalis stetting (I'm Old Skool from day one of the original game and I thought I would hate it; go figure). That said, I do like adding in the Badzone Delta-Seven tiles (again, totally unnecessary). So, of course, I bought more bulkheads and barricades. Absolutely, unnecessary, unless you are planning to run two ZM games at the same time (or use barricades in your Sector Mechanicus games). Even then, I don't think you need the extras. Sometimes, folks borrow my ZM stuff for their game night games. So,two sets or tiles and doodads can come in handy. I guess. 3D games are probably more popular, if you have ready access to available 3D terrain, if you have a shooting gang, and if you are playing multi-player games. If not, ZM is easier to set up, less to lug around, plays faster and smoother, and is more brutal. Plus, the N17 game and game sequence are better suited for it. Alternating actions works better in the denser ZM setting. Want proof? GW defaulted to IGO/UGO movement with the more open-field Kill Team (but stuck with alternating shooting). Why? Like the original Necromunda, moving the entire team across open ground, and then getting to shoot works better than moving one ganger at a time, and getting picked off one at a time. But, in a dense environment, alternately moving and shooting each fighter at a time plays more like chess than checkers.

6) No. And, surely there is a Nobel Prize to be claimed for someone who does.

7) Superglue? I like REASONABLE WYSIWYG. I don't want to have to remember your guy with a lasgun that looks just like your other 4 guys with lasguns actually has a "virtual" Plasma Cannon (my last game against Van Saar, the the kid was using his brother's unpainted Infinity figs, and that's OK, he's new and I basically taught him how to play). That said, you don't really need to have everything represented. I don't bother with pistols (except maybe plasma Pistols), knives or wargear. WYSIWYG Nazi's seem to exist on line, not in real life. Heck, for more than half my games, I'm the only one with a fully painted gang. You are going to complain about my painted gang's WYSIWYG when playing your grey plastic gang. Really?

This is how I play with cards:

1) Get one of each card, put them in one big deck.
2) Draw from deck.
3) Discard and draw a new card if it is limited to a different house than yours.

Additionally, it has become popular to replace custom selection of cards with random selection of cards. This can for example mean that instead of selecting x cards, you draw x + 3 cards, then keep x of those cards and discard the rest. This means you don't play with "click" and that "initiative-or-die" card every time. None of my friends have the cards themselves (we just share that one big deck), so they also have very little knowledge of what the various cards does. Reading through 100 cards before each game to find the best ones is very boring, so drawing random instead saves a lot of time.

Because the cards are in such an awkward size, I decided to print them all myself. This has several benefits:

1) They fit in those fancy magic boxes (with additional room for tokens and dice):

2) Can be sleeved easily.
3) Takes less space.
4) Can re-print cards when they are updated and add limited/hard-to-get cards.

When it comes to tokens, we never use all of them, but they are useful. The ones most often used are: fire/ablaze, flesh wound and wound tokens. I also use some left-over tokens from Shadow War Armageddon as pinned tokens as I don't normally lay painted models down. You can use any tokens you want really, but you should use something to remind you "this guy is burning" or "this fighter has a fleshwound".

I use the small gauge measure from 40k, it works fine in Necromunda, with 1", 2" and 3" edges. You don't really need anything other than a standard measure tabe, but it can be useful just like in any other game.

My group are all veterans of previous Necromunda, so we jumped right into 3d so used the barricades there. After a while we used them for 2d also. Never needed a 2nd set (for one table at least).

We make up decks of 15 to 20 cards (basic cards, and that gang's cards). So, the sorting through all the cards is done before showing up for the game. Then, either draw them or choose them, depending on the scenario instructions. In the Dominion campaign, Gang Rating disparity is accounted for by giving the smaller gang more tactics cards. So, having a pre-made, smaller deck is helpful.

I invested in after market corridor walls for Zone Mortalis, and it really makes the game pop. Love them! I am the envy of all my friends (or, so I like to believe).

 Overread wrote:
So my initial starting into the world of the gangs was hindered a bit by my rule book being in German!

Nein! Deutsche Necromunda ist die beste Necromunda!

 Overread wrote:
I also gather that, annoyingly, GW put different "all factions" tactics cards into the different faction card boxes; so in theory to get them all you have to buy into each gangs own card box - which sounds rather a silly/abusive move on GW's part.

Welcome to N17, GW's first attempt at a table-top equivalent of the video game industry's "live service" model. Only there's no 'Season Pass', and everything is super-overpriced.

 Overread wrote:
I5) Is there a good reason to buy more barricades and bulkheads or do you find that the local scene often jumps right into 3D games rather than playing out 2D or is it a bit half and half (I'm aware this might well change area to area)

The barricades are useful in either version. I have two sets. And I'd suggest playing 2D as well as 3D. The Badzone Sillyname tiles have some great ones in there. The big industrial fan tile changed the game completely last time I played (yes I'm biased towards tiles - I have x3 core set tiles and x2 Badzone tiles!).

As for the cards, we use them and the way we use them depends on the scenario. I have all the individual card packs, plus x4 of all the boxed set ones (as I got two core boxes). No duplicates allowed though. I intend to get a second set of each gang set, so that I can have 2 of all the generic cards. Less chance fighting over who gets what card if there's enough for everyone.

And yeah, the Pit Fall one? Nope. No one gets that. It's too much of a "I want your leader to go Out of Action now, thanks!" card.

Tokens? Use 'em all the time. And each person has a preference. I like putting them on my gang sheet to remind me who hasn't gone yet, others in my group put them next to each mini. And we use the other tokens (flesh wounds, ammo, etc.) as they come up.

Absolutely agree that you should play on both types of scenery. Some scenarios work very differently in Zone Mortalis or Sector Mechanicum, to the point that you effectively get two different scenarios. One example is the one where you fight it out in a Settlement, with civilians wandering around. In Sector Mechanicum, having lots of raised areas means that the lines of fire will hardly ever intersect a civilian, making them irrelevant. In Zone Mortalis, they're much more likely to get in the way.

You could also combine the two; use the tiles to provide ground-level pitfalls, dangerous ground, etc, on a Sector Mechanicus setup; ignore the walls on the tiles if you want. Or have one or two tiles in the corner of a SM setup, as the interior of a large structure.

I bought all the card packs, removed the non-Escher House-specific cards and combined them all into one big deck. Other players have only the cards from the boxed game, and possibly the deck for their House; I don't remember having a huge advantage over anyone else. Except when I played Pit Fall, but I felt rather guilty about that afterwards. Generally I'll go for an interesting card rather than a "powerful" one (I hardly ever take "Click", for example), but I've got three signed by Andy Hoare, Owen Barnes and Jonathan Taylor-Yorke, so they tend to get used most often.

With the tokens, I default to doing it "by the book" (place an Activation token next to each fighter at the start of the turn, remove it when they're activated), but generally I'll do whatever my opponent does to avoid confusion. I do wish there were some Wound counters as well as just Flesh Wounds, but other than that they're pretty useful.

I started a campaign just before GW2 came out. I just ruled that anyone wanting to use the other gangs could use their new rules as soon as the relevant GW book came out, but that any other new rules (new pets, Brutes, scenarios, etc) would kick in when the next Cycle started (we ran one Cycle per month)

Sleeves? I bought a pack of the Blood Bowl sleeves, and the cards fit fine into those (if anyone knows a way to remove the printing from the sleeves, I'd like to hear it, though, to shift the Blood Bowl logo from the back). Also, you can use dry-erase pens directly onto the Fighter cards if you want. If you clean them off quickly enough there's no marks left, although you can clean off more stubborn marks with a slightly damp cloth.

There are wound tokens from the Leader's accessories pack, but I'm not sure if that is going to be sold anymore :( They also improved the chaos tokens there, having a different symbol on the flip side.