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Hi like the title says. Never played before, but a friend of mine and I are getting started. I've been doing a bit of reading both here and an Yakromunda. And I noticed that most people seem to think (from what ive seen) that Van Saar is over powered due to bein able to access tech skillset. So enough about what I've read. Here are my questions.

1) has anyone tried to run a campaign where anybody (except maybe juves) could access the tech skillset? If so how did you work it out for your campaign?

2) has anyone tried just making gangs that incorporate different houses together? I.e. an Orlock Gang leader with two Goliath Heavies and some vaan sar Gangers with some Escher Juves. Or something along those lines?

3) this is the odd question out, I know. But is the house weapon list for always or just when you're starting.

If you use the Community Rules on Yakromunda it re-balances the bulk of the skills, but it unfortunately looks like they favor a couple of the other games in their rules (Delaque and Cawdor). Overall it's a more balance rule set and answers a lot of oddball questions that come up during play.

Honetsly though, Van Saar aren't the "gods" some act like in the rules. You still have to get lucky rolls, and you still have to play them to their strengths.

As I've always said, playing WYSIWYG really helps keep things under control, though that is not nearly as pertinent with only 2 guys playing each other (groups of 6 or more kind of have to adhere to WYSIWYG pretty stoicly).

Don't mix the gangs. The Gangs already have modified stills for different levels of members. There is no reason. Juves become gangers once they hit 21 exp. You can also grab from any skill tree on a roll of 2 or 12 (so about 5.5%) so any gang will be able to dip a bit into that "superior" Techno skill tree.

The HWLs are always there. The way you get other equipment is either capture someone with the stuff, or search for it on the market. To get any common item not on your HWL, you just have to sacrifice a rare roll. So it really isn't difficult to get other stuff. People often forget that the HWLs also help balance the gangs in addition to the skill trees, and maintain "fluff" with the gang, which is why I feel the Community Edition has played with a little too much. But lots of folks like it, so it is what it is.

Ok thank you Earth Dragon. I just wanted to make sure I didn't just Cheese away my friend from starting any sort of skirmish/wargame by going with some overpowered gang right off the bat, even though I really just like the feel of them. I'll look into the community rules as well.

Nevie wrote:
Hi like the title says. Never played before, but a friend of mine and I are getting started. I've been doing a bit of reading both here and an Yakromunda. And I noticed that most people seem to think (from what ive seen) that Van Saar is over powered due to bein able to access tech skillset. So enough about what I've read. Here are my questions.

1) has anyone tried to run a campaign where anybody (except maybe juves) could access the tech skillset? If so how did you work it out for your campaign?

2) has anyone tried just making gangs that incorporate different houses together? I.e. an Orlock Gang leader with two Goliath Heavies and some vaan sar Gangers with some Escher Juves. Or something along those lines?

3) this is the odd question out, I know. But is the house weapon list for always or just when you're starting.

Been playing Necromunda since it came out years ago. Van Saar's have always been able to get access to Tech skills and I have never seen them dominate constantly. Yeah they can be scary, but there is still a cost limiting factor in the abilities granted by Tech skills. You can't just magically make a bunch of special weapons appear for free, for example, if they get the specialist skill. Still have to buy them.

As for your questions:
1) Never did this and never saw a point. Each gang has its strengths and weaknesses, and the key is to work with what you get and accomplish what you can with it. As soon as you start giving everyone the tech skillset you've taken away one real advantage that the Van Saar have, without giving them any compensation for it. Also most heavies and their equivilent and leaders can access the tech table already. There is even a chance for other members of your gang to get access to a non-normal table for them.

2) Again each gang has its strengths and weaknesses, while you can build your gang using whatever *minis* you have, you should stick to one gang house. That is kind of how the rules are balanced. Of course if you want to try that and give them access to the skills specifically based on the house they came from, no one can stop you. Your game is your game.

3) Yep that is what you can buy unless you find something in the rare tech to acquire and have the money for it. Your goliath gang with access to a limited selection of heavy weapons doesn't suddenly find a source for anything they want once you start fighting battles.

Of course you are ultimately free to do whatever you want in your games, but the tech skill doesn't guarantee wins by any means, or even complete dominance. Seen plenty of of van saar gangs crushed by brute wielding goliath gangs.

The only thing I've found stupidly unbalancing in the game is a gang that starts a scenario surrounded by a redemptionist gang that has a large number of exterminators in it. The exterminators are single shot flamers, and my first game with my redemption back in the day involved my completely new starter redemption gang going up against the league leading goliath gang (2 months into the league, and my schedule kept me from playing until this point). Pretty much every model in my army with a long gun had an exterminator, plus I had multiple deacons with flamers *and* my leader had a flamer as well. The scenario started with the goliaths sitting in the middle of the table and my redemptionists surrounding them. With all the flamers, single shot and otherwise, I tabled the league leading gang, who's gang rating was *at least* twice my current rating, in 2 turns. That is all it took.

Oh, there did used to be another unbalancing thing. A scavvy gang could buy a stupid number of dice to roll for plague zombies in the original edition of the game. So they could swarm the table with dozens of zombies, and when used in a scenario where the opposing gang could not choose to run away, it could be devastating. They did change this in the new edition, though, so now there are strict controls on how many zombies you can try to call up for a given fight.

Skriker

Regarding the massed exterminators, we created a house rule that template weapons could not fire on overwatch, otherwise it was literally impossible for close combat gangs to close with redemptionists (auto-hit means auto-pinning). Also don't forget an exterminator has a 1/6 chance of exploding with every shot!

Nevie, the gang skill lists exist for a pretty good reason, they add a decent level of variation between different houses, if you could do anything with any skill list then effectively all gangs would be the same. However we've generally ignored the weapon lists, partly because they're something the original edition of Necromunda never had, and as a result a lot of the models in our area already have non-standard weapon loadouts!

I highly recommend yakromunda.com for there community rules. Besides that the game is just plain awesome. My buds and i finish in about 60-90 minutes including set up. We always have fun. The one thing i can not recommend enough is too do these 3 things

1. Have plenty of multi level terrain and walkways.
2. Double the amount of terrain from suggestion 1
3. Make some more terrain and include plenty of ladders

I made terrain with just foam board and balsa wood. Cost me about 10 bucks for all of this --- http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/523357.page#5549151

House rules are fun as well. We cam up with Grappling Hooks today. used during movement roll d6: 1-3 hit 4-5 miss 6 miss and break hook. Cost 3" to move up 3". Can only be thrown up one level(3" for us). You can run charge or hide while using. Also cost 1" to pick up. If you dont pick up anyone can use hook and if you loose the game you loose unattended hooks.

We also are trying ladder placement terrain. Each gang has 6 ladders. Place 3 before sides are placed and then 3 more after sides have been chosen but before deployment. This isn't meant for in the "gangs have ladders" just a way to get to the multi levels we have all over the place easier.