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Recently my best mate and I decided to give Necromunda a go and so we set aside a full day to play this classic old-school game. This was a game that we both really wanted to play back in the nineties but never got around to; however twenty years later we have finally managed to bring these adolescent dreams into fruition... and it was great fun!



The rules themselves were first published in 1995 and are heavily based on Warhammer 40,000 Second Edition (which was the contemporary version of this system at the time) and as such the two games share a very strong common heritage. As I am a keen WH40K Second Edition player it was very easy for me to slip into Necromunda and quickly learn the additional rules that come with this small scale skirmish game.

Over the course of this twelve hour gaming session we were able to play seven games of Necromunda in total which was an epic undertaking to be sure! In fact we were able to squeeze a whole campaign (which usually takes months) into this one day.



The rules are excellent and ideally suited for these low-level encounters which results in fluid and efficient gameplay for all involved. The first battle we played was the ubiquitous 'Gang Fight' where two factions essentially just decide to shoot at each other. This was fun and we found that it is better to have a lot of moderately armed troops than to excessively invest in a couple of well-equipped individuals as they can be quickly surrounded and butchered. Thus my opponent swiftly swapped out his hugely expensive heavy plasma gun for a far cheaper heavy stubber!

We then played a 'Scavangers' scenario where the two gangs are fighting over 'Loot' markers that are worth valuable credits; this was an excellent mechanic for ensuring that both forces close the distance quickly and are forced to engage each other in brutal short-range firefights.



One key feature in the game is that once a gang has taken 25% casualties it is forced to take a 'Bottle Test' to see if it continues to fight or decides that discretion is the better part of valour and concedes the field. More gung-ho gamers (including me) may begrudge their force bottling out of the fight, however on occasion it is beneficial to leave the skirmish early in order to prevent a force sustaining heavy casualties which could cripple its martial power for the remainder of the campaign.

A key part of Necromunda is the book-keeping/administration between battles and that was no different in this campaign. Both of us took great fun in monitoring the development of our gangers as they gradually gained experience and increased their prowess by acquiring new skills... However it was slightly less fun to watch well-loved characters succumb to their injuries and die!



Overall this was a great gaming session that acted as an exciting introduction to Necromunda for both of us, we are now steadily expanding our forces and recruiting new gamers for a much bigger campaign in the near future.

There is a more in depth battle report with additional photos on my blog at:

http://classicastartes.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/necromunda-battle-report-van-saars-vs.html

Great Campaign report, it looks like you two had alot of fun. Your figures are quite well done.

 Legiocustodes wrote:
Recently my best mate and I decided to give Necromunda a go and so we set aside a full day to play this classic old-school game. This was a game that we both really wanted to play back in the nineties but never got around to; however twenty years later we have finally managed to bring these adolescent dreams into fruition... and it was great fun!

I'm in the same boat. I bought the Boxed game, Outlanders and a Van Saar gang when they were released, but didn't start playing until last year.

Over the course of this twelve hour gaming session we were able to play seven games of Necromunda in total which was an epic undertaking to be sure! In fact we were able to squeeze a whole campaign (which usually takes months) into this one day.

That' is an epic undertaking!
Which edition of the rules did you use?

Cheers mate. Yeah it is something I have been meaning to play for a while but never got around to. Life has a horrible way of getting in the way of my hobby!!

We used the vanilla rules from the 1995 first edition of Necromunda; entirely unmodified!

 Legiocustodes wrote:
Cheers mate. Yeah it is something I have been meaning to play for a while but never got around to. Life has a horrible way of getting in the way of my hobby!!

We used the vanilla rules from the 1995 first edition of Necromunda; entirely unmodified!

Old School. Nice.

I've been tempted to try them out sometime, if only to try out my old Sustained Fire dice, but I'm so happy with the Yaktribe NCE edition that I'll probably stick with it.

Sounds epic! Looking forward to reading the detailed report when I get a chance.

And vanilla rules were always my game. I played way back when Nec was first released. We added a few house rules and eventually adopted house weapons lists and updates on outlander gangs. But IMO vanilla rules made perfect sense of 2nd ed 40k rules.
I never played yaktribe Rules. What are the main changes?

The only rule from the Underhive edition that I thought was an improvement on the original was the sustained fire rule. It was basically the same as Gorkamorka, and made sustained fire a bit less all-or-nothing.

The NCE rules are apparently more "balanced", but I've not read them properly; just flicked through and been a little disgruntled as to why they renamed the power maul for no good reason. Oh, and made the parry rules more complicated.

Sorry, this was a stupid duplicate post. Thanks crummy old iPhone 3!

On a related note, I think I remember some living rule book changes to hand flamers which I liked.

I only play original rules too. Great report and pics!

 theCrowe wrote:
I never played yaktribe Rules. What are the main changes?

The Yaktribe "Necromunda Community Edition" (NCE) rules don't make any major changes, rather it's alot of tweaking and balancing and clearing up areas of the rules that were unclear. It's a modification of the Underhive/Living Rulebook (LRB) edition. They've also added a few scenarios and a few weapons and gear choices. I particularly like the additions of the "autoslugger" (an automatic Special Weaopn autogun) and the Hunting rifle which fits a niche for a bit more range, but otherwise not more powerful rifle.

It's especially noticable in the house weapons lists, advancement tables, and scenarios where everything just runs a bit smoother. have all three versions of the rules and I really like the NCE. I recommend anyone considering Necromunda give it a once over. In the NCE edition all bits that have been changed are in dark red, so you can quickly compare to the LRB if you're not sure how/why something has changed.

Thy did get a bit radical with the Pit Slave gang though. Technos are beefed up a bit, there's an entirely new gang member with no meat arms left, and the bonus starting xp is missing, as are the extra boosts from power cable taps etc.
But yeah, otherwise it's pretty much just tweaks and clarifications.

 Mr_Rose wrote:
Thy did get a bit radical with the Pit Slave gang though. Technos are beefed up a bit, there's an entirely new gang member with no meat arms left, and the bonus starting xp is missing, as are the extra boosts from power cable taps etc.
But yeah, otherwise it's pretty much just tweaks and clarifications.

I'll grant you that. I'm still not sure the Pit slave gang is really "there" yet, but IIRC, in it's previous incarnation it was even worse.

Pit Slave is in the "Outlander's" book right? I'm not sure the NCE Outlander's is completely done. I think they've covered most of the classic outlanders gangs (Ratskins, Redemptionists) but I'm not sure the rest has been finished yet. Our Redemptionist player seemed pleased with how NCE Outlanders handled his gang.

The original outlanders book had rules for 4 new outlanders gangs. Ratskin renegades, Spyrers, Redemptionists, and Scavvies. Pit slaves were an addition to the hired guns list along with Wyrdes and a few special characters but pit slaves wasn't a gang yet in that publication.

I recall playing the improved rules for Redemptionists being a vast improvement on old style Redemptionists. Likewise for Scavvies. I've read both rule sets for ratskins but I've never played either of them. And I've never tried any rule set for a pit slaves gang.

The less said about Spyres the better really.

Edited because my kindle thinks I'm talking about philanderers and fatalism. Stupid spell correct function!

The original rules for the Pit Slave gang were released in White Dwarf. As theCrowe says, in Outlanders they are just hired guns (with the terrifying "shears" weapon option!).

Hmmmm, I think I might have to dig out my copy of outlanders and paint up a few more exotic models!!