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So I'm curious about starting up some Gangers and entering the dark murky underhive! However I'm curious on how Necromunda works as a game in terms of models and what you need to play, especially since it is far more modular, in terms of weapons and gear, than even a Hive Tyrant (plus the models are way too small to magnetize for most sane minded people).


As far as I can tell rules wise one needs:
1) The core box rule set - core rules of the game, board, tokens, doors and basic setup needed to play
2) Gang Wars 1, 2, 3, 4 - these appear to expand the game each time, each one adding its own twists as well as a new core faction, but also new rules and additions for existing armies; including all the weapons and models that Forgeworld has released for the game.

Model wise it appears that each "gang" is almost unique in terms of what you choose to take. Complicating factors is that the game i split into both one-stand battles and long term campaigns where you might change equipment of gangers over time during that campaign as well as add more gangers to your group. Almost like you're building your gang as you play (in terms of physical models), not just building a gang from pre-made models that you've assembled.



So I'm wondering how people approach collecting and building a gang whilst remaining sane and practical in terms of real world finances and limits on what one can purchase and build. I've already decided that I want to build a House Escher gang, so I guess I'm asking about how one might equip and load out such a gang or at least what pitfalls there are to avoid.


In addition how well do the really old metal models stand up and compare to the new age ones and do they merge well with the current edition or do they stand out like a very sore thumb?

Magnets. 40k infantry models can be magnetised, so should necromunda models be possible

It’s sort of a rolling campaign, but more in depth so you need rosters to remember everything, also look into bounty hunters/ hired guns.

I don’t think you need to magnetise the models unless you are going to buy multiple boxes

I’m not sure about the new weapons so research them in the rule book, I have old Van Saar and Cawdor minis so no chance for conversions

If want Escher the starter boxed set (as in the Necromunda one with the Goliath gang as well) is pretty good buy. Gives rules some plastic obstacles and the gang (I don't play the 2d version, but the set is good for the money). I have bought everything Necro since release, but for the rules I think you prob need Gang war 1 and 3 if starting out, get the others later if want.

In regards to gang, make a 1000 credit gang with models have (if get starter set). Play a few games.

Then buy another box of Escher and some of the forge world packs and build some more of them. I just find trying to magnatise such delicate models like Escher is a nightmare it's easier (for me, you maybe are more skilled) to just buy another box and have them with different options (so if someone upgrades say two laspistols to two hand flamers I just switch the model etc).

When I used to play Necromunda I remember frequently taking a knife to my guys to swap weapons throughout a campaign.

It's not that hard to do (depending on the pose of the model) and it means you end up with an individual gang.

The pain is if you start from scratch again and you've upgraded your gang to have loads of power fists, bolters and power axes and you have to take them all off and go back to knives and autoguns!

 RobS wrote:
When I used to play Necromunda I remember frequently taking a knife to my guys to swap weapons throughout a campaign.

It's not that hard to do (depending on the pose of the model) and it means you end up with an individual gang.

The pain is if you start from scratch again and you've upgraded your gang to have loads of power fists, bolters and power axes and you have to take them all off and go back to knives and autoguns!

That's what I mean (as in who wants a pain, you have to cut out, re-sculpt sometimes, then re-paint etc). Make a starting gang with basic weapons and a few goodies. Buy a second box and equip a lot of the more exotic upgrades and just switch the model for it (eg. I plan my upgrades and models in advance. I play van saar atm. I built one with 2x sub las-carbines and her upgrade will be a plasma pistol and a hand flamer. I built two models, technically I built four I have 1 with 2x sub las, 1 with sub las plasma pis, 1 with 2 plasma pistol's and 1 with plasma pis and hand flamer, but they can be switched for multiple models).

In regards to old sculpts. They do fine, just buy the new bases and mount them on that. Do I think they look as good... I don't think so (I did play Necro the first and do have an old delaque gang and a few others floating in my bits boxes but meh).

Even if the game lacks some consistency and the rules are drip fed. It's narrative driven, you and your player base adapt it, you add stuff, you change it etc, that's the whole point. It's not meant to be uber competitive, it's a total fun based game with some guide lines to make it fair.

Edited a few time sry to make sense

tneva82 wrote:Magnets. 40k infantry models can be magnetised, so should necromunda models be possible

True, but I generally find that once one gets to very small join areas the effort in magnetizing vs the result can be more than its worth. Plus when the shoulders are more open or plain or rounded the result is often not as nice as when its say ship turrets (which are nice and easy and doesn't matter if a bit of the magnet shows).

RobS wrote:When I used to play Necromunda I remember frequently taking a knife to my guys to swap weapons throughout a campaign.

It's not that hard to do (depending on the pose of the model) and it means you end up with an individual gang.

The pain is if you start from scratch again and you've upgraded your gang to have loads of power fists, bolters and power axes and you have to take them all off and go back to knives and autoguns!

I can see that sort of working with old metal models, but for plastic I can't see it working. At the very least the join area on both model and arms is going to get a very worn, tired and damaged look to it. Plus it would surely be a nightmare with paint jobs.


Considering the prices I can see buying multiple boxes and steadily upgrading some to be far preferable over straight up hacking and rebuilding models over and over.

RobS wrote:

The pain is if you start from scratch again and you've upgraded your gang to have loads of power fists, bolters and power axes and you have to take them all off and go back to knives and autoguns!

I can see that sort of working with old metal models, but for plastic I can't see it working. At the very least the join area on both model and arms is going to get a very worn, tired and damaged look to it. Plus it would surely be a nightmare with paint jobs.


Considering the prices I can see buying multiple boxes and steadily upgrading some to be far preferable over straight up hacking and rebuilding models over and over.

 RobS wrote:
When I used to play Necromunda I remember frequently taking a knife to my guys to swap weapons throughout a campaign.

Reminds one campaign where one player with several settlements and some sick rolling ended up with more juves than he could afford to arm! Toward end was sick with whole tide of knife armed juves swarming toward you. Suddenly anything with blast radius was welcome addition among other gangs!

tneva82 wrote:

 RobS wrote:
When I used to play Necromunda I remember frequently taking a knife to my guys to swap weapons throughout a campaign.

Reminds one campaign where one player with several settlements and some sick rolling ended up with more juves than he could afford to arm! Toward end was sick with whole tide of knife armed juves swarming toward you. Suddenly anything with blast radius was welcome addition among other gangs!

I ended up with some totally deadly juves. My strategy was to swarm my guys forwards in pairs, one ganger, one juve. They could then double-team whoever they were attacking. More often than not the juve got the kill, got the XP and so they levelled up really quickly.

My other favourite tactic was having a couple of heavies with the hipshooting skill, but armed with flamers. So they could run around the board at double speed setting everyone on fire.

Slight off topic but obviously I did convert all of these guys to have the right weapon. I have a vague memory that in the old version that was a rule, or if not a hard rule then a 'good practice' sort of guideline.

 RobS wrote:

tneva82 wrote:

 RobS wrote:
When I used to play Necromunda I remember frequently taking a knife to my guys to swap weapons throughout a campaign.

Reminds one campaign where one player with several settlements and some sick rolling ended up with more juves than he could afford to arm! Toward end was sick with whole tide of knife armed juves swarming toward you. Suddenly anything with blast radius was welcome addition among other gangs!

I ended up with some totally deadly juves. My strategy was to swarm my guys forwards in pairs, one ganger, one juve. They could then double-team whoever they were attacking. More often than not the juve got the kill, got the XP and so they levelled up really quickly.

My other favourite tactic was having a couple of heavies with the hipshooting skill, but armed with flamers. So they could run around the board at double speed setting everyone on fire.

Slight off topic but obviously I did convert all of these guys to have the right weapon. I have a vague memory that in the old version that was a rule, or if not a hard rule then a 'good practice' sort of guideline.

Well for him it would have been more like 4 juve's, 1 ganger

And right weapon...Don't think it's ever been really flat out hard rule(that's hard to enforce anyway) but good practice then, good practice IMO now as well. Especially in game which encourages individuality having totally off weapons would make it harder to play.

Hell I don't like not having WYSIWYG with my titans in AT and that's been so far 2 of same type so far at biggest :( Can't wait for weapon sprues.

I don't do magnetizing anymore, it can become real messy. I don't do cutting or converting on painted models (got faaar too many unpainted models in queue to spend time on those already finished). I also don't do proxies anymore (those years are gone now).

What I do to keep things simple:
1) Make 10 models using the weapons in the box, mostly with unique combinations of weapons for variety.
2) Buy a new box and forge world weapons, make unique combinations here also.

Result:A mix of different loadouts that can be used throughout the campaign. Some models are best suited for early progression (cheap common weapons), some models have more expensive/rare weapons that can be obtained later in the campaign.

I used to just stick the proxied weapons on the base or across a space marine backpack with blue tack so there wasn’t any confusion, that and I like the minis as they were created

 Rybrook wrote:
It’s sort of a rolling campaign, but more in depth so you need rosters to remember everything, also look into bounty hunters/ hired guns.

I don’t think you need to magnetise the models unless you are going to buy multiple boxes

I’m not sure about the new weapons so research them in the rule book, I have old Van Saar and Cawdor minis so no chance for conversions

I buy multiple boxes to avoid magnetizing.

The weapons situation in N17 is:

1) almost all of the existing weapons from original Necromunda (mentionable exceptions: autocannon, power fist)
2) tons of new wider range of weapons (from 40k) like multi-melta, thunder hammer and new gang-specific weapons like harpoon launcher, chem thrower and even fighter specific weapons for pets/brutes etc like claws and breath attacks

This results in one MASSIVE weapons list!

The massive weapons list (that seems to be ever expanding) is one reason I'm curious in how people are approaching the game. At this stage it seems that there's a few rough groups

1) Those who are prepared to chop/magnetize/bluetac or otherwise buy few models and vary their appearance.

2) Those who buy a new box and make new models for each weapon change as needed. Either keeping the core body the same and changing just the weapons or changing around bodies as well

3) Those who don't care about WYSIWYG



Another aspect is how you do handle the huge variety of weapons. For one-stand games (where you might not be limited by the growth of a campaign) where you've full choice; or even for a campaign. Are there any tips or tricks people use?

I wonder if people build sets of a character - ergo a juve, mature, experienced version of the same character in different weapon styles but keeping the body, shape and paint the same?

I have nearly all the metal van saar minis, I am mising one that is like hens teeth.
Out of the 14 I have I can vary the gang but is still limited,

If the new gang boxes are cheap enough get a couple to change what you can to vary the gang as you progress

I wouldn’t worry about different gangs to much, most Necromunda players won’t have more than 2/3 different gangs unless you are a collector/ hoarder

Were it me, I'd build up a gang with a 'typical' weapons loudout and only upgrade them with weapons I could easily swap onto the existing model.

Buying multiple boxes/recreating models with different loadouts is really unnecessary (unless that''s simply what you want, then by all means - everyone should hobby their way!).
But 2x1mm magnets is all you need (they come in big bundles for less than $10 on Amazon).

I resisted magnetizing in the hobby for a long time, but finally gave in and tried it with my Scions for Kill Team, and i have to say - it's incredibly easy, simple, and doesn't add any significant time to the process at all. Consider this - is the process of building remaking entire sets of characters (not to mention multiplying costs in an already-expensive hobby) actually more ideal than spending a few extra minutes magnetizing? I'd rather spend the money on new boxes for new entirely new guys and fully growing the gang.
I'm really glad i finally tried magnetizing... i'll admit, the modularity even becomes really fun! Not something i was expecting.

I can now easily swap in and out of loadouts, not only between games of Kill Team, but gear them up differently for Kill Team vs 40k where needs are very different.

I haven't started Necromunda yet, but am currently planning my first gang, and i know now that magnetizing is exactly what i'll be doing.
After all, the emphasis is unique characters, and arguably even moreso than in Kill Team, because of the gear acquisition aspect. I wanna put the time into building/converting/kitbashing 1 awesome figure, and seeing him grow!

I quit 40k permanently after trying to magnetize jump packs, special weapons and tank turrets/sponsons. It all became messy and difficult to organize.

Baxx wrote:
I quit 40k permanently after trying to magnetize jump packs, special weapons and tank turrets/sponsons. It all became messy and difficult to organize.

Fair enough - which is why i'm really only encouraging magnetization for character-based games like Necromunda and Kill Team, with small model counts, vs entire armies on 40k scale