Necromunda 3 years on...what say you?

[Lost Egg]

Inspired by Snipe & Wib's look into Laserburn I have found myself drifting once again towards Necromunda. I've been looking into the classic game and the Community Edition but I have also started wondering again how the modern iteration is doing.

So with current Necromunda now 3 years old...how is it?

It looks like the original gangs have been all released and some even have their own 'army' books, for some reason. I find it odd still that there don't seem to be any Juves or Ratskin Scouts yet as both were iconic in the original game.

I never dove in the end...I think I might have bought a sprue of Escher at some point but they sat in a box till I sold them. Now I find myself tempted to grab an original copy of the rules and give them a try...maybe with classic minis or maybe with new ones. I'm also a little tempted to try a 40k shoot out between some marines & guardians using the classic rules...but time as ever is short...

Anyway before I go off on one I'd just like to ask if anyone is playing it and if it's any good or not? Are the minis good? Easy to build & convert? Is there much different between the original and the new version? Are the rules still spread all over the place?

Many thanks!

[IncrediSteve]

Well I'm about 15 months late to answer your question, but that's chump change in this hobby.

Necromunda '17 is a fantastic update to the system. The models are excellent, and the rules are deep if you want to dive in any direction that excites you. Items are not well balanced, and the rules have frequent mistakes and only get a FAQ once a year, but those are hardly show-stoppers in a beer and pretzels game that suggests using an arbitrator.

The models positively drip with character, and are fun to kitbash. ForgeWorld releases a steady stream of delightful underhive denizens, and each gang has 2 plastic kits and a weapon pack at this point. You don't need the 'House of {Noun}' books to play the game and have fun, but each one adds more fun flair to its gang, and a surprising amount of background.

The alternating activations and action system make the game far more interactive, and you see a lot fewer of the single turn wipes from nasty shooting like in the original. Nasty shooting can still get out of hand on a map with poor terrain, but that's nothing new to wargaming.

I love it, played a full campaign of it, can't wait to play another when things get back to normal. It's some of the most fun we've had with miniatures games in the last 20 years.

[Lost Egg]

Thanks for you reply IncrediSteve.

I did look into the new Necromunda but the it didn't tick many boxes for me so I tried getting into 1st Ed. I mostly like the new minis so grabbed a sprue of Esher to convert; I toned down some of the elements kinda combining the original minis with the new style and though I was really happy with the result I just couldn't be bothered to do a whole gang, it would take way too long. I'd have much preferred more multi-part minis but really what kinda killed it is what kinda killed Necromunda back in the day for me...I'd much prefer a 40k small scale game as I missed me aliens.

So, in the end I've gone back to looking at Rogue Trader and 2nd Ed.

[Commissar von Toussaint]

Thanks for you reply IncrediSteve.

I did look into the new Necromunda but the it didn't tick many boxes for me so I tried getting into 1st Ed. I mostly like the new minis so grabbed a sprue of Esher to convert; I toned down some of the elements kinda combining the original minis with the new style and though I was really happy with the result I just couldn't be bothered to do a whole gang, it would take way too long. I'd have much preferred more multi-part minis but really what kinda killed it is what kinda killed Necromunda back in the day for me...I'd much prefer a 40k small scale game as I missed me aliens.

So, in the end I've gone back to looking at Rogue Trader and 2nd Ed.

---
I didn't look at the new version, but I do own the original. There are some articles in the various GW mags of that era that feature alien races as well as Imperium security forces.

In fact, I'm pretty sure there were lists for Genestealer cultists, which would probably be pretty interesting.

One of the challenges of "going retro" is that it becomes something of a scavenger hunt to find all the old articles/rules supplements.

On the flip side, it also provides a fun collecting challenge. One of my tertiary goals is to own the entire run of White Dwarf from the 2nd Ed. 40k era. The ones I do have are a fun snapshot of a byegone era.

[Lost Egg]

Yeah I looked at the rules for aliens but they are of varying quality and in the end I thought it'd just be easier to go back to RT / 2nd Ed 40k.

Finding the old articles etc wasn't too bad as most of it is online now. I compiled all the WD FAQs into a pdf and the same for all the Wargear cards, both of which are in the Files section of the Warhammer 40k 2nd Edition group on Facebook. All the old Necromunda stuff is on Yaktribe.

That's cool, though potentially a costly goal. I've got a few issues from back then, you can really see how much GW has changed since then, sadly not for the better.

[Commissar von Toussaint]

That's cool, though potentially a costly goal. I've got a few issues from back then, you can really see how much GW has changed since then, sadly not for the better.

If you don't care about inserts, the magazines are pretty cheap. The ones I wanted still had the datafax in them for the Eldar tanks. Those cost extra, but for the rest the articles are what I want.

I haven't played it in a long time, but I'm thinking about it now.

[Lost Egg]

I haven't played it in a long time, but I'm thinking about it now.

Do it!