We’ll examine how you can jump feet first into playing a Necromunda Campaign for the first time—check it out!
For the past three years and some change, I have mostly rambled on about the Age of Sigmar and various tidbits and things that I have picked up from the hobby since Sigmar was first released. Many painted models later and games played, along with numerous updates to the system (hello AoS 2.0 and now broken realms), my group decided that after this quarantine, we would add a new game to the mix. That game is going to be a childhood favorite of ours, Necromunda!
Getting Started Playing a Necromunda Campaign
We chose Necromunda because we are all pretty invested in Age of Sigmar as a large-scale tabletop wargame. I have dabbled in Warhammer Underworlds in the past, but it did not really stick with me. (The models are still amazing, though.)
We all liked Warcry a lot as well and will still play that, but we wanted something a little different, and Necromunda fits the bill. It is made up of relatively small gangs, so the price of entry is not huge, and getting a painted Warband on the table will not take up a ton of time. However, finding out what to buy is kind of confusing, so I thought I would lay out what has been released for Necromunda so that other people who, like us, want to start out can do so.
First off, each gang has its own book and tactic cards, so you are going to want to pick that up with your chosen faction.
The Different Gangs
Click on these links to order your gangs for less from these retailers: | Amazon | Dicehead Games | Bazooka Games | Frontline Gaming | Element Games (UK) | eBay | or | Games Workshop’s Store
- Corpse Grinder Cults: (Think Khorne dudes, so lots of stabby), for which there were additional rules in the Book of Ruin.
- House Cawdor: (It’s Kind of the Skaven of the Underhive, dirty, poor, and crazy.) GW will release additional rules and models in the second quarter.
- House Delaque: (Sneaky matrix-looking dudes, so basically ninjas with guns) additional rules in the gangs of the Underhive book (no dedicated book yet)
- House Escher: (Lovely ladies of the Underhive who are fast and make chemicals) additional rules in the House of Blades book.
- House Goliath: (Big dudes who spend all day at the gym, avoid close combat with them) additional rules in the House of Chains book.
- House Orlock: (The gunslingers of the group; if anyone is going to be a sniper, it’s one of them.) There are additional rules in the House of Iron book.
- House Van Saar: (the scientists of the book, they are the smartest and have the most advanced stuff) additional rules in the House of Artifice
- Palanite Enforcers: (They are the law and, by that, judge, jury, and executioner) They have additional rules in the Book of Judgement.
Each gang has a variety of guys you can purchase or some hired guns you can add to your force, like Ambot, Ogryns, and various special characters and animals. (They can be found on Forge World) So you are going to need a rule book, a Gangs of the Underhive book (for advanced rules and campaigns), and your house book to have a complete game.
If you choose not to get a starter set, you will also need a set of scatter dice and blast/flame markers. There are a ton of third-party stores out there that can sell those.
The Scenarios
The next thing to realize is each scenario can be played in one of two ways, either as a zone mortalis game or a sector mechanicus game. Both are a lot of fun, but they can really change the way a gang and scenario are played, so let’s look at the difference between each.
Zone Mortalis: This is meant to cram your fighters into tight spaces and create firing lanes to pin down your enemies. If you look at the floor tiles GW sells as well as the mats that come in the starter set, these are generally a 2-foot by 2-foot game, in which you set up columns and bunkers to hide in while darting around to get to the objectives. This game is going to go by quickly, assuming everyone knows the rules, as you will be engaging in combat turn 1, maybe even hand-to-hand.
All of the starter sets include enough terrain to create your own zone mortalis.
The Starter Sets (Since the Rebranding):
Click on these links to order your starters for less from these retailers: | Amazon | Dicehead Games | Bazooka Games | Frontline Gaming | Element Games (UK) | eBay | or | Games Workshop’s Store
Necromunda Underhive: (Price was $150): Contains Escher vs Goliath gangs, a zone mortalis paper board, and some objectives and blocking terrain to use in zone mortalis. It came out in 2017 and has all the original rules for the gangs without the additional books and terrain that are functional if you play zone moratlis, but it wouldn’t make for a very interesting Sector Mechanicus game.
Underhive is also no longer in print, and the price people are asking for this box is high, so unless you get a good deal, I would pass.
Necromunda Dark Uprising:
Click on these links to order your starters for less from these retailers: | Amazon | Dicehead Games | Bazooka Games | Frontline Gaming | Element Games (UK) | eBay | or | Games Workshop’s Store
This is the biggest and heaviest box I have ever ordered from GW. It comes with a gang and a half for both the Corpse Grinder Cults and Palanite Enforcers, rules for a Dark Uprising campaign, and a crap ton of terrain (13 Spruces worth of something). Layer dice, markers, etc., on top of that, and you have a very solid box.
The price point is rough, but it definitely has enough terrain to play 3-D zone mortalis games in it; if you want to expand out to sector mechanics, you are going to need a bit more than what it comes with.
Necromunda Hive Wars Starter Set 2021
Click on these links to order your starters for less from these retailers: | Amazon | Dicehead Games | Bazooka Games | Frontline Gaming | Element Games (UK) | eBay | or | Games Workshop’s Store
This is going to pit Delique vs. Escher, but beyond that, we don’t know much. It will for sure have a new kind of campaign, I am sure, along with dice, blast templates, markers, etc. From the teaser, it looks like it will come with about half the amount of terrain Dark Uprising came with, so I imagine the price will be a little less than that, but it is unclear how much less.
Ash Wastes 2022:
Click on these links to order your starters for less from these retailers: | Amazon | Dicehead Games | Bazooka Games | Frontline Gaming | Element Games (UK) | eBay | or | Games Workshop’s Store
Editor’s note: Since this post came out, we have seen Ash Wastes hit the scene.
When it was released, this originally sold for $300, but it has since been in huge sales on Amazon, so if you can find it for cheap, it’s a great deal! It has a ton of terrain and introduced a bunch of new miniatures.
Final Thoughts on Playing a Necromunda Campaign
For our group, I personally had Cawdor but wanted the markers, terrain, etc., so I picked up the Dark Uprising box and two other guys I game with chipped in 75 each to get their gangs and tactics cards. But if you have a 3-D printer or a ton of kill team terrain already, there is no reason to feel like you need to get one of these starter sets.
Just make sure your terrain has a lot of different levels, cover, etc., for line of sight, as this game is built around that. 3-D printers are a great way to kick out a lot of that for this game if you have one or know someone with one.
Hopefully, this helps your group figure out what you may or may not need to jump into your Necromunda games. In the near future, I want to start digging into the lore surrounding it, but I have not had much of a chance to read it lately.
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