Necromunda/Tactics

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A tactics page dedicated to Necromunda. This page will cover all three editions, yes there are three editions (or two and a half technically.) If you don't know what Necromunda is read about it here

General Tactics

• Food, remember before you go on a shopping spree you have to pay a general upkeep fee for each member of your gang. Yes they can fight starving but that won't do you any good.
• Two weapons are always better than one. Be sure to take at least one melee weapon and one ranged weapon.
• Play to your strengths and use your weapon armoury effectively. Different gangs will play different prices for the same gun!
• Remember goggles, re-breathers and stimms can catch you opponent off guard if they don't pay attention.
• NOTE: First/1.5 Edition has every model have a Knife for free.

First Edition

• Lasguns! Lasguns! - In Necromunda, a big part of it is the credits, everything costs credits. Like points in 40k, but you can gain and lose credits from match to match. Another huge factor is Ammo Rolls. Every time you shoot, and roll a six, or if you use Sustained Fire and roll a "Jam," then you have to make an ammo roll. If you fail the roll, the gun is useless for the rest of the match! Some guns you have to make an ammo roll for every single shot. Every gun has a different ammo roll, ie 3+, 4+, etc. So a good tactic is to use guns that have low ammo rolls. So having a gun that has a low ammo roll is ideal. But you say, "Wait a gun with a low ammo roll must be hard to find or be extremely expensive!" Sadly this is not the case. Las-weaponry are cheap and only have an ammo roll of 2+. So you can literally trick your entire gang right from the start with Laspistols an Lasguns and never fail your ammo rolls. Talking from experience here, it works and you will piss everyone off. This especially works well if your gang is Delaque.

• Hurl Opponent - A Strength skill that allows you to make a melee attack that throws an enemy model D6 inches in any direction. Gravity does not apply here, so knocking someone off of a ledge or walkway or anywhere that is more than six inches off of the ground will guarantee damage. However, the rules state that the damage is only half of the distance rolled not the distance covered. Goliath gangs are good at this since they all have Strength as a skill.

• One-In-A-Million-Weapon - If you choose to buy a rare weapon from the merchant and you get the right roll, you get one of these. It is always a gun and it NEVER, has to make an ammo roll. When you get one of these guns, you roll to see what kind of gun it is. No matter what category you get, you can choose ANY gun from said category. So a Bolt pistol, which has an ammo roll of 6+ ,now doesn't need one.

• Bionics - Unlike Mordheim, losing a limb isn't a bad thing. If you model gets a bionic replacement it will improve their stat-line. Bionic Leg? You can now kick in melee. Bionic Arm? +1 strength. Bionic Eye? immunity to flash-bangs and light changes.

Second Edition - Underhive

Goliath

A Goliath's primary strength is, literally his strength. And his toughness. They hit harder than any other house gang, and are harder to hurt than anyone else. Their biggest weakness apart from the weapons included on their sprues is getting close enough to make it matter so you will need cover fire or smoke grenades. Advances in movement will count for more than further advances in strength or toughness. Similarly, tactics cards that get them to combat are more important than tactics that will improve them in combat - they are badass enough already. A Goliath with his fists will often tear another gangers head clean off. Goliaths aren't actually bad at shooting, so it will probably help to have at least some dudes providing covering fire, but their starting weaponry is mostly pretty short range, and for something like a combat shotgun, you might be better off just charging at that stage anyway. With the new gang war updates spamming grenade launchers can be a great way to lose friends really quickly as they rage quit and throw a tantrum at all their heavy weapons being taken out by the second round, other gangs are wussies anyway. The "Krumper"? ...no, don't bother. A heavy stubber or two might help lay down some much needed support, but do you really want to hold champions back from combat? ...yes you do so the rest of your gang doesn't get pinned by Escher lasgun spam (your Champions have access to Nerves of Steel, ensuring they reach the close combat. Just don't let others charge you - even a Juve with a Stiletto knife is a mortal danger). Remember, stub pistol with dumdums, stub cannon an heavy stubber.

Escher

Eschers are far more maneuverable than Goliaths, the other starter gang, but also have better range. An Escher can stand off close combat gangs by using poisoned weapons to compensate for poor strength and her high movement to get good angles for shooting with her cheap lasgun. And at five points per lasgun, you might as well have lasguns on most of your gangers if you can't spring for needle rifles. Against gangs that are good at combat, they should not get drawn into a brawl, but another advantage of their high movement is that they can take an opportunity to charge multiple gangers into any isolated opposition. And don't forget, when you make a charge move, you may make a free fight action - you don't have to. That enables you to charge with someone who is weak in combat (even a juve, perhaps), decline to attack, avoid reaction attacks and then, in the same activation, charge moments later with someone better, who then gets the combat bonuses (or just give Juve a Stiletto and watch her murder enemy Champions with impunity). The winning strategy, pin your rival with lasgun fire then run up with your chem thrower and crop dust them. Don't forget Acid Rounds on Shotguns and Toxin on your knives - those win games, you know.

Orlock

The All Rounders in the sense that they don't necessarily excel in anything but don't suffer anything either. Based around some confused biker garb nonsense (most of their house are miners, but gangsters ensure their caravans arrive safely where they are needed and spent most of their time in the Wastes) they have a nice array of shotguns to dance around the board with clearing entire hallways with shredder blasts which is perfect for zone mortalis, in 3D games their harpoon gun (more suited for whale hunting and punching through ramshackle vehicles you're trying to rob) is great at pulling gangers off over rails and off platforms until they splat a couple of feet below, don't forget blasting charges to blow up characters and scenery in an attempt to actually make your gang seem more like miners. They can be equipped for close combat if you like watching them die or mid range if you prefer "run and gun". A good general strategy is to lead the gang with two shotgun wielders to clear hallways of critters, lay some a lot of autogun fire for pinning, have juves running around finishing off downed gangers with two to the head and harpooning any big trouble makers pulling them into shotgun range so they can be blasted into human jam!.

Van Saar

Van Saar [pronounced Van Say-ar] are the neo-Dutch pale bearded long range option, as their radiation filled suits have shrivelled their insides to the bone they can be challenging in close combat which they are not prepared for but don't let that dissuade you though as they are a very fun gang to play if you play them small and over equipped (and a pure cheese if you take 8 of them in 1000pts roster, exploiting your Champions' 2+ BS). Create a gunline of 3 or 4 so you can continue laying down fire and hiding in dark environments, flank with you rad launcher, give some of them rad grenades (those things are OP), give another champion a plasma gun or better yet, a plasma cannon with suspensor (which sits very conveniently in Van Saars' equipment) and give juves a set of carbine pistols and have them run about drawing fire or coup de gracing seriously injured. These guys should terrify you opponent with sheer gunfire and the ability to survive in all environments. Probably the strongest gang in the game right know, rocking so much firepower you won't be able to do anything against them. Also paint them black with glowing red goggles for the extra cool factor.

Cawdor

A gang of crazed religious fanatics who like nothing better than a good ol' fashioned human BBQ. Cawdor are a swarm close combat gang more akin to scavenging rats, though they are not as strong as Goliath their swarm strategy will win out in the long run. The current sprues are no very customisable and are probably worse than the Van saar gang, fortunately you can always use old Ork spares as cheap axes. Equip them cheap and get more bodies on the board, the more chaff/juves the better, a reclaimed auto pistol and axe will be fine. The crossbow though expensive is a must as it has multiple types of ammo great for picking off trouble makers. Your leader should have the hand flamer, its fluffy but also very effective in ending Golaith charges and Orlock cover camping, smoke grenades and goggles also make for extra annoyance, his very cool giant axe is debatable though (it's an icon ,and nowhere is official rules there is a word about it being an axe, so take it). In 3D games rat bombs can be fun as they are almost untouchable behind cover right up to the moment they sneak up on rival gangs. DO NOT OVER EQUIP, Cawdor have near useless guns that are very likely to break down after a couple of shots, use them on the move to try and thin other gangs before swarming in for the kill. However, they are not as cheap as they probably should be (Cawdor ganger with reclaimed autogun cost exactly as much as Esher one with a lasgun while having worse stats), their equipment is priced strangely (oh wow, that autogun on a stick is basically an axe and a reclaimed autogun. What a shame it costs as much as an axe, autogun and reclaimed autopistol combined) or plainly wrong (fighting knives for 30 points while power knives are 25, really?), so the only way you can triumph is using their tactics cards, which are absolutely rad. For example, all you guns can gain Blaze for one turn or your Champion can temporally receive +3 to S and A, squashing Goliaths like they're potatoes.

Delaque

Probably French (very) roughly translated as "From Her". Their a bunch of bald slap headed Matrix wannabe freaks that seem to be a direct rip off of 'The Strangers' from Alex Proyas's Dark City, unfortunately without the wide brimmed hats ...or Richard O'Brien.

Genestealer Cult

GW strategy for you to start buying an box of figures that are not selling too well. Your Neophytes are cheap and hard to break, and Acolytes and Aberrants can put out serious hurt in melee. You also have no Trade Post territories and other gangs get extra cash for your Acolytes and Aberrants.

Chaos Cult

You have numbers and little else - the Witch works best when you keep it cheap, the Chaos spawn is unreliable to get and keep. But numbers is all you need. Basically Cawdor 2.0, doing everything those fanatics do, but better. Also, Familiars give your Champions and Leaders 3++ analogue once per turn for 20 points and are not rare. They are a must buy and enable you to triumph over basically every other big guys one on one or survive that Lascannon shot.

If you want to play a specific god, you are better served with Escher as Slaanesh and Goliath as Khorne or Nurgle. Van Saar or Delaque make a good Tzeentch.

Venators

Latin, literally "Hunters". The Mercenary gang. Highly customizable but very expensive. You also get Credits for Reputation instead of Territory, which leaves you vulnerable at the start. You gangers can buy house connections to get access to their respective weapons and price lists - one house per ganger, but you can mix and match. Diversity is key as the House gangs are more cost-effective for their specific strategies.

Pox Walkers

No you didn't miss anything, there are no rules for them but will await the inevitable WD rule release in the future!

Enforcers

Enforcers are a breath of fresh, recycled air. Prior to their release, Goliaths were the punchy gang and Van Saar were the shooty gang, while all other factions danced around the middle ground and tried to carve out a distinct identity between those two. Enforcers are an elite(ish) mid-to-close-range shooting gang with decent melee capabilities, but their flavor and niche comes from their equipment and their roster.

Strengths Let’s start with the good stuff:

Equipment. Enforcers have a relatively average statline (on par with Orlocks), but they make up for it with access to a house armory brimming with gear that winds up being just a bit better than anything the other gangs are bringing to a fight. Flak armor and Armored Undersuits are standard issue, giving Enforcers a gang-wide 5+ save (4+ vs Blasts/Templates) by default, with the option to upgrade into Hardened Flak for a 4+ save (3+ vs Blasts/Templates). Enforcer Boltguns are cheaper than the usual variety, and come tuned up with a 4+ Ammo Check to represent their reliability. Additionally, Enforcers have access to a ridiculous number of template and blast weapons, making them an extremely dangerous, if somewhat indiscriminate, shooting gang.

Automatic Replacement. Look, good jackbooted thugs aren’t cheap. However, the Enforcers’ rules have you covered: Whenever an Enforcer is permanently killed, they are automatically replaced on the gang roster with a fresh rookie (juve) at no cost. As regular patrolmen and sergeants (gangers and champions) can be purchased normally, this free replacement method of recruitment ensures that you’ll always have a baseline number of bodies available for an Enforcer gang (though not necessarily a baseline level of competency).

Skills. Enforcers have access to some of the best skill sets in the game: Shooting and Palanite Enforcer Drills. Sergeants also have access to the Cunning skill list (which is rare outside of House Delaque), and that can set up some interesting short-range weapon and Infiltrate combos. They also have access to the Brawn skills, but those are almost universally useless, so we’re not going to waste time with them.

Weaknesses It’s not all sun lamps and rose-scented fungal fields: Let’s talk about the downsides, starting with the Ambull in the room:

No Access to the Trading Post or Black Market. You read that right: The most unique thing about the Enforcers is that they can’t use either the Trading Post or Black Market to bolster their Stash, and are limited exclusively to requisitions from their squad equipment list. In fact, even if you manage to sneak an unauthorized weapon into your stash, all of the Enforcers’ profiles state that they “may only choose weapons from the Palanite/Subjugator List.” It’s worth noting that there is no similar restriction for wargear, so if your squad happens to come into a package of uncut Ghast, have at.

Expensive Things. Cheaper bolters are good to have, but they’re still pricey, and so having them as the de-facto basic service weapon means Enforcers can’t afford to roll as deep as Cawdor, and will frequently be outnumbered by everyone except possibly Van Saar.

Limited Number of Champions. Palanite Enforcers are prohibited from having more than 2 of their version of the gang champion, the Palanite Sergeant. While a Palanite Enforcer squad will generally have higher quality gangers than their non-Palanite opponents do, a lack of extra champions could seriously hurt them in the late stages of a campaign, especially when other gangs are running three to four of them. Now when it comes to access to the Trading Post and Black Market, we’re as sad as everyone else that by mid-campaign our sergeants won’t be running around with master-crafted gold-plated mining lasers and refractor fields, but ultimately Enforcers might not need any of that junk to be effective. Also, they’re still able to hire hangers-on and brutes as normal, so Ambots and Ogryns are absolutely still on the roster.

Enforcer Skills Skill groupings also make a departure from the norm, in that Enforcers are the first gang where the captain (their leader) does not have Primary Skill access to Leadership. Instead, the gang primaries are Shooting and the new Palanite Drill Skill list.

Got Your Six: Another flavor of the Overwatch skill, this one is only triggered when a visible enemy declares a charge, rather than when they activate. On the other hand, it does not require nor remove a ready marker, making this a valid side-grade option if you’d be using it to cover a fire-team that expects to be advancing towards the enemy into melee range. RATING: A-

Helmawr’s Justice: Roll twice on the lasting injury table when the skill-bearer performs a Coup de Grace, and pick one. This is a terrible skill, as it does zero to get you closer to performing the CdG in the first place. The only argument in favor of this skill is an extra chance for a memorable death for a credit bounty in the Law and Misrule campaign. It’s not even Win More, it’s just a recipe to lose friends. RATING: D

Non-Verbal Comms: The bearer of this skill can use a double action to trigger a Cool check on a friendly model within 6” to have a 360° vision arc for the remainder of the round. This is.. Bad. We’re not quite sure how a skill with this many trigger restrictions can possibly be attached to a result this minor. Facings barely even factor into current Necromunda mechanics outside of Furnace Plates and melee reactions. Seriously, this skill has more usage restrictions than Overseer. How? Why? RATING: F-

Restraint Protocols: Giving an Enforcer this skill allows them to restrain a seriously injured opponent in lieu of a Coup de Grace, giving your end of game capture check a +1 for each opponent restrained in this manner. Capturing an enemy allows you to ransom them back to their owner at whatever price you set or to sell them to the guilders for a percentage of their credit value, which is always great for a quick payday. One caveat; it is currently unclear whether this action also puts the target Out of Action or if they remain on the board and able to attempt recovery rolls at the end of the phase. RATING: B+ if it turns out the victims are taken Out of Action, if not RATING: C+

Team Work: Functionally identical to Commanding Presence, straight up. If you’re running your Enforcers as separate fire-teams, this can get you a little more initiative with your activations. Nothing flashy, but a solid pick. RATING: B+

Threat Response: After an enemy charges, any models with this skill can trade their ready marker for a guaranteed 6” countercharge that swings before the enemy has a chance to attack. Enforcers are no slouches in melee already, and both of your now-engaged fighters will be claiming a +1 to hit for the assistance bonus. The enemy, even if he survives this first salvo of blows unscathed, will be resolving his attacks at a -1. This bonus stacks, so having multiple Enforcers in range to swarm in means even more blows connect. Offense as the best defense makes for a nasty combo. RATING: A

Enforcers have a variety of interesting weapon options. Some will be familiar to Necromunda players, but some are brand new and could prove to be extremely deadly. We’ll take a look at each option and provide a bit of commentary to help guide our rookie Enforcer players.

Basic Weapons

Enforcer Boltgun – It doesn’t get more basic than the boltgun. The Enforcer variety comes with a 4+ ammo roll instead of the stock 6+. Additionally, it’s 5 credits cheaper than the stock bolter. Bolters are great in Necromunda, and this will be your go-to for the majority of your enforcers.

Enforcer Shotgun – This is a re-named combat shotgun. Combat shotguns are great, cheap, and reliable ways to get templates in your roster, and are the cornerstone of just about every Orlock and Goliath gang. An excellent choice for an Enforcer, especially because no Enforcer characters come with a BS better than 4+.

Subjugation Pattern Grenade Launcher – A re-named grenade launcher. This one is cheaper than GLs in other gangs, and is the mainstay of the Subjugator “class” in Enforcer gangs. You’ll want at least one of these in every squad as they are crucial for actually doing damage and piercing armor. Enforcers have a lot of low-strength and AP weapons, and you’ll need krak grenades in the late game.

Pistols Stub Gun – Every Enforcer comes with one of these automatically. So you’ll undoubtedly get a lot of use out of yours. Grab some Dum-Dums to give it some extra punch and hit the range, rookie!

Autopistol – Do not buy any of these. Your characters already have free stub guns. The only reason to buy an autopistol is to create some sort of stub gun/autopistol gunfighting sergeant and please do not do this. This hypothetical character will do nothing but disappoint you, we promise.

Special Weapons

Concussion Carbine – This weapon is actually kinda nuts. For 30 credits you get an 18” frag grenade launcher that auto-pins, knocks back, and has AP -1. This is an extremely useful and cheap weapon that mitigates the otherwise meh BS of an Enforcer squad. There is definitely space for several of these in any gang of jackbooted thugs.

Sniper Rifle – A cheap long rifle. Enforcers are almost entirely based around short- to mid-ranged shooting, so including one or two of these in a squad will drastically improve the outcome of any Sector Mechanicus games you end up playing. The pro-choice might be to have one as an alternate weapon set for a champion with a 3+ BS for use in a Sector game.

Heavy Weapons

Heavy Concussion Ram – We gotta be honest with you, reader. There is no reason that we can see as to why this crappy bolter costs 20 credits more and takes up a fighter’s last 2 weapon slots (as they already have a stub gun). This weapon sucks, please avoid it.

SLHG Pattern Assault Ram “Sledge Hammer” – This is a high-strength, versatile melee weapon with a built-in grenade launcher with frag and choke grenades. It’s a weird one, reader. Grenade launchers want to be far from their targets, but this is a melee weapon with an attached GL. It doesn’t make a ton of sense. It could, however, be deadly in the hands of a later-campaign champion or leader.

Close Combat Weapons Shock Baton – The shock stave is better and cheaper. This thing has parry, but it’s otherwise uninspiring. Avoid. Shock stave – 25 credits for +1 Strength, shock, and versatile? Yes please. Give it to a leader to use that sweet 3+ weapon skill. Vigilance Pattern Assault Shield – Combined with the subjugator’s armor, the assault shield can turn any fighter into an absolute TANK. If you’re planning on making a melee-heavy Enforcer squad, this is the weapon for you.

Credit for this goes to Dan “Sex Cannon” Boyd and Jules “Merton” O’Hare over at goonhammer.com