It’s been more than a decade since we last visited the Underhive, but very soon you’ll be able to battle it out in the depths of Hive Primus.
If you’re new to the hobby, you may not be familiar with Necromunda – or perhaps you’ve only heard about it from the fond memories of other hobbyists. Necromunda dives into the underworld of the Imperium, allowing players to control their own Hive Gang – a pack of ruthless criminal killers augmented with black-market cybernetics, gene modifications and scavenged weaponry. Where Warhammer 40,000 puts you at the head of an army, in Necromunda, the scale is much smaller but the action is just as intense – every single Ganger counts.
Between intense skirmish battles, your gang will grow from a pack of battle-hungry Juves to a feared and respected syndicate of hardened veterans. To get there, however, you’ll have to battle against your fellow players, each with a gang of their own.
The Underhive is a big place, and the gangs that inhabit it are as diverse as the alien races that inhabit the 41st Millennium. We’re launching Necromunda with two classics.
Gangs from House Escher are fast, deadly, and cruel. While lightly armoured, these cunning warrior women hold their own in melee combat, while at range, they are notorious for their use of armour-melting plasma weaponry.
The gangers of House Goliath are a living testament to brawn over brains. Every member of House Goliath is a slab of vat-grown muscle, armed and armoured with repurposed industrial gear.
What makes these miniatures even better is that they’ll be available in multi-part, plastic kits – so easy to assemble, customise and paint into a gang of your own.
Keep your eyes on Warhammer Community for all the latest news and previews.
Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2017 10:55 am
omg. One: The "rumoured new army" was Necromunda. Two: My god, Estrogen and Testosterone, obviously done on purpose. Three: At last. Four: YEEEAAHHHHHH! Five: Now, let's see how it follows up.
I was actually hoping for a mixed gang, but perhaps the rules will allow that this time.
"Game loosely based on 8th but expanded mechanics. Intergrates turn sequence, model by model activation. Leaders and champions help.." "By activating additional models, juices need to be near others to guarantee activation" "Action based and with the full Rogue Trader stat line...." "More skill tables including leader and trade ones." "Plastic gangs and then outlanders then expanding to new gangs!!!! Takes time." "Working of John Blanche original sketch book for more awesome stuff. Release should be November slot. First 6 gangs release schedule sorted.
Juices.. wut? sweatdrop
Quote:
"We have an info dump of information for you from speaking to the amazing Specialist Games veteran designer Andy Hoare at The Forge World Open Day 2017.
So we are broadly looking at a game based on the 8th Edition 40k mechanics, but tailored to skirmish warfare. We see the edition of Action Points, that can be used to active gangers in a similar way to how Space Hulk works. Different actions will cost different points, such as activating a Heavy will cost two Action Points, whereas your run of the mill Ganger will cost only one.
We are looking at a release schedule much like BloodBlowl, this is the ‘Preview’, launch of the initial box set will follow in the same sort of timescale as from when BloodBowl was ‘Previewed’ then launched.
The box itself will contain the Escher and Goliath gangers we have seen already, the rules, accoutrements and most likely Shadow War terrain. The Specialist Games studio do not have the resources to produce terrain solely for Necromunda, so they are trail blazing the Shadow War release with all the cool terrain that was released with that boxed set, and subsequently in individual kits until present. The rules will allow for play in the way we are used to on gangways, ramps and gantries, but also in tunnels making use of the Zone Mortalis tiles available from Forge World.
We will see all the gangs from Hive Primus return, along with the gangs from Outlanders and Fanatic. We will also see new gangs and some expansion of the fluff on Necromunda.
HIVE SECONDUS was written about in the Fanatic days, a Hive overrun by Genstealer cult, nuked by the Necromunda Defence Forces to rid the planet of the infestation. However, the hive toppled on its side with most of the Cultists surviving resulting in the Defence Forces building a large trench system in the surrounding Ash Wastes to isolate the remains of the Hive from the rest f the planet. It is hinted we will be visiting this intreaging story in the future!
We don't needs no preachers, we needs tough chicks with fishnets, leather and psycho-attitude! emotion_yatta
Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2017 12:17 pm
Hm, "Mad Donna" Ulanti, a fallen noble from the Spire if I remember correctly. Shall I hope that they'll have a new model for her once she is re-released, or rather, shall I hope any new miniature for her still have the cone-boobs or not? (The cone-boobs are ugly, but they were a reference to the cone-bra Madonna used during a world tour in the 90's.) cat_smile
But but..... fire and....... more fire..... and braziers on top of our heads....emotion_kirakira
Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2017 9:55 am
Ugh, just read elsewhere that the minis might be 32 mm .... I really wish and pray not, as that would make them in-combinable with the current miniatures .... cat_xp
Some interesting info a friend told me today, from him chatting to Andy Hoare:
- Boxed game to have board tiles as they're cheaper to produce, and be set in a sewer-type environment. Escher and Goliath gangs plus rulebook too, obvs. - Gangs are being reimagined a little (a la GeneCult) with differences between Houses and fleshed-out background. Goliaths are industrial and have a 'rivet gun'. Escher are chem-specialists and all mix up their own chem weapons - apparently you can see vials on the models. They have some form of chem-thrower Flamer weapon. - Intending to promote Sector Mechanicus scenery and Zone Mortalis kits for use with Necromunda. Specialist Games couldn't have done scenery but GW coming out with Shadow War made it a possibility. - He was told that the rules are a tweak of Necromunda. Subsequently surprised to then read from the WHCommunity post that they're 8th-based, as that wasn't intimated by AH. - Roll to hit and roll to see if ammo test needed apparently now separate. Your dramatic chance hits will no longer always somehow be with your final bullet! - Models have interchangeable hair, faces and arms. 5-model kit x2 per side. Allows lots of combinations without duplicating poses.
Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2017 1:16 pm
This announcement pleases me, at least I have enough industrial terrain painted up from the now forgotten Armageddon game for when this arrives.
Get ready for a new generation of war in the underhive – Necromunda is coming back.
We already knew that the classic game of underhive gang-war was returning later this year, and now, after the Studio Preview at the NOVA Open, we know a lot more.
The new core set for this game is absolutely packed with content to get you started: a full board representing the sewers and confines of the underhive, a rulebook, character cards, templates, dice and of course, your gangs.
There are two full gangs in the box – one set of nimble warrior-women from House Escher and one set of gene-crafted brutes from House Goliath. Each of these miniatures is detailed, characterful, and true to the classic spirit of Necromunda – hairstyles and all! We’re very pleased to say that both these gangs will be full, multi-part kits, with an enormous level of customisation.
One of the best things about Necromunda is building a gang and equipping your gangers with wargear, and each kit is absolutely packed with options. There are weapons for any situation, from classics like the stub gun to more esoteric choices like the repurposed industrial equipment of House Goliath or the chem-weapons of the Eschers.
As well as these, you’ll be able to arm your gangers with grenades, gas masks, additional armour and even modular hairstyles. Whichever gang you build, each member will be a character in their own right – perhaps a lumbering Goliath bruiser equipped with a rudimentary stub-cannon, or a fast moving Escher assassin wielding twin duelling laspistols.
The set’s gaming tiles and simple bulkhead scenery allow you to play games very quickly and easily, and make the game very portable.
As well as the underhive style of play covered by the boxed set, there will also be ways to play Necromunda with the multi-level skirmishes that defined the classic version of the game. These work great on tables using the Sector Mechanicus terrain sets released earlier this year (great news for anyone who built a Shadow War Armageddon board).
Both ways to play are tense, tactical games that recreate the no-holds-barred brutality of underhive war – you’re going to have a blast.
We’ll be taking a closer look at Necromunda nearer to its release, including what you can expect from the rules, how you’ll be able to build your gang and much more – in the meantime, let us know what you’re most excited about on the Warhammer 40,000 Facebook page.
The battle for the underhive starts this November.
- "The gameplay we got to experience in the demo was a quick and dirty 4 on 4 (four players with two models each). The game is fast, but VERY crunchy! Lots of special weapons that have to be carefully considered when you choose to use them.
The models we used were the gang leader/named character models from the cards included in the game, but you can also create your own, and there are blank cards you can write on in the box, which can wipe off to make changes or add things to.
There’s a few different dice, a regular d6, with a “Skreagle” as Adam called it (a skull/eagle), scatter dice for grenades (and grenades cause knockback, which can throw people off of walkways!), injury dice (used for determining how badly you wounded a model, and also rolled when you’re attempting to stand back up after taking a flesh wound), and the ammo dice.
The ammo dice involved a really cool mechanic. Firstly, assault weapons roll to see how many wounds are caused, and weapons that are rare and run out of ammo due to your roll have a 6+ reload roll in the next turn. So if your bolter runs out of ammo, you may be out of luck. Makes your weapon choices very tactical as well."
Everything seemed geared towards tactics — you trade activations per model, so you can fake out your opponent by moving in a way that causes them to expose themselves to an attack by another model. That mechanic also makes multiplayer games way faster and more fun, since everyone is constantly taking turns.
There are also cards which give you the ability to react to an event. We saw one which allowed the Goliath gang to charge and do more damage, one called Last Gasp that gave you a last retaliatory shot against an enemy who just killed you, and one called Blood Debt that gives your gang +1 on attacks against an enemy model who killed one of your gangers.
Bottling was interesting. There’s the possibility of both teams bottling out. Downed models give bottling a negative modifier, as your gang is more likely to run away as their buddies lie dying on the floor.
Being in base to base contact with a downed model allows you to make a coup de grace and kill them.
There were a large number of modifiers, so you really had to consider exactly what advantages and disadvantages you were giving yourself based on what you did.
Adam talked about how the Studio campaign is mapping the Hive for their game. As the gangs take territory, they keep a record of the way the tiles were laid out, and then reuse those maps to fight over existing turf, which sounds very cool.
I'm personally thrilled about the blank cards you can write your own gangers on.
*EDIT* Missed some bits in the comments section -
"Tiles that match the Zone Mortalis tiles from Forgeworld come in the box. There’s no grid based movement or shooting, that’s all in inches. The boxed set focuses on tunnel fighting in the Underhive, the first expansion is Gang War, and is releasing at the same time, goes upwards and includes more about fighting and moving through vertical space.
I asked Adam if that meant that if we were seeing an expansion that moved upwards into the higher levels of the Hive, did that mean we might see something that moved outwards, into the Ash Wastes. He gave the typical “anything is possible” kind of answer, but it seems that they’re focused on each expansion also expanding the environments you fight over."
In response to a comment about the tiles:
"Yeah, the tiles are just there to be a quick and easy play surface, with some interesting gameplay possibilities. I saw a tile with a bridge over a pit, one that was swamped with toxic green goo, etc. they were all double sided.
