N18 Collected Errors/Typos in The House of Iron

[TopsyKretts]

Here we go again!

Previous discussions:

• House of Iron (Orlock)
  • General Discussion
• House of Blades (Escher)
  • Errors
  • General Discussion
• House of Chains (Goliath)
  • Errors
  • General Discussion
• N19 Rulebook (Dark Uprising)
  • Errors
• Book of Ruin (Cults Codex)
  • Errors
• Book of Judgement (Enforcers)
  • Errors

A summary of various findings (contributed by several yaktribe champions).

INTERNAL CONFLICTS

• Combat shotgun cost: 55 for leader & champion, 60 for arms master.
  • Comment: Price should not be different for different fighters!
• Shotgun cost: 30 for leader & champion, 25 for arms master.
  • Comment: Price should not be different for different fighters!
• Fighting knife cost: 15 for leader & champion, 10 for arms master.
  • Comment: Price should not be different for different fighters!
• Arms master shotgun includes salvo & shredder.
  • Comment: Salvo & shredder is ammo for combat shotgun, NOT regular shotgun. Should be scatter & solid.
• Dog: 0-3 for leader, 0-2 for champs.
  • Comment: Why is this different.
• Sawn-off shotgun (solid & scatter ammo): Sawn-off shotgun now comes included with scatter ammo (same as original profile) and can be upgraded with a new solid ammo.
  • Comment: However no new or old references to this weapon specify any ammo. Is it safe to assume that scatter is default unless otherwise specified? Even affects some new content in the same book:
    • New Orlock Booby trap.
    • Some Tactics.
      • FAQ'ed (in the Trading Post pdf): All earlier references means scatter only (not solid).

EXTERNAL CONFLICTS (CONFLICT WITH PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS)

• Throwing Knives (Armoury) has Str S.
  • Comment: Toxin weapon should never have any Str.
• Combi grenade launcher - frag (Armoury) does not have Combi or Single shot.
  • Comment: Looks like they copy-pasted the standard GL frag profile.
• Melta bombs (Armoury) got Scarce & Melta.
  • Comment: Wasn't this fixed in HoC? Scarce and Melta on Grenades doesn't make sense.
• Servitor (Brute) does not list servitor combat weapon.
  • Comment: Is it lost? Still listed in Armoury so probably not.
• Cult Icon & Chem-Synth (p119):
  • Comment: Old outdated rules from N18 (Gangs of the Underhive), these have later been replaced by new wording in N20 (House of... books).
• Hangers-on & Brute Rep limitation table (p50): The last line is missing from the Hangers-on/reputation table (+1 per additional 5 rep).
  • Comment: Apparently, this gang can never have more than 24 rep This is repeated in Van Saar (House of Artifice).

ERRORS

• Power Knife got Backstop trait (Armoury).
  • Comment: Backstab.
• Margo Merdena's Leg Blades doesn't have the Melee trait.
  • Comment: Why explicitly and redundantly declare Melee trait when they can't follow their own standards? It would be a lot easier for them to skip declaring Melee completely (all weapons with range E are always Melee).
• Legendary Names:
  • All Legendary Names comes with a drawback.
    • Comment: Blade Breaker doesn't have any drawback. Arguably Iron Stare doesn't have a drawback either (could be situational).
• Greaste Monkey (Hangers-on): A Brute or all Wreckers gain an 'overcharge' effect each activation, requiring to pass a test by rolling dice.
  • Comment: Is this optional, or must the test be made each activation? Could be very lethal for the Brute to fail multiple times! How does this work with jump-boosters? Is it in addition or instead? Can the effects be split and used in separate actions? Can they be used simultaneously (stacked)?
• Guilder Contact (Bravado Skill): Gives a discount to hired fighters.
  • Comment: This is presumably applied after committing to paying for the hired gun? Presumably this discount doesn't stack?
• Champion Equipment List does not include power knife.
  • Comment: Why is this omitted? This is available for both Leader and gangers.
• Loot Box (Orlock gang specific terrain): Deployment
  • Comment: How or where can these be deployed?
• Rules for Gun Skull is not included.
  • Comment: Most rules for items used by any fighters in the book are included (for example Cult Icon). Even the gunskull weapon profile is included, but not the rules for the gunskull itself.
• Juves can't gain skills.
  • Comment: Classic copy paste, similar to several other books. Obvious mistake considering they have a table with available skill sets.
• Grav fist -ranged (Ambot) got AP-1 and Graviton Pulse.
  • Comment: Why?

NOTES

• Unlike all other prospects, Wreckers does not have access to Pistols from Trading Post & Black Market (they still have access to Close Combat weapons).
  • Comment: Why?
• Arc hammer has Versatile 1" and takes 2 weapon slots without Unwieldy.
  • Comment: What is the purpose of Versatile 1"? Taking 2 weapon slots without being Unwieldy is quite unique (for close combat weapons). Is this on purpose?
• What is the probability of rolling a natural 1 on a D3 (wrecker's overcharged jump booster and Grease Monkey's overcharge effect)?
• Wreckers are the only specialist juves that can buy close combat weapons from TP/BM. Why?
• King Hit (Bravado skill) can be combined with One Punch (Legendary Name)?!?
• Big Brother (Bravado skill) is a weaker version of Unbreakable Will (Telepathy) and Devotion (Chaos Leader).
• Gang specific terrain (deployment): Placed in friendly deployment zone or in no-mans-land (if specified).
  • Comment: Some deviations from this rule. Sawn-off surprise follows the rules for Booby traps and can be placed anywhere. Promethium barrels can be placed anywhere at least 3" from enemy deployment zone.
• Heavy stubber turret (Road Relic): Burst mode has Rapid Fire (1).
  • Comment: None of the 7 other Heavy stubber profiles have Rapid Fire less than 2. This is suspiciously similar to the Goliath turret from HoC...
• Legendary Names: "Orlock Legendary Names are special names that can be given to an Orlock Leader or Champion"
  • Comment: Anyone can have Legendary names, not just Leader or Champion.
• Heavy Stubber turret (gang terrain) doesn't have any restriction on how many fighters can use it in the same round.
  • Comment: The same loophole was intentionally closed for passenger operated vehicle weapons.

CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS

• Explicitly specifies the exact number of fighters in the Coin Guild
• Sawn-off shotgun now use new 'scatter' ammo (same as the original) and can be upgraded with 'solid' ammo (makes it more similar to regular shotgun).
  • Comment: All references to sawn-off shotgun (without specifying ammo) was later updated in Trading Post pdf (2012-12). This wasn't specified in the book where it was introduced.
• Rebel Lord:
  • Lost 2 digi lasers Because why?
  • Traded light carapace for mesh.
  • Updated weapon options:
    • Old: (2x master-crafted laspistols + stiletto sword) OR (bolt pistol + thunder hammer)
    • New: 1 melee weapon (power sword, stiletto sword or thunder hammer) + 1 pistol (bolt pistol or master-crafted needle pistol).
• Heavy Rock Cutter: No mention of Orlock specific rarity at the trading post (Rare 8).
  • Comment: It is now standard Rare (9) like for all other gangs?
• Seismic reworded to explicitly not cause pinned without hit. Good improvement!

UNIVERSAL 'HOUSE OF ...' HOUSE GANG CODEX ISSUES
These are flaws in the universal structure of house gangs and can be expected to be repeated for all house gang codexes:

• Gang Hierarchy specifies Cool tests for fleeing the battlefield is in the End phase. This is a change from start of the round.
• House Agents:
  • What happens when Petitioning for House Agent and the gang gets fined (2D6*10 credits), but can't pay?
  • The fined result (16+) will never trigger because no gang with 10+ Reputation is going to roll for Petition.
  • Since House Agents have a variable cost, what is their contribution to gang rating? Their Equipment rule state the free equipment you get for them should be accounted for when determining Gang Rating, but what is the base value of the House Agent? Generic has a rating of 40 or 80 credits? Special Character has rating of 100 or 200?
• Bounty Hunter (Generic):
  • Can equip items from the Trading Post, but does not specify any limitation in Rarity. The old (universal) generic Bounty Hunter could use items with rarity 10 or less.
• Promotion: Specialist (Gangers) can be promoted to Champion, but refers to old promotion rules when only the single original Champion fighter type existed. It is unclear what types of Champions a Specialists can be promoted to now, since there are 2 types. Comparing promotion of prospects (new 'specialist' juve fighter), this varies depending on gang:
  • Goliath: Prospect can be promoted to Champion or Stimmer
  • Escher: Prospect can be promoted to Champion only (not Death-maiden for obvious fluff reasons)
  • Orlock: ?

 

[Atom-Cat]

From what I saw.
greenhorn —- specialist.
wrecker — road sergeant or arms master.

 

[TopsyKretts]

Not exactly an error, but kind of weird how house weapon list got power knife for leader but not for champ. This kind of detailed micro-differences hardly makes the game better.

Edit: The ganger can also have power knife, so this should be categorized as an error!

 

[TopsyKretts]

Annoying how sawn-off shotgun is now changed to support multiple ammo types, but none of the references in the same book specify ammo! Ref tactics and gang terrain (booby trap). Guess it's safe to assume "sawn-off shotgun" without ammo is the same as "sawn of shotgun (scatter)" since that's the default ammo and the solid ammo is purchased separately. One can still wonder if a booby trap could be upgraded with solid ammo. Particularly annoying if you actually spend money on a fighter to upgrade the sawn-off shotgun with solid ammo, and then draw the tactics that allow a bonus attack using sawn-off, but the tactics doesn't specify ammo so by default would exclude solid, even if you have it equipped on the fighter.

 

[Atom-Cat]

Sawn offs were crap anyway. Had a champ carry one in my first campaign. Ended up never using it after three games of it not scratching anything. He fired his plasma pistol instead.

I’ve since removed them from the gangers that have them and replaced them with bolt guns, pistols, flamers or melee weapons.

have they tried to fix them?

to be honest they would be a nice weapon if they’d kept things balanced, but since some gangs are boosted to mod game levels before the first game. They just don’t cut it. Like I learned the autogun is next to useless against even juves.

 

[TopsyKretts]

Sawn-off shotgun (scatter) is almost identical to standard shotgun (scatter). Most importantly it got +1S. Less important is Plentiful and worse ammo. Normal shotgun always use solid, so scatter ammo is kind of garbage yeah. The solid ammo for sawn-off is significantly worse than standard shotgun solid ammo. Particularly the (long) range halved to 8", but has better hit modifier on short range (only 4"). Less important (again) is Plentiful and worse ammo.

The price for scatter alone is roughly half of a standard shotgun, but if you add solid, the cost is nearly the same! Why would anyone take sawn-off with solid and scatter over a normal shotgun?!?

We are left with some rules that should be clarified, but in so many cases, it hardly matter because it is a useless option and so will never be relevant in any games.

 

[Chitriel]

The Melta Bombs also got the Melta trait back again. Like Scarce it has no effect on Grenades. It was removed in HoC, but now its back.

Arc Hammer has an * in the Arms Master equipment list, but does not have the Unwieldy trait. I think this is the first Close Combat Weapon to take up two weapon slots, but not be Unwieldy. It has very little effect in the game (an Arms Master can use another melee weapon i addition to the Arch Hammer, but not two Arc Hammers). But it seems a bit odd.

 

[JayTee]

The Rotary Flensing Saw also is 2-weapon slots, but only 1-handed so unless they've done the same mistake twice, this is intended.

 

[cardyfreak]

Error- Arms Master shotgun has ammo types of combat shotgun listed. It should say ‘shotgun with solid and scatter ammo’.

 

[TopsyKretts]

Very good. I will update your findings later.

Error- Arms Master shotgun has ammo types of combat shotgun listed. It should say ‘shotgun with solid and scatter ammo’.

Already listed

 

[spafe]

While not brilliantly worded, I wouldn't say the legendary names are wrong. The first bit you are quoting is the fluff, which in the paragraph before says road captains, leaders and champions. It's not rules. The rules bit, under 'using legendary names' is fairly clear.

 

[Crazy Ivan]

Concerning the King Hit skill and the One Punch legendary name, I wouldn't say one is redundant, as they do different things. Both mean the model make one unarmed attack, which King Hit resolves at standard strength etc., but adds the Knockback, Shock, Pulverise and Concussion traits, while One Punch adds no traits, but makes it a Str8, D2, no saves allowed hit. I think the two compliment each other very well, and would make taking both on, for example, a shotgun-armed arms master a possibly very scary prospect for anyone being charged by that guy.

 

[TopsyKretts]

You can only use one at at time. When would you want to use King Hit over One Punch?

 

[Crazy Ivan]

You can only use one at at time. When would you want to use King Hit over One Punch?

I may well be missing something, but where does it say they are mutually exclusive?

King Hit
When making an unarmed attack (see the Necromunda Rulebook) this fighter may choose to roll a single Attack dice, irrespective of their Attacks characteristic or any other bonuses. If they choose to do so, the attack gains the Knockback, Shock, Pulverise and Concussion traits.

One Punch
When making an unarmed attack (see the Necromunda Rulebook) this fighter may choose to roll a single Attack dice, irrespective of their Attacks characteristic or any other bonuses. If this attack hits, it is resolved at Strength 8 and Damage 2, and no Save roll can be made (with the exception of Field armour).

The requirements for both are exactly the same, and the result for King Hit is that the attack gains 4 traits, while On Punch affects the Strength, Damage and Save. I don't see why they could not be combined?

 

[TopsyKretts]

Wow, that's not how I interpreted it, but it looks like you're right. Two abilities that stack nicely together!

 

[Crazy Ivan]

Wow, that's not how I interpreted it, but it looks like you're right. Two abilities that stack nicely together!

That's how I see it, and I'm seriously considering putting both on an Arms Master with just a Combat Shotgun. Will be fun to be able to knock down most enemies with his bare fists.

 

[cardyfreak]

That's how I see it, and I'm seriously considering putting both on an Arms Master with just a Combat Shotgun. Will be fun to be able to knock down most enemies with his bare fists.

If you do, you’ll have to allocate one skill to his left fist, the other to his right

 

[Crazy Ivan]

If you do, you’ll have to allocate one skill to his left fist, the other to his right

I like to think it gives a whole new meaning to “Arms Master”!

 

[Atom-Cat]

How do you combine them?
One single attack with both effects?
One attack with King Hit and one attack with One Punch?

 

[Crazy Ivan]

How do you combine them?
One single attack with both effects?
One attack with King Hit and one attack with One Punch?

Both state "roll a single attack dice", so I'd argue the result of combining them is one attack with Str 8, Dmg 2, no saves, and Knockback, Shock, Pulverise and Concussion. Quite the potent package, provided you hit, of course.