So I figured I'd run a little exercise to compare the cost of gangs at startup, to answer the question "what is a cheap gang" and "what is an expensive gang" - I don't see that ever being answered anywhere else before so thought a post here would do it.
Trying to get an apples for apples comparison of the 16 gangs in Necromunda is difficult, so a pinch of salt is needed here.
I chose to model two effective gang costs, one is a "minimum viable gang size" model, that is, one leader, two non-specialist champions and 3 gangers or equivalents - this isn't a "do minimum" model ( that would use juves ) but it is what I think most people would consider the minimum backbone needed for a gang list.
The second model was a "likely viable gang list" again it's hard to model this across this many gangs, and I'll note variations in a bit, but this considered a gang of 8, specifically a Leader, a specialist champion, a non specialist champion, 4 gangers and a juve equivalent. Where gangs don't have a specialist champion a standard champion was used, and where gangs don't have a juve a ganger was used.
What this resulted in was a range of costs for both models, the cheapest gangs came in at 325 creds for the minimum spec, and 395 for the likely spec, with the most expensive being 635/795 for the same list.
Full detail below:
Some points to note:
For Genestealer cults I based the cost on the Adept, not the Alpha, and didn't upgrade the Acolytes with a 3rd arm, I also didn't factor in the Aberrant, any of these decisions increases their overall cost.
For Cawdor I ran two listings, one as baseline Cawdor, and one as a full redemptionist list to indicate the "range" in which a starter list might fall.
Palanite Enforcers costs were derived from a pure Palanite list with no Subjugators
For Badzone Enforcers I used the Patrolman as the base ganger, and the Hive Scum as the juve equivalent, using the Scum as their ganger reduces their cost by 60/80 for the minimum/likely lists respectively and pushes them much further down the list.
For Slave Ogryn I used the Slave Ogryn as the base ganger, and the lobo-slave as the juve equivalent, switching out to full lobo-slave (as most people would do) reduces the overall cost by 60/80 as for Badzone Enforcers but doesn't affect their overall placing.
They key surprises for me in this list was quite how cheap Orlock and Delaque worked out, outperforming or matching the "horde" gang, Cawdor. Squat Prospectors/Venators seem to be the benchmark for a midpoint gang in terms of model costs.
Badzone Enforcers can be very swingy dependent on your composition, I modelled them as a like for like comparison with Palanites, but they can be made to run very cheaply if you wanted.
Hopefully somebody finds this list helpful/useful.
Trying to get an apples for apples comparison of the 16 gangs in Necromunda is difficult, so a pinch of salt is needed here.
I chose to model two effective gang costs, one is a "minimum viable gang size" model, that is, one leader, two non-specialist champions and 3 gangers or equivalents - this isn't a "do minimum" model ( that would use juves ) but it is what I think most people would consider the minimum backbone needed for a gang list.
The second model was a "likely viable gang list" again it's hard to model this across this many gangs, and I'll note variations in a bit, but this considered a gang of 8, specifically a Leader, a specialist champion, a non specialist champion, 4 gangers and a juve equivalent. Where gangs don't have a specialist champion a standard champion was used, and where gangs don't have a juve a ganger was used.
What this resulted in was a range of costs for both models, the cheapest gangs came in at 325 creds for the minimum spec, and 395 for the likely spec, with the most expensive being 635/795 for the same list.
Full detail below:
| Rank | "minimum" | likely |
| 1 | Chaos Helots (325) | Outcast (395) |
| 2 | Outcast (335) | Chaos Helots (405) |
| 3 | Delaque (390) | Delaque (480) |
| 4 | Orlock (400) | Cawdor - standard (480) |
| 5 | Cawdor - standard (415) | Corpsegrinder Cult (495) |
| 6 | Genestealer Cult (425) | Orlock (500) |
| 7 | Corpsegrinder Cult (430) | Genestealer Cult (515) |
| 8 | Cawdor - redemptionist (430) | Cawdor - redemptionist (520) |
| 9 | Venator (430) | Squat Prospector (520) |
| 10 | Squat Prospector (435) | Venator (530) |
| 11 | Badzone Enforcers (460) | Badzone Enforcers (545) |
| 12 | Escher (475) | Escher (560) |
| 13 | Ash Waste Raiders (500) | Goliath (615) |
| 14 | Goliath (500) | (Ash Waste Raiders (640) |
| 15 | Enforcers (550) | Van Saar (660) |
| 16 | Van Saar (560) | Enforcers (690) |
| 17 | Slave Ogryn (635) | Slave Ogryn (795) |
Some points to note:
For Genestealer cults I based the cost on the Adept, not the Alpha, and didn't upgrade the Acolytes with a 3rd arm, I also didn't factor in the Aberrant, any of these decisions increases their overall cost.
For Cawdor I ran two listings, one as baseline Cawdor, and one as a full redemptionist list to indicate the "range" in which a starter list might fall.
Palanite Enforcers costs were derived from a pure Palanite list with no Subjugators
For Badzone Enforcers I used the Patrolman as the base ganger, and the Hive Scum as the juve equivalent, using the Scum as their ganger reduces their cost by 60/80 for the minimum/likely lists respectively and pushes them much further down the list.
For Slave Ogryn I used the Slave Ogryn as the base ganger, and the lobo-slave as the juve equivalent, switching out to full lobo-slave (as most people would do) reduces the overall cost by 60/80 as for Badzone Enforcers but doesn't affect their overall placing.
They key surprises for me in this list was quite how cheap Orlock and Delaque worked out, outperforming or matching the "horde" gang, Cawdor. Squat Prospectors/Venators seem to be the benchmark for a midpoint gang in terms of model costs.
Badzone Enforcers can be very swingy dependent on your composition, I modelled them as a like for like comparison with Palanites, but they can be made to run very cheaply if you wanted.
Hopefully somebody finds this list helpful/useful.
