N18 Escher Gang -- Starting Necromunda

[EsherSteve]

Greeting citizens of the Underhive,

after a 20 years break I'm entering the Underhive again. During first edition I played Cawdor for a while but now I'm heading the the Amazon house Escher. To get started I flipped through the basic rules and the House of Blades supplement. Unfortunately I havenÄt played any games yet but I need to prepare.

Thus here's my first idea for my warband:
Queen (Leader):
Plasma Pistol, Stiletto Sword, Mesh Armour, Spring Up

Matriarch (Champion):
Plasma Gun, Stiletto Sword, Mesh Armour, Spring Up

Deatmaiden (Champion):
Needle Pistol, Venom Claw, Chem-synth, Mesh Armour, Hit & Run

Wyld Runner (Prospect):
Wyld Bow, Poison Arrows, Flak Armour, Phelynx

3x Sisters (Gangers):
Lasgun, Flak Armour

Rating: 1000

The idea:
My idea was to build a rather colourful gang. I went without a specialist to include the Wyld Runner but I'm unsure with the bow and the cat. Are they worth it? The Deathmaiden and the Queen are of course meant to go into close combat. Most probably I'll be facing Goliath thus I thought poison might be a good advantage. The sisters and the champion are equipped with lasguns and a plasma gun to give some longer range support.

My enemies:

• Delaque
• Cawdor
• Goliath
• Orlock

As far as I know all players of our group are relatively new to Necromunda. Since the Orlock player is living closest to me I presume he might turn out to be my most frequent opponent.

What do you think about the list?
I'd appreciate any feedback very much but please be reserved with abbreviations. I'm afraid a lot of them might be riddles for me.

Cheers
Stefan

 

[Kiro The Avenger]

General advice; skip flak armour. It's not worth 10cr at all, if you want armour skip it and get mesh, or save the credits and fight naked, which is my go-to for 'grunts'.
7 fighters is a bit low, I like to start with at least 8, better 9.

The bow is absolute trash. I'm hesitant to say skip it because they are a really cool concept. But imo that coolness is completely destroyed on the table.
Phelynx are meh, not bad just a little pricey for what you get.

Overseer on the leader will greatly improve your ability to get the Deathmaiden into combat.

 

[Jayward]

Seconding everything Kiro The Avenger said there, and whilst I personally don't like Overseer that's because I feel it's just too good a skill.

I've come to dislike everything about the Wyld Runners. I've not been able to find a single use for them that isn't better occupied by a Juve or a Ganger. I adore the concept, but when you boil them down they are worse Juves who are overpriced and can only take overpriced gear. It's the -1 on the Bow that kills them.

Phelynx aren't bad for 50c; I would take them on Champions if I could. But alas, you cant.

So I would drop the Wyld Runner in favour of a Needle Rifle Specialist (I'm a massive fan of them as a cheap thematic weapon) and a Juve. You'd still have a bunch of credits left over; I like to run some smoke and photon flash grenades

Overall it's solid, though. I'd personally diversify the lasgun girls' weapons, and maybe drop the stiletto sword on the ranged champ, but those are mostly cosmetic changes.

 

[MrAndersson]

In addition to what Kiro said, the gang is a bit light on firepower. You have a plasma gun, and that's basically it. Of course, after your first game, you can get hotshot packs for your lasguns, which will go some way to mitigate the problem. But I would still be looking to get another plasma gun, grenade launcher or bolter in there.

Skip the sword on the matriarch. It does nothing for her, she is a ranged fighter. You might want to give her a lasgun for backup, though.

 

[EsherSteve]

Many thanks for your quick and good advice. I revised my list to the following state:

Queen (Leader)
Plasma Gun, Stiletto Sword, Mesh Armour, Overseer

Deathmaiden (Champion)
Venom Claw, Needle Pistol, Mesh Armour, Chem-synth, Hit & Run

Matriarch (Champion)
Plasma Gun, Lasgun, Mesh Armour, Spring Up

Sister Specialist (Ganger)
Needle Rifle, Mesh Armour

Sister (Ganger)
Shotgun

2x Sisters (Gangers)
Lasgun

Little Sister (Juve)
2x Laspistol

Little Sister (Juve)
2x Stub Gun

Actually I tried to follow all - or most - of your advice:

• Dropped the Wyld Runner
• Dropped the cat
• Dropped the Flak Armour
• Dropped the Matriarch's sword
• Took 'Overseer' on the Queen
• Took a lasgun as backup weapon on the Matriarch
• Added a Sister Specialist with Needle Rifle --> Should I change this to Bolter? Common sisters don't have access to it unfortunately.
• Changed one sister from lasgun to shotgun
• Added a Little Sister with double laspistols
• Squeezed in another Little Sister with double stub guns

The gang is still at 1000 rating and has 9 girls now.

What do you think?
Im a bit uncertain about the Little Sisters. They appear rather weak to me and I'm pondering whether another Sister with lasgun or shotgun would be a better choice.
And I failed adding another plasma gun or bolter. The only way would be dropping the needle rifle or the Deathmaiden. The needle rifle would be an option for me although I like its style. The Deathmaiden should stay in the gang if possible. Somehow I like these models and they appear rather tough in close combat.

Anyway further advice is much appreciated.

Cheers
Stefan

 

[Kiro The Avenger]

I'm pretty sure specialist sisters don't have access to bolters either.

I'd agree with your assessment of the juves, especially with double pistols. They have BS5+ so really struggle to hit anything. I've tried a double pistol ganger and found them woefully ineffective, Juves would just be worse.

Deathmaidens are great. I think the way to go is actually stiletto sword and Combat Virtuoso as the skill, but it's a hard call.

Escher have a variety of strong ranged weapons, even bolters are a strong budget choice, grenade launchers are also excellent.

 

[EsherSteve]

You're right. The specialists cannot chose bolters. I got a little confused since it's basic weapon... However I could swap her needle rifle for a grenade launcher but had the drop one of the juves.

Besides what do you suggest for the juve or juves? Knives for close Combat then?

 

[Kiro The Avenger]

If you're running Juves, definitely close combat.

Personally I like a needle rifle on my champion, I'd put the grenade launcher on the champion instead of a plasmagun, then use the credits saved to upgrade the Juves to something more useful.

 

[Heart of Storm]

Juves make great meatshields for Deathmaidens, run one up just ahead of the maiden so the enemy has to take will checks to shoot your real combat hitter.

Escher juves are decent in melee, fighting knife and an autopistol will give them 3 attacks on the charge (one using rapid fire) - they're decent at bullying non-melee gangers/specialists/juves, not so hot against an opponents dedicated melee - a stiletto knife makes them a threat against multi-wound models, just not a reliable one with 4+WS

 

[EsherSteve]

Thanks again for your ongoing advice.

I needed some time to ponder about the plasma gun vs. grenade launcher swap. To ne honest I'd prefer to stay with the plasma gun for the first fang setup. I know it's nearly as expensive as two grenade launchers but I cannot withstand its charm. On the one hand I liked plasma guns since the old days on the other hand its stats are still a blast. As far as I'm aware my opponents will field some heavy support as soon as possible. Thus I might need the extra punch the plasma gun delivers. And to be honest I have plasma guns from the Escher upgrade sprues but no access to grenade launchers currently.

Nevertheless I altered the juve to autopistol and knife as Heart of Storm recommended. So here's the posse:

Queen (Leader)
Plasma Gun, Stiletto Sword, Mesh Armour, Overseer

Deathmaiden (Champion)
Venom Claw, Needle Pistol, Mesh Armour, Chem-synth, Hit & Run

Matriarch (Champion)
Plasma Gun, Lasgun, Mesh Armour, Spring Up

Sister Specialist (Ganger)
Needle Rifle, Mesh Armour

Sister (Ganger)
Shotgun

2x Sisters (Gangers)
Lasgun

Little Sister (Juve)
autopistol, fighting knife

That makes 8 models and a rating of 975 points. I'll spend the remaining points in either smoke or photon flash grenades for one of the champions or the leader.

Cheers
Stefan

 

[Jayward]

That looks pretty tidy; hope you enjoy using it!

 

[EAfirstlast]

General advice; skip flak armour. It's not worth 10cr at all, if you want armour skip it and get mesh, or save the credits and fight naked, which is my go-to for 'grunts'.
7 fighters is a bit low, I like to start with at least 8, better 9.

The bow is absolute trash. I'm hesitant to say skip it because they are a really cool concept. But imo that coolness is completely destroyed on the table.
Phelynx are meh, not bad just a little pricey for what you get.

Overseer on the leader will greatly improve your ability to get the Deathmaiden into combat.

Only take overseer if one of your opponents is.

Overseer is sort of the nuclear skill in necromunda. It's heads above all other skills as the best skill in the game, and one that can easily break things. So it's an option I'd only suggest if other people are taking it. Otherwise, you become the jerk.

 

[EsherSteve]

Thanks a lot. I'll keep Overseer on the maybe-list. First games will take place in esrly November. I'll get the gang paintednow and then I'll see. After all I'm pretty mich looking Forward to fielding them.

 

[Psyan]

If you're going to put Overseer on your Leader, there's no reason to spend big on her weapons, since she won't be using them often.
Most non-Van Saar gangs have a cheaper option than running two Plasma Guns... take only one and replace the other one with a Grenade Launcher. It's not quite as good (especially under 12"), but it's considerably cheaper and offers some useful flexibility.
With those two changes, you can almost certainly afford to put another body or two on the table.