N18 HoC Goliath Gang

[RADHawk]

Guess what it's me again! Just making more gang lists to keep myself sane till I can source some Cawdor upgrade kits/wait for GW to release them in one box.

Here's some Goliaths. Went for some hard hitting beefy melee with a bit of ranged support. What do you lot think?

Forge Tyrant
Chainaxe
Stub/Plasma Combi-pistol
Furnace Plate
Vatborn - Dermal Hardening
Skill - Nerves of Steel

Stimmer
Renderizer Axe
Furnace Plate
Vatborn - Dermal Hardening
Skill - Nerves of Steel

Stimmer
Paired Spud-Jackers
Furnace Plate
Vatborn - Dermal Hardening, Overdeveloped Musculature
Skill - Nerves of Steel

Bruiser Specialist
Grenade Launcher
Smoke Grenades
Furnace Plate

Bruiser
Axe
Bolter
Furnace Plate

Bruiser
Axe
Bolter
Furnace Plate

Bully
Axe
Stub Gun

If I don't start Cawdor soon it's a toss up between these guys and CGC for who will be my actual first proper gang build.

 

[Heart of Storm]

Its very powerful for sure, if a bit repetitive and probably not a lot of fun to play against.

If your local meta is full of players who want to build the most powerful gangs they can, this will fit, if you have more role-play type players this gangs not going to make you any friends.

 

[RADHawk]

Its very powerful for sure, if a bit repetitive and probably not a lot of fun to play against.

If your local meta is full of players who want to build the most powerful gangs they can, this will fit, if you have more role-play type players this gangs not going to make you any friends.

No idea what the local scene is yet sadly, still getting into it.

Thanks for the feedback, I was just picking what I think looks good on models. Love me a good bolter. Didn't realise it'd be so try-hard.

Throw in some shotguns instead? They also look cool but are perhaps less meta?

 

[BranBuccarcher]

Stub cannons are fluffy if often maligned, no bonus' to hit but still S5 with knock back for 20 creds.
With a little bit of kit bashing you can hold them Dirty Harry style....

Shotguns are good all rounders, workhorses for most gangs. Boltguns are killers, to many in a start gang isn't nice to play against unless you have to roll lots of ammo checks.

A good rule of thumb is to avoid repeats of load outs, eg dermal hardening/nerves of steel on one stimmer only. Makes gang creation more of a mental exercise as well if that what you are looking for with it.

For my mental exercise till I can get regular games again I started making up gangs to use in my home brew Necro-quest games as territory defenders, can add a few more toys etc for rules of cool.

Have you got models to build/built already?

 

[RADHawk]

Stub cannons are fluffy if often maligned, no bonus' to hit but still S5 with knock back for 20 creds.
With a little bit of kit bashing you can hold them Dirty Harry style....

Shotguns are good all rounders, workhorses for most gangs. Boltguns are killers, to many in a start gang isn't nice to play against unless you have to roll lots of ammo checks.

A good rule of thumb is to avoid repeats of load outs, eg dermal hardening/nerves of steel on one stimmer only. Makes gang creation more of a mental exercise as well if that what you are looking for with it.

For my mental exercise till I can get regular games again I started making up gangs to use in my home brew Necro-quest games as territory defenders, can add a few more toys etc for rules of cool.

Have you got models to build/built already?

Impulse bought a box of Goliath but not built anything yet.

I'm mainly waiting to see what happens with Cawdor upgrade kits, they're the ones I'm really into.

 

[BranBuccarcher]

If you get the redemptionists box as well you can do some fairly easy kitbash's and have 16 bodies to keep you going in that case till they do the upgrade kit.

Do you have bits to convert the goliath with and do you have just the basic gang or the strimmer box too?

 

[RADHawk]

If you get the redemptionists box as well you can do some fairly easy kitbash's and have 16 bodies to keep you going in that case till they do the upgrade kit.

Do you have bits to convert the goliath with and do you have just the basic gang or the strimmer box too?

Don't have the stimmers or extra bits yet, just brainstorming before I dive in!

 

[Heart of Storm]

No idea what the local scene is yet sadly, still getting into it.

Thanks for the feedback, I was just picking what I think looks good on models. Love me a good bolter. Didn't realise it'd be so try-hard.

Throw in some shotguns instead? They also look cool but are perhaps less meta?

Its less the boltguns tbh, a pair of boltguns with a 6+ ammo roll on a BS4+ ganger isn't going to wind people up, its the trio of T5, nerves of steel combat monsters who are gonna run down the field, shrug off most the fire coming their way and still make a charge that'll get peoples goat.

Dermal hardening is WAAY undercosted for what it does, and whereas it is absolutely the best Gene-smithing skill it can be not much fun to run against when its spammed on your big killy units.

 

[RADHawk]

Its less the boltguns tbh, a pair of boltguns with a 6+ ammo roll on a BS4+ ganger isn't going to wind people up, its the trio of T5, nerves of steel combat monsters who are gonna run down the field, shrug off most the fire coming their way and still make a charge that'll get peoples goat.

Dermal hardening is WAAY undercosted for what it does, and whereas it is absolutely the best Gene-smithing skill it can be not much fun to run against when its spammed on your big killy units.

Fair enough.

Just seemed like an obvious take when I saw it.

 

[BadCompany000]

What you could do is make all your fighters Natborn instead of just going to the auto-pick of dermal hardening. It gives them relatively easy access to strength and toughness upgrades and access to what I think is the best of the gene-smithing lists.

 

[BranBuccarcher]

Adaptive mind on a leader or champ is brilliant gives access to all secondary skill trees as primary.

 

[Bitharne]

I always try to get more people to play Necromunda…it’s, easily, one of my favorite games on tabletop.

I ALWAYS follow it with the main issue: the game is, literally, broken in places where the rules require cooperation and/or a good Arbitrator to smooth it out

AND it’s very easy to powergame (especially with specific gangs liek HoC Goliaths) which leads to bad player retention for the hobby and/or current campaign.

Thus; people are better of approaching from a “what sounds fun” angle. I know I struggle with it…I naturally like to optimize what I have, not so much powergame but make the best of it: which can lead to the former.

So, for sure an issue, but if you’re mindful of it and make more more INTERESTING choices instead of “optimal” ones…it’s great for all.

For example: I take dermal hardening on my Tyrant only and give him mentor…since I want him to live, be in every mission, and make my shitters into winners. Sure he’d be “better” with Nerves while walking up the board with a 2/3+ armor save and melting people with his power axe but I have the axe for threat and he plugs away with a Stub Cannon (not bolter) cuz knock back makes me giggle

 

[Stompzilla]

Dermal Hardening is not actually that OTT. S3 weapons are still 5+ to wound, it just makes them slightly more resilient against S4 and 5 and considering the lower no of fighters in a Goliath gang, compared to others it's really not all that.

Personally I prefer an unborn, infiltrating Stimmer for effectiveness.

 

[Stompzilla]

The gang posted in the opening post looks pretty OK to me.

Pretty reasonable effectiveness. Not terribly great but not terribly bad either with a decent mix of firepower and Melee.