ORB Necromunda magazines #1 to #12

[Pierric]

Hello everyone,

Just completed my collection, and since I found it quite difficult to find some HiRes visuals of these covers before buying them, I took some time to scan them all, in case some fellow yakkers would like to complete their pics folder.

 

[Pierric]

 

[Space Truckin]

Very cool!
Wish they would do something like this again. I have zero interest in white dwarf these days. A quarterly mag full of hobby inspiration would be a warm welcome for these old computer worn eyes.

 

[Pierric]

Hello Space Truckin,

I bought the first issue mainly by curiosity, and found the content very interesting, so I looked out for the other #.

The tone of it is actually hobby-oriented, a Necromunda magazine for Necromunda players written by Necromunda specalists. Jervis Johnson was supervisor of this publication, and you can feel it... Good ol' times when GW was able to write a 5 pages article on how to make scratch built terrain that cost nothing...

 

[Petitioner's City]

Thank you for this @Pierric; do you have the Gang War mags too? I owned a few of these but my end of teen period saw me give away these and far too much else 😭

 

[Pierric]

Hello PC. You're welcome !

No, I'm sorry, I don't own any Gang War paper copy. Buying all the NM issues was mainly due to buying opportunities in a close timeframe : after buying and reading the first, I spotted a guy on E-Bay that sold 7 of them, and the missing 4 were found on stock at Noble Knights Game in the US, so I saw a good opportunity to collect them all in a fortnight wihtout having to search every issue for months trough many auctions - and too many shipping costs (which I wouldn't have the comittment to do).

But, hey, nice gifts are always welcome. I won't say no to any GW paper copy finding its way to may mailbox...

 

[Keithb02]

Any chance you could scan the contents of each magazine and post them in the vault?

 

[Scabs]

If one is interested in acquiring those old mags... I bought them all as they were published, and re-read them all during the lockdown. The mags are brimming with fan-written articles that are generally about as good as you would expect. "Wouldn't it be cool..." ideas for out-of-date rules, with typically hard-to-ignore "issues." Kind of like my vinyl album collection. I cherish'em. I'm glad I bought'em. But, I don't have a record player anymore, and I don't use the original rules anymore. I would not recommend using the rent money to buy them these days. Save it for Ash Wastes.

That said, I applaud the OP's efforts.

 

[MusingWarboss]

Nice to see. Looking at the backs I see these ran from 2000-2002, which is presumably why I’ve never seen any for sale back in the day! Was off doing other things by 1999 and didn’t come back to the hobby til 2010.

Is this where Kal Jericho came from? Because I’ve never understood the fanning for the character. He never appeared when I was active playing back mid 90s (never read any Necromunda novels back then either). I honestly couldn’t give a toss about him (which is why I was surprised by the plastic release).

I’d put Ash Wastes in this same category - I see these mags are all over it - again just wasn’t a “thing” back then. Not when Gorkamorka was doing exactly the same shtick.

I guess if you grew up with these then they’re a fantastic time capsule of that era - and probably would’ve been a preferable way of doing the “Gang War 2017-8” releases than how they did do it.

Interesting to see @Scabs observation on the content, I think I’ve found a few articles from these over the years and they have seemed a bit... well, yeah.

A fricking Rapier Cannon in issue one?? Man, the rot set in quick after Outlanders... guess it explains the direction of 2017 though!

*waves fist at clouds*

Anyway... @Pierric its a lovely collection from that Millennium Era when GW shuffled off it’s boxed games into the Specialist category and focussed on its big two and its newly caught LotR licence.
Look after them, it’s clear that they’ve had influence long after their limited magazine run.

 

[Scabs]

Kal and the Redeemer were featured in graphic comic books. And Black Library novels. Everybody loves Kal.

Gorkamorka introduced vehicle combat between Orks, using Necro/4oK rules and a campaign. Not knocking it, I love Orks. But, it didn't catch on. Why the hell it wasn't a Necromunda expansion is beyond me. Hey, GW should do an Ash Waste expansion!

I wish I "grew up in that era." I was probably older THEN then, than most gamers are NOW. Of, course having had a career does give me an advantage when it comes to keeping up with the deranged 2017-2020 Necro releases (three box sets, three rules editions, 20 or so rulebooks)! For Kal's sake GW, I'm putting TWO kids through college!

 

[MusingWarboss]

Kal and the Redeemer were featured in graphic comic books. And Black Library novels. Everybody loves Kal.

Gorkamorka introduced vehicle combat between Orks, using Necro/4oK rules and a campaign. Not knocking it, I love Orks. But, it didn't catch on. Why the hell it wasn't a Necromunda expansion is beyond me. Hey, GW should do an Ash Waste expansion!

I wish I "grew up in that era." I was probably older THEN then, than most gamers are NOW. Of, course having had a career does give me an advantage when it comes to keeping up with the deranged 2017-2020 Necro releases (three box sets, three rules editions, 20 or so rulebooks)! For Kal's sake GW, I'm putting TWO kids through college!

Like I said, never bothered with him so never got the hype. Necromunda seems so much better when you're making your own characters, rather than importing Herohammer into it.

As for GorkaMorka, yeah Orks as you might guess from my name were always my favorite so I was pleased to see more plastic Orks and vehicles arrive! The game itself was fun, though like you said, didn't catch on. Which, y'know, could be considered a warning of sorts...

It really feels like it should've been a Necromunda expansion though, it takes no real conversion for it to be one either, the "Gangs" are pretty much identical bar the mechanic. Would've been an easy swap over, just use you Necro models in the same roles in GoMo. Not even sure why you'd need Ash Wastes rules when they pretty much released them for Orks anyway!!

Anyway I still hiss in the general direction of all this "leaving the hive". You go play in the ash with your pre-built comic book characters if you like. I prefer the unique setting of the multi-level industrial complex environment which is so huge you could do pretty much anything in there anyway.

 

[Pierric]

Any chance you could scan the contents of each magazine and post them in the vault?

Hello Keith,

That'as a lot work you're asking there. And no easy either to scan, these are stapled magazines, and I wouldn't like to damage them since several issues are in a mint or never read condition.

I was interested in the magazines mainly for collection purpose, not for gaming purpose, because we didn't have them in France, and because I'm now happy to buy a lot of ORB material I couldn't afford when younger (rather than giving any money to GW for its pale ersatz of its own game, and since I actually don't like plastic kits).

But your voice is heard and maybe someday...

 

[Petitioner's City]

Pierric, would it be possible to photograph the pages of the Gang War sections saying which rules were official replacements and experimental? Would be useful to see!