N18 New Escher player - to Plasma gun or not?

[DarwiniusRex]

Hi!

I'm new to Necromunda but I think I know what gang I want to build - except for whether to Plasma gun or not. So, this is my list:

1. Queen - Plasma pistol, Stiletto Sword, Mesh armor. Spring up. (220)
2. Matriarch - Plasma gun, Mesh armor. Dodge. (215)
3. Death maiden - Needle Pistol, Venom claw, Chem-synth, Mesh armor. Hit & Run. (200)
4. Specialist - Grenade launcher (105)
5. Ganger - Shotgun (80)
6. Ganger - Shotgun (80)
7. Ganger - Lasgun (55)
8. Little-sister - Stub gun, Stiletto knife (45)

Any advice is appreciated of course! But I'm mainly pondering whether to change the Matriarchs Plasma gun into a Needle Rifle. This would free up 65 points to play with. With those points I could invest in Photon grenades for the Little sister, Smoke grenades for the Grenade launcher, potentially a Chem-synth for the Needle rifle, Mesh armor for the specialist, or something else I'm not considering? What's your advice? I'm not really interested to min-max (I just don't want to model a weapon I'll regret) and maybe having more toys (grenades etc) is just more fun than one effective weapon?

 

[DarwiniusRex]

Thinking more about it. I think I'd change the Matriarch into just having a Needle Rifle. That would free up 80 points which could go toward another Little-Sister with an Auto-pistol and Stiletto knife, give the first Little-Sister a Photon grenade, and give one of the Shotguns Acid ammo. That is:

1. Queen - Plasma pistol, Stiletto Sword, Mesh armor. Spring up. (220)
2. Matriarch - Needle Rifle. Dodge. (135)
3. Death maiden - Needle Pistol, Venom claw, Chem-synth, Mesh armor. Hit & Run. (200)
4. Specialist - Grenade launcher. (105)
5. Ganger - Shotgun, Acid ammo. (95)
6. Ganger - Shotgun (80)
7. Ganger - Lasgun (55)
8. Little-sister - Stub gun, Stiletto knife, Photon grenades. (60)
9. Little-sister - Autopistol, Stiletto knife. (50)

I feel like another body should make up for the Plasma gun, no?

 

[MysticWolf]

I like your roster as is.
Needle rifle is definitely a good weapon, however I think plasma offers a little more flexibility out of the two weapons. For one they're both scarce, and rapid fire helpa quite a bit at avg 1.7 hits per shot.
The main issue you'll have with the needle rifle is against high T targets.
W/ plasma gun you're wounding t4 goliaths (just throwing goliaths out there because of high T, brutes too though and CGC butcher who is a savage) on a 3, and on a 4 with the needle rifle. And you still have maximal on the plas gun if you're a gambling individual. Thats not even counting if rapid fire went off, which best case is 3 x str 5 ap -1 hits.

The needle rifle IMO is good on a specialist (although you have the grenade launcher which is better). The extra range on the plas rifle will also allow you to keep your matriarch safer. I think every escher list needs at least one plas rifle.

Anyway, sick list!

Good luck!

Edit: just saw your second list, IMO its easier to start with a plasma gun than to purchase one later. And the upgrades like ammo and backup weapons, even juves, are easy to buy aftet the first or second game. Harder to buy a 225 cred champ.

To the "another body make up for the plasma gun" question, personally i disagree. I am totally all for girls before toys. But little sisters are easy to buy later Nd their impact is minimal, especially when your gang size is decent.

 

[DarwiniusRex]

Thanks! I hear you. And I'll stick with the plasma gun setup in the first list.

However, I still wonder if I should get the points for a photon grenade somehow. Perhaps change one of the gangers shotgun into a lasgun. Thoughts?

 

[MysticWolf]

Thanks! I hear you. And I'll stick with the plasma gun setup in the first list.

However, I still wonder if I should get the points for a photon grenade somehow. Perhaps change one of the gangers shotgun into a lasgun. Thoughts?

In my opinion, unless your first game is against Van Saar, skip the grenade and accessorize later.

 

[Heart of Storm]

If you want to squeeze a photon grenade in, drop the acid ammo on your first shotgun, you can buy ammo after your first game or two, and the Solid shot (S4, D2) will carry your through your first games perfectly fine.

 

[Cerras]

I was going to create a new discussion but since I've got pretty much the same doubt I'll just pop it here. Here are my two starting lists:

- https://yaktribe.games/underhive/gang/ladies_of_the_labyrinth.202299/ this one with plasma matriarch and grenade launcher specialist
- https://yaktribe.games/underhive/gang/copy_of_ladies_of_the_labyrinth.202677/ giving the grenade launcher to the matriarch and a shotgun to the specialist. Plan is to get the acid rounds when I have a little bit of creds. The advantage here is that I can upgrade the matriarch to a chainaxe, and still have some credits to spare.

Based on the discussion above it sounds like plasma is still a better choice, but I don't mind the list below as it seems a bit more thematic (I always found that a lot of plasma at gang creation seems odd, as it's still supposed to be a rarity. Still, if it helps kill those pesky Goliath...)

 

[Heart of Storm]

Escher can't have munitioneer as a starting skill, has to be one of their primary skills which doesn't include Savant.

I prefer the first list, the second list is very spammy with the lasgals. If you were to go list 2 I'd consider dropping the 5th lasgal to diversify your list a little. Upgrade two of the lasguns to shotguns and swap the specialists shotgun for a needle rifle, for example.

 

[Cerras]

Thanks for the clarification on munitioneer, I had missed that. Shame, but not the end of the world.

You are right, the second one is quite spammy. Let's go for the first one then. TIme to go looking for a plasma gun somewhere

 

[JMISBEST]

I have a question

My group has decided that our next campaign will be the 1st Necromunda Campaign were we only use rules from Official Sources and we're hoping to start a day or 2 after Bonfire Night

The person in charge has decided it will last 2 months with a 1 week break period every 3rd week and has decided that because the rules don't say we can't use The Credit Allowance and free advances mentioned in The 3-day Campaign rules during A 2-month campaign that we can

I like The 2nd Version of your Gang enough that I plan to use it/them but as this will be my only 3rd edition Necromunda Campaign were me and my group only use rules from Official Sources I have a few questions

As its 1,750 Credits, what do you suggest I spend the extra 730 Credits on?, what you think The 4 extra Primary Skills of the players choice, 1 extra Random Secondary Skill and 3 Stat Increases should be? and who should get them? and bear in the mind that even though theirs 8 free advances no model can get more then 3 of them?

As I am hoping to use A I was thinking of getting A Wyld Runner, giving her the maximum of 3 Advances and as I know most of my foes won't expect it I'd give her +1 WS, +1 S and 1 Random Primary Skill, that way I reckon that by The 2nd Break she's guaranteed to advances to become A Champion and if I'm lucky could be 1 by The 1st Break. hat do you think of ?

 

[Jakkarra]

I have a question

My group has decided that our next campaign will be the 1st Necromunda Campaign were we only use rules from Official Sources and we're hoping to start a day or 2 after Bonfire Night

The person in charge has decided it will last 2 months with a 1 week break period every 3rd week and has decided that because the rules don't say we can't use The Credit Allowance and free advances mentioned in The 3-day Campaign rules during A 2-month campaign that we can

I like The 2nd Version of your Gang enough that I plan to use it/them but as this will be my only 3rd edition Necromunda Campaign were me and my group only use rules from Official Sources I have a few questions

As its 1,750 Credits, what do you suggest I spend the extra 730 Credits on?, what you think The 4 extra Primary Skills of the players choice, 1 extra Random Secondary Skill and 3 Stat Increases should be? and who should get them? and bear in the mind that even though theirs 8 free advances no model can get more then 3 of them?

As I am hoping to use A I was thinking of getting A Wyld Runner, giving her the maximum of 3 Advances and as I know most of my foes won't expect it I'd give her +1 WS, +1 S and 1 Random Primary Skill, that way I reckon that by The 2nd Break she's guaranteed to advances to become A Champion and if I'm lucky could be 1 by The 1st Break. hat do you think of ?

You have your own thread for this.

 

[JMISBEST]

You have your own thread for this.

Sorry I forgot