N18 Noob here, anyone have any advice/tips for my starting Goliath Gang before I start building.

[Vonvilkee]

He's perfectly deadly with just his fists to start with if you want to go the shooting route.

e.g.
A leader with a bolter is:
- BS3+ S4 D2 AP-1 Rapid Fire 1 for shooting up to 24 inches with a +1 12 inch short range.
- WS3+ 3A (4 attacks on the charge) at S4.

Giving him a single chain axe doesn't make him much deadlier in close combat (for all intents and purposes S4 == S5, i.e. S5 isn't a breakpoint strength). Parry is almost never going to come up in a meaningful way. Rending is a nice bonus, but can't be relied on. Disarm is nice and all, but if something survives your attacks, then you done messed up. Close combat in this game heavily favors the attacker.

Get the back up weapon later.

I haven't pointed out Goliath in a bit, I modeled my leader with a power hammer cuz it is just cool. I have a renderizer model with a marine bolter magnetized to his back so I can start cool and add functionality depending on that all important first game.

@dialupsyndrom I take the heavy bolter in orlock, they are a bit cheaper to start and have an easier time getting ammo roll help. I'd shy away from the heavy bolter in Goliath don't "need" it.

 

[DialUpSyndrome]

That's definitely some good food for thought. Do you not value the -1ap early either? Ap is such a necessity in 40k I was assuming so here too. I was planning on spending sometimenon my leader/champs in terms of modeling and painting. I guess I could model the axe slung or just discuss with my opponent.

On a side note how many models do you tend to replace during a campaign. In my head it would be 1 or 2 gangers with new weapons or an extra juve etc but if you're retooling the leaders too maybe I have miscalculated.

 

[DialUpSyndrome]

I haven't pointed out Goliath in a bit, I modeled my leader with a power hammer cuz it is just cool. I have a renderizer model with a marine bolter magnetized to his back so I can start cool and add functionality depending on that all important first game.

@dialupsyndrom I take the heavy bolter in orlock, they are a bit cheaper to start and have an easier time getting ammo roll help. I'd shy away from the heavy bolter in Goliath don't "need" it.

Magnatizing back weapons might be a great shout to be fair, I really didn't want to mess about magnetising hands or arms but slung weapons might be ok

 

[Aulenback]

The value of armour penetration at various points in your campaign will vary depending on your opponents.

One of my main gangs is a melee-and-grenades focused GSC gang with power picks, power hammers, and hazard suits from gang founding. As a result, opponents didn’t bother with buying additional armour at all, and flamer use by anyone else largely vanished. But many of them started with mesh armour on their leaders and champions, which was effective against other gangs.

My Goliath opponent has a lot of Furnace Plates on almost everyone, which is proving effective against my Venators, so now I am looking at Blaze and Web weaponry to circumvent it. It may only be 1/3 of the time, but that makes a difference.

On the other hand, given the credit costs, many gangs don’t bother with early armour, because you could hire an extra ganger instead.

 

[paxmiles]

The value of armour penetration at various points in your campaign will vary depending on your opponents.

One of my main gangs is a melee-and-grenades focused GSC gang with power picks, power hammers, and hazard suits from gang founding. As a result, opponents didn’t bother with buying additional armour at all, and flamer use by anyone else largely vanished. But many of them started with mesh armour on their leaders and champions, which was effective against other gangs.

My Goliath opponent has a lot of Furnace Plates on almost everyone, which is proving effective against my Venators, so now I am looking at Blaze and Web weaponry to circumvent it. It may only be 1/3 of the time, but that makes a difference.

On the other hand, given the credit costs, many gangs don’t bother with early armour, because you could hire an extra ganger instead.

The hazard suits are something I really miss when my gang doesn't have access. It's not about the armor, but being immune to rad phage and blaze can be huge.

 

[Aulenback]

I play up that immunity to Blaze for my GSC, with Incendiary Charges being a favoured shooting weapon for them. NOT being set on fire can be worth more than not taking a wound, really.

 

[DialUpSyndrome]

Yeah it seems how a campaign progresses can be so variable you need to adapt on the fly. I've definitely viewed making this starting list like a 40k list or MtG deck. You've all given me a lot to think about.

Would it be a faux pas to model a leader unit with the chain axe I plan to buy for him, but not take in first game list?

 

[HugeSamples]

Would it be a faux pas to model a leader unit with the chain axe I plan to buy for him, but not take in first game list?

It depends on your group.

I personally don't over index on WYSISYG in a game where gear changes constantly. If they are a "dangerous" model I usually just make sure they have at least one dangerous weapon showing--usually the gun. That said always follow the rule of cool. You can have your leader modeled with 2 chain axes and still say he has a bolter/whatever. Just so long as he looks like a leader.

Magnetizing is not really appealing to me. i.e. I'd rather have more painted models than a bunch of torsos and a baggy of arms.

 

[DialUpSyndrome]

It depends on your group.

I personally don't over index on WYSISYG in a game where gear changes constantly. If they are a "dangerous" model I usually just make sure they have at least one dangerous weapon showing--usually the gun. That said always follow the rule of cool. You can have your leader modeled with 2 chain axes and still say he has a bolter/whatever. Just so long as he looks like a leader.

Magnetizing is not really appealing to me. i.e. I'd rather have more painted models than a bunch of torsos and a baggy of arms.

Yeah I agree. I'll mostly be playing with mates, but I've been known to go to the FLG so be good for the models to not ruffle any feathers with strangers.

 

[HugeSamples]

People play one off Necromunda games with strangers?

 

[DialUpSyndrome]

People play one off Necromunda games with strangers?

I was more thinking about finding some people who play necromunda