N18 Outlaws and hanger-ons – What are the rules, what are your

[JoFrie83]

Hi everyone,

Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been diving into Necromunda and playing a Corpse Grinder Cult in my group. Recently, a discussion came up about whether I can hire a Rogue Doc.

Our Arbitrator refers to Book of Ruin (p. 6), which states:
"Outlaw gangs can hire only Outlaw Hangers-on, Brutes, Hired Guns, and Dramatis Personae."
Based on this, he denies me the option of hiring a Rogue Doc.

However, I refer to the Core Rulebook (p. 88), which does not mention any restrictions for Hangers-on, only for Hired Guns. Since the Book of Ruin is from 2019 and the Core Rulebook is from 2023, I believe the newer rule should take precedence.

Additionally, I’ve seen a photo of the Rogue Doc rules where it explicitly states "Available to any Gang." I’ve also read multiple Reddit posts recommending Rogue Docs for Genestealer Cults because of their high medical costs. Since Genestealer Cults are also Outlaw gangs, wouldn’t that contradict the Book of Ruin ruling?

So, which interpretation is correct? Can Corpse Grinder Cults hire a Rogue Doc, or does the Book of Ruin still apply?

How do you handle this in your campaigns?
Maybe there is any official ruling or statement on this? If so: where can I find it?

Thanks in advance for any clarification!

 

[Aulenback]

Sadly, there is slightly less than full clarity as an answer, but for most tables the answer to your question is that no, Corpse Grinders cannot hire a Rogue Doc.

N18 - Can Chaos Helots hire a Bullet Merchant?

Howdy! I am playing Chaos Helots, Can I Hire a Bullet Merchant or do I need some other kind of Hanger On first?

yaktribe.games

N18 - Weird things about the Outlaw Rules

So in both the Book of Judgement and Book of Ruin it states that Outlaw gangs can only hire Outlaw Hangers-On, Brutes, Hired Guns, and Dramatis Personae... Later on it says that House Gangs cannot hire the House specific Brutes, this is redundant because the House Specific Brutes are not...

yaktribe.games

Officially, Outlawed gangs can ONLY hire Hangers-On that specifically have the Outlaw special rule.
Also officially, we are pointed to non-Outlaw Hangers-On as examples of Hangers-On hired by Outlaw gangs (as none of the Hangers On in GotU have the Outlaw rule, as it was published before those books).

The Dominion Campaign Territory that provides a free Rogue Doc does so only for Law Abiding Gangs, and provides a credit income instead to Outlaw gangs.

One Hanger-On has been roughly duplicated for both Law Abiding and Outlaw gangs as two separate Hangers-On -- the Underhive Trader (Connected) and the Scabber.

Genestealer Cult gangs do NOT begin as Outlawed gangs, but begin by default as Law Abiding gangs.

The "Available to any gang" note on many Hangers-On simply means that they are not restricted to House Escher Only, or to House Orlock Only, etc.

Non-Dramatis-Personae Scum and Bounty Hunters become Outlaws, if hired by an Outlaw gang, but Hangers-On are not mentioned there.

The Rogue Doc rules were written before Outlawed gangs became a thing in this version of the game, and were never altered, including in the Book of Faith.

The Book of Faith has some Hangers-On that include a special rule that they can ONLY be hired by an Outlaw gang, but does not, for example, include any mention on the other Hangers-On that they can ONLY be hired by a Law Abiding gang. Which is sad. Because had they done so this would be easy to resolve. What IS written in the Book of Faith regarding these Law-abiding Hangers-On?

SPECIAL RULE: OUTLAW
Many Hangers-on, Brutes, Hired Guns and Dramatis Personae have the Outlaw special rule.
In the case of Hired Guns, this depends upon the alignment of the gang hiring the fighter, enabling Hired Guns to be hired regardless of the gang’s alignment.
A fighter with the Outlaw special rule can only be recruited and fielded as part of an Outlaw gang.

• Outlaw gangs can hire only Hangers-on, Brutes, Hired Guns and Dramatis Personae that have the Outlaw special rule.

So there we have it. Outlaw gangs can hire only Hangers-On with the Outlaw special rule, can only hire Brutes with the Outlaw special rule, can only hire Hired Guns with the Outlaw special rule, can hire any Hired Guns regardless the Outlaw special rule or not (yes, these two things disagree), and can only hire Dramatis Personae with the Outlaw special rule.

 

[Beebopalulla]

Do you need to hire a rogue doc?

 

[TopsyKretts]

Why CGC need rogue doc when they murder everyone hehe.

 

[paxmiles]

Hi everyone,

Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been diving into Necromunda and playing a Corpse Grinder Cult in my group. Recently, a discussion came up about whether I can hire a Rogue Doc.

Our Arbitrator refers to Book of Ruin (p. 6), which states:
"Outlaw gangs can hire only Outlaw Hangers-on, Brutes, Hired Guns, and Dramatis Personae."
Based on this, he denies me the option of hiring a Rogue Doc.

However, I refer to the Core Rulebook (p. 88), which does not mention any restrictions for Hangers-on, only for Hired Guns. Since the Book of Ruin is from 2019 and the Core Rulebook is from 2023, I believe the newer rule should take precedence.

Additionally, I’ve seen a photo of the Rogue Doc rules where it explicitly states "Available to any Gang." I’ve also read multiple Reddit posts recommending Rogue Docs for Genestealer Cults because of their high medical costs. Since Genestealer Cults are also Outlaw gangs, wouldn’t that contradict the Book of Ruin ruling?

So, which interpretation is correct? Can Corpse Grinder Cults hire a Rogue Doc, or does the Book of Ruin still apply?

How do you handle this in your campaigns?
Maybe there is any official ruling or statement on this? If so: where can I find it?

Thanks in advance for any clarification!

Yes and no. No, RAW, you can't hire them in the normal manner.

But you can get one via the "Lost Survivor" hive secundus gang tactics card. Probably others, but that's the one that comes to mind.

You could also take the Imperial Impostors Alliance, which should allow you to act as a lawful gang once per "campaign week", which should allow you to hire a rogue doc.

Could have sworn there was another weird interaction that implied strongly that they could take them, but I can't find it now.

 

[JoFrie83]

Do you need to hire a rogue doc?

Well, since my Arbitrator denied me the Rogue Doc, I feed the meat grinder.
But yeah, in long term it would be nice, to have one, if someone important got out of action.

 

[Beebopalulla]

Well, since my Arbitrator denied me the Rogue Doc, I feed the meat grinder.
But yeah, in long term it would be nice, to have one, if someone important got out of action.

medikit, mediskull, assistance rules compensate your "lack" of Rogue Doc. Surprisingly, neither the medikit nor the mediskull care about your allegiance.

 

[Aulenback]

One really fast Juve with a medikit can work well for emergency "patching up," though doesn't help against coups de grace [edited to fix typo]. Orlocks of course have the best prospect for exactly this role, but most gangs* have a cheap Juve or Prospect who is also faster than their gangers and can fulfill this role. Especially good now that successfully Providing Assistance gives an experience each time. They could rake in some experience, if you have folks getting Seriously Injured.

* most may be an exaggeration. Not much of one, though.

 

[Beebopalulla]

coups de gras

coup de grace = Mercy Killing prononce like grass

Other wise it means a strike of fat... well since it CGC might be approriate.

 

[Beebopalulla]

Good point about the juve.

 

[paxmiles]

Well, since my Arbitrator denied me the Rogue Doc, I feed the meat grinder.
But yeah, in long term it would be nice, to have one, if someone important got out of action.

Well, with regards to corpse grinders...so I was looking into using them for the underhells campaign I'm currently in, but I was cautioned against fielding them because they are "broken". They said both corpse grinders and Van saar are kinda broken, and that I should play different factions if my goal is fun games, which it is.

Basically, as it was explained to me, the issue is that each faction is overly specialized (corpse grinders in melee, van saar in shooting) which made for lop-sided games.

So regarding you and your arbitrator, it could be that they are denying you the rogue doc, not because the are outlaws, but as more a passive aggressive action against corpse grinders specifically.

You might convince the arbitrator to allow a rogue doc for the Helot Chaos gang or the Genestealer Cult gang. I also think that the corpse grinder models would make great Helot Chaos gangers.