Rags to riches: the road from Sogg Bottom to Slick City

Llewy

Gang Champion
Yak Comp 1st Place
Jan 23, 2015
429
2,094
133
Limehouse, London
A little while back, @King Redwart asked:

@The Duke @Llewy when is your campaign kicking off? Is it in East London? Have you got a thread going in the campaign section? (So many questions!). We found a dedicated fluff/battlereport thread was a really cool way of letting Yakkers game vicariously :p


Here are my thoughts...

We began our campaign perhaps nearly two years ago; at first just myself and @The Duke, and then @fergyo and @Ptrix joined. It’s evolved organically. At a certain point we began to use the Yaktribe rosters (thank you @Malo) which was a massive improvement on keeping track of the self made spreadsheets we had constructed before. With the advent of new players the campaign has picked up speed in recent months, models are beginning to get painted in earnest and new terrain bought or made.

The campaign is in part in East London, as I am based in Limehouse, but many crucial matches take place elsewhere in London, at the Dukes or at Ptrix’s. One of the intriguing marks of our campaign is that all four of us used to play each other 20 years ago on the Welsh borders and recently got back into the hobby. Perhaps as things proceed we can add reports and photos depending on time and inspiration, but for now I thought I would just notate a couple of things that may or may not be interesting.


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I read with interest the thread about how long a game of necromunda takes a while back. Many people seem to get through games in sometimes under an hour! Definitely we are playing far far slower than that! We all use a lot of overwatch and hiding, occasionally allowing each other to take back moves if appropriate and often talking thru some tactical decisions or rules queries for a while. Terrain set up also often takes over an hour. In total, games can sometimes run to five hours and the longest, a dreadful rescue with the delaques staying true to their nature and refusing to come out into the sunlight, running closer to eight! I guess a part of this is that we are still all re-learning the rules too, and there seem always to be further intricacies to discover.


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A rich lore around our part of the sector is developing. By far one of my favorite aspects of Necromunda is the level of story that evolves over time. You all know this already, so I don’t know what else to say about that, except that I am enjoying hugely the textured backdrop to our games and the way it continues to unfold. The Duke would probably be far better equipped than I to fill you in a bit, as he is really the creator of Slick City and Sogg Bottom, but in the meantime a few fairly arbitrary memories that come to mind:

  • Who in this part of the Hive could forget Quinn the Isotrope? Beginning as a gun hired by the Ma Ma girls, he shifted allegiance to the Catwalk Crazies and proved terminatoresque in a series of their early matches repeatedly getting back up with flesh wounds or dodging a hail of bullets.

  • Simultaneously it is probably Quinn who is sourcing the isotropic fuel rods that Kelos Wiseman, leader of the 77s keeps finding at the rare trade. The 77 social club get their name of course because of the proliferation of juves arising from the resultant newly created Settlements, a seeming endless stream of young un’s just desperate to join in their cowboy antics.

  • In more recent time, while Kelos Wiseman was captured, one of the Nismith brothers - Lynn - led the 77s to victory in the 24 hours to save the underhive mini campaign. Lynn effectively won Big Black, the power generator, and then managed to rescue Kelos from his capture at the hands of the Lobotomy Lads. Maybe Lynn let it get to his head, maybe Kelos just needed to restake his claim, but whatever happened there was a leadership dispute and Kelos killed Lynn outright with his hellfire rounds. This new scatter terrain is popping up showing that Wiseman industries are expanding. At least some of what they get up to is legit.

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  • As for the Lobotomy Lads, they’ve developed a startling reputation for capture and mutilation, at one stage having two enemy leaders and a juve in their slimy cell blocks. Violent Vincent carved V V into all their foreheads so they wouldn’t forget him in a rush. The Lobotomy Lads are so called because, in a flavorful twist, the Doc literally lobotomised his own gang, giving most of them Lobo chips (don’t stand too close to edges..).

  • That very same Doc died unceremoniously and in an ironic twist the leadership of the gang has passed to the most recent recruit, his nephew, a juve called Splints, the Kid, who somehow had the highest leadership!?

  • Cawdor are represented in our campaign by Plumbers and Co.. In their own words: “Earning a living as plumbers in the underhive is hard. After years of graft and little to show for it the Plumbers and their close family friends, the Pisspants (RIP Missus Pisspants - dead but not forgotten), decided to go round the U-bend and take up a life of crime. No more blocked drains, no more pubes in the pipes - these plumbers are getting paid. And as Dwayne always says 'there’s only two things you gotta know - shit flows down hill and paydays friday'”

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  • And as times gone on, we’ve all lost fighters we got fond of: “Safe” Avery, Bertha, Lynn, The Doc... too many to mention, but rags lead to riches and riches back to rags in this part of the Hive quicker than you can say ‘Wild Snake’ and for each man or women down there’s always plenty willing to take their place.
Then again that’s only my version of events, I’m sure the others would have their own tales to tell...
 
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This is ace @Llewy!!! (y)(y)(y)(y) - I'll look too fleshing-out the fluff for "Hive Sector S0GG" or more-colloquially "s0gg-bottom" (the correct spelling!!!!) and the slightly fancier and more gentrified (by Hive Primus Underhive standards at least!) "Slick-City" soon - I've been thinking about the place for ages now but I'm going to try not get carried away and write too much! - keep it concise & fun (like you have mate!)
 
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The campaign is in part in East London... One of the intriguing marks of our campaign is that all four of us used to play each other 20 years ago on the Welsh borders and recently got back into the hobby.

I know this isn't really about your campaign, but this was the bit that jumped out at me. You're lucky to still be near all your old gaming buddies, even (especially) if you all moved away from home. My old school gaming friends are scattered all over the place.

Why do so many Necromunda players seem drawn to London? Does it remind them of Hive Primus perhaps?
 
Great write up dude! and yeah sounds like some real history to those gangs...

I think you get all the players to take pics of the gangs, then write an short piece about the gang, gives every one something to compare, and lots of different views/takes on events

Looking forward to seeing this thread grow :)
 
You're lucky to still be near all your old gaming buddies, even (especially) if you all moved away from home.

I think we're all very grateful, that despite the passage of 2 decades we were all in the right place at the right time for us to get together again and rekindle our love for Necromunda again.

Well done @Llewy for getting this thread started so we can track our progress as the story from out particular corner of the Underhive grows and develops.

@spafe - I like the idea of gang photos (means I need to get a move on with painting mine), and short bios about them. This will be easier for some, as @The Duke is known for descriptive postings!

All in all I'm loving playing again! Having the amazing resources here available to us has added a whole new dimension to when I first started.
 
This is ace. Despite being tagged in the first post I've only just come across it by chance (maybe something to do with my email settings?). Anyways, great stuff...we all love reading about the exploits of other gamers and gangs. I wouldn't worry about long games (well maybe if they take 4+ hours) but it's good to hear of another gaming group taking advantage of hiding and overwatch. As some people have already said photos would be cool as well as links to the gang rosters.

And yes, shit does flow down hill...
 
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hahahahaha

I have no idea what your talking about @Ptrix i'm very succinct, I say the most using the least amount of words, one day my prose will be reknowned for its... ummmm...verbosity...?

@King Redwart "And yes, shit does flow down hill..." always makes me laugh (Fergus / "Dwayne Plumber" is our resident "hive jester", and plays Cawdor but secretely lusts for a Van-Saar gang - filthy heretic!!!!)

more "verboasting" from me to follow - I just have to quickly update my other posts.... back in a mo.... ;)
 
@scavvyjay 8 hours definitely excessive! but I'm happy enough with 4 hour games as, with reflection, we often eat and catch up as well so that adds some time too.

@The Duke and I had a bit of a momentous occasion on Monday, both leveling up in real life as, in 20+ years, we played our first game ever with all the miniatures on the table fully painted, more or less.

The event was the introduction of King Khronus and the Brass Brotherhood into our Rags to Riches campaign. Freshly escaped from the fighting pits and looking for food, or a scrap, or whatever else it is that people with claws and drills for arms look for, they stumbled into the territory of Work Team 8 the second of the two Orlock gangs that I manage. The event was a Raid with Zip Delares of Work Team 8 on his lonesome keeping an eye on one of the entrances to the gang's Archeotech Hoard. King Khronus walked right up and utterly obliterated the gateway in the second turn with his melta gun. Here he is silhouetted against the smoking ruins:

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We were trying out @Insurgent 's rules for structural damage (which worked great and we intend to use them from now on in our campaign) so the gateway left a rubble footprint (counting as difficult terrain) and a smoke cloud for one full turn. This was a blessing in disguise for me, as the impeded movement caused King Khronus to misjudge his charge and gave an extra turn for the Orlock reinforcements to get into useful places.

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Here come those reinforcements:

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A lurking Pit Slave, Vel-Kro I believe...

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Zip Delares, obviously having a bit of a crappy day, after narrowly missing a scrap with King Khronus, was then set upon by not one but two pit slaves and needless to say was utterly obliterated. Serious injury roll left him with some very impressive scars. There's an Orlock in there if you look closely:

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Then the Hive spirits answered my prayers because that smoke cloud to the right of them (a hangover from one of Flynn's missed smoke bombs) caught a gust of stale wind and drifted on top of both the young pit slaves. Now it's their turn to be difficult to spot :)

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Finally, grabbing the higher ground, Work Team 8 are able to drive the Brass Brotherhood away from the precious Archeotech Hoard. That entrance is gonna take some fixing though...

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As a final after thought Jared Diamond had a mean little fire fight with this poor fella before eventually turning him into gunk with his melta gun:

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For Work Team 8 the Archeotech Hoard entrance was lost but not the war :)
 
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Great to hear @Llewy is play testing structural damage. Keep me informed as to how this plays out over the course of the campaign. I'm thinking about writing stat profiles for all the generic box set terrain pieces. Let me know what stat profiles you assigned your terrain for the campaign?
 
Good write up @Llewy, glad you were the one to break @The Duke's Pit Slave in, will be an interesting match up against me!

The pressure is most definitely on me to now get my rag tag band of Escher ladies painted up - I can't be the only gang in the campaign with a mob of silvery white minis lurking in the hive depths!
 
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Great name for the gang and I love how you've given all of them tool upgrades. Double hammers on your Pit fighter is nasty. I wanted to do that but couldnt come up with a model I liked. Been playing Pit Slaves in my past two campaigns. I'm going to miss them but I need to play a house gang next or I'll go crazy :D.

The building damage is interesting. I'll be keeping a keen eye on how it works out.

Carry on.
 
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do you guys have your rosters on Yaktribe?

@King Redwart , I'm almost certain it was the pit slaves you were really after seeing, but for sake of being complete, here are the gangs in the fray at the minute (have hyperlinked the names):

@fergyo
Cawdor - Plumbers and Co.

@The Duke
Delaque - The Lobotomy Lads
More bad plaque ;) - The S0GG Bottom Boys
Pit Slaves - King Khronus and the Brass Brotherhood

@Ptrix
Escher - Catwalk Crazies

@Llewy
Orlock - Work Team 8
More warlocks - The Seventy Seven Club
Escher - The Ma Ma Girls

The Duke also has some Enforcer squads keeping an eye on things but so far they haven't needed to get involved.
Finally, some well spoken Delaques from Slick City dropped by once but were left somewhat emasculated when their lascannon got captured first game.


If you guys ever need any more players :whistle:

We were hacking out some ideas for multiplayer games yesterday, would be great to get you in on one of them next year.
 
I'm thinking about writing stat profiles for all the generic box set terrain pieces. Let me know what stat profiles you assigned your terrain for the campaign?

Defo will. Am hoping to make some very basic rubble footprints which can double as difficult terrain in other games.

I think the real fun is going to start when people start crashing vehicles into structures. Then you are really going to have a mess on your hands.

Love this. I hope we get there with this campaign.

Is Rags to Riches a Yaktribe contest or a local campaign you guys are doing?

It's a local campaign set between Slick City and S0gg Bottom, has been taking shape in a very haphazard way the last two years but is now picking up speed.
 
A bit of a detour for this post but I thought people might be interested in seeing the house rules we use in our campaign. We don't have an arbitrator in the campaign per se but we kind of debate things as a group - mostly on whatsapp - as they come up and therefore this is a work in progress. Some of these things may already be covered in NCE we just haven't been able to figure them out or have had to re emphasize a point for our own benefit.



House Rules for 'The road from SoGG Bottom to Slick City' campaign


Shooting from ladders
You can shoot while on a ladder. The model must take an initiative test to see if they can take the shot. The shot is -1 to hit. The viewing arc of the model should be declared in the movement phase. The ladder is WYSIWYG so it is possible to shoot through a ladder if there are gaps.


Hand to hand combat on ladders
It’s possible to charge someone on a ladder. If they are above you they get +1 for higher ground, if you are above them you get +1 for higher ground.
The loser has to take an initiative test to see if they fall, as if they were hit while standing near an edge. If they are taken out of action they automatically fall. If the higher up model falls there is a chance they will hit the other model, and take them with them, on a roll of 4+ as per the rules for falling onto another model.


Throwing grenades without LoS
You can throw grenades without LoS, for instance over a wall or off a ledge, however the grenade automatically misses and scatters.


Move or throw grenade
We are using Andy Shrimpton’s move or throw grenade rule as follows:
Instead of moving, a fighter can throw a grenade in the movement phase.


Charging
If a fighter is defending a barricade, then you cannot move over the barricade as a part of your charge but must instead engage the fighter across the barricade.


Nominating gun used when going on overwatch
When going on overwatch it is necessary to nominate the gun you will be using.


Captured
After a rescue mission any ‘Captured’ injury results are automatically counted as a full recovery instead.


Uneven WS/BS, multiple flesh wounds
As soon as either WS or BS is reduced to 0 the model lapses into unconsciousness.


Weaponsmith + Auto repairer
You can make two rolls to ignore the failed ammo roll.


Rare trade chart
We are using @Blood Donor’s Alternative Rare Trade Chart v.2 as found in the Vault


Structural Damage
We are using @Insurgent ’s Structural Damage rules as follows:

Stat values for our terrain:

Gateway structure T=6 W=3

Gantry T=7 W=3

Single level building T=8 W=5

Multi level building T=10 W=5 per level

When a building collapses

If a building is reduced to zero wounds it collapses. Anything that can't stand on its own without the collapsed structure also falls.
The collapsed building leaves a rubble imprint, the same size as the footprint of the building, that counts as difficult terrain.
The collapsed building also leaves a smoke template as tall as the original terrain piece for one complete turn.

When the building falls and you are in it or under it.

If a building collapses you take a strength hit of the inches you fall when it collapses for D6 wounds. You are pinned.
If a building collapses you take a strength hit of the inches of structure falling above you for D6 wounds. If you within an inch from the edge of the structure you may also take damage. You are pinned.

If models are one inch away from the inside or outside edge of the structure you may roll under you initiative to jump out of the way. If you pass the initiative test, place your model two inches away from the edge of the structure. You are pinned.
Note: you may jump off the edge of a structure but if you are above ground will still take falling damage.


Mysterious stranger
We are using @CaptainDangerous ’s mysterious stranger rule as follows:

Once per game (when Work Team 8 play against the Catwalk Crazies). Llewy may, at any time, nominate a crazie and roll 3d6. on any roll of 3 of a kind, a mysterious stranger wearing the grey garb and insignia of Captain Dangerous has come out from the shadows and fired an alien looking laser at the target. The target is automatically pinned, and suffers 1 wound at strength equal to whatever number was rolled on the dice (1-6). Saving throw allowed.

If this leads to the target being taken out of action, don't roll on the injury chart, the target automatically suffers bitter enmity towards Captain Dangerous. (The Captain and his crew set their lasers to stun)

If a treble 6 is rolled and the target goes out of action, along with the bitter enmity, the target also gets promethium burns in the shape of a D!