N18 Should I buy Dark Uprising while I have the chance?

[El Torro]

OK, so I'm having a bit of a quandary. Just wondering if I should buy Dark Uprising? Or wait for Hive War? Or Option 3 being to buy neither of course. I just wanted to put my musings down in writing. Maybe my comments will help others make their own minds up. If you see a flaw in my logic then please feel free to say so as well of course.

So let's look at Dark Uprising first:

Firstly, the gangs / models. Personally I am planning to get a Palanite Enforcer gang at some point. It's great that there are 6 Subjugators in the box, though I could really have done with 10 Enforcers as well. Only having 5 is not great, I think for a good starter gang I want the full box. I can buy the other 5 models on Ebay I suppose, though the cost will likely be a bit more than the cost of half a box of Enforcers.
As for the Corpse Grinders, it looks like Dark Uprising comes with enough models for a campaign, which is great. I wasn't really planning to start a gang of Corpse Grinders, though the models aren't bad so I might paint them up at some point anyway (rather than try to just sell the models).
So assuming I'm happy to start both an Enforcer gang and Corpse Grinder gang that's worth about £65 on the UK GW site. (£13 for the Enforcers, £26 for the Subjugators and let's call it £26 for the Corpse Grinders).

The gangs I actually plan to create for Necromunda are:
Orlocks (planning to make this my main gang)
Palanite Enforcers
Slave Ogryns (already own 6 models, not assembled yet)
Genestealer Cult (already have all the models I need assembled and painted, since I own a Genestealer Cult force for 40k)

The other main thing in Dark Uprising is all the terrain. I could certainly make use of this. My question is, is it just a case of getting one Zone Mortalis Columns and Walls set and one set of Zone Mortalis Platforms and Stairs? So in UK money on the GW website that would be £87.50?

Another key thing (for me) is the rulebook. I already own a digital copy of the current rulebook, though a physical copy would be nice, for reference. My question: will Hive War have a better / more up to date rulebook? Hard to answer this question at the moment I guess since Hive War hasn't been released yet.

Other than what I have already mentioned Dark Uprising comes with:
– Double-sided play surface
– All of the dice, tokens, cards and templates needed to play

Which is all nice, though hard to put a value on. So by my calculations the set is worth (to me) £152.50 for the miniatures and terrain, plus a hard to quantify figure for the rulebook, play surface, dice, tokens, cards and templates. So on the surface of it a retail price of £175 isn't too bad. Especially if I can find a new copy for less than retail.




So let's look at Hive War now:

I don't think the price of Hive War has been announced yet. I'm going to assume it'll be £175, same as Dark Uprising.

Miniatures
I love the old metal miniatures for both Escher and Delaque, I have more than one of each model already. The Escher even feature prominently in my 40K Imperial Guard army (mostly made up of old Eschers, old Orlocks and old metal Catachans). The new models for both Escher and Delaque don't really appeal to me though. I find the Escher to be too flamboyant and the Delaque too alien. I appreciate the aesthetic and playstyle of both, the models are just not for me I think.

Terrain
The terrain seems less complete than with Dark Uprising. Sure, you get walls and barricades, but where are the ladders and stairs? I appreciate I can buy these separately. I dunno, the terrain for Dark Uprising just appeals to me more. Is the value of both box sets the same when it comes to terrain though?

The Rest
As for the rest, Hive War seems to be similar to Dark Uprising. My big question though, is the rule book updated? Is it significantly better to use this rulebook than the Dark Uprising one? Hard to answer at the moment.




So that's it, my thoughts on Dark Uprising vs Hive War. I appreciate it basically comes down to personal preference, though at the moment I'm thinking of biting the bullet on Dark Uprising now, before it is discontinued and sells for silly money on Ebay. Mainly because the gangs in Dark Uprising appeal to me more than the Hive War ones do.

Any thoughts on the above are most welcome. Especially if you think I'm not comparing the two sets correctly.

 

[MusingWarboss]

I think if you can afford it, just get Dark Uprising. If you don't and it goes away you'll probably regret it and the cost of the parts separately are probably far higher than the box set.

The new Hive War box set I fully expect to be around the £95 mark. That's slightly more than the Underhive box but its a weird balancing guess. There's nothing new in the box - but it does have a set of walls. On the flip it doesn't have 9 thick card tiles and the doors. Perhaps they'll balance each other out and it'lll come in at £75 again - which'd be ace! But GW do seem to have price creep and the £25 Gang boxes are already up to £26 now.

On the merits of each box:

• Gangs: You want 90% of the DU box contents, you don't like any of the Gangs in the HW box and the scenery is a lot less. Win to DU.
• Rulebooks: will be based off the hardback version but no doubt include stealth update and errata as well as the compulsory cock-ups. Draw
• Terrain: The DU box is the usual bundle deal. Like SW:A was. You get a lot but it's still not enough to do anything more than a 2'x2' board and even then you'll probably want more. The HW box has... one old tile's worth of walls. Look, you can get that exact amount of terrain for £16 in MDF. Saying that for £25 you can get something similar in levels to DU in MDF. Win to DU

 

[El Torro]

I think if you can afford it, just get Dark Uprising. If you don't and it goes away you'll probably regret it and the cost of the parts separately are probably far higher than the box set.

The new Hive War box set I fully expect to be around the £95 mark. That's slightly more than the Underhive box but its a weird balancing guess. There's nothing new in the box - but it does have a set of walls. On the flip it doesn't have 9 thick card tiles and the doors. Perhaps they'll balance each other out and it'lll come in at £75 again - which'd be ace! But GW do seem to have price creep and the £25 Gang boxes are already up to £26 now.

On the merits of each box:

• Gangs: You want 90% of the DU box contents, you don't like any of the Gangs in the HW box and the scenery is a lot less. Win to DU.
• Rulebooks: will be based off the hardback version but no doubt include stealth update and errata as well as the compulsory cock-ups. Draw
• Terrain: The DU box is the usual bundle deal. Like SW:A was. You get a lot but it's still not enough to do anything more than a 2'x2' board and even then you'll probably want more. The HW box has... one old tile's worth of walls. Look, you can get that exact amount of terrain for £16 in MDF. Saying that for £25 you can get something similar in levels to DU in MDF. Win to DU

Thanks for your comments.

One thing you rightly point out, which I didn't appreciate earlier, is how much terrain actually comes with Dark Uprising. I just watched a good review on Youtube for Dark Uprising and it certainly highlights that the main draw is all the terrain that comes with the game. By comparison Hive War is a lot more bare bones, and will (hopefully) be costed accordingly.

I can certainly make use of all the terrain that comes with Dark Uprising, so it seems more suited for me than Hive War.

 

[Galtarr]

I'm doubtful that Hive war will be as much as £175. Though equally I doubt it would be the value of DU in terms of terrain.

Gang choices does contribute to whether it's worth it. Since you aren't interested in gangs in hive war it probably has little to offer you.

I doubt the rulebooks are worth anything if you have the rulebook. With one exception. DU does detail the Dark Uprising campaign. If that is of interest then definitely go for DU.

As far as terrain it is DU Vs Zone Mortalis walls £50 and stairs& platforms £37.

Hive war is 4 columns, 2 long walls and 5 short.
ZM walls pack has 6 columns, 1 long wall and 4 short, plus some doors.
DU has 12 columns 2 long walls and 8 short plus platforms etc.. but also some pipes.

DU is effectively 2* Wallcolumns (£50ea.) Stairs (£37) plus pipes (£15-£20) Not sure that compares to a current pipe boxes.

So it's over £150 of terrain plus you get both gangs. So as soon as you're interested in one of the gangs it's worth it.

hive war is 2/3 of ZM box (less as you don't get the doors plus 2 gangs.

So hive war is worth £75-£90 at most to someone who has rules already, and that's assuming you want both gangs.

(I know both sets have dice tokens and barricades but figure that's nice to get and not needed here)

 

[Sundown Dreamer]

The question about the set of rules has already been answered on WHC. Accordingly, Hive War will contain an updated rulebook.

But if you play mainly with family or friends and less at tournaments, I would not overestimate this point. Especially since we do not yet know the content and also do not know whether this will be the preparatory work for the next hardcover rule book and/or the final version of the rules. And I also assume that a new official FAQ will appear again at some point.


Hence a resounding "Yes!" for Dark Uprising if you are interested in at least one of the gangs and the terrain, or have someone to share the box with. The DU Box offers everything you need to get started and its own game and special DU campaign system for two people.

The alternative would be the smaller new starter box "Hive War", which will come out soon at some point. I therefore believe that Dark Uprising will sell out soon and not be available for very long. I think it's an expensive start but a very nice and big box that also pays off and if the price is right, I wouldn't think twice and hit it.

What DU does not offer, however, are larger Necromunda campaigns with multiple players and gang development with trading posts.