As the thread title states, I am attempting to resurrect Necromunda not only in my personal hobbying life but in the Northeast Houston area where I live. In the hopes that my experience may be beneficial to other people’s efforts (or even garner some interest from other gamers in the Houston area), I have decided to chronicle my attempts on Yaktribe. I will use this thread to pull everything on my project together in one place, but that may mean it does little more than reference full threads in more relevant locations.
Acronyms used: MRM = Mad Robot Miniatures; WF = Wargames Factory; WG = Warlord Games; AI = Anvil Industry; PW = Puppets War
I am a planning engineer, so that means I break big projects up into phases to keep it manageable. Here is how I am breaking up my efforts:
Phase 1: Pre-Planning
Determine sources for most of my gang building goals. Since I already have a sizeable gang of Van Saar, I excluded them from planning. Here are the base components I settled on for the rest of the gangs I plan on building at some point in the project:
· Orlocks—Chaos Marauder legs and Catachan Torsos & heads. MRM biker & flak vest torsos added in for variety.
· Goliaths—Catachan legs and Chaos Marauder Torsos. MRM Wasteland raider parts and Mohawk heads for variety.
· Escher—Dark Eldar Wyches, Warriors, & Hellions with various MRM & AI weapons
· Cawdor—Bretonnian Men at Arms and Archers bodies; PW & AI hooded skull heads
· Delaque—Heresy Miniatures Trenchcoat gang
· Enforcers—WF Eisenkern Stormtroopers
· Spyrers—My only original Necromunda miniature gang
· Ratskin Renegades—WG Woodland Indians plastics
· Redemptionists—Empire Flagellants
The weapons are going to be plundered from GW Imperial Guard & Marines with a mixture of AI and MRM weapons. This phase is considered complete as I have taken receipt of all the above parts except the Heresy Miniatures for the Delaque gang (which is my lowest priority House gang at present).
Costs were minimized by picking up most of the items on sale on eBay or consolidating orders to small miniature companies to avoid shipping charges. Still, I really don’t want to think about what this cost me all in.
Status: Complete
Phase 2: House Gangs
So the first order of business is to establish some core House gangs for other people to use while learning the game. I also want to try out some of the other gangs myself since I have only ever played a full campaign with my very shooty Van Saar gang. For variety sake, I plan each gang to have 20-25 miniatures available with various armaments to accommodate both different playing strategies and gang growth:
· 2x Leaders
· 3-4x Heavies/Specialists
· 10-12x Gangers
· 5-7x Juves
Each gang will have 20-25 figures available for play. This phase can be worked in parallel with Phase 3 and is considered complete when at least 3 new House gangs are built. I plan to build Goliath, Orlock, and Cawdor first. Each gang will have its own build thread.
Orlock Thread
Status: In progress
Phase 3: Terrain
MDF laser cut terrain appeals very much to me, and I have a low amount of storage space for complicated terrain pieces, so something that disassembles and stores flat is required. During this phase, I will finish research on some of the major options to outright purchase a base set of terrain. I plan on splitting the purchase between a “Towers & Gantries” set and some containers & crates. Custom built terrain may be added later, but something basic should get the gaming group started.
This phase can be worked in parallel with Phase 2 and is considered complete when I have sufficient terrain for a 4’ x 4’ game table.
Terrain Thread
Status: In Progress
Phase 4: Hired Guns
Several gang strategies depend on hired guns, especially at the beginning of a campaign. I plan to build a few core hired guns everyone can share while encouraging others to build their own, of course:
· 2-5x Scum: WF Survivors (men & women)
· 2x Ratskin Scouts: WG Woodland Indians. I plan to make these compatible with my later Ratskin Renegades gang
· 2x Bounty Hunters: I have one original Necromunda Bounty Hunter I never finished, so I plan to finish it and one other based on a Reaper mini
· Bull Gorg: I have an idea on a conversion for this guy using the fat dude in the WF Survivors kit, 2 chainswords, and some AI Regiments robotic legs
This phase is complete when at least 7 total hired guns are ready for play. To be honest, this will probably mean 5 scum and one each Ratskin and Bounty Hunter.
Status: Not started
Phase 5: First Campaign
The first campaign will be a simple campaign with no special events or characters to introduce players to the NCE rules. I plan to enforce the WYSIWYG rule somewhat weakly at first to encourage players to try out the game with whatever models they may have. In particular, Infinity is rather popular in the area and may lend itself well to crossover interest at first.
This phase can start when phases 1-3 are complete but is better left until after Phase 4 miniatures are also ready.
Status: Not started
Phase 6: Non-House Gangs
Once some local players have some familiarity with the rules, I plan to let Outlaw gangs join in. During this phase, we will start using the rules for Outlaws to add scenario options and the possibility of a House gang going renegade. Since I want to encourage people to build their own gangs, I am going to let Outlaws join the campaign under the following two rules:
1. Build and play your own House gang for at least 3 games
2. Build your own Outlaw gang
In short, I am not planning to supply any Outlaw gangs for loan. I plan to build and use the following Outlaw/Extended rules gangs to control the campaign:
1. Spyrers—Always a powerful (nearly nerf) option, I plan on a hunt team with one of each type of Spyrer with an extra yeld. I will play these guys periodically for fun, but mostly as an arbitrator gang to keep cocky players humble
2. Enforcers—an easy way to control gangs that get too rowdy. These will exclusively be an arbitrator gang.
3. Ratskin Renegades: Never got the chance to build one of these gangs, and I have always wanted to. These guys will get built with WG Woodland Indians and a few Reaper minis I picked up for special gang members. I plan to make them a regularly appearing gang in the campaign once a few players get the hang of the rules.
4. Redemptionists: Like the Ratskins, these guys always interested me, but I never had time to build a gang in college. They will be my lowest priority gang to build.
Status: Not started
Phase 7: Special Events & Characters
Once we have a core of at least 3 other players that regularly come out for Necromunda, I plan to experiment with some conversions I want to try out and some rules I would like to tinker with. These include (in no particular order):
· Using MRM’s Jovians as Ogryn bodyguards
· Giving the Enforcers an open-top Sentinel when dealing with large crowds (perhaps 2-3 gangs during a riot)
· Adding in a Genestealer cult
· Adding in a Chaos cult
· Using the rules for Traders alongside a campaign event that gives every gang a one-time choose your own rare trade purchase
· Introduce a powerful Wyrd as an independent character that appears randomly in gang fights. After a few games, Witch Hunters can begin joining the gangs to hunt the offending psyker.
Each of these will come much later, but they are mostly based on existing rule sets that may need to be tweaked, upgraded, or outright modified depending on how they play out. The last thing I want to see happen is power gaming, so most of these will stay toned down to be kept less powerful than House gangs or will be exclusively for the Arbitrator.
Status: Not Started
So that’s the plan. Expect semi-regular updates to the progress. Details will be in posts to this thread or other, more detailed threads in the correct forum. I will edit this post with thread references as each new thread gets started.
Wish me luck. I’m gonna need it…
Acronyms used: MRM = Mad Robot Miniatures; WF = Wargames Factory; WG = Warlord Games; AI = Anvil Industry; PW = Puppets War
I am a planning engineer, so that means I break big projects up into phases to keep it manageable. Here is how I am breaking up my efforts:
Phase 1: Pre-Planning
Determine sources for most of my gang building goals. Since I already have a sizeable gang of Van Saar, I excluded them from planning. Here are the base components I settled on for the rest of the gangs I plan on building at some point in the project:
· Orlocks—Chaos Marauder legs and Catachan Torsos & heads. MRM biker & flak vest torsos added in for variety.
· Goliaths—Catachan legs and Chaos Marauder Torsos. MRM Wasteland raider parts and Mohawk heads for variety.
· Escher—Dark Eldar Wyches, Warriors, & Hellions with various MRM & AI weapons
· Cawdor—Bretonnian Men at Arms and Archers bodies; PW & AI hooded skull heads
· Delaque—Heresy Miniatures Trenchcoat gang
· Enforcers—WF Eisenkern Stormtroopers
· Spyrers—My only original Necromunda miniature gang
· Ratskin Renegades—WG Woodland Indians plastics
· Redemptionists—Empire Flagellants
The weapons are going to be plundered from GW Imperial Guard & Marines with a mixture of AI and MRM weapons. This phase is considered complete as I have taken receipt of all the above parts except the Heresy Miniatures for the Delaque gang (which is my lowest priority House gang at present).
Costs were minimized by picking up most of the items on sale on eBay or consolidating orders to small miniature companies to avoid shipping charges. Still, I really don’t want to think about what this cost me all in.
Status: Complete
Phase 2: House Gangs
So the first order of business is to establish some core House gangs for other people to use while learning the game. I also want to try out some of the other gangs myself since I have only ever played a full campaign with my very shooty Van Saar gang. For variety sake, I plan each gang to have 20-25 miniatures available with various armaments to accommodate both different playing strategies and gang growth:
· 2x Leaders
· 3-4x Heavies/Specialists
· 10-12x Gangers
· 5-7x Juves
Each gang will have 20-25 figures available for play. This phase can be worked in parallel with Phase 3 and is considered complete when at least 3 new House gangs are built. I plan to build Goliath, Orlock, and Cawdor first. Each gang will have its own build thread.
Orlock Thread
Status: In progress
Phase 3: Terrain
MDF laser cut terrain appeals very much to me, and I have a low amount of storage space for complicated terrain pieces, so something that disassembles and stores flat is required. During this phase, I will finish research on some of the major options to outright purchase a base set of terrain. I plan on splitting the purchase between a “Towers & Gantries” set and some containers & crates. Custom built terrain may be added later, but something basic should get the gaming group started.
This phase can be worked in parallel with Phase 2 and is considered complete when I have sufficient terrain for a 4’ x 4’ game table.
Terrain Thread
Status: In Progress
Phase 4: Hired Guns
Several gang strategies depend on hired guns, especially at the beginning of a campaign. I plan to build a few core hired guns everyone can share while encouraging others to build their own, of course:
· 2-5x Scum: WF Survivors (men & women)
· 2x Ratskin Scouts: WG Woodland Indians. I plan to make these compatible with my later Ratskin Renegades gang
· 2x Bounty Hunters: I have one original Necromunda Bounty Hunter I never finished, so I plan to finish it and one other based on a Reaper mini
· Bull Gorg: I have an idea on a conversion for this guy using the fat dude in the WF Survivors kit, 2 chainswords, and some AI Regiments robotic legs
This phase is complete when at least 7 total hired guns are ready for play. To be honest, this will probably mean 5 scum and one each Ratskin and Bounty Hunter.
Status: Not started
Phase 5: First Campaign
The first campaign will be a simple campaign with no special events or characters to introduce players to the NCE rules. I plan to enforce the WYSIWYG rule somewhat weakly at first to encourage players to try out the game with whatever models they may have. In particular, Infinity is rather popular in the area and may lend itself well to crossover interest at first.
This phase can start when phases 1-3 are complete but is better left until after Phase 4 miniatures are also ready.
Status: Not started
Phase 6: Non-House Gangs
Once some local players have some familiarity with the rules, I plan to let Outlaw gangs join in. During this phase, we will start using the rules for Outlaws to add scenario options and the possibility of a House gang going renegade. Since I want to encourage people to build their own gangs, I am going to let Outlaws join the campaign under the following two rules:
1. Build and play your own House gang for at least 3 games
2. Build your own Outlaw gang
In short, I am not planning to supply any Outlaw gangs for loan. I plan to build and use the following Outlaw/Extended rules gangs to control the campaign:
1. Spyrers—Always a powerful (nearly nerf) option, I plan on a hunt team with one of each type of Spyrer with an extra yeld. I will play these guys periodically for fun, but mostly as an arbitrator gang to keep cocky players humble
2. Enforcers—an easy way to control gangs that get too rowdy. These will exclusively be an arbitrator gang.
3. Ratskin Renegades: Never got the chance to build one of these gangs, and I have always wanted to. These guys will get built with WG Woodland Indians and a few Reaper minis I picked up for special gang members. I plan to make them a regularly appearing gang in the campaign once a few players get the hang of the rules.
4. Redemptionists: Like the Ratskins, these guys always interested me, but I never had time to build a gang in college. They will be my lowest priority gang to build.
Status: Not started
Phase 7: Special Events & Characters
Once we have a core of at least 3 other players that regularly come out for Necromunda, I plan to experiment with some conversions I want to try out and some rules I would like to tinker with. These include (in no particular order):
· Using MRM’s Jovians as Ogryn bodyguards
· Giving the Enforcers an open-top Sentinel when dealing with large crowds (perhaps 2-3 gangs during a riot)
· Adding in a Genestealer cult
· Adding in a Chaos cult
· Using the rules for Traders alongside a campaign event that gives every gang a one-time choose your own rare trade purchase
· Introduce a powerful Wyrd as an independent character that appears randomly in gang fights. After a few games, Witch Hunters can begin joining the gangs to hunt the offending psyker.
Each of these will come much later, but they are mostly based on existing rule sets that may need to be tweaked, upgraded, or outright modified depending on how they play out. The last thing I want to see happen is power gaming, so most of these will stay toned down to be kept less powerful than House gangs or will be exclusively for the Arbitrator.
Status: Not Started
So that’s the plan. Expect semi-regular updates to the progress. Details will be in posts to this thread or other, more detailed threads in the correct forum. I will edit this post with thread references as each new thread gets started.
Wish me luck. I’m gonna need it…
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