"Help starting Necromunda" Topic

So, my 10 year old son is keen to give Necromunda a go. This is new territory for me and I have never been into GW style rules before (except the board games). I am a big fan of Two Hour Wargames and Ambush Alley Games so it seems that the reaction based rules are more my thing.

Now, I'm chuffed to bits that my son wants to game and in the spirit of "you play my game and I'll play your game" I really want to embrace this. (He has been playing "my" games for 5 years now). We have a PDF of the living rulebook and plenty of proxy models to start us off.

However, I am a bit overfaced by the myriad of different weapons, abilities and special rules before we start. Can anyone offer us some advice to break us in gently so that we are not overwhelmed from the beginning. Is there some sort of beginners guide or quickstart rules/scenario?

I'd appreciate any advice that you could give.

I'm also interested in any house rules that simplify things or break up the IgoUgo sequence as we have become so used to non IgoUgo games. That said, I really want to give the rules a good go as written, before we modify things much.

I think that it is the campaign aspect that appeals to my son as much as the battles themselves – he loves that sort of resource management dynamic.

Any advice or links gratefully received.

It is a great game. You will love it. Think of it as a role playing game and you will understand it better. The myriad of weapons are the fun part. If it is cheap it isn't very good. If it is hard to find and expensive then it's probably pretty awesome!

Do you have an idea of what you want to use for figures?

Use the basic 'ORLOCKS' gang for both sides, to start… will eliminate some referencing and different rules.
As I recall, starting gangs do not have the resources to purchase/field lots of complex and various weapons, so you should be okay.
The rulebook may seem complex, but the system is not really that complicated… more record keeping than anything else.
I have always wanted to run a 'not necromunda' game using Necromunda rules but closer to Bladerunner/Judge Dredd…(i.e: not in the 40K universe.) Problem is that this is so close to reality sometimes that I have to walk away from it…

Honestly to start out, just grab some figures, match the weapons to what your models seem to have, and test it out. Its easier to build a gang once you have played it at least once.

For a decent starting gang, a heavy with a heavy stub gun, a group of gangers with shotguns, autoguns or lasguns, maybe a close combat guy or two. Throw in a pair of juves with pistols and it's a pretty representative bunch.

As an aside, while I agree on the "IGOUGO" being awkward, with only 8-9 models and rarely more than 2 or 3 in sight of the enemy at any given time, it actually isn't much of a problem.

Arm one side with lasguns,las pistols, and las cannons, and the other with autoguns, autopistols, and heavy stubbers. Ignore special ammo etc. This will keep it simple but introduce you to the way the different weapons types play.

Star mogul/salvage crew is a similiar sci-fi skirmish with an excellent campaign system – more generic and simpler/cleaner ruleset but alot better IMHO. I think of it as the next step in evolution from Necromunda, but both are pretty fun. It is also free on the net.

Also, do a territory map with connected boxes, the lines connecting could have hazard/encounter chances-get him into mapping as well.

The new version is kinda weird with the weapon restrictions. Goliaths suck now.

I usually play Orlocks or Escher

My starting lineup is something like this

Gang Leader
Plasma Gun
Las Pistol
chainsword

Heavy
heavy stubber

Heavy2
another special weapon depending on mood like a flamer
shotgun

Team A
2x Ganger w/ Lasgun
1x Ganger w/ Shotgun

Team B
2-3x Ganger w/ Laspistol and Sword

??x whatever the kids are called
laspistol and Sword

replace las with auto if your gang does not allow it

Team A covers Team B as they get close for HtH

Don't worry too much about all the detail/rules for weapons etc. As others mention you will add detail as the game progresses, it is easy to pick up and is one of GW's best games. I'm jealous someone gets to play it :)

Listen to Logain and Weasel. Both are GREAT advice on how to start.

Here's what I can add to Logain & Weasel's already good advice:

Remember overwatch – this breaks up IgoUgo somewhat. Necromunda's IgoUgo isn't all that bad, really.

Don't forget ammo rolls – these are an important part of the game. Always remember that every ganger has a knife, at least. 'What to do when your gun craps out' is something to learn.

Read over the Melee Combat rules a few times. Don't forget that swords can parry. ( You may want in the future to import the Melee rules from Mordheim, they're cleaner. )

Pick the figs you like, stat them up with WYSIWYG, then build a gang from that. As most figures are rather hard to convert, weapon-wise, I mainly stick to improving them with stat bonuses and new skills.

Go to the Yakromunda Library and realize that while you don't need everything, you may want some of it, at least. I suggest, after you've got a few games under your belt, 'Special Actions'. There's a lot of other scenarios, special characters and new rules. 'Treacherous Conditions' and 'Event Deck' are also pretty neat.

Also, play the odd scenarios, like the 'Showdown' one, the last one in the Living Rulebook. They're fun. : )

yeah, hand to hand can be a bit unwieldy. Basically its just "roll attack dice, pick best, add weapon skill" but there's a lot of little things to it.

When you start out, don't feel you have to get too carried away with different melee weapon types, unless you have a model or two that are clearly lugging around a sword or a big maul.

Thorfin11 22 May 2012 1:41 p.m. PST:

I'm also interested in any house rules that simplify things or break up the IgoUgo sequence as we have become so used to non IgoUgo games

We played Necro for years with an alternating activation system where you basically just take one turn with each of your models. It works quite decently given it was not originally written to support that. If you like I'm sure I can dig the material for that out and upload them someplace.

Thanks, guys, this is really helpful. I'm well up for it now.

I was going to have us choose models from a bunch of about 30 Em-4 gangers I have, although we are keen to use our 40k models too – Orks, Gretchin, Eldar and Space Marines. Came across "Gangs of Nu Ork" gangsofnuork.lordblackfang.net last night and we're not sure whether to use it's rules for the 40k races in Necromunda or whether to start off with "pure" Necromunda. I guess the other option is to use the 40k models and just say Orks are Goliath (or whatever) for now.

Thanks so much to you all for supporting and inspiring my gaming with my son (and daughter) – I sense these are treasured times indeed.

Yeah I'd recommend EM4

"I sense these are treasured times indeed."

Oh, they are.

I'd stick with the gangers to start with – then add in the others, there's plenty of writeups for the various other 40K races out there. Look for 'Inquisimunda', it's got a bunch of them. Good find on the Gangs of Nu Ork, that's a new one to me!

Back when this was a boxed game, the plastic models included in the box were 12 plastic Goliath gangers and 12 plastic Orlock gangers. These could be equipped with lasguns, autoguns, shotguns, stubguns, laspistols, autopistols and bolt pistols. There were two sample gangs using these miniatures printed in the rulebook (which may still be in the existing PDF version). Those are pretty decent starting forces for getting the hang of the rules.

Checked out Gangs of Nu Ork – there's a very funny 'career' path choice buried in the PDF.

Also, it's a nice looking set of rules. I'll stick with Necromunda as-written for the moment, but that one is on my shelf now.