Necromunda (game system)

Cover Art crop from original 1995 Necromunda Rulebook

Necromunda is a tabletop skirmish war game produced by Games Workshop. In Necromunda, players control rival gangs battling each other in the Underhive, a place of anarchy and violence in the depths below Hive City. Necromunda is the world that the games occurs on and is the same world from the Warhammer 40,000 universe and likewise the play centres on 28mm scale models (approximately 1:65). The board is set up like a heavily polluted cityscape and the players control gangs of usually no more than a dozen models. You also have the ability to hire other individuals such as bounty hunters, ratskin scouts or special characters, if you have the cash to do it. Unlike Warhammer 40,000, Necromunda focuses on how your gang develops and grows in campaign style play with gang fighters gaining experience and serious injuries along the way. As gang fighters continue to gain experience, they may pick up characteristic increases or skills such as Infiltration, Rapid Fire or Weaponsmith, making them more versatile and deadly. You may also send these gang fighters out to work territories or forage, together with credits earned for successfully achieving certain objectives in scenarios, for example, collecting loot counters during a Scavengers scenario, you may purchase new recruits, weapons, equipment and other rare finds. Rules-wise, the game draws heavily from second-edition Warhammer 40,000, and the ruleset is commonly considered to be better-suited for the type of skirmish games Necromunda encourages.

Necromunda stands out from other games by Games Workshop by the way the table is laid out. In most Games Workshop games the table is mostly flat, with the only terrain features being a few hills, trees, and maybe a bridge or a building. However, in Necromunda you can play in large buildings which may have many floors, as well as have bridges and walkways connecting the buildings together. There is other terrain such as chemical wastelands, barrels, watch towers, abandoned factories and other dystopian environments that add a large amount of variety in playing areas.

Games Workshop's Specialist Games division occasionally publishes new rules as part of Fanatic Online, as well as making weekly news updates. They have also published the full rules for the game for download (as a PDF file), referred to as the Necromunda Living Rulebook. As is implicit in the name, this document is updated every two years, the changes based largely on the work of avid volunteers and playtesters in the official Specialist Games forums.

Novels

Black Library has published a variety of novels based in and around Necromunda's largest hive, Hive Primus. Listed from earliest publication:

• Kal Jerico
• The Redeemer
• Status: Deadzone
• Kal Jerico Contracts & Agendas
• The Redeemer Part #1
• The Redeemer Part #2
• The Redeemer Part #3
• The Redeemer Part #4
• Salvation
• Survival Instinct
• Blood Royal
• Junktion
• Fleshworks
• Kal Jerico Cardinal Crimson
• Back from the Dead

Useful Links

Official Sites

• Specialist Games - Official Specialist Games website.
• Specialist Games - Necromunda - Official Necromunda website.
• Specialist Games - Forums - Official Specialist Games forums.

Fan Sites

• Eastern Fringe Forums - Necromunda forum.
• iNecro - Large collection of fan rules from multiple sources, official rules, and many links to other Necromunda websites.
• Exodite's Necromunda A listing of all the old Necromunda publications.
• Necrocards - The concept behind the Necromunda Card Game is to supplement the rules and gameplay of Necromunda by adding a card game element. These cards can be played during the standard Necromunda turn sequence, and have an immediate effect on the game.
• Necromundicon - The most impressive terrain for Necromunda you will ever see.
• Necromunda Yahoo Group - Necromunda discussions, polls, images and file upload facilities.
• Project: Necromunda - Has extensive directories that cover tactics, fluff, battle reports, Necromunda RPG, finding opponents, forums, gang sheets, and links to non-English Necromunda websites; has Wiki projects for Necromunda names and gang rosters, and is also home of the Necromunda WebRing.
• Robert's Gameland - A site devoted to wargaming including a large section for Necromunda.
• Stephane.info - Articles and galleries.
• Warseer Forums - Specialist Games forum.