Howdy, scummers! The day has come – we’ve got a new Necromunda box, along with a brand new setting. Necromunda: Hive Secundus brings the battle to the dark warrens under the ruins of the former capital city. Irradiated technology hunters & hive nobility take on twisted aliens & their hybrid thralls. Many thanks to Games Workshop for providing us with an advanced copy for review.
What’s Happening in Hive Secundus
The short version: Secundus used to be biggest and best hive on the planet of Necromunda. Then it got blown up. Rogue Mechanicum Tech Priest Hermiatus was researching Tyranid Genestealers, and accidentally created a horrible, genetically-altered line of beasts that are removed from the hive mind. Spyrers are the youths of the noble houses of Necromunda – stuffed into murder suits and sent off to kill. These outfits actually power up as the user racks up KO’s. Spyrers are sent to Secundus both as a means to prove themselves, and also to cull the Malstrain population. Said Spyrer had roped a group of Van Saar technology hunters (in search of a means to fix their doomed STC) to venture down into the depths with them.
What’s in the Box?
Models
Check out our model review for more details.
Here’s what comes in the box:
- 2 Orrus Spyre Hunters
- 1 Caryatid Prime
- 8 Van Saar Tek Hunters
- 6 Malstrain Genestealers
- 4 Malstrain Tyramites
- 8 Brood Scum (2x sprues of Hive Scum, and 10 heads on the Malstrain sprue)
Terrain and Game Mats
The Secundus box has a pretty low barrier to entry in terms of terrain. The only physical terrain in the box is a sprue of bulkhead doors (the same as the 2017 Underhive box). The main play space is on two glossy paper mats. While they aren’t as nice as the old cardboard Zone Mortalis tiles, it’s nice to have a premade gaming surface that doesn’t require building and painting.
The Standard Necro Stuff
- Ruler
- Templates
- Tokens
- Dice
- Quick Reference Guide
Please note that there is NO barricade sprue in this box, and that this token and dice set does not cover Ash Wastes vehicle rules. There’s a first time for everything! The dice are a nice combo of dark and light blue.
The Gangs
Secundan Incursion Gang
The basic framework of this gang is a Spyrer Orrus leader, along with a crew of Van Saar specialists filling the rest of the 1250 creds out. While the book mentions that any house gang can be the base of a Secundan Incursion gang, only Van Saar rules are available. Seems like a safe bet that the upcoming follow-up book supplement is likely to flesh this gang type out.
Spyrer Orrus
The iconic Orrus returns! This time around he has more than just bolter fists. The modern re-do has a few main details:
- Spyrers get two ready markers per priority phase. Basically, they get two activations. This is particularly spicy, and given that your average ganger is far better armed than they would have been in original Necro, it keeps the Spyrers as horrifying.
- Spyrers cannot be pinned unless they take damage. I.e. if they lose a wound in combat.
- Spyrers power up by increasing their “Kill Count”. As the number goes up, the suit may boost the user’s weapon skill, movement, or save.
- When a Spyrer goes out of action, they may pick up a suit glitch. These function much like the lasting injuries, though there is a hard cap. If the number of glitches exceeds the toughness of the user, they just die.
- The Spyrer base cost is 350 credits. Move 5, WS/BS 3, S3, T4, and a 3 up initiative.
The base Orrus melee weapon is a paired set of power talons, strength plus one, AP minus three. For fifty creds you can bump it up to power fists; which come in at strength plus two, AP minus one, but damage 2 (with the power trait). For ranged weapons, you can take either the bolt launchers or volkite discharger for free, but the premium option of the disintegrator matrix is wild. It’s a sidearm with S5, AP minus two, and SEVER. The Caryatid Prime is an interesting choice for the Spyrer to take. It functions similarly to a familiar: once per turn you can reroll a failed save and an ammo test. It’s a pricy pick at 90 credits, so you will have to make the call if the weird baby is more important than having another fighter.
Van Saar Tek Hunter
It’s an interesting pick for the boxed gang to be “Oops-All-Specialists”. Maybe this is tipping off a future pattern? Either way, it does seem likely that the followup book will contain complete rules for running Incursion gangs with more houses. The main notable difference between here is that they are movement 5.
They have a new weapon option in the Combi Flamer / Mancatcher, which is unfortunately priced pretty high at 160 credits. Real “We have heavy flamer at home” vibes. Look extremely cool, though.
Malstrain Force
Putting a Malstrain gang together is a bit odd – we’ll unpack the gang comp system in the campaign section below.
Brood Scum
Same as standard Hive Scum, but no ammo checks. Even with the limited weapon options available, 4+ ranged and melee certainly isn’t bad.
Malstrain Genestealer
The main event. These big boys have a move of 6, hit on 3’s in melee, and are S4/T4. They have inherent Dodge, Evade, Nerves of Steel, and Rain of Blows, with inbuilt Mesh Armor and a bio-booster helps to keep them alive. The stacked set of skills and gear certainly makes them tough to shift, and a formidable opponent in melee.
Malstrain Tyramite
Why not get your Genestealers a floating tentacle bug for a pet? Especially one that has a stinger that causes Rad Phage and Toxin damage.
The Underhells Campaign
The Underhells campaign pits the Arbitrator (playing the Malstrain) against the other player who has the Secundan Incursion gang. The starting budget is 1,250 credits for the Expeditionary crew and it consists exclusively of a Spryer leader and several Van Saar Tek-Hunters who will specialize in different actions. The campaign represents the expedition of the Incursion gang, with the gangers trying to secure location after location as they delve further into Hive Secundus. Locations that they secure provide a Boon in the form of Territory similar to a Dominion campaign.
Because this is an incursion into forbidden territory, the traditional post-battle actions of visiting the Trading Post or finding people to hire is eliminated. Instead the Incursion player can do one of four things depending on how the Tek-Hunters are specialized. Those actions are a Medical Escort, fabricating weapons or wargear (both actions require an Intelligence check to make something from the Equipment List worth 25 credits or less), or to exchange data crystals for Archeo-loot. Data crystals are the primary resource used in an Underhells campaign and are constantly sought out by the Incursion gang.
The campaign itself is three phases (entry, exploration, confrontation) of 2 cycles each with a downtime between each phase. Downtime is when Fighters recover, Promotions can occur (not that it’s likely that a Juve or Prospect would gain enough experience to be promoted), and the gang can exchange data crystals for Archeo-loot without performing the action. Each cycle in the three main phases has different territory; a level territory and a descent territory.
So for example in the first phase players will fight first over a territory from the list of first level territories, and then fight over a territory from the list of first descent territories. The territory is selected by the player who won the previous battle, with the Incursion gang choosing in the first cycle. Five territories are available at each level, and three territories are available at each descent. The final territory to be fought over in the final battle is the Broodthrone; whoever wins the final game wins the campaign. The end result is that the progression down Hive Secundus can be different each campaign, as you only get one shot at each level. The territories vary wildly in power and each one has a battle effect which adjusts how nasty the Malstrain forces will be for that cycle.
The size of the Malstrain forces depends on the mission being played and the battle effect. The missions start with between 10 and 12 Malstrain Points and the battle effect of the territories ranges from a bonus of 0 MP for some territories on the to level down at a bonus 14 MP for the final mission. Different Fighters cost different amounts of MP; Brood Scum and Tyramites cost 1 MP while Malstrain Genestealers cost 3. The number of Genestealers that can be fielded depends on the level and ranges from 1 on the first level to 4 on level 3 and unlimited in the Broodthrone. Underhells battles are tight, with an Underhive Gloom rule that limits visibility to 6” for everything except Spryers and Malstrain Genestealers.
The primary resource of the campaign are Data Crystals, which are located in a Data Crystal Stack which is found in each map. Crystals can be turned in for Archeo-loot; 1 Crystal will buy a Disposal item of Archeo-loot while 3 Crystals will buy a non-Disposable Archeo-loot. You may only choose items of a Power Level equal to the level of the Underhells the Incursion gang is currently one, and a descent counts as the level below it. Presumably this means the previous level because otherwise out of the 27 Archeo-loot provided 17 would only be available after the first cycle of the first phase. There are no PL 3 items which is an odd choice given that players are still accumulating Data Crystals at that point. The “disposable” Archeo-loot only means its used once per battle, although there is one item which is removed from the game once it’s used.
Overall the campaign looks like it could be a lot of fun for two players, and there’s a decent amount of replayability thanks to the Territory system.
Parting Thoughts
Fowler: This is a fantastic box for the right person. The campaign is a neat way for a Necromunda vet to run an atmospheric campaign for one player – either new or experienced. However, some of the models are pretty complicated to work with, so it may not be a great fit for someone who is completely new to the hobby.
Primaris Kevin: It’s a self-contained box set for two players, and in that context it does pretty well. It’s not an introduction to the Underhells like Ash Wastes was; there’s no unique terrain or a campaign that could be applied to a gaming group. If you and a friend want to play a Necromunda-themed progressive campaign game then it’s probably worth checking out.
Genghis Cohen: My bottom line is that this looks like a great set for a dedicated 2 player campaign or those who want to dip their toes into Necromunda in a controlled way (with fucked up genestealers) and not be thrown into the 20-book deep end.
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