This week, the Necromunday crew are retelling the story of actually playing Necromunda with each other! This momentous occasion hasn’t occurred since the halcyon days of spring 2019, which is why we’re giving it an entire article! Let’s see what happend!
Dylan: Over the weekend of November 5-7, most of the Necromunday staff assembled for a bunch of games of Necromunda. The crew converged on my hambarn to play as many games as their knees could handle.
Dan arrived Friday night and after a hefty dosing of homemade Chicken Picatta and a few beers, we threw down for our first game.
Dan: Dylan had approached me months ago about getting together for a hamslam, and I immediately said, “Maybe.” I had recently won best overall at the GW New Orleans Open (I will never not mention this), and had been selected for the final in December, so I had to run this by the Boyd household’s Chief Operations Office, (Borat voice) my wife. Fortunately, she’s rad as hell, so she said go for it!
I spun up a couple of train tickets from DC to RI, and, after a stop for lunch (and 4 beers!) with a friend in CT, I was ready to get picked up by Dylan’s lovely wife in Providence for the ride to beautiful rural Massachusetts to begin our completely rad weekend.
Before we started, Dylan gave me a tour of his barn/guest house/gaming area/Warhammer museum, and let me tell you, dear reader, this man is a crazy person in the best way possible.
All four of us are taking part in my “local” Lost Zone campaign, and we were using crews with a starting credit value of 1,250, which is why our gangs might look a little expensive.
Dylan: After getting the table fully set up, we set my Cawdor vs his Orlocks with a wild deployment of opposite corners with reinforcements.
The gang, Arctus’ Apostles, started the following lineup:
- Redemptor Priest with Chainaxe with Exterminator
- Deacon with Grenade Launcher
- Firebrand with Long Rifle
- Redemptionist Brethren with autogun and exterminator
- A pair of Brethren with blunderpoles
- A trio brethren with autoguns, one carrying an incendiary charge
- A Brethren with stub gun and flail
Dan: I brought my Golden Archies, and my starting lineup looked like this:
- Road Captain with Plasma Pistol and Servo Claw
- Arms Master with Combat Shotgun
- Road Sergeant with Plasma Gun
- Specialist Gunner with Grenade Launcher
- Gunner with Combat Shotgun
- Gunner with Autogun
- Gunner with Shotgun
- Wrecker with Stub Gun and Fighting Knife
- Wrecker with Stub Gun and Hand Flamer
Dylan: The Cawdor started strong but after a few bad decisions (the theme of the weekend for me) the Cawdor bottled and Dan took the win and grabbed both loot caskets for many important components and hilariously, using my house loot casket rules, some exotic furs.
Dan: At one point, Dylan had chosen to put his leader and 2 gangers deep within my backfield with his reinforcements. I responded by setting up my combat shotgunners nearby and used the Seize the Initiative tactics to card to make sure I got priority. This did not end well for the trashbois! Additionally, I am totally a convert to the idea of the “Champion with a Long Rifle” church of Necromunda gang creation. Dylan’s long rifle champ did work and I was extremely envious, but more on that later…
Also, Dylan’s houserule for Loot Caskets absolutely whip ass, and we’ll be adding them to the Lost Zone and doing a stand-up article on them in the future!
Dylan: Day 2 started off with some homemade blueberry muffins, and Fowler & Cody Mann.
I started off the day with a game against Fowler’s Manwolf Orlocks. They were too rad and with more bad decisions, and I lost again. I will point out that at this point I have forgotten to roll up and use my Path of Faith dice in both games, which I will continue to forget until my last game.
Fowler:Â I forgot that my leader had Iron Stare for nearly the entire day, so it all came out in the wash!
Dylan: After game two we reset the table to mix it up.
Game three had me face off against Cody’s Delaques and once again, despite a strong start, a few mistakes left my gang bottling again.
Cody:Â This was a straight punch-up! Unlike the Orlocks, the Cawdor had no problem picking off two of my three Web gangers from distance. Once again The Silent Ones came to my rescue in the guise of my autogunners doing absolute work and pinning Cawdor gangers left and right while my Master of Shadows absolutely wrecked zealots left and right. Despite putting three of my ten gangers out of action and seriously injuring two more, the Cawdor blinked and bottled first!
Game 4 against Dan again, saw much tweezer usage, more bad decisions from me and my Cawdor running away again.
Dan: In all honesty, I got lucky in this game, big time. Dylan’s long rifle champ spent most of the game out of ammo, and my Leader got capped early, but immediately stood up with a Flesh Wound and controlled the center of the table to actually score points in the round. Once the ball got rolling, it was hard for Dylan to come back, and he wisely bottled out!
Dylan: Despite all the losses, my gang was able to pull a decent amount of creds and only sustained a few last injuries with no deaths. I bought some new gear, promoted a Brethren to a specialist and after an eye injury, my Firebrand finds himself with a shiny new chainaxe ready for the next round, after he sits a game out in recovery….
But winning isn’t what Necromunda is about, and being able to push some idiots around on my terrain with some good friends is really what it’s about. I can’t wait to roll more dice with these guys, maybe remembering my Path of Faith and burning my way through the underhive some more.
Cody’s Hot Takes for Spooky Snakes
Cody: A day of Necromunda with good dudes and good beers! What a treat! I was ready to throw down, be a clown, and party all around! I was thrilled to be able to bring my freshly painted Delaque to the table and see what kind of havoc they could wreak on those non-Cthulu worshipping fools… Perhaps three web pistols/guns was overkill…
- Master of Shadow – Web Gauntlet, Flechette Pistol, Mesh Armor, Dodge
- Phantom – Long Rifle, Infra-sight, Mesh Armor, Overwatch
- Nacht-Ghul – Shivver Sword, Autopistal, Mesh Armor, Spring Up
- Specialist – Web Gun, Autopistol, Mesh Armor
- Ghost – Autogun, Mesh Armor
- Ghost – Autogun, Mesh Armor
- Ghost – Shotgun, Mesh Armor
- Shadow – Web Pistol, Autopistol, Mesh Armor
- Shadow – Web Pistol, Autopistol, Mesh Armor
- Shadow – Autopistol, Mesh Armor, Smoke Grenades
Probably the best/most stressed/relieved part of my day was my first game against the Golden Archies. This was my first ever game against Dan and I was pumped to throw some dice! Unfortunately, thanks to the bloody battle from the night before with Dylan’s Cawdor, Dan’s slug-spitting thugs were pretty beat up. The mission was Custom(10) leaving my 10 spoopy peeps against only seven of his battle hardened gangers. A pretty tough draw for the Archies.
Despite the numbers being in my favor, the game was initially very cagey, with both of us hugging cover and advancing slowly; afraid to accidentally wander into the others flame template range. Few shots were fired and even fewer models were pinned during the opening few turns as we both inched closer and closer.
That all changed in the fourth turn when I used my Delaque trickery to throw down “Deceit” which guaranteed me the initiative. This allowed my aggressively positioned Web Pistol Juve and Web Gun Specialist to web down his Arms Master and Combat Shotgun ganger, severely turning the tides in my favor.Â
Bloodied, but never bowed, Dan used a very Delaque tactic himself. He casually noted out loud that my infiltrating Nacht-Ghul could probably make the charge on his close combat beast of a Road Captain. After much hemming and hawing, and several suspicious accusations, I succumbed to the psychological warfare Dan was waging and declared a charge. Making the charge easily with a solid 9” (wink), both my Nacht-Ghul and I were chagrined as Dan slammed down the “Hard Stop” card with a (rightfully so) delighted smile. Oh well, I thought, there goes my Nacht-Ghul. He rolled his Captain’s attacks… and the dice dished out nothing but whiffs. What a lucky moment for my spoopy lad, and what a day at the office to forget for the Golden Archies. My Nacht-Ghul duly cut the Captain down. With a wry smile, Dan took that kick to the fluffernutters with the utmost class as his remaining gangers decided to peace out.
Dan: This game was B-A-D, Scummers! I had 3 fighters in recovery, including my grenade launcher specialist and plasma champ, so I was already up against it. Throw in the fact that Cody is a very good player and my terrible luck with the Hard Stop trick, there was really only one thing left to do with this one: run for the hills!
Cody: After getting a bloody nose from Dylan’s Cawdor and punching some Manwolfs in their beerguts, my gang came away feeling pretty good about themselves (Web and Sever are good, y’all). But it was just plain fun to roll some dice, watch some chumps fall off some ledges, and have the odd ganger take a shotgun to the legs and not even blink. Even as my poor spooky web dudes got Blazed to death by some trash zealots, the whole day was a great reminder of why I love this dumb, over-the-top hobby so much!
Fowler, and the first ride of the Manwolfs
Fowler: Before this past weekend, it had been an absurd amount of time since I’d played an in-person game of Necromunda. The stars had aligned, it was time for the Manwolfs to make their first appearance on the tabletop! I decided to go with a counter-charging melee beast for my leader, with a cyber-mastiff in tow. Having my gang’s top brass get close and personal is still pretty new for me – as I’ve been used to snipers and midrange fighters running the show. I had a blast getting right into it and playing much riskier than usual!
The slamfest lineup:
- Road Captain with Plasma Pistol, Servo Claw, and Cyber-Mastiff
- Arms Master with Combat Shotgun and Fighting Knife
- Road Sergeant with Plasma Gun and Stub Gun
- Gunner Specialist with Grenade Launcher and Stub Gun
- Wrecker with Stub Gun and Flail
- Wrecker with Stub Gun
- Gunner with Boltgun and Chainsword
- Gunner with Autogun
- Gunner with Stub Gun
- Gunner with Stub Gun
Should I have brought one less ganger and bought everyone armor? Yes. Was it more fun just rushing at my opponents and hoping for the best? Absolutely. The Manwolfs went 1-2 and walked away reasonably intact, especially considering how many out-of-actions they racked up in just 3 games. It was awesome to finally get in games against the crew (including the mirror match with Dan’s Orlocks)!
Dan: The Orlock mirror match was hilarious. The Archies and the Manwolfs were clearly upset that another Orlock gang had shown up to throw down, and they expressed their rage by sprinting directly at one another and unleashing as many bullets as humanly possible! Highlights include my hand flamer wrecker blasting across the board (and several vertical levels!) to flame some manwolfs, only to immediately eat shredder ammo. Fowler’s wrecker, Gutter, failing to use his jump pack for two turns in a row, and the aforementioned similarly-armed leader faceoff, which I only won because I happened to be the one who charged!
Fowler: Playing some matches on such a magnificent table really got me thinking that verticality HAS to be part of a 3d necro board. My franken-table usually has a few floors, but I suspect I will be trying to go much higher with builds in the future. Aside from the good company and the quality beers, my third favorite part about the weekend was the constant stream of strength 9 falling hits.
Final Thoughts
Dan: What an incredible weekend! It had been a long while since I got to play any in-person Necromunda. Since March of 2020, to be specific, and this event was absolutely perfect. Necromunda is 100% a game best enjoyed in person. There were several instances of all of us cheering as some poor dumbass fell off a gantry to their premature demise, which is alway fun. Dylan’s incredible Necromunda terrain is so much dang fun to play on, and I’m a little worried that I’m not going to enjoy playing Necromunda anywhere else!
Before we go, I’d like to highlight what amazing hosts Dylan and his family are. I got picked up from the train station, fed a delicious homemade meal, and plied with several high-ABV beers all before the first dice was rolled. Knowing someone like Dylan is an incredible treat, and I am 100% sure that I’m a better and happier person for knowing him. Thanks, friend, and I can’t wait to do it again!
(Also thanks to Cody for driving me to the airport afterwards, and to Fowler for being a swell dude!)
That’s it for this week, Scummers! It is the official recommendation of Necromunday that if you can do it safely, get out there and play some freakin’ Necromunda! It rules! We’ll see you next time! Stay safe!
