Howdy scummers! As the dust settles on the Hive Secundus release, the Necromunday team wanted to chat about picking a first gang. There are so many to choose from – let’s take a look at the discussion.
Is there any high-level advice you have for someone who is choosing their first Necromunda gang?
Fowler: The top-level advice that I always give people is: treat yourself to a house gang for your first. There are a lot of cool auxiliary gangs out there with interesting mechanics and fantastic models, but many of them lack something – model support, up-to-date rules, or access to normal progression in a campaign. The house gangs all have a pretty wide selection of kits, and selections of bespoke gear and fighters that keep it interesting.
Genghis Cohen: I’d generally agree, especially since their rules support is easy to understand: They get a ‘House of’ book which is fairly comprehensive, at least until you start getting into Ash Wastes and other vehicle stuff. It’s no secret that Necromunda has a book proliferation problem, so one piece of advice I’d give everyone is to find out first where the rules you will need are, then consider limiting yourself to that! Trying to consider every piece of equipment and use for your credits across every published book is a recipe for insanity and disaster.
head58: Know your personal playstyle, and lean into it. There’s a house gang for every approach: tanky, shooty, sneaky, poisony, setting things on fire. Read through the intro guides on Goonhammer for each of the houses to get a feel and dive in.
Primaris Kevin: Choose a House gang that you’re going to like to paint and look at. I say a House gang for all the reasons specified above. Don’t necessarily worry about having the most optimized loadout or anything like that; it’s easy to add more models to a gang once you’ve figured out what does and doesn’t work for you.
Are any particular gangs especially good for new players?
Genghis Cohen: I mean Orlocks are the coolest gang, so just play them, whether you are new or not. Seriously though, they are a common recommendation since they’re quite baseline – their stats don’t skew in any direction, they mix melee and shooting skills/loadouts, they aren’t too elite or too cheap, their House mechanic is pretty simple (it’s just extra skills your important models can get). But you could argue the same middle of the road status for several other gangs.
Fowler: I am also biased and think that Orlocks are a great first pick. They are essentially Mario in Mario Kart. You might get more “Necromunda” flavor with other gangs, but no gang has a wider range of things that they can be solid at.
Genghis Cohen: My main definition of a gang especially fit for new players isn’t actually locked to a House. It’s just that a gang has to be at least somewhat rounded. Don’t take an exclusively close combat or shooting oriented gang. Don’t put all your credits into a leader, with trash models supporting it. Have a variety of different kinds of weapons, and fighters you envision using for different tactics. That is the best way to understand the nuances of the game, and critically it will provide the more interesting play experiences for you and your opponents.
Fowler: The classic Underhive box matchup of Goliaths and Eschers are two great options as well. Each gang has a variety of solid mid-range options, and can do serious work in close combat. Escher speed and Goliath beefiness can each help newer players deal with different skills they need to learn for the game.
head58: That’s where I started and I’m very happy with the choice. Goliaths are super easy to use and completely lack nuance. Escher are a little tougher due to restrictions on getting chems at the start but still have enough options to make a good game.
Primaris Kevin: Van Saar are fun, but they’re a shooting gang and you will either lose friends or lose games when you start bringing multi-meltas to knife fights. That said they’re a pretty accessible gang with a lot of fun options, and Archeotek is pretty easy to work with as a way to offset Lasting Injuries. I would say that of the other gangs Goliath are fun and forgiving while Orlock are the universal dudes who can be fun in a lot of builds.
Fowler: Necro fans digging in to the new Hive Secundus box have a solid base for a new Van Saar gang. The default builds in the box give you four bodies with lasguns and a dude with a holstered pistol, which is a solid foundation for the gang.
Gangs to avoid for new players?
Genghis Cohen: Corpse Grinders. They are almost exclusively melee focused, so dependent on the table setups, how well players understand their limits and abilities, and how hard they go in skew [see the section below] this gang will either die in a ditch every single game, or savagely mutilate all their opponents. Either way they tend to be campaign runners for new players (and sometimes for experienced ones). But any gang can be a newbie no-no if it’s built in a spirit of power gaming nonsense.
Fowler: Our own articles about CGC have likely had a lot to do with the rep they have as an oppressive gang. They CAN do some disgusting stuff. Out of the 9 people I have seen play CGC in campaigns over the past few years, 7 of them got nuked from orbit basically every game. Melee is hard!
Genghis Cohen: Oh, Slave Ogryns. This is another gang that can vary wildly based on the ruthlessness of the owner and the preparedness of their opponents. One one axis, a gang of ‘normal’ Ogryns equipped with the variety of weapons which come in their plastic kit is a far weaker proposition than a gang of nothing but Lobo-Slaves (aka Ogryns that ignore Pinning) carrying Incendiary Charges (large template grenades which they can chuck 15”) and all the other ways a player can capitalize on a gang of multi-wound, high toughness oafs. On the other side, good players can contain the Ogryns’ strengths by using superior numbers to ensure their most powerful weapons get a shot in at the right time. Novice opponents, who don’t yet really get the tactics of the alternating activations, may just throw their much weedier fighters against the Ogryns’ head on and get crushed. If I was Arbitrating a group of new players and one was using Slave Ogryns I would be keeping a close eye on their progress.
Fowler: Venators may be a very tempting option for a new player, but they have been left in the dust by the parade of books since those rules came out. If anyone really wants to make that type of gang work, I would recommend an Outcast gang – potentially allied with a house gang for flavorful gear access. As an arbitrator, I am very open to nudging Outcast weapon access for a fighter or two. The main issue with them is that you really need to manage the gang in a spreadsheet vs Yaktribe, which may be overwhelming for a new player…
Genghis Cohen: Yeah, while Outcasts have great customisation, I think that’s more of a gang for experienced players – if not experienced Necromunda players, then at least the sort of people who are keen on researching rules and play a lot of games in general.
head58: Fans of desert-based sci fi sagas may be drawn to the Ash Wastes Nomads, but I would urge caution. They’re a more complicated gang and have some serious weaknesses. Especially if you’re playing scenarios in the Underhive and can’t access their weather control abilities. A lot of their strength comes from them being able to see in storms when other gangs can’t, and from shooting from very far away. In a cramped Sector Mechanicus board without long lines of sight, or worse in Zone Mortalis, they come up short.
Primaris Kevin: The more specialized a gang (CGC, Slave Ogryns, Outcasts, Nomads) the more difficult they are to pick up for a novice player. As an Arbitrator if I had a brand new player I would nudge them in a different direction from the really oddball gangs.Any other tips for groups entering into Necromunda together?
Any other tips for groups entering into Necromunda together?
Genghis Cohen: I think this game benefits a lot from an arbitrator who players are willing to listen to, or a self-policing group with a certain amount of restraint. Either of those forces needs a basic level of game knowledge before they will be effective. The reason for this is that Necromunda has a lot of broken stuff in it. If some players in a group are building gangs to their utmost, janked out potential, and some are just picking options which look cool, there are going to be some unfun blowouts in the campaign. So there has to be some common ground (whether enforced by an Arbitrator or arrived at naturally) on just how seriously your group is going to take this.
Fowler: Having sufficient terrain is extremely difficult for Necromunda. The Underhive box cardboard tiles and the new Secundus playmats definitely streamline the experience – you can play fantastic games of Necromunda on 2D Zone Mortalis. Some doors and barricades would be sufficient. Once you start worrying about Sector Mechanicus games, a significant amount of density is a (potentially) expensive and time-consuming thing to put together. Don’t be afraid to supplement with any assortment of boxes and random junk you need to put together enough obstacles for it to feel right.
head58: Don’t take Necromunda too seriously. This is not a competitive game. Read through and think about the scenarios. These aren’t like your average 40K “go stand on this spot” missions. They are asymmetrical and often unfair to one side or the other. The Arbitrator should make it clear that yes, some games are going to suck and might not feel great. It sounds super cheesy but truly the most important thing about Necromunda is not winning a game, it’s the fun you make for yourself along the way. There will be something memorable in even the worst game.
Primaris Kevin: Necromunda is the most fun when the players all embrace the attitude of “we’re here for a good time” and don’t necessarily find every last loophole to exploit. The campaign will make or break the Necromunda experience, and in particular the missions that are used. Some missions are complete garbage that are just not fun to play, while others can be really engaging and balanced. Be aware of the snowball effect where a losing player keeps losing while the winning player gets egregiously good, and don’t be afraid as an Arbitrator to adjust things so that everyone is having fun.
And that’s it! We hope that this little chat gave some potential new players some ideas about how they might take the plunge into the best game. Speaking of that, we are gearing up to start updating a bunch of our old Getting Started articles and gang guides. Is there anything in particular we missed before? Want us to cover something new? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.
