What is Necromunda, anyway?

[Tusky]

Me and a bunch of chums have just started a Necromunda campaign - so thought I'd do a  post about it! (This probably duplicates a lot of what Jubal wrote in his What is Warhammer? post)

What is Necromunda anyway?
Necromunda is a tabletop-based game made by Games Workshop where players have gangs which they command in battles / scenarios. Gangs come from various different houses or factions. Each house has access to unique weapons and equipment, and has different play styles. Most often a number of players will compete in a campaign. During the campaign players will play a number of games against eachother. Depending on how they fare, the gangs gain money and reputation. The fighters gain experience, skills, attribute improvements, but also risk picking up lasting injuries.

What's the setting?
In the distant future humanity lives in a mild sort of hellish dystopia. The human race is spread across the galaxy on various worlds, and is locked in endless war with other races. Necromunda is an old industrial planet in the empire of humanity. It is covered in massive cities, known as "hive" cities or spires, where the wealthy live at the top, and the less fortunate live deep down in "the underhive" where crime and gang warfare is rife. The underhive is the setting for the game.

So how do you play or find out who wins?
Roll lots and lots of dice, and pore over several tomes filled with rules!
In a game two players will have their gangs compete over control of territory. Each player takes it in turn to do something with one of their fighters. When attempting to do something, e.g. shoot a gun, a dice roll is made and the player checks against the fighters statistics to see if it is successful.

What races are there?
Mostly humans

The universe sounds good - anything computer based I can do?
Games Workshop, the company that produces the models and rules, has commissioned various PC games set in the universe. There is a recent-ish one specific to this game called "Necromunda: Underhive Wars" which I hear is not that great

Do I really need models?
Yes, you should really. Furthermore people tend to make sure that the individual models have the correct equipment. It's not only a bit of modelling fun, but also a courtesy thing so that your opponent can see what they are up against

Yeah yeah, I know what Games Workshop is. Isn't it like Mordheim but 40k?
I think so, although I never played Mordheim.
One big difference though is that Necromunda was re-released by GW recently, meaning you can buy current books & models etc. Mordheim you'd need to know someone that has the stuff needed to play it, or get it from sites like ebay



So that's it in a nutshell. We're one week into an 8 week campaign. It started with a day long kick off event, and 3 games since then. It's been fun so far, but as the organiser it's meant I've been really quite busy, what with painting things up, and arbitration (thank goodness for Yaktribes!). I might potentially do a campaign diary or something like that for it & post here