Monday 4 September 2017

Thoughts on: Necromunda 2017

As you may have seen from a previous blog entry I am a big fan of Necromunda and I am pretty excited about the prospect of a new version coming out.



When Games Workshop announced hey were bringing back some of their classic games, starting with Blood Bowl,  it seemed that Necromunda was a long way off.   I would have put money on the next game being Adeptus Titanicus.   GW then released their Shadow War: Armageddon game.  A Warhammer 40,000 Skirmish game that used the old Necromunda rules.  It seemed that the idea of a new Necromunda was gone and this was it.  A great fun game and an excuse to use 40k  miniatures in a smaller scale skirmish setting...but it's not Necromunda.

Then a few weeks ago GW put out this video on Warhammer TV...


What was it?  A lot of people speculated it would be a new faction for Warhammer 40,000.  Was it was a teaser for Adeptus Titanticus?  A few people assumed it would be an alliance between Orks and the Imperium.  Some even suggested that it was a teaser for the new Necromunda.  Surely not.  Shadow War: Armageddon replaced Necromunda right?

Turns out it hadn't.  Turns out that is exactly what they were teasing! A new Necromunda was on the way and coming in November!  They released this video and had demo games at NOVA Open.



I think it looks fantastic but there is obviously on big difference.  There is not 3D terrain and it looks a bit like a board game.



This seemed to set the internet off into a fury despite the fact that people that played a demo at NOVA and GW themselves saying that it's not a board game and plays like a Skirmish game.  There will be extra rules to play on 3D terrain.

I understand how people would be disappointed about this.  Especially as the terrain was on of the most exciting things about the original Necromunda box.  The cardboard building and walkways help up with, arguably the best product GW ever produced, the plastic bulkheads fill any gamer of a certain age with nostalgia.



I also understand why GW have decided against including 3D terrain.  They are using high quality materials and want to keep the price down to make it competitive in the very crowded board games market.  This is good for everyone right.  It means it'll be easier to buy the game.  It'll mean more people playing the game.  This can only be a good thing right?

Much like how the new Blood Bowl worked the new Necromunda will a playable game out of the box with a book that is released on the same day that expands the game and adds more advanced rules.  This may be a bit disappointing to us hardcore gamers but to make the boxed game more accessible i feel its probably the right choice.





The most exciting thing about the new box to me is the new miniatures.  The box will come with 2 gangs.  A gang of the Vat grown muscle bound House Goliath gangers and a nimble poison obsessed gang from House Escher .  These miniature are pretty damn awesome.  Apparently they are going to be plastic multi-part miniatures with plenty of weapon, head and hair (HAIR!) options.  I am so impressed with these miniature and can't wait to see what they do with the other factions (particularly Van Saar and Delaque).  I can't wait to get my pain brush on some of these.




The last thing that is exciting me about the new version of Necromunda is the new set of updated rules.

Unlike the new version of Blood Bowl,  which was very much the same set of the rules as the last version of the game,  the new Necromunda will have a set of new updated rules.  Just like how the original Necromunda was based on the current version of Warhammer 40,000 the new Necromunda will be based on 8th Edition 40k Rules.  From the few people that played a demo at NOVA it apparently plays very fast but is still crunchy in a way a skirmish game should be.  It's apparently very tactical and doesn't do the usual  IGOUGO of most GW games but an alternate activation system  that is apparently a bit like Frostgrave.



Very interesting and I am really looking forward to seeing how the new game plays.

All in all I think the new Necromunda looks set to be pretty fantastic.  Yeah,  it's not the Necromunda from our childhoods but it will be fun to visit the Underhive again! 

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