Skirmish Gaming: Necromunda

Have you seen this picture before? 

If you have, I'm willing to bet it was a guy friend (or even you) in middle or high school. You knew the image as representative of a skirmish game with 28mm models. Gangs would fight each other for resources and prestige. And it would be played on a 3-D terrain area in a "Mad Max" end-of-the-world kind of style. Of course some girls thought it was cool too, thus the Escher gang, but this cover didn't exactly invite girls to play. Let's be honest, this box cover to the the game is a little misogynistic, but then forgive Games Workshop. This was almost 30 years ago. 

Now this cover invites me in!

So the game was a hit in the 90s, well until it wasn't. Games Workshop phased it out and removed the product from their shelves. Stories of the game were cemented into the memories of many young lads, but thought to be gone in history. It seemed to die away and end up in the same place as lost toys.

But who knew that they would bring it back in 2017? And it came in hot! They rereleased each gang from Necromunda, along with Forge World releasing unique models, adding even more options to play. 

The rules have certainly changed from old, but the spirit of the game is still very much alive. Especially if you happen to be married to a gamer that coerced you to support the Kickstarter Tinkerturf (I have their link in an earlier post). When you put the two together, it is a wonderful marriage of skirmish gaming!!

So let's get a view of this beautiful battlefield with a glorious maze of ancient, abandoned platforms, ladders, and stairs. 

  

This whole board kinda brings out the inner kid in me. I want to take some of my brother's toy soldiers and play in this big elaborate jungle of terrain. Then I remember I'm an adult, and decide to just pound down on my spouse. Oh it's on!

So we started by choosing our force. We have an option of 10 models each in our ganger packs. We want to assemble a team that can take advantage of one another to outsmart (or out gun) the opponent. I took a Champion, so I could take advantage of a rule to activate another fighter within 6" if she is near the Champion. Then I just chose some other highly skilled ladies, one with a power sword, one with two close combat weapons, and three with rifles (the ones are in various stages of painting). All in all a good force, and I came under on points in the end with 830. 

My spouse decided to take his force with a total of 870 points. That gave me some kind of advantage, like setting up.

So here I am setting up the girls to go right in!

And then my opponent, aka my spouse, set his guys up. Here are a few of their starting locations.

At the start of the game, I stole initiative with a higher roll. My plan was to have Olina here, jump over to the other platform and get a headstart on the first level of walkways. Plus it would get her out of sight of the opponent's ganger. You don't notice it in the first picture, but you sure do in the 2nd.  

Olina unfortunately failed. So her ganger girlfriend, Reina, rolled her eyes and proceeded forward to go after one of the Goliath gang members on the bottom level. Rhosin and Reina came together and prepared to attack the 'bad guy'!

Meanwhile, my ladies on the other end of the board proceeded forward, to include some notable progress with Brae as she expertly hid herself behind the column.

He moved his guys up as well, positioning to get the first loot crate. Then came round 2. I was able take the initiative again. I'm taking down these boys!

Of course, with views like this, I may be in trouble...

So Reina charged forward and hoped to slash him with her Stiletto knife. She wasn't able to take him down, but then Jax was able to counterattack. He took her out of action!!

It was a memorable first kill.

Some more stuff happens...

So here I managed to get Rhosin all the way over to the 2nd loot crate (this is around turn 3). She couldn't do anything with it, because as you see in the next image, two gangers Crash and Hoffa are making their way up the stairs. Thank God I was able to position Tumala a few inches from her to relieve the heat behind her. Now if Rhosin can just take down the leader, Hoffa.

Fire...I mean Chemical spray? Yeah Chem spray! It's toxic!!

Hoffa is at the top of the steps threatening Rhosin by the end of this turn.

Moving back to the west side of the board, Olina is shaken by the loss of her sister!! She spots the guy, Mr. Jax and heads straight for him! Retaliation is on her mind as she watched her sister fall!

She shot him dead!

On turn four, the Goliath gangers dashed in and went for the jugular! But the twist of fate would allow Tumala to save the day, again. She attacked Hoffa and managed to take him out of action. At this point we thought we were doing pretty good! We took the leader out and a ganger.

However, after this turn, things went south. We had another two ladies knocked out of action, leaving us with only Tumala and Brae trying to fight through.

In turn 5, we again had good fortune and were able to take the initiative. What else would Tumala do, but blast her chemical spray! Though it managed to slow them, it did not change the course of this battle.

Brae knocked out-oh no!!

And now the Goliath and Escher gangs are dead-even. It all comes down to this roll!

Nooooowuuuuuuhhh!! (Letterkenny for anyone who is familiar)

Soooo naturally, his guys attacked Tumala and took her down. She failed her save roll and retreated.

So Goliath won the game with the points total of 7 to 6. What a loss for Escher, but what a fantastic game for me and the hubby!! It was truly a lot of fun and actually quite easy grasp. I highly recommend this game and look forward to playing again. In fact, I have 3 of my 10 gangers fully painted yet. And after going through this battle report, I kinda feel like Tumala deserves to be next!

What kind of games do you play? What thoughts do you have about the new Necromunda and all that comes with it?