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Necromunda is a tabletop skirmish war game produced by Games Workshop.

In Necromunda, players control rival gangs battling each other in the Underhive, a place of anarchy and violence in the depths below Hive City. As in the parent game Warhammer 40,000 play uses 28mm scale models (approximately 1:65) and terrain ( in this case a heavily polluted cityscape.)

Being a skirmish game gangs are usually limited to around a dozen models, but as a result game play can become more detailed. Unlike Warhammer 40,000 , Necromunda also allows players to develop their gangs between battles, gaining experience, adding new members or equipment, according to a set of rules. Gangs which frequently win games acquire more credits (money) and less injuries and so are able to grow throughout a campaign.

Necromunda was spawned off from a previous attempt of Games Workshop to popularize a set of rules for low-key skirmish battles in a hive world setting. White Dwarf the corporate gaming magazine did publish such a ruleset between fall and winter 1990-91 dubbing it "Confrontation" (no tie whatsoever to the French fantasy skirmish minatures game of the same name), that earlier game was set on the hive world of Necromunda but made no reference to houses and such, instead concentrating itself on the various 'types' of gangs: clan warrrors from the spires, juve 'poseurs' from the upper levels which went 'down' to experience the thrills of lowlife, undercity mutants, diseased scavengers from the toxic wastes and the Adeptus Arbites ever-ready to deal swift and summary "Judge Dredd"-like 'justice'. The miniatures released for this game were designed by John Blanche and were highly praised and regarded. The game background also included some elements later disregarded such as the 'spook' psychic drug and the humanoid 'caryatids', which were presented as unique and integral to necromundan life.

Rules-wise, the game draws heavily from second-edition Warhammer 40,000, and the ruleset is commonly considered to be better-suited for the type of skirmish games Necromunda encourages.

Necromunda also stands out from most other games by Games Workshop by having a more 3 dimensional table layout, with buildings generally having multiple floors, interconnecting walkways and bridges. The terrain is constructed to simulate a hive city on the planet Necromunda, a dystopian futuristic city resembling a termite mound many miles high.

Games Workshop's Specialist Games division occasionally publishes new rules on their website. They also recently published the full rules for the game for download (as a PDF file), referred to as the Necromunda Living Rulebook. As is implicit in the name, this document is often updated and rewritten, based largely on the work of avid volunteers and playtesters in the official Specialist Games forums.

Houses of Hive City

Cawdor

House Cawdor is the stronghold of the cult of Redemption. For this reason all of the gangers wear masks in public to hide their faces from the 'infidels' of the other houses.

Delaque

Other hivers are justifiably suspicious of House Delaque, who specialise in spying and assassination. The gangers often wear large trench coats, with large internal pockets for concealing weapons and other large items. Most are bald and extremely pale. Many wear visors, goggles or have light filters implanted into their eyes, a sensitivity to light being a common Delaque weakness. Delaque territory is even more dimly lit than the rest of the hive, fitting for a people who are shrouded in mystery.

Escher

Strikingly different from the other houses, the Escher population is almost entirely made up of women. The few men that are there are shrivelled and imbecilic and play no part in the normal affairs of the Escher. Men are held in contempt by the Escher, especially those of House Goliath who are seen as simple, brutish and unsophisticated.

Goliath

Size and physical strength are everything in House Goliath. Their territory is situated in some of the harshest areas of the Hive City. Their gangers favour mohawks, piercings, thick chains and spiked metal bracers.

Orlock

Also known as the House Iron, these hivers mine ferrous slag pits deep in the hive. Orlock gangers often wear sleeveless jackets and headbands.

Van Saar

The Van Saar are known for the extremely high quality of its technical produce. Nobles in the Spire will pay handsomely for Van Saar goods, making them the wealthiest of the houses. The Van Saar are marked out by their tight fitting body-gloves which help to sustain the wearer in the harsh hive environment. Older gangers are often seen sporting a neatly trimmed beard. The Imperial Guard often recruit regiments from the Van Saar.

Other groups

The Cult of the Red Redemption

Fanatical and zealous, the Redemptionists have an extreme hatred of mutants and deviants from the Imperial creed. The most dedicated take up arms and hunt the deviants. They often wear red robes decorated with flame motifs and have a fondness of incendiary weaponry. House Cawdor lends much support to the cult of Redemption and have gone so far as to adopt it as their official Religion.

Pit Slaves

Slaves of the Guilders with appendages replaced by industrial tools such as giant saws and drills. When a group of slaves escapes, they already have weapons to help them survive.

Ratskins

The Ratskin tribes have lived within the underhive for millennia and treat it as a god, generous in its bounty and merciless in its vengeance. They have little to do with the hivers and are rarely encountered, preferring to steer clear of the heathens who desecrate their sacred hive by poisoning its sacred places.

Scavvies

Scavvies are humans with mutations too obvious to hide, banished from normal settlements. In Scavvie gangs, the very dregs of society scrape out an existence robbing guilder caravans, raiding isolated settlements and just generally scavenging whatever they can to survive. Their bands often include a stable sub-species of mutant, the giant reptilian Scalies.

Spyre Hunters

Young nobles from the Spire come down to hunt underhive gangers and thereby prove their worth in a world of ruthless politics, plotting and assassination. Spyrer gangs are few in number, and equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry.

Alternative gangs

In addition to the gang types supported by the rulebooks, various Games Workshop publications have introduced new groups, sometimes supported by mail-order only model ranges, including Ash Waste Gangers and Squat Miners.

Origins as Confrontation

What would become Necromunda was first published by Games Workshop under the name Confrontation as a series of articles in White Dwarf magazine the official GW publication. Confrontation was closer to a role-playing game than the current Necromunda and used a more complex system for resolving combat, particularly firing - portions of which were similar in style to Laserburn, a miniatures game which had influenced WH40K.

There is a Wiki project created to amass official and unofficial information for Necromunda: Confrontation at a Rpg.net Wiki Project here.

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External links

Official sites

• Specialist Games - Necromunda - Official Necromunda Website.
• Specialist Games - Forums - Official Specialist Games Forums.

General sites

• Eastern Fringe - Unofficial but one of the most active Necromunda forums. (recommended by the Official Specialist Games Forums).
• iNecro - Large collection of fan rules from multiple sources, official rules, and many links to other Necromunda websites.
• Necromundicon - The most impressive terrain for Necromunda you will ever see.
• Project: Necromunda - Has extensive directories that cover tactics, fluff, battle reports, Necromunda RPG, finding opponents, forums, gang sheets, and links to non-English Necromunda websites; has Wiki projects for Necromunda names and gang rosters, and is also home of the Necromunda WebRing.
• Robert's Gameland - A site devoted to wargaming including a large section for Necromunda.
• Stephane.info - Articles and galleries.

Community sites

• Necrocards - The concept behind the Necromunda Card Game is to supplement the rules and gameplay of Necromunda by adding a card game element. These cards can be played during the standard Necromunda turn sequence, and have an immediate effect on the game.
• Necromunda Yahoo Group - Necromunda discussions, polls, images and file upload facilities.

• Warhammer 40,000