Necromunda - On the Way to the Fighting Pits

 The Station Chief of Omega Precinct had a lot of money riding on tonight's Pit Fight. Jace Rorgan was facing "Mad" Barney Hotrap. "Mad" Barney was a maniac and Rorgan didn't have a chance, so the odds were pretty long. The Chief had a tip, though. A Rogue Doc that was one of the precinct's informants told the Chief that Hoptrap had a flare up of the old Space Flux and was feeling a bit under-the-weather, as it were. So, the Chief went all-in on Jace Rorgan. Unfortunately, just hours before the match, the Space Flux finally got the better of poor old "Mad" Barney Hoptrap and he passed from this world (and into the Corpse Starch vats)... In his place, Grornq the Butcher stepped in to fight Jace Rorgan - which even increased the odds. If Rorgan came out on top, The Chief would be rich enough to retire!? But there was ZERO chance of Rorgan besting The Butcher. So the Chief tasked his Captain with shifting the odds in his favour a bit...

In this scenario I was playing Grornq the Butcher - Ogryn Pit Fighter, his manager, Flansz Ronne, and a hive-scum hired gun, Two-Gun Connor. Basically a moving objective marker that activated in the End Phase. 

Orion was playing the enforcers. They got one VP for each wound and Flesh Wound dealt to the Ogryn - the weaker he is going into the match, the better. But KILLING the Ogryn would do no good either, so if the Ogryn was taken out of action, they would automatically lose. A tough one, for sure... 

The local Escher gang also had a lot riding on tonight's fight, but they were betting on Grornq the Butcher... They were played by Orion's boyfriend Nic, who came by to try out the game. They were there to make sure the Ogryn got to his fight on time and in one piece. They were also sore at the enforcers for trying to wreck their Synth Still from a couple weeks back. the Escher Gang scored on VP for each Enforcer taken out of action. 

Flansz Ronne, Pit Fight Manager, Grornq the Botcher, and Two-Gun Connor - on their way to the Fighting Pits. 

Escher Ganger and a couple of Juves... just hanging out, minding their own business, smoking some lho-sticks. 

More Escher Gangers, keeping an eye on things. 

O-344 "Rose" and 0-207 

As the Cops moved out, the Escher Gangers did their best to keep them pinned down... but pinning was about all they could do against the hard armoured enforcers. 

End of Round one - Grornq and his entourage move up. Noting to be concerned about here - just a little tussle between the Enforcers and some Gangers... 

Escher ganger sneaking around the flank, keeping the Enforcers pinned from all angles. 

Eventually, O-344 "Rose" got into position and started cranking concussion rounds into the Escher gangs positions and suppressed the fire that was pinning her fellow enforcers. 

Two-Gun Connor ran ahead of his patron and announced their presence "DON'T SHOOT! WE'RE JUST ON OUR WAY TO THE FIGHTING POTS!" Thinking that ought to do it, the trio carried on... 

The first sign something was amiss was when the first concussion round hit the Ogryn square in the face, violently knocking it, Two-Gun Connor and the pair of Escher Juves to the ground! 

Kat H. - the Escher Gang champion - charged in to clear the way. 

Connor and the Ogryn up and moving again. 

And the Ogryn is down again. Darn those concussion rounds!? 

At this point it became clear that the Enforcers were out to get them, and Two-Gun started blasting away at the Enforcers... Unfortunately, still a little dazed from the concussion rounds, he instead blasted Kat with his bolt rounds! 

Charging into combat with the Captain, hoping to create a distraction for the Ogryn to get through. 

Niner took down Two-Gun Connor, and went a couple rounds with the Ogryn... 

One of Rose's Concussion rounds took out the Ogryn's Manager, though! 

After the loss of Kat and Syn Dee, the Escher Gang bottled out and slowly started melting away from the battle. The Juves were the first to scram (none could blame them - BOTH had sustained serious injuries and recovered with Flesh Wounds - one had done so TWICE and was reduced to one toughness!). A Ganger left the following turn, ealving only one of the Escher gangers in the fight. 

And they managed to keep the Enforcers busy... 

While the Ogryn got away. 

In the end the Ogryn sustained two wounds... and the Enforcers lost two of their own in the battle... so... a draw. 

Back to the Underhive

I got in a game of Necromunda last Wednesday - my friend Orion came over and brought his Enforcers. This was the first miniature game with someone who didn't live here if almost a year. 

All set up and ready to go in the Game Room.

The Crimson Wave Escher Gang set up a Chem-Synth lab to manufacture all sorts of less-than-legal narcotics and the Enforcers of the 69th Precinct decided they should get a cut for "protection". Teh Gang said, "no thanks". So the fine officers of the precinct decided they needed to remind the gangers why they need protection. 

The scenario was basically a smash and grab. The Enforcer were to set up in the lift and the game ended when they left the table - whether through escaping back to the lift or being taken out of action. 

The Enforcer objectives were:

• Smash the Still (T4, W5)   4VP
• Barrels/Crates destroyed   1VP
• Barrels/Crates removed.    2VP
• Chemist taken out of action (T3, W1, no save)  1VP
• Chemist Removed   5VP

To "remove" an item, the enforcers had to move into contact with it and spend and action to lift (or handcuff, in the case of the Chemist) and move with it back to the lift. 

The Gang Objectives were:

• Chemist Recovered 3VP
• Barrels/Crates Racovered 1VP
• Enforcers taken out of action 3VP

The Chemist, working at her still. 

She Chemist in not a fighter, unless grabbed and held by an Enforcer,  she would activate to move away from the nearest Enforcer. 

Barrels and crates of highly valuable illicit substances 

Two Juves started on the table, guarding the main entrance to the facility. 

Other Gangers. 

One the first Round it was assumed the Juves would raise the alarm and these gangers could potentially show up on the second round. I said I'd dice for each and on a 4+ they show up. I SHOULD have made it a bit harder... maybe 6 on the 2nd round, 5+ on the 3rd, 4+ on the 4th, etc... OR they arrive on a 4+, but limit the number I could have diced for each turn...? Like, I could dice for a number of gangers equal to the round number...? 

It's been a while since I ran a game and I feel like I'm having ot relearn scenario design all over again. When I set up these scenarios, I like to design it much like I would a role-playing game adventure, that will be definitely challenging - where it might seem a little "touch and go" at times, but will untimately succeed... 

Yeah... 

That super didn't work out for this game... 

Enforcers storm out of the lift firing canister after canister of concussion and gas grenades.  a perfectly exectuted tactical deployment. Lord Halmawr would have been proud. 

Debbie and Tiffany were pretty overwhelmed by the ultra-violent onslaught. Debbie managed to sqeeze off a few shots with her stub gun... 

Round two half the gang showed up. Which, I SHOULD have anticipated, having a 50/50 chance with a 4+ roll... Syn Dee and Kat were able to crack off a few long-range shots at the exposed flank of the Enforcers deployment, but it really only served to get their attention... 

Tina enters the Chem Lab. 

Kat and Syn Dee exchanging shots with Enforcers in the distance. 

The Enforcer Strike Team rushes the Juves guarding the front door

Tiffany blasting away with her stub gun was no match for a fully armoured Enforcer Captain with a giant riot shield!  

Donna, the leader of the gang, along with Tina and Sue rush into the Chem Lab to extricate their Chemist and protect their wares. 

More long range fire exchanged with the Sniper, who couldn't hit anyone!? 

Paula sneaking around the flank. 

Enforcers stack up to enter the Chem Lab

Sniper protecting their flank and the extraction point. 

BAM! down went the door of the Chem Lab. 

But the gangers had already arrived.  The captain tried to grab the Chemist, but Mad Donna Maclean rushed in to snatch her back! 

Pat snuck in a side door and shot the Enforcer CAptain in the back of the head. 

Dude should have worn a helmet! 

While Syn Dee and Kat kept the sniper and one of the other Enforcers busy, more Gangers rushed their flank. 

Things went rapidly downhill from there. 

It was a fun game - but I felt back about the scenario design ultimately favouring the Gangers... I should have limited the number that could be diced for each turn, or maybe they only arrive on 6 on Round Two, 5+ on Round Three, 4+ on Round Four, etc... Ah well... Orion took it all in stride, so all was well... Definitely need to play this more. Maybe it's time I cracked all those House Books I've picked up as they came out over the last year and a half (but never even LOOKED IN!?) and start redesigning the gangs and come up with some new campaign...

The Bronze Gates Redux

Just a quick note to point out I have created a PAGE for the Bronze Gates Campaign. It is listed under PAGES over on the left of the screen there. Or you can follow this link:

The Bronze Gates Campaign

The page has some background for the campaign and a listing of all the territories in the Bronze Gates and who currently controls them. It also has pictures of the gangs and Dramatis Personae as well as links to all the game reports of skirmishes that took place in the Bronze Gates.

The Bronze Gates Campaign started out as a Necomunda Dominion campaign I was running for my family to try out the system. As interest in it petered out, I decided to keep using it as a setting for a narrative campaign. My own little slice of the Hive Primus Underhive.

I am no longer keeping track of credits - to hire gangers and buy equipment. The campaign "system" is run more like a Kill Team campaign - gangers are added to the roster, as required, and with whatever equipment seems reasonable. The credit value of each ganger is tracked - so the value of a crew used for a scenario can be determined and additional tactics cards can be issued to the lesser gang if the difference is greater than 100 credits.

The only other things I am still keeping track of are Experience Points (Because it IS fun to watch gangers get better as they gain experience), Reputation, and who controls which Territories (some of which still confer some advantages - just not the credit incomes). Standing within the campaign is based on Reputation and the number of Territories controlled.


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog: 

More gang posts...

Rescue Mission - Bronze Gates Campaign

On Monday I'd originally planned to run a larger 3-player game (one of the scenarios I'd originally planned for the Necromunda Game Weekend). But then Amanda was keen to play a Rescue Mission to retrieve the ganger she'd lost to me in the previous evening's game before that... I Thought maybe we'd get that done quickly - maybe even before the kids got home - and still have time to play a larger game afterwards. We didn't get started with that until well after noon and by the time we were done it was supper time and no one was interested in playing games after supper - Keira is sick with a cold and Amanda had work to do on a costume she's supposed to bring along to dance class tomorrow evening... so... here I am writing up the final game reports... Maybe next weekend...

As always I did petition the house for aid and... they send me ANOTHER Juve... I had REALLY hoped it would be an arms shipment and I could pick up a bunch of equipment for the Champion I was hoping to hire after this game... then I had to spend some of that money to tool up this stupid kid that wants to play at being a ganger...

I pretty much knew this was going to go poorly for me. I had a starting crew of five - despite the home turf advantage (rolling two dice for bottle tests and discarding the highest. A pair of anything higher that five means I bottle after taking only ONE injury, and it would just get worse after that. I did get reinforcements... but only two. Amanda, on the other hand, had TEN fighters trying to take back their captured ganger.



Amanda sorting out where her gangers were going to go.



Initial deployment of my gang. The sentry rules are kind of interesting. cards are drawn randomly whenever it is my turn to activate someone, we then roll and then the highest roller gets to move them and at the end of the move they can attempt to spot one of the sneaky infiltrators (on a tie, the sentry moves in a random direction). More often than not, Amanda would win that roll and sent my gangers off into the open facing the corner which none of her gangers were entering from!  



Before the first turn, she had a card that allowed a few of her gangers to take a full move, so a bunch of them started very close to a few of my gangers!



Two of them started down a hall beyond some locked blast doors - they'd have to bypass them and Escher gangers aren't known for their smarts - so I felt pretty secure that this pair wouldn't get TOO far TOO fast!



Her champion and a ganger lurk down another corridor, hoping the sentry at the end of it would turn away...



Three Juves sneaking in through some wrecked walls.



Another ganger carfully sneaking past the Promethium stash - no lho sticks!



once a few of the sentries were looking the other way, her leader "Mad" Donna charged the closest sentry hoping to take him out before he could act and raise the alarm...



Apparently taking out a dude with a freaking CHAINSWORD doesn't make THAT much noise!?



Another ganger stepped out and took a shot at one of mine with a lasgun. She tried to play a tactics card called "look away" - if a sentry spotted an infiltrator the card meant they would simply turn away and not be seen... she'd misunderstood the sentry rules... shooting at someone doesn't just meant they SPOT you... it RAISES THE ALARM!

So... Alarm raised on round one... She still had a significant advantage in numbers and most of my gangers were totally in the open now... and they STILL didn't get activation counters until next turn and she still had gangers to activate!



And activate them she did! Paula moved up and took a shot at Mutatio, pinning him.

At the end of the turn, as the alarm had been raised, my reinforcements arrived - my gang leader Atrifex, and the new Juve he was showing the ropes to (Neo47231)

To avoid getting shot in the back by my leader and his protege, Kat H. and Jo N. charged around Mutatio's little barricade and assaulted him... somehow he managed to survive Kat's Attacks...



AND Jo's attacks!



Artifex and Neo47231 follow them up the corridor.



Rotis chucked a smoke grenade out into the open to give the Delaque Gangers some cover - they can see right through smoke with their photogoggles - so Neo65395 ran out into the smoke thinking no one would be able to see him there while blazing away at a couple of the Escher gangers... he pinned one... and then got blasted by "Mad" Donna's plasma pistol... yeah... kind of forgot SHE has photogoggles too!



The following turn Artifex Joined in the Melee. Rutubulum had run up and tried shooting into it eh previous turn, missing all involved (ore maybe he his Jo N...? and she got a Flesh Wound...? I can't remember now...) and then got Shot by Paula's shotgun.

Kat sliced up Mutatio, and then, as she was no longer engaged, Rutabulum stood up and shot her again, pinning her. Paula took another shot at Rutubulum hitting and pinning him and knocking him into the Sludge Vat (where he found something floating in there worth 4 credits!? so weird...)



With Rutubulum out of the way, the three Escher Juves sprinted across the open to the captive! None had an action left to try and free her, but collectively they SHOULD have had no trouble doing so. Also, Tina and Dee had made it through the first blast door and were just on the other side of the second one - if they could get it open, they'd all have a quick short path off the table!

And then my gang bottled... and I used a Delaque Tactic card to make them all just Vanish...

So... lost another game... and two more reputation (so... I'm at -4 now...). All three of my gangers that were taken out of action (Orraculum, Mutation, and Neo65395) were previously injured and ill miss the next game... at least it wasn't a critical injury - or a permanent injury - or superdeadness!

I did get to collect income again and brought in another cool 100 credits! I will totally be bringing in a new Champion next game! One of my gangers was also up to 6 XP and got to take an advance (increased Cool)...

Amanda's gang is now at 9 Reputation. One more and she can hire a second hanger-on! She hired two new gangers after the game...


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Well... what now?

So much of the last four or five months has been focused on getting ready for this past weekend... that didn't really end up happening... what do I do now?

According to the PLAN I was to spend a couple weeks finishing off a few Necromunda projects (last of the Escher Gangers, Orlocks and Van Saar  gangs, and a handful of others...) but that kind of assumed I'd have finished up the Ratskins and Zombies and John's Vermyn last week... which I didn't, because I ran out of steam and interest when pretty much everyone bailed!

Do I try to finish off the rest of the Necromunda stuff over the next four weeks and then start in on the Hellboy stuff as planned... do I take an extra week or two to finish up the Necromunda stuff in hopes of running a new campaign in the new year (and a narrative campaign weekend in February) or do I say Fü¢kit and just move on to bellboy, because no one is really all that interested in playing Necromunda anyway...?

Either way, I should have a painting update in a day or two... I have a few things I've finished and haven't posted yet, and I'm sure I'll finish up a few more things...

I do hope I'll at least be able to convince the family to play a few more games of necromunda and bring our Bronze Gates Campaign to a reasonable conclusion... (Instead of just letting it fizzle out!).