Return To The Underhive With New Necromunda Core Set

Games Workshop surprised folks with another new Core Set coming out, this time set in the Underhive of Necromunda. The rather weirdly titled Warhammer Skirmish: Necromunda (seems an odd name) features new rules, new miniatures and more, coming (hopefully) later this year.

Core Set // Necromunda

The Core Set goes back to basics with a new set of Goliaths going up against a new set of Eschers. The Goliaths are the Forge Smelters whilst the Eschers take the form of the Blades of the Matriarch.

Goliath - Forge Smelters // Necromunda

The two gangs lean into what makes the Goliaths and the Eschers tick. On the one side, you have the poisons and blades of the Eschers, whilst the Goliaths are making use of their forge-based machinery, turning it into their brutal weapons of choice.

Escher - Blades of the Matriarch // Necromunda

The gangs in the box come with sample gang rosters which are balanced against each other, allowing you to dive in and start playing your games and Underhive campaigns straight away. These Eschers and Goliaths come with a range of specialist wargear and equipment as well which means that this set is also helpful for those wanting to add to an existing gang.

Core Set - Extra Contents // Necromunda

The Core Set also comes with the new Core Rulebook. This has been updated to make games quicker and more streamlined alongside being more balanced. I'm in two minds as to whether or not that's going to be a good thing, as one of the nice selling points of Necromunda is that it's been a bit janky. I'm going to stay positive though and hope that the rules still retain a lot of that core Necromunda spirit.

The set will also come with new Gang Tactics Cards and the new Campaign and Scenario Cards. I sense that this might be making campaigns easier to run, perhaps in line with what Games Workshop has done for 11th Edition Warhammer 40,000.

Tactics & Campaign Cards // Necromunda

Campaigns have always been a key part of Necromunda but they've often relied upon players being up for a fair bit of admin. Perhaps the Campaign and Scenario Cards will help to fix that and make it so that one player doesn't have to take on the role of the Arbitrator if they don't want to. Again, I am staying cautiously optimistic about what this means for the game of Necromunda.

Oh, and you will also get a double-sided playmat, a smattering of terrain, dice, range ruler, templates and markers that will allow you to play your games right away.

New Gang Books

It also looks like a lot of the book bloat from the last version of the game is going to be condensed down into, for the moment, two books at launch.

Gang Books //Necromunda

These books contain refreshed and updated rules for the gangs that exist in the game so far. They haven't specified which gangs this will actually cover but I'd bet that it will cover all of the traditional House Gangs (like Escher, Delaque and Orlocks) alongside those from Ash Wastes like the Ironhead Squats and Ash Wastes Nomads. This will replace older publications.

These books will contain lore, gang information, equipment and fighter profiles, plus Hired Guns, Brutes, Hangers-On and Pets. It will be interesting to see what actually carries over between the last edition and this one. I would also hope that the quirkier gangs like Badzone Enforcers, Venators and Chaos Cults find a home within these books too.

To aid those starting anew in Necromunda, Games Workshop has also previewed some new Underhive Crew boxes covering the House gangs of House Escher, Goliath, Orlock, Van Saar, Cawdor, and Delaque.

I am crossing my fingers that this will be a good change for Necromunda, as I've been really enjoying it recently. In the end, even if it doesn't stick the landing, I can just play the current edition I have the books and miniatures for!

What do you think about the Necromunda news?