Necromunda New Edition

[jaxom]

1 hour ago, Silvereyes said:

(Doesn't have accuracy modifiers, probably because of how they've changed that, and it now has a new stat called "L"? Replacement for Damage?)

It still has Short Range and Long Range defined; maybe L is the Long Range modifier?

[Castigator]

I'm thinking 'L' will be Lethality or Lethal instead of 'D' for damage.

I might be reaching here but I suspect that vehicles may use something similar to 40k for damaging them so they can streamline the dice required. 

[Cactus]

I liked that Newcromunda decoupled the ammo roll from the hit roll. I'll be sad to see that reverted, but it is simpler. If ammo rolls are instead just gone for most guns, will it even feel like Necromunda any more?

[Ripper.McGuirl]

7 minutes ago, Cactus said:

I liked that Newcromunda decoupled the ammo roll from the hit roll. I'll be sad to see that reverted, but it is simpler. If ammo rolls are instead just gone for most guns, will it even feel like Necromunda any more?

Time will tell I guess. For the last year or two we actually reverted to the hit roll version of the rule (which is also one of the alternate versions in the rulebook), and found it much simpler. Rolling the extra die all the time always seemed extraneous to me. Also, then (superstition on) I would waste all my good rapid fire rolls on weapons that didnt have rapid fire, so I’d use up all my 3 shot rolls on las guns and then would only have 1 shot rolls left for my boltguns! (/superstition)

[Timberley]

Interesting reveal from GW there and many thanks to @Castigator for providing the brief summary.   

 

On the face of it, it looks like the Secundian Tek Hunters were the test bed for the new ganger archetypes, as I suspected.  To be honest, it makes a certain amount of sense (and as other Frater will know, I'm usually one to decry GW at every turn ), as the gangers and ganger specialists were a bit faffy to deal with.  For reference, in Secundus we had Augurtek (find hidden cache/route through Underhive), Bioteknist (medic and chems maker), Gunntek (carries the heaviest dakka and can repair guns), and Teknomat (can build new stuff and repair old machinery).  So, scout, medic, gunner, and engineer, roughly speaking.  My guess is that GW will have those 4, as well as brawler, champion (generic), marksman, combat (close-combat) specialist.  This would make things easier to deal with on the GW side, as a change to an archetype means they don't have to update many different profiles, just the single archetype.

 

EDIT:  Looking at the carousel for the new KT-like Escher here, it looks like it goes; combat specialist, brawler, medic, marksman, champion, gunner/engineer, gunner, engineer/scout.  The Goliath below them look like they go; combat specialist, medic, gunner, gunner, gunner/engineer, engineer/scout, brawler, gunner.

 

I'm intrigued to see how GW handles the different gangs, though based upon the new Escher ganger profile, it looks like they'll be broadly the same as before.  My guess is that the ganger specialisation will inform the Skill Sets that ganger uses for Primary and Secondary skills they can roll into upon advancement.  I hope they'll keep the House/Gang specific Skill Sets, as they provide a bit of flavour, no matter how bad they can be.

 

Comparing the new Escher ganger profile with the old one, and it seems that the new profile has gained a point in Initiative, and all 4 psychological characteristics seem to have dropped a point.  Interestingly, they're no longer written as 'X+' values, which makes me wonder what they're up to there.

 

I agree with @Silvereyes - the train post-battle action is a great way to keep the rest of your gang useful.

 

This sentence in the GW article has me a bit confused though - 'bottle checks test against the highest Leadership on the field, rather than making Cool checks for every individual ganger'.  A Bottle Check, when needed, was independent of Leadership, and Cool checks could be automatically passed by gangers within 12" of a Leader or 6" of a Champion who'd passed their cool check.  I'm guessing that GW means that if a Bottle Check is triggered, then the gang has to pass a Leadership test to stay on the board, using the highest leadership characteristic on the board.

 

The weapons profile looks a lot cleaner too, though the 'L' characteristic is a bit weird.  It equates to the Damage value from the old profile, so I wonder if GW means 'Lethality' with the new name, as @Castigator suggests.  I also suspect that weapons needing ammo checks will have it appear as a Trait under the new system, or will be those classed as 'Special' or 'Heavy', like plasma guns, webbers, heavy stubbers, etc. 

 

They've also given the basic ganger a saving throw with modifiers based upon cover and wargear, which kind of makes sense from a gameflow perspective.  I'm interested to see if cover/attitude (i.e. prone, crouched or standing) affects the Hit roll as well.  If it doesn't, and cover only affects the save based purely on the LoS between the attacker and the defender, then that could be really naff.

 

The other good news is that it's Necromunda: Skirmish, not Skirmish: Necromunda.  I infer from this that GW have split Necromunda into 'modules' (for lack of a better phrase), so we'll get one for the Ash Wastes (vehicles), one for Secundus (the gang's campaign doesn't include the Trading Post or a visit to the Doc), and possibly others for places like The Skull (take on the Orks), the Sludge Sea (ships and pirates ya landlubbers), and the Eye of Selene (Zero-G and spacesuits).  Though this is perhaps wishful thinking...

 

So, in conclusion, my thumb is still hovering on the level, as whilst they could've made a good iteration on the current system and tightening it up, GW has form for putting out glossy articles, whilst the players end up navigating a quagmire.

Edited July 28 by Timberley
Changed a few things

[Antarius]

17 hours ago, Cactus said:

I liked that Newcromunda decoupled the ammo roll from the hit roll. I'll be sad to see that reverted, but it is simpler. If ammo rolls are instead just gone for most guns, will it even feel like Necromunda any more?

Yeah, I used to think it was weird that you'd only run out of ammo if you missed but lately I've been thinking of it like "you don't miss, then run out of ammo, you don't fire at all, because your gun just jammed or you ran out of ammo" (because, as I understand it, ammo rolls also covers jams and other malfunctions, bu tthat might just be something I made up in my head).

Ammo rolls being gone would suck but otoh it would fit okay with the way newer Necromunda gangs seem a lot more "elite" than the original Necromunda concept seemed to imply. Again, this is just my preference, but to me Necromunda gangs are a bunch of lowlifes fighting with rusty knives over who has the right to collect trash where or who gets to collect protection money from the local poop-recycling plant, more than they're wizzing around on hover boards and the like.
So I would personally dislike ammo rolls being gone, but it does seem like it'd make sense in the context of gangs being the elite of their House.

[Bouargh]

More pipes and scenery... it will be hard to resist. I wonder if other gangs will be redone (and when)... I am thinking to start a Malestrain but renewed Orlocks might make me change my mind

[Gorgoff]

1 hour ago, Antarius said:

.
So I would personally dislike ammo rolls being gone, but it does seem like it'd make sense in the context of gangs being the elite of their House.

As far as I understand them ammo rolls are not gone. Only for single shot weapons. 

I totally agree thought that Necromunda should be about low life's fighting in the dark about trash and not these special commandos from Newcromunda.

 

 

I don't know if that was already discussed here but the shrinkflation GW does on starter boxes is horrendous tbh.

 

[Lord Marshal]

Lore article time, giving an overview of what's been going on after the events of the Aranthian Succession.

 

Quote

Houses Van Saar and Orlock enter the new edition with their power largely unchanged, though both within the Secundan Exclusion Zone and out in the Spider Points, they are struggling to fight off more masked duster-wearing gangs with some oddly ridged foreheads. 

 

A proper Necromunda GSC gang in our future...? 

 

Edited July 29 by Lord Marshal

[Laurence]

11 hours ago, Antarius said:

Yeah, I used to think it was weird that you'd only run out of ammo if you missed but lately I've been thinking of it like "you don't miss, then run out of ammo, you don't fire at all, because your gun just jammed or you ran out of ammo" (because, as I understand it, ammo rolls also covers jams and other malfunctions, bu tthat might just be something I made up in my head).

 

Ammo rolls were on a hit roll of '6', so you were always guaranteed to get at least one hit before the 'click click click'.

Edited July 29 by Laurence

[Xenith]

On 7/28/2026 at 12:44 AM, jaxom said:

It still has Short Range and Long Range defined; maybe L is the Long Range modifier?

 

L stands for "Loads of ammo", naturally.

[Antarius]

9 hours ago, Laurence said:

 

Ammo rolls were on a hit roll of '6', so you were always guaranteed to get at least one hit before the 'click click click'.

Hmm, guess we just houseruled it then.

[Lord Marshal]

Article going over what will be in the Gangs Of books and what'll be in the Most Wanted PDF. Interestingly the resin beasties made it into the Gangs Of list, so maybe they'll be the next plastic box?

 

 

Most Wanted PDF:

 

Spoiler

• Athera and Stix

• Belladonna

• Kria the Huntress

• Yolanda Skorn

• Gorshiv Hammerfist

• Axon Hammer

• Durgan Kill-Fist

• Ajex Gorgoth

• Vespa ‘Minx’ Merdena

• Slate Merdena and Macula

• Klovis the Redeemer and Deacon Malakev

• The Headsman

• Rattus Tatterskin

• Yageloth

• Servant of the Silent Ones

• Lady Haera, 13th Daughter of Lord Helmawr

• Lady Credo

• Vunder Gorvos

• Gaen Gorvos

• Rex Spires

• The Eightfold Harvest Lord

• The Prophet of the Redemption

• Ashwood Stranger

• Scrutinator-Primus Servalen and KB-88

• Asun’ghar and Terror’s Shadow

• Ragnir Gunnstein

• Grendl Grendlsen

• Orrin Grimjarl and R78-JAR

• Urson Grimjarl and Old Faithful

• Hagthor Jarlun and Aster Felsurn

• Madryc Helbane and Lugrun

• Silberlant Sevos

• Bigby Crumb

• Doctor Arachnos

• Baetrum Arturos III

• Ortruum 8-8

• The Deserter

• Eyros Slagmyst

• Gor Half-horn

• Krotos Hark

• Yar Umbra

• Apollus Kage

• Thaetos 23-2

• Vandoth the Fallen

• Estus Jet

• Grub Targeson

• Mad Dog Mono

• Psy-Syndica – Mind-Locked Wyrd

• Mercator Pallidus – Corpse Harvesting Party

• Mercator Sanguis – Slaver Entourage

• Mercator Nautica – Nautican Syphoning Party

• House Greim – House Greim Military Attaché

• House Ko’Iron – House Ko’Iron Ministorum Delegation

• House Ty – House Ty Onmyodo Coven

• The Imperial House – Enforcer Bodyguards Delegation

• Shivver

• Brute Handler

• Chem Dealer

• Whisper Merchant

• Spyker

• Psychoteric Thrall

• Nomad Arthromite Herder

• Claim Jumper

• Heretek

• Cadaver Merchant

• ’Narker

• Gang Lookout

• Outland Beastmaster

• Scabber

• Propagandist

• Agitator

• Proxy

• Underhive Trader

• Fixer

 

Quote

There were also some characters who got rules in the current edition of Necromunda who didn’t get a miniature. The studio will be looking at giving some of them updated rules in the future so you’ll still be able to use any awesome conversions you’ve made.

 

Edited July 30 by Lord Marshal

[Castigator]

This is the first coverage of the new edition that has disappointed me. 

It feels a little 'Indexy' to me. The flavourful mechanics of the House gangs appear to be missing some of their character and the omission of the Indentured Psykers Hangers-On has me very disappointed.

It will be simple enough to convert the old rules to the new edition but I can't understand them not including them at the start when they're one of the most flavourful and balanced Hangers-On in the game.

Hopefully they'll get around to them quickly.

[Indy Techwisp]

17 minutes ago, Castigator said:

This is the first coverage of the new edition that has disappointed me. 

It feels a little 'Indexy' to me. The flavourful mechanics of the House gangs appear to be missing some of their character and the omission of the Indentured Psykers Hangers-On has me very disappointed.

It will be simple enough to convert the old rules to the new edition but I can't understand them not including them at the start when they're one of the most flavourful and balanced Hangers-On in the game.

Hopefully they'll get around to them quickly.

 

I feel like there was some internal plan to strip back Necromunda to a more "basic" state that got abandoned before the announcement but not soon enough for some units to get back in the books.

 

And since GW like money, them prioritising the units they do sell a model for makes sense, especially if the plan is to roll out models for the other units sooner rather than later.

[Laurence]

4 hours ago, Castigator said:

This is the first coverage of the new edition that has disappointed me. 

It feels a little 'Indexy' to me. The flavourful mechanics of the House gangs appear to be missing some of their character and the omission of the Indentured Psykers Hangers-On has me very disappointed.

It will be simple enough to convert the old rules to the new edition but I can't understand them not including them at the start when they're one of the most flavourful and balanced Hangers-On in the game.

Hopefully they'll get around to them quickly.

No doubt they'll return once they have a plastic kit, but until there all the resin is being booted.

[Timberley]

7 hours ago, Castigator said:

This is the first coverage of the new edition that has disappointed me. 

It feels a little 'Indexy' to me. The flavourful mechanics of the House gangs appear to be missing some of their character and the omission of the Indentured Psykers Hangers-On has me very disappointed.

It will be simple enough to convert the old rules to the new edition but I can't understand them not including them at the start when they're one of the most flavourful and balanced Hangers-On in the game.

Hopefully they'll get around to them quickly.

This is why I'm giving it 6-12 months before they announce revamped 'House of...' books.  If you remember, we had the same Gangs of The Underhive for N17, and they got expanded out into the 'House of...' and 'Book of...' books.  I'd be fine if they just have a book that deals with Hangers-on and the various noble house delegations, just to keep them tidily in one place.  I hope they do make new books that give each 'House' their basic gang (Leader, archetype champions, prospects, gangers, and juves), specific brute, Ash Wastes vehicle (Delaque still need their unique one), and their named Dramatis Personae.  If I was really going for wishes, I'd hope that they do expand into the Sump Sea and both Secundus and the Skull, thus giving us rules for making boats, as well as 'Incursion teams', for that house.

[Mana]

I don't play Necromunda nor know much about the game.

 

Someone posted an unboxing video:

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=befT_pVEdBU

 

Video has parts with no audio.

 

It seems the box contains all the plastic tokens and all the cards that will be sold separately. The Escher and the Goliath are just 1 half sprue (half A4 size) duplicated for each gang, so 4 gang members per sprue.

 

Since it's around 88 in the uk I expected it to be 145 usd (like the latest blood bowl starter set), shame.

 

Did anyone else notice they changed the first image of the "next week" article to make the box look less empty?  (Or maybe I'm misremembering)

Edited July 30 by Mana

[Lord_Ikka]

I like what I see so far, but until I can get my hands on some books I'll reserve any judgement. I don't necessarily think simplifying or condensing rules is a bad thing, especially for a game like Necro where rules were spread over a ton of books. Cutting out Dramatis Personae seems slightly odd, but they are going to have updated rules for them in an online form and they even said that there will be characters without models who will get rules, which is a pretty big differential from something like 40k where if the model is out of production the rules go to Legends.

 

Call me, and the group of Necro players I know, cautiously optimistic. 

[Antarius]

Yeah, I can understand being wary of "streamlining", because we don't know quite what it means. But at the same time, Necromunda desperately needed streamlining. I know I'd completely given up on actually playing it and just used 1st edition when we did a Necromunda weekend a couple of years ago (and things have only spiralled further from there, of course). My usual line is that it'd probably be awesome for a TTRPG but that the level of detail and amount of books is completely over the top for a miniatures game, and I stick by that, even though I support the "general sprawling madness"-approach in principle.

Still, it looks like the box is going to be out for some time, so I'm not gonna get it unless I decide I actually need it because someone actively wants me to play it (the models and terrain pieces are nice, but I've got plenty already). If I had a Necromunda group at present, though, I actually think I'd be pretty optimistic at this point.

[Antarius]

6 hours ago, Timberley said:

This is why I'm giving it 6-12 months before they announce revamped 'House of...' books.  If you remember, we had the same Gangs of The Underhive for N17, and they got expanded out into the 'House of...' and 'Book of...' books. 

Honestly, that'd be my worst case scenario. I like the "House of..." books on an individual level and I love (most of) how they go into depths with the background, but I really don't think they're good for the game as a game.

To my mind, Necromunda is a skirmish game with RPG elements. Army books, especially of the "chuck every crazy idea in there"-variety, isn't a good fit for that kind of game, from a game mechanics pov. I mean, Bomb Rats are fun, but I much prefer everything being in a book that everybody has access to, because it's not fun being completely in the dark about what goes on in any individual game (and we really, really don't need "no no, this power sword is actually a XYZ-sword" weapons that are just variants of the regular weapon types but with slightly divergent rules. A power sword is good enough).

Edited July 31 by Antarius

[kabaakaba]

It's all looks nice, and I even think about give it a try.

I made several attempts to start playing, but I saw a mountain of books and the main rule book that became invalid after a year or two with a new box and I was not ready for another one DnD3,5 with 12 book to play with all rules.

If they can manage not to produce books, then it must be a good edition.

[Castigator]

11 hours ago, Laurence said:

No doubt they'll return once they have a plastic kit, but until there all the resin is being booted.

I'm sure they will and like I said it should be easy enough to port them over if they don't.
I'm a little concerned that they haven't mentioned Psychic powers because it took them a long time to settle on a reasonable way to incorporate them into the game.

It's purely a selfish thing because I'm running an Inquisitorial Witch Hunters gang and I 'gift' their adversary 1 to 3 Indentured Psykers for the encounter to use as objectives......because as every 'Munda player knows, it's all about the narrative 

[Castigator]

8 hours ago, Timberley said:

This is why I'm giving it 6-12 months before they announce revamped 'House of...' books.  If you remember, we had the same Gangs of The Underhive for N17, and they got expanded out into the 'House of...' and 'Book of...' books.  I'd be fine if they just have a book that deals with Hangers-on and the various noble house delegations, just to keep them tidily in one place.  I hope they do make new books that give each 'House' their basic gang (Leader, archetype champions, prospects, gangers, and juves), specific brute, Ash Wastes vehicle (Delaque still need their unique one), and their named Dramatis Personae.  If I was really going for wishes, I'd hope that they do expand into the Sump Sea and both Secundus and the Skull, thus giving us rules for making boats, as well as 'Incursion teams', for that house.

 

I think most 'Munda players upon hearing about the new edition were/are concerned about another round of 'churn' when it was announced. All we can go off is that they tried to calm the waters by explicitly stating the GOTU and GOTO books will be valid throughout this edition.
My first thought on hearing the news was 'oh, have they run out of ideas for new locations then?' Hopefully they haven't and they still explore the Sump Seas, the Eye of Selene and the Skull.

It will be interesting to see what they have done with vehicles in this edition because our group just found the Ash Wastes rules to be hard work and not really worth the effort.

I'm thinking (or maybe hoping) that the 'Journals' will focus more on rules that all of the 'gangs' can make use of rather than being house specific but time will tell.

I'm still shamelessly optimistic about this new edition and come tomorrow I'll be putting my order in for the Core Set, GOTU and GOTO  

[Captain Idaho]

Quote

There were also some characters who got rules in the current edition of Necromunda who didn’t get a miniature. The studio will be looking at giving some of them updated rules in the future so you’ll still be able to use any awesome conversions you’ve made.

 

Fingers crossed for Wilcox Conderjack, the best story in all of Necromunda!