40K: We Need Rules For The Necromunda Models
Why do none of the amazing Necromunda Models have rules for 40K?
Games Workshop has been hitting it out of the park lately with several lines of fantastic miniatures. Aside from their two core games of Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar they’ve got a host of side games. Some of these have their own settings or scale, such as Titanicus and the Lord of the Rings. Most of them, however, are set in one of the two central universes. In these cases, we’ve seen it become common place for the new models to get rules allowing them to be used in the “core” game as well as their intended system. There is one glaring exception to this – Necromunda. Let’s talk about why we need rules for all the genuinely amazing Necromunda models ASAP.
Side Games Galore
GW has a long history of producing side games. These range from stellar warfare games like Battlefleet Gothic, to racing/skirmish games like Gorkamorka to massive combat systems like EPIC. These games cane be hit or miss with some never really taking hold and living short lives, while others are fan favorites and live on long after official support ends. A large number – Battlefleet Gothic, Mordheim, Blood Blow and Necromunda to name a few – have even gotten video games. While GW had seemed to step away from side games for a bit, the last few years have seen that change.
Since the release of 8th Edition, in a mere two years, we’ve seen the release of a huge number of side games. Off the top of my head, we’ve gotten Warhammer Underworlds, Warcry, Necromunda, Kill Team, Titanicus, Apocalypse and Blackstone Fortress. I’m betting I’m still missing a few there. A vast majority of these sides games have been set in either the 40K or AoS setting, and use the same 28mm scale models. Some of the games only use models repurposed from the core game, but most have introduced their own line of unique models.
New Ways To Use Your Models
As part of these lines we’ve seen GW introduce a new concept. It seems clear that GW wants players to be able to use their models in more than one game. Thus we see that Kill Team, 40K and Apocalypse all use the same models. What you buy for one game can generally be used in the others, though Kill Team has some restrictions. While the other games aren’t as flexible what we have seen is a host of rules for models from the side lines allowing them to be used in the core game. You can see this very clearly in Age of Sigmar, where models for Warhammer Underworlds and Warcry are all quickly given AoS rules (and some AoS models got rules for use in Warcry). In 40K you can all see this with the Blackstone Fortress models, who all got rules for use in 40K, Kill Team and Apocalypse. Leading to some interesting tactics. With all this cross-pollination it is really odd at this point that there are no rules for using Necromunda models in other games.
A Cornucopia of Models
GW has put a lot of effort into the Necromunda line. There are currently six gangs with full multi-part kits, with a seventh about to hit stores. Add to that some character add ons, odd stuff from core GW and something like a dozen characters from Forge World, and you’ve got a line big enough to be its own army. I can’t stress enough how great the Necromunda Gang kits are. Each one could be a core troop choice kit for a 40K army. The effort they’ve put into Necromunda could have given us a whole army of Great Coat Guard, or redone all the Eldar Aspect Warrior kits. I don’t want to sound like I begrudge Necromunda its models, it is a fun game and the models are inventive and great. But I can’t help but wish they have some 40K rules.
We Need 40K Rules
Though giving this guy rules in 40K… could be risky
Looking at it this is very strange. The Necromunda line is, as far as I know, the only line of 28mm models set in the 40K universe you can’t use in a game of 40K. I can only assume there is some internal reason behind it. Maybe they don’t want to put Squats back in 40K. Oh, sure you could use them as counts as Guardswomen, or convert, as I’ve played around with – but to use them as models with their own rules, well that’s impossible. For the life of me, I can’t see why that should be. Blackstone Fortress, Warcry and Underworlds all have rule sets much further removed from their core games than Necromunda is from 40K, yet all those systems’ models got ported over. Hive Gangs aren’t even a fringe part of 40K like Rogue Traders are. They exist on thousands of Imperial Worlds and are often drawn in conflicts big and small. And dang it if I don’t just want to use these lovely minis.
How To Give Them Rules
I could see a couple of easy ways to give the Necromunda models rules. For the characters, such as Kal Jerico, it’s a no brainer, just give them some rules. We’ve seen this happen with other one off releases, such as Sly Marbo and Eisenhorn. Either give them their own faction, Gangers, or make them Astra Militarum or something so people can use them. For the gang kits, you’ve got a couple options. The first would be simple – put out a White Dwarf update with a new Astra Militarum Regiment from Necromunda, and include rules for it. It’s something I talked about last week. This would allow you to throw all your Necromunda models into a regiment as have them count as basic Guardspeople. For something more in depth you could do a series of articles giving Regiment rules to each gang, this would allow them to get rules for their unique weapons as well.
If that doesn’t work for you, you could go the Blackstone Fortress path. Just make a unique datasheet for each gang, allowing folks to take a single, named, 10 person unit with a fixed load-out – like Nitsch’s Squad from Blackstone Fortress. This would enable you to at least field each gang you owned, even if you couldn’t take an army. Of course you could combine some of these options into their own mini-Codex. As I said before the Necromunda line is large enough to be its own faction at this point. Why not make it that way?
Let us know if you’d like to see 40K rules for the Necromunda models, down in the comments!
