Necromunda: Is The New ‘Ironcrawler’ A Bit Too Much?
Games Workshop announced the Chronos Pattern Ironcrawler but is the vehicle a bit too much for the Ash Wastes?
Earlier this week, Games Workshop announced the new Chronos Pattern Ironcrawler. It’s basically a Cargo-8 Ridgehauler with tank tracks and an armored cab and transport cage. It’s the closest thing we’ve seen to an actual tank for Necromunda in the Ash Wastes.
Personally, I do like the design of the model. But there were two things that concerned me. First up, this line from the WarCom article:
“This kit is a combination of plastic and resin, and it will be available to pre-order soon from Forge World.”
It’s a combo plastic/resin kit. I mean, it makes sense because it’s coming basically as a Forge World upgrade kit for the base Cargo-8 Ridgehauler. I’m just not a big fan of working with resin in general. But that’s a personal preference thing.
New ‘Ironcrawler’ OP?
But it was this particular part of the article that, I think, was what actually caused some furrowed brows in the general Necromunda Player Community:
“It’s even tougher on the sides than its wheeled cousin, and it has an extra Hull Point, making it even more durable. It’s also just as customisable, arriving with four upgrade slots on the body, four on the drive, and four for the engines. Why not really tool up with reinforced armour, powered steering, and booby-trapped fuel tanks?”
Oh boy. The Ironcrawler has an extra hull point and it’s tougher on the sides than the Cargo-8 Ridgehauler? Just for comparison sake, here’s the basic stat line of the Cargo-8 Ridgehauler:
9 on the Front and 8 on the sides and rear with 6 Hull Points and a 3+ save is…really tough! And now the Ironcrawler is going to have probably a 9 Armor on the sides and 7 Hull Points? Oof. That’s just daunting to deal with for most gangs. I don’t know what the rest of the stats will be like but even if this new vehicle is 300 credits it’s going to be well worth the investment!
Keep in mind at the core this game is still Necromunda. That’s gang warfare based on mostly scrounged gear. Most gangers don’t have a Lascannon for a weapon option much less access to a meltagun. Oh sure, those things do pop up in gangs…but are incredible rare. No player paying attention is going to let that particular model get close to their armored crawler. And the Ironcrawler is going to have enough firepower to put that ganger down as soon as it gets a chance.
It’s already hard enough dealing with a Cargo-8 Ridgehauler. It’s not impossible and sometimes you do have to just stick to the objective/play to the scenario. It’s kind of like those bees vs hornet videos where the swarm has to pile on to a single hornet to try and kill it. And even then that doesn’t always work.
Except now it seems like GW and FW are introducing a Murder Hornet variant of the Ridgehauler to Necromunda in that analogy. I’m not quite sure what to think about it from a balance perspective. Again, we don’t know the credit cost. But I do know that if a gang can afford to bring one they are probably not hurting for credits. And it’s an investment for them in a campaign for sure — but I think it’s one that could really pay dividends. Necromunda already has a bit of a “win more” problem and the Ironcrawler doesn’t seem like it’s going to be slowing that down at all.
It’s like this…but on steroids!
Maybe if there was an interesting scenario around the Ironcrawler or something to balance it out. Whatever the case it’s going to be one heck of a challenge to topple. I just hope if you are introducing one to your playgroup you (and your playgroup) know what they are getting into…
What’s your take on the Chronos Pattern Ironcrawler? Too much to tank on?
