Necromunda: Massive Battle Rules From ‘Hive of Blood’
Have you ever wanted to play massive games of Necromunda but were worried about the speed of the game? Games Workshop has the solution.
In the latest Apocrypha Necromunda, GW has created a few rules to allow for massive gang-fights that won’t get bogged down in speed. Because Necromunda is designed as a skirmish game there are some rules that are designed to allow for the individual models to really make an impact. These rules are great for creating fun and dynamic cinematic moments but can also slow things waaaay down when you’re battles are five times larger than normal. GW knows this and so they have created a few modifications to allow for some faster games with many more models.
Hive of Blood Rules Download Here
Just a quick note: The Hive of Blood rules represent a specific point in time where there weren’t any of the Houses you might associate with Necromunda as they stand now. You’re not supposed to use this as part of a campaign although there’s nothing stopping you from doing that — it’s just going to take a lot more leg work.
Necromunda: Massive Battles – Hive of Blood Special Rules
This first part is just setting the timeline and also listing the Outland Armies and Wasteland Warfare rules below are to be used for this game.
You can use the modern gang lists as “progenitor” gangs for their respective houses. The Outcast Gang list is also very appropriate for this setting.
Outland Armies Rule
This section dictates your gang building restrictions. Starting with 5000 credits is a nice jump! It’s also worth noting that you can include models from gangs other than your leader’s gang. And keep an eye out on the Gang Fighter (X) rule — that’s going to be important later.
Wasteland Warfare Rule
This section is the part that really changes the game. Pay close attention to the changes as they are the core of what makes these massive battles tick.
As you can see these games are generally more deadly than your typical Necromunda games. When things hit 0 wounds or 0 hull points they are removed from play. Additionally, many of the more time consuming special rules have been removed and things are simplified and streamlined.
Here’s where the Gang Fighter (X) rule really comes into play. In many ways, these models become de facto “unit leaders” so that you can activate a group of models at once — this should help speed up the game play, too. Considering how many you’re required to have that should help out with the speed of play quite a bit.
Scenario Rules
From here on out it’s pretty straight forward. This battle is a “skirmish battle” from the Necromunda Core Rulebook — but with roughly 5 times the models, it’s more of “slugfest” than skirmish. The win condition is scoring VPs by taking out enemy models.
Again, this is a pretty straightforward scenario and fight. It’s brutal and simple — but that doesn’t mean this is going to be an easy win for either side.
Personally, I’d like to give this mode of play a fair shake. Even as a one-off this could be a lot of fun. Really, with the core Necromunda rules the way they are, this is going to feel a lot closer to a game of 2nd Edition Warhammer 40,000. Only with out all of the extra stuff (like psychic cards among other things). If nothing else it would be a sight to bust out 5000 credits worth of gangers per side. I do wish there was a bit more of an allowance for models from other gangs in your roster however — but hey, if you bump that up in agreement with your opponent I don’t think GW is going to mind…
10,000 Credits worth of gangers fighting in a massive battle is a LOT of gangers…have fun with this one!
