What Books Do I Need To Play Necromunda? | Hazard Stripes 

I'm new to Necromunda and wanted you to know you've had my favorite introductory videos so far and I've watched a lot.

Yaktribe baby - free gang creation and campaign tools

I used to play Necromunda back in the 90's, but the cost to get in with all the books is really putting me off. I have recently looked into the OPR Gang Wars, and think this might be the best way forward. I can use the GW minis, as they are cool, and get the rules for all the gangs without having to spend hundreds of dollars. Will be interested to see your video on this.

My biggest question about this game answered thanks a lot m8 🙏

I fully understand your frustrations. I really want to get into Necromunda but I cant justify all the initial purchases just to figure out what gang I might want to play.

On the accessibility leading to more sales: I know my friends and I were so excited when the app released because we could put together random lists of other armies, some of which were so fun that we wanted to buy that army to play it out. Then between the subscription and codex prices combined we were like “yeeeeeah never mind we’ll stick to our current armies.” They almost got us to buy a load more minis then shot themselves in the foot

I think GW keep forcing people to buy physical books to play Necromunda for the same reason they keep making people pay for physical books to play 40K: GW is 1) greedy and 2) trying to curate their audience to include only people willing to shell out tons of money just to play. That last one explains a bit why they won't make the rules free (or bundled with the models), which would make it more accessible (and thus bring more customers in over the long run). GW don't necessarily want new customers, if it means bringing in customers who have sensible buying habits. Or means bringing in people who aren't so fanatically loyal to the brand as to tolerate GW's exploitative business practices. With 40K (and by extension Necromunda), GW has spent decades cultivating an audience of people who love the setting and games so much, they're down for whatever. That even when they grumble, they keep coming back for more. GW wants to maintain that dynamic. That means erecting enough barriers to entry that only those most committed and willing to fork over outrageous sums get into the hobby. Lest people with, again, sensible buying habits and a sense of proportion arrive and "contaminate" the existing stable of whales and die-hards with ideas foreign to the carefully siloed GW ecosystem. Things like "getting your money's worth", or "getting things for free", or "not paying the price of a games console to buy into a single army", or "maybe a skirmish game _shouldn't_ inexplicably cost over $100 to start". GW don't want their core customer base demanding ethical treatment. Note I've only been talking about the 40K/Necromunda side of things. This is because the Fantasy/Age of Sigmar/Warcry side is an entirely different ecosystem. Until 40K and Necromunda, there isn't quite a continuous through-line between Warhammer Fantasy (and Mordheim) to Age of Sigmar. There was a massive cull of old fans of Warhammer Fantasy when it switched to Age of Sigmar. Fans who were so incensed, they took their ball and went home, rather than making the jump. Age of Sigmar almost didn't survive, it was so bad. So GW were forced to make concessions they never would with 40K related properties, like posting rules online or doing all the accessibility stuff suggested in this video. The greater AoS stable of games has developed its own audience, but that audience is made largely of new people, or those old fans who were more flexible, willing to make the jump. In either case, the AoS audience has much less tolerance for GW's bullshit. Or at the very least, GW fears they may scare their "new" customers away if they start monetizing them the way they do with 40K. (I have a feeling this is also why GW are bringing back The Old World. They want another crack at monetizing old Warhammer Fantasy fans. Maybe draw them back into the GW content mill.)

Great video and I love your content, keep it up.

Thanks for the great video, really helpful for finding the right book(s)! I'm really interested to see what your take on OPR Gang War will be. OPR is quite streamlined compared to GW rules. I find Necromunda overwhelmingly complicated, but I think that's also what players like about it. So not sure if OPR will appeal to existing players...sounds like a spicy video!

So what book do I need to play my Chaos Cultists?

Necromunda is definitely not an easy game to get into, especially with how often the core books are out of print. However, I don't think Grimdark Future Gang Wars scratches the same itch. Necromunda is rules heavy, usually, because they are trying to simulate gang warfare. Grenade scatter, environment hazards, weird weapons. GFF Gang Wars simplifies and strips out a lot of that, which seems to be the case with most of their rulesets compared to the original rules they are replicating. Necromunda is not an "intro" game and I don't think it ever should be. Kill Team already fills the "welcome to 40k" niche, and I'm not a fan of a lot of the changes they made with the new edition. What I think would serve Necromunda best is faction starter boxes. For $80 you would get a gang, the gang cards, basic dice, and a stripped down version of the gangs core rules with only 3-4 pages of lore. My overall impression is that Necromunda started as a set product line that they planned limited support for, and it has proven to be more popular than GW expected. This has led them to inconsistent releases, weird rules formatting (even for GW), and a level of product bloat AND deficit unlike any of their other products. And I'm staying this as someone who has almost all of the books since the 2018 core rulebook. It's a wild, wacky, and wonderful mess. Anyway, I'm often surprised how few people seem to know about the amazing resource that is Goonhammer: www.goonhammer.com/necromunda/#Gangs_of_the_Underhive Definitely the best place to go to get starter rules/lists for each faction, as well as solid reviews of each book released. Thanks for making a solid video on what to buy for new players!

so if i picked up the Ash Waste tomorrow, i wouldnt need to buy the new core rulebook also?

back baby!

You forgot the gang war books that are impossible to find for a good price and it’s the only way to find the rules for certain things like the Ambots

Yeah. I will never play Necromunda... i want to, but i do not want to buy lots of books....❤❤❤

:D

Well you don't actually have to buy anything from Games Workshop to play this game. There are two fully supported Divergent PDF documents that are available online one of which has a modified campaign that doesn't require an arbitrator at all. And quite frankly there are plenty of 3D printers that cost less than 1 necromunda Starter Set and plenty of designers that make both free and low-cost stl's available. Mind you I'm someone that has spent five figures on this game over the course of the last 28 years or so including everything GW has released between 2017 and now but it's not necessary. The rules are complete including a framework to generate our own custom some gangs so there's really no reason for us to worry about it. This is also why it's such a bad idea to ask for Games Workshop to trap you in a subscription-based ecosystem where you don't own anything and if you quit paying for it you lose everything

Noooo... Necromunda shouldn't be as easy as WARCRY! It is a "specialists game"... Kill team is THE introductory game for 40k... Necromunda is all about the customisation and weapon choices... No standard sets... PLEASE