Necromunda League - Necromunda By Night

Last Thursday was a great start to our newly-formed Necromunda league (the League Rules are available here). Barry, MikeA, and Dallas came out with their gangs to fight the first scenario of the narrative campaign, Necromunda by Night. It's mostly based upon a Necromunda scenario pack used at Adepti-Con a few years ago.

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Scenario 1: Total War

Your gang has been tasked by a local miners' guild to eliminate a creature that’s been nesting in one of the newly-abandoned domes. The creature only leaves its lair during lights down and its lair is very well concealed, so it is imperative to kill it before darkness descends.

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Each player chose how many gang members they wish to deploy at the beginning of the game. A Bolt Action order die was placed in a cup for each ganger, using different colours for each side. The players then took it in turn to nominate a specific point on the table and picked out one die from the cup. The picked side then placed a figure on the specified point. This continued until all fighters in the cup were placed. Any fighters not placed at the beginning of the game moved on to their player's table edge during Turn 3.

Lighting conditions were getting worse each turn:

• At the beginning of Turn 2, vision range is reduced to 36”.
• At the beginning of Turn 3, vision range is reduced to 24” and models may claim partial cover if within 1” of a full cover structure or terrain feature.
• At the beginning of Turn 4, vision range is reduced to 16”, models may claim partial cover if within 1” of a full cover structure or terrain feature, models may run and hide, and may not use the Fast Shot, Marksman, or Rapid Fire skills.
• At the beginning of Turn 5, all the above restrictions apply and models count Fumbles as double in HtH combat.
• The dome becomes fully dark at the end of Turn 6 and the game ends.

The objective was for either gang to kill the creature BEFORE THE END OF TURN 6! Whichever gang successfully killed the creature would win.

At the beginning of each player's turn, I rolled a D6 for each friendly fighter on the table. On a roll of 6 (adding +1 if the model is Down) , that model would be the first to encounter the creature. The creature model was placed within 4” of that model, in a random direction (scatter die). On each player's turn before the Shooting phase, it moved towards the closest model and attempt to charge into HtH combat (if target is under 6"). The opposing player made any applicable rolls for the creature.

Instead of using a "monster" figure, I used a model I had never actually used before in a game; a Bretonnian Sorceress that I had painted back in the late 90's!

She had the following profile: M5, WS5, BS0, S4, T4, W2, I6, A2, Ld10
She counted as armed with a Sword and a Massive Club. The creature had a 5+ armor save.
The creature counted as never able to be Pinned, and never suffered from Psychology effects.

I confess that I liked the idea of the creature being monstrous only in its disposition, not its appearance.

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Barry's Cawdor faced off against MikeA's Spyre Hunters first. IIRC, Both sides fielded 5 fighters. The creature was revealed almost immediately by Mike's Spyrers, who were decimated by it and Barry's hot-shooting gang. The Spyrers bottled out, retreating off the table, but the Cawdors took it on the chin from the creature, failing to down it.

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At this point we remembered we had camera phones, and Dallas and I took pictures of our own game.

Dallas and I faced off, his newly painted House Delaque (conversions of figs purchased from East Riding Miniatures)  vs. my own Spyre Hunters. Dallas fielded 7 gangers, while I fielded all 5 fighters. Dallas' leader took the high ground on top of a 3-story building, while the rest were spread out. The Spyrers were mostly by the train or near the restaurants/shops.



First turn I swung a spider-like Malcodon onto an overhead walkway, into close assault with a Delaque armed with a rifle.





The Malcodon made short work of his opponent.



My Orrus took cover behind the dubious protection of a planter.



Other Delques tried to move into position against him, so the Orrus ended up retreating into the wine store to gain cover.



The creature appeared by my other Malcodon. Moving away behind the mag lev train, the Malcodon set up a shot with his webs at the creature, with a Yeld flying down from a flat car in support.



My careful movement was to no avail, as the creature struck down both these Spyrers, plus a Jakara that tried to attack her in the subsequent turn.

Below, the creature stands victorious!



Meanwhile, my remaining Malcodon  was shot and put Out of Action by fire from a Juve and the Delaque leader, sniping from above.



Finishing off three(!) of my Spyre Hunting Party, the creature turned her attention to more of Dallas' Delaques, who couldn't seem to draw a bead on her.



After making a couple of Bottle Tests, my sole remaining fighter, an Orrus, made a desperate charge against a wounded Delaque Juve, putting him Down. That forced a Bottle Test on Dallas, whose leader failed, and thus the disheartened Delaques fled the field!



The creature was too far away to get into contact with my Orrus before the end of Turn 6, so we called the game.

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Suffice to say, no one's gang slew the creature! There is a resulting three-way tie for Campaign Points. Barry, Mike, and Dallas each received 5 Campaign Points for their respective Draws. Barry and Dallas received a bonus Campaign Point each for "Game Hunter" (one of their models made one successful shooting attack at long range this scenario), and Mike got a bonus point for "Expert Tracker" (one of his models revealed the creature on Turn 1). As Arbitrator (player/referee and host), I received no Campaign Points.

By the end of the mini-campaign, the player with the most Campaign Points will receive an unpainted Goliath gang provided by Conscript Kevin. The Nightrider Award (for the best gang painted by one of the other players, awarded at my sole discretion) will be a Hired Gun model that I am in the midst of painting. A WIP shot can be seen below:



It's been fun to play these small-scale games, where every shot and every casualty counts. In the post game phase, one of the Delaques succumbed to his wounds, but was replaced by a Juve. The story is writing itself, as Dallas said the dead Delaque's brother has joined the gang, seeking revenge!

Some of the guys couldn't make it out last week, so there will be a few more folks playing Scenario 1, as well as the rest playing Scenario 2 this week. I look forward to more games in the under-hive!