Heading Underhive

The below is my most recent RD&C posting (copied here as I just don't feel like retyping the whole darn thing). In a nutshell... I've decided to take the plunge and go Underhive full-on. While I've briefly perused Necromunda rules in the past, this will be my first concerted experience with the system. Figured this is as good a place as any to chronicle some of those exploits.

Besides... this corner of the forum is way too quiet.

The background: months of anticipation awaiting the release of Battle Missions, followed by somewhat of a letdown from the rather generic Kill Team rules included in same, has renewed what was only a causal/passing interest in Necromunda from way-back-when. The new Battle Missions Kill Team rules are acceptable for quick-n-dirty for the 40K player who wants small scale squad-on-squad once in awhile, but I’m more interested in depth from the individual units as I won’t have to worry about three dozen of them at a time. I’m also keen on the ability for character/model advancement in a campaign setting, with the corresponding ability to tailor skills, allow for originality, and permit customization. To “be different”, so to speak.

And anyone who has had the misfortune to see my cheesy CSM/Kroot army build knows I am all about different.

In my furious searches for rapidly dwindling Necromunda resources on the internet, I stumbled across the fan-based project Death Squads. These folks (who obviously are all independently wealthy and have little to no need for sleep, or are robots) have compiled a marvelous work which builds on the original Necromunda rules and incorporates many of the cooler aspects of its more modern cousin, Mordheim. Through this massive undertaking they have managed (in my opinion) to remain true to the original Necromunda, and anyone who is familiar with those rules will note the enhanced similarity immediately. I have not gone through both sets of rules and picked out the differences… and likely won’t. On cursory comparison it seems the Death Squads rules exist as a natural progression of Necromunda if the latter had been supported at the same level of 40K through the years. As opinions vary, I encourage you to take a look for yourself.

Death Squads most recent “Living Rulebook” at v0.44, and it is well worth the 30sec it will take to register at their forums and download. I see it as high quality stuff… and I’m a picky *******. If interested, find all the information you desire @ [url]http://www.deathsquadsgame.com/[/url]

While I am currently building Necromunda gangs and getting my feet wet on the tabletop (what an odd statement) with those rules, I have no doubt that very shortly I will migrate to the Death Squads venue as it allows for additional races, options, weapons, skills, etc. which simply don’t exist in the original Specialist Game’s offering. In anticipation of requiring some unique character models, I’ve been digging through my various dusty crates (more on those later), and have purchased these phenomenal figures…

http://www.mercsminis.com/images/Pro.../Product01.jpg
http://www.mercsminis.com/images/Pro.../Product07.jpg

I’m hyped about the concept overall, and I’ll keep you posted on the lot of it. I think this is just the sort of spark I needed to reignite a dwindling interest in the hobby.

That, combined with avoiding the ridiculous, angsty, argumentative 40K forum threads on the interwebz like the plague… and I might actually start enjoying the game again.

-Dryw