A Necromunda scenario from Cinderak Burning.

Following on from my ‘How to Paint‘ series entering the world of Necromunda, I decided to play a game (or two)… and that’s where I came across an issue — there’s lots and lots of scenarios to choose from and I didn’t know where to start.

What was a good beginner scenario, which one was the most balanced, which one was best for Van Saar… so many questions and with so many options I didn’t know where to start.

And so welcome to the first ‘Scenario Saturday’ where I will briefly review a scenario from a wargame, mark them in some manner, and give an opinion. If it goes well my hope is that this will form a useful resource for scenario selection – especially for our readers who are more casual or occasional wargamers.

I won’t list the whole scenario (copyright and all), but will give enough information that, if you’re interested, you can find it and play it!

Introducing Woehammers!

Throughout this article I will be using Woehammers to give an indication to how good the scenario is for certain categories – for example Attacker Credits.

This is three Hammers! So you would expect about average for this result. (Think 3 stars out of 5!!)

Necromunda

Necromunda is a tabletop skirmish wargame of anarchy & violence, where players control rival gangs of fighters battling each other for supremacy in the nightmare depths of the underhive – or out in the blasted Ash Wastes. (credit: GW book blurb!)

The Aranthian Succession – Cinderak Burning

Unlike the ‘House of…’ books this is a campaign book and expands on the story of Necromunda following the Great Rift in Warhammer 40k. As you might expect it has lots of additional rules scattered throughout and a great story upfront with the main antagonists being Esher and Goliath (the gangs in the first Necromunda starter set since re-launch – sadly no longer available).

Fall of Badzones Outpost

A Stronghold in the Underhive is overrun by an enemy gang – the retreating gang must buy enough time to get everyone out.

Where

Aranthian Succession – Cinderak Burning: Page 78

Battlefield

• Sector Mechanicus
• Zone Mortalis

Crews

Random D3+4 for both gangs

Rewards – Credits

Rewards – XP

Best For

Defenders: Goliaths, Corpse Grinders, gangs with close range weapons
Attackers: Escher, Orlocks with Wreckers, gangs with good movement.

What would Eeyore Do? – The Attacker

(Definitely not stolen from ‘What would Curry do?’ which a certain generation of gamers will remember).

As the attacker we would suggest a few fast gangers to get near the defender’s table edge to stop them winning, and then hiding whilst your other gangers keep pinning the enemy. Be careful of any defenders with good combat abilities and use the corners to your advantage to spread the defenders around. This could easily be done in reverse if you have very quick gangers like Wreckers who can sweep down and win in the final round.

What would Declan Do? – The Defender

I would have a few gangers escape early – Juves would likely be ideal for this – assuming the arbitrator didn’t use it for the bottle check; but keeping the enemy away from my board edge is going to be difficult, so keep your close combat fighters to counter attack if the attackers get too close. Steer clear of Group activations in turn 5 otherwise the Attackers will sneak within 3″ and claim a victory.

Thoughts

With the defender deploying first, the attacker has the advantage of knowing where the defenders are, but the fixed game length means that the attackers need to move quickly and perhaps forgo some cover in order to gain a victory. Both gangs need to careful of bottling though because of the small gang sizes., so those with good Cool will likely do well.

A good scenario to consider if both players want a relatively fair fight but with different objectives. It’s unlikely to trouble the Arbitrator with a reasonable level of credit and XP gain for both gangs available.

— Declan and Eeyore